Welp, I'm back. Took awhile didn't it? I had this chapter sitting for like four months, but never got to really sit down and write consistently. I got way too distracted with other stuff, especially with a game called Genshin Impact. I'm way too addicted. Even finally started college this year. Assignment groups and assignments in general sucks. Fuck do I regret starting college xd.

But enough with the excuses, I hope yall enjoy the latest chapter. Review responses are down below as always.

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or any of the other elements I've taken from other shows, all of them belong to their respective owners.

*SLAAMM*

"Of all the people I had to stumble upon, it had to be her." Ryver wheezed as he got back up from being slammed into a tree. "Why couldn't it have been Ozpin, or even Ironwood. Hell, I'd even take Roman Torchwick."

The boy barely rolled out of the way as a Beowolf lunged at him. "But no, it had to be that sadistic grinning son of a bitch up there." He dodged another lunging Beowolf as he shot a glare at Raven.

Sighing, Ryver raised his daggers, unleashing Ren again. He barely had the energy to do so, but unless he wanted to be ripped to shreds by a bunch of freaky deaky dogs, he didn't really have a choice.

Covering the daggers in aura with Shu, He dashed towards one of the Beowolves widening it's jaw. Shoving both blades at the top and bottom parts of it's mouth, Ryver used whatever strength he could manage and began to widen the Beowolf's jaw more than it could.

It let out a pained whimper before a loud audible crack echoed.

"GAH-!"

Ryver flew back as the remaining Grimm swiped it's claws at him, effectively throwing him onto the forest floor.

Not wasting a second, the Grimm pounced on top of the boy as he did his best to keep it's jaw from mauling his face off.

Mustering the last of his strength, he used Ryu to focus most of his aura to his feet, kicking the black beast off of him. Dashing, he swiped his daggers back in reverse grip, stabbing into the Beowolf's neck slicing it open, before it could get back up.

He stomped on the Grimm's head several times to make sure it couldn't get up again, before dropping on the floor, rasping for air. The boy couldn't even get to catch his breath for five seconds before he heard his bag land next to him with a thud.

His 'mentor' dropped down as well, looking at him pathetically or at least that was what he thought.

"Don't look at me like that, if you decided to help me instead of hiding in the treetops whenever we come across the Grimm. I wouldn't be this worn out wheezing for air, like some fat middle-aged old man who finally decided to go for a jog after five years."

The woman raised an eyebrow, but before she could reply she was abruptly interrupted.

"I'm not some overpowered bastard who's the main character of some fantasy novel. I'm a mostly normal guy who managed to learn how to 'properly' fight in your boy's scout camp in under a month. So having a small break wouldn't hurt."

Raven was going to shut that annoying mouth of his one day, but right now, he deserved a small break. While her stance made her seem like she was displeased with his performance, she was more displeased with his attitude. The woman had to hand it to him though. Fighting continuous waves of the Grimm during the remaining days of their journey alone, was impressive. "Fine." The woman huffed, a part of her irritated that it wasn't a request but a demand.

"Sooner or later I'm bound to get decked, for talking to her like that." Letting his back fall onto the forest floor, Ryver let out a relieved sigh. "It must be some kind of miracle she hasn't chewed my head off yet. Although, I have a funny feeling it'll happen sooner than I expect."

Exhausted he snatched a bottle of water from the bag and proceeded to chug it down. He released a satisfied sigh and promptly got back up, tossing the now empty bottle back into the bag. He let a few moments pass before giving Raven a quick glance. She got the message and continued trekking through the forest.

Ryver followed behind stretching his sore arms. He needed to rest more but knew he'd get an earful if he delayed their journey any longer than the woman could wait. His body ached, his weapons were dull and he wanted to just collapse there and then. But Ryver knew he wasn't allowed too, even after the train 'heist', a part of him felt that it wouldn't be the last thing on Raven's list of what she wanted him to do.

