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?

15. Chapter 15: The Broken

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

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

---

The Broken

The sun rose, shining down upon Hork's tower. Though many Uruks there would care not for the sunrise, as many forego sleep for days on end whether due to stubbornness or sheer capability, there was enough activity down in the slums for one to consider it busy.

"Come on now, gather up lads."

A couple wandering Uruks heard the call and began gathering around a crate flanked by two Uruks in red war paint. Standing atop the crate was another Uruk with similar uniform colors, who continued calling for attention until he deemed the crowd large enough. Once satisfied, he gestured to one of the other Red Uruks and bent down so they could pass a single cup of grog up to him.

"So, me and the boys here have been hearing complaints about Grog supply going around now."

"Ain't never enough!" shouted someone in the crowd

"And we can all agree to that!" the Speaker nodded before gesturing up to the tower which loomed above "Making the good swills has taken a bit more time lately, and I'm just as right pissed as any of you can be. But instead of just slacking around waiting for Hork's boys to get their grog game back on track, our gracious Captain has instead found quite the method of making what we do have even more enjoyable."

"The Blood-Axe ain't no Grog-Maker," a larger Uruk grumbled "a drinker maybe, but he couldn't make a swill to save his life."

"Perhaps, but he's the creative type." the Blood Uruk countered "Tell me, what do any of you lot know about hybrid ears?"

"They's good for necklaces."

"Fun to tear at when ya beating slaves."

"Ya scream into them long enough and they might start bleeding!"

The crowd started laughing and joking about as fun tales were brought up.

"But," the Blood Uruk called out to regain their attention "any of you lot ever thought they could be used for Grog?"

The joking tales were exchanged for confused murmurs as the speaker drew a severed faunus ear and began pointing on it "Now this'll only work for the fuzzy types, but all's you got to do is chip away here, here and here till ya get a dandy little filter that's make ya drink nice and smooth. Now I ain't the patient type, but I do suggest having someone make ya one unless ya wanna miss out-"

Dark shadows crossed above, distracting the speaker as he glanced up only to immediately frown. Garrison soldiers were struggling to keep up with the Uruk leading them, even after removing most of their heavy gear, launching themselves from shanty to shanty with cautious haste. Ahead of them was a member of the Storm, casually leaping from rooftop to rooftop despite his odd armor, no doubt reveling in his ability compared to the others.

He was far more used to this than the others, evidenced by the many near trips and stumbles the garrison soldiers suffered during the prolonged exercise. They had been traversing the rooftops of the shanties for several hours now, and though they started off reasonably well, it was apparent they were being worn down.

Eventually the Storm soldier slid to a stop at the edge of a ramshackle roof, peering below as the others hurried to catch up. Though many of them took the chance to stop and rest near him, one overshot it. He would've sailed right over the edge had the trainer not reached out and took hold of his wrist.

Yanking the Uruk back to the others, the Trainer gave a low grumble.

Once the others caught their breath, they turned their glares on him as one stepped from amongst the crowd "What? We finally getting to weapons now? I ain't learned nothing since we started, thought you lot was supposed to be helpin' us?"

The Trainer narrowed his gaze before speaking in an extremely hushed tone "This will help far more than you believe."

"How?" another groaned "Those tark children got away cause we didn't have the weapons to counter them, we know your boss has you making them weird gadgets. Why ain't you teaching us how to make em too? Since Tarz and his ain't here to throw their weight around, the blacksmiths have been dying to find new ways to impress!"

Shaking his head, the Storm Soldier glanced up to the tower in the distance as he once more spoke in low whispers "Quiet, the huntsmen of this land cannot be overcome by weaponry alone. They move and adapt, you must adapt quicker. That is what the master teaches. Movement is key, and I'm sorry to say you lot have grown far too comfortable with being stationary."

"Speak up," the Garrison soldier said as his cohorts nodded in agreement "can't hear a word you's saying!"

"Those who are unable to listen lose all right to learn." the Whisperer tilted his head to the side "The master never needs to speak loudly to emphasize his presence, I merely wish to follow his image."

"Whatever, blue boy," the first Defender muttered before gesturing towards the nearest shack "we gettin back to the runnin' now or what?"

The Whisperer shrugged before bending low "Only if you and yours are able to keep up."

As they resumed traversing rooftops, a figured watched from a lower balcony of the Tower. Another stood tapping his namesake against the floor nearby as his partner reclined against the stone rails and narrowed his eyes at the training Uruks below.

Skak glanced at his partner several times, "You not liking the view?"

Ishga remained silent.

"Blood-Axe likes it." He gestured to his weapon "Thinks it'd look better with more blood puddles, but everything looks better with more of those so..."

Ishga glanced back at him for a moment, but remained wordless.

"Not sure how the boys down in the Shanties would feel about that. They'd enjoy it until the stuff started getting in the way. Wouldn't be very good overseers if we let that happen, eh?"

At that Ishga finally released a grunt.

For uncovering Tarz's ploy, the two of them had been tasked with governing the Shanties in order to prevent things of similar nature from happening. At first it had seemed like they would be replacing the Garrison's tight grip with a more familiar one, but things had actually turned out far better than they could've imagined.

Ishga had devised a plan to keep the Shanties from burgeoning under Hork's rules, but it had required a fair bit of compromise. Compromise which wouldn't have been possible without the Storm's intervention.

Ever since the Garrison's grand embarrassment, Hork and his cronies have been obsessively trying to recover lost ground using the Shaman's resources. They've been so caught up with this that their enforcement of their policies had become lax. As such, the Shanties became the chaotic rough housing hovel it was supposed to be. Skak and Ishga's Blood forces were mainly there to keep the residents from going too far. As long as they didn't bring Hork's attention back downstairs, everything would be golden... at least to Skak.

Ishga clearly didn't seem at peace with the new status quo.

The Blood-Storm finally turned away from the sunrise and looked up towards the top of the tower, already a large portion of the scaffolding had been recovered, thanks in no small part to an amazing pulley system that Ratlug had installed in the first days of their operation.

"They're up to something." Ishga grumbled to no one in particular

"Who? Pug's boys?"

"Who else Skak?!" Ishga snapped at him "Hork has never given them this much leeway, I'd be more surprised if they didn't try something."

"But I've met Pug before, he don't seem-"

"Stop calling him that!" Ishga hissed "I've put up with your nicknames before, but the Stormbringer should never be labeled in a manner that portrays him as any less of the lunatic he is."

"Oi! Boss!"

They both turned to see one of their underlings approaching "Dreamer needs you two, said it was urgent."

Skak grinned at his agitated partner "Think we'll get to chop something? Blood-Axe has been going dry for far too long."

Ishga rolled his eyes before turning and walking off "Don't be naive Skak, I'll have you know that that Mystic snake could be up to all kinds of insidious plots at this very moment."

---

Ratlug stared at his Master, who was reclining beside a pit of what seemed like mucky sewage. The Stormbringer was lying on his side, idly swirling a single uncovered finger in the swill as he waited.

"Sir? How long do you-"

"Until... they arrive."

The Engineer sighed as he walked away from the pit to a dingy desk, upon which were several filthy beakers and containers filled with similarly disgusting fluids "I've told you time and time again that this one is practically guaranteed to fail. I've covered the bases with what we have and found supplement ingredients where I could, but until we acquire several key elements we're just going to end up with flaws."

"They don't need to be whole... not yet." Pugrish said slowly as he pulled his finger from the mix and watched the clumpy matter drip back down into the pit "I wish to be here... when the first of the new Uruks... arrives."

"If they can even be considered Uruks." Ratlug snickered "I remember the faulty pits back in Mordor, I can only hope these ones will be just as nightmarish."

The False Doctor laughed, his voice reverberating off the walls of the cave they were in. It was much smaller than some of the others included in their underground home, nowhere near big enough for a full fledged spawning pit.

As his laughter died down, Ratlug recognized the sound of boots approaching from an adjacent passage, and soon several other Uruks in dark robes appeared. Their faces were covered by leather masks pocked by eye holes, tight straps made of a similar material kept their robes from billowing as much as the Shaman's did.

Noticing their entrance, Pugrish rose from his spot beside the pit and the new arrivals immediately folded their hands together and bowed.

"So, your wizened students finally grace us with their presence." Ratlug folded his arms as he looked them over

"Not students... merely receptacles for knowledge." the Stormbringer shook his robed head "I do not teach... merely share... These Scholars are the only ones with the aptitude to digest my givings."

Ratlug rolled his eyes.

Pugrish had been one of the few mystically inclined to get dragged to Remnant during the initial Dreamer Gate incident. Beforehand he had been adamant in keeping the secrets he held tightly locked within his mind, but some time after the Storm had established itself in this new world something had changed. Soon his most devoutly loyal learners began receiving the teaching they had craved for years. And it was teaching, Ratlug didn't care how the Mystic wanted to word it.

Ratlug was never involved in the wild sorceries some Uruks could get obsessed with, he had always been a lover of mechanisms even before his research led his tribe to banish him. But even one such as he could appreciate the power Pugrish's teachings seem to have conjured. Many of these Scholars seemed far more physically adept than they had been when they'd begun their studies, and the odd dust gauntlets they wore couldn't be used by anyone not familiar with mysticism involved involved in their construction.

"Apologies, Master." one stepped forward "Your summons was unexpected, we had been continuing our business in the north and had been ill-prepared. I must beg forgiveness for any time we have wasted with our negligence."

"Nonsense... this will be quick." Pugrish gestured to the pit beside him "I merely to see... that we are on the correct path."

"Then I guess we should get started then, shall we?" Ratlug spoke up as he grabbed two beakers from the desk and walked over "The sooner we get this sorted the faster you Mystic-types can get back to whatever strange rituals you wish to indulge in next."

The Grand Shaman nodded to his underlings, and soon he and the other Scholars surrounded the pit as Ratlug tipped the contents of his beakers down into it.

As soon as the fluids touched the surface it began writhing. Slowly at first, but soon the pit was churning and mixing wildly as Pugrish raised both his arms and released a guttural sound of indistinct nature. He lowered his arms before repeating the movement, the Scholars around the pit mimicking his actions as the fluids began swishing in response to their voices.

"Join us... brothers..." Pugrish growled before falling to one knee as his acolytes continued their deep chants.

The Stormbringer brought his arms to his side as he stared down into the writhing pit, before suddenly launching both his hands into the swirling liquids.

Closing his eyes, the Grand Shaman could feel it. Shapes taking form and being torn apart by each other, a sensation he had not felt since his time as a Vat-Keeper. Likewise, the feeling of something strong taking hold of his limbs was not enough to prompt him into action. It did not hang on for long as soon the forms around it had torn enough of it away to the point where it had been dragged off by the pit's current.

He had only been a Vat-Keeper for a short time, dismissed due to his low output of soldiers in comparison to his contemporaries. He had not merely taken the grip of any single forming Uruk who managed to hold on for more than two seconds. They needed to prove they deserved the right to exist. The others had not understood his methods, as most of their soldiers were destined to merely become grunts for those who managed to rise above. But Pugrish had never settled for less in this regard, he only brought true warriors into the world.

Which was why he waited, staying in that position for far longer than any single Vat-Keeper had any right to.

So much so that Ratlug became impatient. He had been witness to the birthing process of Uruk-Hai many times, even assisted several Vat-Keepers in perfecting their swills before. As such, it was figured that his knowledge combined with the Shaman's mysticism would surely be the quickest way to constructing a Spawn Pit in Remnant with the resources available to them.

But he had not seen the Shaman during his days as a Vat-Keeper, and therefore was unprepared for just how long he was taking. Most other Vat-Keepers could yank out an entire company of freshly spawned Uruks in the time the Stormbringer was taking just to get a hold of one.

"Come now, shouldn't be hard to nab one of these flawed whelps from such a tiny pit." the Engineer rolled his eyes before approaching the pool. He was careful not to disturb the Scholars, he knew that a pit this weak wouldn't be able to sustain itself without their mystical encouragement. He found the largest space between them and kneeled down before shoving his hand deep into the churning sludge.

It didn't take long for something to take hold, and he immediately lurched back and away with it clamping onto his hand. The shrill cry that punctured the air once his catch broke free of its liquid prison was not that of an Uruk, it was frail and desperate in ways that no servant of Sauron could ever attest to be. Indeed, what Ratlug pulled free from the pit was but the upper half of an Uruk still struggling to pull itself together. It seemed lucky enough that its skin managed to form just enough to keep its no doubt malformed organs trapped within the unfinished monstrosity that was its body.

The very tip of an all too thin spinal-cord was protruding from where its lower torso ended, several ribs had grown past their fleshy cage and were protruding from its leathery chest in a visibly agonizing manner. One arm was stubby, ending at the forearm. The other had been split into two thin arms that looked like they could barely hold a stick let alone a weapon.

And its face was one locked in a perpetual expression of utmost pain and misery. Several teeth were far too large, and the brain dead creature had accidentally punctured its upper mouth several times with them. Its skull was too small, and if the black blood oozing from its misshapen ears said anything, its brain was probably being squeezed by its own container. One eye seemed to be made of three, all squeezed tightly into the socket to the point where all three were made useless by sheer pressure. And its one good eye stared desperately up at Ratlug, flitting about in a manic fashion that could only hint to the unbridled suffering this unfortunate creature would have to endure for the rest of its pathetically short life.

"Well, it forms them." Ratlug noted as he let the malformed Uruk fall to the floor, where it continued releasing illegible sounds of suffering "But the flaws present are far more egregious than anticipated."

Ratlug narrowed his eyes as the creature scratched at his leg pitifully with one of its thinner arms, and he immediately kicked the damn thing away so he could focus on his findings. He'd always had an appreciation for the odd mix of both practical ingredients and Uruk-Hai sorcery that goes into each and every pit, but when they failed they failed spectacularly, producing nothing that could even be compared to the numerous soldiers of the Dark Lord. Instead the mistakes of the Pits makeup were passed down to the offspring unfortunate enough to be drawn out of it. They would never be actual Uruks, they were simply Flawed.

Which was why when he turned back to see the Grand Shaman holding on to a fully developed pair of arms, he suddenly found words failing him.

"You want to exist... don't you?" The Shaman spoke slowly as the creature holding on to his arms slowly emerged "The others among you may believe... that wishing is all it takes... But I don't grant wishes to the nonexistent... You must show you have the will to exist... that you will work... to exist! I am merely your anchor... Prove that experiencing life is something worth fighting for!"

Ratlug backed away as a large form began pulling itself from the pit, the fake doctor almost tripped on the Flawed Uruk below as he tried to find something to steady himself on.

The Scholars seemed similarly unsettled by the being rising from the pit, but it seemed their conviction was far more stalwart than the Engineer's as they continued their chanting.

"Good...Good..." Pugrish said slowly as he had to back up to make room for his catch, he had almost made it to a wall behind him when the Fresh Spawn finally collapsed to its knees before him.

The Shaman looked over the remaining sludge that had gotten on his robes in the process, before giving a tiny chuckle.

As the remnants of the pit leaked from the Fresh Spawn's body, the flaws became more apparent. His head was misshapen, bulbous in some places, short in the others. His tongue dangled from his mouth, longer than even an Uruk tongue had any right to be. And beside some patchy skin here and there the major indicator of his unfortunate origin were the hands. They were obscenely large for a regular Uruk, easily larger than his own head. And some of the space between flesh and nails seemed fused together in an odd yet noticeable way.

"Congratulations..." Pugrish cooed as the Fresh Spawn began coughing up some of the Pit's sludge which remained inside him "You just earned... the right to exist."

He turned away and shook some of the muck off of him before calling back to his students "This pit has given all it can... time to relieve it of its duty."

The chanting finally stopped as the Fresh Spawn rolled onto his back and took several long breaths. The Scholars lowered their arms and the pit stopped churning, however some forms still rose and fell as the swill started to settle.

"Oh... and free the accursed who remain." Pugrish called back

"With haste!" One of the Scholars bowed before kneeling beside the slowing pool and rearing back with his gauntlet, electrical sparks flared along it before he plunged his fist into the pit.

Ratlug had not moved. The shock of a semi-capable looking Uruk having been pulled from something so inherently flawed left him more stunned than any blunt head trauma ever could.

"I like the name Belfor..."

Ratlug was snapped from his daze by the Shaman's voice, and watched as the Stormbringer took his leave "...send him to the trainers... my expectations are rather high for him."

As the Shaman left, Ratlug took a single step forward "That... that shouldn't have been possible." he said as his eyes darted from the Shaman down to the Fresh Spawn "That- this! This should not be possible!"

Beside him, the Scholar who had dipped his gauntlet into the pit began to snicker as he pulled his arm from the now slightly smoking liquids "The master cares not, Tinkerer. If he wills it, then he shall make it possible."

---

"I thought you lot were hold up in the lowest portions of ship?"

Galkar turned to look back at Uthug, pausing in the dank maintenance tunnel to tilt his head "What? No no! We's just hanging out beneath them commercial portions where the Caterers don't got no advantages. Can't go dancing around attacks when the walls so close together. You talking low portions, then you want the Depths."

Its not surprising, from what I've learned of Tark ships in this realm, the most mechanical portions are kept near the bottom. I had been confused at the scarcity of machinery back around Bubol's hovel, but had assumed the Wardens had simply constructed this vessel's finer components in a place they could lock off from the holding area. That very well may be true, but it seems the portents where it should be are still vacant and accessible. This is concerning. If what this grub says is true, then there are methods of accessing these Depths all over. If that's true it will make the perfect method of moving between portions of the ship, but nobody seems to be using it in that manner. Ask him why.

Uthug rolled his eyes, but complied "So why ain't you lot using it to outmaneuver the Caterers and whatnot?"

"Oh, that's because of the Broken."

"Broken?"

Galkar paused and looked back to the Looter "Now I came in with the groups from the Arena with the Boss, but we wasn't the first. From how the older inmates say it, the first big group to come here was caught trying to steal dust for the Shaman's boys."

Yes, the group led by Kruk, Grisha, Bubol and Felgrat. From what I hear, things did not end well for them. Kruk and his crew got caught while Grisha and Felgrat had to sacrifice most of their followers to the Storm to survive.

"Apparently back then the Tarks would make trips down from the upper decks, being all sneaky and the like. They'd drag off random inmates for testing, snagged almost all of Kruk's lads before they finally stopped. Big guy got really desperate to leave the more his lads went missing, probably why he thought Felgrat's faster explosion method was more appealing. Anyway, the point is that when they actually did toss the boys back to 'em they was all types of messed up in the head. Acted with more animosity, spoke in incoherent ramblings, hunched over like some of the Flawed."

Hm, I had expected Atlas to be running tests on us, but to the extent of mentally breaking what sound like dozens of soldiers? Forget hiding us away from the world, they've been using this place to find ways to destroy us.

"So let me guess," Uthug sighed "the reason you guys don't go down in the Depths is because..."

"Yep, poor bastards seemed to like the pitch black darkness and humidity of the depths, they've adapted to it." Galkar shook his head before he continued leading the way "You think the Caterers got a monopoly on area? Pfft, the damned Broken don't have nearly enough numbers and have been keeping both us and Felgrat's lads out all on they's own."

"Great, which means more traps." Uthug groaned as he followed

Dangerous indeed, but a golden opportunity none the less. If their numbers really are as small as he says, we may be able to clear them out and let Bubol's boys move in. We could cover area the Caterers could only dream of.

"Traps and more, I hear. But the funny thing is that other inmates keep trying to go down there anyway." Galkar walked ahead through a doorway and down some metal stairs "The fighting between Bubol and Felgrat's got so many Uruks pissing themselves, they think if they can just outsmart the Broken they can stay away from the conflict upstairs. Now not many ever come back from the Depths, so I don't know how bad it is myself, but who knows? Maybe some poor sods are actually killing it down there.

"Great, so on top of being filled with death traps built by a bunch o' mental lunatics, this place probably has a couple survivalist nuts who'll think I'd make a nice meal or something."

"Why ya gotta be such a pessimist? I mean, if a tark can survive down there I'm sure you can."

Uthug paused.

Get him to explain, get him to explain NOW!

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just another rumor, hear from some of the guys that try their luck at going down there that some mangy-looking Tark's been scampering about. You's gonna have to ask the boss about it, but apparently its been down there for a while."

That... is far too odd to not follow up on.

Uthug sighed, if Bubol wasn't so damned caught up with his new toy then he could've just brought him. Getting pieces of information that the Diseased lunatic could no doubt complete was nothing if not infuriating. How long can one scrawny runt keep him entertained anyway?

Oh, so that's overstepping to you? It took me days just to get you to agree on this outing. Your wounds weren't even critical enough to warrant such stagnation!

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Galkar asked as he led them through a doorway and began descending some metal stairs "The boys might think your some kinda loon but with what some say about-"

"They think I'm what?" Uthug interrupted "They talking shrahk about me? Behind my back?!"

Galkar was quick to wave him off "No no! Nothing like that! Its just that after hearing 'bout how ya took on Felgrat's lads like you did, words are getting around. Some of the boys even calling you Uthug of the Black-Cloth."

The Looter cocked an eyebrow "Why Black-Cloth though?"

Galkar paused before glancing back at Uthug and nodding to his jumpsuit.

The Scavenger looked down. Most of his jumpsuit had been soaked in the black blood of the Caterers he butchered several days ago, and had long since dried. The left arm of his jumpsuit had been torn so much that he'd just ripped the damn thing off. Gundza had demanded he simply replace the entire thing with some fresher cloth from some other poor sod, but the Looter hadn't been in the mood to go stealing clothes of all things.

And so he'd spent the last few days walking around with his black stained attire, made him stand out from his armored compatriots, but why did that have to be what they named him after? Couldn't they have gotten him something more impressive? Sure it sounded ominous, but it felt like something those nutheads from the Mystic Tribe would come up with.

But instead he merely nodded "Fine, I see ya point."

Galkar cracked a smirk before continuing down the stairs "They's all impressed, ain't none of us ever had the gal to just charge into enemy turf like that. They seem to think your some kinda brutal warrior what with that stunt."

"From your tone it sounds like you don't believe them." Uthug pointed out

The armored inmate chuckled "Well I saw what was left after you ran in pal, and I ain't saying it wasn't astounding. But when ya work for something as deadly as the boss it gets kinda hard to be impressed. Sure ya may have wiped out the globs, but the Boss would've done it twice as fast with double the laughs!"

Uthug's frown deepened. He wasn't mad that Galkar wasn't buying into the hype that was apparently being spread about him, he didn't want to be dragged into the limelight more than was absolutely necessary. It was the fact that he was getting downplayed in comparison to the perverted bastard who literally let himself get captured all in the name of his sick obsession.

Stop complaining, just be glad you're building a name for yourself. You've made it abundantly clear that you'd like nothing more than to shrink into the shadows like a rodent, but notoriety means respect. Having a title is power no matter your opinions of it, for the more grubs who know of it the more they'll either fear or admire you. Both are powerful weapons in the hands of the right Uruk.

Unless its a ridiculous title like Dung-Heaver or something.

All of a sudden Uthug paused as the sight of Galkar ahead of him was replaced by the walls of a deep hole.

Uthug didn't know what was happening, he tried looking around but the vision didn't respond. It moved on its own accord, and once he saw a different color of skin than his own he realized he was looking through someone else's eyes. He was smaller, thin and bony, and as he reached a gnarled hand up to the top of the pit another Uruk arm reached down to help him up.

The skies of Mordor greeted him, with rocks and stone being the first things he could identify. The next was the Uruk who'd helped him, who seemed to whistle to some nearby beasts... Caragors. A pack of them, lounging around the hole he'd just been pulled out of. At the sound of the other Uruk's whistle they began rising.

What is this?

Well, as it turns out I actually worked with an Uruk with the title of Dung-Heaver. Was a master of befriending the beasts of Mordor, had no problems cleaning their filth. You seemed convinced nobody could be threatening with a name such as that, however...

Uthug's vision turned back to the hole, and at the bottom he could see a bound and gagged Uruk trapped against the hole's wall.

He helped me with a Captain who had been planning against my master at the time, his beasts overwhelmed the traitor's guards and we captured him with no problem. And after being so thoroughly beaten, an Uruk with such little to offer would only find worth as a toilet.

