The camera panned down to a jungle a place card commenting 'Jungle in Menagerie.'
"Does Menagerie even have jungles?" Jaune asked directing his question at Blake and Ilia.
"Some," Blake responded, "The island is mostly desert but there are a few tropical forests there."
Sun and Torchwick were walking through the jungle obviously looking for El Dorado.
Torchwick grunted, "Hold on. Hold on, kid. I'm not as young as I used to be."
Neo giggled, "Old man."
"Shut up," Roman replied pushing the girl away from him.
Sun ignored him and continued joking as he walks away, "You weren't too old for that little barmaid in Kuo Kuana, were you?"
Another groan and another slap for Roman and Qrow.
Torchwick scoffed and continued walking, "Well, that was different. Although I must admit, equally as strenuous."
And again.
Emerald spoke up this time though, "Seriously, why does this universe insist on making us dwell on you procreating?"
Roman chuckled remembering the joke he made a long time ago.
Sun chuckled, "Well, hang in there, old timer. We're just about there."
"I am not old!" Roman yelled at the screen.
Torchwick began to recall something and Sun tunes out, "Y'know, this reminds me, I ever tell you about the time I pawned a phony sixteenth century santo off on Junior Xiong? A risky move but by the time they figured it out I was – Sun are you even listening to me?"
"Oh, yeah," Sun commented, "Hanging on every word."
Sun chuckled, "Hanging on every word."
"Okay that's like the fifth time I've done that." Sun exclaimed, "This is getting freaky!"
Torchwick sighed, "Ah, why waste my breath."
They continued to walk for a little while before Torchwick asked, "You really think Francis Wukong came all the way up here, huh? We're an awful long way from Vacuo."
The duo came to a clearing where Sun stopped.
"Well?" Torchwick asked hoping for good news.
Sun looked at his scroll and shrugged, "I don't get it, according to this we're right on top of the mark."
"Maybe you're not reading that thing right," Torchwick suggested, "Let me see it."
"No, this is the place," Sun said showing him the scroll.
"There's nothing here, Sun!" Torchwick said with frustration, "Another goddamn dead-end."
"Ugh!" Roman, Mercury, and Nora sighed. Mercury and Nora wanted some more action. Roman wanted to know if this city of gold really exists.
"Easy, Torchwick," Sun said calmly, "just relax. Let's take a look around."
Sun began to continue forward in the jungle followed by a frustrated Torchwick.
"Oh, man, this is like trying to find a bride in a brothel!" Torchwick joked out of frustration.
"Would you know something about that Roman?" Cinder asked him from across the way.
Roman just began to whistle while pulling on his collar.
Right as he finished his joke however, the pair came across a set of ruins.
"Well, now this is more like it!" Torchwick claimed with renewed zeal.
The duo began to explore the ruins when Torchwick asked, "What do you think this is, Ancient Faunus?"
"Nah, it's older than that," Sun explained, "Like two thousand years older."
"That seems wrong." Blake commented, "I don't think anyone lived on Menagerie before the Faunus."
"They did Miss Belladonna," Ozpin replied, "Before the Brothers destroyed humanity."
"Huh," is all Torchwick had to say about that.
The two explored for a little while longer.
"Find anything?" Torchwick asked.
"Nothing yet." Sun responded, but he did see a way he could get on top of the ruins. He climbed up and started jumping from pillar to pillar. The last pillar was unstable however, and began to slide out from under him. He jumped to a hand hold at the last second.
"Be careful up there," Torchwick warned.
"Aww, it's sweet that you care Roman." Emerald said jokingly.
Roman just clenched his fist.
From his view Sun noticed something, "Hey, there's something funny about the ground down there."
Torchwick went over to check it and discovered Sun was right, "It's hollow. We gotta find a way to smash through this."
Sun looked up and saw a boulder perched right above the hollow ground. He climbed up to it and shoved it down revealing a staircase.
"How did he move that boulder?" Weiss asked, "It was way to big for him to be able to move it on his own."
"Hey, I'm stronger than I look!" Sun replied indignantly.
"Good work, kid." Torchwick congratulated him when he is back on the ground.
As the pair examined the staircase Torchwick commented, "Uh, think we're gonna need the flashlights for this one."
Sun nodded and turned on his flashlight, only to awaken the bats that were hanging on the ceiling.
"Whoah!" he exclaimed as he ducked to avoid them.
Yang fell out of her seat laughing, "Really Sun? Startled by bats?"
Sun sunk into his seat trying to hide his embarrassment.
The pair continued down the staircase to a massive chamber with pillars and stone, but no gold.
"What a warm and homey place, huh?" Torchwick asked sarcastically.
Sun chuckled, "Not quite what you were expecting, huh?"
"Yeah – where's all the damn gold?" Roman asked.
"Yeah – where's all the damn gold?" Torchwick asked frustrated.
"And now it's Torchwick's turn." Sun commented on the flipped tables.
