Chapter 9
Remnant television - 11:27am
"The era in which we live in. Is one of many hardships. We do not know who orchestrated the attack on the Vale CCT tower. And as of this moment We will Try to protect it. But what we will not try at is protecting You. We might have failed at protecting the Vale CCT tower, But We Will Protect The People" said General ironwood through the speaker of the television, as the People of Vale watched. Some felt relaxed by this… others did not
Beacon Cafeteria – 11:49am
"it could be the white Fang" said Blake, eating her eggs with subtle fury in her eye's
"it could also be Roman" said Ruby staring deep into her cereal
"it could be anyone" said Weiss checking her scroll
"it could even be… ME!" said Nora jumping onto the seat bench with a thud, making everyone around her besides Ren jump in their seats
"Nora might have a point guy's. We cant know for sure who could have done it" said Yang with a slight frown
"the Vytal tournament is just around the corner. We should dedicate our attention to training" said Pyrrha
"Pyrrha's right. We should focus on the tournament for now, and who knows. Maybe the Atlesian military will get them" said Jaune in a calm manor before taking a bite of some porridge
Amity colosseum interior – 11:34am
"and with that, it appears team JNPR wins by Knockout. Literally… can someone go make sure they're okay" said Professor Port over the P.A system, to momentous up-roar.
"was that your plan?" asked Ren confused
"huh… uh, in a way" said Jaune suspiciously
…
As team JNPR made their way to the exit tunnel. A group of People adorned in a slew of different types of homemade JNPR attire were leaning over the spectator stand rails, with their attention fixed on the winning team.
"Way to go lassie! Yoo noked em right out of the park!" Shouted a women towards a happily surprised Nora
"Can we meet you guys after this! Shouted another admirer
The team stopped, looked at each other still brimming with the adrenaline of victory, and Jaune looked up at the group of admirers and said
"Sure, we'll meet you... at the...-
"We can meet you all outside the fairy floss vender when the tournament reaches half time" said Pyrrha, met with an uproar of approval from the group.
Vital festival hunter locker room - 12:14pm
"so, Pyrrha. How many times have you done stuff like this" said Nora
"quite a few" said Pyrrha with an exhausted smile
"oh… sorry, I should have asked, shouldn't of i?" said Jaune solemnly
"no its alright, I thought something like this might happen, but it looks like most of them were there for you" said Pyrrha happily
"wait, Me!? I thought they were for the whole team" said Jaune ever so slightly flustered
"yeah, didn't you see the onslaught of yellow they were wearing, and I think some had your fancy shield symbol on them too" said Nora
"oh… wow" said Jaune befuddled before closing her locker
"don't worry, you'll get used to it" said Pyrrha closing her locker.
"I wonder if they'll make a documentary around us" said Nora optimistically
"they usually only do that if something bad happens" said Ren
"what like some great 'huntsman war' or something" said Nora in an exaggerated tone
"it could happen" said Ren closing his locker
"if it does, we better be the good guys" said Nora before closing her locker
Vytal festival fairgrounds – 1:22pm
Team JNPR sat down by the fairy-floss stand waiting for the group of people to arrive. each member eagerly interested in different aspects of the future interaction. And then after a couple minutes passed, they arrived. Shy at first, but after the first two came up to say hi, it didn't take long for the rest to follow suit.
"so what made you want to go for a classic like the sword and shield as a weapon?" said fan number 3 inquisitively
"it's a family heirloom" said Jaune bashfully
"that's awesome" said fan number 3 exploding with admiration towards the knight, bringing out a multitude of different things to sign
"so, how do you use your semblance out on the field?" said fan number 2
"… well I still haven't really worked that out yet- " said jaune in a frowned confusion before Ren butted in
"I'm sure we'll find one" said Ren with a smile to Jaune
Minutes passed by, with each team member facing an onslaught of questions, each one wavering in and out of the members comfort zones. all until Pyrrha brought it to an end.
"I thought only family and friends allowed to come here in person" said Pyrrha
"we are friends of the announcer" said the fan's main leader, adjusting their glasses
"wait, Obleck!?" said Jaune astounded
"that does explain all the questions" said Nora, receiving only silence from the group of admirers
"well, either way. We have to get ready for the next round of the tournament" said Pyrrha with an exhausted smile
"Can we have a group photo before you go?" said the group of fans in near perfect unison
"sure" said Jaune after looking at her team for permission
Outside the Vytal emergency ward - 5:21pm
"Do you really think we should be entrusting one of the main tasks of the mission to some wannabe pimp, I mean I'm all for style and all but he just doesn't really fit the bill ya know " said Mercury to Emerald, immediately being met with a murderous glare from the mute nurse walking beside them.