Uthug's shivered as the vision faded just as the beasts began approaching the hole. The dry land of Mordor fading back to the damp metal of the Arceus.

Remember that all Titles are fearsome, even a brain-damaged glob with a title can incur horrible fates for those who underestimate him.

The Looter growled, couldn't the Shadow have explained that to him without giving him the idea of being buried alive in a pit of dung?

You'd probably just ignore me like you've grown so fond of doing lately.

Uthug wasn't positive, but he was fairly certain there was an edge of spite in the Assassin's tone.

"Here it is!"

Uthug glanced over to find they'd reached the bottom of the stairs, finding Galkar standing beside a large pit in the metal floor.

"Even further down?" the Looter groaned as he knelt near the hole and peered down "Just how big is this place?"

Atlas seemed positive they'd be able to fit several thousand of us here, so it would need the occupational space of a small city regardless of standards. Even so, the fact that all of this was once planned to be a pleasure cruise speaks volumes of the opulence of their elites.

"This is where the last few jumped down, but that was a few days before you showed up." Galkar said as he turned and began taking his leave

"What, no tips for where I should look first?" Uthug called back "No trinkets or caches to make this easier?"

"Tried that with the first globs who went in there, gave 'em weapons and tools and the like. Even strapped some of them with these amazing everlasting torches we found. Not one of 'em came back! So no... ain't really a thing I can give ya accept a little piece of advice: Don't die."

The looter's eyes narrowed as the Inmate took his leave, but oddly enough Gundza seemed quite pleased with the results.

What he described sounds like flashlights, sources of light used by tarks in this realm. If we can find those then the rumored darkness of the depths will be nothing to us, provided they haven't run out or been broken in some manner. Seems like we'll be looting the corpses of fallen explorers for advantages, this should feel quite familiar to you of all people.

Uthug sighed as he examined the area below, the dim lighting around him only seemed to cover a small portion. A single circle of light in what may as well be a wall of tar. Uthug liked being able to see things, and he didn't like moving through potentially booby-trapped areas, so this was pretty much par for the course at this rate. However, if it got him off this god-forsaken boat quicker...

With a deep breath, Uthug sat down and let both of his legs dangle. If he was quick and lucky, he might be able to find one of the dead explorers before the Broken found him. But considering who he was and how much fate seemed to scorn his very existence, he was prepared to start swinging immediately.

So he leaped down to the darkness below... only for the floor to immediately cave in once he landed on it.

Before he could tell what was happening, he was suspended by a cord tied around one leg above a floor beneath the one he landed on.

"Rats fell! Rats fell! Met Rats, meet Rats, meaty meaty Rats!" the tortured cry of something moving in the darkness hit Uthug's ears, had it dug away at the bottom of the floor just to set a trap? Galkar said the last Uruks to use that passage came down about a week ago!

Regardless, Uthug leaned up to try and grab at the cord around his leg, conscious of the sound of feet moving closer.

"Rat meat, not diseased! Tainted soon but not now!"

Ugh, it was like Knock Knock all over again. Uthug groaned as he finally caught hold of the cord, glancing up in time to see a filthy looking inmate in a tattered jumpsuit scrambling towards him from the darkness with a shoddily built axe.

He's coming, might want to move a little faster.

Growling, Uthug let go of the cord and started using his limbs to swing himself as the Uruk closed in.

The Broken Uruk reared back with his axe and swung when Uthug was near, only for the Looter to catch the Axe mid-swing before yanking the inmate close.

Amateur, who builds a rope trap and leaves their prey with this much mobility? The whole point of a trap is to immobilize them so they're easier to strike, if he had fashioned a spear instead now-

Uthug tuned the Shadow's musings out as he struggled with the broken Uruk, whose grounded position made it far harder to pry the weapon from him. Until Uthug pulled one hand back and punched him square upside the head with it. In his dazed state, Uthug wrestled the axe from the raving lunatic's grasp and immediately swung it into the cord holding him.

Dropping onto the ground, he rolled onto his feet before glaring up towards his captor only to find nothing but the sound of retreating footsteps.

"Meat's free! But feisty feisty indeed!" the manic cries of the retreating Uruk rang out as the sound of a door being yanked open reached the Looter "Better with deer meat! More cooks to prepare!"

As Uthug tore the rest of the cord from his leg and stood, he stared after the retreating sound of footsteps. Yep, this was about what he could expect.

Since you're not immediately giving chase I can assume you can't see very well in the dark?

"What, and you can?" Uthug grumbled as he lifted the shoddy axe in his hand and gave it a swing or two

Why yes, my kind of work requires the protection of the dark, and my eyes are far clearer than most in its embrace. I can even share that ability with you if you allow me a tiny bit of control.

"No."

Fine, be stubborn.

"And its not like I'm blind down here. I see better in this stuff than any Tark could claim to, just... just not as good as I'd like so... whatever, let's just get moving."

And so he did, slowly, very slowly.

He left the room the same way the Broken Uruk had fled, taking his steps one at a time. He took several turns, found several more rooms. Most of which seemed as though their furniture had been fully torn out. Many of them didn't have doors, but it was after finally finding one that he got relief. The room he found beyond had actual light. Not much, but far more than the inky blackness he'd been traversing before.

Emergency lights, seem this place isn't as endlessly dark as Galkar claimed. But if its easier for us to see then this would be a fine spot for ambushes. Continue moving with-

"Caution." Uthug finished with a grunt "I get it."

He moved again, climbing down a ladder and moving around what seemed like heavy duty machinery. All of it seemed to be covered with thick plating, but he could hear the whirs and pulls of cogs and gears within.

This really was the depths of the ship, Gundza was once more taken aback by just how much access the prisoners had to the inner workings of their prison. Even with the metal plating, if the Caterers ever found certain parts here and took their explosives to them that would be it.

Try not to kill any Broken.

"Excuse me?"

The lunatics running around down here, try and leave them alive. They're a hurdle for us but a hurdle for all of our enemies as well, and if we can overcome that hurdle without removing it for them then success will be twofold.

"They're annoying." Uthug walked down some steps and found his feet submerged in shallow water "Almost as annoying as broken pipes."

Even back in Mordor I made use of the mentally destroyed. Uruks are weapons, and even mindless weapons can injure an enemy. In fact, one of my very own Prowlers was off his rocker for most of our excursions yet he remained deadly in his own right... even inciteful at times.

"Inciteful?"

The Shadow was silent for a while as Uthug neared some raised platforms, but as he searched for a way up to them Gundza's voice continued.

Madness to an Uruk can take many forms... for beings like these Broken it can be interpreted as obsessiveness or manic actions, most things that can be associated with regular Uruks merely extrapolated to far more egregious degrees. For deranged Uruks like Gimub, it can even manifest in forms of foresight.

"What like Dreamer's thing?"

"Visions and foresight are two different things, albeit similarly hard to decipher. Let's just say that in his mad ravings, Gimub claimed to know things. I admit I was skeptical all the way up until I learned he'd been slain in a battle against the White Fang. But as I remember some of the last bits of nonsense he spouted, I'm starting to believe he may have had some immense intuition at least.

"Sounds like a bunch of Mystic nonsense." Uthug grumbled as he finally spotted another ladder

Perhaps, but there's some merit to the hypothetical. Like how you hypothetically gritted your teeth a bit when that Broken mentioned deer. Or how you subconsciously just did it again the second that I mentioned it.

"Pfft," the Looter gave a small grunt as he began climbing the ladder "its nothing. Just memories now."

If you withhold information that makes you react in small yet noticeable ways, I'm going to get curious. Besides, knowing you and your luck this small thing probably means life or death for us, so out with it.

"Well, only deer I know was this Hybrid cur who left me to die some time before you snuck your way in."

A faunus? Why wouldn't you be more affected by... wait... you mean the White Fang wench from your memories?

"That's the one, I don't know what I expected of her but I don't know why I'm getting pissy that she outright abandoned me."

She had no right to leave you in such a condition, she should've known her place and provided aid in any way she could've. Don't fret over grudges, turn them into fuel. Yours is a particularly strong hatred, any and all forms of it will make you a deadlier Uruk.

"That's the thing, I hate that she left me to deal with Tuka on my own, but I don't really hate her." Uthug finished climbing and began carefully walking along the catwalk's rail "She was annoying as all hell what with her stupid nonsensical beliefs and constant shows of weakness, but she's just too pitiful to hate."

Actually feeling pity for something other than yourself? This lass must be worthless if someone like you can actually mock them.

Noting the jab, Uthug was about to raise his voice when a loud snapping sound echoed through the room and the catwalk he was on suddenly tipped down to the wet ground below. Uthug's free hand shot to the grating, catching himself as the sound of footsteps pounding against the moist ground grew near. His hand started slipping on the moist surface, and his other hand shot out to help steady himself. The unfortunate result of this being his only weapon just so conveniently slipping through his fingers as he tried to tighten his grip. And of course it just had to fall at the feet of several approaching Broken, all in similar filthy states to the first.

"Big boy ain't having a swim," one with a large ramshackle mace cooed "don't wanna drown with the rest of us."

"No wet meat?!"

Uthug glanced up to see a familiar inmate scramble forward and claim the fallen axe "Rat meat stew needs many knives to slice! Stubborn rats! Stubborn meat!"

"You again." Uthug snarled as the Broken Uruk immediately began tasting the shoddy axe

Remember, we'll need them alive to keep harassing the Caterers!

Uthug's eyelids twitched before turning to the catwalk ahead and launching himself towards it.

"Big boy running! Don't worry big boy, I'm coming!"

Pulling himself up, Uthug ran, finding the nearest doorway and bolting down it.

Between his own breathing and the footsteps behind him, he almost missed Gundza's sudden yell.

Tripwire!

Uthug looked down just as his foot snagged something, and was lucky enough to duck just as a pipe with jagged pieces of other pipes stuck in it slid out from a corner.

Uthug didn't pause to catch his breath after he passed under it, glancing back just as the Broken easily passed the obstacle with little care.

They knew it was there, they're chasing us into traps.

"Can I kill them now?!" Uthug called out as he avoided a low hanging sheet of metal with more jagged items wedged into it.

Weighing our options, I'd say avoidance is still our best bet.

Gritting his teeth, the Looter continued running through the damp corridors, dodging traps that the Broken seemed to just slide around like water. He made a turn only for another Broken to yank down a gate laced with broken glass. He continued running, every trap he managed to avoid bringing the Broken pursuers closer and closer.

Until he spotted something different ahead, a wooden catwalk that seemed to pass over a large open space.

"Big fall for a big boy!"

Uthug's eyes widened once he reached the catwalk, the space it was suspended over was massive, enough to fit a smaller ship inside easily. He could see similar catwalk bridges going across the small dark chasm and even some running along its walls. He would've stopped to awe at the sudden abundance of space if not for the approaching cries from behind, he continued running.

"Big boy up!"

Uthug stumbled as the wooden surface below shifted, and the space in front of him began ascending via a rope being pulled from elsewhere. The looter lunged for it and grabbed hold just as it began ascending away.

"And down he goes!"

He glanced back to see the Broken at the head of the pack whip out a small blade. Seeing his intent, Uthug scrambled atop the suspended piece of wood and ran across it just as the sound of a flying blade approached. He leaped to the other section of platform ahead just before the thrown blade cut the suspended portion down and sent it tumbling to the darkness below.

He was about to give a breath of relief when the door ahead of him swung open. Another shockingly familiar inmate stepped out before reaching for a sledge-hammer strapped to his back. The sight of him was enough to give Uthug pause, as it was a certain beefy Uruk he'd almost forgotten about.

"Knock Knock." he said as Uthug pushed himself to his feet.

Knocker brought the hammer down on the wooden catwalk with enough force to cause the entire thing to shake dangerously. Uthug ran as fast as he could, but the bridge was already giving way beneath him. He reached out for Knocker as the other Uruk entered the door once more and closed it behind him, and then he was reaching for the ceiling as he plummeted.

But suddenly a pair of hands shot out of a nearby doorway as he fell by and grabbed hold of his outstretched hand.

Uthug released a gasp as he felt his descent halt, and his eyes went to the group of Broken on the upper catwalk across from them.

"No fair! Big boys don't get help from little boys!" the pack leader snarled as Uthug was hauled into another doorway by whoever had caught him.

As soon as he was on solid ground, he realized that directly across from him was another door, almost as if there had been a bridge between them at one point beforehand. He sighed in relief and turned, only to find yet another familiar face.

"Gotta be more careful there, sweetness!" Bubol cooed as he leered down at the Looter "Almost got ruined there!"

"Bubol?"

Bubol?!

"Bubol!" the diseased archer cheered before gesturing to him "Good to see you remember me!"

"I wha- No I mean what in the black-soaked hell are you doing down here?!" Uthug shouted as he rose

"Ah, Black-soaked hell because you're of the Black cloth nowadays, I get it." the Marksman snickered before gesturing to the space behind Uthug "Well I've seen that lot set that trap up enough times to tell when some glob's gonna fall. So I like to wait and watch when I can, its very therapeutic I'll have ya know."

Uthug was about to yell how little sense that made, when something else in his sentence caught his attention even more "Wait, your saying that not only have you been here before, but you've been here enough to memorize certain patterns of the Broken?"

"Yep!"

Uthug collapsed against a nearby wall as he held a hand to his head, "How? How do your lackeys keep losing track of you?!"

"Ah, don't be so hard on them, I'm just that slippery."

"But what if you get captured again?!" Uthug shouted while pushing away from the wall "Do you know what I went through to save you last time?!"

"Save me? I was having the time of my life buddy." Bubol clapped him on the shoulder "With the stalemate we're in it can get awfully boring if I don't shake it up now and then."

"But I-" the Looter ground to a screeching halt as he once more caught on to Bubol's implications "You... you knew you would get captured."

Bubol raised an eyebrow before his boil covered face stretched into a grin "Well of course I did, they'd already done it seven times."

Uthug collapsed to his knees "Seven times... they lured you out seven times."

"And every single time I manage to escape! Nothing like slipping out of dire scenarios to get the blood pumping, ya know what I'm saying? I mean Felgrat's spread his guys so far that I don't think they can even get word of my capture to him before I'm gone. They always get so hyper and hopeful when they have me, but after I give 'em the slip they get so ashamed about it that they just straight up hide the fact that they lost me. I mean who would want to tell everyone that they had the enemy leader fully secured in their hold only for him to waltz out like it wasn't no bother?"

"I slaughtered an entire outpost... just to get you out..." Uthug said slowly "Galkar said-"

"Oh him, the guy's a bit starstruck I'll admit." Bubol snickered "Always blows things out of proportion just cause I ain't there, actually kinda sad really. Especially when he riles up some of the others."

"So... so you're saying I did all of that..."

Bubol leaned in with a grin and whispered "for... absolutely... nothing~"

Just... just god damn it Bubol.

Uthug wailed before slamming his fist into a nearby wall to the sound of the marksman's laughter "Why the shrahk couldn't you have told me that before I nearly died raiding that place?! In fact, why are you telling me now days afterwards?"

"That runt I picked up was just too captivating, I couldn't miss out on any fun I could have with him, but he broke yesterday so my schedule's gotten free. Honestly, so many fakes out there want to go torturing lads without the capacity to handle it themselves. I believe any torturer should be willing to take any and everything that another could do to them, else ya just look pathetic when the tables get turned. Runt was talking on and on about how much vengeance he'd enact upon me but not two hours into his first session and he's whimpering like a cub in a shark tank."

"For nothing... all for nothing..." The Looter repeated as Bubol began pacing.

"I mean when I told him I'd been feeding him his own bits I expected him to lash out and attack or something exciting like that, but then he just started crying and trying to get himself to throw up and it was amusing... just not as arousing as an angry reaction would've been, ya know? Guess I just expected him to hold on to that spite more than he did, won't even call out to his dead brother for help anymore. Can't even say he looks like my truest love Ruby anymore, I may have ruined that pale skin more than anticipated so-"

"So the first thing you do after getting bored of your catch is to just go prancing about in what many believe to be the most dangerous portion of the ship?" Uthug grumbled as he looked up at the grinning Uruk.

"Its fine lad, I sneak down here all the time! Ah hell I probably know the lay of the land down here more than I do things upstairs." Bubol lowered himself to one knee so they were back at eye level "If escaping Felgrat's boys gets the blood going, then running around these hunting grounds is enough to get me heated for my toys back at base!"

Bubol, never one to take urgency with anything beyond his lust. I'd say I'm disappointed at his usage of time in this scenario, but in hindsight I'm more disappointed in myself for not expecting this. However, this is perfect for our pursuits. A valuable source of information has presented itself, we need him.

I nearly died saving this wretch, are you positive we need him? He's just... so damned annoying.

I know... trust me I know, but we still need him. Besides, even with your unnatural aptitude for killing, Bubol is renown for getting the upper hand in unexpected ways. Just focus on our goals, he knows this area, we can use him.

Uthug sighed before finally rising to his feet "So, you know where-"

His words were interrupted when a makeshift spear slammed into his shoulder from behind and broke on his aura.

Grasping the point of impact, Uthug glared back to see the pack of Broken breaking out into frantic laughter.

"Another for the big boy! Another!"

A pustule covered hand latched onto the Looter's wrist and tugged him along "Come on! We can chat once we lose those poor souls back there. Not that I'm against conducting business in front of others, but-"

"I get it, just run!" Uthug yelled before pushing past Bubol "Before they find a way across!"

Bubol snickered as he watched Uthug pull ahead "Oh this gonna be so much fun! I've never had a partner while scurrying about down here before!"

---

City of Vale

"Kinda surprised that you didn't wheel Blake out here with you."

Yang's thoughts were interrupted, and her eyes went from the sidewalk she was traveling along to the brown haired girl leading the way. Coco seemed to notice her distracted state and smirked "Still here with us, blondie?"

Realizing she'd been caught in the midst of letting her mind wander, she quickly glanced to her sides. Besides Velvet the rest of team CFVY seemed to not take note of her mental absence as they continued on their way.

The Brawler sighed "Well she's still in one of her moods and I've learned that rushing her at certain points can be pretty counter-productive." She stretched her arms before folding them behind her head "Yep, I'm pretty much an expert on Blakeology now. I know when to time my interventions to a tee, and now just isn't right. Besides, I don't think she's much of a sports bar type."

"That makes two of us." Fox mumbled

"Though unusual for lifestyles such as mine, I am willing to broaden my perspective for my teammates." Yatsuhashi commented

"Well I gotta tell ya," Coco shrugged "I was kinda surprised when you asked to join us. What with how much you and your team went through, I was convinced you kids would be spending the next few weeks getting all mushy and cuddly."

"Like I said, Blake's still gonna need some time to handle whatever personal biz is upsetting her." Yang folded her arms "Weiss has kinda doubled down on her studying now that we've got all this free time, and Ruby's been on a crusade to get her to hang out. And well..."

She suddenly wrapped one of her arms around the rabbit-faunus beside her "I was kinda hoping to check up on this one! We were cagemates for a while during the Arena!"

"It was only for a few hours, Yang." Velvet gave an awkward smile

"Ooh," Coco cooed back at them "I'm impressed Vel, slowly but surely you're becoming the social butterfly I always knew you were."

"What? No!" Velvet waved off the allegations as she slipped from Yang's grasp and rushed to catch up with her leader "I mean its great to hang out but I'm really not-"

"I can see it now, hon." Coco sighed wistfully as she gazed up to the sky "Surrounded by friends, partying it up, living the high life as everyone's favorite."

"That doesn't sound like me at all."

"Now I know at that point you won't need little ol' me anymore." Coco continued, much to the bunny-girl's embarrassment "But my mission will be complete."

Velvet rushed to deny her claims, much to both Coco and Yang's amusement. The brawler was content to watch their back and forth as they continued on their way. The backdrop of casual life around them made for great background noise. From the civilians to the cars passing on the nearby road, it was a type of relaxing Yang had been craving for a while.

A sudden nudge from her side brought her attention to Fox, who nodded towards the duo leading them "You sure ya wanna hang with us? They can go like this for hours... literal hours."

"Psh, compared to how Ruby and Weiss can get this is nothing." Yang waved him off as she continued looking ahead at the two. But as she watched the team leader continue to tease Velvet, the Brawler's smile dampened a bit.

"Actually," she glanced back to Fox "the fact that Velvet's here is kinda more intriguing than you two. I know we didn't hang out much before, but Velvet definitely doesn't seem like a sports bar type."

"She isn't." Yatsuhashi stated immediately, which only made Yang raise an eyebrow

"Well then how did you all convince her to come?"

Fox pointed to the backs of his teammates "That's how."

Yang tried to figure out what he was pointing at, but all she could see was Coco getting the Faunus girl embarrassed and flustered with her declarations as usual.

"Uh..."

"Focus, you'll see it." Fox encouraged, so Yang narrowed her eyes and really looked at the two.

Velvet's denials were cut off by Coco pressing a finger to her mouth and shaking her head before launching into another spiel about how good the Faunus could look if she tried. As Coco went on, Velvet's eyes traveled down to the finger pressed to her lips as her cheeks reddened. The second Coco pulled it away to shrug at the possibilities, Velvet immediately began to rub the color from her cheeks.

She didn't have much time to do so before Coco once more wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close whilst gesturing to a nearby clothing shop they were passing. The fashionista gave her teammate a slight noogie with her free hand before a certain outfit in the window of the nearby shop caught her eye and she released the Rabbit girl to point it out to the rest of them.

"Like this one," Coco said before glancing to them "full honesty guys, wouldn't Vel just destroy hearts in that?"

While Fox begrudgingly pointed out that he'd never imagine Velvet wearing something like it, Yang took a glance at the girl in question. Despite seeming like she wanted to continue refuting Coco's points, the Faunus went a bit silent as she rubbed the spot where Coco had noogied her and gave a small sigh.

It was as she turned a longing gaze back to Coco, now in the middle of an intense argument with Fox over the value of fishnets, that Yang was finally smacked upside the head with realization.

"Why must you refuse the power of bared skin?!" Coco shook her head towards Fox "Aren't guys supposed to have an appreciation for the intimacies of chicks doing their best to look good?"

"Maybe, who cares? I'm trying to prepare myself for this bar of yours, and every stop is another chink in the armor."

"Aw, do you really have such little faith in me and my interests? It'll be fine, they play the hottest comps, have delicious drinks and the ribs can actually put you in a catatonic state if you are unprepared for the sheer power of the flavor."

"That... is called a heart attack." Fox deadpanned

"Pfft, don't wuss out on me Fox." Coco smirked before reaching over and once more pulling Velvet to her "If Vel over here's got the guts to stomach it then I'm expecting you to be-"

"But she doesn't!" Fox emphasized before glancing to the Faunus in question "Vel, come on! I once saw you get horrified at the prospect of returning an overdue book at the library during the day because you thought you'd get called out in front of everybody."

"Well... If Coco's sure it'll be fine then I'm... almost positive I'll be fine. Like you guys say this place is just for sports fans and people who like hanging out. How bad could it be?"

Yang and Fox shared a look before Coco stepped forward and waved off their concerns "Look I get it guys, but she'll have us there with her if things go sour. Its all good."

With that, the Fashionista turned back and continued leading the way with Velvet quickly following after her.

"So..." Yang jerked a thumb to the two "how long has that been a thing?"

"Since the Arena." Yatsuhashi replied immediately as he turned his even stare to his comrades "Velvet has always admired our leader's confidence, but it would seem that admiration has developed into something far more-"

"Annoying." Fox interjected "Velvet's been getting all mushy with Coco, more so than ever before! And now me and the big guy here have to watch her not so subtly hint towards her intentions 24/7."

"Wait, Coco doesn't know?" Yang glanced back to the duo before whispering to the guys "But... its kinda blatant."

"We know!" the pale-eyed boy exclaimed "I don't know if Coco's just playing dumb or legitimately never thought this kinda crap could happen, but she's been none the wiser. Do you have any idea how annoying it is watching one person pine for another so obviously yet the target of their affection doesn't notice jack no matter how obvious it should be?! Its maddening!"

"Just give them some time, Fox." Yatsuhashi gave a small hum of thought "Coco is no fool, she will catch on eventually."

