Yes it has been a long time. School has been a bitch, I got a minor head injury, and two friends of mine moved away. So sorry about keeping you waiting, but I was busy.
Natsu followed team RWBY through downtown Vale as store owners and volunteers decorated the streets in preparation for the Vital Festival, an event held to celebrate the end of the last Great War and the peace that came with it. Natsu personally likened it to the Magnolia Harvest Festival back in his first life. It was the kind of thing that Ruby loved but surprisingly it was Weiss that was the most vocal in her love of the event.
"The Vital Festival!" The heiress exclaimed, "Oh this is absolutely wonderful!" She said with uncharacteristic joy.
"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much Weiss." Ruby pointed out, "It's kind of weirding me out." Her teammates and brother silently agreed.
"How could you not smile?" The albino girl asked the younger teen rhetorically, "A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dancing, parades, a tournament! Oh the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!"
Yang sighed and crossed her arms, "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring." The blond huffed.
"Quite you." Weiss snapped back.
"As fun as listening to you two argue is," Natsu cut in, "Why are you four spending your Friday afternoon at the city docks? And why the hell am I even here with you?"
"Uhg, they smell like fish." Ruby complained, ignoring her brother.
"I heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be visiting by ship today." Weiss said in way of answering the pyromancer's question, "And you are here because you tried to set Cardin on fire again so we have to keep an eye on you."
"All I did was give him a scare. It's not like I was going to blow Ren's plan." Natsu defended himself.
"Anyway." Weiss cut back in, "As a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom." Weiss explained herself.
"Aren't you from Atlas?" Natsu asked her.
"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Blake told the Slayer the heiress's real reason.
"Ah! You can't prove that!" Weiss yelled indigently.
"You just did." Natsu smirked at the albino girl.
"Woah." Ruby said cutting off whatever Weiss might have said in retaliation. Following the reaper's gaze, the other four teens say a store blocked off by yellow police tape with two cops standing guard at the busted windows.
Walking up to the closed store Ruby asked one of the two guards, "What happened here?"
The man looked up from his computer pad, "Robbery." He told her, "Second Dust shop hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." He said cynically turning back to the building.
"That's terrible." Yang commented.
"Could be worse." Her twin pointed out, "It's not like it was a mass killing right?" He told them, trying to point out the bright side of things.
"But with that much Dust, how long will that last?" Blake refuted playing devil's advocate.
The second guard could be heard talking to his partner, "They left all the money again." He pointed out.
"Huh?" Ruby questioned no one.
The first detective made his confusion known, "Yeah, just doesn't make a lick o' sense. Who needs that much Dust?" He asked rhetorically.
'Yes, who needs a stockpile of explosives, ammunition, power sources, and weapon enhancers.' Natsu silently mocked, 'it's obviously the candy man!' He continued in his head. Seriously, what kind of stupid question was that?
"I dunno, an army?" The second cop asked back. Natsu hoped his questioning tone was fake, he really did.
"You thinking the uh, White Fang?" Cop one asked cop two. 'No shit Sherlock- does Remnant have Sherlock Holmes?- unless you know of some other large scale anti-government organization running around.'
Cop two however didn't seem to share the Dragon Slayer's thoughts on the matter, "Ya I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."
Weiss hmphed, "The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates." She said haughtily.
"What's your problem?" Blake questioned the white themed girl, a small undertone of anger in her voice.
Weiss turned to face the golden eyed girl and replied, "My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane." She told her.
"Now hold up." Natsu cut in, "The White Fang are far from being the picture of perfect citizens, but that's going a little far Weiss." Natsu told her harshly. "You make it sound like they're hunting down people to torture and kill. They're bad, I'll admit that, but don't make them out to be monster."
"They're just misguided." Blake continued for him.
"Misguided?" Weiss demanded, "They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"
"Again you make it sound like humans didn't try to do the same to them first." Natsu pointed out. "The only reason the White Fang exists is because of the Faunus War forty years ago, a war that was all about humanity wanting to slaughter or imprison every Faunus on the planet." He told her.
Both girls seemed to ignore the Slayer as they glared at each other, "Then they're very misguided." Blake continued to defend her old allies, "Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale."
"Yes it does." Natsu spoke up again this time claiming the girls' attention, "Dust is used in a thousand different things in the modern age, from heating and fuel to weapons and specialized medicine. You can't deny that both the White Fang and the Kingdoms have become more and more militaristic towards each other in the past year. Atlas especially is being pushed to use full military action against the Fang at the urge of General Ironwood and Director Schnee. Obviously the Fang are responding in kind and are preparing for war."
"Natsu has a point." Ruby admitted, "But they never caught that Torchwick guy I fought a few months ago. It could have been him."
"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum." Weiss said, ignoring how Natsu had pointed out that they were simply responding in kind to her kingdoms actions. In her eyes, Atlas was responding to the threat of the Fang not the other way around.
"Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal." She said with conviction.
"Wow you are really racist." Natsu deadpanned, "Some of the greatest heroes of history were Faunus, and its not like humans are any better in the lying and cheating department."
A sailor's shout stopped any farther argument between the teens, "Hey! Stop that Faunus!"
Turning back to the docks, teams RWBY and Natsu saw a blond monkey Faunus wearing worn jeans, an open white button up shirt, and red bracers on his arms running away from two deckhands on a transport ship that had just docked.
Leaping onto the edge of the ship, the blond faced the sailors and told them in a mocking tone, "Thanks for the ride, guys! Hehe." With than the teen jumped off the boat onto the dock, running along the wooden boards at a speed that showed he was most likely a Huntsman trainee.
