We open to an overview of the streets of Vale being decorated in time for the Vytal Festival. Red, yellow, and green streamers and balloons are proudly on display, and Teams RWBY and IVRY are strolling through it all with an awed Weiss in the front. A sign is being put up by the elderly Shopkeep that reads in bright red letters "WELCOME TO VALE!" for all the foreign newcomers from their respective kingdoms of Remnant. Weiss, stopping and raising her arms in amazement says, "The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" Ivory says, "I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss." She frowns a little. "It's kinda weirding me out..." Weiss turns to Ivory and replies, "How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!" They continue walking. Yang sighs, and says with her arms crossed, "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring." Weiss replies, "Quiet, you!" Yvette asks as they stop near the docks and the sounds of foghorns are heard, "Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" Ruby says while covering her nose, "Ugh, they smell like fish!" Weiss replies, "I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom! Blake says as Weiss starts walking away again, "She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Weiss scoffs and replies, "You can't prove that!" Rebel says, "Please, we can see it in your eyes."
Ruby turns her head to the right and says "Whoa." The two teams look at a shattered window down the street and a door full of yellow caution tape of the Vale Police Force before walking over to the detective in front, who is writing on his pad. Ruby asks, "What happened here?" A detective replies, "Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." He walks over to his partner. Yang sighs sadly and says, "That's terrible." The second detective says to his partner, "They left all the money again." Ruby turns her head when she hears this and asks, "Huh?" The first detective replies, "Yeah, just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much Dust?" The second detective asks, "I don't know, an army?" The first detective asks, "You thinking the White Fang?" The second detective replies, removing his sunglasses "Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough." Weiss says, "Hmph! The White Fang." She says after, crossing her arms and pointing her nose in the air with her eyes closed, "What an awful bunch of degenerates!" Blake asks, "What's your problem?" Weiss turns to her and replies, "My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane." Blake says, "The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths." Crossing her arms, getting serious, "They're a collection of misguided Faunus." Weiss says, "Misguided? They want to wipe Humanity off the face of the planet!" Rebel replies, "So then they're very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale!" Ruby says, "Hmm...Rebel has a point. Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy Ivory and I ran into a few months ago...Maybe it was him." Weiss says, "That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum." To Blake and Rebel's growing anger, "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal." Yang replies, "That's not necessarily true..." They hear a sailor yell, "Hey, stop that Faunus!" Yvette says, "Talk about timing."
As the teams overhear the cry for help and rush over to investigate, a Faunus with a golden monkey tail is seen running down the length of the boat and leaping on to the edge as the two sailors are about to apprehend him. The Faunus looks back at his pursuers and says, "Thanks for the ride, guys! Haha!" He jumps off and hits the dock running. Another sailor yells, "You no-good stowaway!" The Faunus, using his tail to hang on a lamppost while he peels back a banana, says, "Hey! A no-good stowaway would've been caught! I'm a great stowaway!" Before he eats, one of the detectives down below throws a stone at him to get his attention. The detective from earlier yells, "Hey! Get down from there this instant!" He drops the banana peel on the detective's face, who growls in return. The monkey-like Faunus twirls up to crouch on the lamppost, laughs in amusement, and proceeds to leap off and run away from the detectives. As he runs past Teams RWBY and IVRY, he winks at an astonished Blake in slow motion before time speeds up again and he continues to be chased by the officers. Yang says while watching the Faunus get farther and farther away, "Well, Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes..." Weiss shouts while holding up a finger, "Quick! We have to observe him!" Weiss, Yang, Ivory, Vanessa, Yvette, and Ruby give chase. Blake stands still, lost in thought. Rebel waves a hand in front of her face and asks, "Blake?" Blake comes back to reality and she and Rebel follow their friends. The teams round the next corner, but then Weiss bumps into someone and trips. She looks up only to see the Faunus jump onto a building and disappear from her view.
