A team too LARJ

by Johno 343

This is a story about a team of four students at Beacon Academy and their adventures. Life at beacon is about to get interesting. With RWBY and JNPR along for the ride, it's certainly isn't going to be normal. Their past, growth and trials will shape these characters to become great hunters/tresses. This is the story of team LARJ.

12. Chapter 12

Hey Everyone, Johno 343 is back with another Chapter! How is everyone doing? Uni for me is finished, so I'll have more time to upload and create more of LARJ and Generation X!

Just a bit of advice: this gets dark…really dark at the end.

Arc 3: Re-start, Chapter 12: Investigations.

Beacon Academy - Hallways

Three members of LARJ walked through the hallways towards their dorm, all of them with a smug look on their faces.

"To think that we would be getting a mission this early…" Juge was lost for words as he grabbed his important weapon and looked at it. "This is almost like a dream to me."

"Easy there Velmón, anything can happen from now to the next morning." Riza scolded him like a mother would, waving her index finger like so. She looked at him, seeing a grin on his face - a rare expression of happiness - she couldn't help to smile back. "Yet I can't help but to feel excited too!"

'The amount of blood I'll be shedding from the Grimm scum...' A nearly maniacal grin spread across her face, but she regained her composure, settling back to her 'normal' self.

Velmón looked straight ahead before he and his team-mates turned a corner. "I guess we really caught the headmaster's attention, didn't we?" His mind returned to back to the general store/armory. "Ozpin and Valkin really trust us to complete his mission, so we can't fail this."

"Agreed~" Lucy sang as she ate another pocky. "Those two hunters are coming with us too~"

"That's right! Maryjane and Tahli." Riza remembered the older huntresses. "Akashi knew them before we even introduced ourselves." She crossed her arms and looked outside to the red skies; she swore she could see a Nevermore flying in the distance. "Didn't he say he needed something back from Valkin?"

"Apparently so." Juge saw their dorms just a few meters ahead "He said he couldn't find anything wrong with his new weapon. Honestly, I wanted to see just what new weapon he had."

"He was really serious about not showing us~" Lucy ran in front of Juge and opened their dorm door. Quickly taking off her shoes she - still wearing her uniform - jumped onto her bed and started fighting with her blanket. "But he did give us the name."

"Black Eclipse." Juge muttered as he politely took his shoes and placed them near the bottom of his bed. "If you think about it, it's a similar name to Crescent Rose, don't you think?"

"If Akashi started using a scythe, there's no telling what trouble he'd get into, not to mention that Ruby wouldn't be too pleased with it." Riza spoke jokingly.

"Heh... I'm sure he isn't the type of guy to copy ideas." Juge said ironically thinking about what he heard from Alexis. Akashi had a history of copying weapons after all. "But something about that name… feels off."

"Maybe~" Lucy had ceased playing with her blanket and laid upside down, gazing at her two team-mates. "But we should trust Akky, he did come back after all."

"I guess." Riza shook her head and gently stretched her body out, careful not to open the wounds again.

"Your wound, what did Ms. Utage say?" Juge asked with some curiosity in his voice. "Surely Ozpin would have spoken to the head nurse about your wound?"

"He did say that she would give a final say about my status tomorrow." She frowned slightly "If I'm not cleared, then he would find a replacement for me, and life would return to the same sickening academy life while you guys complete the mission." Her frown deepened.

"No~ I would refuse if Riza couldn't go." Lucy, from out of nowhere side hugged her faunus friend. "No way, no how~"

"...Lucy." Riza smiled at her friends words, but she kept that to herself. "You shouldn't hug people out of nowhere."

"But you were okay with it~"

"That's because I'm used to you hugging me out of the blue." She reminded her before peeling herself off from her. "I have some studying and catching up to do. I've asked professor Port to help me out for a while." Her eyes got slim as she grabbed her Grimm studies book. "I'll be back before dinner time alright?"

"Sure, bye bye~!" Lucy waved her goodbye.

"Hmm, take care Riza. Don't go bashing other students again, you hear?" The fox faunus flinched before walking off. Juge smirked as he walked towards his bed. "I suppose, it would be a good time to make sure that everything is in order for tomorrow." Kneeling down he pulled out a rather large case, quickly inputting the code the case opened, revealing an array of liquid dust, all in different colour. "Lucy, I'll be getting ready, what are you going to do?"

"Hmmm… I could always sleep." Lucy suddenly pulled out her ying-yang katanas and looked at them. Both blades were covered in blood and there was smudge on every inch of the hilt. "But these are dirty. Granny wouldn't be happy with me if a kept them like this~" she frowned a bit before taking a fine cloth and some containers from her side drawer. "Bye-bye Jugey, I'm going to clean my weapons!"

"See you soon, leader." Juge responded without looking at her as he picked out two vials of fire and ice dust. Nodding to herself, the red haired girl skipped to wherever she pleased.

…..

Akashi surveyed the armouries around him. He was more than impressed with the old man's work. His father did say that Vulcanus Forge was one of the best smitheries Remnant had to offer.

From a simple sword to a dust based saber, he had done it all. Akashi gently picked up the handle of the energy based weapon. "This could come in handy for close combat….I wonder."

An arm wrapped across his shoulders as his body froze with the scent of rosemary perfume and gun oil. "So you're the little hunter that my partner beat up, huh?" Her voice switched between smug and concerned, something that the young hunter was uncomfortable with.

His brown eyes met red ones and he backed away, seeing that she was a little too close, before he could react she laughed lightly "Pardon me honey, I do tend to step into other people's personal space without knowing myself." Her voice had a more southern accent laced in. The fact that she was aware of it after all was kind of confusing. Maybe she just didn't care? "So, how are you healing up sugar?"

"I'm fine, thank you for asking?" Mayhiro let the question hang in the air.

"We never introduced each other. Tahli Megumi, Nice to make your acquaintance." She smiled kindly at him. "Let's work smoothly together for tomorrow's mission okay?"

"Nice to meet you too Ms. Megumi. Let's get along." Akashi bowed slightly, a manner taught to him by his mother.

"So, how was it like?" she placed her hand on her hips and gave a sly smirk before looking him up and down. "My partner did do a number on you, but she does apologise sometimes you know."

"Oh this?" Akashi waved her off. "It's fine. Luckily my aura kept me going, otherwise… well, let's not think about the 'other possibilities'." He laughed lightly.

As the two talked, the grunts of the old hunter caught the attention before he emerged from his room. "Well…" He paused. "Oh, am I interrupting something?"

"Nothing at all!" Tahli shook his question of like it was nothing. "So? What was all the grunting about?"

"Something... nothing bothersome… actually." he sighed "I am a veteran smith… but knowing how Promethean Technologies makes their weapons is beyond me, but nevertheless I see nothing wrong with it Akashi, you can have it back." The white haired hunter handed back Akashi's weapon.

"Pardon me, sir" Tahli spoke. "But did you say Promethean Technologies?"

"Indeed lassie."

"I see…" the dark-blonde haired huntress looked at the younger hunter. "Do you mind telling me how did a freshmen like you manage to get your hands on something so advanced?" Her eyes watched as Akashi placed his weapon into a large rectangle like case before standing up.

"Well… in simple terms, I know the CEO of the place." Akashi shrugged his shoulders. "But I'd like to keep that a secret, please."

"Very Interesting." She licked her lips. She looked at Valkin before smiling at both of them. "It's time I head back to Vale; Jane gets impatient if I'm not at the compound. She waved the two males off before opening the door, the bell made a noise. "Ta-ta!"

Valkin waved her off before looking at Akashi "You know the CEO of P.T., huh?"His expression showed slight amusement.

"Yeah, but that's all people are going to get out of me sir." He grinned before touching the heavy case and lifted it with ease. "I'm going to head to the workshop to assemble my weapon!"

"Wait, I thought-"

"Nope!" He grinned "That was just the base of it, I've still got to install the other tools at well!" he pointed to the large box. "Why else did I bring this?"

"…." Shaking his head he gave a 'you sneaky lil' devil' grin "Looks like this generation is full of surprises."

"Trust me old man, prepare to see more awesomeness." Akashi looked at him before heading toward Beacon's workshop.

…...

Moving a 10 minutes into the future:

Beacon Academy, Workshop and Practice range

Akashi quietly walked into the large building. His ear was introduced to gunshots, metal clashing and other various noises. "This is my first time being here, looks pretty modern, but it's nowhere close to Pop's workshop" Having a smug look on his face her hefted the large object while clinging to his case that held his weapon.

"No time to be waste here Mayhiro, let's get this done before nightfall." The hunter ran his hand over his lightly spiked hair as he walked over to the nearest large table. Slamming the box onto it he sighed. "Even when I change its weight, it's still heavy~"

The box that Shelia and delivered was a chrome like casing with Orange line-like patterns running over the crate. It seemed to pulse faintly every moment, now and then. Placing the weapon case he looked at it more a moment.

"...Even if it's completed, it'll be awhile before I can fully master it... but that's the best part!" He grinned before opening the weapon case and took out his weapon.

The item he held was nothing more than a large black pole, just like the crate it too pulsed orange. Has the boy grabbed just a stick?

"Let's go: Black Eclipse!" As if it heard the command, the pole shattered into small pieces before being frozen in mid-air. After a few moments the pieces started to shift into other places, joining with other before it familiar shape was taking place, after no more than 10 seconds the black pieces took the form of a bow. "Oh yeah, that still gives me the shivers every time it does that!"

A cough interrupted his thought as he turns around. "Hello there Akashi."

"Oh? Hey Ren!" Standing behind the hunter was none other than Lie Ren. "Training I presume?"

"Indeed, and guessing by all that, you are working on your weapon? Black Eclipse."

"Huh? When did you..."

"I heard you call it when I was making my way towards here." Ren assured him. "But it does sound similar to Ruby's scythe."

