Chapter 4: Fiery Anger/part 1
(Vale - Daytime)
"Yang... I think this is too much." Raiko said awkwardly, now dressed in a very extravagant outfit, composed of a bright yellow jacket, baggy pants, and a green cap.
After he and Ozpin finished their brief duel, Raiko had to keep his promise with Yang and go out shopping for more clothes, something he never did since the Jedi Temple offered him all the robes he needed, and keeping up with any kind of fashion sense from any planet was not only impossible but also did not follow with the Jedi Code of being humble and only using modest clothing. However, since he was going to be in Remnant for a very long time and needed to blend in with society, he accepted Yang's offer. What he did not expect was that Yang wanted him to wear a million outfits. Which grew tiresome after the first twenty options.
"It is the latest thing in fashion. I can't have my teammate walking around in, no offense, weirdo clothing." the blonde answered, carrying a bag with many clothes on it.
"My robes are not weird."
"Dude, everyone on the way from Beacon looked at you with weirdness." Ruby stated.
"While I admit I like people looking in my direction, I wish it is for a good reason and not for the unconventional wardrobe of my classmate." Weiss said.
"It is a bit uncomfortable." Blake admitted, looking a bit stressed, "Look, just pick whatever you like and let's go. We have to study for Oobleck's class tomorrow, he already gave us an assignment."
"Well, then..." Raiko then lifted his right arm and made some clothes levitate in his direction.
Those clothes were a pastel brown long-sleeved shirt, a white jacket, gray pants, and brown boots.
"...Is this enough? I kind of like it, and it doesn't make me... stand out too much. I like to keep it simple."
"Huuuuuuuuum. Eh, it is fine." Yang answered.
"Oh, thank the stars."
"Then let's go to register. The sooner we go back to Beacon the sooner we can-"
"I just want to buy some clothes!"
"Absolutely not!"
Weiss got interrupted by the owner of the shop, who was having a heated argument with a Faunus man, who looked to be scared.
"There is a clear sign out there that says your kind is not welcome here! Now get out!" the owner shouted, aggressively pointing towards the entrance of the shop.
"But why I am not allowed here!?" the Faunus asked, almost tearing up from the stress.
"Because I own this shop, and the law says that I can decide who can and who cannot be here! Now leave my establishment immediately or I will call the police!" the owner exclaimed as he slammed his fist on the table, making the Faunus step back.
Raiko looked at this scene with curiosity. He had heard of Faunus racism before, but he never witnessed it until now since that was literally the first time he left Beacon during his entire time on Remnant, and it was just as awful as he expected. While he wished to apprehend the man for such awful behavior, he knew that he could legally behave like this because of outdated laws that never evolved with society, so he just watched the scene with sorrow. But he was definitely not the only one unhappy with the view. Ruby looked to the ground with embarrassment, trying the best she could to ignore the situation and her inability to help. Weiss was shockingly apathetic towards the situation, just waiting patiently until the confusion was over so they could leave. Yang felt similar, but unlike Ruby, she kept staring at the scene intensely with an expression of disgust towards the owner. However, that was nothing compared to how Blake was feeling.
She felt an emotion that Raiko knew very well; it was an emotion that tempted all the Jedi to the Dark Side and made many people lose themselves in the darkness. Anger. Pure, raw anger. Blake looked at the owner with a glare filled with so much fury that Raiko almost believed she would attack him, despite not bringing her weapon with her. Sure for the regular bystander, she would just look angry, but for someone like Raiko, her fury was something way more intense than the one of a regular civilized human witnessing racism, Blake DESPISED the owner in a way Raiko never expected such a collected individual to feel. The only evidence of that wrath to a non-Force user was the fact she was clenching her fists with a lot of strength.
"B-But is just some-"
"I DON'T CARE! LEAVE NOW!"
Blake clenched her fist with even more strength, and her anger was making Raiko feel uncomfortable.
"Why can't he just leave? He is clearly not welcome here." Weiss said, sounding annoyed with the Faunus.
"What?" Blake asked, her voice showing a mixture of shock and restrained anger.
"Faunus can't go to certain places here in Vale. He should have noticed the sign on the wall."
"This is not right." Ruby whispered, saddened by the poor man.
"But it is the law, and they can arrest him for not leaving."
Before Blake could answer to Weiss, Raiko went in the discussion's direction.
"That is it! I am calling the cops!"
"Wait, a moment." Raiko requested.
"What!? Oh, a customer. I apologize for this, but this rascal here is refusing to leave, so I will have to call the authorities. I will see you and your friends in just a moment." the owner said, treating Raiko with respect.
"Actually, I think you should open this store for the Faunus."
Everyone in the small store, especially the owner, looked at Raiko with shock.
"What!?" the owner asked, sounding angry again.
"Just think about it. It can be beneficial for you to allow Faunus to buy clothes here, listen to me for a moment." Raiko moved his hands in front of the owner as he spoke, almost looking like a business executive trying to sell something "Think about it, many stores on Vale outright refuse to sell their products to Faunus, but if you allow them to come here, you will gain more money than the other stores around, and in the future that will come in play when you desire to expand your business. It is the most logical thing to do now with most stores rejecting Faunus clients, they will need to come here to buy their clothes."
"I-I hum I..." the owner mumbled, his anger having mysteriously vanished.
"Come on, it is a good idea. You really want to open your store to the Faunus." the Jedi spoke, now having his hand in the man's direction.
"I... want to open my store to Faunus." the owner spoke.
