Chapter 18

Underground Tunnels

"It's no good Saw, There's just branching paths after branching paths!" Said White Fang member A.

They've been searching for days, for a tunnel that can lead from the city to the base of the mountain, to the outside, but so far, no luck.

"We need to leave now! If we stay any longer, even the Seithr purifier masks wouldn't help us." Said White Fang member B.

The fact that it was practically a maze down here was not even the main problem, the real issue was, Seithr.

"That woman left the most dangerous job to us! Of course! They all see us as expendable tools!" Said Fang member C.

"I know! But we have no other choice." Said Saw, frustrated.

"Maybe we should try forcing the Kakas to tell us." Said White Fang member A.

"What? How can you even think that?" Said White Fang member B.

"They do not see themselves as one of us, why should we!" Replied White Fang member A.

"Is it either us or them!" Said White Fang member C with a cold tone.

Saw looked on as his comrades argued, thinking whose to blame for their pathetic situation, when he heard something, he immediately held out his hand, and everyone stopped arguing, and put their hands on their weapons.

"My my my, what a pitiful state." Said a voice. "Oh, bad time?"

"You." Said Saw, relaxed. "What do you want, informer? And how did you find us?"

"Oh you know, intelligence is my trade." Said Hazama. "So, quite the pickle, huh, with all the poisonous air around you, seriously you really drew the short straw at life, been, you know, born as animal."

All of the White Fang members drew their weapons all at once and pointed at the smiling Hazama.

"Stop." Said Saw, stopping his men. "If you came here just to rile us up, congratulation, you succeed. Now take a hike before I cut you into little pieces."

"What? Did I say something wrong?"

"Call us animals again, I dare you." Said white Fang member C.

"What? That? Aren't we all animals? I'm just saying it would be better if we're all born as plants."

"You know damn well what you meant!" Said White Fang member A.

"Enough!" Said Saw. "You will leave now!"

"What? But I came all this way, just to give you this here underground map. Alright, if you say so." Said Hazama, with a map out, Saw didn't say a word as he seized the map right out of Hazama's hand.

The Hanging Garden

A girl in a white cloak, setting on the ground, with a face identical to Noel, and beside her…

"It's him!" Ruby pointed to a man with white hair and a red jacket. "Ragna!"

"What's he doing here? And why is his hand on his weapon?" Wondered Jaune.

"Is he going to attack that girl?" Said Young, worried, and activated her weapons.

The girl in question was just kneeling on the ground, doing nothing, while Ragna, face full of anger, was in combat stance.

"Let's not jump to con-" Said Jaune, trying to calm Yang down.

"Hey! What are you trying to do with her!" Said Yang, didn't hear a word Jaune just said.

Ragna turned his eyes to them for a second, and looked away, made a "Tsk" sound, and backed off. The huntsmen immediately ran toward the girl.

"You're alright?" Asked Penny, checking the girl for injuries, while Yang still looking at Ragna, combat ready.

"What did you do to her?" Yang asked again.

"Not of your-" Ragna stopped himself. "Nothing."

"Wow! She doesn't just look like her, they're identical!" Said Nora, looking at the girl a little too closely.

"Apart from the red eyes." Commented Ren.

"Even if they're not twins, they must be related." Said Pyrrha.

"Hello, Friend! Are you a relative of Lieutenant Noel Vermilion?" asked Penny.

The girl just looked at them with a blank stare. "I do not recognize that name."

"Really? But you look just like her." Said Ruby.

"We should have taken a picture with Noel!" Said Yang.

"It's not like we had any excuse to take a picture of an NOL officer in the first place." Said Weiss.

"Can we take a picture with you?" Asked Nora. "We can show it to Noel!"

"Pictures are prohibited." Answered the girl in a monotone voice.

"Are you lost?" Penny asked again. "If you are, then fear not, I had the entire map of the city uploaded in my database…"

They probably just thought she meant the database in her scroll.

The girl just continually looked at Penny with a bland stare.

"So, what's your name? My name is Ruby."

"Lambda." Answered the girl.

"Lambda? Eleventh?" Wondered Weiss.

"What? What's eleventh?" Confused Ruby.

"Correct. Lambda Eleventh." Confirmed the girl.

Confused, Ruby turned to Ragna, only to find him walking away. "Mr Ragna? Where are you going?"

"Away from the annoying brats."

'Again with her face. I'm sick of this.'

"Hey, whatchu got there?" Asked Yang.

"Wait.. that looks like… It looks like one of those bugs that Grimm uses." Said Weiss.

That got Ragna's attention, and he immediately went back and saw what they are looking at. And unfortunately, it was just as he feared, a Seithr mutated worm.

"Don't touch it. It's a worm mutated by Seithr." Said Ranga.

