Chapter 3- Beauty and the Beast
A typical Friday afternoon here in Vale, just like any other Friday for the Beacon students, just not for Teams RWBY and SMG. With the Vytal Festival coming, possibly a week from now, Weiss decided to get herself ready for the upcoming festivities. Hell, she was too excited that she even dragged Team SMG to come with her. Right now she's taking the two teams to one of Vale's most promising Dust bazaar: The Schnee Dust Co. Dust Bazaar (SDCDB). Here, Dust mind from the company quarries are sold here for reasonable prices as preparation for the upcoming Vytal Festival and with Weiss as the heiress of the company, she is usually offered free or discounted Dust.
"Remind me again why we're here?" Gavin asked.
"I'm also wondering," Stephen said, "I mean, we still have plenty of Dust back at our dorms. Why do we have to come with you?"
"Because," Weiss explained, in her know-it-all tone, "with the Vytal festival coming up, I need the support of my teammates and my teammate's friends for the festival and I thought coming here will be a great idea for us to boost our team spirits. Also, my weapon's out of Dust. Trust me, guys, you'll love it."
"Yeah," Blake whispered to Stephen, "if you love dying of boredom."
Stephen giggled at the thought of it. At the bazaar, the guys marvel at the Dust, since Weiss called the dust here as "quality" Dust for obvious reasons. Ruby comes across a stall which was selling Dust-loaded ammo. She looked at the bullets and to her surprise; she found bullets that were in the same casing as her bullets. She picked up one of them and examined it.
"Like those, young lady?" asked the shop owner, "They're genuine and hard to produce nowadays. They are loaded with the powdered version of the Dark Red Dust Crystal. If shot, they produce crude red blast at the enemy, causing some kind of mini explosion. I noticed your bullets. Did you have those before?"
"I did," she answered, "but, for some reason, I stopped using them."
"Well," the shopkeeper said, "for twenty Lien, I can offer you a full cartridge of these bullets."
Ruby thought for a moment then said: "I'll take three."
"Done!" the shopkeeper said as he reached for a box containing cartridges of the bullets.
While the others enjoy or, more likely, browse the various Dust at the bazaar, Marco looks around and notices a club, in which a hooded man wearing a black overcoat along with two bodyguards in ninja attire, enter. Marco noticed something; it was the red wolf marking on the back of their clothes.
"White Fang." Marco said, slowly.
"What's going on?" Yang asked, who approached Marco just awhile ago.
"Get the guys here." He said.
Yang nodded and ran off, ready to regroup both teams. Marco continues to spectate the entrance. No one has escaped the club yet and not a single gunshot was heard.
'Seems to me that White Fang has some unfinished business to take care of.' Marco thought to himself.
"We're here," Ruby said as everyone else gathered, wondering what's going on, "what's going on?"
"You guys don't like the White Fang, right?" Marco asked the girls.
"Sort of." Ruby awkwardly said
"Definitely!" Weiss answered with an angry look on her face.
"You bet." Blake said, crossing her arms
"Maybe, but yeah, sure." Yang answered, putting her hands on her hip.
"I'll just take those as a yes." Marco said.
"What's going on, dude?" Stephen asked.
"I just saw three White Fang guys go into that club." Marco told them, "They must be doing something big."
"That's Junior's place." Yang pointed out, "I interrogated him there for whereabouts of someone, but I ain't telling you who."
"Should we go in?" Blake asked.
"I say we should." Stephen said, cocking Vorpal.
"Wait," Weiss said, "This Junior person knows Yang and going in there with her will turn us into a death magnet!"
"I have an idea!" Ruby said, pointing her finger up in the air.
She removes her cloak, clips it to her sister and pulls the hood up. "There," Ruby said, "you have a disguise now!" The others nodded at the each other, satisfied with the disguise. They then approach the club, ready to see what surprise waits inside.
Inside the club was nothing but a large dance floor with several strobing lights above it and glass pillars all over. To the north was a balcony in which the DJ played the music. There were a ton of visitors at the club, so it was best for the two teams not to do anything stupid.
"Sis," Ruby said, "you stay low. We'll split up and look for this White Fang goon."
Ruby took Stephen, Gavin and Weiss with her while Yang stuck next to Blake and Marco. Ruby looked around; she noticed that the club had tons of black suited henchmen watching over the place. 'Why would a club need this much security?' Ruby thought to herself. They approached the bar where they found the hooded White Fang member. He was speaking to a bearded man with two girls, one in red and one in green, behind him. Ruby leaned in closer, with her teammates behind her as she listened to the two's conversation.
