Richard frowned at the hungover Qrow. "You're going to do what to me?"

They were standing in an empty clearing, a good distance away from the town they had arrived in last night. Qrow was hungover, and Richard didn't sleep (Not that he needed to. He just went back to the library and read more books until they closed. Then he just sort of… walked around outside the walls and killed Grimm). Qrow had then announced the next morning that he was going to unlock Richard's aura and 'see his weaknesses', whatever that meant. Richard had raised an eyebrow at Qrow suspiciously then as he did now.

"I'm gonna unlock your Aura, kid." Richard rolled his eyes with a sigh.

"Which means…?"

"I'm gonna put my hand on your chest, repeat an overly grand phrase, and, well… Tada, ya now got Aura." Richard raised an eyebrow once more in suspicion.

"Sounds like magic, Qrow." It was Qrow's turn to sigh.

"It's your soul, not magic. Now c'mere." Richard narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Qrow, but approached nonetheless. Qrow put a hand on his chest and said… "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul and by my shoulder protect thee, blah blah…"

The entirety of Richard's body glowed a dark cobalt blue before fading. Richard looked down at his arms and frowned, looking at his white sleeves and black gloves (Qrow had just noticed those. It seemed the kid didn't like to show skin) for a few moments. "Feels the same."

Qrow sighed. "Yeah, but now you can deflect bullets off of your face, and claws'll bounce right off." Richard frowned once more and raised an eyebrow at the same time.

"I can dodge bullets and claws easily."

"It's a 'just in case' sort of deal. What happens if you can't dodge a bullet to the face?" Richard smirked slightly.

"I take the bullet and keep going. I can get impaled, shot or anything in-between and be fine, Qrow." The bird looked flatly at Richard for a few moments before deciding that Richard was messing with him.

"Yeah, yeah…" Qrow casually unhooked Harbinger from the magnetic holster on his back and put it in its blade form. Richard watched him with narrowed eyes. "We're gonna fight, kid. Nothing lethal, but I'm gonna push you hard, see where your limits are. Get your sword." Richard smirked and put on his top hat, before reaching behind himself and pulling the massive blade out of nowhere. Seriously, that damn sword had to be at least eight feet long… Where the hell did it go?

Richard's smirk didn't falter when Qrow struck a ready stance. "Qrow, I do hope you know that my limits are something far beyond what you predict." Qrow smirked.

"Show me, kid, don't tell."

And so it began, Qrow darting at the kid and making a quick swing, which Richard easily parried, not even bothering to move into a proper position. Qrow swung harder, moved faster, and generally tried to break Richard's guard, but no dice. The normal thing to do would be to move in closer where that blade couldn't reach, but Richard didn't seem to have a problem with Qrow getting closer. As a matter of fact, when Qrow finally managed to get within his guard, Richard briefly held his sword with one hand and punched Qrow in the chest hard enough to send him flying several feet, Qrow barely managing to stick the landing.

Qrow narrowed his eyes at Richard, who still had that damnable smirk on his face. Qrow charged again, using a blast from Harbinger's shotgun to propel himself faster. Richard did something unexpected, sliding out of the way and hooking Qrow's foot with the tip of his sword and sending him face-planting into the dirt, or at least trying to. Qrow simply rolled and recovered, turning around just in time to deflect a rather weak slash from Richard.

"Gonna have to hit harder than that, kid." Richard smirked slightly and shrugged, not saying a word before their blades clashed once more.

It seemed it was the kid's time to go on the offensive, and he was doing quite the job of it. His sword swung impossibly fast, clashing against Harbinger's blade in flurries, with some of the stronger blows causing Qrow's weapon to vibrate, until a massively powerful cut ripped Harbinger out of his hands. Qrow ended up with the wickedly hooked tip of Richard's blade under his chin, before Richard removed it and shouldered the weapon, raising an eyebrow at Qrow.

"I'll admit, Qrow, it felt like you weren't going nearly as fast as you could've." Qrow nodded and picked up Harbinger, checking for any damage and taking a sip from his flask.

"True. I was starting off slow, testing the waters. You didn't go full on either, huh?" Richard shook his head and smirked slightly. "Well, kid, let's kick it up, eh?"

…

Qrow was exhausted, his body was sore, and to be honest? His pride was hurt a little bit. He was impressed, though, even more so than when he watched Richard cleave through Grimm. They had been fighting all morning, and already Qrow could tell that Richard was something else entirely. He had to bust out Harbinger's scythe form just to keep up, which isn't something he had to do much. The scythe was for when stuff got serious, not testing the limits of some kid in a forest, yet Richard had managed to wear Qrow down bit by bit, until Qrow had to eventually stop. What made this worse for Qrow was that Richard wasn't showing any signs of exhaustion, and didn't seem the least bit ruffled about the morning of extreme physical activity. Qrow sighed as they walked through the gate into the town and looked about, seeing a small cafe and shrugging.

