Hello again, and welcome to Shade's fighting pits...

34. Keys and Cages

Two hooded figures wound through the alleyways of Vacuo. It was nearly four in the morning, and both kept their heads low, their faces hidden in shadow. There were places where this sort of behavior would have been suspicious—but nearby a Vacuan fighting pit was not one of them. They weren't even the shadiest characters on the street.

"This is insane."

Weiss leaned her head close to Blake's to whisper, and kept her voice so low even she could barely hear it.

"You said that already," Blake murmured back.

"It bears repeating!"

Blake grabbed her hand and turned them down another winding alley—this one even more dark and deserted than usual. "What they're doing here is cruel, and it has to stop."

"I know that," she snapped.

"And I'm not a huge fan of this plan either, but it's a little late for that now."

In Weiss' defense, she'd tried to argue when Raven had explained it. Had sort of exploded, in fact.

"That's idiotic! Pit dragons aren't socialized properly, and that means they'll lash out. We're, what, just hoping that they'll distinguish between friend and foe?" Weiss would be worried about an army of dragons like Glacier—and even if her father had handled his care poorly, he'd still had a much better home than a pit dragon.

"They're just as intelligent as any other dragon," Raven said, annoyed. "They'll know that we set them free."

"That's a yes, then."

Vernal rolled her eyes. "We don't need them tamed. We just have to point them at Shade."

"But—"

"Enough." Raven got to her feet. "We'll move tonight. If you want to back out, be gone by then."

And that was that. End of discussion.

"They'll kill people," Weiss whispered, as they approached the massive warehouse that was their destination. "Wasn't that what you left the White Fang to avoid?"

"Weiss, I'm not arguing with you." Blake's voice was pained. "I don't like this either, but Cinder and Raven are convinced it's the only way we can take Shade. It's going to happen no matter what we do, so our options are to back out, which means that they might fail and all the pit dragons could die, or to go ahead and try to mitigate the damage."

They were both silent for a moment, right up until they were standing in front of the side entrance. It was smaller than the main one, meant to accommodate humans and faunus, not dragons.

"I'm sorry," Weiss muttered. In retrospect, mentioning the White Fang had been a low blow.

Blake fiddled with the lock for a few seconds. It clicked open.

"Don't be. You're right."

The smell hit Ruby the second Emerald opened the door—the metallic stench of blood, and under it smoke and sweat and stale beer. She reached out instinctively and grabbed Yang's arm, trying to ignore the surge of nausea.

"You okay?" Yang asked, giving her hair a ruffle.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine." As horrible as it was, it helped ease her doubts. Whatever else happened, this building would be empty by the time they were done.

They slipped inside. The main room was massive, dark, and as far as Ruby could tell, deserted. "Where are all the guards?" she whispered.

Emerald shrugged. "Where the money is, probably. There's nothing valuable in here, and..." She paused, frowning. "Pits like this are still technically illegal in Vacuo. There's just no law against sending a dragon to one. It's complicated, and what basically ends up happening is that the police ignore them as long as they don't draw tons of attention to themselves."

Yang raised her hand and grinned. "Like losing all their dragons at once?"

"Exactly." Emerald gestured to the empty room. "I'm guessing having the main room empty like this gives the cops plausible deniability. You know, they just say that they saw an abandoned warehouse, not a fighting pit, and leave."

Ruby made a face. Visually that was true—the only sign of where the fighting cage normally stood was a square of tape on the floor, and in the dark she could barely make out the bar. But no one could mistake that smell.

"Let's hurry up and get out of here," she suggested. "That's where the offices and stuff are, right?" She pointed to a door on the right.

"Yeah." Emerald glanced at Yang, then Ruby. "I can sneak in and grab them."

"But—" Ruby started, but Emerald cut her off.

"More people always makes it harder to sneak around. I'll shout if I really need help, but this will go better if we don't have to deal with security at all."

