F3: Welcome to chapter 3. Last time we left Ruby was installing Penny into her scroll. Wonder how she'll like the surprise. RWBY is property of Rooster Teeth. OC characters appear will be given credit to the author(s). With that said Let's Dive In.
Volume 4-3 EX: Installation Completed.
In the small town Raven was walking about with her companion by her side but she could tell that Neo was still rather not used to being around an unknown area but Raven was already helping her get used to the area.
"I know it's a little crowded but that's just how the town is especially during the morning but it dies down later on in the day. It does take some getting used to." Raven replied as Neo simply nodded as she used her hands to sign.
"I know that their is a lot of people on the island... just wasn't expecting this much." Neo signed.
"Yeah. Probably because of the amount of people came from Vale looking for shelter from the grimm. Wish we could provide all that." Raven added.
"I guess they could only do so much right." Neo signed as the black hair woman nodded.
"C'mon we're almost their." Raven said as they went down a dirt path. It took them ten minutes to get their but they finally arrived at their destination.
It was a small two story building with a red roof on top of it and a large window in front of the building as just below was a neon sign reading 'News Station 4'.
"Well this is the place. Let's go in." Raven said with Neo nodding in agreement as they approached the building. Raven opened the door allowing them to enter the news station. Inside wasn't really much as it had a basic waiting room with a drink dispenser along with a door that most likely led to the news room.
"Seems pretty quiet." Neo signed.
"Hello! Anyone here!?" Raven called out. Almost immediately someone came out as the door in front of them opened as a man greeted them which was more than likely the owner of the news station.
"Ah Raven. What can I do for you?" He asked.
"Actually we're here to retrieve something. It's a black hat with a red feather in it. The article said we could find it here." Raven replied.
"Ah yes. I was wondering who'd it belonged to. Be right back." He said before turning around and heading back through the open door.
Neo was fiddling with her fingers hoping that it was the right hat and not some knock off of someone making a big joke out of. Not five minutes later the man returned with said hat in hand.
"Sorry for the delay I almost misplaced it but here you go." He said handing to Raven.
"Actually it belongs to her. It...was her fathers." Raven stated after a moment's hesitation.
Nodding at this the man handed the hat to Neo as she almost ripped it out of his hands like it was a sacred object but she carefully held it close to her with a smile on her face.
"Is their anything else that you need?" He asked but Raven shook her head.
"No but thank you. It's really important to her that she has it back now." Raven said seeing as Neo decided to try it on which seemed to fit but it was size too small for her.
"Well if it was her fathers I could understand that. Especially with everything happening now such a tragedy." He stated.
"Thank you again." Raven thanked but Neo only gave him a small approving nod as they both headed out of the building leaving it behind them.
"So... how do you feel? Now that you have his hat back." Raven questioned.
Neo didn't sign her at first almost trying to figure out what answer to give her. However her response was something Raven wasn't prepared for as Neo wrapped her arms around the taller woman only coming to just under her chest. Taken aback from the sudden hug but that quickly died as she sighed before wrapping her arms around the smaller teen.
"You're welcome." Raven said. Neo broke the embrace after a few minutes as they decided to return back home wondering what everyone else was doing. Though Raven looked at the young teen for a moment. She knew that Neo worked for Roman Torchwick because she told her herself but she wondered how she ended up that way if Neo had any family that were worried about her. Another story for another time.
=RWBY=
Yang winced as an ice pack was placed on her sore jaw after the little sparring match she had with Ruby though her sister had an ice pack placed on her right shoulder.
"From the looks of things you two really went at each other huh." Tai said.
"Oh yeah. And here I thought I was supposed to be the brute of the family not you sis." Yang replied.
"Hey that just means my sparring sessions with Pepper are actually paying off." Ruby replied.
"We tied Ruby but I guess that is a step up from you losing all the time." Yang stated.
"True but this is the first time I've ever tied with you." Ruby added with a smile.
"Don't get used to it cause I'm gonna to win the next time around." Yang replied confidently.
"Alright you two let's not competitive here. I can't handle two brawlers now." Tai said as Yang only huffed holding the ice pack under her jaw.
"So what's the damage report on Penny's body?" Mercury asked.