"I could go for lunch, you?" Richard, who had been messing with a small device that looked like one of the original versions of Scrolls, the old non-collapsing ones. Richard had a small frown on his face before he looked around at the few people who happened to be on the street at the time.

"That's odd." He muttered to himself, seeming to forget about Qrow completely. Qrow sighed and took a sip from his flask, curiosity piqued.

"What's odd, kid?" Richard frowned at the screen again, before shaking his head and slipping the device into his pocket.

"Nothing… Lunch sounds alright." Qrow raised an eyebrow.

"Thought you didn't need to eat." Richard smirked.

"Remember, wanting to and needing to are two different things, Qrow." Qrow sipped from his flask and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah…"

"Plus, you can tell me what's going to happen next."

…

Qrow and Richard had sat down at a table, Qrow getting, surprisingly, some kind of soda (Although after he was given the glass he spiked it with some sort of alcohol from his flask), and Richard, oddly, getting the largest glass they had full of cream soda (Of all things).

"Cream soda?" Qrow asked, as Richard smiled after having a taste of it. The kid wasn't wearing his hat, seeming to take it off whenever he was indoors.

"Yeah, I haven't had anything like this for… well, for a long time. At least, that I can remember. Now, where do I go from here? I'm sure you have other things to do than be my chaperone... If you give me a map and tell me where to go, I can get there." Qrow frowned slightly in thought. The kid could handle the trip, likely. Nothing would be a danger… Pulling out his scroll and tapping on the screen for a moment, he pulled up a map.

"Here's us…" He said, pointing at a small icon. "...And here's where you would need to go." He said, tapping on a larger icon labeled Vale. "You think you could get there in… I dunno… a week?" Richard raised an eyebrow.

"I know you saw my wings. And I can definitely get there in a week." Qrow shrugged and leaned back in the chair he was sitting, nodding.

"Sure you won't get killed?" He asked (rather sarcastically), while Richard simply rolled his eyes and nodded his head, casually taking a long sip from his soda.

"I do have a question, though. What's the White Fang?" Richard asked rather curiously, his head tilted slightly. Qrow frowned and his face shifted to a rather serious look.

"That's some dangerous territory, kid. They're a large group of faunus who are more… extreme in their views about humans. And not in a good way. Stay away from 'em." Richard frowned slightly.

"So they're terrorists." He said simply, Qrow nodding. "Hm… Interesting." Richard said nothing more, thinking for a moment. His phone had said there were twelve enemies nearby, and that the rarest was a 'White Fang Lieutenant'. Seems his enemy detection worked on people too… And Richard couldn't decide if that was a nice feature or slightly unsettling.

"So where'd you find out about them?" Qrow asked, with a raised eyebrow as he watched Richard thoroughly enjoy the soda he'd gotten, Richard holding up a gloved finger until he gulped down about half of what was left in the glass.

"I heard someone last night saying that some White Fang lieutenant was here." He said casually, not offering any more information to Qrow (Because he had none…), and raising an eyebrow. "You should probably check that out." With that, Richard stood up, downed the rest of his soda, and placed the required amount of lien on the table, nodding to Qrow. "I'm gonna go buy a map. See ya." Qrow nodded slightly.

"Oh, and kid… When you get there, look for the really big clock tower. That's the Academy. It's up on a cliff." Richard nodded, put his hat back on,and tilted it forward slightly in Qrow's direction before heading down the street, looking for somewhere to buy a map.

As useful as his phone was, it didn't seem to know his location at all, still saying that coordinates were 'unavailable'. Annoying, but he didn't really use that function much anyway… Regardless, walking around for a bit he managed to find a shop conveniently named "Maps and More". Sure, pretty much any store would have some maps, but after looking at a few of the more common maps, they lacked the detail he was wanting. Richard debated about the comment of one of the other store proprietors, calling him a 'map snob'. That was probably true.

Regardless, he'd managed to find this shop in a lonely corner which didn't seem to be the best place to have a store… Richard almost missed the place. It looked promising, so Richard decided to give it a shot. Entering and hearing a bell tinkle somewhere in the back of the shop as he looked around, it seemed he'd found the right place. There were maps everywhere of all sizes (Which made him question what the 'More' part of the sign was for), although the owner seemed to be in the back. Taking off his hat and looking about, he immediately took interest in a large map of Vale that was more detailed than any he'd seen so far.

Richard was inspecting the map closely when the proprietor walked out from the back, seeming slightly annoyed to see someone but immediately smiled when Richard turned to look at him. Mid thirties, and he was some sort of dog faunus (With the name tag on his shirt reading 'Glint'. Seriously, these names kept getting more and more ridiculous…). Richard, for the life of him, couldn't tell which breed those ears were based on, but it didn't really matter all that much. Offering a small wave before turning back to the map, he inspected the price tag. Well within his budget. Casually picking the indicated cardboard tube that contained the map, he placed it gently on the counter, noting the faunus looking at him straight in the eyes and quickly looking away, beginning to ring up the map silently.

