Edit (06/19/16): Minor grammar edits. Ugh…
Ruby entered the store first and ran to the back and grabbed the latest issue of the magazine that she wanted to buy since last week. She grabbed a couple other magazines alongside with the Weapons Magazine and proceeded to the counter to order her custom rounds.
Once the store owner had written down the specifics for Ruby's order, Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose and put it down on the counter. Ruby took a handful of dust vials and put them on the counter as well.
"Mister, could you run maintenance on my weapon?" Ruby asked, grabbing the scythe again and transforming it to its scythe form and placed in down on the counter. Her scythe was somewhat worn down from her sparring session which left the scythe wielder almost crippled if it weren't for a senior interrupting the fight, "I don't have the time to fix my weapon so I will be leaving her in your hands."
The owner nodded and Ruby paid the price. The owner took the bag of Lien and gave Ruby a receipt. Ruby left the store with Vi, who was waiting near the exit for Ruby to finish with her business. Vi put down her shopping bags down as she waited Ruby.
"I'll be done with it by tomorrow afternoon. Please drop by to claim it back," the owner stated.
Ruby took the things that she bought in another bag and left the store.
While Ruby and Vi were heading down towards the airstrip back to Beacon Academy, a faint sound of some unknown liquid dripping to the floor accompanied by a banging sound resonated from an alley and Ruby somehow picked it up. She glanced behind and saw nothing. She then traced her steps back to the opening of the alleyway and looked through the alleyway seeing only darkness
"Bestie, where're you going?"
"I don't know… I heard something from here," Ruby replied, "Come on, Vi. Let's investigate!"
"What about these bags, bestie?" Vi asked, "Where are we going to leave them if we do go looking in that suspicious looking hole?"
"Anywhere," Ruby stated. Ruby went in the alleyway and put her bags down in the middle of the alleyway before proceeding further into the path. Vi followed suit and put down her bags with Ruby's.
Ruby walked along the alleyway. After a few minutes of walking, Ruby and Vi ended up in a small, circular open area surrounded by tall buildings. Light only came from a small open hole from above them.
The small space had nothing significant to look at and Ruby scratched the back of her head. There was nothing here and what was the faint sound that she heard? Ruby looked around her and when she was about to turn around to head back, two figures came out of the alleyway and joined them.
"Ruby, Vi?" Dewitt asked, "What're you two doing here?"
"I should be the one asking," Vi countered.
"Uh, we heard something coming from here and we wanted to find it out. We saw some bags along the way but we just left it there. Could they be yours?"
"Yeah," Ruby replied, "They're ours. Anyway, I don't think there's anything he-"
A loud rumble reverberated from inside the walls and the four were alarmed. The four went for their weapons and when Ruby tried to get hers, she remembered that her weapon was still in maintenance back at the shop and she couldn't get it until tomorrow. Luckily for Ruby, Yang had taught her hand-to-hand combat.
"Let's go check it out, team!" Ruby yelled softly.
"Ruby, I'm the team leader here," Lucian spoke.
"Just go with it, Luke."
The entire team went near to where they think they heard the noise. In front of them was a wall made of brick. Vi knocked at the wall, figuring that there was more than just the solid wall behind. Vi pushed the brick wall forward and the brick wall moved. Vi went in the dark and long corridor first and the three followed after. Inside was a small warehouse, big enough to store huge crates of anything.
"Guys, let's split into two teams and search this area," Lucian ordered.
"Let's go, bestie."
Ruby went along with Vi and entered a corridor to their immediate right. Ruby heard the same sound again and tugged on Vi shoulder to follow her.
"I heard it again, Vi. I think it's over there," Ruby said, pointing to her left while walking through the corridor. They followed to where Ruby thought the sound was coming from. Ruby turned left in an intersection on the corridor.
Ruby ended up with a beaten up door in front of her. She grabbed the doorknob, slowly turning it counter-clockwise and gently pushed on the door. Vi readied her staff for an attack from the other side. Ruby fully opened the door and ran inside.
The room was filled with barrels that glowed green inside. The green ambient light wasn't enough to light up the entire room. A musty stench was permeating from the inside. Ruby looked for a light switch right next to the door but could not find any. Vi tossed her a flashlight then Ruby turned it on.
What Ruby and Vi saw numerous black creatures strewn across the floor, either dead or barely hanging on to their last breaths.
"How were you able to hear this, bestie?" Vi asked, shocked at the horrendous discovery. Ruby crouched to take a closer inspection at one of the creatures that were already dead.
Seeing as the room had green chemicals in barrels by the dozen, Ruby grabbed her scroll and took pictures of it to send back to the Academy for further inspection. The creatures were Beowolves but cubs. For some odd reason, these dead Beowolves didn't disappear unlike normal creatures of grimm when they die. Ruby wanted to poke at it but seeing that it was just not the time to do it, she left it alone.
