I don't own RWBY. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and was created by Monty Oum. I only own my OCs
Jayden looked at the several decorations that were scattered around Vale. It was in preparation of the Vytal Festival. He thought it humbling, to an extent. Still a month or two away and people were already putting up decorations. He could understand why students were already being shipped. Between weather conditions, the distance between kingdoms, and flight-capable Grimm, it could take a while to arrive while traveling between kingdom to kingdom
Not to mention land transport. There were a lot more Grimm on the ground than in the air. Air was just much more reliable to get transports across the kingdoms. Sure, villages were set up all along the world in several different places, but air transportation was just faster in general
Anyway, Jayden, along with Ruby and her team, were at the docks. They were observing Vale's decorations and greeting students that were arriving for the Vytal festival. Well, Jayden was the only one looking at said decorations and Weiss was the only one spy- ahem, greeting students. The rest were just dragged along by Weiss and Jayden only went because he was asked
In the meantime, he'd ordered Jenni to deal with Iris and Louis while he was gone. Babysit them essentially. Not that Jayden didn't trust them to take care of themselves, but Louis's big mouth usually got him in trouble, not to mention acting like a child sometimes. And Iris was... well, Iris. If he wasn't constantly talking shit about everything, he was brooding, which might still piss someone off. And he also acted like a child when it came to certain things
Jayden did wonder how Jenni was holding up
"Just stay calm." Jenni whispered to herself whilst rubbing her temples
Somehow, a food fight broke out between Iris and Louis. She remembered them arguing about something, but let it go because she didn't consider it important. Well, a few seconds later and Louis had just thrown the rest of his goddamn noodles straight at Iris and nailed him in the chest
Iris, being who he is, immediately retaliated throwing his entire plate. That went back and forth maybe twice before it hit another student
Skip to now where Louis was now throwing uncooked pasta (where'd he even get that from?) at Iris, who was deflecting it all with a two foot baguette
"FOOD FOR THE FOOD GOD!" Louis shouted
Not able to handle it anymore, Jenni did the only thing she could
Scream
Jayden's ears perked up as a loud pitched noise pierced the air. It sounded like it originated from Beacon
'Huh. I wonder what that was.' He thought
"Oh! The Vytal festival is so wonderful!" Weiss exclaimed as she looked around at Vale
"Sure is impressive." Jayddn voiced
"Can you imagine all the planning that was put into this event? It must be unreal!" She exclaimed again
"And just like that, you've turned this into something boring. Good job." Yang sarcastically stated
Weiss turned on her heels and glared at her. She crossed her arms and let out a 'hmph' as she looked away
"You only want to compete in the tournament and break things with your fists." Weiss called out
"So do you." Jayden intervened. "Fight in the tournament, I mean. This whole trip was so you can spy on the transfers, not how much planning went into it."
"You don't know what you're talking about." She shot back
"Is that right?"
"Yes!"
Jayden put his hands up in mock surrender. "Whatever. Not like I have any evidence anyway."
Jayden crossed his arms as they came to the docks. The foul stench that usually accompanied fish immediately assaulted his nose. Being a faunus, especially one with canine traits, had it's perks, yes. However, they could be a double-edged sword. Having stronger smelling meant that you could usually track things easier or pinpoint exactly where a smell was coming from. However, that worked for very foul smells as well
So when a human might smell something as disgusting as trash and just scrunch their noses at it, a faunus might end up puking because of the smell
And Jayden wasn't a special case
"Ugh! It's at times like these that I hate being a faunus." Jayden stated as he waved his hand in front of him. "This is absolutely revolting."
