Banzai!
Chapter XXII
The New Tiger and the Second Night
0830hrs, August 15th, 2024
Dining Hall, Beacon Academy
"And then it went BOOM!" exclaimed Nora, throwing her arms up in the air.
"It actually just sparked a bit…" said Ren before taking a sip of his coffee.
Team RWBY and Team JNPR were at this moment having breakfast in the mess hall of the academy. Nora was telling a story to her friends, although it seemed that she was exaggerating it a bit since Ren corrected her several times. The others listened to the orange-haired girl's story, some of them more interested than others. Jaune and Ruby were more focused on eating their food, Blake was concentrated on the book she was reading, and Weiss was writing something on a small paper.
"The boys are sure taking their time," commented Pyrrha, referring to Sora and Ventus, who were outside Beacon, fighting against the Heartless that started appearing around the academy.
"There must be a lot of Heartless outside," said Jaune, and then he shrugged. "Meh, I'm sure Ven and Sora will take care of them without having any trouble."
"It sure has gotten quieter around here after those two arrived," said Yang, who was leaning her head on her hand and looked bored. "At the end they are dealing with the Heartless on their own. I guess I can't complain since they're the best here when it comes to that, but it was kind of fun fighting against the Heartless every day."
"It can't be helped," said Blake, her eyes not looking away from her book. "As you said, they are the experts, after all."
"You're right," agreed Pyrrha. "I mean, we can take care of the Heartless, but that one with the red aura was too much for us. We were lucky Sora and Ven were here before that thing decided to come to the academy."
"I guess," said Yang. Then the blonde blinked as if she just remembered something and a smirk formed in her lips. "By the way, I forgot to ask something. How was your date with Sora, Weiss?"
The blonde student's question shocked Weiss for a moment, causing her to draw a large line across the paper where she was writing. This reaction amused the whole table, but they tried to hide it from the white-haired girl; however, Yang didn't have any trouble in showing her teammate the huge grin she had in her face right now.
"What are you calling a date?" muttered Weiss irritated. "Didn't we already tell you about what we heard last night? I have nothing else to tell you besides that."
"Eeeeh, really?" said Yang sounding very disappointed. "Talk about wasted opportunities. Did you really spend the night with Sora, without any of us around, and did nothing with him?"
"We talked, nothing else," replied Weiss as she folded the paper she was writing on.
Yang sighed. "Oh well, it doesn't matter. I'll make sure to have some fun with him when I go with him to Vale."
"What kind of fun does she mean?" thought Ren, who couldn't help but feel a bit of concern for the brown-haired Keyblade wielder.
"Sis, don't do anything bad to Sora…" said Ruby.
"I won't," replied Yang, although the way she said it was suspicious. The smile she had on her face didn't help a lot either.
"What you should do is stop with your constant flirting towards him," said Weiss. "He's here to defeat Heartless and defend the academy. He'll become distracted if you continue with your attempts of seduction."
"Come on, Professor Ozpin said that one of them would have been enough to protect Beacon, right?" said Yang. "Besides, I can't help it. His reactions are too good. Who would have known he would be like that."
"Like what?" asked Ruby puzzled.
"Like a normal teen, you know?" replied the blonde. "At first I thought Keyblade wielders would be people with a stern and sharp personality, but after meeting those two I realized how wrong I was and I'm glad I was. It would have been really boring to have someone like Goodwitch hanging out with us, don't you agree?"
"Yeah, that's true," said Ruby, who looked behind for a slight second to make sure the blonde teacher they were talking about wasn't behind them. "Oh, by the way, how was the training yesterday, Jaune?"
"Great!" replied the leader of Team JNPR. "Ven helped a lot. He's really something. Pyrrha and I were exhausted when we finished, but he still had a lot of energy left. I don't know what he did after we finished, though."
"He and Nora sparred for the rest of the day in the gardens," commented Ren while Nora just grinned.
"Wow, that guy has boundless energy," said Yang surprised.
"So, did he show you some kind of super-secret technique or something?" asked Ruby looking excitedly at Jaune.
"No, he didn't," replied Jaune. "I think it'd be better if he doesn't use any 'super-secret technique' when we're training. I already had trouble keeping up with him. His strikes are really fast."
"That style of his is kind of strange, but it looks really effective when he uses it," said Pyrrha, remembering the training session of the last day. "I'm curious to know how strong Ven really is. I'd like to see him fighting seriously someday."
"That'd be awesome to see," said Ruby. "Maybe we should ask Sora and Ven to fight against each other and show us how strong they really are. I wonder who would win."
"The academy will be destroyed if they do that," said Blake, still reading her book.
"Yeah, maybe that's not a good idea," said Yang. "But Sora would win that fight, if you ask me."
"What makes you think that?" asked Pyrrha.
"He was requested personally by Ozpin, right?" replied Yang. "He has to be the strongest Keyblade wielder if the headmaster wanted him to be the one coming here to protect the academy. Don't get me wrong, Ven is really strong too. We saw him fighting against that Heartless and he was amazing, but I think Sora is stronger."
"I think Ven would be the winner," said Jaune. "He was incredibly fast when he fought against the Dark Thorn, and he didn't even need to use a Drive Form like Sora to do that."
"We can't know it for sure unless they fight against each other," commented Ruby. "I also wonder how strong the other eight Keyblade wielders are. Do you think there's any female Keyblade wielder in Sora's guild?"
"There has to be," said Pyrrha smiling. "He would be a sexist leader if he doesn't let girls join his group…unless there aren't any female Keyblade wielders, of course."