"Eventually is not now. Even while we were doing that make up homework for Goodwitch, Velvet was asking Coco questions that we all know she knew! Even Coco knew that she knew but was just so damn pleased with getting to show off that she went with it!"

"Letting things develop naturally is the far healthier option for them and you know it."

"What about what's far healthier for me? I wouldn't care if they'd keep it on the down low but Vel is just so terrible at discretion that it's actually infuriating."

"Hey guys! We're here!"

The three turned to see Coco gesturing to an average looking shop up ahead. There was nothing off about it, seemed like a restaurant but with a far more casual feel. When they got closer, Yang took a peek in through one of the windows. It was oddly tinted to go with the over all color scheme, but she could make out several things. It really did look more like a bar on the inside, with the addition of televisions portraying competitions and patrons cheering on their teams.

When the tournament starts, its places like these where fans who couldn't be there in person will watch. Team CFVY and most of their friends would be up on screen tearing it up. Yang wasn't one to dwell on the fact that she and her team wouldn't be joining them, though it would've been fun. She actually felt like she'd had more fighting in the past few months than she'd ever get from the tournament, so it was easy for her to enjoy some down time. And she didn't need fame, since the spat with the Uruks had kinda gotten their names spread around.

Everyone at Beacon knew that her sister and co. had traveled the continent to take on the Uruk-Hai leaders themselves just to save their comrade in arms. It was one of the few reasons Yang was glad Blake was staying at the hospital to recover, as she didn't know how the quiet Faunus would handle the sudden notoriety. Weiss may not have had to deal with the brunt of it due to her renewed penchant for studying, and Ruby's spent a lot of time trying to change that, but Yang was more than ready to bask in the limelight.

After all, she'd been captured by the enemy, she was like a veteran in the eyes of her fellow students. Sure she may have embellished here and there occasionally when recounting the harrowing times she spent under lock and key, but the eyes of adoration from the listeners made it all worth it. Heck, who needed a tournament when you had the notoriety of a returned P.O.W?

That doesn't mean she wasn't fully ready to cheer her friends on though. When Ruby wasn't busy with Weiss, she and Yang were mostly helping the others train for their bouts. In fact, her little sister would probably be helping Team JNPR out right now if it wasn't that time. Ruby was gone, going to visit Summer's grave with dad before the tournament started. Yang never went with her, it was Ruby's thing and she would never impose on something sacred like that.

"Yep, place looks just as loud as I expected." Fox folded his arms as he gave the place a skeptical look

"Although it seems well acclimated to its target audience." Yatsuhashi admitted before turning his gaze to his partner "But are you sure this is your type of locale?"

Under the large boy's gaze, Velvet faltered before looking to both Yang and Fox. Yang shot her what she hoped was a supportive smile to counter the pessimistic look Fox was sporting.

Velvet looked somewhat nervous under their combined gazes, and immediately turned to Coco only to find the Fashionista looking down at her with a curious smile.

"I mean, we don't have to hang here." Coco shrugged before glancing down the street "There are several other pretty good clothing stores around here, we can go on a little spree."

"No!" Velvet said suddenly before giving a shaky smile and approaching the bar's main entrance "I'm sure I'll have a great time! Don't be silly, we'll laugh about this afterwards!"

Though she said that, she froze mid-stride as the front door opened. Out from the door stepped Russel Thresh of Team CRDL in what looked like jogging gear, who paused immediately upon spotting the Faunus before him.

It was immediate, Russel's eyes narrowed into a glare as Velvet's friends hurried to her side, but before anyone could do anything a yell from inside the bar could be heard.

"Come on Lark!" Cardin's yelling could be heard approaching accompanied by heavy breathing "We aren't even halfway done for today! Move move move!"

A tired and disheveled Sky Lark stumbled from the bar onto his hands and knees, the large form of Cardin stomping past him as his teammate caught his breath. Both were dressed in similar attire to Russel's, and Cardin was in the middle of wiping some sweat from his brow using his shirt "Russel, you were supposed to lead on, the hell are you doing?"

Russel didn't speak, merely nodding his head forward and finally drawing Winchester's attention to the group gathered before them. Almost immediately he groaned "Adel."

"Cardin." Coco responded evenly "You and the boys often do your training in bars?"

Cardin glanced back to Sky, who was still trying to catch his breath, before shrugging "Just a little pit stop, we gotta get back on the march. Wouldn't even be here if somebody could keep their shit together!"

Sky finally pushed himself back onto his knees and gave an exasperated whine "Come on man, we've been at it for hours!"

"We've been doing this for months Lark, if I wasn't gonna show leniency then I sure as hell ain't doing it now." Cardin shook his head before turning forward again

Sky leaned forward once more and gave another heave as someone else exited the establishment. It was Dove Bronzewing, who was wearing dress clothes topped with a vest. For some reason he seemed like the only member of Team CRDL who wasn't showing signs of fatigue, and he was actually holding a glass which he swirled as he casually strolled out of the establishment.

"How are you doing this well!?" Sky demanded "You're the laziest one of us here!"

"The trick to being lazy is not avoiding work." Dove explained as he kneeled beside his teammate and looked over the drink in his grasp "Its doing just enough where you can't be faulted for not doing more."

He punctuated that by taking a sip of his drink, which seemed to anger his downed comrade.

"Is he even allowed to do that?!" Sky called out

Cardin glanced back "Do what?"

Sky looked to Dove only to find the glass and its contents missing "Wuh-?"

"He's just dehydrated." Dove grinned as he stood and took his place at Cardin's side "Are we gonna continue with this farce of a regiment or-"

He noticed the group waiting in front of the him and sneered "-or are we stopping to feed the strays?"

"How about it Cardin?" Coco turned her attention to Winchester as she folded her arms "Are you?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Yang saw the rest of Velvet's team cast their own glares towards Cardin and his boys as they waited an answer. Despite being sort of on a break from fighting, the Brawler secretly hoped that Cardin was still stupid enough to try something. He and his goons may not have been acting up for a while, but the Blonde could still remember a plethora of times they'd screwed around with her friends.

While Sky seemed too exhausted to join in on potential teasing, the shit-eating grin Dove sported was enough for both of them. Russel seemed disinterested, and was doing some strange, jerky motions with his hands that was at odds with the bored annoyance that marred his features.

Surprisingly, Cardin answered with a gruff shake of the head "We don't have time! We're already off schedule because of Lark!"

"Hey cut me some slack!"

Cardin ignored him and clapped his hands together "Come on boys, move move move!"

"And so another beautiful opportunity is wasted." Dove sighed as he gave a small stretch "Remember when we used to have fun?"

"Shut up, let's just do this." Russel snapped before taking off in a jog, still doing those odd hand gestures even as he ran.

"I remember you having quite a strong sense of humor."

"I remember you being the first to run off and leave me to die." Cardin grumbled as he shoved Dove in Russel's direction

"Mere misunderstandings continue to plague me it would seem." Dove shrugged before giving a casual jog after his teammate.

Cardin gave the assembled students one last half-glare before picking up Sky and ushering him after the others.

Coco looked after them for a moment before glancing back "You okay?"

To the Fashionista's surprise, Velvet pushed past her with ease before approaching the front doors and turning back to them "Come on, we're supposed to be having a day out here. I won't let it be ruined by guys like that."

Coco searched her expression for a moment before smiling and following after, "That's my girl."

Yang was about to follow as well, until a sharp inhale of breath brought her attention to Fox. The pale-eyed boy was holding onto his wrist with an annoyed expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" the blonde asked

"The second I stood near her Vel gripped onto me for support," he explained with a groan "now I'm all for being there for her when she needs it but this.."

He removed his other hand to reveal that there were several bruise marks where Velvet had grabbed him "... this goes beyond just being there for a pal!"

Yatsuhashi glanced over it as well before watching as his partner and Team Leader entered the bar "One can only imagine what power she'd possess if she truly conquered her fears."

Minutes later, Yang sat with the two boys at a certain table, looking over rather well-crafted menus depicting a selection of food as Coco and Velvet approached the bar. The whooping and roaring of several customers whose eyes seemed locked on a play by play of some sport in Vacuo seemed to give the Faunus pause, but upon seeing Coco weave through them towards the bartender effortlessly she seemed to steel herself before following behind.

The employee seemed to recognize Coco, as they both smiled and exchanged pleasantries before the fashionista nodded towards the nozzles he was working nearby. As he turned to grab a glass, Velvet finally spoke up. Though Yang couldn't hear what she said, the way the Faunus raised two fingers and glanced to her leader spoke volumes. Once the Bartender left to fill their orders, Coco grew a concerned expression and seemed to question her teammate, but Velvet merely waved off her concerns.

"Its literally been like this all day every day since we got her back." Fox complained as he sighed and glanced to Yang "Think you can do something about it?"

"What?" the Blonde's head shot up quick at that "Why me?!"

"Because, besides Coco, you seem to have the most broad social climate. I've never even cared for romance before and Yatsu's the pinnacle of monk-living, surely you can just get them to hash it out straightforward and nice-like."

"Well," Yang leaned back in her seat and gave a smirk "before Beacon I was quite the catch. And I may have helped several people get together, but this seems a bit specific. You've got one person who only seems to be giving hints that are pretty apparent to everybody except her and her target. Honestly, I'm more surprised someone like Coco wouldn't notice. She always seemed to keep a level head when it came to others. If she's not noticing it now I'm not sure I could nudge her into figuring it out without saying it blatantly to her face. Maybe she just never thought to worry about it from someone like Vel."

Fox groaned, beside him Yatsu merely folded his hand upon his menu and looked down to his teammate evenly "I assure you, this is not something that can be rushed through external means. We must allow Velvet to overcome her hesitation on her own."

"Even if that means letting her get called out in class because she wasted the whole lecture staring at Coco?"

"Yes."

"Even if we'll get stuck in this one-sided romance routine while banking solely on the notion that she'll just man the fuck up and go through with it?"

"Yes."

"And even if that same routine means we'll have to pick up her slack during the tournament in the event she gets distracted by our resident fashion icon?"

"Exactly."

Fox narrowed his eyes at the calm demeanor of his large friend before shaking his head "Yeah, fuck that." he turned back to Yang "You're saying the problem is that we don't have anyone with experience in stuff like this? Well then I once again turn to you as our resident social butterfly, surely you know someone who understands this kinda thing?"

"I dunno, I'm more of a hang out kind of friend than one you go spewing personal secrets to. " Yang shrugged "Hell, for all I know I'm friends with tons of dudes and gals who just love playing home."

"What about your teammates or their friends?"

"Dude, I sure as hell don't know what my team's friends are like in that department."

"Could you at least ask?"

"So you want me... to go around asking my sister and classmates about the love lives of both them and their associates, specifically so you can use them to get your own teammates to hook up?"

"Yes!"

The two sat in silence for a while, staring at each other as Yatsuhashi resumed looking through the menu with a sigh.

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

Weiss had been enjoying a moment of silence, reclining on a bench near a park in the City of Vale when a sudden noise interrupted her quiet time. Reaching down, the Heiress pulled a scroll from her pocket and checked the caller before rolling her eyes and answering.

"Hey! What's up sis? You and Dad having a good time?" the voice of Yang spoke with a noticeable nervous tinge.

"Yang, its me."

There was a moment of silence before the blonde responded with, "What are you doing with Ruby's scroll?"

Weiss checked her nails as she sighed "Well, our fearless leader was so excited for her little trip that she left it right on her nightstand. She managed to not only hop onto a ship but make it halfway home without even realizing she'd forgotten it. Called me about two hours later using her Father's scroll to keep it safe for her."

"But why'd she ask you? I've kept her stuff safe when she forgot it before!"

Weiss rolled her eyes "And apparently you've left such a bad impression that she'd call upon my assistance instead."

She held the scroll away from her ear as the Brawler released a disappointed whine, "Aw man, seems you've already gotten closer to supplanting me, Schnee. I can't say I didn't see it coming, but the reality of it stings far more than I ever could've anticipated."

"You're overreacting."

"Take care of her Weiss! Do what I... just wasn't good enough to!"

With a sad little sniffle, the call cut off, leaving a thoroughly unamused Weiss to put the device away and try to relax again.

Unfortunately, the second she leaned back another chime snapped her to full attention before she immediately dug in her pockets to retrieve her own scroll. Upon checking the caller, the heiress narrowed her gaze before answering.

"Yang!"

"Hey!" the Blonde cheered before snickering and continuing "What's up Weiss? You having a good day?"

"You better have a good reason for-"

"Do you consider yourself to be a social person?"

"...what?"

"Would you say you have a lot of friends? Do you feel as though you know those friends?"

Weiss blinked before shaking her head and leaning back "Yang, what's with this questioning? Planning to make lien giving questionnaires?"

"No I just... I-" the Blonde stammered a bit before snickering "Hey Weiss, what would you say if I asked if you knew any... uh... How's your stance on romance?"

"No comment."

"Know anybody in relationships?"

"Its not really something I would bring up in conversation, Yang."

"Okay, but do you know one?"

Weiss just sighed as she noticed a bird pass by "Yes, Yang. These things tend to happen when a bunch of young people live in close proximity to each other."

"Nice nice, and uh... would you happen to know if any of them..."

Weiss waited as Yang went silent for a moment, and the Heiress let her gaze travel to a car passing a nearby gate for a moment as she waited for her teammate to continue.

"Weiss? Does Yang require you for something urgent?"

The White-Haired youth lowered her scroll and glanced to the legs beside her. Standing on the bench at her side was Penny, who had been using her elevated position to scan passing civilians.

Ever since she'd reunited with Ruby, Penny seemed to make it her mission to get both her and her partner up to date on the Friendship Techniques she'd learned from Krimp. As such, whenever the three of them could get together they'd spend their free time going over these techniques in the field. But with Ruby gone, Weiss had hoped Penny would tone down the enthusiasm to a much more manageable level.

She had been wrong.

"Don't worry about it Penny, just keep looking for more acquaintances." Weiss waved off the red-head's concerns before frowning as Yang's voice came up again "Hopefully this won't take long."

Penny glanced down to see the Heiress's expression tightening further as her teammate spoke, but she knew better than to pry into a friend's personal business.

That was something she learned from Krimp! He had gone over her initial approach with her and pointed out how intrusive she could be, it had been extremely embarrassing at the time. But now she was certain that that critique alone had improved her friend-making talents by a minimum of twenty four percent!

As she continued looking among the few people in the park, Penny's smile reignited as she went over their individual motions. Forming friendships used to seem like an insurmountable task to her, negated partially by meeting her best friend Ruby. But Krimp made it all easier, explained it in ways none of her other pals could ever hope to explain it. Suddenly she was a social goddess, making friends among people of all walks of life without fail. It had been shocking how simple it was to go over the methods she'd need for each individual person just by looking at them.

That man over there with the hat looks disappointed, and Penny could tell from his stance and expression that she would need to approach him with an understanding yet cheerful demeanor in order to simultaneously negate his negative feelings while also establishing positive ones whenever he saw her.

That woman with the cigarette would easily allow her into her social circle as long as Penny constantly acted impressed by her excessive accessories, and her lackeys looked like they wouldn't feel threatened by her if she simply acted like a klutz.

The boy just wants someone to agree with him, his mother wants someone to make him feel more included, the husband just wants a distraction from stress at home.

Penny could see it all, could picture herself acquiescing to each and every one of those requirements with practiced ease. Krimp's System was something far more all-encompassing than any other explanation she'd received so far. What seemed like unapproachable obstacles at first were just minor speed-bumps to the green-eyed youth, ones that she could slip past with little-resistance.

Maybe if she were alone she would've gone through each of these motions already but one of her students was here!

She looked back down to Weiss, who now seemed to be in a heated argument with Yang over her scroll. Krimp's System was very descriptive of methods on listening in when your friends don't think you are. Most friends really enjoy their privacy, and any good friend must respect that. However, they're far more prone to let things slip when they believe they are having private times. And those little tidbits could always be put to use in the pursuit of more friends.

Penny wasn't as good at Krimp at this part, this she knew for certain. The amount of stuff the Uruk managed to pick up on without her knowledge was always impressive! She wanted her students to think that way when she made good use of his System. They'd asked her to teach them all about what Krimp taught her, and what kind of friend would she be if she dissapointed them?

But Weiss never seemed impressed by what Penny taught, she'd always get these bitter looks when Penny began pointing out how to properly utilize Krimp's system. But Penny was ashamed to say that the amazed look in Ruby's eyes would overshadow that every time. When she pointed out things the Red Reaper would never have picked up on, Penny always felt fulfilled in ways she never knew she needed. When Ruby was here, she always focused on her far more than her other friend.

Even with Krimp's explanation of how best friends worked, Penny still felt bad about how she was handling this. But Ruby couldn't show up because of personal reasons, so Penny had no opportunity to play favorites. This time, she'll make sure Weiss knew just how much she was valued as one of her friends!

Which means she had to look for a perfect candidate for today's lesson, had to make sure it was really poignant.

But just as she resumed her search, a scoff to her side made her turn back to Weiss just as she pocketed her scroll and leaned back with a sigh. Penny bit her lip for a moment, she could search for the perfect candidate later. Good friends are there when others need them!

"Is everything alright Weiss?" she asked as she finally sat down in the bench properly

"Yes yes, Yang just seems to have gotten herself embroiled in some ridiculous romantic escapade." the Heiress sighed

"Romantic?" Penny tilted her head and searched her memory for a second before her eyes shot wide open and she grinned "Oh! You mean love? Is Yang dealing with love? We could make that a topic for one of our meet ups!"

"Let's not lose focus here Penny," Weiss looked up to her "you're supposed to inform us about what Krimp's taught you."

"Krimp taught me about love!"

Weiss straightened up with a raised eyebrow "Excuse me? He taught you about that too?" she shook her head "Penny, its getting more and more uncomfortable for me to think of the specifics of your relationship when you word things like that."

"Understanding love is necessary for making friends!" Penny pointed out with a cheerful grin " So many friends are affected by it! Just look over there!"

She directed the Heiress's attention to the family she'd noticed earlier, the parents were both trying to console their upset son "Just look at how similarly they approach the situation! Romance often has people adopt characteristics from the subjects of their affection, but they can just as easily develop differences if the relationship sours. Therefore, potential friends have to keep track of the relationship itself in order to maintain relations with the individuals it governs!"

Weiss huffed at that explanation before folding her arms "I suppose, I guess I'm just not used to the idea of you being more romantically educated than I."

"Oh I'm sure you're better at this than I, you're Weiss Schnee!" Penny exclaimed "You're a social marvel!"

"Doesn't mean I ever got used to the idea of romance." Weiss shrugged before looking away "I was always under the impression I'd end up with whoever could produce the most exceptional heir possible. If only my thick-headed teammate could anticipate that. Honestly, how much longer until we find these perfect candidates of yours? I have to go make sure my unfortunately suggestible partner doesn't do something we'll all regret. As helpful as she is, I'm sure you've noticed she has a habit of letting herself get roped into wild hi-jinks."

"True, she has many weak points." Penny folded her arms and nodded "Even with how sociable Yang is, all anybody really needs to do is get on good terms with Ruby to have access to her."

Weiss looked at her with raised eyebrow for a moment before narrowing her eyes "So... I take it Krimp's taught you that as well?"

"Yep! And I really do love Ruby, she's a true bestie who I will always enjoy being close to, but she's far less accustomed to social suggestion than someone like Yang is. By Krimp's System, that means earning positive points with her means gaining affiliation with Yang with less of the necessary pre-planning."

Though Penny was happy to go over more for her student, she found her smile fading once she noticed the deep frown etched into Weiss's face. The Heiress looked down at the ground in silent thought for a moment, and Penny felt herself deflate a little bit. But that was before she spotted them. Two candidates... no, four of them!

And from the varying expressions on each of their faces, she could tell that they were a perfect group for her to display Krimp's system on.

"Them!" she suddenly said with an enthusiastic whisper as she quickly stood from the bench

Weiss was slightly startled by the sudden shift in tone, and as Penny got up she followed the other girl's eyes towards-

"Wait, Penny that's-!"

But unfortunately Penny was already in the midst of putting her plan into action. Altering her speed and clutching her hands together, the ginger adopted a worried look before hurrying past a rather well kept fountain. She ended up rushing right into the path of one of her targets, crashing into the jogging boy who stood his ground.

Russel shook off the daze quickly before glaring down at the pained girl at his feet, but before he could lay into her for not looking where she was going, the sound of approaching footsteps from behind brought his attention to a chuckling Dove.

"My, you were the last person I'd expect to let girls get in the way of our training." the smirking boy said as he came to a stop and gestured towards him "Weren't you the one latching to Cardin's plans for the Tournament?"

"She got in front of me!" the mo-hawked boy bit, even as he resumed making odd motions with his hands

"And if that was enough to take you by surprise I don't understand how you plan on making it to the finals."

Before Russel even had a chance to take his teammate's bait, Penny spoke up "Sorry! I'm super sorry!"

"You better be!" Russel growled before being nudged out of the way by Dove.

"Excuse my comrade, he's a rather passionate sort." Dove explained before looking Penny up and down and offering a hand "I take it he didn't harm you too much?"

"No, I'm fine." Penny nodded before allowing him to help her up "Really, it was all my fault."

Not too far away, Weiss was stationed behind a tree, thoroughly not enjoying how this 'lesson' had turned out so far. Of all the people Penny had to pick for an example it just had to be members of Team CRDL. No, not just some of them. Far behind the boys the heiress could spy the other two. Sky was struggling to continue moving despite the demands Cardin kept shouting at him. She could only anticipate that things would spiral farther into unsavory tactics once they caught up with the others.

Yes, Cardin and his cronies were nowhere near as petulant as they were back near the beginning of their stay at Beacon, but that didn't mean they were anywhere close to tolerable. After the incident with Jaune and the Ursa, their hateful nature seemed to turn inwards. They spent just as much time aggravating each other as they did everyone else. Cardin especially had become more strict with the others, spiteful due to his teams abandonment of him during the incident. As such, they were actually the most common team to be found in Beacon's training halls. It kept them out of everyone else's hair for the most part, but the team was more than willing to remind any student who drew near how much they looked down on them.

And yet Penny had simply thrown herself to them like it was nothing. If Weiss was less of a cynic, perhaps she could see this act as bravery instead of idiocy. As she watched Penny converse with Dove and Russel, she waited for the boot to drop. She could see even from her position that Russel was fuming the longer they talked. And Dove, well... Dove had become a rather odd case since the Ursa incident. From how she'd seen Team CRDL act it almost seemed like Cardin had started despising him the most, but she had never gotten close enough to the team to learn why.

"I was actually looking for a store," Penny confessed before tilting her head daintily "I heard they had a sale on something that I really need."

"What store?" Dove asked as he combed his fingers through his hair "Perhaps me and my cohort can assist you."

"What?!" Russel asked immediately, his hand gestures momentarily becoming erratic.

"Sure, we were in the midst of something." the boy waved off his teammate's concerns while shooting Penny a subtle wink "But a few moments is nothing for a sweetheart like yourself."

Russel rolled his eyes with a groan of distaste, making Dove's grin widen further.

"Oh! Well I actually have it written down right here." Penny revealed a note that Weiss was positive she didn't have before.

Dove took a look at it with her, but soon Penny adopted an embarrassed look "I scribbled it quickly, sorry if its a bit-"

Russel glanced over their shoulders "How the hell do you manage to misspell Diet?"

Penny silently pouted at that, but Dove was quick to act "Russel please," he shook his head before glancing back at her "Ignore him, he has quite the extreme appreciation for memory. Me and my team have actually been to this specific establishment a couple times. We used to get protein from there, but found another store with better stuff."

"Really?" Penny looked up with a hopeful expression "I actually need protein! Where do you guys get your stuff?"

Dove placed his hands on his hips and grew a cocky smile "Well~"

"Wait," Russel interrupted, halting his motions "what do you need protein for?"

Dove was about to reprimand him again, but paused upon realizing the validity of his question.

"More like 'why the hell aren't you asshats still running!?'"

The three turned to see Cardin approaching, practically dragging a fully exhausted Sky Lark behind him.

"Honestly, I have to babysit this shrimp for five seconds and you two-!" Cardin paused upon letting his gaze fall upon Penny, and he immediately released Sky.

