Chapter 8- Lost and Found
Seagulls cried overhead as the sun began setting over the seaside kingdom known as Argus whilst the group made their way through the bustling town, making their first stop at a rental garage for Yang to put her beloved bike away while they were there. Oscar and Snowla marveled at the towering walls that surrounded them when a sudden voice caught everyone's attention. "Cute Boy OZ!" An excited orange haired young woman pointed to the farmhand with a big grin on her face as she ran over tackling the teenager to the ground in a hug making him groan. Followed by two young men, the first being dressed in what looked to be traditional yet modernized green and white attire with long scruffy black hair who asked Yang if they were all okay hugging the brawler, the second being a blonde wearing white and gold armor claiming how worried he and his team were hugging Blake as Weiss walked over. Oscar sat up in a dazed state rubbing his head. "Who's the old lady and little lion?" The excited orange haired huntress asked, pointing to Maria and Snowla. Ruby smiled softly at the blonde huntsman who smiled right back as they walked over to one another and hugged, relief washing over the two of them. But when they broke apart the huntsman's smile morphed into a slight frown as he averted his gaze away from Ruby. "Hey I promised didn't I?" She asked with a reassuring smile. "Yeah...You did." He said, wiping away a tear that was starting to form. "It's good to see you guys." With all of the reuniting out of the way everyone hopped onto a trolley and rode it down the cobblestone streets. The two teams caught up and chatted about how Argus was formed whilst the others were marveling at the all of the new sights, Okami being the most excited out of all of them itching to walk around the new place as he whimpered. "I get your excited buddy but could you stop squirming for a minute? I don't want you to get lost." Snowla said holding the wolf in her arms. Okami barked in understanding and just looked around. Soon the trolley came to a stop and everyone made their way off. "We should probably start looking for a ship." Blake suggested. "So where have you guys been staying?" Oscar asked. "Uhh haha…" The blonde chuckled nervously and was about to answer when a voice cut him off. "There you are." Everyone turned to see a young blonde haired woman with blue eyes waving to them, holding a happy toddler in her arms. "Hey Saph..." The blonde greeted. Ruby gasped in shock and surprise her silver eyes wide as she looked between Jaune and his sister. "I can't believe were meeting your sister!" Everyone was invited in and seated in the living room, Okami going over to the toddler to investigate the little one and gently hugging him with his forelegs whilst Yang and Weiss were squealing and cooing at how adorable the duo were. "So Saphron your the only Arc living here?" Blake asked, the two Arc siblings were going at it, Saph pinching her brother's cheeks and Jaune trying to push his sister off when the front door opened as a young woman with short dark brown hair with and eyes walked in carrying two bags of groceries. "Everyone is this my wife Terra Cotta." Everyone greeted Saph's wife waving or simply saying hello. "Why hello there. Wow quite a party you weren't kidding, hon could I get some help please?" Terra Cotta asked heading for the kitchen with Saph right behind her. "And your sure it's alright that we stay with you?" Weiss asked. "You all risk so much to keep people like use safe it's the least we can do. Especially for such an elite huntsman like yourself although I will say I am surprised you brought students with you. Is that even... legal?" Terra asked curious. "Of course think of it as an extended training mission. Trust me I was a professor, these kids are way better than we were at their age." Qrow reassured only to be cut off by his niece. "Shut up there's food!" Ruby said excitedly before shoving a sandwich in front of Qrow's face.
