Chapter 11. Mischievous Plans

(November 24, 2015)

After the classes with Professor Oobleck, Rouge quickly left the room with a wicked grin on her face, much to Bruin's confusion. He asked his remaining team mates about it and Nicandra simply said to pay no attention to her, while Zelony suggested to check on her. Not wanting to put with her partner's games, the girl left the boys on their own.

"Where will we find her?" Bruin asked.
"Let's do it the Detective Katzroy way: ask people if they've seen her."
"It's not exactly a 'detective way'. More of a journalist since we'd be just asking questions and not looking for any clues."
"You'll never know what may happen. Let's go!" Zelony dragged his partner along the corridor.

Strangely their investigation didn't bring the results they were hoping for: apparently no one has seen Rouge. Bruin started to worry that maybe some trouble came her way, but Zelony quickly shook this idea off saying that after her display of abilities no one would like to cross her way. This didn't help much as his leader started to be more than fervid in his search for the missing team member.

Meanwhile Nicandra was on her way to her team's room when she came upon Weiss Schnee. Her outfit was soaking and the floor around her was wet.

"I'll catch the scoundrel who played this foul trick on me!"
"Weiss, what happened?" Nicandra asked her.
"Nicandra, was it?" the heiress asked and the blue-haired girl nodded. "Ungh, some dastard put a bucket on a door which happened to be opened by me and the rest is obvious I think."
"Do you have any idea who could do such a thing?"
"The first person that comes to mind is that wretched Cardin Winchester. He keeps picking on pretty much anybody. But there may be others with an affinity for joke. But Winchester is on the top of the list."
"You should ask your team mates to help you with that," Nicandra suggested. "That girl, Ruby, she seems she'd be happy to help."
"I don't need others to help me solve my problems," the heiress replied. "Someone crossed swords with a Schnee, and a Schnee shall take care of it."

Weiss then left for her team dorm and soon Nicandra followed her example.

It's been a month since the argument in Team PLTM's room and the four still haven't made up. Thistle was getting more depressed with each day, his team mates not noticing it at all. The boy tried a variety of things to get his team together, but nothing worked.

"What am I to do?" he wondered aloud.
"Hey, Thistle!"

A somewhat familiar voice rang through the gardens' air. Then he saw the boy he talked at the start of the semester accompanied by a taller, green-haired one.

"Bruin?" the purple-haired boy asked. "Who is your friend?"
"I'm Zelony, for friends 'Zel'."
"Is something wrong? You don't look so well," Bruin inquired.

"You don't want to tell us?" Bruin pressed on.
"...It's... my team. We don't get along." A single tear escaped Thistle's eyes. "It's been like this for weeks now and I tried everything to bring us together, but I can't!"
"Pearl's your team leader, right?" Zelony asked. "Maybe we should talk with her about it?"
"I tried talking with her... but she says if others don't want to integrate with the team... then we should leave them alone."
"What if we trick your team into integration?" the brown-haired boy suggested. "In like a two weeks time there is All Hallows' Eve. We could use this as a team-building exercise for both our teams!" he exclaimed vigorously.
"What do you mean, Bruin?" Zelony was curious about his partner and team leader's idea. "We can't, like, let Grimm onto school grounds or anything like that."
"We have Rouge on our team! I bet she'd be willing to put those spirits into some trickery. She's sly like that."

The boy looked at Bruin with fear in their eyes. The boy seemed to have a manic expression on his face, something that greatly bothered them. Still, if they could pull it off, Thistle's team would get back together.

"Well, that leaves us to finding her still. She went somewhere no one knows where after the classes and it was your idea to look for her," Zelony reminded him.
"The pink-haired girl? I think I saw her playing some trick on Cardin," Thistle said. "You think she could really help me?"
"Of course, Thistle! She seems to have mischief in her blood!" Bruin exclaimed once again. "Say, where did you last see our trickster?"
"Around bathrooms near the cafeteria."
"All right! 'Operation Team Unification' starts now!"