Ruby laughed. "You're right."
"Leader," muttered Weiss, and the girl with black-red hair who was sitting next to her could hear her.
"Did you say something, Weiss?" asked Ruby.
"Nothing," replied the white-haired girl. "I just remembered that Sora still hasn't answered the question I asked him yesterday when we were in the city."
"Oh, what did you ask him?" asked a very curious Ruby.
"I wanted to know how he ended up being the leader of that organization of Keyblade wielders," answered Weiss. "He said that all the members agreed that the leader should be a Keyblade Master, so they had to choose between him and other three people. What I want to know is the reason they chose him."
"Keyblade Master?" asked Yang, who didn't know what that title meant, although it wasn't very difficult to figure it out. "Is that, like, the highest level a Keyblade wielder can reach?"
"I suppose so," replied Weiss.
"Ven told us is the title given to exceptional Keyblade wielders who pass something called 'Mark of Mastery Exam'," explained Pyrrha. "I didn't know Sora was one."
"Anyway, why would you ask him something like that?" asked Yang raising an eyebrow at Weiss.
"I just want to know, that's all," said Weiss. "He said the other three Keyblade wielders are older than him, therefore they must be more experienced. Why would they choose him to be the leader, then? He was about to tell me, but then those two guys we told you about appeared."
"Aren't you being a bit nosy?" asked Blake.
"You don't want to know?" asked Weiss, looking at the black-haired girl and ignoring what she just said.
"Well, Ven seems to respect and trust him a lot, so there has to be a reason," said Pyrrha before Blake could answer. Then the redhead remembered her conversation with Sora the last day and how he told her that he'll make sure to protect Team RWBY from the cloaked figure. "He also seems to care a lot about people, and not just the ones he has known for a long time."
"What makes you think that?" asked Weiss.
"The day he and Ven arrived here," said Blake, closing her book and looking at Weiss. "That big Heartless that appeared in the Emerald Forest was really powerful, but I'm sure the two of them could have defeated it; however, it would have taken some time and some of us could have been injured if the monster had decided to attack us instead of focusing on them. Ven realized this and told Sora about it."
"Oh, so that's why Sora used that ability of his," said Yang in realization.
"Probably you didn't hear what they said, but Sora at first was reluctant to use it," said Blake, and by the look on the other student's faces, it seemed that she was the only one who heard the Keyblade wielders' conversation. "I didn't hear everything, but it looks like using those Drive Forms, apart from increasing his power, it can also harm him somehow. Despite this fact, he decided to use it to subdue the Heartless and make sure it didn't get close to us."
"I didn't know that," muttered Weiss. She considered herself pretty capable when it comes to fighting, so she didn't like very much hearing that Sora had to use one of his Drive Forms to protect her and the others; however, she couldn't help but feel bad for the Keyblade wielder.
"Okay, I feel kinda bad now…" said Jaune lowering his gaze.
"Do you think that's the reason he overslept that night?" asked Ruby concernedly. "Perhaps he used too much energy, so he needed to rest."
"No, that was because he was thinking about the person who defeated that flying Heartless," replied Blake. "I don't know why he was so worried, but I didn't want to ask. I suppose we'll know if we find that person with the cloak."
"Come on guys, you are worrying too much," said Yang. "I'm pretty sure Sora's perfectly fine. If he was hurt, we'd have noticed, right? Instead of feeling bad for that, you should be happy he was willing to use that ability to protect us. Now we just have to return the favor by finding that mysterious guy who appeared on the news."
"Do you really think he's okay?" asked Jaune.
"Of course!" replied the blonde. "Now remove those sad faces and cheer up! Remember that tomorrow is the last day of our first semester! We have to do something awesome to celebrate! And we should invite Sora and Ven too!"
"Invite us to what?" asked Ventus, who was behind Team RWBY with Sora by his side.
"Oh, you guys are here," said Jaune as Ven sat next to him while Sora did it between Ruby and Yang. "How did it go? Were there a lot of Heartless outside?"
"A fair amount, but it was a piece of cake," replied Ven with thumbs up. "We actually had some help from someone who was passing by."
"Really, who?" asked Pyrrha.
"A guy with a monkey tail called Sun," replied Sora smiling. "A really cool guy, I have to admit. That weapon he uses is awesome."
"Sun helped you?" asked Blake surprised.
Sora nodded. "Do you know him?"
"We all know that guy," replied Weiss, and by the tone of her voice, Sora could tell that she and Sun weren't the best of friends, but he didn't detect any hate in her voice either. "Here, Sora. I already wrote the places where you should look for that thing those men were talking about."
"Oh, right, thanks," said Sora, and then he took the paper Weiss was handing to him and took a look at it. "Hey, why there's a huge line across the paper?"
"Ignore that!" snapped Weiss, much to Yang's amusement. "Just look the places I selected!"
"Okay, okay, I got it," said Sora, not knowing why Weiss reacted that way. He looked at the paper and saw that she wrote several places, but most of them were crossed out, leaving only two places in Vale where someone could hide something big. "So the subway and the airfield are our only options, then?"
"There could be a place down there where someone can hide something of a considerable size," explained Weiss. "On the other hand, there are several hangars in the airfield of Vale that could be also a good hiding spot. It is a bit far from here and there will be more security than in the subway, but I guess that, being who you are, you don't mind breaking into a place if that means you can catch a bad guy."
"You got me there," said Sora with a grin on his face.