Later that night…
Everyone watched as Jaune punched the wall in anger leaving a baseball sized dent as he breathed heavily. "Everything we did for nothing!" The young huntsman walked away from the wall as Blake spoke saying how that was not true. "Really? Cause it sure does sound like it to me." The orange haired huntress said in annoyance. "If Salem can't be killed then how are we going to win this?" The black haired huntsman in green asked, leaning against the staircase. Everyone thought for a moment trying to come up with an answer when Oscar tried to lift the defining silence nervously. "Wow...great plan everyone." The blonde said sarcastically. "Look none of this is great we know but we aren't the bad guys here." "Are we sure about that?" The blonde male asked. "What…" Oscar said, confusion laced in his voice. "He's in your head right? Did you already know about this?" The huntsman asked as he quickly walked over to the farmhand. "He didn't know anything." Weiss defended but the blonde refused to listen as he shoved Oscar against the wall roughly. "How much longer can we even trust him? How do we even know if it's really him? What if we've been talking to that liar the entire time was him." The blonde knight asked raising a fist over the very frightened teenager. Oscar flinched shutting his eyes awaiting for the oncoming punch but it never came. Opening his eyes the farm boy saw Snowla standing in front of him, a metallic claw covering her hand that held a firm yet gentle grip on the huntsman's arm. "I get that your upset after learning how we might not be able to beat Salem but do you really think it's fair to take your anger out on a defenseless fourteen year old? I know you blame Ozpin for all of this and that's fine but I will not let you punch my friend for no good reason. I'll give you two choices. One being you take a walk or do whatever you need to cool off or Two which is me dragging you outside by your arm like a naughty kid and knocking some sense into that thick skull of yours. So which will it be?" Snowla asked, her expression was calm yet from her royal purple eyes Jaune got a clear view of a protective mother lion protecting her cub as the pint sized teen released his arm. Jaune glanced over at Oscar for a moment before walking up the steps and slamming one of the bedroom doors behind him loudly. "Is he going to be okay?" Yang asked, concerned for her friend. "I don't know!" Nora said exasperated. "I think what we need is some space and a bit of time to ourselves." Ren said as he and Nora made their way upstairs going after their leader. Ruby went off to find Maria wondering where the old woman had gone as well as ask her a few questions, a few minutes later whilst Weiss, Blake plus Yang made their way upstairs to see how Maria and their leader were doing leaving Oscar and Snowla in the living room alone.
"So ummm you knew Ozpin?" Oscar asked, looking over at the lion faunus. "Yup he's family. My parents met him during the Vytal Festival when they were around Team RWBY's age. My parent's team, Team VRML was going up against Ozpin's team, Team OGIP. After they battled it out both teams got to know each other and once graduation came they all went their different ways. My parents still went on missions up until Mom was pregnant with my older brother Frego, so she choose to become a teacher at Signal Academy while Dad went to be a Professor at Beacon. Imagine his surprise to find Ozpin as the headmaster at one of the four kingdoms schools for huntsmen and huntresses." Oscar patiently listened as Snowla continued explaining, occasionally asking a question or two. "When my brother was born Ozpin was actually one of the first to visit according to Mom and seeing how they were all close friends my Dad asked if he would be Frego's uncle, naturally he agreed and helped take care of him and spoiling him a little. When I came along when Frego was 4 or 5 I think Ozpin became protective like my dad when it came to me liking boys. In other words if any boy was hitting on me or messing with me when Frego and I visited Beacon let's just say my uncle would not hesitate to knock some sense into that person with his cane." Snowla said with a chuckle. "Sounds nice." Oscar said, smiling slightly. "Yeah, and are you feeling any better or do you need Okami's help too?" The lion faunus asked. "Some cuddling couldn't hurt." The lion faunus brought the hyper pup over to the farmhand who gladly held the wolf who was squirming in his arms whining a little. "Sorry about that. Every since we arrived in Argus this crazy boy wanted to explore which is why he doesn't really wanna be held." Snowla explained, sheepishly as the wolf leapt out of the farmhand's arms and ran for the door, pawing at the wooden frame. Oscar chuckled, smiling at Snowla gently ruffling her head much to the shorter girl's annoyance as she playfully attempted to smack his hands away. "How about we go for a walk? Okami clearly wants to see more of Argus and so do I." "That sounds awesome!" Snowla cheered as the pair left the Arc household. They talked as they walked. Oscar recounting how he had left his family farm and met Team RNJR at Haven. Snowla listening with a grin as Okami trotted ahead of them, taking in the new sights and smells. As Snowla was distracted by the town she didn't see Oscar get lost. "Uhh Oscar? Do you know where we are?" The lion faunus asked, looking around didn't see oscar. "Oh this is not good. Where did he go?" She looked around for the teenager but found her furry companion instead. "Thank goodness you're still here buddy. Now we need to find Oscar think you can sniff him out?" The wolf nods and sniffs the ground. Snowla watching as she followed the canine when he perked his head up before taking off down the cobblestone street. Snowla quickly chased after the canine, weaving through the crowds of people until the duo arrived at… a clothes shop? After looking around they saw Oscar emerge from a changing room. Instead of wearing his usual farm clothes the fourteen year old was now wearing an olive coat with shoulder pads and belt both of them a dark shade of red, underneath the coat was a white collared shirt and bandages around his neck. His gloves had a slight u shaped opening with black x patterned wrist straps alongside black trousers and red boots colored orange at the toe. "Woah." Snowla said, liking Oscar's new outfit and walking inside the shop with Okami in her arms.