"You wouldn't be the first to say that Ren. It was the only name I could think of when it was completed." Akashi laughed before he looked at the box. "I guess I need to complete this before tomorrow."

"Pardon, what's going on?" Ren looked surprised. "Have you gotten in trouble again?"

"No, nothing like that. My Team is going on its first mission!"

Now Ren was really surprised. He showed it in a very Ren-like way, by not shifting his expression at all.

…...

In a Cafe, somewhere in Vale

(Music used in this passage: Persona 5 (fan music) - Paradise)

At nearby Cafe in the heart of Vale, Two Huntresses where making conversation with each other as they slowly ate their dinner.

"Uwahh~" Maryjane, who usually barely wore any emotions had a face like she was on cloud nine. Taking her spoon, she quickly scooped another bit of mint-chocolate ice cream and squealed.

"Honestly." Tahli smiled at her partner "I'm always awestruck at your personality change when we eat dessert. Can't even look away!" Indeed her eyes were glued to Maryjane's happy expression. Instantly Mary's face turned to stone before she quietly swallowed, her cold gaze returning. "And just like that, she comes back." Tahli sighed.

"Tahli, I would appreciate if you didn't annoy me when I have dessert from the heavens itself. It would be rude to the chef." She muttered.

'I don't think that there are ice-cream chefs ~' Tahli kept that comment to herself.

"Beside, I'm eating all I can before tomorrow's mission to recover energy."

"You are gobbling it down like it's your last supper, honey-muffin." Tahli smirked at her. "And after each mission you come back to have the same thing."

"You underestimate fate, you never know what will be in store for us, we are huntresses after all." The blue haired huntress looked at her with a solemn expression. "You remember our promise right?"

Instantly Tahli scowled at her "I don't like talking about that, you know how it makes me feel."

"You still agreed to it." Maryjane interjected. "Don't back out of this now."

"Right..." Tahli looked down and stared at her cup. The blue haired huntress looked at her friend and closed her eyes.

"But it's not like I'm going anywhere." She did something that she rarely did outside of fighting and eating grand ice-cream desserts: she smiled.

"...thanks Jane." Megumi smiled at her as she rested her cheek on her hand. "But let's not dwell on that now, better get down to business. The mission with those kiddies."

"Hm, if they are anything like him, then the others will pull their weight. Combined they might very well surpass us."

"Hey~" the long haired girl wagged her finger at her. "They aren't getting past us just yet. We've still got a couple of tricks to show them, don't you agree?"

"Yeah." The cold huntress took another scoop of her ice cream. "But don't you think it's strange that a truck in Roxford village could just suddenly disappear like that?"

"You're thinking it's White Fang related?"

"No." Her blue eyes flickered. "They would have made a mess if it was them. I think it's something much worse than that."

"You think we should get the others in on this?" Tahli pointed her fork at her, which was still holding a piece of her strawberry cake. "Your hunches are mostly half right."

"...no, whatever it is we can handle it in time with LARJ." she took another scoop. "But if something comes up we call the others."

"Noted and stored~" The marks-woman winked at her and held her index finger to her temple. Maryjane smiled before looking at the setting sun. "It sure is a good view, isn't it?"

The two looked at the setting orb of heat as the stars started to twinkle.

"It's beautiful." Tahli nodded.

"...I was talking about the strategic vision cone of this cafe."

"That's so like you hehehe." She laughed.

As the two much wanted to star gaze (or at least one of them), a familiar buzzing caught their attention, the blue haired hunters was the first to react as she picked up the scroll and swiped the screen.

"Hello, this is Maryjane, who's calling at this hour?"

"Ah, Maryjane Hart, so glad that you could answer." The voice spoke "This is Ozpin from Beacon Academy. Have I caught you at a difficult time? I would understand if your are preparing-"

"There is nothing to worry about, Headmaster, but I am curious why you'd call." Her blue eyes gazed at the screen, however she was looking at one 'audio only' sign.

"I see, to be brief Beacon Academy does have a curfew for students, especially the freshmen." He stated. "Unfortunately one student has gone off somewhere. She did not return and now even more students are looking for her."

"So, you've got a name...?"

"Her name is Blake Belladonna."

"So this little munch-kin has gone for a bit of a run, and you want us to make sure she returns back to the farm save and sound, am I correct?"

"Indeed, but you two won't be alone on this, I've sent two staff members to help your search for her." Ozpin replied. "But if you cannot find her, then abort the mission, tomorrow's mission is very important for you, as well as team LARJ of course. I will send more people to find her. Your current location was just convenient."

"Understood headmaster, we'll see what we can do, would you happen to have a picture of her?"

"I will send you that soon enough, also with it I will add the meeting point with the other students that we have located." The calm voice spoke. "But aside from that, you ladies have a nice evening."

"Thank you Ozpin." Maryjane and Tahli spoke in unison, at that the connection broke, which was followed by a faint buzzing noise, the cold huntress nodded as she opened her file. The picture of Blake illuminated the screen before she showed it to her partner.

"Alrighty then, let's gets this little show started!" the dirt-blonde huntress placed a few lien on the table and picked her trusty gun up. Maryjane nodded as she laid her own sum of money down and followed her.

"Let's find her; I don't get dark rings around my eyes anyway."

…...

Professor Port's lecture hall

"Dear Ms. Inari, with that you are up to date with the rest of the class. If only Mr. Winchester and Mr. Arc could follow such and prime example as yourself." The bushy moustache vibrated under his laugh. "Why in my time, I-"

"Professor, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I need to have to turn in early. My team is on their first mission tomorrow." The fox faunus looked at the professor as she cleaned up her books and piled them on top of each other. "Sorry."

"Hahaha, this is quite alright dear child." The corpulent older man smiled. "Just remember the teachings you and your fellow team-mates learned throughout the course."

"Of course Professor." She bowed slightly "Have a good night Professor!" She hastily said, about to leave.

'To you to."

Riza smiled, having caught up with her work, she was up to date with everything. Now it was time to-

"Hey, little one." Reiko Utage stood in front of her with her arms crossed over her chest. "You done with Port's stories?"

"H-Hi Ms. Utage!" Riza stepped back a bit, seeing the little nurse standing in front of her. "W-why are you-"

"To find you Riza." She turned her head, her body followed her movement "Come on, Headmaster wants me to give you a check-up. A final check-up." Riza ears shook in response. "Let's head back to the infirmary, we're going to be doing all types of tests until I give you the okay!" The way she said those words gave her a bad picture inside her head.

"Ah... sure." For some reason Riza had a strange feeling in the tip of her tail.

…

Juge nodded as he gently filled up the spare canisters with the glowing liquid. It was tedious work, because even liquid dust tends to explode if one was not careful.

After the work was done he wiped some sweat of his face and said "Preparations complete." He then went over his trusty whip, the all important family heirloom and polished it with leather wax.

"Morte Consumptis is ready for use use." He smiled gently as he cleaned up his corner of the double-room. Empty dust vials were scattered everywhere, the young Velmón shook his head and started cleaning up faster.

JNPR had yet to show up, which he didn't mind, but he was slightly concerned about them. Things like this needed prioritising and him looking for them wasn't at the top of the list. The preparation for tomorrow's mission was essential.

However, there are some things that make their way to the top of the list.

(Music used in this: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagan: Tsuki to Hoshi, to A-Ta-shi)

A small knock echoed throughout the joint room. While he turned his head around the knocking continued without pause... "Who is it?"

No reply.

Juge frowned as he twisted the nob and opened the door "….?!"

"Hey… Juge..." Yang stood in front of his door with her arm crossed under her chest, her purple eyes looked downwards, and she was totally out of breath.

In summary: something was wrong.

"Do... you haah... mind if I come in?"

"Sure, but I need to turn in early Yang." Despite his solemn words he immediately opened the door for her and let her in. Clearly Juge could sense that something was wrong with the blonde brawler. She nodded and quickly entered. Looking around she gave a small smile, but it soon turned into a frown.

"You can sit on my bed... if I recall you've slept in it before." The brown haired man tried to figure out what was wrong with her, she was rarely in such a frantic state. Yang laughed hoarsely.

"You're not going to take advantage of an innocent girl, are you?" She cracked a grin at him as Juge eyes looked away. "I'm kidding Jugey, but thanks." She jumped onto his bed.

"Are you okay?" Juge knelt down again and placed the remaining dust back into the steel like case. "You do seem exhausted."

The blonde haired girl looked at him before looking down. "Blake ran away."

"Pardon?"

"Blake ran from us, we tried finding her, but she had already bailed on us." She spoke in pure disappointment. "Princess has gone off to god knows where and Ruby is following her, leaving me to myself. Also Goodwitch forbid us from leaving the Academy after curfew."

"That's problematic. So you thought I might have an idea?" Juge raised a brow. Yang nodded.

"You were to the first person to come to mind." She looked at him. She patted the free space next to her. "C'mere, will you? I promise I won't bite."

The whip user nodded, but hesitated before sitting uncomfortably next to her. Yang saw that and made a small amount of space.

"So, have you tried to look around Vale?"

"All. Evening. It's ridiculous how far I looked. I think I know every single club in the city by taste now!" She blew a few strands of hair from her face and frowned.

"C-clubs..?" And that last bit was extremely suspicious. "Well, why don't you start from the beginning. I have no idea how this happened." Juge suggested.

"So it all started when we saw this monkey guy doing something funny. Then Weiss decided to follow him, and we ran into some crazy girl and then my sister had to say 'we're friends', but she didn't stop following us and Weiss said we had to find that faunus, but she said it in a mean way and that got Blake all huffed up so she decided to yell at Blake all the way back to the dorms-"

"That explains the noise levels back then." Juge nodded.

"And they wouldn't stop yelling and then Blake said something about being pushed around and then she ran... and now we are searching everywhere and then I came here to ask you for advice." Yang wheezed out the last part, sucking the air back into her lungs.

