Author's Headnote: Well, we're back at the main character... Ruby Rose, for this chapter. Last time we saw her, she was making free drinks for warlord soldiers, in which it looked like it had removed any remaining sense of joy Ruby had. Ya... given Ruby's feeling about her own actions plus her actions as a bartender, she's not very joyful... but she's going to leave Calford this chapter, instead of being confined to being a bartender.

RWBY: Festival of Blood: Old Friend, New Weapon

Ruby Rose:

Aura Status: 91%

Thirst: Ravenous

Semblance: Wilted Petal Burst

Weapons: Crescent Rose, Slice of Life

Team Relations:

-Weiss Schnee: She still admires her friend, but she'll have to carry the burden of leadership.

-Blake Belladonna: She still loves Blake, but she needs to set her free.

-Yang Xiao Long: She still cares for her sister, but she knows that she'll have to learn to recover without Ruby.

End of main character status report.

Village of Calford, January 1, Tuesday, 9:03 PM, The Burning Handkerchief Inn

Well... it's time, Ruby has gotten enough money to leave this forsaken town. She was wearing a pear of jeans, a t-shirt, and a non-matching pair of shoes, it was whatever that Ruby would fit her for now. After all, she can go clothes shopping at Scorpio. Of course, she's also having a bandana on at all times. No need to show off her lips, that's a dead giveaway to her vampirism. She's got the remains of Penny's blades, Crescent Rose, and Slice of Life on her person. And she just told her employer she's resigning.

Although things aren't as easy as it seems. Because the warlord troops are all looking at her.

"Ey, where's the drinks?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Sorry, Don't work here anymore." Ruby stated.

"Well, someone's gonna man the bar, and it ain't gonna be us."

"And it won't be me." Ruby retorted, kicking the soldier in the groin, and leaving.

Guess it actually is easier than it may seem. Ruby walked out of the door and finally left the bar for good.

Village of Calford, January 1, Tuesday, 9:07 PM, Town grounds

Well, besides the grass and the stone roads and buildings... this is pretty much what calford looks like. Pretty much if Old Town had a much more lively population instead of being infested with protected buildings, ruins, and old people.

But no less, given that it's nighttime, the only people up would be the warlord soldiers. Speaking of... the warlord soldiers have arrived, and they do not look so happy.

"Well, well, well, it's quite late, where ya goin?" One of the soldiers asked.

"I'm leaving town." Ruby stated.

"And where ya goin?"

"Scorpio."

"So ya headin to Atlas?"

"No... I said Scorpio. I'm not going into a god forsaken another continent."

"Oh boy, ya must be outta da loop. Scorpio's part of the Kingdom of Atlas now, and they closed down da borders."

"Well... that's definitely going to set back my plans."

"And yer plans are stayin here."

"I don't want to stay here, I got enough money, and I'm going to use it to get out of this town."

"Well, come on boys, we're gonna have some fun tonight." the soldier said, calling over every soldier in town.

Ruby drew out Crescent Rose out of habit. Although she didn't mean to do so, she really can't go back now, guess it's about time her scythe is put to use. So... she uses it slice down and knock out one of the soldiers... and soon... it doesn't take long.

"Heh? Well, wadya know? It's da Nostferatu." the band captain said with a confident tone.

"I'm not a grimm." Ruby stated.

"Obviously not, but we've heard of ya. The White Fang loves talkin' bout ya."

"You seem to be so passionate about the White Fang, they're terrorists."

"Ya, we get that, but unlike the White Fang, we care for everyone."

"To me, you seem nothing more than just a bunch of rowdy mercenaries."

"No matter, Arris would love to have that Scythe of yers. Should have stayed missing, Nostferatu."

And just like that... a bunch of snipers have fired onto Ruby, in which she had to use her semblance to dodge.

"No thanks, swiss cheese isn't much of a good look on me." Ruby taunted.

"What the heck is a swiss cheese?" one of the snipers asked.

"The cheese with the holes in them."

"I never heard it being called that!"