Team RWBY and the Faunus man almost dropped their jaws to the ground, they just witnessed a racist man suffer a complete change of mind just with some words. Sure he was still racist, but it was still a miracle he accepted Raiko's offer.
"Wonderful. So, I presume is your turn in the line now?" Raiko asked the Faunus.
"Ah! Yes!" the Faunus then bought his clothes, the owner didn't even say a word as the Faunus paid him "Thank you." he whispered to Raiko as he left the store.
Turning to his back, Raiko saw four shocked faces staring at him with total disbelief, with Blake looking almost scared with what just happened.
"So, I believe we are next! Let's go." Raiko said, clapping his hands together to wake up the girls.
"Huuuuuuuuuuum. Sure!" Yang said as the team paid for Raiko's clothes.
They paid the owner and left the store, saying nothing, except for Ruby.
"Thanks, owner... guy." she said, pretty uncomfortably.
"Why did you thank him?" Blake asked, sounding a bit annoyed "He is a disgusting racist."
"I know. But my mom always taught me to be polite, even to those that don't deserve it. They may be awful persons, but that doesn't mean we have to step down closer to their level." Ruby explained, speaking about her mom with admiration.
"An interesting, if not childish, philosophy." Raiko stated, "Your mom must be a very interesting person."
Ruby slowed down a bit and looked at the ground.
"Yeah... she was."
Raiko didn't need any Force abilities to know what was wrong, and Yang's glare also made things easy to figure things out.
"Oh. My apologies, Ruby."
"It is alright." Ruby said in a low tone of voice.
Raiko knew the girl was lying, but left the subject as it was. Team RWBY now walked back to Beacon in silence, with Yang glaring in Raiko's direction all the way.
They crossed a beggar covered in filthy rags on their path, but paid him no mind. When they got to a considerable distance from him, he got up and walked towards the store.
The owner was now peacefully organizing his stocks in a room with little concern about things. While he was close to finishing, the bell on his door showed a customer entered his store.
"Welcome! Just a moment, please!" he exclaimed.
The supposed beggar then pressed a button on the wall and made all the windows go dark, stopping anyone from seeing what happened in the store. He also changed the sign on the door from OPEN to CLOSED. As the door to the storage room opened, he quickly hid.
"Welcome to my humble shop! In what ways can I help-" the owner stopped mid-sentence as he saw his store in the dark "-you?"
The owner looked around with concern; he was certain someone was here; he heard someone entering.
"Who... Who is there!?"
Click*
"Shhhhhhhhhh. Easy there." a man said, his voice being right at the owner's side.
As the owner slowly turned his head towards his "customer" he saw that the man had a gun pointing at his face, point-blank, and completely covered in dirty rags, the only visible part of his body was his hand holding the gun, which was covered by a shining dark grey gauntlet. He looked at the armed man with shock and froze completely, his eyes never leaving his aggressor's gun.
"Now, listen to me clearly, 1.000."
"1.000?"
The fake beggar answered the man's question by pressing the barrel of his gun in his face, which made the owner release a small, fearful squeal.
"Quiet. As I was saying, pay close attention to what I will say to you now, Owen." the man in rags said, as Owen trembled with the mention of his name, "You ran this store here for twenty, twenty-five years. That is a lot of time, so this place must be able to sustain your life, but not profitable enough for expanding your business, right?"
Owen slowly nodded in fear.
"Yeah, I imagined. I also heard from some reliable sources that you have a big house, a nice car, a nice beach house, and are planning on buying a second car, even nicer than the first. Is that right?"
Owen slowly nodded in fear again.
"Ah, I was correct again. Now, Owen, let me ask you one more question. Don't you think it is odd that you bought your new fancy things all over the last three years? When your store actually received fewer customers than ever. And don't you think is even more suspicious when we see the names on the things you bought? I personally don't think you look too much like a Hank, neither a Tom, maybe a Ted."
As the ragged man kept speaking, Owen grew more and more desperate. He couldn't even attempt to look the other way, as he somehow knew the ragged man watched his every move, despite being unable to see his eyes.
"Which begs the question, how in the name of the stars old man Owen got that money? His store that barely paid his taxes was on a downhill spiral after some people learned he disliked people with dog ears. So how come? And why did he bought all of them under a fake name?" the ragged man didn't even wait for an answer, as he picked something in Owen pocket, who now stopped trembling and now just looked petrified in horror as the fake beggar pulled a torn white cloth from his pocket "Perhaps old Owen here started doing other stuff instead of just sticking with this store. He must have worked for someone who would pay him a lot of money and did not want people to know about their business, and more importantly, someone who wouldn't mind his hatred for Faunus."
He then showed Owen the cloth piece, and the owner cried in despair.
"Suddenly, everything is making sense now, ain't that right, 1.000?" he asked again, placing the ragged symbol on Owen's pocket again.
Owen then entered a desperate state and quickly bowed in front of the man in rags.
"Please don't do this! I didn't have a choice! I needed money! My clients were decreasing and I couldn't risk being in debt! They just-"
"Shut up!" the man in rags interrupted Owen, delivering a powerful kick to his face.
As Owen grunted in pain, he looked at his aggressor and saw that his foot was also covered in shiny dark grey and white armor, as the kick made the rags he wore reveal his leg. The more intense pain also made Owen realize that the armor was genuine, but he had no time to question why he was wearing rags if he had armor.
"If you make another sound, I will shoot you until your body becomes unrecognizable."
