Chp. 18: New Objectives
Feldspar, Vacuo
Back in Feldspar, Team CFVY, Kelly, and Kendra all split up across the settlement, asking people about the Grimm attacks and what had happened before. The settlers all said the same thing; everything seemed normal until people unexpectedly got upset for no reason and the Grimm followed after. Despite already knowing what was going on, they still had to maintain their cover. A half an hour later, Team CFVY, Kelly, and Kendra regrouped to discuss a plan.
"So, what do we do? How are we gonna get the Caspians to safety and take down Bertilak and Carmine?" Velvet asked.
"Any ideas?" Fox asked.
"Right now we should talk to the Caspians first and let them know of Carmine and Bertilak's true intentions," Coco said.
"Right, Coco, Fox, and I will distract the Carmine and Bertilak, while you three confront the Caspians," Kendra said, which Kelly, Velvet, and Yatsu nodded.
"Wait for Fox to give the okay." Coco, Fox, and Kendra walked up to a sand shed where Carmine stood outside of.
"Here," Velvet said, holding out a skew with a brown gooey mess on the end of it.
"Uh, what is that?" Yatsuhashi asked.
"Breadfruit," Velvet answered.
"Why is it like that?" Kelly asked.
"It was candied and caramelized," Velvet said.
Yatsuhashi's eyes lit up.
"For me?" Yatsu asked as he took the stick from her.
"I thought you might want to share?" She said. hopefully, steeping her fingers.
Yatsu broke two pieces off of the sticky ball and handed one piece to Velvet and the other to Kelly.
"Thanks," Kelly said as she put it in her mouth, while Velvet nibbled on hers.
"I saw you drooling at the fruit stands," Velvet said with a giggle.
"I don't drool," Yatsuhashi said.
Velvet pointed to the corner of Yatsu's mouth. He swept the back of his hand to the same spot on his mouth and then wiped it on his trousers.
"That was sweat," he said as Kelly tried to hold in a laugh.
"Okay, guys. You're up," Fox sent.
The three see Coco and Fox following Bertilak and Carmine until they are out of view. Yatsuhashi quickly gobbled up the rest of his breadfruit as he, Kelly, and Velvet walked up to the sand shed. They walked up to the entrance which was covered by a dirty old blanket.
"Knock knock," Yatsuhashi called.
"Is anybody home?" Kelly asked.
A moment later, the curtain pulled aside and revealed a boy. The boy has tan skin and looked to be eleven or twelve years old. He is dressed in jeans and a baggy T-shirt from the Thirty-eighth Vytal Festival Tournament in Vacuo. He has short curly black hair. This is the shy and timid youth, August 'Gus' Caspian.
"Hi. I'm Velvet and these are my friends, Yatsuhashi and Kelly," Velvet introduced.
"You're those new Huntsmen," Gus said.
"And you are...?" Velvet asked.
"Gus Caspian," Gus introduced himself.
"Can we come in?" Velvet asked.
Gus shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"Um, I'm not sure," he said with uncertainty.
"Is your grandfather home? Can we talk to him?" Velvet asked.
"Now is not a good time," Gus said as his expression turned serious
He was about to pull the blanket back over the entrance until a voice from behind him spoke; "Nonsense!"
A man came out of the doorway. The man is a slender, old man in his early 70s who looked surprisingly fit for someone his age. His hair is silver and is tied into a ponytail and has a gray stubble growth that was several days old. This is the veteran Huntsman from the settlement of Sumire in Vale, Edward Caspian.
"We're about to have tea and play Gus's favorite game," Edward said. "Why don't you join us?"
"Yes, please!" Velvet said.
"Grandpa. It's almost time for your nap. You know how you get if you don't sleep," Gus said.
"I'll be fine. Come in, come in. I'm Edward Caspian, and fellow Huntsmen are always welcome in my home," Edward said.
The man ushered them in and directed them to a woven mat in the sand with a porcelain tea service set on a bronze tray. A deck of cards lay beside it. Yatsuhashi sat and folded his legs, trying to make himself smaller in the enclosed space. Velvet sat cross-legged beside him. Kelly also sat cross-legged next to the Faunus.
"Go get some cups for our guests, Gus," Edward said.
Gus glanced at his grandfather nervously, but then he scurried off.
"So you used to hunt? Grimm?" Kelly asked.
"I used to do a lot of things," Edward said with a smile. "I haven't hunted Grimm in a long time, but once a Huntsman always a Huntsman. Until you die..."