Cheese aside, the snipers keep making Ruby having to dance. And the soldiers charging at and shooting at Ruby. Doesn't help that she's a bit more than thirsty right now, so she really can't think right. The wildlife seems to be running away from Ruby now, and she was avoiding drinking people who was drinking. She doesn't want to find out if it'd make her drunk. And this is just annoying to take.

Come on... gotta... think... gotta... KILL...

Character Change: Ruby Rose - Feral Ruby

Human Settlement, Night, Outside

The predator thirsts, and she must feast. And she is enraged. The predator ripped off the thing holding her maws and got on all fours, she then formed her grimm claws for her legs and claws. She desires blood, and she shall get it.

She pounces at the prey, constantly bashing their tools at her, but it'll be in vain. As she proceeds to maul it with her claws, and then prepared to drain the rest of the blood with her maws. She then went on, with the amount of shooting and bashing the predator is dealing with, she forms a tendril on her back and spins around. After that, she then pounces and mauls the closest prey and drains them dry. Now filled with blood, she desires to spill the rest of it. The large prey seems to be bashing it's tools at it, to try and crack the armor. The predator, at all fours, jumps and forms a blade and cuts the large blade in two. After that, she goes back to claws, poucing and mauling the prey she can find.

The predator is then detecting some shooting from a high-up area. To counter act this, she transforms into a beowulf/nevermore hybrid. With the front claws functioning as legs and wings. And she proceeds to fly and and swoop down apon the prey and mauls them, leaving a large bloody mess. And grows some tendrils to consume some blood to compensate for any damage taken.

But there is more prey. And they proceed to use their tools to shoot the predator. But they don't know they're the prey, not the predator.

She flew up in the sky, seeing the structures and to an extent the shooting prey and proceeds to dive toward them, one by one, leaving a large mess as she proceeds to kill them. These blue prey seem a bit smarter than the white prey. But they are easy to kill, nonetheless.

After that, she swooped down and switched to her armored beowulf form, unlike the initial beowulf form, this one can walk on two legs. And soon as that, a bunch of prey had come and threw something, it was some sort of gas. But it didn't affect the predator. She came in, they can shoot the prey all they want with their weapons, stab them. But they will die. On all fours, she rams toward the large one and then mauls them to death. As for the other two, she pounces them with her front claws turning into blades, slicing them to bits. And then proceeds to fight on two legs.

There is one, that is harder to put down than normal, although it doesn't seem to be as strong as the icecream girl. But no less, it appears to send more prey... perfect for the predator. The predator sets aside the tough one, and deals with the lesser prey, slashing them to bits and draining their blood as she spills blood across the human settlement. The ground covered in dead and scattered corpses. Which only leaves on prey left.

The predator had honed her claws, back to the shape that claws normally are, and got on all fours, and proceeded to attack the last prey, the prey was fighting back. But the prey's barrier will fall, the predator will make sure of that. As she went around clawing and mauling until the barrier has broken. After that, the predator stabbed the prey in the chest and left it to bleed out. After that... the predator got... bored...

Must... find... prey... must... Concentrate! Concentrate!

Character Change: Feral Ruby - Ruby Rose

Village of Calford, January 1, Tuesday, 9:19 PM, Town grounds

Ruby recovered from the blackout and got up... although she realized she wasn't in human form, which means she gone feral... which would explain the gory mess that she sees in front of her. Ruby shudders in disgust on the actions of her feral grimm, and went to grab... wait, she must have dropped it.

Ruby had roamed around town to find her scythe... she tried re-tracing her steps, but it looks like Feral Ruby was spreading carnage around three dimensions. She feels bad for the townsfolk who'd wake up to this, and further reason to leave town ASAP.

After spending thirty minutes wandering the town, she can across her bandana and scythe. And put the bandana on and coddles Crescent Rose.

"Oh Cressie. I'm sorry, mommy wasn't herself at the moment." Ruby consoled her scythe.

She then checked her stuff... there was blood on her outfit, which she has to change so she doesn't get branded a serial killer. Slice of Life and Penny's blades were also on her person thankfully, her scroll although off was also there. She'd have to get a new scroll before even considering using one. She can't let people know she's Ruby Rose. Well for once, she's grateful for the feral grimm, since Ruby herself couldn't drive herself to kill on normal occasions, she's still trying to figure out to how she got driven to kill Cinder. She still shudders at the thought of killing. But no less, she puts Crescent Rose away.

