Spice: Good lord, this is a long time coming. Sorry for the absurd delay on this one, guys, but the college has turned over a new semester, and I'm a lazy-ass procrastinator.

ELFI: The Captain does not own RWBY, it belongs to Rooster Teeth. Girouette, Celaeno are all he owns of this story, for the moment.

Spice: As always, constructive criticism is welcomed, and highly appreciated. Without further ado, on with the story!

Chapter 5: Warnings and the Spirit World

I gotta admit, for how unexpected it is, I'm actually kinda glad I'll be staying with Miss Goodwitch for the immediate future. It means I'll have one of the best Dust users in Remnant to help me out with my own Dust usage. Well, once I actually get some Dust, anyway. Getting back on track, though, I was greeted by this pop-up as I followed my hostess out of the police station.

Quest Completed!

Vale:

You have completed everything on your to-do list of establishing yourself in Vale, and have secured a spot in Beacon's entrance exams.

Rewards: +400XP, Skillbook: Create/Escape ID, +Relationships: Coco Adel, Team CVFY, Beacon Academy

-You've leveled up; gained 5 Stat Points!-

"Nice," I mutter to myself, drawing Miss Goodwitch's attention as we stop and she looks at me.

"What is it?" she asks, curious.

"Huh?" I utter on reflex before realizing who was with me and answered. "Oh, just finished the Quest I was on and level up in the process. I gain five stat points each level up, which, as the name implies, I can use to upgrade my stats. I've made something of a rule that I always put one point each into my Luck and Acrobatics with each level up, so I should probably do that now before I forget." I was about to do just that when another pop-up interrupted me.

-Side Quests have now been unlocked! Side Quests allow you to learn more about the people around you. These are generally not as time-sensitive as the main Quests, but failure to complete them in a timely manner can lead to diminishing rewards, while failing them outright will damage your relationship with the quest giver if applicable.-

Current Side Quests: A Fashionista's Offer, Dust-y Work

"And apparently completing that Quest I was on unlocked Side Quests, which I will start working on tomorrow," I relay, getting a nod and hum of interest from Glynda before I dismissed the pop-up and put in my Luck and Acrobatics points. After all that was said and done, I resumed following my new hostess to her house.

-1 hour, 45 minutes later-

Nearly two hours, two INT points from Celaeno and I gaining a more complete internal map of Vale, and one CON point, from having to go a bit faster than a casual walk to keep up with Miss Goodwitch, later, and I was treated to the sight of Miss Goodwitch's home, and discovering that her house was a Landmark worth 75XP and 3AP. Considering that it was never seen in the show, I was admittedly curious to see what it looked like.

I noted that it was a rather simple, 2-story house, raised ranch style, with a cobblestone path leading to the front door and a paved driveway leading to a separate garage. It was a rather pleasant cream color with brown and red bricks that made for a nice contrast, and both the lawn and the garden along the front of the house itself were clearly well-kept. As a matter of fact, the main thing I saw about the house that made it stand out amongst its neighbors was the 3-story turret to the back of the house's right side. Rounding out the look of the house was a metal fence like what one might associate with the railing on the stairs of a witch's castle painted the expected black, with a remote operated gate in front of the driveway and a manual one in front of the cobblestone path.

"Woah…" I mutter as I look over Glynda's home, not wanting to miss a single detail.

-Glynda's PoV-

I couldn't keep an amused smirk off my face at how Giro seemed awed at my abode. Being Ozpin's assistant on top of being a Huntress meant I could actually afford the house instead of having to build my own from the ground up. I certainly understand the appeal of such a home, though, and that was actually my backup plan had I not been able to buy this place.

The turret was something I'd added over time to give the house a bit of a personal touch. I recycled some of the materials from the house, but everything else I'd purchased gradually and built it up as I did.

"Come along now, Mr. Zephyr," I say, making the young man blink and look to me as I open the front gate to my house.

"Oh, uh, right," he stutters before jogging up to me and following as I lead the way into my house. The inside was, for the most part, rather spartan, but homely in its decor, which I honestly preferred over the mansions I've seen some of the wealthy and pompous, such as Jacques Schnee, purchase.