"You try to follow all the rules regarding the World order, but when it comes to respect the laws you are worse than a real criminal," said Ven jokingly. "You're a strange guy."
"Shut up!" protested Sora while the students of Beacon laughed.
"So, have you decided who's going with you tonight?" asked Yang who put her face really close to Sora's as she flashed a wide grin to him. "I know a certain someone who would love to go with you to the city."
"I haven't decided yet…and you're too close," said Sora smiling as he pushed Yang's face away. "Oh, by the way, Sun told us there's going to be tournament at the end of the year. Are you guys going to participate?"
"Of course," said Weiss. "Beacon students competing in the tournament will be representing all of Vale, after all."
"That's going a bit far," commented Yang. "Probably I'll participate too. I suppose you're also going to do it, right, Pyrrha? You won the Mistral Regional Tournaments four years in a row, so you might want to start a new record here in Vale."
Pyrrha chuckled. "It always fun to participate in one of these, so you can count me in."
"Four years in a row?" asked Ven surprised. "Wow, you really are elite! Have you been holding back during yesterday's training?"
"Who knows?" said Pyrrha smiling.
"Oh, Sora, Ven, why don't you participate, too?" asked Nora. "That'd be awesome, but not just awesome, it will be incredibly awesome! I'm sure you two will be able to get to the finals!"
"Nora, calm down," said Ren. "The tournament of Vytal Festival is just for students. I don't think they'll let them participate."
"Awww, that sucks," said Nora pouting.
"Don't worry, we have to prepare ourselves for a different tournament," added Ven, and some of the students became interested in what he just said.
"What tournament are you talking about?" asked Weiss.
"An arena is being built in Radiant Garden, the world where our guild is," replied Sora. "One day there will be a competition between guilds and organizations from different worlds and we are going to participate. Teams will be representing each guild and organization, but I don't know how many member each team can have."
"If it's four members per team we already know who of us is going to participate," said Ven smiling. "The others participants won't stand a chance against four Keyblade Masters."
"Knowing who will participate, we might need some reserve members, so you'd better don't slack off," said Sora, returning the smile.
"Hold on, you said that guilds and organizations from different worlds will be participating…" said Yang. "Does that mean that people who aren't Keyblade wielders can also go to other worlds?"
"Of course," replied Sora. "That's not something exclusive for us, so you could participate in the tournament if you manage to get there."
"Wait, are you serious?" asked Weiss, looking really interested in the tournament of Radiant Garden, something that surprised Sora. "We could participate?"
"Sure," replied the Guild Master with a smile. "Beacon can be considered an organization of Huntsmen and Huntresses-in-training, so you could represent the academy if you participate."
"Oh wow, that sounds so awesome!" said Ruby excitedly.
"But we'd have to find a way to travel between worlds," said Pyrrha. "And that doesn't look like something easy to do."
"Can't you guys just take us there?" asked Jaune, looking at Ven.
"It's not allowed to take people out of their worlds," mentioned Blake.
"What she said," said Sora, pointing at Blake with his thumb. "But don't worry; I'm sure you'll have a way to get to Radiant Garden by the time the tournament starts."
"Hey Sora, is that other academy you protected going to participate?" asked a curious Ruby.
"Now that you mention it, I haven't told them about the tournament yet," said Sora in realization. "I think it could have been because Black*Star would go berserk if he finds out about that competition. I'll have to tell them eventually, though."
"You'll have to do it the next time you visit them," said Ventus.
"Oh, I'm so going to participate in that one if we find out how to travel to other worlds," said Yang. "If we win, we'll be famous all across the worlds! I'm already imagining it…'Students of Beacon Academy defeat the Light Guardians in a tournament'."
"Ha, in your dreams!" said Sora.
"Oooh, what was that?" said Yang. "Are you challenging me, spiky? Heartless might be a piece of cake for you, but I won't go down so easily."
"Oh, so you think I can only beat up Heartless, huh?" said Sora as he and Yang exchanged defiant looks. "Maybe I should show you what I'm capable of, Blondie."
"Bring it on!" said Yang.
"They are actually two of a kind," said Ventus.
"Looks like it," said Pyrrha with a smile.
"You'd better don't start a fight here unless you want Professor Goodwitch to get angry…" said Jaune, and then he noticed something on Ruby. "Hey Ruby, what are you scheming? You have that look on your eyes that scares me…"
"No, I don't!" protested Ruby. "And I don't scheme! I'm not a villain!"
"Probably she's thinking of rigging that tournament so she can fight against the other scythe wielder Sora knows," said Blake.
"You can't prove that!" said the leader of Team RWBY.
"Wait, that's why you asked me if the other academy I protected was going to participate?" asked Sora as he and Yang finished their small discussion.
"W-what!?" said Ruby nervously. "No, I…"
"Sis, don't do anything bad to outsider girls," said Yang in a mock authoritative tone.
Ruby growled. "Shut up, Yang."
-TLG-
1755hrs, August 13th, 2024
Fiore, Earth Land
"Hakuryū no Hōkō!" exclaimed Sting Eucliffe, the Guild Master of the Mages Guild Sabertooth, before releasing from his mouth a laser made of light that went through a Wavecrest Heartless that was flying above him, destroying it in the process.
"Nice job, Sting-kun!" said Lector, Sting's Exceed partner.
"One less Heartless to worry about," said Sting smiling as he and Lector hi-fived.
"Look," said Rogue, who was also there along with his partner Frosch. He was pointing at the green sphere that just fell to the ground. "This one had another one of those spheres made of Lacrima."