Now Owen simply laid on the ground, petrified and almost crying out of fear.
"I hate liars, Owen if you truly felt obliged to help them you wouldn't carry their symbol with you. Just admit it, you are a scumbag that wishes to join them."
Owen remained silent.
"Admit it."
Owen was still quiet. The armed man then approached Owen's face. The store owner could almost hear his breathing.
"Admit it now, you piece of shab (1)."
Although confused by the apparent swear word, Owen spoke.
"I-I am a scumbag." Owen said, "I just, can't stand those freaks of nature, they should all die!" he exclaimed, even in his situation he still expressed his hate towards the Faunus.
The ragged man then took a step back from Owen. But the hand in which he holds his gun didn't even move.
"Very well. Now listen carefully. I want every single piece of information about them you have. Hideouts, weapons, their numbers, every single information you have. If you give them to me, I swear I will not shoot you with this gun."
Owen's eyes shined with hope as he weekly got up.
"Yes. Yes! Of course! I-I have a file with me! To help me organize stuff! Come with me!"
Both men then walked into the storage room, Owen with some difficulty, and when they arrived there, he picked up a box hidden on a desk. There was a big file inside of it.
"There you go." Owen tried to give his aggressor the file.
"Open it up for me." he demanded.
"Huh?"
"I will not take any risks, open it up for me, I want to see if it is worth anything."
Owen gulped, but obeyed. After seeing some pages, the ragged man decided.
"It is enough, give it to me."
"S-Sure." Owen answered, handling the files.
The armed man picked the files and placed them in a bag, hidden in his rags, never taking his sight of the scared owner. After this, there was a pause, he stated:
"Well, I said I would not shoot you with this gun." he stated, tossing the weapon aside.
Owen sighed in relief.
"Oh, for the brothers! Thank yo-"
*PEW!*
Before Owen could react, the ragged man pulled another gun, a way sleeker and shiny one, and shot Owen. This gun looked somewhat futuristic and blasted a red energy beam instead of a bullet. Owen's body then fell to the ground as he felt the movement of his legs and arms fade away. He coughed desperately as the perfect shot in his throat made him unable to breathe.
"I never said I didn't have another gun with me though."
Not wasting any more time, he started to repeatedly shot Owen's face, each energy blast burning it until his face was nothing but burned flesh.
"Also, you made one more sound, idiot." the ragged man said, dragging the body through its arm until the outdoor exit.
Arriving there, he saw an empty alley with nothing but trash cans and a dirty hallway. He tossed the corpse in front of him and looked around.
"I am here! The job is done! You can show up now."
The fake beggar then heard something falling in front of him, yet nothing seemed to have fallen, later the view in front of him distorted itself in the shape of a person, later a girl with brown hair in a ponytail, slightly tanned skin with some dark spots on its legs and arms, a tight sleeveless bodysuit, and the White Fang mask showed up in place of the distortion. She carried a briefcase and a rapier with her.
"Took you long enough, bounty hunter." she said with annoyance.
"You wanted me to extract information. I needed to terrify him first. If it was just a kill it would take moments, the guy is not a warrior."
"Couldn't you terrify him faster?"
"Yes, but I wanted to make sure he was frightened beyond belief, so I took my time. This fifteen seconds of difference can mean anything in an intimidation technique girl."
"If you say so." the Faunus girl then picked the briefcase and showed it to the bounty hunter "Do you have it."
The man then showed her the files, but just as she was about to grab them, he pulled them back.
"Nah ah ah. Give me my bounty first."
"What? Why? How can I guarantee you will not flee with the money!?" the White Fang member asked, irritated and pulling her rapier in the bounty hunter's direction.
"I am the one who should ask this question." the man answered, his voice showing the same confidence as before "These files are worthless to me and this ugly is already dead, my job is done. You, on the other hand, will have the money and the files if I deliver them to you now. What will stop you from running away? I am just playing it safe, so please give me the money first."
The Faunus woman spots became redder as she scored, but she obeyed and tossed him the briefcase. The bounty hunter caught it with no problem and quickly opened it, seeing many multi-colored cards on it. He examined some of them, passing his fingers through the ink and reading all the writings on them.
"1.000 genuine Lien, just as promised." the woman stated "Now if you please?" she extended her hand towards him.
The man turned his vision towards her and chuckled.
"Of course." he then gave the Faunus the files.
She skimmed through them with even more attention than the bounty hunter. After a few minutes, she cracked a smile.
"Much thanks, bounty hunter." the Faunus woman said.
"Don't mention it, you paid me I had to do a good job."
"A good work mentality. And remember, if you meet up with the police or a Huntsman-"
"-I never saw you."
"Precisely."
"Well, if any of you need me again, you know how to contact me." the bounty hunter stated, removing his rags.
"Why are using these things? Pick some clothes this scumbag had. It sure beats using trash for clothing." the Faunus suggested, sounding a bit disgusted.
"No thanks. This garbage may not be pretty to the eyes, but they are good to hide my armor."
"Wait, what?" the White Fang member asked "Why don't you... just take away your armor?"
"Sorry girl, but this armor leaves me only when I need to take a shower."
"May... I know why?" she asked, a bit perplexed now.
"It is because-" the man started, now taking off the rags completely.
The man's full armor was now revealed. It completely covered him in a black bodysuit with dark grey and white metal pieces, the free parts only existing for the sake of maneuverability. The armor also looked to not be as bulky as a soldier, one to allow the wearer more nimble movements. However, the two most distinct features of the armor were the apparent jetpack on the bounty hunter back, and his dark grey with white details helmet, that had a t-shaped black visor to allow him to see. He was carrying way more weapons than just his strange guns, and all of them looked way different from most Vale stuff.
