Black Roses

by Joking4ever56

After being defeated by Vegito and Trunks the fused Zamasu gets sucked into a rift. Moments later Black finds himself defused and back into Goku's body and in a strange new world with dark creatures, humans, and... faunas? Will Black pursue his plan for human and now faunas extinction or will the people of this planet and a certain Rose change how he views these mortals?

18. Chapter 18

Hello, my friends. I am back with another chapter of Black Roses. Okay wow, a month and a half has flown by wow. Sorry about the late update I've been working overtime so I can pay for my college tuition so I haven't been getting much free time lately. But rest assured I've taken care of it and now I got two free months to write.

Now, something I want to update about, I will be making a change about Black's collar and how Salem can keep track of him as well as the collar having the ability to repair his gi. Salem will not be able to see what Black's see through the collar or his eyes, no she will be using small spider Grimms the size of cup to monitor him his movement. These spiders are special and hard to be detected unless you're Black that is. His collar can still repair his gi but he has to think of it first. The changes will be made in chapters 2 and 16. Okay so now that that's been taken care of why don't we continue with the story.

Last Chapter we had a fight between Yang and Ruby. The fight was hard and Ruby did all she could in order to win, but in the end, Yang took home the win. Later in the day Black and Neo were about to have a duel of their own that was until a red portal appeared in front of them. A severely wounded girl walked out from it and passed out before them. Who is this mysterious girl and what did she want to before passing out. Find out…right now.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from DBZ/DBS or RWBY so please support the official release.

---

Roman walked out of his office and patted his gloves. "Whelp, she's going to live but the doctor says she's won't be waking up anytime soon. Now tell me, what'd she do to have you both do that to her."

"We didn't do that/we didn't do that." The two "siblings" said.

"Okay, then tell how did you both come across her then." Roman asked again.

"A portal opened in front of us and the girl in there walked out before passing out." Black answered.

"So you don't know why she appeared." Neo shook her head and Black just stared. "Guess we'll just have to wait till she wakes up and ask her ourselves."

The door to the office opened and out walked the doctor. "Roman, she's starting to wake up."

"What, I thought you said she wasn't going to waking up anytime soon."

"I thought so as well but it seems she's quite the fighter." The doctor said.

"Oh well, it's a good thing I guess, we won't have to wait an hour or so. " Roman reached in his pocket and pulled out some lien. "Here Doc, thanks for your services." Roman said, handing over the money to him. As the doctor took his leave the trio made their way in the office.

The girl's eyes twitched a bit and slowly opened up. Sitting up with a groan she gave a look around the room she was currently in. "Rise and shine, kid." The girl quickly jumped to her feet and tried reaching for something behind her, but grabbed nothing. "Looking for these?" Roman pointed at Neo who displayed the two blades she held in her hands.

"Who are you and where am I?"

"Easy there, that's no way to talk to someone who just saved your life." Roman said, leaned in from his chair. "Now seeing we or should I say I saved your life it would only be fair if you told me who you are first."

"…I will only answer to a man named Black." She said, her eyes trailed towards the door that led outside. The girl's attention was then averted from the door when a new voice spoke up behind her.

"And what exactly do you want with him?" Turning around the girl saw a guy standing in the shadow. She looked at from head to toe as if she was examining him. "I take it you're Black." She asked her guard still on high alert of the two strangers behind her.

"I might be, depending on who's asking that is."

"…My name is Vernal. I was sent here by Raven."

Roman and Neo blinked in surprise when they heard the name. "Wait, Raven, as in Raven Branwen?" Roman asks. Vernal slowly nodded her head while keeping her eyes on Black.

Black leaned the side looking past Vernal. "You know her?"

"No, not personally that is, but Raven and her tribe have quite the reputation in the criminal underworld for being raiders and killers. The tribe is pretty much unheard of because they never leave evidence of their whereabouts, but those who still try to investigate the tribe ends up dead, usually huntsmen and huntresses." Roman stood up from his chair and crossed his arms. "Which brings me to my question, why did the leader of the Branwen tribe sent you here?"

Black's eyes fixated back to Vernal. "She needs your help." Neo raised a brow. "She needs our help. Raven Branwen needs help? Now that's new." She thought.

"For what purpose does she need my help?" Black asks, he never expected Raven to request help from him. She was smart, clever, and certainly strong, so hearing this make him quite curious.

"We need help dealing with a Grimm." She answered, making Black raise a brow. "A Grimm?" Vernal nodded. Black's became immediately uninterested and proceeded to make his way to the door. "If she can't deal with one simple Grimm, then she deserves whatever fate it brings to her."

"This Grimm is different. She said that it's able to do something that the other Grimm cannot." Black ignored her and continued to the door. Roman, on the other hand, was curious. "What's special about this Grimm?"

"It used some kind of power. Raven called it…Ki?" The mention of the power source caused Black to stop by the door.

"Ki? That's impossible, the Grimm are soulless they can not produce any form of ki much less utilize it." Black turned and argued.

"Well this one can." She said back, "Raven said it herself when it used it against us." Black narrowed his eyes. Raven has sparred with him a couple of times giving her the ability to recognize when one uses ki. Plus this girl doesn't seem like one to lie. If there is a Grimm that can utilize ki and Raven is fighting it… "Alright, you've gained my curiosity. I'll go check this Grimm out, but if this becomes a waste of time-."

"I promise you, it won't." Vernal cut in. Black stared at her for a couple of seconds then turned to Roman. "Do you have a Bullhead I can barrow?"

"Yea but I wouldn't suggest using one at the moment. Ever since Ironwood came to town the whole Kingdom's airspace has been pretty strict lately. You're going to have to find another way to get to Raven's camp. Oh, when you do find a way why don't you take Neo with you." Roman said.

"Why?"

"You two keep fighting and it's giving me a headache. So use this time to release all bunched up grudge you both have for each other on to that Grimm. Plus, I think this would a great time for you both to a bond a little." Black and Neo both rose a brow and tilted their heads.

"Yea I know, I'm asking too much." Roman said, looking away with a defeated smile. He then recollected himself and turned back to the two of them. "Still you're going to be taking Neo along with you."

"No." Black responded without a second thought. Neo waved him off giving her answer of no as well.

"Oh well, I was hoping I wasn't going have to do this but you both leave me no choice, Neo" Turning to her first. "If you don't go, I'll have all of your supply of ice cream thrown away." Neo frantically waved her arms as she shook her head no with a frightened look. With a pleased smile Roman turned to Black who glared at him. "You have nothing to threaten me with so please do not try." Black reached for the doorknob.

"Oh, I guess those herbs for your tea, aren't important to you then." Vernal gave a confused look. "Tea?"

The mention of his herbs stopped Black from turning the knob. A smirk morphed on Roman's lips. Black's eyes were closed with one side twitching a bit. With a defeated sigh Black turned back to Roman with an irritated look. "You should know by now that I'm a resourceful man."

Vernal was unsure about this guy anymore. He was threatened not towards his life but for a possession of his? This wasn't anything like how Raven described him to be.

She looked outside and saw the sun slowly beginning to set. Deciding she's wasted enough time she interrupted whatever was going on between those three. "Okay, so now we've decided who's going. We still need to figure out a way to reach my camp."

"I would say take the jeep, but Neo can't reach the peddles and I'm pretty sure Black doesn't know how to drive yet, and I don't trust you with my baby." Roman said, earning himself a bird from Neo.

Black gripped his chin and began thinking of a way. He could fly them but like hell he will. Black then removed his hand and gazed at it, soon an idea came to his head. "Instant Transmission."

"Instant what now?" Vernal asked.

Instant Transmission, a technique that teleports the user anywhere in the universe in an instant. The only problem was you have to be able to sense the person's ki in order to teleport to their position. And Remnant was a difficult place to sense one's ki due to their Aura. It was still a mystery to him why those with Aura were difficult to sense. It was like Aura was jamming his senses or something.

Black gripped his chin and began thinking. What if instead of trying to sense one's ki…he tries to sense their Aura. Cinder and Ozpin gave out stronger Aura waves that he's able to detect pretty easily. And being with his "friends" he can now sense them separately from everyone else but only within a limited range of 50 yards.

Black walked up to the office window and closed his eyes as he began meditation. Vernal looked at him weirdly unsure what he was doing. "Looks like he's thought of a way, give him some time." Roman said. Vernal glanced at him before turning her attention back to Black.

Black continued his meditation. Expanding his senses beyond Vale he searched for her. He's fought Raven before and has a good sense of what type of Aura she emanates, all he has to do now is find it and focus on it. A purplish blackish aura began to seep from his body. Vernal stared in awe. Never before has she seen Aura this visible before. She could feel the power radiating from him as well.

Black's senses traveled through the forest, fields, and mountains. Then finally, he stopped at a red-orange Aura illuminating in his mind. "Found her," Neo and Vernal looked him confused as to what he meant, while Roman smirked and placed a cigar in his mouth. "Place a hand on my shoulder."

Neo looked at Roman hoping to get an answer from him. "Go ahead you two." He shooed away.

Vernal and Neo both placed a hand on his shoulders and waited for whatever he was about to do. "Have fun you two," Roman said, right before the trio disappeared. Roman leaned back on his chair and rested his feet on his desk. "That kid sure is full of surprises."

---

Vernal blinked in surprise, one minute she was in an office and the next, she was back in the camp. Neo looked around her surroundings quite surprised how everything around her just changed in a split second. "Come on." Black proceeded forward, the two following behind.

The camp was completely destroyed, smalls fires here and there. Men and women helping the wounded while some lay dead under ruined tents, debris, and in craters. The outer walls were barely standing as it is. Neo walked up beside Black and used her sign language. "This Grimm must be really something. This place is a mess."

"Indeed it is." Black could sense traces of a very powerful and dark ki throughout the camp. Black glanced side to side when he felt the glares from the bandits directed towards himself and Neo. Probably not used to seeing new faces. Black ignored them and continued to walk. Finally approaching the center of the camp, Black and Neo saw a large tent up ahead. They stopped in the center as bandits surrounded them.

Vernal stepped forward. "Raven, I've brought him."

From the tent emerged Raven. Her clothes and pieces of her armor were ripped, broken, or burned off. Scratch marks, bruises, and dried blood were all over her body. Compared to Vernal, Raven seemed to have gotten the worse of this attack. He noticed bandages wrapped around her side with blood staining it.

Raven used a piece of cloth to wipe some blood from a cut on her cheek. "You took your time." She said with a cold stare.

Black crossed his arms. "Sensing one's Aura is different than sensing one's ki. It was the first time I tried expanding my senses past 50 yards. So I, of course, had some difficulty trying to find yours." Black returned the stare.

Raven's eyes traveled to Neo who looked at her with curiosity. "Neopolitan, I presume." Neo tilted her head. Have they met before?

"Your reputation as an assassin precedes you." Raven said.

Neo gave a cocky smile. "I'm flattered." She sign language.

"Don't be. Some of those victims you killed were my people. I've been meaning to take care of you." Raven glared.

