Now that Cardin's paid the price for messing with Darrel, I say it's time to pick up where we left off. This chapter is going to be a little bit shorter, but keep in mind, I don't have a lot of time left before Volume 2 premieres. And yes, I have seen Production Diary 4.
"Sisters! Friends! ...Weiss..."
This next season is gonna be good.
Chapter 23: The Monkey and the Mind Control
With the Vytal Festival fast approaching, classes had been put on hold, in preparation for the upcoming festivities, including a tournament, dance, and a cultural showcase, which would present the various cultures that dotted the world of Remnant. As such, many students used this time to work on homework, train for fighting, but for the team of RWBY, we decided to spend a couple of days in Vale. Currently, Weiss was leading us down a street, which was in the process of decoration. Streamers hung from windows, balloons were tied to trees and lampposts, and an elderly man was hoisting a banner high above that said "WELCOME TO VALE!" in big red letters.
"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" Weiss stopped to look at the decorations, and raised her arms in wonder. Ruby shrugged.
"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss." She stated. Followed by a quiet mutter, directed at no one in particular.
"It's kinda weirding me out…"
Weiss turned to her partner, an astonished look on her face.
"How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! Dances! Parades! A tournament! The amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!" She gushed, as if the only thing she was interested in was the planning of the whole celebration. Yang just folded her arms, and gave her an annoyed look.
"Only you, Weiss. Only you would care so much about the planning of this festival." I grumbled. Weiss just shot me a dirty look.
"Quiet, you!" She shot, before turning back, and walking to the docks. Stepping on the years-old wooden planks, we were met with the stench of dead fish, and the sight of innumerable boats pulling into port, some offloading cargo, while others had their crew step off the gangplanks. Some wore sailor's uniforms, while others wore combat gear of various colours and styles.
"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" Yang asked, annoyed at having to stop here when she could be doing… whatever it was she preferred to do. Ruby held her nose.
"Ugh, they smell like fish!" She complained.
"It's the docks, Ruby. You expected them to smell of cookies?" I deadpanned. She just shot me a dirty look, but didn't say anything else.
"I've heard that students from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!" Weiss had resumed talking, walking down the road alongside the docks. Blake turned to us.
"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." She whispered, with a small smile. Unfortunately, one of Weiss's strong points was her keen hearing. She turned to Blake, frowning.
"You can't prove that!" She scoffed. I chuckled.
"Sure we can't…" I droned sarcastically. Weiss gave me an annoyed look, but turned around before things got any uglier between us.
"Whoa."
Ruby had stopped, and was looking down a street with newly piqued curiosity. Yang and I turned back to see what had her attention, to be met with the site of a heavily vandalized shop. The windows were broken, and glass lay everywhere on the road, its previous home now occupied with several strips of bright yellow caution tape. From the interior, it appeared to be heavily damaged: vials on the walls were smashed, shelves were lying on their side, and the counter was just a mess of broken wood and splinters.
We walked down the street to the ruined store, to see two very familiar detectives scrounging the scene. Ruby looked up to the bearded one, who was writing details in a notepad.
"What happened here?" She asked. The detective looked to us, clearly annoyed.
"Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit dis week. Dis place is turnin' into a jungle." He answered, walking over the glass shards to his partner. Yang sighed.
"That's terrible..."
It was. While I didn't need Dust, per se, a Dust shortage could mean doom for undefended towns and kingdoms. After all, before Dust was discovered, humanity was apparently on the brink of extinction. It was an effective strategy: take out the suppliers, and just wait until your enemies starve themselves out. A common strategy, but a good one
"Hey, they left all the money again!"
Ruby seemed to notice something important in that statement, as she gave a sound of confusion, and looked to the two detectives.
"Yeah, just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much Dust?"
"I dunno. An army?"
"You thinkin' the, uh, the White Fang?"
"Yeah, I'm thinkin' we don't get paid enough."
The White Fang… A collection of Faunus who wanted to be respected. But they were going about it the wrong way. What started as a protest group quickly became a terrorist cult. Personally, I sympathized with them, but when it came to the murderous actions… that was when they just proved humanity's views of them as nothing more than vicious killers hell-bent on eradicating all who stood in their way.
"Hmm. The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates." Weiss spat, holding her nose into the air. Blake turned to her, anger threatening to encompass her face.
"What's your problem?" Blake asked angrily. Weiss turned to her.
"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane!"
"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths! They're just a collection of misguided Faunus!"
"Misguided? They want to wipe humankind from the face of the planet!"
"So then they're very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale." It was clear in her voice that Blake was trying to stay calm, but her golden eyes said otherwise. All I saw was anger and frustration at Weiss's prejudiced views.
"Hmm… Blake's got a point. Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago… Maybe it was him." Ruby interjected. True enough, her argument did hold water. Roman Torchwick definitely had some part in this, but at this point, there weren't a lot of suspects.