"Yeah, good thing we took care of that monster before more of them started to appear," said Sting while Frosch took the sphere and gave it to Rogue, who put it in one of his pockets. "Well, now that this job's done, let's return to the guild. We have to see if we received more request about Heartless' extermination."
"Lately you only take jobs about Heartless," observed Rogue.
"Fro think so, too!" said the Exceed in the frog suit.
"That's because we have to protect our home from them," said Sting. "Lately Natsu-san's team had been going on a lot of missions, most of them related to the Heartless. We have to lend them a hand, don't you think?"
"Yes, but you're not going to deny that you're also doing this because you want one of the Light Guardians to consider joining Sabertooth," said Rogue. "I'm not saying I don't want one of them to join us, but perhaps you are taking this too seriously."
"Come on, haven't you heard about it?" asked Sting crossing his arms.
"Heard about what?" asked Rogue.
"A woman called Aqua joined Mermaid Heel two days ago," replied Sting. "That's the name of one of the Keyblade wielders Roxas told us that wanted to join a Mages Guild and that means that the only one left is the one called Terra."
"I see…still, do you think defeating Heartless would make him want to join our guild?" asked Rogue, not very sure about the efficiency of his teammate's plan.
"We won't know unless we try!" said Sting grinning, and then he put his right hand on the Shadow Dragon Slayer's left shoulder. "But if you ask me, I think it's a good plan!"
"Sting-kun's right!" said Lector. "I'm sure one of these days Terra-kun will come to Fiore because he heard about how awesome Sabertooth is!"
"These two…" thought Rogue, and it was then we he saw someone running towards him and his team. They were two people and he could recognize one of them, Erza. The other person was Terra, but none of them knew him yet. "Someone is coming."
"Who?" asked Sting as he turned his gaze to where Rogue was looking. "Hey, isn't that Erza-san? And who's with her?"
"Fro doesn't know," said Frosch raising his paw.
"Maybe a new member of Fairy Tail," said Lector as Erza and Terra got closer. "I wonder where the rest of her team is. It's weird to see her without them."
"I knew it was you guys," said Erza as she and Terra stopped running and walked towards the team of Sabertooth.
"Hey Erza-san, it's good to see you again!" said Sting with a smile.
"You saw Sting's attack?" asked Rogue.
Erza nodded. "We saw the Heartless and then how Sting's magic destroyed it, so we decided to come here to talk with you. I'm glad to see you here. You saved us one trip to your guild…well, at least for me."
"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Sting quite confused.
"I brought you someone who wants to join Sabertooth?" said Erza smiling as she put a hand on Terra's shoulder. "This is Terra, one of the Light Guardians, the guild Sora created, but you already know that. Terra, these are Sting, Rogue, Lector and Frosch, members of the Sabertooth Guild."
"Oh, it's nice to meet you," said Terra before looking at Sting. "You are the Guild Master of Sabertooth, if I'm not mistaken. Roxas and Riku told me about you. As Erza said, I'm interested in joining Sabertooth, so I was hoping you would consider letting me join."
Terra waited for an answer, but he didn't get one. Instead, the only thing he was getting was the stunned looks of the four members of Sabertooth, who couldn't believe what was happening. The Keyblade wielder who Sting was looking for actually came to Fiore and wanted to join Sabertooth, just as the White Dragon wanted. The Guild Master of Sabertooth, then, turned to his Dragon Slayer partner and looked at him with a condescending smile.
"Wipe that smug shit-eating grin off your face!" said Rogue annoyed.
"Heh, Terra-san…" said Sting.
"Terra is fine," said the Guardian.
"All right, welcome to Sabertooth!" said Sting with a funny expression on his face and a thumbs-up.
"Wow, hold on!" said Terra taken aback. "You are letting me join just like that?"
"What do you mean?" asked Sting, looking confused at the Keyblade wielder.
"Well, I don't know if you have heard about another Guardian who joined Mermaid Heel," replied Terra. "Her name is Aqua and one of the mages of that guild fought against her as a test to see if she was skilled enough."
"Yes, I know about that," said Sting smiling. "Look, some time ago Sabertooth was different from how is it now, only valuing its members for their strength. I wanted the guild to become one that treasures and values our comrades, leaving how strong they are as a secondary matter. That's why we are not going to test you."
"That sounds great," said Terra, who admired Sting's resolve. Erza also looked pleased with Sting's change of personality. He was much less cheerful than he was now, so she was glad that the Dragon Slayer had changed now that he was a Guild Master.
"Besides, we already know you are really strong, right, Lector?" said Sting as he turned to his Exceed partner.
"Yeah!" said Lector, taking a notebook out of nowhere and starting reading something that was written on it. "According to our sources, Terra-kun is one of the four Keyblade Masters of the Light Guardians, making him one of the strongest members of the guild. Additionally, he started training as an apprentice when he was a kid along with Aqua-san, making him more experienced than Riku-kun and Sora-kun."
"How can they know that?" asked Erza looking at Terra.
Terra shrugged. "It makes me wonder who that source of theirs is."
"If we consider that Sora-kun defeated Riku-kun in a duel seven years ago in Magnolia, then we could say that Fairy Tail's Keyblade wielder is the third strongest Keyblade wielder out of the ones who have joined a Mages Guild, being Aqua-san and Terra-kun, once he joins Sabertooth, the strongest ones."
"Basically, Sabertooth's power level now is closer to Fairy Tail's since we have a strongest Keyblade wielder," said Sting confidently. "As I said, it's just a secondary matter, but that doesn't mean it's not worth mentioning."
