The Dreamer Gate

by Malignent

Thousands of Uruk-Hai are drawn to Remnant after a ritual gone wrong, and are more than capable of bringing their own taste of war to this new world. Now the people of Remnant must deal with this new and numerous threat. As the Tournament draws near, and the actions of the Uruk Leaders grows ever bolder, can peace truly be maintained?

9. Chapter 9: The Wait

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of The Rings, the Middle-Earth universe, Shadow of Mordor/War or RWBY.

This work will contain moments of intense violence, dark and dirty humor, and canonical divergences.

---

The Wait

We're on the sandy path to the Tower!

The Tower~!

Off to find the Warchiefs who wield such power!

Such Power~!

And even if we die!

We die!

Well damn at least we tried!

We tried!

And had such fun and merry final hours~!

Uthug tried to focus on scaling the sand dune, but the singing had nearly broken him. His head throbbed as the tunes rocked against his very being mercilessly, his grip on the musket tightening with every verse until he was sure there were now marks indented in it.

Behind him Tuka took great pleasure in watching Uthug shudder with rage every time the two musically inclined Uruks behind him sung "Hey Uthug, doing okay?"

"Shut up, you already know the answer!" Uthug barked back as he stumbled in the sand a bit, providing Tuka with the perfect opportunity to catch up and stand over him as the Musket-Wielder struggled back to his feet on the uneven terrain.

"Aw, ya seem so downtrodden though," the Berserker tilted his head to the side with a smirk "can't ya tell me what's wrong?"

The Warrior looked up at him with a growl before conversation brought his attention to the two orcs behind them.

Borgu and Zog were walking side by side, being delegated to carry duties. The Defender carried both his weapon and shield, behind him was a slab of wall which he dragged behind him using old metal cords they'd tied to him. Upon the slab was scrap metal from the station and Ashgarn's quote unquote "corpse". Tuka wasn't taking any chances of him pulling that back from the dead shrakh again, they were getting to that tower and showing him to Hork. After that it wasn't really his fault if the fat glob decides he wasn't gonna be a team player and die now was it?

Though initially challenged by the added weight, the Shield-Barer all but forgot about it once he started the first of many songs with Borgu.

The Smaller Uruk had their rations stuffed in a sack which he carried, but he was also in charge of watching the Prisoner, who had to keep ahead of him lest he start jabbing her in the back with his club. That also meant she was at ground zero for most of their songs. One glance at her would prove that she was faring almost as poorly as Uthug was. In contrast to him, she seemed more willing to silently suffer instead of openly suffer in front of her captors.

"Got another round for ya!" Borgu chittered before drumming his fingers along his club, like that the music emanating from him changed tone and tempo to match "Try and find the words for this one, eh?"

Zog listened for a moment, his thick head nodding in tune for a moment before he grinned.

Oh~! I ain't got meat and I ain't got drink,

But thinkin' 'bout a battle brings me back from the brink.

And~! I ain't got slaves and I ain't got beasts,

but strolling with me mates is as good as a feast.

Uthug looked up to Tuka with pain etched into his features "Please, make them stop! For Sauron's sakes make them stop!"

"But they look so happy," the Berserker chittered "what self-respecting Uruk don't want his boys in good spirits?"

"I ain't in good spirits!"

And yet we still find merits~

"You can't sit there and tell me you can stand this shrakh!"

"Meh," Tuka shrugged before leaning down to him "the sight of you in pain is far more satisfying than their merrymaking is annoying."

Uthug snarled before pushing himself back to his feet with his musket and shoving past the smirking Uruk "Whatever! As soon as we get back I'm washing my hands of all of you!"

"You're in too deep!" Tuka called out with a laugh before following "You know you can't go back without hitching onto my plan, and you know you can't survive ditching us on your own."

"Shut up, I ain't gonna listen to you!"

In contrast to all the things he's gotten you to do~

"Oh! I'm liking these addendums Uthug my boy!" Borgu clapped before making a different beat

"Stop dragging me into your songs!"

Why? This don't feel wrong~

"Enough!" the Warrior turned and charged up the dune "The sooner I get away from you all the sooner I can drown myself in grog and be done with this-"

He paused as he crested the dune, angry footsteps coming to a stop as he looked past it. In the very distance he could see it, the Desert Tower where both Tugog the Dreamer and Hork of the Black Gate were. Uthug's anger faltered at the sight of their goal, sparking up again only when he felt Tuka patting him on the arm.

"Better get that introduction speech ready." the Larger Uruk chuckled before waving behind them "Hurry up folks, we're nearly there!"

He walked forwards as the others crested the dune as well, the Poet audibly gasping at the sight.

"Oh! Look at it in this light! It looks magnificent, glorious, even better than I remember and-!" he paused

"What's that metal snake thing trailing away from it?"

---

Beacon Academy

"...Uruks?"

Weiss sighed as she watched Fox scratch his head in confusion, behind him Yatsuhashi was pacing in front of their dorm's door as Ruby tried explaining what exactly it was their teammates had encountered. After splitting up with Team JNPR, who had to assist Jaune with an intense stomach pain he'd received for follishly trying to keep up with Nora's unyielding hunger, the girls had been preparing to say their goodbyes to the CFVY boys when they immediately spotted Coco stomping back to her dorm with a jammed minigun in hand.

She claimed a shipment of dust had been stolen along with Velvet by some suspiciously Orcish guys who just happened to call themselves-

"Uruks. Yeah, Weiss doesn't really like calling them Orcs but they're basically that." Ruby scratched the back of her head "Those bandits we fought? Uruks. The Orcish guys they fought sound exactly like them."

Fox narrowed his eyes before glancing back to their dorm room and calling out to their leader "You hear that? Vel was pretty much kidnapped by Orcs."

There was no response from Coco, and Yatsu came to a stop before shaking his head "We should've been there." he said solemnly before shaking his head "Yet again I'm nowhere near my partner when she's in peril."

"As funny as it would be to see you tagging along during a girls' day out I gotta say that Coco would not have taken kindly to you insisting on going... hell I don't think Vel would even take kindly to that."

"And now she's gone." Yatsu said sadly "Off to a fate we know nothing of."

"Don't worry guys," Ruby spoke up "Ozpin's been working hard to try and stop them, I'm sure he'll find a way to get her back!"

"Geez, how many people know about these guys?" Fox asked

"Rumors are everywhere." Blake commented "Officials have been working to cover up what they can but there's enough hearsay for people to get curious. Someone's going to have to make a public announcement soon."

"Just how much have these guys been getting up to?"

Weiss scoffed at that "Ugh, where to begin?" she raised a hand and began counting off "Lootings, kidnapping, random acts of destruction and violence, they've been apparently contesting with the White Fang."

Blake nodded "And that's just from what we've seen and what could be gotten out of Krimp."

The dark skinned boy tilted his head to the side "Why would Krimp-?" he paused before raising a hand "Hold up, if those bandits you guys fought were Uruks..." he shook his head "Are you guys saying that Krimp is a...?"

Ruby gave a nervous laugh "Well... Yeah that about sums it up."

"Don't feel bad." Weiss commented before glancing away "He has a shocking amount of disarming interpersonal skills."

Yatsu turned to them with a steely expression "Was he responsible for this? That trip Coco and Velvet were on was initially set up between those three in the first place."

"I don't know," Blake thought on it "I still don't understand what Krimp's actually been trying to accomplish by coming here and making friends."

"The possibility is there, but he's had no connection with anyone outside of Ozpin's office since he was initially brought up there." Weiss said as she folded her arms "He's been awfully forthcoming with information, but even then-"

The door swung open suddenly, interrupting the heiress. The five students stood and stared at Coco, who wore an unnaturally intense frown for a moment as she glanced to White haired girl "You say he's up there with Ozpin right now?"

"W-well they were together last time we were there but-"

"Nice." Coco nodded before immediately walking past them all.

"Hey boss," Fox called to her "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to ask him where my teammate is, obviously." she said without even turning back

"Oh boy." Ruby and the others shared several glances before they all moved to catch up with the fashionista

"Coco, you can't just barge into Ozpin's office unannounced." Weiss pointed out "He has a lot on his plate-"

"Well he's about to have a lot more on his plate." Coco commented casually before fixing her glasses and frowning as an unwelcome face popped out from a corner.

Sky Lark of Team CRDL seemed to be in the midst of a book as he turned the corner, not noticing them really until the group was already mostly past him. But then he suddenly looked up and turned back to them, watching for a moment before running to catch up with the agitated lass at the front.

"Hey!" he called out "Hey Coco, have you seen Krimp anywhere? He was supposed to help me... uh... test out a new mod that I purchased... yeah. Then I remembered he was planning on hanging out with you and the Faunus girl today so..."

"You've got a lot of nerve coming near us and speaking of her in such a way." Yatsu commented

Sky glanced back to the giant for a moment before waving him off "Yeah yeah, I get it. Still pissy 'cause me and the boys made your rabbit friend cry or something, whatever. Not here for that. Now do ya- ahem, do you know where Krimp is or not?"

"With Ozpin," Weiss answered with a noticeably more agitated tone "now could your please..."

She trailed off as her eyes lowered to the book in his hands. Sky grumbled at that "Ozpin? Ugh, of course the big guy would just have to be with him of all people." he muttered "Guess I'll have to wait or something."

"Since when are you a history buff?"

Sky glanced to the heiress "Huh?" he glanced to the history book in his hands and shrugged "I saw my grade in Oobleck's was low so I started reading up... duh."

"No but, I seem to recall you always hating history." Weiss commented "You even used to defend your terrible grade by saying how much of a waste learning about a bunch of dead people was."

The CRDL member seemed taken aback by that statement for a moment, even disgusted, before his frown returned "Guess I couldn't ignore this dumb stuff anymore, look just tell me when you guys see him, okay? Okay."

With that he stopped walking and returned his attention to his book with a slightly miffed expression, leaving the students to step around him and focus on keeping up with Coco once again.

"I don't care how much they say they've improved," Blake spoke up "I don't think they'll ever change."

Sky didn't watch them leave, instead he continued flipping through the book, growing more annoyed until a thought hit him.

"Why AM I reading this?"

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

"-and ever since then Ishga's been draggin' poor Skak along on missions in order to improve him and whatnot." Krimp concluded with a bright smile before putting a finger to his lips in thought "Don't got no explanation for the nice timin' they had."

"These things are laughing at us." Ironwood grumbled as he turned away from a hovering screen which displayed the recently assaulted train station and glanced to a contemplative Ozpin "With those Dreamer Gates they can just hop in and out of our kingdoms with ease, we need to go for the Tower."

"What we need to do, James, is deal with the bands of chielfess roaming nearby." Glynda spoke from the other side of Ozpin's desk "Whatever those Warchiefs are planning you can't say they're more of a pressing matter than the raiders their deserters have become."

"But they have enough restraint to stay away from the kingdoms." the General pointed out with a raised finger "Now that the Warchiefs know they can just hop past our defenses and abscond with stolen goods then there's no doubt they'll do it again."

"Stealing or not, the rate at which these Deserters are raiding villages was previously unheard of. By the time we finish finding and launching an attack against their former masters they'll be able to wipe out the rest of the villages!"

"If we don't focus on them now, the only way we'd be able to respond in time to their infiltrations would be by doubling the current military presence." Ironwood said slowly "The people already feel tense with the procession brought to defend the festival, as much as I wish it were true there's a limit to how much we can send here at once."

"Then don't."

The General and the Teacher turned to Ozpin, who finally spoke up "As much of a threat the Forces from the Tower prove given recent events, their actions at least have a higher chance of being mitigated by Vale's current securities. As huntsmen we swore to protect the people of Remnant, and as it is now the Villages are completely defenseless in comparison."

Eyes lowering a bit, Ironwood straightened his attire "So, we go for the tournament?"

"I don't think Ishmol would like ya folk interruptin' his game." Krimp piped up from the side

"Be that as it may, if there really will be as many Chiefless captains in attendance as you say then this provides a golden opportunity to both save their captives and deal with a majority of their forces at-"

Ozpin paused as a flashing light and a familiar beeping sound came from a screen projected on his desk.

"Ooh! Ya got a call!" Krimp said in awe before clapping "Who's it from?"

After glancing to both Glynda and Ironwood for a small moment, Ozpin pressed at the flashing light "What is it?"

"Sir. It's Ms. Adel, she just pushed her way into the elevator along with several other students and seemed quite... agitated. They're on their way up now."

"Let them come," Ozpin said with a hum of thought "Given the timing I'm sure I know what this is about."

After ending the call he turned to Krimp "Though you might want to get your disguise back on, just in case."

It was just as the Uruk gave a confused look that the Elevator gave a telling ding before it opened and Coco immediately marched out before zeroing in on Krimp.

"Hey there buddy," he smiled nervously and waved as the others exited the elevator as well "I was just havin' me a friendly chat with Ozzie and pals! How was-"

Suddenly she was standing right in front of him, pointing at him in an accusatory manner "Did you have anything to do with it?"

Krimp blinked "Wuh?"

"At the train station, did you send them after us?"

"Ms. Adel?" Ms. Goodwitch tilted her head to the side.

"Dude, you're seriously one of them?" Fox commented as he looked Krimp over, but Coco didn't seem to share his awe.

"I heard one of those red guys mention how they knew we'd be there, that he'd heard about it from some Master of there's." she shifted her glasses down a bit before locking eyes with Krimp "And you were the one who set up that little outing of ours."

"But I didn't have anything to do with that! Our time out was supposed to be all about friends, fun and faffin' about! Not battles, blades and beatings. I already seen lots o that and I'm sure ya have too, wouldn't want my fantastic friends facin' the same ole routine now would I?"

"Plus the Precognition and Red Theme fit someone else's current M.O." Ironwood stated "I take it from your lack of shock at his condition and Team RWBY's presence that you've been made aware of our... visitors."

"Bunch o' Orc guys who came outta nowhere, yeah yeah I get it." Coco waved that off before turning to him "So, tell me who this M.O. does belong to."

"Ms. Adel, even if we were to disclose that information, what exactly do you plan on doing with it?" Ozpin asked

"Simple, I'm going out there and getting Velvet back."

"Just like that?" Glynda asked

"Yep, no need to complicate things. Soon as I know who took her I'm heading out and not coming back unless she's with me." the Fashionista paused before lowering her glasses a bit "And from the sound of things you guys already have a pretty good idea, hm?"

There was a moment of silence before Ironwood spoke "There's no certainty to this, but those you encountered sound like the underlings of an Uruk by the name of Tugog the Dreamer. He's said to have some form of clairvoyance and many of his more loyal soldiers prefer red as their theme."

"And you think this guy might have Velvet?" Blake asked

"There's no assurances," Ozpin said "but given what information has already been provided it is highly likely."

"Tug-Tug's got 'imself a nice big tower out in the sands that he and his be sharin' with Hork." Krimp said with a smile

"Good to see that even after being totally exposed, you still try to make yourself useful." Fox muttered, still not quite able to get over the jolly oaf's true appearance.

"Looks like we're off to Vacuo boys." Coco turned to her teammates and began to walk back to the elevator even as Glynda opened her mouth to begin discouraging her.

"She could be headin' to Ishmol's."

As Coco paused the adults turned to Krimp, still standing there with that smile plastered across his chubby cheeks "What?" Ironwood said "There's no evidence that that's what they'd take her for."

"Just sayin'," the Uruk shrugged "the timin' o' this makes it seem likes she could wind up fighting in his arena and all."