"Look," the bearded man said, "The Dust is over there and I have the money! There's no need to destroy my place!"
"We gave you enough time to fish the money, Junior" the hooded Faunus told him, "but you just passed the deadline."
The hooded Faunus pulls up a ninjato from his hilt and on to the man's neck. His two bodyguards, the two girls, attempted to attack the hooded Faunus, but were stopped by the Faunus' bodyguards.
"C'mon, just give me another chance!" Junior begged
"Too late. You had your chance and you failed." The Faunus told him.
Before he could slit his throat, a voice was heard from the other side of the club. "Hey!" a henchman said, pulling off Yang's hood and realized who he just yelled at. "Oh, shit!" the henchman cried, "It's you! The girl that destroyed this club months ago!"
"Oh," Yang giggled, "I'm so glad you remember me."
She knocked out the henchman, forcing everyone on the dance floor to run away. Yang takes off the hood and approaches Junior, and Junior recognized her as well.
"Well, well." Junior said as he knees the Faunus on the gut and breaking free of the Faunus' grip, "If it isn't the little blonde that trashed my club just days after it was opened."
"Hey," Yang said, "I was just asking for information! Then you and little buddies had to come over and try to kill me."
"Well then," Junior said, pulling his batzooka in bat form out of his back, "it's about time I took some revenge."
Junior attacks Yang, but she guards with her gauntlets. His bodyguards come over to help him but are stopped by the others. As the two teams fought against Junior and his men, the Faunus got up and called in his two bodyguards. He looked around the club and noticed Blake, fighting off two henchmen with axes.
"Blake!" the Faunus called out. After Blake knocked out the last henchman, she turned towards the hooded Faunus. Under realization, her eyes filled up with sadness as she looked at him.
"Adam?" she asked the Faunus. The Faunus removed his hood, revealing red hair, horns and an eye mask that sort of resembled the Grimm's face mask. Blake was right; it was indeed her old partner during her days in the White Fang, Adam Taurus, the Faunus she clearly cared about. His face, bringing back memories.
"So good to see you again, Blake." Adam said, approaching a distraught Blake.
"Adam. I-I thought I'd never see you again." Blake told him, fear and sadness increasing.
"That's what you thought." He said, bringing up Blake's face, "You see, after you left me, it gave me time to think about our friendship and seems that you couldn't just stop thinking about other people."
He pulled out his weapon, Blush, and fired at Blake. She dodged the bullet as well as the other shots fired by Adam. Blake then brings out a sheathed Gambol Shroud.
"Adam," she said, "I left you for a reason. You cared so little about other people. You think they'll be around to see us change history when they're already dead?!"
"You believed in the rights of us Faunus, right Blake?" Adam told her, "Do you think those worthless bags of shit have the right to push us around?" Adam then fired another round at Blake
"I know how you feel, Adam." Blake said, dodging the shot, "But even though they treated us like shit, they still have no right to suffer and we have no right to make them suffer also!"
"Then you're lost!" Adam yelled. He turned to his two bodyguards
"Kill her." He commanded, "And bring me her cat ears after doing so."
The two bodyguards clashed with Blake, both parts of Gambol Shroud, the sheath and the sword, clashing with the blades of the bodyguards. The sound of clashing metal mad her bow twitch.
"Guys!" Blake called, "I could use some help here!"
Ruby slashed away the last bodyguard using Crescent Rose. Rose petals came out of his body as well as Crescent Rose.
"Don't worry, Blake!" she cried out, "I'm coming!" Ruby then rushed towards Blake, Crescent Rose in hand.
Stephen was still in lock with the girl in red, both of their weapons in deep lock with each other. He then positioned Vorpal at her waist and fired. The force sent the girl flying and crashing into one of the glass pillars.
"Hold on!" Stephen said.
He then creates a clone using his semblance and sends it to help out Blake. The clone and Ruby combined their attacks, with the clone swinging Crusher at them and Ruby shooting them with Crescent Rose, and took out both of the bodyguards. Adam takes aim at the clone and fires at it, dispersing the clone. Ruby glares at Adam and switches Crescent Rose to it's rifle form, firing round after round at the Faunus, but he seemed to just dodge the bullets with ease. Blake attacks Adam with her weapon only to have herself in a lock with him. The two struggled, pushing their blades on either one's neck. On the other side of the club, Yang finishes off Junior with a powerful punch to the face, knocking him out of consciousness.
"Ha! Lights out, bitch!" Yang said as she cocked Ember Celica.
