Chapter 31: Port's Problem

AN: I swear, these author's notes just keep getting longer and longer. Just got a lot to talk about regarding the fic I guess. First off, hope you enjoy having your release a day early. Why am I posting a day early? Two programming assignments and three exams, all due this week. I got this written up early, but still… don't rely on this Wednesday's upload because odds are it won't happen.

Next, ships. I didn't realize until after the fact just how hard I pushed Kassidy x Yang, but I did. After reviewing my own ideas for the fic and realizing that I had exactly zero plans to tease other ships until Molotov Cocktail (my personal name for the ship) got confirmed, consider this your confirmation that Kassidy and Yang is the ship. Now, don't go getting excited, the actual shipping itself is a LONG ways away, I have some very specific plans where to go with that.

Further, since I brought up the possibility of M-rated chapters, let me be clear that there will be exactly zero chapters rated M for romance related stuff. Not only does homie not play that, I'd be talking so far out of my ass I can't even come up with a good anal joke for that. Seriously, the closest thing I've had to a relationship is with my computer.

Also, the story got added to a community. Not really sure what all that means, I didn't do it, but yay. Especially considering I got thrown up with the likes of Couer Al'Aran, Le MAO, PotnPan, and JC of the Corn… I mean, holy shit. Dunno who I tricked into thinking I write anywhere near the level of those guys, but thanks for the vote of confidence. And the pressure.

In this edition of "how long will it take people to figure out I don't actually know what I'm talking about", it's time for a new mission! A new type of Grimm has shown up, and RWKY is uniquely qualified to deal with them. Or are they? Yeah, if you think I'm letting our resident Huntresses off the hook that easy, then you must've just got here.

(Perspective: Kassidy)

Kassidy wasn't sure when the last time three weeks just drifted by in a haze, with her not paying that much attention to life. Probably never. She just… she just couldn't get over what had happened that Friday for some reason. It was inconceivable that she wasn't able to move past it. It was just some guy being a royal jerk, nothing new there. She's been beaten before, hell, she even got tortured a couple times when she did get caught early on. Pain wasn't anything new to her, neither was getting her oh so precious feelings hurt.

But getting cornered by Russel Thrush? That felt different somehow. More personal, more visceral. She couldn't quite put a finger on it. And it bothered her to no end. Bothered that she let herself get cornered like that. Bothered that she was letting something as petty as that affect her so much. Bothered that she couldn't figure out the scramble her thoughts got themselves into. Bothered that she couldn't just get over it already.

And right now? She was bothered by the fact that her arms and legs were doing their best to ignore her commands. As she stepped out of the shower after her early morning workout and clumsily pulled on her school uniform, she thought back to the conversation that lead to morning rapidly becoming both her most and least favorite time of day.

"Hey Kass, what's up?"

"How many pancakes would I need to make to bribe you to get up at 4:30 in the morning?"

"4:30! Hmm… probably a lot. Like twelve. Why would you want me to get up that early?"

"Because my workouts aren't getting me anywhere anymore. If anyone can get me in fighting shape, it's you."

"Where's this coming-"

"I'm tired of being weak, Nora. Tired of having to rely on Ruby or Weiss or Yang to come swooping in to save my sorry rear every time something mildly threatening comes up. Tired of being so goddamned helpless."

Kassidy let a grim smirk grace her visage for a moment. Depending on what kind of results I get, that was either the single smartest or the single dumbest move I've made so far at Beacon. At least I've learned how to make some killer pancakes.

"Watch where you're going!" The shrill shriek brought Kassidy back to reality. Apparently she had managed to get from the gym showers to the dorm room building, unlock her team's dorm, and nearly plow into Weiss all without noticing.

"Sorry, princess. Just tired, I guess."

Kassidy sat down at her desk and brought up Bob's code again. Nothing like a good programming problem to try and get my brain back in line. Guess that's why I've been doing it so much. By some incredulous decision nobody understood, Russel Thrush wasn't expelled. Not to say he got off easy, and for obvious reasons he did his best not to be in the same building as RWKY when he could. But all it really did was make Yang feel vindicated in taking a role as her personal bodyguard or something. Not only did that make it really hard to convince people they weren't dating, but it frustrated Kassidy that her teammates didn't trust her enough to be able to take care of herself.

"Alright, we need to talk." Surprisingly, this particular outburst came from Ruby as opposed to her sister. "Seriously, Kass, why won't you talk with anyone? You've been hurting real bad ever since Russel tried to hurt you," Kassidy cringed at how Yang explained the situation to her sister, "and you haven't let anyone try to help you. It's tearing you apart."