Having no gloves or anything to retrieve any samples, Ruby stood back up and pointed the flashlight directly in front of her. A door to the far right was illuminated. Vi approached the door and went inside only for her to call Ruby.
"What is it?" Ruby asked curiously as she tried to avoid stepping on any of the dead Beowolf cubs, "What's in there?"
"You have to see for yourself," Vi replied.
Ruby entered the room and Vi was standing near a desk and blew on a dusty lamp before turning it on. On the desk were piles of papers. Ruby read through the papers and found documents on the Beowolf cubs and the experiments that were made to them.
"This is horrible," Ruby said sorrowfully, "Whoever did this is horrible."
"Grab those, bestie. We're going back. I think we've seen enough here today," Vi said. Vi firmly grasped Ruby's wrist, pulling and urging for her to go.
Ruby and Vi went back to the small warehouse. Lucian was trying to open one of the crates but Dewitt was against him in doing so.
"We're back. What did you guys find?" Vi yelled over to the two boys.
"We didn't find anythi-"
A loud roar rang through the dark warehouse. About twenty meters from the four hunters-in-training, the darkness was suddenly lit a faint green. The source of the light was from an adult Beowolf roared once again as its fur oozed green liquids off of its skin.
"Dewitt," Lucian said calmly, "Form on me. Violette, go protect Ruby at all costs. We don't want Ruby touching those green stuff. I'll handle that thing and Dewitt, make sure that it doesn't get near any of us."
"Sure," Dewitt replied. Vi stayed silent and knew what she needed to do. Ruby, on the other hand, wanted to pout but she knew the risk of fighting with her fists against a creature that they were currently facing.
Dewitt unsheathed his sword and shield infused with ice dust crystals. Dewitt rushed up front as the Beowolf charged up to them, making the floor rumble, and thrashing the crates out its way. Dewitt turned his sword upside down and stabbed it to the ground creating an ice wall from nowhere.
Lucian prepared a dust magazine and clipped it to his gun-sword and started firing upon the Beowolf in hopes of slowing it down and wounding the creature. The grimm slammed its body on the ice wall that Dewitt created, shattering the wall into shards. Dewitt raised his shield, colliding with the Beowolf. The leather on his shield started corroding but the metal part stayed intact.
Dewitt, struggling a little bit, pushed the grimm with all his strength back before retreating, leaving a wide opportunity for Lucian to strike.
Lucian produced an orb of light from his hand and threw it at the Beowolf. The orb then struck the grimm directly at its forehead, making it a little dizzy. Lucian charged past Dewitt and emptied an entire magazine at the Beowolf's torso, creating large holes on the grimm.
The Beowolf roared in pain and swung its arms wildly, hitting Lucian to his side making the boy fly away from the immense force of the wild swings. More luminescent green liquids flowed through the bullet wounds. Dewitt stood his ground and summoned an Aura force field around himself in which the Grimm slammed itself into the force field, breaking the shield and throwing Dewitt off to the side.
Ruby began to run towards Dewitt but Vi stopped her from doing so.
"Vi, they need help!" Ruby screamed.
"They're fine. They have aura like us but we can't help them if we don't defeat this thing first."
"Okay," Ruby said, "What do I need to do?"
"Just stay back," Vi replied, "Let me handle this."
Vi spun he staff and blinked towards the Beowolf and hit the grimm's torso multiple times making it it howl in pain. Vi blinked back to where Ruby was and gunshots from Ruby's right pierced through the grimm.
Making its last stand, the grimm wanted to take someone with it to its death by mustering up its last reserves of energy left in its body to rush towards Ruby, the most defenseless of the group as of the moment. Vi stood in front of Ruby, protecting her from anything the Beowolf might do.
In a matter of seconds, the mutated Beowolf picked up its pace and Vi simply pushed Ruby to the side.
"Vi!"
Ruby landed on the floor right next to where the grimm had laid holding onto its last breath. Dewitt stood up from where he landed earlier and rubbed his forehead as he walked towards the Beowolf. Once he was next to it, he stabbed his sword to its chest, ending its misery of being experimented on.
Ruby was still in shock because she didn't see Vi get out of the way as the Beowolf collided with the wall. Splinters, pieces of wood, and green blood and chemicals that were mixed together were now spreading across the entire floor. Dewitt helped Ruby stand up, feeling weak in the legs.
"Nice work, bestie!"
Ruby quickly turned his head around and temporarily regained some strength back to his legs. She ran to Vi and gave her a big, bone crushing hug.
"Ouch!" Vi exclaimed, "Bestie, you're crushing me! I barely got out of its way, I need some air!"
"Oh," Ruby apologized, smiling embarrassingly, "Sorry about that…"
"Let's get out of here," Lucian added, walking from behind the two girls, "We need to report this to Beacon as soon as we can. Also, good work team. Get some rest after this but it depends whether we will have something to do that I'm pretty sure would be important."
"Yeah, yeah," Vi said.
