Welcome readers, to the next chapter of "Sideline: Another Story". During the last chapter, everyone was involved in the Volume 2 finale, "Breach". Now that the Grimm have been dealt with, the members of Fragment Hunter are ready to take on other missions and get some training in before the Vytal Festival. What kind of mission will each team take on this time? Who will they meet? Will anyone discover new abilities they have? I say that it's time to start seeing what everyone gets into between Volume 2 and Volume 3!
Today is a new day!
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum (R.I.P)
The only characters I own are of my own Original Characters
After the Creatures of Grimm had breached the city and the numerous Huntsmen took care of the attack, students at Beacon Academy were rested from the event and were ready to take on more things that came their way. Fragment Hunter knew that they were ready to go on separate missions of their own later, but they also wanted to enjoy their time together before they went off to find another Huntsman or Huntress to shadow. The twelve teenagers also decided to talk about some things that occurred during their previous job as bodyguards for Bianca Coloratura. "That Torchwick guy is nucking futs," Rua stated as she slammed her empty coffee cup down on the table. "Why would he do that stuff the other day?"
"It's rather difficult to understand the criminal mind, darling," Celadon replied as she filed her nails. "But in this case, Team RWBY apparently chased down a sociopath who has enough charisma to sway a local extremist cell."
"Which makes no sense at all," Silver said as he stared out the window.
"What do you mean, Silver," Slate asked as he lifted his hat up a little to get a better view of the Wolf Faunus. Everyone else turned to Silver as well, paying no attention to the fact that Azalea was holding a large piece of cinnamon toast in her mouth like she was late for class.
Silver sighed before he looked Slate and all the girls in the eyes and asked them an important question. "Why in the hell would the White Fang, the extremist cell now dedicated to showing that the Faunus can be a major threat to not be looked down upon by using violence when the situation calls for it, team up with a regular human criminal to attack a guarded Kingdom using Grimm with Huntsmen right nearby to respond?"
Everyone thought it over and it didn't make any sort of sense the more they pondered it. "You... have a point there, Silver," Sunset remarked.
"Yeah. I'm just wondering why they allied with that Roman Torchwick creep," Silver said as he slammed his boot onto the floor, unintentionally revealing the blades in it.
"The White Fang is a sensitive subject for you," Rebecca asked.
"My parents were Huntsmen that were members of the White Fang before they changed their ways," Silver explained. "I was with them when they were trying to stop an attack on a village about 5 years ago and the White Fang was responsible. The village they attacked was part of a trading route that used Faunus labor and the train station was their target. With members hiding in plain sight, they attacked the train they were sent after and a giant fight broke out. The village was up in flames and my parents had to help everyone get to safety," Silver told his friends as he felt tears beginning to well up and his voice started to crack. "They were weakened from a few explosives and used up the rest of their strength to save a family that was caught in the blast. A few masked White Fang goons tried to deal with them, but this big guy with a serrated weapon finished them off. He tried to go after me, but I kicked him where it hurts after he slashed at my arm," Silver said as he grabbed his armored shoulder tightly. "I had to run away and get to safety. After that whole thing, I wanted to become a Huntsman to make sure nobody went through what I did."
Fragment Hunter was speechless at Silver's story of why he didn't like the White Fang. "Oh... Wow... That's harsh," Layla voiced as she didn't know the correct response.
"Silver," Azalea said sympathetically as she looked at the Wolf Faunus.
"It's in the past," Silver told them. "But I'll never forget that mask of the Faunus who murdered my parents."
Sunset could feel the anger from Silver as he quietly growled like a real wolf. Luckily, the topic was changed to something else by Lapis. "So, any missions any of you guys want to do specifically?"
"I'd love to try my hand at bounty hunting," Rua exclaimed as she pumped a fist in the air.
"I'd actually like to try a Search and Rescue or something like that," Slate said.
"Search and Destroy," Cereza simply stated.
"I'd actually want to see if I could head off to Garrison Academy for a mission," Sunset told everyone. "I'd love to show the place off to you guys."
As the teenagers talked about what missions they would choose if available and what Garrison Academy was like, Cereza thought she saw something through the window. Before she could think of what it could have been, she saw a feather falling from the corner of her eye. Noticing that she had seen the same type of feather before, Cereza had a serious look on her face after she finished her coffee. "Well, it appears you've come after all," Cereza thought to herself as she adjusted her glasses.
After enjoying their meal, Fragment Hunter went off to check if there were any missions that the three teams would take separately. Finding the mission boards, Team SAFR went first to choose a mission while Team SLVR and Team FCSA waited. "Hmm... Let's see here," Celadon said as she investigated the choices available. "Escorting a family moving out of Vale? They probably want to get away from the city life. Looks like it was posted a few days before we began shadowing."
"What else is there," Sunset questioned as she wanted to find more options. "Search and Destroy to the west, Bounty mission in the city, Village Security, Search and Destroy to the north, hmm..."
"Save the Bounty mission for us," Rua shouted as she leaned against a far wall as she waited.