Ruby sighed at this before answering "Her body is all messed up. Most of her components need replaced but all of her parts are Atlas tech which are impossible to get a hold of so making repairs are out of the picture." Ruby answered.
"So we can't repair her body and it's not like we can ship her to Atlas with all that's happened. No one is getting into or out of Atlas." Tai said.
"Yeah can't exactly go up their and ask them for some parts." Emerald added crossing her arms.
However it did remind Yang of something that Ruby did earlier. "Say Ruby do you think the download finished?" Yang asked.
That made her jolt up from her seat remembering what she did.
"Of course! It's been awhile so maybe it finally finished." Ruby said.
The three that were in the room didn't know what she was talking about giving her a questioning look.
"What finished?" Tai asked.
"Well since I couldn't repair all of Penny parts I took a gamble and saw that her A.I. wasn't damaged so I thought I would download it into my scroll. I bet it probably finished by now." Ruby said.
"You sure that was the right call. What about her body wouldn't it be... lifeless then." Emerald stated.
"Well... yeah. But it's only temporary until we can get her body fixed." Ruby said.
"Let's go check." Yang added as Ruby bursted out of the room and out the house as Yang chuckled.
"She's in a hurry. She get's pretty excited easily." Emerald stated.
"Well that's the thing about Ruby. She bounces back rather quickly." Yang added.
Mercury and Emerald looked at each other almost knowing what she was talking about reminding them of Star in their youths.
=RWBY=
Ruby made her way to the workshop and when she entered she immediately headed over to her scroll and she noticed that the download had finished as she grabbed her scroll and opened it.
At first nothing seemed to happen as she as she kept looking at the screen almost waiting something to happen. Her screen flashed on and two green eyes were staring back at her before showing Penny's full face.
"Penny? Is that you?" Ruby asked getting her attention.
However what she wasn't expecting was Penny to tilt her head at Ruby almost confusingly.
"My apologies but... who are you?" Penny asked which stunned Ruby.
"Huh? Penny it's me Ruby Rose. Remember." Ruby said to her.
"Ruby... Rose?" Penny thought a moment before shaking her head.
"I'm sorry but your name doesn't seem to appear in my memory banks." Penny stated.
Ruby only stared at the A.I. in her scroll wondering if their was a mistake that she might have made and if she did she was trying to figure out a way to fix the problem. She looked toward Penny's old body that housed her A.I. and a thought came to her head.
"Did her memorys get corrupted?" She thought as she wondered how that could've happened. For now she was just glad that Pennys A.I. was saved.
"Okay... Penny. Their are some people I want to introduce you to and I'm sure they'll be happy to see you." Ruby replied with a small smile even though it was strained.
Penny however seemed to notice this and responded to it.
"Miss Rose your voice seems rather strained from how you spoke. Are you ill?" Penny asked.
"Huh? Oh... um no I'm fine. Thanks for asking though." Ruby stated but inside this was a new experiance that her friend had no memory of her which was a bother but she would have to live with that until her body could be repaired.
"Now Miss Rose you said something about meeting some other people yes?" Penny said.
"Oh yeah. And could you call me Ruby. Miss Rose is a little too formal for me." Ruby added.
"If that is what you have requested than I'll oblige by it." Penny stated.
Ruby only sighed at this. Even though it is Penny she is looking at it's not the Penny she knows. She put her scroll in her pocket before heading back toward the house.
Though before she left she took one last look at Penny's old body. Ruby felt tears building up in her eyes but she quickly shook them away as she looked around the workshop for a few minutes and found a blue blanket and put the blanket on her old body covering her up. She put a hand on Penny hair almost admiring it.
"Don't worry Penny... I'll find a way to get you fixed." Ruby replied as she then left the workshop and made her way back to the house.
=RWBY=
After Ruby left the house Emerald wondered something a moment as she looked toward the pictures on the mantle more importantly looking toward the woman standing next to what looked like Tai holding an infant Ruby.
"Hey... is this Ruby?" Emerald asked checking out the picture.
Tai and Yang looked at what she was talking about and almost immediately Tai's expression soften.
"Yeah... that's Ruby when she was born. She was quite small but we all loved her all the same." Tai said.
"Though who's the woman holding her. She almost looks like her." Emerald stated.
