~NRK~
Obito rubbed the back of his head as he sat on a couch in a small but homey, and good-looking, apartment.
'What the hell is going on?' He wondered in horror as he kept his face hidden as the Cabba brothers spoke with their aunt from next to him, Taleisin on a big recliner with an ice pack on her head in a brown sweater and black sweatpants, arms, legs, and neck covered in bandages along with her forehead. 'They're related?!' What kind of luck was that?!
"So, you, boy?" Taleisin's eyes narrowed on him as Obito turned to her. "You better not be causing trouble up there, I know more than enough ways to deal with ya if you do."
"A-Aunty, no, he's cool!" Azure said immediately as Bleu tilted his head, pulling on Obito's sleeve.
"You know aunty?" The young lizard-cheetah boy asked Obito whose eyes went half-lidded.
"I don't but life's like that down here," he said, voice a pair of octaves higher than it usually was, keeping her ears off-target. "And I'm not, I literally 'bus' eight Faunus children home on the weekdays," the lion woman blinked thrice.
"Huh?"
"He does, aunty, he's a human guy who's pretty well-known around our school," Azure chimed in quickly. "The teachers, mom's in there, asked him to take Bleu and his friends over to the school at the end of the day for the week."
"She did?!" Taleisin blinked. "... huh," not an apology in sight as she looked curious. "Hmm…" She observed the boy before her.
The one whose build seemed decent, strong enough to carry a young boy on his back for what had to be four miles…
'I'm really not that bad right now, am I?' She thought, leaning down on her fist, elbow on the armrest of her recliner, as she watched Bleu ask Obito something. 'Still, Azure doesn't usually bring people home,' then again she saw Bleu's injured foot and knew better that this was likely out of convenience. "Hmph, that woman's…" She mumbled something that Obito couldn't hear.
"Hmph, I'll be out of your hair in a few minutes, I was just ferrying them here."
"Ferrying?" She shot him a flat look and Obito's eyebrow twitched. "What are ya, stupid?"
Don't. Do not get into an argument with the woman he very much wanted you and Sienna dead!
But it was so damn hard.
"No, ma'am, it's a metaphor," 'Tobi' said simply.
"... a what?"
"It's like saying it's raining cats and dogs, aunty," Azure sweatdropped as the woman made an understanding sound.
"Oh, I don't get why you humans need to make life so difficult by making un-useful words."
"..." The way Obito took a deep breath very much concerned Azure. "I didn't create the language."
"Hmph."
Obito figured now would be the time to leave lest he out himself by trying to teach this woman some language!
"Alright, I'll be taking my leave," he said simply as he got up, ruffling Bleu's hair. "Azure, take care," Obito kept the information about him to a minimum.
Lord knows he'd screw himself over somehow anyway so let's keep it transparent.
As he began to walk out, a clawed hand caught his collar and Obito cursed his luck as he turned to see the scrutinizing gaze of a lion Faunus woman who sniffed once before letting him go.
"Hmph," she huffed before waving him off. "Get out of here, ya stank."
Obito was now concerned as he quickly left.
Taliesin kept her confusion off her face. 'I don't think I smelled that kid before,' but that was the weird part.
His smell was outright venomous to her nose. Even now, she rubbed the side of it as she felt tingles shooting up a nostril, sending a shiver into her brain.
'Egh!' She groaned.
She'd need to keep an eye on him if she ever saw this 'Tobi' again.
~NRK~
Obito hurried down the street with a grimace.
'That's the last thing I needed,' now she had his scent.
If that woman came running after him, he'd be screwed. Thankfully, she seemed only defensive and not suspicious, that'd work in his favor, especially if he never met her again.
He minded his surroundings as he hurried to the bus stop, thankfully finding one just pulling up to the booth.
Getting in and paying his fare, Obito navigated to the back exit and sat down across from it, arms crossed as he leaned back against his seat.
"I'm just glad I didn't lose you, honey," a familiar voice said as Obito blinked.
'Ms. Dubal?' Obito blinked before shrugging. 'I suppose she would still be working,' no time to waste when you didn't have money to.
"I know," the boy said, fiddling with his fingers when Obito peeked back a bit. "S-Still, um… I'm sorry, mom."
"It's fine, I promise."
He turned back around and just relaxed.
Some things, at least, got better.
~NRK~
His Sunday continued with him building a three-point menu for his, currently being built, food stand.
"Hmm," Obito adjusted the final wooden wheel of his cart before putting it on, working in the backyard in some blue sweatpants and a white t-shirt. "... done," he said to himself, testing each of the parts of the cart before nodding. "An icebox would be nice," he realized, going down on his back and placing his hands against the bottom of his cart.
"How's it going?" Sienna asked him as she walked over, finishing her workout in some black 'yoga' pants and a red shirt. "Why do they call them yoga pants? They're just tights," she asked him and Obito snorted. "Well, they are thicker," she hummed. "... why not just leggings?"
"You seem to have figured it all out on your own."
"Smartass," looking over his creation, Sienna hummed in interest. "You made it real big, that's gonna h-hold a lot of food," she swallowed back the drool, already hungry. "D-Dammit, I'm loving having a fridge with stuff in it but I have no idea what I'm doing when I'm there," she admitted with a blush as he chuckled.
"I'll probably go and cook something right now," Obito said as he moved from beneath his cart, lowering the wooden blocks he had it on. "And it's big to make the most of my wares. I literally have to put in a fire pit, icebox, storage, and hatches to cover it all. I'm glad I could ask Aster's father for some broken glass."
A bit away, a small stone furnace released weak embers, several long wooden poles next to it with burnt ends.
"Still not great at it but I'll get better," he said as the three glass plates, all holding some kinda white deformities, sat in a neat pile on another raised wood block.
"Man, y-you could probably become a real handyman," Sienna said as she considered his work. 'I bet tons of people would pay for glass,' and Obito could probably sell it all cheaper than the competition!
Getting up, he and she walked into the house through the backyard door, entering the kitchen before nodding to Ireed and another woman sitting at the dinner table along with a familiar old goat woman and sheep girl playing with Marrone.