"Uh… huh." Juge paused for a moment as he waited for Yang to take a breather. It didn't even surprise him that this blonde hurricane managed to run all the way from Vale back to Beacon in such a short time. "So it's a dispute between the heiress and Blake that turned out bad?"

"Blake that has a strong sense of justice towards faunus equality or something, and Weiss who had a bad- if I remember that right- childhood because of the White Fang."

"That might explain why she had a go at both Akashi and Weiss during lunch." Juge's mind was working fast.

'I did have my suspicions, but I need to ask her later on.' Juge made a mental note. Right now Yang needed help and he needed sleep.

"So Blake ran off on you guys, sadly I don't know her well enough to give an approximate location." He gave her a weak smile. "Wouldn't it be better if you asked renard- I mean Riza?" he corrected himself automatically.

"What's with that nickname anyway? It's weird." Yang tilted her head. That coming from her... Juge's brow twitched a little. Just who went around calling people 'servant-boy' here?

"It's a thing between her and me. Just a bad habit. She would have scolded me harshly if she'd heard that." His expression turned somewhat soft.

"Hmmmm ~? Looks like you two get along awfully well." Yang's eyes were squinting and she seemed unamused.

"Which of my words exactly gave you that mysterious idea?" Since when was being chewed out friendly behaviour? "That aside, it would be good to get along. Actually I wish we did."

"Hoooh? Interesting." Opposite to her words her voice lost even more warmth.

"Team-mates need to work together. It's essential to get along for that."

"That's it? I wonder ~" Her words made no sense to Juge.

"... anyway Riza and Blake seem to get along more than ever since the accident. Apparently they knew each other from a long time ago." That was brand new info even for team LARJ. When they asked her she answered that as if it was obvious.

"I guess... Where is she then?"

"Supplementary lessons with professor Port... no by now she should be done with it. Why isn't she back?" He cupped his chin. Yang coughed and punched his arm.

"That's not going to help me. I am already searching for Blake, don't add more people to the list!"

Juge rubbed his arm. "Sorry, you are right. Don't you think Blake can look out for herself though?"

"But, I'm worried about her Juge! What if she's hurt or something; I'm her partner after all."

"Then you would know if something really went wrong." Juge pointed to his chest. "Do you trust her to be safe?"

"I... yeah." She said, but her face was telling something else.

"Yang, trust me on this, Blake will be fine. Once morning comes you guys can resume your search, there's no point of searching while your eyes can barely keep open."

"I... know." Yang smiled as she gently leaned her arm on his shoulder. "Thanks Juge, I'll be sure come ask you for more advice if I need it. You will be a great counsellor one day." She quietly closed her eyes and smiled. She knew that the whip user would be feeling more uncomfortable by the second. A mischievous plan entered her head. She moved to phase two.

She leaned to the other side and placed her head on his pillow.

"Yang?" Juge asked quietly with a troubled expression.

"Yes?"

"What are you doing?"

"Doing as you said, getting some shut eye." Yang snickered as she kicked of her boot and laid into his bed. "Nighty night."

"You're not serious, are you?" The brown haired boy tried to calm his nerves, all he got from her was giggling.

"Maybe." She sang.

"...then where am I supposed to sleep?"

A smirk appeared on her face.

"That's for you to decide Jugey~"

It seemed like this huntress found her prey for playing pranks once again.

Juge sighed.

…

Back to Vale city!

"Well here's the spot." Tahli sighed as she paced around in a circle for the 18th time. "Where in the tarnation are the other 2?!" She released some of her frustration by yelling. Meanwhile the quiet huntress sat on a nearby stool and stared into the sky. It was especially pretty; the stars twinkled around the shattered moon.

"Hey Tahli, do you believe in the afterlife?" That brought the blonde haired girl to a halt. She turned towards her with a confused expression. "I mean… when we die… where do our aura and soul go?"

"I wouldn't have the slightest clue Jane, but why are you suddenly so philosophical?" Maryjane was full of surprises today.

"I was wondering… Maybe the stars up there are all people? I bet I would make a pretty bright star. Tahli would be a warm morning star."

"Please don't kill me just to see if it's true, alright?" Tahli said with a hint of exhaustion.

The dark-blonde huntress decided not to talk any further, because two figures approached them from behind, both feminine.

"Took your time, slowpokes." Tahli huffed in annoyance as she placed her hand on her hips "Do you mind if we can speed up the process here, me and my partner are- Mphfff~!" A gloved hand covered her mouth as Jane looked at her, telling her to pipe down before turning towards the figures.

"Please forgive me for my partner-SssS!?" Her blue eyes widened as she felt teeth sink into her hand. "My… Name… is Mary-JANE!"Another bite.

She knew her friend hated it when something covered her mouth, but that didn't stop her. With a mind of steel she managed to ignore the pain.

"Anyways." She shook her hand free from the biting huntress. "We should get the search party under way, like I said: My name is Maryjane Hart and my Partner here is Tahli Megumi."

"Riiight…" A laid back voice followed by a yawn was one figure's response. "Alex-IS... Mayhiro… at your service..." She said groggily. Or maybe she was poking fun at Maryjane's introduction. Additionally she saluted sloppily.

The other person hit her with a riding crop.

"26 years, and you still introduce yourself like a kid who's just gotten out of bed." Glynda shook her head. "Forgive my colleague's behaviour, she's had a rough day… or so she says." She was easily recognisable as Glynda Goodwitch. Her blonde hair was a lot brighter than Tahli's.

"Vale is not a very big town, so we can do this swiftly and efficient." The huntresses looked at their partners. "We can hopefully find Ms. Belladona and return her back to Beacon."

"I see. Then this is were we part, we'll be in contact." Maryjane held up her scroll and so did Glynda, a few seconds past before a beep occurred.

'Contact detail transfer complete.'

"Right, I'll let you know if anything goes wrong." The two huntresses nodded before moving towards their objectives.

"Let's get this over and done with."

….

Back at beacon:

"Face it Ruby, she's long gone." Weiss said in a flat voice. "She will be probably out of the Academy by now."

"Noohhhh!" Ruby whined as she fell to her knees "Why did she have to run? We could have talked it out with her… I failed as a leader."

"Hpmh…" Weiss crossed her arms in disapproval "Well, Blake is a big girl, and she can take care of herself. I'm heading back to our dorms." The white haired girl turned on her heel and walked away from her leader. "She probably just needs to cool off for a bit." Her voice was too quiet for Ruby to hear.

"Weiss she's our team-mate." She spoke to herself sadly before standing up. The young huntress looked around to gain a grip on her surroundings. She was at the place where she talked with Jaune, Riza and Lucy on the first day of Beacon.

"I guess it's times to head back... huh?" Humming from a girl filled the area.

~Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Mistral and Atlas
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, baby, kiss me~

"Huh?" Ruby looked at the moon lit lawn with a slight sense of fear, but the feeling was üut to rest as she saw a familiar girl with red hair clean her beloved weapons with a cotton, dabbing on the blade slightly before wiping it off with a green cloth.

~Fill my heart with song
And let me sing for ever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you~

"Lucccyyyy!" Ruby smiled as she waved at her, but the girl continued to clean, Ruby felt slightly dejected, but remembered what Riza said to her.

'If she doesn't respond, take her headphones off, or say 'Pockies', but be warned, she will press you for pockies if you say that.'

Ruby crouched as she activated her semblance, she left her previous position in a heap of rose petals before appearing behind her "1….2….3!" She grabbed Lucy's headphones and lifted them off her head. "Surprise!"

"Ararara~" she looked around and turned her head around "Oh, hi Ruby~" she smiled "Whatcha doing?"

"Noothing~" Ruby replied in the same tone as her fellow leader. "Wait I totally am!" She realised. "You're cleaning Ying and Yang?" The fact that one of those blades had the same name as her sister never crossed her mind.

"Yup~ Want to clean with me?" Lucy held out another cloth and clean materials with a happy face. But Ruby shook her head.

"I cleaned my baby last night, but thanks." Ruby placed Lucy's headphones on her shoulder and sat crossed legged on the grass. "What a day…"

"Why~?" Lucy spoke as she carefully went over the blade with the dirty white cloth.

"There was this girl named Penny and she was acting really weird and then Blake and Weiss got into a fight and now Blake's ran off and both Weiss and Yang have gone somewhere, leaving me to myself…" She frowned again. "Well… at least I have you Lucy."

"Hmhmhm~" she hummed.

"What are you going to do for the holidays?" Ruby asked "You going to go somewhere?"

"No, I'm going to stay at Beacon. Maybe Granny is going to visit me~?" Lucy looked at the moon again. "Hopefully I'll be back before then."

"Huh? Where are you going?" Ruby tilted her head in confusion "You said you were going to stay at Beacon?"

"Everyone is going on a mission tomorrow~!" Lucy shouted loudly "LARJ's first mission is tomorrow!" She imitated the proud tone from her team-mates, but stayed still relaxed somehow.

"WHAT!?" Ruby shouted instantly jumping up. "Mission!? This early in the year!?"

"Yup!"

"Uhhhh…! Ohhhh!" The feeling of sadness washed away and was replaced with envy. Ruby sank to her knees and lowered her head. "No fair…"

"There there~" Lucy patted Ruby's head before ruffling her hair. "RWBY will have its time soon~"

"Mrrgggggg…." Ruby puffed out her cheeks and Lucy continued to pat her. "Weiss isn't going to be happy about it."

"Why~?"

"Because she was always saying that if RWBY's progress is going well Ozpin would give us a mission." Ruby bit her on her thumb nail trying to force out the images of the heiress going on a rampage.

"Well… all you have to do is not tell her. What you don't tell her won't hurt her~" Lucy gave a grin.

"If only it was that easy Lucy! Weiss has a knack for finding out things."

….

Akashi took a flat head screw driver and screwed in the final piece of his weapon "It's done!"