"It's dying." Commented Lambda.

"It's injured." Said Ragna, pointing at a cut on the worm with a stick.

"Ohhh… poor thing…" Said Ruby.

"Poor thing? Those things almost killed us!" Said Weiss in disbelief.

"Arakune. Without its host, it can't heal itself."

"What is it doing here?" Asked Jaune.

"Jaune, I think that Arakune was just here. And I think Ragna saved her." Speculated Pyrrha.

Ragna said nothing, and looked over to Lambda, looking at the worm. Even though she didn't seem sad, she didn't look away from it. Letting out a sigh, he got up and went into the park's grassy bush.

"Whatcha doin'?" Asked Ruby.

"I'm looking for Aqualeaf."

"Aqua what?"

"Aqualeaf. It's not anesthesia, but it can lessen the pain." Said Pyrrha realizing what was he doing.

"How do you know that?" Asked Jaune.

"I… went on a training course, in the mountain…" Said Pyrrha, embarrassed.

"What? Like in one of those shounen mangas?" Asked Nora. "Like under the waterfall and all that?"

Pyrrha looked away, didn't want to remember that dark history.

"For the bug? Wow, underneath all that hardass, you really are just a big softie." Teased Yang.

"Oh! You're like one of those girls in manga! You know, the one that acts all cold on the outside, but lovey-dovey on the inside!" Said Nora.

"I believe they call people like this, "Tsundara"." Ren added.

'Annoying!' Thought Ragna.

"Why are you helping her? Few minutes ago you looked like you were ready to kill her." Asked Weiss.

"Mind your own dam-" Ranga stopped again. "Business."

'The way he looked at her, it's odd, like… there's a sadness.' Thought Ruby.

"How do you know about herbs?"

"I lived in the mountains for a few years."

"Wow, don't tell me, did you actually did the whole training in the mountain thing like Pyrrha?" Asked Nora. Ragna ignored her.

Before long, Ragna returned with some Aqualeaf and applied some to the cut. After that, Lambda just kept looking at the worm, not moving.

"Who do you think she is?" Asked Jaune.

"Weird name. Eleventh. Who has a number for a name? Unless… she's a rob-" Said Yang.

Penny trembled a little.

"Don't be stupid. It's not unheard of, to have a number for a family name. But I never heard of the surname eleventh before." Said Weiss.

"Maybe her parents are eccentric artists or something." Said Nora.

"Don't know about the parent, but she is kinda eccentric herself." Commented Yang.

"Gawd! Not in front of her!" Scolded Weiss.

"Heart rate's dropping." Said Lambda suddenly.

"What?" Asked Weiss. "How could you know that? Not even a Faunus can hear a heartbeat from such a small bug."

"Are we sure she's not a robot?" Asked Yang.

"She's not a robot." Said Pyrrha.

"How do you- oh right, your Semblance." Asked Jaune.

"I can sense some cybernetic pacts, but other than that…"

"Cybernetic pacts?"

'So she could be some kind of weapon. NOL weapon?' Thought Weiss.

"Dropping, dropping, stop. It's dead." Said Lambda.

"It died?" Said Ruby, surprised.

"Aqualeaf can only lessen the pain. It was never meant to save it." Said Ragna.

"Course of action?" Asked Lambda, looking and Ragna.

"Nothing. You either level it on the ground, or bury it."

Lambda shook her head, unsatisfied.

Ragna sighed. "And remember it, until you don't. That's it."

"Wow. You actually said something thoughtful." Said Yang.

"Shut up."

Suddenly, the girl, Lambda began to levitate, and flow backward through the sky… no toward a figure on top of a building.

"A magnetic field!" Said Pyrrha, as she held out her hand, and Lambda stopped in mid-air.

"Red Devil!" Said Ragna, looking at the person.

They looked up, and indeed, saw a giant man, with red skin and huge fangs.

'A power similar to mine… but his bigger, and heavier… I'm going to lose this tug of war…' Thought Pyrrha, as she began to also be pulled forward. She looked over at a street light and thought about using it as an anchor, but shifting her focus like that may loosen her grip on Lambda, but then Pyrrha felt someone's hands aound her waist.

"I GOT YOU!" Said Jaune.

Pyrrha turned her head, and saw Jaune, and behind him, Ren and then Nora, holding her. At the same time, Weiss created multiple glyphs leading up to Tager's building, which team RWY and Penny used, and in an instant, ran up to the building, and surrounded Tager. Looking at the Huntsmen, Tager sighed, and all of a sudden, the pulling force disappeared and Lambda rammed into team JNPR and all of them fell backward.

"I think there's a misunderstanding. That girl is my… colleague." Said Tager.

"Colleague? What's her name then!" Demanded Nora.