As the others finish off their opponents, they come over to aid Blake in her struggle. Adam notices the approaching heroes coming towards them; he smiles at Blake before he knees her in the stomach. He sheaths his weapon and turns to Blake.
"We'll see each other again soon, Blake." Adam said.
In those words, he jumped onto the skylight and disappeared from view. The others come just in time to watch the Faunus disappear.
"Blake," Ruby said, "who was that?"
Blake didn't respond. She looked up and sheds a tear as memories start returning, mostly that of the bad ones. She turned over to Team SMG, who looked worried over what just happened. Blake sighs as she approached the three. She remembered how hard it was to reveal her secret to her friends, but she never imagined revealing her secret to people she just got to know.
"Ahem," Blake said, "Stephen, Marco, Gavin, I have to tell you three something. Please just don't get mad at me after I tell you."
"Blake, no!" Ruby said, intervening, "You promised yourself not to tell anyone else about your secret."
"Well, I have no choice." Blake said, "If I don't, there is no reason for them to question about Adam or who he worked for."
She placed her fingers at the two endpoints of her bow and tugged them. As soon as the bow came off, a pair of purple cat ears came into view. She looked over to Team SMG and they looked surprised to what they just saw. She takes a deep breath and begins to explain.
"Guys," she said to a surprised Team SMG, "I'm not what you thought the first time you met me. Yes, I'm a Faunus and a former member of the White Fang. I was once part of the organization that now tears up Vale. You have every right to be mad at me, but just know that I stand here as the person you met two days ago, not as a White Fang member."
The three teammates exchanged glances at each other before turning over to a saddened Blake. Her teammates also exchanged worried looks at each other, trying to see how this will turn out.
"But," Stephen said, turning over to Blake, "why should we be mad at you? You're a Faunus and we have no reason to be angry at you."
"Huh?" Blake said, along with her teammates who also looked surprised.
"For your information," Gavin said, "Me and the guys are part of a Faunus activist group, who are humans who dedicate their time to protecting the Faunus from discrimination from others and the White Fang. We believe that Faunus have rights to be part of society, but others don't see it. So our group took action to solve that problem. So to exact, since you're a Faunus, we respect that and will protect your heritage."
Blake was touched. She first thought that her new friends wouldn't accept her as a Faunus and start treating her badly, but it turns out as the opposite. Her new found friends actually have sympathy for the Faunus and will protect her from the bad things that people say onto others of her race. Blake sheds a tear as she looked at her friends.
"Thank you guys." She said, giving Team SMG a smile. The trio smile back and then looked back up at the shattered sky light.
"So," Marco asked, "who was that guy, Blake?"
"His name's Adam Taurus." She answered, "He was my partner during my time in the White Fang. We were part of the covert operations team that led secret attacks and assassinations. I left him during our last mission, on a Schnee Dust Company cargo train."
"Wait!" Weiss interrupted, "That was you?!"
"Weiss," Ruby said, putting her hand on Weiss' shoulder, "Remember, she's no longer in league with them and we have to forget about her past actions."
"Right..." Weiss said, calming herself down.
"But," Blake said, "I don't understand why they were here in a club in the middle of downtown Vale and involving themselves with some underground criminal."
Suddenly, Junior got up and tried to walk out of here, but Gavin activates Bakunawa and fires at his feet. The shot startles him as he lands on Yang's arms.
"Alright, Junior," Yang said, holding up Junior, "What was White Fang doing here?"
"Heh!" he said with snug grin on his face, "You'll never get me to talk. Not even a-". Before he can finish, Yang viciously garbs his groin (again).
"Oh, crap!" he said, groaning.
"Doesn't this bring back memories, Junior?" Yang giggled, "Now talk!"
"Ok! Ok!" he said, "I had the twins steal about 20 crates of Dust from the White Fang instillation here in Vale. They found out and told me to pay for it. 1700 Lien all in all or else they destroy my club."
"Why did you need that much Dust?" Yang asked, squeezing his groin even harder.
"I was told to build a weapon." Junior answered, still groaning from the pain, "A weapon that was meant to destroy the White Fang instillation here."
"Who told you do that?!" Yang asked, squeezing his groin even harder.
"I don't know!" Junior groaned, "Some woman in red told me to do so!"
"Okay, that's all we need to know." Yang said, letting go of Junior and his groin. Junior sighs in relief, but when he looked up, Yang knocks him out with a powerful punch.
"Hey, guys!" Ruby called out after opening one of the doors next to the bar.
Inside was a large cannon that looked unfinished as well as the twenty crates of Dust that Junior was talking about. Each crate was only about the size of a small chair, but it looked like it could contain more than twenty Dust crystals.