He had to endure everything she threw at him and come out somewhat triumphant. He clenched his fist when a familiar question dawned on him again. What if he was asked to take a life? He had told the woman he'd do anything if it meant he would live another day. But could he really do it when the situation presented itself? Could he take the life of someone innocent or not? Just thinking about it washed a feeling of disgust over him.

He had no qualms in taking down the Grimm since they are soulless beasts, but could he do the same to another person? Even if they deserved it, asked for it, or even someone he really despised. Could he kill?

The boy shook his head, he'd answer that question when the situation presented itself. As much as he would probably regret it later, he wanted to stop thinking about it. Ryver slapped his cheeks to snap himself out of his thoughts when he bumped into the back of his 'mentor'.

"Oof-" Looking up he saw that Raven had stopped, but didn't see why. "Why'd we stop? There some sort of invisible Grimm or something blocking the way?

The irritated woman just pointed towards a huge stone gate in front of them, that somehow he didn't see.

"Oh, we're here." He eyed the gate before returning his gaze at Raven. "So, what's the plan? Do we or I guess I, just stroll down into the train and do the deed. Or is there something else you need to do first."

The sun was already setting, and since it was about to go dark he figured it'd be the best time to get the job done.

The woman replied with a nod. "We'll be heading straight for the station once you get ready."

"Alright, and ugh, I haven't asked, but how exactly am I going to board the train? I mean obviously I just have to walk in, but don't I need some sort of fabricated I.D or some sort of ticket?" He tilted his head.

"I had that settled. Your I.D is on your scroll and the ticket is somewhere in the bag, if you're wondering."

Ryver widened his eyes, frantically taking out his scroll to check. Lo and Behold, there it was a picture of him and his 'name' Ryver Bael. He was awestruck, when did she even take the picture? Or better yet, how did he not find it when he first got his scroll.

"When- How- You know what? I'm not even going to ask. I just want to get this shit over with." The bewildered boy snapped his attention back and forth from Raven and his I.D, before shaking his head and decided it was better not to know. Although, it did somewhat creeped him out. "You had all this planned out already didn't you." He said circling his finger around.

Raven didn't reply, instead a small grin formed on her face which the boy couldn't see as they finally reached Mistral.

"Wow.." The boy let the word out of his mouth, as awe again struck him. He had seen it when he watched the show, but actually seeing it? Damn was it a pretty sight. Even as the sun set, the city still looked magnificent. A part of him wanted to see the other cities even more now than before. But back to the task at hand. "Well, lead the way. I'll definitely get lost here."

The woman shook her head, and moved forward.

"ACHOO-!"

Vernal rubbed her nose as she watched the tribe get ready for their next raid. She wondered how Ryver was doing, but didn't need to think too much. She had been in his shoes before. He was definitely drained and wishing he could plop down onto a bed and knock out.

The girl snickered at the thought of Ryver looking so pathetic. Vernal had grew a somewhat joy out of seeing the boy all worn out. Was she becoming a sadist? Eh who cares? She just liked seeing him suffer.

"So Vernal, you think the new guy is gonna take your place as Raven's right hand in the future?" A man with dirty blonde hair sneered.

"Very funny, Shay." Vernal rolled her eyes. "He may be better than all of you, but he's going to have to try a lot harder if he wants to pass me."

Shay put his hand on his chin, tapping his finger on his cheek. "Maybe. But his growth rate is definitely faster than yours. I mean usually when there's a new guy, we all poke and mess with 'em. But after the first two weeks of him being here, most of us agreed that it was better if we left him alone. The first time I approached him wasn't fun at all." A frown grew on the man's face as he recalled his first meeting with Ryver.

"So, you're the new guy huh? Ryver was it? Name's Shay." The dirty blonde approached Ryver who just finished his spar against Raven and Vernal.

The boy in question, glanced up at the man from where he sat, giving a somewhat curious but not really caring look. "Yep, that's me." He said popping the 'p'. "Is there something you need? Or does Raven and Vernal want something with me again?"