"Um..." Ruby glanced towards another door, the one that had been marked as containing the pit dragons on the maps Raven had given them. "I have a feeling they're gonna be really loud."

"Okay," Yang said slowly, "so Emerald goes in, grabs the keys. Then I'll keep this door shut as long as I can while Ruby calms the dragons down."

Emerald nodded once, then slipped past the door. Ruby stood there, shifting from foot to foot until Yang gently grabbed her by the shoulders and halted the motion. "She'll be okay."

Ruby groaned quietly. "I'm not dumb Yang, I can tell you and Emerald are doing all the most dangerous stuff."

Yang stared at her a moment. "Uh... Ruby, you realize these dragons are... definitely not fond of people, right?"

"Well, yeah—"

"And that your job would be way more dangerous for me than holding a door shut." Yang shrugged. "I think we split it up pretty well. We're all doing what we're good at."

"I guess, but..." She glanced at the door. "Waiting sucks."

"Agreed."

Mercifully, Emerald was back within minutes, smirking as she dangled a set of keys off her index finger. Then she tossed them to Ruby and started fiddling with the door to the dragons' cages. She turned the knob—and cried out as it slammed outward, smashing into her nose.

A tall man in a guard's uniform stood on the other side, a baton in one hand. "I know you kids like to go on dares," he said, "but you need to get the fuck—"

Yang punched him. There was a brief scuffle, but he obviously hadn't been expecting them to fight back, and before long she grabbed the baton away from him and shoved him out of the room. Then Ruby and Emerald rushed inside, and Yang leaned her back against the door to hold it shut.

"Are you okay?!"

Emerald winced and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Fine," she said, her voice nasally. "Not the first time I've... broken..." She trailed off. Stopped breathing. Froze, staring at something over Ruby's shoulder.

When she turned around, she was almost nose to nose with a dragon. It had stuck its head through the bars of its cage, stretching its neck out all the way to stare at her. Its fiery blue scales faded to a brilliant gold at the tip of its snout and its curved horns, and its yellow eyes blinked warily at her. There was a leather muzzle clamping its mouth shut.

"Um... hi!" It reared back, startled. "Sorry! I'm here to help, promise."

Every eye in the room was on them now. An orange wind dragon bumped its nose against the bars. It thrashed its tail—which ended in a stump after only about six feet—and let out a long, threatening growl. Beside it was a murky green water dragon that raked its claws against the ground.

Yang may have been right about this being the tricky part. "Easy," Ruby said, focusing her attention on the fire dragon that had greeted her, for now. It sniffed her warily as she offered her hand, then drew back into its cage.

The others were less than impressed. The water dragon threw itself at Ruby. It hit the cage and bounced off, causing a harsh clang that made one of the younger dragons whine and clamp its paws over its ears. The wind dragon hissed through its muzzle, its single intact ear pinned back against its skull.

"Okay..." Ruby backed up a few paces. "So that's not working."

"Ruby?"

"Gimme a sec, Yang, I'm thinking." There was a set of metal shutters on the other side of the room, blocking the opening the dragons would walk through at the start of a fight, and it was held shut with a padlock. "Um, Emerald? Can you—?"

"On it."

"Cool." Ruby drew herself up and met each dragon's eyes in turn. "I don't really have a lot of time, so here's what's gonna happen. You guys are going to calm down, and as soon as you do I'll let you out."

Most of them ignored that—but the first fire dragon went on watching her with its head tilted quizzically. She took a deep breath and, before she could second-guess herself, unlocked the cage. Then she backed up and sat cross-legged on the ground, both her palms flat against the floor. It took a moment for it to move. When it did, and the cage door creaked open... every other dragon went dead silent. It approached her, sniffing.

"Mind if I take the muzzle off?"

It stared blankly at her.

Slowly, watching carefully for any sign of distress, she touched one of the buckles. "Is this okay?"

