Team JSON

Chapter 13

The Stray

Sonya was in the bathroom, washing her face, she took the curls out of her hair. She changed into her combat attire.

A brown cowboy vest with a purple t-shirt under it. Blue jeans and boots. She put on her belt and strapped her holsters for her gun onto them.

She packed some ammo onto her belt then holstered her gun. As she walked out of the room she ran into Jason. "Woah, hey!" Jason said as he almost dropped the equipment he was carrying. "Oh, sorry! Hey what's all that for?" as she looks at the box full of stun rounds and training weapons.

"I promised Jaune I would train him whenever we're free and since we have the entire day off today, I decided to dedicate this day to training." Jason answered.

"You sure he can handle it?" Sonya said. "He could handle my two hour sessions. This is just… what six more hours." Jason replied.

Sonya shook her head, "Whatever, just don't hurt him too much." She said as she walked away. "Hey where you going?" Jason called out.

"I have an appointment with Team RWBY, I said I would meet them in Vale today." She answered.

"Oh, alright have fun." Jason said as he walked away trying to balance the equipment and not drop them.

Sonya smiled then turned and walked to fine a ship to get her to Vale.

Vale: 30 minutes later

Vale was bustling with people. Every shop was crowded and the Shopkeeper was hanging up a huge banner that read, Welcome to Vale, "The Vytal Festival! Oh this is absolutely wonderful!" Weiss exclaimed as Team RWBY and Sonya entered the city.

"I don't think I've seen you smile this much Weiss. It's kinda weirding me out…" Ruby says as she sees Weiss's happy look on her face.

"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 planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking."

"Your excited about the organization and planning?" Sonya asked giving Weiss a quizzical look.

"Yeah, you really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring." Yang added

"Quite, you two!" Weiss said.

"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" Sonya asked as they approached the docks.

"Ugh, they smell like fish." Ruby complained as she pinches her nose.

"Guess why Ruby." Sonya mumbled under her breath.

"I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving be ship today." Weiss said. "And as a representative of Beacon I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom."

"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament" Blake said as they continue to walk towards the dock entrance. Sonya snickers, "That sounds like her."

"Shut up, you can't prove that!" Weiss said.

"Whoa." Ruby said as she looks to the groups right. A the turn they see a dust shop with its glass broken and two police inspecting it.

The doors were open and everything inside was a mess. There were yellow, 'Do not cross' tags put up all over the crime scene.

The girls approach the shop. "What happened here?" Ruby asked.

"Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." The first cop said. Yang scoffs, "That's terrible" Yang says. "What did they steal?" Sonya asked.

"They left all the money again." The second cop says. "Huh?" Ruby says.

"Yeah, it just doesn't make a lick'o sense. Who needs that much Dust anyway?" the first cop said. "I dunno ya know what I mean?" the second cop said.

"You thinking the uh, White Fang?" the first cop said. "Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough." The second one replied.

"Hmph. The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates." Weiss says folding her arm. "What's your problem?" Blake asks.

"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane." Weiss replied. "The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're just a collection of misguided faunus." Blake said.

"I have to disagree with that." Sonya said, everyone turned to look at her, "They want to wipe humanity of the face of the planet, and you call that misguided!?"

"So then they are 'very' misguided. Either way it wouldn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale." Blake protested.

"Hmm, Blakes got a point. Besides the police never caught that Torchwick guy me and Jason ran into a few months ago…Maybe it was him." Ruby says. "It still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those faunus only know how to lie cheat and steal."

"Hey! Not all faunus are like that!" Sonya yelled at Weiss. From behind the girls a mans voice calls out. "Hey stop that faunus."

The girls run to the docks and look over the railing to see two crewman chasing a blonde monkey tailed faunus. The faunus ran down the boat then hops on the railing of the ship. "Thanks for the ride guys!" he laughs then jumps down onto the docks.

"You no-good stowaway!" one of the crewmates shouted.

"Hey a 'no good' stowaway would have been caught. I'm a great stowaway!" the faunus called back while hanging from his tail on a light pole while peeling a banana.

A rock sails by his face, he moves and dodges it, "Hey, get down from here this instant." The first cop who threw the rock said. As he approached the faunus a banana peel lands on his face, a growls at the faunus.

The faunus flips and crouches on the top of the light pole and laughs mischievously. He then jumps into the air and does a few flips then lands a distance away from the police. He stands up and runs with the police chasing him.

The faunus sprints up the stairs and passes the girls. As he runs pass Blake, time slows and he winks at her, then time returns to normal and he sprints of into the distance with Blake staring at him.

"Well Weiss you wanted to see the competition and there it goes." Yang said. "Quick we have to observe him!" Weiss says as she runs after the faunus with her friends right behind her.

