Oh hello, didn't see y'all there... Just kidding, I see y'all and you looking fresh, yo. Anyways Welcome, to the 10th as well as the second to the last chapter of Volume 1, Volume numero Uno, baby. Once again, it's me, your buddy, your pal, J.2.W. and with me is "Heyya. I'm just the guy that delivers popcorn to Aki" Exactly. Now before we continue on this, I just wanna say, this is like a dwarf chapter ma dudes. Yeah. Compared to the others, this is gonna be a pretty short and quick chapter that's just going to like... do nothing, capische? Good.." That aside, we present to you.. From the stupid mind of the writer, to the eyes of the elegant and classy people I'm honored to call the readers "Psst..that's you guys"... Episode 10..
"For one lie to live, it needs to stand upon 7 others" - I honestly forgot who said this
Exact Location: Unknown. Vale Outskirts, not too far from Vale City itself
In a lone spot outside the city of Vale, we find a couple of bushes, shrubs and leaves looking like they are situated on top of another body. Those who didn't know what was under them would assume it was a rock or a very small hill... but they'd be wrong. "Ugh, I hate this kid. Will you turn down that music!" A feminine voice yelled from one of the rooms in an airship. The bass-boosted music she was complaining about completely drowned her voice but she had gotten her message across. She wore a lab coat on top of a white shirt and seemed to be working on something in the laboratory wing, perfecting some formula that needed concentration. "That's just how Two Wheelz rolls." Her colleague replied, still blasting his music at full volume. The airship they were in was in a lone part outside Vale and was soundproofed so no sound, even the loud music, got out of the ship.
"My beats so rare, you should consider yourself lucky that you get to hear them every day!" The young man continued, still playing his music and tuning it on his laptop from behind a whole turntable. "Hey Johnny" Another young man said, emerging from another compartment of the ship while wearing a pair of black pajamas, "Don't you think it's a little too loud?" He asked. The DJ, now identified as Johnny, replied back "I just gotta finish this up really quick and I'll be done for now", still refusing to turn his music down. The man in the pajamas rolled up his left sleeve and tapped a holographic button on his arm that brought Johnny's music to an abrupt end. "C'mon!" The DJ yelled, dropping his headphones on the table. "Y'all never let me have any fun.." He mumbled to himself before taking a seat on a nearby couch.
"We came, we saw, and now it's time to act. Helena!" The man with the disguised robotic arm, most likely the leader, said to Johnny, as well as gestured to his other colleague to seat next to Johnny. His female associate walked over to the couch where Johnny sat and took a seat on the other end of the couch. The man in the pyjamas tapped the holographic screen on his arm again and it first projected a glitched logo of an 'A' before projecting images of Beacon Academy onto the larger screen in front of his audience. "We're just outside this kingdom and once we gain entrance into it, we'll go to this Academy. I think they called it uh..." Before the leader could finish, Johnny said out loud, "Hogwarts?" "Beacon." Helena corrected Johnny and completed the leader's sentence.
The leader withheld the urge to laugh on hearing Johnny call Beacon Hogwarts, but he still proceeded with his presentation, "Beacon. Now in this place, there's this tower.." The images of Beacon were replaced with a close up view of the CCT Tower in the Academy once the leader tapped his wrist again "Largest body in the place. At the top of it, that's where the Academy's Headmaster stays" He said. "And explain to us why we're looking at this stuff.." Johnny asked, stretching his arms out for emphasis. "I was getting to that!" A mildly infuriated leader said before regaining his cool and resuming. "As I was saying, if you look at this image here... You see two elevators, eh?" He pointed to the two elevators on the screen.
"After hoarding drones in the tower's elevator shaft and using every last bit of energy in each of their batteries, I found this stored in one of the drives" He played a video on the screen which showed the elevator going down then instantly going back to Ozpin's office. "So it went down first so there might be a room under the office?" Helena asked, confused at why her colleague just showed them the video. "Well, that's how elevators work, Doc. They go down and they go up" Johnny explained the most obvious thing in the video to their leader, Doc. "I KNOW THAT!" He yelled in reply. "Just take a look at it in IR". Doc tapped his wrist, switching the video feed's colour to white and gray. As he did that, a small red dot appeared for a moment, sending waves in the form of small red circles around it that disappeared once they travelled a very short distance. This new discovery shocked his audience.
"A suppressed pulse, most likely in a comatose state" Helena, who had expertise in such issues, proclaimed. "We don't know what that is. What we gonna do with it?" Johnny asked again. "It's in a comatose state as Helena just said, meaning that it won't offer no resistance when we bring it in for study. Plus, it's in a whole damn vault made of thick metal and buried deep enough to literally cut off comms to the 'bugs' when we get too deep in; it's gotta be someone real valuable to be put in a place like that." The Doc explained. "And how do you plan to get it?" Helena stood up as she asked her question. Doc didn't even need to answer "Lemme guess, we're stealing it, ain't we?" Johnny rolled his eyes as he asked, standing up as well. Doc pat his dreadlocked head and replied to Johnny, "I don't see how asking nicely would work...See? Now you got the smarts. Far better in my opinion than asking nicely."