"Feel free to look around for a bit, I just need to go get the guest room ready," I say to Giro, getting the young man's attention.

"Alright," he replies with a nod, prompting me to nod as well before I make my way to the stairs and head up them to ready the room he'll be staying in.

-Giro's P.o.V.-

'Hey Celaeno,' I start asking my Bonded Spirit as Miss Goodwitch heads upstairs, 'think I'd be able to turn off Gamer's Mind or Gamer's Body?'

'Possibly,' Celaeno replies curiously, giving me the mental image of her raising an eyebrow. 'They were listed as Toggle Abilities last I saw, and those tend to be on/off things. Why do you ask?'

'Call it idle curiosity,' I reply while pulling up my menu and selecting Skills before tapping Gamer's Body. Doing so, resulted in getting the following pop-up:

-WARNING!-

-You are about to turn off Gamer's Body. Doing so will not affect your stat growth and leveling abilities, but Hp damage will now affect your physical capabilities based on the injury. In addition, physical activities and combat will gradually drain your Stamina Points, while strenuous physical activity may also apply minute True Damage depending on the activity (Notice: your Aura and resistances will not protect against True Damage). Consume food items for a static HP and SP boost and a longer lasting SP Regen buff to counteract this. Are you sure you wish to proceed?-

-Yes - No-

'Are you sure this is a good idea?' Celaeno asks, a little worried.

'Oh, doing this is stupid as all get-out,' I admit while tapping "Yes", 'but I'm doing it anyway for two reasons. One: it'll be a self-imposed challenge to go through this without Gamer's Body active unless it's a Boss Fight or I'm up against more than just a small group of Grimm. I'm not suicidal, after all.'

'And the second reason?' Celaeno asks, genuinely curious now.

'So I don't go mad with power,' I reply with a mental shrug. 'I've already got you, I don't want this Gamer stuff going to my head.'

'Fair enough,' Celaeno replies with a mental shrug of her own. 'You gonna do the same with Gamer's Mind?'

'Nah, turning off Gamer's Body is good enough,' I reply. 'Besides, Gamer's Mind'll help me keep my cool in this crazy adventure. Turning it off might mentally cripple me considering that we both know what'll happen if we can't stop certain events.'

'Good point,' Celaeno admits with a mental nod. 'By the way, why are we in Glynda's kitchen?'

At that, I blink and actually take in my surroundings while closing the menu. Sure enough, during my conversation with Celaeno, I'd wandered from the foyer to Miss Goodwitch's kitchenette, which had the usual, standard fare for a kitchen in a house this size.

"Huh, guess I started wandering," I mutter to myself while looking around the kitchen. It was, of course, at that point that my stomach let out a loud growl, making me put my hands on it. "Then again, I haven't eaten at all since before we arrived on Remnant, so food would be nice right about now… I hope Miss Goodwitch keeps some pasta handy."

-No PoV, with Glynda-

Glynda sighs as she finishes making sure that her guest room was fully set and ready for her guest. She's never played hostess before, so she was honestly curious how she would do with Giro living under her roof for a month.

Speaking of Giro, he intrigued her. From how he explained the way a Spirit Charmer works, he and his Bonded Spirit are similar, yet different to the main character in this one book she read a while back.

Similar in that he has two souls living inside of him, different in that, instead of being in conflict, it almost sounded like his two "souls" were closer to symbiotic creatures. She still didn't know what his Spirit was exactly, nor what they were like, but she was sure meeting the elemental being sharing his body would be an interesting experience, for certain. Nodding to herself, she started making her way back towards the foyer to see if Giro was hungry at all.

She was surprised to hear what sounded like rummaging before the kitchen sink started running. Curious to see what her guest was up to, she made her way towards the kitchenette, only to see the Gamer as he put a freshly poured pot of water on the stove and turn it on. Seems he decided to start making food without needing to be prompted. Another amused smirk crept onto her face as Giro turned around and froze in place as he saw her standing there.

-Giro's P.o.V.-

"You know," Glynda starts, amusement clear in her voice and posture as she had caught me getting started on making a pot of pasta, "if you were hungry, Mr. Zephyr, you could have said so. I would've put readying the guest room on the back burner so we could get some food in you."