"I know! It smells like fish!" Ruby agreed with him
Yang chuckled as she put her hands behind her head
"Well, they're called docks for a reason, y'know?" She asked rhetorically
Jayden looked over at her and gave her a glare, causing Yang to give a chuckle turn away. She was also rubbing the back of her neck
Jayden looked over at Blake to see her reaction. She seemed... indifferent. 'I'm not sure if she's not reacting because she's a cat faunus or because so good at repressing it.' Jayden thought as turned away from them, looking down the road behind them and leaning on the railing
Almost immediately he noticed the broken into shop down the street from them
"What the..." He trailed off as he started walking towards it
Due to his words, the attention of the others were caught. They stared at him for a few seconds before looking at where he was going, noticing the same thing he did
As each of them drew closer, they noticed the group of cops scurrying inside, picking apart the place for any evidence. Two more sat outside, observing them as they were talking about possible suspects
"What happened?" Ruby asked as she turned the two officers watching them
"Break in. Happened last night." The one on the right answered
"Bastards took all the dust and left all the money. But why?" The left one added to the sentence
Jayden looked to Yang. And she looked to him. There was only one person who would've have done this. And last they'd heard, he was working for the White Fang
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" The officer on the right asked the left
"The White Fang?" The left one answered
"Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."
And at that, the group walked away. Jayden looked to the rest as he put a hand to his chin
"The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates." Weiss said as she kept walking, back turned to the rest of them
"They're not degenerates." Blake challenged quietly from behind me
"Not degenerates? Oh please, they clearly committed this crime." Weiss defended
"Guys." Everyone looked to Jayden. "Well, girls. But maybe it wasn't the White Fang."
"And what makes you say that?" Weiss asked him
"Well, there is one other robber on streets I can think about. Roman Torchwick." Jayden stated. "But last I heard, he was working for the White Fang. But why would he rob a dust shop then? The White Fang is extreme, sure, but not that extreme. And that still doesn't explain why either group wouldn't take the lien, too..."
The group fell into a silence, pondering Jayden's words. Except Weiss. In her mind, she'd already pieced together the puzzle. Yang and Blake had a similar thought process. Ruby hadn't thought of that until now. It didn't make much sense to take dust and not take lien too
"Adam wouldn't order this... would he?" Jayden mumbled to himself
Weiss and Ruby looked back to Jayden, both catching his words. "Who?" Weiss asked, causing Jayden to tense as he realized he said that aloud
Suddenly, a loud noise saved Jayden from having to answer. Looking over, they saw that a ship had anchored while they were thinking over the recent robbery. It also happened to have a faunus stowaway, which was currently hanging by his monkey tail on a streetlight. Which also happened fo be on the docks... Jayden thought that was weird
"Come back here, you no good stowaway!" A security guard from the boat yelled
"Hey! A no good stowaway would've been caught. I'm a great stowaway!" The faunus yelled back before throwing a banana peel
That same banana peel happened to land in the guard's face, allowing him to run away safely. He passed by the group of Beacon students, giving Blake a wink as he did so. Jayden damn near smirked when Blake's face lit up in a beautiful shade of red
"Well Weiss... you wanted to see our competition." Yang started
"And there it goes." Jayden finished, gesturing towards where he ran
"Quick! After him!" Weiss ordered
Immediately, the group of five began chasing him as fast as they could. Well, as fast as Weiss could. Ruby had her semblance but wasn't using it, Jayden could run almost faster than Ruby, and Yang could keep up with both. Blake might've been the only one there who couldn't keep up
Well, with as fast as Weiss was going, she wasn't watching where she was going and immediately slammed into someone on their first turn. Jayden came to a stop and watched the faunus scale the building in front of him with relative ease. He soon disappeared from Jayden's sight
'A skill like that would've been useful for espionage.' Jayden thought as he looked down to Weiss
"No! He got away!" Weiss said, slamming a fist down on the ground of which she and one other were still laying on
"Umm, Weiss?" called Ruby, capturing Weiss' attention
She pointed down to the person Weiss was lying on. Weiss looked down to see the person she was laying on. She let out a yelp and quickly stood up. The person on the floor simply waved
"Salutations!" They had said
Jayden took a moment to look over at everyone else, a confused look spread across his face. Sure enough, everyone else had one too
"... Do you... wanna get up?" Yang asked after a moment of silence
The girl on the ground put a finger to her chin, almost as if she was thinking about it. "Yes!" She finally responded
She flipped herself off the ground and into a standing position. Jayden and the others took an unconscious step backwards at the motion. His hands and feet already found themselves in a stance that wasn't all too imposing, but effective all the same
"My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you." The newly named Penny stated
"Hello Penny, I'm Ruby."