Excited Bruin dragged Zelony by his shirt, leaving a faintly smiling Thistle. Maybe it wouldn't be that hard to get his team together.

Rouge was outside of boys' bathroom, a triumphant smile on her face. Using her water spirit, Undine, she 'attacked' Cardin with a tap. The boy was hit hard on his forehead with the knob when he tried to use it. Russel Thrush who was nearby had to take him to the infirmary. People were pointing fingers at the boy as he was walked away.

She then decided to spice her day and play a trick on Weiss Schnee. It was kind of predictable she'd go to the library after the classes and once again employed Undine to do her dirty work. About this trick was a bit more careful as she put a bucket full of water on the door frame. The prank played out beautifully as Weiss was soaked to the bone with cold water, her perfectly tied ponytail ruined. Rouge quickly evacuated to not be caught red-handed: pranking an heiress of a large company is one thing, but to have unpleasantries of being caught didn't seem good to have on one's official records.

As she was passing by the cafeteria, she came upon an excited Bruin and a bit scared Zelony. She was genuinely curious as of what was the reason behind this. Her team leader bounced her way.

"Rouge, I have a favor to ask you!" he started, a wide grin was adorning his face.
"I sense 'danger' in your voice, I like that."
"Guys, let's talk somewhere less... conspicuous," Zelony said worried.
"Oh! It's more than 'danger'? Exciting," Rouge continued, clearly enjoying the vibes the two boys gave off.

The three went to their dorm, Nicandra already there doing homework. Bruin wanted to spill the beans about his 'favor', but Zelony was able to keep him silent about it. Rouge was curious and to add spice to the situation she got close to her leader, flirtatiously fluttering her eyelashes in front of him. The blue-haired girl sighed deeply, tired of her partner's behavior. Zelony was more accepting of Rouge's actions than Nicandra, but still he preferred for her to limit it but without the expected response.

"So tell me, boys, what is it that needs me? I must admit you got me genuinely interested."
"You know that boy from Team PLTM with purple hair?"
"The one with a fox Faunus for their leader? Yeah, she and that water boy put quite on a show a few weeks ago. That was a pretty cool battle."
"Bruin wants to help Thistle bring his Team together," Zelony unceremoniously announced. Their leader moaned loudly, unhappy that his partner spoiled the favor he was about to ask.
"Bruin, I don't mean to question your capabilities as a leader, but you have your own Team to take care of," Nicandra reminded him with cold voice.
"Well, that's why I agreed to help him. It could bring our two teams closer together!"
"So how exactly I come into this?" a confused look appeared on Rouge's face.
"It's All Hallows' Eve in two weeks time. I thought maybe you could use your ghosts to play some prank or something."
"I prefer the term 'spirits', 'ghosts' are for doing scary stuff, while 'spirits' are all those helpful little critters. But yep, I'll help you."
"W-why are you looking at me like that?" Rouge smiled and looked at Nicandra as if she had already formed a plan.
"You know, I've always wanted to make an animated golem, but there was always a teeny-bitty problem I always had: armaments."
"What does it have to do with me?" Then the realization hit her, "You want me to create some sword and shield for your 'pet'."
"Very good, Nic!" Rouge clapped her hands, a wide smile painting across her face. "I hope you can pull it off."
"Such simple armaments shouldn't be much problem."
"Awesome!" their leader cheered. "One less thing to worry about. Now we just need to think about location, and maybe..."

The three members looked at Bruin who seemed to be in deep thought. Then he suddenly had an idea. The expressions on Zelony and Nicandra's face showed a bit of fear, but Rouge seemed to be anticipating whatever the possibly crazy idea their leader had come up with.

"Let's style it for a Grimm!"
"No!" came synchronized voices of Zelony and Nicandra.
"Aww! You're no fun!" Bruin pouted.
"As fun as it sounds, I'm afraid I'm not that talented with my spirit artes."
"I have an idea! Just you wait!"

And then Bruin suddenly ran out of the room leaving his team members behind. The trio wondered what was their leader's idea, especially Nicandra was worried. The past six weeks showed her that Bruin is sometimes a really impulsive person.