The now completed weapon had a rough shape of a harp, with two orange (dust reinforced) wires joining the top and bottom of the bow, in the middle was a medium sized box that had 6 arrow heads sticking out of the front end of the rectangle box. A black handle grip was placed beneath with a the firing trigger right next to the index finger.

Ren, who had stuck with Mayhiro since he stopped training looked on interested and watched as the bow pulsated orange as Akashi finished building stuff in. "A bow."

"Yeah, it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to build, but I finally came up with this!" He grabbed Black Eclipse and assessed it. "I can't wait to test it out tomorrow!"

"Yeah, good luck with the Mission." Ren said friendly. "In the meantime, it would be a lie to say that I'm not interested on how it works. The concept is like a normal bow and arrow, but I'm seeing things that aren't on a regular bow."

"I know, but that's a secret you know. Can't give away any information, but I can tell you that it's very effective in a fight, especially when it has 8 types of arrows."

"Eight?" Ren raised an brow "That is very….unusual."

"It's fine for what it is, as for knowing how it works... Well come sparring classes and you'll see for yourself." Akashi packed up his work as he looked at the new weapon. "Time to sleep Eclipse."

As if responding the weapon slowly folded on itself as it turned back into a slightly larger pole, but the wires, ammo and other gadgets moved into their new positions. Akashi sighed as he placed Black Eclipse on his back, just where he put Gravity Hammer. The weight was roughly the same, which showed just how heavy that hammer was. "Come one Ren, I'm hungry, let's grab something to eat." Dinner time was almost over. It had gotten pretty late.

"Yeah… Let's." The silent boy in green nodded as Akashi picked up his stuff and headed back to their dorms before heading to the mess hall.

…In the interest of time…

"So Jaune is still training with Pyrrha?" Akashi looked at Ren for a second as they stood outside their dorms.

"Yes... they should be back soon." Ren opened up the door to their joint rooms and were welcomed with an unfamiliar sight.

Juge was lying on the floor, reading a very serious looking novel lying to his right. He the noticed the boys and looked up towards them. "...welcome back..."

"Yeah…why are you sleeping on the floor?" Akashi's face was showing confusion at such a peculiar behaviour from the always uptight Juge.

"Don't. Ask." The two shivered as Juge glared hard at them; instinctively Akashi raised his hands up to surrender. Looking at Juge's bed, he saw a peaceful sleeping blonde hugging the pillow as she mumbled incoherent words into it.

"Is that Yang?" Ren pointed out. The response was for the young Velmón to roll his eyes.

"Indeed."

"Youuuu... wanna explain why?" Akashi said, disregarding Juge's words to him a good five seconds before.

"Something happened with Blake, I talked to her about it and now she sleeping her trouble away in my bed." He grumbled. "The last thing I need to have is to hear her complaining all night if I had refused."

Akashi sighed as he watched Juge get comfortable in his sleeping bag and closed his eyes. "Don't worry about me, I don't feel like eating. I'll eat more in the morning."

"All right then." Akashi shrugged before looking at Ren. "In that case it's just us."

"Sure."

"I think I might have an idea where Fluffy is, but Lucy might be a hard one." The brown haired man shook his head before turning around "Bye."

….

Tahli crossed her arms in disappointment and Maryjane stood in front of her as she looked down an alleyway. "Mary, Give it up, the little ones aren't here." Tilting her head in a bored expression she closed her eyes and paused for a moment. "Come on, let's report back to Ozpin, there's no point on finding someone that doesn't' want to be found yet."

"Were on to them-"

"SINCE WHEN!?" The blonde exclaimed. "We've been walking around like no man's business for the past few hours, and look!" She pulled out her scroll and tapped onto a new message. "The other's said that we can go back to the compound!"

"But..."

"No buts!" She cut her off and grabbed her arm to drag Jane away. "We have an important mission ahead of us, if none of us get any sleep it will spell doom for the whole gorup, do you read my lips Maryjane Hart!?" she slowly turned around to show her death glare, causing the blue haired huntress to go pale.

"R-right…let's head back, the o-o-others said they'll take care of it."

"Exactly."

The two huntresses walked back to their compound after telling the Headmaster of Beacon the bad news. Giving the clear to abort the search party, they made haste and headed back to their place.

"Hey Tahli…. Do you think the Seven Cardinal Sins exist?" Her blue eyes watched as the sniper flinched.

"They're a myth Mary. Anyone has yet to see one in the flesh."

"I know that, but think about it, if they did exist, what kind of power would they hold?"

"It would be the pretty dangerous, even the most elite hunters and huntresses would have a difficult time trying to kill those. I don't care what the others say... we will prove it." Her red eyes closed as she touched her sniper rifle "It's lucky that they don't exist, it's just folklore to scare little children."

"…" Maryjane looked at her for a moment before nodding. "I guess you're right, the Cardinals are nothing more than a myth." She quickened her pace "Come on, let get prepped for tomorrow."

What she didn't show was her disappointment. Maryjane wanted to fight a strong enemy like that at least once.

…..

Beacon - Mess hall

"Mission!?" Jaune slammed his hands down as he watched the 3 members of LARJ eat their dinner like nothing had happened. The other teams watched as they continued eating. "Guys!"

"What?" Akashi looked at him

"A Mission?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Aren't you excited or something?" The blond hunter yelled while standing on the bench with one leg. "I mean, Ozpin chose you as the team to take on a mission!"

"I know, but I'm really tired… building Black Eclipse was really taxing." Mayhiro quietly spoke. "I just want to eat and sleep man… sorry if I'm not looking the part."

"Well, I think it's wonderful that you guys are doing this." The spartan like trained women smiled at them. "Congratulations to you all!"

"Wahhh~ Thank you~" Lucy smiled as she bared her teeth. Riza shook her head.

"Ohhh, Riza you had to go see Ms. Utage right?" Nora's voice cut through the rest like a hot knife through butter.

"Yeah…" Riza sighed. "I'm all clear to go, but the test she did… was rather… awkward."

"Oh?" Weiss swallowed her food. She was currently sitting next to her leader.

"I had to stand on one foot, hold my right hand to my nose and the left stretched out from the side and say the alphabet backwards, then switch over to my opposite every 5 letters."

"Hah!" Akashi started laughing, but quickly shut his mouth and Riza hooked him in the solar plexus.

"That being said... I failed it 4 times before I actually got it right." She crossed her arms in relative shame. "Now I'm ready to go on the mission."

"Hmph." The white haired girl looked at them before looking at Akashi, who was rubbing his chest and ribs. "So are you ready?"

"Not really, but I'll provide support for my team." The brown haired hunter replied to her. "Why do you ask Weiss?"

"Well… I was just under the impression that you might need a little training with your weapon, so... if you wanted….I could swap-"

"Nope."

"Wha-?"

"Nope." He crossed his arm s."I'm sticking to my team. You on the other hand will stay with your team." Pointing his finger at her he smirked lightly. "I may not be at the level where you guys are, but I'm confident that I can hold out on my own for this."

"Really now?" This time is Jasna turned to speak "You pigs talk about how big your egos are and then once that's crushed, you're reduced to nothing but snivelling babies. Just watch, once you come back from failing that mission, you'll see the truth!"

"…" No words come from the bow-user as he swallowed his food. "Anyways…" he scooped up the last of his dinner before picking it up. "Captain here says we've got to turn in early for tomorrow."

"Don't ignore me!" Jasna cried out in the background. Antonio managed to calm her down with a distracting magazine. She jumped after it with a 'ohohoho' sound.

"Lucy did say that?" Riza muttered before patting her captain on the shoulders. "Sorry guys, we'll talk later." The red-head nodded as she copied her team-mate's actions.

"Oh yeah, if you're wondering where Yang is... she's in our room sleeping on Juge's bed."

"...eh? Again?" Weiss closed her eyes and looked tired.

It was then that Riza's ears perked up. Not only because Yang was missing, but someone else too.

"Guys, where's Blake?"

Instantly Ruby's shoulder's jerked back, while Weiss looked at her nails, as if not caring for her team-mate's whereabouts. "Uh… well Blake wasn't feeling well and decided to sleep early." Her silver eyes avoided Riza's blue eyes.

"..." The fox faunus knew she was lying; call it a hunch, but she knew when others lied most of the time. Even so she decided to leave it be. "Right then, we'll be off for today."

"It's going to be weird to have only you and Blake in the room." Ruby looked at her partner. "Yang doesn't like anyone waking her up, I even got socked in the arm by her… it seriously hurts!"

"…" Weiss watched the 3 member of LARJ place their trays on the conveyor belt and walked out of the door. "Ruby, I'll meet you back at the dorm, I need to do something." Getting up she left Ruby, JNPR and AKJA to themselves.

"What? Weiss don't leave me!" Ruby cried out to her, but a strong arm snaked over her shoulders. The short-haired brawler of team AKJA had finally gotten tired of the magazine bait and returned to the others.

"Aw don't worry about her, you've got us to eat with cutie!" Jasna's 'other' side appeared, however this made Ruby very uncomfortable from now until they parted ways.

"I- um….thanks Jasna…"

"..." Alexandra sat between Jasna and Ruby as some sort of living wall. She didn't say anything.

"...h-hello?" Ruby started to seriously lose it.

Antonio sat next to Ruby too and gave her an apologetic smile. He handed her his pudding.

"Those two are trying to be nice... in their own way."

The girl with a red cape nodded.

"It's wonderful. LARJ is on a mission before any of us." Pyrrha turned to face Jaune. "You must be happy for your friend."

"Yeah…but I mean he just got back Pyrrha, and he said so himself, he'll only be on support, I could never have imagined him being back up."

"There are times where the ones that are powerful are even greater being in support." Her green eyes shone with pride "Akashi came back to show us that getting knocked down can take you to new heights."

"Who's that quote from?" Jaune seemed impressed.

"...that's something I just came up with." She tilted her head.

"You should write a book." He said without a hint of joking.