"Wouldn't be the first time I've been torn apart." Well, metaphorically at least. I haven't actually been physically torn apart yet, thank god. "Quit worrying about me, Ruby, I'm fine. Seriously."

"No, you're not fine. You don't even need to be a terrible liar for us to figure that one out."

"I said I'm fine, Yang. I can handle my own problems."

"Can you?" Kassidy turned around to see an irate Weiss stare her down. "You're internalizing the issue. It's not healthy. This is a serious issue. You really need to – did you just shrug at me?! Take this seriously for Oum's sake!"

Kassidy just shrugged again. "Why would I take something that isn't serious seriously? Just one more issue to add to the list." Yang and Ruby exchanged worried glances, while Weiss looked like she was trying to best decide how to argue the point. She beat her to the punch, though. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get a bit more coding done before class starts."

At that moment, all four of their Scrolls went off. Naturally, Bob had the message as well, a banner manifesting across the top of the screen.

"Professor Port's class is cancelled for today… won't catch me complaining." Weiss shot Yang a dirty look as Ruby tried to decide whether to agree with her sister or admonish her for being so willing to skip the lecture. Another message came through quickly, however.

"Team RWKY, please report to the infirmary at once," Kassidy read. "This can't be good."

"Oh come on, partner! What's the worst that can happen?"

Ruby, Weiss, and Kassidy all facepalmed simultaneously. "Yang, what have we said about your ironic foreshadowing? STOP SAYING THAT!" After taking a moment to recover from her outburst, Weiss recomposed herself and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Now, with that out of the way, it would be best not to keep Headmaster Ozpin waiting."

"Uh, right! Team Rookie, to the infirmary!" Ruby led the charge to the building in question, and in a few minutes the four girls found themselves strolling up to the front doors.

Ozpin walked out to greet them. "Ah, girls, glad you could make it. Before we begin, I would like to speak with Ms. Smith privately." Oh, lovely. Because I haven't argued enough with people this morning. Stepping a short ways into the hallway, Ozpin kept quiet. "I understand you have had quite the month here. But given our situation, I'll keep this brief: do you feel ready to go on a mission?"

"A mission?" Kassidy was blindsided by the question, but she quickly came back to reality. "With all due respect, if there was a point where I wasn't able to throw down at any given time, then I wouldn't have gotten here alive. I'm always ready."

Ozpin looked at her inquisitively, scanning her face as though he didn't quite believe her. After a good fifteen seconds, his expression softened. "Very well, if you insist." He beckoned the rest of the team inside, and led them through the building.

"So, uh, Headmaster? How come you brought us to the infirmary?" Ruby tugged at her cape a bit.

The small party arrived at a door, and after a moment's hesitation, he opened it for them. "The reason as to why Professor Port's lecture was cancelled." Weiss and Kassidy shared a gasp, already guessing what they were about to see, but the four girls walked into the room regardless.

"What the Dust? Port's on life support? What happened to him?" Yang couldn't contain herself at the scene before them. Kassidy took quick note of the important parts. No aura, barely stabilized vitals, and more open wounds than… open wounds… oh god not again. Kassidy tried to fight it, but it was little use and she rapidly dumped the contents of her stomach into a wastebasket. At least I haven't had breakfast yet.

After recovering, she turned to her partner. "Hey Yang, remember when you said 'what's the worst that can happen'? Remember how we told you to stop saying that kind of crap?"

Yang paled. "I didn't mean or want anything like this to happen, and you know it!"

Ozpin cleared his throat, bringing the bickering to a halt. "Now that you know the stakes of what I have to tell you, let's give Dr. Narud space to work."

Upon being led to a sort of conference room, RWKY was surprised to see Professors Goodwitch and Oobleck in the room as well. Nevertheless, what was going on was obvious to Kassidy, and as soon as everyone had taken a seat she spoke up about her misgivings. "So, let me guess: you're about to ask us to go fight whatever just put Professor Port of all people on life support."

Glynda and Oobleck were both caught off guard by her bluntness, but Ozpin took it in stride. "Yes, that is exactly what I'm about to ask. But before we descend into an argument, I would like to explain some background on the situation." Organizing some papers in front of him, Ozpin began his little speech. "Approximately six hours ago, reports showed that a small handful of strange Grimm had wandered into the forests of Forever Fall. Initial readings left us befuddled, so naturally we sent Peter to investigate. What he found was a small pack of a type of Grimm that has only just started showing up across the wilds of Remnant."