"Oh, you take care of me? That sounds exciting. I promise you something Branwen. I won't be an easy target." Neo smirked. The tension between the two women increased causing some of the bandits to take a step back. "Enough, the both of you," Black ordered, glancing between Neo and Raven. "I didn't come here so that you two can argue and fight. I came here for this Grimm I was told about that can use ki."

"So Vernal told you." Raven crossed her arms.

"It was the only way she could convince me into coming here." Black responded. Raven's red eyes stared into his black ones. She then closed her eyes. "Come inside, I'll brief you more about it inside."

Heading inside Black followed suit along with Neo and Vernal. Once inside Raven sat on a floor pillow flinching a bit as she held her side. "I thought your Aura would've healed you by now." Black said as he sat on the pillow across of her. Neo sat on the one next to him.

"My Aura is still regenerating from the battle. So I'll have to deal with this for now." Vernal walked up to them and placed teacups for each one of them before pouring some tea. Raven nodded as a sign of thank you. Vernal bowed and took a couple of steps back and stood by the entrance.

Black picked up his tea and took a sip. "Hmm, not bad," He said, turning towards Vernal. "Your tea craftsmanship is quite impressive. Improve more and you might actually be on par with a Core Person." Black complimented.

Vernal wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Uh, thanks?"

"Core Person?" The three women asked themselves.

Placing the cup down Black faced back towards Raven. "Now, on to the matter at hand."

"Right, The Grimm that attacked us was bigger than an Alpha Beowolf, roughly around 18-20 ft tall, but still moved quite fast. As any humanoid looking Grimm it had four limbs though it doesn't look like it uses its bottom two limbs to move around, more so it looks like it levitates off the ground. The bone armor covering the Grimm is tough. Dust rounds aren't able to penetrate it. The power and destruction it brought were beyond any Grimm I hold knowledge about. It came from within the forest and started attacking everything and everyone. " Black listened attentively to all the information given to him.

"It uses ki through its eye and mouth. Its claws are sharper than most Beowolves and Ursa, a clean cut through anyone's Aura." Neo's eyes moved to Raven's side where the bandages were wrapped around.

"This Grimm sounds quite the beast." Black commented.

"Quite the opposite actually," Black's curiosity spiked a bit. "The whole time we were fighting it was learning. It didn't just attack whoever was close, no it watched our every move and counter them. I was forced to use my maiden power, in the end, to drive it away."

"I see. Will it come back?" He asked.

"I don't see why not. My men might not show it but they reek of fear. This will most likely attract it or other nearby Grimm." While she hated her men for showing such weakness Raven couldn't blame them though. How that Grimm just appeared out of nowhere and started massacring everyone would frighten anyone.

The Grimm Raven described sounded quite intriguing. It's defiantly different than any other Grimm Black's come across, and to push Raven far enough to cause her to utilize her Maiden powers; this Grimm is something worth his attention.

A commotion was heard coming from outside as gunfire and people screaming were heard. "It's back already?!" Vernal pulled out her blades and readied to fight once again. Raven stood back up with more ease this time due to Aura halfway restored, healing most of her wounds. She unsheathed her sword and sliced opened a portal.

Black stared in the direction of the commotion. He felt a familiar power just enter the camp. "Wait, it's not the Grimm. It's-." As Black turned back around Raven was nowhere to be seen.

"She left already." Neo used sign language before going back to drinking her tea.

Outside, bandits were blasted away and cut down one by one as they helpless tried shooting their attacker. "Damn you just die already!" One bandit shouted, firing multiple rounds at the red blur that kept evading the dust bullets within the smoke. The red blur appeared before the bandit and slashed him. He disappeared and reappeared in front of two others and cut them down too. He spun around and kicked another away and flipped their sword in a reverse grip and blocked a machete. With his free hand, he aimed his palm and fired a ki blast, blowing the bandit away. Sheathing the sword back the attacker rushed forward and continued to cut each bandit down. He kicked a bandit in the chest, and grabbed the bandit by the ankle and threw him to the floor. He then stomped the bandit and flipped Blush and fired two rounds at two rushing bandits.

He applied more weight onto his foot causing the man under it to scream in pain. The smoke settled and revealed the attacker to be Adam Taurus. The Faunas stared at the man below him. "I will ask again. Give me the information I desire."

"Go to hell." The man growled.

Adam raised his palm. Suddenly a portal opened behind him. Adam glanced behind him and quickly unsheathed his sword and blocked a sword. Seeing who dared attack him, Adam was surprised to see it was someone with a Grimm mask. Adam raised his leg and aimed to plant it on the woman stomach but the woman predicted this and jumped back. She then rushed at him with Adam doing the same. Their blades clashed as they passed each other. Turning back around the woman jumped in the air and twirled around as she brought her blade down. Adam unsheathed his sword again and blocked the incoming blade.

The woman's body kept moving forward used her free hand to fire an ice blast at Adam's head. The bull Faunas tried to evade the blast but the blast hit its mark, sending him flying back. As his body rolled along the ground he threw a ki orb at the woman's direction.

The woman saw the incoming ki orb and unsheathed her blade and sliced the orb in half causing it to explode at her sides. Her eyes widen behind the mask when Adam appeared before her and planted his foot to her face. The woman crashed into some broken wood and Adam landed a good 10 yards away from her.

Pushing through the wood, she got back up and rushed at him, Adam doing the same. Unsheathing their blades when they neared each other they aimed to strike one another. Unfortunately, their blades were blocked by Black's forearms in a crouched position. They blinked in surprise when he appeared between them. "Enough." He said, before hitting both with his fists and then kicking the woman with his left foot before switching to his right to kick behind him.

Black stood straight back up as he stared at Adam who picked himself back up. "It's been some time hasn't it, Adam." Black said.

"Not long enough it seems." Adam sheathed his sword and cracked his neck.

"You know him?" The woman behind Black asked.

"Yes, he's my ex-partner, from the White Fang." Black answered back. "What are you doing here Adam?"

"I could ask you the same." Adam shot back.

"Well, I asked first."

Adam stayed silent for a second before wiping some blood from his lip with his thumb. "I'm tracking a Grimm that attacked a garrison of mine, no survivors." His reason caused Black and Raven to glance at each other.

Raven removed her mask. "This Grimm, what did it look like?"

"I don't know. I haven't had an encounter with it yet."

"Then how have you been tracking it?" Black asked.

"It's been leaving quite the destruction as well as a strange ki trail." Black blinked in surprise. "You can sense ki?"

"I have had a lot of practice." Adam answered.

Neo walked up beside Black with her cup in her hands. "What's ki?" Black ignored and kept his attention to Adam. "I think we should talk inside." Black reached over and grabbed his cup that was placed on top of Neo's head. Neo placed her hand on her head and looked between the cup and Black. She didn't even notice that cup was there. Anger coursed through and went to go hit him. Unfortunately, Black saw this coming and placed his hand on her forehead stopping her from reaching him.

"Don't you think?" Black glanced behind, Raven nodded a bit hesitantly due to the comedic scene before her. Neo kept trying to frantically hit him, her reach failing.

---

Ruby and Jaune walked through the halls in search for their friends. "So, when did you start…liking Black?"

Ruby choked on the cookie she was eating and pounded her chest. "Ah y-you alright!?"

"I'm, fine," She said between coughs. "Why the sudden interest?"

"Oh, it's just that I never expect anyone to have an interest like that towards him, especially you." Jaune said.

"What do you mean by that?" Ruby rose a brow and crossed her arms with a vexing look on her face.

"Oh, it's just what Nora said about you both being opposites in …everything. It kinda just stuck to me and I'm just trying to figure out how you came to feel that way for him that's all." Jaune said with his hands raised in a defensive manner. He totally forgot how scary girls can be if you ask the wrong question.

Ruby's face relaxed and blinked. "Oh…well, I admired him at first, for his strength, smarts, and skills as a huntsman in training. I guess that admiration soon turned into something else after I started spending more time with him and training with him." Ruby smiled at times where they would spend time with each other. While most of the time it was either through training or reading a book together she enjoyed every moment of it.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "To be honest I don't really understand it myself. It's the first time I've ever experienced something like this so I'm not sure how to describe or act on them." Jaune let a smile spread across as he listened carefully. "I do know one thing for sure." Ruby looked up at him with a smiled. "The more I spend my time with him, the stronger these feelings for him grow."

Jaune chuckled. "Well my sisters once said that opposites attract." As they turned the corner Ruby felt her whole body freeze in place. "Now that was an interest conversation." Before the two were Weiss and Blake.

"Weiss, Blake! H-How much did you hear?" Ruby nervously asked, her body sweating in fear.

"Everything." Blake bluntly said, causing Ruby to go pale and faint. "Ah RUBY." Jaune shouted.

---

"How do you know about the Grimm I'm tracking?" Adam asked.

"What did you think caused the condition that my tribe is in now?" Raven asked back.

Adam's gaze turned towards Black causing everyone else present in the tent to turn towards him. Black glared at the bull faunas. "I had nothing to do with what happened here."

"With that temper of yours, that's hard to believe." Adam said, causing Black to growl. "My point proven."

"We can always go back outside Adam." Black threaten.

"Your threats don't frighten me Black." Adam said.

"Oh," Black amusingly said. "Then I'll have to just remind you why you should be." Then tension between the two grew. Neo smirked at this. "Please kill each other."

Before anything could happen a loud thud hit the table. Using her mask Raven grabbed the attention of both males. "I'd like to deal with this Grimm as soon as possible and I know you do too, right?" Raven said, her eyes on Adam who nodded his head. "Then I suggest you both stop bickering with one another."

Black sighed and looked back up. "Now then," Raven started. "The Grimm that attacked your people and mines was last seen heading in this direction." Pointing at a section of the map that was placed on the table.

"Into the forest of course," Black commented. "It'll be too much ground to cover. You wouldn't happen to have someone follow it would you?"

"Yes, I had two of my men follow it as much as they could."

"And how far did they get?" Adam asked.

Raven pointed at the map again. "Here,"

"Deep in the forest, are they alive?" The question Adam asked caught Raven's attention. "Yes, they are. Why is there something you know about that part of the forest?"

Adam looked at the map and drew a circle around the place where Raven's men followed the Grimm. "This territory belongs to a large pack of Ursa. They kill anyone that enters their territory. It's labeled one of the most dangerous Grimm territories in Haven. So hearing that your men came back alive is quite surprising. Either they were lucky in not running into any Ursa or."

"Grimm activity was reduced by an unseen force." Black finished.

Neo used her sign language to ask a question. "You think it was the same Grimm we're after?"

"Grimm killing other Grimm is impossible. They're both forces of dark. They were created by the younger brother to destroy life. It wouldn't make sense why the Grimm would turn on themselves since they all live for the same purpose, unless."

"Someone else created their own type of Grimm with a different purpose." Black said, catching their attention.

Raven narrowed her eyes. "Salem." Black nodded. Adam and Neo were in the blue as to who this Salem person was. "The last time I "chatted" with her I discovered that the black knight I encountered a couple of months ago was indeed a Grimm and that it was just one of her creations."