A frustrated Johnny went up to Doc and questioned, "We've been here for two.." He put up his index and middle fingers to demonstrate his point "TWO AND A HALF WEEKS, and you're already planning on this". The Doc groaned before replying, "Listen J, We aren't doing this now. We ain't even planned it yet. And if you don't do it, I'm shutting down your Table". Johnny instantly agreed once his precious turntable was brought up into the negotiation. "So you two are planning on pulling one over the largest COMBAT ACADEMY on the planet?" Helena asked, putting emphasis into the words 'Combat Academy', but this didn't change a thing in their plans. "Yup" "No, we three are." Johnny and Doc replied at the same time with the latter gesturing to the three of them. "And I know just how to do it... Meanwhile, we're gonna do some... recon in Beacon, find out what's really under that place. It shouldn't be able to cut off the signal at close proximity, eh?" Doc said before walking back into his room, leaving Helena and Johnny in the Main Hall.
A few minutes later, he emerged out of the room, now wearing a black bathrobe. "Helena, tell the AI to charge up the Stealth Suit, we're gonna need it." Helena nodded and went back to the Lab. to finish her work. " and Johnny..," Johnny raised his head to look at Doc "Just don't bother her." On hearing this, the DJ instantly let out a loud groan before going back to his Table, "At least put on some good clothes before you do any recon." He yelled before putting on his headphones and continuing work on one of his 'masterpieces'. "Who said 'I'll' be the one doing recon?" Doc asked from his room with Johnny not understanding until later.
Now Back At Beacon
It had been a few weeks since Asura first arrived on Remnant with Akuma and a few days since the Forever Fall incident. Akuma sat in a bullhead, still in his older and more comfortable clothing waiting for team RWBY, who were to accompany him, so that he could run his errands for the day. He had forgotten to pick up his clothes some days back so he had to get that done first. Prior to this moment, the demigod had already discussed briefly with Ozpin concerning his clothes fund issue as well as the new association between Jaune, Ren and Akuma.
*F-L-A-S-H-B-A-C-K, Flashback! *
"So you were aware?" Asura asked Ozpin from where he stood. He had just told them of Jaune and Ren training with Akuma after which Ozpin replied referred to Jaune as 'The blonde with the fake transcripts' which prompted Asura to ask this question. Ozpin simply nodded, "Yes". "And how long have you known of this?" Asura asked. "The moment we saw the transcripts, we knew they were fake." He replied. Asura did not let up on his questioning though, "Then why did you let him stay, despite having knowledge of the fake transcripts?". Ozpin gestured over to Glynda using his hand that held his coffee mug "My assistant would have done so the moment he set foot on Beacon grounds with the other students" He sipped his coffee after he spoke. It was Glynda that completed his sentence, "But Headmaster Ozpin thought that Mr. Arc had potential to develop here. He suggested that we played dumb and ignore his transcripts. Initially, I was against it but he was quite persuasive." She further said.
"The life you prepare them for here is a risk filled one and hard one, hence the training and education you put them through. Keeping him here because you had a hunch about his pending development is a wise, yet foolish move." Asura stated, showing that he both supported and opposed both their perspectives. "But the fact that he is currently being trained by Akuma, who also saw potential in him, should be proof enough that his induction into Beacon was no mistake." Ozpin had a smile across his face as he responded to Asura. "Hmph... On that, we agree." Asura responded before preparing to take his leave. He had not moved yet when Ozpin called out to him.
"I caught sight of your... new clothing choices and I was recently made aware that you are yet to make payments for them. I have sent the funds to the tailor for your clothes. Also, as a form of appreciation to Akuma for helping Jaune, I have also paid for his stitching as well as thrown in a bonus ahead of time." Ozpin said to the demigod. Asura briefly bowed his head to express his gratitude "I appreciate it." He said as his head came back up before turning back and leaving for the elevator.
After his descent, he decided that since he would not have too much to do that day, he might as well visit the cafeteria and get himself some food. While he walked there, a quick memory played in his head. He was in a hot spring with his ex-mentor, Augus. While they relaxed, Angus had said to him "Fight, then eat good food.". Asura had never had any reason to follow this but now that he had some free time, something in him wanted to do so, and after all, he didn't need to hunt for the meal or pay for it.
He walked up to the person behind the counter. "Do you have any beef?" He asked in a low voice. "Uhh...Yeah, we got some" The attendant replied before walking into the room in the back. He returned around 20 minutes later holding a tray. On the tray sat two juicy, tender, hot piece of steak on a place and a bottle of water on the side. Asura collected the tray and after taking a seat on the nearest table and placing his food on the table, he took his fork and knife and dug into his meal. Every bite of the well-seasoned steak he took was satisfying and every sip of water, refreshing.
