XLVIII - Dormant Bud

~~~(XLVIII)~~~

Yesterday had not gone the way he had expected when he woke up. The couple had taken his words as he'd expected. They didn't believe the story he gave, they just couldn't imagine the White Fang would be behind such a thing. He was disappointed, but he wasn't surprised, the group must be different on the island compared to in the other kingdoms.

They had still been kind to him, their son Mackerel, had invited him to go fishing tomorrow. He had accepted after the child gave him puppy dog eyes to rival Ruby.

Today though a messenger from the White Fang came by this morning, he had a meeting later tonight with the Albain twins. Those creepy bastards made his skin crawl. He wanted to leave, to get the information he was owed by Taurus.

He looked at the gift the man had given him, the shotgun ax. He had it painted a light green with darker veins running over the head and had carved it with mementos of his crimes. He'd carved names of the dead into the wooden stock.

Pyrrha Nikos, May Zedong, Roy Stallion, Tukson, Brawnz Ni, Ozpin, Penny Polendina, and Roman Torchwick. He blamed himself and Cinder for their fates, and he would see justice done in their names. He began to polish the wood of sand when there was frantic knocking on the door of his temporary home.

Quietly loading a slug and a buckshot shell, Oxon cautiously approached the door. He wasn't sure if he was going to be attacked, but he was prepared for it. He placed the barrel to the door and slowly opened it to see who was there.

At the slight cracking of the door open, a body tumbled into the main room from outside. Oxon stopped himself from pulling the trigger as the small form of a young girl face-planted on the floor. He adjusted his grip so that it was away from the trigger as he bent down to check on the child.

"You alright there kiddo?" She bolted up and grabbed his arm, clear panic all over her face.

"You're a huntsman right mister! Miss Hameha told me you fought Grimm!"

"I have a little experience, yes. Why, what's wrong?"

"There's Grimm attacking! They came out of nowhere! Please, we're not close enough to Kuo Kuana to get help in time!" Shit, he wasn't dressed to fight right now. He'd been relaxing and doing maintenance on his gear. A quick glance at his armor and the crying girl let him make his decision.

Putting on his gun belt and Virginiana on his shoulders, he rushed out of the building. Bulls Breath was in his right hand, and his new and yet to be named weapon was in his left. He didn't have a lot of ammo, his belts had ammo loops, but his backpack held the vast majority of it.

He told the child she could either follow him or try for the main settlement. The kid was smart, so she decided to run to the main population area for additional help. He began sprinting in the other direction, towards the small fishing village.

Entering the once peaceful cove, he saw a rather disgusting sight. Multiple black, slimy limbs attached to a blob like body moved through the water towards the shore. They were like something out of a nightmare, or one of the books he'd seen Blake read... He paused for a moment, taking in its form due to never seeing anything like it. But shouting from the people broke him out of it.

Running through the shallow surf, he spotted men and women trying to force it back with long sticks and spears. It was larger than he expected, it was round, and its height came up to his chin. He didn't know if anyone had been hurt yet, but he'd make sure nobody within his reach would be harmed.

"Rahhhh!" Moving with a burst of speed, he landed in the thigh high water and began swinging both blades with powerful strength at the creature. He went after the limbs first, and he grinned as the limbs were lopped off easily and dissipated. "Help the others! I'll deal with this bastard!"

Oxon had thought he'd made a good choice, but the more he cut, the more came at him. The creature put all its focus on him instead of the locals, which was good. The downside was that meant the many limbs were trying to grab him and only him. He tried swinging faster, but no matter what he did, the attacks didn't stop. And on further inspection, he watched as the limbs he severed regrew in only a few seconds.

It's regenerating!? Son of a-!

He felt something wrap around his ankle and suddenly he couldn't breathe. The water stung his eyes and nose as they were unintentionally forced in. He thrashed wildly as he tried to get loose, but he couldn't shake off the strong grip of the creature. Quickly after he submerged, a new tentacle wrapped itself around his throat and began to squeeze. The constrictive force wasn't the only problem, he could feel sharp points trying to get past his aura as well.

He searched for the main body as his air began to run out and vision darkened. Eventually he found a large and pointed mouth, it almost took off his hand if not for aura, though he did drop Bulls Breath. Keeping the location in his mind, he shoved the end of his shotgun in its mouth and pulled the trigger. Halfway down, a high powered slug slammed into and through the solid teeth; after, a second blast of buckshot mixed with shock dust entered the core of the beast.

Oxon felt the electric current course through his arm, especially against his metal guard. Thankfully, the monster felt it much more, its grip loosened significantly. Gasping for breath once he untangled himself, he saw the Grimm twitching but not yet disintegrating. Coughing up sea water from his lungs, he maliciously loaded more shock dust shells.

He didn't know the biology or physiology of this creature, but he knew its brain had to be near the eyes. He grabbed it with one hand and pressed both barrels between the glowing red orbs. He gave a snarl as he pulled the trigger all the way, unloaded both barrels in quick succession. Finally, the creature screeched and became still.

Catching his breath, he saw a few more further down, attacking the beach side homes. Ejecting the spent shells and loading a fresh pair, he picked up his fallen weapon. Thank the gods for the crystal clear water. He stowed his shotgun on his belt and gripped his rifle tight. Once his breath returned, he trudged through the surf to the other monsters.