"What are you doing with her?" he asked as Sky stumbled to the nearby fountain and fell against it before panting for more air.

"Well, if you must know-" Dove began

"Dove's just trying to hit on some random chick who needs protein for some reason." Russel stated as he resumed the odd motions

Dove's smirk disappeared for a moment as he glared at Russel, who returned the glare in kind "I'm simply trying to aid a woman who you couldn't help but bowl over."

"Don't you-!"

"Of course she wants protein." Cardin shook his head before folding his arms "Her team's on the roster for the tournament. She's probably scoping out competition."

Dove blinked before turning back to Penny, who gave an embarrassed little giggle as Russel joined Cardin in glaring at her.

"Comp-uh?" Sky struggled to stand before stumbling into the back of his Team Leader "She-... who? What's she-?"

"Is he gonna be okay?" Penny asked

"Get off of me!" Cardin shrugged his teammate off before jabbing a finger towards her "What exactly were you digging for girlie? And don't try any bullshit, these idiots might be dumb as bricks but your routine won't work on-"

"Excuse me?" Russel turned his glare on the taller boy "This bitch can't even remember how to spell diet, let alone pull one over on me. Dove's the one letting his dick do the talking."

"Russel, I appreciate your willingness to make me seem like some kind of sexual chimera." Dove shook his head "But we all know that out of all of us you'd be the most likely to fall victim to any form of subterfuge."

He glanced back to Penny "That is, if our esteemed leader truly is correct in his assumption that this beauty here is truly trying to take us for a ride."

Penny shot him a grateful smile before stepping forward, "I'm sorry, I never evaluated the roster. My team may not see it the same way, but I wanted my opponents to be a surprise!"

The anger in Cardin's eyes seemed to give way to disbelief "A surprise?"

"Yeah! I can see how it may seem suspicious, but this is actually great!" Penny clapped her hands together enthusiastically before leaning forward a bit "From what I hear, your team and mine actually have quite similar ideas for training! Maybe if I pitch it to them, we can all work out together! Then we can all enjoy a friendly battle when the tournament comes around!"

She looked between the members of Team CRDL for several seconds before Cardin started laughing. Even Weiss could hear the mocking inflection to his chuckles, but Penny maintained an optimistic expression as he began walking towards her.

"So," Cardin held back his chuckles long enough to cross his arms "you're their water girl?"

Penny and his comrades seemed somewhat confused until Dove shook his head and gave Cardin an incredulous look "And here I was thinking you wouldn't be abrest to such terms. Still doesn't mean a generalization like that would-"

"Oh! You mean literally!" Penny clapped her hands together and smiled up at Cardin "In which case, I have indeed acquired beverages for my team before."

Cardin held back a snicker.

Russel merely rolled his eyes before glaring at Dove, who quickly tidied up his hair a bit before glancing away "I've been wrong before."

"Come on guys, she ain't nothing." Cardin pushed past her and continued down the path, snapping his fingers as he did "Russ, make sure Sky's not dragging his feet. Someone else's turn to play babysitter."

"What?!" Sky tried shouting through his panting as Russel walked over and grabbed his arm "But we barely got to enjoy our break!"

As the mo-hawked boy dragged his teammate past Penny after their leader, a nudge to her side brought the orange-haired girl's gaze back to Dove.

"If you're really serious about that whole group work out thing," he quickly passed her a card "call me sometimes. We'll talk to our respective teams, maybe you and I can meet up now and then to hash it out."

"That would be wonderful!" Penny nodded as he turned to join his teammates "Thank you for understanding!"

Even as Dove waved back, he could feel Russel glaring at him "Only you would literally try business cards as a legitimate pick-up tactic."

"Class survived this long for a reason, my dear ruffian." Dove chuckled as they passed a tree "Maybe one day you'll be smart enough to let me educate you."

Penny continued waving at the four boys until they vanished behind several large hedges, for that was when a bitter looking Weiss finally emerged from her hiding spot and stomped her way over to her.

"Out of all the people, it just had to be them?" the heiress demanded as she came to a stop in front of Penny "Them?!"

"Sorry Weiss, but I needed a group with dispositions varied enough to give you a properly educational lesson!"

"I had to stand behind that tree and watch them lambaste you for the past few minutes!" Weiss stated "I don't know all about what Krimp's been teaching you about friends, but my definition doesn't involve throwing them to the wolves! And what have you to show for it? Half of them were suspicious of you the entire time, another was trying to seduce you, and I don't even think Sky noticed you for the entire time!"

"And that's why we're having this lesson, Weiss!" Penny placed her hands on her hips and smirked "This interaction actually went swimmingly! In less than five minutes I was able to switch their dispositions of me out of the negative zone!"

"Into what? A sub-negative zone?"

"Nope, the way Krimp puts it is that I've planted little tiny seeds with this interaction. And carefully managing the next few will help me determine how it grows! See, Cardin and Russel were suspicious, but now they don't see me as a threat due to an air of incompetence! Its very important for friends who are defensive towards outsiders. I just had to get them to lower those defenses by weakening the outward appearance of my offenses."

"And to do that you acted like a linguistically challenged dunce who gets pushed around by her teammates?" Weiss shook her head "Where did you even get that note? I didn't see it on you while we were... Wait."

Weiss could remember a small moment that jumped out at her right that very moment while going through the scenes between the beginning of Penny's performance. When she was rushing to intercept Russel, there had been a split moment where she'd clasped her hands together. But Weiss hadn't been able to see her hands exactly.

"Did you write that note while you were rushing Russel?"

"Yep! And with only a bit of hurried scrawl and a descent portrayal of naivety, I managed to sell a line of reasoning that gets me closer and closer to the eventuality of friendship!"

Weiss narrowed her eyes at that "And what about Dove? No offense Penny, but I never took you for a flirty type. Now unless you're telling me that Krimp taught you that as well-"

"He did."

"Elaborate!" Weiss demanded "How would he have any use for feminine seduction?! In the disguises I've seen him in he can barely pass off as an extremely large man, people can only be so fooled by a charming demeanor!"

"He never needed it for himself, silly." Penny giggled before raising her pointer finger "But you forget that Krimp has a lot of friends, and an extremely good memory to boot. He never meant to incorporate it into his system, but once I was taken under his wing he was adamant that one should use every advantage they have in the pursuit of friendship. He said that my outgoing personality would make a bit of teasing here and there extremely natural-looking."

"And Sky, you literally said one thing to the guy!"

"Its not about how many seeds you plant Weiss, I was able to portray a concern for his well-being that his other teammates lacked at the moment. Even if little progress was made, the next interaction has been made easier! Its very logical!"

Weiss sighed before looking away in the direction the boys had left, shaking her head a bit before turning back to Penny "But don't you feel degraded? Even if you do end up becoming friends with them, you've had to act like a gullible imbecile while also having to entertain some pervert's desires. How is friendship supposed to make up for all these hurdles?"

Penny placed a finger to her cheek for a moment before shooting Weiss a nervous smile "I admit I'm nowhere near as enthusiastic about this as Krimp was, but I really do like making friends, Weiss. Its comforting to know that others enjoy having you around. I'm not the most popular person, but I greatly enjoy the presence of others! Its exciting to have relations with tons of different people, if only to learn about them."

"But doing it this way means forming relations based on lies, Penny. That's all this is, manipulation and lies."

Penny frowned at that, but suddenly grew a stern look as she hardened her stance "You may not get it, Weiss, since you never seemed like one to hunt after friends so relentlessly like I do. But this works. I'm being liked because of it. Before I always came on too strongly or came out with nothing. I was never able to fit into the categories that people like or want." The green-eyed girl gave Weiss a determined look "But I don't have to worry about that now. And when I get better, I'll never have to worry about not fitting conditions ever again."

Penny's expression gave way to one of genuine joy as she surprised Weiss with an unexpected hug, picking the heiress off the ground despite her hasty protests "Now that I make the conditions, I can befriend anyone!"

---

Pug-Bringer Studios

"And so after collecting the firewood, I came back home with my head held high. I mean, Mom had been on my ass for weeks about shirking duties to hit on the florist chick so obviously she'd be proud I'd actually followed through for once."

A figure pushed open a door, wiping sweat from his brow as he hefted the bushel of wood on his back. He moved to call out, but the sight within had him paralyzed with shock.

"But woe and behold that at that very moment my parents had the gall to get killed by some ruffians."

Several thugs stood over the still forms of a man and a woman, all of them turning to look at the young man.

"Now I might be a hunk of meat and muscle now, but back then? Pfft, I was full ready to haul my shit outta there, but these guys had other plans."

The young man was wrestled to the ground, muscled arms forcing him into the kitchen, where a much larger man was waiting with the blood of his parents decorating some rather flashy survival gear.

"So this big guy said he had plans for me, and quickly called to his woman, so she comes strutting in with a case of Hardlight-brand alcohol and-"

"Hold up! Hold right the fuck up!"

Banz grumbled as he turned away from the scene developing in front of him and to Melanie, who had been watching the scene with growing disbelief. The actors groaned as lights came on, revealing the scene to have been created from barely held together planks of wood and busted furniture. Militia, who was about to enter with a case of Hardlight, merely tossed the case to the 'Bandit Leader' before turning on her sister "What the hell, sis?!"

"Hardlight was made two years ago, how the hell did it exist back when you were a teen?" Melanie glared at Banz, only for her sister to scoff

"Does it matter?"

"If we're giving the audience a background story, do you really think a major continuity error like that would go unnoticed?"

"I thought these guys purchased ad-space?" the Clown grumbled as he scratched his head and nodded towards the case of beer.

"So you're just gonna slip it into your backstory?!"

The rapper looked around for a moment before shrugging "Yeah... why not?"

Melanie scoffed before looking around, they had assembled this poor excuse for a set right in the middle of the dance floor, where they usually performed their many hit songs.

"Why are we even doing this?! " She asked the Masqueraders, who made up pretty much the entire cast and crew for this production "Shouldn't you guys be singing about random crap?"

A giggle from a nearby chair brought her attention to Rolo, who flicked some of his tangled hair as he reclined further "Online poll says the fans want to know what our esteemed singer's early life was like, lololololol."

"And we had to suspend new songs and spend all day having a bunch of drunk idiots try to put this together for that!?"

"You forget that even our repeat tunes are mostly top fifty contenders, I don't see anyone complaining." Rolo sat up "And besides, watching a couple of drunk idiots try to do anything tickles most people's funny bone."

"But why do I have to play the guy that gets his shit kicked in!?" Grimm Bunny grumbled as he shook off the 'Bandits'

Banz shrugged "You kinda remind me of me when I was little."

"Stop complaining," GB looked down to one of his 'Parents' "I'm down here playing a corpse kiddo."

"We're supposed to be a music studio!" Melanie bit "Why couldn't you guys just make a bio page or something?"

"Far less entertaining, I assure you, lolololol" Rolo pointed out as he stood "But if its really such a problem for you, how about we make this a musical?"

"What?"

"Hell yeah!" Banz raised his arms before pointing to the 'Bandit Leader' "Bust open those fuckin' bottles baby, I'm about to freestyle the most epic backstory of all time!"

"That's not how backstories work!" Melanie tried to yell, but her voice was overwhelmed by the cheers of the Masqueraders as Hardlight liquor caps were tossed to the ground and Rolo began producing some beats.

Mealnie sighed as the scene began again, only with everyone moving to the sound of Banz's singing "Shouldn't you tell Bigsby before you go switching the day's performance like that?"

"As long as the viewers are entertained, he won't give a shit, lolololol." Rolo pointed out as he danced by "Besides, he's got meetings today."

"Which means you guys get to act wild and trash this place again, right?"

"Now you're catching on, lolololol!"

Once again the white themed youth released a sigh as she turned away from the musical and left the dance floor. She made her way back into the back halls of their studio, with the pounding sound of music dulled by the walls.

"Krimp!" she called out as she paused and checked several rooms "We're gonna need you on standby! The guys are about to have another-"

She paused once she heard the sound of something over the dulled music. From one of the storage rooms she could hear a panicked voice and the sound of furniture being moved around.

"Krimp?" she asked as she approached the door and reached out to open it, only for it to swing open and nearly hit her. The disguised Uruk in question stood there with his usual smile, deflating only a bit when he noticed he'd almost injured her "Oh! Sorry there buddy, need something?"

Melanie shot him a frown "What were you doing back there?" she asked before leaning to the side "I was calling you for-"

She paused upon spotting an extremely uncomfortable looking Bebe sitting on a couch that was situated between several boxes. The Faunus continuously tried to make her posture natural, which in turn just made Melanie far more suspicious.

"Sorry, kinda busy here at the moment." Krimp giggled as his smile returned in full force "Need something from little 'ol me?"

"Yeah, the guys are getting on again so I wanted to..." she trailed off as her eyes went from the friendly Uruk to the Faunus and back several times "What exactly were you two doing back here?"

"Just helping a pal out," Krimp admitted cheerfully, much to the distress of said 'pal' "I tried to keep it discreet, but lucky you! Ya found us out!"

"Krimp!" Bebe said in a panicked manner

"But what were you doing?" Melanie emphasized, the Uruk's wording upsetting her more and more.

"Oh ya know, just some personal things that require a particularly friendly touch!"

"Krimp, please!"

"Know what? I don't even wanna know!" Melanie said before stepping away with her hands raised "Just be ready to clean up when they're done."

"Will do!" Krimp waved to her as he watched the girl quickly make her way back to the dance floor.

With her out of sight, the Uruk closed the door once more.

"Why the hell did you word it like that!?" Bebe demanded "Do you even understand what you were implying?!"

"But you said that ya didn't want anyone hearing 'bout what we were up to?" Krimp tilted his head to the side as he walked past her

"And this was better!?" she yelled as the Uruk came back and knelt in front of her

"Sorry pal, I'll come up with something better next time!" Krimp assured her with a pat on the shoulder before motioning for her to lie down "Now how about you and me get back to it?"

The Faunus sighed as she complied "There you go with the wording again."

Seconds later the Uruk was sitting in a dented folding chair which occasionally squeaked under his weight, listening intently as Bebe spoke, "-and sometimes I ask myself: If mom and dad hadn't gotten caught, would they have been proud of where we ended up?"

"Yet ya never thought 'bout this until after our talk about Uthug?" Krimp asked as he crossed one leg over the other

"No!" Bebe insisted "My brother was always so sure that we were doing the right thing, was determined to follow Adam's guide. He kept insisting the White Fang was doing what was necessary, that there was no other way. And I knew deep in my heart that he was right, every time I had doubts I'd just think back to Elementary School."

"Oh yeah, ya brought up the folks from school last time we talked." Krimp tapped a finger to his lips "But I seem to recall that you specifically said that you didn't wish death upon your young tormentors back then."

"No, mine were nowhere as extreme as some from the stories I heard in the fang. It was all just kid bullshit, nobody ever tore up my stuff, assaulted me or the things that other Faunus had to deal with. It wasn't like how my brother was treated."

"And yet despite your bullies being a farcry from the utter criminals that harassed others, you still believed they would have to be purged just like them because their particular path of ridicule was based around your heritage?"

"I was naive back then, okay?" she tightened her fists a bit as she turned to glare at the Uruk "I didn't realize that the Kiddy type bullshit would just grow into the wholesale slaughter that we have now!"

"Wholesale?" Krimp thought for a moment before snapping his fingers "You mean the stuff about Beacon!"

"The mere fact that that slaughterhouse is allowed to stand as a testament of Faunus subjugation is nothing less than disgusting."

"Right right, you talked about how Uthug didn't really buy into it."

"He had no right to just dismiss me!" Bebe snapped as she sat up "He's never been to Beacon! He has no reason to-"

"I've been to Beacon, buddy." Krimp frowned in thought "Never saw no dungeons or any of that, but maybe I was just looking in the wrong spots!"

Bebe glared at him before glancing away for a moment and lying back down "Maybe you were."

"But you say you never had doubts until he mocked you for these beliefs? From the way you talk about him, I didn't really think you'd put much stock into his opinion on it."

"Well, I guess its just a by-product of guilt for leaving him behind. I've been going over the last few days we spent together over and over in my head, and lets just say that asshole's words aren't as easily dismiss-able when..."

Bebe raised an arm and covered her eyes "I know he's wrong, but when I think of how I left him behind, I just-... I don't feel as good when lambasting his horrid perspectives. This kind of thing never used to happen when I was with my brother."

"So why not find him then?" Krimp suggested

"You already said yourself, they're on a ship somewhere and god knows when-"

"Not Uthug, your brother!"

Bebe paused, raising her arm off her eyes as she shot up "But-! I mean, didn't you say they'd already been captured. Ironwood-!"

"Oh Jimmy and his pals probably pressed em for everything. But ya gotta remember that they's got captured a long time ago."

Bebe raised an eyebrow "Jimmy?"

"But you and I both know they don't got much to say about my pals. I've got me a theory that as long as they insist they was just caught up in Uruk business by accident, they'll have been put with the rest of ya pals who get caught. You lot visit friends in jail all the time right?"

The Faunus's eyes widened, she'd been convinced that her brother was unreachable. But Krimp's words were irrefutable. However, that hope dimmed a bit once she realized something.

"But what about this?" Bebe pointed to her scar "I still don't know if this is a tracker or not, even if I could get out of here, what's Bigsby gonna say if he finds me trying to contact any form of Vale authority?"

"Dunno," Krimp shrugged before standing and raising a finger "let's go ask him!"

Bebe stood up as the Uruk immediately turned and made for the door "Ask him what?" she quickly followed him out of the room "Krimp! What are you doing!?"

"We'll go ask Oggie if its okay for you to go see your brother!" he giggled

"Did I not just say how bad him finding out would be!?"

"I'm sure letting him know straight away would be better than trying to sneak past him. Besides, what if its a bomb in there instead of a tracker? Or a listening device? Or all of the above?"

"That makes it worst!"

"No no, listen here." Krimp paused and kneeled before her "If ya try going around his back, its probably gonna go bad, right? Well if Oggie's got something in that head o yours monitoring your position, or some way to get rid o' you if he gets tired of dealing with you, then all we need to do is tell him the truth! You's feeling bent outta shape and need to meet your jailed brother. Everyone around here doesn't really seem to take you as a serious threat, anyway!"

"Jeez, thanks Krimp. Really keeping the motivation going there. What reason would he have to risk it?"

"I just told ya, everyone's convinced you's a screw up! At that rate, he'll probably think you'd mess it up before you even have a chance to oust him!"

Bebe was about to argue, but found herself holding her tongue. She wanted to see her brother, wanted him to get rid of these doubts that had been building up ever since that coward looter had initially planted them. Borgu and Zog seemed convinced she was inept at everything, and Ogthrak had seemed to see her as an annoyance rather than a threat, but did that really justify this much optimism?

It would seem Krimp thought so, as the Uruk grabbed her arm and sped down the back halls of the studio before she could refute him "There's only one way to find out!"

"But isn't he in a meeting right now!?"

Krimp slid to a stop right in front of a set of double doors, Bebe slamming into him from momentum, "Huh, you's right about that." he murmured as she picked herself off the floor.

"Why did we have to track him down before-!"

Krimp's hand clamped over her mouth "Quiet they's in the middle of it." he whispered before pointing towards the double doors.

Bebe leaned over to one of the door's windows and realized that beyond was some kind of loading bay she never knew was part of the Studio. There were several large trucks backed into it with dozens of cardboard boxes everywhere, several of them were open revealing dozens of Rolo and Banz albums. She didn't even know they'd had physical copies. Ogthrak had seemed content with just being some online sensation, had allowed other musical stations to play their tracks. When did he upgrade to actually filling music stores?

Another thing she noticed was that there was nobody actually working, the boxes had been left there as if everyone had cleared out. Was it some kind of break time? Who was even working back here? The only other employees she'd seen were the Masqueraders, and those junkies were barely capable of going along with Banz's hi-jinks let alone proper manual labor like this. Everything didn't smell like booze and the Albums seemed too properly organized to be their doing.

In fact, the only people inside the bay were Ogthrak, some human with blue straps all over his casual wear, and some ominous robed figure standing somewhat behind the blue guy. The figure initially reminded her of the horrifying Shaman, but this thing's robes seemed altered in several ways. First of all it had straps similar to the blue guy's, but this one's made more sense as it seemed to keep its robes from moving too inconveniently. Secondly she could see that this thing's face was covered by a simple-looking leather mask that revealed nothing of the wearer.

"Oh man, he got one of the Scholars out here?" Krimp mumbled to himself as he spotted the robed one.

Bebe looked up at that, curiosity getting the better of her as she leaned closer to the door.

"How the hell am I supposed to ensure you won't fuck this up, Bigsby?" the blue human demanded whilst wiping some sweat from his brow "The b-boss is adamant about this going down during the tournament, but that don't mean he'll jump for anything!"

"Relax," Ogthrak stated as he massaged his beard before gesturing towards the robed figure "Ask your companion, I've done riskier things. With the White Fang gone my people basically control most of Vale's smuggling outfit. The Atlesians have done everything they could to counteract the Fang's external activities and lock this city down for the festival, but they are not particularly familiar with my methods."

"Too good to be true! Everything you're saying is too good to be true! The Scarves won't just blindly listen to anyone's lies! Especially those of some greedy businessman! We've had enough of-"

"Calm down." the robed figure snapped "I refuse to allow your incompetence to ruin this negotiation. Bigsby's provided aid to the Blue Scarves before, activities like this should be nothing for a conman like him."

The human grimaced at the Scholar's words before glaring at Bigsby, who simply shrugged before folding his arms.

Bebe's eyes widened, Ogthrak was doing business with Blue Scarves? Why? She'd only learned a bit about this particular gang of miscreants while she was in Vale, and all she could pick up on was that they're a bunch of depressed lunatics who think the only way to stop conflict on Remnant is to eradicate any warring faction they can. Hearing their rants and ramblings online, they seem to consider themselves extreme vigilantes who will seek to destroy both the Atlesian military, the White Fang, all the way down to any petty thug they can get their hands on. They were active as just an online community of people who had all been harmed in some way by the White Fang or Government parties, all whining and complaining about how horrible the world had become.

It was only after she had been forced to work at the studio that she'd learned that soon after the existence of Uruks was confirmed, the Blue Scarves seemed to rapidly descend into maddened desperation. They would leave horrified comments in just odd places, pleading for random people online to end the conflict as if they had the power to do so. Their presence online seemed to devolve further and further for no apparent reason until it became violent. Nobody knew why, but all of a sudden they were sending endless streams of death threats and manic messages to government officials and people who were alleged Fang members. They'd started taking credit for more and more criminal activities, so much so that a number of Kingdoms had started considering them a threat to the populace.

The idea that one of those psychos was not only standing in her place of employment, but actually talking business with her captor made her blood run cold. But even more than that, why would Ogthrak ever do business with them? Why would a disguised Uruk in his position throw in with any criminal organization, especially one as openly manic as the Blue Scarves? But as she watched him, Ogthrak continued regarding the man before him with an air of professionalism.

"Honestly, I could care less whether you trust me or not. All that matters at the end of the day is the profit. As long as the lien's good, I'll be good, and I'll promise you that."

"Fine! Fine damn it, you get us the guns and we'll give you all the money you'll ever want."

"I doubt you'd ever be able to match that." Ogthrak chuckled "If you're gonna throw about numbers like that you should probably demand more, at this rate I might as well be smuggling you lot in as well. I'm good for it."

"Don't overstep, asshole! We're more than capable of getting through Atlas. Just because we need you now doesn't mean we'll ever endorse pollution like you! You're one of the problems we fully plan on eradicating once those corrupted monsters and genocidal lunatics are out of the way!"

"A bit of irony with that wording there, eh?"

"But know this, once they've been wiped from the face of this earth, it'll be disgusting creatures like you who we shall purge next!"

"Yeah yeah, I'm a horrible man in every manner of the way. The way I see it, we've already agreed on terms, so this meeting is pretty much beneath me at this point."

The Scholar placed a hand on the human's shoulder before they could rebuke the disguised Uruk, "Negotiations are complete, I advise you meet up with the others while I finish up here. The Boss'll be pleased."

The gang member seemed like he wanted to say more, but one look from the Scholar made him grunt before turning to leave "Careful Tearjerker, rodents like this are silver-tongued." he said before walking out.