"There he is." Yang said, alerting the rest of her team to Asura's location. "You guys gotta see this." She said in the same quiet voice as Asura looked unaware of them watching him. Her teammates rushed to where she stood at the entrance of the cafeteria. "What is it?" Weiss asked before she looked into the cafeteria, her sight making her quiet for some time. "Well, that rules out him being a robot." Ruby said nonchalantly. His strength, speed as well as his speech pattern made them to begin to think that he was a robot in disguise, bur since robots didn't eat to the best of their knowledge, they ruled that out.
"Are you ready yet?" Asura calmly asked, almost done with his second steak. The question was unexpected since he technically asked no one, but the group of girls spying on him knew that it was them he was talking to. "Yeah, we were just looking for you..." Yang started a sentence but left it mid-way, leaving her hidden faunus partner to finish it for her "To remind you of the clothes. You still have to pick them up and we planned on going into Vale so we thought of going with you." Blake said. Asura, now done with his food, thanked his server and walked towards his companions. "Now we leave..." He said while he walked past them towards the bullheads to run his task. "You heard the man. Go.." Ruby commanded before walking in the same direction Asura went, her team mates following behind.
Asura got on the first bullhead he saw and waited for team RWBY. Soon after, they arrived and boarded the bullhead that would take them into Vale. It was going to be somewhat of a long ride so Ruby began to ask Asura a lot of questions on the ride. "It's so boooring. Hey Asura, you got any thing, maybe a tale of your adventures?" Ruby tried to trick Asura into telling her of his adventures. He looked like he had seen quite a lot and she was eager to know more about him. At first, Asura replied with a "Not now.." but after a few persuasion attempts from her and her friends, Asura broke. In order to quiet them, he was going to tell them a little tale. "Alright. I shall tell you kids a tale, one about an arrogant General..." He spoke. "What kind of a name is Wyzen?" A confused Weiss asked. "Save the queries for the end." He quickly responded before starting his tale of how he had fought Wyzen...
Now In The Forever Fall Forest
The repetitive sound of metal making contact with wood, as well as grunts of effort filled the air. Jaune had been cutting for a few hours that day and was clearly tired as usual. Beads of sweat were rolling down his face and he was panting but despite this, he still continued his task while his friend and partner, Ren, watched as his leader tore himself apart. From the nearby trees, they both heard Akuma's voice, "Stop!". Ren asked Jaune to stop but he still didn't. "It was Sensei that said so" Ren said before Jaune finally stopped cutting. Akuma walked into the clearing, taking a quick glance around and noticing Jaune's quite massive progress. "Perhaps you were not as hopeless as I thought, worm." He said to Jaune before stopping at the edge on one side.
After making him do hard physical labor, and realising that he kept on doing it despite being unaware of its purpose, he thought that it was time to teach him one of the most important parts of his training, basic combat. "Sit." He commanded the both of them and after Ren did it, Jaune followed suit. After a while of training, Jaune had finally understood a little of what his teacher was saying, maybe a few basic words. "Now I teach you how to fight." Akuma said, as Ren translated to his leader. The enthusiasm that these words put in Jaune was almost enough for him to replenish all his lost energy. He perked up and looked at his teacher's eyes.
"Assume your stances. Both of you!" He yelled. "Quickly, stance." Ren quickly translated and the two instantly entered their combat stances. Akuma circled them slowly, analysing them. He noticed that Jaune's stance was completely off, something that needed to be fixed. As for his partner, some minor adjustments would help him. He walked towards Jaune, gently kicking his leg backwards into a better position. He hit Jaune's hands in multiple areas wither using the back of his palms or his elbows, forcefully moving them into the right positions while also mildly hurting him in the process. After he had done this, he quickly punched Jaune's armor-covered chest which sent him skidding backwards but surprisingly, not dropping him. Before anyone could process what just happened, he performed the minor adjustments on Ren's stance as well then kicked him in the abdomen, which sent him skidding just like Jaune but did not drop him too.
"A good stance indicates a good fighter. It is the premier factor that is seen in your technique and hence, you must perfect the new stances I have assigned to you by remaining in it!" He explained to them the importance of a good stance then commanded them to remain in it for as long as he required. Jaune and Ren, who were still bent over and clutching the areas where they were just hit. "What.. did he... say?" Jaune managed to say in between breaths. "We have to say in the same stance we were in." Ren replied to his partner. A few seconds later, they had recovered and out of the fear they had for their sensei, they were in the new stances he had taught to them while Akuma sat in front of them, his legs crossed and his palms on his calves as he watched his students like a hawk as they fought through the strain, cramps and pain to perform what he had asked of them.
Vale, Asura and Team RWBY
"No way you did that!" An awestruck Yang proclaimed. "He was that large and used only a finger?" Blake asked. She and her team found Wyzen's decision to use a finger instead of his whole hand or even a fist quite stupid and hilarious at the same time. Asura responded with a nod to Blake's question. "Your daughter.. What did Wyzen do to her?" A concerned Ruby asked. The demigod looked down for a moment, memories of the actions in Gaea flashing in his mind. Whenever he saw them behaving like kids with their weird antics, he always thought of Mithra and now, he was being asked about her. It was now that the bullhead landed and the pilot announced their arrival at their destination. "I will tell you another time." He replied before getting off the vehicle.