"I'm Weiss."
"Blake."
"Mine's Jayden."
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked. Jayden quickly hit Yang in the arm, causing her to focus on introducing herself. "Oh, I'm Yang."
Penny grinned. "It's a pleasure to meet you." She stated... again
"You already told us that." Jayden pointed out
"... So I did!"
"Well, it was nice meeting you Penny, but we've gotta go. Goodbye." Weiss said as she started walking away
"Goodbye." That was from Blake
"See ya." Yang
"Take care, friend!" Ruby
Jayden shrugged. "Talk to ya later, I guess."
They'd all gotten maybe twenty feet away. Each of them had their own thoughts about her running through their heads. Interesting was probably too weak for her. Who knows what can of worms would be opened? Needless to say, it had been a second before conversation had started back up
"She was... weird." Yang said whilst rubbing the back of her neck
"Yeah. Now, where'd that faunus riffraff run off to?" Weiss agreed before asking. Rhetorically of course
Jayden growled and his hands became tight fists as he glared at Weiss. "Take that back." Jayden commanded. His tone was dangerously low. To all but one person, this was probably the angriest they'd ever seen him
"What?" Weiss asked, feigning ignorance to at least Jayden
"I said TA-"
"What did you call me?" The sudden question almost had Jayden flipping over whoever asked it
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't think you'd heard me." Yang apologized as Penny made her way towards her
"Not you." She said, pushing Yang put of the way. "You."
Penny got up in Ruby's face, causing her to take a step back
"Umm. M-me?" Ruby stumbled
"You called me friend. Am I really your friend?" Penny asked with a smile
Ruby looked back to the rest of her group. The rest of her team were shaking their heads as fast as they could. Jayden just looked over to them, looked back at Ruby, and gave her a shrug. He'd basically said that it was her decision
Ruby looked back to Penny. "Sure."
Penny giggled at Ruby's response. "Sensational! We'll do so many things. We can try on clothes, paint out nails, and talk about cute boys like Jayden!" Penny exclaimed
Jayden promptly let out a squeak as his face started turning red. He saw Blake and Yang smirking at him. His face quickly morphed from a surprised one to a scowl as his wolf ears pressed down against his head
Ruby leaned over to Weiss. "Was this what it was like when you met me?" She whispered
"No. She seems far more coordinated." Weiss offhandedly insulted
"Soooo, what are you doing in Vale?" Yang asked
"I'm here to compete in the tournament!" Penny answered. "I'm combat ready!" She added on
"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part." Weiss told her
"Says the girl wearing a dress." Blake retorted
"It's a combat skirt!" Weiss defended as she crossed her arms
Ruby slid over by her side and also crossed her arms. "Yeah!" Ruby agreed
Ruby stuck out a hand for Weiss to high five, which she did
Meanwhile, Jayden was still pouting. "I am not cute." He grumbled, ears still pressed against his head
Yang giggled at Jayden, causing him to growl at her
"Wait, if your here for the festival, then you must know the monkey-tailed rapscallion!" Weiss exclaimed
"Stop calling him those things!" Jayden yelled out at her
Weiss turned around and scowled at Jayden. "And would you like me stop referring to this trash can as a trash can?"
"He is nowhere near the level of trash. I don't care if you call him a criminal or a stowaway, because he is both those things. But that doesn't give you the permission to start calling him those demeaning words!" Jayden yelled back
"Oh please, he is just as much as those words as the White Fang are. Give him time and he'll probably join up with the rest of those psychos." Weiss calmly retorted to Jayden
Jayden snarled as Weiss finished that sentence. "They are not psychos! Extreme, sure! I'll be the first to admit that. But they are still people, like you and me! Most have wives, kids, lives outside of the White Fang!"
