It's been weeks since Weiss and Pyrrha had begun helping Jaune. At the moment Team RWBY and the Junior Member Hope walk along the streets of Vale. The people in town were hanging up decorations and other things for the upcoming Vital Festival. Weiss was practically grinning from ear to ear in excitement.
"Well someone's happy." Yang smirks.
"How could I not? The Vital Festival is amazing!" Weiss argues. "Oh the amount of planning and preparation is simply breathtaking!"
Ruby sighs, while Hope and Blake smile. "Wow Weiss," Yang starts. "You really know how to take a good thing and make it boring." The others snicker at that causing Weiss to frown.
"I find it interesting." Weiss mutters with a pout as Ruby pats her shoulder in sympathy. The group turns the corner to see their destination. The docks.
"So why exactly are we spending our Saturday afternoon at the docks?" Yang asks.
Ruby scrunches up her nose in disgust. "Uhg they smell like fish."
Hope looks out to the ocean in awe as a vision of great big fins swimming by peacefully comes to mind. She doesn't know what they were or what they belonged to, but she felt happy upon seeing them. She felt at home more than ever seeing the rolling waves of the sea.
Blake smiles catching Hopes expression. "Well, Weiss wanted to take Hope to see the ocean, and to spy on the competition for the festival."
Weiss gasps. "You can't prove that second part!" Ruby, Blake, and Yang laugh.
Hopes eyes travel to a cart on the street across from them selling food of some kind. In curiosity Hope tugs on her mother's skirt lightly gaining her attention.
"Mamma what's that?" She asks. Weiss looks over and smiles.
"It's an Ice Cream cart." Weiss answers. "Do you want some?" Hope nods happily. She didn't know what Ice Cream was but she wanted to try it anyway. Weiss turns to the others. "What about you three?"
"Sure." Yang shrugs.
Ruby smiles. "Yes please!"
"I could go for some." Blake says.
And so they walked over. Ruby had gotten the Chocolate Crunch, Yang got the Strawberry Twist, Blake got a Minty Blast, Weiss got the Very Vanilla, and Hope got the Menagerie Fruit Punch. With Ice Cream in hand the group continues their walk down the docks only to see a poster.
Fight For Your Rights!
Don't let the Humans Subjugation stand!
Join The Fight! Join The White Fang!
Weiss sighs. "I get that Faunus aren't treated equally, but am I the only one that thinks the White Fang take things way too far?"
Blake smiles. "No, I agree. They use to fight through peaceful protests and even boycotts, but now they've become too violent."
"Yeah." Yang frowns. "I mean I get it they want equality, but if they alienate humans like we did them then how will there ever be change?"
Ruby sighs. "I just wish people could get along. So what someone has a tail, or wings. That doesn't make them any less of a person."
"Maybe one day." Yang says patting Ruby's shoulder.
"STOP THAT FAUNUS!" The girls turn to see a Faunus man with an open white jacket showing his six pack with a pair of jeans. He jumps off a boat before running down the dock. He quickly climbs up a street light before hanging off of it using his blond monkey tail that matched his short blond hair.
"Thanks for the ride guys!" The Faunus salutes.
"You no good stowaway!"
"Hey!" The Faunus protests. "A no good stowaway would have been caught. I'm a great stowaway!" He laughs before hoping down running right past Team RWBY and winking at Blake in slow motion.
"Well Weiss," Yang starts with a smile. "You wanted to see the competition, and there he goes." Weiss simply sighs at the comment.
"You know I think there's a good clothing store down that way." Ruby suggests. "Maybe we could get new outfits?"
Weiss smiles. "Perhaps I can get some new clothes for Hope?" Hope smiles practically hoping up and down in excitement liking the idea.
"Maybe just some casual clothes for me, for days like today." Yang says. Yang then notices Blake lost in thought. "Blake are you okay?"
"Huh, um yeah." She stammers. "I'm fine." Yang smirks knowingly causing Blake to glare. "Not a word."