Raven tightened her grip on her weapon. Just when she thought Salem's existences was dangerous enough she now created Grimm just as sinister as she. Neo waved her hand. "Sorry but who the hell is Salem?" Adam also wanted to know.

Black and Raven spared a glance before getting up. "Since you two will be coming with us. I think it's fair that you should know what you'll be going up against the moment we kill this Grimm." Black said.

"We'll explain everything after we kill this creature." Raven added. Adam and Neo looked at each other with Neo giving a shrug.

The four exited out the tent and made their way to the gate or what's left of it. "Do you want me to go?" Vernal asked, walking beside Raven.

"No, I need you to stay here and watch over the tribe while I'm gone." Raven placed a hand on her shoulder. "When I return we will be relocating our settlement." Vernal nodded her head a bit unease at the fact Raven will be fighting that…thing again.

"You have nothing to worry human." Black said when he noticed the uneasiness coming from the girl. "The four of us are more than enough to deal with this Grimm." Black looked back, Neo second behind him held her umbrella open as she looked back, Adam third behind held his weapon by his side also looking back, and Raven stood sideways towards Vernal with her hand on her sword. (If someone can draw this scene I will explode with joy)

Raven placed her mask on and walked out the camp. "Were you trying to comfort her?" Raven asked Black.

"I was telling the truth. This Grimm might be too much for either of you to handle alone but working together. You'll prove to be more of a challenge." Black said.

"You make us sound like one of those teams from the academies." Adam noted.

"Yea, what's next you're going to give us a team name?" Neo sign language with a sarcastic look. Raven glanced at Black who was seemed to be in deep thought about something.

---

Ruby groaned as she slowly sat up from the bed. "Ugh man, that hurt." She rubbed the back of her head when she remembered passing out. "Then maybe you shouldn't pass out in the middle of the hall." Opening her eyes Ruby was met with Blake and Weiss standing around the bed.

"Uh, where am I?" Ruby asked.

"The infirmary. Where you're supposed to be. Not walking around Beacon with your Aura so low." Weiss scold.

Ruby hung her head down. "Yea sorry. I just had to go talk with…" Her mind then went back to the moment where Weiss and Blake discovered her fondness towards Black. "Ahhhh! You two heard!" Ruby clutched her head and hid under the covers.

"12 seconds. You were right." Blake said.

"Of course I was. Now, on to the matter at hand." Ruby whined under the covers.

"We're not going to yell at you for what you feel towards him." Blake said, Ruby heard this and slowly peered over the covers. "You're not?"

"No, we are not." Weiss said with a sigh.

Ruby still a bit hesitant kept the blanket over her. "Though, I'm still a bit uncomfortable with the fact that my partner has a crush on Black." Weiss said.

"I agree with Weiss here. Black can be, harsh, cold, and uncaring about those around him." Blake said.

"Well Weiss is also cold and mean sometimes and yet I still keep her as a friend." Ruby innocently said.

"Hey!" Weiss shouted.

"Still I never expected you to fall for you someone like him. I guess opposites do attract." Blake sat on a chair.

"Jaune said the same thing. Hey, where is he by the way?" Ruby finally noticing the blond's presence, not within the room.

"We sent him back to his team. Right now, it's only a discussion between us." Weiss said

The room stayed quiet for a couple seconds as the faunas and heiress continued to stare at their teammate. "So…what are we going to talk about?"

"Have you made any moves yet?" Blake bluntly asked. Ruby cheeks turned red and shook her head. "No,nonono!"

"Hopeless just as we guessed she would be." Weiss commented, Blake humming in agreement.

"Huh?"

"We figured that you wouldn't make a move on whoever you liked and now that we know its Black who you like, we can see why you haven't." Weiss explained.

Ruby played with the tips of her pointer fingers as she looked down. A small blush still present on her cheeks. "Well, isn't the guy supposed to make the first move in these kinds of things?"

"You really think that Black is the type of guy to notice these kinds of things, more so make the first move?" Blake asked with a raised brow and crossed arms.

Ruby hunched down. "N-No, he isn't."

"Yes, which leaves you with the job in taking the initiative." Weiss said.

"M-Me?!" Ruby pointed at herself.

"Yes you. Now, how close are you to him?" Weiss asked

Ruby sat up and scratched her head. "Umm, I guess we're pretty close. I mean I'm his reading buddy, hehe."

"That's all?" Ruby nodded her head. "Whelp, that's saying a lot." Weiss said, causing Ruby to groan and hang her head down.

"It's alright. You're inexperienced in these kinds of things so that's understandable." Blake cut in.

"Still being just reading buddies isn't going to get you nowhere." Weiss added. "You're going to have to get closer to him and make a move because sooner or later someone else is going to snatch him from you." Ruby flinched a bit, not really liking the thought of some other girl taking Black.

"Weiss I don't think it's good to fill her head paranoia already." Blake said.

"Well I'm right aren't I?" Blake sighed and looked back up at Ruby. "There's no need for any rush in these kinds of matters Ruby. Just keep going in the pace you feel comfortable with. I'm sure he'll start noticing your interest in him sooner or later. He is a very perceptive guy." Blake said with a smile.

Ruby returned the smile. It was nice that her friends were helping her out with this. Though she wonders why they were doing it. Call it a hunch but she feels like they aren't just helping out of the kindness of their heart. "Say, why are you guys helping me. Don't get me wrong it's nice and all but I just never expected to get help from the two of you."

"I think it's romantic, seeing a girl experience love for the first time and for a guy who isn't like a knight in shiny armor, more like a mysterious and maybe dangerous dark knight." Blake answered.

"What about you?" Ruby turned to Weiss.

"I'm just looking after my partner. Making sure you're happy is also part of my job." Weiss said nonchalantly.

"She likes these kinds of things where a pure innocent girl falls in love with a delinquent boy. It's her favorite type of novels" Blake said with a smirk.

"Blake I thought we agreed to keep that under wraps!" Weiss shouted, a blush spreading across her cheeks. Blake silently chuckled. Ruby on the other hand smiled with a sweatdrop. She's pretty much an opportunity for Weiss to see her ideal romance in person.

Ruby grabbed a glass of water that sat on the table next to her and took a sip. The door suddenly opened, two girls to fell in the room causing Ruby to spit the water out. "Ow,"

"Alli, Nora! Were you two spying?!" Ruby shouted.

"My gossip senses were tingling so I had to investigate." Nora said with her usual cheery attitude.

"I'm sorry. I tried stopping her but she's so strong." Alli said with tears in her eyes.

"That's why you need to work out." Nora said, her fists on her hips.

Ruby felt like she was going to die. Not only Weiss and Blake know about her likeness towards Black but now so does Nora and Alli. Nora noticed Ruby change in demeanor and walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Ruby. Your secret is safe with us, right Alli?"

"Oh yes. I will not speak a word of this." She nodded her rapidly.

"Though I don't know about Jaune, he did almost blurt out Blake's secret in the library." Weiss reminded.

"Well, he better if he knows what's good for him." Ruby's whole aura changed into a dark one, shattering the cup in her hand. The four girls took a step back. A bit startled from Ruby's change of demeanor.

In a different part of the school Jaune felt a cold shiver go up his spine. "Jaune are you alright?" Ren asks, noticing him shiver.

"I don't know. For some reason I suddenly felt really scared."

Back in the infirmary, Ruby looked back up her face morphing back to her innocent expression. "What's wrong?"

The girls continued to stare at the redhead. Weiss was the first to speak up. "N-Nothing, uh, should Yang know about this too? She is your older sister."

"No, please anyone but her!" She exclaimed. The girls were taken back again by her outburst. "S-Sorry, it's just that. Yang can be a bit too overprotective." The girls knew that but they had a feeling that there was more to what Ruby was saying. "Back in Signal, there were a…couple of boys that liked me two of them actually approached me and tried asking me out, but I wasn't really into dating at the time. Yang caught wind of this and had a "chat" with them and ever since then all the boys in signal were scared to even come near me."

"Hmm, yea it would be a bad idea for Yang to know about this. She might go beat up Black or do something worse." Weiss said, gripping her chin in thought.

"I'm afraid of what Black might do to her if she tries to fight him." Ruby silently thought. She looked out the window wondering where he was right now.

---

The forest was quiet. The wind breezing through the trees brought a peaceful relaxing feeling. Expect for Neo, "I feel like we've been walking for hours." Using her umbrella she picked up a small rock and tossed it at Black's head. The rock bounced off his head. Neo again picked the rock up and tossed it at him. She continued to pick up the rock and toss it at him for several more times.

Raven and Adam looked back at Black his face twitching in annoyance. They looked back at the short girl who still wore a bored expression. Neo noticed the two staring at her. She raised her hands. "What, I'm bored."

"We have been walking for quite a while." Adam spoke up.

"And we have yet to encounter any Grimm." Raven added. It was true throughout the entire walk they weren't able to spot any Grimm only silence. Silence can be nice but at times like these, it was unsettling. "You were right." Raven says facing towards Black.

Up in the distance, munching sounds and bones breaking were heard. Black and Raven glanced at each other. Adam and Neo walked up beside them and then continuing onward before making into the clearing. Their eyes widen at what was in front of them.

A Grimm with bone shoulder plates as well as one bone plate covering the chest. Bone spikes coming out from the back and along with everything was the signature Grimm mask and the two red eyes that glowed from them.

The Giant was hunched down and seemed to be eating a…Ursa Major. In one of its other claw, it held the head of another Ursa. "It's…it's eating them." Raven could not believe her eyes. A Grimm eating another Grimm.

The Grimm stopped eating and slowly turned around. Now front in full view, they could see a largemouth by the abdomen which still had an Ursa arm in it. It stood straight up tower over the four. "It got bigger." Raven said.

"What?" Black says. Rustling from the bush next to Adam was heard. Black's eyes widen and grabbed the bull faunas by the shoulder and threw him to the side. Two black tentacles shot out from the bush and grabbed Black by the neck and abdomen, Raven and Neo ducked as Black was sent crashing through trees. The Grimm twisted its body causing its extended arm to continue to drag Black's body through the forest. Black gritted his teeth and tried ripping the limp off him but couldn't get a grip.

Raven appeared above the Grimm's arm and sliced it off with her sword. Black's body crashed into several more trees before his body began skipping across the ground.

The arm retracted back to the Grimm. It then roared and charged towards them. Adam charged forward as well with Raven following behind. The Grimm brought its claw forward in an attempt to hit Adam, the bull faunas, however, saw this and rolled underneath the attack. Fixing his eyes back to the Grimm he aimed Blush and emptied a couple rounds at it. The Grimm brought its arm back forcing Adam to flip backwards.

Raven jumped over the Grimm in an attempt to slash its back. Her eyes widen behind the helmet when the bones from its back shot towards her. Using her sword she blocked the spikes, twisting her body she managed to plant one foot on a spike and push herself forward. With her sword she slashed at the Grimm's collarbone. She twisted back around and threw an ice blast from her hand encasing the Grimm's head in ice.