Asura realised that he was to keep an eye on Jaune, so he leaped on to the first building he saw and followed the rooftops to the tailor. It wasn't long before he arrived at the entrance to the store. He walked in, ready to pick up his order. "Good evening, sir." The attendant greeted. Instantly recognising the golden skin tone, body markings and white orbs for eyes, she reached under her desk to retrieve two separate bags, one labelled 'Gold' and the other 'Red?'. At first, she handed over the bag with 'Gold' on it. "Here's your order." She said before handing it over to Asura. Asura received it with grace and after thanking her, he turned to leave the store but was halted when she called out to him. "Sir, your... friend left his order with us for a while. It apparently has been paid for and we wanted to ask you to give it to him." She said.
In truth, not unlike a lot of other people, she was terrified of him. She didn't want the displeasure of having to encounter him again so she requested that Asura do it instead. Asura, realising that he was going to meet Akuma eventually, received the bag from her and went towards the exit. Once he left the store, he looked around for the four young females that accompanied him. There were no signs of them. Instead of waiting, he decided to make his way to the other forest to find Jaune, Ren and Akuma. Leaping onto the first building he saw, he ran across the rooftops once again, taking the fastest route to the Forever Fall Forest.
Some Time Later...
"He's already left." The attendant replied to Ruby. Ruby and her teammates had arrived the store not too long after Asura left. They asked of him and whether he was here and now knew that he had left the area not too long ago. "Judging by his speed, he's probably too far now." Blake stated her analysis. Just like Asura, they didn't wait either they left the store immediately. "He'll probably be fine, so no problem. Later sis." Yang said as she noticed a disappointed Ruby, who would not hear the ending of what seemed like a great story as they walked through the city's streets. "Besides.." Weiss added as she looked around, throwing out her arms in amazement, "Just look around. The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful." She added, visibly awestruck by the preparations for the upcoming Vytal Festival.
Not too far from where they were, Johnny and Doc leaned against a building. In Doc's left hand was a lit cigar while Johnny had his signature headphones round his neck. Contrary to their normal outfits, they both had on flower-patterned short sleeve shirts and brown cargo shorts. "The hell is a Vytal Festival" Doc asked as he and Johnny relaxed near the streets of Vale. "If what H told me is legit, then it's our chance to make some uhh... new friends and get some new eyes." Johnny replied as he took a look at what would appear to be nothing, but in reality, he was looking at a projected text from the only female in the group. "Can't believe you actually did something useful for once.." Doc complimented his usually not-so-smart associate. He looked in another direction from an annoyed Johnny and whispered to himself, "Let's just hope this lasts". "I'mma just ignore that one for now.." Johnny said with a skeptical look on his face, "I say we stroll round the area, check it out. You up for that?" Doc asks. "Always, C." Johnny answers as he bumps fists with Doc's right hand before they both stood upright and walked off.
"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament" Blake said, revealing to the rest of her team the real reason why Weiss brought them to the docks, as opposed to the heiress' reason of 'welcoming the students visiting from Vacuo to Vale'. "You can't prove that!" Weiss angrily responded in an attempt to deny Blake's allegation. While the team walked, they spotted a store with a shattered window and a broken door, which was surrounded by yellow caution tape with two people, detectives seemingly, standing in front of the building. "What happened here?" A concerned Ruby asked one of the detectives. "Robbery. Second dust store to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." He explained to Ruby before walking over to his partner. "That's terrible.." Yang commented. As Ruby was looking at the crime scene, she happened to be able to hear the detectives' conversation.
"They left all the money again." One of the detectives said to his partner. This caught team RWBY's attention. "Yeah. Doesn't make a lick of sense. Who even needs that much dust?" The other answered, ending with a question to his partner. "I don't know, an Army..." The first detective answered. His partner did not have to think for too long before coming up with a guess. "You thinking the White Fang?" he asked. "Yeah. I'm thinking we don't get paid enough for this." The detective replied before the two walked away.
"Hmph.. The White Fang.. What an awful bunch of degenerates" She proclaimed as she crossed her arms. This seemed to elicit a less than friendly reaction from Blake as she asked "What's your problem?". Weiss turned to her partner before answering, "My problem.. is that I don't care for the criminally insane". This seemed to add more fuel to the fire as Blake also crossed her arms, getting more angered "The White Fang are hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided faunus." Blake countered Weiss statement. "Misguided?" Weiss rhetorically asked "They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!" She continued. "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!" Blake still defended the White Fang, despite the not so false claims laid by the heiress.
"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 voiced her thoughts out, saying that Torchwick could be the possible culprit. "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 proclaimed once again, expressing her opinion on the White Fang (and the faunus race as a whole) as a couple of scum, liars and thieves. "That's not necessarily true. T..." Yang tried to speak but was cut off by the voice of a sailor. "Stop that faunus!" The sailor yelled out. on hearing this, the team stopped their conversation and rushed over to the source of the yelling. "Hey. Thanks for the ride, guys!" A golden tailed monkey faunus could be seen on the edge of a boat, complimenting and mocking the sailors that pursued him before jumping off the boat onto the docks and running off.
