I'm back with another chapter of Remnant Unleashed. I want to thank all of you who have favorited, followed and reviewed this story thus far. It means a lot to me, just like it has with my other stories.
Now before I begin, I would like to say that I have just celebrated my first birthday without hearing my Grandfathers voice like I used to do many years ago. I miss him everyday and I really want to visit his grave so I can pay my respects to him. I still remember the time he said that the Pizza from where I work and that I make was good.
Now onto the reviews.
Jack Smith1: You'll see who it is soon.
Mr. Shades42: That is still a long way away, but you never know what might happen in the future. I can promise you some of the great dogfights I gave in my Lone Wolf series.
Spartan-626: The secrets of the Holocron will have to wait for the time being, but I am glad you liked that Jaune earned his place in Beacon compared to lying his way into Beacon. As for the clones, you'll have to wait and see when they arrive.
Reviews done let's get going. Disclaimers are the same as before so please enjoy.
Chapter 9: The Stray
Days had passed after the incident in Forever Falls and the attack by the unknown machines. Needless to say, the appearance of these machines caused the Vale council and military to become increasingly concerned that this was the prelude to a White Fang terrorist attack. However, the military's investigation into the make and origin of machine met with little success as the systems and weaponry were more advanced than anything they had ever seen before and Vale's own resources were capable of analyzing the remains, so it was the decision of both the council and military to send the remains of the machines to Atlas.
The council and military agreed, but as soon as the remains were loaded onto the Bullheads the transports came under attack by a swarm of Nevermore's which all but destroyed every single transport save for one that while badly damaged made it to the snowy continent intact.
As for the students, they kept wondering about what those machines were. There weapons were far more advanced than any dust-based weapon and more heavily armored than the AK-130's used by Atlas forces. Despite their strengths, they weren't to difficult to take out, seeing as they were vulnerable too lighting-based dust rounds and it seemed that both Galen and Arthur's weapons were effective against them, particularly Galen's blades.
But for Ruby, the greatest victory she had was helping her fellow students. Thanks to her, Jaune, Galen and the others Team CRDL was alive and they had earned an A+ for their efforts while Cardin and his teammates were given detention for both their reckless actions in the forest and the bullying they displayed towards students like Velvet. This is what she wanted to be, someone who fought to protect others, asking for nothing in return.
Now, the young huntress had finished brushing her teeth and was quick to crawl into bed after she finished her homework from Professor Port and fell asleep.
It wasn't even two hours before she started to have nightmares. She saw a massive building that looked almost similar to Beacon and was amazed by this. The amazement soon came to an end when she saw hundreds of men in blue and white armor walking up the steps of the building armed with black rifles while leading them was man in a black robe. She could only watch in horror as the man ignited a weapon much like Galen's and killed the person guarding the building while the men in blue and white armor proceeded into the building.
Ruby could only watch helplessly as these soldiers and the person leading them began to attack those wielding similar weapons to Galen, many of whom were only teenagers and children who were killed without even a second thought. "Why are they doing this?" she asked herself before she spotted the man who led these soldiers into the building. Following the man, Ruby found him looking over a group of children.
"Master Skywalker, there are too many of them. What are we going to do?" one of the children asked. Skywalker only looked towards the children before igniting his weapon and proceeded to cut down the children, forcing Ruby to look away in horror.
When she looked back, she saw that in place of the children were her teammates and friends. "Yang? Blake? Weiss? Come on, wake up! This isn't funny!" Ruby said, getting down and shaking her half-sisters' lifeless body before she started to cry.
Her crying soon stopped when she heard the deep-breathing of someone behind her. Turning around, she saw a figure in black armor looking towards her and again witnessed the igniting of a weapon just like Galen's, this one's blade being red instead of the blue or green she saw. "Now, you will die." The figure spoke before swinging its weapon at Ruby.
"No!" Ruby screamed as the blade made contact with her.
Opening her eyes, Ruby awoke in a cold sweet and found that she was still in her dorm room. Poking her head down, she saw that her teammates were asleep in their beds and still alive. "It was just a dream. But it felt so real. What was that and who is Skywalker?" she asked herself before falling back asleep, her mind still racing and trying to piece together what she saw.