"Hold up," Weiss tilted her head to the side a bit "who exactly is Ishmol?"

"He's a renown Uruk Slaver who's planning on holding an apparently extravagant series of slave fights in a few days." Ozpin stated as he folded his hands together "Many Chiefless Uruk Captains and there underlings are planning to attend."

"Making it a perfect chance to deal with a large number of them all at once." Blake noted

"Indeed."

"And you think Velvet's gonna wind up there?" Coco glanced to Krimp

"Just sayin' that when Mollie boy throws a slave tournie there ain't many who could resist turnin' up with they's most dangerous captives and watchin them brawl and whatnot." The Uruk placed a finger to his lips and gave a thoughtful hum "Eh, least of all ya might find someone who knows where she is or not."

"Wait," Ruby stepped forward "c-could Yang end up there too?"

Krimp tilted his head "If she's as good at fightin' as I think she is I'd say she'd be a sure thing for it."

Ruby looked to both her teammate who shared similar looks of concern, though Weiss's shifted to one of doubt as she raised a hand "Now before we let our hopes get ahead of us, do we even know where these things are holding this contest of theirs?"

"We do," Glynda grumbled as she sighed and glanced back to their Uruk accomplice " it would've been easier, however..."

Krimp gave a chuckle as he massaged the back of his head "Yeah see Ishmol was plannin' on givin' info 'bout the thing to the Cap'ns in pieces over the course of several days... Was finally gonna reveal the Arena he said he was workin' on and wanted all the suspense he could get!"

"And the location was planned to be given about two days ago." Ironwood sighed

"And two days ago you were still at Beacon," Blake found the issue almost immediately "weren't you?"

"I was just having so much fun around here that I kinda let it slip my mind a bit."

"Either way," Ozpin began "with what knowledge we have managed to gleam from other captured Uruk-hai we've been able to narrow down the locations to one large enough yet still off the radar enough for the event. With the General's forces and Krimp's help we've even devised a plan which will hopefully end with us apprehending a majority of the Uruks in attendance while also freeing the slaves they brought with them."

"We was gonna follow a Brewer there!" the Uruk piped up

"Excuse me?" the heiress almost assumed she'd misheard him

"Besides captives, one of Ishmol's greatest methods of consolidating power among the other Captains is through production and distribution of large quantities of an alcohol they refer to as Grog." Ironwood pointed out "One of his underlings plans on gaining his respect by showcasing a new formula before the event."

"All you need to know is that we plan on using this to our advantage." Ozpin finished

Coco raised an eyebrow at that, but shrugged before glancing back to her schoolmates for a moment and turning back to her instructors "Guess me and the guys should get loaded up for it then, hm?"

Oddly enough, it was Krimp who raised a hand in objection "Woah woah, guys. I know's ya wants your friends back 'n all but Mr. Ozzie and pals made it perfectly clear that they's wants this mission to be pretty hush hush type o' deal." He said before smiling brightly and jerking a thumb towards himself "That's why only the most trusted pals like me gets to know about it. Because when it comes to my friends I ain't gettin' distracted by a single-Oh lookie, a bird!"

Sure enough, a bird decided to perch itself on the railing beyond one of Ozpin's windows to clean its wings. Krimp wasted no time in pressing his face against the glass to watch the small creature in awe. It regarded the Uruk for a moment before resuming its avian maintenance after identifying him as a non-threat.

"Krimp's lunacy aside," Ms. Goodwitch turned back to the students with a fold of her arms "I simply can't entertain the idea of allowing students to insert themselves into this particular undertaking."

"B-But if Yang and Velvet are there-!" Ruby spoke up before catching her Partner's look of warning and calming herself down a bit before continuing "We can't just leave them."

"I was unable to be there for my partner in the past." Yatsuhashi stated evenly as he looked down in thought for a moment "I will not allow that to happen again."

"I can assure all of you that Atlas has this situation firmly in hand," Ironwood said with surety "we have more than enough Soldiers, Specialists, and AK-Units to negate whatever these criminals could throw at us. You don't need to worry yourselves with it."

"But you will anyway." Ozpin concluded as his colleagues turned to look at him, the silver haired professor folding his hands together as he gave a small, knowing smile "In fact I'm fairly certain that devotion will drive you to Ishmol's Arena whether we allow you to or not, so let's choose the road of least resistance."

" Oz," Glynda gave him an incredulous look "are you suggesting we just allow them to tag along?"

"Of course not, Glynda." he replied before nodding to Ironwood "I'm suggesting you recruit them."

That gave the General pause "What?"

"As huntsmen and huntresses in training they are able to be tasked with aiding active huntsmen in their undertakings. Have them serve under the Specialists partaking in this mission."

"You know we don't do things the same way as you do here in Vale, Oz." Ironwood said after a moment of thinking over the suggestion "But as long as my soldiers find their performance amicable I... I find no immediate fault in a plan like that, just know that they'll have to measure up to expectation. "

"Agreed." Ozpin nodded before turning his attention back to the students before him "I suppose this means you should make haste in impressing whichever specialist you find yourself assigned to, I don't think we need to explain what happens if they find your ability wanting... can you handle it?"

It was the way Ozpin worded that last part that gave the students pause, the way he'd leaned forward a bit and raised an eyebrow in a concerned manner.

"That... almost sounds too generous." Blake commented

"No, its merely accounting for an outcome we don't wish to occur." her Headmaster replied before leaning back his chair and gesturing towards them "I've seen what some Teams are willing to do in order to assure the safety of one of their own, and feel the need to offer a simple alternative to running off on your own or trying to restrain you in some manner. But first I must know... can you handle it?"

They all knew their answer already, and from the looks of it...

...so did Ozpin.

---

~Vacuo- The Desert Tower~

Velvet's eyes fluttered open as her vision cleared up, her head hurt something fierce. Just moving it slightly to look up made her skull throb. A dull memory of being repeatedly smashed into the ground came to mind and she closed her eyes and released a disappointed sigh, of course she'd be the one to mess up. She'd let the fear get the best of her, moved too slow.

She could hear a somewhat familiar voice, it wasn't Coco. The Rabbit Faunus was thankful for that, she shuddered at the prospect of facing her leader after such an utter failure.

"Oi!"

Velvet could practically feel someone at her side. She raised her head to the voice and slowly squinted through the pain.

She immediately locked gazes with Skak.

The Uruk stood up immediately and raised his weapon, causing Velvet to flinch at the memory of nearly being decapitated by it.

"Heh, told ya she was awake." Skak said to the Axe before stepping away.

The rabbit Faunus was bound to a chair in the middle of a sparse room, the only other furniture being a table and chair at her side which Skak immediately took for himself. On that table were several wooden mugs and a plate with several bones lying on it which had been picked clean of meat. Right above that table was a small hole in the wall where sunlight spilled in, one look was enough to convince Velvet that she would not be able to fit through it. There was a thick wooden door directly in front of her, a small barred hole on it being yet another small source of light.

Velvet winced as she registered the stinging sensation coming from her cheek and remembered the stinging gash Skak had left upon it, seems her captors had taken the liberty of patching it. She wasn't so confident in how well they'd cleaned it, but at least it wasn't left open.

"Well maybe if you hadn't pissed him off then we wouldn't have been stuck with this gig, eh?"

Her attention was brought back to Skak as he placed his weapon on the table and picked up one of the mugs before taking large, heavy swigs from it. As he did so, his eye traveled down to the axe and he frowned before pulling his mug away and growling at it.

"You was the one who got all hungry again and couldn't contain that thirst o' yours."

The Weapon just laid there.

"Well I didn't know we wasn't gon be bleeding anyone, don't put it on me!"

The axe continued laying there... being an axe.

"Ya couldn't have the conductor! You'd just kill him!"

"W-What's going on?"

Skak turned away from his axe to Velvet, who folded her ears at seeing the agitation in his eyes. The Uruk rolled them and took another swig from his mug "Just Blood-Axe throwing a fit, lass." he said before lowering his mug and giving her a questioning look "Can you believe this fool's whining about how we wasn't cutting you up back there in ya city?"

She winced at the way he said that, but more pressing concerns needed to be addressed "What happened? I mean... after you- after I passed out?"

The Red-Themed Uruk frowned at that "Obviously we took you's and the train thingie, duh."

"And the girl I was with?"

"What about her?"

Velvet's ears lowered "I-is she alright?"

Skak rolled his eyes before looking away and going for another swig "Eh, from how Ishga says it I don't think any of us got around to actually killing her." he said before glancing back at his weapon "Oi? Did the one with the eyewear eat it back there?"

After several seconds he turned back to the Faunus "Yeah no, she should be right as rain provided nobody gave her any good old crippling wounds on our way out."

Velvet tried as hard as she could not to think about that, and instead took a breath "What are you guys... going to do with me?"

Skak placed the mug on the table and grabbed one of the bones before gnawing on it for a moment "Dunno," he said between chews "pretty sure you's supposed to fight some stuff for us or something. Ishga explained it, I think? Wasn't payin' too much attention honestly but I'm fairly certain there's this kinda competition thing we plan on entering you in or something. You'd have to ask Ish for more on that though."

The young Faunus couldn't keep her frown from deepening. They wanted her to fight?

"Why?" she asked, to which Skak just gave her a look before snapping the bone in his teeth and chewing it with the marrow.

"Dunno, like I said you gonna need to ask Ishga, he's the one who decided you'd be easier to nab than the other one... Which he was totally right about by the way."

Coco had went through so much trouble teaching her bunny-eared teammate how to respond properly to insults, but Velvet just didn't have enough will in her at the moment to recite one of the many comebacks her leader had spent time going over with her.

Skak quirked an eyebrow at the lack of response whilst sucking the rest of the marrow out of the other half of the bone and tossing it in as well. He placed one hand on the table and turned to face her before leaning forward a bit and tilting his head to the side "Well?"

Velvet glanced tohim out of the corner of her eye "Well what?"

"Where's your determined statement?"

"My what?"

Skak clapped his hands together before leaning back in his chair and turning to his weapon "You hearing this, mate?" he asked incredulously before turning back and gesturing to her "Look lass, most of the time when we nab one o ya, there's one o two thinks that happen. Either they start pleadin' and beggin for mercy, or they start talking about how they's gonna break free or be rescued soon and that we don't know what hell we'd wrought on ourselves or something like that. Lot of you Hybrid types go for option two, keep talkin' about how the White Fang gonna save ya or whatnot."

"Well I'm not with the White Fang." Velvet said before glancing down again

"What about ya mates then? Ya pal with the eyewear looked right pissed when I took you down."

"Well she should be." Velvet stated before looking down at her knees.

Skak waited for several seconds for any form of follow up before grumbling and picking up his weapon "Well's we's in for a borin few days ain't we? Rather have a loudie I could get some laughs from."

The Axe stared back wordlessly.

"They coulda at least let me rough her up a bit." Skak sighed dejectedly "I'mma get fat and lazy if I just sit here eatin' and drinkin' mate."

"Then why are you even here?" Velvet raised her head to give a weak glare to him "If I'm so boring to you... then why don't you just leave?"

"Welp, since me and Blood-Axe here took ya down we gots to keep watch over ya." Skak said with an annoyed grunt before gesturing to her with his free hand "You's should be grateful, if you wasn't so important 'n dangerous then you wouldn't even get ya own room. Me and Blood-Axe don't get our own room, gotta share it with a bunch of the boys down in the slums."

"Sorry I'm such an inconvenience for you, guess I should've tried a little harder not to let you KIDNAP me."

Skak raised his weapon to his ear for a moment before grinning a bit "You right there, lass." he said before glancing back to the Faunus "Ya make a good point, if we'da had things my way we would've been paintin' ya girlfriend with ya entrails. I mean it woulda been a nightmare if Ish hadn't called out ta me. Ya had me seein' the blood I was plannin' to spill before I even got to spill it."

Velvet was too tired and disappointed with herself to care about the Red Uruk's statements "Why-"

"And Blood-Axe? Oh forget it, the second he saw the two o' ya standin there sayin' how you was going to stop us, all he could talk about was how much he wanted into that pink-skinned flesh of yours."

"Can't-"

"Ya know me and Blood-Axe ain't got to enjoy cuttin' into you hybrids yet. The Big guys say we need the labor. You could understand why we might've gotten a bit into it durin' the nabbing, me and Blood-Axe ain't never killed a Huntsman either. But then we get a Huntsman... who's also a hybrid?"

"Is that what you guys call us? Hybrids?"

"Hn? For you animal tarks? You's beast and man crammed together, so why not? Ain't like we's wrong in that regard, eh?"

"Human and Animal is literally what Faunus means, there's practically no difference."

"So its the same damn thing, geez. Still makes me right." Skak glanced to his weapon "Can you believe this one?"

"But then there's no reason to- whatever." she sighed before pausing and looking him over again "Why couldn't you just have a whole room full of guys watching me if you think I'm so dangerous?"

"You took on more than a room full o my boys and only I managed to beat ya, besides we don't know what ya semblie is."

"My Semblance?"

"Exactly, I'm brawny enough for the guys to think that no matter what magic tricks ya whip out I'd still be able to at least hold ya till reinforcements come. But that means I'm stuck in here... with you and Blood-Axe... not able to go drinkin' with the guys or fighting those Grimm Beasts... just sittin' here and- ah screw it I can train on my own."

With that the Uruk stood up and swung his weapon lightly through the air a few times before walking past her and out of sight. Velvet could here the light swings of the axe switch to heavy chops through the air, and briefly wondered if she should be concerned that he might accidentally hit her.

"Ugh, these next few days are gonna be a drag I can feel it already." Skak muttered as he swung his weapon about, pausing to glance into the eye-holes of his Axe "Bet ya Ish ain't gotta deal with shrakh like this."

---

Desert Tower- Upper most Training Yard

"So you don't even know what this stuff is?" Maku asked

He was standing beside both Tugog and his brother at the edge of the higher Tower courtyard, all of them staring down at the beached train which already had dozens of Hork's soldiers scouring over it. Around the Warchief and his underlings the makeshift practice dummies that the Garrison train with had been abandoned as most were now captivated by the sight of the long metal behemoth now trailing from their tower.

"I just saw in my dream that Ishga and his accomplice would be interrupted in the midst of stealing this contraption, I saw the grand amount of this substance we would acquire, and that Ishmol was planning on having a tournament. ."

"The slaves call it a Train." Ishga said while nodding towards it, "Say that they use it to transport things through use of a rail system similar to mine carts."

"The Storm has come across these before, and this one's carrying quite the load." Maku muttered before narrowing his eyes "But tell me Dreamer, you knew of Ishmol's little event?"

"I saw that the Chiefless Grog Baron would use his influence to hold a slave fight for all the rest of the deserters to enjoy. I figured that, depending on the accuracy of my visions, we could grab one of the girls and use her as a show of force."

Maku blinked "Y-You plan on using the huntress to win the tournament?"

"Of course, nothing more will show the less than loyal forces who left that we are still strong despite the setbacks. Winning this may convince more of them to return and help us." Dreamer glanced away "I figured since we have a better understanding of the Dreamer Gates, we could take a trip there and partake in their event. With a captive huntress entered in, there'd be no way she could lose right?"

The Warmonger looked surprisingly stunned, having not expected that from the Warchief "Well... that seems like a great plan, Dreamer."