The woman was decently tall and average in build with hairy bear arms. Wearing a pair of black slacks, a white dress shirt, similar-colored socks, and a red tie, she looked at the two with a hum.
"So, young man, we've worked out the whole deal like this," she said as Fiona perked up. "You'll work with me Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while you'll work with Ireed Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday," the bear woman said with some paper in her hand. "I'll also be helping pay for some of the materials you'll be using if you can impress me."
"Of course, Mrs. Thyme," Obito said as a flare of flame burned any leaves or dirt on him, leaving the boy dry. "I'll work on it right away," was all he added before immediately heading to the fridge as Fiona's mother, Daisy Thyme, looked very confused.
"Um… when could he do that?" She asked, confused.
"For some time now," Ireed said, rubbing the back of her head as Obito left the fridge with a decent slab of medium-quality meat. "Yer gonna serve 'em plates?" Well, it wouldn't be the worst thing, right?
"No, they'd not only need to throw the plates and utensils away, it's more pricey," Obito said with a hum. "I need to make them things they can carry and throw away, or stash in a bag, easily. That's why I'm going to go and grab some small paper bags like Mrs. Stone has. I'll be making… well, you'll see when I'm done," he smirked as he took out some flour.
He washed his hands regardless of his earlier 'flame dry' before getting to work.
Kneading, grinding, frying, and cooking with his powers had him with several golden finished products that sat on a large platter thirty minutes later.
The group looked surprised and hungry as he finished.
"Alright, there you go, I don't know what to call them, specifically, but they're like those peanut butter and jelly-filled packets we have in the fridge," Obito said as Marrone perked up.
"R-Really?! Their butter-jams!" The boy cheered as Fiona tilted her head.
"I-I think I've seen them before," she said as the boy grinned while Obito shrugged.
"When I've finished cooling them, you can eat," he said, wind blowing from his palm towards the freshly-made food.
Ten minutes later, Obito ate with the very satisfied Faunus, Phoebe, and Daisy chuckling as they finished their third ones.
"I think that solves it," the goat said as the bear nodded.
"And it's not a lot of stuff, too, you've got yourself a supplier," Daisy grinned. "And I think you'll find out that this'll be WAY more popular if other people see it."
Perfect.
~NRK~
That night, Obito and Sienna practiced with their Aura and powers, the two teens focusing on their handstands in the young woman's room.
"H-Hmm!" She kept going strong, red Aura covering her form as Obito nodded, sweat dripping down his brow as purple energy formed over his legs. "G-Gravity, right?" Sienna asked him, gasping a bit but reaffirming her stability.
"Y-Yes, it's not… i-it's more difficult than I expected," Obito said as he grimaced. 'It all causes an effect on my body… so my gravity abilities stress my body like it's trying to compress it?' With his fire, wind, water, earth, and plant powers, he didn't notice it as much but gravity he was certainly more aware of. "I need to get used to all these powers. Gravity causing the most bodily stress but I can't imagine what large uses of my electricity powers will leave my nervous untouched."
"N-Nerves?"
"It is electricity, after all. You've seen movies on how bad that can get, right?"
She winced. "Still, you've gotta get good at that especially," Sienna said and he nodded.
"Alright, stop," he said, stopping his handstand as she flopped onto her back, tail uncurling from around her waist. "You're right, I should get better at the two powers specifically," Obito sighed. "Though, that'll be hard to do because it's basically lightning, unlike fire, it makes noise when I mess with it."
"Well… what about that old Mistralian place?"
"... the dojo?"
"Yeah, why not? It's so far down below the floor, you could totally practice there!" She grinned as he hummed. "Besides, it'd be good to practice with our weapons not out in the open," Sienna reminded him and Obito's eyes narrowed.
"That's true," he frowned. "You're right, we'll see if this works for the next two weeks, alright?" Obito said and she nodded. "Also, we'll go see the Atlas students on Wednesday."
"Nice," she chuckled, sitting up and looking down at her Aura-covered hand. "We need to get stronger and we only have, what, a month?"
"Three weeks," he corrected as she groaned. "Unfortunately, what do you think will happen if we did it when they were close to coming back? We don't even know if just Jennifer will just hurry down here if she catches wind of it all. We know, for a fact, that she has some of the greatest internet connection known to mankind so it'd be easy for her to get information feeds from Vacuo."
"Derry's info seems more and more… not as useful as I thought."
"Well, it's still more than we knew before."
"Yeah. yeah, that."
~NRK~
The following morning, Obito, Derry, and Sienna, surprisingly, stood in front of a fully-suited up Daisy who had on her blazer and brown dress shoes.
The three stood in uniforms that the woman had bought for them, things with gray sweaters with the Kamui symbol, his addition, on the back and left breast while they had on a pair of sweatpants, and brown boots.
Around their waists sat white aprons with Daisy's personal logo on it and around their heads white bandanas to cover their hair.
"Alright, I'd told my guys you're all here," the businesswoman said as Obito's cart sat behind them, painted gray with his symbol on the front in black and red. "Outside of that, I also let some of my fellow office people on my floor about ya. It's about 11 in 'am' so you'll likely see 'em soon, the boys have been working since 7, after all."
"Understood," Derry smiled.
"Gotcha," Sienna hummed.
"We'll do our best," Obito nodded as Daisy grinned.
"You guys are really some of the best-behaved kids I've known outside of little Fifi," she said as they all smirked in their own ways, Daisy chuckling. "I know, she loves it though."
"You all have an amazing relationship," Derry smiled, not a hint of jealousy in sight. "I'm not surprised."
"Yeah, I don't really get to see her that often," the woman admitted bashfully. "But I do ma best, she deserves that much, especially since Gaul isn't… here, anymore," she smiled sadly as they all nodded.
"We understand."
"Alright, good, I'll be down in an hour, see how things are going!"
She powerwalked away with a bit of a solemn aura around her.
"I guess it's been a while since this Gaul guy wasn't… around," Sienna figured with sympathy. "It's kinda like with my mom," she said, rubbing the back of her head.
"It's not easy," Obito said softly. "But it takes strong people to keep moving on after tragedy, the strongest," he admitted with a shake of the head. "Come on, let's set up."
As they did, Obito already having made a few 'ready' numbers of the food, they got approached almost immediately.