"You no-good stowaway!" One of the sailors said to the faunus boy as he uses his tail to hang off a lamppost while bringing out a banana and peeling it. "Hey! a no-good stowaway would have been caught! I'm a great stowaway!" He loudly proclaimed before attempting to eat his banana. As he was about to eat it, he was hit by a small stone. "Get down from there this instant" The detective that team RWBY had formerly spoken to had thrown the stone and was now commanding the boy to get down. Instead of complying, the faunus boy dropped the banana peel on the face of the detective before twirling upwards to crouch on the lamppost and laughing at the sight before him. After laughing for a little time, he leapt off the lamppost and proceeded to run away from the detectives. As he ran past team RWBY, he looked back at Blake and winked at her, much to her surprise.
"Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition.. and there it goes." Yang said, gesturing to the boy as he got farther away. "Quick! We have to observe him." Weiss held up her finger as she said. She, Yang and Ruby proceeded to chase the faunus as well with Blake standing still for a while, before running off with her teammates. As the monkey tailed boy rounded a corner, he accidentally bumped into another person, seemingly knocking something out of his hand. "Aww sh..!" He swore out loud as team RWBY rounded the same corner before walking behind them, not looking as happy as he did before. The four girls, with Weiss in the front rounded the next corner in chase of the faunus but were brought out of the chase when the heiress bumped into another person, knocking the both of them down. As Weiss looked up, she caught a glimpse of the faunus climbing a building before running out of sight.
"No. He got away!" She yelled out of frustration, still partially oblivious of the other girl below her until Yang pointed her out. "Uhh, Weiss.." She said, pointing over to the girl that lay below her. Weiss looked towards where Yang pointed to find a girl under her with a large smile on her face which spooked her and made her to get up quickly. Upon further observation, the four girls noticed the strange smiling girl to have green eyes as well as red hair. "Sal..u..tations!" The smiling girl said while still on the ground. "Uhm... Hello" Ruby responded to her greeting. "Are you.. okay?" Yang added. "I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking." The awkwardly smiling girl instantly replied. The four young girls look at each other, quite confused about the girl. "Do you... wanna get up?" Yang asked. The girl sat still for a moment as if she was thinking about the question. "Yes!" She replied, then in a quick move, she leapt back on to her feet, making the team to step back a bit. "My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny introduced herself to team RWBY. An introduction which they returned.
"Hi Penny. I'm Ruby" Ruby introduced herself first with her team following suit. "I'm Weiss." The heiress said. "Blake." Blake followed. "Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang questioned, due to Penny's strange behavior but a little nudge from Blake made her stop. "I'm Yang" She quickly introduced herself as well. "It's a pleasure to meet you" Penny said to the four girls. "You already said that." Weiss remarked, causing Penny to pause again for a little while before responding, "So I did!"
Weiss quickly apologized for knocking Penny down before the four girls turned around and started walking away from her. "Take care, friend" Ruby said as she walked away, while looking at and waving at Penny. They had walked for a bit before Yang finally commented, "She was…. weird…"
Less than a Minute ago
"White hair… Some rich kid Schnee's daughter. Bound to inherit one helluva company." Johnny read the information on his glasses after running a quick scan on her. "And the others?" Doc. Asked his friend. "They look like… her friends? She should be in Beacon, so best guess is they're classmates." Johnny voiced out his opinion. "Are those…. Wires?" Johnny added as he looked at Penny. "I knew it. A well-disguised robot. A nice job on the skin and coating but it has its flaws. Perhaps their technology is not as primitive as we expected" Doc. replied. While they talked between themselves and walked past the girls, Doc's left shoulder bumped into Blake, making him to drop his cigar again… "Oh. I'm sorry. It was my fault." Doc. quickly apologized as he bent down to pick it up. "No worries." Blake non-chalantly replied.
Doc. simply picked it back up, flicking it to remove any form of dirt on it. Yang couldn't help but notice their colourful shirts before proceeding to smugly ask "Nice shirts.. What's the occasion?". While the other one in the fedora was still flicking his cigar, his partner made up a story for them, "We're visiting. Y'know, Vytal Festival and all." He replied as he moved out his arms to gesture around them at the decorated streets. "So you're here for the tournament too?" Weiss asked. "Well, in a way.." As the blue haired young man was about to finish his sentence, his friend and partner finished it for him "We actually are. Ain't no way we missing this for anything else" The man with the cigar and fedora replied with a smirk on his face. As he said this, Penny appeared in front of them, seemingly out of nowhere, "What did you call me?" She asked, startling everyone except Johnny, whose glasses managed to see her coming, albeit at an extremely fast speed.