"Huh?" Tager paused for a second. "Lambda."

"Bull! Someone just told you that didn't they!"

"Kokonoe!" Said Ragna suddenly."Is this your doing?"

"Who?" Asked Ruby.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on her for me." Said a female voice.

The Huntsmen immediately on high alarmed. Everyone heard that, a voice, coming from seemingly nowhere.

"Who… who said that?" Panicked Jaune.

"What is she?" Asked Ragna, looking at Lambda.

"The body of the 11th Prime Field Device, you know, the one you destroyed? With the soul of the 13th, which you also destroyed. Does that answer your question for you?" Explained Kokonoe.

Ragna was stunned. "Soul of the… Are you nuts?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Asked Jaune, confused.

"Children, be good little boys and girls and stay out of adults' business. That includes the big man child." Said Kokonoe,

"Hey!" Said both Yang and Nora.

"Bitch." Said Ragna.

"Tell me something I don't know. And you know what, I wasted enough time on you brats. Lambda!"

"Wait!" Said Ruby.

"What! What do you want now? Candy? Fine! Tager-"

"How do we know you're really Lambda's colleague?" Asked Ruby.

"And what are you mean by all that prime soul something?" Asked Weiss.

"Yeah! You owe us an explanation!" Demanded Yang.

"There's what you think! I own you people shit! I don't need to explain nothing! least of all to you peabrain normies!"

"Peabrain- you don't even know-" Said Weiss, insulted.

"You took 13… Nu's soul? Are you crazy!? Do you have a death wish? What are you going to do with her!" Interrupted Ragna.

"I'm going to kill Tarumi! Unlike you, out here playing babysitter! I still remember my purpose! My hatred! Ragna the Bloodedge! Now Lambda! Come!"

Ragna was speechless. As Lambda began to walk again, Penny grabbed hold of her hand.

"It's alright." Said Lambda. "I understand, I too have a purpose, for my existence, even if it was given to me by someone else."

And just like that, she flew towards Tager, and the two of them disappeared.

No one said anything for a while, and then… Yang broke the silence.

"She just called you Ragna the Bloodedge."

"This again? I told you, Ragna's a common name. I'm not Bloodedge."

"Stop it. Stop treating us like stupid children! We're huntsmen." Said Weiss.

"Fine." Said Ragna, turned and looked at them, his face harden, and a dark Aura surrounding him. "You want me to stop treating you like children? Then here. Butting in on my business anymore," Ragna swung his sword, and a dark energy cut through the park, in an instant, all of the flowers withered, and the whole area shook.

"I will kill you."

And with that, Ragna left, and this time, no one followed.

After Ragna was gone, Jaune remembered how to breathe again, and fell on his butt.

"What…" Said Jaune, shaking. "He's…"

"The most wanted rebel… the highest bounty in history…" Mumbled Ren.

Pyrrha picked up some of the dead flowers. "Grim Reaper…"

"So… Yeah… what? So he can kill some flowers! big deal! I ain't scared of him!" Said Yang, trying to sound tough.

"Stop It!" Weiss yelled. "This… this isn't funny anymore. He's more dangerous than any Grimm, or criminal we've ever faced! If you think Torchwick was bad, Bloodedge is at least ten, no, a hundred times worse! Bottom line, We need to forget about him!"

"But we're Huntress and Huntsman!" Said Nora.

"Do you people not understand!" Weiss scratched her head. "All of us! If he wanted to kill us, we wouldn't be standing right now!"

"But he didn't." Said Ruby. "He's… not a bad guy."

"We almost dead!"

"We didn't, because he never wanted to kill us in the first place. I don't know why he
's a criminal, I can't imagine him being some evil, dangerous terrorist."

"Ruby has a point." Agreed Pyrrha. "If he was truly evil, why let us live? We've been nothing but trouble for someone who needed to keep a low profile."

"Yeah, because, no offense, we are kind of annoying." Said Jaune.

"Even if that is true, we still need to stay away from him. Remember? NOL, and the bounty hunters are still after him. He can take care of himself, but us? NOL and the bounty hunter might think we're related." Said Weiss. She then turned to Yang, Pyrrha, and Penny. "And you guys, you need to focus on your grand final. Let's just call it a day."

Underground Tunnel, near Kaka Village

After Blake parted from the others, saying she'd go looking for some books, but in reality, she returned to the sewers immediately. Once she got to Kaka village, she placed her ear on the ground, and listened. It was faint, but she could hear faint sounds, from farther in.

'The tunnel looks almost straight, even if I really did find someone ahead, I can't hide, and if someone comes up from behind, I'm trapped!'

"So... you're going to go in there?"

Blake jumped a little, sighed, and looked behind her.