"They're all labelled by the company." Weiss said, observing the crates, "The White Fang must've been taken from the cargo train going through Forever Fall. The one you probably raided, Blake"
"How do you know that?" Blake asked.
"These crates are marked with a schedule," Weiss said, pointing to a piece of paper taped to the crate, "All Schnee Dust Company deliveries are marked with these so that we can keep tabs on our deliveries."
"Shouldn't we return these crates, Weiss?" Ruby asked.
"Yup." Weiss answered, "I'm sure these crates of overdue Dust will help restock the bazaar."
"That's not such a bad idea." Stephen said.
They then took out all of the crates from the club and gave it to the various shopkeepers around the Schnee Dust Co. Bazaar, just as soon as the police come into scene.
The two teams finally return to Beacon, all exhausted from their trip in the city. It was 6 o'clock and they were looking forward to dinner and a lot of rest. Just before they could enter the academy, Jaune rushes past them, seemingly in a hurry.
"Jaune!" Ruby called out, "What's going on?"
"Free Hunt slips are out!" Jaune yelled over as he ran.
"Free Hunt?!" Ruby said.
"Oh, brother..." Yang said, crossing her arms as she watches Ruby dash away with blurring speed.
"What's Free Hunt?" Gavin asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Free Hunt," Yang began to explain, "is a two hour hunting trip students here in Beacon spend to battle Grimms in any Grimm-infested area. It's a new training course Headmaster Ozpin gave to have the students self-teach themselves on Grimm Combat."
"Sounds like my kind of training." Stephen said, cocking his weapon.
Ruby then returns with the slips in her hand. She gave one Stephen. Stephen looked at the slip and saw that the names of his teammates were already on the slip.
"Each leader is to sign the slip," Ruby said, holding her slip in front of Stephen, which already had her signature on it, "We'll be, of course, responsible for our team's safety."
Stephen grabbed a pen and began to sign the slip. He hands it over to Ruby, to which she quickly grabs it and rushes back inside. Rose petals which came from her cape began to scatter around the air.
"Is she always this excited during Free Hunts?" Marco asked Yang.
"Very," Yang said, "Every time we regroup, she comes back exhausted, her clothes stained with the blood of slain Grimms and her rose petals begin to fly out of her cape."
Ruby then returns, the slips no longer in her hand as well as confirming that their slips have been approved.
"So, where are we going?" Weiss asked.
With a sort of diabolical smile on her face, a smile which surprises her teammates, Ruby answered: "Emerald Forest."
Sure The Emerald Forest looks beautiful during the day despite the Grimms lurking around, but at night, it gets worse. The Creatures of Grimm here in the Emerald Forest are usually at their fullest and it seemed unwise of Ruby to choose this place as their hunting ground, but for some reason, day or night, Ruby seems to enjoy hunting in this place, no matter the condition. Apart from the usual Grimms that the team have encountered, new Grimms, such as the newly discovered Shadow Stalker, lurk throughout the forest at night. The two teams finally arrive at the entrance of the forest, most of them hesitant to go in, except for Ruby.
"Should we, guys?" Gavin asked, the worry in his voice is strong.
"You know my answer is yes." Ruby said as she cocked Crescent Rose.
"I'm a little hesitant." Weiss admitted.
"I'm sort of ready." Blake said.
"I don't think this was such a good idea." Yang said, loading Ember Celica.
"I say we go." Stephen said, agreeing with Ruby.
"It's gonna kill us, bro." Gavin said to his leader.
"Ah, who cares! Let's go!" Marco said, readying Edge Shadow.
"Alright," Ruby said, facing her teammates, "Weiss, Gavin; you two take the left path. Yang, Blake, Marco; you three go through the center path, going to the canyon. Me and Stephen will take on the right path. We'll meet again at the entrance in two hours. Good luck, guys."
They nod their heads, agreeing with Ruby. They soon parted ways, planning to see each other soon after they finish with their part of the hunt. From a bird's eye view of the forest, cries echo throughout the night, signifying that the Grimm are ready to strike at the welcoming intruders.
End of Chapter 3
a/n: Hi guys! Sorry to keep you waiting, but I've been quite busy alot lately and I'm not sure if I can keep my vacation schedule intact with all the work I'm doing on this fic. Anyways, if your all wondering, I post on a weekly basis and it gives me enough time to write a new chapter before I update my story. Next up will be separate side stories for each pair as they trek through the Emerald Forest just so that you guys won't get confused when the next chapter comes out. Remember, I appreciate reviews, negative or positive, just as long as I don't see any spam. See you soon! :)