"Don't have to be so tense. Just want to get to know the new guy better ya know?" He grinned. "Everyone's a little jealous that you're Raven's new favorite pet."

"Is that so?" Ryver didn't turn his head at the dirty blonde, not really interested in what Shay said. "They're free to take the role away, if they can anyways." He got up releasing a bit of his aura, startling Shay. Not that the shaggy man would have known, but the boy was practicing with his aura. Something that he'd like to do alone and uninterrupted.

"Well, aren't you a cold one." His hand reached out to Ryver's shoulder, but before he could even make contact the boy had caught his hand with his own. "Look," He finally turned to him, eyes cold and somewhat irritated. "I get what you're trying to do. Talk to the new guy, get to know him a bit better. Maybe even poke fun at him or something along those lines." Narrowing his eyes into a glare, Shay gulped realizing maybe it wasn't such a good idea to get a jab at someone Raven was training personally.

"I may be the new guy around, but I'm sure you're smart enough not to mess with someone that your oh so powerful leader has taken upon herself and her best fighter, to teach. There's obviously a line between us, so why don't you learn where you stand?" With that, the boy let go returning to focusing on his aura.

Rubbing his wrist, Shay left without a word. A scowl on his face. Ryver may have been acting arrogant, but he wasn't wrong. The fact that he was being taken care of specially set them apart. The dirty blonde would had love to put the brat in his place, but that would attract unwanted attention. And he didn't want that.

"OOF-" Falling to then ground, Shay snapped out of his daze. "What was that for?"

"I'm sure the others just know that it's better to let him do his own thing. You on the other hand." She shook her head in disappointment. "You always go looking for trouble you can't handle. Now get back to work, Raven wants us ready as soon as possible."

"Yeah yeah, I got it." The dirty blonde brushed himself up and promptly left, leaving Vernal alone.

As the man left, Vernal couldn't help but get the words he said stuck in her head. Surely he wouldn't surpass her right? As fast as his growth may be it's not like he was some sort of prodigy with a gift. Besides, it's not like she was slacking off during training. She'd be damned if she let that brat overtake her, or even her position as Raven's most trusted.

Erasing the thought out of her head. She snickered to herself, wondering if Ryver found the picture she took for his I.D. Raven had asked her to do it before she gave him his scroll. After all, it made things like sneaking onto a guarded train easier.

Raven watched from afar in her corvid form, as Ryver boarded onto Argus Limited with no trouble. Naturally, she had briefed him about what he had to do. It wasn't anything to complicated. All he had to do was hop into the dust cargo when the guards were distracted, and she'd use her semblance to get in and out. A simple plan, but it all depended on how Ryver would execute it.

It would take some time, seeing as the other passengers would have to get settled in first, and he needed to find a time window where he could act. Other than that, there shouldn't be any problems.

Her semblance, Kindred Link had somehow formed a connection with the boy, without her knowing. While she had planned to do so in the future, she wondered what caused the link to manifest. When did she get fond of the boy? Was it because of her growing interest in his abilities. Or maybe it was because she let him act the way he did to gain his trust faster? It wasn't out of the question, but it would be weird if that was the reason. Nonetheless, she wasn't complaining. It made things easier.

Stupid kid.

Sat down in his sleeping carriage, Ryver couldn't help but feel a wave of nervousness wash over him. I mean, he was literally about to commit a crime! But then again, what did he expect when he was picked up by bandits? That they were good, nice and not murderous people? Yeah right, maybe in his dreams.

He peered out of the carriage door, seeing that most of the passengers weren't in their room but mostly likely in the lounge instead. He hadn't seen any of the guards since he boarded, so he assumed they had to be at the back end of the train.

And with that in mind, he wondered how he was going to distract them. Ironically, he was distracted by the need of having to relieve himself. Where even were the toilets on the train? Definitely not in the sleeping carriages.