She went and switched to bird mode and decided to fly her way to Scorpio. Although from this bird's eye view, she does she an old facility besides Calford, it looks Atlassian. So, she decides to take a detour there, instead.

Village of Calford, January 1, Tuesday, 9:30 PM, Old Atlassian Base (Exterior)

Well, for one. This base didn't age quite so well. It looks like a raid had occurred. And given the various dead bodies, it was from the White Fang. Why would Atlas have a base so close to Scorpio? This would violate the international treaties.

Although old, it doesn't seem abandoned. As she spotted a White Fang patrol. Guess the White Fang moved here after the destruction of Vale. They're likely investigating the noise in Calford, and no doubt they're gonna occupy the town.

Although what she didn't expect, was an ambush from the Arris' warlord troops. The two seem to be dead even in across every category, with neither having an edge over the other.

The two of them appear to be fighting in identical patterns, with near-identical strategy, the difference between the two are miniscule, merely cosmetic. Which is incredibly odd... although one would understand that the White Fang are terrible people, it seems like this Arris has a personal grudge against them.

But no less, seeing the heavy's duking it out and the troops shooting each other, Ruby tried very inconspicuous grimm shape. A grimm mouse shape, in which she used to sneak across the White Fang and Arris troops fighting each other mercilessly, She doesn't want to intervene just yet, she wants to look inside of the base.

The world seems a lot larger as a mouse, yet again, one step from either of these mooks would end her post-life in a snap, so she has to be very careful moving around. In which she does very carefully, avoiding the larger, heavier troops. And it appears both sides got snipers too, appear to be caught in a sniper duel.

But no less, as she is halfway, Ruby had to roll around to avoid being stepped on by one of the combat medics. Not sure why the snipers and medics didn't make an appearance back at Vale? Well, some questions would be left unanswered. But no less, Ruby is going through this battlefield trying to remain unnoticed by the fighting. And then she sees it, a mousehole. Well, it's perfect being that Ruby can just slide herself in there and find and see if there's a workshop in the facility.

And as she does so... a knockback from one of the soldiers caved in the hole. However, it did not trap her in the entrance, she can go through the pathway the mice have dug themselves into. This is quite convenient for Ruby at the time. She proceeds to explore the pathway created by the local mice.

Village of Calford, January 1, Tuesday, 9:30 PM, Old Atlassian Base (Interior)

Ruby was exploring, trying to find any vents or paths to poke her little beady grimm-mouse eyes into to see where she would be right now. And so far, she's been climbing up. Which means she's most likely on the top floor. An air vent is then seen, it appears to be the barracks, whether it's makeshift or not, it appears to be filled with the sleeping bodies of the dayshift White Fang guards. Perfect time for Ruby to drop down. Ruby opened the vent and dropped down, she then changed back into her human form. Well, if her vampirism is good for anything, it's for that.

She was in the barracks room, she wasn't sure what the interior of an Atlassian facility should look like, but it more than looks like the White Fang added a personal touch to the room, with various White Fang posters and junk in the barracks. The beds look like a mix of Atlassian and handcrafted. The entire room looks poorly retrofitted.

She then went and looked at the dressers, looking for a quick outfit change. It's mostly White Fang uniforms, yet again, she could take on the White fang base here singlehandedly, so no need for a disguise, just for a change in clothes. And then she went into the other dresser, it's filled with the casual outfits of the various members of the White Fang. Most of them are men's outfits, where are the women's outfits? It doesn't matter, she just grabbed a pair of shoes, jeans, and a T-shirt and changed in the bathroom.

After that, she had left the barracks, letting the heavy sleepers sleep. She was then sneaking around, trying to avoid to be seen by any lookouts inside the base.

Much like the barracks, the corridors and other various rooms is filled with the various White Fang decorations and retrofitting. Ruby guesses that they raided the place good, since the base looks far from pristine.