"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat and steal." Weiss stated bluntly. But it was that statement where Blake decided to let loose. Her calm façade evaporated in the blink of an eye, and she gave the heiress a hard look. Yang also saw the escalating situation, and jumped in.
"That's not necessarily true, Weiss. What about…" She began, but a yell sounded from the docks.
"HEY, STOP THAT FAUNUS!"
Turning to the disturbance, in the distance, one of the boats had a tanned, well-built teenager, about 18 or 19 running on the deck, two sailors in hot pursuit. He wore a white jacket, with no shirt underneath, revealing his well built body. A pair of ragged jeans with a chain looping from a belt loop to a pocket, and a pair of red and black sneakers enveloped his lower around, Ruby nodded to us, and we took off, sprinting back to the docks.
The teenager hopped on the ridge of the boat deck, looking to his pursuers.
"Thanks for the ride, guys! Haha!" The teenager laughed, hopping down to the boardwalk. As he landed, I noticed that he didn't have any kind of animal ears on his head. Then as he continued to run, I finally remembered.
'Sun Wukong. The lithe rogue with a good heart. Can't wait to begin interacting with him.' I thought to myself.
"You no-good stowaway!" One of the sailors yelled angrily at Sun, who was now hanging upside down from a lamppost by a yellow tail, much like that of a monkey.
"Hey! That's just offensive! A no-good stowaway would have been caught! I'm a great stowaway!" He yelled back. I gave a smile: Sun was one of my favourite characters for a reason.
"Hey! Get down from there this instant!" The two detectives had arrived on the scene. The bearded one looked up, to be met with a banana peel slapping into his face. Sun twirled up to the top of the lamppost, and leapt off, landing near the edge of the docks, just below us. He looked back, gave a hearty laugh at the two detectives, and sprinted up the stairs, while the duo chased after him. Oddly, he ran by us, even when numerous escape routes were available, from fire escapes and open windows to narrow alleys and drainpipes. After the two officers ran after him, Yang leaned out, and watched them go.
"Well, Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes…" She said. Weiss just pointed after him.
"Quick! We have to observe him!" She yelled, taking off, Yang and Ruby in hot pursuit. I prepared to run, when I noticed Blake was staring into space. Jogging back, I clicked my fingers in her ears.
"Hey, Blake? You okay?" I asked. She continued to stare ahead for a moment, before finally responding.
"Huh? What?" She looked around, finally laying eyes on me after a couple of seconds of looking around.
"Everything okay, Blake? You kinda zoned out for a bit." I responded. Blake just looked away.
"It's nothing. Come on, let's go." She said, a little too quickly, before dashing after her teammates. I took off, wondering if I knew what was really bothering her.
Sun had winked at her.
The chase lasted for a few minutes, but it was enough to tire me out. Panting heavily, I tried to keep up with Blake, but I was lagging behind slightly. Rounding a corner, Blake looked back.
"C'mon, Darrel! Move it!" She yelled, peeling ahead and disappearing into the distance. With a burning stitch in my side, I just slowed to a leisurely jog, leaning against a tree, trying to get my breath back. Running after a stowaway definitely didn't produce as much adrenaline as fighting Grimm did. Not that I minded, of course.
"Hey, kid. You okay?"
Looking up, I was met with two people, one a silver haired male with purple eyes, and the other a brown-skinned female with a green bob-cut and blood-red eyes. They seemed familiar somehow… But for once, they were characters I couldn't place a name to.
"Whassamatter, you deaf? I said, you okay?" The silver haired man spoke. I just nodded, panting my lungs out. The green haired girl just strode forwards, and gently caressed my burning cheek.
"My God, you're burning up! Are you sure you're okay?" She asked, pulling her hand away as if I was about to burst into flames. I just nodded, my throat too dry to form coherent words. The silver haired man pulled out a bottle, giving it to me. Not caring about what could be in it, I tore the top off, and guzzled the contents, feeling a sweet-tasting liquid flow down my throat. It relieved the parchedness in my throat, but I continued to pant breathlessly.
"Take it easy, kid. You'll just tire yourself out. Here, with me. Deep breaths. In. Out. In. Out." The mint-haired girl consoled. I quietly found myself following along with her rhythmic chanting, slowly taking in air in my lungs, and feeling my exhaustion drift away.
"Hey, thanks. So, uh, what're your names?" I asked breathlessly.
"I'm Emerald, and my partner here is Mercury. You looked as though a Nightmare Maw was after you. You wanna tell us what's going on?" The woman, now named Emerald asked.
A dizzy feeling overtook me, sending me into a state of bliss. Part of me thought about refusing their offer, but the idea of doing so seemed silly. They seemed curious, and they could possibly help me. Besides, what was the harm in telling them I was pursuing a Faunus?