"You scared me!"

"Sorry." Apologized Sun. "Still can't believe you didn't notice me. Was I that good? Or were you that disturbed."

"I thought you went with your friend?" Asked Blake.

"This is more important. The White Fang right?"

"Sun, go bac-"

Sun already walked past Bake, towards the tunnel.

"You're coming or not?"

Blake sighed and followed after him.

"I won't go in there if I were you."

Both of them jumped! Blake and Sun looked around, and at first, saw no one.

"I ant' hiding. I'd been standing right here the whole time."

Blake looked to the side, and saw a small, hooded figure, coming out of the shade.

'Where did he come from?'

While the figure was short, it had a rough voice of a middle-aged man. The person looked up, and it shocked Blake… it has a cat's face, a one-eye cat… Blake looked down at its feet, and those were cat's feet.

"Who… what are you? Where did you come from?" Sun demanded, with his weapon out.

"Just an old cat, no one important."

'That hood, it looks Kakas…' Thought Blake.'He reminds me of someone…'

"Are you with the Kakas?" Asked Blake.

"You could say that, the Kakas are family to me."

The cat Yawned "Anyway, there are dubious people in there right now, dangerous people. I won't recommend exploiting it right now."

"I… have business in there…" Said Blake.

"Business? Now I know that ain't true. There's no way yer part of that crowd."

Blake looked away. "You don't know a thing about me."

And then Blake turned, and walked into the tunnel, Sun followed her. Solely relying on her night vision, she entered the dark tunnel. The more she walked, the more she realized how It was a bad, and stupid idea, but to Blake, it was something she must do. After a few more minutes of walking, she reached a fork in the road, and Blake finally stopped.

'Usually I run away from problem, why do I do the opposite now?'

"Which way now." Asked Sun.

'Am I running into trouble, just so I can justify it to myself and running away later?'

"Nowhere. We're going back."

But just as Blake turned and walked back, she suddenly heard something appearing them.

"Stop! Hands where I can see them!" Said a voice behind her.

'How did…'

Footsteps, at least two, maybe more.

'There are still some quality people in Adam's group still.'

Blake raised her hands…

"Turn around, slowly. Don't try anything stupid!" Said the White Fang member.

"We can take them…" Whispered Sun. "I only need a sec-"

"Hi! I can hear you!" Said another member of the White Fang.

'Damn! I've been around non Fauns too long! I forgot most Fauns has better hearing than human!' Thought Sun.

"Don't even think about it! We got five guns pointing at you! If I see any funny movement, we'll light you up!"

"There's no need for that."

That cat! The voice was in front of her, but when Blake looked forward, she saw no one.

SWOOSH! CRACK!

Blake turned, and found that cat person, behind the five White Fang members, what happened next, shocked her, all of the White Fang members, suddenly cried out in pain, with their hands on their shoulders.

"I used the back of my sword." Said the hooded figure, sheathing his twin shortswords. "I'm not skilled enough to target only your weapons."

'He broke all five of their collarbones? he was in front of me, and then behind those people… and I only heard one crack… did I imagine that?'

"Leave your weapons. Go." Commanded the one-eyed cat.

Without hesitation, the White Fang members dropped all of their guns, and ran for their lives.

"You… just who are you?" Asked Sun, in shocked.

"Well, the name's Jubei."

"Jubei?"

Blake finally remembered who he reminded her of, he looked just like the Highlandans description of the one-eyed Lotus! In Remnant, Jubei was always depicted as a one-eyed cat Fauns, but outside, and in the NOL control cities, Jubei was described as a huge, bipedal cat, which the Fauns of Remnant always found insulting, but now…

"What are you?" Asked Blake.

"Well, nowadays, they call us, Beastkin." Said Jubei, stabbing his sword through the left behind weapons.

Blake couldn't believe it. "You let others call you that? Do you not feel insulted?"

"It's still better than what people used to call me."

"And what's that?" Asked Sun.

"Well, when they're feeling generous, spirit, when they want something from us, god, an' more often than not, demon, devil, Yokai, along those lines.

"And what are you, really?"

"I'm just an old cat, too old to care anymore. I'll let you kids decide, I mean, it's your world now." Jubei looked Blake in the eyes. "Now, what do you want to do? They will come back, with more guns and people next time."

Unfortunately, there were no choices. "We'll go back."

"That's good." Said the cat, laughing. "I was afraid I might need to drag you back!"

Jubei turned, and walked toward where they came from. "I'm going back to the Kaka Village. Care to keep an old cat company part of the way?"

Blake said nothing, and followed him.

Kagutsuchi Airport

A small vessel, decked. As the door opened, Glynda walked over.

"Welcome, Headmaster, to Kagutsuchi."

To be continued