"Thank you, I do wish to speak with the Shaman again and see if he could offer some form of assistance in this endeavor seeing as he no doubt knows of this tournament as well." he turned to look at the swarmed train for a moment "I do hope you and yours find use for this and the... Dust was it? I seem to recall that the Storm delights in learning of new potential weapons."

"As soon as we find space for it, I'm sure Ratlug will find the prospect of studying this Train most enjoyable."

Tugog said before gesturing back to the beached train "But for now tell me, Warmonger, what do you know of the dust onboard this vessel?"

Maku shrugged before walking past them and tearing a pouch from his belt, tugging it open he showed them some yellowish Dust within.

"You have your own?" Ishga asked

"Of course, Shaman had us nab some a while back with some help." He didn't elaborate, merely raising the pouch and pointing to it "You lot have to have seen it before, right?"

"Of course,among the humans and Faunus we captured, many have had some form of it on them." Dreamer admitted before glancing away "But Hork has been adamant on only using it for fire and weaponry. On the train, there are so many types whose functions remain a mystery."

"Oh, dust can be used for far more than that my Warchief." The Hunter chuckled "Different colors means different Elements, mixin 'em together makes different things too. You'd have to talk with Ratlug for more knowledge, just think of it as-"

"Sorcery."

Tugog and his supporters turned to look back at the courtyard, where Hork paced flanked by his soldiers. He had listened in silence as his old friend explained where the train was from, his expression worsening the more he'd heard. And finally when the Warmonger began speaking of the cargo they'd acquired his eyes narrowed as he turned on them.

"More Sorcery and Witchcraft from this awful realm. You're lucky I'm allowing you to claim ownership of any of it after the stunt you've pulled." the giant said with an irritated tone before marching towards them and glancing over the edge to the train "You announce our presence more and more, all for more witchcraft. If not for the sheer amount of metal that beast of a machine offers, I would have Pigug here decapitate you immediately for such bold moves."

"I would do so with pleasure, Master." the Executioner commented with a slight bow

The Warchief gave a pleased grumble at the show of obedience before glaring at Dreamer and his cohorts "That machine is composed of enough raw materials to reinforce both my Tower and my army, but don't expect it to be enough to make up for nearly crashing it into my Fortress. I was generous and allowed you to keep the first two portions of it, and even that hybrid and the mystical powders you felt were worth risking this insane stunt for."

"Ah stuff it," Maku bit before pointing towards the Gate-Keeper "if you haven't noticed you and yours aren't exactly pure of any magics now are you?"

"Pah!" the Gate Defender wheeled on him and growled "This Aura is not a concern! It is an illness which plagues all life on this planet, nothing like the spells and cheap tricks of the Mystic scum."

"You sure? Because it really looks like-"

"Silence!" Hork barked before pointing at him "It is inconsequential compared to the tricks the men of this world coat themselves in. Though we already suffer this, you bring more mystical muck before me. Have you planned on further tainting the art of battle, Dreamer? Pathetic."

The other Warchief looked down for a moment before taking a breath and meeting his colleagues eyes, "If that is how you feel, I feel obligated to inform you that it is already 'tainted' in your terms."

That gave the Massive Uruk pause "What?"

"We are all capable of using Semblances in addition to Aura."

There was silence.

Dharg and Pigug shared a small glance as many of the Garrison forces turned towards their leader. Ishga swallowed audibly and stood firm as Maku rolled his eyes, both watching the Gate-Keeper narrow his eyes at their master.

"Why do you insist on insulting me with more tales?"

"Its true," Dreamer insisted before gesturing towards himself "the Great Shaman came to me and we-"

"He was here?!" Hork interrupted before groaning and looking away "No wonder you've been acting so boldly, that insane Uruk has been feeding you more madness."

"You wouldn't be speaking of my Commander in such a way if he were here now." Maku pointed out with a chuckle, standing resolutely as the massive Uruk spun on him.

"Do not overstep your boundaries Warmonger," the Warchief spat "you are in MY tower."

"No," Maku grinned "I'm in a Tark tower that you and your whelps have been hiding in."

Tugog stood between them before the situation could escalate, casting a small glare down at the Hunter before turning on his old friend "Forget him, you must see that there are grounds for these claims. I'm sure if you asked your soldiers-"

"D-Don't involve us in your lunacy!" Dharg called out in a panicked fashion, Pigug picked up on his worry and nudged him before he could say anything more.

"Indeed," the Executioner grunted before gesturing towards Tugog "your accusations are fruitless Dreamer."

"More fruitless than your ally's attempts to cover for himself?" Maku mocked

"I'll have your tongue for that."

As the arguing began intensifying, Ishga prepared to step in before his brother could incite an untimely brawl. As he moved, however, he was distracted by a growing sound of music. Sure there was the occasional sound of hammers and grunts that were usually heard all over the tower as various Uruks and Slaves worked to reinforce the place, but none of them were as rhythmic as this. This was the sound of drums, what Uruk even had the time for drums nowadays? Head turning, he traced the sound to the large pit in the center of the courtyard where the pulley-operated elevator often arose when not used to transfer supplies all over the structure. It was currently lowered, but as the music grew he realized that whatever was making it was simply riding on the elevator as it approached.

It seemed the others noticed it as well, as soon even Hork and Maku couldn't focus solely on their agitations and instead turned towards the hole as the platform drew closer. As the heads of its passengers became apparent, Ishga found himself...confused.

Upon the platform were two warriors, one of which being the source of the music, a Defender and a Berserker. The music came to a crescendo as the elevator came to a stop, the warrior it emanated from gesturing with his hands in time with it as the Defender hummed along to it. The Berserker, who was more familiar now that Ishga looked at him, attempted to maintain a proper and dignified stance despite the obvious distraction of the musical duo. And the other warrior was covering an ear with his hand, no doubt he'd cover the other one as well but that hand was occupied by an odd spear-like weapon, that was currently placed at the back of a restrained tar-no... it was one of the Hybrids.

"Oh my!" Borgu said as he viewed the obviously strained situation before them "It appears we arrived at a tense time."

Tugog tilted his head to the side as Ishga move from his side to get a better view of the Chiefless Uruks who stood upon the platform. The Defender and the Hybrid he didn't recognize, but he knew the agitated warrior and the Berserker had been part of Ashgarn's gang. Ashgarn, that glutton who'd abandoned his brother in favor of running off with the Diseased Deceiver known as Bubol. What kind of madness could have driven these fools to walk right back to the Warchiefs they'd abandoned?!

He obviously wasn't the only one thinking this, as Hork immediately forgot about Maku and turned towards them fully "What is this? Why have you treacherous grubs set your disgusting boots upon my structure and- an- ugh... where is that music coming from?!"

Borgu gave a nervous laugh before the odd drum beat began toning down, forcing Hork to give an openly confused look.

From behind the group stepped the Garrison soldier working the lever which controlled the elevator, who jerked a head to them "They came by saying they needed to see you Master, since I figured you was gonna have the lot of 'em executed I didn't see why not."

Uthug swallowed nervously before glaring at Tuka "Well you got us here," he muttered as he looked over the various glares that were being casted their way "mind doing literally anything to get us out of th-"

"Borgu the Poet?!"

Uthug was interrupted by a shocked exclamation from Maku of all people. The Hunter's eyes were locked on the lyrical warrior, who seemed as equally confused by the exclamation as his traveling partners "Why yes, that is what they call me."

Maku shook his head and groaned, placing a hand to his head and shaking it for a moment before lowering it "The Shaman's been looking for you for months!"

The Poet blinked "He has?"

"Yeah! We've had our boys and the Chiefless folk combing through Vale's wilderness for a while now!" the Warmonger gave another groan "The hell have you been?"

"Oh, I never got there." Borgu admitted with a shrug "Been spendin' quality time with Gretchen the entire time."

Maku was lost, he glanced to Tuka "Who-?"

"Deathstalker."

The Hunter sighed as Hork folded his arms and glared at them.

The Massive Uruk glanced over the Chiefless whelps before him "I don't suppose the Shaman has any inexplicable desires for any of these other maggots?"

Maku gave him a critical glance before shrugging "Nah, just this one."

"Then perhaps the others would like to explain why they've decided to bring their filth before me?"

Tuka had prepared for interactions with the Shaman's forces once they arrived, what he hadn't anticipated was that the Storm Ruler would already have plans for one of them. That means he had one less shield between him and Hork. Before he could reconsider the benefits of bringing the Poet along, the anger flowing within the eyes before him reminded him to just roll with it.

"Hork of the Black Gates," he paused to take a breath and stand tall before the Gatekeeper "we've come here seekin' amnesty."

The Warchief blinked at that before shaking his head and looking away "And yet the madness doesn't end." he commented under his breath before looking down at the Berserker and tilting his head "You honestly can't expect me to believe that you returned here just to kill yourselves in some asinine attempt at garnering forgiveness for your treachery."

"My Warchief, I simply left so as to keep watch over your brother."

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"

"He shares not the strength and power of his brothers, I felt it crucial that I be there in case he required my assistance."

"Bleh," Hork looked away for a moment before glaring at Tuka "that obese pissant can't do anything without somebody's assistance. Couldn't even exist without my coattails to grab onto. The sheer gal you're showing by simply mentioning that rampant disappointment is almost insulting."

"Disappointing he may be, I felt as though I should be the one to deliver some relevant information. The others you see here merely tagged along."

Hork quirked an eyebrow before running his gaze over Zog, Uthug and the Hybrid standing before him, the Musket-wielder visibly shriveling under the gaze as the captive before him backed up instinctively. But then the Warchief's eyes were drawn back to that source of music, still faintly surrounding the Poet.

"You," he muttered while turning to the scrawny lyricist "how are you doing that?"

"Oh that's just Borgu's Semblie thingie." Zog mentioned without hesitation "Ain't it just the grandest?!"

Hork blinked at that "A semblance?"

Borgu scratched his head sheepishly with a grin "Yeah, at first I assumed it was just my musical talent finally manifesting itself on a much grander scale, but now-"

"Dreamer," Hork said suddenly "Have you perhaps planned this?"

The other Warchief looked around for a moment before giving a confused look "What?"

The massive Uruk turned on him "Having support for your little theory come at such a time seems far too convenient for my tastes. Tell me, did you intend on convincing me with these lies?"

"Oh don't you start with more of that," Ishga stepped forward "we had no idea they were coming. This is just a coincidence, and even if it weren't then explain how that Uruk is currently producing music if my master's words were faulty!"

"Tugog has aligned himself with those of a mischievous sort before, there are any number of reasons for that."

Tuka watched on as the Uruk Captains continued arguing with one another, he momentarily cast a glare at Zog and Borgu who were in the midst of telling a still disbelieving Maku of their exploits whilst occasionally slipping into song. Then he glanced to an oddly guilty looking Dharg, then to an annoyed Executioner who was echoing the angers of his master.

"Tuka... Tuka!" Uthug whispered to him in a panicked manner "Your plan is crashing and burning, do something!"

"Thought you wanted it to fail?" the Berserker pointed out "Prove a point or something."

"I wanted you to get comeuppance for that shrakh! I never wanted to die with you, which if ya hadn't noticed, seems extremely likely right now!"

"This is still salvageable." Tuka muttered before grinning "Still got Zog."

He nodded to the large defender still in the midst of recollecting, but suddenly the Singer paused as an idea struck him "Oi, you guys think I could come along too?" he asked Maku.

The Hunter gave a him a critical look "Hm, you good with music?"

"Completely devoted to the sound o' song."

"Eh, sounds good enough." the Warmonger shrugged

Uthug could practically feel Tuka's jaw falling through the floor like a cannonball.

"Oh this is gonna be so much fun, mate!" Borgu slapped his larger companion on the shoulder as the music became more light-hearted "I haven't performed for the Shaman in a right long time."

"Think I'll get a fancy position if I gives him a good show?" the Singer asked excitedly as he tossed the wrapped up body to Tuka's feet and began tapping his shield to the ground in anticipation.

The Musket-Wielder watched as Tuka recovered and placed a hand to his chin in thought as he glanced down at the wrapped up lump at his feet "Heh, ya know if I wasn't positive they weren't doing this out of spite I might actually have felt proud of them. But I can still work with this."

Uthug gestured violently around them towards the increasingly hazardous situation they were in "HOW?!"

"See, this is why nobody checks for your input." The Berserker stated before gesturing to Hork, who was still vehemently arguing with Tugog and his supporters "Just check, my plan is still going perfectly. Zog and Borgu may've been able to weasel their way out of Hork's wrath, but luckily for us it seems Dreamer and his were easily able to take their place."

"But he thinks we're in cahoots with them!"

"Easily dispelled by the body, besides Tugog is a much more natural target for the big guy's rage given their history. Just stand back and watch this." Tuka gave a small smirk before reaching down and hauling the lump up with both arms.

"Hork of the Black Gate!"

The voice made Hork pause in his angry spouting to turn from Ishga and Tugog and glare at the Berserker "Don't you have somewhere to hide before me and my men use your bones for decorations?!"

"Though you may not believe me, Warchief. I came here with the intentions of informing of your brother's fate."

"His fate is to die to his own stomach!" The Warchief grunted out before folding his arms "He chose it the second he began giving into Bubol's words and filling himself to the brim with no end. He lost any possible fate of worth."

"Despite how right you may be, I'm afraid he perished in battle."

Though the Garrison forces began murmuring amongst each other and even Tugog and his Underlings began exchanging glances, Hork still seemed completely unconvinced and he struggled to repress a snort of laughter.

"Perish in battle? You and me must be thinking of different Ashgarns because my youngest brother is no soldier. He doesn't have the spine to die for his beliefs because the only belief he has is that the next meal is right around the corner." the Warchief paused to lower his arms and tighten his hands into fists "He would run if he found his life in jeopardy, just like he ran from responsibility every single damned time Bubol waved a leg of meat in front of him and said 'abandon your station!'"

Tuka swallowed and tightened his grip, but he was committed to see his plan through to the end.

"Ran away from the tower, ran away from his elder! Ran away from responsibility like the inert coward he is. So if you expect me to believe he had the gall to let himself get killed-!"

It was at this moment the wrappings in Tuka's hand tore, his tight grip having inadvertently led to his nails clawing into the fabrics.

Before them all Ashgarn spilled out face-first right before Hork, the rotting hole was clearly visible to the now-stunned Warchief.

The effect was instantaneous, Hork's words died in his throat while his forces silenced themselves. Pigug the Executioner standing firm despite the mollified look which grew on Dharg's face as he stood beside him. Tugog raised a hand to his mouth while Ishga just turned his gaze to Hork's frozen form.

Tuka had been trying to wait until the Warchief had finished his rant, hoping for a more opportune time to reveal his ace in the hole. Thinking fast, he rolled with it and folded his hands behind his back with the torn fabric still clutched in them "I'm sorry to say that I wasn't lying sir, but know that the Culprit is not a mystery. In fact she's-"

"Ash?"

He paused as Hork uttered a word in the midst of his proposal, finally taking a closer look at the Warchief and finding that the Black Gate Defender's look of untapped annoyance had been completely replaced with one of morbid disbelief.

As he watched, Hork stepped forward and took a knee beside Ashgarn's body and immediately began shaking it "Hey... Hey you fat bastard, you's just screwing around, eh? B-Bubol put you up to this, eh?"

"Sir?" Dharg asked as Hork's shaking became more frantic.

"Come on you-you ain't gonna just die like that... right!?" the Gatekeeper jammed both of his large hands under his younger brother's body and easily rolled him over, the sight of the large hole in the unmoving Uruk's head making his entire body go still.

