Vale, day

"Ah, the Vytal Festival. Is there anything better in the world?" Weiss asked as she walked through the city with her teammates and Team XICR.

"Yes. Food, television, music, art, food, video games, food. Did I already say food?" Dominic asked.

"You do know they bring food from EVERY Kingdom to these things, right?" Ivy asked, at which Dominic ran as fast as he could to the nearest food stand. This process repeated 20 times before Dominic returned with kebabs, noodles, and an entire vat of pure lard.

"How are you alive with all the junk you eat?" Weiss asked, disgusted by Dominic's taste in cuisine.

"Who knows? Guess I'm just lucky." Dominic said as he took a bite out of a kebab, stick and all. Once it reached his stomach, it fell into a pool of magma. 'Yeah, I was lying. But in my defense, if Ironwood knew about how my body operated, then Yang and Ruby would be in danger.' he said in his head, eating a hot dog as he did so. 'And even IF Ironwood is kept in the dark about me, there's still the matter of Raven and what she'd do once she finds out where Ivy is.' The reason Raven hadn't used her Semblance to create a Portal to Ivy was due to Dominic's Semblance. When he told Blake and Ivy that his Shortcuts where his Semblance, he lied.

His true Semblance was the ability to pass a piece of his own power to others, making them stronger for as long as he wanted. He called it "Royal Blessing".

When he used it on Ivy, her Aura strengthened to the point that Raven's Portals couldn't lock on to her. Granted, this meant that Dominic's Aura would be weakened until he retracted Royal Blessing, but as long as it kept Ivy from Raven, he didn't care. As long as she was safe.

"I've never seen you smile this much, Weiss. It's kinda freaking me out." Ruby said, with her siblings nodding.

"How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world. There will be dances, parades, a tournament! Oh, the amount of organization and planning that goes into this is simply breathtaking!" Weiss explained, clearly enamored by the festivities.

"Wow. Never thought I'd hear someone make a festival about paperwork. The very reason people go to these things is to get AWAY from work." Dominic said to Weiss. "Take a load off and relax. It's what everyone else is doing."

"Ugh. Hard to do that when it smells like fish." Ruby said, holding her nose shut. Curiously, Blake didn't seem to mind it.

"Yeah, couldn't we have enjoyed the festival further away from the docks?" Yang asked.

"I heard that students from Vacuo would be arriving today. And as a representative of Beacon, I feel it is my duty to welcome them to this fine Kingdom!" Weiss said, trying to sound genuine.

"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Blake translated, turning Weiss into a sputtering mess.

"You can't prove that!" Weiss said.

"You kinda did by telling them that." Connor pointed out.

"Woah, what happened here?" Ruby asked as they walked past a Dust shop with broken windows and two detectives talking with eachother.

Dominic raised his hand toward the group before leaning in to the conversation. After they were done talking, Dominic turned back to his friends. "They said this is the second Dust shop to be robbed this week."

"That's terrible." Yang said.

"And that's not even the strange part. Apparently, whoever did this left all the money." Dominic said, reminding Ruby and Gregory of a certain thief. "Those idiots think the White Fang's behind it." Blake could've sworn she heard Dominic say "Human Trash" under his breath.

"Hmph. The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates." Weiss huffed, angering Blake and Dominic.

"What did you just say?" Dominic asked, the temperature of the area slowly increasing. "I don't think I heard you right."

"No, you heard me correctly. I don't care for the criminally insane." Weiss said.

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths! They're a collection of misguided Faunus." Blake countered.

"Misguided!? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!" Weiss yelled, trying to get her point across.

"Maybe we should let 'em." Dominic said, getting the attention of both Weiss and Blake. "You seem to forget that Humans are responsible for everything the Faunus are going through. What would you do if you had to work in a mine until you're no longer considered useful?" Dominic asked Weiss, who remained quiet at the inquiry. "Thought so."

"He does have a point." Ruby said, nervous as to how it would affect the argument. "Besides, they never caught Torchwick. Maybe it was him."

"That doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum that only know how to lie, cheat, and steal." Weiss said, riling up Blake and Dominic even further.

"Weiss, you know that's not true, right?" Connor asked.

"Hey! Stop that Faunus!"

The group turned to the source of the voice, where they saw a blonde monkey Faunus escaping a boat. "Thanks for the ride!" he told his pursuers.

'This isn't really helping my case with Weiss.' Connor thought as Sun ran past them, winking at Blake as he did so.

"Well, Weiss. You wanted to observe the competition. There it goes." Yang joked.

"Quick! We have to observe him!" Weiss said before dashing after the Faunus.

"Why!?" Dominic and Connor asked at the same time. After a few minutes of running, Weiss accidentally ran into a girl, letting Sun got away. "That was the worst experience I've ever gone through in my life." Dominic said, trying to keep his footing.

"Uh, Weiss?" Ivy said, pointing to the ginger haired girl she was currently on top of.

"Salutations!" the new girl greeted as she stood up. Gregory seemed shocked at her appearance before regaining his composure.

'No, that's not her. She's dead.' he thought to himself before pushing those memories back down.

"Heya." Ivy responded.

"My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny greeted happily.

"Hi Penny. I'm Ruby." Ruby said.

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked before being hit in the side by Blake. "Oh, I'm Yang."

"I'm Connor."