The Grimm staggered back a couple of steps. Raven landed on her feet and skidded next to Adam. Neo appeared out of nowhere and sliced the head off. The Grimm fell on its back and Neo landed in front of the swordsman and woman with a cocky smile.

"That was far too easy." Adam commented,

Raven agreed, it fought way harder than this. The body twitched a bit, soon the whole body started moving again. The Grimm pushed itself back up, grabbing its ice encased head it crushed it surprising Neo, Raven, and Adam.

The head was absorbed into the Grimm's hand before forming back to where it was supposed to be. One of the tentacle claws formed itself back. "Okay, that's not normal." Neo said,

"It can regenerate." Raven said in disbelief. Adam looked at her "Did it not before?" His answer was a shake from her head.

Now standing back up, the Grimm let a mighty roar before stabbing one of its hands into the ground and the other shot out towards them. Raven felt the ground rumble beneath her feet. "MOVE!" They jumped back in the nick of time as the claws shot out and chased after Adam and Neo. Raven looked back to the Grimm only see its other claws heading her way. Maneuvering herself in the air she managed to dodge 3 of the claws except for the fourth one as it embedded itself into her stomach shocking her, thankfully her Aura stopped the whole spike from piercing through her body, only the tip managed to stab into her, the force of the attack sent her flying back.

Adam flipped backwards and used Wilt to parry the claws. Neo jumped back into the trees using them for cover. Adam swiped Wilt in front of him cutting through all the claws, with that done he charged at Grimm. Raven landed next to him and followed his lead cutting through the claws that were being sent at her. The Grimm retracted its hands back and slammed one hand in an attempt to crush Raven. She saw the incoming hand skipped to the side then skipped forward she then slashed at its leg with Adam doing the same.

The Grimm pulled its fist back and tired hit Adam but missed when the bull faunas jumped over it and ran up the arm. It used its other hand to grab him but Adam jumped over it too. He spun around and slashed at the Grimm's face, to his surprise he missed when the Grimm retracted its face into its body. A black limb from its body shot out, Adam gritted his teeth knowing full well that we won't be able to dodge this, but to his surprise, someone pulled him back.

Raven had pulled Adam through a portal she created, moving to the side before tossing him behind her. She spun back around and sliced the black limb that followed through. She jumped up barely evading the Grimm's hand that came from behind.

The Grimm roared again, most likely furious from the missed attack. Its mask then moved to its right shoulder when it felt someone running down its arm. Indeed there was someone. Neo smirked when she got close enough and jumped forward and stab her blade, barely grazing the face. She then looped down its other arm while dragging her blade across. The Grimm raised its arm that Neo was still on flinging her into the air. The Grimm raised its other hand to slam her to the ground. Neo smirked and shattered into pieces when the attack made contact.

Neo landed on the ground and flipped backwards. After gaining enough distance Neo turned back towards the Grimm, flashing it a smirk. She felt the ground rumble; looking down spikes shot out shocking Neo, but before they could get close to her, Neo was kicked away.

Her body landing a good distance away Neo looked up and saw the tall tower of spikes that would've impaled her. At the top of the tower was Black who was balancing on the tip of one spike with his arms crossed.

He glared down at the beast. Two spikes came slithering from the side and aimed to stab him. Black disappeared, and reappeared in front of the Grimm and punched it knocking it back several yards.

Black flew after it and repeatedly punched the Grimm staggering it back more and more. He ended the beating with a high kick knocking the Grimm down to the ground. Flying at it once again Black readied Saber Rose.

The false Saiyan blinked in surprise when spikes suddenly shot out from the ground. Black flipped over the first one and then evaded to left then to the right. He disappeared and reappeared above. A shocked expression formed when the Grimm's hands came crashing down on top of him. "It predicted my movement?!"

Black gritted his teeth as he was trapped under the Grimm's palm. The Grimm's hands grew larger and pulled a chunk of the ground with Black still trapped inside and threw the chunk at Raven and the others.

The chunk of dirt broke apart at impact and Black came out rolling across the ground before pushing himself back up. Skidding right up between Adam and Raven.

"Tough bastard isn't he." Adam stated, Black stood straight up and cracked his neck. The Grimm stood back up and gave a loud roar. Neo stepped next to Black and hit him on the back of the head with her umbrella.

Neo glared at him, confused for a second Black saw the small little bruise on her cheek from when he kicked her. "If I'm not mistaken I saved your life."

"You couldn't just grab and throw me out of the way?" Neo gave an irritable glare.

"I'm not exactly that fond of you yet to be that nice." Black replied.

Neo was about to respond back but a shadow of an incoming attack brought them back to battle. Black and Adam raised their palms and fired a ki blast disintegrating the monster's hand. The Grimm roared in pain and backed up a bit. The large Grimm looked at it's blown off hand and slowly began to regenerate it. "That's going to be annoying." Adam stated.

A tentacle slowly made its way to Black from behind. Getting close enough it shot out and wrapped itself around his leg catching him off guard. It pulled him back and used his body to swat Raven and Adam away. Neo managed to evade the surprise attack and jumped back into the trees.

Black was slammed to the ground several times before letting go. Lifting himself off the ground Black turned back to the Grimm with a glare but his glare soon changed into curiosity when the Grimm opened its wide mouth. A dim dark glow came from the mouth before firing a giant ki wave. Black's eyes widen. Quickly crossing his arms as the wave came into contact, pushing him back. His feet dug into the ground, the wave continuing to push him deeper into the forest.

Adam appeared in front of the Grimm and slashed Wilt across the beast's chest disrupting its attack on Black. Black uncrossed his arms and inspected them seeing faint burn marks on his forearms. "Hmm, interesting."

Adam landed on the ground with a roll and quickly turned around and fired a couple rounds with Blush before evading from being crushed by its now regenerated hand. Raven kicked it in the face with her heel before spinning and bringing her sword back around slashing it across the face, following it up with a maiden blast with her free hand.

The Grimm staggered back and fired another ki wave from its mouth. Raven flew up; the Grimm's aim followed, lighting up the sky. Neo jumped out from the trees and threw her blade piercing one of the Grimm's glowing red eyes, Neo planted her foot on her blade causing it to plunge deeper into its eye. The Grimm roared in pain, Black appeared in front of it and activated Saber Rose before stabbing it up its upper jaw. Black used his foot to stop the lower jaw from clamping together.

Adam stood behind with his hand ready on his hilt. Raven hovered above them. Black was right. Alone they would have had a hard time fighting this thing but together, the Grimm barely stood a chance. Teamwork, something she hasn't relied on for a long time not since… Her eyes narrowed when she remembered her past with…them. Her attention was caught by an eerie dark glow coming from the beast. The others also stared at the Grimm with confusion. The glow grew brighter and brighter. Black placed a hand on the Grimm to find out what was happening. "What's it doin- wait this is!" Before any of them could react the glow grew even brighter catching them all by surprise. From the distance a flash of light could be seen before a giant explosion followed, destroying most of the forest.

Ozpin felt a faint rumble in his office. Looking out the office window he hummed, not liking this uneasy feeling he's was getting.

Back to where Black and the others were fighting the Grimm. A good portion of the forest was completely obliterated; patches of fire remained here and there.

In a pile of dirt Adam emerged. His jacket was torn, and burn marks were all over his upper body. Lifting himself up Adam slowly stood up. Looking around he had a strange sense of déjà vu. Little over the distance he saw a body with half of its body underground. Adam made his way to the body while holding his side. He glanced around, "It blew itself up…what the hell." Reaching the body he saw that it was Raven.

Crouching down he rolled her onto her back. "Hey," Adam shook her shoulder, no response. "Hey, you still with me?" Shaking her a bit harder, still no response. "Hmm," He lightly smacked her cheeks. Raven's face twitched a bit, her eyes slowly peered open. "Do that again and I'll encase your insides in ice."

Adam stood back up. "Keep your threats to yourself."

Lifting herself up Raven hissed in pain when she suddenly felt a stinging sensation. Looking down she saw blood dripping down her arm. She removed her long sleeve glove, "You wanna help?" Raven asks, Adam stared at the glove in her hand. "Right, you're a part of the White Fang. Not really keen on helping humans."

Adam crouched down took the glove and wrapped it around her bleeding arm. "Don't think this makes us friends."

"I wouldn't even think about it." Raven shot back. Adam finished wrapping the glove with a tight pull, in the end, causing Raven to hiss again, she growled and glared at the bull faunas knowing full well he did that on purpose.

Using her sword she pushed herself on to her feet. "Where's Black and Neo?" On cue a black light shined through the ground right in front of them, a ki blast was blasted out the ground. From the newly formed hole, Black rose out. "Damn bastard blew himself up." Black growled in annoyance when he noticed that front part of his gi was pretty much burned off leaving him with only his long black sleeve shirt. He dusted himself the dirt he was covered off.

"You look like shit." Adam commented as he and Raven made their way towards him.

"I could say the same for the two of you." He shot back.

Adam smirked at his response, "That was quite the attack it did."

Black crossed his arms and looked to the side where they last saw the beast before it self-detonated. "Yes, it was."

"How did it feel being in the front row seat of it?" Adam asks knowing full well that it would tick him off, and it did.

"I don't know Adam, how about I show you an example of it right now." Black was irritated at how he failed to notice what the Grimm was planning, and how much the blast managed to sting due to him lowering his power to match the beast.

"Neo was also there with you. Is she dead?" Raven asked. Black looked around for a second before stopping his gaze to one certain spot. Lifting his hand he started to pull something with his ki. A couple seconds later a big orb popped out from the ground before subsiding, then out fell Neo. Landing on her bottom Neo let out a silent oof. "No, she alive," Black said.

Neo got up with an angry look. She spoke her mind with sign language. "Next time warn me before you trap me in your orb. Do you know how many times I hit my head in your stupid orb?"

"Not enough times I would say." Black looked away causing Neo's anger to rise.

"You two don't stop bicker do you?" Raven asked, receiving glares from both "siblings".

"Well now that our work here is done. I'm going to go back to-." Adam was suddenly pulled underground surprising Raven, Black, and Neo. Adam was dragged underground before finally pulled out and then slammed to the ground causing him to shout in pain. A hand came down crushing Adam under the weight, the bull faunas coughed up blood.

The trio's eyes widen when they recognized the familiar hand. "It can't be." Raven said. From the smoke the Grimm they thought was dead emerged fully healed now. Its mouth formed and inhaled some air before letting out a loud roar. The gust of wind from the roar blew their hairs back.

"How is that bastard still alive, I thought he blew himself up!" Neo looked at Raven and Black for an answer but received nothing. Then Raven noticed one distinctive feature. "It's the head." Raven concluded.

"The head?" Black repeated unsure what she meant.

Raven began to explain her discovery. "Everything on its body is healed, right?" Black and Neo gave a nod. "Now look at its head." Black and Neo looked at the Grimm's direction. Then their eyes caught on what she was getting at. The head still held wounds they inflicted on it, the mask had distinguishingly sharp cut most likely from Raven sword and it was also missing the same eye Neo stabbed her blade into.

"I think it somehow ejected its head from its body before blowing up." Raven explained.

"Like a fighter jet?"