"The hell is happening?" Ishga muttered as he took a step back, not used to... whatever THIS was. He immediately turned to his master for answers, but the Dreamer simply glanced down at him before holding a finger to his own lips and quietly demanding him to be quiet.

"You- You're not dead, this is just a bid for food right!? Get up and say something you arse, I've figured you out!" Hork growled before standing up and prodding at the corpse with his boot "Come on! Come on! Get the shrakh up already damn you!"

Tuka watched as Hork's prodding shifted to kicking, and he silently hoped that if Ashgarn was somehow still alive that the glutton had enough decency to be comatose. A sudden hand on his shoulder brought his attention back to Uthug who hid behind him partially, stricken by the same horror the larger Uruk had been able to suppress.

"Please," the Shorter Uruk begged quietly "tell me this is part of the plan!"

"I mean..." Tuka began, losing his words as he was distracted by the mortified look infecting the Warchief's often military expression "I expected him to be upset but this... I don't... I've never seen him do this before!"

"Well do something about it!"

This voice came from his other shoulder, and he turned to find the Faunus captive also shifting behind him as much as possible "H-he's going to kill me along with you two idiots, s-so do something!"

"Ballsy of ya to start ordering me around." the Berserker muttered

"Any other time I'd agree with you on that," Uthug interrupted before leaning closer as Hork's kicking grew more frantic and brutal "but do something about THAT first!"

Tuka released the torn wrappings and shrugged the Musket-Wielder off him.

The Black Gate Defender's heavy boot sank into the body's flesh over and over. He paused mid swing once he realized there was still no response, grimace tightening as he once more dropped to his knees. This time he gripped Ashgarn's collar and yanked him up before sending his fist smashing against his brother's skull.

Even some of the spectators winced at the breaking sound which came from fist meeting flesh, many still watching in astonishment as Hork pulled Ashgarn closer to glare down at him. Even as blood began seeping from where Hork had just knocked several teeth loose, the Warchief still seemed adamant in finding a way to wake his brother up.

"Come on!" he growled before rearing back and cracking Ashgarn in the jaw once more "Damn it Ash, you wake the hell up right this instant! I will beat you to a gory pulp if you don't so help me-!"

"He's dead." Tuka interjected

The external voice seemed to snap Hork from his frenzy, and suddenly his hand opened, allowing his gluttonous brother's body to flop down onto the floor again.

Hork was still for a moment, before turning his head to look at those who'd been watching him. From his own soldiers to Dreamer's Reds, his gaze momentarily slowing when he reached the knowing gaze on Tugog's face.

"The ones who murdered him were a team of young girls, possibly huntresses." Tuka continued.

Slowly, Hork's gaze traveled to him, the Gatekeeper's face seemed locked in a state of distant surprise.

"A blonde one with gauntlets, a red one with a scythe, a dark Faunus with some sort of whip blade amalgamation, and finally the murderer herself: a white themed girl with a rapier."

As he spoke, the Warchief slowly stood up from the ground without taking his gaze off the Berserker before him.

"Perhaps this may help with bringing justice for-Hrk!"

Tuka's words were cut off once a massive hand launched forward and took hold of his throat.

Hork's face still held that distant look of shock, though even while struggling in his grasp Tuka could spot his expression twitching and jerking in several places.

"Believe me when I say that justice will be delivered." Hork uttered through his teeth, the rage becoming more palpable in his words as his shock melted back into fury "The nerve of someone to slay my- the kin of a Warchief, is something which must be thoroughly punished. However..."

Hork raised Tuka to his face and grumbled "The Nerve of someone to interrupt me... must also be punished."

"What?!" Ishga, Uthug, Tugog and even Pigug managed to shout at once.

Tuka wondered briefly when exactly his plan had gone awry, before suddenly feeling himself moving as Hork carried him closer and closer to the tower's edge.

"Sir," Pigug raised his hand as he watched "despite him being a cocky little runt who no doubt should be put in his place, I must inform you that he has supplied us with notably useful information. I'd take a thorn-covered whip to him immediately upon your command, but I can't find logical reason behind this course of action."

"That sounds like quite the thought, Executioner." Hork noted before walking onto one of the many catwalks lined around the tower and raising his leg "I suppose we'll have to evaluate this incident afterwards, hm? After I watch this bug I found splatter his guts and entrails all over the roofs of the slums."

With that his foot shot forward and kicked off the rails, sending them sailing down to the Shanties below. Soon Tuka found his feet hovering over the open air about to follow them. The Berserker's hands immediately clung to the arm holding him up.

"Master," Ishga turned to the Dreamer "I don't understand!"

"I honestly never thought I'd see him like this again." Tugog commented simply as he watched his old friend turn to glance to the warrior and slave who had accompanied the Uruk in his grasp.

"Ah," Hork released a breath as he glared at them as well "those two... nobody requires them. I suppose I'll have 'em sewn together."

"W-Sir?!" Pigug tilted his head to the side.

"Then I could pull them apart and sew 'em right back together until one dies." Hork shrugged "Wonder how much of the dead one I can stuff in the live one before they stop moving too."

Tugog narrowed his eyes at this, it sounded even worst than back then.

"I ain't gonna get sewn to no wench!" Uthug shouted, though even his constant rage found trouble staying afloat when confronted with something he downright knew he wouldn't be able to weasel out of at this point. The Faunus beside him seemed too stunned by the proclamations to even breath at this point.

"Master, I know you are dealing with trying times." Pigug actually stepped forward from his fellow Garrison soldiers and raised a finger "But this is not you, the Master I know has what many know as thought placed in his decisions. This... there is no sense to this reaction at all."

"No sense... no sense!?" Hork turned from Tuka to him "This fleeing little cur walks into my structure, prancing along amongst my soldiers with his filthy little friends and you find this response to make no sense?"

"Well-" the Executioner began only for the Gatekeeper to continue

"And then he dumps my slain kin right before me trying to worm his way into our ranks using his death as a stepping stone... IS THERE STILL NO SENSE!?"

Despite the lack of oxygen, Tuka was faintly aware of a strange sound which grew in volume as Hork's rage mounted. It sounded oddly like rocks sliding along each other. He wasn't the only who heard this apparently, as several of the Uruks closer to the edge of the tower began glancing towards the source, whatever it was.

"But he has information, at the very least-" Pigug began, also trying to focus on his master instead of the source of that sound.

"No!" Hork barked before pointing to the unfortunate Uruk in his hand "I- I don't want to spend anymore time than necessary with this whelp."

With that he turned back to Tuka with his fingers opening, but once he took a cursory glance down the Warchief's face went from enraged to dumbfounded as he immediately jerked back. This small little tug gave Tuka enough room to land on the edge of the catwalk once he slid from the Warchief's gasp. As Hork stumbled back in shock, the rock sound stopped, and Tuka coughed whilst massaging his throat before glancing to the source and pausing.

Right beneath the catwalk, the sandy stones of the tower had shifted drastically, stretching away from the wall and forming a bed of stone spikes right where he would've fallen had Hork actually dropped him.

Tuka slowly rose as his coughing continued, the bruises left on his throat aching terribly as he crawled away from the spike-laden end he'd nearly suffered.

"What is that?" Hork grunted as he steadied himself and glanced around as Tuka took that moment to crawl out of the danger zone "What happened? Who-? Where did that come fr-?"

His eyes glanced to his feet and his words immediately faded away as he watched the dark aura which seemed to be travelling through the cracks in the ground from him. It was... like his own dark aura had spread to the ground beneath him without his knowledge of it. Hork was confused, but only until Tugog decided to speak up.

"I wasn't lying."

Hork looked to him for a moment, the surprise immediately draining away as he realized what exactly this was. Soon his frown gained more of a disappointed look as the Warchief finally gave a dejected sigh.

"Heh, so your semblance is like a some kinda building thing?" Maku commented from the side as he realized they'd just broken through the Gatekeeper's previous stalwart denials.

As the Hunter chuckled, Hork turned to his own forces "Then... does that mean you-?"

"Yes." Pigug nodded, several of the other Garrison forces including a reluctant Dharg followed suit.

"Seems fitting, I guess." Maku continued as he stepped away from Zog and Borgu to look at the result of Hork's riled emotions, leaning over the still baffled Gatekeeper with a grin "You are the master of fortresses and whatnot. Try denying it now big guy, I dare ya! I double dare-!"

Hork's response was cracking Maku in the jaw with his fist, sending the hunter sailing back before tumbling to the ground and growling from being caught off-guard.

The Warchief turned and hauled Ashgarn onto his shoulder, then proceeded to wordlessly walk back to the Garrison HQ. He paused once he passed Tugog, grimacing at the Dreamer before muttering a quiet apology and walking off.

He gestured for the garrison forces to follow, and soon they did after taking a moment to recover from whatever it was they'd just witnessed. Of course, it was Pigug who followed first, with Dharg hurrying to catch up once he shook himself from his shocked state.

Tugog watched as Hork's forces departed into their section of the tower, the Gate Defender pausing to whisper something to Pigug before disappearing inside as well. The Dreamer glanced to Ishga, who still gave him a questioning look, before turning to Maku.

The Warmonger spewed forth several curses as he got to his feet and massaged his face, the new bruise becoming visible where his war paint had been smudged away by the Warchief's blow.

"You alright there lad?" Borgu asked as he and Zog approached the Hunter "Took a right nasty one to the noggin' you did. Seemed like-"

"Shut up." Maku hissed through gritted teeth before gesturing to the elevator "Just get on, I'll get a Dreamer Gate whipped up. Send you two off to the Shaman."

Uthug watched as Borgu absolutely shuddered with giddiness, still unable to believe the lucky break the little annoyance had come across. At his side he noticed Tuka stumble back over, still coughing and trying to massage the pain from his recently traumatized neck.

"Well, it would seem this be the end of our journies mates!" Borgu called over to them as he hopped onto the platform and waved "Just know that as long as ya got ya'selves some music in mind, we'll always be together in some manner."

"That does literally nothing but enrage me further." the Musket-wielder stated as Zog and Maku joined the Poet on the Platform "What about you, big guy? Really just gonna lump yourself with this git? Risk going before the Stormbringer himself?"

"I have's to try it, it's a sure way to move up in the world!" Zog insisted before gesturing behind the warrior "As a token o' thanks you can have the tark, I ain't gonna be needin' her where I'm goin'! Heheh."

"What?" the Faunus yelled before immediately eyeing Uthug and Tuka "You're just going to hand me off to these two?"

"She makes a great comfort snack, Tuka. Always more relaxing knowin' she's near for a bite if the going's tough."

"Wait, why are you giving her to him specifically?" Uthug said in an insulted manner.

"Because..." Tuka took a second to massage his throat again before grunting out "you suck with responsibility. She'd either die prematurely... escape... or get nabbed by some other glob before you could even do something with her."

The warrior looked like he wanted to argue, but he honestly could not come up with a retort for the Berserker.

"So what makes the axe guy any better?!" the Captive asked

"Oi," Maku growled "Last time I checked property don't get no right to whine. Might wanna' have her tongue removed first. Just a suggestion."

Before the White Fang grunt could go mouthing off about that, the Warmonger turned back to the Uruk operating the Elevator's lever "Can we get going already?"

The Operator just shrugged before gripping the lever and pulling it.

As the platform began lowering, something seemed to strike Zog, who turned to Maku as they began descending "Hey, almost forgot but I got's me a delivery to make. Think we could take a slight detour before we go about the whole making a gate thing?"

And with that the three disappeared from Uthug's view, and he hoped from his life.

So it was just him, Tuka and the Tark. He supposed he'd gotten his wish, with the two music Uruks gone he now had far quieter prospects in his future. Though he'd have to start working on getting rid of these other two. Tuka's near suicidal plan nearly had all of them decorating the blades of the Garrison, and he didn't want to think of what hell they would've face if Hork's rage hadn't prompted his semblance.

He glared at the Berserker "Well then, seems your plan failed miserably, eh?"

Tuka paused in his throat massage to look down at Uthug before grinning "What madness are you talking about, my plan worked perfectly."

Both the Faunus and the Warrior seemed to disagree "Excuse me?" they asked simultaneously.

"Why, I mean-" Tuka swallowed and paused for a moment before folding his arms "Yeah, I had the entire situation planned out like this."

"Bullshit!" The Captive muttered "That massive asshole was dangling you by your throat!"

"Aw, the hybrid thinks its smart enough to comprehend my strategy." Tuka patted her on the head before she stepped away with a pissed expression "Obviously I was in no real danger. My semblance allows me to teleport you sods."

"Okay, pause." Uthug held out a hand "So you're telling me that you knew trying to speak to Hork whilst he was reeling from his brother's death would trigger him to try tossing you off the tower. And not only did you know you could escape, but that one of his own subordinates would drive him further until he would discover his semblance which would give you the perfect chance to escape whilst also causing him to overlook killing you? Really? You knew that would happen?!"

"This is why I'm the smart one here."

"That's bullshit," the Faunus reiterated "literally every bit of that was bullshit."

"I hate agreeing with pinkskins," Uthug admitted "but that was a load a shrakh right there. I bet you was just so terrified of the big guy you forgot you COULD pull that teleporting malarkey."

"If you wish to stay pessimistic be my guest," Tuka waved him off "Now help me find a good ledge to toss this tark off of."

"What!?" She shouted before nodding to Uthug "I thought he was the one who's bad with responsibility."

"He is bad with responsibility, but I just don't wanna' deal with ya!" Tuka hissed, "I gotta focus on getting into the-"

"You two."

Tuka was interrupted, glancing to the side only to come face to face with Pigug the Executioner and two Garrison soldiers. The Berserker immediately stood tall and shook his head before giving a confused "What?"

"You two have just been recruited."

"I'm sorry, what?" Uthug stammered "Both of us?"

"It's what you were aiming for wasn't it?" the Garrison Captain asked before giving a small hum of thought "My Master decided to reward you for bringing us such... important information."

"What was with that suspiciously long pause?" Uthug pointed out just before being shoved aside by Tuka

"Ignore him, we'd be happy to except such a gracious offer."

"What!?" Uthug and the Faunus once more called out simultaneously.

"Shut up," Tuka whispered back to them "this was our goal!"

"You knew this would happen?!" Uthug couldn't even fathom how anyone could predict this turn of events.

"O-of course I did. Don't doubt the plan damn it."

Pigug seemed satisfied with that, and turned to the Garrison soldiers "Grab their slave for 'em." He said before walking around them and wrapping an arm around either Uruk "We'll have to give a proper welcome to the Uruks who could put our Master in... such a state."

"Hey, watch it watch it!" the Faunus cried out as she was hoisted off her feet for what must've been the umpteenth time over the past week or so.

Uthug's eyes widened a bit as he realized what exactly this was. He already had his suspicions, but these guys weren't even trying to hide it.

"Maybe I ain't Garrison material." the Musket-Wielder said suddenly before pulling his hood down a little more, "I mean, Tuka's the Uruk with the plan and all so-"

He froze when the Executioner glared at him through the slits in his helmet, burning blue irises swimming in pools of red bored holes into the back of his skull as the Garrison Captain gave a snort "You saying you want to refuse such a generous offer? Now that ain't very gracious of you."

"N-now I ain't saying that." Uthug insisted as he felt the armored arm tighten around him "Just saying that maybe you'd want more of a sturdy type, eh?"