"I will," Sunset told the punk girl before she noticed a job detail that caught her eye. "The northern Search and Destroy is outside the borders of Forever Fall! That's around where Garrison Academy is! Perfect," the fiery-haired girl exclaimed as she typed in her team's name for the job. "SAFR... and we're going to get hunting, girls!"
"Alright. Who are we meeting," Vinyl asked.
"I believe that would be me," Aurora Celeste said with a smile on her face. Team SAFR and the rest of Fragment Hunter saw her walk into the room and look at the job that Sunset selected. "I'm sure that you're happy to return to Garrison so soon, but you should know that you've moved on from there, Sunset."
"Yeah. It's just that sometimes I feel like I want to start over from the beginning," Sunset replied.
"I understand how you feel about changing past mistakes. But you need to learn from them and keep moving forward," Aurora told Sunset. "That's what I learned from my teachers in school when I was becoming a Huntress." Sunset smiled at her teacher's words and nodded. "Now come on, we should let your friends choose a new mission. Besides, Nocturne tells me you learned about something your Semblance allows you to do. Care to tell me about it?"
As Sunset began to tell Aurora about her Semblance allowing her to explore dreams, Team SAFR went to pack for the trip to the outskirts of Vale. When the all-female team of Fragment Hunter left, Silver and Rua were quick to find the Bounty mission and accepted it. "Looks like our job is to help a Huntsman chase down a few felons who robbed a couple of stores in downtown," Lapis stated as she read the details of the request.
"Well, they won't get far with us going after them," Silver and Rua exclaimed as the two bumped fists. "Let's go!"
After Team SLVR left for their job in the city, Team FCSA began searching for a good job. "How about we do Village Security or Search and Rescue," Layla suggested.
"Oh, how about this one? It's at a small coastal village to the west," Azalea said as she pointed at a Village Security mission.
"As good as any I suppose," Cereza remarked as she accepted the job for her team and they went off to pack for the journey. But a minute or two after they left, a cloaked person suddenly appeared in front of the mission boards. They noticed the mission chosen by Team FCSA and brought a hand to their masked face. The golden mask had a peacock-feathered sun design that concealed most of their face, but there was an opening for a single blue eye to be seen. Removing their hand from their chin, the person pulled a book from the sleeves of their cloak before they vanished as mysteriously as they arrived.
Fragment Hunter finished preparing for their missions and talked to each other before they went on their separate ways. Team SAFR said that Aurora was speaking to an airship pilot to charter a Bullhead to take them to their destination, while Team FCSA would do the same for transport when they met up with their mentor in the school's courtyard. As for Team SLVR, they were going to find their mentor in the city like they did with Terracotta Gaia. "Hey, Azalea. I heard that your dad is instructing a few of the older transfer students in combat classes today," Silver mentioned as he adjusted his jacket.
"Yeah. He's really busy during his extended visit here," Azalea remarked as she moved her bangs out of her face. "I'm betting that we won't really get another lesson from him for a while. Especially with these missions that we're going on now."
"Yeah, so let's just focus on the work," Sunset agreed. While everyone said similar things, Sunset noticed that Cereza was unusually quiet. "Hey, Cereza? You alright?"
"I am," Cereza stated as she kept looking around like she was searching for something.
"Then, why are you just staring off into the distance," Vixen asked.
Before Cereza could answer, several feathers floated around the area and the teenagers saw them blowing in the breeze. While most of them were wondering where they came from, Cereza reached into her jacket for her weapons just as a feather-shaped throwing knife flew right toward the group. Blocking the sneak attack, Cereza searched for where the weapon came from. Sensing something behind her, she turned around to see that ten more knives came out of thin air as she looked at her friends and immediately dodged all of them. "What the hell is going on," Rua shouted in surprise as she witnessed knives appear from nowhere at fly at Team FCSA's leader.
"I don't know, but I can feel somebody's close," Sunset told the others. She was indeed correct as somebody in a cloak appeared suddenly and startled everyone except Cereza. "I didn't think they were that close!"
Cereza stared down the mysterious person as they removed their cloak to reveal what they wore underneath and showed that they were physically identifiable as a male. They wore a hooded white robe with a gold trim, a clerical collar, white boots, and kept wearing their mask. The assailant also had gold-colored spaulders, a silver-colored breastplate with a golden cross design, silver greaves, and armored kneepads for protection. He held a book in his left hand that had what looked like feather-shaped bookmarks, while he held a large double-ended glaive in his right that looked like it could split apart into twin swords. Everyone looking at him could easily tell that he matched heights with Professor Ozpin at 6'6" and that his silence was scaring the bystanders. "So, I take it that you've been following me for a while," Cereza asked.
"I saw what you did during the Breach the other day," the masked man calmly replied as he suddenly had acquired all his throwing knives, then placed them in the book he carried before closing it with a loud snap and putting it in the sleeves of his robe. "I must say that I never expected you to do that sort of thing, even on a team of your own."