Still no response, but it hadn't tensed up, so she went ahead and got rid of it. As soon as it was free the dragon drew its head back, its mouth opening... and licked her face. She giggled. "You're welcome."

When Ruby looked up, Yang was staring at her. Emerald was staring at her. Every single one of the pit dragons was staring at her. "So," she said cheerfully, "now that I've got your attention, who wants me to take off their muzzle?"

She made the rounds, carefully removing each muzzle. A few dragons snapped at her as soon as their jaws were free. Most stopped short of actually biting her, but the orange wind dragon left a long scratch on the back of her hand... and the water dragon clamped its jaws down on her arm. Ruby yelped, Yang swore at the top of her lungs, and Emerald surged forward—but when it let go, there wasn't a mark on her. Its mouth was still slightly open as it growled, revealing nothing but pink gums. No teeth at all.

"Hey! No more of that."

It flinched back into the cage, bracing for a blow. Ruby struggled to keep up her stern expression as long as she could, then let it melt into a smile. "We good?"

She decided to take its baffled stare as a yes.

"Okay!" Ruby backed up to address all the dragons. "You're all leaving tonight—"

Pandemonium. She hadn't quite realized that, without the muzzles, every single dragon in the room would start roaring and howling all at once. Wincing a little, Ruby waited. And waited. Finally the din died down a little—enough so that she could hear that someone was banging on the door as Yang held it shut.

"And we really need to speed this up, so—some friends and I are about to do something really dangerous. We're going to Shade, and we're going to get as many riders as we can to join us... because we're standing up to the council."

The orange wind dragon perked up, though its eyes were still narrowed suspiciously. Others glanced at each other, growling and grumbling quietly to one another.

"I'm gonna let you guys out whether you decide to help or not. If you want, you can just fly away. Or... you can come with us."

Ruby stood there for a moment, her palms sweating, wondering if she'd just screwed up the plan. But she couldn't make them attack Shade. After everything they'd been through, they at least deserved to have the choice. And if that meant that none of them helped—

A low hiss, just to her left. The orange wind dragon flared its wings and said, "Ffight." Others were flexing their claws and baring their teeth. The first fire dragon just kept staring guilelessly at her.

The guards outside grew more insistent. Yang skidded a few inches across the floor. She held the door, barely, but at least three voices were shouting at them. "Right! Emerald?"

There was a little click. "Got it."

Ruby raced around the room, yanking open cage doors. Then Emerald threw the shutters wide, and there were security guards running in with batons and a gun—

The orange wind dragon burst out of its cage, bellowed a challenge, and charged through the opening. Four guards went down like bowling pins. Its wings flexed, and its head swiveled around until it spotted the exit. More poured out after it—all but the fire dragon, which stood next to Ruby and chirped inquisitively.

"Wow." She stared at the empty cages. Some of their doors were still swinging on their hinges. "That's, um... wow."

"We should go." Emerald pointed at one of the guards, who was starting to stir. "Hopefully the others are almost done."

"I am so fucking done."

Neptune grabbed Sun's shoulder. "Uh, dude... maybe don't yell."

"What?"

"I said—ah, never mind."

He and Sun stood before a row of cages... all full of dragons that were going absolutely berserk. Growling and hissing and banging their tails against the bars until neither of the two boys could hear themselves think... but it could have been worse.

Two crimson eyes glared balefully at them through a haze of smoke. Twin black horns curled up behind the dragon's head, and its blood red scales shimmered with heat. Its cage was half again the size of most of the others, but it still had to hunch its shoulders just to fit. A set of wheels were fixed to the bottom—as if the creeps running this place couldn't control it even for the few seconds it would take to get it into the arena.

So yeah, it could have been worse—because if the pit dragons hadn't been muzzled, Neptune was pretty sure both of them would've been burned to a crisp the moment they opened the door.