I, naturally, had the decency to blush as she said that, and rubbed the back of my neck in embarrassment. "Sorry, by the time I thought about food, you had already gone to ready the guest room," I explain. "I didn't want to inconvenience you, so I decided to rummage around so I could make a pot of pasta. I hope you don't mind."

To my relief, Glynda smiles warmly and shakes her head. "It's no bother at all, Mr. Zephyr," she reassures. "In fact, pasta sounds like a good idea right about now. It's been a while since I've had time to make some myself. There's only so many times one can go out to eat before the idea starts to lose its appeal, and Beacon's cafeteria staff rarely serves quality food."

~one meal later~

After we ate and cleaned up from our meal (the latter of which Miss Goodwitch did using her semblance, telekinesis is OP like that), she sat me down to help me get a checklist of things I'd still need for living in Remnant and getting into Beacon. Y'know, clothing (I told her about my run-in with Coco, which seemed to make her check clothes off the list rather quickly, to my initial confusion, then I remembered that it was Coco Adel I mentioned), history books, Dust, ammo, stuff like that.

"Actually," Glynda muses, bringing her attention to me. "How many of these Side Quests do you have now?"

"Two. 'A Fashionista's Offer' and 'Dust-y Work'," I reply, dying a little inside from the pun that is the second Side Quest's name. Judging by her eye roll, Miss Goodwitch though the same as me. I decided to open up my Quests menu and see what each Quest entailed, just to be certain.

Side Quest: A Fashionista's Offer

Coco Adel has offered to make you a second set of clothes. This might be a good chance to learn more about her.

Objectives:

- Meet Coco Adel at the fashion studio at noon.

Bonus Objective: ?

Rewards: Spare Clothes, + Relationships: Coco Adel, Team CVFY

Bonus Reward: + Relationship: Coco Adel, ?

Side Quest: Dust-y Work

Using Dust is standard practice in Remnant, you're going to need to know how to use it, yourself, if you're going to survive here.

Objectives:

- Obtain 100 grams of Energy Dust and 50 grams each of Burn, Frost, Earth, Wind, and Shock Dust

- Use your Beginner's Guide to Dust Manipulation Skillbooks (0/5)

- Make 50 specialty Dust Bullets (Requires a Bullet Press and Craft Skill: Gunsmithing)

- Craft a Dust-infused article of clothing (Requires Crafting Skills:?, ?)

Rewards: +100 grams of all common Dust types

Nodding to myself and closing my status menu, I reached a hand into my vest and, from my Inventory, pulled out one of my Beginner's Guides to Dust Manipulation to start reading. Specifically, the Lightning Dust guide. Learning how to use Lightning Dust would probably come in handy, especially with the only Javelin-type Art I have right now being Arcing Horn which, if the name didn't give it away, was an Electricity-based attack.

'This might also give us some insight in adding some unique capabilities into our repertoire for our magic,' I comment to Celaeno, gaining my Spirit's attention.

'How do you figure, kiddo?' Celaeno asks, even as she starts reading the book alongside me.

'Air is the element of freedom,' I reply. 'Imagine if Salem sent someone like Tyrian after us, expecting a simple wind Mage, and we have the ability to use ice and/or electricity with our Aeromancy.'

'He'd be caught flat-footed, something we could capitalize on to drive him back or end him as a threat,' Celaeno realizes, catching onto what I was thinking. 'Hm… we'll have to meditate on this, turn to the winds for insight, but it may be possible…'

'Something for the to-do list, then,' I reply while shoving aside the pop-up telling me that my WIS had gone up, as well as that I'd learned an electric spell. I'll look the spell up later, I just wanted to keep reading for a bit.

~later that night~

After reading the Lightning Dust book for a bit, I decided to crack open the Ice one as well to get the starter spell for that category. Afterwards, Glynda (she said I was free to call her by her first name until I get into Beacon) came by with some Beacon-issued textbooks and gave them to me, saying that it would be a good idea for me to study for the entrance exams as well as expanding my repertoire. I made sure to thank her and did a bit of reading, mostly from the history book to make sure all of my info from the web show was up-to-date with info straight from the world itself, the decision netting me a point in WIS and all of the reading I did got me a net total of four INT points.