"Hmm?" The person there blinked at him, looking surprised.
He was tall, a man with a slender frame, caramel skin, neatly combed black hair, and yellow eyes. Wearing a cream-colored vest over a brown dress shirt, a pair of black slacks, and a pair of brown loafers, the man before the cart cupped his chin.
"A new stand?" He asked and Obito noted his rather deep voice despite his youngish looks. "Curious. What do you sell?" The man asked and the young man nodded.
"It's a meat-based pastry," he explained as Sienna and Derry nodded. "The base is beef I've grounded, seasoned, spiced, and kneaded."
The man hummed. "Price?"
"1 lien."
The man's card came out and Obito took it before handing him a paper bag-covered pastry.
The man hummed with interest, the warmth in it pleasant in his palm before he opened it up.
The smells made his stomach growl a bit, surprising him before he took a bite.
"Hmmm…" He made a pleased sound, the rather light but well-filled crust made his tastes buzz and his stomach desire more.
As he ate a bit more, more people on the sidewalk began to take notice.
"I see, I see," he hummed, half-done. "Hm, hm, hm, let me get… four more."
Four more exchanges took place before Obito bowed to the man as he left.
"That seems well for a first sale," he said as Derry nodded while Sienna raised a brow.
"Ya just bowed to some random dude," she said with a frown before Obito shrugged.
"It's Mistralian culture I learned, it's about the flow of respect and how it is given and taken, Sienna," he said as she grumbled a bit more. "Now look alive, we've got interest about."
More people began to come by, Obito and Derry handling the sales pitch while Sienna grabbed the products of chicken or beef for the customers.
Time passed rather quickly for them, using up all the ingredients by… 2 o'clock?
"Whoa," Sienna blinked as Daisy told them the time. "I-It didn't feel like three hours passed!"
"When you're doing good business," Obito smirked. "That changes. I guess we'll head out for today? Or do you want us to do a repeat?"
"I like your confidence but that's it for today, I could only stock those for now but I'll have the next batch ready for Wednesday," Daisy grinned. "Ya kids did good work."
Obito nodded, pulling a small stack of lien cards out of his pocket and handing it to the surprised woman.
"This will be for the space and ingredients. I know what you'll say but we'll call this 'business' and leave it at that," Obito said, placing the amount into her open hand. "I've paid Derry and Sienna already so trust us, thank you," he bowed to the woman who blushed and shook her hands.
"W-Whoa! Easy! I-I know you're one of the second-kind of fancy ethnics and stuff but I don't need that, it's… i-it's embarrassin'," she whined as he chuckled, Derry and Sienna smirking behind him.
"Thanks," they said and she moaned but nodded all the same.
"I've literally never made that money before," Sienna whispered.
"And I'm glad you were willing to work with us," Derry said.
"Oh, you kids are about to have this old maid acting like a tomato!" Daisy chuckled, face red. "But, I'm glad you're some good sorts, seriously. I know Fifi'll learn good things from you all."
"No problem."
~NRK~
Pulling the cart home had been a new mystery that was currently solved by just pulling it.
"You guys know you can both go home, correct?" Obito asked them as he pulled the cart, the two sitting on the roof of it at his behest, the air around them laced with wind energy to ease the burden and speed up their travel. "This is my burden to bear," he said simply as he kept going. 'If I had some horses,' or maybe that was too primitive?
He could probably put an engine on this thing to push it forward with his powers.
"Have you thought about using your powers for this?" Derry asked him, knocking him out of his thoughts. "Wind, plants, earth, wood for some reason, fire, electricity, you have a lot at your disposal," she whispered.
Sienna tilted her head. "He'd have to build some crazy engine wouldn't he?" She asked and Derry giggled a bit.
"Maybe but this is rather wasteful," she said. "Time and energy, Sienna, are some of the most important resources in the world, literally and metaphorically."
"... Derry I don't know what that last word means," the tigress sweatdropped before blinking as her ears flagged, perking up. "... shit," she whispered in horror as her eyes snapped to a figure in the distance atop a building, enhanced eyes seeing her clearly. "Ito, D, I'll get home on my own," she said as she jumped off the cart.
"Huh?" Obito blinked. 'Ito?' As in 'unexpected heart'-Wait, stop! 'I'm letting that night get into my head.'
Sienna likely knew nothing about the Mistralian language outside of the bare basics of the culture, there was no way calling him 'Ito' meant anything more than shortening his name.
"W-Why?" Derry asked the young tiger woman.
"I've got to meet someone," she whispered, walking up to Obito and patting his shoulder while leaning in for only a moment. "A Bright one, the brightest," was all Sienna said before leaving, walking into an alleyway and disappearing from sight.
Obito's eyes narrowed, former thoughts completely thrown away. 'Atella,' he hid his grimace before nodding. "I'll see you at home."
"Thanks," her voice came out, the barest bits of the tiger Faunus still being seen. "I'll be back."
With that, Sienna disappeared entirely, leaving Derry looking at him confused.
"It's fine, it's something you don't want to get involved with."
Her eyes widened.
~NRK~
Sienna was thankful she shed her apron already, currently tying her uniform's top around her waist, leaving her in a skin-tight long-sleeve top from the night in the Barron home.
When she reached the place that dog whistle came from, she waited for only a second or two before Atella descended from above.
"What's up-?" She tried to say.
"We have serious business, gang war, tonight," Atella cut her off, getting a flinch out of the younger woman. "Yeah, sorry, I know you were probably planning something," Sienna's eyebrow twitched as her leader smirked. "But it'll have to be an 'early morning reward', we have to deal with a gang that's gotten oddly bold as of late… and I don't like it."
Sienna's eyes widened. "W-What do you mean, you don't like it?" She frowned as her leader sighed.
"... I already told Tali and I'm telling you, right now, there's been an odd shift in power. Two gangs who've always just kept to themselves have been on a rampage and taking out more and more of the other small ones. I… C-Call it a hunch, call it superstition, but there's a saying," she frowned. "When there's a shift in power Aura or Grimm are always involved."
"You think there are two other Aura-users?"