"I don't know what to write about even if you say that..." She seemed troubled.

"I guess." He shrugged. "But…I can't help about to envy them."

…..

LARJ/JNPR dorm room

"So… she still hasn't moved?" Riza knelt down to Juge's level and watched the blonde beauty named Yang sleep peacefully. However her soaring wasn't that peaceful. The young Velmón had dark circles around his eyes even though the date hadn't even changed yet. Yang's snoring was fearsome indeed.

"She hasn't, and frankly it's going to drive me insane." The brown haired heir to the Velmón clan muttered. "I would have slept with my DeNoiser on, but that option was ruined by someone." He focused on Lucy who only knocked her head and poked her tongue out.

"Sorry~"

"Never mind, there's one way I can make you sleep." Akashi grinned at Juge.

"Really and how is that?"

Akashi giggled before holding his fist up.

"Left or right side?"

"You aren't serious-"

"I'll take the left side."

"Akashi!" Riza hissed, she quickly grabbed his head with one hand pressing on his temples in strongly. "If you so think of hitting him, I'll make sure you get it twice as bad."

"What? I'm helping a team-mate out!" Akashi struggled, but ended up cowering in Riza's grip. His skull made cracking sounds...

"Then help him out in a way that doesn't involve physical contact." She was still angry at him it seemed. Even though this was probably more along the lines of not accepting violence between team-mates. Her hand loosened and Akashi was freed.

"Uhm... please could you stop speaking as if I wasn't in the room?" Juge mumbled.

"Okay then, why do you sing him a lullaby?" Riza blushed as she looked down and the ground.

"I-I don't think I have a good singing voice…"

"Really?" Akashi hummed knowingly. "That doesn't stop you from singing in the bathroom." Lucy started laughing at that, Juge smiled a little as Riza face turned rwby (pun intended) red.

"Sh-shut up!" Once again Riza hooked the young Mayhiro in the solar plexus. "Don't speak of it ever again!" She grabbed her tail and started rubbing it comfortingly. "You guys are jerks…"

"Milk." The three stopped wondering that comment was doing here, before looking at their captain, who in a rare turn of events had her headphones down. "Whenever I couldn't sleep, Granny would always give me warm milk. I would be with the fairies within minutes."

"That…would actually work." Riza smiled at her before looking at Akashi. "Got get milk."

"Huh? Why me?" He whined. Riza this gave a sweet smile before holding her right fist up. "Fine, I'll get some from the mess hall ...I hate you Yang." He shook his head.

"I….love…you…Ruby…" The sleeping Yang mumbled back.

"No like I was saying, could you please not decide these things without me... I'm right here." Juge was still quietly trying to make himself noticed.

Groaning Akashi opened his dorm door, but was meeting with a light figure leaning on him as she gave a small yelp.

"Whoops sorry, whoever you are, I don't have time to talk!" Quickly placing whoever collided with him back upright before moving around to jog back to the mess hall he added "Let's get this over and done with."

"…" Riza, Juge and Lucy saw who Akashi bumped into.

"…Where is he going?"

"He's gone to get little Juge some milk for him to sleep." Riza said with a teasing smile.

"Hey don't talk like I'm a little kid." Juge scowled. He resigned to his fate of being ignored.

"Uh-huh." The girl crossed her arms and saw Yang spread out on another person's bed. "To think that the brute would got this far and sleep in someone else's bed. Again."

"Uhh…Weiss?" Juge said.

"Yes?"

"Why are you-"

"Back!" Akashi entered the room again, but this time from JNPR's door. "The mess hall is empty and JNPR is coming back as we speak."

"Wait, it was just a 20 second ago that you left us!"

"Yes, so?"

"It takes more than five minutes to get to the mess hall!"

"That's if you're walking Riza." Akashi smiled as he knelt down and gave the mildly warm milk to Juge. "Here."

"Thanks... I think?" The whip user seemed a little frustrated, but he drank the whole contents in one go anyway. "Now if I remember back... Mother gave me milk and I-" Juge's eyes rolled to the back of his head and Lucy said:

'Be taken to the fairies'

Laughing Lucy knelt down and tucked her team-mate in. "Nighty night Jugey~"

'He was knocked clean out. What the heck was in that milk?' The faunus wondered.

"Okay, that's enough side-tracking for one night, we need sleep." Riza clapped her hands. "Call me a mother hen, but we ALL need sleep."

"Right mum." Akashi smiled.

"Okay mama~" Lucy joined her. However a loud cough interrupted them again.

"Excuse, but before you guys head off to bed. Could I borrow your team's airhead?" Weiss crossed her arms penitently. Akashi blinked at her before turning to Lucy.

"I guess she means-"

For the 3rd time that night, Riza hooked Akashi in the solar plexus. "For the love of god fluffy! Stop hitting me in the ribs, I'll wreck you good next time!" The young hunter finally snapped.

"She means you airhead!" Riza seethed at him, bearing her fangs. "How dare you call Lucy and airhead!"

"…" Now for the first time in history Akashi and Weiss stood next to each other with the exact same expression.

'She's… not serious… right?'

"Whatever. I'll be back in a bit." The brown haired man shook off his wound before walking towards Weiss. "How can I help you Weiss?"

"Just hush, and follow me." In her usual tone Weiss walked to god knows where, Akashi only sighed before following behind.

"Lucy, no drawing on Juge's face, go to sleep now!" Riza commanded her leader. Lucy immediately saluted before stripping down to her bra and panties and grabbing her pajamas off her bed.

"Night Mama~"

"I know I brought this upon myself, but could everyone stop calling me that? ...Night Lucy, get some sleep now, I swear if you decide to watch those videos on your scroll again…"

"I broke up with my Ex-girlfriend, here's her number."

"SIKE! That's the wrong number!"

Riza's lips pursed as Lucy started laughing underneath her sheet. She knew that both of them were not going to get any sleep tonight.

…

Beacon Balcony, Night time

The two Beacon students stood in the light of the moon, Akashi's eyes were scanning the building below him while Weiss's eyes were locked onto the scattered moon.

"How are you?" Weiss said all of a sudden "You settled back into Beacon fine?"

"Huh? Oh yeah…it's like I never left at all." Akashi looked at Weiss with a nice smile.

"Good, that's good to hear." Weiss nodded before looking back at the moon. "So your first mission... must be exciting for you."

"It is totally, but my mom always said that having your first mission would determine your worth for other missions to come, whether it be good or bad." Inhaling the cold air he closed his eyes before looking at the moon with her.

"It's the 6th time you've called me out here already. I've seen Jaune and Pyrrha over there having highly secretive talks because of that."

"Yep."

"I mean, not like it's uncomfortable… just complete silence and to think about stuff." He tried to put it as positively as he could.

It was hard.

"Hmmm." Her blue eye watched the moon. "Are you sure you can handle it Mayhiro?" She paused for a second. "I mean… My team won't mind if you and me switched places."

"…" Instead of a snarky comment, he turned to her and crossed his arms while nodding.

"Thank you for your concern Weiss, it means a lot." He grinned at her. "But I said I'll be back-up for them, nothing more and nothing less. My team knows that I'm just a newbie now… and no one has seen me fight before." He snickered. "And I think team LARJ sounds better than team LWRJ!"

Weiss only gritted her teeth before looking him in the face. "Akashi... let me take your spot."

"Weiss… why are you so fixated on going to this mission?" He frowned. "Your team will get their chance soon!"

"I know… I know… but I want to take on this mission to… because-" Weiss bit her lower lip and looked away. "It's nothing…"

"Weiss… what's wrong?" Even Akashi felt that something was wrong by now.

Akashi bent a little as he saw Weiss mood change. "You can tell me what happened."

"…Well Blake..."

"Ran off? I knew that" Akashi cut her off, however this surprised Weiss greatly.

"Wha- how!?"

"My sister, she was in the search party to find her, they didn't though." Akashi spoke while rubbing the back of his head. "But what has that to do with our mission… would you like the fill me in Weiss?"

"I swear… the perks of have a relative in the staff." She huffed. "Me and Blake had a fight and she said something about the White Fang being pushed around." Weiss cupped her chin "Why would she defend a criminal organisation like that?"

"I dunno." The youngest Mayhiro shrugged. "She's human after all. But so am I and I also want to defend faunus rights if I can." He shrugged again. "If she is hiding something you better press her out once you find her."

"It doesn't sit well with me... could she really be...?" The heiress seemed to have a hunch about that secret of Blake's.

"Weiss… head back to your dorm and get some sleep, you'll have a clear head in the morning." Akashi gave her a thumbs up. "I sleep my worries away as well."

"A-ah…yeah." Weiss looked at him before he stopped in his tracks. "Hmm?"

"It may sound weird and all, but my sister said there's this tea shop that newly opened in town. M-maybe…do you want to head down there?"

Weiss frowned. "What about your team?"

"Lucy would fall asleep halfway through the brewing, Juge and I would destroy the shop and either Riza or I would go to the hospital by the end of the day." Now that he thought about it his team really was weird.

"Kirk?"

"He's been rather busy." With what, no girl was allowed to know.

"Jaune?" Akashi opened his mouth to reject the idea and quickly closed it again.

"Okay! I'll ask him!" He grinned. However…Weiss didn't take it like he did.

"What!? So you're brushing me off like it was nothing? Why did you even ask me then!" she yelled all of a sudden, causing Akashi to look surprised. "You offered me a trip to Vale to taste some tea. Yet when I asked if you wanted to take Jaune, you blew the thought of taking me right out of the water... do you know what it means to ask a heiress out and then just change your mind. This is an insult not only to me, but also to the Schnee dust company."

"E-eh?"

"You heard me." She marched over to him and jabbed her finger into his chest. "I was merely testing your determination, but obviously you failed miserably."

"Huh?"

"Gahhh!" She grumbled "Do you even know how to talk to girls!?" Before Akashi could speak she glared at him. "Your sister and mother don't count."