It wasn't long after he was gone that Ogthrak released a loud groan as his entire demeanor shifted "This is an embarrassment, a full-blooded embarrassment from every angle."

He pulled a flask from his jacket and immediately downed it "Dealing with the vagrant wastes and imbeciles is one thing, but to maintain a facade like this for thralls of all things."

"One never knows when they are under surveillance." the Scholar stated matter-of-factly before looking the disguised Uruk over "You've complied with your own performance for some time now, surely you've acclimated. I recall you having quite the distaste for music of any type, and yet even then you adhere to the Shaman's request. If you've withstood for this long, surely this is nothing."

Bebe blinked, had she heard that right? She knew Ogthrak was only putting up with this because of his boss, but she didn't think he actively hated music.

"I shall never accept such a blatant waste of time." Ogthrak's voice drew her attention back to the two inside "However, I suppose you can say I've recognized the bigger picture."

"Oh?" the Scholar tilted his head "The Stormbringer had mentioned you'd always had difficulties comprehending his particular brand of entertainment."

"Most times, but this is different!" the Warmonger tossed the flask away as he looked up to the ceiling "Without him having directed me to this scenario, I would've never realized it. I'm in a position wherein I'm capable of monopolizing something that would have never held value to me back in Mordor. Once I've amassed enough of it, the Leaders of this land won't be able to touch me even if my ploy is discovered. At that point, it won't matter, the time it would take for them to properly dismantle this setup would be far more than Vale's got left. This must be why the Shaman guided me here! I would've never seen such value in this venture without him!"

"Quite the conclusion you've come to," the Scholar folded his arms "perhaps when he arrives, I might learn more of this supposed monopoly you've formed."

Bebe backed away from the door at that, eyes growing wide as Krimp looked back at her with a raised brow and whispered "What's wrong pal?"

"H-he said the Shaman's coming." she continued backing away "We need to leave before he catches us!"

Krimp gave a sad smile at that before shaking his head "A little late for that, eh buddy?"

The blooming dread his words inspired in her lasted for only a second before she bumped into someone, and her fear plummeted straight into her stomach along with all other tangible emotion as it blossomed into the empty taste of horror.

Slowly, she turned back and looked up into the all encompassing hood of Pugrish Stormbringer.

He was nowhere near as large as Krimp or even Ogrthak, but at that moment Bebe felt as though he towered over her like an impassive monolith. Krimp's words describing the Uruk behind her came rushing to the forefront of her thoughts as she froze, unwilling to even risk moving. The hood shifted, and soon she could see it, a single eye comprised of several shades of piercing blue stared through the cloth of its robe down at her. The overwhelming darkness of the hood made that eye seem to glow, a glow which framed only a portent of the mask. What Krimp called the Mask of Memories, only a portent was visible in this light: a leathery mouth surrounded the single eye, stuck in an eternal scream as the iris moved within.

Bebe stood there, under the Shaman's gaze for what were quickly beginning to feel like centuries. Neither she or the Claimant made any movement, only causing the Faunus's heart rate to rise quicker and quicker as her frantic mind anticipated the dreadful retribution that awaited her.

But Krimp seemed incapable of even noticing her dread, as the glutton merely raised a hand and waved "Hiya there Pug! Been a while, ain't it?"

Like a sacred blessing, the massive Uruk's words seemed to drive away the oppressive atmosphere, if only for a second. It was more than long enough for the Shaman to grow tired of the silence. He turned to Krimp, his robes shifting back into place as Bebe quickly scrambled behind the Friendly Uruk.

"Krimp... enjoying your stay?"

"Oh yes!" the larger of the two quickly wrapped an arm around Bebe and pulled her close "Did you know that I never actually made friends with this one before we started working here together? She was even at the Tower!"

"What was that?" Ogthrak's voice from beyond the double doors interrupted the massive Uruk's speech "Oi! is that Krimp? What are you doing back there?"

Bebe was starting to panic, clinging harder to the Uruk as her situation seemed to quickly devolve. Not only had she been caught spying on the monster who had potentially placed an explosive in her head, but she just had to get caught by an even worst monster! And the only thing she could possibly hope to shield her from their wrath was yet another monster that seemed completely incapable of recognizing the tense atmosphere.

Her worries halted, however, when the Grand Shaman approached the door whilst raising a hand towards them. A single leather glove slipped out from under his robes, its fingertips had been removed in order to leave space for the claw-like nails which protruded from them. Pugrish gestured for them to follow, saying nothing as he opened the door and entered.

Bebe didn't even have a chance to second guess acquiescing to the Storm-Ruler's silent demand, as Krimp immediately followed with a jovial bounce to his step, dragging the unfortunate Faunus in with him.

Upon catching sight of the Stormbringer, both Ogthrak and the Scholar immediately dropped to one knee. The disguised Uruk had taken a second longer, as he had immediately noticed both Krimp and Bebe following closely behind, yet he dropped low in honor of his master despite the hesitation.

The Shaman looked over both of them for a moment, before slowly crouching down and taking a seat upon the floor. Once he had gotten comfortable, he gestured for the two of them to rise "Tell me... how goes it?"

Ogthrak wasted no time in rising to his feet "Master, do we really need the hybrid whelp and that... that thing here?"

Pugrish looked up at him for several seconds before repeating himself "I said... how goes it?"

The Warmonger swallowed at that before shaking his head "Not much to report on my end, Pug-Bringer studios is a smash hit. Not many entering the entertainment scene around here, despite what Atlas wants everyone to think. Many apparently high-tailed during that breach that occurred before we even entered this realm, and with how active Bubol's lackeys were, not many were really feeling confident about sticking around. Sure, some are still up and kicking trying to motivate the people, but our competition is lacking in true rivalry. The people love us, nothing like some good tunes and laughing at a couple of idiots to make ya forget a bunch of bloodthirsty monsters are clawing at ya walls."

The Stormbringer slowly nodded at that before turning to the Scholar "And you... Naruk?"

"The Scarves have successfully made use of the vacancy provided by the White Fang," the Scholar said as he too stood and folded his arms behind his back "they plan to begin their 'crusade' sometime during the tournament. Their growing presence hasn't seemed to have reached Law Enforcement yet, but its only a matter of time. Tarks like these can't be expected to stay silent, they will begin to start trouble. Even with the Blade's influence, they're simply too manic. They've already begun suspecting surveillance, saying they feel watched despite our covert activities. This bout of suspicion has led them to act out, spray-painting their tags anywhere they can."

"Already?" Ogthrak turned to him with a raised brow "They were supposed to save that for during the Tournie, when everyone's good and properly distracted."

"They are far too impatient. With how quickly their fears of discovery are growing, their violent reactions will soon become far more apparent to the masses. Once that happens, Atlas will no doubt seek to save face by wiping them from the city as quickly as possible."

"Giving the contenders room to focus on their little plot." the Disguised Uruk sighed before returning his gaze to the Stormbringer "Master, if we let this continue then they risk exposing us to-"

"No... Dreamer has seen it... Our success in this manner is guaranteed."

Ogthrak actually went wide-eyed at that "He-he knows of our plans? Master, his continued breathing is a threat to us now, at any moment he could warn the Garrison and-"

"No... he's known for a good week at this point, yet he says nothing." The Grand Shaman looked up to them "He has yet to dream up a way to stop us. He knows that forcing us to begin soon will only lead him to an early death."

"A coward then." The Scholar Naruk pointed out "Leaving his soldiers in the dark even while others conspire against them, truly unfit for his position."

"Not cowardice... intelligence. He seeks a method that may ensure the survival of his underlings... however faint it may be."

"So its true then? His visions have become more accurate?" Ogthrak asked

"Somewhat... he claimed his semblance made them far easier to interpret... yet I know not if he knew of our ploy at that time... It could be something else."

Bebe was absolutely stunned. How could they just...leave her here? Was she truly so little of a threat that they could just go ahead and converse about their plans openly like this with little fear? Ogthrak had seemed to be against her presence, but had backed down as soon as the Shaman diverted the question.

She had been pressed to Krimp throughout their conversation, hoping beyond hope that she was wrong in her assumption that they fully planned on killing her afterwards. Her eyes went down to the Shaman's seated form, he had not risen like his underlings had.

Everything about the Shaman confused her, beyond the fact that he seemed unopposed to allowing her to bear witness to something such as this. When she had first seen him, she'd been far too busy freaking out over the ghastly visage of his mask to really focus on him. But as she replayed the scene over and over in her head in the last few days she began realizing something. The Storm Ruler had been right there, Tuka had Uthug pinned and the Faunus had pressed herself to a wall to get away from him, yet through all that he had still been sniffing the air for his stolen journal. He seemed so disconnected with events around him, and in a way that made him seem far more odd to her.

Krimp had explained that this was apparently an Uruk who had been formed with ability beyond the scope of the armies drawn from their pits, that Uruks like him often become forces to be reckoned with. And yet despite that here he was remaining seated on the ground before his own soldiers. With how his robes were designed to cover every inch of him, he didn't look like anything really. He didn't look like the horrifying monster all the tales about him would have her believe he was, he didn't look anything like a nation-conquering one Uruk Army. In fact, Naruk and Ogthrak in their extremely distinct clothing and open mannerisms seemed far more eye-catching than this guy was. It almost seemed like he was actively trying to draw as little attention to himself as possible.

It was just... so odd to her.

"You actually managed to pull one out?!" Ogthrak stepped forward, shock evident even through his beard

"Why so surprised?" The Scholar asked before gesturing towards the Grand Shaman "The Master's capable of drawing strength from anything! Even a Flawed pool."

"Perhaps... the Newborn still has many unfortunate oddities... but I am curious to how he shall react to them." the Stormbringer shook his head "Either way... with how Ratlug puts it, we should be able to put together a functioning pit long before before the Tournament ends. If the good Doctor's findings are anything... it may be even earlier than that."

"Right on time then," Ogthrak muttered "I suppose that means we've gone over everything."

"How long will you be staying, Master?" Naruk questioned

"Debatable... I plan on going for a walk once my servant here fulfills my request." he looked at Ogthrak, who immediately nodded.

"Of course, I actually left it wrapped up over here, one moment." he said before rushing over to a corner of the loading bay.

"If that is so, I must return to my duties." Naruk turned as well "Despite their actions, the Scarves in Vale still require all the oversight we may offer."

As he took his leave, Bebe realized their little meeting was rapidly closing. She had come here on Krimp's suggestion to ask Ogthrak for leeway to visit her brother, but after watching them hash out what could only be terrible plans for Vale, she barely had the will to stand. She needed to get out of here, but if she just turned and ran wouldn't that induce some kind of violent reaction?!

But she had Krimp! Dumb as he was, there's no way he'd let them just tear her apart right?"

But as she turned to speak to the Uruk she'd been clinging to, she realized that he'd been keeping extraordinarily still. He had become almost statuesque throughout their entire conversation. Looking up at him, her words died once she noticed just how eerily still he was. Face frozen in his casual smile, eyes staring at the ground. Krimp's size had always made him somewhat threatening to her, despite how much he seemed willing to help, but to see him in this state made her hesitate to call for him.

It was actually off-putting to keep looking at his frozen expression, and she quickly looked elsewhere for levity. Only for her gaze to lock with that of the Shaman's. Apparently, he'd gotten bored of waiting for Ogthrak to return after seeing the Scholar off.

And for the second time that day Bebe found herself stuck in a staring contest with the Stormbringer himself. It was two times too many.

Thankfully, the silence was broken by Ogthrak who approached with something long wrapped up in cloth "Now I would never question your entertainment, Master, even in regards to something like this. And it wasn't hard to obtain given my revenue, but I must once more ask if you're sure this is the best fit?"

He presented the object to the Shaman, who immediately took hold of it and began unwrapping it with haste.

Given the context of their conversation, Bebe was prepared for it to be some kind of rare weapon or resource or something which would only be used for horrific means in the hands of the Storm Ruler. But to her utter dismay, once the cloth fell to the floor the item clutched in the grip of the Shaman was a Pogo stick.

"I got the most well-recommended model I could find." Ogthrak folded his arms and raised an eyebrow as he watched the Shaman hold up the Pogo stick and examine it in the Bay's light "Light, solid, and sure to withstand most natural elements. But I have to know why this is what you ended up picking? We have access to weapons, industrial materials, I would even expect the signs on the road before something like this."

"Still no imagination?" Pugrish turned to him as he raised the stick by its base and tapped a handle against his underling's shoulder "Embarrassing... fully adapting to something like this... shall be entertaining... Especially once the good Doctor has his way with it..."

Ogthrak still looked upon the Pogo Stick with confusion "Then-"

"I take my leave of you now." Pugrish said as he stood and turned towards the exit, leaning the Pogo Stick along his shoulder as he made for the door.

Bebe locked up again as he passed by, breathing a sigh of relief only when she heard the door open and shut.

That relief dissipated once she looked up to see Ogthrak's expression shifting to an annoyed glare as he centered his gaze on her.

"So, any reason you just had to spy on us?"

And suddenly the Faunus was sorely missing the plethora of distractions that had formerly held Ogthrak's attention.

"I... Wha-?"

"Sure, I could just assume that the Master ran into you and this monster by coincidence on the way here and merely supposed that dragging you both here would help me think 'outside the box' as he puts it. However, knowing the misfortune that seems to hang over you like a bad smell you tried getting away with something that would piss me off, and ended up getting caught by him in the process."

Bebe swallowed nervously, was she truly that easy to predict purely by her bad track record?!

"Wasn't nothing bad, Oggie!" Krimp finally spoke up, shocking the Faunus due to how quiet he'd been "She just wants ya blessing to go visit her big bro in jail!"

"Krimp!" Bebe shouted, if the timing was bad before, saying this right after being caught listening in on plans was worst.

"She... what?" Ogthrak grew a confused expression

"Yeah, she was all worried because she thought you'd feel threatened by a captive heading off to local law enforcement. And since she don't know if the thing in her head blows up or not I suggested we just ask!"

"What?!"

"Krimp don't-!" Bebe pushed away from the smiling glutton and immediately clasped her hands together before Ogthrak "Please! I know this sounds bad, but I promise that wasn't how that went! I miss him, yes, but I would never insult your intelligence by asking something so ridiculous!"

The Disguised Uruk's glare only deepened.

"I mean, why would I ever get s-so ludicrous an idea like... I mean! You were right in thinking-No, wait... wait I mean the Shaman, your Boss! He really um..."

"You okay there buddy?" Krimp asked as he watched her desperately try to salvage the situation.

"I mean, especially after what we just saw, there's no way you'd... Please believe that this was not my idea! I just really- oh god- It wasn't supposed to-!"

Ogthrak's expression darkened as he listened to the babbling Faunus try to formulate a decent statement, and as she continued failing at this he merely raised one hand before lashing forward and slapping her to the ground.

The single second of merciful silence he'd been given after she fell was cut off far too shortly for his liking once she began trying to pick herself up.

"Buddy, ya didn't have to do it that hard." Krimp tutted in distaste before raising a finger "With how scared she is of you, a measly grunt would've been more than enough."

"Wouldn't be enough for me." Ogthrak growled as he approached her

Bebe's vision had gone dark from the impact, which felt more like he'd slammed a bat into the side of her head. Her vision had gone dark momentarily, but when it cleared and she saw the disguised Uruk stomping towards her she immediately rolled on her back and tried scrambling back "Wait! I-!"

Ogthrak dropped down and pinned her under one of his knees, planting it firmly on her chest with enough of his weight behind it to immediately make it hard for her to breath. But just from the way he was positioned she knew he'd have no issue crushing the life out of her if he really tried. Despite trying to focus as much of her aura on where he pinned her, she wasn't confident in the slightest of her ability to survive should he start really pushing down.

Struggling not to panic again, Bebe tried forcing out some kind of plea, but the Uruk was having none of it.

"Quiet," he hissed as he put more pressure on her "I work my arse off all day keeping this farce going on, dealing with idiots of every species who seem to be actively trying to ruin it for all of us. I also do mountains of tark paperwork and have to make plans for a bunch of lunatics who for all I know could get themselves caught by Atlas at any bloody time. My time is more precious than the air I'm about to squeeze right out of ya fuckin' lungs, so the last thing I want to waste it on is your shoddy babbling. So you ain't talking unless I say so, got it?"

She nodded hastily.

"Now Krimp over here says you's planning on visiting family in the slammer, and I can see why you'd think twice about it. But here's the kicker, I'm not what you should be worried about."

At that, Bebe's panicked breathing stilled for a moment as she grew a confused look.

"Obviously an idiot like yourself would have trouble thinking this far ahead, but the fact that I basically kept you from rushing into your next bout of trouble brings a small bit of entertainment to the constant workings of annoyance my schedule has become. Because you're about to wander into an establishment run by paranoid government officials, who've been driven to keep tabs on as much as they can by the gang you yourself are a part of."

He watched as her eyes widened, and the deep frown he sported almost seemed to morph into a grin for a moment before he raised a hand "I can see it now 'White Fang informant caught passing info between incarcerated cohorts' and then I'll have the damn authorities at my door. But unlike your typical idiot, I actually know enough of my stuff to have you listed under the alias you've got. That's right, I run background checks on all my employees, even the enforced labor. Just so you know, 'Sally Harbor'? Ain't the best choice of names for a deer of all things. But it was convincing enough for you to sneak your way into my staff with the sole purpose of meeting ya fellow brothers in prison. Sounds mighty open and shut now don't it?"

Bebe stopped struggling as she thought for a moment, after several seconds of silence Ogthrak rolled his eyes and leaned closer "Speak."

"The twins! You told them my real name, they-"

"Are also criminals desperate for money after their last gig went under, and could just as easily have been paid off to assist in your infiltration of my carefree little studio."

"You're an Uruk, if we tell-"

"You want to convince an entire government that a music studio which plays music loved by the masses is secretly being run by the same bloodthirsty monsters from another realm who raid villages and enslave whoever they don't eat? And nobody but you seems to have noticed?"

She couldn't say anything, it was literally the most implausibly stupid story she could say. She'd never believe anyone if they came to her with that, it just sounded like the most crackpot thing.

"Stories like that need evidence, hard evidence. Evidence that needs to be collected meticulously and carefully in order to hold weight in court. Now I ain't gonna fault you for strolling to a prison, if someone as accident prone as yourself manages to get in and out without getting yourself locked up I'll even be a tad impressed, but I'm only gonna give you one warning: If I catch you snooping around my possessions or setting up equipment or doing anything that might lead me to believe you're trying to get that evidence you so sorely lack..."

He leaned down even more and hissed "... I'm gonna break all your limbs and toss you into the basement to starve to death."

"We have a basement?" Krimp asked with a look of confusion

Ogthrak rolled his eyes and finally got off of the Faunus, allowing her to breath evenly as he stepped away.

"Now the Master has a strict, unending policy in terms of fairness. If something is earned, fought for and attained through actual effort, then it is deserved. Not how I look at things really, but I'm gonna toss you a bone on this one." he made his way past Krimp to the double doors "If you can properly visit your kin without being caught and jailed by Atlas, then congratulations."

He stopped at the door and glared back at her "But you gotta earn it."

---

Travelling with Bubol was quickly becoming a practice in patience for Uthug.

While it was true that the Marksman's knowledge of the Depths allowed them to pretty much avoid the Broken all together, trying to get information out of him was more than enough of a struggle to overshadow that. Uthug had spent the last few hours or so trying to fill in the blanks that Galkar had left him, but Bubol seemed far too prone to losing focus and prattling on about pointless shrahk.

Through some hoop-jumping and plenty of help from Gundza, Uthug managed to confirm or deny most of what Galkar had said. In fact, Galkar was out of date on far more than the Looter would've liked. Those groups of Uruks who had made it down here? Almost all of them had been confirmed to be dead by Bubol, who had found their mangled bodies at the bottom of the large space they had met at. Most of their possessions had been stripped and a large amount of their flesh had been gnawed off, but Bubol had been able to identify most by taste. There was no way that Uthug would've found any helpful items on them.

And caches of resources? The last idiot globs who got caught coming down here would apparently lead the Broken right to them, only making them more and more well equipped at defending their territory. Most of those traps had been set up using tools stolen from those very caches.

So in essence, every single time some wannabee survivalist gets caught it makes the Broken more difficult for everyone else. Both Uthug and Gundza had been utterly confused as to why the archer hadn't forbade entry the first few times this happened, but when the Looter asked Bubol merely pointed out that he enjoyed watching groups of unsuspecting fighters try surviving against these harsh conditions.

Both Gundza and Uthug had to give internal groans at yet another clear case of Bubol's desire for entertainment superseding all else.

But now they'd come to something that had been confusing both of them since they'd first heard about it: the Tark Galkar said had been occasionally sighted down here.

"Ya mean Speedy?" Bubol asked as he crouched low and crawled into a service hatch

"Who?" Uthug raised an eyebrow as he followed behind

"Now I get how this kinda turned into a legend of some sort," Bubol murmured as he crawled forth "most of the guys who knew about how that started are either with Felgrat or were killed by his Caterers when we started going at it. But ya know how those Atlas folk tested on a bunch of the older inmates? Well one of those tests involved this really wacky tark. Think they was trying to find some way to get us to not wanna kill them, at least that's how the guys who went through it feel it was designed."

So they did try connecting with us, a fool's errand. Uruks only ally with non-uruks to help them easily kill other opponents. Even then there's never a guarantee that betrayal won't occur.

"But from how they described him, this Tark wasn't right in the head. They said the only reason they didn't wanna kill him after long was because he was far more confusin' than aggravating. He kept pleading for them to get him to a car, said he just wanted to drive again. He would jitter and twitch and sometimes rush about going 'Speed, speed! More speed!'"

"So that's why you call him Speedy." Uthug grumbled as he watched Bubol slip out of the tunnel and moved quickly to follow "Fine, so they think the only way to gain some kind of bond with us murderous creatures is by having us interact with a lunatic of their own species. It sounds desperate, but fine. Now how the hell did he end up down here?"

"Now that's the thing," Bubol hummed as he leaned against a wall "Speedy broke free not too long before me and my pals from the tournie showed up. Even the Uruks from back when didn't know exactly how it happened. Them Atlas droids tried sneaking in like they always had, but Kruk had had enough of his boys being taken away from him. He managed to figure out where they'd be coming in and tried ambushing them, but before they could start killing each other Speedy just ran right in. Don't even know how he got loose, the guys who were forced to interact with him said that the other tarks kept him restrained. But somehow he must've slipped out around that time."

The diseased archer pushed away from the wall and stretched "Now he didn't get caught up in the battle, but the distraction of seeing him race by was enough for those Atlas robots to pull back. Kruk and his guys tried chasing Speedy to make up for it, but he quickly slipped down here, and even someone like Kruk wasn't bout to risk his neck in Broken territory. Don't really think they've got a means to keep tabs around here since everything's busted, so not even the Tarks have been trying to get him back. Guess they can't really plan out any sneaky sneaks when they can't get a good lay o the land."

"So this random human has just been scrounging down here all this time and you haven't once tried catching him?!" Uthug asked

"I've been down here enough times to see him lots, but only from afar. The guy really does act quite like the Broken, his key focus seems to be on going fast as can be. Really likes running he does. Main reason the Broken ain't catch him yet is because the guy goes excessively fast for a softskin."

This is it, we've found ourselves a proper advantage.

In what?

If this tark truly is still alive down here, catching him has to be priority one.

I've dealt with enough idiots already, now you want me going looking for more?

Lunacy or not this Speedy character has seen parts of the Arceus we currently don't have access to. Gaining knowledge of the ship's inner workings is key in any escape. Even if he caught even a cursory glance at times, more information at this stage is priceless. If I can get inside his head, who knows what kind of information I could gain access to.

Uthug sighed before narrowing his eyes at Bubol "Oi, where've you been leading me this whole time?"

"Got me a little hidey hole," Bubol nodded down an adjacent hall "thought we could take a rest, start getting to really know each other and-"

"Change of plans, we're going after the tark. He might have info we can use."

Bubol paused and raised an eyebrow before turning and continuing on the down the original hall "Look at you, little go-getter just can't wait to get out of our little fun house. I like it, there's drive here!"

Good.