Pigug paused at that, his red and blue eyes scanning the warrior until Uthug saw the face inside split into an unfitting smile "Don't worry, maggot. We Defenders of the Black Gate know perfectly well how to break whelps down and mold them into solid walls. We can fix you."

"See?" Tuka said from Pigug's other side "All part of the plan."

As the Executioner and his Uruks dragged all of them closer to the now overbearing doors of the Garrison HQ, Uthug realized two things.

One was that Tuka's plan was utter and complete shrakh, and two was that that specific shrakh had just led them directly into the den of a beast.

A beast they'd already infuriated past the point of no return.

---

A Cave Somewhere...

Collapsing once she'd finished climbing her way out of the pit, Yang released a tired breath as Krosh walked past her and peered down into the little Arena she'd been fighting in for the past few days.

He gave a low whistle as he looked over the dozens of Uruk-Hai she'd been stuck fighting for the better half of three hours. She wasn't so sure if his desire to please that Shaman guy they keep talking about outweighed his desire to see her struggle. She could only wail on dudes with makeshift weaponry for so long, and these Storm guys seemed in no short supply of them. The more he saw she could take on, the more he'd pit her against next time. As much as she hated admitting it, even she had a limit, and with how long these beat downs were taking she'd feel this soreness even during the tournament.

Thinking of the no-doubt trying battle tomorrow she groaned, prompting Krosh to glance at her "Heh, you did good today lady. Show this kind of durability tomorrow and you might just inspire a little modicum of pride in me."

"The name's... Yang..." She panted as she slowly rose with a frown

"Still not using it," He said with a short laugh before turning and immediately spotting a familiar approaching figure "Hey, Oggie! What are you doing here? If you haven't noticed your boys aren't exactly allowed to sneak off from class and watch my little champion here anymore so-"

"Oh they left for the other one this time." Ogthrak stated as he came to a stop before them and folded his arms

At that Krosh quirked an eyebrow "Other one?"

"Yeah, some worm ran in saying they spotted Bubol trying to break into Mince's cell so they all ran off to watch that whole confrontation."

Krosh looked away for a moment and actually had to take a calming breath before grumbling "Og, I swear I'm going to end up killing him."

"Shaman would never allow it, still finds the sick freak entertaining for some reason." the Larger Warmonger shrugged "Besides, you and I both know hurting him in any way would just please him."

Yang watched as her captor actually looked down and pondered for a moment before smirking "Guess I'll just have to hurt something else." he said before stepping past him "Probably do it in front of him too, wonder if getting blue-balled like that has any kind of negative effect. Hey Oggie, go lock up Lady for me while I test this little theory of mine."

As he walked off, Ogthrak turned back to glance at Yang who looked him over "Well, you don't have a class anymore sooo..."

The Warmonger sighed "Let's just get this over with."

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

They walked in silence at first, Yang trying to get a feel for the new Uruk escorting her and him not caring. Whenever she was outside her cell she'd often have either Krosh or fighting to focus on, and now she found neither.

Ogthrak is what the others called him, he's supposed to be a Warmonger like Krosh. Yang had seen them interact several times over the course of this captivity, and she could honestly say that so far he was the more tolerable of the two.

Whenever she'd tried talking with Krosh in hopes of weeding out useful information, he'd turn on that high-quality shit-talking and try annoying her to the highest of degrees. Maybe... just maybe with this one...

Turning to try striking up a conversation, Yang paused as she spotted Ogthrak tapping away at a Scroll in his hands. She'd been soo wrapped up in thought that she didn't even notice him take it out. It was a bit surreal, watching an orcish creature like him work a Scroll with surprising adeptness.

It was even more surreal when he pulled a pair of headphones from his pocket and went to plug them in.

"You uh... really know how to use that thing huh?" she tried not getting distracted by the sight

Ogthrak paused before he could plug them in, he glanced down at Yang before shrugging "Shaman wanted me to know how to use these things, so I did. Now I teach the boys what I know."

Already this was far more informative than eighty percent of her talks with Krosh.

"Your boys?" she asked casually, glancing at their surroundings despite having walked this path quite a few times now "You mean that class thing?"

"Class thing..." Ogthrak grumbled at the term "Everybody here's calling it that. I like to remember it as simple ol' training, just with a different kinda weapon."

Yang couldn't keep her eyes from narrowing at that, he was definitely talking about the CCT. She didn't expect them to be master hackers or anything, but the knowledge that they'd find themselves more and more comfortable in exploring such a multifaceted thing like the CCT was worrying. As much as she wanted to question what exactly they were doing with it, she suspected further questioning it would make her prying all the more obvious.

"Why did your boss want you specifically to teach them that?"

"Because, next to Ratlug, I'm the most adaptable Captain we got here." he said without hesitation

Yang wasn't so sure about that "You? Not to question your capabilities or anything but Krosh already speaks exactly like a human while you..." she trailed off.

"No see," Ogthrak paused to raise a finger "Krosh is skilled at pretending to be adaptable."

He then turned that finger on himself "I'd learn almost anything if the Grand Shaman told me too, and I'd do so with vigor." he then turned and continued walking "And, unlike that Swordsmith, I'm probably the most devoted Captain in the Storm."

"Oh, so you hold this Shaman guy in high regards then?"

Yang already knew the answer, no matter how differently these Storm guys were in personalities or opinions there had been this common consensus that this Grand Shaman of theirs was on a whole other level. He'd been one of Yang's primary concerns, as despite hearing lots of random things about the Storm-Leader, she'd never actually seen him. The way his soldiers spoke of him he was practically a nigh-unstoppable killing machine, and despite the obvious bias in their description it had led her to wonder more about him.

"High regard doesn't even come close." Ogthrak insisted "The Shaman's strongest, second only to the Dark Lord himself."

There'd been plenty of talk about him as well. But unlike the Shaman, Yang was positive their Dark Lord was still in their own realm.

"Is that why you work for him?" she asked

Oghtrak paused before looking at her with a smirk "I'm a simple Uruk, welp. I like to keep things as simple as possible. Ratlug and his spawn are stuck with the Shaman 'cause not many else would forgive his transgression, the other Warmonger has this whole complicated emotional shrakh keeping him here. I'm here simply because I show proper respect and obedience to those with more power."

He pushed open a door, leading to a familiar hall of cells. After ushering her in and closing the door behind them, Ogthrak continued "An Uruk don't get much more powerful than the Shaman."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yep, I'll never forget the day I first met him. See I was actually a loyal defender to a strong Overlord who ruled over a distant land, with shield in hand I'd push back any who dared defy his strength. I used to think he was the strongest Uruk because I had watched him capture a drake using tactics and forethought that was beyond a simple shield-barer like me."

"Oh, so you use a shield?"

"Don't interrupt me, girlie." Ogthrak bit back before facing ahead and continuing "Anyway, Shaman arrived asking for some resources we'd recently discovered in a nearby mountain. Coincidentally, some idiots accidentally released the Drake my former Master had carefully and thoughtfully captured several days ago. But before the Overlord could even mount a defensive strategy against the rampaging beast, the Shaman scaled his tower and leaped onto the drake before killing it with his bare hands and riding its broken body into the ground like the unstoppable force he is."

Ogthrak glanced up and gave a wistful sigh at the pleasant memory before regaining his composure and glancing to Yang "Overlord was humiliated, so much so he immediately cast the Shaman out of his fortress. But I knew power, even without the display the way the Shaman carried himself simply spoke volumes of his sheer capability. I didn't even hesitate to abandon my old Master's land and beg the Shaman to allow me to serve. He didn't see anything interesting in me, just a uniformed Defender like any other disposable grunt. And so I promised him that as long as I served under him I would find ways to stay entertaining in his eyes."

The Warmonger raised his chain wrapped forearms and flexed his hands, looking them over with a smirk "Would you believe it if I told you I learned how to knit with these hands? That I've performed surgeries, learned several foreign methods of communication and even wrote plays with these hands?"

"Eh, honestly no but you seem unusually sure of it so-"

"Well I did." He insisted as they came to a stop in front of her cell door "I've put myself through trials other Uruks could only dream of in order to keep the favor of someone as... selective as the leader of the Storm. In the time I've been here I already know how to operate enough of your gizmos to truly keep the Shaman interested, and as someone who is undeniably knowledgeable its my duty as his servant to keep his other underlings as well informed as possible. That... is why I am a Trainer. Now get in."

Seconds later Yang was listening to the locks of her door click shut as she thought over the Warmonger's words.

Due to Krosh's perfect representation of a modern douchebag with a slight accent, she had assumed until now that he was the most adaptable Uruk she'd met so far. But then along comes 'Oggie', as he's often called, saying that compared to him Krosh is just a pretender. Apparently he's already learned enough about their world to accurately teach it to other Storm soldiers. She couldn't confirm or deny anything these guys said, she'd known this for a while now. But even so the sheer devotion to his own words seemed convincing enough, not that it helps her get any closer to escaping before that Tournament they plan on tossing her in.

She walked deeper into her cell and gave her customary greeting to Mulgrim the Camera Wiz, who locked his tired eyes on her almost immediately as she sat across from him and pondered while leaning back against the hard cave wall. Ratlug's towel was still wrapped around the Camera Guy's wound, but the black bloodstains forming on it informed her that the 'Doctor' had done next to nothing to actually fix it. For all intents and purposes she'd been stuck here watching a wounded Uruk struggle not to show just how badly this untreated bullet wound was affecting him. Eyes twitching and facial muscles occasionally jerking, it was obvious the bullet wound concealed by the towel had not even come close to healing properly. Hell, the wet towel could actually be doing more harm than good.

But she had to give it to the little guy, he was tanking through the pain like a champ. Really she should be more surprised he came back with all of his limbs attached after a trip to the Doc-

Wait!

Another few of Ogthrak's words came to mind as she looked over the result of one of the doctor's treatments. He'd said that out of all of them, Ratlug was apparently the most adaptable one. But how? The Warmonger had stated he'd dived deeply into a plethora of talents in order to appease his master, learning everything from composition to knitting to satisfy the Shaman. Ratlug has consistently shown nowhere near that level of dedication. A fondness for cutting things up and engineering, if Krosh's words were anything to go by. He also seems to be deluded into thinking he's a licensed doctor, but only seems to help patients through more chopping or wet towels!

How was he the most adaptable thing they had?!

---

Beacon Academy

Just one more day, just one more day...

Ruby went over the notes she had again and again as she made her way to the Student Workshop, eager to check up on Crescent Rose in preparation for tomorrow.

Tomorrow would be the day that Ruby and her teammates would head off to help Ironwood's army take down the Uruk-Hai Tournament. They'd joined Team CFVY in sitting in on the briefings that'd been held to go over the General's plan. As expected their assistance would be minimal if everything went accordingly, something the Chaperone chosen for them felt the need to remind them of consistently.

Despite her teammates telling her to expect opposition to their involvement, and especially Weiss' insistence that many Atlesian specialists were trained to be strict, she still couldn't help but wonder why Coco and her guys got the obviously easier chaperone.

Maxwell Ivor Rebon seemed annoyed with them the moment they met, and for the next few days he'd go on to try sniffing out any way to get them unapproved for the mission.

Thankfully due to forethought, they were more than ready for the unprecedented amount of work he began issuing. He'd criticized their fighting styles while reviewing combat training and had them redo stances the entire first day while finding issues with their 'posturing' and 'footwork', that just so coincidentally had them in the training room until nightfall.

Things just got worst once he began demanding they look up and review random historical military movements and conflicts from the past and write pages about them. She'd understand if they were actions similar to the ones they'd seen during the briefings, but she confirmed that most didn't have anything to do with the mission they were going to undertake.

Meanwhile, the Chaperone for the active members of Team CFVY would just have them go over their parts of the plan... and that was it!

Oddly enough Rebon did a complete one-eighty today, sitting through the final briefing all silent and grumpy. Then when it was over, they'd expected yet another overbearing task to be thrown their way, but instead he just immediately left with no fanfare. Blake had surmised that he'd just given up on finding issues with their performance given how close they were to the mission's date.

Without one of his terrible tasks to fulfill, it'd given the girls time they hadn't anticipated. While Weiss and Blake decided to use that time to relax after spending so much time dealing with their chaperone, Ruby finally had the chance to give Crescent Rose a good and proper tune up.

She hadn't used her weapon since the fight with Bubol, and had only given it a passing once-over before her outing with Weiss and Blake. Now that she was taking it up against what was potentially an entire Arena full of guys? You know she was ready and willing to give her loyal weapon some hardcore prep and pampering. No dealing with Maxwell, no interruptions, just her and her lovely making magic in a workshop for what she hoped to be hours on end.

The Student Workshop was big, not as big as the training room but definitely enough for it not to feel crowded except for certain days. Usually when missions were going to be handed out more students would wind up here, and with the tournament drawing nearer Ruby knew that this room would get more and more cramped.

Thankfully she came at a good day, most of the tables were empty and the students there were spread out enough for her to find a mostly deserted corner just begging to be relaxed at. The only other student there just so happened to be-

"Coco?"

The leader of Team CFVY seemed to be in the middle of some deep thinking, as she was staring at the box on the table before her wordlessly. Ruby's comment made her tilt her head up, apparently having not expected any company.

"Oh, hey Ruby." she greeted as her signature smile returned and she turned in her chair to wave as the younger girl approached "What's up?"

"Just looking to get Crescent Rose in tippy top shape for tomorrow." Ruby raised her folded up weapon for emphasis before nodding towards the table next to her "Do you..?"

"Heh, take a seat kid." Coco waved off the question with a smile and turned back to her work "Having some Pals around is good for almost any situation."

Ruby smiled, unfolded Crescent Rose and got to work, casting several glances at the older student as she tried thinking up something to strike up a conversation with. Despite how unflappable Coco seemed, Ruby knew for a fact that the Fashionista couldn't be taking the capture of her teammate well. After dealing with her own Teammates' interpersonal issues for so long, Ruby was just confident in herself to try and help her fellow team leader through this-

"He's always been a hard ass you know."

And then Coco beat her to the punch.

"What?" Ruby glanced at her as she brushed at several of Crescent Rose's pieces, keeping the older student in her peripheral vision.

"Rebon?" the Fashionista pointed out with a casual gesture "Our Chaperone says he does that with all knew recruits, so don't take it personal."

Ruby blinked before pouting and setting the pieces of her weapon down "I know, I'm trying. But even if he is just like that, I still don't understand why our Chaperone's so bloodthirsty while yours is... ya know?"

"Hey, Riley may not look it but she's also looking for a reason to keep us from going." Coco laughed before setting her sights back on her work "Their both Atlas Specialists, kid. Yours is just more on the nose than ours is."

"But even then!" Ruby put her elbow on the table and rested her head in her palm "I only got lucky to have time to do this while you guys never seem to worry about stressing out over your-"

She was about to gesture to the broken box before Coco when a detail immediately derailed her previous line of thought.

"That's not your weapon."

The older student looked up at this before smiling and shrugging as she looked at the two halves of the box and camera before her "It's Vel's. Both of our weapons got pretty messed up but mine was actually quite easy to fix. My delightful death-bringer used to get clogged all the time when I first built it, just kept letting random things get in it, so I'm actually more comfortable fixing that then I'd like to admit."

Ruby gave a hum at that before taking a closer look at Velvet's broken camera "Wow, they... they really messed it up."

"Yes, but don't worry kid. I helped Vel make this in the first place so putting it back together? Really the only problem were the pieces, lots of em ain't exactly the type of thing you can just borrow from a classmate or teacher." she said before sighing and leaning back in her chair "Took a few days to get all the parts required, but now that I have them, sticking them together should be simple."