"Well… sort of…" he blushed "Not really." His shoulders sank down.

"Figures. A lady's heart isn't as rough and thick as your men's." Instead of glaring at him she reached up and flicked him in the head. "Think of it as a compensation for yelling at you back then. I'll teach you how to talk to girls. And maybe if I'm in a good mood... even get you a date."

"Huh? Really Weiss?!" He looked shocked before taking her hands in his with a grateful tone he said "Thank you. Even my sister doesn't do this for me! With a popular girl like you as instructor I'll definitely get a few good chances with the ladies."

"Well… be thankful! I'm only taking pity on you... or rather I don't want to see you plan those 'heists' with the other two boys again. Yes I am doing this for the greater good of the public." She answered back. "Y-you can let go of my hands now."

"Oh sorry!"

"Don't mention it- no really don't." She rolled her eyes. "Now get some sleep you lumbering idiot. Tell Yang that we have a meeting early morning to find a certain girl… assuming that she gets up." She walked back towards their dorms "Come on Akashi."

"Hey don't order me around like a puppy." He groaned as he went after her. However, unknown to him Weiss has a small smile on her face.

"Fool."

….

The Morning of the mission!

"….Y-a….Yang…." A young soft spoken voice met Yang's ears.

"Not now Rubes… can you see I'm-"

"Yang... please wake up, we're already late." Yang's eyes flew open to see Ruby and Weiss looking at her. "Oh hey guys! Aren't I usually on the top bunk?" She looked down "Why haven't I changed?"

"Yang you slept on Juge's bed. Again. You're in LARJ's room. Again! And JNPR has already gone ahead." Ruby continued, she made a little space for her older sister to get up, which she did, muffling her yawn she stretched out her arms and legs.

"Nothing beats sleeping on another person's bed!" She smiled before she looked around. "Where are the others?"

"Yang… they're about to leave."

"Huh?" Yang scrunched her face up in confusion. "But we have classes. Where are they going?"

"Didn't Juge tell you?" Weiss asked with one brow raised.

"Tell me what?"

"LARJ is going to their first mission today." It was then that Yang's hair broke the laws of gravity and moved all by itself like a golden fire.

…..

Beacon Air docks, Hanger 18.

Riza fixed her short cape with ease before looking that the others "Well at least you're not wearing your uniform like last time Lucy."

"What? She wore her school stuff to the Survival Test?" Akashi rubbed his head. "Man, kind of wish I was there… Ms. Goodwitch said I'll be taking the test during the holidays… along with upper-classmen who weren't able to do it. But it won't be on Glass Mountain. Instead we got to some stupid training hall." He hung his head in shame. Jaune sighed before bumping him on the head.

"Cheer up buddy, I'm sure you'll be alright!" He grinned and made the 'good guy' pose.

"Thanks man."

Juge smirked as he checked his gear for the 10th time. His attire was the same hunter outfit as the Survival Test and his day-off clothes (Juge really only had two outfits of which one is his school uniform, but of those at least ten pairs), but with a few more bullets and an extra daggers. One could never have enough daggers. Period.

Lucy's outfit consisted of a tight sleeveless shirt that was black and pink in general. It hugged her body greatly, like it was almost a part of her, but to combat the coldness she had tied her long, black, knitted sweater around her waist.

However, Lucy was the 'fashion' type of girl.

Her skirt was white and pink that clashed with her shirt and waved in the wind with ripples, but the skirt was considered acceptable in public (although barely). Her usual black leggings led to small and light combat shoes.

Her long red hair was done in a high pony tail fashion that was tied off by a black ribbon, similar to Pyrrha's. The remainder framed her face and left a slight fringe hanging over her forehead. Instead of her headphones hanging over her ears, were small earphones in their place.

"Hmhmh ~~" But her persona hadn't changed one bit.

Tahli and Maryjane, who had arrived early before any of them watched as their allies talked amongst each other. "Kind of reminds me when we were students at Watchtower University." The dark-blonde smiled at them "How good is it to be young~"

"Humph… they're still young and weak. Sooner or later they'll have to cast their childish nature away." The blue hair fighter spoke back as she hoisted her duffel bag over her shoulders. She had a look on her face that said 'I just said something quite profound. Praise me.'

"But for now they are still children. Let them enjoy themselves a little bit longer. They will play their role soon enough." A voice spoke behind them; however the two knew who it was.

"Headmaster Ozpin."

"Morning to you." The grey haired man nodded. "I trust that everything is ready?"

"Yes." Maryjane asked quickly. "Has Ms. Belladona been found yet?"

"No… but I have a feeling that she will be back to Beacon soon." He sipped his coffee with a knowing glint in his eyes. "I've sent a certain someone to find her."

"And who is that?"

…

Vale - Café place

Blake looked at her tea before taking a drink,.A blond boy with an open shirt and chaotic hair was sitting beside her. Most attention grabbing though was his tail which held his cup, but that aside he was feeling uncomfortable.

"Um… Blake… who's she?"

Blake only took at longer sip before placing her cup down.

In front of the two was Beacon's infirmary nurse, Reiko Utage.

"I'm the kids nurse at Beacon Monkey-boy." Her green eyes mustered him down "And when someone I know goes missing, I will find them." She turned towards Blake. "Kiddy, what's the matter?"

"…Sun here, wanted to know more about the White fang… I was once a member of the White Fang." She admitted with a downcast face.

"Oh… this is very interesting." Reiko mused before crossing her arms.

"Go ahead. Tell us."

…

Beacon Air docks, Hanger 18.

"Soo~" Lucy piped up "Are we going now or what?"

"Wow cap" Akashi smiled "This is the first time I've seen you so pumped up for a mission."

"Of course~" Lucy smiled "I can show Riza my fighting skills on Grimm!"

"Hahaha, I'm sure it going to me flattering for me Lucy." Riza laughed.

"And also piggyback ride her when she's down again~" Lucy whispered with a evil sparkle in her eyes.

"Wait what?" She thought to have heard something bad just now. "But this is a search and assist mission anyway. Fighting might be the exception. By the way, where's the old man?"

"I can fill you in on that Ms. Inari." LARJ turned to see Ms. Goodwitch and Alexis walking towards them, actually.

The composed huntress was walking.

Alexis…

"Akkkkyyyy~!" Alexis cried as she jumped from her spot and tackled him to the ground like a pro hockey player. "You can't leave you big sister alone!" She sobbed fake tears into his chest. "Waaaaahhh my little puppy brother is going on this big mission, and mom and dad aren't here to take photos!"

"That's mainly the reason why I didn't tell them sis." Akashi pried himself off his sister's hands. "I want to surprise them when I come back." He rubbed his nose with a grin.

"Hnnnnnng." Alexis smirked before she too stood up.

"Ms. Goodwitch if I may ask, why might he not be here yet?" Juge questioned her politely.

"Valkin had important business to attend to. He does send his regards to you all." Glynda fixed her glasses "But, I believe that you have wasted enough time, it's time children. Good luck to all of you."

Team JNPR and AKJA crowed around them.

"Give them hell Akashi!" Jaune gave his best reassuring 'lady killer' smile.

"Good luck!" Kirk rubbed his camera nervously.

"Heh, I'll tell you guys all about it when I come back!" Akashi fist bumped Jaune and Kirk.

"Don't forget your training!"

"Make sure you kill the pigs and Grimm before you come back!"

"Hmph…Good luck Inari."

"Ha-hah… I won't be killing Juge and Akashi… not just yet Jasna. Pyrrha and Alex… thank you!" Riza bowed a little to them.

"Juge, I assume that you have no need for a good luck wish?" Antonio smiled at him, shaking his hand in the process.

"Don't be silly." Ren interjected "Good luck Juge."

"Yepa all the best Jugey!" Nora glomped him and wrapped him in a bear hug that would make a grizzly seem like a stuffed teddy in comparison.

"Hahah… T-thanks…. you can let go now….Dying….!" Juge saw the light coming towards him.

Ren sighed before pulling that happy hammer user off him.

"Guys~" Lucy called to them with a smile "Shall we kick-start this!"

(Insert music: PERSONA 5 MUSIC (FAN MADE) – PARADISE)

Riza, Juge and Akashi smiled, with determination lit up in their eyes.

"Heheh, Let's do this!"

"Let's make some noise!"

"Don't hold me back."

"Then~" Lucy smirked before looking at Maryjane and Tahli "Let's party!"

"Fancy words sweet pea!" Tahli winked at her before looking at the young team "Come on then, next stop! Roxford village!"

Click.

Kirk took a picture of everyone standing in front of the air-ship. Only team RWBY was missing.

Ozpin, Glynda, Alexis as well as their friends watched as they boarded the airship towards their mission, it seemed fine.

"JUGGGGEEEEE!"

Well…almost fine.

Team LARJ (as well as everyone else) turned to see Yang running towards them with her body almost set on fire, her eyes fixed on the boy in blue who had just entered the air-ship.

"What the hell!? I tell you what was happening on my end and you don't tell me you're going on a mission!?" She screamed at the slowly rising air-ship. "How unfair can you be!?"

"If you hadn't slept in my bed and actually paid attention to what I was doing that whole conversation we've had, you wouldn't be this angry, would you now!?" Juge yelled over the howling noise of the bullhead.

"GAHHHH!" She grabbed her blonde hair in frustration before pointing at him. "WHEN YOU COME BACK YOU BETTER BE READY TO DOAGE MY FISTS HEAD ON!"

Head on?

Juge gulped before smiling at Yang, saluting her jokingly, he watched her red eyes turn purple before a more gentle grin appeared on her face.

'Take care servant-boy.'

The group left at the dock watched as the Bullhead flew into the distance. Ozpin sipped his coffee before looking at the students before him. "Well then, Goodbyes and Good lucks have been sent, now it's time I sent you back to classes. Come along everyone."