"Yes," Raven replied.

Black looked from Raven to the Grimm. "Not bad, I'm impressed you were able to deduce that faster than myself. Now that we have an idea how to kill it, why don't we get the job done."

"Easier said than done, if you haven't noticed I'm all out of Aura and so is Adam. I'm guessing you are as well since your burns haven't healed yet, though I highly doubt that will stop you from fighting." Raven said.

"Of course I could easily kill this thing." Black said.

"But you won't will you?" Raven asked, afraid of the answer she might receive.

"No, I won't. At least not yet."

"What, why not?!" Neo asked with her sign language.

"I haven't finished having my fun yet." Neo and Raven both gave him a are you serious look. "It's not every day that you encounter a Grimm this powerful and unique. Plus if I recall I'm not the one that wants it dead." Black pointed out.

Raven sucked her teeth. "I had a feeling you weren't going to help with this problem all the way." Letting out a sigh she prepared to go back into the fight. The Grimm waited for them to make a move, oddly patient. "Any hits I take from now on are going to hurt like hell." Clenching her fist and her grip on her sword, Raven let the maiden power flow through her, a fiery glow appearing in her eyes.

"So you need someone to take the hard hits for you is what you're asking." Raven looked at him before giving him a nod. Black gave it some thought then turned to Neo. "You were shielded from the blast, meaning you still have Aura, right?" Neo raised a brow and gave him a hesitant nod.

"There problem solved." Black says, Neo finally realizing her mistake and slowly backed away with her hands in front of her while violently shaking her head. "Don't you dar-." Neo was immediately grabbed by the front of her jacket and thrown at the Grimm with great force. "Fuck you Black!" Neo screamed in her mind.

The Grimm saw the incoming human and shot out sharp tentacles from its body. Neo used her umbrella to block one, letting it skim past her before flipping over two others and landing on one extended limb she ran towards the Grimm deflecting the attacks into different directions. She evaded the attacks by jumping onto one limb then to another, some of them managing to scrap her sides. Neo was then punched in the gut by a couple limbs knocking her back.

Black appeared behind the beast and planted his foot onto its back. Raven flew at it from the front and slashed upwards adding in her maiden power into the attack. The Grimm staggered back releasing Adam from its clutches. The body of the bull faunas was lifted a bit before falling back to the ground. "What took you so long?" Raven landed in front of him.

"We were planning on how to kill it."

Adam stood up with some difficulty. "And, what did you come up?"

"Destroy the head." Raven says, they watched as Black beat up the Grimm with his fists as it responded by shooting out more limbs from its body to hit or grab him. Black causally evaded the attacks while cutting through some with Saber Rose. He was then caught off guard when a hand shot up from the ground grabbing him and then throwing him towards the ground. The Grimm lifted its fist and aimed to crush him under it. Black saw this and used his hand to flip himself forward, the fist crashing down where his body once laid in.

Landing on his feet Saber Rose transformed to its gun mode, firing dust rounds at the Grimm. Black looked past the Grimm at Raven and Adam. "Are you two just going to stand there or are you going to attack?" Black turned back to the Grimm and leaned back when the beast swung its large arm at him.

"He's not going to help is he?" Adam asks, readying Wilt and Blush.

"Nope."

Adam cracked his neck. "Of course," The two rushed at the Grimm. Sensing danger coming its way the Grimm shot out several limbs and sharp bone spikes from its back at them. Using their swords they sliced through each limb and spike. Getting close enough Adam threw his sword impaling it into the Grimm's shoulder before jump forward and drop kicking it forward, pulling Wilt out in the process. Adam fired a couple ki blasts forcing the Grimm to turn and shield itself with its arm, The Grimm tired from the blasts used its other arm and swung at the Faunas.

Seeing the attack Adam raised his left arm and leg, taking the hit. His body bounced off the ground before jumping back to his feet and firing more ki blasts. Raven flew at the Grimm slashing it across the body several times from different angles at high speed.

Flying up Raven was about to blast it with another maiden attack but was surprised when a ton of limbs came bursting out of the Grimm. Raven managed to deflect and cut through some of them and but missed one, earning her blow under her chin sending her crashing to the ground. Adam was in the same boat, using his sword he cut through the incoming attacks some of them grazing him. The attacks kept coming faster and stronger; suddenly Wilt was knocked out of his hand. Adam quickly caught two sharp limbs but could not grab the ones that landed on his stomach. Adam was sent crashing through several trees before stopping on one. Adam tilted his head just in time as a sharp limp chipped part of his mask and leaving a cut on his temple.

Black came flying from the side. The Grimm saw him and swung at him but was unfortunate of having its arm cut clean off by Saber Rose. Black spun around and kicked it with one leg before kicking off with the other. Landing on the ground with a skid Black flew at it again, with his fist pulled back he gave the Grimm a hard blow to the rib. With his other hand, he created an orb.

The Grimm took notice of the orb and slammed its remaining hand onto Black's back. The Grimm opened its mouth and fired a ki wave. The false Saiyan gritted his teeth as the wave drove him deeper into the ground. The orb still in his hand he fired it upwards.

From behind the Grimm, Neo came flying out and planted both feet on the back of its head. She grabbed the Grimm by the head and pulled herself forward and slashed it across collarbone ceasing its fire on Black. As Neo fell forward she saw a bright light coming from the hole in the ground. Recognizing what the light has Neo spun around, pulling out her umbrella and batting the ki orb towards the Grimm.

The attack impacted the Grimm's chest causing a big hole in its chest. Roaring loudly from pain and anger the beast pulled its fist back and aimed to punch Neo with full force.

Seeing the attack coming the ice-cream haired girl shut her eyes and awaited the impact. To her surprise though she felt herself being pulled, looking back her eyes were met with Raven. The Branwen had sliced a portal behind Neo so she could pull her out of harm's way.

When Neo's body went through the portal Raven tossed the girl back and did a full turn with her sword ready in her hand. She brought down as soon as the Grimm's fist followed through. Slicing of the beast's hand she immediately closed the portal. Turning back to the Grimm she saw that it was in a fit of rage from the loss of its other hand. Black tar oozed out from its missing appendages.

Having a feeling that it might be trying to regenerate its lost limbs, Raven took the initiative to stop it. Placing two fingers and her thumb onto the bottom of her blade she slowly traced it. Her sword glowed bright red, nearing the end of her blade she slashed in front of her sending dozen of dust shards at the Grimm.

As the shards continued to rip pieces off the Grimm, Raven failed to notice something coming from behind. Before she knew it, a body was slammed on her back causing her to emanate a harsh gasp. The Grimm pulled her and now Adam towards it with its extendable limbs and flung both behind it.

Adam and Raven's body skipped across the ground before coming to a halt. Adam was the first to get up, looking to his side he saw Raven still on her side, probably unconscious. Turning back Adam's lone red-orange eye glared through his half shatter mask. The Grimm now fully regenerated was trying to rid Neo from its body. The small girl used her incredible reflexes and illusions to evade the Grimm's attacks while small cuts all over its body. Neo then was flung into the air when she was on its arm. Long limbs were shot out from the Grimm's body. Neo created an illusion of herself that took the hit, as she slid down the limbs she jumped over and twisted her body past some others that were shot at her. Nearing the Grimm she prepared to create another illusion of herself but the Grimm reacted faster than she anticipated.

The Grimm smacked her down with its hand. Neo's body crashed to the ground creating a small crater. Feeling her Aura finally giving out she twitched in pain. The Grimm raised its fist prepared to drive it down on top of the short girl; that was until a blast hit its shoulder.

Turning around the Grimm was met with the presence of the bull faunas taunting it to come at him. Adam let a grin plaster itself his face when he noticed his taunts getting to the Grimm. A largemouth was formed in the Grimm's abdomen, seeing this Adam took a stance with his hand on Wilt by his side. The dark glow in the Grimm's mouth grew brighter, Adam readied himself.

Finally firing its ki wave, Adam unsheathed Wilt and began absorbing the attack. The attack is more powerful than he expected Adam was slowly pushed back, his feet digging into the ground. Adam gritted his teeth together as he continued to absorb the blast. Feeling the power surging through his sword he knew it wasn't enough, he needed more!

The Grimm pressed forward not realizing that its attack was being absorbed it continued to blast the faunas.

The symbols on Adam mask glowed including his visible eye. "That should be good enough, now how do I escape this?" The faunas was in a pretty bad bind right now, the Grimm didn't show any sign of stopping as it still kept blasting the faunas back.

Suddenly an icy blast collided with the Grimm's attack. Surprised by this Adam looked over his shoulder to see Raven on one knee firing her maiden blast with one hand while the other held her side. "Go!" She shouted.

With the given opportunity Adam jumped to the side out of the blast's way letting Raven fend off the attack now. "My turn," Long limbs were shot at him, in a blink of an eye Adam unsheathed his sword and sliced through all the limbs. Sheathing his sword back Adam's hair glowed bright red, a trail of dust was then left from Adam once stood.

Half of the Grimm's body was suddenly sliced off. The Grimm's lone remaining eye widens and roared in pain. Noticing the Grimm's attack weaken, Raven took this chance and raised her other hand adding more power into her blast. "HaaaaAAAAAA!" Her attack grew stronger, pushing the Grimm's own attack back before totally overpowering it.

Adam stopped behind the Grimm, with one hand pulled back, charging ki in his hand he fired an energy wave. The Grimm was caught in between both attacks. The two swordsmen poured more energy into their attacks crushing the Grimm. An explosion erupted causing massive gusts of winds. Adam and Raven shielded themselves with their arms.

After a couple of seconds, the chaos died down. Smoke surrounded the area. Adam lowered his arm down, his eyes looking for any sign of movement. Suddenly a stretched fist was shot out from the smoke. Adam twisted, his body evading the attack. The faunas growled and rushed at the still standing Grimm.

Raven was on her hands and knees huffing in exhaustion when the extendable limbs came at her. Grabbing her sword that laid next to her, Raven sliced upwards opening a portal letting the attacking limbs coming at her go through it, she then closed the portal cutting the limb off before getting back up and rushing at the Grimm.

Neo appeared above in a flash of light and descended down. The three attacked together, evading some of the Grimm's large arms and limbs that would shoot out from its body. They slashed, kicked, punched, and blasted the Grimm at every given opportunity.

The Grimm punched Neo to ground, her small body crushed under the giant fist. The two swordsmen appeared in front of the Grimm. Adam fist was covered in a red glow and Raven's fist with her red maiden aura. The two gave a huge blow to the Grimm's face causing cracks to form on its mask. The Grimm was launched back a couple feet. When Raven and Adam's feet made contact with the ground they skipped forward then diagonally slashed in front of them, sending a ki and ice wave forming an X, cutting deep into the Grimm's chest.

The Grimm gave a loud roar and extended both of its fists. Adam and Raven's body shattered when the fists connected surprising the Grimm.

A little further away from where the Grimm punched, Adam was seen spinning Neo around at great speed before releasing her. A shockwave erupted when Neo's feet connected with the Grimm's chest, shattering the bone chest piece and causing black blood to gush from its previous wounds.