"That's... Summer Rose. My... well second wife actually." Tai replied which kinda surprised Emerald and Mercury.
"Hold on. Second wife. I thought you were married to Raven." Mercury replied.
"Well... that's the thing... um... how do I explain it?" Tai said trying to figure out a good way to tell them.
"I got this dad." Yang interrupted taking over the conversation.
"Technically dad did marry both my mom and Summer which is polygamy but while it's not allowed on most continents it was alright here. Tai married Raven first then after a couple months he married Summer with Raven's consent. From what he told us it was a rather rough start but it all turned out okay." Yang stated.
"So you married them both and... no one had a problem with it." Mercury replied.
"Well... their were a few problems but eventually everyone got used to it and we all got along with it." Tai added.
"Any idea what happened to Summer?" Mercury asked.
Tai sighed as he shook his head and folding his arms "We're not sure. After a mission in Atlas she just... vanished. Raven has been looking around all of Remnant for her and possibly bring her back. She'd been searching for many years with no luck. But that doesn't mean she'd given up." Tai replied.
"Yep that's my mother for you." Yang added.
"Though it must've been rough not having Summer around. Especially for Ruby." Emerald said.
"It was but Raven helped her out as best she could. It was difficult for Ruby to make friends when she was going to Signal Academy. Dad was almost considering therapy for her but Raven was against the idea and wanted to give Ruby some time to make friends." Yang added almost looking back at her dad.
"Yeah and good thing for that cause Ruby did eventually make friends at Signal and tried to be more independant without having to rely on Yangs help." Tai said.
"Must've been nice then." Mercury said somberly.
"What about you two?" Tai asked which made the two of them slightly flinch but Emerald was the first to speak up.
"Honestly... I wish I knew what happened to my parents. From what the caretaker at the orphange told me. A man put me on the doorstep of the orphanage and left a letter. I wanted to know for so long." Emerald replied.
"I'm sure their was a reason for that. Sometimes parents can't look out for their children and had no choice but to send them to an orphange." Tai stated.
"I... guess you're right about that." Emerald said though it still made her rather uncomfortable about talking about it.
"What about you Merc? Anything happened to you?" Yang asked.
"Parents killed in a fire when I was five. The caretaker found me and took me in. That's when I met everyone else. We were a tight net group the four of us." Mercury mentioned.
Before Yang could comment she heard the door open and close as Ruby came back in.
"Oh yeah Rubes. So did it finish?" Yang asked.
"Yeah... about that." Ruby said rubbing the back of her head.
"Did something happen during the download?" Tai asked.
Ruby decided to instead of telling them that she should show them instead as she brought out her scroll and showed them Penny inside her scroll.
"Do you need me for something Ruby?" Penny asked.
"Penny. Does anyone in this room look familiar to you?" Ruby asked. Penny looked at everyone in front of her anaylzing each one of them. However like last time Penny shook her head.
"I'm afraid none of them register in my memory banks." Penny replied politely which suprised the four of them.
"Hold on her memories are like... gone." Yang said.
"Yeah... I think her memories were corrupted. Even if they could be recovered I doubt they'll be intact." Ruby added.
"Yeah especially after getting shocked during the last match." Mercury stated.
"Is their anything we can do?" Yang asked but Ruby shook her head.
"Nothing really. All I did was cover up her body so that it would get damaged any further." Ruby said.
"Bascially we're stuck with her body but her A.I. is still operable." Emerald added.
"Guess it can't be all bad. I mean Penny is still technically with us and helping us. If that's all right with you Penny." Ruby replied looking at her scroll.
"Of course. I will assist you the best that I can." Penny stated.
The door opened again revealing Raven and Neo walking in but with Neo having a certain hat in her hands.
"Sorry if we were out for a while. Had to pick something up at the newstattion for Neo." Raven replied pointing toward the hat the short girl was holding.
Almost instantly Ruby and Yang realized who's hat that belonged as the felt a wave of sadness flow over them.
"Is... that Roman's hat?" Yang asked as Neo only nodded in response.
"We're sorry that he didn't make it. He meant a lot to you along with your sisters huh." Yang said which surprised Neo at what she said.
"I kinda figured it out. Especially how you seemed to be around Rina most of the time almost like siblings. Plus there's that Audra girl too after we rescued her." She added.