Jayden put his fingers on his temples as he felt a headache come on. He lifted his head back up to stare at Weiss
"But if that's the way you feel, then I guess I was right to think that you're exactly like your father."
Was all Jayden said before he stormed away, not giving Weiss a chance defend herself
Jayden continued rubbing his temples as the argument continued next door. Blake had decided to continue the argument on Jayden's behalf. Jayden almost burst into their room to tell Blake that he did need someone to fight for him
He wasn't gonna lie down without a challenge, unlike some of the faunus here
But, figuring that the fight was about the faunus in general, even though it'd been Jayden and Weiss' fight to begin, he'd let it go just this one time
"Boy, they are going at it." Louis as he too listened to what was
"Hmhm." Jayden numbly hummed in agreement as continued to rub his temples
"A but stupid if you ask me." Iris pitched in. "I get that faunus rights have become an ever increasing topic, but come on."
"It's not about faunus rights, at least in Vale." Jenni stated from across the room. "Faunus are considered equal in Vale. There are many laws in place that disallow the discrimination faunus may face in another kingdom. Such as being denied access to a store. But, that doesn't stop the petty insults and name-calling."
"Not to mention that faunus in Vale typically live in the worn down parts of it." Jayden added to her argument. "Not as bad as the slums over in Mantle and Atlas, but still. It's a pretty poor place to live."
Suddenly, a really loud noise was heard and the running of footsteps echoed throughout the building
Jayden immediately walked out of the room to see Weiss, Ruby, and Yang standing in the hall
"What happened?" He asked
"Blake told us about how she was apart of the White Fang." Weiss explained and Jayden's eyes widened. "Good riddance, I say."
Jayden growled and his hands clenched. "Are you fucking kidding me right now?" He said through clenched teeth
"What?" Weiss asked
"She's your teammate."
"And a part of the White Fang."
"She WAS apart of the White Fang." Jayden told her, yelling when he said was to put extra emphasis on it
Weiss hmph'ed and turned away from Jayden. "What does it matter? She was probably waiting for her chance to stab me in the back."
"Blake is not like that!" Jayden defended her
"And how would you know!" Weiss yelled back, causing everyone to still. "You got something to say?"
Jayden kept silent for a few seconds, gathering his response before he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and calmed down
"You want the truth?" Jayden asked. "Fine, I'll give you the truth. I was apart of the White Fang myself."
Weiss stumbled backwards in shock, eyes widened as she stared at Jayden
"I was one of it's best soldiers and generals. I was even leader of the branch here for a minute." Jayden said calmly
At this point, the rest of Jayden's team walked out, along with Team JNPR, allowing them to here everything Jayden had said
"So when you ask me how I know, it's because I've been by her side for years!" Jayden continued. "It's because I trained her, fought with her, and ate with her! I know who she is inside and out!"
"B-B-But-" Weiss tried to say
"She'd never stab those she trusts in the back. And neither would I." Jayden stated as he finally stopped yelling
Weiss went quiet and stared down at the floor. Jayden scoffed at her and walked by her
"I'm gonna go find Blake. As far as I'm concerned, Weiss, you've lost your chance to prove to me you're not like your father." Jayden said as he walked off, leaving the hall in an awkward silence
And that's this chapter. I debated on making it longer, but this felt like a good stopping point. With a decent length of 3150 words, I felt confident that y'all would be satisfied with it
Anyway, with Jayden coming out as apart of the White Fang as well, what do you think'll happen at the end of the volume? And considering how Adam has to worry about Jayden spoiling his operations, how do you think the dock fight will go? I'm asking these questions because I'm making the last chapter the final one of the volume
Anyway, with all that said and done
Love y'all and see ya later!