"Careful what you say mercury, otherwise it wont just be your legs getting busted up" said Emerald
"huh. That's the first time you've ever laughed at one of my jokes" said Emerald smirking smugly
"it wasn't that, I was just thinking about how weird that sentence sounded without context" said Mercury mimicking the exact expression that emerald was making only moments ago.
The group of sidekicks passed through the corridors inside the Colosseum observing the multiple exits and entryways. All up until they came across a poster on the wall.
"wow, they got close to the likeness. I mean, they got a couple things wrong" said Mercury
"lucky for us, now lets go. We don't have time to look at every piece of paper placed across a wall" said Emerald walking off with Neo, with Mercury ripping the poster off the wall and bringing it with him.
Catching up with the two, Mercury held the poster in front of himself before hastily putting it into his pocket.
After a short amount of time passed and the group had finished their assessment of the inner workings of the Vytal festival, they headed back to beacon. But without their knowing, two beat up detectives were listening from the shadows.
"that's not good" said Neptune poking his head out of the door
"we should inform ironwood" said Sun sitting on his bed, his arms wrapped in bandages
"agreed but the Atlesian military might not be able to solve this case in time, we should also inform others" said Neptune picking up a prop smoking pipe
"your not wrong, but they still have the tournament to focus on. We should only tell those who have the least to lose..." said Sun cleaning his magnifying glass
"JNPR?" said Sun "RWBY?" said Neptune
"what?" said both detectives simultaneously
"JNPR has a world renowned fighter on their team, what's basically a ninja, a human Tank and an effective mascot" said Sun
"that's true, but last time I've checked team RWBY has a fairly impressive track record when it comes to handling this sort of thing" said Neptune
"that is true, but they have been doing it too much, whereas JNPR hasn't. I think we should evenly distribute the amount of non-school related ass whooping" said Sun
"fair… but let's be real, its because of Blake isn't it" said Neptune
"that is one of the main factors that contribute to my decision of leaving RWBY out of this" said Sun
"you do realise if she finds out you didn't tell her, she will probably hate you forever right" said Neptune
"it hopefully wont come to that" said Sun
Beacon's headmaster office – 4:23pm
"I hate to say it… but James might be right. They remind me a lot of when me and my sister was at this place" said Crow
"you mean reckless?" said Glynda, recalling her interaction with Mercury
"no, over qualified" said Crow in a somewhat serious manor
"whatever they are, they aren't just students" said Ozpin
"Have you tried contacting Haven, getting them out of the tournament?" said Ironwood
"No, Leo isn't budging. He say's they're innocent" said Ozpin
"I wonder what the students say?" said Crow
"Wait? You aren't considering that Lionheart is..." said Ironwood
"Compromised. I'm afraid so" said Ozpin
"Now hold on, that's only if Sun and Neptune's right about these two students. We need more information on them before we start diving any deeper into this" said Glynda
Silence encases the room with an air of uncertainty over everyone's heads
"... Glynda is right, moments like this should not be rushed no matter the circumstance. lucky for us, our two detectives seem to have recruited an informant" said Ozpin putting down his mug
"Who is it?" said Ironwood, to a smirking Ozpin
Beacon medical ward – 4:26pm
"You want me to what!?" said Jaune
"We just need an informant, if things get hairy you could just turn back to your male form and they wouldn't be able to find you" said Sun reassuringly
"Could? I don't know if I can! What makes you even think I can do this?" said Jaune, slightly exasperated
"Calm down, if you doubt you can do this, they would too. They wouldn't expect you Jaune, your perfect" said Neptune enthusiastic
"i… need to think about this" said Jaune
"I understand, but we don't have much time. The Vytal festival is almost over, so your going to have to think quick" said Sun
With that, Jaune left the room, only to return 12 minutes later
"how would I do it?" said Jaune
"well, from what our sources have told us, they should be going up to the stadium to get the general layout and strategize for the tournament" said Sun
"and from their you would…"
Stadium inner workings – 12:14pm
"so... how do you guy's think you will do?" said Jaune leaning on a wall covered in shade
"i have a good feeling mercury will win" said Emerald non-chulauntly looking at her scroll, uninterested
"that's not what i think" said Jaune with a serious expression on her face, taking emerald aback
"Well, your a first. Why, do you think he will fail?" said Emerald, with her interest in the conversation peaking slightly
"... for one, you're not really jumping to defend his fighting abilities at the mention of his failings like most teams. and he's too cocky for his own good" said Jaune cementing herself in her quote-on-quote cool persona
"ok... you got me. truth is, i Don't care whether mercury wins or loses, this whole thing is just kingdom propaganda. the time spent here, you could be out there, making an actual difference" said Emerald in an annoyed tone
"so why are you still here?" said Jaune
"cause i have to be. what about you? you like all of this crap" said Emerald
"some aspects of it i like, can't beat a kids smile every now and then" said Jaune
"that's got to be the corniest thing I've heard in a very long time" scoffed emerald
"yeah. it is, isn't it... but, with that said, there's probably some kid in that audience right now who is smiling cause of you" said Jaune
Emerald stayed silent after that remark, unsure what to say.
