Welcome to the next chapter of RWBY: Team DUSK, before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:
Darth Simp: Yes, this time, we're going to learn more about Sandra's past. And I'm planning on making it an interesting trip for them all, more so since Professor Port is in charge of it.
Altajir95: Sandra is going to be the main focus of this, and we're going to see what's happening with her.
Sandra's Issues Pt. 2
"And that should be everything."
Daniel said taking a seat on Hunter's bed, who sat beside him.
He finished checking what he prepared for their camping trip inside the Emerald Forest, which Professor Port has planned for the class. If Daniel had to be honest with himself, he was looking forward to this camping trip, which would be held over the weekend. He wasn't alone in that regard as Hunter went over the belongings inside of his bag multiple times. From Daniel's knowledge, it would be the first time Hunter has gone out camping.
"So, does everyone have the things you'll be needing?"
Daniel asked his teammates, but it was more focused on the two women in front of him.
"I got all that I'll be needing for this trip."
Alyssa replied, showing a great deal of anticipation herself.
"Just because you're the leader, it doesn't mean you need to act like the parent."
Sandra replied.
Over time, it looked as if Sandra was returning to giving her usual responses.
In the middle of the two bunk beds, all four member's bags could be seen placed in a circle, which also had their sleeping bags situated on them too. Daniel didn't doubt that Sandra was prepared for this trip too, but he at least wanted to hear what kind of response she'd give.
"Well, I wouldn't say father. But, Daniel does give off the feeling of that supportive and nice older brother. I mean, he did mention that he and Hunter were like brothers."
Alyssa commented, not being able to come up with another description for Daniel.
"Yea, I remember that," Daniel replied recalling that time when Team CRDL was bullying Hunter. "Well, if we all were siblings, then Alyssa would be the fun-loving sister who parties a lot."
"Hunter would be the shy brother who's more skilled than people believes," Alyssa stated as Hunter sat right next to Daniel looking a bit embarrassed about that. Near the end, she scooted right beside her partner, then wrapped her arms around Sandra, surprising her. "And Sandra here would be the tough sister who's far nice than anyone in the world would think."
Hearing that caused Sandra some surprise as she wasn't expecting that kind of contact from Alyssa, but it wasn't something that she didn't hate. Of course, Sandra couldn't come out and say that in front of them, more so when Daniel and Alyssa were involved.
"Whatever, I want nothing to do with this little game of pretend," Sandra said brushing Alyssa's arm from around her shoulder. Instead of looking surprised or mad about this, Alyssa instead gave a sly smile. "I just hope that this trip isn't going to be some excuse for our professor to give some long-winded tale about his youth."
"Well, I think that it'll be an interesting trip seeing how invested Professor Port was about it. I think that he was too focused on the upcoming trip to give his usual lessons."
Alyssa started placing her hands beside her.
She wasn't wrong, most of the time during classes, Professor Port seemed to think more about the camping trip to be focused on giving his usual long-winded lessons.
"Yea, if someone spends that much time thinking about the trip rather than focusing on what amazing tale to tell his students," Daniel near the end of those last could word seemed to mimic somewhat of Port's speaking style, causing his teammates to chuckle a bit. "Then, I can tell that's it's going to be a trip to remember."
From that reply from their leader, the three could tell he was right in that regard and wondered what may end up happening.
Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!
The members of Team DUSK stopped after hearing repeated, almost excited knocks on their room door. Almost all of them looked at one another with a similar look on their faces. There was one person on this floor who would be knocking on the door like that. Realizing the individual's identity, Daniel walked over to open the door without asking who the person was.
"Good morning, Team DUSK!"
As expected, it was Ruby dressed similar to them, which was comfortably and prepared for the camping trip. The young Huntress-in-Training entered their dorm room, as always causing a trail of rose petals to follow behind her.
"And as always a good morning to you too, Ruby."
Daniel replied, never finding himself not impressed by Ruby's level of energy even in the morning.
"Are you never energetic in the morning?"
Sandra asked as Alyssa laughed in response to that.
Ruby wasn't alone as the three other members of Team RWBY, Weiss, Blake, and Yang were all following behind her. Like him, their leader, and the others, all of them were dressed in comfortable outfits, which also looked to be appropriate for camping.
"Good morning."
"Hello, morning."
"Good morning~"
Weiss, Blake, and Yang all gave their greetings in their respective tones.
"Good morning, Team RWBY. Please, come in and make yourselves at home."
Daniel attentively said, letting the four young women enter the room almost like a host inviting guests inside of their home. All four entered the room without showing much concern, both the siblings smiled and laughed about Daniel's response to them.
Having entered their room, being the seriously attentive people they were, instead of taking a seat on their beds, Weiss and Blake took seats on the chairs. The sister duo, on the other hand, did take a seat on their beds, taking Daniel's 'make yourselves at home' comment seriously.