She was looking for the weapon's forge, if this is an Atlassian facility, she could tune up Crescent Rose and Slice of Life and find a way to somewhat bring back Penny. The reason she's sneaking is that she doesn't get the two factions to team up to take her on just quite yet. She at least wants to tune-up her weapons and possibly build a new one.

She noticed the night shift members are all fighting from the window, so she can just follow the signs to find the Weapon Forge. And as far as Ruby's concerned, the weapon forge would have to be on the second floor. So, she went down on the second floor, whereas she was on the third and top floor. How did she know? Well, she was looking at the map of the building complex which was placed right after she had left the barracks. Great for people who are breaking in from the vents and people with bad sense of direction!

Ruby followed the directions of the map that was on the wall, in which she had found the door to the weapon's forge, only for it... to be locked. But then Ruby had an idea... Ruby switched to her mouse form and went through a hole in the wall and dug her way to the weapon's forge room.

Village of Calford, January 1, Tuesday, 10:00 PM, Old Atlassian Base (Weapon's Forge)

Ruby had switched back to her human shape as soon as she entered the room. This place looks untouched by the White Fang. No retrofitting, the equipment still looks untouched, guess the room was locked to keep the White Fang from making stronger weapons than what they have. Well, it's a relief, which means Ruby can work on tuning up in peace. There appears to be quite little for a weapon's forge, yet again this is an Atlassian weapon's forge, so chances are that the counter in the center is the forge itself, whilst the containers at the opposite end of the room are the materials.

She started with Crescent Rose, though she can't give her scythe a full-makeover... she decided a red-violet paintjob would suffice for now. Besides, it looks good on her. When she put her scythe on the forge, a bunch of holograms, solid to the touch in place of tools, help her disassemble the scythe and have help her tune up the blades and such. This certainly explains why Atlassian made weapons are so advanced. So, she touched the spray can, and set the color to red-violet, and watched as the scythe went from red to red-violet in just a touch of her finger. This makes Ruby's eyes light up in joy, but she can't be excited, she doesn't want to make much noise.

"You like your new coat, Cressie?" Ruby asked the Scythe. The Scythe, did not answer. Although given that she spent five days in isolation, with nothing but grimm in a cave, she developed a habit of talking to her scythe more often.

After getting the paintjob done, she touched the grinding wheel, and a bunch of settings popped up. She selected: sharp, but not fatal. After that the forge had took Crescent Rose's blade and sharpened it to the method that Ruby usually does it. She presses the calibration button, in which it had taken Crescent Rose and calibrated every part of the firearm parts of the weapon. After that, the weapon had appeared to be tuned up all by the miracle of technology. With a forge like that, anyone can be a weaponsmith. May as well work on Slice of Life next. So, she puts Crescent Rose back.

Of course, the blade and the launcher needs tuning up, but here an upgrade would suffice for sure... with some tweaking up. After putting Slice of Life on the forge, she had noticed the tune-up button. Although knowing this, it would give it a non-descript, non-customizable upgrade. She went and touched the grinding stone, and set it to sharp, but not fatal for the pizza cutter. In which the forge had went through the same process it did with Crescent Rose. She then pressed Calibrate, aaaand...

ERROR: UNORTHODOX WEAPON, CANNOT CALIBRATE

Well, guess like she has to calibrate the launcher manually. She touched the toolkit and a bunch of holotools appeared, in which she had used to calibrate Slice of Life's launcher back to it's peak condition... hmm... while she's here, she could give it an upgrade... she then decided to remove the launcher part of the Pizza cutter hilt, and then decided to craft a new one, with the new holoforge, and installed it onto the hilt. Now Slice of Life can handle two blades, for double of the cutting power.

While she's here, she can upgrade Crescent Rose as well. Well, she can already shift the direction of the blade... so, she turns to the ranged capacitor... she put Slice of Life away from the forge and put Crescent Rose back on... well, given that Atlas is making research toward laser weaponry, may as well take advantage of that... she observed the capacitor of Crescent Rose, although she doesn't want to ditch the bullets fully, so... she took a mix of automatic and manual adjustments on Crescent Rose. She had applied the upgrade, in addition to ballistic dust rounds, her scythe rifle can now support energy cells, allowing her to fire lasers from her scythe. She's going to need to give that a field test.