""I... Have to go" said Emerald
"Uh, sure... I guess I'll see you around?" said Jaune
Emerald said nothing, and started to walk away. But just as Jaune took her first step to leave. Emerald stopped and turned her head slightly in Jaune's direction.
"hey... I know a good place down near the docks, if you feel like it, I'll save a seat for you during the finals" said Emerald before finally leaving, disappearing into the shadows.
Jaune contemplated on this proposal, and after a couple minutes passed by, thought about reporting back to Sun and Neptune. But just as Jaune was going to leave, she decided it would be best to go after emerald, as if she were to leave now, this could be the last conversation she has with the green haired girl. However, as Jaune came around the corner expecting to confront emerald in a badly lit corridor, she came across a dark void. Jaune stood only centimetres from the black wall in-front of her, contemplating about going in. seconds passed before Jaune took her first steps inside. Upon entering inside, she was surrounded by darkness. A minute passed by of jaune slowly traversing through the darkness, her hand trailing along the corridors wall, up until something tapped her on the shoulder. Causing Jaune to jump in her place slightly out of shock and remained frozen, unsure, and afraid.
"Oh, sorry, sorry. You mustn't of heard me, are you alright?" said a stranger in a concerned tone.
A few seconds passed before jaune replied.
"yeah… I think so, um can you see what's in-front of me by any chance?" asked Jaune cautiously
"uh, yes. It's a darkly lit hallway… about 20 metres long… around 15 doors line it on either side, um… and there's 3 staff members, and 5 other students" said the stranger politely
"is there a girl with green hair up ahead by any chance?" asked Jaune
"no, sadly I'm afraid there's no one here that matches that description. why?" said the stranger concerned
"oh, its nothing I just wanted to ask her something" said Jaune nonchalantly
"I might be able to carry on the message for you, if I run into her" said the stranger
"oh its nothing, I'm sure I'll run into her again soon" said Jaune casually
"that might not be for the best" said the stranger silently, but not silent enough
"um… excuse me?" said Jaune confused, but their was no reply
A few minutes passed before Jaune decided to head back the way she came, although only half way through her journey back, did the darkness dissipate around her. She found herself still in the same darkly lit hallway, but now with the sense that Emerald might be onto her.
Beacon medical ward – 12:50pm
"What do you guys think?" said Jaune
"it was Emerald. she must have used her semblance to create the void" said Sun
"She probably did it to… see if you were on to her. Needless to say, she and whoever she's with knows your on to them" said Neptune
"yeah… But to be fair you did get some great information. We now have a good idea of when they'll strike, so don't worry, you did great" said Sun in an uplifting tone
"Yeah, you definitely did. However… I would recommend that you turn into your less recognisable self until this thing has been dealt with, otherwise things might get a little bit dangerous for you in these upcoming days" said Neptune
"Oh… yeah, sure" said Jaune smiling nervously
Beacon courtyard – 1:30pm
"I think some people are onto us" said Emerald to mercury, as they both sat down on one of beacons many courtyard benches.
"are they the type of people, important people will listen to?" said Mercury while eating a sandwich.
"I don't know, maybe. It was that blonde bimbo with the world renowned fighter wrapped around her finger" said Emerald unsure
"Oh… ah, Jaune… right!?" said Mercury
"uh, yeah… how did you…" said Emerald perplexed
"eh, she's cute" said Mercury nonchalantly, taking another bite of his sandwich next to a WTF faced emerald
Emerald sat next to Mercury in disbelief up until he finished his sandwich.