"It's all I can imagine unless they got their hands on some ridiculous tech but that's far easier to observe. No… I think… I-I think there are, at least, TWO people with Aura down here and they're not on our side."
~NRK~
Obito dropped Derry off after they got back to his home and left the cart in the backyard.
The deer Faunus blushed as they flew through the air, hoods, face masks, and non-descript hoodies on.
"Eeep!" She squeaked as she latched onto him tightly, hands feeling several levels of firmness her emotions liked every second of. 'Now is not the time to be a perv!' But she knew she'd be thinking about tonight.
"Hmph," they landed in a small burst of wind atop a building before sliding down the side of it with more wind application. "... there," their feet touched ground moments later as Derry blushed, letting go of him with some reluctance.
Gesturing to the opening in the alley they'd landed in, the two of them walked out onto the street and walked down it towards a familiar estate far down the incline.
"Thanks, again," Derry smiled as she felt the lien in her pocket. "I-I've never… I-I need to put this into my 'Emergency Funds'."
"I'm not surprised, does your mother snoop around your room often?" Obito asked and Derry sighed.
"Thankfully, only every other weekend," she said with a strained smile. "I don't keep it in my room, I keep it elsewhere."
"I understand."
Reaching the estate, Obito followed Derry towards her quarters before nodding to her at the door.
"I-I'll see you tomorrow?"
"I don't mind. It's just going to be a bit farther from your home than our place today."
"I'll pack for the stay," Derry said before blushing as her mother appeared in the doorway with a smile before bowing to Obito. "M-Mrs. Doll."
"Derry," the woman noted her before burning up at a peck on the cheek from a slightly blushing Obito.
"Take care. Good afternoon, Mrs. Doll," the young man said as he bowed to both before heading out.
Again. He'd done it again and her heart was currently beating like a damn Mistralian War Drum!
"Hmm," her mother smirked and Derry froze. "Come in, Derry, there's much for you to learn if you're to lock down a man."
Her cheek twitched as the woman walked in, leaving her there in her disbelief.
'She's insane,' the young woman groaned before blushing again, holding her cheek. "I-I really will fall in love with him if he keeps doing that," Derry blushed, going in while closing the door.
Fantasies aplenty would hit her tonight.
~NRK~
Obito crossed his arms in an alleyway, his slightly red cheeks bothering him to no end.
'Dammit, Sienna,' this was her fault.
He couldn't stop his embarrassment ever since she kissed HIM on the lips that night! She was making the situation with Derry more worrying than it needed to be!
"Ugh," he groaned, ignoring the knocked-out wannabe gangsters around him. "I'm sure I only gave a few of you concussions," Obito said, preparing to walk off-
"Oh?" Came a voice from ahead, one that had Obito's eyes narrowing as he felt it.
Aura.
He looked up at the person who'd called out and frowned at several details about him.
The young man was likely in his later teens with fair skin, blue eyes, and orange hair that sat neatly on his head in a slightly wavy style. Wearing a pair of white pants, black boots, a white dress shirt, white gloves, and a gray vest, the young man chuckled at him with a smile.
"Can I help you?" Obito asked the older male who shook his head pleasantly. "I didn't expect to see an Academy student down here."
"Yes, it's quite a recent thing. Coming down here, helping people with the animals, and locking up those ones for fun," the young man said as Obito's eyebrows lowered. "Hmm?" He crossed his arms and tilted his head before grinning. "Apologies, I was of the opinion most people knew how things worked down here."
"Half of them do, I knew you weren't on that half but I guess it's different since you're from Atlas."
The older teen chuckled a bit, eyes barely open but gleaming with a dark light.
Obito was running up the building at his side in seconds as white mist exploded around his previous position.
'Is he one of those individuals from Atella's story?' His eyes narrowed as he kept running, face still hidden. "You're bad at this," Obito advised as he jumped off the wall to dodge the rising mist and land on the roof of the opposing building, wind slipping off his soles.
White mist shot over the edge of the roof and Obito held up a hand seal.
Concentrated winds slammed into it, dispersing the mist and causing the Semblance's owner to stumble as he landed.
"W-What?!" He struggled before Obito dropkicked him off the roof. "Hurgf!"
He slammed into the building wall across from Obito before groaning, dropping down into the alleyway, and leaving Obito all the time to leave.
The Uchiha slipped into alleys and backways, feet muffled by slight applications of his wind power.
'Of course, this had to happen while we were busy with the stupid robot!' He grimaced. 'And now we have to be worried about Derry,' if that boy saw him and the, even in hiding, deer Faunus again, it'd be BAD news. "Tsk!" Calm down, calm down!
He was assuming too much, besides, the Burst Brights literally existed.
These punks would have to get through quite a few barriers. Still, now he knew of more obstacles.
'Can this Vine man be trusted?' Obito wasn't sure, he'd not even met the older male yet. 'The general's down, we've got three weeks to deal with this robot, the Burst Brights aren't friends, and now Atlas Academy students?' This was getting more and more concerning.
Every moment seemed to be turning against them and Obito wasn't sure what he could do about all of it without compromising some part of his life. Compromising it to people who had far greater influence than he ever did at the moment and could make life an unbearable hell.
Obito grit his teeth before slipping out of hoodie, face mask, and beanie, quickly creating a wooden box with the items within, senses shooting on all cylinders as he left an alleyway in a thin long-sleeved black top with gloves on, his wooden backpack tied tautly across his chest.
The sun's lowering position got a groan out of him.
"This isn't good in the least," he grumbled.
~NRK~
Sienna, meanwhile, grimaced as she got dressed in her gang clothing, donning her usual mask and borrowing a weak chain weapon.
'Gods, I wish I had my better one,' that'd feel more reassuring.
They were going in as a strike team of sorts to attack with their specialized Aura-users while the other gangs weren't aware. One might think it'd instill confidence in the tigress but it didn't.
Sienna wasn't liking the lack of planning, the possible scenarios, the ideas of their chance of succeeding.
'I'm seriously wishing he was here,' what the heck had happened to her over the past month? 'This feels way too fast,' did she even understand that?
She'd never had issues like this before, she'd simply gone with the flow and relied on her team and leader. Sienna knew they were strong and could handle anything… anything but another Keler situation.