Anyways now I was in Glynda's guest room laying down for bed after showering and borrowing some clothes she apparently kept on hand for Beacon initiation if a new student didn't have the foresight to pack sleeping attire for the night. Nothing too fancy, just a plain, white shirt, and black athletic shorts with the Beacon Academy emblem on the left leg. Stretching, I then sat up on the bed and entered a meditative stance, legs crossed, hands on my knees, back straight, head bowed, and eyes closed as I calmed my breathing and focused my mind inward.

When I opened my eyes again, the world had taken in a different look. It looked a lot like the artwork for the Valkyria Chronicles series. The world looked a lot like someone had done a beautiful watercolor painting, the edges of my vision being a stark white the ebbed and surged ever so slightly, kinda like waves on the beach in its motion. I knew what this was even before I looked down to see the feathered arms draped over my shoulders like a blanket, underneath which was open-front, dusty brown robe and shorts that I was most definitely not wearing before. This was the Spirit World, the meta-physical boundary separating the physical world from the Astral Plains.

"Long time no see, Celaeno," I say with a smile as I put my hand on the arm of my Bonded Spirit, the Aerophoenix smiling as well as she rests her head on my shoulder.

"Hello to you as well, my mortal brother," she replies. She then lets go of me as I stand up from the bed and turn to face her, noting not for the first time, that my physical body was still meditating on the bed.

"Right, might as well get started," I say as she and I walk out of Glynda's house.

"Going to try and hunt down Cinder?" Celaeno asks.

"Yep. See if she can't be swayed back into the light," I reply. "I've always been curious of how exactly she wound up in her service, and if it's possible for me to free her from Salem's influence before shit hits the fan."

Celaeno falls silent as she starts going over what little we actually knew about Cinder's backstory. What little we had seen was focused on Cinder assembling her little cadre of Mercury and Emerald and attacking Amber to try (and partially succeed) to steal the Fall Maiden's power, both of which happened well after she was taken in by Salem, nothing at all about what her childhood was like, nor how Salem got her bitch claws on her little Bishop.

~several hours later~

Thanks to how time operated in the Spirit World (an hour here was about 15 minutes in the real world), what had been about seven hours of exploration for Celaeno and I was only about an hour and a half in the physical world. In that time, we'd scoured most of Vale trying to find Cinder's hideout, which had probably gotten me a good amount of INT points, but I presently had no way of knowing that for certain. For whatever reason, The Gamer doesn't actually follow me into the Spirit World, not that I'm complaining. Anyway, at this point, there were only two places in Vale that we had yet to check: the docks, and the warehouse district.

"How about we split up to cover both the docks and the warehouse district?" Celaeno asks, looking to me. "From our current position, we're closer to the warehouse district than the docks, so why don't you tackle the warehouses while I give the docks a fly-by?"

"Works for me," I reply as we share a nod and I watch Celaeno take off into the night sky, heading for the docks. I, meanwhile, look towards where we were going and start making my way to the warehouse district.

-Celaeno's P.o.V.-

As I flew across Vale's skies to search the docks, I couldn't help but chuckle a bit as I recalled something from Giro's memories that the kid forgot to exclude. "Ah, Cupid's arrow, right between the eyes," I sighs in amusement as his encounter with Coco Adel was replayed in my mind. "I wonder how he's gonna play this out. She always was his top favorite among the secondary characters in RWBY, so it's no surprise that he's already got a crush on the girl."

Soon enough, the lights of the docks catch my eye and I swoop down and come to land on the railing overlooking the docks to see if I can't find any Spirits out late and see if they saw anyone who looked like a certain false Maiden. Spotting a couple of Sky Sirens out for some late-night practice, I knew I had a potential lead. Smiling, I take off from my perch and fly over to join my fellow Wind Spirits, making sure to announce my presence by joining in their song, as is the proper greeting when approaching a practicing Siren.

"Greetings, o eternal wind," One of the two Sirens, a woman now that I can see them from up close, greets me with a flying curtsy. "What brings an Elemental here to these humble docks?"

"The formality is not necessary, fair Sirens, for I come here in the capacity of a Bonded One," I reply, earning looks of surprise from the two before they nod and make to land, the male motioning for me to follow.