Yang quickly apologized, "Oh, I'm really sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me!" She said with an apologetic look on her face. "No, Not you." Penny said as she walked past everyone else and stopped right in front of Ruby, looking down at her "You!". Ruby was instantly startled by this. She tried to come up with what to say but she couldn't, "Me? I…I don't know. I, what I, um, uh...". "You called me friend. Am I really your friend?" Penny asked with so much glee and enthusiasm. Behind her, Ruby's teammates motioned for Ruby to answer 'No' while the two other young men just glanced at each other then shrugged. "Uhmmm, Yeah, Sure! Why not?" Ruby answered, despite her teammates' signals to deny her. This caused WBY to facepalm in unison, but left Penny happy and overjoyed. "Sen…sational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!" Penny began going on about the activities that she and Ruby would do as friends.
Ruby dusted herself off and groaned at Weiss before asking, "Is this what it was like when you first met me?". Weiss answered "No. She seems far more... coordinated. "So, Penny, what are you doing in Vale?" Yang asked in a similar manner she asked Doc. and Johnny. "I'm here to fight in the tournament" She replied. It was at this point that Doc. cut in too "You're fighting?" He asked while casually pointing at Penny. "I am Combat Ready!" Penny declared while saluting. "Forgive me, but you hardly look the part." Weiss commented much to Doc's silent laughter. "Says the girl wearing a dress" Blake pointed out. "It's a combat skirt!" Weiss declared while crossing her arms. "Yeah!" Ruby, who also wore a combat skirt, sided with Weiss on this one. She quickly went over to beside Weiss and low fived her held out arm. "Yeah, yeah... Skirt, gown, dress, whatever… still pretty impractical in my opinion." Johnny voiced out his own opinion while comically throwing both hands into the air, earning looks of disapproval from Ruby and Weiss while getting a "Welp, that's true." from Doc.
"Anyways, long day ahead of us so with this, we bid you..." Doc said as he reached for his fedora to tip it while Johnny threw his index and middle fingers in the air, "Farewell" "Peace!" Doc. and Johnny said simultaneously as they both turned around to leave. "Wait!" Ruby called out to them, halting them. "We didn't get your names." She said. The other girls and android turned to them. "That would kind of be rude" Weiss scoffed before she said. A malicious grin formed on Doc's face. "Well then.. We didn't plan on giving those but…" Doc said as he walked slowly towards them with his words giving them hope of getting the two's names. "But now.. We're definitely not telling ya. Anyways, Adios amigos!" He said to them as he turned around and walked away, chuckling with every step. "Huhhh… That was awkward." Blake said.
Weiss stood for a moment, as if trying to remember something. After a little while, she walked over to Penny and grabbed her shoulder as she spoke "Wait, Penny, if you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed... rapscallion?" She asked. Penny was confused about this question since she had no idea who Weis was referring to, "The who?" She asked back to clarify. As soon as Penny asked, Weiss produced a not so well drawn picture of the monkey faunus she was referring to, "The filthy faunus from the boat!" Weiss answered while showing the picture.
"Stop calling him that!" Blake commanded. She had gotten infuriated by the way that Weiss was referring to the monkey faunus as well as the race as a whole. "Huh?" Weiss said out of confusion as she turned her attention from Penny to face Blake. As she did, Blake walked over from where she previously stood towards Weiss and stopped right in front of her, "Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!" She angrily said back.
While things were heating up between Blake and Weiss, Johnny and Doc. were a few blocks away on their way back to their ship outside Vale. "Hey, J. You got any charge left on those headphones?" Doc. asked, using his head to motion over to the DJ's headphones. "Yeah. Think I got about 61% left. Why you asking?" Johnny replied and asked back, a smirk forming on his face. "Lemme see em for a minute." Doc stretched his hand out as Johnny took off his customized headphones and handed it over to Doc. After plugging it into a small handheld device that he produced from his pocket, he was instantly able to hear what was happening with team RWBY.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Conflict, eh…" Doc said to himself as he listened in on the argument between Blake and Weiss being broadcasted to his device. "You are a judgmental little girl!" He heard the voice of Blake say over the device. "And what makes you say that?" Weiss' voice said in response. "The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with a terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be!" An angry variant of Blake's voice replied. Doc instantly slid the headphones down to his neck to speak with his associate.
"So, whatcha listening to? Some hip-hop, maybe a little jazz, or some…" Johnny asked his partner, expecting him to be listening to some music but Doc. cut in, revealing his true actions. "A little bug track." He replied. Johnny thought about this as he walked until realization eventually hit him. He turned his head to face Doc. before asking "You bugged them, didn't you?". "Beacon Heist, Beacon Students. But no, not all. I only bugged Yellow and Black" Doc replied his partner. "You bugged two means you bugged them all!" Johnny declared, and this was true. If his speculations were to be correct about the four of them being teammates, then he should be able to hear the others. "How are you even going to...?" Doc. cut Johnny midway through his sentence. "Shhush. Can't a man spy in peace around here?" He asked, a look of comical annoyance in his face. "Whatever." Johnny waved off his concerns for their privacy, but this wouldn't last though. "So what's going on with them ladies?" He asked curiously, but the answer he got wasn't a part of what he was expecting.