"So, are you guys prepared for the camping trip?!"
Ruby energetically asked.
"Yes we are little Red Hood," Daniel replied sitting in-between Hunter and Ruby smiling again at her energy. "And I can see that you're all prepared for it."
"Of course, but we had to go shopping for new clothes for Weiss."
Ruby commented, turning her attention to her partner.
"Yea, nothing the little miss Ice Queen had screamed prepared for camping."
Yang added, thinking back to all the clothing Weiss had, which though fashionable wasn't for camping.
"Well, what did you expect. I never thought that I'd have to camp out anywhere at any time."
Weiss replied never considering that she would ever go out camping in her entire life.
Of course, no one would've thought that the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company would ever be interested in an outdoor activity like camping. She lived in the best and luxurious situation compared to them all, aside from likely Daniel, meaning camping was almost out of the question.
"That's not surprising."
Blake found herself commenting under her breath.
"Well, anyway, we've officially gotten Weiss prepared for camping. But, I wonder what we're going to do to make it a memorable one for her."
Yang laughed to herself at the idea of the heiress going out officially camping for the first time.
"Ugh, I don't like how you phrased that."
Weiss worriedly said, not liking the smile on the blonde-haired brawler's face.
But, hearing that only increased the two teams' anticipation of what this trip would be like.
"Aaaaand Dani, I have some important news for you."
"When you say important news like that, I somehow feel worried."
Daniel teased in response to Yang's statement about important news.
"Oh, Yang, I wanted to be the one who told him."
Ruby sounded as if she knew what Yang was talking about, and wanted to be the person who brought it up.
"And what is this about exactly?"
"Well, as my dear sister was going to say without me," Ruby started before intentionally pausing, then went on with her response. "Yang and I…."
"We mailed our dad the letters explaining our first month at Beacon."
Yang finished without letting Ruby come close to finishing her sentence, sparking a reaction from the young silver-eyed girl who pouted.
"Yaaaaang, I wanted to be the one who said that."
"Well, what does it matter?"
"It matters that I wanted to be the person who told Daniel about it."
"But, we still told him about…."
"Um, excuse me," Sandra interjected in the sister's conversation, catching their attention. "First, I didn't permit you to sit on my bed. I barely let Alyssa sit on my bed. And second, what does you delivering your letters to your dad have to do with Daniel. Not that I care."
Sandra though somewhat rude did bring up a good point that all of the room's other occupants could agree with to some degree.
"Well, unless Yang wants to take this explanation from me too," Ruby turned her attention towards her sister, who seemed to relent this to her younger sister. Seeing that she had free reign this time, Ruby smiled brightly, then a proud look appeared on her face. "Daniel sounded worried about what our dad would think about him when we mentioned him to dad. And so, Yang and I took extra care when it came to talking about Daniel to our dad. We're good friends, right?"
There was silence in the room after that comment as everyone could see that the two sisters wore a similar look on their faces while smiling and thumbs raised. At that moment, everyone soon turned their attention to Daniel not speaking a single word but looking at the expression he was making. Daniel didn't give a single reaction, but the others could vaguely see some concern.
"Dear God, what did those two write about me?"
Daniel asked, almost not wanting to know the answer to that question.
Meanwhile, in the Xiao Long Residence, a two-story wooden cabin located on the island, Patch in the forest. Taiyang Xiao Long, the father of Yang and Ruby finished getting the mail as he entered his time. He was a tall tanned and well-built blonde-haired blue-eyed tanned male, with his emblem tattooed on his right arm dressed comfortably.
He wasn't alone in the house as there was a black-headed tricolor corgi, who the sister's affectionately named Zwei came running up to him. Staring at the small corgi, Taiyang smiled and laughed after seeing Zwei's tail wagging with anticipation.
"Hey, Zwei, wait a minute and I'll take you out for a walk. First, I need to check the mail for something important."
Taiyang commented before taking a seat on the living room couch, as Zwei hopped right next to him almost out of a hint of curiosity. The blonde-haired male was going through the mail in his hands with anticipation noticeable within his eyes as he skimmed through them. It wasn't long until reaching the last two envelopes in his hands as a familiar bright smile appeared on his face.
"Here is it," Taiyang said as he dropped the other letters on the table for later, then stared at the two letters within his hands. He could see the familiar handwriting belonging to his two beloved daughters right in front of him. "It wasn't that long, but I've been waiting for over a month to hear about how my girls' first day of classes went. And I want to know if they managed to make many new friends."
He stared at the two letters wondering which one he should read first, but then noted that there was a small note on Yang's letter in the right bottom corner.
"You might want to read Ruby's letter first," Taiyang stifled from laughter after reaching his oldest daughter's message. "Well, if it's Yang saying that, then I'll read Ruby's first. Come on, Zwei."