"What does your Charmer wish to know?" the male Siren asks after all three of us land on the roof of one of the warehouses.

"My Charmer and I seek the hideout of someone whom he wishes to sway from the honeyed words and hollow promises of the Soulless Witch," I relay, using the term given to Salem by the Spirits of this world. "A woman with eyes like fire, heels of obsidian, and a gown woven of Firestones. As we are coven to the King of the Winds, there are none that hide from us, but my Charmer and I are from another plain stol'n; these winds are foreign to me as of yet."

The two Sirens examine me for a moment before looking away and having a hushed conversation. I look away and focus my attention elsewhere for the moment to let them have their privacy while they obviously discuss whether to reveal what they know or not. After a minute or two, the female clears her throat to reacquire my attention.

"We have seen she whom you seek," the female of the two Sirens starts. "She arrived here in these very docks under a moonless night last month, aboard an unmarked boat with two others. A girl who smelled of the streets, and a boy who smelled of oil, blood, and gunpowder."

"Last we saw the woman, she and her companions had left the Kingdom Walls, their destination unknown," the male continues. "However, because we were the first to report her arrival here to Our King, we are kept in the loop as to her whereabouts and actions. She attacked a woman who smells of the autumn breeze, and has recently coerced the aid of the Fallen Fauna. She has also drafted the aid of a Valean crime lord, and makes her home in the warehouse district while the criminal robs the kingdom of Element Stones in all their forms."

"As a Bonded One, you know your Charmer's mind," the woman then states, eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. "Is his word good that he wishes to turn her from the Witch, or does he intend to betray Our King, as she has betrayed her kind?"

"My Charmer is fair and free as the Zephyr," I reassure. "His word is bond."

"Then may Our King give him blessing," the male says as he and the woman smile. "We shall go inform him of these developments, and inform you later of his decree. Until the winds bid us meet again, Bonded One."

"May the winds guide you to fortune," I reply with a bow before taking off, flying towards the warehouse district to meet up with Giro.

-Same time, Giro's P.o.V.-

After about ten minutes of aimless wandering, I had finally stopped a Pixy that was flitting about nearby and asked for directions to the warehouse district. Now, here I was, in the warehouse district, looking for the one a certain master thief would be holed out in, 'cause where Roman is, Cinder can't be too far at the moment. If school started in a month, then there was still a couple of weeks still before the start of canon. Speaking of, I should probably use that ID Skillbook at some point so I have a steady source of income and experience.

Wait, tangent, getting off track track. Anyways, as I was about to start looking, i heard the beating of wings and a familiar voice calling out to me, prompting me to turn towards the direction the voice was coming from and looking up, prompting me to smile and wave at Celaeno as she swooped down and then we charge a high-five as she lands beside me. "Anything by the docks?" I ask.

"Met a lovely Siren duo who gave me all of the juicy details of Cinder's recent activities," she replies. "Cinder and her little posse showed up last month during the night of a new moon on an unmarked ship. She's already drafted Mr. Pompous, and as of a few hours ago, she's stolen half of Amber's soul and Maiden power, and now has Taurus and his band of fanatics under her thumb as well."

"Damn. That'll make things a little tougher for my plans to turn her from Salem," I swear. "Give a human power with without them earning it first, and they won't part with it easily. Not unless you pin 'em down and strip the power away piece by painful piece, anyway."

"Difficult does not mean impossible, however," Celaeno reassures. "If we can slip into the deepest reaches of Cinder's subconscious, we can learn of how Salem discovered her, and find our means of bringing her back into the light. She's holed up somewhere in this district. If you can tag her now, we can do this one step at a time, work our way towards making Cinder betray the Witch bit by bit."

"Right let's get to searching, then," I reply with a nod. Before we started searching, though, Celaeno held out her hand and gave me a slip of paper with special symbols written across its surface. I smirk as I accept it, knowing this to be a Spirit Tag, special talismans that exist only in the Spirit World and Astral Plains, but are capable of affecting those who inhabit the Physical World.

