A ship flew through the skies over Vale and the camera panned down to the city streets. The owner of the Dust shop was hanging a sign declaring its re-opening. As he climbed down from his ladder, he stumbled and fell. Emerald Sustrai appeared next to him.

She giggled at the man on the ground before speaking. "'Scuse me, sorry. I'm not really from around here." She explained as she helped him to his feet. "Would you mind pointing me in the direction of this shop" She asked, producing a piece of paper with writing on it and the shopkeep looks it over.

"Hmm? Mm-hmm." He confirmed in mumbles.

Emerald walked away from the shop owner as both waved goodbye and passed Mercury Black at a corner.

"I knew you were lost." He taunted.

"Mercury, I will seriously pay you to shut up." She bribed him, producing a wallet with Lien and waved it in Mercury's face.

"That's not your money." He told her.

"But it can be yours for 5 minutes of silence." She offered.

"Mmmm... no deal." He declined.

"Fine." She grumbled, taking the Lien and tossing the wallet, turning to walk away.

"Whatever. You want me." He smirked. We now see the duo walking through the city. "So, how much farther?" He asked.

"A few blocks." She confirmed.

"Ugh... this place is so dull." Mercury complained.

"Eh, I kinda like it. Tall buildings, diverse culture..." Emerald listed.

"And nice dopey people who are easy to pickpocket." Mercury cut her off.

Emerald stopped. "That's every city." She corrected.

"Ooh, Emerald! Master thief! Please don't take my money! I barely have enough to get by!" He pleaded, pretending to be a victim. Emerald glared at him, groaning angrily. She then walked away from him. "Ugh... you're no fun today." He grumbled, following close behind her.

The scene shifted to Emerald and Mercury entering a shop full of books. The shop owner could be heard humming a tune. Mercury stopped near the door to look at books while Emerald approached the counter and rings a service bell.

"Be right there!" The owner called. Emerald looked back at Mercury. The shop owner was seen through a set of double doors carrying stacks of books as he walked backwards and out toward the counter. "Welcome to 'Tukson's Book Trade', home to every book under the sun!" He stated the slogan as he set the stacks down off-screen. "How may I..." He started, turning around. He gasped and hesitated upon recognizing the two of them. Mercury was now holding a book. "How may I help you?" He asked.

Mercury looked to the store owner. Although the book was open, Mercury was looking at Tukson. "Just browsing." He said, shutting the book.

"Actually, I was wondering, do you have any copies of 'The Thief and The Butcher'?" Emerald asked.

"Yes we do." He confirmed.

"That's great." Emerald said excitedly.

"Would you... like a copy?" He asked awkwardly.

"No, just wondering." She dismissed. Mercury closed another book. "Oh, oh! What about 'Violet's Garden'? In paperback?" She wondered.

"He's got it. Hardback too." Mercury answered first, producing another book.

"Ooh, options are nice." She said, appearing to think for a moment.

"Eh, no pictures." Mercury scoffed, closing the book. "Hey! Do you have any comics?" He asked.

"Near the front." The owner answered.

"Oh, no, wait!" Emerald said as if she'd made a decision. The music score became decidedly more menacing as the camera zoomed in on Emerald. "What... about... 'Third Crusade'?" She asked.

The owner hesitated, visibly unnerved. "Um... I..." Mercury and Emerald were eyeing him carefully. "...Don't believe we carry that one." He said.

Mercury slammed another book shut. "Oh." He stated.

"What was this place called again?" Emerald asked.

"Tukson's Book Trade." He answered.

"And you're Tukson?" She asked.

"That's right." He confirmed.

"So then I take it that you're the one that came up with the catchphrase?" She asked again.

"Yes." He confirmed once more.

"And, what was it again?" She questioned.

"'Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun'." He stated.

"Except the Third Crusade." Emerald countered.

"It's just a catchphrase." He said.

"It's false advertising!" Mercury said, annoyed.

"You shouldn't make a promise you can't keep, Tukson." Emerald said threateningly as Mercury activated a switch near the entrance causing a front window to darken.) "I hear that you're planning on leaving. Moving all the way to Vacuo." She said as Mercury activated another switch and the window in the front door darkened. "Your brothers in the White Fang won't be happy to hear that" She warned as Mercury activated the third and final switch, darkening the last window as he smiled creepily at Tukson. "And neither are we... You know who we are, don't you?" She asked.