As they she turns a corner she runs into another girl knocking both her and the other girl over. Her friends run up behind her and sees her on the floor with the girl under her. Weiss looks up and sees the monkey Faunus free run up a building and jumped away.

"No! he got away!" Weiss complained. "Uhhh. Weiss?" Sonya and Yang said pointing at the girl Weiss is sitting on. "Euh." She says as she quickly stands up and backs away. "Salutations!" the girl on the floor says.

"Um…hello?" Ruby said as they looked down at the girl. "Are you…okay?" Yang said as the girl acted kind of strange and was still lying on the ground. "I'm wonderful. Thank you for asking." The girl answered.

The girls look at each other. "Do you… wanna get up?" Sonya asked. "Yes." The girl says as she does a flip kick and lands on her feet. The girls all take a involuntary step back. "My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!" the girl called Penny asked.

"Hi Penny, I'm Ruby."

"I'm Weiss"

"The names Sonya."

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asks, Blake hits her, "Oh, I'm Yang."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Penny said. "You already said that." Weiss says. Penny takes a moment to think, then answers, "So I did!"

"Well sorry for running into you." Weiss said as the group starts to leave. "Take care, friend." Ruby says as she waves at the girl and they leave.

"She was… weird." Yang said. "Yeah, tell me about it." Sonya added. "Now where did that faunus riffraff run off to." Weiss said. Then they stop, Penny was directly in front of Weiss. "What did you call me?" Penny said.

"Oh, I'm really sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me?" Yang says. "Yeah, I didn't mean it!" Sonya said. "No, not you…" Penny steps up to Ruby and leans in close causing Ruby to lean back, "Me!? I-I don't, I—what i—um, uh—" Ruby stutters not knowing what to say.

"You called me friend, am I really your friend?" Penny asked. "Ummm…" Ruby look behind Penny at her friends who were shaking their head and motioning no. "Ya, sure, why not" Ruby said.

Her friends all stare at her with open mouths and wide eyes, then they fall on the ground. Penny lets out a happy laugh, "Sen-sational!" Penny exclaims as she pumps both arms, "We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

"Ooh, is this what it was like when you met me?" Ruby whispers to Weiss. "No, she seems 'far' more coordinated."

"Soo, what are you doing in Vale?" Yang asks Penny. "I'm here to fight in the tournament." Penny says. "Wait… you're fighting in the tournament?" Sonya asked as she looks the girl up and down. "I'm combat ready!" Penny says as she salutes to Weiss.

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part." Weiss said. "Says the girl wearing the dress." Blake says. "Hey, it's a 'combat skirt'." Weiss counters. Ruby speed over to Weiss, "Yeah!" she says as she low-fives Weiss.

Then Weiss's eyes widen, "Wait a minute." She walks over to Penny and grabs her shoulder, "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed… rapscallion?" Both Sonya and Blake grit their teeth upon hearing this.

Penny looks confused, "The who?" Penny asks. "That filthy faunus from the boat." Weiss said holding a badly drawn picture of the faunus. "Why do you keep saying that?" Blake angrily asked Weiss.

Weiss turns toward her, "Huh?"

"Stop calling him a rapscallion, stop calling him a degenerate. He's a person!" Blake said. "Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trashcan as a trashcan, or this la—" Weiss is interrupted as she ducks a bullet.

When she looks up she sees Sonya with her gun out, the barrel was steaming and tears were streaming out of her eyes, she was shaking with rage. She fired another shot at Weiss then another, she kept shooting until she ran out of bullets.

She jams her gun into her holster then, screams at Weiss, "We are not trash!" then her eyes turn wide. She looks up with shock as she realized what she just said. She looks around at her staring friends, she backs up then runs away.

She ran and kept running until her legs screamed for her to stop. She stopped and sat down in front a building and started to sob. A boy walks up to her, he had armored shoulder and elbow pads. He wore a red jacket underneath and a Navy blue pants. He had two wolf ears on the top of his head.

As he approached Sonya, she looked up, "Oh, hey Fenris." She said as she looked down again. "Hey foxy what's wrong?" he said in a comforting voice. She looked at him again then looked down. She took of her beanie to reveal two fox ears. "I knew you would look better without your hat." He said.

"They know." Sonya says. "Who?" Fenris asks. "My friends. They know I'm a faunus."

"So?"

"So, now what am I going to do!"

"Tell the rest of them."

"What?" she looked at Fenris like he was crazy.

"If they see you differently because you're faunus then they aren't your true friends. If they don't care then they are your friends." He said, "Its like my team, when they saw I was a faunus they didn't complain."

"Yeah, but what if they react badly."

"Hey don't worry." He said, he stands up and helps Sonya up too, "I'll help." He then grabs her hand. Sonya blushes as he pulls her to the shipyard to get a ride back home. On the ship they stay holding hands.

Sonya gives a small smile and leans her head on his shoulder, silently hopes that he won't let go.