'I've been training,' she told herself, stepping out of the tent to find Atella and the others ready. 'This won't fail.'
"Good," the silver-haired woman nodded before walking off with a gesture to follow, the five women including Sienna doing as such. "... I've got good and bad news," she frowned as they did behind their masks. "Bad news? Most of the spies we sent didn't come back."
They all flinched, none more so than Sienna, as Atella grimaced.
"We don't know what happened, specifically, but the others say they got captured and aren't being treated well."
They all hissed, Sienna's tail bristling as Atella growled.
"I have another team prepared to go in once we start causing damage. Our jobs are to get them back and deal with the Starstream gang before they can recover, got it?"
"GOT IT!"
She nodded before they took off down an alleyway, the six the fastest of their respective gang save for Taliesin.
Sienna frowned. 'I have no way of telling anyone without causing problems,' she had to trust in her crew.
Like she always did before.
~NRK~
Their travel to this other gang's hideout had been nothing more than a ten-minute run, their spiritual power easily allowing them to make the five-mile distance simple.
They'd situated themselves atop a nearby building in a rather… destroyed part of Mantle?
"What?" Sienna blinked, ears flagged as they saw all the turnt-over broken cars, lopsided buildings with broken walls, overgrown vines, and ice-covered storefronts. "... Dust?" She realized as Atella's eyes widened.
"... how?" She gasped. "Where in the world would they get DUST? T-That's not low-quality either!" Atella hissed as they all looked over the edge at the destruction of a pair of streets of a large intersection. "Who the hell joined them?"
"...?" Sienna's eyes narrowed as her ears twitched. "Someone's coming, from the right street."
They all turned their attention to it to see a large group of men and women, all dressed in uniform-like fashion, with a young man at the front coming down the street.
They were all dressed in all-black clothing with starstream-like patches on their shoulders, backs, and thighs, guns in their grasps, and a bunch of raucous laughter between them.
Then they saw the person at the front of Atella frowned.
"That's not Kale," she said with a glare. "And he's wearing the leader uniform…"
The woman at the front of the group was dressed similarly to the others but with an additional furred white coat over her shoulders with a hood and a pair of necklaces around her neck, each bearing a pair of starstream symbols.
She was rather short from what they could see, maybe being five feet tall? Not sure.
Her skin was slightly tan, a rarity down in Mantle, her eyes pink, and her hair short with choppy locks that hid her eyes well even if they were a light brown. The last thing they could figure out was that she wore a single large sphere earring that was dark green in color and had a thick metal brace around her neck.
"That's the Aura-user?" One of them asked in disbelief. "S-She looks like a kid!" They hissed.
"Yeah, but how do we know she's not just short?" Sienna shot back. "And, hello, you do remember the street right?"
They all flinched, looking back to the destruction on display. "R-Right," another swallowed.
"Better question is… where's her Dust?" Atella asked as they observed through small telescopes, looking all over this short woman to try and find it. "I don't see it," she grimaced as Sienna nodded. "And… remember, we don't know how many of them are here. Hell, all those guys could have Aura or just a few."
That would be bad either way, someone who had Aura, was actually well-trained, and might have been more than a few numbers wouldn't make this easy.
"Still… we know our job," Atella said as they all nodded while Sienna frowned.
'What's wrong with this picture?' Something was off, something big.
Why was she the only one not carrying a weapon? All of them clearly deferred to her yet she looked the least dangerous.
The least dangerous one being the leader didn't make sense… She looked back to the ravaged street as something set the hair on her nape standing up.
"I-I don't like this, doesn't this seem weird?" She asked the others as she stood up, confusing them. "Why's the so-called 'leader' the one who doesn't have a weapon?" Sienna asked them as Atella frowned, looking down. "Atella, let's just go to their hideout, this feels wrong. We need to just grab the spies and get out," Sienna pleaded as the older female frowned.
"..." Atella closed her eyes. "... fine, let's go," she said as the tigress sighed in relief. "Sienna's right, our members are more important than attacking them. Besides, we don't know what'll happen if we do and the street becomes a bigger battlefield."
As they left, Sienna nodded in relief as she took one more look back at the group-
Her hackles raised as she crouched low for no reason? What?
'W-What was that?' Her eyes widened as she crawled after the others who jumped away. 'M-My head,' it felt like something was coming out of nowhere.
What was that feeling?
~NRK~
Obito got home soon enough and frowned as he found no Sienna there.
'Where is she?' He frowned as he cooked, Marrone standing on a chair a bit back at his side. "... Marrone, can you pass me some salt?"
The tiger boy did while looking a bit nervous. "... hey, bro?"
"Yes?"
"Is something bad going to happen?"
Obito still, thankfully putting the salt away before he ruined their food. "... why?"
"S-Sis ain't here and I got a bad feeling," the child said, looking very nervous. "C-Can you go and check… please?"
Obito's eyes narrowed as he sighed. "I'll finish dinner but you're going to be home alone, Marrone."
"Y-You can just drop me off next door!"
Forty minutes later, Obito was jumping across the city of Mantle, eyes narrowed as he hurried towards the Burst Brights' headquarters, senses raised. 'Where are you?' He thought with some concern as he landed on a building above the entrance towards the Burst Brights hideout. "..." He spread out his senses and came back with nothing?
Did they go somewhere? Why? A gang fight, maybe?
'I don't like this,' of course, that could just be of normal concern, it's not like it had to be anything too worrying. 'What could it be-'
A flash of plant life slammed into his senses and confused him as he jumped back with narrowed eyes at… nothing? What?
'I was sure I'd felt that, why is it…' His eyes slowly widened as he looked back in a specific direction-
Another flash of plant life?
'My senses became attuned to Dust?!' He was already jumping across buildings in worry. 'Dammit! They're fighting someone far away with powerful Dust!'
And if he was right… Obito had a feeling Atlas Academy students weren't as far-removed from Mantle as he would have liked.
~NRK~
Sienna cursed as she carried one of her fellow members on her back, the woman's battered form not the current cause for concern.
After all, when giant plants and vines were currently trying to rock her shit, she could be forgiven for not being as worried for her comrade as she was.