"-This the way." (2)
The White Fang member stared at the man's helmet for a moment.
"Huh?" until she made a funny expression with her mouth "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"
"It is a thing from my people. You wouldn't get it, sorry." he stated, picking the briefcase and the rags "Well, I see you around."
With this, the man's jetpack turned on and he flew away from the alley in a matter of seconds, leaving the girl alone.
"Weirdo." she said to herself as she disappeared with her camouflage abilities.
(Beacon Academy)
"There was I! Alone in the woods!" Professor Port, an elderly man with a thick white mustache, exclaimed "Separated from all my teammates, with no Dust or ammunition, only me and my trusty axe! With Grimms on every corner! Everything seemed hopeless..." he continued, hiding behind his desk to simulate his hiding "Yet I persevered!" with a shout he got off the table and hit it with his hands, some students jumped in surprise, others kept staring at the man with boredom "I couldn't let those weak-minded creatures consume me! So I used all my skills to exterminate them!" he exclaimed dramatically.
All the students looked at the old man with mixed emotions. Either being bored or in the blink of falling asleep. While Professor Port taught his specific subject acceptably, the stories he told between his lessons were painful to hear. Only two students were paying attention to the class right now, Weiss wanted to have the perfect grades in all classes, and Raiko looked surprisingly engaged in Port stories.
"Raiko, could you please explain how can you pay attention to this?" Blake asked as she struggled to keep her eyes open.
"How can you not pay attention to this? It is a fascinating story." he answered.
Blake kept staring at him, not a single change in her expression outside of her blinking really slowly.
"What?"
"How can you find this fascinating!?" Nora whispered from behind him.
"He is a weirdo, that is why." Yang whispered so low that no one heard, although Blake's eyes widened for a moment.
"The exaggeration, the finesse, the surprising veracity of his tales, are all really fascinating to me. Kind of like seeing a play of a certain story." Raiko answered.
"Well, I don't know where you can see this thing- wait, veracity!?" Jaune asked.
"Mr. Arc!" Professor Port shouted, immediately adopting a serious voice and stance after Jaune lost control of his voice volume "Do you want to say something?"
"No! No. Nothing to say." he answered while desperately trying to avoid Port's gaze.
"It seemed like you questioned my honesty regarding my tales. Are you sure you have nothing to add?" Port kept the pressure on Arc.
As Port approached the blond boy, he gained a hard and imposing position, and his regularly relaxed and joyful expression stiffened.
"Who is that guy and what happened to Port?" was the common thought in all the students' minds.
"I... wasn't questioning anything. I just saw Raiko use this word, and I was a bit confused since I... forgot what it meant!" Jaune lied, making some students snicker.
"This is embarrassing." Weiss whispered to Yang.
"I would have picked Port punishment over this." Yang stated.
Port then kept staring at Jaune for a few more seconds, while the boy held a very fake smile on his face.
"Oh well! A silly mistake! Let's continue the class then!" Port exclaimed, infinitely calmer suddenly, "Now where was I? Oh yeah! The fight with the ten Beowulfs!"
As Port continued his little bragging session, Jaune relaxed on the chair in relief while Pyrrha gently tapped him on his shoulder.
"Well, that was something." Ruby stated, tiredly "Now we are back to stories. Yeeeeeeeeey." she said weakly, almost sleeping.
"Come on, Ruby, think positively. In fifteen minutes we will have our weapon upgrades class. Just wait a bit. Besides, you can try to see the good stuff on these stories." Raiko reassured her.
Ruby smiled slightly with this reminder, still sleepy.
"Who would be stupid enough to like these things." Yang whispered angrily.
Blake surprisingly heard this and looked at her partner with shock.
"Yang!" she whispered at the blonde "What is up with you today!?"
Yang simply scoffed and avoided her partner's gaze.
"Did you two said something?" Weiss asked.
"No." Yang said dryly.
After a boring and unbelievably long story that Raiko somehow enjoyed, the Grimm biology class ended.
"Well, this wraps up today, class! I will see you all next-"
Before Port could end his sentence, Ruby blasted off her seat and ran with her Semblance out of the class, filling it with rose petals and making Port spin as she passes right next to him.
"Tuuuuuuueeesday!" Port babbled as he fainted out of dizziness.
The rest of team RWBY was currently filled with rose petals, mostly Weiss for her annoyance, and all of them had their specific hairstyles ruined as it looked like a jet engine blasted them.
"I am going to kill her." Weiss said, after removing a rose petal from her mouth "Slowly and painfully."
"Please don't." Yang requested, too much taken aback to afford being angry at the heiress.
"Are you four alright?" Ren asked, his ponytail ruined, and his hair was a mess that Nora played with.
"What!?" Blake questioned.
"He asked if we were fine." Weiss answered.
"What!?"
"Well, she certainly is not." Raiko stated.
"WHAT!?"
"Oh, by the Great Lens." Raiko mumbled in silence.
After cleaning themselves of all the rose petals, and after Blake thankfully started to hear again, the class all went to the weapon mechanics class. Ruby was already inside, waiting for the teacher while sitting at a table, smiling and repeatedly tapping her feet on the floor. Although her smile quickly converted into a look of dread as Weiss slowly approached her with an angry expression and some rose petals still stuck on her hair.