Just like that, Ryver felt a lightbulb light up above him. He could ask one of the guards where they were, and while he was at it he could think of some sort of distraction along the way. Raven did tell him that despite them being huntsmen, most of them were subpar and a little thick-headed. At least from what she's observed anyways.

Thankfully for him, his cart was near the end of the train making it a lot nearer to the cargo. Pulling his hood up, Ryver left the room and headed for the back, searching for one of the guards.

"Hey, you know where the bathroom is? First time on the train, so ugh I'm kinda lost." The boy said scratching the back of his head. "I know, I know, how could you possibly get lost on a train. Just wanna make sure I don't enter the wrong room, ya get me? He said sheepishly.

"Ugh, yeah sure. You're standing right next to it." The man pointed next to the boy with a bored yet weirded out face.

"O-oh.." Ryver let out an embarrassed chuckle. "So I am, thanks. Oh yeah, I heard some sort of commotion up in the front cart. Just letting you know, ya might wanna check it out."

The guard shook his head in annoyance. "What the hell is up with the passengers these days. I'll go check what's going on."

"Yeah, you do that." Ryver said quickly entering the bathroom to relieve himself.

Coming out, with a device in hand, the guard was still gone leaving the cart behind him unguarded. Ryver pressed the button on the device jammer that Raven had given him, to interfere with the cameras.

Activating In, he sneaked into the cargo cart. "Well, that was easier than I thought. Security kinda sucks." Brushing off that the train was being guarded so poorly, the boy made his way past the luggage cart and headed deeper back.

"Raven said they normally kept the valuable stuff all the way at the back, so it should..." Peaking through the window of the door, Ryver immediately ducked down. "I take back my statement about the shitty security. How the fuck am I gonna deal with them?" Past the door, there were two guards hanging around the cargo. "Alright think. I'm confident I can knock one of them out in a flash, but it'll be annoying if the other one calls for backup."

"I hope all those hours playing the Hitman games paid off." Grabbing his bag that sat in the cart along with the other bags and luggage, he pulled out a mask that Raven had also given him.

It was was a white porcelain mask. There were two horizontal black slits to see through, and red strokes that went down the middle of the slits, like blood flowing down. With four more strokes above the slits.

Sliding it on, it fit smugly as Ryver proceeded to get something else out of his bag. A piece of bread in his hand, he opened the door throwing the bread in before backing off behind the tall pile of baggage.

"Huh? What the hell is bread doing here? Who's there?" He heard one of them men say. "I'll go check it out, stay here, Myst."

The man entered into the cart, immediately being grabbed by the collar and hit on the back of his neck, effectively knocking him out.

"Wow, can't believe that actually worked. Who the hell hired these guys?" Dragging the now unconscious man back, the boy crouched down and got ready to knock out the guard in the next cart.

Activating Ren and focusing Ryu on his feet and right hand. "Here we go." Opening the door, Ryver leap forward swiftly, chopping the guard on the neck in a flash.

A loud thud echoed as he dragged the man into the other cart, before heading back to find the dust he came for.

"Alright, time to get to work." Peering into the cases, Ryver kept looking for the batch of dust he was sent to get. "Nope, not this one. Not this one either... Bingo."

A few seconds passed as the boy stood lost. "What the fuck was I suppose to do after I got the dust again? Oh yeah." Taking out his scroll's flashlight, he flashed it on and off out of the window.

In an instant a red flash radiated in the cart. Ryver looked away, his arm in front of him to protect his eyes.

"Quicker than I expected. Good." Raven appeared out of a red portal as it closed.

"I'll take that that was your semblance?" He already knew the answer, but asked anyways. The woman gave him a simple nod as he grabbed the boxes of dust. "Alright, well. I guess we can get out of here now that we got what we came for."

Raven swung her sword, making another portal. Both of them walking through with boxes of dust in hand.