She's plotting what to do with Penny's blades here, while she's crafting Slice of Life's second blade. She remembers the recipe for the blade, a strong metal, gravity dust, insulators to prevent herself electrocuting herself. Although she uses the manual tools to create the second blade. She put Crescent Rose away and started to work on the second blade for Slice of Life. She already knows the process, so she doesn't need to remind herself, after creating the second blade, she attached it onto Slice of Life and presto, upgrade complete.

Now for Penny... she had grabbed the bag in her inventory and dumped it's contents on the forge, and then suddenly a light popped up.

AI CHIP DETECTED, MORE FORGE OPTIONS AVALIABLE.

She then selected to test the AI. A holographic screen had popped up and... there was text on display.

Protector Et Necro Nullification Idol . PENNI … 100% Online. Please select an option.

There were three options: Purpose, Patent, and Storage. Ruby has no idea what 'Et' means. But this Acronym looks scrambled together as an excuse to use the name: Penny. Perhaps looking at Penny's Purpose would further answer Ruby's questions on why she was built.

PURPOSE, THREE OPTIONS AVALIABLE

It appears that Penny's AI was quite sophisticated if there were two purposes located in the AI chip. The first one appears to be the purpose that her manufacturer gave her, and the second one appears to be made by General Ironwood himself, the third one is the purpose she gave for herself... well, may as well view what her manufacturer intended for Penny to do.

PURPOSE: PENNI

This is a PURPOSE File, the AI cannot access this, these are notes made by the manufacturer, programmer, or owner of the unit. This one is made by: PIETRO POLLEDENIA

"This is my greatest creation. An artificial life. I've spent most of my life trying to bring Penny to life. A pet project of mine since I was just a teenager. I've spent my educational career in robotics and engineering and used it to build prosthetics for those in need. But my true desire, is creating artificial life. I've spent my free time programming Penny, since she was a just a small program in a computer."

"Although my co-worker, Arthur Watts did not approve of my free time, saying that I've been wasting my time. When General Ironwood was visiting the lab, he had asked a proposal for defending Mantle. I proposed a protector, an artificial guardian with a spirit of a person. He laughed, until I showed her Penny, currently in cyber-infancy. I said that I would find a way to give this program an aura, a person in a mechanical body. The general was astonished by the idea and went along with it. I had felt joy when he agreed with it, I was going to get the supplies needed to bring Penny to this world."

"10 years had passed, the 35th Vytal Tournament ended. I was just about finished with Penny's hardware. I was just about to finish the software, but time after time, it did not show any sign of life... until I had an idea, I told General Ironwood that I'd have to transfer a small part of my aura onto Penny. He approved, he was more concerned about the new weapon he was about to have, I was more caught up in the idea that I was about to have my daughter to life."

AUDIO FILE: PLAYING

"Salutations!"

"Welcome to the world, Penny."

"Who is Penny?"

"You are, Penny. You're my daughter."

"I am... your daughter?"

"Yes... I built you, which makes me... your father."

"Well, Salutations Father. It's an honor to meet you."

AUDIO FILE: END.

"Although after she had her first moments in life, she had to get training in combat. The general would hope that she would be skilled in a weapon. But as it turns out, she's been proven inadequate in most fighting forms. When asked, she says that she could not feel the weapon, so she cannot fight with it. In which the weaponsmiths had transferred 12 of 13 of her AI chips into various blades. I objected to this, saying that it's dangerous, but the general did not listen, he said that this would be the only way she could fight, and that she'd be a guardian."

"As for her purpose, her purpose... I did not give her one. I believe that would be best for herself to figure out on her own."

FILE END.

Well, that was sad to read, it seems that Penny's father really cared for her. Can't imagine that he's currently heart broken about the news revolving around Penny right now. In all fairness, Ruby would feel the same if Crescent Rose was in that position. Such a shame that the military would be the only way for Penny to come to life. Wonder what he'd do if his idea was rejected. Well, for one Penny would likely not be a thing. From this perspective, he intended for Penny to be... her own woman. May as well read up what General ironwood had planned for her. It's also weird to think that Penny is 10.