As they waited for him, suddenly all their Scrolls buzzed. As they looked at it they saw Bruin was the sender. The message read, "Meet us at the amphitheater. Bruin"

"Us?" Nicandra wondered.
"Mystery, I like that," Rouge replied. "Let's go!"

Ten minutes later they arrived at the amphitheater. Aside of Bruin, there was the Grimm-clad boy along with his team mates as they presumed.

"This is getting out of control already," Nicandra sighed deeply.
"Hey! You're here! Great!" Bruin welcomed his team mates. "So here's the thing! Team AZRE agreed to help us with Operation Team Unification—"
"What?" Nicandra exclaimed, the name their leader chose left much to improve. Bruin however kept rambling on:
"Ace will help get Rouge's golem get that Grimm look and Dez even offered his Semblance as to give voice to the construct!"
"I could also lend a hand, for example by teaching your construct proper swordplay," Zweii spoke. "I heard you're giving him a sword with the help of Nicandra. Might as well make it a proper team building exercise."
"Bruin, aren't you getting a bit ahead of yourself? I thought this would tighten our Team's relationship with Team PLTM, not with entire Beacon," Nicandra said.
"The more the merrier, Nic!" Matt cheerily replied. "You can't have all the fun to yourselves, you know."
"Agreed!" Bruin, Rouge, and surprisingly Dezaryl said in unison.
"That's embarrassing," the leader of Team BRNZ scratched back of his head nervously. "But back to planning."
"Are you planning on getting more people involved in this little 'Operation', Bruin? At this rate Team PLTM will know for sure something's up," Zelony said.
"From what I know I presume that won't be a problem," Ace provided. "They seem to be in quite a conflict that they'll likely won't care about their surroundings."
"Well, where are we giving Team PLTM the 'team building exercise' exactly? I'd rather minimize the very likely damage done to school property. We don't exactly swim in money."

Nicandra raised an important issue: one thing is organizing a thing that would reunite a broken team, but another one is a golem rampaging through the school corridors. The damage it would cause would hurt their wallets greatly and they didn't have any income at the moment, perhaps aside of Dez who was doing some jobs around Vale. The group thought for a long while when Matt suddenly made a suggestion.

"We could ask Ozpin for help."
"That is a terrible idea, Matthew. I can't imagine any headmaster agreeing to such foolish plan, especially if it's destruction of school property and imperiling other students and teachers like that."
"Nic, you're such a party pooper!" Rouge groaned.
"If you haven't noticed it yet, a Hunter's job is one teeming with dangers," Zelony reminded his team mate. "If we can't defeat a simple construct, how can we even defend mankind from Grimm?"

Nicandra didn't reply. Zelony had a point: what good is a Hunter if they can't even defeat such a simple enemy. As much as she hated to admit it, she agreed to ask Ozpin about his opinion on the matter.

The two teams then left the arena, although Bruin and Ace went together to Ozpin's office. They were surprised to hear the principal agreeing to their plan so easily, just asking to do it in the campus exteriors were the certain damage would be minimal. Of course Goodwitch, who accompanied him at the moment, was against the idea. She was offered a little extra for the damage repairs she would undoubtedly make, but she simply scoffed. The two boys wondered how exactly she could repair damages but thought it might be something related to her Semblance.

Over the course of the next two weeks the two teams worked together putting their plan to fruition. Rouge, Nicandra, and Zweii trained the golem in swordsmanship, while Ace and Matt were working on realistically looking Grimm skins and bone armor for the construct. Zelony, Bruin, and Dezaryl were making sure that no one knew about their plans, well, aside of Ozpin and Goodwitch who were informed of their plans.

Still, with all the excitement that filled Bruin, there were problems as always. The one called "Team CRDL" proved to be an exceptionally large problem. Their current target was Jaune Arc, the leader of Team JNPR whose Nora and Ren were a part of, as well as the world-famous Pyrrha Nikos. The poor boy had cut out of his Team, a thing that worried his team mates and Bruin.