The Grimm staggered a great distance back. As it was regaining its balance the Grimm arched its back and roared in pain. From behind Raven had created a large sword made of ice and slashed it down the Grimm's back. The Grimm had the spikey bones on its back shoot towards the Branwen. With a mighty shout Raven slashed upwards cutting through all the bones and causing another deep gash into the Grimm's back. Unfortunately, Raven's maiden sword shattered with her last attack and as well as the rest of her stamina. Her body fell back, her eyes barely able to stay open.

The Grimm turned around, creating a spear like form with its hand. Thrusting the spear like hand it aimed to impale Raven, Branwen saw the attack coming and tried moving her body but could not find the strength to do so. Adam appeared in front of her and caught the hand spear. The Grimm created another hand spear, and thrust it forward, Adam also caught the other hand spear with his other hand.

Adam growled and struggled to push the large spear-like hands back. Neo appeared next to Raven and had her arm wrap around her neck as she lifted Raven up. They were pretty shocked to see that Adam was actually equaling the Grimm in strength.

Thinking that the two were in a stalemate the Grimm did something that made their eyes widen. Spreading its arms out along with Adam's, the Grimm formed a large mouth, vines sprang out from the mouth wrapping around Adam's neck, torso, and thighs. Adam's hand sunk into the Grimm's hands. His body was now slowly being pulled towards the mouth.

Neo was about to go help but a long limb came slithering from the side and hitting Neo in the rib knocking the wind out of her. Neo was sent flying back and since Raven was being carried by her so was she. Their bodies skidded across the ground.

Adam was still being dragged towards the mouth. He pulled back with all his might to stop himself from being pulled into the Grimm's mouth, his feet digging into the ground from his continuing struggle. "Damn you! I will not become Grimm food!" The Grimm's tongue came slithering out, Adam's face almost in reach.

Just as his face was about to be covered in saliva a powerful ki blast blasted the Grimm across the ground letting Adam go in the process. The faunas coughed and massaged his neck. "I knew that attack didn't put you out of commission. So where the hell have you been?" Adam asks between groans.

"I was monitoring how well you three would do against the Grimm without my help. I must say, I'm not disappointed. Though your teamwork could use some work" Black touched down behind the faunas.

"You were, monitoring us, from where?" Raven asked weakly.

Looking back Black saw how poorly Neo was carrying the bandit. "You're really not the right size to be carrying someone like her" Neo flipped him off. Black scoffed at the action. "To answer your question, I was in the air." He says, pointing up.

Turning back to the Grimm that was getting back up Black rested his elbow in his palm and with his other hand he gripped his chin. A large chunk of its body was blown off and was now slowly regenerating. "While I despise that woman's very existence I must admire this creature she created. It's been learning through the whole fight, improving its attacks and improving its defenses." Black says, hinting on the times when their attacks would miss or blocked.

"Improving? I wouldn't say that. It's been wildly attacking us the whole time." Adam said.

Black gave an amused hum and a raised brow. "For someone who is on par with a seasoned huntsman I'm surprised to see that you never noticed."

Raven took a moment and gave what Black said some thought, her eyes then widen in realization. "It was tiring us out." Her statement caught Adam and Neo's attention. "It was purposely attacking us in an erratic way to get us to waste our stamina and when it noticed our movements getting slower that's when it started hitting us with stronger, heavier attacks." Raven explained.

Black gave Raven a nod as a way of telling her that she was right. "Now," Taking steps forward. "While I do admire you, I can't let a creature like you roaming around Remnant. Plus your ability to regenerate is quite annoying, adding in that you ruined my gi as well, you've angered me enough to put you down, for good." Adding venom into his last words.

The Grimm roared loudly, black streams of goo flowed into the Grimm from the ground up. Its body now fully healed the Grimm formed a large mouth and began charging its attack. Black sensed a large amount of ki gathering in the Grimm mouth more than before. "It must be painful to have to constantly regenerate those lost limbs of yours." A smirk formed on Black's lips. "Don't worry though; I'll give you an attack that you won't be coming back from."

With that said Black cupped his hands in front of him. "Ka…me…" A dark purple ball of ki gathered in his cupped hands as he slowly pulled them back. The Grimm's mouth grew darker. Adam's sensed extreme danger coming from the Grimm. "Ha…me…" Finally, the Grimm fired its attacks a dark beam of energy engulfing everything in its path. "Ha!" A dark purple wave was fired from Black's hands.

The two attacks clashed with one another, creating a crater underneath the collision. Black held a surprised look. "Oh, you can match my attack, impressive." The Grimm kept firing its blast. Black felt something off, looking at the ground he saw drag marks. He was being pushed back? "Getting stronger are we? Sorry, but this level of power is nowhere near close enough to overpower me, allow me, to show you!" The ex Kaioshin poured more power pushing the Grimm's own attack back.

Raven, Adam, and Neo stood there shocked at Black's display of power totally overpowering the Grimm's. "Unbelievable, his power…it's unreal." Raven muttered. Neo thought the same, she knew Black was strong since he can go toe to toe with Great Saiyanman, but she never had the chance to see it up close before.

Adam clenched his fists, he had a feeling Black held back in their fight a year ago but by this margin…it…it irritated him to know that he was being taken lightly that day.

Black continued to have that smirk on his face as the Grimm was nearing its end. "So long, Grimm." Adding a bit more power the energy wave engulfed the Grimm's attack with it as well. One finally roar was heard from the Grimm as it disintegrated into nothing, the energy wave sent to space.

As everything settled down Black stood straight up, he turned towards the others with his normal expression. "It's done." He says, walking past them. The three looked at his retreating form then looked back at where the Grimm once stood.

As Black was walking ahead a rock was suddenly thrown, hitting him in the head. Looking back, he saw Neo giving him signs. "Aren't you gonna use that Instant Transmission thingy again? Cause I don't want to walk all the way back to the camp, I'm exhausted." Looking at the other two Black notice the how fatigue they looked. This battle took more out of them than he thought.

"Very well, I'll give a helping hand. Can't have any of you dying to any returning Grimm, I still have some use from you." Adam narrowed his eyes, not liking the word use. Black turned around, "Grab on," He ordered. Neo placed a hand on his back. Raven and Adam weren't sure for what reason he wanted them to place a hand on him, but if Neo was doing it then maybe they should too. Placing their hands on his shoulder, their surrounding then suddenly changed.

Raven looked around to see that they were in the forest but a mile away from where they fought the Grimm. Neo gave hand signs when she noticed the surroundings too. "Hey you said that you would take us back to the camp! What the hell is this?!"

"I said I would give a helping hand. I never said that you back to the camp." Neo gave an annoyed look, her fist shaking at her sides. Adam and Raven were also quite annoyed as well. Black took pleasure in seeing their annoyed faces. "Now come, we're not that far from the camp. We're out of Grimm territory, so walking the rest of the way won't kill you." The false Saiyan would soon find himself regretting that decision.

The first few minutes of the walk was pretty calm, Raven regained enough strength to walk on her own without the need of Neo's support. With the load off now removed this gave the short girl the time to throw rocks at the man in front of her. Adam just watched as the short girl continued to pick up and throw the same rock at Black's head. The Faunas was just waiting for the man to explode with anger.

Black's body started shaking bit by bit, a dark sinister aura emanating from him. This didn't faze the short girl one bit though. After a few more throws Black finally exploded. "Throw it one more time and I swear you will have a worse fate than that Damn Grimm!" Holding her up by the front of her jacket.

Neo pushed his face away. "Then stop being a dick and use your stupid technique already!"

Raven watched the two "siblings" fight each other. "They're edgy."

"Yes they are. I am too; if we would've ended that fight sooner than none of us would be in this state we are in." The Faunas says.

"But we didn't. We did not have to significant power to do so." Ravens says,

Adam scoffs. "So much in having the power of a Maiden on our side."

Raven paused, her expression turning into a scowl. "Are you trying to say something Faunas?"

Adam also paused and turned to her. "I heard about the Maiden's being powerful beings from Black and Cinder. But today it didn't seem like that to me. More like these Maiden are all talk, unless you're the weakest member of them." The last part angered the bandit.

"Oh, and you're supposed to be an example of what a strong fighter is. Cause from what I remember you were pretty much crying out for our help when you were trapped under the clutches of the Grimm." Raven mockingly laughed. "For someone who's also the leader of the White Fang I hear you never actually killed a Huntsman or Huntress before." Adam's lone visible eye glared at the bandit. "Then again you probably never had the chance to encounter one, or, you just run away with your tail between your legs whenever one shows up." The fauna's eye twitched a bit.

"Maybe I should show you first hand why I'm feared by most people." Adam says, placing a hand on Wilt.

"These people that fear you must be non-existent because I never heard of you till today." Raven smirked her hand on her own sword.

"I wouldn't expect you to know, you and your so call family are a bunch of lowlifes that raid small and weak villages. How pathetic."

Raven leaned on one leg, "It's called being smart and not attract too much attention."

Adam smiled, "Alright, fair enough, but answer me this. Why do you keep moving your camp?" Raven tilted her head unsure of what he was meaning. "I saw on a map in the tent of the previous location you moved away from. In one retrospect it could be just you trying to cover up any tracks of your tribe's involvement with the raids, or you're running away from something or someone." Adam seemed to hit the nail on that one when he saw the serious look on Raven's face. "What was your motto again, the strong live and the weak die. I think you've been postponing your death for some time, haven't you?" Adam smirked causing the same fiery glow in her eyes from back then to appear again. Gripping tightly at their swords they waited for one to make a move.

But before anything could happen a voice interrupted them. "Enough you two." Looking at the source of the voice, Black stood there with one arm wrapped around Neo's body and the other covering her mouth, as she vigorously kicked her legs and wiggling her body as she tried to escape the man's stronghold. "Let's get a move on; we should be close to the camp by now." As Black was about to turn around their voices stopped him.

"When did we start taking orders from you?" They both said.

"Huh?"

"When were you given the role as leader?" Adam asks, "Because I'm damn sure I never voted you to be mine."

"Really, I was hoping the power I displayed back there would have been enough to convince you otherwise." Black said back.

"Power is one thing, leadership is another. To me, you don't have any leader redeeming qualities." Raven said,

"I apologize that I didn't play nice with you all. But if you remember correctly, I wasn't the one holding a grudge towards it meaning that I had no reason to kill it." Black says back.

"That's right you were admiring it and this Salem woman you mentioned back then, my guess she's the one who created the creature. You know for someone who despises that woman but admires her as well sure makes you look like a dog that still needs some obedience training." What Adam said caused Black's anger to rise.

"What did you say?!"

"You heard me."

"You're one to talk. You take orders from Cinder, a human. Guess that makes you a dog as well." Raven cut in. Adam gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"And you're more like dead weight in battles like back there." Adam shot back, bringing the subject of their previous battle with the Grimm. Raven again was ticked off. Being called dead weight was a straight up insult for who she is.

"My Aura was all but destroyed when the Grimm blew itself up! Of course, I would be heavily weakened afterwards!" Raven yelled.