"Huntsman! Thank God that you are here!" It seemed that the fishermen rallied at the mere sight of him, believing they would be victorious with his help. He'd do his best not to disappoint them.

Even though he barely made it against the first one, he knew roughly how to fight them now. Oxon knew now that his blades were more a threat to himself due to needing to get close to the multi-limbed Grimm. Taking aim with his rifle, he fired off six shots at the nearest beast. It fell off the structure and began crawling at him, hurt but healing. It took another three precise shots between the eyes to actually kill the thing, gaining cheers from the locals nearby.

Looking around the immediate area, Oxon couldn't see any more of the monsters. The beasts must have fallen under combined efforts of the locals. If this was the type of Grimm native to the area, he definitely needed to get the hell off the island.

The happy mood was cut off by a scream from another home. There was still more Grimm in the village. "I'll go check on that, the rest of you inspect the other homes, there might be others inside." The faunus nodded and raised off in groups to check on other people.

Oxon ran as fast as he could into one of the seaside shacks. He refused to let anyone die today. Once outside the building where the commotion was coming from, he ran through the broken door. Once inside, he saw a girl struggling to get her leg free from the monster.

There were clear signs of struggle, a broken half of some rudimentary spear protruded from the beast. Though it seemed more angry than hurt. Thankfully there was no blood or bodies, just the struggling girl.

Not on my watch!

Oxon pulled out his hatchet gun and quickly tossed it at the offending limb, severing it mere inches from the faunus' foot. The girl scrambled back against the nearby wall as he rushed in. "C'mere you disgrace to nature!" He then grabbed the thing by its bulbous… whatever… and heaved it back. Putting himself between it and the girl, he drew his revolvers and began firing at the beast.

The rounds have a frustratingly minor effect on the creature. It may have blown chunks off, but its limbs acted to defend its vitals. It seemed to know how to defend itself unlike the others, was this one an alpha? With all twelve rounds spent, he holstered them as the creature lunged forward. Bulls breath was in his hands just before it leapt onto him with surprising speed.

"You're one ugly bastard, ain't ya!?" The only response he got was a loud screech. Rude. "Ugh, why couldn't this place have normal Grimm!?"

Now able to see it clearly, unlike the first one he fought, Oxon saw that its mouth wasn't that of a regular animal. It didn't have teeth or fangs, instead it was a bird-like beak instead. And it was a massive and threatening thing, trying to break through his weapon to get to him. A few feet away, he saw his shotgun still embedded in the wooden floor. He wanted to reach for it, but it was taking almost everything he had to keep its mouth at bay.

He could feel the barbed tentacles wrap around his form as it got closer, making it much more strenuous. He tried to deploy Virginiana but the force entangling his arm kept it stuck, forcing him to cancel the effort so as to not break anything. His arms, legs, and torso were slowly being crushed. Glancing at his gun, he saw the feet of the girl near it. Time for a bit of assistance.

"Grab my shotgun! I need you to shoot this bastard while it's too busy with me!" He could see she was terrified, the poor thing was shaking and had her arms wrapped around her torso, back pressed against the wall. "C'mon! I can hold this guy for now, but not forever!"

"B-but!" She clearly wasn't in the right mental state to do anything, but he needed her to help. If she didn't, he'd have to hold out for the others to check in on him. He thought he could, but he didn't want to take any chances.

"What's your name kid?" She looked at his eyes, hers as wide as saucers.

"M-m-my name? It's Ka'ahupahau…"

"Nice to meet you, that's a, uh, a good name, mind if I call you Ka'a? I'll just butcher the pronunciation if I try. I'm Oxon, and I wouldn't mind a little help with this here creep." She was too scared, so he had to calm her down, get her to relax a bit. "I'm not from around these parts, so this guy caught me off guard, you got a name for these slime balls?"

"It's a Tetroctopus. They're very venomous, if they bite you, there's nothing anyone can do." Well shit, thankfully his aura protected him from the other one. He wasn't a fan of snakes and spiders for the same reason, so seeing that they had it too? Not fun.

"Good to know. So, Ka'a, have you ever shot a gun before?" She shook her head violently, damn, but he expected that. He let out a chuckle he didn't quite feel, but he hoped it fooled her. Her body seemed to calm down a miniscule amount, so he kept pushing.

"Well don't worry too much, it's a fairly simple thing. It's already loaded, so all ya gotta do is squeeze the trigger. Then bye bye goes the Grimm." He could see her eying it and him, he gave her a smile from under the beast. "Don't worry about Squiggly here, I got aura; it's keeping me just peachy as well as making it focused on me. It won't notice you at all."

"But what if I shoot you?"

"Again, aura. I got more than enough to take a hit." A tentacle then wrapped itself around his neck, beginning to cut off his air supply. Shit, he needed her now for sure. "Ack! You got this Ka'a, you can even brag to all your friends. Saving a huntsman sounds pretty cool, yeah?"

"I-I can't! It… it's too scary!" Tell that to someone else, he's the one inches from the beak… "Can't..! Can't you kill it!?"

"I'd love to, but this guy has me in a bit of a bind. I can't shift Bullie here enough to shoot or chop it." The barrel was unfortunately pointed at her, hampering his plan to use recoil to free it. He wasn't going to risk hitting her. "I need you to be brave. I need you to shoot this bastard!"