"These Grimm are so new, in fact, that they don't even have proper names yet." Oobleck dug out his own papers and actually talked at a normal pace, letting the seriousness of the situation sink into his words. "However, among those of us in the know, they're currently being called Hunter-Killers. A variant of Beowolf, it's slightly larger, moderately bulkier, and significantly more heavily armored. There are few spots on its body that aren't covered by bone plates."

"But those aren't what makes it so especially dangerous." Glynda joined into the briefing at this point. "Hunter-Killers are unique among other Grimm in two ways: they're unusually intelligent. They can't outsmart us, thank Oum, but they're still geniuses by Grimm standards. And… they've learned how to fight with aura."

"Wait, the Grimm have figured out how to use aura?" Weiss was taken aback by that statement.

"Not exactly." Glynda explained, "Through means completely unknown to us, they can feed off of auras near them, making them stronger, faster, and reinforcing their bone plates. The more aura they can draw from, the stronger they get. We don't know what kind of limit this ability has."

"But regardless, it's incredibly powerful, and what has led to their current moniker." Ozpin took things over from there. "Peter ran into a pack of four… he never stood a chance. We were able to scare them off when we responded to his emergency signal, but the damage had already been done."

Kassidy mulled over the facts for a moment. "So, we've got overgrown Beowolves that can get stronger with nearby aura. Alright, easy enough. Me and Ruby can hop on a Bullhead and take potshots until there's little more than bloodstains on the grass."

"Unfortunately, it won't be that easy. They have proven unexplainably resilient to ranged weaponry, and our initial tactic of bringing in Bullheads with high enough caliber weaponry to overwhelm their defenses has trained them to avoid the craft at all costs."

Yang frowned at Oobleck's explanation. "So, what are you wanting us to do again?"

Ozpin handed folders to the members of the team. "As you guessed earlier, we want you to deal with them."

"But why us?" Ruby opened her folder and stared at all the paper in it, before raising her voice again. "If these things are so dangerous… I mean, I appreciate that you think so much of us, but what can we do?"

"From what we know of Hunter-Killers, we believe you four to be uniquely qualified to deal with the threat." Glynda sighed and folded her hands in front of her. "Ms. Rose, your semblance, as well as your weapon, allows you to stay far away from the Grimm and engage them safely. Ms. Xiao Long, from what little we understand of their abilities, they can only draw power strictly from auras… not semblances."

"Which means that I only need to get hit a couple times to be stronger than them anyway. Sweet, been a while since I've been in a good slugging competition." Yang cracked her knuckles excitedly.

"Ms. Schnee, your glyphs, coupled with your skill in Dust use, would give you complete control over the battlefield, something which is absolutely required for a fight with Hunter-Killers."

Kassidy finished for Glynda. "And I don't have an aura for them to draw from, so they're little more than overgrown Beowolves to me."

Ozpin deigned to conclude the briefing himself. "Not precisely, because they can still draw from the auras of your teammates. And even without being able to draw from an aura they are still significantly more dangerous than your typical Beowolf." Sighing, he motioned for a new cup of coffee before continuing.

"This is a fully fledged Search and Destroy mission, and given the risk – not to mention your status as Huntresses in training – we're prepared to offer far more than you would usually get on this mission. In those folders is everything we know about Hunter-Killers in general and these four specifically. In addition, our armory and stockpiles are fully open for your access, and you may requisition whatever gear you need. You have been excused from classes for the day, and a Bullhead has been set aside for your use, which will be taking you to Forever Fall this evening at 7:00."

"Of course, it is your right to refuse this mission," Glynda added as almost an afterthought. "I know we're asking a lot of you, and we fully understand if you don't believe yourselves to be up to the task."

"However, then we would need to go to whomever we have next to deal with this threat. And we have nobody next."

"Talk about a vote of confidence, Prof – Doctor Oobleck." Kassidy rifled through the papers strewn about in front of her. "Well, what do you girls think?"

"Your mood has certainly improved. And it's our duty as Huntresses to do this, especially when we're so suited to the task." Weiss scrunched her brow in through, before visibly relaxing. "Not to mention all the extra credit we should get from this."

"What the heck? Should be a fun way to spend a Friday evening." Yang earned six separate scowls for her offhand comment.

"Weiss is right, we have to do this." Ruby hit her fist on the table with authority, before cradling it from slamming the table too hard and giving a soft whine.

"Miss Smith?" Ozpin asked expectantly.