"I was there too you know, but that didn't stop me!" Adam yelled back.

"Oh right, you were busy eating dirt under the Grimm's grip." Both growling as sparks clashed with one another from the glares the faunas and human sent towards each other.

Black sighed, shaking his head. "The egos you mortals possess just surprises me sometimes." Black said. This did not go unheard by Adam and Raven though.

"You know for someone who thinks so highly of himself you still manage to fail to see what the Grimm was planning before it enveloped us in its attack." Black clenched his teeth, emanated sounds of irritation. The reminder of his failure still unnerved him a bit.

"Damn you Ad-," Black's hand was suddenly bitten causing him to release Neo. "Ah you little-!"

Neo held an angry look. "You're lucky I didn't stab you in the balls!"

---

Vernal walked throughout the camp checking all the resources and equipment as they were getting ready to move out, the only thing they need now was Raven to return. Vernal looked up to the sky. She hopped Raven was okay. As Vernal was about to head to Raven's tent to start packing her stuff up sounds of arguing were heard coming from the gate. Knowing it might be Raven and the other three she ran to the gate, others were already standing by the gate but with strange looks on their faces. Making her way through the small crowd the second in command made her way to the front. "Raven you're-." Vernal was surprised and extremely confused at what was before her.

It was Raven, Adam, Black, and Neo but…miniature versions of themselves arguing with one another (Chibi). The tribe blinked a couple times unsure what to make of what they were seeing. They all rubbed their eyes and looked back only to see the four back to normal. "What the hell was that?" They all thought.

The feeling of eyes on them stopped the four from arguing. "Uh, welcome back." Vernal awkwardly said.

Raven recomposed herself and coughed a few times into her hand. "Yes, it's good to be back." Black and Adam looked away while Neo whistled away. "Did you manage to kill it?" Vernal asked.

The nod from Raven was a great relief for the tribe knowing that their fallen brethren were avenged. Their faces brought a slight smile to Raven. "Well now that everything is taken care of, I'm going to head out." Adam said.

"Wait," Black's voice stopped the faunas in his tracks. "There's something important the four of us need to discuss." Black glanced at Raven who gave him a nod in return.

"Vernal, we'll be in my tent. Make sure no one interrupts us."

"Yes." With that said the four made their way to the tent. Upon entering Neo fell face first onto the floor pillow. The other three took their seats on the other pillows. "Now, what is it that you wanted to discuss?" Adam asks.

"It's about the Grimm we confronted today and the consequences that are going to follow soon." Black said.

"But before we get into that, can I ask you something?" Raven joined in.

"Go ahead." Adam said. Neo gave her a nod.

"How many gods have you heard during your time on Remnant?" Neo gave the bandit a questioning look. She began counting with her fingers. "Uh…nineteen I think."

"And out of those gods how many do you think actually exist?"

"One?" Black was going to correct her until. "Two." There's eyes all turned to the faunas. "The two brothers."

"You of them?" Black ask, he was honestly surprised that Adam knew about them.

"I read about them in a book before." Adam replied.

"And what makes you think those two are real." Raven spoke up.

"Because compared to the other tales of gods, these two…held some sort of familiar feeling to me. Like I should know them or something." Adam looked down, remembering the day he read that story about the brothers and how each word he read caused that strange sense of familiarity.

"Well, that feeling isn't wrong, considering that they are our creators." What Raven said left Neo a bit dumbfounded. Raven noticed this and sighed. "I guess I'll tell you the tale about them then." Neo leaned closer, Adam listened attentively and Black closed his eyes and enjoyed the tea that was served to him. "Long ago…"

---

In Beacon, Gohan and Yang walked through the hallways. "Are you sure you don't want me to help?" The half breed asked.

"What, you don't think I can lift a couple of texts books by myself?" Yang said back with a raised brow.

"Well I was just thinking that you shouldn't be overworking yourself, I mean you just got out of an intense fight with Ruby. Shouldn't you be resting like your sister is?" Gohan to reason with the blond but it seemed that his efforts were just in vain.

"Well yea technically I am supposed to be resting but I still got a lot of work that needs to be finished for professor Oobleck's."

Gohan sighed, "That's why Weiss and I keep on reminding you to do your work on the day it was given or its gonna end up piling up."

"I know I know, but that's why I have you to help me with this." Yang says with a smile.

"You know when they say friends will always have your back. It doesn't mean that they will literally always have your back, especially if there are things you can easily do on your own." Gohan said. They walked into the library and sat at one of the tables.

"Yea, but come on Professor Oobleck talk's way too fast. I can't keep up with what he's saying, but you can," Gohan sometimes curses his Saiyan hearing. "Now, let's get this, "Yang lift a large pile of papers on dropped it on the table. "Started."

Gohan felt his eyes bulge out when he saw the number of papers that were placed on the table. "Why are there so many papers!?"

Yang scratched her cheek. "I kind of let myself go this semester." She nervously laughs.

Gohan let out a defeated sigh, "Alright, let's see where we should start." The half breed flipped through couple pages reading the contents on each paper. His attention was then averted when the brawler said his name. "Hey Gohan, do you think that after I finish with all these papers we could spar?"

Her request surprised the half breed a bit. "You want to spar with me?" The brawler nodded her head.

"I was going to ask Ren but he's pretty preoccupied with Nora and Black…yea there's no way I'm asking him." Gohan was a bit unsure if he should accept. Yang could see the look in his eyes and gave him a light punch to the shoulder. "Come on, I've seen you train before, you got some pretty good moves."

"Wait you watch me train?"

"That's not important right now." Her sudden interject stopped him from asking any further. "So will you spar with me?"

Gohan was still a bit hesitant but then his sudden curiosity to see how much Yang could improve by sparring with him got the better of him. "Okay, I'll spar with you. There were some pointers I wanted to tell you about how to improve your fighting style after seeing your match with Ruby."

"Great, you can tell them to me while we spar! This gonna be really fun!" Her bright smile caused him to smile as well; as it reminded him how excited Trunks and Penny were to spar with him. "Now let's get these done and we can go to the arena."

Gohan cleared his throat gaining her attention. The half breed gave a look which Yang knew right away. "After I let my body rest a bit." Gohan chuckled at how disappointed she sounded at the fact that she had to wait a bit longer till they could spar. Gohan grabbed a couple sheets and began skimming through them and then showing the papers to Yang so she could decide which lesson of Professor Oobleck they would go over first.

---

Back at the Branwen camp, Raven had just finished telling the story of the two brothers as well as mentioning of the relics and the Maidens. The faunas and the assassin took in all the information quite well. "Four relics and four Maidens each titled over a season. That's how she got so powerful; she stole half of a Maiden's power." Adam stated.

"And the other half is hiding somewhere in Beacon, as well as the relic." Neo joined in.

"You two are taking in all this quite well." Raven said.

"Well, I have a reason why I nothing surprises anymore." Adam's eyes moved towards Black who kept his usual gaze on him. "But I do have one question. Who is Salem?"

Raven kept her gaze on the Faunas for a couple of seconds then moved it towards the false Saiyan. "That's right, you mentioned her before the fight with the Grimm, who is she?" Neo also wanted to know.

"I don't know what she is, all I know is she's clever, manipulative, very intelligent, and very powerful though I have a feeling she's hiding more power than she's letting on." Black muttered the last part to himself. "She works behind the shadow's using others to do her dirty work, Cinder being one of them." His eyes fixated on Adam and Neo.

"Kind of saw that one coming." Adam said.

"Anything else?" Neo asked, hoping to get all the information she can to know what she's going to be dealing with.

"As I said, I don't know much about her. She's a hard person to read and for whatever reason, she wants the relics for is unknown to me and probably to her subordinates as well." Black explained.

"This woman is going to be after us now?"

"After what we did to her Grimm, yes, you should expect her to investigate who killed her Grimm." Raven answered.

"That's something I don't get." The three turned to the Faunas when he spoke. "You said the younger brother created the Grimm so that they could share his sense of destruction and bring pain to the world. So why did this Grimm attack other Grimm?"

"It's because Salem created that thing." Black said, "How she did it, I don't know. But right now that's not what we're going to be concentrating on." The last part caught the three's attention. "Salem has a goal, and whatever this goal of her is, it involves the relics and Maidens and I want to know what it is. In order to do that, I need the help of you three." Raven, Adam, and Neo all stared at him as if he grew a second head or something.

"Who are you and what did you do with Black?" Neo asked, earning her a growl from the false Saiyan.

"Sorry but you have to understand our reason for such a reaction. You're not the type of person that asks for help." Adam stated.

"Yes, normally I would do this on my own, but certain circumstances require me to stay in Vale." Black explained. "But you all have more and better connections than I do in the underground world, as well as keeping a low profile when collecting information on someone."

Raven gave all this some thought. "This sounds awfully dangerous. We're literally going up against Salem here. If she finds out that someone is trying to discover her plans she will kill us."

"But if she doesn't and we do find out what she's planning then this could benefit us all." Adam joined in, "She's going to be after us right, we might as well find out her goal and stop her from reaching it or plan a countermeasure for whenever she reaches it."

"I expected you to be a bit obstinate about this, but it seems like you're on board." Black said.

"While I am sort of grateful to Cinder and Salem for providing the White Fang the resources and weaponry we needed to achieve our goal, the mere thought of being used as pawns to that hag infuriates me. And this goal of Salem's doesn't sound like it will be in my peoples favor either." Now that he knew Adam was with him Black turned to Raven.

"…I've been running and hiding from Salem for years. To switch it up and go after her, its…" Raven gazed at her hand seeing it slightly shake a bit. Taking in a deep breath and then exhaling out she made her decision. "If I want to ensure the safety of my tribe then I can't be running anymore. I'll do this." Black nodded and finally turned to the little assassin.

"Gods, Witches, ancient artifacts, Maidens, sounds like your offering me a very exciting life right now, so yea I'll join your little team. Plus I have to make sure that my little brother doesn't get into trouble." Neo teased with a smirk. Raven and Adam looked at Black as to why she called him little brother. The false Saiyan let out a low growl.

"So where do you want us to start looking." Adam asked.

Black crossed his arms and looked at the map of Remnant that was still on the table from when they left. "For now your main objectives is to find out who are Salem's other subordinates. They will most likely be someone of high authority, someone that is seeking revenge, someone crazed enough to follow her, or swayed by greed." Raven, Adam, and Neo took note on the type of people they should be looking for. "If you do find one of her subordinates, try to find out what makes them so special to catch her eye. Remember these are Salem's subordinates so be cautious when gathering information on them." Black each of them, his eyes then stopped on Raven. "I have an additional task for you?"

"What is it?"

"I want you to find the other two Maidens." Raven slightly surprised from the task she was given, "Your Maiden energy gives out a similar feeling to that of Cinder's. So if my guess is correct so will the other two Maiden's. Just use your energy to track them down."

"And if I find them?"

"Have one of your people keep tabs on them. We can't afford them to fall into Salem's hands." Black concluded.

"So what are we, the secret heroes of Remnant?" Neo sarcastically asked.