What neither she nor anyone else on Remnant knew was that thousands of lightyears away, Darth Vader, the right hand of Darth Sidious surveyed the construction of his personal Dreadnought from the bridge of an Imperial Star Destroyer. The failure to eliminate the senators and their allies who openly defied the Emperor had now started into a full-scale civil war against those clinging to the ideals of the old Republic and the might of the Galactic Empire.
"Lord Vader." An Imperial officer said as he approached the dark lord. "The Emperor has requested you make contact with him immediately." The officer stated.
"Clear the bridge at once." Vader ordered the officer and turned towards the bridge before the crew left him alone and he kneeled as his master appeared in front of him. "What is thy bidding, my master?" Vader asked.
"There is a great disturbance in the force, I am sure you have felt it as well?" Sidious said to his apprentice.
"I have felt it." Vader answered.
"It appears that your secret apprentice, Galen Marek is still alive." The Dark Lord of the Sith stated.
"How is that possible?" Vader asked.
"I do not know. But if he is alive, then he must not be allowed to return and assist the rebellion. We must eliminate him, yet there is more. I have sensed the power of a new enemy, one young and strong in the force." Sidious continued.
"Are you certain?" Vader questioned.
"Yes." Sidious answered. "I sense you are troubled my apprentice?"
"Forgive me master, but I had my apprentice another mission. A mission regarding the apprentice of Anakin Skywalker." Vader told his master.
"Oh? And what was this mission?" Sidious asked.
"I instructed my apprentice to bring her to me so that she may join us, as I believe she might know about the whereabouts of Plo Koon and the other Jedi who escaped by the assistance of their clone troopers." Vader explained.
"I see." Sidious said. "But I believe that she may be more trouble then she's worth. Ahsoka Tano is much like her old master and will betray us. Still, if you believe that you can turn her then dispatch probe droids into the unknown regions. I believe our enemies are somewhere beyond our reach." Sidious instructed his apprentice before his hologram vanished.
Getting back to his feet, Vader pressed a button on the terminal and immediately the holographic form of a Pau'an male and Imperial Admiral appeared in front of him. "Inquisitor, Admiral Leondar Black. I have a task for the two of you." Vader spoke.
Back on Remnant, Ruby's teammates and Galen had noticed that Ruby was acting rather unlike her usual self so both Team RWBY and GARM had decided to take a trip into the city. All across the city, people were setting up streamers and balloons for the upcoming Vytal Festival which was to be held around the fall semester. A large big sign in bright red letters which read 'Welcome to Vale' for all the visitors in the other kingdoms to see. Weiss stopped and raised her arms. "The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" she said in amazement.
"I don't think I've even seen you smile this much before, Weiss." Ruby said with a small frown. "It's kind of weirding me out…"
Weiss was quick to turn to Ruby. "How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!" Weiss questioned before they all continued to walk.
"You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring." Yang said with a sigh and crossing her arms.
"Nope. I think she's just a little too excited for an event such as this." March said to Yang.
"Quiet, you two!" Yang snapped as the two teams made continued towards the docks where boats were being unloaded of their cargo which was loaded onto trucks and trains bound for the other settlements far from the main kingdom.
"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks? I thought we were planning on doing something a little more exciting?" Yang asked as the sounds of foghorns echoed around them.
"Ugh, they smell like fish!" Ruby pointed out, covering her nose from the smell.
"Gee, I wonder why?" Rose said sarcastically. "Oh, I know why! Doesn't Vale usually send their fish by train every Friday?" She asked. Before anyone could answer the whistle of a black 2-6-6-4 steam locomotive with bright gold letters saying 'Vale Rail' filled the air as it backed down onto a long line of freight cars loaded with fish and dust coupled up before the doors on the boxcars were closed, the conductor blew his whistle and the mighty engine departed on its journey across the kingdom. "Vale Rail always loves to use the old Steamers they maintain for jobs like this. Its one of the things I love about this place." She said.
Only minutes after the train left the docks, a Yellow Labrador Retriever of eight months old rushed towards Rose and tackled her to the ground before it started to lick her face. "Ok, Rufus. Take it easy boy. I'm happy to see you too." She said excitedly.
"Wait? That's your dog?" March asked.
"Sure is, Archie. His names Rufus and he's been with my ma for the last few months. He's the best dog I could have. Isn't that right boy?" Rose answered before Rufus barked, got off her and wagged his tail. "But back to what Yang asked, why are we here?"