Atella growled next to her, carrying another while their other strike team members were currently trying to stop every vine that snapped towards them to only decent success.
Sienna still hissed at one of the whip-like cracks she'd taken to her back. 'Dammit! I knew it!'
They'd gotten into the Starstream hideout and did their jobs of causing havoc and getting their missing members back but that's where it all went downhill.
'We should have kept it quiet!' She hissed at herself.
That bitch had been alerted and was fast and powerful! She'd come back in the time it took for their havoc to be mostly done and took control of the situation so instantly that it left Sienna confused on how strong such a young woman was.
Yes, they'd figured out that she wasn't even that old, maybe around twenty? That had been a blow to their confidence and the fact they were still running from one person made her feel hot shame.
"Dammit!" Atella hissed as they slid to a stop by a corner and turned it, sadly ignoring their members who couldn't turn fast enough, the groan of the women on their backs gaining their attention. "Tea, it's fine, stay quiet-"
"A-Academy… students," the two's eyes widened, Sienna's more than Atella's by a large magnitude. "T-They… they were going… to sell us into slavery," the injured spy grimaced.
"No…" Atella's eyes widened in horror as she and Sienna's gazes caught one another. "T-This is…" She looked horrified as Sienna frowned.
"Get back here, you worthless bitches!" Came a call from behind them, the two's head snapping back to see the Atlas Academy student who was currently riding on a tidal wave of ice that had plants exploding out from her neck brace and earring. "You'll fetch an amazing set of prices! Those rich bastards would enjoy breaking you!"
Sienna's eyes narrowed as she growled-
"Sienna, don't," Atella grimaced. "We can't put our people in danger… n-not anymore than I have already."
The younger woman grimaced as they kept running before the sounds behind them got louder and most definitely closer.
"Dammit, we can't-!"
Then there was an explosion of heat, wind, and screams behind them, the two gang members blown off their feet before they recovered enough to look behind them in surprise.
A figure landed moments later in front of high-rising steam, flames, and burnt plant life, his eyes locking onto the two shocked women.
"The kid?!"
"Obito?!"
Sienna choked as more plants shot over the burnt and melting pile towards the boy with the Dust arm.
Obito dropped his hoodie before stomping down into the ground.
An explosion wall of stone and dirt shot up, cracking as it was slammed into but holding regardless. Nodding, he took off after the two before nodding to them.
"We need to go," he said, voice muffled by his face mask but still clear.
"W-What are you-?" Sienna tried to ask but his flat look told her now wasn't the time. "Let's go!"
They ran away, double-timing it as they heard the earth wall crack more.
"D-Dude, it's-!" Sienna began to say only to choke with Atella once he cut her off.
"Atlas Academy students, I know, I got attacked by one," he said, interrupting her and getting a pale look out of her and a grimace from her leader. "He wasn't that strong, though, and might have been a Freshman. What about the one behind us?"
"Third-year, definitely," Atella frowned. "FUCK, they're coming down here now?!"
"I don't know what's going on," Obito lied. "But the fact remains, down here just got increasingly more dangerous," he grimaced. "And it's apparently not just in the better areas, this is getting worse and worse."
They ran in and out of alleyways before coming to a stop a bit away, Sienna and Atella gasping for breath.
"..." He frowned.
"W-What the hell is going on?" Sienna frowned as she laid her 'luggage' gently against a wall. "This is ridiculous! Why are they all getting involved?!" She hissed as he frowned in thought.
"... I don't know."
"Yes, well, now we're all in a screwy situation," Atella said with a groan as she did as Sienna had before stretching with a frown. 'So, he awakened his Aura or something different happened,' fire and earth powers?
How 'lucky' he was to have such versatile strengths. What a pain in her future ass.
"Right now, what do we do?" Sienna asked the two with a frown as they sighed. "I say we take that bitch down now."
"... she's right, that woman can't be allowed to live," Atella said with a crossed arms before Obito shook his head. "Oh? A samaritan? Down here? Color me surprised."
"Don't patronize me, I could care less if she's dead… but we're not the ones who'll care more," the two grimaced. "Do you realize you'd still be killing an Academy student? If you do, it won't just be her likely rich family who'll be out to kill us all but the military."
"She's clearly a part of a gang," Sienna countered. "In what world would the military…" Her eyes slowly widened as Atella frowned.
"What the hell is he implying?" She asked. "Why would the military with Straight-Laced James do?"
"They wouldn't help if he was currently awake," Obito said, confusing her. "James Ironwood's current status hasn't been revealed to the populace, there's a high chance that this was planned for. The general is currently in critical condition and is likely to be out of it for a month or more," the silver-haired woman's eyes widened. "So, imagine what'd happen if a rich family's rich daughter came to them for support? Gee that sounds like they'd screw over everyone."
"Cut the shit, kid, I get it."
"Then we just let her run free?" Sienna looked downright horrified while Obito frowned.
"It's not as easy to deal with her as we think or it would be if we didn't have a rich child going on a rampage in Mantle," he said as she perked up.
"You mean to turn her over to the police, right?" Atella asked.
"That's the best thing plus," he chuckled. "I already called the newscasters," Obito said as they blinked. "You don't need to fight every battle upfront," he added as they heard bullheads above. "Sometimes, you fight by using resources."
There was a yell of horror before scrambling away as lights flashed down.
"Come on, we need to leave. Now that the news is here, she can't leave," Obito said as he walked off. "She's trapped down here until either her parents call off the situation, she sneaks out, or we deal with her. All in all, we win in every situation."
'Dangerous,' it hit Atella like a sack of bricks. 'Extremely dangerous,' as Sienna sighed in relief, the older woman was left horrified by the smarts on a young man who was even younger than the Faunus.
He'd not only locked the student in place by her own status but he'd set her up for failure or jail time.
He'd done it all in one hour.
"..." Sienna looked down in thought before sighing as she picked up her injured member. "What do we do about the others?" She whispered to Atella.
"... if they're still fine, they'll return," she whispered back. "Right now, we definitely can't be seen."
She wondered if the boy had also figured this would work.
He was an intelligent male to pull off so many things in his favor.