You know I'm not letting you get back inside me if you really are planning on hopping in this guy.

We shall see, if what Bubol says is true and our jailers can't monitor us down here, then I might not need to continue hiding in you. Although it further supports my theory, this ship has far too many flaws to be considered a long-term solution.

Yes yes and we have to be sure our first attempt succeeds or they drown us all. We've been over this before.

Bubol led them through a different series of maintenance tunnels and passages, occasionally pausing to work around some traps or Broken Uruks sniffing about. The depths truly seemed to spread under most of the holding area of the Arceus, but for all his misleading statements Galkar was right about something. There was far too much area for the amount of Broken they saw.

He thought back to Felgrat's Caterers or even Bubol's Boys, inmates were all over the place. The Broken were down here with more than both their territory combined and they'd only seen that one small hunting party and several others along the way. There was Knocker too, but Uthug wasn't even convinced that he fully counted as one of the Broken. He'd been crazy when he was dropped off with Uthug, he didn't need torment by tarks to get how he was. Seems crazies just enjoy the same areas?

Well, Bubol seemed to enjoy it here so maybe there was more weight to that idea than he thought.

But as he traveled, he realized Gundza wasn't speaking as much as he often did.

Something on ya mind?

Simply preparing myself for the likely event that I have to transfer hosts, though I've become far more adept than when I discovered my ability, I've found some prep work does wonders for the process.

Transferring into a tark though? Hate to figure out what that feels like.

Mayhaps one day you'll indeed find out, as long as we continue working together.

When Uthug gave a confused look at that, he could hear the Shadow chuckling.

Your semblance, I know you have the ability to copy the semblances of others, even if for just a short time. Think about it, once I'm out then perhaps you can take my semblance for a spin.

Sounds like its given you plenty of trouble.

At first, but I've come a long way from inhabiting crazed Uruks and junkie tarks.

And yet now your about to hop into a crazed tark, glad to see you're expanding your area of expertise.

"So uh, what's the plan here?" Bubol asked

The spark of rage that surged into Uthug at that moment immediately made him glare holes into the back of the Archer's head.

"About the tark I mean, how exactly are we supposed to catch him when the Broken can't? If he starts running I guarantee you he's gonna outpace us."

"No plan, I see him, I'm tackling the bastard to the ground."

The Looter could practically feel Gundza shaking his head in disappointment.

"Grappler eh, I like my boys on the ground too! It makes them far more-..." Bubol paused as his ears caught something up ahead at what looked like an intersection of hallways. A single door was hanging open on one of the walls across from them. Uthug paused as well, and they both watched as the door slowly began opening.

Bubol gestured and the two crouched behind pieces of torn up architecture as the door slowly swung open. The door seemed damaged, as it shifted a bit on its hinges as a filthy hand slowly pushed it open.

Uthug glanced to Bubol, whose eyes widened at the sight of the hand before a grin spread on his face.

The Looter looked again as a head of long black hair came into view, followed by a filthy looking tark dragging a bag behind him on the floor.

There he was, a rumor made flesh just slinking around down here. Uthug couldn't believe it, not that he was here but that they'd located him so quickly. No, not with his luck. There had to be a real catch. They had the drop on him, but was he really as fast as Bubol claimed?

Uthug wasn't about to let his bad luck get in the way, and moved to lunge forward when Gundza's voice halted him.

At least wait until he's turned around, at this angle he has an easy route for escape.

Uthug gave a low growl as he watched the tark slowly close the door behind him, a piece of metal fell from his bag. Speedy released several curses as he bent low to pick it up, revealing a wild beard matching an even wilder pair of frantic eyes. Uthug didn't know what he expected a manic tark to look like in this realm, but he certainly fit the bill. What he wasn't expecting was Gundza's reaction to the Tark's appearance.

Mitch?!

Uthug had to place a hand to his head at the sudden headache Gundza's outburst caused him.

What? What's wrong?

That's him, the first Tark I ever slipped into in this realm, what the shrahk is he doing here?!

Uthug looked up at 'Speedy' or Mitch or whatever the hell he was supposed to be called, wouldn't this make things go even easier? If Gundza had experience controlling him before then all they had to do was grab him, but that still didn't make him any less antsy. There's no way things could go this well, something was bound to-

And then, as if fate itself had descended upon them, three of the Broken spilled in from the side halls between them and the Tark.

"No running, little Boy!" the Largest of them shouted, his particular phrasing indicating it was indeed the boy-crazed pack leader who had chased him earlier.

To his surprise, Mitch actually hissed at them as he scampered back "No slowing! Never slowing again! Just speed bumps, gonna pass you!"

The shrahk did you do to him? He's speaking just like these nutty globs!

I-I never checked afterwards I... he was already a tad unstable when I took him over but this-

Two more Broken appeared on the other side of Mitch, effectively cutting him off.

Yeah, this was about what Uthug expected. Glancing over, he could see that Bubol was far too entertained by the spectacle before him to depend on for interference.

Mitch tied the bag to his wrist and crouched low as he glanced frantically between the two encroaching groups of Broken Uruks, and turned on the smaller of the groups.

"Rat ain't got nowhere to go!" one of the two mumbled "Meaty rat got no wheels to run for, gonna give us good meat eating yes he will!"

But then Speedy dropped low before darting right at the two, at speeds that Uthug did not expect for one of such a lanky frame. The Broken Uruks raised their makeshift weapons to intervene, but he seemed to change his course at the last second and slipped right past them before disappearing down the hall.

"Rat!?" one shouted after him before getting shoved aside by the pack leader.

"Bad boy get punishment later," he shouted before gesturing forward "little boy get punishment now!"

And so off they ran after the fleeing human.

Uthug and Bubol slipped out of their hiding spots once they were sure no others were coming.

"Trust me about his speed now?" the Archer snickered before growing a thoughtful expression "Though to be fair, that's the closest I've seen those blokes get to catching him. Guess they was narrowing down his movements like me, how exciting!"

Uthug, listen to me. We cannot allow those mongrels to kill Mitch. It might concern you even more now. Mitch did not act like some kind of maddened animal while I was using him, obsessed with racing sure but this is something new. I'm unsure if this could be some long term result of my possession.

You saying I'm gonna go crazed like him?

Just that its a possibility we should look into now before it becomes a problem later. The earlier reasons still apply but I know just how self-centered you can be, you should want this matter settled.

The Looter could not argue that, no matter how much he wished to.

"Come on, we gotta find him before they do." he sighed before glancing at Bubol "And don't think I'm letting you keep being a spectator."

"Now whatever gave you an absurd idea such as that, my angry Black-Clothed friend?" Bubol leaned forward only for Uthug to start walking

"You're one of the best shots in Mordor, like hell I'm not gonna use that."

---

"She's gotta be able to use them. I mean, if anyone could it would be her, right?"

Emerald stared up at the broken moon for what felt like hours, her thoughts had been focused on one single thing. Thankfully the grounds were sparse, with most staff and students turning in for the night. Nobody was there to see her, so she let her mind wander over this subject over and over, seeking an answer that seemed impossible for her to grasp.

"There you are."

Emerald winced as a familiar, annoying voice reached her ears, and her contemplation immediately turned to anger as she glanced back to see Mercury approaching with the same cocky grin he seemed to have as a default.

"What do you want, Merc?" she asked

"Boss doesn't like it when she can't find her Yes Girl, and I don't like it when I have to find you for her." he said with a stretch

Emerald merely rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the moon.

"Shoulda been there, yet another report of the White Fang having trouble with Uruks and the boss getting angry that they kept directing their problems to her." he chuckled "Seriously, Neo and I have started betting on how long it takes till the next call comes in."

"You'd think those things would calm down after the beatdown Ironwood put 'em through." The red-eyed youth sighed

"Hey, they're just doing what any hunted criminals do when their bosses get caught: Trying to hide in the nooks and crannies the authorities would look over." he shook his head "Too bad for them that all those places already have a bunch of angry Faunus there."

Emerald didn't reply immediately, and Mercury raised an eyebrow before walking to her side and leaning to get a better look at her "So, you coming back? I don't really want to find out how things will go down if I head back without you."

"They're still a problem."

"Hm?"

"I just can't believe those freaks are still a problem for us... do you have any idea how many have died since they got here?" she turned to Mercury "Just losing the train crew was enough to send Adam's punks into a near panic, but these guys are dropping off like flies and just continue to make problems."

"From how it seems, they're used to losing plenty of guys in battle, guess they've grown accustomed to it." he grinned "Maybe that'll change when there's only a few hundred of 'em left. As long as they don't have those pit things-"

He noticed Emerald's expression tighten at that, "And that's another thing," she stated before turning back to the moon and growing an uneasy look "despite only seeing these things in videos or hearing about them through the Fang's reports, haven't you noticed how familiar these guys are?"

He rolled his eyes "I'm sure tons of evil masterminds have had the idea of growing their armies out of sludge or plants or dirt or something. I'm sure I've seen that in a cartoon somewhere even before I knew about our... Ahem...'secret mastermind'. It really is the most cost effective method of getting labor these days."

"Merc, I'm serious!"

"So am I," he pointed out "if I ever wanted to take over the world the first thing I'd do is find a way to turn sewage into armies."

"That should not sound as cool as it does!" a new voice chimed in

Immediately Emerald froze while Mercury glanced over to an approaching figure. The Green-haired girl nearly choked when she recognized the red cape "Ruby!?"

"Yep!" the younger girl waved with a smile before folding her arms behind her back and leaning towards them "So what's this about sewer armies? They sound so disgusting, but if they were in a comic I probably wouldn't be able to resist picking it up!"

Mercury noticed Emerald's small sigh of relief and smirked before glancing back to Ruby "Well wish me luck, soon as I start raking in Huntsman payments I plan on making that a series."

After steadying her breath, Emerald managed to shake her head at Mercury's quick thinking and matched Ruby's smile with one of her own "What are you doing out here this late?"

"Well I just got back from a little trip and figured I'd take the scenic route. I've kinda been all over the place these last few weeks." she turned to look up at the school building with a whistle "Seems so much homelier now."

"Right, I still can't believe the messes you managed to get yourself into in such a short time." the Green haired girl commented "So many have had run-ins with the Uruks, but you guys took the fight right to their leaders."

"Yeah, and got thrashed as a result." the little reaper murmured "Almost makes me glad we don't have the tournament to worry about."

"If anyone deserves a rest, its you guys."

Ruby smiled at that, until she grew a curious expression "By the way, what are you two doing out here so late."

Emerald gave a little laugh "Well ya see-"

But unfortunately for her, Mercury spoke up "Ever heard of a Midnight Rendezvous?"

She immediately began to retaliate "What exactly are you-!?"

"Oh" Ruby put a finger to her chin in thought "Sorry for interrupting then."

"Wait, don't just take that at face value!" but despite her plea, Ruby was already making her way by them

"It's okay, really! I just didn't realize-... Good luck with the tournament!" she said quickly before hurrying off

Emerald's expression hardened into a stiff frown once Ruby was out of sight, and she became painfully aware of the held-back snickers coming from beside her, "Can you say anything that doesn't piss me off?"

"Of course, but it would probably be a bunch of lies."

---

It took Mitch about twenty minutes to shake off the Broken.

Not without trying, mind you. For a raving madman he was surprisingly quiet given all the trash, water and rubble he had to move around. It was just that the gang of Broken hunting him were amazingly persistent. In spite of the smell of metallic water everywhere, the one at the head of the pack managed to keep sniffing him out. Perhaps if they were less focused on catching the human, they would've taken note of the two Uruks trailing behind them.

For how much Bubol seemed to love running his mouth, Uthug was surprised at just how quiet the archer can be. Perhaps due to his thin frame, Bubol could slink about without a single sound. Uthug on the other hand had to be extremely deliberate with his footing. There was just some random junk lying about to look out for. Even if the broken were distracted now, he knew that the second he merely grazed something on the ground they would be onto him.

And so, after twenty long minutes of having to keep up with this stealth garbage, Mitch finally managed to lose the Broken. Seems the Pack Leader's luck couldn't hold up, and eventually he led his pack down the wrong path. Once the sound of their footsteps disappeared, Mitch started moving at a greater pace.

Uthug and Bubol followed him further through the sopping, filthy underbelly of the Arceus until they spotted him slip through a busted set of double doors.

"Really? He's been holing up here?" Bubol tapped his chin in thought as the duo stopped in front of the doorway.

"What about it?

"That big bastard and his pals back there took down another group of Sroken who was bunking down here not too long ago, seems our friend's been hiding here in their stead."

Uthug raised an eyebrow, it didn't really seem important to know that. This wasn't a tour, they knew where he was, so why not just grab him instead of reminiscing about dead lunatics?

Failing to see the details again I see? Despite seeming like an unstable madman, our speed-crazed friend chose this place to hide. If the Broken who originally took residence died in some kind of territorial dispute, then this place would fly under most noses. Its a rather tactical choice of seclusion, meaning-

"Don't care," Uthug shook his head before marching in "let's just get this tark already."

"Straight to the climax eh?" Bubol cooed before following "I like it!"

It became apparent real fast that this room was large, with numerous massive shelves which reached to the ceiling high above. The place was mainly lit up by emergency lights similar to the few which were scattered around the depths, but it was actually brighter than most other areas. This was in large part due to a single bright light bulb hanging down from the center of the ceiling. It was hanging very precariously from its mount, Uthug was positive he'd be able to grab it should he manage to scale one of these large shelves.

The shelves were another thing, they took up most of the space yet Uthug for the life of him couldn't figure out why they were here. The place looked like some kind of storage area, but why would it be all the way down here? The paths in between the shelves started feeling maze-like the deeper in they got, dead ends, various turns and the occasional pile of junk blocking the way was starting to grate on him. They began cutting through shelves if there was enough space between them, which alleviated some of the strain of their search.

I can only assume they were planning on using this place to keep large parts needed for quick repairs.

What?

Just off the top of my head, the sheer size of these shelves suggest that whatever was planned to be on them would have to be rather big. With its proximity maybe this was where they'd keep spare pieces for the machines down here. I can't think of any other reason they'd keep a warehouse like this around.

Uthug couldn't agree, even if they were intended to have large parts stored here the shelves were mostly taken up by rubble and broken stuff. It was like the debris littered all over the Arceus was being stockpiled here.

We already know this place has been inhabited before, maybe its former owners were keen on collecting anything they assumed they could use. Perhaps Mitch figured he could use some of their stuff.

Like maybe he found some other way off this blasted ship?

I wouldn't bet on it, the only thing I can remember him thinking about when he was my puppet was driving as fast as physically possible no matter the vehicle.

Before Uthug could continue questioning, the sound of something falling over made him turn to see something incredibly quick speeding out of sight.

"Think that's our boy?" Bubol leaned over his shoulder and questioned "Seemed a bit too fast, even for him."

Uthug groaned as he turned to catch up to whatever it was. Knowing his luck, the tark probably had some beastly death machine he was riding around in just waiting for him.

Unlikely, the space between these shelves is rather generous I'll admit, but even a small car would have trouble maneuvering in here. Besides, think rationally, where would he even get it?

Despite the shadow's reassurance, the sound of that thing speeding by on the other side of the shelf beside him sounded distinctly like wheels. So much so that he could even feel Gundza hesitate to comment.

Perhaps he found a cart to help move heavier items? But that doesn't really explain how its moving so fast... unless-

A hand on Uthug's shoulder prompted him to glance back to Bubol, who was looking directly behind them at something at the far end of the shelves.

Uthug turned around to get a better look at it, only for his eyes to widen and his teeth to clench.

Turns out, they were both partially right.

There was Mitch seated in what could only be described as a heavy lifting cart with a seat and pedals attached to it. Having built some kind of rudimentary metal cage around his seat and with a bunch of jagged objects strapped all over it, the pride in Mitch's eyes was palpable.

"So that's what you've been scavving for," Bubol called out as he looked the odd looking contraption over with a smile "Mighty jealous of that seat there, think its willing to share?"

"Tried to stop me, to slow me down." Mitch took one hand off the handmade wheel that seemed wedged down into the cart and patted his chest "But a true racer always returns to the road!"

Uthug's shoulders relaxed, he'd honestly been expecting worst given his luck, but this seemed like a trivial thing for both him and Bubol. Of course, Gundza didn't seem to think so, and began shouting as Mitch tightened his grip on the wheel.

Move damn it! His semblance-!

And then the ridiculous cart made of garbage sped towards them as if it had an industrial engine powering it.

Uthug just barely caught a glimpse of Bubol scaling the nearest shelf before Mitch's cart barreled into him and sent the Looter rolling over the mesh cockpit and slamming into the floor as the Speedster drove off.

He had had just enough time to raise his aura in order to negate the devastating blow, but he already felt extremely exhausted from that alone. Despite that, Uthug forced himself to his knees as Gundza muttered.

I knew it made him go faster in vehicles not meant for high speeds, but is it really that fluid?

"The shrahk just happened?!" Uthug barked as he stumbled to his feet

Mitch's semblance, I hadn't considered it a threat in these circumstances, but I suppose I overestimated its limits. Does this mean that it could theoretically be used for anything as long as he can ride it?

"He's gonna be riding something when I get my claws into him!" Uthug barked

"Oh my," came a voice from above "how scandalous!"

Glancing up, Uthug found Bubol sitting atop the nearest shelf with a cheeky grin "What will the boys say if they find out about this?"

"Do something already you useless-!"

But the sounds of wheels quickly approaching forced the Looter to instead turn and run as Mitch's makeshift cart swerved from behind another shelf and darted towards him.

---

"Damn, could you just watch where you're going?!" Sky mumbled as he brushed his chest, trying to ignore the snickering from Dove beside him.

In front of him, Ruby recovered from their collision "Well you guys just rushed out from behind the corner!"

The boy glanced to his sides before gesturing with his arms "And?" before shaking his head and waving her off "Whatever, just watch yourself next time."

Despite trying to move past her, Sky paused upon realizing that Dove wasn't following.

"Oh be easy on her, pal." Dove shook his head before patting Ruby on the shoulder "Haven't you heard? She and her friends have been through quite the series of ordeals lately, by all means she should be considered a hero."

Sky rolled his eyes at that, but Ruby just shook her head whilst subtly moving from Dove's grasp "I guess so," she said "I know it might sound really impressive, but I don't think I really want to talk about it."

"And so humble too!" Dove admired before shrugging "Dear Rose, you simply must inform me of how one such as I can reach a level of compassion that can mirror yours in even the smallest of comparisons."

"Maybe don't lace all your compliments with sarcasm?" she suggested quietly as she slowly continued on her path towards her dorm.

She could practically feel Dove's snickers as she left.

But she didn't have long to mull over his words, as she soon passed by Team CRDL's dorm and found the door slightly ajar. Had Dove and Sky forgotten to close it? Ruby knew the proper thing to do would be to close it or inform whoever was inside of it, but she also really didn't want to risk running into anymore of this particular team's members. Taking the scenic route had already proved far less relaxing than she'd hoped it to be, all she really wanted at this point was to get back to her team and chat carelessly about her trip or how Weiss's time with Penny went or something casual like that. Besides, it sounded like Cardin was speaking in there, so hopefully he'd notice the door on his own.

But a sound made Ruby pause before she could fully pass the door, the unmistakable sound of someone sniffling could just barely be heard over Cardin's voice. Suddenly she found herself rooted near the door as she focused more and more on the sound.

"-to the plan and hope they won't be able to counter it until after its too late." the tall boy said as whoever he was talking to released some more sniffles "Come one man, we're really close. I need to know you won't fall apart out there if things start looking bad."

Whoever was sniffling took a deep breath before a voice that Ruby hadn't expected finally replied "You don't have to worry about me, everything will turn out our way as long as Dove or Sky don't fuck it up."

That was definitely Russel, but had he really been crying just moments before? And how was it all that audible sadness could turn to these bitter remarks almost instantly?

"Dove's living garbage but he'd never risk getting on my bad side, and Sky trusts me enough for me to at least have faith in his ability to follow my orders. Only thing I can't trust right now is you. Ever since we got the um... well the news, you've been reacting in ways I can't call predictable. So if anything goes awry during the tournament, don't feel bad when I start glaring at you."

"I won't, haven't I been taking your training regime and equipment revamp in stride?" Russel bit "Even Sky complained more than I did! And, if you haven't noticed, I went through the majority of those 'changes', all for this plan of yours."

"A plan I've invested too much time and thought into to let your grief get in the way."

"It won't." Russel stated before the sound of a chair being moved reached Ruby "Now let me get back to work here, and close that door already. This draft is annoying."

"Shit, how long has it been open?" Cardin grumbled before quickly walking over "Did those two idiots just leave it like this?"

Cardin poked his head out and searched the empty hall before slipping back in and making sure to close the door behind him.

---

Climb something! Anything! He's circling around again!

Excuse me for not being as nimble as- uh oh.

Uthug just managed to avoid the Speedster long enough to try scaling one of the shelves, only to spot Mitch swerving from around another aisle.

"No getting off the tracks, you cheating roadkill!"

Uthug hurried to pull himself up, but Mitch's cart sped towards him far too quickly. The leg of his jumpsuit got caught by one of the sharp protrusions on Mitch's cockpit cage, and he was torn from the shelf. He would've been skinned on the floor passing below had his arms not instinctively lunged for two other jagged protrusions and held him up.

Those things are cutting into our Aura, find a safe spot to jump off and-

But Uthug merely snarled as he reoriented himself atop the speeding cart, which seemed to swerve more often once the driver realized the Uruk hadn't been dislodged.

"What the-!? Get your filthy mitts off my ride!"

The Looter began hammering away at the cage with his bare hands, just barely being able to hold on as Mitch began violently swerving his cart in an effort to shake him off. Somehow he managed to not clip any of the surrounding shelves as he maneuvered through them.

"Come on you slippery little shrahk!" Uthug snarled as he dug his claws into the cage and began prying it open "Just wait till I get my fingers in those eyes of yours and start yanking out whatever I can get ahold of!"

But we need him damn it!

"I need you dead!" Uthug roared as he finally pried enough of the cage open to get a clear shot at the now-panicked driver within. But as he reared back with a balled up fist, Mitch took a hard swerve around a shelf. The weakened cage came undone as the Uruk holding on to it went sailing down another aisle. Uthug collided painfully with the ground and rolled over to another shelf.

Up! He's coming back around!

Uthug pushed himself to his feet just as Mitch's cart appeared at the end of the aisle. Uthug turned to run in the other direction, only to find that another large shelf blocked his path. Atop that shelf sat Bubol, smugly enjoying the chase below.

"You wrecked my ride kid." Mitch breathed heavily as Uthug yelled up to the Archer.

"Do something damn it!" he shouted, the diseased lunatic merely shrugged before standing up and drawing his slingshot.

"I'm gonna grind you into the pavement!"

Uthug turned back wide eyed as Mitch once more sped towards him. However, a single little stone smashed the driver directly in his forehead mid laugh, nearly rendering him unconscious as he struggled not to lose control of the wheel.

Uthug watched as a second stone collided with the metal rod attaching the wheel to the cart. It had been hit in just the right position, making it bend out of place almost instantly. The panicked jerk Mitch gave it led the wheel to disconnect from the cart entirely, and soon it was slamming against the shelves on either side as it sped out of control towards Uthug.

Releasing the broken cage in his grasp, Uthug tightened his scowl before rushing the incoming cart and leaping forward. The front of the cart passed under him as his shoulder barreled into Mitch, the force was more than enough to wrench both him and his chair right off the back of the cart as it slammed into the shelf with enough force to make the whole thing tilt backwards.

Feeling the shelf shift out of place, Bubol was quick to leap to another one before it tipped back into two more shelves and brought them to the ground like dominoes. The archer gave an impressed whistle as he looked over the damage and scratched at the filthy growths covering his flesh, before the screams of a man below garnered his attention.

"No! Can't slow down! Gotta get back on tr-" Mitch's cries were interrupted once Uthug cracked his skull against the human's nose.

"Run me over and try to get away with it, eh fast man?!" The Looter seethed as he grabbed Mitch by the scruff his shirt and wasted no time in pummeling him with his free hand

Slow down, you're gonna kill him!