"The name's Ivy."

"I'm...Gregory."

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Dominic said before Gregory hit him in the head. "Sorry, I'm Dominic."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny said.

"Didn't you already say that?" Weiss asked.

"So I did!" Penny said, trying to mask her nervousness.

"Well, sorry for running into you." Weiss apologized as she and the others walked away.

"Take care, friend!" Ruby said with a wave.

"She was...weird." Yang said.

"Now where did that Faunus riff-raff get to?" Weiss asked as Penny suddenly appeared in front of them.

"What did you call me?" she asked as Weiss looked back and forth, trying to understand how she did that.

'Anime logic.' Dominic concluded.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't think you heard me." Yang said, putting her hands up in a "Don't hurt me" position.

"Not you. YOU." Penny clarified, pointing at Ruby. "You called me friend. Am I really your friend?"

Ruby looked to her friends for guidance. All of them barring Dominic shook their heads vehemently. Dominic on the other hand was giving a thumbs up and an entertained grin. "Sure. Why not?" Ruby said, prompting everyone except Dominic to faint comically. As for her older brother, he was currently emptying his stomach into the nearest trash can.

"Sensational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!" Penny fantasized.

"So, why are you in Vale?" Ivy asked.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament!" Penny said, surprising everyone.

"YOU'RE fighting in the tournament?" Weiss asked.

"Yeah! I'm combat ready!" Penny said, getting into a fighting stance.

'I think we just found her catchphrase.' Dominic thought with a smile.

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part." Weiss said.

"Said the girl in the dress." Gregory said.

"It's a Combat Skirt!" Weiss said before low-fiving Ruby. "Wait a minute. If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed rapscallion?!" Weiss asked, ruining Dominic's good mood.

"The who?" Penny asked, unaware of the Faunus in question.

"The filthy Faunus from the boat!" Weiss clarified, holding up a crudely drawn picture of said Faunus.

'Where the hell'd she get that?' Ivy thought.

"Stop calling him that!" Blake yelled. Weiss turned to her teammate at her outburst. "Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you prefer it if I stopped referring to this lamppost as a lamppost, or this trashca-" Weiss stopped talking when she saw the now melted trashcan. "You get my point."

"Stop it!" Blake said.

"Stop what? He clearly broke the law. Give him time, I'm sure he'll join those other Faunus in the White Fang." Weiss continued.

Dominic was reaching his limit. He ignited his fist and prepared to sear that racist mug right off Weiss's face. But before he could follow through, his entire body was bound with black strings. Ivy and Gregory looked over to Connor, who was doing everything he could to keep Dominic restrained. However, it seemed Weiss and Blake were too caught up in their argument to notice.

"You ignorant little brat!" Blake shouted before walking away.

"How dare you, I am your teammate!" Weiss shouted back, following Blake.


RWBY Dorm, night

Eventually, the argument was brought to the dorm, where the two opposing sides were being observed by the rest of their team and Team XICR. (Once Dominic calmed down)

"MAYBE WE WERE TIRED OF BEING PUSHED AROUND!" Blake shouted before realizing what she said. Once she did, she ran out of the room.

"Y'know, that was a real cruel thing to do, Weiss." Connor said, a disappointed look on his face.

"Why? It just proves I'm right about her being in the White Fang." Weiss said.

"If she was really in the White Fang, then why didn't she try to kill either of us? She had plenty of chances, sleeping in the same room as the Schnee heiress." Connor asked rhetorically. He knew his sister wouldn't have an answer. "Did you know that I knew she was a Faunus?"

"You what!? Then why didn't you say anything!?" Weiss asked.

"Because it didn't matter."

"The hell it does!"

"Tell me, what's the difference between a human and a Faunus? And NOT the animal features." Connor asked, already knowing his sister's answer.

"That's obvious. They're no-good thieves!" Weiss said before a shard of stone flew past her face, grazing her cheek. She looked over to Dominic, who glared at her with his left eye ignited.

"People like you are why I can't stand humanity. You're all nothing but stubborn fools." he said before leaving.


Beacon Courtyard, night

Blake sat next to a statue of a huntsman, relating a bit to the Beowulf beneath his feet. With a sigh, she undid her bow to reveal black cat ears. On the verge of crying, she heard a familiar voice.

"And as usual, I'm right."

She turned around to see Dominic. As she prepared to run off again, he tried to calm her down. "Don't worry, I'm alone." 'Jackass.'

Once Blake registered Dominic's words, her eyes widened. "Wait, you knew I was a Faunus?"

"You're lucky everyone in this school is an idiot. Otherwise, you'd have more trouble with that flimsy disguise you had." Dominic said with a grin, making Blake scratch the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Did you come out here to bring me back in?" Blake asked.

"No, I know nothing I say will make you go back. In fact, I came out here to join you." Dominic said, surprising Blake. "You're not the only one who needs some time away from Weiss."

At that, the duo walked toward the landing pads so they could hijack a Bullhead.

"I personally think you look better without the bow." Sun said from atop a pillar, making Dominic face-palm.


Sun Wukong

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Species: Faunus

Semblance: Light Clones

Element: Light

Battle Class: Sentinel


Penny Poledina

Age: 5 months

Gender: Female

Species: Android

Semblance: Unknown

Element: Tech

Battle Class: Swashbuckler