~NRK~
Obito waited outside of the Burst Brights' hideout on a fire escape before Sienna landed next to him, leaning on the railing as she growled.
"This is fucked up, why?" She hissed at the air as Obito sighed.
"I… I've already considered a few things," her head snapped to him. "What if Jennifer set this up?" Obito offered as Sienna's hands gripped the railings with another growl. "If we assume it was her, she made the most of the new situation with the Academy. The rich know and now we're in a situation where their kids are coming down."
"And now they're messing everything up. We can't handle all this, can't we?"
"... No… sadly, this is outside of our current power. Right now, we have to choose," Obito said as she choked. "Do we deal with the Academy students or the robot?"
"H-How can we not do both?"
"Sienna, you do realize you'll have to be on high alert everywhere if you do that, right?" She choked. "You'll be jumping at everything and just mixing up priorities. We can't, if you go and fight the robot and students, you're going to get found out."
"I know, alright?!" She shouted at him. "This is all so fucking stupid! Why are we dealing with all this shit?!"
"..." Obito let the air ring with her voice as she huffed and puffed.
"Every time it's like you knock me down about what we're supposed to do."
"I'm not, how many times have I been proven right?"
"..." She twisted the railings in confusion.
"I'm just trying to ensure we never take chances we can't come back from," never again would he let that happen. "We. Aren't. Strong. Enough. Power rules everything at this point and we don't even have the power to defend ourselves."
Again, how had this happened?! She was left grasping for ideas to solve her life and all because a rich bitch decided gang life was important to get involved with their lives!
"There has to be something! This is pathetic!" Sienna flopped over the railing as Obito came over nervously before rubbing her upper back.
"I know, I know…" Obito considered something. "... there may be some things we can do," he said slowly as she instantly perked up.
"What?!" Anything to fix this!
"... there aren't a lot of options but there are a few," Obito groaned. "One way we can constantly work on is getting your Semblance," she tilted her head. "Any advantage is better than nothing. Next, maybe we could get some Dust?"
"... I guess. That bitch has powerful Dust," Sienna said. "I'm confused, is Dust quality a thing?"
"I think so? I'm not sure, that information isn't something I can find in the Mantle libraries."
"... anything else?"
"We… ohhh," he grimaced as she stood up. "We align ourselves with Atella and let her know everything."
Silence filled the space around them as Obito took his hand away and leaned onto the railing.
"I-If we do that… w-what'll happen to you?"
"... Likely, I'll owe her a lot, Sienna. Most likely a night in her bed… nights," the young woman's ears burned red as he corrected himself. "That and maybe a few others if she decides I'm worth keeping as 'Itching Material'."
Sienna choked as he nodded.
"I-Is that… really it?" She wheezed.
Would she really sacrifice Obito's freedom for her own safety? H-He wasn't exactly broken-up about the words spewed from his mouth, he certainly didn't look like he was afraid of it.
"It's not like we know other, awake, powerful people right now. That and, well, our normal lives are already at stake. I'm sure we could work something out with Atella if nothing else."
That got another wince and hiss out of her, knowing how true that was.
"... fuck, fuck, I'm sorry."
"This isn't your fault. Unfortunately, one rich bitch decided she just had to get involved.
Get involved…?!
"W-Wait… what if we just get that Vine guy?!" She asked him as Obito raised a brow. "I-If he's a third-year like that pilot, not a rich guy, said, he could be what we need to fight that thing!"
"I… I suppose," Obito sighed. "First, we'd need to go and find that pilot again or this 'Vine' man. We'd have to figure out where they're starting point is."
"True but then we can do that," Sienna lifted her mask to show her grin as he raised a brow.
"... you sound like you have a plan."
"Hehe~ For the first time."
[br]
Back down below, Obito hiding atop one of the nearby buildings, Sienna approached her leader.
Atella stood over the still being tended to spies they'd received, their missing members still not back.
"Dammit," she grit her teeth as her fists clenched, Sienna nodding as she got close. "What the fuck is all of this?" Atella breathed hotly. "You're not gonna say you're putting your guy up for my itchy cause because I'm in some serious need to forget the next two days."
Sienna blushed before groaning. "Ignoring that, I wanted to ask if you wanted us to figure out where these students are coming from?" She offered her leader who frowned before sighing.
"You up for looking?"
"I wouldn't say it if I wouldn't put my tail in. The thing is, do we have any idea of where that is?"
"... we might," Atella frowned. "The better sectors are obviously where they'd start. If that boy of yours is telling the truth, they're likely around the better parts of town so that's about, what, 10 miles worth of space?"
"That's honestly not a lot if you think about it," Sienna offered and her leader shrugged.
"Maybe but it's… now that I think about it, it's not a good idea, dammit," the tigress frowned. "We've now gotta consider that one of those bastards might come here, Sie. This isn't something small anymore, fuck if it isn't."
Sienna got that, it wasn't simple anymore… but that didn't mean she had to be a part of a group.
"What if me and Ito go and look?" She offered Atella whose eyebrow rose.
"Oh, pet names?"
"T-That's not the answer I wanted."
"Hmph, well… I don't know, Sie, I'm serious, I don't want to go around just putting my people in the way. Right now, that bitch still needs to go down and I don't think anyone but us three can do it."
"Wait, y-you're including-"
"Duh, he's literally got powers that counter hers, why wouldn't I be including your little boytoy unless you're busy?"
Sienna's tiger ears twitched as Atella laughed a bit.
"Look… I'm sure we can go and take that bitch down, that should work out."
"Good, because we're leaving in two hours."
"Huh?"
[br]
Returning to that fire escape, Obito huffed but nodded.
"I get her logic and reasoning, right now, that woman might escape, that can't be allowed. What if she's part of some kind of group Jennifer set up? Honestly, though, you're right. This is the best way for not only us to go in and find this Vine man but it'll also allow me to go all-out if I need to. She thinks I can only use two elements, most likely," he said. "Let's keep it at that."
Sienna nodded. "I'm glad, I got one up on you," she grinned as he huffed, their masks down. "So this is what being a smarty feels like."
"New in town?"
"Smartass," she chuckled. "So, be straight with me."