Team JSON's Room

"So you're a faunus?" Jason said as he stared at Sonya's fox ears. "Y-Yeah." Sonya says as she looks down.

"…So?" Niko says. "You mean… you don't care?" Sonya asks as she looks up with surprised eyes. "Sonya, just because you're a faunus doesn't make us hate you. You're still a friend and we care about you." Olivia said.

"Yeah, if we suddenly disliked you just because you were faunus then we would be no better than the Grimm." Jason said. Sonya's eyes fill with tears of joy she tries to say something but ends up crying with joy, "T-Thank y-y-you." she said as tears streamed down her face.

Her team closed in and gave her a group hug. Fenris just watched from the door with a smile on his face.

Then there was a knock on their door. Jason opened it to see a worried Ruby on the other side, "Hey Rubes what's wrong?" Jason asks. "It's Weiss and Blake. " Ruby says.

Team RWBY's Room

Weiss and Blake were having a yelling match, Jason didn't see what he could do so he had his friends stand by and see's how it plays out.

"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem." Weiss said. "That is the problem." Blake said back. You realize that you're defending an organization that hates humanity, don't you?" Weiss says as she stands up from her bunk, "the faunus of the White Fang are pure evil."

"They is no such thing as 'pure evil'! Why do you think the White Fang hate humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!" Blake yells as she also stands up from her bunk.

"People like me?" Weiss says placing a hand on her chest as she gives a look of surprised anger. "Your discriminatory!" Blake yells. "I'm a victim!" Weiss yells back. A silence fills the room then Weiss continues, "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the faunus?" Weiss says as she walks over to the window in their room.

"It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear, board members executed, an entire train car full of Dust… stolen. And every day my father would come home furious, and that made for a very difficult childhood." She says as she pounds her fist on the bookshelf.

Ruby walks over and tries to comfort her by placing a hand on her shoulder, "Weiss I—"

"No!" Weiss shouts as she shrugs off Ruby's hand and turns to Blake, "Your want to know why I despise the White Fang!? It's because they're a bunch of liars! Thieves! And murderers!" Weiss yells stepping closer to Blake with each word.

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Blake yelled. Silence, everyone in the cramped room turned to stare at Blake. Some with shock some with pity. Blake takes an involuntary step back, "I—" then she dashes out of the room. "Wait! Blake, come back!" Ruby yelled trying to run after her, Jason grabs her hood, "Give her some time." He says grimly." He gives Weiss a stone-cutting glare then leaves the room with his team and Fenris.

Beacon Courtyard

Blake ran down the path in the courtyard, she stops in front of a statue of a Huntsmen and Huntress standing on a cliff. The Huntsmen had his sword raised in triumph as the girl had her hand on a staff.

Underneath them was a Beowolf facing outward and snarling. She stares at the statue sadly as she reaches up and unravels the bow on her head to reveal two cat ears wriggling around. Then a familiar voice, "I knew you would look better without your bow."

Team RWBY's Room: Two days after incident

Ruby wakes up and looks at Blake's empty bunk and sighs. The door to her room opens and Jason walks in. he glances at Blake's bunk then looks at Ruby, "Still gone?" Ruby nods sadly. Jason nods then turns and leaves with a heavy sigh.

Streets of Vale

"She's been gone all weekend." Ruby says sadly. "Blake's a big girl. I'm sure she can handle herself." Weiss says. "Weiss, come on. She's one of our teammates." Yang says.

"Is she? We all heard what she said."

"Weiss." Ruby says.

"Maybe she is maybe she isn't. Either way we have to find her." Yang says.

"A member of the White Fang right underneath our noses!" Weiss says.

"Weiss we all know you hate the White Fang but that doesn't mean Blake is still associated with them." Jason says. Team JSON was also with them to help carry out the search. "They killed people in my fathers companie!" Weiss says as she turned to face him.

"Yeah so what that's nothing compared to what they did to me!" Jason shouted at her, then he continued walking. "Oh, yeah and what did they do that's worse than me, huh." Weiss said, Yang shot her a warning glance, "Weiss don't press it."

Weiss ignored her. "Well tell me, huh." Weiss said completely ignoring Yang, Jason tried to keep his anger under control but he was shaking with fury, "Weiss enough" Niko said. "Hey Jason, I'm asking you a question, what did the—" a fist slammed into her face sending her flying back several feet.

Jason stood there arm outstretched with fist clenched so hard his hand was bleeding, his golden eyes seemed to glow.

Jason turned and left with his team following gingerly behind him, then he stopped and turned back to Weiss, "They killed my family. Every. Sing. Member." he turned around and continued walking, "We'll search another part of the city." He said as she and his team walked away.

Weiss stared at him, she had a large bruise on her cheek. Yang went over to help her up, "You're lucky he didn't break your neck." She said. Ruby stared at Jason with a worried look on her face.