Ruby got back to Beacon and the two friends visited team Basil's dorm room to recount the tale that they had recently had just witnessed. Although Lucian told them specifically not to tell anyone especially Yang, who everyone knew was basically a walking basket never being able to keep a secret for too long but some people knew that she could keep secrets pretty well if it concerned Ruby or her best friend.
"Yang!" Ruby yelled as she entered the team's room only to find it empty except for Weiss filing her nails.
"Yang's out shopping with Blake in downtown Vale for some necessities," Weiss merely stated, resuming to filing her nails, "You guys can stay here until they return. They left an hour ago so they should be back in at least ten minutes. Taking into account that it's your sister that is doing most of the shopping, they should be back in half an hour."
"Okay…," Ruby said, feeling a bit down at how cold Weiss' statement was but she tried to hide it by making a fake smile.
Ruby laid down in Yang's bed and Vi simply sat down next to Weiss on a stool.
"So, Weiss, do you have any tips for make-up?" Vi asked, curiously.
"Yes," Weiss replied, "Sit right there and let me grab my kit."
The two kept a conversation about beauty and everything that Ruby was clearly not interested in so she took out her scroll and texted Lucian on how the report with Professor Goodwitch was going.
"Lucian, how's it going with the headmaster?" Ruby texted.
A couple minutes passed by, at this point, Weiss was applying some powder on Vi's face. Ruby felt a sudden itch that made her want to be the one the white-haired girl was applying makeup on but at the same time, she didn't want to do it because it was girly stuff. Things that women do to impress men and Ruby will not have any of those things. All she needed was Crescent Rose and strawberries, cookies, and milk. Plus her pillows. They were so soft that she couldn't resist sleeping after snuggling them.
Ruby's scroll vibrated and she took it out. A message that said, "I did all that was needed to be done. She hadn't said anything yet but she did mention that she was going to send a hunter team to investigate. Professor Goodwitch wants to see you tonight for short discussion about something. Just you though. She didn't really say any reason why but yeah." Ruby hid her phone in one her side pockets and stored the scroll before watching Weiss apply more makeup on Vi's face to pass some time. Ruby wanted to have her Zwei pillow to hug just to keep her distracted.
Another message came through and Ruby had to rummage through her pockets since she had already forgotten where she had placed her scroll. Once she retrieved it, the message said, "Ruby, Goodwitch said that you need to stay at your sister's dorm for now since it's fairly close to the headmaster's office and she wanted you to be safe under a senior team. Good night." Ruby didn't hide her scroll this time, instead, she put in under the pillow in which her head was resting on.
Ruby turned her body to the opposite direction so that she wouldn't be looking at the two as they cheerfully talked with each other about fashion and all kinds of stuff that just did not click in with Ruby.
A few minutes later, Yang slammed the door wide open with her foot and entered, holding bags of food and necessities. "What's up team Basil!" Yang shouted out loud.
The three were startled as Yang placed the bags down at the nearest table and jumped to Ruby's side.
"Sup sis!" Yang said, "How's it hanging? Having boy issues? Is that why you were here?"
Blake's palm ended up on her face as Ruby's eyes widened, grabbing the pillow where she was just resting her head on and smacked it at Yang's face.
"Hey!" Yang said with a cheeky smile, "So, is it really about boys, Rubes? My baby sister already having a crush?"
"No, Yang!" Ruby groaned, "I was going to tell you about my adventures with my team today but you're just teasing me so I'm not going to tell you about it." Ruby puffed her cheeks and faced the opposite direction from Yang. Weiss rolled her eyes and Vi simply giggled.
"Aw, I'm so sorry, Ruby! I won't fun of you I promise!" Yang said, pleadingly and teasingly, "You have to tell me about today or I won't be able to bake you some of your favorite cookies…"
At the very mention of cookies, Ruby quickly turned around and tackled Yang, pinning her down on the bed, "NO! YOU HAVE TO BAKE THE COOKIES TODAY! I'LL NEVER SURVIVE WITHOUT THEM!"
"First," Yang said calmly, pushing Ruby away gently, "you have to tell me about what happened today."
"Deal."
"Can I sleep with you tonight, Yang?" Ruby asked.
"Sure, why not?" Yang replied, standing up, "Let me grab some pillows and blankets for you."
Ruby settled down on the bed as she waited for Yang to lay down next to her with an extra pillow and a blanket. "Good night, Yang."
"Good night, baby sis," Yang said, giving her little sister a goodnight kiss on the forehead, "Have some sweet dreams tonight."
"You too."
Vi and Weiss had stopped putting on stuff in their faces to make themselves look fantastic, Ruby could never see the appeal of makeup, and Vi had already gone back to their dorm room, saying good night to Ruby earlier.
Ruby waited for an hour, pretending to be asleep as Yang held her little sister as a hug pillow and Ruby couldn't move an inch or she could wake Yang up. But as soon Yang flipped her body to the other side of the bed, Ruby used her semblance, leaving rose petals as she exited the door towards the headmaster's office.