Edward trailed off. His face went slack and his eyes lost focus. Kelly, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi already knew that Edward has a mental illness that causes memory loss. Kelly believes it to be a bad case of dementia, that she learned about in health class back on Earth.
"Are you feeling okay, sir?" Kelly asked.
"It happens sometimes," Gus said. "Like part of him goes away for a little while. But he always comes back."
Gus puts the cups down in front of Yatsuhashi, Velvet, and Kelly. He watched Edward's face worriedly, then poured some tea.
"Listen, what we're about to tell you will be shocking, but please try and stay calm," Velvet said.
"What is it?" Gus asked.
"We know about your semblance, Gus," Kelly said.
Gus froze and looked at Kelly with widened eyes.
"W-what do you mean?" Gus asked.
"We know that your semblance can amplify the emotions of those around you and it's the cause of the negativity around here that has been attracting the Grimm," Kelly said.
Gus started to look nervous and as soon as he did, Kelly, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi suddenly felt nervous themselves.
"Oh shit. His semblance is getting to us!" Kelly thought.
She knew Edward was the only one who could temporarily block Gus's semblance with his semblance, Semblance Nagation. But since Edward was dazed out due to his mental illness, she had to act fast.
"Hey Gus. Don't be afraid. You are not in trouble. We just want to help you," she said as soothing as she could, trying to fight through Gus's semblance.
She moved up to him and softly rubbed his back. A moment later, Gus calmed done a little to the point where the others were calm as well.
"How exactly can you help me and my grandpa?" Gus asked.
"We can take you to Oscuro Academy. There you can learn to control your semblance. A semblance like that can be pretty powerful," Velvet said. "Maybe you can even train to be a Huntsman."
"I... don't know," Gus said.
"Come on, Gus. I bet it being a Huntsman would be a great experience," Edward said.
The old man snapped out of his fugue he'd been in and was carrying on as if nothing had happened.
"Grandpa," Gus said.
"But something tells me there's more stuff you left out," Edward said.
"Yes. The two huntsmen you hired, Bertilak and Carmine, they're both hired by a group that are kidnapping people with powerful semblances," Yatsuhashi said.
"And Gus's semblance is pretty powerful," Kelly added.
Edward sighed heavily after hearing this information while Kelly and Velvet keeped his grandson as calm as they could.
"I knew something was off about them," the old man said.
"What are we gonna do?" Gus asked.
"We're gonna have to sneak you both out of here tonight," Yatsu said.
"Half of our team will loor Bertilak and Carmine away from Feldspar, saying that you've gone missing," Kelly said, pointing at Edward.
"And the rest of us will sneak you out of Feldspar while they are distracted. Then we can apprehend them," Velvet said.
"It's your call, Edward," Yatsuhashi said.
Edward looked towards Gus, showing a bit of worry. He turned back to the young Huntsmen in training.
"Just tell us what we need to do," Edward said.
City of Atlas
Schnee Manor
Meanwhile in the Schnee Manor, Ricky is walking down the hall looking for Weiss' room. He heard the sound of singing and knew it to be Weiss. He follows her singing voice to a door leading to her bedroom. Ricky knocks on the door.
"Come in," Weiss called from the other side.
Ricky opens the door and walks inside, closing the door behind him.
"Ricky, I didn't expect you to show up," Weiss said.
"I just came here to check up on you," Ricky said. "Are you doing okay?"
"No, I really don't want to do this," Weiss said with a heavy sigh.
Weiss sat on her bed as Ricky approached and sat next to her.
"Yeah, I get that you old man is just using you to just boost his image, but like you did in the show, you've got to stand up to him at some point. I mean, I certainly would if I were in your place," Ricky said.
"I just don't feel like performing tomorrow night," Weiss said, burying her face in her hands.
Ricky started rubbing her back with his hand in comfort.
"I could perform alongside you if you want," Ricky said.
Weiss looked up at Ricky with wide eyes.
"You would do that... for me?" Weiss asked.
"Of course," Ricky replied.
"But can you even sing?" Weiss asked.
"My parents once made me join a choir, so yeah," Ricky said with a chuckle.
Weiss then hugged Ricky as he was caught off guard then hugged her back.
"Thank you," Weiss said.
They both stopped hugging and Weiss stood up from her bed.
"Now as soon as I make the changes, you and I start practicing," Weiss said as she pulled out her scroll.
"Alright," Ricky said.