Emerging back out of the portal and back to camp. Ryver couldn't help but feel relieved. He was finally back where he could rest, and not in a forest or in a train. Albeit, a part of him was annoyed that he went through the whole journey to Mistral, just for fifteen minutes on the train. But hey at least it was finally over.

"Look who's back." Vernal grinned at him, as he took off his mask to reveal his eyes glaring back at the girl. "Now that Mr. Punching Bag is back, I don't think I'm going to be so bored anymore."

"Ha. Ha." Ryver dumped the boxes onto Vernal. "Good for you." He said sarcastically. "So, what next?" He turned back to Raven.

"Would you look at that Vernal, he isn't a complete idiot." The woman said with a grin, while the girl chuckled.

"Ok, ouch." He said placing his hand on his chest. "Don't know where that came from, but sure."

"Don't be so sensitive, Ryver!" Vernal slapped him on the back, making him fall forward a little. "Hope you're not too exhausted. I can't wait to see you fail miserably in your first raid." She laughed.

The boy felt a pang in his chest. He expected this, but a part of him felt guilt build up. He had been on the receiving of the raid before, but now he was part of the raid. Ryver had seen first hand the chaos it brought to a village. The panic, the fear,...the death. He'd seen how the people went down around him. By blades or by fangs. The boy shivered at recalling the thought he had earlier that day.

"Feeling nervous, newbie?" Vernal said, smacking him again.

"Pshh, as if. I'm as ready as I'll ever be." He feigned a smirk, trying and failing to keep it up.

"Uh-huh. Just make sure not to get in my way." The girl finally left, leaving Ryver and Raven alone.

"So, are you nervous?" Raven crossed her arms.

"Who wouldn't be nervous about raiding a village for the first time?" He said trying not to stutter. "Don't worry about it. I'll do my best to not disappoint you." Leaving, he didn't turn back to look at the woman. He only tensed up, knowing what he had to do next.

Crouched down behind the treelines, were the Branwen Tribe. Ready to pounce.

Ryver knelt down, a new blade in hand and his mask on. He did his best to calm himself down before all the action started. "It was bound to happen anyways. Whether it goes against my morals, it's better than ending up on the chopping block."

"Don't pussy out on us last minute, Ryver. This is where the fun begins." Vernal grinned, readying her weapons.

"Wouldn't dream of it." And with that, the whole tribe launched out. About to bring hell down onto the unknowing unfortunate village folk.

Cliffhanger... huehuehue.

Reviews:

Mr. Elf: Glad you enjoyed, and maybe, who knows? Huehuehue.

Stealthkug: Yeah, he probably could.

Arclight001: Raven is a little ooc due to they way she wants to get Ryver's trust. While she could just beat the ever living shit out of him and teach him where he stands. It would cause him to despise her rather than look at her as his master of sorts. Same thing with Ryver trying to get Raven to trust him. He knows Raven can make him drop to the floor in a heartbeat. But acts all 'buddy buddy' to give off a 'hey I'm grateful you spared me, I'll serve you' vibe.
And although he did share Ten with Raven, it was more of a 'oh shit, oh fuck, what do I say?' moment more than anything else. He let it slip out because he didn't think of something to say. It was a mistake on his part, but it sort of helped him. Like you said, 'hey I am still useful'. It gives Raven a reason to keep him even if he acts snarky towards her. That's also another reason why she wants to gain his trust, she knows he's doing something with his aura and hopes he'll disclose that knowledge to her in the future.
Of course, she doesn't know that Ryver isn't going to do that, not now anyways. (foreshadowing?) And besides, knowing Ten doesn't make her more threatening than if she knew the other techniques. It just makes her aura more stable.
Also, Ryver's going to be put in his place sooner or later, don't worry. There's only so much Raven can put up with after all.

Guest: Yeah...it's going to be awhile till he develops a Hatsu.

Magi Mari: Thanks! I am trying to update somewhat consistently, but life's a bitch. And as of now there aren't any pairing, not any I want right now anyways. You'll just have to see along the way : )