"You... you made Velvet's camera?"

"Helped her." Coco emphasized before tapping a finger to her lower lip "But yeah, I had to teach her a lot, she wasn't really a weapon savvy girl like I am. You know she'd originally planned on just using her hands and feet instead of an actual weapon. Now I'm not saying her moves aren't good, they're actually pretty cool, but with a weapon it'd be better. And I was right on the money, she looks much better with this baby at her side."

"I'll bet!" Ruby agreed before frowning and tilting her head a bit "But what exactly does it... do? Not trying to pry but 't I really haven't seen her use it much."

"That's to be expected," the other Team Leader said before raining one half of the camera and looking it over "This thing copies weapons based off pictures. Velvet loves camerawork, so I thought it'd be perfect for her if she could kill stuff with it."

Coco lowered it and began the painstaking task of scavenging what she could from the broken little camera.

"Yeah, I noticed her taking lots of pictures around school. Does that mean she's got all of our weapons in there?"

"She did, until this." Coco turned to regard her with a smirk before leaning her cheek into her own palm and staring down at it for a moment with a sigh.

Seeing the often confident girl go silent made Ruby pause in her own workings to state "I'm sure the both of you fought as hard you could!"

"We did, oh believe me we did. But I saw her... saw her hesitate at times during the fight. She... might not've been ready."

"What? Ready to go stopping random crimes? To be a huntress?"

"No, not ready to fight humanoids."

That gave Ruby pause, and once more she found herself tilting her head to the side as she waited for the older student to elaborate.

"You don't get it kid, Velvet's a damn good fighter. She could probably be one of the best and I know it! On missions you should see her, beating down massive Grimm left and right with this steely focus some could only imagine. She always did want to be a Hero, fighting off monsters and protecting the weak and all. You know?"

"Yeah," the red head looked down for a moment "I can relate."

Coco smiled at this before turning back to the broken camera and letting the smile drop "But put her in front of people and she used to just crumble to pieces. Had a rough time with people as a kid you know? Couldn't handle socializing much. Against Grimm she'd tear through 'em like paper, but we couldn't even get her to train with us!"

The Fashionista leaned back in her chair before looking up at the ceiling "It would have to be good old childhood trauma to make one of your strongest fighters cower in the face of someone like Cardin and his pals. But lo and behold turns out cowering was just the tip of the iceberg. After some prying I find out those guys were screwing around with her more than I'd expected."

Coco gave a defeated shrug "Honestly at the time I wanted to blame her for it, stupid as it sounds. I was supposed to be the Team Socialite, the people person, and yet a pretty obvious case of bullying goes on under my nose for that long? I thought it was impossible. Yeah, I was kinda up my own ass a lot back then. Didn't know about the whole past trauma thing, but eventually I decided to put a hold on the bitchy pettiness and make it up to her."

"By becoming gal pals?" Ruby asked, having given up pretenses of working on her weapon to listen to the Fashionista, who smiled at that term.

"You shoulda seen her when we first really started hanging out, she was positively terrified of me." Coco recounted while checking a piece of the broken camera almost casually "I think it was about then that I realized just how much of a serious case she was. Started taking the gloves off... began the long and careful process of watering and caring for that flower, then watching her grow... into a badass forty story tree that beats up monsters."

"That sounds so awesome." Ruby noted in awe.

"I know right?" Coco gave a small laugh "Yeah, I thought that with how good she's been doing then scoping out a place would be no problem. I mean, we train together like a stalwart team nowadays and she's mostly fine! But then I saw that those guys weren't technically Human or Faunus. It was almost like the perfect logical step between Grimm and people."

"I'm not really sure how well the Uruks can be compared to regular people." the silver eyed girl glanced away in thought for a moment "I mean, they aren't like Grimm. They definitely look like monsters, but the way they act is just..."

"True." the Senior Student noted before looking at the pieces of the camera for a moment then placing both of her arms on the table and tapping her fingers against it "But now she's in the hands of those things..."

Ruby watched as Coco dipped back into silent pondering for a moment before simply shrugging and returning to her work with a sadder smile.

"But I can't worry myself into the ground over it, ya know? For her sake. I need to be strong, for her if nothing else. I have to believe that she's going to be okay when I find her, that they aren't... that she'll be able to bounce back from this."

Team CFVY's leader did pause for a moment just to sigh.

"I just hope she's hanging in there."

---

Desert Tower

How long had it been?

Probably just a few days. Honestly, Velvet didn't really know. She'd been staring at the same half a room for so long she'd almost wish Skak would hit her or something just to break up the monotony. She shouldn't be this bored, despite not being able to move much, considering how active Skak was. The Uruk almost seemed to suffer from the boredom more than she did. Going from training to staring at her then to arguing with his weapon. Oh god the arguing.

Velvet never knew how talkative a lifeless weapon could be until she'd had the misfortune of coming across Skak, but the Uruk would get dragged into a one-sided conversation with it almost every thirteen minutes. Sure there were minor break-ups to this routine, most prevalent being feedings and the like. They were all pretty equally humiliating. Skak seemed determined not to let her out of the chair, and so when her captors did have in mind to feed her he'd just stuff some of that broth down her throat.

She'd tried telling him she could do it on her own, but a few prompts from the Blood-Axe would apparently convince Skak it was better this way. So he'd pry open her mouth and dump large quantities of the meaty sludge down her throat at a time. Velvet dare not spill any, as he had no problem scraping any fallen scraps off her subdued form and shoveling them back in until not a single smidge was left.

These 'meals' weren't even filling, seems she wasn't worth spending more resources on. These meals were far and few, only about two a day and nowhere near large enough to constitute as a an actual meal. She figured they were just feeding her enough to keep her from starving to death.

No doubt when they finally remove these bindings tomorrow she'd find a notable amount of weight lost, what with how painfully hungry she was all the time now.

She knew she shouldn't be complaining, due to her hearing she could easily hear the cries and whimpers of other slaves who moved past her cell occasionally. She heard the shouts of Uruks and the wince inducing sounds of weapons impacting against unprotected backs. She never once before would consider her situation lucky, but if she was among those out there...

Well, it'd all be over tomorrow either way. Velvet didn't know what kind of things these Orcs were planning on making her fight tomorrow, but the strain she felt from the consistent binding and the poor nutrition left her seriously doubting she'd have the strength they expected of her. She didn't have her weapon, had none of her teammates there to support her, had nothing but hunger and taunts to go off of.

Yes, the Rabbit Faunus was convinced that there'd be no way for her to match the expectations of her captors, whether or not she'd lose her life because of that was slowly becoming more and more of a pressing question.

"Well you got's to control ya'self! Ain't got no reason to shout like that. What if one of the bosses hears you raisin' hell?"

They obviously treated their slaves like garbage, would she end up out there being beaten regularly and working herself raw after this fight? Would they even reward her in some manner if she managed to come out on top? She doubted it.

"Then take a few breaths and relax before you start spoutin' shrakh mate, loud mouths bring more globs to the choppin' block than treachery."

Velvet had to accept the very likely possibility that she'd die before she'd ever... ever get to see her teammates again... ever see Co-

"And there you go with the shouting again!" Shrakh stood from his seat and growled to his weapon which lay upon it "Why is it that you always start shouting when you's know you in the wrong!?"

The raise of his voice disrupted Velvets thoughts for what must've been the hundredth time at this point, and Velvet could not stop herself from shifting to glare at him.

Skak Blood-Axe is what he was called, and he was the sole reason she could find no moments of solace or rest in her confinement. His arguing with that weapon dragged on throughout the night, bantering on and on without even a hint that the lack of sleep was doing a thing to him, keeping her painfully awake as the lunatic jumped from one-sided conversation to one-sided conversation. No matter how laughable the trait of speaking with a lifeless yet threatening-looking weapon was, Velvet had no doubt that spending this much time in the midst of this unending banter would drive anyone to madness.

And he just... kept... going.

She was so tired, so hungry and so remorseful for her own sorry state. And this... this madman couldn't even allow her time to think.

"Why?"

Skak paused mid-argument to look at her.

"Why do you talk with it?" She asked wearily as her eyes shifted to the Blood-Axe "It-...It won't speak back... It's just an axe so why... Why?!"

The Uruk just chuckled as he grabbed the Axe in question and looked it over. He stepped in front of Velvet and squatted down until they were at Eye-level then raised his Blood-Axe next to his face.

"You ain't alone lass, lots o' me mates try asking the same thing." He admitted before leaning closer "But I assure's ya that Blood-Axe can talk. Talks up a storm too I tell's ya. I get that he only speaks to me, can't blame all o' you for not having the ears for it. Gotta speak for him when he wants to talk to others, truly a pain in the arse he is. But he's my boy, my lad, can't just abandon him in good conscious now could I?"

"You're delusional S-Skak..." Velvet whispered to him "It's not really talking... It can't!"

"Oh but he is!" the Uruk insisted before gripping the weapon in both hands "In fact..."

Skak raised Blood-Axe closer before pressing the weapon's thick handle to the bindings on Velvet's legs. Skak raised one hand to the skull of his weapon and pressed down.

Velvet was about to question what exactly he was doing, until she winced as the Weapon's handle slipped into the bindings and caused them to cut off circulation to her legs from how tight it was.

Once Skak was sure his 'friend' was secured, he stepped away, leaving the Blood-Axe staring directly at her with its blade just inches away from her.

"Right now, Blood-Axe is getting antsy again." the Uruk stated as he began walking around her "Don't really know why we ain't cuttin' you up right now, he says you's useless as a combatant and would make a better meal than a fighter."

"Well... maybe if you guys would actually feed me." Velvet began before swallowing dryly and scowling at her captor "Actually helped me get ready for this... the fight tomorrow."

"Now see, I think ya got a point there. My bosses don't like's the idea of giving up too much food or havin' you outta them ropes for too long." Skak admitted before pointing down to the weapon between her legs "But Blood-Axe, ya see, he says you weren't fighter material even before we nabbed ya. Says we shoulda cut ya up and taken your friend to fight for us instead. That way he gets to soak up ya blood and we still have one o' you huntresses fightin for us."

Velvet was about to retort, before pausing and looking down as her ears drooped a bit "Sorry to disappoint him."

"Yeah, I may not've thought too much about it. But we both saw you's hesitating several times while fighting. Now he says that your pal wasn't hesitating nearly enough, that she was the real warrior there whilst you was just faking like some hopeful little sod."

The Faunus didn't want to have this conversation anymore "I've been doing good... she was helping me get better."

"Riding her coattails then?"

"W-No!" Velvet began before thinking on the wording and grimacing "She was just being generous, helping me be a hero."

"Blood-Axe says he ain't know that being a Hero means shriveling and shrinking when lives are on the line."

"But I've improved!" Velvet shouted back "I've-I mean I know I can't compare to my team but... I've gotten so much better with their help."

"Team? Never knew anyone would care so much for their image they'd pretend to put up with something as pitiful as you."

The Huntress-In-Training actually found her expression pulling itself into a scowl "They do care! They want me to be better, I know it!"

"Looks like you fell for their lies as well! Ha! Guess you ain't got enough brains to know when others are treating you like garbage after all."

"Shut up!" Velvet bit "You don't know anything! If you think they're lying to me then you're wrong! So so very wrong! And when they get me out of here then-!"

"What!? What exactly are you gonna do you sniveling little runt?!"

"I'm gonna show you just how wrong you are!" Velvet shouted before taking several deep breaths, her anger abating once she heard the clapping.

She blinked away some of the tears she didn't know she'd began shedding, and glanced towards the sound only to find Skak leaning against a wall and applauding her.

Her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, her eyes traveled back in front of her to stare into the vacant eyes of the Blood-Axe.

At some point in their argument, she'd begun yelling directly to the weapon instead of Skak... When did that happen?

"Told ya he talks like a right bastard, don't he?" Skak laughed before walking over and pulling the Blood-Axe from her bindings. The ropes finally gave her numbed legs some much needed room. Nowhere near enough for her to wiggle free but enough for her to begin feeling them again.

"I think that deserves a chug o' grog!" Skak laughed to himself before setting down his weapon and grabbing a mug from his table "Not everyday someone besides me gets to hear this bastard's rambles."

"Wha-? No Wait!" Velvet tried talking him down when suddenly the mug was shoved against her mouth and the foul smelling liquor was streaming down her throat. Almost immediately her insides felt as if they were on fire, and she coughed once her captor pulled the now half-empty mug away. Skak laughed as Velvet coughed violently, the disgusting smell of grog sizzling her nostrils with every heavy breath she took.

"Always funny seein' you weaker folk try and stomach an Uruk's preferred drink." The Axe-Wielder commented as he kneeled to get a better look as the Faunus tried and failed to hack up the disgusting concoction. As if to taunt her further, Skak knocked back a few steady chugs to finish off the rest of the grog before tossing the mug aside and walking back to his chair "Just a reminder how much kick the brewers like puttin' in it. Not as strong as the stuff we made back in Mordor, but damn if it can't knock ya on your arse. Heheh."

Velvet focused on getting her breathing back under control, a numbing feeling already coursing into her head. She tried turning to glare at Skak, but she was worn out, and she just wanted him to be quiet enough to sleep.

Alas-

"No I ain't wastin' it!" Skak bit towards his weapon, who seemed to have no small amount of problems with his usage of their grog "This was what those braniac lads would call an experiment. Or, in our case, guess you could call it... an AXE-periment."

The sheer power of that terribly forced pun did nothing but reek havoc upon Velvet's sleep-deprived brain along with the grog, and it seemed she wasn't the only one in disagreement with the buff Uruk's little quip. For despite laughing at his own horrible sense of humor, Skak paused and looked to his weapon again before frowning.

"That one was good lad, don't pretend it wasn't." he said before scooping up his weapon and poking at it with his free hand "Gonna have to use that one later."

Velvet could practically feel her own body seeking unconsciousness, but the loud one-sided banter kept dragging her back to the realm of the wake. She just wanted to forget the horrible grog, the deluded Uruk and the moment she almost got dragged into his delusion.

But it was then that she noticed something, something that gave her pause and turn to look at the Uruk. He was still arguing loudly... but it almost seemed somewhat muted. It wasn't as loud as before. Velvet's eyes widened a bit.

"Well you try getting a tark to stand still long enough to get a good enough drink you-"

"Was... that it?"

Skak paused to turn towards the Faunus, who gave him a weak but challenging smirk before smacking her lips "That stuff's pretty much water."

The Uruk tilted his head to the side before narrowing his eyes "Lass, you mind repeatin' that?"

"I mean, if that's what you so called Mighty Uruk guys call alcohol... well... to each their own."

She watched as his expression turned into a deep frown, and he leaned beside her "Really now?"

Skak glanced to the side as he leaned Blood-Axe against his ear and listened before waving it off "Sorry Mate, when an Uruk's drink is threatened-"

"-he feels more than obliged to defend it."

...

...

...

...

...

"Skak?"

...

"Skak you better open this door! Tarz is already setting up the Gate, grab the prisoner and come on!"

...

Ishga grumbled a bit and muttered angrily as he searched for his key ring, pausing only when his nostrils picked up the scent of Grog which seemed to be emanating from inside. Soon the door swung in and the Blood-Storm prepared a verbal lashing for his meatier colleague which immediately died in his throat once he saw the horrific state the cell was in.