"I guess you're not the typical sterotype people make you out to be." Neo signed.
"Yeah I get that a lot." Yang added as their was a moment of silence between them.
"Though I do wonder if the others are okay. Especially Weiss and Blake." Ruby replied with some concern worrying about her other teammates.
"Last time I saw Weiss she was being loaded up into a cart along with Pepper. Not sure where they were being taken to. Blake...I wish I knew where she is." Yang answered.
"I'm sure she'll be fine. With her skill I'm sure she made it out of their okay." Raven assured.
"I know that she would get out of Vale but I can't help worry for my girlfriend none the less. I wish their was a way to communicate with her so that way I know where she is." Ruby replied.
"Without the tower we can't do much in terms of communication. Plus I doubt we have any messanger pigeons that travel that far. Not to mention the grimm activity from Vale keeping all the huntsmen their to deal with them until it is deemed safe to return." Mercury stated.
"For now their's not much we can do." Tai replied as they decided to end the conversation.
Though everyone still had other matters on their minds but they had to figure it out for themselves.
=RWBY=
Night came to Patch as Ruby and Yang called it a night but everyone else was still awake more importantly Mercury was helpig Tai with the dishes after they had dinner as the two of them chatted.
"You didn't have to help me you know. I could've gotten it." Tai said.
"Yeah but it helps me keep my mind focus on other things." Mercury replied though Tai could tell that he had something else in his mind.
"You sure it's not a girl you have on the brain." Tai said knowingly which made Mercury stopped for a moment.
"Well... you're not wrong... I didn't show it but I was worried and wondered if Pepper got out or if she's alive. Not to mention me and Emerald lost a good friend of ours during the attack." Mercury said before placing a plate on the rack to dry.
"Just not knowing what's happen is really nerve wracking." He added with worry.
Though Tai was thinking something else entirely "Sounds like to me you're head over heels for this girl right." Tai said with a tease which made Mercury blush slightly at that.
"Uh well I can't say that... we only had one date and it was good... but some young punks threw some rocks at her. I stepped in a defended her. Though I'm not sure if she's even into me." Mercury said trying to hide his blush.
"Anything else that happened. I'm sure you walked her back to the dorms afterward right." Tai said. Mercury nodded in affirmation.
"Yeah... and I sort of... kissed her on the cheek." Mercury admitted.
"Oh yeah. If you did that I'm sure she's into you and vice versa." Tai said only adding on to Mercury's embarassment.
"I should probably shut up now." Mercury said as he continued to clean the dishes.
Meanwhile in the living room Emerald and Raven were folding clothes and striking up a conversation.
"So... was it hard living in an orphanage?" Raven asked nervously.
"Well... it was a little difficult. We had other kids living their hoping to get adopted by families that wanted to adopt. The caretaker kept everyone in line that was for sure especially around dinner time. She made sure we all got something in our stomachs." Emerald stated.
"That must've been a lot kids back then to feed." Raven stated folding some of Yangs clothes.
"Oh yeah... their was about twenty of us their at the orphanage but we managed to get by. Then a few months went by as some of the kids got adopted and their was only almost half of us left. It became less stressful...that is till the fire." Emerald replied though somberly at the last part.
"The fire?" Raven questioned with curiousity.
"It was when we were younger. A fire broke and nearly killed us. While some of the kids escaped... me, Mercury, and Cinder were captured by... one of her minions. He killed our caretaker and Cinder took the fall maiden powers and..." Emerald paused as she shivered slightly from remembering seeing the grimm queen for the first time after they were taken away.
"We met... Salem. She made us do horrible things that we regret doing for her. We had to get away from her before we lost ourselves to her. We just weren't expecting to encounter her other minions attending the academy." Emerald replied.
"Other minions?" Raven asked.
"Coco, Fox, and Yatsuhachi. They are her other minions that are responsible for destroying Beacon and Vale." Emerald replied as she focused on folding the clothing but Raven could tell that it bothered her for so long as her fist were balled up and they were shaking.
Raven stopped a moment from folding clothes and gently placed a hand on one of Emerald fist which made Emerald stop a moment.
"You know... it's okay to not be okay. Bottling all that up is not very healthy you know." Raven said soothingly.