Weiss yells, "No, he got away!" Yang asks, "Uhh...Weiss?" She points strangely at the girl underneath her teammate. Weiss finally sees that she fell on a smiling girl, which startles the heiress and she hastily gets up. The girl, still down on the ground, smiling widely, says, "Sal-u-ta-tions!" Ruby replies, "Um...hello." Yang asks, "Are you...okay?" The girl replies, "I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking." As the team looks at each other in bewilderment, Yang speaks up again, "Do you...wanna get up?" The girl thinks about this for a moment "Yes!" She leaps back on her feet while the teams step back a little. "My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!" Ruby says, "Hi Penny. I'm Ruby." Weiss says, "I'm Weiss." Blake says, "Blake." Yang asks, "Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Blake hits her side. "Oh, I'm Yang." Ivory says, "I'm Ivory, and this is Vanessa." Vanessa gives a warm smile and friendly wave. Rebel adds, "I'm Rebel." Yvette finishes, "Name's Yvette." Penny replies, "It's a pleasure to meet you!" Weiss says, "You already said that." Penny pauses again and replies, "So I did!" Weiss says, "Well, sorry for running into you!" They turn around and start walking away. Ruby waves her arm and says, "Take care, friend!" Ivory adds, "Yean, see you, friend." Yang says when they get far enough away from a startled Penny, "She was...weird..." Weiss says while looking to her right, "Now, where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to? Penny, suddenly in front of a surprised Weiss, asks, "What did you call me?" Yang says as Weiss looks back and forth in shock and Yang looks apologetic, "Oh, I'm really sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me!" Penny replies, "No, not you." She walks through the group and leans her head down to Ruby and Ivory, "You!" Ruby asks, startled, "Me? I-I don't know. I, what I, um, uh..." Ivory asks, "What did we..." Penny replies, "You called me 'friend'! Am I really your friend?" Ruby says, "Uuuum..." She looks over Penny's shoulder while her and Ivory's teammates motion to deny her. "Y-Yeah, sure! Why not?" Ruby and Ivory's teammates comically faint, but Penny looks overjoyed, laughs, and says, "Sen-sational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!" Ruby groans to Weiss as she brushes herself off and asks, "Oh, is this what it was like when you met me?" Weiss replies, "No, she seems far more coordinated." Yang asks, "So...what are you doing in Vale?" Penny replies, "I'm here to fight in the tournament." Weiss asks, "Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?" Penny replies, saluting, "I'm combat ready!" Weiss says, "Forgive me, but you hardly look the part." Rebel says, "Says the girl wearing a dress." Weiss says with her arms crossed, "It's a combat skirt! Ruby, the skirt sister, speeds over to Weiss' side and says, "Yeah!" Weiss holds out her hand and Ruby low-fives it. Weiss says, realization hitting, "Wait a minute." She walks over to Penny and grabs her by the shoulders, "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed...rapscallion?" Penny asks, "The who...?" Weiss says while holding up a poor drawing of the criminal-in-question, "The filthy Faunus from the boat!" Blake asks, "Why do you keep saying that?!" Weiss, turning her attention from Penny to Blake, asks, "Huh?" Blake walks over to Weiss, and angrily replies, "Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!" Weiss says, "Oh, I'm sorry." She releases Penny and motions to objects around her, asking, "Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?" Rebel growls, "Stop it!" Weiss says, "Stop what? He clearly broke the law. Give him time; he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!" Blake growls and says, "You ignorant little brat!" Weiss looks offended, but when Blake and Rebel walk away, she follows and says, "How dare you talk to me like that! I am your teammate!" Rebel says, "You are a judgmental little girl." Weiss asks, "What in the world makes you say that?" Rebel replies, "The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with a terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be!" While this is being said, Yang, sliding up to Ruby, Ivory, Vanessa, and Yvette, looking uncomfortable, says, "Um, I think we should probably go..." Penny pops up behind Ruby, and says smiling, "Where are we going?" Weiss says, "So you admit it! The White Fang is just a radical group of terrorists!" Blake replies, "That's not what she meant, and you know it!"
As Yang, Ivory, Vanessa, Yvette, and Ruby continue to observe, the scene shifts from afternoon near the docks to nighttime in their dorm room. Weiss says, "I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!" Blake replies, "That is the problem!" Weiss gets up from her bed and asks, "You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!" Blake gets on her feet as well and replies, "There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!" Weiss asks, "People like me?" Rebel replies, "You're discriminatory!" Weiss says, "I'm a victim!" As they stare each other down in silence, Weiss leans in close, leering as she speaks quietly, "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?" She continues while leaning against the bookshelf by the window. "It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that 1made for a very difficult childhood." She bangs her fist on the bookshelf. Rebel looks angry and says, "Well, you should have thought of that before agreeing to share a dorm with a Faunus." Ruby says while going over to comfort Weiss, "Weiss, I-" Weiss replies, "No!" Weiss turns away and walks back over to Blake and Rebel and says, "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!" Blake and Rebel both shout at the same time, "Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" Silence drops down on the scene again. A surprised Weiss backs away slowly, and Blake and Rebel realize their mistake as they look around at their teammates. Blake says, "I... I..." She dashes out the door with Rebel following her. Ruby shouts, "Blake, Rebel, wait! Come back!" She runs over to the door and calls to her down the hallway as Yang sits herself down and Weiss looks down. Vanessa looks worryingly at Ivory as Yvette says, "Oh, man." Blake and Rebel run outside and arrive at a statue of an armored man with a sword and a hooded woman wielding an axe on an outcropping, staring at the Beowolf under the stone heroes in particular. Blake closes her eyes and slowly lifts her arms up to her bow and pulls the string to release the bow from her hair. She wipes away a tear away Rebel scratches behind her Faunus ears. On the verge of crying, they become startled when they hear a voice above them, "I knew you would look better without the bow." They turn around and look up.
Ruby wakes up from her beauty sleep, yawning in the process. She looks over at Blake and Rebel's empty bunks, and groans sadly. Ruby, Weiss, Ivory, Vanessa, Yvette, and Yang walking through the empty streets of Vale. Ruby says, "They've been gone all weekend..." Weiss replies, "Blake and Rebel are big girls, I'm sure they can handle themselves!" Yang says, "Weiss, come on. Blake's one of our teammates." Ivory adds, "And Rebel is one of mine." Weiss asks, "Are they? We all heard what they said! Ruby says, "Weiss." Yvette replies, "They only said they were. It doesn't mean they are members now." Yang says, "Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. Either way, they're missing, and we need to find them!" Weiss yells, "Two members of the White Fang! Right underneath our noses!" Ruby says, "I just hope they're okay..." Elsewhere, Blake is sipping a cup of tea and sighing. She looks up at the monkey Faunus sitting across from her, who holds his drink with his tail as his hand props his head up. He takes a sip when Blake puts her cup down. Blake says, "So, you want to know more about us..." She looks at him intently.