ERROR: THIS FILE IS LOCKED BY ADMINISTRATION.

Well, that's unfortunate. Guess that he didn't want some scavver to find out what he had in store for Penny. Which is unfortunate. Ruby was really curious, too.

PURPOSE: PENNY POLEDENIA

This is a PURPOSE File, the AI cannot access this, these are notes made by the manufacturer, programmer, or owner of the unit. This one is made by: PENNY POLEDENIA

"I do not know what my purpose is. I have tried to read the Purpose files that are already implanted in me, but It seems I cannot read it. I have made this Purpose file from a text file at the time of December 7, 80 PGW (Post Great War)."

"Hello, if you are reading this, you are either A: a scavenger that has knowledge in technology, B: Cinder, C: My Father, D: General Ironwood, E: My Friend Ruby Rose, or F: Other. But the message for all six possibilities is the same regardless."

"My Name is Penny Poledenia. Although it'd technically be Penni. I was never told what my Acronym meant. My first moments of existence were in a lab, with my father besides me. We spent the entire day together! But tomorrow General Ironwood took me to a large, empty room and gave me a bunch of weapons, I couldn't fight with them well. I missed every shot, messed up every swing. I said I couldn't feel the weapons, so I couldn't fight with them. And then I went to sleep mode, when I turned on, I had felt blades around me, I connected to them. Because they were a part of me. When I was presented the empty room, enemies had popped up, like when they were with the time with the weapons, except this time, I could fight with them. Although I tend to bring them too far away and they get disconnected, so I had strings attached to them."

"I had asked about my purpose, but I was never given an answer."

"After my training had been successful, for a long ten years, given upgrades to my hardware along with the way, and a bunch of hardware adjustments to make me look human, General Ironwood said that I am to participate in the 40th Vytal tournament. I asked if that was cheating for me to participate, given I am a machine. In which the general said, that it is to help me fulfil my purpose."

"When I got to Vale, four girls had bumped into me. Although they would soon be my friends, team RWBY. Especially their leader, Ruby Rose. She had called me Friend, the first person to call me that. Most people address me by co-operative worker, or associate, but never friend. I was filled with joy. The following night, I encountered her in the night, she was looking for Blake, and I helped her fight a bunch of White Fang mooks in the dockyards."

Most of this is just a bunch is just a bunch of recap of what happened from Penny's perspective... well, except for the final part.

"Cinder had gotten the powers of the Fall Maiden. Ozpin told me and Ruby to leave the vault, we had. But soon as we heard the noise, I insisted that we'd stop her. But Ruby wanted to check up on her team, I told Ruby to meet me at the top of the tower. Only then, I had known my purpose. I was to protect remnant from people like her, even if it means a fight to the death. The two of us fought, and obviously, the winner would have been Cinder."

"And there I was, with only two AI chips. Ruby on the losing end of Cinder's grimm purge, in attempt to destroy Ruby's aura along through her grimm. I sent my capacitor to overdrive, and stabbed Cinder in the chest. At this point, I had started writing this message... I don't have much time left. But to anyone reading this, this is my story. Make sure you give my remaining Blade to my father or to Ruby if she's still alive..."

"To my father: I love you, thank you for giving me the chance to experience the world."

"To my Friend, Ruby Rose: Thank you for being a good friend."

Well... that's a bit... well... warming to read. And sad too.

"You're welcome, Penny." Ruby commented at the note. She'd be crying, but she's a vampire, can't form tears and all.

No need to look at the patent. Chances are, Ruby would know that it would credit Penny's Father, General Ironwood, and possibly the Schnee Dust Company in there, so may as well browse the storage for Penny.

STORAGE:

- MEMORY (FOLDER)

- PENNY_POLEDENIA (SOUL FILE)

- CAMERA

Well, looks like Penny's still alive... ish... Ruby opened the SOUL file to see if she can bring Penny back.