"Hey, someone has to keep these three in check." Ruby groaned, Weiss glared at her, and Yang chuckled. "I'm not in the habit of going for assisted suicide, but if we play our cards right this isn't that." Raising an eyebrow at the few physical measurements available, Kassidy dug out her computer. "Alright Bob, wakey wakey."

"I'm a computer. I'm always awake."

"Sure you are," Kassidy chuckled. "The Garand's going to be significantly less useful than it normally is for this hunt. Other than picking off the local wildlife, the hide on these guys is thick enough to resist lead. I'm going to need specialty ammo for the main event, and I don't have a lot of those. Ruby, can I ask for your help with making more?"

"Of course!"

"Alright. Hmm, looking at these combat anecdotes… let's focus on ice and explosive. Bob, I want sources for thermite raw ingredients ready for review by the time we're back at the dorm. I only have one clip of explosive left, and that's not going to be good enough."

"Just warning you, it's not going to be a very long list. Making thermite from scratch is a pain in the rear around these parts. Still, I'll see what I can do."

"And once you're doing helping Kassidy make ammo, you are joining me in the library." Weiss jabbed her finger at Ruby, who shrunk away from the attention. "As team leader, it's your job to be prepared for anything. So help me, you are going to have this packet memorized by this evening if it kills me."

Yang leaned in to Kassidy's ear, and whispered, "Probably will, if their study sessions are anything to go by." They both chuckled.

"Um… okay! I'm helping Kassidy make ammo and then learning about these Hunter-Killers, Weiss will be studying also, Yang will be… what will you be doing again, Yang?"

"Why don't you stick with Weiss, Rubes? I'll help K with her ammo."

Ruby groaned and whined, Weiss looked at first pleased, then put off, and Yang had a shit eating grin on her face. Kassidy took it all in with a smile and a small laugh, before glancing at the professors and offering a shrug.

"Alright, I'll be in the library with Weiss all day… yay…" this earned a cross glare from Weiss, "Kassidy and Yang will be making ammo. Can you make sure all our gear is ready as well?"

"Sure thing."

"Okay. We'll all meet in the cafeteria at five for an early dinner, sound good?" A chorus of affirmatives made their way to Ruby. "On this day, Team Rookie takes down some Hunter-Killers! Bonsai!"

Ozpin spoke up again. "Very well, students, it sounds like you have a sound plan in place. Do not hesitate to contact any of us if you need assistance in your preparations."

"C'mon, partner, lighten up! It's only a short ride to Forever Fall!"

"Unless you want to be wearing my dinner, don't invite me to 'lighten up'."

"Easy, guys. We're almost there. I think. Hey, Mr. Pilot Guy, how long until we get there?"

"Another two minutes, gals."

Kassidy took that as her cue to give her gear one final look-over. No rappelling out this time, the pilot was actually kind enough to land before demanding they get out. Seven eight-round clips of explosive and ice ammo each, check. Twenty clips of regular ammo, check. Pistol with ten eight-round magazines, check. Sword, check. Backpack filled with as many medical supplies as I could shove in it, check. Bob with all his toys, check.

'Listen up, strap in, notify your next of kin.'

"Yang, turn that horrible music off! You're going to attract attention to us when we land!"

"Relax, Ice Queen, we're not even on the ground yet. Let a girl have her bit of fun, why don't ya?"

"This is the pilot speaking, thirty seconds."

Ruby stepped in front of the door and spoke up. "Alright, everyone remember the plan?"

Weiss spoke up first. "I'll keep the battle moving in our favor. Keeping them split up levels the playing field and opens up more options on our side."

Kassidy was next. "I'll find someone to pick on and freeze him, blow him up, or try and chop off some limbs, whichever is most appropriate. The easier time Yang has, the easier time the rest of us will have."

Yang cracked her knuckles and gave a manic grin that wouldn't be out of place on Nora. "I punch them. Hard."

"And I'll keep any regular Grimm out of the fight so that you three only have to worry about the Hunter-Killers. Hey, Headmaster Ozpin, you still hearing us?"

"We read you loud and clear."

The door opened behind Ruby, and the four Huntresses filed out of the Bullhead in short order. A Creep that was too curious for its own good earned a bullet in the brain for its troubles. "Alright, Kassidy, why don't you take front? You're the best at this tracking stuff."

"Hey, got some tracks over here for ya, partner. Too big to be Beowolves." Sure enough, Yang had found the proper tracks. Oddly enough, there was only one set of tracks; from what information they had, Hunter-Killers firmly believed in the safety in numbers principle. Still, one track was better than no tracks, and she led the team further into the forest.