"That didn't work out so well earlier," Obito admitted as she rubbed the back of her head. "I get it, I know how it always sounds so negative but being prepared to temper your expectations is important in our future lines of work."
"Yeah, w-well," Sienna blushed as he raised a brow. "I was just… earlier, when we were prepping to attack the Starstreams, I felt like it wasn't enough," she grumbled with a bigger streak of red on her face. "I thought they weren't thinking enough like you usually do… and shit blew up in our faces."
Obito was surprised and honestly a bit touched. "I'm… happy to know you consider my opinion valuable," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head as her tail curled around his ankle a bit, ears flagging. "And, well, I'll try my best to be more positive with my words. Demoralizing people doesn't help anyone."
"... I think I get that word, ya said it so obviously."
"Hmph."
~NRK~
The morning came far too quickly for the two teens' case… so only one decided to go ahead.
"Are you sure?" Sienna asked Obito as she yawned in pajamas, some weird plaid thing.
Sleeping clothes kinda rocked.
Obito chuckled at her messy-haired state, wearing his uniform. "It's for the best, you've still got wounds from the night before, don't stress yourself. Derry and I can handle the sales like usual."
That snapped her out of her small daze. "H-Huh!?"
"?" Obito raised a brow at her shock. "Is something wrong?"
"W-What?! No! Nothing! It's cool! Just go and… meet up with Derry."
"... alright then," Obito blinked before nodding, retying his bandana around his head and left eye. "There's food in the kitchen, I've also left some recipes and bought some bread," he said with a wave as he went to the left of her room's door.
Moments later, the sound of a small 'fwoom' reached her ears before the sound of a rolling cart followed soon after.
"Mmmm!" Sienna whined as she flopped back onto her bed. 'I knew it'd be him and Derry, why am I tripping?' Well, to be fair, she wasn't too keen as is.
Not that she didn't like the deer girl and her surprising personality but… b-but…
Her face burned as she considered her following thoughts before shaking them out of her head.
'No, dammit! That's wrong!' For a time they'd been siblings, for Brothers' sake! 'A-And yet I never… I…' Sienna wrapped up in a blanket burrito as she screamed into her blanket. 'T-This didn't even…' She'd not started feeling… feelings for the human boy recently.
No… it'd been worryingly far earlier than she'd ever admit and that fact rolled in her noggin for a bit before she deflated.
"I'm so fucked-up."
~NRK~
Obito and Derry nodded as they met up before the deer girl blushed as she sat atop the cart, the boy pulling without issue moments later.
"S-So, have you been over there?" She asked, shying away from the amused looks on the old Faunus around them. "Mmmm."
"Yes, though only to drop off Marrone, at times," Obito answered without issue, nodding to an elderly Faunus couple. "It's an area I only know about a little of."
"Hmm," Derry looked around as they transitioned to darker/colder patches of stones, mud, and cooler winds. "U-Ughh!" She shivered.
"There are hoodies by the front," Obito said as he stopped before turning around and opening up a compartment on the cart to remove two washed-out hoodies, Derry perking up and donning one damn near immediately. "I planned for this," he added before closing the compartment and returning to his pulling.
"A-Aren't you… cold?"
"With my newest arm I've become resistant to this level of cold, I won't need to worry unless I'm out in the far parts of Mantle."
She nodded as they began to reach a… gathering? "Huh?" Derry blinked as Obito came to a stop with a frown.
There, in the middle of the crowd of Faunus, was an Atlas Academy student.
He was very tall for even his age, having to easily be some 6'6 or so. His skin was stark white, his eyes light blue, and his messy amount of hair gray. Wearing the Atlas Academy uniform, he was seemingly trying to calm the crowd with a nervous look.
"I know, I kno-M-Ma'am, please, I'm trying to speak," the young man said as he sighed before noting the two. "Hmm? Are you two… from around here?" He asked, looking more nervous as the two blinked.
"No, we're here for work… what in the world is going on-Mrs. Ireed?" Obito began to say before the Marrone's blood-mother scurried over with a nervous look.
"He's saying there's some gang war or something!" She squeaked, stoat tail curling in worry.
"Haa, not in so many words but…" The young man sighed as Derry looked at him with a soft frown. "I'm trying to inform everyone that there will be a fight between two groups here. One side will likely be gang-affiliated."
"We don't even know what that word means, boy!" Someone shouted as the student groaned.
"Haa, apologies, Derry," Obito said. "I think this needs my attention."
"No, go right ahead, no offense to him but I trust you over him any day," Derry said as Obito hummed.
"I appreciate it. Now, sir, can you explain to me exactly what you mean?" Obito asked as he stepped away from his car, Ireed, and Derry, the student looking around nervously. "... over there," the younger man gestured to an alleyway. "I'll figure everything out," he said to Ireed. "Just give me some time to hear him."
"Alright, a-alright! Everyone, please, there's food!" Ireed tried to win over the crowd as Derry nodded, coming down and trying to pull on the cart.
Tried. "H-Has he seriously been pulling this the whole time?!" She didn't think she wasn't the physical type but this thing was on wheels! "O-Oh, um… I can sell you some food from here?" Derry grinned nervously. "1-1 lien each!"
Obito nodded to her efforts as he led the student away. "Please, speak, what the hell is going on over here now?" He asked the tall young man who sighed.
"It may come as a worrying event but we've heard intel on a gang in this area that we, my team, will be fighting off in several hours. It's dangerous for them to be here," the student said before blushing and rubbing the back of his head.
Then he bowed, leaving Obito confused.
"Hmm? Are you… you're not from Mistral, are you?"
"No, I've Mistral blood in me but I'm not from there. I'm third-year, Vine Zeki," Obito choked. "This is the first quest of my tenure as an Atlas Academy student."
~NRK~
And that's where it all ends. With a reveal, two twists, and a LOT to deal with for our two teens.
Finally, back on this story, I've been making that a trend as of late. So, within this chapter, we've seen a lot of things. The 'clash' between Taliesin and Obito, the beginning of a food stand, meeting Watts, meeting two outrageous teens, and then one courteous one.
Full days, painful understandings, unfortunate reveals, and deepening of relationships occurred.
Ciao. See ya next time.
~NRK Out~