There were empty mugs littering the ground, several cracked. The table had ended up on its side at some point with the Blood-Axe stuck in its side, the wielder of said weapon giving occasional mutters in his sleep as he slumped against the overturned piece of furniture. Right at his feet was Velvet, whose chair had tipped over sometime in the night with one of its sides broken from the impact. This broken side also meant that her bindings were almost criminally slack, which would've been a problem for the Uruks if she didn't seem even more unconscious than Skak was... in fact she barely seemed to be moving.

Ishga leaped into action immediately, rolling Velvet out of the tangle of ropes and chair onto her back. He leaned down to her, his frown stiffening until he heard her breathe. He gave a sigh of relief and a groan of annoyance before immediately letting her flop back on the grown.

The Hunter then turned to glare at his sleeping companion, who seemed the epitome of peaceful slumber until a brutal backhand sent him headfirst into one of the overturned table's legs. It splintered on impact and jolted Skak out of his sleep. He scrambled to his feet, stumbling a bit, before trying to steady himself on the broken table leg only to find it wasn't there anymore and collide with the ground again.

"What... did you do!?" Ishga demanded as he pointed down towards the unconscious Faunus and watched the warrior get back to his feet.

Skak seemed about to answer until he glanced to his weapon, still stuck in the table, and smiled "Blood-Axe says *Yawn* this idiot got into a drinking competition with the-" he seemed to realize his imaginary friend was ratting him out too late and tried biting his tongue to no avail.

"You- you what!?" And just when Ishga figured Skak could find no other ways to disappoint him, oh if his elder could see them now.

"Now listen Ish, this ain't my fault." the bruiser began

"I would just love to hear what asinine way you could spin this... where this isn't your fault."

"See, she was talkin' garbage about our Grog after I gave her a taste. And so I had her drink another mug's worth to see if she still could deny our recipes."

"Oh dear lord."

"So one thing led to another and the next thing I know we's having a good drinking game to see who better could handle their liquor."

Ishga was now trying not to resemble a fish as he struggled to properly shape the torrent of rage seething within his lungs into actual words.

"After that I admit I may have drank a bit too much, even after she conceded and whatnot. Think we might've sang a song together? Everything after that get's kinda foggy."

Skak stopped trying to remember what happened when he felt to balled fists press against his chest, and he looked down to see Ishga just barely able to squeeze out incoherent fragment of pure malice. Skak tilted his head to the side as his partner pulled away and began stomping around the room aimlessly while spewing forth random syllables he was currently incapable of using correctly.

Finally Ishga stopped directly across the room from him and turned back to face the larger Uruk before exasperatedly gesturing towards the window "SHE FIGHTS... TODAY!"

Skak simply stood there and blinked whilst Ishga gestured to Velvet "AND YOU! YOU! DRINK HER UNSCONSCIOUS WITH LORD KNOWS HOW MUCH GROG!? WHERE DID YOU EVEN GET THAT MUCH!? I THOUGHT THE GARRISON WAS RATIONING IT!"

The Axe-wielder glanced to the sides for a moment before shrugging with a smile "Ish, you know that there ain't a place in any realm one could hide a nice stiff drink from me."

Ishga lunged towards him, grabbed ahold of his ears and jerked him down before pressing their foreheads together and growling "You only had to watch her for one more day!"

Skak wasted no time in slipping out of his partner's grasp and placing his hands on his hips "So I might'a gone a bit far with the drinking, so what? If the Warchief saw her fighting then it's gonna happen prior-drinking or not. Far as I see we's still in the clear."

"I can't tell if you're doing this on purpose... or not!" Ishga seethed

"Doing what?" Skak asked before glancing to his weapon and frowning "No, I ain't deflecting blame."

"Yes you are!" Ishga threw his hands out in an exasperated manner "Why on earth would you sabotage-?!"

"Sabotage what?"

Ishga froze mid rant and jerked his head to the side to immediately wince at the sight of Tugog standing in the doorway taking in the view of the room.

"Master!" Ishga exclaimed before standing straight and trying to make it look like this horrid scene was in fact nothing major "We -ahem- we were just readying the tark for transport. S-Skak dropped her chair."

Tugog's eyes traveled from their unconscious fighter to the overturned table, then to several of the discarded and empty mugs, then wrinkled his nose as he smelt the overabundance of grog in the air.

"Okay." the Warchief said simply before turning and leaving.

Ishga and Skak stared at the now-empty doorway for a moment, the smaller of the two deflating a bit after finally allowing himself to breath somewhat steadily. Ishga turned to Skak, who just shrugged and smiled. Ishga saw red.

He shoved Skak out of the way before turning and sending his boot sailing directly into Velvet's side. The Faunus immediately coughed and rolled on her side as her hands immediately went to her head which began to pound. Before she could even begin to try forming a gasp of pain from the rude awakening, she felt a hard grip on her head pulling her off the floor.

She could barely see due to the blur which seemed smudged across her vision, things were hard to get into focus. That didn't matter, because she could tell it was Ishga who was now face to face with her. It'd be hard not to recognize him, they were almost touching.

"You're gonna fight." The Uruk growled out before shoving her to Skak, who managed to hold her up with one arm as the other freed Blood-Axe from the table and hooked it back on his belt.

"You're gonna win." Ishga continued as he walked out with Skak and her in tow

"You will impress the master."

---

A Cave Somewhere...

"So today's the day, huh?" Ratlug asked while glancing back to the two following behind him "Gonna get embroiled in some Chiefless Hijinks, eh?"

"Just walk, old man." Krosh muttered from Yang's side

Today was the big day indeed, the day Yang would finally get her gauntlets back and get tossed into that Slaver guy's arena. She'd tried concocting more escape plans while she waited, but she knew that at this point she was mostly riding on the hope that whoever this Ishmol guy was, he kept his security far more lax than the Storm did. If he didn't know much about the slaves who were supposed to be fighting, then perhaps he wouldn't have as many counters as Krosh and his pals did.

But first, she'd need her gauntlets back. When Krosh had come to collect her, she'd questioned why Ratlug was with them until it had been explained to her.

"Why is it that you gave him my gauntlets?" Yang leaned over to ask her captor

Krosh grumbled before folding his arms "I didn't want him to go touching those damn things, honest." the Warmonger said before sighing and giving a defeated shrug "But lo and behold he goes whining to the Shaman, and the boss let's him have them."

"For research of course!" the fake doctor pointed out before clapping his hands together "Originally thought about makin' a whole line of gunlets for the boys. Gunlets, heheh, came up with that one me self I did. Anyway, got bored with that idea and just copied down the loading mechanism. Slapping a line o' shells right in there seems too convenient to pass up on, but maybe I'll find a more interesting way to use em."

Yang grimaced at the idea of dozens of white and blue Uruks running around firing half-assed replicas of her weapons, "So, where were you keeping them all this time anyway?"

"The Lab!"

Yang quirked an eye "Lab?"

"It's really just a workshop," Krosh pointed out "Shaman gave an entire workshop to him and his lackeys."

"Nope, its a lab." Ratlug stated with conviction "I am a Doctor, so obviously I must have a lab where I may do my research."

"Wait," Yang interrupted "I thought you were pretending to be a medical doctor."

"Who's pretending?" Ratlug questioned cheekily before pointing to the ID which still clung to his lab coat, the image on it still very much not his "Says right here, I'm registered and all."

He laughed at the blonde's silliness before coming to a stop at a nondescript door and tugging it open.

Once Yang entered the 'Lab' she had to do a double take.

Not because of the several other Uruks that were attempting to assemble several greatly varied projects at some out-of-place office desks pushed off to the side, not because of the large desk in the center where her precious Ember Celica laid with one of the gauntlets gutted with its innards spewed out over the table, not even because of the makeshift board hanging to the side which had a crude drawing of her weapons on it. None of those things could stun her more than what clung to what seemed to be the entire ceiling of this workshop place.

It seemed like a jumbled mess of wooden and metal pieces all stuck together with a series of wire thin rails and tubes thrown almost haphazardly into the mix. Everything from little slides of plastic to gears of steel all clambered together in an unholy mass of random attachments.

The Uruks paid it no mind, at least until Krosh noted her pause "What's wrong with you? Come on, we need to get you suited up for-"

"I see your captivated by my little pass time." Ratlug said with no small hint of pride as he walked over to the table Ember Celica was sat upon "Its your irst time seeing it so I can understand, lass."

"Uh-huh." Yang nodded, her eyes still unable to tear itself from- was that the upper half of a grand piano over there?

Ratlug chuckled a bit in self-satisfaction before reclining in a torn up recliner placed near the table and picked up a surprisingly worn looking screwdriver "Wanna see it in action?"

That got Yang's attention, and Krosh's annoyance.

"No. Not wasting time so you could get even more full of yourself." the Warmonger pointed to the semi-dismantled gauntlet "I thought you said they were ready?"

"Pssh, well now I have ta play it, if you have such an issue with it. I work better with it on anyway." the Swordsmith gave an amused sigh before turning and calling to one of the other busy Uruks "Oi, somebody get the crank turning! I'm workin' here!"

The Uruks paused at their stations and turned to one another, after a brief argument one was coerced into stepping away from his desk towards the far wall. Yang hadn't noticed a small hand crank attached to it. The Uruk grabbed hold of the crank and began turning it with steady heavy motions.

She waited for a second as he cranked, about to ask what he was doing when the sounds began. Above she could here the various implements of the ceiling mass begin to slowly turn. Before her eyes the motions began spreading across the entire mass until the previously haunting stillness of the mass was replaced with almost frenzied movements everywhere.

Krosh groaned before turning and making for the door, and Yang almost wished to go with him simply because of how loud and enthralling the sight was. The entire ceiling was coated in this, well... machine for lack of a better term for it. And seeing every individual piece of it moving at once was... incredibly distracting.

But then the tune began.

From some piece of the mass a surprisingly simple tune began emanating forth, what she had confirmed to be a section of a grand piano was immediately identified as the source. But it didn't end there, the same cords attached to the innards of the Grand piano were also attached to yet another seemingly random object which soon added its own sound. This process began repeating itself as that simple tune became a seemingly unending symphony of machinery.

"Ratlug... dude, what is this?"

The Swordsmith smirked as he pulled the semi-dissected Ember Celica closer to him "Like I said, a pass time! Started out as one o' these little tune box thingies I found, when I get bored I build a few more things into it and it just kept getting bigger. Had to mine out some more space because it was covering so much. Nowhere near my finest work of course but it's kind of like a calendar to me since I know when and where each piece was added."

"This... this is a music box?!" Yang asked, turning to face him only to pause once again.

"Well it don't really look like a box anymore now does it?" Ratlug snorted in laughter...

... as his hands seemingly reassembled her weapon automatically without him even looking at them.

In time with the tune no less, one hand grabbed a piece and positioned it whole the other grabbed the tools necessary for each motion.

"My boy never did have an ear for tunes, but they just help me work faster if I do say so myself. Besides, the Shaman likes it. He'd sometimes come by and just listen to it for hours on end, so I'd say it was worth assembling solely for that."

Yang was trying to keep track of both his words and his hands at the same time, which soon proved impossible. As if he'd done it hundreds of times, the gauntlets were soon fully reassembled and the Uruk tossed each to her. In fact, after fumbling to catch them, Yang realized they almost looked brand new.

"If we ever do move to a different location, I do wish to bring it with me." Ratlug continued speaking as he stood from his chair and turned to gaze at the sprawling contraption with fondness "Maybe its just me getting sentimental and whatnot. Wonder how I'd move it?"

As he turned to look at another section of ceiling with a pondering expression, Yang glanced to him for a moment before quickly slipping Ember Celica back where it belonged.

"I mean we have the Dreamer Gates, but just moving the damn thing would be tricky for anyone. Even if we-"

Just as Yang cocked her gauntlet, Ratlug simply turned around and raised an eyebrow at her as she fired.

But nothing came out.

Yang blinked, she'd checked and found full shells in there. Was it jammed?

"Ah, sure enough straight to the point, hm?" Ratlug questioned before reaching into his tattered coat and drawing forth a single small button and gesturing towards it with his free hand "I put a safety lock in ya weapons to keep you from blastin' away and wastin' ammo."

Yang straightened, then raised one hand in front of her to look at her weapon for a second "You... put a lock in it?"

"Yep, control it with this here thingie. Almost put a light on it that turns red and green, but then I realized I wouldn't really need it."

Yang lowered her gauntlet and stared at the Uruk for a moment before asking "How?"

The Swordsmith snorted before pocketing the button and waving his hand casually "Oh, just took a bunch of safety locks from other guns and worked the designs into yours, then all I needed was a transmitter from a-"

"No, I mean... how did you build all of this?" Yang gestured around them, arms especially indicating the still-running ceiling music contraption "How? Didn't you guys come from some kinda fairy-tale land where most of our stuff never even existed?! That thing up there looks as if an entire team of engineers spent months making it. And you say that was just a past time? A past time, really?"

"Sorry if you dumb little brain squirm and all, but really as long as ya know where each thing goes, there ain't no problem." Ratlug chuckled "Sure, my semblance makes lot's of the learning part easy. But I'll have you know that if you pink-skinned saps knew even a pinch of the-"

"Are you guys done in there?" Krosh shouted from outside "Shaman's waiting, come on!"

Ratlug lowered his hands and gave Yang a once over before smirking "Yes, laddie boy. Your little champion just had a little bit of a headache. Seems my work was too complex for the deary."

Yang narrowed her eyes but kept quiet as the False Doctor gestured towards the Uruk on the crank, who was sweating a bit from the exertion of keeping the whole contraption running for so long. He nodded before leaving the crank to return to his previous project, and Ratlug soon ushered the captive huntress out of his workshop as the contraption's tune began dying down behind them.

.{{{{{+-+}}}}}.

It was the same factory floor, with the same pit she'd fought in several times before. The slaves were gone and the assembly lines had gone still, the only activity was a familiar Warmonger leaning against a wall several yards away from the pit. Ogthrak didn't seem to notice them yet, his attention seemed focused downward for some reason. Beside him on the wall was an intricate looking ritual circle thingy drawn in some blue liquids.

The Uruk seemed to be expecting bad weather, as evidenced by his attire. In addition to a combat vest she'd never seen him wear before, he also sported a heavy looking raincoat that looked as though it was designed to handle the harshest of rains. She could see that his forearms seemed to be bulging inside the thing, evidence that he still might have his heavy chain arm wraps on and simply wore the coat over them. Yang wasn't a complete fashion nut like some of her schoolmates were, she just knew how to look good for obvious reasons. But one did not need the clothing knowledge of an Adel to note that those bulges looked uncomfortable and almost comical as hell.

As she drew closer with Ratlug and Krosh flanking her sides, Ogthrak spotted them and leaned down to whisper something to a bundle of cloth at his side. When the bundle moved in response to this, Yang realized it was actually a hooded Uruk covered in tattered robes.

Before she could raise an eyebrow at this, Ratlug pushed past her and placed his hands on his hips as he looked over the blue drawing "Ah, I truly can't wait to get a good look at Ishmol's little arena."

Krosh immediately took issue with that "Wait," he said before glancing to Ogthrak and nodding towards his elder "Why is he coming?"

Before the larger Warmonger could respond, the Swordsmith leaned towards his spawn and grinned before nodding to Yang "Why, to see my work in action of course." he said before leaning back and shrugging "Besides, you forget that I have an entry. An entry who I'd simply love to see tear yours apart limb from limb."