However, the more Richard watched him, the more he could tell that something was… off. The faunus, while he seemed to be nervous at first, would occasionally throw narrowed, hateful eyes at Richard when he thought he wasn't looking. Richard didn't really care though, and with only a few spoken words, managed to easily purchase the map (Much to the surprise of the owner, who didn't seem to think that he had enough lien to pay for it) and was about to turn away before nodding at the owner.

"Have a good day, sir." He said simply, turning to leave as the faunus mumbled something under his breath. Shrugging to himself, he turned around just as the door opened and the bell tinkled again. Three more faunus, all dressed in an odd, white robelike uniform entered (all of whom had odd masks on their belts that looked a bit like Grimm), stopping dead as they saw Richard. The Terrarian narrowed his eyes at the sight, sensing the faunus behind him ducking down behind the counter, as if to grab something. "Afternoon." Richard said simply to the other three faunus.

They narrowed their eyes at him, and Richard narrowed his eyes right back, more so at the information that he could see, but they could not.

Twelve enemies nearby!

White Fang Lieutenant Slash

Richard assumed that since they were all faunus, and they were considered enemies, these people must be part of the White Fang, and they didn't seem intent on him leaving. He also noted that the rest of the White Fang seemed to be nearby as well. Richard saw a tiny notion of fear in their eyes as he focused on them individually, and sighed. "I know what you're thinking. That you should get rid of the witness. Let me just say that on a list of bad ideas, messing with me is near the top." The faunus in the center of the two (A panther faunus, if Richard identified the tail correctly) snorted with amusement.

"What, is the rich boy gonna call his parents?" The panther faunus said, gesturing toward the map. "They send you on an errand run, human?" Richard frowned slightly. Sure, the map was expensive… but he shook his head slightly.

"All I'm saying is that letting me go is a very good idea." He said simply, leaning the map up against the wall and folding his arms. "Oh and you, the one behind me, Glint, right? I'd put the blade down." The faunus behind the counter flinched slightly, and there was a clatter of steel as something fell on the floor. Coward.

"That's not gonna happen, human." Richard sighed and shook his head, casually pulling his hat out of nowhere and placing it on his head. Idiots. He should probably kill them, but he decided that draining their Aura would be the best course of action. Qrow did say that draining someone's Aura usually knocked them out from the stress…

"So be it." He said simply, casually drawing his massive blade and immediately slapping the panther Faunus with the flat of his blade, sending him into the wall with a flash of Aura. He didn't get up. "Huh… this'll be easy…" He said quietly, before the other two robes faunus unfolded blades and charged. Richard didn't wait for them to come to him, launching himself at them and easily disarming them and knocking them out, their aura just as weak as the panther. Turning around and placing his sword back in his inventory, he hopped the counter and glared down at the hiding Glint. "Tell me, are the rest in the back?" He asked quietly.

Glint nodded shakily in fear, and Richard punched him in the face with enough force to shatter his Aura, slam him into the wall, and likely give him one hell of a headache when he woke up. Turning to the door to the back he narrowed his eyes at it, before pushing it open. He readied his sword and walked through the door. Well, attemped to… With a solid thump, his sword buried itself in the door frame. With some cursing at the doorframe, Richard removed his sword from it and sighed slightly when he saw that he wasn't in a back room, but rather a tunnel. He placed his sword back into his inventory once again.

"And this is why I build my hallways tall…"

AN: Whew! That's another chapter down… I'm gonna do my best to update this story weekly, on Wednesdays (like I have been), but sometimes I might not manage it. Oh, and if for some reason you'd like a measure of Richard's skill level, in our terms his character difficulty is Hardcore, and his world's difficulty was set on Master Mode. So yeah, Richard has some mad skills. Now, reviews!

gamingfury6124: Love your review. Now, the only real nerf I've done to Richard is getting rid of his Zenith (And I think everyone can guess where that went), so yeah, I truly don't have plans for nerfing him, because that annoys me as well. Richard might not go full, balls to the wall on his enemies if he doesn't have to, so I guess in that case he'd nerf himself? As for him going to Beacon right away, I have plans. I've always thought of Beacon's school year starting in fall, and right now summer is just around the corner. And beyond that, well… You'll just have to wait and see ;)

Codex Pendragon: Heh, yeah, there's gonna be some fun scenes for sure. I've already got a small, comedic omake idea involving Richard's top hat and a certain rabbit faunus. Should be fun.

NlaEid: I've always thought that while Terraria might be an amazing game to play, it would be absolutely hell to live. Hence why Richard isn't the most cheery character ever. Now as for sticking to canon I'd direct you to my response to gamingfury's review. Let's just say that he's going to be well traveled.