The group then walked down the street and turned the corner with Weiss smiling down at Hope's excitement. Then Weiss felt herself run into someone knocking herself and the other person down.
"Ow." Weiss groans. She quickly got up seeing the girl she knocked down. "I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention." Weiss quickly helps the girl up.
"Its alright!" The girl says. "Not even a scratch." The girl had short, rather curly orange hair that came down to her chin with a small cowlick on top, and she wore a pink bow on the back of her head. She also had bright green eyes, light skin, and freckles upon her smiling face. She wore an off white old-fashioned styled off the shoulder blouse with frill detailed trim and frill flared cuffs that half covered her hands alongside copper button detailing on the lower parts of her sleeves.
She also sported a short gray pinafore dress with golden trim on the hem alongside four light green stalagmite styled stripes on the lower half of the dress, two on the front and two on the back, accompanied by two matching colored circles above the tips that had a stripe that ran around her waistline, with golden outlines, and a detachable black and light green collar. She also wore a pair of black thigh-high leg pieces that seemingly were attached to black shoes. The leg pieces had a single green stripe up the sides that appeared to light up.
"Salutations!" The girl greets offering her hand. "My name is Penny."
Weiss smiles. "Nice to meet you." Weiss shakes the girls hand only for both her and Penny's aura to flare up before a blue light traveled into Weiss' pocket. Reaching inside Weiss pulls her scroll out which lights up with the words 'upload complete' flashing on it.
"Are you okay?" Penny asks.
"Yeah, it's just that light went into my scroll." Weiss frowns.
"What do you think it was?" Yang asks. Before any of them could say any more a red portal opens up beside Yang.
"Can today get any weirder?" Ruby asks.
From within the portal a woman with long black hair jumps through. Landing on her stomach. She looks up to see Yang's face only to fall unconscious. She wore a shallow cut black and red dress with black shorts underneath, with series of beaded necklaces and a belt that wrapped around her waist which also carried her weapon's sheath. Attached also is a set of long black feathers, with a red and white bandana material hanging from behind her. Her forearms bear red armored gauntlets that protrude outwards and black fingerless gloves. She wore black mid-thigh high leggings with red splatter patterns and black heels.
"Mom?" Yang whispers. The woman sure enough looked like an older version of Yang with black hair. All other thoughts were pushed away however upon noticing the woman's lack of a right leg. Weiss acted quickly pulling out her repair and using fire dust to cauterize the bleeding stump.
"She needs a hospital!" Penny says in a panic. She quickly picks the woman up. "There's one down this street! We must hurry!" And so they run taking the woman, Yang's mother to get emergency medical.
Meanwhile in atlas a man in a hover chair sighs. He was looking over blueprints of an android code named P.E.N.N.Y. "I hope she's alright. Once she gets back I can add these upgrades to her." He then notices his workshop turn on by itself. "Hmm?" He travels over and watches as the assembly he made to build Penny a new body should the need ever arise, began to build something else. Another body. One that was shorter. The man, Pietro Polendina hovered over to a dresser pulling out a set of clothes. He wasn't sure they'd fit but they would at least keep the new android covered.
When he got back he was shocked to see the android finished. He chuckles and hovers over to put the long dress on the small female figure. With the dress on Pietro backed up a bit. After a moment the android flickers to life as a white aura glows around them. Their eyes flutter open as the little android girl wakes showing off her deep blue eyes. Pietro didn't miss how the girl looked identical to Penny minus the blue eyes and slightly longer hair.
"Well hello there." Pietro greets with a smile. Any other person would be scared or angered that their machines would just create an android out of nowhere, but Pietro was fascinated by it. "What might your name be?"
"Name?" The Android girl questions. She looks down to see her hands for the first time in amazement. Then a glimpse of something comes to the girls mind.
"Salutations, my name is Penny Polendina. It is wonderful to meet you sir!"
A man chuckles. "Thank you, I'm General Ironwood."
"My name?" She whispers. Just then she knew exactly what her name was. "Jet." She says looking up to Pietro. "Jet Polendina."