"Are you taking this as a competition?" asked Rogue. "What are you, a kid?"
"Shut up!" said Sting.
"These two remind me of Sora and Riku," thought Terra, looking amusedly at the two Dragon Slayers.
"I won't deny that Terra is strong, but I'm not very sure of that assumption you're making," said Erza, touching her chin pensively. Sora was a member of Fairy Tail, so it was obvious she was going to defend him in this, but she couldn't affirm anything completely either.
"They do have good points," said Terra smiling and nodding approvingly. "Experience is very important. Sora and Riku are greatly talented, but Aqua and I were properly trained for several years."
"You sound really confident," said Erza smiling, and then a determined look appeared on her face. "I guess there's only one way to find out who of the five Mages Guild's Keyblade wielders is the strongest."
"Now you're the one getting competitive," said Terra, his smile widening.
"Of course, I'm sure Sora won't lose," said Erza. "Well, you're in good hands now, so I'd better return to Fairy Tail. I've got the feeling that Natsu started another fight and that's not something I can overlook."
Terra chuckled. "Sure, see you around, Erza."
"Bye, Erza-san!" said Sting, waving his hand at the redhead mage as she left. Then the blond Dragon Slayer looked at Terra again. "So, are you ready to join Sabertooth?"
"I think so," replied Terra. "But I would like to meet the other members before joining, if you don't mind. One of the reasons Aqua and I wanted to join a Mages Guild was because we wanted to know more people and make more friends around the worlds. You could say that we're following our Guild Master's example."
"Of course, you're gonna love them!" said Sting with a silly grin, putting an arm around the Guardian's shoulder as the group started walking to return to the Sabertooth Guild. "We opened a pool recently, so maybe we can go swim with everyone after you join the guild!"
"Don't let his childish antics get to you, Terra," commented Rogue.
"He's quite the unruly one, so please be friends with him," said Lector.
"Fro thinks so, too," said Frosch.
"Hey, stop making me look bad!" complained Sting.
Terra smiled. "This looks promising."
-TLG-
2210hrs, August 15th, 2024
City of Vale, Remnant
"And I cut its head!" said Ruby cheerfully as she walked down the stairs that led to the city's subway.
"That sounds like an intense battle," said Sora, impressed after hearing about the two team's fight against the two Grimm called Death Stalker and Nevermore. "I kinda wish I had been there."
"I would have left you with your mouth hanging open, if I say so myself," said Ruby proudly. "By the way, thanks for choosing me today! I assure you I'll be prepared if we find that guy. I won't let him scape!"
"She's really impulsive," thought Sora smiling. "You don't have to thank me, Ruby."
"I know, but I wanted to do it anyways," said the girl with a wide smile which turned into a pout in a few seconds. "Although this would have been better if a certain someone hadn't tagged along…"
"I hope you're not referring to me, little sister," said Yang.
The blonde followed Sora and Ruby when they left Beacon without being noticed, but she was discovered before arriving to the city. She stayed with the Keyblade wielder and her sister since Sora would have felt a bit bad if he had told her to return to Beacon. He also had the feeling he wouldn't have been able to convince her to return, so now the party had a third member.
"Do you see someone else who shouldn't be here?" asked Ruby narrowing her eyes.
"You, for example," said Yang as a smirk appeared on her face. "Isn't already your bedtime?"
"I don't have a bedtime!" protested Ruby, flailing her arms. "Sora, don't believe her! It's a lie!"
"D'aww, is someone a little embarrassed?" asked Yang teasingly as she pinched her sister's cheeks. "You are sooo cute."
"I'm not!" said Ruby while trying to free herself from Yang's pinching hands. "Sora, help me!"
"Don't mind me," said Sora as he and the girls reached the subway station. The Keyblade wielder looked around and found a subway map in a wall. He walked towards it to take a look at it.
"Don't ignore meeee," said Ruby with a pleading voice.
"Wait, we aren't going to take a train, are we?" asked Yang after releasing Ruby. Then she looked around to look for a clock. "Well, we couldn't even if we wanted to. They stop running at ten pm, so they should have stopped running…twenty minutes ago."
"No, I just wanted to see how big this place was," replied Sora crossing his arms. "It might take us some time to find some clues…if there's any."
"Wasn't one of the lines cut? At least that's what I saw in the news some time ago," mentioned Ruby while rubbing her cheeks. "We should follow that line to see if we find something."
"Really?" asked Sora. "Which one was cut?"
"This one," said Yang, pointing at the line of the subway map that was orange colored. "It's been a while since they cut it. They didn't say the reason, though. Now that I think about it, it's kinda suspicious."
"All right, now we know where to look," said Sora smiling before turning around. He walked towards one of the railways, the two girls following him. "This is the one we have to follow. You sure the trains stopped running already, right, Yang?"
"What? Scared of being splattered by a train?" asked Yang smirking.
"I'd rather avoid that happening, to be honest," said Sora.
Then the three teens jumped to the railway and started walking towards the tunnel. Once they got into it, the first thing they did was to get closer to the wall, Yang being the first of the three who did it. It looked like not even she was completely sure that the trains weren't running anymore for the day.
"It looks like we're going to have to walk a lot," said Ruby. "It's kinda dark. Maybe you should have asked Blake to come with you to this place instead, Sora."
"Why is that?" asked Sora puzzled. It was true that Blake had a good sight since she could see the man in the white coat and describe his outfit, but Sora wondered why Ruby mentioned her now. Could the black-haired girl see in the dark or something like that?