ERROR: INSUFFICIENT AI CHIPS. 13 ARE REQUIRED, ONLY 1 DETECTED.

Well, that's unfortunate. Guess bringing Penny back is going to be an odyssey on it's own. Ruby's glad that there's some sort of fraction of her left, though. Well, nothing like being re-forged into a weapon to be honored. But the question is... what kind? No doubt that a sword would be incredibly dull... however, she did have an idea of her own... what if she could implement the forge's holo-technology and weaponized it? It's not impossible, but it would take quite a bit.

Ruby first used the holo-forge to remove Penny's AI chip from the blade, that's going to be important. She then gathered some materials... a metal block, and some straps. She had it crafted the materials into some sort of backpack shape. With the metal part acting like a motherboard of sorts, although Ruby hasn't gotten the first clue on how to program... thankfully, she's got some helpers from the holo-forge. From there, the pack as a slot for energy cells, along with 13 AI chip slots.

As for what the holographic weapon will project, she had the holo-forge browse Penny's memories, although Ruby later apologized to Penny... or Penny's Robo-ghost, if such a thing exists. But no less, after she feels like the programming for the weapon is done, without hopefully frying Penny's AI chip. She placed the metal plating over the backpack, covering the board and protecting the AI chips. It's extremely light, too. Now to add some sort of protective outer layer to this... in which she added an outer casing to the backpack, much like the inner, it's box shaped. It's also small enough she can wear it and carry Slice of life on her back.

The backpack she is holding has a pair of buttons that turns the weapon on and off. She goes to put on the weapon... wait, she has to apply the energy cells first. Now she puts on the weapon, in which is called Penny... because it technically is Penny. There's no firing range, but Ruby figures she can test it in a trial of fire. Or maybe... if she tested it right, she didn't need to.

Ruby flicked her right wrist, and a green holographic sword, shaped to that of Penny's own blade has appeared. She did so with the left one, and a blade appeared from there. She then let go and the blades vanished. She then clenched her fist, and three knives, also shaped like Penny's blades have appeared in the holes between her fingers, Ruby assumes they're throwing knives she then drops them, and they disappear, Ruby turned off Penny for now. No doubt the holo-blades are going to be annoying outside of combat.

But no less, Ruby had done what she had came for, now to leave the facility... she opened the door aaaaaaaaaaannnd...

Village of Calford, January 2, Wednesday, 1:00 AM, Old Atlassian Base (Interior)

Well... everyone just heard Ruby open the door. And that means that the whole base is put on alert. The door is closed and locked again. Guess she can't hide in the forge now. But this would be a great time to test out Penny. She turned Penny on... and as soon as a White Fang mook came in charging at Ruby with an axe, she formed a holoblade that blocks the attack... and then, she forms a bunch of throwing knives and throws them at the mook. In which she then kicks back and throws more knives. And then goes towards and slashes with dual swords across two other mooks attacking Ruby. And the throws the blades back at the initial mook. Two more blades form and Ruby fights with them, 2-on-1? That's hardly a fair fight for the White Fang.

Ruby kept quiet and her bandana up. No need to reveal she's the White Fang's boogeyman.

After a short bit, the blades seem to vanish. Which makes sense, since the holo-blades take energy to use. So, the blades tend to expire quickly to preserve energy, especially since Ruby's gonna keep spitting them out to fight White Fang mooks. Figuratively, not literally obviously. It doesn't take long until she's cleared the building, although none of them are dead.

"Yep, it's show time." Ruby commented, as she headed outside to fight the mooks as a third party.

Village of Calford, January 2, Wednesday, 1:00 AM, Old Atlassian Base (Exterior)

Just as Ruby expected, the fight's been ongoing, although half of the numbers on both sides are dead. However, under the banner Ruby smirked and used her grimm powers to jump high into the air. She then propped up a bunch of blades and threw them onto the ground... they missed since no one can stay in the air for that long and Ruby fell down to the ground. Thankfully they're caught up in the fighting to notice Ruby's epic fail.

But she got back up. And then went on to throw a couple of knives at the larger mooks on both sides, and then jumping up and kicking one of them down.