The tentacle on his neck tried to cover his face, but he bit the damn thing, making it retreat slightly. It was still around his throat, but wasn't trying anything else. Hopefully that part wasn't venomous... "Now… or never!" He heard a small bit of noise from her direction and then two very loud bangs. In that instant, the pressure lessened and he pulled the trigger on Virginiana. With its deployment, the beast was flung off him letting him get to his feet.

Without hesitation, he got to his feet and launched himself on top of the beast, swiftly hacking away. The beast was stunned and twitching from the electrified rounds, letting him kill it easily. Once it began to dissipate, he turned to the girl who had fallen over, still holding his gun, still pulling the trigger at the black smoke.

He slowly approached her and gently uncurled her fingers to take the gun out of her hands. Once it was in his hands, he patted the short girl softly on the head, hoping to calm her down. "You did a mighty fine job there Ka'a, saved my hide." Poor girl burst into tears and wrapped her arms around his neck. He rubbed her back as she gripped onto him tightly, his skin was damp with sweat, sea water, and now tears.

he let out a sigh as he relaxed a bit as well. What a day…

"It's okay now, you did great there. Got yourself a Grimm kill." She clung tighter to him, probably not the right thing to say. It also probably wasn't good to have her stay here either, there wasn't any danger, but the place was a mess. "Can you stand? We should really get you out of here, yeah?"

There wasn't a verbal or physical response except more sobs. Figuring he had to take charge, he scooped her up, one hand under her knees, the other holding her shoulders. She still had her arms around him as he walked out of the home. She was light, so he could maneuver around the broken furniture easier. Thankfully there were no more Grimm from his look out the broken entrance.

The home's front door and porch were right on the water, and the tide had been rising the last few hours. This made Oxon wade through the water and then turn back towards the shore. There, he saw a crowd of faunus on the beach, some with weapons were heading towards him.

"You're alright!" A faunus with a rather impressive mane was leading the group and the one who spotted them first and holding a fish carving knife.

"Course he is, the guy's a huntsman ain't he?" The second had no weapon, but he had spines protruding from his arms.

"True, but he was in there for a while, thought something might have happened." The last had gray skin. Oxon didn't know what that one was. He had a spear in his hands.

"It was close." The group looked at him as he carried the girl towards them. "I've never seen that species before, so it caught me a little off guard."

"But you came out on top, eh? Good on ya!"

He chuckled a bit at their confidence in him. "Not quite, the girl here shot the beast after it pinned me. Afterwards when it was stunned, I managed to finish it off. Ka'a here dealt a good blow to it." The group looked at him, then her, and lastly each other before bursting out into laughter.

"Well ain't that something! One of us saved a huntsman!"

"Oh I bet Chief Ghira will get a laugh out of this!

"Maybe Ka'ahupahau will get a medal?"

"She's killed a Grimm before me! And she's only seventeen! That's just unfair."

"Just gotta try harder Pakaa."

The girl stirred from her shock and looked at the group of men in front of them. They gave her kind grubs and thumbs up. She slowly looked around until she looked up at Oxon, eyes growing wide. He was confused until she began to blush heavily and hide her face behind her eyes. Looking down at himself, he saw why.

The shirt he'd worn was nothing but strips of fabric now, not even covering anything important. He'd protected his body from the toothy tentacles, but he hadn't extended it out to his clothes. He was practically half naked and holding the traumatized girl against his chest. Awkwardly, he put her down on her feet where she then ran off back to land, hands covering her face the whole time.

"Well done Casanova." He turned to glare at the spinney man, only to get a laugh from him.

He and the other guys walked back to shore where the rest of the village was waiting. He was showered in so much praise he didn't know what to do. He wasn't sure if he ever had so many people trying to crowd and hug him. He could only just respond to the joyous mob, fumbling his words at all the happiness directed at him.

Eventually, an older man with a large turtle shell came up to him. He was definitely the oldest person he'd seen in the village.

"I can't thank you enough for coming to our aid so fast. Kame and his wife told us about you last night, and I'm glad they did. Today could have been marked by tragedy if not for your help." The old man gave Oxon a deep bow, one which the others mimicked. Oxon tried to get the elder to raise his head.

"It's fine, it's fine. There's no need to lower your head like that." He never liked being the center of attention, and this was so much worse. "I'm just… uh, doing my job?"

"Nevertheless, we are grateful for the help you lent. Today, no lives were lost, that very much could have not been the case. If there is anything we can do to repay you, just ask."

He shook his head at the turtle faunus' words. There wasn't anything he wanted or needed from these nice folks, and he didn't think they could get him off the island. He was in the middle of telling them he didn't need anything when his stomach grumbled loudly, causing him to blush and the locals to laugh.

"Well, seems like there's something we can do after all!" The man walked towards a large building and motioned for Oxon to follow. "We might not have the craftsmen of Kuo Kuana, but we of Wai'ānapanapa know how to cook some good food!"

He felt hands on his shoulders and back gently pushing him after the old turtle. He let the friendly people lead him. He was pretty hungry and wanted to try the local cuisine.

"If you insist…" He couldn't stop the small smile forming on his face as the mood infected him.