"Crap!" exclaimed Ruby to herself. "Well, I…"
"Nice weather, huh?" said Yang, trying to save her sister from her dilemma.
"Wow, that has to be the lamest change of subject ever," said Sora smiling. The Keyblade wielder didn't know the reason Yang did that, but he decided to forget about the question he made to Team RWBY's leader. It was obvious she said something she wasn't supposed to, so he decided to be the one changing the subject since the blonde's attempt wasn't very good. "Yang, can I ask you something? Why did you follow us?"
Ruby sighed in relief and looked at her sister. "I would like to know that too."
"Isn't obvious?" asked Yang. "My sister is far too unexperienced. I can't let her stay alone with you. It's my responsibility to take care of her. Who knows what would have happened if I hadn't come?"
"What do you think I am?" said Sora, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.
"It's not you the one I'm worried about," said Yang smiling, and then she looked at Ruby. "You are just like the heroes of the books she likes so much. In other words, you are her ideal man. It's not like she could compete with me, of course, but letting you guys spend time together would be an unnecessary risk."
"Yang, I kill you!" said Ruby red-face out of anger and embarrassment while Yang laughed hysterically.
Ruby tried to attack the blonde, but Sora grabbed her by the hood. The Keyblade wielder knew how Ruby was feeling since he had experience with people who like teasing others, but he wasn't going to let her and Yang start a sisterly brawl now.
"C'mon, I was just kidding," said Yang, wiping a single tear caused from the laughter. "But what I said about the books was true. But I'm sure you already noticed that the day we met. She admires you a lot."
"Well, that's true…" admitted Ruby as Sora let go of her hood.
"Really?" asked Sora surprised.
"Yeah," replied Ruby smiling. "As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books, someone who fought for what was right and protected people who couldn't protect themselves. You created the Light Guardians for that reason, right?"
"It's one of the reasons, yes," replied Sora.
"You and all the Keyblade wielders are like those heroes," said Ruby. "You guys protect the worlds from the Heartless and, surely, from other major threats."
"So that's your motivation for becoming a Huntress?" asked Sora. "To fight for what is right and to protect those who need it?"
Ruby scratched her head nervously. "I know it sounds very ambitious, but-"
"That's great," said Sora smiling, and this surprised the scythe wielder.
"Really, you think so?" asked Ruby, and then she lowered her head. "I know I'm just a Huntress-in-training and that there are a lot of bad guys out there, so…"
"Yes, from experience I can tell you that there are people around the worlds who…uh…well, calling them 'evil' would be an understatement," said Sora. "But just because you aren't a full-fledged Huntress yet doesn't mean you aren't capable of protecting and helping others. When the Keyblade chose me, there was someone who would have shrouded all the worlds in darkness if I hadn't stopped him. There were also a lot of worlds being invaded by the Heartless, but being a novice Keyblade wielder didn't stop me from saving them from destruction. It's possible to make things better if you really want to, so don't give up, okay?"
"Right!" said Ruby, feeling encouraged by the boy's words.
"Wow, that was deep," said Yang. "A bit cheesy at the end, though."
Sora chuckled. "I know, sorry."
"Wait a sec," said Ruby, who just realized something about what Sora said. "You said that you stopped someone from destroying all the worlds…"
"Did I?" asked Sora with a playful smile.
"You certainly did," said Yang crossing her arms.
"Then you are, like, the savior of the worlds!" said Ruby astonished, not believing what she just figured out. "That's why Professor Ozpin was so convinced that you were able to protect this world! And that has to be the reason you are the leader of the Light Guardians! I knew there was something different about you! It all makes sense now!"
"I should have given her a different example," thought Sora smiling as Ruby talked.
"Man, you must be even more important than I thought," said Yang, impressed by this new piece of information about Sora. "Because what you said it's true, right?"
"Sora?" said Ruby, who also wanted to know if the Keyblade wielder didn't just say that to encourage her. If it was true, she was definitely going to tell the others tomorrow.
Sora stopped walking for a moment and turned his head a bit to look at her and Yang. The girls looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to reply, but then he started walking again.
"Nice weather, huh?" said Sora.
"Oh, come on!" whined Ruby.
"Well played sir, well played," said Yang smiling and clapping her hands. "But don't you think this is over."
The three continued walking for a while, but there wasn't anything suspicious in the subway; however, they didn't give up and keep looking for clues, and they managed to find something, although it wasn't something strange to see in the place they were at this moment.
"A train," remarked Ruby.
"And it's on the middle of the rail," added Yang. "Let's check it out."
"Maybe this is the reason they cut the line," said Sora, and as he got closer to the train, he could see that there was something small painted on it. It was an odd red symbol of an animal head and three diagonal claw marks. "Hey, what's that?"
"Uh oh, that's the White Fang's symbol," said Ruby. "Do you think they're the ones responsible of cutting the line?"
"It's possible they used this train to transport the Dust they steal," said Yang.
"Let's take a look inside, then," said Ruby, walking towards the one of the train's doors. Sora and Yang followed her and stopped in front of the nearest door, which was obviously closed like the others. "How do we open this?"
"Maybe one of us could-"
"No need," said Yang interrupting Sora before she punched the train's door with enough force to break it down. Ruby and Sora could have sworn that even the train itself moved because of the girl's punch. "There, now we can pass."
Ruby buried her face in her hand. "Yang…"
"You are very straightforward, aren't you?" said Sora, an amused smile appearing on his face.