"Yes." He confirmed.

"And you know why we're here?" She asked again.

"Yes." He confirmed once more.

"So... are you going to fight back?" She asked a final time.

And for the final time, Tukson answered. "Yes!" He confirmed, producing claws from his fingers. "Yaargh!" He snarled, leaping atop his counter in a threatening manner. Mercury and Emerald backed up slightly and he leapt at Emerald and slashed at her, but she dodged. He looks forward in surprise at Mercury as he raised one leg for a kick with his shotgun-greaves.

Mercury and Emerald exited "Tukson's Book Trade". Emerald stretched her arms overhead while Mercury was carrying a comic. "What's with that?" She asked.

"I like the pictures." He answered with a shrug.


A series of sketches and notes marked the next scene. These include the White Fang insignia, a possible picture of Adam Taurus, and Adam's rose. In the Beacon Academy cafeteria, Teams RWBY and SCRN were sitting together as Blake looked over some notes. Yang then slid up next to her partner.

"Whatcha doing?" She asked.

"Nothing." Blake answered, closing her book. "Just going over notes from last semester." She explained.

Yang caught a grape in her mouth. "Lame." She said.

Nora giggled as she continued to toss grapes at yang with her spoon. Yang caught the fruit with ease, giving Nora the thumbs up. "And this is why I'm the smart sister." Bayonetta said.

Yang gave a playful glare to her younger twin. "Yeah, but I'm the one that kicks the most butt!" She said, doing a little shadowboxing.

Ruby suddenly arrived, giving an enormous heave as she slammed a binder onto the table, catching everyone off guard. On the cover of the binder was written "Vytal Festival Activities, Property of Weiss Schnee". This had been hastily crossed out with a red marker pen, and with the same pen, a new title, "Best Day Ever Activities", had been written underneath.

Ruby cleared her throat, before gesturing to everyone at the table. "Sisters... friends... Weiss." She started.

"Hey!" Weiss pouted off-screen.

"Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream." Ruby went on.

"This ought to be good." Yang said, catching another berry in her mouth.

"Ruby, a score is 20 years. None of us, especially you, the youngest one her, have been alive for a single score, let alone 4." Ryu corrected.

"You take the fun out of everything." Kratos said.

"No, I just try to stop people from being stupid." Ryu countered with a smirk as Kratos growled.

"A dream that one day, the four of us will come together, as a team, and have the most fun anyone has ever had with our friends... ever!" She exclaimed.

"Did you steal my binder?" Weiss asked.

Ruby made "peace" signs with both hands. "I am not a crook." She gave an ambiguous answer.

"I'm sure Goodwitch would disagree." Dante said. He wouldn't actually rat Ruby out, but he was slightly annoyed, both because it was his sister's binder Ruby took and because he'd helped her with several of the activities in said binder, which Ruby probably scraped.

"What are you talking about?" Blake asked.

"I'm talking about kicking off the semester with a bang!" Ruby said excitedly as she pointed her finger at Blake.

"I always kick my semesters off with a Yang!" Yang said jokingly as everyone around her sighed and facepalmed. "Eh? Guys? Am I right?" She asked, until an apple was tossed at yang and hit her in the face.

"Boooooooooooooooo!" Nora heckled off-screen as Yang glared at her.

"Look guys, it's been a good two weeks and between more exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester is going to be great! But, classes start back up tomorrow! Which is why I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today." Ruby explained.

"Aww, how sweet. I'm always willing to spend time with my baby sister." Bayonetta said.

"I don't know whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store." Weiss said.

"My vote's on scared." Dante said.

Yang, still glaring, picked up an apple and tossed it across the room. Off-screen, an unfamiliar voice shouted "Hey!" and Nora could be heard giggling.

"I don't know. I think I might sit this one out." Blake said.

"You spend too much time inside as it is." Kratos told her.

"Sit out or not, I think that however we spend this last day, we should do it as a team!" Weiss said, standing up to somehow emphasize her point.

"I got it!" Nora shouted off-screen as Bayonetta and Yang waved their hands for her to stop, but to no avail.

"I for one think that..." Weiss started again, but was interrupted by a pie landing on her face.