"Just finished up a racial argument" Doc. casually replied. Johnny turned to face Doc. again. "A racial argument? Thought nobody gave a sh*t about black or white here." Johnny said back. "They don't. It's about faunus, those animal people and normal humans. Clearly they don't mingle well round here" Doc. explained to Johnny. "But Blake and her team get along just fine. I don't see…" As Johnny was about to finish, Doc. asked "How do you know I was referring to Black?" "Blake." Johnny corrected "Blake, Black, all the same. How did you know she would be involved?" He asked yet again. "Well you see…" Johnny began "Under her bow, there's a pair of ears, cat ears. So, she's a…uh…" Johnny paused for a while as he used his glasses to look up the name of the animal-human hybrids. "A faunus. She's a faunus." Doc. completed his friend's sentence for him. This would explain why Blake would side with the Faunas and White Fang during the argument. This also taught him the importance of using his special lens anytime he went out.
"So, what do we do about that?" Johnny asked. "Well…" Doc. began his answer. "We do what we're meant to do. Watch and wait." He replied before putting on the headphones again. "Whatever you say, bro." Johnny finally said as he and Doc. walked away from Vale towards their Ship.
The Forever Fall Forest, Sundown.
Asura sat at the top of a tree not too far away from the clearing Akuma was training Jaune and Ren in. He watched patiently as Jaune and Ren, albeit painfully, managed to stand perfectly still for hours straight. The two had nearly collapsed but the shared fear of their teacher mystically gave them strength to continue on, especially since he stood in front of them, watching them like a hawk. Akuma himself was on top of a tree stump that stood after Jaune's first exercise. Of course, he was aware of his rival's presence but that was not inn his plans for today. Taking a quick glance at the sky, he saw that it had gotten late, the moon was out and Asura would ask for them anytime soon. "You're dismissed!" He barked at Jaune and Ren in his native tongue. "We're done." Were the words that Ren said that finally cause both him and Jaune to fall to the floor. They had been in their stances for over 4 hours and were in desperate need of rest.
On hearing Akuma's words, Asura lunged from his spot on the tree, landing not to subtly at the centre of the clearing right behind Akuma. "Akuma!" He called out, making Akuma to turn back to face him. Asura walked closer to Akuma and held out a brown bag in his right hand to him. Akuma collected it from his rival with a grunt. Immediately after, without saying a word, he turned around and walked into the forest. Not bothering any more about him, the demigod turned around to find Jaune and Ren… sleeping. This meant two things: One, they had trained hard and two, he was going to have two SLEEPING bodies to carry this time, preferably without waking them up, so he did just that. Hoisting both Jaune and Ren onto his shoulders, he set off quickly but a bit more gently towards Beacon.
Just over an hour later
Since his attempt to be gentler had slowed him down, Asura made it to Beacon in just a little over an hour. Following a short trek to team JNPR's dorm room, he knocked twice and the door was opened to reveal a concerned Pyrrha. Asura didn't waste time to let himself in and place Jaune and Ren in their respective beds before turning around to leave. "Thank you yet again, Asura" Pyrrha said as she bowed slightly in respect for the former General, the look of concern in her face replaced by a gracious one. "You're welcome." Asura said in a low voice as he exited the room. Deciding that he was done for the day, he decided to rest a bit now to prepare him for the next day. He was about to make his way over to his meditation spot on the cliff when the sound of an argument in team RWBY's room drew his attention. "You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!" He heard the voice of Weiss yell. "There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you… that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!" Blake yelled in reply. Asura stood at the door, listening to their fight but would only step in if it was getting out of control.
Meanwhile, at the Nexus
Doc., Johnny, and Helena all sat in Johnny's sound room, each with a pair of headphones on and listening to Blake's and Weiss' argument. "People like me?" Weiss' voice replied back. 'You're discriminatory!" Blake said back in anger. "No shit, Sherlock." Johnny whispered out but nobody heard him so he continued listening. "I'm a victim!" Weiss responded then there was silence… A little more silence. "Did they finally stop?" was everyone's thoughts. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?" She started her short tale, piquing everyone's curiosities.
"It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood." Weiss narrated her tragic tale of her childhood, the very root of her hate against the White Fang and the Faunus race. 'Damn. Must've been hard.' Johnny thought as he listened to the feed. Him, Doc., Helena couldn't help but bow their heads in sympathy after listening to Weiss' tale. Asura too felt a bit of pity for Weiss, while also understanding where her hate for the Faunus race came from as well.
As if it was a way for her to relieve herself of her past, she banged her fist against the bookshelf she was leaning against. This action made two of the listeners in the Nexus spring up, thinking that she had retorted to physical violence. "Relax, it's wood." Johnny, whose ears were well trained for detailed listening spoke out, which eased his partners.
"Weiss... I am…" Ruby said as she walked towards Weiss to sympathise with her but Weiss was not in for that. "No!" She said in a louder voice. Turning away from Ruby, she walked towards Blake and once she had reached there, she asked a question. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang?". This was a question that she would waste no time in answering herself. "It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!" She finished her answer with venom in her tone.