This had gotten the attention from both sides of the conflict. Outnumbered, outgunned, and surrounded. This is a fair fight.

"You think she's the Nostferatu?" one of the mooks asked.

"Don't be crazy, the reports from Mountain Glenn say that the Nostferatu is a creature of grimm." the second mook reported.

"Ya, a grimm possessing the body of a little girl. One moment she could be this harmless child, and ZAP! You're the decorations for the next horror movie."

"I don't think 'ZAP!' is the right word you're looking for."

Well, no matter. Ruby had conjured up a couple more blades and threw them at the various mooks. And then came in charging towards a couple more, dual wielding holo-blades. She went around striking the various mooks that are surrounding her and reacting fast enough to parry bullets with the blades. Eventually, the holoblades do break, in which she just summons up a couple of more. So far, it's been doing quite a number to the White Fang and Arris troops.

Although those snipers have been annoying. So... Ruby taunted them, and then to see where they are firing from and throwing a blade towards each of them. Whilst also forming blades to block and counter attack form a heavy from behind, the heavy mook was then picked up and moved to knock out a bunch of more mooks. She then moved the heavy mook off of them so that the smaller mooks don't eventually crush them, killing them.

She had enough time to do this, given that more mooks are shooting at Ruby. And she's parrying them with the blades, and even catch the bullets and re-directing them back at the firearms, forcing the mooks to go melee. In which Ruby throws more blades towards the charging mooks, rendering them unconscious, and not dead.

Well, that's a lot of fallen foes. After taking them all out with just using Penny, she figured that she needed to find a place to take shelter and settle down, no doubt that the sun's gonna be rising at around 8 AM, which means that Ruby's got enough time to get out of here, but she'll need some place to shelter in and sleep away the daylight until nightfall. She transformed into her bird mode and went to fly up high and fly away from the Calford area.

Eastern Sanus Wilderness, January 2, Wednesday, 4:55 AM, Old Temple

Ruby had tried to fly over Scorpio, but the Atlassian defenses detected her as a creature of grimm and tried to shoot her down. So, Scorpio is out of the question. Ruby had to find another port to sail her way into the continent of Anima, the territory of Mistral's Kingdom. Well, the next closest major port would be in Bloodshire. No doubt there would be a large vampire presence in Bloodshire, so Ruby would have to be careful.

But for now, she's keeping close to an old temple she found, it looks mostly ruined, guess the excavation team did a real whoopsie on it. But no less, Ruby is strong enough to create a makeshift door on the entrance, and to be safe, she camped in a windowless room.

Ruby sighed. Well, guess things are back to square one. Ruby has to find a settlement to set down on, do some odd jobs and finally get enough money to head to the closest port city in the Kingdom of Mistral. From there, she can finally find the underlying cause of Vale's downfall, whatever that may be. Ruby had taken Penny off of her back and set her down. Right across from the rest of her weapons. Ruby had sighed again.

"Hey Penny. Sorry for keeping you in a rough bag... well, what's left of you. And I think I should properly thank you for saving my life... your sacrifice won't go down in vain, I promise." Ruby said to Penny (The Metal Backpack Weapon), in an attempt to communicate to Penny (The synthetic person, who may or may not be a robo-ghost, depending on if ghosts are real).

Ruby sighed again.

"Well, I'm going to get some more security to make sure we don't get robbed, and then rest up the day. Have a good night, friend." Ruby said, heading out to get some defenses just incase a bunch of raiders or warlord troops move into the temple so that Ruby doesn't get robbed and killed in her sleep. At the current state of Vale, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Author's Footnote: And that's the end of the chapter. It may be or may not be rushed in comparison to my other works, but I mostly want to introduce a third weapon into Ruby's arsenal so I was really excited to write this part, so I didn't focus much on the detail on this. I originally did not intend for Feral Ruby to appear in this chapter, but I figured it'd be a while since there was a Feral Ruby session, so I figured why not. So... what do you think of Penny (The weapon)? Do you like it? Do you dislike it? Do you... not have a strong opinion for it. Make sure to leave any thoughts you have, and see you next chapter.