Deciding that, Taiyang opened up Ruby's letter as Zwei seemed to get closer to him and wag his tail more. As the letter rested in his hands, he cleared his throat and started reading it:
Dear, Dad.
Hi, dad, it was kinda a rough start when I arrived at Beacon Academy two years earlier than my friends at Signal, which was a big surprise for me. On my first day here, I kinda got into an altercation with another student, but it was because of that that I made two good friends here. Hey dad, guess what? After I passed the initiation into Beacon, I became the leader of my team. A team of four young Huntress-in-Training, who're going to become the best Huntresses to graduate from Beacon Academy. So, with my brand new bestie, Weiss; a cool and stoic girl, Blake, and my big sister, Yang, we form, the amazing, Team RWBY.
"Team RWBY, huh," Taiyang smiled after hearing that his youngest daughter managed to become the leader of a team despite being two years younger than them. And he almost laughed at the fact, it sounded like her name. "Like mother, like daughter."
Taiyang could already see the similarities between Ruby and her mother, but hearing that she became a leader too made that all the more apparent. And hearing that made him more proud of Ruby than he already was.
Well, Weiss happens to be the girl that I got into that altercation with, but we ended up becoming besties, even if she doesn't want to admit it. She comes off as grumpy and well, just a little bit snobbish, but she's a good person when it comes down to it. Weiss isn't the only one, since starting school, I ended up making so many new friends that I never thought I'd be able to. All of them are cool and amazing in their way. Two of them are the first friends I made here.
Jaune, or vomit boy, as might've called him the first time we met. He might be the best fighter, but he's a cool and funny guy. I know that he's going to keep working as hard as possible to become a Huntsman, even his partner, Pyrrha, who's practically a celebrity thinks he's a good leader.
And Daniel, who's just awesome. He always tries to make everyone laugh, good in a fight, and his weapons are cool too. There's a lot that we have in common. Get this, Daniel even has silver eyes like me. He baked me these delicious cookies after winning a competition. I kinda wish that he didn't make it a habit to tease me like Weiss.
"So, she met someone else with silver eyes too, huh," Taiyang said, thinking back to Ruby's mother, Summer, and haven't met anyone else in his life with those kinds of eyes. But, his mind started going back to the fact that Ruby met two boys. "I really don't know about Ruby becoming friends with boys two years older than her. My little girl is still a little girl, and I don't think she's ready to be dating anyone yet. And what does she mean, when she said this Daniel kid teases her and her partner."
"…?"
Zwei made a sound while tilting his head to the side, listening to his owner.
"Hahaha, what am I thinking? I mean, Yang is there with Ruby, and she's going to let anyone do anything strange to her little sister. So, I shouldn't have anything to worry about when it comes to that."
Taiyang's fatherly instincts kicked in after hearing something like Daniel was "teasing" his youngest daughter, and another girl, who happened to be her partner too. His concerns were alleviated, thinking back to the fact that his oldest daughter was with her. Yang was as protective as he was when it came to Ruby.
With that in mind, Taiyang kept reading the letter Ruby had written to him, going over the details of her first month at Beacon Academy. It was more about how Ruby felt being a team leader and the things that she did with all the new friends she made. Even if he haven't met them yet, it felt as if he was getting to know them all by reading the letter. Of course, there was a lot mentioned about Daniel and about what a nice guy he was.
There were even some photos of her teammates and friends left in the envelope too. One photo was of the newly formed Team RWBY standing in front of Beacon. Another was of Teams RWBY, DUSK, and JNPR standing right beside each other smiling (at least some of them). And the last one showed Ruby, Daniel, and Jaune, the three leaders all posing with each other.
"I'm happy to hear that Ruby is enjoying her time at Beacon. I know that she is going to become an amazing Huntress like her mother," Taiyang placed Ruby's letter on the side, with the photos placed on the table as he picked up Yang's letter. After opening it, he started reading it. "Alright, now let's see what my Sunny Little Dragon wrote."
Dear, Old Man.
"Old man, huh."
Taiyang felt himself narrowing his eyes a bit, imaging his oldest daughter laughing while writing that.
Hehehe, hiya dad, sorry about that. Well, I think that you might've read about Ruby becoming the leader of Team RWBY, which is going to be the best team at Beacon. Not much eventful happened at Beacon, well aside from the fact that Ruby had a little of a rough start with Atlas' Ice Queen. But, that's all under the bridge now. Well, I ended up making a lot of new friends almost two days after entering Beacon Academy.
One of them is my very own partner, Blake, with who we didn't have the best experience for the first time. But, we ended up becoming close friends, even if she's focused on reading her books most of the time. She's sometimes a little serious, and other times, Blake can be surprisingly funny and playful.