"Why does he keep bullying everyone?"
"Big bags of muscles are usually uncoordinated and tend to aim the even less capable than them," Zelony replied.
"Or are simply ignorant."

Bruin and Zelony were surprised when they heard an unknown voice joining their conversation. It was a boy all in black, wearing a fedora and sunglasses. Bruin was looking at the mysterious boy with strange content.

"Who were you again?" Zelony asked.
"Zel!" Bruin hissed at his partner. "You can't just ask him that question if he haven't introduced himself to us!"
"Blaise Campione, leader of Team BLZE."
"Oh! So you must be that guy that Eva and her team mates were looking for the other day, yeah?" the brown-haired boy inquired.
"It seems like my fame precedes me. But yeah, that would be me."
"Aren't the hat and glasses a bit of an overkill?" Zelony asked, but was quickly nudged at a side by Bruin. "Um, yeah, I'm Zelony Zomp. This guy here is my partner and team leader, Bruin Brown."
"H-hi," Bruin added shyly.
"I have my style and you have yours. But it will change soon," the black-clad boy added after a moment with a thoughtful expression.
"Umm, why did you cut into our conversation?" Team BRNZ's leader asked Blaise.
"Just wanted to clarify some facts. Ignorant people exist and that's all that matters."
"That's harsh, you know?" Bruin commented. "But I suppose that's true, even I feel ignorant at times." He awkwardly scratched his head.
"It's one thing to be ignorant and be aware of it, but it's entirely different if a person in question is a complete idiot. Sometimes a harsh lesson might do wonders for those."
"Still, one needs to educate themselves on the matters they're ignorant about," added Zelony. "Otherwise they just stand still, if not retard."
"Yeowch," his leader complained. "That's not nice."
"And who just said they 'feel ignorant at times'?"

Bruin pouted hearing the laughing Zelony teasing him for his earlier words. He should be careful of what he says around him or he'd suffer big time, he was sure of that.

"Well, gotta go. Bye." And soon Blaise disappeared leaving the two young Hunters-in-training alone.
"About Cardin, we could—"
"NO. That would be reverse bullying and we wouldn't like to fall to his level," Zelony quickly stopped his leader from formulating a rather mischievous plan.
"Way to kill the mood," grumbled Bruin.
"At some point his bullying will turn against him and his team, you'll see."
"If you say so," the leader pouted.

Since then the preparations for Operation Team Unification were going quite smoothly. Aside of the somehow in-the-know Nora of Team JNPR there were no worries of their plan to be revealed before its fruition. The golem was improving, especially with Zweii's swordsmanship training it started to appear to grasp the basis of combat. Ace and Matt put a lot of effort into the fake Grimm fur for the construct too and Bruin was amazed by the quality of the product.

Meanwhile Thistle was growing quite impatient, to the point where Zelony called him more childish than Bruin on more than a few occasions. However the boy didn't seem to mind it. The rest of his Team was still not getting together, pushing Bruin's determination even more in uniting the broken quartet.

Still, Bruin felt that his and Ace's Teams were already bonding a bit: after all they were partners-in-crime already, in a sense. After not it's not everyday two teams unite like it, and with the headmaster's blessing no less.

It appears that bonding may take lot of different forms and scaring people was one of them.

Author's Notes

So I'm finally posting this chapter! I had it more or less finished about a week ago, but there were few parts that I didn't like, but this should satisfy me.

Also, Bruin and Zel have finally met Blaise like, a week before All Hallows' Eve as I headcanon it, kinda.

Those who read J Van A.'s A BLZEing Remnant might recall a battle in which my Team participated where Rouge and Nicandra used their Semblances to create an earth costruct to ravage the battlefield. I got the idea from that since it kinda fit with my story.

I swear, I'm abusing Ace Wolfblade's Team but they are much easier to fit into my story at the moment that J Van A., but don't worry: your Team will get more appearances "soon".

And really? How Nora is able to get know about all that "fun stuff"? Lucky us have Ren who will keep our Thunder Goddess in line. ;)