Nora was shown to be the one who threw the pie, she sat down and pointed at Ren who has his head in his palm. Pyrrha's hand is over her mouth and Jaune simply sits staring wide-eyed while covering his ear with his palm. Ryu was shocked at this as well, looking first to Weiss, then at his furious leader, before looking back to his girlfriend. "Nora, what have you done?" He asked, knowing all hell was about to break loose.


Outside the cafeteria, Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias were walking together as Sun related the events which took place during "Black and White".

"Man, that's harsh." Neptune said.

"I know, we were fighting side by side. She was super fast and I threw a banana at the guy, which sounds gross, but it was awesome." Sun exclaimed.

"Nice!" Neptune complimented

"Right? And the best part is, she's a Faunus. But that's a secret, okay?" Sun questioned.

"Got it." Neptune confirmed.

Sun leaned in close in order to stress the importance of this secret. "And not a, 'I'm gonna go tell Scarlet the second Sun turns his back' secret, I'm talking SECRET secret." He said pressingly.

"Whoa, chill out, man, okay? I got it." Neptune assured. "I got it!" He said again almost in a whisper

"You better." Sun warned. The camera angle now showed the windows into the cafeteria where food splattered into the panes as students ran around. At one point, Jaune was the one splattered into the window. "I just don't want to screw this up, you know? The people here are the coolest! No offense to you guys." Sun corrected himself.

"None taken." Neptune assured.

"They're just in here. I'm really excited for you to meet them. So be cool, okay? You're gonna be cool, right?"" The monkey-tailed boy asked.

"Dude." The blue-haired teen said simply, the camera panning up from Neptune's feet to his face. Neptune's teeth gleamed as he smiled.

"Good point." Sun agreed. Sun and Neptune entered the cafeteria where students were heard screaming.

"Food fight!" One student screamed off-screen. Many students were shown stampeding out the door past Sun and Neptune, the latter of whom was looking quite worried.

"Ahahahaha!" Nora laughed evilly as Team JNPR were shown to be standing atop a tower of tables stacked in a ramshackle manner, Ryu and Kratos standing atop the tower with them. "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" Nora said triumphantly in sing-song.

Ruby stomped her foot on a table and pointed at Team JNPR. "Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be DELICIOUS!" She screamed her war cry, crushing a milk carton in her hand.

Team RWBY, along with Dante and Bayonetta were by her side in an instant, raising their fists simultaneously. "Yeah!" They cheered.

"Off with their heads!" Nora shouted as the two factions rushed towards each other. (Sorry, guys, but I couldn't think of how to change the food fight. I'll make it up to you, though, I promise.)

One epic food fight later...

Team JNPR slid off the walls after being drenched by various sodas, Kratos laid tied up in a couple of long sausage links, Ryu was all but buried under a large pile of soda cans with Team RWBY equally scattered, Weiss unconscious against on the floor, Blake laying defeated on a large mound of different foods, Yang had been launched into the air by Nora and had yet to come back down, Bayonetta was tacked to the wall with several scallion leaks (what Ren was using) Dante was fighting to stay conscious from where he was knocked into a pie cart. Only Ruby stood proudly, having one her faction victory with her semblance and A LOT of soda cans.

"I love these guys." Sun said fondly.

The camera panned right to show that Neptune was drenched with soda and was not pleased. The doors behind them opened and Glynda entered the room growling. She proceeded to use telekinesis to re-organize the room.

"Children, please. Do not play with your food!" She said sternly, adjusting her glasses.

Nora burped loudly as Teams JNPR, SCRN and RWBY tried and failed to compose themselves. A screaming Yang then crashed from the ceiling into one of the tables. Glynda grumbled, but Ozpin approached and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Let it go." He said.

Glynda sighed at this. "They're supposed to be the defenders of the world." She said.

"And they will be, but right now they're still children." He said as Team RWBY was shown laughing together. "So why not let them play the part?" He said, walking away from Glynda. "After all, it isn't a role they'll have forever." He said.


In an old warehouse, the White Fang were moving crates as Emerald and Mercury entered. "Oh, look! She sent the kids again! This is turning out just like the divorce!" Roman said, approaching the two from behind and wrapping his arms around them in a group hug.

Emerald shivered in disgust at this. "Spare us the thought of you procreating." She said as they pulled away from Roman.

"That was a joke. And this... just might tell me where you two have been all day." Roman surmised, producing a piece of paper.