"I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!" Weiss explained.
Arthur, Galen, Rose and Blake knew her real reasons, but it was Blake who explained the reasons. "She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Blake said unimpressed.
"You can't prove that!" Weiss scoffed.
"No, but you just did." Galen answered. "A real Huntsmen or Huntress can't always prepare themselves for what they think they'll encounter in the field. The best thing one can do is adapt to the situation as best you can. That's what I've done." He added.
Weiss scowled at Galen for a few moments before Ruby turned to the right and spotted something. The two teams walked towards the shattered window of From Dust to Dawn, cornered off by yellow caution tape. The two detectives standing in front of the store were getting a statement from the owner when the two teams arrived. "What happened?" Ruby asked.
"Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." The first detective said.
"That's terrible." Yang said with a sigh.
"They left all the money again." The second detective said from inside the building, getting the attention of Ruby. "And it looks like they used some kind of high-powered weapon to. Look at the marks on the wall." The detective added, pointing to the black marks on the walls of the outside of the building.
"Yeah, just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much Dust?" the first detective asked.
"I don't know, an army?" the second detective suggested.
"You thinking the White Fang?" the first detective asked.
"Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough." The second detective said, removing his glasses before they walked away.
"Hmph! The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates!" Weiss said annoyed, crossing her arms.
"What's your problem?" Blake asked.
Weiss then turned to her teammate. "My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane." Weiss answered.
"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided Faunus." Blake said seriously.
"Misguided? They want to wipe Humanity off the face of the planet!" Weiss pointed out.
"So, then they're very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale!" Blake said, getting more defensive.
"Hmm… Blake's got a point. Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy Galen and I ran into a few months ago… Maybe it was him." Ruby suggested.
"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat and steal." Weiss continued, ignoring Blake's growing anger.
"Uh, you know I'm standing right here." March said, only getting Weiss to glare at him with annoyance.
"Well, whoever did this must have access to some advanced weapons." Galen pointed out, walking past the police tape towards one of the marks on the wall. "I've fought the White Fang a few times during my travels and I can tell you, this isn't them. Their weapons are Dust based; these marks look like they were made by the same type of weapon those robots we fought in Forever Fall had." He surmised.
"Either way. The White Fang are still nothing but a bunch scum. The Faunus can't be trusted." Weiss stated.
"That's not necessarily true…" Yang started to say. Before she could say anything else, the two teams watched as two sailors chasing a Faunus boy with a golden monkey tail wearing an open loose-collared white jacket showing his muscular physique, blue cargo pants secured by a white belt, black and yellow sneakers and red braces covering his black fingerless gloves.
The boy jumped off the boat and onto a ledge before the sailors could apprehend him. "Thanks for the ride, guys! Haha!" the boy teased, looking back to his pursuers before hitting the docks and running.
"You no-good stowaway!" One of the sailors shouted.
The Faunus boy then used his tail, hanging from a lamppost before peeling a banana. "Hey! A no-good stowaway would've been caught! I'm a great stowaway!" he protested. Before he could eat his banana, a stone was thrown at him by one of the detectives from before.
"Hey! Get down from there this instant!" one of the detectives demanded. All the detective got was a banana peel dropped on his face, who growled in response. The Faunus boy twirled up into a crouch on the lamppost, laughed in amusement before leaping off the post and started to run away from the detectives. As he ran past the two teams, he winked at Blake before he kept on running from the officers.
"Well, that's one way to make a good first impression." Arthur said unamused by the scene.
"Well, Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes." Yang said.
"Quick! We have to observe him!" Weiss exclaimed.
"How about we don't?" Rose suggested only for her suggestion to fall on deaf ears as the others followed after the detectives and Faunus. Galen followed suit, but not after taking one last glance at the scorch marks on the wall of the store. Something about this didn't feel right with him and he also felt something off about Blake's response to what Weiss had said about the Faunus.
He soon caught up with the others just in time to see Weiss bump into someone and tripped. "No, he got away!" Weiss complained as she watched the Faunus boy and detectives disappear from view.
"Uhh… Weiss?" Yang started and pointed to the person who Weiss tripped over. The person in question was a girl with curly orange hair with a pink bow in the back of her hair. Her clothing consisted of an off-white old-fashioned style shoulder blouse with a frilled trim and cuffs, a short gray pinafore dress with a gold trim on the hem, black thigh high leg pieces and black shoes.