"Uuuuuuuuuh. Sorry?" Ruby attempted to apologize, but Weiss's expression showed that she failed miserably.
"Tonight, both of us will do a study session." Weiss said coldly "No breaks, all subjects, full focus, THREE hours long, and no cookies until it ends. You have no choice."
"WHAT!? But-"
"NO. CHOICE." Weiss stated, looking at Ruby like she was a bug.
The brunette weakly looked at her teammates, hoping they would help Weiss ease it up for her.
"Make it four hours." Blake requested, slowly rubbing her bow for some reason.
"Give her extra homework." Yang suggested.
Ruby looked at the two girls with shock, and slowly changed her gaze towards the Jedi, even making a pleading sign. Raiko said nothing as Ruby stared at his still covered with petals body. He then used his hand to pull a rose petal from his left ear, all while looking at Ruby with a disappointed look on his face. Ruby was now staring hopelessly at the ground.
"You guys are mean." Ruby pouted.
This time, she finally got a positive reaction as Yang rolled her eyes and lost the annoyed look on her face.
"Well, the study session will only happen tonight, so you can still enjoy today's weapon class before Weiss bore you to death." Yang said, cracking a smile.
"Hey!"
Ruby's eyes then lit up with hope. She then tipped her feet on the ground even faster.
"Oh, thank you! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" she kept humming while waiting for the teacher to arrive.
"You know, when you told us that your sister had a weapon fetish I thought you were exaggerating a bit, Yang." Raiko stated, still removing some petals from his uniform.
"I don't have a weapon fetish!" Ruby barked while getting up and comically having her arms in annoyance 'My love for weapons is perfectly healthy!"
"You have the subscription of FIVE different weapon magazines. You definitely have more than a 'healthy love' for weapons, Rubes." Yang countered with a cocky smile.
"Wait, five!? Isn't this like, a bit too expensive?" Jaune asked. His team finally caught up and overhearing the last sentence by accident "I mean, I have a subscription for a single comic series, and that is already too expensive in my dad's eyes."
"She did chores, many chores. For this, I spent almost half a year without having to do the dishes because she always did it so dad would subscribe to that Artificer magazine. And she did it all with a smile! Who does the dishes smiling?"
"Well, she has a point." Blake stated, "It is quite the abnormality."
Ruby then sat back, annoyed but still cute, and with her arms crossed.
"None of you get it."
Yang simply chuckled and patted her sister on the head. As time passed, all students were now in class, all waiting at their respective working tables with tools and materials to upgrade their weapons. However, their teacher was nowhere to be seen even after ten minutes of delay. The students were all doing the best they could to pass time, most were messing with their scrolls, Raiko was meditating again, and Ruby was staring at the tools and materials in the worktable with a lot of intensity.
"Unbelievable, this is Beacon we are talking about! How can our teacher be this late!?" Weiss asked, outraged.
"Maybe he or she had a problem on the way here, or maybe he or she got sick." Ren suggested, but Weiss merely scoffed at the answer.
"Nonsense, professional Huntsmen should always be prepared, and a simple sickness can't take them down!"
Ruby, trying her best to not look suspicious, acquired a creepy smile. She then started to slowly move her arm to pick the tools.
"Well, if the teacher is taking so long, we can... start ourselves... I mean, the tools are here, so we can all just-"
However, before Ruby could finish, Yang held her by the shoulder, and Raiko moved the tools from her direction with the Force. Her smile then cracked, and she fell fall on the table.
"Patience is a virtue Ruby, please wait for the teacher to arrive." Raiko said calmly.
"Agreed. Just wait a bit longer," Yang answered.
Blake raised an eyebrow as she saw Yang suddenly stopping with her weird animosity towards Raiko out of nowhere. Being sick of this, she decided to satiate her curiosity once and for all.
"Hey, Yang." she whispered to the blonde.
"Hum?"
"What was up with you this morning?" Blake's question made Yang's relaxed eyes widen for a moment.
"Oh, that." she said with some embarrassment while scratching the back of her head "I was mad that he brought up our mom to Ruby before, she is very sensitive about it. It was unwarranted, I know, but sometimes I hold a minor grudge when someone annoys me." she then stared at Blake and smiled "But I am okay now! Relax, it is temporary."
"Okay, if you say so." Blake stated, still looking at Yang suspiciously.
"That's it!" Weiss exclaimed while she got off her seat and went to the exit.
"Weiss where are you going!?" Ruby asked "We are going to have the best class ever! Don't leave!"
"Ruby, our teacher is fifteen minutes late! I need to check out to see what the hell is going on!" she exclaimed, opening the door with a lot of strength.
When the heiress was about to leave, she bumped into someone and almost fell on her butt while the other person was still standing, with no trouble. That person was a woman in her late thirties with dark green hair, wearing a brown trench coat, dark gray pants, and black combat boots. She had a very grumpy and menacing look on her face, which was aided by a scar she had on her right cheek. Weiss could also smell the cigarettes this woman must have smoked before coming here.
Weiss's anger subdued when she stared at the woman. She gulped a little when she saw the imposing figure of the woman, who stared at the heiress like she was a very annoying mosquito that kept her up at night.
"Huuuuuum. Are you our teacher?" Weiss asked, making everyone turn to see the woman.
The mysterious figure then picked a wristwatch and looked at the time.
"Fifteen minutes." she said with a disappointed voice "It took you all fifteen minutes to do something."
"Huh?"