That was all it took for Emerald as tears streamed down her face as she leaned into Raven as the older woman engulfed her in an embrace. Raven let her cry into her shoulder feeling the amount of emotion coming from her.
After five minutes Emerald calmed down and wiped her tears from her eyes as she took a deep breath to settle her nerves.
"Sorry about doing that... I guess everything just... spilled out." Emerald said.
"It's fine. Sometimes it's always best to get it all out." Raven replied with a small smile as they both continued folding the clothes.
However Raven had a question that she had to ask "Emerald... how did you and the others escape Salem?" Raven asked.
"It... wasn't easy. We had to plan it carefully. We were on another mission for her to take down a village and those three I mentioned came with us but luckily we managed to fool them and take a different direction which gave us time to escape. We also had a connection in Vale to help us." Emerald replied.
"That must've been some smart thinking on your part." Raven stated.
"Yeah. My semblance allows me to create illusions that would fool almost anyone." Emerald explained.
"I'm guessing that how you got Yang and her team removed from the tournament." Raven said knowingly.
"Trust me it wasn't my idea of doing that." Emerald added.
"It's fine. Not like we can change anything that had happened." Raven stated.
"I know but that doesn't make things any better." Emerald replied.
"If it makes you feel any better Yang isn't one to hold onto a grudge so I'm sure she'll forgive you for what happened." Raven added. Emerald only seemed to nod at that as more than likely Emerald would have to apologize to Yang in the morning.
=RWBY=
Upstairs in Ruby's room she was still awake almost as if something was on her mind as she looked to her scroll sitting on her dresser that housed Penny's A.I.
She also was thinking about what happened to others and if they made it out okay. Though that wasn't all that she was worrying about. If Beacon was target for an attack then what about the other academies.
It was impossible for her to sleep. Their was a soft knock at her door as Yang opened the door.
"Hey Ruby... I'm guessing you can't sleep either." Yang said coming in wearing a tank top and black shorts.
"Yeah I can't sleep. I'm guessing Neo is asleep." Ruby replied.
"Out like a light. For some reason I can't sleep. Guess I still have a lot of things on my mind." Yang replied as she sat on the edge of Ruby's bed.
"What's on your mind?" Ruby asked.
"Just... what happened back at Beacon... more importantly who we saw their." Yang said.
"Really... who else was their?" Ruby asked.
"I saw Adam but when I got their I slugged him one getting him away from Weiss and Pepper. Though... I just hope that Weiss made it." Yang replied.
"What do you mean?" Ruby questioned not sure what Yang meant.
"When I got their... Weiss was missing an arm." Yang replied her voice sounding shaky.
"Her arm... was missing. How?" Ruby asked.
"I think Adam cut her arm off. Cause I when I got their Weiss was already on the ground and she was bleeding pretty badly. I'm pretty sure I knocked him out because we were able to get out of their. Pepper was carrying Weiss and I was... carrying what was left of her arm. Honestly I don't know much about what happened cause I was concussed at the time." Yang replied.
"Do you think she made it?" Ruby questioned.
"I don't know but I wish I knew if she was okay." Yang answered.
Ruby gave a moment of thought to sort through her thoughts before she came up with something.
"You know what... then we just have to find everyone. Not just Weiss, but Blake as well. I'm sure they're both out their somewhere." Ruby said.
"Yeah but do we even know where they are?" Yang wondered.
"No... but that doesn't mean we can't try finding them. Of course that would mean both of us getting into shape and then we can propose the idea about finding them to Raven and everything should go okay." Ruby replied.
"Even if it means you going through some of my workout routines." Yang added.
"Sounds like a plan." Ruby said as Yang got up from the bed.
"Alright then we better get some sleep. Then tomorrow it's workout time." Yang said as she left Ruby's bedroom as they now have a plan of what they're going to do. Ruby layed down in her bed as she looked out her window only thinking where everyone could be. She now has a mission to reunite the team at least she could only hope as Ruby closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
F3: And that ends chapter 3 of this story so far. Penny as been uploaded into Ruby's scroll and now looks like Ruby and Yang have a plan kinda sorted out. Don't forget to leave behind a comment and also please make sure to follow and/or favorite this story too. With that said this is Fireuser3 and I'm out.