"so, what do you want me to do about it?" said Mercury in an uninterested tone
"getting rid of her would be a start" said Emerald
"Bad idea. We're already going to have the shadow government after us when we help cinder become a maiden, I don't want to have to deal with a vengeful "world renowned fighter" as well" said Mercury
"so what, we just wait until we get caught?" said Emerald annoyed
"by the time it gets serious, we'll have already done what we needed to do and this school will be gone" said Mercury casually
"I couldn't have said it better myself" said Cinder when she arrived at the bench
"are we all good for tonight?" asked Mercury
"naturally" replied Cinder with her signature sinister smile
"I still don't know if we can trust him" said Emerald
"we don't need to, we just need to use him. And by the looks of it, I would say he's doing a good job" said Cinder as she looked at groups of atlas guards running to their ships to make their way up to ironwoods flagship
Ironwoods flagship – 1:31pm
The interior of the flagship was buzzing like a disturbed hornets nest. Guards and Knights running through countless corridors and checking thousands of rooms, except for one.
Ironwoods quarters – 1:32pm
"y'know I would really think that there would be more in here" said Roman into his scroll as he roamed around the generals minimalistic room.
"oh, this looks interesting" said roman as he found and pressed a small square button on one of the metal walls.
Almost immediately the walls opened up revealing an Atlesian desk with an assorted array of holographic screens and electronic locks. Upon viewing this Roman tried accessing some of its features before failing, ultimately locking himself out of the system and having the desk retract back into the wall.
"and I didn't even get a chance to smash it. Well I suppose I can make the general paranoid why'll I'm at it" said Roman as he placed and moved random objects around the room.
Around fifteen minutes passed with Roman in the cabin. Silently sitting on the bed, waiting to be found. Except when he was, he didn't go quietly, it was a knight. Almost as soon as it entered the room it was destroyed. Leaving Roman with a heap of scrap metal and an epiphany. Either wait till the rest come, or go for a Run. Being the suave criminal that he was, he started stretching. A couple seconds passed before Roman dashed out of the room, immediately entering back into the labyrinth of corridors that made up the ship's interior. He ran for a few minutes before coming across a map. It showed the layout of the ship, as long as Roman remembered what corridors go where, he could go anywhere. So Roman studied the map and after a minute passed, he started running.
Flagship hanger – 1:41pm
"ok, not so different from the one's on the black-market. This should be easy" said Roman as he sat in the cockpit of an Atlesian Bullhead. Ready to take off.
As the engines started to roar into ignition the hanger guards converged on the Bullhead and started the Hanger lockdown. Leaving Roman only a minute to escape. Ten seconds passed before the bullhead lifted off the ground, another ten passed before it left the hanger, and a final ten seconds passed before one of its engines was obliterated by an anti-vehicle rocket fired from the flagship.
"y'know, even though I planned for this to happen, it still hurts a little bit deep down knowing that they think I'm an idiot for doing this" said Roman to himself as he started to hurtle down towards the forests of Vale.
Forests of Vale – 8:00pm
"as much as it pains me to say this, I underestimated you Roman. But, I can assure you, this will not happen again" said general ironwood as roman was being cuffed and moved into an Atlesian Manta gunship
"however, I suppose I should thank you, you highlighted quite a few flaws when it came to our security, but rest assured, you won't be leaving my ship in a very long time" said Ironwood as the Manta fired up its engines, lighting up the surrounding area in a warm blue light.
"don't thank me met tin-man" said Roman just before the Manta's doors closed and lifted up off the ground, and started making its way back to the flagship
The general stood in the forest clearing for a couple minutes in silence looking up at the gunship, ruminating on what roman had said, before being interrupted by his scroll ringing in his pocket. He took it out and read the screen. A small wave of fear washed over him as he read the name.
"Ozpin, what's the problem" answered Ironwood
"its amber… she's been attacked, your going to have to come down" said Ozpin
"of course" said Ironwood before hanging up and walking towards his Gunship, being followed by the rest of his soldiers, and leaving the forest.
author note: hey, i hope you all enjoyed this chapter. i'm looking forward to writing the next one. if there is any specific things you would like to see in the future chapters, just send me a message or leave a review.
have a good day.