"Are you the teacher?" Ruby asked the woman, with her eyes sparkling with hope.
The woman then looked directly at Ruby with an angry expression. Ruby immediately went below the table, shaking in fear while holding Yang's leg.
"Oh, for the brothers." the woman complained before going towards the teacher's table.
Murmurs started when the Huntress walked in the class, most people commenting on how she was so ungodly late and how she looked terrifying, and the more people talked, the angrier the woman got. The minute she arrived at the table, she slammed her hand on it and startled all the students. All students were now looking at her with wide and surprised eyes, some of them were even afraid.
"Huuuuuuuuuuh, excuse me." Pyrrha slowly raised her hand.
"What!?"
Pyrrha gulped, but remained a calm appearance and attitude, unlike Jaune, who was paler than snow and looked like he was going to fall apart.
"Are you our weapon manufactory teacher?"
"No, my name is Annabeth Krueger, and I am your Criminal Investigation teacher!"
"Criminal Investigation!?" Ruby asked, raising from her seat "But now we were supposed to have-"
"Ms. Rose!" the woman's severe tone made the little red-hooded girl squeal in shock "Do not speak without permission!" with this Ruby went back to her seat in fear "But answering your question, I personally asked Ozpin to tell you all that today's class would be Weapon Manufactory, but today is going to be my class!"
"WHAT!?"
Annabeth quickly silenced Ruby's sudden outburst by staring at her with another hateful glare.
"But... why?" Weiss asked.
"Why? I will tell you all why." the woman then took a deep breath, preparing herself "Alright, listen up because I will only say it once!" she shouted with an imposing voice "You are all training to be Huntsmen! The most important job in this world! We protect the innocent not only against the Grimm but against humans and Faunus as well! And let me tell you that if you think we do this by just storming in and punching everything we see, you shouldn't even be stepping on this school! Humans and Faunus are not mindless destruction beasts! They think! They strategize! They can be sneaky! They can defeat without even having to fight! And my job is to make you all use your brains against those criminals!"
While she took another deep breath to deliver another massive shouting, she slammed her hand on the table again. The students could almost see her threatening aura.
"And let me tell you, you are all already a massive disappointment! You saw I was late and waited for me like in a regular school, well guess what!? This isn't a regular school! Your teachers are Huntsmen! We are always at the right time! If we are late, you already have to assume something is wrong! But no, it took fifteen minutes for someone to do something about it! In this time I could have been mortally wounded, kidnapped, or be engaged in a deathly battle against a Grimm or a criminal! If any of you stepped up only after fifteen minutes you wouldn't be able to inform Ozpin of my absence in time, which would mean I might be lost forever!"
"What the? This is insane!" Yang exclaimed, her eyes a bit red "You can't assume something like this can happen!"
"Wrong! And I will tell you why!"
As the new teacher continued to berate her students, she pressed a button on her Scroll, and suddenly a projector turned on and showed the pictures of two graphics to the class. One of them was a red line that went downwards with some minimal spikes, and the other was a blue line that went upwards. However, they did not know what those graphics represented.
"Look at this. Do any of you have any idea of what those graphics represent!?" Krueger asked, glaring at the class.
"They... show the number of Grimm attacks and the numbers of Huntsmen being approved, respectively?" Ren asked with some reluctance.
"The number of human casualties and the numbers of Grimm attacks stopped by Huntsmen!" Cardin said, feeling absolutely confident in his answer.
Annabeth pressed her templates and tilted her head in disappointment.
"Incorrect. Both of you." she said, her serious tone of voice becoming even more intimidating despite the lack of shouting "Those are the graphic showing the number of financial prejudice on Grimm attacks and the number of financial prejudice in attacks made by criminal organizations or just criminals in general during the last twenty years. The first being showed in hundreds of Lien per year, and the second showed in thousands of Lien per year."
The students then all stopped to process what she said once you looked at the numbers it got unnerving.
"As you can see, the difference is astronomical. Sure, the Grimm are dangerous beasts that treat all life, but criminals are just as bad! And since they can think that makes them even more dangerous! But here is the worst part, if you see this other graphic here..." she pressed another button, a graphic showing a green line going upwards showed up "...You see that the number of Huntsmen in Remnant has never been bigger and each year we get even more, so how can only the Grimm attacks be reducing while the criminal attacks are rising more and more?" she then pointed at Jaune, who raised his hand.
"Well, they are just prioritizing the Grimm." Jaune answered.
"No, that is not enough, if that was the case the criminal activities should see a downgrade too, just a slower one."
"Yes, they are not prioritizing the Grimm, they are only focusing on them."
For the first time during the entire class, Annabeth Krueger smiled.
"Very good, Ms. Belladonna and Mr. Vias. The truth is that killing Grimm is in a certain way, easier and more profitable than fighting against criminals in the grand scheme of things. Sure, a giant Deathstalker is difficult to defeat, but if a team of four students could defeat one, two professional Huntsmen should not have much trouble with it too. However, a skilled fighter that can think rationally, is heavily trained, and possess a powerful Semblance is trickier to defeat, and I saw many Huntsmen teams kill Grimm with ease only to be massacred by a single skilled fighter." she said with a saddened tone of voice which catch the students by surprise.
"And that is not all. Tracking a Grimm, finding him, and defeating him doesn't take too long. Unless you somehow discovered a massive horde of Grimm, you will easily end your job in two days at maximum. A human or Faunus criminal, depending on their level of competence, can take from a day to a whole month to fulfill the job, is harsh, dangerous and most importantly, the longer they take to fulfill a job, the less time they have to be on the spotlight."