"Yes, Headmaster." The response of the hunters and huntresses filled the air.

…...

The Airship to Roxford Village

The four member of LARJ watched as they passed Vale with their school fading into the distance. Lucy was gawking all the way as she watched cars driving by. Riza had used her time to watch the sky and clouds float by.

Maryjane and Akashi were talking something about close quarter combated fighting, only noticed by her partner that Jane was smiling more as the conversation progressed with the bow user. "Well talking about fighting does make her happy… At least I don't need to put up with her."

The huntress relaxed before a certain hunter in blue caught her eye. He was just sitting down, in his hand was a small novel, his eyes looked distanced, as if he was lost in his own world. In a seamless motion he turned the page and continued reading.

"Hey there sugarplum." The blonde huntress smiled as she decided to talk to him. "What are you reading there?"

"Oh! Ms. Megumi-"

"Please honey, it's Tahli." She smiled sweetly at him. Her manner of speech was... eccentric to say the least. "So?"

"Just some old novel." He smiled endearingly before closing the book, giving Tahli his full attention. "How long do you think before we get to the village?"

"Hm, there is a landing dock into the village, so without walking to the village, we'll be there in 2 hours. More time to take it easy." The girl took a seat next to him before kicking her feet up onto the table in front of them. "Get to relax and if you're lucky, get the quick last minute shut eye before the mission."

"I see." Juge mused for a moment before moving on "I assume you have the mission details?"

"You're the brainy one on the team?"

"No… that title would go to him." Juge pointed to Akashi. "I would be considered the tactics specialist of LARJ maybe? That aside could we go over the details?"

"Sure, it'll take the boredom off of being airborne." She smiled while taking her scroll from behind her and tapped the screen before holding it out for both of them to see.

(Change music: PERSONA 5 MUSIC (FAN MADE) – DARKNESS)

"From the beginning: Our mission is a simple Search and Recover mission of one Mario Zeppelin, a driver for Vulcanus Forge. He's been a member personally chosen by Valkin a long time ago. A real veteran." Her voice turn hard and commanding. "Two days ago, as Valkin had said, the black box that comes with every delivery truck suddenly went offline. We, the search party, have been assigned to retrieve the goods from the truck as well as Mario if we can find him."

She tapped the screen again, this time showing the bird's eye version of the village "A bit of a warning, Roxford is Outside of Vale, so we need to consider to possibility of bandits raiding the truck, as well as spontaneous Grimm attacks." She clicked her finger, instantly the photos of Juge's team and her and Maryjane appeared. "We have 6 members in total that should be enough to cover the whole village." Before she continued, she smiled and crossed her arms. "You said you're the tactician of your team. Tell me then, how should we cover this whole village before the sun sets while being effective and efficient."

"Hrm." Juge smirked before he tapped his head in concentration. "Alright, stop me if you think it won't work."

"Will do."

"There are two ways of doing this, a 3 man cell with both you and Maryjane being the leader of those 2 teams. The rest is simple, one team takes the left side and the other takes the right side. We meet back up in to middle of town."

"Sound tempting."

"But! Putting in your usefulness, along with talent I'd vote of 3 teams of two." One team scopes out the middle of the village, getting any valuable information regarding the mission."

"Interesting."

"The other two teams take on both left and right sides of the village, but taking on the extra load of investigating the forest and the nearby dirt road and any other signs." Juge furrowed his brow. "Seeing any signs of struggle would put us on high alert."

"Heh, I like your thinking Honey, I'll take your word on it." However instead of a smile, she averted her eyes and puffed out her cheeks in hesitation. "But…there might be something you might not know about."

Juge raised an eyebrow "And that is?"

"…Rumors have been going around that an unknown Grimm has been spotted around this area, sources claim it's isn't your typical Grimm."

"So you're saying….our best lead to the truck is an unknown Grimm attack?"

"It's one of the main reasons me and Maryjane took this mission. We kept it a secret from the others, because we... I need to prove that 'those' don't exist." Her face turned grim.

"Those?" Juge was getting more confused. "Who are 'those'?"

"Tahli." The two instantly turned to Maryjane who was standing before them. "I'm guessing you've already gone over the plans with Juge, haven't you?" she pointed towards Akashi. "I was doing the same with Mayhiro over there."

"Interesting." She smirked, the red lip gloss shimmered lightly. "It's unusual for you to be talking so much with someone else, let alone someone you pummeled into the ground with ease."

"…I see something inside of him." Her eyes looked into Tahli's and into Juge's. "All I know is… Hurg…." Maryjane swayed a little, before her face turned green. "I'm going to hurl!"

"Dummy, did''t you take your travel pills?" Tahli got up and helped her towards a nearby bin. "Seriously! You do this all the time!"

"BLArGGGGG!" Maryjane hurled in response.

Juge sighed again. He was really growing tired of unexpected events happening to him. He got up and walked towards his team.

"So?" Riza was the first to speak to him.

"We're going in teams of two. Lucy will pick the teams, she is the leader after all."

Riza nodded before seeing Akashi walking over towards them as well. "Maryjane is kind of like Jaune, though his physical strength is a fraction of hers at best." He stretched his arms "But Maryjane does have her quirks."

Riza shook her head and turned back towards the glass pane "I thought my first mission will be all exciting, but it's turning out to be another field trip. There's no professionalism going on!"

"Wow, for a second you sounded like Weiss." Akashi commented, Riza only glared back at him, before Juge coughed into his hands.

"Speaking of professionalism. I and Tahli were going over the plan. Lucy will pick out the teams. One team will be scouting out any information about the whereabouts of the missing driver and the goods. The others will be the search party for the rest of the town and the nearby roads and river banks.

"Okay~" Lucy smiled, knowing that Juge had said what he wanted to say, took of her earphones and turned towards her team. "Team Honey and Milk will be me and Riza~"

'Figures.' The 3 thought instantaneously.

"Team White Choco is Juge and Maryjane!"

"…Okay, so that leaves Tahli and Akashi." Juge finished for Lucy "Would you like me to take over?"

"Sure~" Lucy pulled out her favorite treats and nibbled on them. "Their name is Strawberry and Orange by the way."

"Akashi and Tahli will be located in the inner city, Lucy and Riza will take the right side of the town and me and Maryjane will take over the left side, any questions?"

"We contact each other immediately if we find anything?" Akashi asked.

"Indeed."

"If we don't~?"

"Then we keep looking for clues that can lead us to the driver or the goods." Juge replied back to her. "Agreed?"

"Understood."

"Then there's only one thing to do." Juge smirked. "Relax until we get there."

….

Above Roxford Village

The village itself was small, surrounded by seemingly endless trees, but one could make out large rivers and a lone road, other than that, it was a completely isolated village.

Everyone was looking down; the tension of excitement and rarity to get this mission started was high. Team LARJ were waiting behind the closed door, each one of them were doing final preparations on their weapons.

"We touch the village in 50 seconds people!" Maryjane bellowed, her sickness had left her for now. "Everyone ready!?"

"Yes!"

"Good! The plan is simple: Once we're off we move quick and fast! Everyone gets into their groups and moves out!" The sound of the Bullhead landing on the ground causing the ground the rumble a bit before going silent. "Don't ever think that there are no Grimm roaming around the area, be on your toes at all times! Just because I and Tahli are here, doesn't mean it's going to be a walk in the park!"

"Attention: We landed safely." The pilot of the airship announced to the hunters. A slight hiss at the door before the light dropped in though the gaps.

"Right, LARJ's first mission! Let's move out!" Lucy smirked before grabbing Riza's hand and running out the door. "See you guys soon!"

"Juge."

"Right!" The boy in blue fastened his whip to his hip and ran with Maryjane, leaving Akashi and Tahli alone.

"Shall we Tahli?" Akashi looked at her confidently.

"I like a man who's in charge, shame you're not my type honey." She smirked before knocking him on the head. "Come on show this girl what you can do!"

"No need to tell me twice!"

….

Lucy and Riza:

"I guess for the things you love, you'll start running." Riza huffed as they left buildings and people with a fast stride behind them. "We just have to play our part and head to the forest."

"Right!" Lucy agreed. Riza looked surprised. There was no 'laziness' in her voice, it was more loud and happy. And she wasn't complaining, she was running with her. Without being carried.

"I wonder." Riza mused as they reached the east side of Roxford village. "Lucy, remember what Tahli and Maryjane said, if there is any signs of struggle or the missing person we contact the team immediately."

"Got it!" Lucy and Riza nodded before they entered the forest. Unlike Emerald Forest it was much less trees and more light and Lucy turned her head left to right every 10 seconds. Riza didn't find it hard to keep up with her.

"What do you see Lucy?" Riza called out. Lucy looked back at her.

"I'm not looking for anything. I'm trying to make something come to us." Lucy spoke clearly. "Grimm are attracted to anything moving fast~" A hint of her relaxed self returned.

"I see…but-"

"We're on the same page now. We've been running around in this forest for a good 15 minutes already, yet there's no signs of any Grimm or airborne darkness." Lucy halted allowing the fox faunus to regain some of her energy. "This is strange~"

"No kidding." Riza took a deep breath. "Why is that?"

"…Riza, I'm feeling uneasy about this." Lucy looked restless. "Let's proceed slowly… I'm not sure."

"Lucy...? Right." the fox faunus nodded as she took point and headed deeper into the forest.

…

Juge and Maryjane:

The serious pair had been advancing at an astounding pace. They were already way deep into the forest, so far in fact that they almost reached the swamp area where the truck supposedly disappeared. Soon it would become dangerous. They slowed down.

"Velmón." Kneeling down she assessed something. The man in blue nodded as he skidded down a slope to where the huntress in blue was. Maryjane clicked her tongue before seeing something she dreaded the most.

"Blood." She stood up and assessed the area around them. One could see that claw marks, bullet marks and other signs of fighting were strewn all over the place. "This doesn't look like a truck path... what happened here?"