"It is part of my charm," said Yang returning the smile as she, her sister and the Guardian crossed the now broken door and got into the train, which looked empty but they decided to walk to the train cabin and take a look at the entire train to make sure there wasn't anything out of order.
"So, Sora, about that guy who appeared in the news…" said Yang, "Do you really don't know who he is? Not even a hunch? I mean, you looked kind of worried when you told us about him."
"I don't have the slightest idea of who that guy is," affirmed Sora. "But you can't really blame me for worrying. You know that he defeated that Heartless really fast."
"Yeah, that guy must be really tough," said Yang pensively before a smile appeared on her face. "But you don't have to worry about that! You have us to cover your back! And Ven is here to help you, too!"
"We can be really strong if we get serious," assured Ruby. "My Semblance is speed, you know? I'll move so fast that he won't even see me."
"Speed?" asked Sora and suddenly Ruby vanished, leaving a cloud of rose petals where she was, and immediately appeared in front of Sora, who stopped walking out of surprise. "Wow."
"See?" said Ruby with a proud smile. "I could even be as fast as Ven, don't you think?"
"I have to admit that you are incredibly fast," said Sora, touching his chin in a pensive manner. "You're not trying to cheat me, are you? It's not teleportation, right?"
"Hey, I'm not lying!" protested Ruby, puffing her cheeks.
"Okay, okay," said Sora smiling as he started walking again. "What about you, Yang? What's your semblance?"
"I can emit fire," replied Yang with a smirk as she clenched her fists.
"Fire?" asked Sora and the blonde nodded. "Great, another pyromaniac…This makes four now."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Yang suddenly tripped with something, but Sora could grab her arm before and helped her regain her balance. The blonde turned her head and smiled at the Keyblade wielder. "Oh, you're my hero."
"I'll drop you," said Sora jokingly, returning the smile to Yang. "What made you trip?"
"I think it was this," said Ruby, who was standing next to a small compartment on the floor that was locked with a padlock, which could have been what made Yang almost fall. "I wonder why this is locked."
"Want me to open it?" asked Yang, activating one of her gauntlets, but Sora raised his hand to stop her from doing anything that might blow up the train.
"Let me take care of this one." Sora summoned his Keyblade and used it to unlock the padlock. The Kingdom Key vanished and Sora opened the small door that was on the train's floor.
"You're no fun," said Yang, poking her tongue at the Keyblade wielder.
"Look," said Ruby pointing at what was behind the small door. There was a hole on the railway, leading to some kind of corridor. It seemed that this night was going to be more productive than the last one.
"Well, it looks like we find something interesting," said Sora before jumping to the hole.
The girls didn't expect him to jump so suddenly, but they followed him without hesitating for a second. They landed on the corridor, which appeared to be empty except for the door that was at the end of it. The door it also had the White Fang symbol, so if there were people inside the room behind the door, then they weren't going to be very friendly towards Sora and the girls.
"Probably there will be someone on the other side," said Sora, summoning his Keyblade again.
"All right, it seems that we're going to have to fight," said Yang, this time activating her two gauntlets.
"Yup, no holding back this time," said Ruby, pulling out her scythe, almost hitting the other two while doing it. "Alright, here we go! Banzai!"
"Banzai!" said Yang.
"These two are definitely sisters," thought Sora.
The three teens started running towards the door and when they were in front of it, the door automatically opened, letting them pass. The Keyblade wielder and the two students of Beacon prepared their weapons as soon as the door opened, but they noticed something unexpected when they crossed it. There was no one inside the room that was behind the door.
"I…uh…this sucks," said Yang. "Really, this sucks. We discover a White Fang's hideout and the only thing we find inside it an empty room."
"This is not fair," whimpered Ruby, comical waterfall of tears streaming down her face.
"Come on, cheer up," said Sora.
"Are you not disappointed, Sora?" asked Ruby, who was laying on the floor, saddened by the fact that she couldn't fight alongside Sora and show him her skills. "We haven't found that guy you're looking for."
"We haven't found anything actually," said Yang. "Just this stupid empty room."
"Yeah, I know, but we can't do anything about it," said Sora as he looked around. The room was really spacious. Perhaps the White Fang was using that place to store something, perhaps that thing those two men were talking about, but it looked like they took everything and left. "At least there's still a place where I can look for him."
"The airfield, right?" said Ruby, remembering the places Weiss thought where it would be perfect to hide something big without the citizens noticing. "If the White Fang is behind this, then Torchwick might be, too."
"And if I find him, I can ask him about that guy," said Sora. "I'll ask Blake if she wants to come with me to the airfield tomorrow."
"Tch, I was hoping we could find Torchwick tonight," said Yang crossing her arms. "Blake could be a dangerous rival for me."
Sora sighed. "You're still with that?"
"I mean it," said Yang. "That girl also likes books, probably even more like my sister. And lately she's been more talkative, especially when she talks about something related to you. It's suspicious."
"Yeah, you should have seen her this morning when she defended you," said Ruby.
"Defended me?" asked Sora, confused and curious at the same time.
"Yeah, it was because Ice Queen was complaining because you didn't tell her the reason you are the leader of the Light Guardians," explained Yang. "I don't know why that bothers her so much, to be honest."
"Oh, right," said Sora. "I wonder why Blake did that, though."
"I'm sure it's because she admires you a lot, too," said Ruby looking at Sora. "But you won't get her to admit that. You should talk with her about it tomorrow, although holding a conversation with her is difficult."