"One can only hope!" Uthug bellowed as Mitch's aura finally burnt out under the assault. Seeing the telltale shimmer, Uthug threw the man to the ground before kicking him hard in the side.

Uthug!

"Thought you was gonna get in my way!?" the Looter bit as he dropped down on the stunned human and clasped his hands together before swinging them into the side of his head, easily dislodging several teeth in the process.

Do you want off of this damned ship or not!?

Uthug paused in the midst of his assault, one hand clutching Mitch's neck while the other was just waiting to cave in his skull.

"Gotta... speed... need...quick." Mitch mumbled through his bloodied mouth "Gotta...go...fast."

Uthug sighed as he opened his fist and instead took Mitch's head in his hands.

Fine, just get it over with.

Almost immediately the aura around Uthug's hands flashed black for a moment as Mitch suddenly went still. The Uruk got off of him as the human's body began shaking and convulsing for a bit, narrowing his eyes at the realization that for the first time in what felt like forever, he finally had his thoughts to himself.

"Now what was all of that about laddie?" cooed Bubol from above "Went from beating that tark to cradling him real quick."

"Semblance, don't want him giving me trouble before we get him out of here." the Looter answered before pointing down at the still shaking human "Now help me carry him, I want to get out of here before something else-"

"Hello big boy!"

Uthug's head snapped to the side in horror to find that standing atop the shelf in the center of the room were five Broken, the leader waving casually at him as he giggled away.

"Rat found more meat! Had the eye hunt whilst getting tenderized!" One of the broken pointed out as another casually swung what looked like a meathook with a chain attached to it.

"Fishin's gettin good in these waters." the hook-wielder snickered "Grab ya boys and ya tools for a good catch."

"Huh, guess they heard the crash." Bubol commented as Uthug tried not to tear at his own skin in rage.

---

Finally drawing close to her dorm, Ruby noticed that team JNPR were almost all peaking out of their door. She was about to question them on why, but instead took note of the two voices arguing within her Team's room. Was everybody having some kind of teammate confrontation tonight?

"Ruby, you're back!" Jaune noticed her, nearly knocking into Nora as he waved "How was your trip?"

"Watch it!" Nora whined as she held a bowl protectively near her chest "Nearly made me spill my popcorn!"

"The trip was fun, dad and I saw some awesome looking birds while on the ship." Ruby could've gone on, but the sound of her teammates arguing caused her to shift topics "What's going on?"

From behind Nora, Ren leaned into view "Yang and Weiss, they've been at it for the past hour."

"Actually, two hours." Pyrrha tapped at her scroll before lowering it "Sorry, its just been a while since the last time they've clashed like this."

"I've got real lien running on who's gonna cave first," Nora tightened her fist before launching another handful of popcorn into her mouth "Yang's got this."

Ruby turned back to her door and listened with them for a second before taking a deep breath and marching over to it "Okay, I'm going in."

"-stand why you have to insert yourself into other people's situations with no care or tact at all." Weiss continued as she moved the chair of her desk out of her way to step closer to Yang, who was mouthing along to her words mockingly "And yet it seems my warnings just continue to fly over that head of yours."

"I told you it isn't a big deal, they just wanted some help for their teammates." Yang shrugged

"When you start bugging me about it, it becomes my deal. Besides, no matter how social you think you are I would never say you're exactly an expert on this subject. You just got back, can't you just mellow out for a moment before jumping into more tense situations?"

"Wouldn't exactly call youthful romance a tense situation, princess." the Blonde snorted before standing up and placing a hand over her own heart "Besides, helping your friends hook up is just a staple of being a good pal. Think about it fair Weiss! Search deep inside your heart, Queen of the North, you know within your very soul that they shalt be the cutest thing in all of the kingdom once bonded! I can see it in your eyes!"

"That's not the point! I don't even know why Yatsu isn't putting a stop to this." Weiss sighed as she pressed a finger to her forehead "Interfering in the affairs of others is not something I can just easily overlook, Yang. Its one thing to play those ridiculous pranks on your teammates, but things like this have a habit of backfiring. Trust me, up in Atlas I've seen far too many relations sour just because someone tried to butt in and make things go their way. Not everything requires the guidance of an outside force, a respected distance must be maintained by third parties."

"Um..."

The two turned to see Ruby carefully closing the door behind her.

"Ruby, perfect timing." Weiss sighed a breath of relief "Please talk some sense into your oaf of a sister before she ends up doing something we'll all regret. For some reason she's decided the first task to undergo once returning to the kingdom is try and play matchmaker for Coco and Velvet."

"Well-"

"Look, I'm just trying to help some mutual friends get a little closer, sis." Yang waved off the Heiress's statement "Certainly not the end-of the world scenario our resident Schnee seems to think it is. You know me, used to do stuff like this all the time back at Patch."

"I mean-"

"I don't know how things work on Patch but I can assure you that holding new scenarios to the preconceptions of previous ones can only take you so far." Weiss stated before folding her arms "And I know its not the end of the world... I'm just saying it feels like it would be impolite. By all means go risk your friendship if you wish."

"It's not like I'm gonna be shoving them together into locked rooms or anything, Weiss." Yang rubbed at her head "Just gonna try and get Coco to at least acknowledge what's happening. If it doesn't work out I would never try to force it. Not like I'm twiddling my thumbs trying to figure out how many laws and rights I can violate in order to get two people together. Still gonna try and stop me?"

"Hmph, I've learned by now that trying to stop you from doing something poorly thought out and reckless is like trying to move a building with my toes."

"As long as you aren't really invasive, I mean. I'm all for helping friends too, I like helping everyone. So-..." Ruby tapped her fingers together before pausing and looking at the two of them.

Hearing Ruby trail off, her teammates glanced over to her. Ruby was staring at them with some kind of sparkle in her eye. A smile began growing on her face as Weiss and Yang shared a confused look.

But suddenly she dashed over and hugged the two of them tightly, startling them both.

"Oof! Hey, what's the occasion?" Yang asked as she slowly but surely patted her sister on the back.

"Sorry, It's just been so long since we've done this!" Ruby explained as she nuzzled them both

"Argued? Fairly certain that's been a constant with us, Ruby?" Weiss raised an eyebrow at the sudden affection.

"No I mean, it's just... nostalgic." Ruby sighed "Walking in on you two fighting over something, suddenly being made mediator. When... when Yang was gone I almost thought we'd never be able to do this again. And now being right back here... I just..."

She trailed off once more and hugged them tighter. Weiss cast a glare over to Yang who shrugged before wholeheartedly returning the embrace. The heiress merely rolled her eyes as she too returned it.

"That reminds me sis, how did that trip with dad go?"

Ruby merely sighed as she continued squeezing them "Just... great."

---

Is this really how his entire life was set up now? Every time he got closer to his goal was a seemingly insurmountable blockade gonna just materialize out of the damned air specifically to try dragging him off center? That's what it was starting to feel like... and Uthug needed something to pay for it.

So after calling for Bubol to get Mitch somewhere safe, he decided to hell with keeping these Broken bastards alive. The Caterers could fill every spot down here if they wanted to. All that mattered was right now, right here. It was the five mad Uruks standing above that he desperately needed to sink his claws into.

"Oooh, followed the big boy to the little boy!" the leader cackled as he bent to one knee upon the high shelf "This boy wants both, and he's about to get 'em."

And with that he stood and leaned back with a pipe that seemed to have a large piece of broken furniture stuck to it. The Boy-Crazed Uruk then swung his makeshift maul into the single light hanging over the entire room, almost immediately plunging it into near darkness. The emergency lights were still functional, but Uthug couldn't truly see anything in the distance too clearly.

Before his eyes could properly adjust a bright light lit up his gaze, and he raised his arms to block it. It was coming from the Broken Leader, who was whooping and hollering as he slammed his maul against the shelf he stood upon. He had something strapped to one of his shoulder pads, Uthug faintly remembered Uthug's mention of the everlasting torches and immediately decided the most annoying one dies first.

So as soon as his vision began clearing up, Uthug began stomping towards the shelf that the pack leader stood upon. However, he only made it two feet when the Broken with the Meat-Obsession raced out from a corner ahead and charged him screaming, "Rat Meat, dead meat!"

Now this was his element, and Uthug flexed his fingers as he prepared to meet him head on. But two arms suddenly slipped under his arms from behind as he was suddenly lifted off his feet and restrained.

"This Catch's gonna be a fighter, lads!" the ambusher shouted as he practically held Uthug towards the charging Uruk as an offering "Gotta subdue him quick else he'll give us a right hassle!"

Uthug ground his teeth together, where the shrahk had he come from? But the Meat-Lover's rapidly approaching axe discouraged thinking. So Uthug acted on instinct, and used the limbs that hadn't been restrained. As the axe came down towards his heart, Uthug pushed both him and the Broken trapping him back with one leg as as the other shot up to kick the Meat-Lover away.

Unbalanced, Uthug was able to reach back with his hands and claw at the skull of the broken Uruk behind him. Though his aura held, the Broken tossed Uthug against the shelf on the side as the two of them each lunged back away from him. He looked up to find that they were both retreating down the opposite sides of the aisle now. He made to run after the Meat-Lover, fully intending to pry that axe out of his demolished hands if he had to, but his gaze went to another Broken who appeared at the edge of the aisle just as said Axe-Wielder raced past him.

This new one had a large pipe he seemed to be wielding like a staff, though the oddly shaped ends led Uthug to think it was some kind of spear. He quickly raised the weapon before jamming it into the shelf and prying one of its supports whilst humming "That one destroys."

But a second voice immediately picked up with "While the other one distracts!"

The Looter's head snapped back to see another Broken Uruk with an almost identical looking spear thing doing the exact same thing on the other of the shelf as the Ambusher ducked past him. The staff-wielders simultaneously yanked hard and snapped the edges of the shelf which began to tilt under the weight of the rubble stored up higher.

Uthug gasped as the entire second row of collected trash began spilling into the aisle starting at either end. He planned to throw himself back and press himself to the shelf behind him, but when the item on the shelf shifted the Looter turned back. Seeing what might be his best hope of escaping the small avalanche of junk, Uthug slammed his shoulder against the pile on the shelf until much fell out on the other side before stuffing himself in their place. He just barely got in before the pile of metal rubbish collapsed and pressed against his side before he wiggled through the shelf and out onto the other side.

"Oi? Boy's not bashed yet?" he heard the Pack leader call out as the bright light faded a bit "No matter, we got all the time in the world to play kiddo!"

As soon as he quieted down, Uthug nearly froze at the sound of several footsteps scrambling quickly around the quick room. Had they always moved like that? How hadn't he noticed th-

"Where you at boy!?" the Pack Leader shouted, his voice momentarily drowning out the footsteps.

Now that one definitely needed to die first.

Uthug saw the edge of the flashlight's gaze drawing near and he scurried away to another set of shelves. Before he could slip behind a corner, one of the pole-armed Broken seemed to explode from a pile of crushed boxes before jabbing at him. Uthug lunged back out of the range of that odd weapon before growling and ducking under it. The Broken saw his incoming fist and shifted the position of his weapon only for it to snap in half as Uthug's fist traveled right through it and into his jaw.

A weak aura flared as the babbling lunatic careened backwards, but he wasn't as dazed as Uthug had hoped. So when the Looter tried bringing his elbow down on the head of him, the other Uruk merely rolled past his legs whilst still shaking off the impact.

"That One scouts." the Broken Uruk muttered, but Uthug wasn't willing to slow down his attack until a set of footsteps on the other side of a nearby shelf drew closer.

"While the Other One distracts!" a voice called out before the entire aisle Uthug was in was bathed in light.

"Found ya again, big boy!" cried the Pack Leader before he began loudly slamming his weapon again and drowned out the sound of approaching footsteps.

Uthug didn't even have time to curse before the Uruk in front of him was swiping at him with the two halves of his weapon, the Looter ducked under them and shoulder charged into the Broken Uruk before wrapping both arms around him and throwing him to the side. Uthug turned to make for one of the relatively small potential weapons on the shelf when what should pop into his vision but a hook on a chain swinging down towards him. The growls from the Broken behind him prompted him to duck under the hook whilst scooting forward out of range of the Uruk's range before swinging his elbow back.

Not only did the Crazed inmate lunge back, he also managed to link his weapons in the passing hook before being yanked somewhat off the ground. Uthug's eyes went wide as he watched the Broken Uruk run along the edge of a shelf before spinning towards him. Pissed that even these guys had time for flashy attacks, the Looter ducked under the incoming kick before quickly throwing himself into the Broken's back and knocking him off the hook, which the Berserker quickly took hold of before it could be yanked away.

Up above, the hook-wielder felt the sudden weight and struggled to keep from losing his grasp before whistling, "We got us a biter here, lads!" he shouted as the other spear wielder climbed up to his aid "Now the key to proper fishin' is all about coordination! A demonstration, my boy?"

"The one aids!" shouted a voice from below

"While the other one maneuvers." said the spear-wielder before glancing over the edge to find Uthug rapidly hauling himself up the side of the shelf using the hook's chain. Setting down his spear, the One yanked something from the shelf below and launched it down towards Uthug who had to lean to the side to avoid it.

Gasping at the momentary lack of proper footing, the Looter glanced up before climbing faster "I'm getting tired of your shrahk gimmicks! Just die and be done with it!"

"How he giving you boys so much trouble?" the Pack Leader called out as he watched the One continuously try to dislodge the ascending Uruk "Just one meaty boy shouldn't be enough for trained boys like ya'selves! Do I gotta help ya grow again?!"

Grimacing at his words, the One finally picked up his spear again before jamming it into the chain and snapping it, but it was already too late. Uthug managed to haul himself over the side and immediately lunged at the broken Uruks. The Former Hook-wielder held up his chain as if to defend, but Uthug charged into the One before he could get distance to properly use his spear. He barreled into him, the Pack Leader frowning as he watched them both tumble down between another set of shelves.

Moving along the shelf he was on to get eyes on his prey, the Pack Leader only saw the Other One kneeled over the One.

"The One's down." said the Other One as he looped his arms under the battered's Uruks arms and carried him off.

The Pack Leader slammed his maul on top of the shelf loudly before calling out "Get me my boy, damn it!"

He adjusted the flashlight strapped to his shoulder before aiming it down to the floor below and scanning over it as his boys went about to their scampering. Passing his light over the shelves, the sound of metal on metal brought his gaze to what was unmistakably the Fisher's stolen hook now clinging to the edge of the shelf he was on.

"No no boy!" he called out as he raised his maul and rushed over "Gotta play with the others."

He was going to bring it down on the Hook when just on the edge of his vision, he spotted movement atop another nearby shelf which made him glance up just as a tiny rock sped directly into his eye. He wheeled back as his aura had to strain to keep the object from puncturing right into his skull, but the pain of the impact wasn't enough to distract him from Uthug hauling himself up.

Seems he'd gotten hold of the One's spear, because he threw it at the Pack Leader immediately as he charged. Despite still not being able to see too clearly from his one eye, the Pack Leader managed to bash the spear out of the air with his maul. However, he left a perfect opening for Uthug to leap onto him and slam their skulls together before raking the hook across his face. His aura held, and the Broken roared before wedging his maul between them and tossing Uthug off. When the Scavenger landed, the top of the shelf caved under his weight and he slipped off the edge. He just barely managed to grab hold and look up to see the Pack Leader sliding down the incline towards him with Maul at the ready.

Thinking quickly, Uthug let go of the edge of the shelf and instead grabbed one of its weakened supports, just barely putting enough space between him and the incoming maul for the Broken Uruk to miss and go speeding off the shelf into another one. His aura flared with every impact until he flopped onto the floor, groaning as he rose to his feet. Clutching the hook in both hands, Uthug leaped down towards the struggling Uruk. But before he could ram said hook through the back of his skull, the Fisher raced from behind one of the shelves and swung his chain at Uthug, managing to yank him off course and instead crash painfully into the ground while the Pack leader managed to scramble to his feet.

Enraged by the interruption, Uthug shook off the impact and rammed the top of his head into the Fisher's throat and pulled his hook free. Whipping a hand behind him, the fisher suddenly threw a tiny glass of fluids directly against Uthug's face which shattered and released a foul liquid which managed to completely obscure his vision. Uthug violently clawed at the gunk until he could see the retreating form of the Fisher.

Glancing back, the Looter noted the Pack Leader still stumbling away and raced after him.

The muscle-bound Broken had made it to the fallen shelves left over from the fight with Mitch, and he quickly began scaling one. Uthug raced to catch up, managing to get atop one. Before he could leap at the Pack Leader, a war cry from above brought his attention to the Meat Lover, who flung himself from the top of a neighboring shelf axe-raised. Uthug raised the hook, and deflected the strike, but the force managed to throw Uthug back. He landed atop the Pack Leader, and wasted no time in swinging his hook back into him, slashing at his aura again before the bigger Uruk grunted and hauled both of them over the side of the toppled Shelves.

Uthug glanced up to see the Pack Leader stumble away whilst raising his maul, and a scream behind him prompted him to duck as the Meat Lover lunged at him. Taking hold of the Axe-wielding Broken mid-attack, Uthug launched him at the Pack Leader. Though the larger Uruk dodged his flying underling, he was unprepared for Uthug to continue his assault with tangible ferocity. The Looter swung his hook right into the bigger Uruk's mouth, finally breaking his aura and wedging the weapon inside his gums. Uthug broke into a grin as the Pack Leader screamed, voice garbled from the hook in his mouth. However, that smile faded when he realized he couldn't manage to yank it back out.

The Pack Leader seemed to notice too, as his scream of pain shifted to maddened laughter as he raised his maul. Uthug ducked under the weapon and open palmed-swipes whilst trying in vain to tear his hook from the Uruk's mouth. Approaching footsteps reminded Uthug that the Meat Lover was still there, and the Looter quickly reached forward and tore the flashlight off the Pack Leader's shoulder pad before shining it back towards the incoming Uruk. The Meat Lover screamed at the sudden flash of light, his attack faltering just enough for Uthug to smash him on the back of the head with the tool. With him stunned, Uthug turned off the flashlight, placed it in his teeth and ducked under another swing of the maul before climbing upon the Pack Leader's back and wrapping both hands around the hook.

If he couldn't tear the damned thing out, he'd just have to dig it into something more vital!

The Boy-crazed Broken didn't take kindly to it, and began furiously trying to shake the Scavenger off while swinging his maul behind him as his deranged laughter only grew. When he almost brained Uthug a third time, the Looter growled before grabbing the flashlight and slamming its glaring bulb against one of his victim's eyes. The laughter returned to a scream once more, but Uthug's spiteful joy was short-lived when the Pack Leader lunged back and slammed him against a shelf. Knocked from his position, Uthug pushed himself back up to see the Fisher and Meat Lover charging him as their leader scrambled past them whilst trying to pull the hook from his mouth.

With a vicious snarl, Uthug whipped the flashlight in front of him, its light cutting through the dark room and forcing the Broken to scream as their vision was momentarily overwhelmed. But it was that single moment that the Looter needed most, as he slipped through their flailing limbs and lunged for the protruding hook once more.

The Pack Leader began swinging once more, but Uthug planted one foot on the larger Uruk's shoulder to brace himself as he dropped the flashlight and pulled the hook with both hands. The Screaming and flailing grew more and more violent as the hook dug along the Pack Leader's mouth and jaw before it finally punctured his skull.

His mad laughter changed to a pained wheeze almost instantly as his movements slowed, but that merely gave Uthug more leeway to twist the over-sized fishing implement deeper into his cranium. His cries distorted with each yank, until finally Uthug tore it out through his face in a spray of black blood and gray matter.

Uthug slammed into the ground, coating his clothes in a fresh coat of black blood before scrambling over to the fallen flashlight. Once he got a hold of it he pushed himself to his feet and turned back to find himself up against a wall. Both the Fisher and the Meat Lover had recovered enough to glare at him with chain and axe at the ready, above them both the One and the Other One stood upon the toppled shelves nearby.

Feeling much more confident after the gruesome butchering of their leader, Uthug ground his teeth together before pointing his hook at them "Come on! Who next? Just try something, anything!"

The Fisher was the first to move, subtly glancing towards the corpse of the Pack Leader for a moment before tapping his foot on the ground "No easy eats today lads, bite's actually better than the bark. Might aught to try next season after the weather's changed and the dead have been chained. New lighting can always improve the chance of a catch!"

"Bad meat! Too rough! No more pleasant taste!" the Meat-Lover whined as he began taking several steps back "Covered in too much black blood, need to cook! More flame to cook, cook entire land to make tasty again!"

"Then that one shall recover."

"While the other one waits."

And like that, they all turned and scurried off. Slipping in and over shelves until Uthug could only hear their footsteps fading into the distance. It was only when the sound of the busted double doors shifting loudly reached him that he let out a breath.

"Now that was simply delicious to witness."

Uthug sighed before looking up just as Bubol descended from the nearest shelf and landed with his usual flare of over-dramatic posturing. The Archer nodded towards Uthug before casually tiptoeing over to the Pack Leader's body "Might not have been the same as taking on a club of cooks, but I've seen enough to believe in your ability to make it happen, laddie!"

"Where'd you leave Speedy? I told you to keep an eye on him!"

"And miss out on seeing such a disgusting display of desecration?" Bubol bent down and picked up the corpse's Maul before leaning on it and turning his nose up "Hardly!"

Somehow, hearing a walking epidemic call anything disgusting made Uthug's slowly fading rage threaten to spark back up with a vengeance. But instead, he merely sighed before gesturing forward.

"Come on" he muttered "knowing my luck, taking the time to chew you out would give him just long enough to starve to death."

Luckily enough, when they returned to the shelf where Bubol said he'd stuffed him, the unconscious human seemed to have only fallen out into the aisle. Honestly, Uthug had nearly convinced himself that he would've been picked clean by rodents or something when they found him. Even a break like this was too generous, and so he immediately began scanning for the catch up until they made it to the exit. That was when said catch revealed itself.

They had just been ready to finally leave the god forsaken storage room when the sound of something being dragged along the ground reached them. Bubol slowed down first, raising a pustule covered brow as he squinted through his sores to see the approaching figure "Someone else here to take a crack at-"

He didn't finish, as Uthug practically tossed the unconscious Tark at him before stepping forward and flexing his fingers for what he was certain would be another test of his patience, of which only burnt embers remained.

To be fair, perhaps the Looter should've expected it to be the Knocker approaching, dragging his sledgehammer along behind him whilst grinning like a loon. Uthug had hoped the run in they'd had earlier would stay a one off event, but he realized that such notions were naive. And so he raised his hands and got ready for yet another time-consuming brawl as Knocker raised his weapon.

"Knock!" the burly Uruk shouted before pointing past Uthug.

"Who? Me?" Bubol openly pondered from behind the Looter "See something ya like big guy? Because I sure do."

Uthug wasn't willing to turn back and give the Uruk a chance to surprise him, but he did note Knocker shifting his weapon a bit as if to indicate something else.

"What? This thing?" Bubol responded with a chuckle "Ah, I can see you appreciate a good shape as well, eh?"

Uthug's eyes widened as he finally turned and saw that Bubol was leaning on the Pack Leader's maul, there was no way it would be that easy... not for him, right?

"Knock Knock!" Knocker began nodding up and down at it

"Sorry lad, but after what we just went through this tark here might not be enough compensation." Bubol cooed as he jostled Mitch a bit "A shame really since-"

"Oh just give him the damn thing!" Uthug snapped as he marched over and tore the maul from Bubol's stunned grasp before roughly tossing it into Knocker's with a growl "I'm gonna forget you nearly killing me earlier as long as you press ya'self against that wall there and let us stroll right out without me having to drench myself in your innards."

Knocker gave the maul several experimental swings before grinning widely and... doing exactly as he was told. Uthug's face may not have changed, but internally he was gobsmacked when the Mad Uruk followed his demand and leaned back against the nearby wall, out of their way.

"Ooh how I love it when Uruks learn to throw their weight around." Bubol giggled as he dragged Mitch past the stunned Looter and grinning Knocker "Like watching a new blood first figure out how to kill something twice its size, its almost magical!"

Uthug was still a bit stunned, watching as Knocker slowly tapped his two weapons to the wall behind him. The Mad Uruk stared back, punctuating each light impact with "Knock... Knock... Knock..."