Yang could feel the vehement refusal that Krosh seemed to be building up, but instead he glanced to the robed figure who seemed to be rising to his feet "Boss?" he asked after swallowing what could've been nerves.

Boss?

Yang turned to regard the robed Uruk more closely. This was the Grand Shaman she'd heard oh so much about?

As he rose to full height, Yang could easily tell the Storm's ruler was just a little shorter than Krosh was. From the ways she'd heard the Storm talk of their leader, she'd almost expected some giant, heavily armored warlord coated in the blood of his enemies. But from what she knew so far that was more of their Dark Lord's thing. But still, despite not being able to see any of his actual features, Yang hadn't expected... well... this...

With her past experiences she wasn't about to make the mistake of being less defensive just because the Shaman wasn't some war god sculpted out of tankflesh. The way he seemed to immediately inspire respect and fear in the trash-talking Krosh alone being more than enough to prove he probably lived up to at least some of the outrageous tales told of him.

Once on his feet, the Shaman walked past Ogthrak and turned to face the circular pattern. Yang spotted something strapped to his back, but it was covered in wrappings as well. She could only assume it was his weapon, as it did have visible handles jutting out in two places.

"He comes..." the Shaman spoke in what might have but the most garbled voice she'd ever heard, coupled with the excess amount of breath he put into it she nearly missed his words "... we wait."

Krosh bit back a curse as his father gave him a mocking thumbs up and pranced over to his master's side. The Shaman paid the Swordsmith little attention as he crouched down and resumed waiting.

They stood in silence for some more time, waiting for something. It gave Yang the much needed time to try and figure out what the blue circle patterns were about. She wasn't too deep into the occult, which this simply reeked of, but she'd seen enough movies to know that this... this looked like some kind of messed up ritual. Despite their leader being known as a Grand Shaman, she'd not seen much in the way of any kind of spiritualism present among these guys. Their beliefs seemed to boil down to: The Dark Lord is infallible, the Shaman's unstoppable, All other races besides theirs are inferior, and killing their own is a way of removing the weak.

From the Shaman's tattered robe get-up, she'd almost expected him to start preaching the Gospel of Superiority the moment he opened his mouth. But aside from some noticeably heavy breathing, he resembled a simple bundle of cloth once more.

Ogthrak seemed to follow his master's example and resume his quiet waiting, but Ratlug and Krosh?

They began arguing again.

She didn't even know how it started this time. Had they picked up from where they left off about whose entry would come out on top? They seemed to be arguing once more about Ratlug's continued insistence that a stolen doctor's lab coat was enough to legitimize himself. Then they moved on to how much Krosh despised the facial similarities they shared, then to the Elder badmouthing his son for surviving in the first place after being abandoned, on and on finding knew ways to downplay each other.

Yang was positive that if she spent too much time listening to these two she'd end up throwing punches safety-lock or not.

Thankfully, two other voices managed to distract her from the parent-child war taking place. On the other side of the room, two Uruks entered from an adjacent passage. One was obviously Mulgrim the Camera Guy while the other was-

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Bubol sauntered beside the Storm Soldier as his pustule covered lips stretched into a grotesque smile "I've been away from the other Chiefless for so long!"

-a complete pain in her ass.

The Diseased Uruk raised a hand to his chin and picked at a boil there in thought "Wonder how they've been without me there to... tend to them."

Mulgrim placed a fist to his own mouth and coughed to cover up his gag, but suddenly his fake cough turned into a real one as his other hand rubbed at the towel still wrapped around his throat wound.

The Sick Archer took note of this, tilting his head to the side before stepping in front of him and giving a lecherous little laugh "You know, you could have me take a crack at that little problem of yours. Me and open wounds have a very intimate relationship."

Yang winced, glancing to Krosh who wore a similar expression of disgust.

"Ugh," she heard Ratlug scoff "can't wait to be rid of this cretin"

That made her turn to him "You guys are getting rid of him?"

"My spawn's terrible wording coupled with the Master's personal enjoyment of this diseased rodent's antics has allowed him to leech off of us for the duration of your time here." the Swordsmith said before giving a small laugh "But after this bout even the Shaman wants him back with his own Chiefless kind. It'll be grand!"

The Huntress in training had to question the Shaman's definition of entertainment, but was more concerned about the hoops he was making his underlings jump through in the name of it.

Bubol finally took note of them, giving Mulgrim some much needed space as the Archer turned to wave at them "Blondie! You ready to get nice and personal with some other slaves?"

"Despite the lack of sunlight, nutrition, or healthy living conditions?" Yang gave herself a once over "I think I'm more than fine."

"Oh quit your whining." Krosh gave a shook his head and shrugged "Not our fault that humans have shit staying power."

The Brawler knew from experience that trying to argue that point would just end up annoying her, so instead she turned her attention elsewhere. Thankfully, Mulgrim leaned on a nearby assembly line to rub at the towel around his throat some more.

"Hey there Grimmie," she greeted him "how are you holding up?"

Even if the Camera Uruk wanted to respond, he had to pause and try to rub at his wound some more as he squeezed his eyes shut from what must've been pain.

"...you really need to see a Doctor."

"Nonsense!" of course Ratlug took issue with that assertion and gestured to the wounded underling "He's got one o' my patented wet towels, he's right as rain."

Again, Yang knew only more annoyance would stem from arguing that idea.

Bubol paused suddenly and immediately took a whiff of the air before letting his smile grow wider "Hn? Is that Pug I smell?"

He sniffed a bit more before his gaze was drawn to the crouched Shaman, he looked over the bundle of clothing for a moment before sniffing again and confirming his own suspicion "Pug, my lad!"

The Shaman finally stood up and turned around just as Bubol took off running towards him. As the Shaman turned Yang finally managed to catch a glimpse of something within that oddly concealing hood of his, the Storm Leader's eyes were blue with white pupils. His eyes were covered again as he turned to tilt his head at the Diseased archer, who took off towards him in a fit of growing giggles.

"Oh its been so long you deadly little dumpling you, c'mere!" Bubol called out before launching himself at the Shaman with his arms wide.

A sharp and brutal snapping sound echoed throughout the room, Yang had to blink.

In a half-second, the Shaman opened his own arms and nearly crushed Bubol inside them like a bear trap.

With the boil covered Uruk trapped, he could do nothing but writhe and gag as his Aura struggled to keep him from turning to paste in the Storm-Ruler's arms.

The Shaman himself gave a calm little giggle of his own as he took in the sight of the Struggling Uruk, flexing his arms and causing Bubol's Aura to flicker dangerously before finally releasing him.

The Mad Archer flopped onto the floor in a pained heap and began coughing as he struggled to suck in the air which had been squeezed out of him. The Shaman merely turned back to Ogthrak and nodded towards the blue ritual circle.

Ogthrak pushed himself from the wall and reached into his coat, retrieving a lighter and setting fire to the blue pattern. As it was engulfed, the Shaman raised his hands and began tapping them together in anticipation as his breathing got a bit louder.

"Only you-" Bubol began with a tone of excited pain before rolling onto his hands and knees "only you could help me taste such delicious pain, my dear!"

The Shaman paid him no mind, instead giving some more of those breathy little giggles as he stood before the burning patterns.

Yang found herself leaning towards Krosh and asking "What's wrong with him?" unsure if the Storm's leader just did that out of habit or some kinda respiratory problem.

"Shut up!" Krosh hissed, not tearing his eyes from the back of the Grand Shaman "He can hear everything, don't go drawing his attention until you're in the Arena."

Before Yang could ask how exactly they were going to travel there, she was already preparing herself for another unceremonious bind and drag scenario like the one they used to bring her here, the burning blue pattern began swirling.

Portals? Really now...

The Grand Shaman wasted no time in turning around, digging his covered hands into the back of Bubol's boil-covered head and dragging him into the portal. Yang had just enough time to bite back the new round of questions she had before Krosh grabbed her arm and dragged her in behind them.

You know when you step into a pool? Or dive in? That sensation of passing into a body of water?

That was what stepping through that portal felt like, only without the whole water on the other side thing.

Instead Yang found her feet on dry ground, stumbling a bit before raising her head to observe their new surroundings.

It seemed like the rooftop of some kind of warehouse, a rusted and decrepit one at that. She couldn't see much beyond the rooftop of a taller warehouse adjacent to theirs, besides a mountaintop in the far distance.

Ogthrak pushed past her and immediately surveyed the area before glancing to Krosh, who was observing a hole which had been blasted into the side of the adjacent warehouse.

Yang winced as the overwhelming smell of saltwater forced her to seek out its source. She turned around just in time to see the portal close behind Ratlug, and the source of the saltwater became all too clear.

The Shaman sat crouched on the edge of the rooftop, beside him Bubol lay still clutching his head. Apparently the Shaman's grasp had ruptured a number of the boils there, the Archer was still giving those disgusting groans of pleasure as he tried and failed to wipe the smears of blood and pus from his head.

A gut turning sight of course, but she wasn't focused on them, because beyond the edge of the rooftop she could see miles and miles worth of ocean stretching into the distance.

"This is where Ishmol and his drunken idiots decided to set up shop?" Ratlug commented as he walked next to his master and surveyed the waters. Glancing down he found that there were sections of the building partially sunken into the encroaching waters "Hardly seems as sturdy as our own place, eh?"

"I hear the arena itself looks much nicer." Krosh pointed out before turning to Ogthrak "Well big guy, does it?"

The Larger Warmonger just rolled his eyes before Bubol pushed past him "Time to see my mates!" he called out in glee with one hand still clutching his head "What a delicious reunion I'll have!"

As the Archer disappeared inside, Ogthrak pressed two fingers to his brow in annoyance before turning to Krosh and nodding to Yang "Just grab your little Champion and come on."

Stepping inside, Yang felt she understood this place a bit more. Despite the bombshells of Ratlug's almost unprecedented engineering skill, the Shaman's sudden yet not completely derailing appearance, and the aforementioned portals these guys could whip up, she felt relieved to be offered something that wasn't as out-of-left-field or unexpected.

This place was some kind of harbor, or at least a type of loading dock. From what she'd seen, large portions had been sunken into the ocean it was situated on and the rest looked pretty worn by time. Grimm or natural disaster, same as most of the abandoned stuff lying around. At first she'd wondered why anyone would bunker down here, on the outside this place looked as if a stiff wind would send it tumbling down, but the inside was a different story entirely.

They stepped onto a catwalk overlooking a loading bay, in the center were dozens of metal benches lining a hole in the floor which resembled the one the Storm had. To this Ishmol guy's credit his arena was better by a large margin.

It was easily several times as large as the one Krosh had her training in, and instead of a basic cave floor this one seemed to have dirt covering the ground. Whether it was there naturally or something they had to drag in from outside she didn't know. The Benches and the pit took up the majority of the loading bay floor, with the seats stacked so high that they actually reached the catwalks overlooking them. Several large groups of Uruks were milling about the area around the pit, with more trickling in from various openings around the arena ranging from doorways to other holes in the walls. The doorways looked as if they led to hallways around this massive loading bay, possibly bleeding into the partially-submerged warehouse next door.

She spotted Bubol's diseased form easily, mostly because the other Chiefless were giving him a wide berth as he walked through greeting them.

Yang and the Storm Captains stood upon the highest catwalk which seemed to be accessible only from the rooftop next-door, a ladder, or one of two nearby doorways. They were the only people up there besides another group of Uruks who also seemed to be surveying the Arena.

The one leading that group was this tall Uruk in an odd helmet, beside him was a hunter who seemed to bear the Storm's paint colors. There was a red-themed Uruk with an admittedly awesome-looking Axe who seemed to be arguing with other members of their group hidden from her view by his bulky form.

The Shaman pushed past her and Krosh to stand at the front of their group as the leader of the other one approached. To her confusion, the Shaman kneeled before him. This other leader seemed to smile within his helmet at the sight of the kneeling Storm Ruler "Pugrish, good to see you in attendance." this Uruk said before giving a small laugh "I had a feeling you'd be here."

"Blood-Axe says ya don't need clairvoyance to see that he'd show." the Axe-Wielder pointed towards his weapon

"Shut up!" came a gravelly voice behind the Axe-Wielder, who turned to look back at a thin red Uruk who growled. And clutched in that thin Uruk's grasp was-

"Velvet?!"

The Rabbit looked worse for wear, her head lazily shifting up at the mention of her name. She turned towards Yang with a dazed and tired expression on her face and narrowed her gaze "Yang? What... I mean, what are you doing here?"

The Shaman raised his head and turned to look up at the head of this group and gave a small hum of thought as he looked to the Faunus girl then back to the one he was kneeling to "Tugog... same idea?"

"Well ain't this a development!"

The two groups turned towards this new voice. Standing on another catwalk was a thin Uruk with a stringy white beard who was flanked by two larger Uruks with shields.

"Now when I got word that I'd not only have the Storm, but a Warchief enterin' in this lil' battle o' mine, I knew immediately that this would be a good old bout." this new Uruk said before chuckling and folding his hands together.

"But to see that not only will we have the good Doctor's lovely additions, but two bloody huntresses as well?" Ishmol looked over the two groups and then turned to peer at the arena below.

"This is gonna be one for the records, lads!"

---

AN: Congratulations on our first chapter without a full-fledged fight scene. Don't worry there's more than enough in the next chapter to make up for it.

Okay, so I was supposed to get the Arena done this chapter until I realized there was a lot of build up and pay off that needed to get followed through before then. As I saw how big this chapter got and finished planning out the structure for how the Arena plot will go I realized that merging the two would be insane at this point, there was just too much. Made sense to split them in two and deal with the entire Slave Tournament in one chapter.

I impatiently await Shadow of War, which may or may not bring to me an entirely new Roster of Uruks I could use. Not sure how I'd be able to slip Olog-hai in here IF I decided to but that's a concern for later. So far the game seems like a larger version of SoM, which is the only thing I wanted from it really. I hear some say it doesn't look as good as its first trailer did, but from the plethora of content they've shown on their streams I figure that it definitely looks worth the money to me at least.

Anyway, there was no single Uruk given major focus on in this chapter so I'll talk about one I never really got around to dealing with so I'll just deal with one I skipped over in the past.

Namely, Ogthrak.

Ogthrak was one of the many captains who was just a regular Uruk who killed me while I was trying and failing to take out the Shaman (Who is an entirely different beast altogether) he got promoted, became enraged at nearly everything and was near fanatical in speech and tone every time we crossed blades. Now this wasn't what made him memorable though. See, he started out as a Berserker when I first started fighting him. But some time after I literally decapitated him another Ogthrak with the exact same appearance, voice and strengths/weaknesses took his place only this time he was a Defender.

And anyone who's played SOM will let you know that certain perks on a Defender go a lot farther than they would for a Berserker.

This was something that's happened to me several times, Uruks appearing who look identical to others I've killed. But this wasthe second most notable one. The first being Ratlug, but he's a story for another time.

As if come back from the grave intent on revenge, suddenly this nigh untouchable shield bearing bastard came charging from the hills outta nowhere every twelve minutes. I had nothing to counter him until I finally caved and overwhelmed him with a small platoon of brainwashed followers.

For getting me to break one of my personal playstyle rules in order to finally kill him, Ogthrak earned a spot on the roster here.

Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review if you are so inclined to do. Like it? Hate it? Any ways you feel I could improve? Expectations for the next chapter? Follow or Favorite at your leisure and I will see you all in the next installment of The Dreamer Gate.

Next Chapter: The Arena