"Really? I know she doesn't talk much, but the few times we talked were nice," said Sora. "She seems to enjoy making fun of me now and then, though. Well, it's not like she's the only one."
"You two did something that day, right?" asked Yang, her eyes narrowed to look at Sora suspiciously. "I think I should come to the city with you tomorrow, too."
"I told you we just talked," said Sora. He, then, turned his head and looked at Ruby. "Tie your sister to her bed tomorrow, would you?"
"Sure!" said Ruby saluting.
"Come on, Sora, why don't you choose me instead?" asked Yang, a cute pout formed on her face as she looked at Sora with sparkly puppy dog eyes.
"Argh, don't look at me like that!" said Sora, who used his hands to cover the blonde's face.
"Oooh, so this works with you, huh?" said Yang with a devious smirk on her face. "Write this down, Ruby. The mighty leader of the Keyblade wielders is a sucker for puppy dog eyes."
"Like this one?" asked Ruby before making a similar expression as her sister, but to Sora's misfortune, it was even more adorable than Yang's. The only thing that came to Sora's mind to stop looking at Ruby's face was to grab her hood and using it to cover her head. "Hey, don't do that!"
"The same to you," said Sora smiling. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to return to Beacon."
"Yeah, let's go," said Yang. "There's nothing fun to do here after all."
"Oh, that reminds me I have to plan something for tomorrow!" said Ruby in realization, leaving the other two teens confused. What was the girl with black-red hair talking about?
-TLG-
And with this one makes 22 chapters, just like 'The Guild's Light Warrior'. Have you, fans of RWBY, watched the two first episodes of Volume 2? They were really good, specially a certain scene of the first episode.
Well, now that Terra was taken to Sabertooth, the next chapter might be focused only on Remnant. It's been four chapters and I think it's time to start finishing this first visit to this world.
To MagatsuIza: (1) Actually the guy with leopard mask was the one who beat up the former Organization XIII trio, although he wasn't wearing the mask at that time. Anyway, it looks like you found out from which game are the characters I'm using so good job! (2) Well, I can't tell you exactly when they will team up, but I can assure you they will work together on a mission in a future.
To Ventusblade: (1) Yes, I also think the heroes need to be defeated to show that there are people even stronger than them. It might happen again. (2) Thanks, I hope you also liked the Remnant part of this chapter.
To StoryMakerr014: But I already told you it wasn't Vanitas XD. Anyway, I'm going to tell you the same thing I'll tell her in the answer to her review: Are you sure those are all the Kingdom Hearts games where Sora is not a playable character?
To Guest: (1) Oh, maybe… (2) No, Sailor Moon won't appear in this fanfic.
To The Dark Dragon Emperor: (1) Yup, that's Erza for you. (2) Then probably they'll get along…probably.
To Sunny Lighter: (1) Yes, it's good for everyone that he's as oblivious as he is XD (2) Are you sure those are all the Kingdom Hearts games where Sora is not a playable character?
To Extreme Light 9: I'm glad you're enjoying this story!
To animelover276: Yes, I might throw some scenes between those two in a future.
To Drag0n-0f-Shu: I can tell you that I'm going to use Metal Gear Rising in this story, although I'll make some changes and I won't be using the entire game. Raiden, however, won't appear in the story, sorry.
To Guest: 1. Shinigami will go to Radiant Garden to support Shibusen's team (it will be explained in the story how he can leave Death City now), so it's very possible the Fire Dragon Slayer will try to fight him, being who he is .2. Well, it's not like the witches aren't welcomed in the Earth or anything. There used to be enemies with Shibusen, that's all .3. I shall keep this as a secret.
To Dracoboy259: I haven't read those either.
To Guest: She will eventually know the reason the others consider Sora to be the perfect leader of the Keyblade wielders. Well, Weiss' behavior towards Sora might improve now. As you could read in this chapter, Sora is safe from Yang for the moment.
To kingdom hearts guy: I haven't thought of it, but I've wanted to play that game for a while. Maybe I'll use them if I got the opportunity to play it.
To swordfish333: It's possible I'll use 'Negima!?', but if I do, it will be in the second season of this story (after the tournament).
To OrionGold: Yes, I'm saving a small scene between those two for later.
To Mishka-chan0.0: Thank you, I'm happy you like my stories! All right, I'll put that anime on my 'To-Watch' list. Yeah, I've seen an image of the main character and I have to admit that he actually kind of looks like Sora.
To fallenstar2013: Humbert: Who knows? XD Well, you'll have to wait until Sora finds out what happened when he returns to Radiant Garden. He's an air-headed playboy XD. Klaus: Yeah, we'll see more about Isa and the tournament in future chapters.
To AnimeMasterDub: I'm sure someone out there supports the TerraxErza pairing, even if I don't try to make them a couple and the same goes for Erza and Sora. Probably one or two more chapters until Sora and Ventus leave Remnant.
To Guest: He still doesn't know Laxus is a Dragon Slayer, but he'll find out eventually.
To warrior mage 03: A battle between those two is very possible to happen ;)
To rjmiyaki: Come where? To Radiant Garden when the tournament starts? The characters from Fairy Tail and Soul Eater will participate, so it's obvious they'll go there. As for the Digimon characters, I don't think I'll make them go there.
To Guest: Someone already suggested me to change the black coats with white ones, but I like the coats how they are now, so I won't change them; however, I also thought about Corridors of Light, so I'll have someone who will teach the Guardians how to use them after the tournament.
To mr.e: It's on my 'To-Watch' list.