"Thanks!" Oscar said, smiling from ear to ear. "So you wanna explain why you just up and left me?" Snowla asked.
"Sorry, thought you were behind me." The farmhand replied, rubbing the back of his neck. "Hey it's okay. I kinda wasn't paying much attention either. After you pay for your clothes I wanna show you something."
"Great!" With that settled the farmhand went back into the changing room and Snowla waited for him, setting the pup down. 'Hopefully this time Tick Tock won't try to take over like at the farm.' The lion faunus thought. "Whatcha need Snowla?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to go the beach with me and Okami?"
"Sure!" Snowla smiled and they got onto one of the trollies and rode it to the seaside.
"Why'd you wanna go here?" Oscar asked as they stepped off the trolley and made their way down to the shoreline. "Because I wanted to show you something silly." Snowla said with a smile as the three stopped to marvel at the waves gently crashing against the shore. The lion faunus nodded to Okami who let out a happy yip before running in front of the two and sitting down, tail wagging. Oscar tried to wrap his head around why Snowla was up to when she took off her flute from around her neck and extended it to its full length. Remembering what had happened back at the Brunswick Farm the fourteen year old turned his attention over to Okami as she began to play the same song she performed that night on the farm. He watched her for a few moments noticing her tail was acting like a metronome swishing in time with her playing before turning his sights on Okami who was no longer sitting on the sand but in his place was a large orb of light as a pair of black feathered wings protruded from the light as it slowly began to disappear revealing a large beowolf like grimm only it looked more like a real wolf rather than the grimm that stood on two legs. Snowla played the final note before removing her flute away from her lips, smiling at Oscar. "Since you were about to scream your head off like a big chicken the first time I did Ozpin took over that night on the farm. This is really Okami." Snowla explained, returning her flute back to its short state and clipping it back around her neck.
"Nice to see you again Oscar. I didn't mean to scare you that night on the farm and I hope your not still afraid of me now." Okami said softly, lying down on his stomach so the young man could have a better look at the grimm. Oscar shook his head smiling at the large grimm before him. "I'm not afraid of you Okami, well at first yeah because I had never even seen a grimm like you before but now? I'm amazed and curious about you." Snowla smiled at this, relieved that Oscar wasn't freaked out. "How about we head on back to the house? I think everyone else is still looking for us and they'll be hungry I bet." As if on cue the lion faunus' stomach growled loudly. "Looks like there not the only ones huh?" Oscar asked. "Yes…Can we head back now?" "Yeah. Let's head back." "If you'd like I could fly you both back." Okami offered. "No no no no a million times no. Do you want the Atlas military to come raining down on your tail? Not happening mister were walking." Okami gave his master a annoyed pouty look as he returned to his wolf pup form.
A/N: Hi everyone I'm sorry that tonight's chapter was a day late :( I haven't been feeling all that great. I managed to catch my brother's head cold -_- So writing has been a challenge. But here's today's chapter and I hope you all enjoy it. I tried to give Oscar a chance to shine this chap. Tell me what you all think and I will post the next chapter either on Sunday, Monday or when I don't feel like I'm being hit with a truck and swallowing sand at the same time.