Seeing the confusion appear on the student's face made her chuckle a bit.
"Many people become Huntsmen just because they love the thrill, they love the fame, how many Huntsmen you all saw in magazines or the news after they successfully killed a big Grimm, or saved someone? They don't do what they do because it's right, they do this because they think is an easy way to get a good life. And if they are doing this only because of the easy life, why would they go after criminals, which is harder, takes longer, and is more dangerous than just fighting mindless overgrown animals with your superpower, so why bother!? Leave this to the police officers that are not trained to deal with super-powered people, let's just stop a purse robbery here and there and call it a day!" she finished with a furious slam on the table.
The class was now silent. Everyone just stared at their teacher with their mouths open. Some offended, some horrified, but there was one student that felt, out of all things, sympathy for the teacher. It has been only a couple of minutes, but Raiko Vias already had a deep respect for Annabeth Krueger, even with her uncalled displays of anger.
"This is why I came to teach here. Because I want to reverse this." Krueger pointed at the second graphic "I want to make sure none of you leave this school thinking the Grimm are the only problem in the world, I want to make sure you all become the peacekeepers' Huntsmen are supposed to be. And this is why you have to be paranoid, miss Xiao Long, because Huntsmen that actually care about dealing with things outside of Grimm are not only rare nowadays, but we HAVE to make a good job, not an okay job, a GOOD JOB because we are few in numbers and we deal with way more complicated stuff than just fighting something and that's it. We have to be prepared to deal with things that go from a basic organized robbery to a giant criminal organization like the White Fang, and we have to know that we will not receive the same praise as the ones that just fight the Grimm."
Annabeth stopped for a moment to take a breath, while the students just stared at her in shock.
"Because that is what being a true Huntsman is, putting peace above all the fame you could get."
All the Beacon students reflected on what their teacher just said, all in deep thought. Which didn't last long as Annabeth took a deep a deep breath...
"NOW YOU BETTER PREPARE YOURSELVES BECAUSE THAT MEANS I WILL DEMAND MUCH MORE THAN THE OTHER TEACHERS AROUND HERE!"
... and shouted even more again
"Huh?"
"NO 'huh?' ME! NOW YOU CAN ALL PICK YOUR WEAPONS AND GO ON WITH ME! YOU WILL ALL ANALYZE A REAL CRIME SCENE WITH ME!"
"Really!?" Nora asked excitedly.
"DO I LOOK LIKE I AM JOKING!? HAVE YOU EVEN HEARD WHAT I SAID MS. VALKYRIE!?"
Nora's excitement fell apart like a sandcastle in a storm, and she tried to hide behind Ren, who was already unwillingly covering a scared Jaune.
"But how will that affect our other classes?" Raiko asked, "Since we already lost some time, and considering the time it will take for us to go to a crime scene, I think we will miss some classes."
"ABSOLUTELY CORRECT! I ASKED OZPIN FOR PERMISSION TO TAKE THE WHOLE DAY OF CLASSES FOR THIS INVESTIGATION!"
WHAT!? You can't do that!" Weiss exclaimed, sounding offended "Your class can't be that important to make us sacrifice our-"
"HAVE YOU HEARD NOTHING OF WHAT I SAID SCHNEE!?" Kruger shouted, louder than she ever shouted today, she then pulled Weiss's cheeks "MOST MODERN HUNTSMEN DON'T GIVE A SINGLE SHIT ABOUT INVESTIGATION AND DEALING WITH CRIMINALS, SO I HAVE TO ASSURE YOU MEATHEADS ALL LEARN SOMETHING ABOUT IT! AND SINCE NOTHING BEATS EXPERIENCE I HAVE TO MAKE YOU ALL ANALYZE A REAL CRIME SCENE, WHICH OBVIOUSLY TAKES TIME SO WE WILL HAVE TO DO THIS! EXPECT THIS TO HAPPEN ON OTHER DAYS TOO!"
"What!?"
Ruby protested, being quickly silenced by Krueger looking at her with the most murderous glare the girl has ever seen, beating even her angry father's look. Yang also stared at the teacher with a lot of anger, but she either went unnoticed or Annabeth ignored her. What she did not ignore, however, was Team CRDL snickering with the view of Ruby being scared, which didn't go unnoticed by the teacher, who disappeared in a purple fog and reappeared in front of the four boys standing on top of their table, staring at their leader with a lot of intensity.
"DO YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY!?" she roared, making Cardin fall back in shock "YOU FOUR ARE EVEN BIGGER MEATBAGS WHO COULDN'T EVEN BEAT THIS GIRL! SO SHUT YOUR MOUTHS YOU FOUR IMBECILIC WORTHLESS FIGHTERS!"
After shouting with the team, she teleported back to her desk and looked at the students, who were all confused and scared at this point.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL WAITING FOR!? PICK YOUR WEAPONS AND LET'S GO! MOVE IT! MOVE IT! MOVE IT!" she shouted, slapping her hands with a lot of strength.
All the students then quickly left the class, some even tripping while trying to leave, but no one stopped for a moment and kept going forward. Except for Yang, who stopped before leaving and stared at Annabeth Krueger with pure and genuine hate, the teacher answered with a glare of her own, completely unfazed by her defiant student.
"Do you have something to say, Ms. Xiao Long?" Annabeth asked, not screaming but somehow sounding even more menacing.