After a few training missions to practice their formation, travelling through a forest was old hap for the girls. Kassidy was in front, focusing on navigation while also keeping her ears open for the first signs of wildlife. Weiss and Yang were right behind her, ready for a fight. Ruby, with her ridiculous speed and stamina, would often take to the trees or dart out around the sides, keeping a closer eye on the surrounding area to make sure the group didn't run into anything unexpected.

Everything was going well. Too well. As usual, paranoia wormed its way into Kassidy's thought process, as also as per usual, she trusted her paranoid instincts to keep herself out of trouble. Why is there still only one set of tracks? And why is there exactly zero wildlife around us? Something isn't right here. She tapped her earpiece. "Hey Ruby, you haven't seen any other tracks yourself, have you?"

"Hmm… nope!"

"Easy, K. We got this."

Kassidy couldn't shake the bad feeling though. "If you don't see any tracks in the next minute, let me know. I'll keep on this one." The air was definitely tenser now – while the girls still dismissed her most outlandish feelings as paranoia, by this point Kassidy has proven more than once that she knows what she's doing. Ruby was a bit more frantic in her patrol, and Weiss and Yang were definitely on edge.

"Been a minute, still haven't found any."

Alarm bells started ringing rather loudly in Kassidy's head. "Alright, forget the tracks for now. We need to get to the nearest clearing."

Weiss didn't seem to like that idea. "We're doing fine, Kassidy. Just focus on tracking them, we'll keep you covered."

Kassidy snapped at her, "Listen. What do you hear?"

"Nothing."

"Exactly, and that means?"

"… Oh." Weiss' face slightly paled.

"There's more. Hunter-Killers are supposed to be fanatically attached to their pack, right? We've only found one set of tracks so far, not four."

"C'mon guys, let's keep our heads in the game. Things are still going well for us." Yang tried to lift the spirits of the group, but the slight shake in her voice said that she was trying to convince herself too.

"If things are going so well, then why do I feel like the one that's being hunted?"

A twig snapped about seventy five feet away, and all three girls snapped up to it. Kassidy started looking around for the nearest clearing. "Yeah… kinda just said that. Ruby, find anything?"

"No, I – ah!" It sounded like Ruby just ran into something – or that something ran into her.

"Ruby!" Yang was about to run towards her sister in a panic when Kassidy grabbed the sleeve of her jacket.

"We'll circle around for her. Right now, we've got our own problems."

"What do you mean, we have our own problems?"

Weiss barely got the words out before a series of growls sounded around them. Three Grimm stepped out of the brush and circled the Huntresses huddled together. Weiss spun a dial on her rapier, Yang cocked Ember Celica, and Kassidy loaded a clip of explosive ammo before talking over her earpiece. "Hey, Oz? We found them."

AN 2: *Cue fight mucic*

What happens when four Huntresses with plot armor meet four Grimm with plot armor? Only good things, I can assure you. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully. 3900 word chapter, not counting author's notes. For your information, this is more or less the length I'm going for at the moment. Anyway, I already talked about everything I wanted to talk about in the first author's note, so let's go ahead to Reader Responses.

Guest: That's not gonna happen, for a couple reasons. Most of them I'm hiding behind some pretty big spoilers, but the one I can expand on is that Kassidy doesn't recognize it as that big a deal. People have been mean to her before, so why should this time be different? But why can't she shake the strange feeling that this is somehow different?

Captain marvel 36: Well, I promise that there's not going to be a whole lot of that this story. Also helps that I have this thing planned out to a ridiculous degree, to the point where I know the general idea for each and every chapter this story will ever have. Glad to hear you think so highly of my writing skills.

James: Do not worry, friend, plenty more darkness to come. As for your questions, without delving into spoiler territory, yes and hell yes.

Akshka: Glad to hear you enjoyed it so much.

Tykene: Believe me, I tried VERY hard to punch Russel through my computer monitor as I was writing that. As for the weapon/aura... that's a secret to be revealed much later.

narysowany: Glad to hear I didn't go so long it started turning people off. Hopefully the slightly shorter chapters that I'm actually trying to write (like this one) is still enough to keep you interested.

Iron-ninja: There are few problems that cannot be solved by shotgun to the face.

Chilltexan: Welp, you got your wish, though due to an oversight on my part the cat got out of the bag a fair bit earlier than I was hoping it would be. Glad to hear you're liking Kassidy's story, though TBH I'm a big fan of well-done OC's, so those tend to be the stories I tend to gravitate towards myself.