Pietro frowns. "Polendina?" He questions earning a nod. "Who would you say is your mother or father?"
Jet thinks for a moment. 'Salutations, my name is Penny Polendina!' "Penny." She answers looking back to the man. Now that was a shock to him.
"Well I'll be." He says. Pietro thinks for a moment before hovering over to the nearby terminal. On it he looked at the coding for Jet, and compared it with Penny's. It was different, but very similar. Just like a child's DNA compared to a parents. "That is most certainly interesting." He smiles. He turns to the confused Jet. "Well then Miss Jet, it looks like I'm your grandpa."
Team RWBY, Hope, and Penny wait in the waiting room as Yang's mother is tended to. Yang paces back-and-forth while Ruby watches on in concern. Weiss was confused on the situation. That woman looked nothing like Ruby, but she looked exactly like Yang. Half sisters maybe? Weiss sighs not wanting to jump to conclusions quite yet.
Hope was sad to see Yang upset. With a sad look she walks over to Yang gaining the older girl's attention. "Auntie Yang? Are you okay?"
Yang was surprised. Did she just call me Auntie? Looking over to the others looks of confusion confirmed that she heard correctly. Looking back down at the pleading eyes she couldn't correct her right now. "I-I'm fine Hope." Yang lies before kneeling down. She opens up her arms offing a hug which Hope happily accepts. "I'm just a little stressed."
"Okay." Hope frowns. That didn't sound much better than being sad to Hope.
Yang parts looking over to Weiss who was smiling slightly. Not that she would admit it. Yang then turns back to Hope. "Hey how about we get some ice cream after all of this yeah?" Those words immediately made Hopes face brighten with happiness. Yang smiles knowing she had cheered up the little girl. Hope then runs back to her mother who was vary thankful Yang managed to make her happy.
Just then the doors are hastily opened as a blond haired man runs in. Yang and Ruby recognized him immediately as their father. The two sisters run over with a 'Dad' hugging the man.
He accepts before breaking and looking each girl over. "Are you two okay? What happened? Where's Raven?"
Weiss and Blake simply sit there not wanting to interrupt as the sisters explained everything. As they did the girls father frowned. He looked confused and terrified. "Wait here. I'll figure this out." He said. The team all look to each other not knowing what to say after that.
Taiyang Xiao Long. The man was a fairly busy man teaching at Signal Academy in Vale, and raising two girls. Since Ruby and Yang had gone to Beacon things were less busy of course, but he didn't mind it. After all they kept him happy, and distracted his thoughts from the tragedy in life. Long ago the man knew Raven. Sister to Qrow and a fierce warrior. The two had gotten married, but after Yang was born she was distracted. Then one night he found her in tears. The next morning she was gone without a trace.
He never found out why. Why she had left. Why she had abandoned Yang and him. He was falling apart. Then Summer came to help out her friend, and one thing led to another. Then Ruby was born. Tai was happy again. Then Summer went on a mission with Qrow. A while later Qrow came back with her cloak all ripped and torn to shreds with tears in his eyes. "Tai, she's not coming back." There was nothing left to bury aside from that cloak.
Now here he was walking through the halls of a hospital looking for the first love of his life. The one who abandoned him and their daughter without giving so much as a reason. Once he found the door he took a deep breath to calm his nerves and opened the door.
There she was. Awake in a bed wearing hospital gown while missing a leg. With tears in her eyes she turned to see Tai standing there. Her eyes widened and she looked away trying desperately to wipe away the tears.
Tai wasn't sure what to feel. He thought he'd be angry, or at least upset, but seeing her broken and crying tore his heart to pieces. As much pain as she had caused him. He still cared about her. He still loved her whether she deserves it or not. He walked over and sat in a chair beside her.
"Why are you here?" Raven chocked trying but failing to hold in her sobs.
Tai sighs. "I'm here to make sure your okay. And to get answers." Raven turns to look at him with guilt in her eyes. "But, I suppose answers can wait for a moment." Raven nods lightly turning away again. "What happened?"