Once she saw this, a startled Weiss hastily got back to her feet, but the girl just kept smiling while still on the ground. "Sal-u-ta-tions!" the girl said, smiling widely.
"Um… hello." Ruby answered, albeit confused.
"Are you… okay?" Yang asked equally confused as her sister.
"I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking." The girl answered.
"Ok. This is weird." March said bluntly. The others agreed before the rabbit Faunus spoke up. "You… Do you want to get up?" he asked the girl.
The girl thought for a moment before she immediately leapt back to her feet while both teams stepped back a little. "My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!" she introduced.
"Hi Penny. I'm Ruby." Ruby answered, introducing herself to the new girl. The others soon introduced themselves.
"I'm Weiss."
"Arthur."
"March."
"Galen."
"Rose and this guy here is Rufus."
"Blake."
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked, only to get Blake to hit her in the side before she introduced herself. "Oh, I'm Yang."
"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny said again, which Weiss pointed out.
"Well, sorry for running into you!" Weiss quickly apologized before she started to walk away.
"Take care, friend!" Ruby said to Penny, waving her arm before they got some distance away from Penny who was startled.
"She was… weird…" Yang said.
"More like… interesting…" Galen corrected.
"Now, where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to?" Weiss said, quickly returning to her earlier search for the Faunus boy who ran from the docks, much to Blake's annoyance.
"What did you call me?" Penny said, surprising everyone to how fast she managed to get in front of them, causing Weiss to look back and forth in shock.
"Oh, I'm really sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me!" Yang apologized.
"No, not you." Penny said and walked towards Ruby before leaning her head down to Ruby. "You!"
"Me? I-I don't know. I, what I, um, uh…" Ruby tried to say, startled by Penny getting right into her face.
"You called me 'friend'! Am I really your friend?" Penny asked.
Ruby thought for a moment, looking over Penny's shoulders while her teammates and March motioned for her to deny what she said. "Y-Yeah, sure! Why not?" Ruby answered, getting her teammates and March to comically faint while Arthur, Rose and Galen didn't offer an opinion.
Penny on the hand was overjoyed and laughed with excitement. "Sen-sational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!" Penny exclaimed, which gave Ruby the sense of Deja-vu from when she met Weiss, who after brushing herself off stated that Penny seemed to be more coordinated.
"So… what are you doing in Vale?" Yang asked after getting back to her feet.
"I'm here to fight in the tournament." Penny answered.
"Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?" Weiss asked in surprise.
"I'm combat ready!" Penny answered with a salute.
"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part." Weiss said in disbelief.
"Say's the girl wearing a dress." Blake pointed out.
"It's a combat skirt!" Weiss corrected with her arms crossed. Ruby agreed with her and both of them shared a low-five.
"Something tells me there's more to her than meets the eye." Arthur said.
Penny's gaze soon turned to Galen. "Are you the Wandering Huntsman?" She asked.
"Well, I guess I am." Galen answered. "I take it people in Atlas are talking about me?" he asked.
Before Penny could answer, Weiss had a realization hit her walked over to Penny and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Wait a minute. If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed… rapscallion?" Weiss asked.
"The who?" Penny asked confused.
"The filthy Faunus from the boat!" she exclaimed, holding up a poorly drawn picture of the criminal-in-question. This again caused Blake to get angry.
"Why do you keep saying that?!" she demanded, getting Weiss to turn her attention to her. "Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!" Blake shouted, defending the boy.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Weiss began, letting go of Penny before she motioned to several objects around her. "Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?" she asked.
"Stop it!" Blake demanded angrily.
"Stop what? He clearly broke the law. Give him time; he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!" Weiss said without even a second thought to her words.
"You ignorant little brat!" Blake growled, clenching her fist before she started to argue with Weiss, getting Ruby and Yang to start to feel uncomfortable about the situation. Team GARM on the other hand had different thoughts.
"I don't think that guy was with the White Fang. I think he might have stowed away on that ship because some bigot in Vacuo wouldn't let him on the boat because of his Faunus traits. It happens a lot, even for the students of the academies who are Faunus. I've seen it before." Rose said to her teammates.
"That seems logical." Arthur agreed.