"I don't see myself as a hero for Remnant. Maybe to my people but I could care less for the humans." Adam said as he stood up.

"Nice to know that we can count on you to have our backs," Neo commented.

Raven stood as well and grabbed her mask, holding it under her arm. "How do we keep in contact? Because I won't be using those scrolls of yours," She asked Black.

This gave Black cue to speak try something out. "I've actually been working on a technique for that very purpose. Place your hands over each other." They looked at him oddly for a second before complying. Neo had her hand at the bottom, then Adam stacked his over her, then Raven's over his. Finally Black placed his hand over hers. "Now," A dim black purplish glow surrounded Black's hand.

The bandit, faunas, and assassin stared at the glowing hand, wondering to themselves what Black was doing. Suddenly a burning feeling erupted on their hands forcing them to pull their hands back. Neo blew on her hand to cool the burning sensation. She turned to the false Saiyan and raised her hands. "What the hell was that?!"

"Check your hands." He pointed. Doing as they were told they all looked at their hands, only to see a letter on them, "You branded us with the first letter of our name?" Adam accused.

"It's not a brand, it's a marking." Black's voice spoke in their heads causing the stare at him wide eye. "We'll be able to communicate with one another through this marking. Just concentrate on the person's marking you are trying to reach and speak your mind."

Raven and Adam tried it out but could not seem to get anything through. Just then a whistling sound was heard in their minds. Looking at one another they thought they managed to do it, only to realize that they weren't making the sound. Turning their heads towards the assassin, Neo held a monotone expression, "Well that was easy to do." She signed language.

"So even through the mind, you won't speak." Black says, crossing his arms. Neo shook her head with a cocky smile. "You both will get it down. Just keep practicing it, in the meantime just gather any information about them and tell me when you can do it." The bandit and faunas nodded their heads. "Since we are now a team I think it is appropriate that we have a team name of our own. And seeing how the academies name their teams I've thought of one that's most befitting for us."

"Please tell me you're joking." Neo signed language.

"We will be called team BRAN (Burans)." Black announced spreading his arms out with a pleased smile. Opening his eyes he was disappointed by the lack of reaction. Adam and Raven stared at him weirdly and Neo just looked at him with her mouth hanging out. "Oh my oum you actually gave us a team name."

"BRAN, as in the Burans flower?" Adam asked.

"Yes,"

"They are quite the majestic plant, the flowers hold natural properties that can be used as medicine to cure diseases." Raven informed.

"I guess in some aspect we are the cure and the Salem and her subordinates are the disease to Remnant. The name does have an oddly good ring to it." Adam said. Neo looked at the two absolutely baffled that they actually like the name.

Black let his arms fall to his sides and let out an irritable defeated sigh. Zamasu would have praised him for coming up with such a beautiful team name, unlike these four. Why does he even try? Looking outside the tent to he saw the sun beginning to set informing him that it was time to go. "Now, I think I've strayed too long from Beacon. I will be heading back before people start wondering where I am." Black made his way to the tent's exit as well as Adam and Neo.

"I'll be also taking my leave as well. My men and I still have something to do before I can concentrate on this." Adam said.

As the four walked out the tent they saw that the rest of the bandits have already packed most of their stuff in carriages and stolen vehicles. Adam headed out the gate ignoring the glares he was receiving from the humans. Black and Neo stood in the center getting ready to go back to Vale. "Black," The false Saiyan turned to the bandit leader. "There is someone that can answer a majority of your questions," His ears perked up when he heard this, turning his head to face her he waited for the name. "…Ozpin." Eyes narrowed at the mention of the headmaster's name.

"Figures," Black muttered before instant transmitting back to Vale. Raven stared at the spot where he stood then moved her eyes up to the sky. The play has been set in motion; things are going to change now that they're going onto the offensive. Question is, what action will Salem take when she discovers this.

Black and Neo reappeared back in Roman's office. "Oh, you're finally back. Wow, you two are a mess." Roman commented as he looked at both kids from head to toe. "I'm assuming that you both released all that pent-up anger of yours and are now well caring for each other." Black and Neo both gave him an odd stare. "Yea I figured as much. "

Black turned and head to the door. "I'm heading back to Beacon."

"Alright, I'll message you if anything comes that require your assistance." Roman said. As the door closed Roman sat back down in his chair. "So Neo, did you have fun?" The assassin gave him a cold stare before walking out the door as well. "Was it something I said?"

---

Black walked through the streets of Vale making his way back to Beacon. As he walked he looked at the numerous people still out, some chatting, others laughing, one or two arguing over the scroll, and some just enjoying a walk through the streets. His memory went back to the faces of the bandits in Raven's camp. The aftermath from the Grimm's attack left those people with fear and rage. Negative emotions attract Grimm, but luckily for them, Raven seemed to have trained them to suppress those emotions enough that they wouldn't be detected by the Grimm.

On the other hand, if that beast would've attacked here instead it would cause chaos and with the number amount of people in the city, their negative emotions would have attracted Grimm for miles. Now that he thinks about, he technically saved these mortals from a great disaster.

The thought of what he did without realizing it didn't bother him as much oddly enough. But still left a distasteful taste in his mouth from his actions, but what's done is done. Black reached his destination, boarding one of the airships he waited for the machine to lift off.

When it did Black went over and leaned onto the railing, gazing at the sunset. He always enjoyed that view; it was one of many beauties this planet had to offer. A frown formed on his face when another airship interrupted his view. But of course, this planet held parasites that ruined the beauty. One day though, he'll turn this planet into the beautiful paradise it once was.

The airship landed signally him that his ride was over. Walking out the airship Black saw only a couple of students still out. The rest are most likely in their dorms or somewhere else in the school, none the less it was no concern to him.

As he walked into the school and through the halls, Black failed to notice some of the stares students would give him. "What should I do now? It's too early to sleep, and my team is most likely not in the dorm."

His team… they annoyed him greatly, Lewis, that damn kid, and his pranks make him want to blow a mountain. But his childish innocence somehow stops him from doing so. Alli his partner was a timid faunas girl, she showed promise as a huntress but her easily frighten nature holds her back. Allison, Alli's counterpart is a rude and unmannered girl. Her carefree nature ticks him off a bit as well as her addiction to alcohol, but she seems to have more experience with her semblance than Alli. Finally his last teammate Gohan, he doesn't know what to think of him anymore. He was very intelligent and strong; his experience in combat far exceeded that of anyone in the school. His kindness caught the attention of many students and teachers. Black acknowledged him as somewhat of an equal, and at one point a…companion. That was until he discovered him to be a Saiyan. Now he doesn't know what to think of him, the recurring flashes he has of Goku whenever he sees Gohan doesn't help either.

He stopped and looked out the window. While the bad thoughts of his team were there, there were also good ones too. Not a single day would go by that they didn't make it an interesting one. His eyes still glued onto the outside, with a sigh Black rubbed the bridge of his nose. Damn, living with these people is starting to affect him a bit. "I guess I should just go get some re-."

"Hey Black," The call of his name turned him around. Ruby came walking up to him, "What happened to you?" Ruby asked after seeing the dirt, tears, and faint burn marks all over his gi. Looking down at himself he also saw the condition his gi was in; Black had completely forgotten to repair his gi after the battle. "I was fighting Grimm." It wasn't a complete lie, he was fighting a Grimm, just not around Vale.

"You know that's pretty dangerous doing that on your own. You may be strong but even you can be overpowered by the Grimm's sheer numbers." Black mentally rolled his eyes. If only she knew.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed resting?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Yea, but it's pretty boring staying in bed all day. So I managed to convince Weiss and the nurse to let me at least walk around Beacon."

"And I'm to assume you came in search of me to alleviate that boredness of yours, hmm?" Black says, crossing his arms in the process.

"Yea, I mean no, I mean-." Her mind then wandered to what Weiss said in making the first move. Her body began to sweat a bit. Sh-should she do it? Isn't it a bit too sudden?! What should she say?! Yes because I like you and want to be with you? No! That's too direct. What is she thinking?! As she began thinking of other things to say, Blake came to mind. "There's no need to rush in these kinds matters. Just go at the pace you feel most comfortable with."

Taking a short breath Ruby calmed herself down a bit before responding, "It's just being with you is pretty fun."

"Fun, really? Most of the time all we do is read together."

"Yea but, if it wasn't for you I would never enjoy reading as much as I do now. You always choose the most interesting ones that really get me hooked and reading them with you feels nice, ya know." She says, fidgeting with her hands as she tried to suppress the redness that was gathering in her cheeks.

"I see…" Black said. Sweat began to roll down her face. What she said was it weird!? Does he think she's weird! Why did she have to listen to Weiss and Blake! Now things are going to be weird and uncomfortable between them!

As Ruby was in the process of a panic Black was simply staring at her, wondering why she wouldn't look up at him or why she was shaking so much. Though what Ruby said to him lingered in his mind. How she expressed how much she enjoys reading with him had some kind of…impact in him that he could not describe. Sure he had the cat and Ren as reading partners but that was just it. The three of them would sometimes come together and read silently, maybe recommend a book or two to each other but that was it. Ruby, on the other hand, shared a passion with him for the books they would read together, she would always give her opinion about it and sometimes argue with him about the events that transpire in it. Not only that, but the fascination in her eyes can clearly be seen in the light of day or in the shadow of the night.

Still seeing her body shake Black moved his gaze to the side. "There's a book I've been meaning to check out. Would you like to accompany me?" His eyes moving back to her.

Ruby's panic stopped as she looked up. Black continued to stare at her waiting for her response. A smile then forms on her lips, with a nod she accepted the invitation. With that said the pair made their way to the library. "So what book is it this time?" She asked, now more relaxed and acting her usual self.

"I don't know, it was just recently published. The author is unknown, only writing the initials SK in the book. Though from what I've heard is that the story is about a powerful god that would take and destroy anything he pleases. Until one day he encounters a young maiden who he could not take, instead, the woman challenges him for the liberation of her home." Black said.

Ruby was quite moved. For someone to challenge a god, that must've taken a lot of courage to do that. "Wow, I can't wait to read it…but I think you should take a shower first." Black stopped walking and turned his head to her. "You stink," Ruby said while pinching her nose.

The false Saiyan sniffed his gi and flinched a bit at the oder his body had produced. Yea maybe taking a shower would be the best course of action. "Very well, I shall see you in the library then. But if you start reading without me-."

"I won't. I promise." Ruby responded with a smile.

Black stared at her for a couple of seconds then turned and head to his dorm. But as he was walking a slight pain erupted in his lower back. Twisting his body he checked if anything was impaled in him, he saw nothing. The pain vanished leaving him a bit confused as to what has just happened. Ignore it he continued onwards to his dorm.

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And DONE! Oh my goodness grace! That was the longest chapter I've ever written BY FAR. Hoped you guys liked it, had some real fun making this one. Tried my best describe the battle as best as I could from what I imaged in my head. Expect the next update in about 2 weeks for sure! I'm thinking about doing a Christmas Special later on, but that will be decided after the next chapter. Whelp gotta go get some sleep now, I'll see all next time PEACE!