~~~(XLVIII)~~~

Later that night, Oxon found himself no longer in the good mood from earlier. Not everyone had been happy with him going out and helping the village it seemed. "What were you thinking!? You were told not to expose yourself to the population here!" The short girl with the long ponytail was clearly upset at him. She had come to pick him up for the meeting with the White Fang. He'd been told her name before, but he didn't bother to remember it. He'd thought he'd be gone the next day after all. Though that hadn't happened.

"Last I checked… I'm not one of your fanatics, so don't expect me to take orders like one." She flashed orange and red at his words. At first he thought she was like him, a human roped into the Fang and its mission. Then she changed colors when he'd made the assumption.

"You are on our island, so you will listen to what we say, human." He rolled his eyes and scoffed at her "insult". He didn't know if humans used the race of faunus as an insult back in the kingdoms, but he wasn't even close to being offended by the term. They really needed to get a bit more creative.

"Sure thing short stack." Another flash of red at his words, signifying he could get under her skin. "Enough about my helping people. What do the twins want, I thought I would have been able to leave after delivering Adams message."

"That's not something I can share." Did she even know? "Just shut up and listen to Fennec and Corsac."

Walking up the stairs to the building, the short girl knocked on the large doors. Inside, the deep voice of one of the twins spoke out.

"Come in."

At the invitation, the two walked inside to see the two standing before that same creepy painting. The girl dropped to one knee in front of them, something he definitely wasn't going to do.

"Sister Ilia, thank you for meeting with us." Right, that was her name. They turned to him next, if they were upset at his lack of respect, they didn't show it. "And Oxon, we heard about what happened earlier today, you have our thanks for aiding our people."

Ilia raised her head to look at them. "How may we be of assistance?"

The bushy tailed faunus spoke to the girl. "Please, stand." And she did.

"We have wonderful news."

Oxon didn't trust what "good" news meant when it came to the group. "What good news?"

"It has to do with the leadership of our organization. We finally received a message from the Mistral brotherhood: the operation was a success. Adam Taurus has claimed his place as the High Leader of the White Fang."