"But what about the theory that it was the White Fang who robbed that Dust shop?" March asked. "If they needed that much Dust, wouldn't they need to hit more than one Dust shop at a time and doesn't it make sense to rob a store after hours?"
"Whoever robbed that store had access to weapons a lot like what those metal heads from the forest had. Maybe someone use them to rob the store and blamed the White Fang for the robbery. People love to blame the Faunus for everything bad that happens." Galen added. He then turned back to Weiss and Blake who were still arguing. "This isn't going to end well."
He wasn't wrong. When they returned to Beacon Blake and Weiss were still arguing in their dorm room and it was getting more and more annoying. "There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!" Blake stated after Weiss called the White Fang pure evil.
"People like me?" Weiss asked in confusion.
"You're discriminatory!" Blake shouted.
"I'm a victim!" Weiss countered before she leaned against the bookshelf by the window. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus? It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family and friends disappear; board members executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, may father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood." She explained, banging her fist on the bookshelf.
Ruby tried to comfort her teammate but her intentions were shattered when Weiss angrily turned around. "No! You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Its because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!" Weiss shouted.
"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Blake shouted back. Silence fell on the two teams as Weiss backed away slowly while Blake looked at her teammates before dashing out of the dorm room, much to everyone's shock.
"Rose! Take Rufus and go after her. Talk to her and get her side of the story!" Galen instructed the girl.
"Got it boss!" Rose acknowledged.
"What do you mean 'get her side of the story'? Galen, she's a member of the White Fang! We need to tell Professor Ozpin about this!" Weiss questioned and was about to go and find Ozpin when Galen used the force and slammed the door in front of her. "What are you doing?" the heiress asked.
"Look! I get you had a difficult childhood, but I can tell that Blake had a difficult one as well. Who cares if she's a Faunus or not, she's your teammate so forget all this Bantha Poodoo about the Faunus being 'liar's, thieves and murderers.'" Galen snapped at the heiress.
"How dare…." Weiss began before Galen continued.
"I've met Faunus who have struggled to make ends meet for their families because of all the discrimination that they faced and your family's company not paying them the same wages as most other workers or making sure they have safer working conditions isn't helping either." Galen continued.
He then turned to Ruby. "If Blake doesn't come back, first thing in the morning we go and find her. I want to hear her side of the story and you better pray that she doesn't get into any trouble." He said to the young leader, but the last part was towards the heiress. Ruby agreed and the rest of Team GARM headed back to their dorm room, just as Galen got a text on his scroll from Rose who had caught up with Blake and to his surprise the same Faunus from the docks early today whose name was Sun Wukong.
Back in the city, the figure Galen saw in his dream walked into a dark alley and activated a device. "Its me. Listen, you were right. They are in the city; don't know why they were here but something tells me they are connected to the recent Dust robberies." The figure spoke. "No, I didn't make contact with the person you saw from Beacon, its not the right time. But listen, Captain you better get your men ready for a fight, because I have a strange feeling that they are going to cause a lot of damage." He added.
"Understood, kid." The voice from the other side of the device said before the call ended. The figure than pocketed the device into his pants and walked out of the alley.
By Sunday morning, Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Galen, March and Arthur continued to search for Blake after they failed the other day. Weiss was still convinced that Blake was a member of the White Fang and that she should be reported to the police, but the others ignored her. Galen in particular was resisting every urge to reach out with the force, grab her and slam her into a building, but he quickly dismissed that idea as he was not one to use that method on someone who he considered to be his 'friend'.
The others didn't know that Blake was about to tell both Sun and Rose about her past. Sipping her cup of tea before sighing, Blake looked to Sun, who used his tail to hold his own drink before taking a sip while Rose scratched Rufus by the ears and looked to Blake with concern. "So, you want to know more about me…" she began.
And done. So, Ruby had a dream of Operation Knightfall, Vader has made his appearance and it appears that both he and his master have sensed something related to Remnant. The mysterious figure seems to be connected to the ARC Trooper from before and has a suspicion as too who is behind the Dust Robberies. Blake is revealed to be a Faunus and Galen sent Rose and her dog after her.
I'm setting up for something big next chapter. It involves both Blake and Rose explaining a bit about themselves and the appearance of one my all-time favorite ARC-Troopers of all time.
Until then, please read and review.