"My guess? Bandits are the most likely cause of this." The young Velmón spoke with hardness in his voice. He walked towards a tree that had a bullet mark in it. ".50 bullet marks."

A silence wafted over them as the tree swayed with the wind, the two looked at what they obtained. "Maryjane… have you noticed?"

"Yes." She replied with coldness in her voice. "They haven't showed up for a while now."

"I think so too. Something isn't right here-!?" Juge's head shot up before he grabbed his whip from his side, Maryjane readied her fists too. "Show yourself!"

"H-h-help… me." The voice croaked before a figure crawled out of the bushes before them. "H-help me…" The voice was so dry that it was almost inaudible.

Moving towards them at the slow pace was a man… though at this point one almost couldn't tell if it was a big bug or a human.

Both legs and been separated from the kneecaps down and barely been bandaged with ripped off clothes. The long trail of crimson followed behind him; his right arm was gone, leaving only a stump for an arm. The only way he was pulling himself, was with his left arm, even that was covered in blood. In fact…blood was everywhere on this body. It was impossible to tell how this man was still alive.

"Oh my god…" Juge's eyes widened at realizing who it was. The picture of the mission report was still vivid in his mind.

"You're… Mario!" He ran towards him, kneeling down bedside him Juge looked on in horror as the man gave up his last strength. Juge carefully rolled him over. Mario's stomach and chest had received a massive cut. He could even see the inside and the rib cage sticking out. Juge gritting his teeth. Maryjane looked on, with no emotions in her face.

"Who did this to you!?" Juge shouted "Who? Where are they!?"

"…They attacked… without warning… t-took everything…. the truck…even…." Mario coughed while blood spilled out form his mouth, staining Juge's vest. "When I came to…there were hundreds of those things!" He cried. " And there was… I tried to escape… but they got my legs and my arm…. I played dead and crawled out of there when they slept…HACKKK!"

Mario slowly placed his hand inside his torn shirt and pulled out a black box. "Please… tell my wife and friends… I'm-... so sorry."

"Don't say that, just hang on! We'll get you medical attention!" Juge urged the man to hang on and tried to pull him over his shoulders, but all he got was a sad apined smile.

"And… get away... not safe..." His body went limp.

Mario was dead.

"…dammit." Juge tried waking him, but it failed. He checked his pulse and heartbeat, but no response. A hand was placed on his shoulders. He saw Maryjane looked down at him.

"We got the information. Can you carry the body back to the village?"

"…" Juge nodded. "…what scum would do such a thing?" His voice barely kept his killing intent hidden.

"I can tell you one thing… it aren't people… The Grimm are up to something, and as much as I want to find out, the mission takes priority. We need to tell the others about this."

"Yes I know but... goddamn it!"

"I know how you feel Velmón, but now isn't the time to get angry." She urged him to stand up, with Mario's body in his arms. Rising stiffly Juge had a tight grip on his body. "This is the first time… I've seen someone die… right before my eyes." He had seen dead bodies before, but the terrible feeling of seeing someone let out their last breath... it was a hundred times worse.

"It won't be your last kid, now let's go." She said resolutely.

….

Roxford village

(Music: Kuroko no Basket 2: Hanamiya's trap)

Akashi and Tahli walked by the people at a walking pace. Unlike Lucy and Riza, they noticed something horrible was up. The townspeople all had sad expressions on their faces, even the kids that walked past them looked grim.

"Tahli I don't like this." Akashi muttered softly to her, she nodded in agreement. "The vibe here... it feels awful."

"No kidding hun." She grimaced, as she watched a man frown. "It's like everyone has been placed under a curse. Something bad must have happened here."

"Then… we better get to asking the villagers." Akashi cracked his knuckles was walked towards a young woman around his age. "Pardon me miss?"

"Huh… oh." Instead of her expression changing, it turned into a sourer look. "What do you want?"

"Me and my partner-"

"He means life partner sugarplum!" Tahli added for fun. She expected a chuckle as a reaction from her. Akashi only looked at her and frowned. "Trying to help~"

"Right... so we were wondering why are all the townsfolk... so down-" Instead of a reply or a mean comment, Akashi's face was imprinted with a bright red hand print on his right side. "Eh?"

"Outsiders get out of this place while you still can, the time of sacrifice is coming." She whispered. "This place will be your tomb! Leave and never come back."

"The hell?" Akashi rubbed his sore cheek "What's going on here?"

"Akashi..." Tahli looked around and saw a large crowd circling around them "Something isn't right here." Every single one of them had eyes full of killing intent.

Akashi on the other hand didn't respond to her; instead he grasped the girl's shoulders and looked at her. "Miss, what's this sacrifice you speak of?"

"Akashi~!" warned the dirt-blonde huntress as she readied her TMPs from her holster. "We're surrounded."

"Please… leave this place!" The girl's voice shook, far from her voice a couple of seconds ago. "The Sacrifice escaped and it demands another!" She shouted before covering her mouth.

"Sacrifices…" The crowd murmured in unison as they closed around them.

"If you know what's good for you folks you'd tuck your tail and run the other way." The blonde huntress growled as she pointed her weapons at the villagers. "Sweetbun, we best get moving."

"Right, but I'm taking someone with us." Akashi seized the girl by the wrist and pulled her with him "Got any plans Tahli?"

"L-let go of me!" She struggled to no avail. Akashi rolled his eyes. Tahli sighed.

"Nothing that involves harming others. Or kidnapping."

"Then, I've got no choice." Akashi sighed before touching the girl and Tahli. In an instant both girls felt very light as the young Mayhiro pushed the girl into Tahli, who caught her easily. He drew Black Eclipse from his back, the pole instantly shifting into his bow like form as the boy pointed at a chimney nearby. "Switching to trigger mode and fire!" he pulled the trigger and in response a bow with an orange rope jutted forth that pierced the brick wall. The rope contracted as it pulled Mayhiro towards the chimney. "Hang on!" Akashi grabbed Tahli (Who was still holding on to the girl) as they were sent flying to a nearby roof and landed safely. Releasing the arrow and Rope the young hunter watched the crowd looking at them with dark expressions. Some of them were holding tools and other things that could also be used as weaponry.

"This town is not far from crazy." He whirled around and stared at the girl in green, looking at her he got a better look.

Her face was covered in light orange hair, but all she was wearing was a large bagging green hooded jacket and green stockings. She shivered a bit as she tried to back away, but Tahli block her way with a smile (creepy version).

"Seems to me, that you know a bit more of the village than us and from your words you also might know about our missing person, so be a dear and help us out 'kay?" She smiled happily as she wrapped her arms around her body, making the younger girl shiver. Giggling, Tahli looked at Akashi. Her face turned back into her serious expression.

"Come one, let's regroup with everyone else, the sun is setting." She grimaced "I have a feeling that something bigger is happening."

"I know." Akashi replied "I don't like this feeling at all."

…

Outskirts of Roxford village, LARJ/TM camp site

The group sat in silence, Lucy and Riza ate their meals in complete silence. Lucy wasn't doing her usual thing. Because of the peculiar situation in the village they decided to camp out.

Juge stared at the fire. When he arrived at the camp, he and Maryjane had buried the body of Mario, he was decomposing fast. They had sent a video feed to Valkin, who was far from shocked.

"I can't believe this." He ran his hand through his silver hair. "Do you know what happened?"

"Apparently he and the truck were attacked and taken to someplace, he wasn't able to describe it…but from what he said it could have been either Grimm or humans who did it." Juge spoke with a small voice. He couldn't shake the image of Mario's dead body in his arms.

"I see, will you be looking into his further?" Juge only nodded with Maryjane standing next to him.

"Alright, I'll inform Ozpin about this…stay strong kids. I have to talk to Mario's family." The veteran hunter was visibly depressed at the news. Yet he was not stopping even for a second.

"Juge…" Akashi poked Juge a little to get his attention. "I know the mood isn't the one we thought we would have… but your food his getting cold."

"Sorry Akashi… It was always a possibility and I was prepared to find nothing but a corpse…but this was more than I expected." Juge muttered. He was a person who could handle almost anything if he prepared himself for it, but he was still human. "I'm surprised that you can still eat after that."

"…I dunno man…" Akashi nibbled a little on his meat before looking at his captain and Riza "But those two have been silent ever since we re-grouped."

"Mhm." the young Velmón looked up. Seeing Riza staring at the fire he sighed. "Just what did we get ourselves into?"

"A mission that derailed sunshine, but that doesn't mean you should start losing your composure." Tahli spoke with kindness in her voice. She slowly sat down near the two hunters. "Jane told me how you handled Mario's death, that is very professional of you Juge, you should be proud of yourself. Most newbies would have gone into shock."

"I see… Thank you Tahli." Juge bowed a little.

"Jane's gone to speak with Lucy and Riza. We've had our far share of deaths and unexpected events in our lifetime." She spoke "But it's the life we chose, nobody said it was going to be easy."

"I know." The boys spoke in unison. Tahli nodded before looking at Akashi. "By the way, think of it as a lesson from a senior to a junior - we're going to interrogate that young girl you captured."

"…Really? Can't we talk to her normally?" Akashi tried to speak to with reason. "I did just kidnap her."

"Akashi…" Juge squinted his eyes.

"I suppose." The blonde woman tilted her head. "Fine, let's see what you got. After dinner."

"Tahli." Maryjane appeared behind her with stoic look on her face. "A word."

"Right, I'll be back quick munchkins." The boys nodded as they returned to their small talk. The two huntresses walked away from the team before Maryjane continued.

"It's worse than I though Tahli, it seems the girl stumbled upon something bad."

"Really… what?" The girl in blue closed her eyes and then looked Tahli dead in the eye.

"They found rotting corpses and skeletons deep within the forest, whatever it is... ain't not Search and Rescue anymore."

"It a town wide scandal… and we chose the best time to drop in."