What!? That psychopath was in charge of EVERYTHING!? He had destroyed Beacon with only the Vale sect… But now he has the entire terrorist organization under his thumb? Things were going to get much worse, he just knew it.

"Good. And... Sienna?"

"Buried... with honor. The other branches of the Fang have been given the story that was agreed upon."

"Wait, he just killed her!? Won't people make a fus about that? People have been pretty fond of her from what I've overheard."

Ilia gave him a heated look before sighing and glancing away. "A necessary sacrifice. We won't forget everything she did for us."

"Indeed."

These people were planning something. He didn't know what, but if it was anything like before… Oxon had to stop it. He would do what he failed to do at Beacon.

At the moment, dear Oxon, the White Fang is experiencing... a transitional period."

"Growth requires change."

"And change can be painful."

"If it's for the betterment of the faunus, then... it's a pain we can endure. What's our next mission?" She was hesitant, he could see it clearly, but she was pushing through whatever doubts or guilt and stayed loyal. He saw a lot of himself in her. He too had done despicable things even though he knew they were wrong.

"Containment. With the CCT towers still inoperable, we have the luxury of control over the flow of information." Well, he had already told the people of the fishing village about what the White Fang had done in Vale. If more information came in that coraberated his story, then maybe that would make life difficult for the monsters disguised as people.

"News of Adam's ascension has yet to reach Menagerie, but when it does, the citizens of Kuo Kuana will undoubtedly react poorly now that the chieftain has spoken out against us."

"It's my fault the Be- the chieftan had any ground to stand on." What was that? She was hiding the name of the rulers for some reason.

"Do not concern yourself with past failures, Ilia. Focus on the future. We have an opportunity for redemption."

"What do you need me to do?"

The old leaders of the White Fang. They are the only remaining threat to Adam's assault on Haven Academy." No. Not another school… subtly, he moved his hand over to his gun on his hip. He'd stop this here and now, just three bullets.

"And so, they must be silenced…"

Ilia was visibly taken aback. She must respect them highly. "S-silenced?"

"You're going to kill the leaders of this place!? Surely the people will revolt if you tried!" The three looked at each other before the one with ears snapped his fingers. Immediately the room was filled with armed faunus, aiming their weapons at him. His had went to Fratris and pulled it free, but it was knocked out of his hand by Ilia, her electric weapon leaving a painful sensation on his fingers.

"Like Sienna. They stand in the way of true progress for our people. So they must be removed, for the good of the faunus." Oxon glanced around him at the far to many opponents surrounding him. He gave a glare at the two men in charge, oy to see sinister grind on their faces. "And nobody will doubt us if the one who does so is human. Why, that might just rally the whole island to take up arms against the rest of your kind."

This was the plan all along… "You- You never brought me here so I could get information on Fall, did you? You just wanted a human to incite a race war!"

"Such ugly words, we meerly wish to light the flames of revolution. Be grateful, for your name will go down in history as the human that united the White Fang, no, the entire faunus race!"

"We need you to simply pull the trigger and leave. But if you do not, we will kill you and be forced to do it ourselves." He only had one revolver on his person due to Ilia. There were over half a dozen in the room, and more no doubt in the hallway or even outside.

He could deal with a food amount of them before he fell, but not all of them. With a strong frown, he raised his hands in surrender. His other gun was confiscated as the brothers approached him. He could snap their necks, if they weren't armed or if they didn't have aura. The issue was he didn't know their strengths or weaknesses.

"You will return to the room we have provided you. And once we require your services. We will send someone to retrieve you."

"But do not get any ideas. If you try to escape or warn anyone, you and the people you inform will die." They're willing to kill their own people, disgusting.

"What guarantee do I have that I get to leave here in one piece after I do this."

"You don't, but if you try to refuse, death is certain." With those words, he was escorted out of the building by the terrorists. He caught the eyes of Ilia, and it was clear she was conflicted, but like he had been, it wasn't enough to say or do anything.

He had to think of something he could do. A way out of this mess. If he didn't, them Haven would suffer as well. Sun and his team go there… I can't let them die. No more!

~~~(XLVIII)~~~

Almost time for my job at Yellowstone NP to begin. Can't wait!

Menagerie is very obviously based on Polynesian/ Maori/ Hawaiian culture. And their culture is super cool. So I am doing my best to use folklore from the culture. Hopefully I'm not being insensitive about it though.

Feel free to review!