Sun ran his had over a pillar before he responded, "Ah, this place was picked clean centuries ago."
"No-good limey pirate." Torchwick mumbled.
"Wait, pirate?" Ruby asked slightly confused.
"Yes," Gordeau responded, "Sir Francis Wukong was a privateer. A pirate who worked for the Queen. As long as he didn't target Vacuoan ships he could do as he pleased."
"Oh." Ruby and Nora responded. Nora herself had thought it was odd, Ruby just beat her to the punch.
Sun picked up a helmet, "No, it wasn't Wukong. Check this out. Looks like the Mistralians got here before he did." Sun handed Torchwick the helmet.
"Really?" Roman commented, "How are we supposed to find it now?"
Torchwick proceeded to throw it angrily at the ground.
"What the hell, Torchwick?" Sun questioned.
"Sun, I'm not looking for a lousy piece of tin!" Torchwick angrily explained, "I'm up to my eyeballs in debt!" He collapsed onto a nearby stone before continuing in a calmer tone, "I was really countin' on this one."
Neo narrowed her eyes at Roman, "Roman, who are you in debt to?"
"If I knew I would tell you." He replied.
"Too many big bar tabs in Kuo Kuana, I guess?" Sun joked trying to lighten the mood.
Torchwick chuckled, "That, and well, just a few bad deals."
"Oh, I can think of one of those right now!" Roman exclaimed, staring at Cinder the whole time.
Cinder just smirked at him.
Sun continued to joke, "Yeah, well, I always told you to stay away from the bad guys – and the bad girls."
"Information that would've been useful to me yesterday!" Roman yelled.
"Yeah," Torchwick responded with a raised eyebrow, "Look who's talkin'."
Sun let out a light laugh, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Torchwick continued eyebrow still raised, "That reporter, I saw the way you were eyeing her."
"Did I miss something?" Pyrrha asked, "Neither Sun nor Velvet looked like they were particularly interested in each other."
"No," Jaune commented, "I think this is just for plot purposes."
"Velvet?" Sun asked suspiciously, "Please, I snuffed any chance with her the second we ditched her on that dock."
"Yeah you did!" Nora yelled, "You shouldn't just leave a girl like that!"
Blake sunk in her chair at Nora's out-burst, her eyes focused on Yang.
Yang caught this and grabbed Blake's hand. "It's okay. You're back now. That's all that matters."
Yang gave Blake a big smile before turning back to the universe, not realizing she never let go of Blake's hand. Two other people however did, in fact, take notice.
Torchwick laughed, "All's fair in love and war, kid."
Sun helped Torchwick up before he responded, "Hm. And what if you can't tell the difference?"
"It certainly can feel like that sometimes," Qrow commented his eyes glancing toward Winter. Her outburst at Ozpin had really gotten Qrow thinking.
"Yes, it can." Tai agreed his own eyes staring daggers into Raven.
Ozpin silently agreed.
"Then, my friend," Torchwick joked, "you are in big trouble."
The pair continued forward using their cunning and ingenuity to bridge any gap and open any door that stood in their way; until they ended up in a room with a large stone pillar in the middle.
As Sun examined it, he made a discovery, "Looks like this thing is some kind of lamp, or brazier. See if you can light it."
"What did he just call that?" Summer asked hoping for her daughters' sake she heard wrong.
"A brazier, Sum." Tai comforted her, "Not a brassiere."
"Oh, thank gods." Summer sighed, leaning her head back and looking at the sky.
Torchwick looked at him with a questioning look, "So after all your bitching about the cigar, now it comes in handy, huh?"
"See, Neo? It comes in handy." Roman gloated over his diminutive partner.
Neo just stuck her tongue out at him.
Torchwick lit the brazier and lamps on the ceiling sprung to life. The room in front of them was now lit. It was a major drop off, the only way down being a ladder. However, the ladder was blocked by debris from the ceiling as it had caved in. Sun looked around and saw hand holds that he could use to climb down.
As Sun began to make his way over Torchwick yelled at him, "Uh, Sun, some of us don't have your monkey agility."
"You sure you're not just making excuses cause you're old?" Mercury jokingly questioned him.
"I am not old!" Roman yelled.
"Don't worry," Sun scoffed at him, "I'll find a way to get you down, old man."
"AGGGH." Roman screamed with frustration.
Everyone else laughed at Roman's anger.
Torchwick yelled back flustered, "This has nothing to do with age!"
Sun made his way down and examined his surroundings. He spotted some Burn Dust barrels that the Mistralians left behind. He rolled them into place around the debris then shot them. The debris fell from the ladder letting Torchwick come down.
When Torchwick reached the bottom Sun put a hand on his shoulder, "See? I got you old timer."
Roman slumped in his seat, arms folded. He decided just to be angry on the inside.
Torchwick just rolled his eyes.
They continued to the next room in this ever-twisting ruin to find the door blocked. Sun noticed, however, that a hole in the floor led to pool just below. Sun went over to examine the hole.