Her answer angered Blake to no extent. "Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!" She yelled back furiously. "We?" The four outside listeners said in unison, with the three in the Nexus staring at one another. It had become clear why Blake stood with the White Fang, either she was a part of the Fang or was a member of the group. Both the Nexus and the dorm room at Beacon were completely silent. Back at the room, Blake was trying to find the right words to explain to her teammates. "I… I…" She tried repeatedly but couldn't find anything to say. Out of fear of what her teammates would think of her, she ran outside the door and through the halls, sprinting past Asura, who stood with his arms crossed but did nothing. Immediately, Ruby followed out of the room and tried to call out to her. "Blake, wait! Come back!" She yelled down the hall but stopped when she saw Asura, who silently nodded to stop her.
"F***!" Doc. swore as he flung his headphones across the room. "Now the main bug's gone out of Beacon and we can't do sh*t!" He continued as he, Johnny and Helena stood up, the latter two gently taking of their headphones and placing them on the table "And the girl? What're we gonna do about her?" Helena asked the leader. "Don't worry." He replied. Taking a few deep breaths and downing the remaining whiskey in his cup helped him to regain his cool. "I know where she is. By tomorrow, I'll have something done about her." Doc. responded in his signature calm and collected voice. "You better!" Johnny said to his leader "But it's been a long day, we need some rest." He continued. "Well, Good night J, Night Helena." Doc. said to his partners as he went into his quarters to get a good night sleep. 'Time to use it' Doc. thought as he laid before putting off the lights and going to sleep.
Asura stood at the roof of the Beacon Dorm rooms, watching Blake from above while she stared at a statue located in front of Beacon. The statue portrayed an armored man with a sword and a hooded woman wielding an axe on an outcropping and under the heroes, a beowolf could be seen. She gently reached for her bow and pulled the string on it, releasing it from her hair and revealing her cat ears to the outside world, specifically the two who were watching her. "I knew you would look better without the bow" A somewhat familiar voice said from above her which startled her. She looked up to see Sun, the monkey faunus from earlier but not upwards enough to spot Asura, who watched the interaction between the two of them. After a seemingly short talk, the two took off outside Beacon, which of course, meant that Asura had to follow them. Taking his first leap from the dorm room, he landed behind them as they went away, right on the statue that Blake was staring at before proceeding to follow them from the rooftops into the night.
Vale, Two days Later
Team RWBY (minus the B) were seen walking through the streets of Vale in search of their lost teammate. It had been two days since they last saw her and this worried them. During the period that Blake was missing, Asura also hadn't been seen but for him, it was safe to assume that he was tracking Blake down since he supposedly knew of their situation or he was taking care of some other important business.
"She's been gone all weekend." Ruby proclaimed as she and the others walked down the street. "Blake's a big girl, I'm sure she can handle herself!" Weiss replied in an attempt to ease her teammates. It was obvious that she didn't really care much about Blake due to her association with the White Fang. "Weiss, come on. She's one of our teammates." Yang tried to talk some sense into her partner. Weiss, still bearing on the events of two days ago turned to face Yang before asking, "Is she?" She turned to face her teammates before continuing, "We all heard what she said!" She said, seemingly getting furious again. "Weiss…" Ruby said calmly in an attempt to ease the heiress' temper.
Yang, on the other hand would continue to try to talk to Weiss some more, and remind them of the true goal "Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. Either way, she's missing, and we need to find her!" She said to Weiss. "You really do." A deep voice said from behind them. The three girls turned around to try and locate the source of the voice but ended up finding nobody, so they resumed their search.
"A member of the White Fang! Right underneath our noses!" Weiss muttered to herself, thinking of how she didn't figure this out sooner. Ruby, who walked next to her looked down, "I just hope she's okay..." She said in a low voice to herself, visibly concerned about Blake's whereabouts.
Elsewhere….
Blake could be seen, a cup of tea in her hand. Bringing it up to her mouth, she takes a sip of the beverage and puts the cup down, sighing. Sitting across from her, also holding a cup of tea with his monkey tail, was Sun Wukong who also like Blake, takes a quick sip of his beverage before Blake finally speaks. "So, you want to know more about me..." She said to Sun.
"Yes, I do." The same voice that team RWY heard said from the roof of another building. Its owner sat on the roof another building, not too far from where Blake and Sun were located. Once he heard this, he grabbed the Rail Sniper fitted with a Thermal Scope and a Microphone from his back and mounted it on the edge, covering it with a grey cloth. "I'm listening…" The voice menacingly yet quietly said, followed by silence.
Ooooh, This fic is getting WORSE by the chapter, seriously! From here, it can only go downhill with the introduction of your four new characters. Something ain't right here, I can feel it. Someone might just clip Blake and Sun... But I don't know if that'll happen. P.S Did I say pretty short in the beginning? My bad. Longest chapter yet if I'm not mistaken. Anyways, now as usual we've reached the end of this chapter, I successfully took the Popcorn guy out, nothing much. Anyways, till next time… T'is the Doc. signing out.