Yang clenched both her fists and her teeth, her eyes becoming scarlet and her aura rising a little. Annabeth intensified her glare, not intimidated or offended by the obvious demonstration of hostility of her student.
"Do you?"
Yang kept staring at the Huntress for a while until she averted her look and dissipated her aura.
"No, ma'am." Yang said, still with clear anger in her voice.
"Then leave. We have no time to waste." Annabeth stated with authority, before disappearing in a puff of purple smoke.
Yang turned her back and left, but before she left the class her aura rose from nowhere, becoming similar to a raging fire, and she punched a wall with a lot of strength, creating a huge hole in it. The hole also had some melted rocks because of Yang's aura.
"Bitch!" Yang cursed before jolting out of the class, her eyes shining red yet again.
When the girl left, Annabeth appeared from behind a wall and looked at the hole Yang made with some hints of worry and sadness in her normally sturdy face.
(Vale - Owen store)
After the students left Beacon together, they all walked towards a crime scene Annabeth said they assigned her to. Upon arriving at the scene, team RWBY immediately recognized it as the store they bought Raiko clothes earlier today, but they decided to not comment about it.
"Thank god you arrived here, Krueger." one of the police officers said, approaching the teacher "Our guys can't simply find Huntsmen to help us."
"Typical." she scoffed, lighting up a cigarette "So, what do you have? A robbery?"
"No, murder."
The students who were all hearing this flinched, especially team RWBY.
"It was the owner, apparently. It was not a pretty scene, do you... want to see?"
"Of course we will see it. Let's go!" Krueger stated while signaling the students to follow her.
"Wait, but those kids-"
"They are my students and they will see this entire crime scene! Including the body!"
"Wait!, we will see a corpse!?" Weiss questioned, clearly shocked "I am sorry Ms. Krueger, but I think this is not something acceptable for you to-"
Annabeth Krueger then teleported right in front of Weiss, really close to her and her team. She slowly placed her hand on the heiress's shoulder and looked at her after taking a drag of her cigarette. Something about her eyes made it incredibly unnerving for Weiss to look at her.
"Ms. Schnee, you are a Huntress. You will have to see a dead body of a person once in your life, there is no way to stop this from happening. Now ask yourself, do you want to see your first corpse here, where you will be in a peaceful situation and with plenty of people to comfort you, or in the battlefield where your horror will most likely distract you, leave you vulnerable to attacks and unable to properly respond to situations? Think about it. The same for all of you." she explained, looking at the students.
They all gulped and widened their eyes at what their teacher just asked them, but the more they thought about it, the more they realized the logic behind what she said. They hated it, but they didn't have a way to answer to her now.
"Remember, you are Huntsmen and Huntress in training. You have the most important job on the planet. We can't be soft with your training, we have to prepare you all. It is bad, but is a necessity." Annabeth stared at the students, especially at Raiko "Is not like any of you were child-soldiers who witnessed a lot of death before."
Raiko flinched. Did she know about his story, his REAL story, or the one he and Ozpin created? Ozpin said he would tell people of his inner circle, but he never mentioned her being in the circle, and even if she was talking about her fake story... how did she know about it? Ozpin and Raiko agreed he should pretend this fake story was also a secret to validate it a bit more, so they mentioned nothing about it on the files Ozpin arranged for him. How could she know about it?
"Hey, Raiko!" Yang called him "Are you okay?"
"Huh? Yeah, sorry, I was just spacing out a little."
"Well, quit it! Let's go, that woman is expecting us." Yang exclaimed, walking towards the other students who were already following Krueger.
"Gee, what is up with her?" Weiss asked.
"I do not know, but her anger is a bit concerning." Raiko stated, "Let's ask her later."
As the students walked inside the store, a small drone observed them, no one being able to notice it because of his small size.
"Is he there?" a hooded figure asked.
"Yes, yes, he is." his partner answered "Doesn't look that impressive, not even an adult. Maybe he is just a Padawan."
"Wonderful, let's inform Master Malgus." as the figure grabbed a circular object, his partner stopped him.
"Wow, wait a moment. That guy looks super weak, we can take him ourselves."
"What? But we are just-"
"Apprentices, I know, but we are still way stronger than a Jedi Padawan. We got this. And once we deliver this loser head to Malgus, maybe he ditches that bitch Syzarra and trains us instead."
The hooded figure smiled at his friend's proposition.
"Yeah, you are right. Let's kill that filthy Jedi." he said, as he grabbed his lightsabers.
Hey there guys! Surprise, I am still alive! Sorry for taking so long to post this chapter, but I had some college stuff and other things to resolve. I can't promise this won't happen again, but I will try. I will admit, I am not fully satisfied with this chapter, but I didn't want to leave you guys without a chapter for so long, so I will double my efforts to make the next one better!
Those two chapters will focus more on Yang since I thought she was kind of forgotten about in the first volume, I don't know if I will skip the Jaune thing in this story yet, so why don't you give me your opinions about it? I also introduced a few world-building details about the Huntsman profession (because I don't want to ignore Remnant world-building here) and a new member of the Beacon staff, because that school would not work with only three teachers and since I don't have a limited budget like RT at that time I can add a new teacher, so say hello to Annabeth Krueger! I hope you all liked her! Now talking about that number:
(1): An insult in the Star Wars universe, not a spelling mistake
(2): I know no one would think this, but I have to spoil that this is not Din.
Don't forget to leave your review! Your feedback is really important and motivating! Until next time!