Torchwick joined him seconds later, "Pretty deep."
"Yeah," Sun responded, "Looks like there's a ladder cut into the side. Wait here while I check it out."
"All right, just be careful." Torchwick said caringly.
Sun climbed down the ladder and jumped into the water.
"Aw, don't tell me your gonna swim in that?" Torchwick yelled from above.
"I've been in worse." Sun responded confidently.
"It's true." Sun said but didn't elaborate on what he meant.
Nora began to ask him but was cut off by Ren, "Nora, not now."
Nora slumped back rejected.
Sun spotted a small cave from the water and swam to it. The rock face was easily climbable to the monkey Faunus. When he reached the top, he saw that he was behind the blocked door. He also noticed more conveniently placed Dust barrels propped against the door.
"Well those are a little too convenient." Weiss stated while rolling her eyes at the screen.
"I concur," Winter agreed, "There is no way the Mistralian Army left those behind."
"Hey, Torchwick, back up." He called out before shooting the dust barrels, the ensuing explosion blasted away the door.
"Nice one!" Torchwick said as he entered.
They continued a little further until they found a chamber with a long drop and sketchy scaffolding holding it up.
"Well, that looks safe," Tai and Yang said sarcastically.
"Ah, this looks safe." Sun joked as he began to walk across the scaffolding.
"Dammit!"
Suddenly the platform under him started to give and the pillars on the wall started shaking.
Torchwick, who hadn't started across yet yelled, "Uh, Sun… Get out of there, now!"
Sun began running as fast as he could, the pillars coming down and crushing the scaffolding behind him. He saw the end of the pit, but the scaffolding endded before the safety of the next hallway. Sun closed his eyes and took a leap of faith; his fingers just grabed the edge of the platform. He pulled himself up and let out a strained laugh, "I made it." He called back, "I'm okay!"
A sigh of relief washed through the theater as almost everyone had been on the edge of their seats.
"Well, that was intense." Nora commented.
"Quite." Ozpin, to collective shock, agreed.
Torchwick jumped across the pillars and joined him. A stair case lay in front of them.
"Now it looks like we're getting somewhere!" Torchwick exclaimed hoping to find a clue ahead.
"After that, we'd better be," Sun responded still out of breath from his run.
"I'll say." Oscar agreed, "They had better find something."
The two came to another chamber this one looked like the end of the ruin.
"Oh, man," Torchwick said as he looked around. There was a giant alcove in the wall where something used to stand.
"The temple must have been built around this." Sun concluded.
"Around what?" Torchwick asked trying to get more information on the location of the treasure.
"Yes, please elaborate." Raven commented, trying to figure out where she would keep so much gold. This earned her glares from her family but she ignored them.
After examining the alcove Sun reached a conclusion, "A statue." Finding some gold dust on the floor he expanded this theory, "A golden statue."
Torchwick took a look at the alcove again and added his thought, "A huge gold statue! And look here," he pointed to the carvings on the wall, "these people – they're worshipping the damn thing."
"Well, that's not creepy at all!" Nora commented sarcastically.
Ren agreed, "While Idol worship has not been practiced in some time it is still unnerving to find proof of it."
Sun came to a realization, "Of course, El Dorado – 'The Golden Man.' Torchwick it wasn't a city of gold it was this. It was a golden idol."
Torchwick came to a different realization, "Man, can you imagine what that thing would be worth now?"
Roman and Neo began thinking of all the ways they could spend that money. Adam began to take intrest too. "I could hire and outfit a whole army with that statue!"
Sun noticed some grooves in the floor, "Look over here, tracks. I bet the Mistralians dragged it out on cut logs. Huh, we're four hundred years late for this party."
"So the trails cold." Torchwick exclaimed, frustration in his eyes. "Son of a bitch."
"Son of a bitch," Roman, Neo, Raven, and Adam exclaimed at the same time as on screen Torchwick. All of them suddenly realized just how much competition there was for this thing.
"Unless," Sun commented, "we follow the tracks."
The pair followed the tracks to the back wall of the temple, which had been blown out years ago.
"Huh, the tracks stop here." Sun noticed out loud.
"Enough with the teases!" Roman shouted at the screen.
"Swell, now what." Torchwick commented.
The pair continued into the jungle until the discovered something they never thought they'd see.
"Now there's something you don't see every day." Sun commented, looking up at what caught his attention.
A/N: Day early post this week. This will also be the case for the next two weeks at least, as my Fridays have become too packed to post. I would also like to thank all 49 people who followed and favorited my first story! And big thanks to Sorna-Raptor and Freddie46 for the nice comments. I do appreciate them. Small changes to the source material here. I cut a lot of the puzzle solving as it is fairly weak in the first game. Also, to keep Roman at a decent age and not Sully's, I changed the reason Roman can't jump across the wall. Also, I put a poll up on my profile. It asks what the next thing they'll react to will be between two options. Please go vote, as it will be up until Uncharted is done. Other than that, nothing new yet. Keep on reading.