"Cereza, you know this preacher-looking knight creep," Rua asked rudely.
"I'm standing right here, young lady. There's no need for that kind of tone," the mystery man voiced to the brawler of Team SLVR.
"I do," Cereza replied to Rua. "We've known each other for a long time."
"I just decided that I needed to test your abilities for myself again, Cereza," the man said as he spun his glaive around and got into a battle stance. Cereza only smirked and waved her hand to signal for the mysterious male to bring it. In an instant, the man moved so fast that it looked like he teleported before using his glaive like a blunt staff to attack Cereza. With fast reflexes, Cereza brought up her tonfa to block the attack before punching at the man's gut. With a few strikes to his stomach to push him away, Cereza continued her assault and threw a few kicks at the man. The masked man blocked the attacks with his glaive before he vanished and threw a punch from behind Cereza.
As Team FCSA's leader got knocked away, she recovered before she could hit the ground and did a handspring to get back up on her feet. Aiming her tonfa at her opponent, Cereza fired several bullets at the man before everyone watching saw him appear behind her with the bullets she fired lined up to hit her from behind. But just like with the knives, Cereza easily and elegantly dodged the redirected shots before jumping in the air and slamming a heel down on the man. He managed to block the first kick with his weapon, but Cereza aimed her tonfa gun at his shoulder and pulled the trigger. While his Aura protected him from the shot, Cereza grabbed his weapon with her legs and flipped to try disarming him. However, the masked man split his weapon in two so that only one of the large blades was sent flying. Cereza smirked as she ran toward the man as he did the same with his sword in hand. The two clashed weapons and Cereza had a slight advantage with her tonfa blocking the attack before she kicked him away. The man ran toward Cereza again, but vanished just as he got near her and reappeared where his second sword fell.
"Whoa, I had no idea that he would be that fast," Lapis commented.
"You'd be surprised," Cereza told the others as she and the sun-masked man charged at each other again. The male smacked Cereza a few times with the flats of his blades, but Cereza managed to use her Time Mirage Semblance to avoid being stabbed by the blade that came at her during the end of his combo attack. "So close," Cereza said as she taunted her opponent before she delivered a series of counterattacks by punching and shooting at the man. With her Time Mirage ending, Cereza finished her attack by kicking him in the face. "How do you like that?"
Picking himself up, the enigmatic fighter brought a hand to his masked face to feel that his mask was damaged. Removing the mask and hood, the man revealed he had a light-skinned complexion, silvery-blue eyes, and had long platinum-blonde hair that fell to the center of his back. "I must say this, Cereza. You've improved over the months you were at Beacon," the man said. "I'm impressed, my child."
"I can tell that you've been holding back a great deal, Father," Cereza replied and confused her friends. As both fighters put their weapons away, Cereza turned to her friends while the robed man pulled his book out again. "Everyone, I want you to meet my father."
"Pleased to meet you," Lucifer greeted with a polite bow. "My name is Father Lucifer Fujita. Huntsman and traveling priest. May He grant you what you require for your futures."
Fragment Hunter was understandably confused at the assailant who went from attacking his own daughter to politely introducing himself and reading from his bible, which apparently held throwing knives as bookmarks. "Um... H-hello," Azalea, Sunset, and Silver all greeted back.
"If you don't mind me asking," Celadon asked before Father Lucifer spoke to her.
"It's not an issue, my child. Speak your mind," the priest said.
"Why did you just attack Cereza like that," Celadon bluntly asked.
Cereza just rolled her eyes before answering. "After I wanted to become a Huntress like my mother, my father decided that he would 'test me' during my training. He always does this to keep my reflexes sharp and my mind calm," the bespectacled redhead explained. "Honestly, it was a matter of time before he eventually did it here at Beacon."
"Well, we can't complain about harsh training after all the stuff Azalea's dad does with us," Rua remarked.
"Yeah, you got that right," Silver and the other members of Fragment Hunter agreed.
Lucifer smiled at the group of teenagers as he pulled his Scroll out of his pocket and looked at something. "We must be going if you all want to go on your missions," he said. "Come along, Team FCSA. We have a village to help for a day or two." Team FCSA was surprised that Lucifer Fujita was the Huntsman they were shadowing, but the team soon grabbed their bags and followed the male to their Bullhead.
"Well, I guess we'll see each other within the week," Azalea said to the rest of Fragment Hunter as she, Sunset, and Team SLVR all waved goodbye before going on their own ways.
And I'm done with this chapter! We hear about Silver's past and why he doesn't like the White Fang, the teams go on separate missions, and we meet another Huntsman that we'll learn more of later. I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter because this current story arc is going to focus on the teams as individuals more than the large group that they are.
Upcoming events for these missions will include a new type of Grimm or two, seeing what Garrison Academy is like, possibly encountering other teams on missions of their own, and definitely more insight to the members of Fragment Hunter.
BTW, during the scenes with Lucifer Fujita, I suggest listening to "You May Call Me Father" from Bayonetta 2.
Until next time, WaterDragonMaverick signing out.