Once a person has been "tagged" by one of these babies, the one(s) who tagged them will always have their location while in the Spirit World, as well as a backdoor into their mind and soul. All Spiritual Mana wielding Gifted are familiar with Spirit Tags, as being able to use Spiritual Mana, regardless of the form, usually means that the user in question has already been tagged, themselves. By the Spirit King of their element in the case of Elementalists, their Bonded Spirit for Spirit Charmers, their Contracted Spirit(s) for Summoners, or their… well… mate, for lack of a better word, with Covenanters.

Shaking my head to clear away those thoughts I start searching from the ground while Celaeno searches from the air. "Hey Giro! I found the place!" I faintly hear Celaeno call from the other side of the warehouse district after about an hour of searching, catching my attention as my new fox ears perk up. Smirking, I start navigating my way over to where Celaeno is. After joining up with Celaeno, she lifted off the ground and grabbed me by the shoulders, giving me a lift to an open window. Slipping into the window, I help Celaeno through as well and we then make our way back down to ground level.

Once we were on ground level, I smirked a bit when I saw Roman Torchwich, obviously in the middle of planning a heist of some sort, though I was a bit surprised to see some Faunus whom he seems to be acting rather friendly towards. Given how he talks and acts about and around the White Fang in the series proper, I'd half-expected the guy to be quite blatantly racist towards the Faunus. Well, glad to be proven wrong; gives me incentive to get him and Neo out from under Cinder's, and Salem's by extension, thumb. Didn't see the Bitch Bishop herself, though. Must still be in the middle of consolidating her alliance with that murdering bastard, Taurus.

Oh well, I can work with this. Waving Celaeno over, I smirk a little. "Let's tag Mr. Roman Candle over there," I say simply.

"Not arguing, but why?" Celaeno asks in reply, even as she readies her Spirit Tag. "I thought the guy was a smug, racist bastard who only cared about survival?"

"I'm starting to think matchhead's gripe is more the White Fang itself and not the Faunus," I comment, motioning to the Faunus he's interacting with. "We're seeing him interact with Faunus right now, not a White Fang uniform in sight, and I'd dare say the guy looks downright comfortable right now."

Celaeno takes a look at Torchwich and whoever the Faunus chick he was talking with (she had a cat tail and was dressed like a biker chick, so rather easy to figure out her gender) was, and obviously found herself agreeing with me, cause I heard her say "point granted" even as she tagged Roman. "Where's Cinder, though? I don't see her at all."

"Me neither. I imagine she's wherever the hell Taurus and his murderous zealots are camped, in the middle of consolidating her alliance with them," I shrug as we make our way back up to the open window so we can make our exit and return to my physical body. "All we can really do right now is tag Roman so we can keep track of him and Neo - we both know he's never far from the ice cream bitch - and wait for Cinder to show up in Vale proper."

-in the physical world, no P.o.V.-

Roman Torchwich, renowned criminal mastermind, idly scratched at his nose, the only indication he gave to a sudden, inexplicable urge to sneeze.

The Faunus he was talking with obviously noticed, as she raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong, Roman?"

"Not sure, Julius," he replies. "Feels like someone's talking about me and those White Fang nut jobs for whatever reason."

"Weird. I know the group they've got stationed here in Northern Saunus have been growing more… enthusiastic… about the possibility of fighting in their raids than others, but come on, Roman," the Faunus, Julius, replies. "Even if you're a wanted man in three of four of the Kingdoms, it's pretty much an open secret among law enforcement world wide that you've always been a supporter of the more peaceful Faunus Rights movements. It would take something straight out of a fairytale to get you, of all people, to work with the White Fang as it's been operating since five years ago."

At Roman's side, Neopolitan nodded her head in agreement. No one in the warehouse acknowledged a gust of wind coming from the upper levels.

Spice: And this chapter is finally done! I really need to get back into a better work ethic for writing for these stories of mine, good lord.

ELFI: to anyone curious, the name of the Faunus Roman is seen conversing with at the end of the chapter is a reference to Armored Core 4 Answer.

Spice: Don't expect her to show up much more beyond little cameos. Also, my thoughts on why Roman is such a dick around the White Fang. Dude's a thief, only thing that those types listen to is their own moral compass. I personally think that Roman isn't so much racist towards as he is against the way the White Fang operates under Sienna's leadership. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter you guys, and until next time, this is Spiceracksargent001, signing out.