"Sure. So, I'm walking with my team, and we come across this ship, and some monkey-tailed kid leaps off the side, and starts running for his life. Because we're Hunters, or at least, training to be, we decided to go after him, read him his rights, the whole nine yards. But my teammates pulled ahead, and, well, you two came along." I gibbered, feeling my mind begin to cloud, and sleepiness starting to set in. Mercury smiled.
"Huh. You wouldn't have happened to have gotten a good look at him, would you?" He asked. I frowned.
"Nah. I only got a glimpse of his… monkey… tail…" I trailed off, before my knees grew weak, and I fell into Emerald's arms.
"Okay, take it easy. We're just gonna sit you down, nice and easy. Just have a rest." She soothed, gently placing me onto a nearby bench. Right as I plonked my butt down on the bench, my vision began to darken.
"Hey, you guys… ain't… so bad. Thanks… for… the drink…" I gibbered, before my eyes fell to darkness. But as I did so, I could have sworn I saw the two of them smile.
Excellent work, you two. The mind drug works like a charm.
But using it against our ally... Are you insane?! What if something went wrong?! What if he overdosed?!
You forget. We specifically chose your pawn because he has proven himself to be very efficient in the face of death.
But that's when he's fighting! You ambushed him when he was in the street! You caught him off guard!
Need I remind you what will happen if you disobey me? You risked enough when you initially refused to steal Beacon's supply of medical gel. And I warn you, should you disobey me again, I will not hesitate to kill you. Do you understand?
Y... yes, m'lady.
Good. Now, Mercury, Emerald, focus on synthesizing what's left of the drug. We'll need even more of it to bring the White Fang leader fully under our control.
"…he okay?!"
"He's fine, Yang. He's lucky your friend found him when she did, otherwise I doubt the nurse would have been able to counteract it."
I began to sit up, but groaned, as my brain felt as though someone was trying to jam a railroad spike through my eye and into my brain. But aside from my aching head, I felt fine.
"Professor Ozpin, he's waking up."
The nurse's voice felt a million times louder, and my head burned in agony. I swatted her away, desperate for her to shut up. My head pounded, like a massive hangover.
"Darrel, please tell me you're okay. Poison is such a careless way to die, especially in the middle of the street." Ozpin stated, in his usual stoic manner. I rubbed my pounding head, wishing for my hearing to die down.
"What the hell happened?" I muttered. Yang stepped forwards, wringing her hands.
"We were chasing that stowaway Faunus, when we noticed that you weren't following. I doubled back to try and find you, and I saw you sleeping on a bench. Penny came along, and saw you were poisoned, so we-"
"Hold on, Yang. Who the hell is Penny?" I groaned.
"That would be me! Sal-u-TATIONS, friend of Ruby!" Penny cried, emerging from the corner. Her shrill voice grated in my brain, as my hands quickly covered my ears.
"Penny, please keep it down!" I growled, feeling my head pound like a jackhammer. The orange haired girl nodded.
"Very well! I shall lower my voice to a more acceptable level!" She said, at the same decibel level.
"Anyway, Penny carried you here, and you've been asleep until now. It's Saturday evening." Yang finished.
I flopped back on my pillow, trying to take in the information. Whatever happened back that afternoon had just about left me comatose, though whoever gave me the drug, I couldn't say. Whatever I had ingested acted as some kind of memory agent, removing whoever had given that drug to me from my recollection.
"The agent you swallowed was some kind of truth serum, coupled with an unknown variety of poison. Had Penny not found you when she did, it's quite likely you would have died. You are a very lucky man, Darrel." Ozpin finished with a smile. I rubbed my aching head.
"Thanks, Penny. I owe you one." I grimaced through my pounding head. She just nodded.
"You are most welcome, Darrel, friend of Ruby." She whispered, her voice now within the single digits of the decibel range. Then, without another word, she left through the door, her presence apparently no longer required. Ozpin watched her go.
"Well, it's getting late. I advise you two to get some sleep."
Ozpin stood, and walked of the room, leaving Yang and I alone. She looked at me, a worried smile on her face.
"Why is it whenever a dangerous situation happens, you're always right in the middle of it?"
"If I knew the answer to that..." I deadpanned, feeling the tiny demons begin to leave my head. Yang gave a chuckle, then looked away.
"Something wrong?" I asked. Yang looked back.
"You remember the argument Weiss and Blake had yesterday? About the White Fang? Blake may have let slip she was once a member. But she's disappeared, and we can't find her." She explained. I swore silently. Knowing Blake, she would be difficult to find, but no matter what, we would have to try. I just hope we would find her before something else happened.
OK, I seem to be deviating from the current plot again, but if I just write about Weiss and Blake's argument, and Darrel's thoughts on the subject, then I may as well just make a commentary video of the episode. Hence why I'm taking the direction of introducing Mercury and Emerald a little early.
Also, because Darrel leapt into the universe of Ruby shortly after the Velvet Battle Gear Design contest was announced, he doesn't know who Mercury and Emerald really are. Plus, he's stoned out of his mind on a mind control drug, so that may have also had something to do with it.