"Look!" Sun shouted, in an attempt to be heard over the racket. "This is a rescue mission! But you're gonna have to chill for a minute before we let you out, because I don't wanna get charbroiled. Got it?" He jabbed a finger at the fire dragon, and it lurched forward. Its skull smacked against the cage, but one of its horns slipped between the bars and opened a long scratch in his forearm. "Gah!"

"Sun!" Neptune hauled him back. "Hang on, let me—!" He fumbled for something to tie around it, but Sun waved him off.

"It's okay, it's not that deep."

"Do you not see your arm covered in blood?!"

"Listen up, you jerk!" Sun eyed the dragon that had scratched him, but before he could finish the thought it huffed out a great, scorching puff of smoke. Both of them stumbled back, gagging and coughing.

"Screw this!" Neptune grabbed Sun by the shoulders and held him still. "You deal with your cut. I'm getting Nymph."

"But—"

"And don't go near that thing again!"

He stomped out past the single guard that was slumped against the wall, unconscious. The pit they were at was pretty small, and only had the one dedicated security guard. Apparently a lot of these places relied on the fact that anyone trying to steal their most valuable merchandise would get mauled. Which was good, because if there had been anyone else in the building they definitely would have heard the giant hellbeast thrashing in its cage.

Nymph and Huo were holed up in a warehouse a few streets away, where Sun and Neptune had stashed them that morning. The dragons were too conspicuous to bring right up to the doors of a fighting pit, and it was only about a minute's run away from the pit.

Two minutes later, Neptune glanced from side to side and ushered Nymph, then Huo, through the giant metal doors. He'd tried to bring just Nymph, but Huo had refused to sit around in the warehouse by himself. And, well... it wasn't like two dragons were all that much more obvious than one.

"Okay, girl." He ushered her into the room full of cages. "Can you help us convince them we're trying to help?"

Nymph tossed her head and walked in. Sun was still standing in the middle of the room, though he'd taken off his shirt and wrapped it around his bleeding arm. "Uh... dude?" He pointed to Nymph, then at Huo, who had poked his head inside. "You sure no one saw them?"

"Yeah."

The lights cut out. Red flashes lit up the room, and a horrible blaring noise started up.

"...No."

"It's fine," Jaune said, in the universal tone of people who definitely aren't fine. "We just gotta... um... give them a minute."

He could barely hear himself over the thrashing pit dragons. One shiny black earth dragon smacked its tail on the floor and growled through its muzzle. Another, a cloudy grey wind dragon, shoved its head through the bars and hissed. The only one that seemed the least bit interested in what he had to say was an orange fire dragon near the back. A long golden stripe ran from the tip of its nose to the back of its neck. Its head tilted quizzically to one side, and its wide eyes were fixed on him like he'd just performed some kind of miracle. If he managed to get the rest to be quiet for a second, he might start agreeing with it.

Pyrrha grimaced. "This... isn't working. Maybe we can try talking to some of them individually?"

So they did. Jaune tried to pick out the ones that didn't seem hostile—starting with the fire dragon with the crown. It looked younger than most of the others, and he noticed when it flexed its forepaws that it was missing its claws. "So... do you want to get out of here?" It shrank back into its cage.

His next attempt was with a water dragon. Its scales were a blue so dark it looked almost black, streaked with thin white stripes. It looked wary, but at least it wasn't howling through its muzzle. "Hey! We're trying to get you guys out of these cages, okay?" A low, dangerous hiss.

In the distance, Jaune heard the blaring of an alarm. The noise riled many of the pit dragons into an even bigger frenzy, lashing out at the bars of their cages and thumping their tails on the ground. "Well," he said, returning to the middle of the room. He couldn't even hear his own voice. "This is gonna take a while—"

Somewhere outside, he heard sirens. A lot of sirens. Most seemed to be moving away, but some of them... definitely weren't. He hung his head and sighed. "Why do I even—?"

Pyrrha leaned into his side so that she could shout into his ear. "We need a dragon!"

