Chapter 9

Shadows Emerge

The docks on the edge of Vale were quiet; most materials were flown in to rebuild the city. In fact, only one of the 14 docks had occupants, and they were clearly not supposed to be there.

White Fang soldiers were loading case after case of dust into reinforced shipping containers under the supervision of someone who stood out more than any faunus did. Alvis Faba was a tall, lanky man with short, light-green hair and a goatee. He wore a white lab coat covering his entire torso and hips. The collar surrounding his neck had a golden, trident-like broach and yellow diamond-shaped decoration on his sleeves. He also had white boots with yellow soles and buttons. However, his outfit's most defining part was his green bracers and glasses that looked like separate green domes over his eyes.

Alongside Faba were two figures clad entirely in black, unisex armor that showed no hits of individuality; the only difference was that one had red shoulder pads, bracers, and knee guards while the other was blue. Both wore full-face helmets with blacked-out visors in the trident shape of Faba's broach.

"Hurry, we have ten more containers after this one!" Faba barked as another container appeared from the massive dimensional hole on the edge of the doc. The portal was 12 feet tall and 30 feet wide; filled containers were lifted by a crane onto wheeled platforms and pushed away into the void.

Lupin, still concealed in his robe, appeared out of the portal and said, "receiving side is operating as fast as possible."

"Very well...I hope security stays tight," Faba stated in an annoyed voice.

Lupin shook his head and replied, "there is nothing to worry about; I have multiple layers of warning. Do you have the item I requested?"

"Of course I do, Ember!" Faba barked, causing the guard with the red shoulder pads to come forward.

Ember handed Lupin an item the size of a thermos, gunmetal black with a handle that appeared to twist the device's top. The item went into the sleeve of Lupin's robe and vanished as Ember stepped back to be side by side with Chill behind Faba.

Faba's eye narrowed behind his goggles as he said, "and why do you need this heavily reinforced custom energy cell?"

"Before that, tell me what is your progress on Genesis?" Lupin questioned.

"Phase 2 testing is at 50% completion; the phase 3 prototype is ready for fabrication, but as I told Da…." Faba was cut off by Lupin.

"The master's identity is classified, remember! I have found a potential solution to your battery problem in this world," Lupin began to explain.

Faba's face tightened at the scolding as he countered with, "Dust crystals will only allow me to finish phase 2 discretely and efficiently, but there is only one power source in the multiverse that will work for phase 3."

"And I have found a donor for white matter," Lupin continued.

Faba's eyes widened in surprise with "are you seriously suggesting that someone other than Earth 403's Alex has miraculously come into possession of white matter-related powers?"

Lupin nodded and said, "A girl in this world, Ruby Rose has it, and if she uses this power when I am around, the cell can capture it."

Faba smirked and said, "if you can fill that canister with white matter, we could power hundreds of phase 3 devices for 50 lifetimes!"

Just then, there was an explosion in the distance; someone had blown open the reinforced gates at the edge of the docks.

Chill and Ember instinctively reached for their weapons, but they could unsheath their axes and ninjatos respectively, Lupin held up his hand and said, "stay here; I will delay our uninvited guests," before walking off towards the source of the explosion.

Faba nodded and continued giving orders, completely ambivalent to the battle going on at the other end of the docks.

Ruby and Team JNPR blasted the White Fang soldiers away as Zander came in behind them. The three huntsmen and huntresses in training were more than a match for the unskilled soldiers, and that was without the power of the Fall Maiden.

Pyrrha's wind and fire blew away the opposition; despite the seriousness of the battle, the invincible girl was clearly enjoying being able to do something now that Zander had cleared her for combat.

"Not bad, just be sure to keep an eye on all...ah" Zander was cut off as beams of ice blasted him from all sides, freezing him solid and instantly lowering the surrounding temperature.

The group looked up in horror to see 4 creatures appearing from behind cover that was unlike any Grimm they had ever seen.

Cracks rapidly formed in Zander's ice prison as it glowed green, the 4 Abomagrimm fired their ice beams again, but it was clear they had to constantly be firing to keep the Latios contained.

"We have to help him!" Jaune shouted only for glowing spikes of energy to strike the ground in a perfect circle around the five teens, causing them to stop dead in their tracks as a robed figure emerged from behind some containers.

"Help finish the shipment; I'll handle this," Lupin ordered, causing the White Fang soldiers to run away towards Faba's location.

Nora's smile vanished as she shrunk behind Ren a little; something about Lupin emanated fear.

"Who are you?" Ruby questioned.

Lupin chuckled and said, "Introductions? Very well, I am Lupin, one of the Shadow Collective's three generals, and I have been assigned to oversee operations in this world."

Ren sized up his opponent's energy, his aura was incredibly strong, but it still was very similar to a huntsman's aura.

"We've got you outnumbered; give up," Pyrrha stated as firmly as she could.

"I politely decline, but I must say, I am interested in testing your skills...this should be fun," Lupin admitted before his robe vanished in what appeared to be blue flames, but in reality, he had warped it to the same pocket dimension he sent the energy cell.

The young hunters gasped as they saw their opponent; while he was only 5 feet tall, his ears had pushed his robe up enough to pass for a human, but his short stature did nothing to lessen his intimidation.

Lupin was a bipedal, canine-like creature with predominantly lime green and black fur. He had two metallic spikes on his blood-red colored paws as well as his chest and shoulders. He had red eyes, a long snout, and black fur covering parts of his face resembling a mask. Lupin also had light blue-colored fur surrounding his torso, almost like a jacket, and he stood on his toes rather than on his entire foot. Four black, dreadlock-like appendages hung down the back of Lupin's head and two more spikes on his red-colored feet.

Lupin bared his fangs and said, "don't disappoint me!"

Author's note- The next chapter will be the volume 4 finale

1. Yes, for those of you who didn't read Outriders, Lupin is a shiny mega Lucario.

2. Leave a review:)