"What!? Agh..." Emerald said, checking and finding the address for Tukson's Book store was missing.

"I'm a professional, sweetheart. Pay attention, maybe you'll learn something." He said, before holding up the piece of paper. "Why do you have this address?" He asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Emerald said darkly.

"Yeah, I would. Now where have you been all day?" He demanded.

"Cleaning up your problems. One of them, at least." Mercury threw in.

"I had that under control." Roman said.

"Two packed bags and a ticket out of Vale said otherwise." Emerald countered.

"Listen, you little punk. If it were up to me, then I would take you and your little street rat friend here and..." He started, before...

"Do what, Roman?" Cinder's voice interrupted. Cinder then appeared on a platform above them, along with Medusa and Dio. They stepped onto an automated lift, riding it down to their level.

Roman laughed nervously as his superiors approached. "I'd, uh... not kill them?" He asked.

"Cinder!" Emerald said excitedly.

"Excellent answer. You seem to forget where you stand in our endeavors, Roman. They still are still vital to the plan and while your skills and resources are valuable, you can always be replaced." Dio said.

"I thought I made it clear that you would eliminate the would-be runaway." Cinder said to Roman.

"I was going to..." Roman started.

"He was going to escape to Vacuo! Mercury and I decided to take it upon ourselves to kill the rat." Emerald explained.

"I think he was some sort of cat, actually." Mercury corrected.

"What? Like a puma?" She asked.

"Yeah, there ya go." He confirmed.

"Quiet. Did I not specifically instruct you two to keep your hands clean while in Vale?" She asked.

"You made a mess of the shop and left several footprints on the target, which would easily be linked back to you, a fighter who relies on kicks. I had to have my snake eat him to get rid of the evidence." Medusa warned them.

As the bitches- I mean witches spoke, Roman pointed a finger at the pair while laughing in agreement.

"I just thought..." Emerald started.

"Don't think... Obey." Cinder stopped her.

"We've come too far and put too much time and effort into our plans. We cannot risk them now." Medusa added.

Roman used his fingers to mime having a slit throat.

"Yes ma'am. It won't happen again." Emerald apologized.

"And you. Why wasn't this job done sooner?" Cinder asked, turning to Roman.

"Hey, blame the vampire over there! He said he was gonna make a meal out of the guy." Roman said.

"Sadly, I missed my window of opportunity, at which point we agreed you were to deal with him." Dio corrected.

"So, why didn't you?" Cinder asked.

As he answered, Roman pointed to his right, then to his left, then behind him at the massive amounts of Dust he's... appropriated. "Uh..? Eh..? Eh..? EHHHHH! Sorry if I've been busy stealing every speck of Dust in the Kingdom!" He said in annoyance.

"You're an inspiration to every punk with a gun and a ski mask." Mercury said, Emerald laughing at the remark.

"Look around, kid. I've got this town running scared! Police camping out at every corner, Dust prices through the roof, and we're sitting pretty on an old warehouse with more Dust crystals, vials, and rounds than we know what to do with! Speaking of which, if you guys wouldn't mind filling me in on your grand master plan, it might actually make my next string of robberies go a little smoother!" Roman said in annoyance, emphasizing the last word by clenching his fist.

Cinder approached Roman. "Oh, Roman. Have a little faith." She said, placing her hand on his face. "You'll know what you need when you need to know it." She said, almost hypnotically. Roman seemed entranced, but then looked away with a grunt. "Besides, we're done with Dust." She said as she began to walk away.

"O-okay, then what now?" He asked.

"We're moving. Have the White Fang clear out this building. I'll send you details and coordinates tonight." She said.

"Coordinates?" He asked.

"We're proceeding to phase two." She said, turning back to look at him.

Cinder, Mercury, Emerald and the two revived villains began to walk away. Roman attempted to light a cigar, but realized Emerald had stolen his lighter. She turned back to face him and stuck her tongue out defiantly.

"So, what am I to do in the mean time? All work and no play makes I, Dio, a dull boy." Dio said.

"It may be a SMALL risk to security, but I suppose it wouldn't hurt if you managed to pick off a student or two from Beacon." Cinder said.

"And I have the perfect one to start with. Remember the girl I told you about when Roman and I shook down that Dust Shop in Vale. Her powers are similar to yours, so I'm sure you'll have fun with her." Medusa said, showing him an image of Bayonetta.