"Yeah!"

"I'll get Twiggy."

"But—!"

"Try to talk them down if you can!"

She was already leaving. Jaune took a few steps towards the door, then stopped. If the police were on their way, they needed to finish this now.

"Alright, listen up! We're going to—hey!" The black earth dragon slammed its head against the bars, drowning him out mid-sentence. "Look, I'm—I'm here to—" Frustrated, he cupped both hands around his mouth and shouted, "I'm here to free you!"

For a second, the racket stopped. Then the grey wind dragon hissed and raised its head, its head fins flared and its eyes narrowed.

"I'll prove it! You want that muzzle off?"

He started forward, reached out a hand—and all of a sudden it was clinging to the roof of its cage like a bat and snarling.

"...Okay, um..." He approached the fire dragon. "Maybe you'll let me try?" It stuck out its head when he reached for it, butting against the bars. But when he reached for the muzzle it pulled back and shook its head, its whole body trembling.

Jaune groaned. "What's wrong? Do you guys want to stay here?"

At that, the dark blue water dragon drew itself up and growled indignantly.

"Good! So let me help!"

But they still weren't having it. He paced around, talking softly like he would with Twiggy, but he just couldn't get any of them to listen to him. The sirens were getting closer—until suddenly they were right outside... and a gunshot went off. Jaune sprinted full-tilt towards the door, burst through, and almost tripped over a long brown tail.

"Call off the beast!" A deep voice shouted from behind a parked police car.

Jaune turned around, and found Twiggy curled up in a ball, her teeth bared. Then she saw Jaune and barked once.

"Come on!" He bolted for the door, holding it open long enough for the dragon to duck inside. He heard another gunshot, but it only hit the wall of the warehouse. "Pyrrha! Where's—"

Twiggy barked again, lifting a wing to show an unharmed Pyrrha wrapped up in her forepaws. "Oh. Um. Nice work." Jaune rubbed his hands together. "Think you can calm them down, girl?"

He had no idea what she said, but it seemed to help. A little. Enough that the black earth dragon let Pyrrha get close enough to loosen its muzzle. Then it tossed its head, sending the scrap of leather to the floor, and roared. Jaune and Pyrrha made a circuit, removing the muzzles of any dragon that would let them. A few adamantly refused, including the friendly fire dragon. After that, they started unlocking cages.

Just in time, too. He heard Pepper calling overhead—meaning she and their professors had already finished up at their pit. Twin metal grates that blocked the room they were in from the street rolled open, and dragons surged past them. Many took off then and there, while others sprinted up to the side of a building and began clawing their way up its face, to give themselves a better takeoff point.

And the flock in the air... seemed to be moving in the opposite direction from Shade. About half had taken off so far, and none looked like they were in any mood to stay behind. Even the friendly-looking fire dragon was fleeing, following right on the tail of the dark blue water dragon.

The black earth dragon soared overhead, trumpeting its triumph—then banked hard to the left, circling around. Pepper had already landed, but she stood up onto her hind legs and called out to it.

Professor Port's mouth dropped open. Goodwitch stood halfway up in the saddle behind him and shouted, "Tar!"

It landed beside Pepper, sniffing at her and barking excitedly. "Um... what's going on?" Jaune asked, as he clambered onto Twiggy's back.

Port reached his hand out. Tar pressed its nose against it and snorted. Then it reared back and roared at the sky. There was no reaction from most of the pit dragons, but a few of them circled back—including the grey wind dragon and the dark blue water dragon, with the crowned fire dragon following reluctantly behind it.

Professor Goodwitch answered his question. "She's a Beacon dragon."

Jaune paused with one foot in the stirrups. "But—if she's from Beacon, how did she end up here?"

"That is a very good question, Mister Arc." Professor Goodwitch's eyes flashed dangerously. "Let's go and find someone to ask, shall we?"

Wow that was a lot of pit dragons.