Oniyuri, Mistral
Meanwhile back in Mistral, the sun was starting to set and Team JNPR, Ruby, Qrow, Jacob, Britney, and Robert followed Hayashi and the Japanese militia to the abandoned village of Oniyuri. But everyone noticed that the abandoned village looked different then what they saw on the web show. Almost all the buildings are all completely built, a few watch towers were built on the walls outside the village, several trees were cut down to create an airfield, and several tents and hangers were set up around the village.
"Ladies. Gentlemen. Welcome to the new Oniyuri," Hayashi said.
Everyone walked inside the base and saw platoons of soldiers marching passed the group.
"Here in Oniyuri, the Japanese Self Defense Force, or JSDF, or SDF for short, has turned this abandoned construction sight into our military base," Hayashi said.
As he spoke, the group walked past a dozen soldiers who were sparring in an arena.
"We are also training Huntsmen of our own just like our other allies," Hayashi said.
Suddenly, a small group of men riding on horses trot past everyone. Most of the men on horseback all appeared to be ninjas and samurai warriors.
"Uh Major Kunio, what's with the ninjas and samurai?" Jacob asked.
"Most of our Huntsmen wanted to honor and relive warriors of the past by becoming those said warriors," Hayashi answered. "Britain and France are doing the same with their past warriors. Even some of the Canadian and American Huntsmen are planning to do the same themselves. Think of it as sharing our cultures with Remnant, to an extent."
"That seems interesting," Pyrrha said.
"It is," a voice said.
Everyone turned to see a man. The man is dressed as a ninja. He wore black trousers with double waist ties plus additional ties at the knees and ankles. His jacket features standard gauntlets on the sleeves to cover the hands and forearms and belt around his waist all the same color as his trousers. The man removed his mask and is shown to have black hair and purple eyes.
"Despite the fact that our people's history is pretty barbaric," the man said.
"Guys, this is First Lieutenant Junichi Saito," Hayashi introduced as the man now known as Junichi bowed. "Anyway what do you have to report?"
"Our target is on the move heading East. He is still unaware that we're following him," Junichi said.
"Target?" Qrow asked.
"This target," Junichi showed Qrow a picture of the man.
Everyone looked at the picture and already knew who the man was.
"Hazel?" Britney asked.
"Yeah. That giant has been on the move since he got to Anima. And we believe he's here because of that meeting with Sienna Khan in Volume 5," Junich said.
"And Adam will be there and will kill her," Ruby said.
"We have to save her," Jacob said.
"Our objective is to follow Hazel to the White Fang HQ and so we can take Sienna in for questioning," Junichi said.
"So what do we do?" Jaune asked.
"You all continue with your mission at Haven. We can take care of things at their facility," Hayashi said.
"But I feel like we should help out with your mission," Britney said.
"Yeah, we could stretch a bit thinner," Robert said.
"Actually Major, we could use a couple extra hands for our mission, sir," Junichi said.
Hayashi stood puzzled and looked back at the group.
"Alright. You two, will go with Lieutenant Saito for tomorrow for the mission," Hayashi said, pointing at Britney and Robert. "But everyone else, straight to Haven Academy."
"Thank you," Britney said with a bow.
"Everyone rest up. You got another day of travel to go through," Hayashi said as he motioned them to follow him.
The group followed the Major to their sleeping quarters.
Kuo Kuana, Menagerie
Belladonna Residence
Meanwhile at the Belladonna household, it was nighttime and Blake stood out on the porch outside Ghira's office looking out at the city. The slide door opens and out came Rebecca, Allen, Yang, and Sun and approach the cat Faunus.
"Hey. How are you holding up?" Yang asked.
"Fine," Blake said.
"Nice home you got here," Allen said.
"Thanks," Blake said. "So what happened there?"
"Alex got in contact with the British Armed Forces. They'll show up in a few days," Allen answered.
"And you dad will announce their arrival tomorrow," Yang said.
"I just hope the people here don't get the wrong idea about these British guys. The White Fang will try and do something," Sun said.
"I know," Blake said as she looked over the railing.
As she looked on she suddenly saw movement in the dark trees. She sees a dark humanoid shape with a white mask, perching over a palm tree.
"Look!" Blake said, pointing at the figure as everyone looked.
The figure leaps into the air then disappears into the trees.
"After her!" Yang shouted as she jumped off the railing with Rebecca and Sun following.
"Allen, go tell Alex," Blake said as she went after the spy.
Alex ran inside as the others took chase.
Author's Note: If any of you got any ideas for some OC characters for each military, go ahead and share like one of my fans did. Thank you, Modern blade. I was actually going to give this announcement until you gave me your OC character before I could make this announcement.