Eventually the Looter did hurry to catch up with Bubol as they began moving farther and farther from that Storage Room, leaving behind the now rhythmic tapping of Knocker's weapons, but still the Looter couldn't get over how he'd actually managed to subvert a whole other tedious fight. Oh he didn't know how dangerous Knocker was, but considering how easily he'd destroyed that catwalk earlier, Uthug could tell he would at least be tiresome. But he hadn't needed to put up with it! All because the lunatic figured asking for the Maul was the better solution. Why couldn't he come to a conclusion like that earlier? Seemed pretty eager to watch the Scavenger plummet before. Had he taken note of his battle with the Broken and wisely decided not to further stir the Looter's ire? If so, then perhaps he did need to look more into that notoriety thing Gundza was going on about.

It was only then that Uthug realized something, Mitch had barely moved since Gundza had slipped into him. While it did make keeping track of him during the fight a non-issue, there was no way Gundza was having this much trouble with taking control. Perhaps he was just faking it to keep Bubol from finding out it was him?

"Pass him over." Uthug grumbled as he took hold of one of the Tark's arms

"Now now," Bubol waggled his pus-stained brows but let the human be removed from his grasp "don't ya think you deserve a bit of a rest after pulling all that back there?"

"Sorry to say this Boss," Uthug grumbled as he hefted Mitch onto his back "but from what I've seen and heard leaving anything unconscious near you is more of a gamble I ain't really willin' to-"

A sudden jolt had him stumbling forward as a familiar surge of... something hit him. Grumbling, he turned his gaze to the Archer in hopes he hadn't noticed, yet the curious grin Bubol now sported immediately dissolved that hope. To his surprise, the lusftul lunatic didn't immediately call out his sudden lurch.

"Planning on finishing them words any time soon?" Bubol cooed as he pranced ahead and leaned towards Uthug whilst waiting for an answer

"Just... just help me get this sod to your hidey hole or whatever."

And yet another unforeseen blessing had Bubol seemingly drop the issue with a cheeky shrug as he turned and resumed leading the Looter down the dark, dank halls of the Depths. Uthug was not under the impression that it wouldn't come up later, but right now he was more than happy with that. It gave him time deal with the familiar feeling of being watched that he could only equate to a certain Shadow.

As Bubol led the way, Uthug silently poked around for Gundza, hoping beyond hope that he'd gotten something from the Tark. With all the good luck he'd recently encountered, Mitch not giving them anything useful was becoming more and more of a likely possibility. He'd rather just get to the disappointing news now rather than later, as he didn't want to get his hopes up for-

Before the Tournament ends...

There he was.

So, get anything from your little pink-skinned friend or are we-?

We have until the tournament ends to escape or we perish along with every prisoner on this ship.

---

"They've found the way home, boys!"

The assembly of Uruks immediately went quiet before they looked up to their leaders, many with skepticism or disbelief.

Skak grinned as he looked over the gathered Uruks, many of which hadn't been prepared for the sudden request to gather in the largest open space of the shantytown they called home. The day had seemed rather uneventful for most, going about working on their blades, roughhousing and generally waiting for something to spice it up. It had been too long since a good hunt or raid had gone down on account of the Garrison's royal screw up, and many had begun going stir-crazy in the absence of proper blood-shed.

That looming tension dissipated immediately once Skak had bellowed that single declaration. Now hundreds of stunned expressions looked upon the wooden stand that both of the Captains stood upon with several of their lackeys, pointed ears seemingly hungry for a follow-up.

But Ishga quickly realized his comrade was far too eager to enjoy the plethora of dumbfounded expressions and rolled his eyes before stepping forth "You hear right, brothers. Our allies amongst the Storm claim to have developed a method of creating a Dreamer Gate which could finally allow us access to the Dark Lord's domain. Our time of suffering this worthless realm's skewed rules and inhabitants has finally been rewarded!"

With that the Uruks began responding, as their shocked expressions melted into fierce grins and hoots of triumph as many began raising their fists and weapons in celebration.

"And once we return to our master's embrace, he shall use the Dreamer Gates to flood every kingdom in Middle-Earth with his armies!" Ishga proclaimed whilst raising a fist "And once those who dared to oppose him are finally cast in chains, we shall be his loyal guides into this world, we shall be the harbingers for his conquest of this miserable land, and we will aid him in every step as yet another realm falls to his grasp!"

Chants of agreement seemed to escalate with every statement, feet pounded as metal clanged to a chorus of happy growls and eager roars.

"However!"

Silence once more as Ishga lowered his arm "Despite this goal being within our grasp, there is yet more work required of us."

At that a couple of dissapointed calls rang out until Skak twirled his weapon and waved a hand "I get ya, me and Blood-Axe was a bit miffed as well. See those book-brained lugs in the Storm figured out how to put this Gate together, but its a touch more complicated than the ones we been using. So all of us, Garrison included, have to work on finding exactly what they need. Lot of these new ingredients have apparently been harvested by tarks or seem to appear where the dark beasts reside. And since Hork's boys have been hunting down all the weaker beasts, the only ones left are the real big ones. Same could be said for the tarks actually, since we all know how much fun we've been having with their weakest since we showed up."

"Which is why a division of duties in order." Ishga grumbled "There's no telling when Atlas plans to capitalize on the weakened state of Hork's tower, so the Warchiefs want these last ingredients gathered intermediately. Lucky for us, we've been tasked with picking up where we've left off with our neighbors, for it seems some of their trade goods are necessary for the construction of this gate."

"And you all know what that means!" Skak called out before beginning to rhythmically stomp "Raid! Raid! Raid! Raid!"

As the Uruks joined in, and the cries for a raid filled the night air, two blue marked Uruks watched the gathering from the training yard near the top of the tower.

Maku the Warmonger merely folded his arms at the sight "Pfft, look at them getting all charged up. Gonna make the Master's play even tastier, eh Whisperer?"

But the other member of the Storm wasn't viewing the gathering, instead he was staring up at the Garrison HQ. Hork hadn't added to it since the great embarrassment, using much of his semblance to speed up the reconstruction efforts. As such it was left in its blatantly unfinished state, but the well built solidity of what was there was obvious.

The Trainer glared up at the structure whilst running his weathered fingers through his beard before whispering out into the air "The Dreamer sees us, but will he continue to stay the course?"

Inside the Garrison HQ was a buzz of activity, as most of the Gate Defenders were currently stuffed into the large room that their Warchief had fought the Blonde Tark in. With the room lit up by both torches and moonlight which bled in through the large hole above and the broken window, the Garrison forces stood at attention as Pigug the Executioner paced before them.

"These are the beasts we knew would take much of our focus to bring down, the ones we were hoping we could just leave in their dens as we built up our forces!" the immensely armored Uruk bellowed "That isn't an option anymore and you all know why! Our Warchief demands the treasures nestled in their dens, and so we shall slay any who dare to stand in our way! We will return to the Dark Lord's domain!"

Between every word one could hear the clank of metal coming from the other Garrison Captain in the room. Dharg the Hell-Hawk approached a table set up near the broken window with a mug of grog in hand. The metal clanks came from the many patches of metal which had been affixed over his numerous wounds gained from the tark girls during their escape. Besides that were the leather straps designed to hide the most severely burned skin which crossed over his body, but the straps on his shoulder gave one of his namesakes a good place to perch as he approached the over-sized Gatekeeper currently leaning over the table.

Adjusting the mug in the grasp of the metal claws, which had been used to replace the fingers the Red Tark had blasted off, Dharg placed it on the table near Hork.

The Keeper of the Black Gate didn't tear his gaze from the rough map of Vacuo before him, but did bring the grog to his lips before speaking "I can believe that the Shaman's soldiers can acquire the ingredients needed from factories, given how savvy they've gotten with those gates, so I leave oversight of their forays to you, Dreamer."

He momentarily looked up to Tugog, who had turned away from the table and was currently watching the rising moon through the broken window. The Dreamer noted his silence and turned back to nod.

"But what about the Pits you ordered they make, Master?" Dharg questioned as he tapped a metal claw to the table "From how it sounds, they'd already diverted a significant amount of focus to that."

"We'll have to have them put it on hold, once we return to Mordor we can have all the Spawning Pits we need. Priority one should be contacting the Dark Lord, all of this will be in vain if we cannot ensure the knowledge we've gained reaches him. Once he is compensated for our abandonment of his Gate, then all of this will have been worth it."

Tugog's expression subtly soured at that, but he quickly turned away to continue watching the moon before any could notice.

---

Vale had handed Mitch over to Atlas once they realized no standard psychological treatments would work. His time under Gundza's influence had left his mind in a rather hectic state that seemed to focus solely on getting back on the road at all costs. As a result he became hostile towards literally anything that he considered to be holding him back from that goal. With the Vale council having their hands full keeping the Vytal Festival preparations going smoothly despite the skirmishes between Uruks, White Fang and Atlas going on all around them, one couldn't really fault them for trying to focus solely on assets that required their attention.

So when Atlesian Officials requested Mitch to study the effects Gundza's control had on him in case of future encounters, their compliance was never really in question. Mitch's memory gets extremely foggy around the details of what experiments they put him through exactly, but the result was generally inconclusive for the northerners. With results unsatisfying, Mitch was eventually just left in a padded cell for a while until one of their Scientists suggested a little test concerning his newly hostile personality.

And so Mitch was eventually brought to the Arceus, kept in a room similar to the ones the crew resided in, only with far more security locks and chains. The crew quickly realized that anything not relating to speed or cars was basically inconsequential to him, which meant many got quite loose-lipped when moving him around.

-And trust me when I say they got quite talkative about this right before Mitch got loose down here. I'm not sure how much of this is true since Mitch's guards didn't seem fully abreast of it either, but Atlas seems to be planning on topping off the Vytal Festival with either the destruction or apprehension of the Warchiefs and their forces. Apparently the rising stakes eventually got to the Vale Council and Atlas has an entire army already gearing up to take on the Tower.

Uthug's breathing got heavier as he tried to focus on following Bubol through the moist halls of the Depths, carrying Mitch, and listen to Gundza's words all at once.

I suppose it makes sense, given what we last saw of the Tower they must be aiming to capitalize on the structural weakness before the Warchief is able to repair it. The outcome of the battle is inconsequential to us; As no matter what, Atlas plans on sending all of the Uruks captured during it right here to us.

Uthug sighed as he navigated under a Broken trap which something else seemed to have set off earlier.

Which means even more bastards who want me dead are gonna end up on this dump, Tuka didn't really leave much of a good impression on them back when he was alive... and I don't think I need to tell you how they deal with deserters.

They won't get the chance to capitalize on any hatred they have for ya. Because once all the new prisoners are on board they's sinking us all.

I thought that was only for escape attempts? If we ever started taking over the ship?

I assumed that was their counter, but no. I'm not sure how much of this is actually known by the rest of the Atelsian military, as word of this apparently only started going around once the majority of the crew was drafted to help in the upcoming Assault on the Tower.

Wait, if most of them left then-

Indeed, the reason they stopped coming down to take Uruks for their tests is because they only have a small skeleton crew with a handful of AK-Units. Unfortunately for us, the Skeleton Crew seems far more determined to murder us all as effectively as possible, and is fully intent on staging a riot to justify their mass execution. They'll claim that we were escaping no matter what and just barely got away with their lives in order to keep up public relations. Mitch was supposed to have been killed by us inmates so they could claim he died whilst trying to build a repertoire in order to further the public's disdain for us and subsequent relief at our extermination.

A time limit, of all the things Uthug had expected Gundza to find in Mitch's nutty little head, it had to be a damned time limit. So not only was the hasty destruction of the Caterers necessary, they had to do it soon or else it was game over. And with how quickly the Atlesians could react to their escape, the margin of error was vast.

However, there is one saving grace. I found that there is a way to cancel the sinking before the vessel is fully submerged. The controlled sink will halt and floating devices will pull the ship up as long as enough of it is still above water. It's the only way to keep the entire thing from going under once the sequence is initiated. However, the only key able to activate this will no doubt be taken by the crew while they evacuate. If we're able to blast our way to the upper levels quick enough there's a chance we can snag it. Once it's in our possession, the Arceus is ours.

So a race will decide the fate of this ship in the end, a race they won't even be able to partake in if the initial break out doesn't go off without a hitch. That thought did nothing to reassure Uthug, especially considering who was apparently heading their side of the race. He glanced ahead to see Bubol pulling a loose piece of the metal wall aside and gesturing to it, "It's just down here lad, I betcha can't wait to get to a safe place to relax, eh?"

Bubol's willingness to waste time with frivolities is too much of a risk to a plan such as this, usually his obsession with whatever acquires his fancy is enough to keep him as goal-oriented as can be. But this ship has offered him too many distractions, and without any way to get to his current object of obsession he's grown complacent in enjoying the chaos here whilst waiting for opportunities instead of proactively trying to finish this battle as quickly as possible.

So, now can I kill him?

Killing Bubol may seem satisfying to you now, but trust me when I say that it will only become more infuriating the more times he slips through your fingers. No, we just need to get his mind back on track. Like I said, he's having too much fun with the distraction this battle with Felgrat has offered, we have to remind what he really wants.

As Uthug began the arduous process of dragging Mitch through the enclosed service tunnel, he raised an eyebrow to the meaning behind the Shadow's words.

Just be quiet and let me explain, perhaps you'll learn a thing or two from this.

---

"He wants me to what?" Ratlug asked as he turned his attention from his project to the scroll lying on the edge of the desk, on said scroll was an image of Maku grinning.

"Tugog wants work on the Spawning pit stopped so you can, you know, focus more on that 'Gate to Mordor'"

Ratlug smirked at that before waving off the Warmonger "If the Warchief demands it, so shall I comply. Tell him he's got nothing to worry about, wouldn't want Hork having a stress-related heart attack before he gets to see what we're cooking up, right?"

With a chuckle, he ended the call before returning to his work. Above, the mass of gears and musical implements filled his lab with its uncanny chorus as he prepared to get to work.

"What was that, boss?" asked one of his researchers as he lit a cigarette and compared notes with another who took photos of the devices they were working on with his scroll.

"Nothing, just everyone needing my expertise as usual." the False Doctor noted as he looked down at the two items before him. One was a staff with a number of odd protrusions, while the other was... he sighed as he looked over the Pogo Stick lying before him, but resigned himself to complete his task so he could focus on something more urgent.

Watching from the doorway to his lab was Krosh, leaning against the frame with a grin as he pressed his own scroll to his ear. At his feat crouched his slave Mincemeat, who was currently using both of her sets of jaws to gnaw through a rather large bone.

"Can't believe he chose a Pogo stick of all things." Krosh snickered through the phone as he watched his bastard of a father get to work "Tell me, Oggie, when you were out getting the thing, did you feel as silly as I'm hoping you did?"

On the other end of the call, Ogthrak sighed as he poured himself another drink. Human alcohol would never amount to Grog, but at this point he couldn't really care.

So with a sip he blatantly stated "Yes, are you satisfied?"

Krosh's voice broke into snickers as the disguised Uruk brought his drink and scroll with him to the window of his office so he could watch the performance below.

While most of the Studio's staff turned in this late at night, both Borgu and Zog were still up and at it, along with some of the more determined of Masqueraders. As Uruks they could probably handle more late nights than the average tark, probably due to the long treks they'd have to make back in Mordor, but for Ogthrak it just meant they could spend longer pumping out content for their little enterprise.

One of the dancers near them, however, seemed to have reached her limit. She stumbled off screen whilst they were preparing their next song, fumbling her way through the back halls of the studio, trying to make her way to the bathroom as the contents of her day of drinking finally caught up to her. She passed near a door but was far too inebriated to notice the two inside.

"I can't!" Bebe stated for what felt like the millionth time as she pace back and forth

"Come on, buddy!" Krimp cheered from the couch nearby "Oggie gave you the chance to go meet up with family, no Uruk, tark or in-between should pass up an opportunity like that!"

"But he only did it he because he knows I'll screw it up! She stated "We've talked about this Krimp, I can't risk this!"

"No, he allowed it because there's a chance you'll screw it up." Krimp elaborated before raising a fist of determination "And no chance is too small... for family! Ya do want to see ya brother again right?"

"I do!" she exclaimed before pausing "But Ogthrak's right, I'll just-"

"Nope!" Krimp interrupted before lunging and surprising the Faunus with a sudden hug which lifted her off her feet "You have to see him. And in honor of the bond between siblings, I'm gonna help you do it buddy!"

---

Uthug finally shifted Mitch's weight off him and let him collapse to the large pipe which seemed to travel along the far wall of the little hideaway Bubol had. The little service passage had led them to a hall that had been blocked by a rather large gate which looked similar to the ones the Broken used to cut off escape routes mid-pursuit. However, this one was far bigger, and looked as if it had jammed up, leaving two rooms cut off from the rest of the halls.

One of these rooms looked as though it had one point been planned to be a recreational room, though that was mostly due to the half-finished pool table in the center of it. The other room was an unfinished office comprised mostly of empty cabinets. Bubol had set up in the rec room of course, and had staked his claim on it with a smaller, less detailed picture of that tark girl painted on one of the walls.

"This was the first mural I made of her, back before I had access to enough Red to make the main one upstairs." Bubol sighed as he ran his fingers over it

Uthug gritted his teeth as he was reminded yet again how much time their 'Leader' wasted down here.

Focus! I already told you everything you need to know in order to rectify this. Since you seem so disgusted by plans, its on you to put this knowledge together in a manner which gets us out of here.

Taking a breath, Uthug focused on finding something to bind Mitch with, but kept glancing at the mural just enough for Bubol to notice.

And notice he did, "I see you too are captivated by her, its fine, perfection like this should be adored."

"No... sorry boss, I was just thinkin' about how she don't look too tough when drawn like that." Uthug grumbled as he finally found a discarded chord which would suit his needs "I was pissin myself when she had that damned scythe aimed at me, but she ain't a hassle."

"I know, right!" Bubol giggled before placing a hand over his pustule covered chest "But the sight of her trying so hard despite being such a small, innocent thing gets the blood flowing to all the right places!"

"Effort only gets ya so far." the Looter stated as he finished subduing Mitch and stood "Didn't help her or her friends against Ratlug."

That gave Bubol pause,as the Archer's grin took on a curious edge once more "Oh? A tidbit you seem to have failed to mention before, pal."

"Well, I told ya I was unconscious for most of the time your arsehole friend was controlling me, but I know about all the shrahk she had to go through to get her sister back." Uthug raised a hand and started counting off "I mean her team got split up again, leaving her with only Ashgarn's killer to face down Tugog and his entire gaggle of rabble, think I heard your pal was in there too roughing them up on their way to the blonde."

"Ah, I bet he clawed away at them for every floor they ascended." Bubol sighed "But I've seen the determination lurkin' behind those silver eyes, I know she must've slipped away from him somehow!"

Uthug ignored the little grumbles Gundza gave at Bubol's statement and simply continued speaking "Yeah, but they walked right into Hork's ambush after that. Now this was the time around me and Gundza were havin' issues, so I can't say how exactly they escaped. But I saw the destruction left behind, Gatekeeper nearly brought down the whole Tower just to kill them! In fact, might wanna update these murals of 'er."

Pushing past a euphoric looking Bubol, Uthug kneeled before the mural before rearing back with an open claw before a wart-covered hand took hold of his wrist.

"Surely you over exaggerate," the Diseased Uruk cooed "She has Aura to keep the permanent scars away, keeps that skin all nice and bare just waiting for my touch."

Uthug smirked as his other hand pawed at the floor "Maybe before the Tower, but by the time Gundza caught up it was more like this!"

With a quick flick of his wrist, the Looter added a layer of dirt to the image before he was yanked away.

"Now hold on," Bubol's smile faded a bit "how dare you insinuate she wouldn't keep clean for me!"

Uthug just kept going "But that was before Ratlug showed up! You know the Storm right? Who doesn't? Well Gundza got one of their finest to help him catch them before they got too far and he brought this massive heavily-armed machine that they was just barely dodging, singing hair and skin alike!"

"No." Bubol stated before frowning at the implications "That hair is mine to defile!"

"Then you probably don't want to hear about what happened after they busted the thing, because afterwards Ratlug was pretty pissed and just started tearing them apart. I mean he crippled one and busted up another's face-"

"Was it hers?!"

"Dunno," Uthug shrugged "maybe?"

"You lie!" Bubol snarled

"But... how would you know?" the Looter shrugged "I mean ya might as well get started on a different mural, boss, because at the rate she's going there won't be much of your red lass waiting for you outside."

Bubol narrowed his eyes before cracking a smile once more "I know she's keeping herself nice and clean out there, ready for MY scars, no one else's!" he shouted before jabbing a finger towards the Scavenger "That domain is mine for the defiling! Not Hork's, not Gundza's and certainly not some doctor wannabe Shaman boot-licker!"

With that he turned back to the Mural and began clearing away the dirt with one hand whilst scratching fervently as his pustule covered head with the other "I'll show you... that youthful, hopeful flesh will be just as succulent as it was the last time our blades crossed! Because she's mine..."

Digging his claws into one of the larger growths, Bubol took a step back from the image before whipping the bloodied pus onto it "Mine to sully, mine to desecrate!"

Uthug backed up, barely able to hear the Shadow's hum of approval over Bubol's increasingly vicious roars. The Diseased Archer continued flinging putrid fluids from his various growths until the image below could barely be seen anymore, before clenching his now dripping hands and bellowing towards the ceiling.

"Nobody else's! She's mine...Mine... MINE!"

---

Ruby knew that Weiss and Yang would be back to arguing as soon a she wasn't within ear-shot, but honestly she was glad that they were settling back into their old routine. They might deny it if pointed out, but even when they were first starting out as a team their dynamic was pretty obvious. Yang just enjoyed getting herself into odd or exciting situations that Weiss more than often didn't take kindly too, and their back and forth had become something of a RWBY classic.

Back then Ruby hated it when they argued, but she could somewhat shamefully admit to loving the fact that it was happening again. As she lay in bed getting as comfy as could be, she resolved to actually help deal with their disagreement later. Because at this very moment, with the sound of Weiss turning over below to try and block out Yang's snores, Ruby could almost forget that they'd nearly died dozens of times over the last month. The only thing that was missing was Blake, but soon even she'd be there to help complete the image.

She heard a suspiciously soft impact from Yang's bed, and after the Brawler shot up with a startled yelp, Weiss gave a little "Quiet down."

Though giving a few tired mumbles, Yang did conceded to the request with a yawn, "Whatever you say, Ice Queen."

Once everything had quieted down, Ruby shifted to better look out the nearby window.

As she watched the beautiful broken moon up there in the night sky, she let her mind wander to the epic fights the tournament was about to bring. Sure her Team may not be participating, but she was gonna be sure to get a front row seat so that all of her friends could hear her cheers first and foremost.

Yeah...the Tournament was going to be great!

---

AN: I suppose this is what I get for getting the last one out so quickly.

Nearly half a year before this one came out, and I had planned for it to just be the finishing segway into the Tournament Arc. I don't know how it managed to get this large, but hopefully the size makes up for the time it took to get it out. The next chapter I can finally get into the actual Tournament, should offer me some more guidance timeline wise.

But anyway, many will notice that the Uruk highlight is for a group today, a group of Uruks that literally everyone who plays they games meets. The Broken.

Now the games seem o describe Broken Uruks in two manners actually, a mechanical definition and a story definition. Following the mechanics, Broken Uruks are the ones who've been battered down in battle so much so that it's easier for their minds to be dominated by the magically inclined. Following the story-line, however, Broken is the label for any Uruk whose been shamed and humiliated to the point of madness. I went with this definition.

And so the Broken are the mad ramblers, those overridden with ludicrous babbling or simply awkward focuses. Anyone who's played Shadow of War for a decent amount of time has run into or created a plethora of them, as its often the final state for Nemeses the Player manages to defeat enough times. But whether its illegible screaming or repeating certain phrases over and over, Broken Uruks seemed to always act more unpredictable than their counterparts. I suppose that's why I felt inclined to give them their own Highlight.

Anyway, hope you enjoy, any and all criticisms positive or negative are welcomed in full so leave a review or comment if you are so inclined to do. Things you enjoyed about it? Things you hated about 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 Hot-Head