"You no good stow-away!" One of the sailors yelled after him.
"Hey!" The boy said, hanging by his tail on a street lamp and peeling a banana, "A 'no-good' stow-away would have been caught. I'm a great stow-away." He told them.
'Guy's got a point." Natsu admitted to himself.
One of the two cops from before threw a stone at the Faunus' head, missing only due to the teen moving slightly to dodge it.
"Get down from there this instant." One of the cops ordered the blond. Only to get a banana peel to the face in way of reply.
The Faunus laughed as he flipped up to crouch on top of the lamppost before jumping high into the air and landing in a tight roll several yards behind the two law enforcers, popping back up immediately and beginning to run the cops in pursuit.
As the blond ran past the five teens he gave Blake a quick wink and continued to speed off. Blake didn't look impressed.
Yang decided now was the time to speak up, "Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition and there it goes."
"Quick! We have to observe him!" The heiress proclaimed, running after the former stow-away her team following her.
For a little while it seemed they were catching up, but upon turning the corner onto another street Weiss ran face first into another pedestrian knocking both of them to the ground. Looking up, Weiss was just in time to see the blond boy and the two cops run out of sight.
"No! He got away!" She cried, still on the ground.
"Uhh, Weiss?" Yang said to get said girl's attention, pointing to the ground in front of the fallen heiress.
Turning to face what the blond brawler was pointing at, Weiss saw that she was practically lying on top of the smiling girl she had just ran over. "Euh!" She cried jumping to her feet.
The ginger haired girl smiled, her bright green eyes unblinking, "Salutations!" She told them with a wave.
"Um… hello." Ruby answered the girl in turn.
Yang was next, "Are you… okay?" She asked.
"I'm wonderful," the girl said, still flat on her back, "Thank you for asking."
The four girls shared a disbelieving look before turning back to the girl while Natsu frowned.
'What the hell is she?' Natsu silently asked himself, 'She smells like metal, plastic, oil, and some kind of Dust. Even Ruby doesn't smell this strongly of steel after spending three days held up in a weapons forge. And her soul, she definatly has one, but it feels so weird. Not like the warped and damaged one beneath Beacon but almost… artificial, like it was made in a lab.' He observed.
"And this is Yang and I's brother Natsu!" Ruby's voice broke Natsu out of his thoughts to see the girl now standing in front of the group having gotten off the ground.
"It's a pleasure to meet you!" The girl said, Natsu believed he heard her say her name was Penny.
"You already said that." Weiss told the ginger haired girl.
Penny seemed to think for a second, "… So I did!" She said with a dopey smile.
"Well, sorry for running into you." Weiss told the girl, the five of them turning to walk away.
"Take care friend!" Ruby told Penny with a wave.
"She was… weird." Yang commented. 'You don't know the half of it.' Natsu thought.
"Now. Where did that Faunus riffraff run off to?" Weiss questioned.
'He went the other way. And it looks like the guy is running off the Beacon. Should be there in a half hour or so at the pace he's going.'
Suddenly Penny was in front of them, having rushed around them while the two girls were talking. Unseen by all but Natsu himself.
"What did you call me?" She asked intrigued.
Yang was quick to try and apologize, Weiss looking back and forth between the strange girl and the place she had just been. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me."
"No, not you…" Penny told the brawler, "You!" She said walking up to Ruby.
"Me? I-I don't know, I- what I- um, uh"
"You called me 'friend'." The girl exclaimed, "Am I really your friend?" She asked the hooded girl.
Before Ruby could answer she felt her brother's hand on her shoulder and was pulled back from the other girl.
"Look, I don't know who you are or where you came from, but there is such a thing as personal space. And unless you plan on kissing my sister or punching her, I suggest you learn to respect it." He told her menacingly. This girl's soul was not natural, and the only ones Natsu had ever faced with unnatural souls were demons and resurrected enemy generals trying to kill him and his allies.
The girl just smiled and took a step back, "I'm sorry. But did you really call me 'friend' Ruby?"
Behind her, Ruby's team were all making motions that all acquainted to 'say no' to their leader. Said leader didn't understand them.
"Uh. Sure, why not?" Ruby told the girl.
While the rest of team RWBY fell over at their leader's apparent dumb move, Penny was ecstatic. "Sensational!" Penny said loudly, "We can paint out, nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!" She ranted. Apparently the girl had never had a friend before.
"Is this what it was like when you met me?" Ruby questioned her partner.
"No." The heiress said, "she seems far more coordinated."
"So, what are you doing in Vale?" Yang asked the girl as Natsu began to walk away.
"As fun as this is. I'm gonna go back to the school. Goodwitch is making me help her fix the arena after what I did to it on Thursday." He told the girls with a wave. "Have fun." 'That girl seriously creeps me out. What the hell is she?' Natsu questioned walking away.
Meh, if it was important her would find out sooner or later.
The next chapter will pick up with Natsu walking by RWBY's dorm and watching Blake run off- don't think I'll miss such a perfect chance to push the BlakeXNatsu pairing forward.
I want to say that the next chapter will be out sooner than this one took, but I really can't. I'm taking 2 AP courses and 3 Honers classes. That's 5 of my 7 credits this year being advanced. I will not lie, I have headaches more often than not after homework.
Please remember to review and PLEASE don't waste both of our times on 'When will the next chapter be out?' ones. I don't know. I wish I could say 'On the first- second at the latest.' but I can't.
Again REVIEW,
Wingd Knight out.
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