Her breath hitched. "I-I was with the tribe at our camp." She starts. "We were about to have dinner started, then the a shadow covered the camp, and when I looked up I..."
"Grimm?" Tai offers. Raven shakes her head.
"No." She says. Tai frowns in confusion. "It wasn't a Grimm, whatever it was it had aura. It had a soul. It destroyed the camp and tried to kill me." She then lifted her nub of a leg, severed from the knee cap. "I knew I had to escape. I..." She then broke down into tears once again. Tai hadn't seen her like this since they were in Beacon part of Team STRQ. "All of them are gone, and I couldn't do anything to protect them." Raven brought her hand to her face crying into them.
Tai sighs. He knew this was hurting her. The Branwen Tribe was her home, her family. He needed to change the subject. "Yang got accepted into Beacon."
Raven sniffles before turning to Tai. "So did Ruby." She says. "She a lot like Summer."
Tai smiles. "Yeah. She is." He then frowns. "Wait, how do you know about Ruby? Did Qrow tell you?"
Raven looks down visibly calming finally as her mind traveled away from the tribe. "I've know for a while. I saw her at the funeral."
Tai's eyes widened. "You were there?"
"I didn't want to be seen." Raven admits. "But Summer was one of the few friends I had at Beacon. I respect her, and her strength. I had to at least pay her my respects." She then turned to Tai with her watery reddened eyes. "I'm glad you could make her happy far as long as you did. She was always a better person then I could ever hope to be."
To say Tai was surprised would be an understatement. Here Raven was spilling out her guts to him giving him answers to questions he'd never even thought of. His thoughts all traveled to one point however. "Why did you leave?" He asks finally.
Ravens head snaps over to him tears beginning to fall again. She lowers her head in shame as she cry's. "I'm sorry." She starts. "I... I didn't want to." She admits. "After all the missions and the fighting, Salem found out about you."
Tai's eyes widened. No. He thought. Was she...
"I knew if I stayed you and Yang would be in danger, if I stayed. That she would find out where we lived." Raven cried. "Then I went to the tribe to hide away for a while, and a girl wonders into camp. I tried to keep her alive but no matter how much I trained her she... and then when she passed on..." Raven looked up with all of her guilt and fears evident on her face. Her eyes emitting the flames of a Maiden's power. "I wanted to keep you both as far away from me as possible, and now?" The flames dispersed as she looks to her legless nub.
Tai was speechless. All of it made sense aside from a few things Qrow told him. Qrow would say that Raven didn't show any care for Yang at all. That she said she would only save Yang Once. Maybe this was the reason. Fear. Fear of bringing far worse enemies then Yang was ready for. Fear that her daughter would be killed. He could only hope that was the case.
At Beacon Ozpin, Ironwood, and Glynda sit as a broadcast stops playing before them. "Any ideas as to what this is?" Ozpin asks.
"No." Ironwood admits. "The signal is coming from Atlas however."
Glynda frowns. "And it just repeats?" She asks earning a nod. "Do we even know what language it's in?"
"It's not of Remnant. Of that I'm certain." Ozpin says. "Play it again."
Dvarapala RauUpala
Prithvi Akash
Kirana hi kirana
Agni Utkarsh
Ra-Prani Kana Mrityu Doota
Mounam dha mounam
phalu isha
Ozpin frowns. It just seemed so... odd. What could this mean?
In Atlas a facility activates on its own as the computers turn on. On screen it showcases a project called P.E.N.N.Y. With the schematics of a android. It flickers as the image is duplicated on screan and the copy is rewritten and re designed. The word 'P.E.N.N.Y.' Being replaces with 'J.E.T.'. The schematics are altered too be made smaller and more complex with capabilities that are Less human. Then the speakers in the room activate. As a song begins to play.
Dvarapala RauUpala
Prithvi Akash
Kirana hi kirana
Agni Utkarsh
Ra-Prani Kana Mrityu Doota
Mounam dha mounam
phalu isha