Honestly, even I was surprised about all the friends we managed to make here, and even during the initiation all of us took down a large Grimm. You should've seen it, Ruby ended up dragging a Nevermore up a cliff using her Crescent Rose. I'm so proud of my baby sister. At first, it was a pretty "Grimm" situation, but we ended up dusting it.
"Pft, yeah that's my girls."
Taiyang sounded proud as he heard about his daughters' exploits in the letter, almost laughing after hearing that Yang added in one of her puns into the letter too.
Well, nothing too big or major happened in the past month aside from getting to know everyone here more. And it might not be any time soon, but I want you to meet everyone at some point.
"Aw, my little girls want their new friends to meet their cool dad."
Taiyang felt pride at that moment since he was more interested in meeting the friends his daughters' made, while Zwei titled his head to the side almost out of curiosity.
And it's for that reason that I asked that you attempt to warm up to Dani without doing the usual dad thing the first time that you meet him.
"Huh, Dani? Does Yang mean that Daniel kid?"
Taiyang started wondering that but realized that was the case after thinking about it. He felt his fatherly instincts start welling up as he kept reading the letter, his focus now being more focused.
Dad, I know that you're probably getting suspicious about Dani after reading Ruby's letter first, but he isn't a bad guy. He's actually far from being a bad guy. He defended his mute partner from bullies who were picking on him and made me laugh after our blowhard teacher tried flirting with me.
"A Beacon teacher tried flirting with my daughter," Taiyang began feeling his emotions started welling up but then thought about what she said. "Wait, a blowhard teacher? Is she talking about Pete?"
Taiyang knew almost all the teachers at Beacon, and Peter was one of the people he was on friendlier terms with compared to others. He was aware that Peter was likely joking around about it, but hearing that he did that didn't sound alright in his ears.
There's a lot that Ruby and I have in common with Dani too, but I don't want to bring up his business without his permission. Well, aside from that we….
Taiyang kept reading Yang's letter as she described what she was experiencing at Beacon, as well as a little bit more about Daniel. Like Ruby, there were some photos in the envelope showing Yang posing with Blake, who was looking a bit uncomfortable with the closeness. In other photos, the experiences were more relaxed, and smiling a bit with the others. But, the photos where Daniel could be seen with Yang and Ruby, caused Taiyang to feel a bit complicated about it.
"Ugh, I don't even know the kid, so I can't make judgments about him," Taiyang almost felt himself wanting to do some personal research about Daniel, and call Ozpin. But, he tried pushing down all his parental instincts wanting his daughters to have more freedom in life. "Well, when I meet this Daniel, I'll see for myself what kind of person he is. But, if he hurts either of my daughters, I won't rest until he regrets it. Isn't that right, Zwei?"
"Arf!"
Zwei barked as if to agree with Taiyang's comment about seeing what kind of person Daniel was.
"That's right, boy," Taiyang commented before standing up, then stretched out his arms and looked at his dog. "I think that it's time we head out for that walk."
"Arf! Arf! Arf!"
Zwei happily barked as he wagged his tail, then jumped off the couch.
"I hope that Daniel kid is preparing himself. Because as a father," Taiyang declared in his near vacant living room save for Zwei; who watched on as his owner tightened his fist strongly. "I'm not giving up either of my daughters easily to some kid I don't know."
"Achoo."
Back at Beacon Academy, in front of the entrance, Daniel lightly sneezed as a chill seemed to run up his back for some reason. He was standing beside his teammates, who looked surprised about that sudden reaction from him and turned to him. There wasn't almost no conversation from them thus far, and the area around them was near-silent too; so hearing that caught them by surprise.
"You aren't getting sick, are you?"
Sandra asked first while tilting her head.
"It's not like I don't get sick, but it isn't anything like that."
"Well, it could be someone is thinking about you. I mean, there are several superstitions, where if you sneeze at an apparent random time, then it means someone's thinking about you," Alyssa teasingly replied, then she turned her head to a certain team. "And I can already think of one or two suspects that come to mind."
Alyssa teasingly laughed, turning her attention, but not physically toward the group walking beside her.
[…?]
And said group, consisted of Team RWBY, who caught most of what Alyssa was referring to and started listening in with far greater interest. But, her comment about the one or two suspects made them think about who she was referring to
"Could it be some new secret admirer?"
Yang asked teasingly, matching Alyssa.
"Oh, could is be that girl who said she liked Daniel?"
Ruby added, recalling that one sheep Faunus girl who said she liked Daniel, catching him by surprise.
"What girl?"
Daniel asked confused about that.
"Nothing important right now," Weiss interjected, holding her hand out in front of Ruby. "So, does anyone come to mind, Daniel?"
"You look kinda mad, Weiss," Daniel commented noting Weiss' expression before getting back to the point, but a certain person came to mind before shaking his head. "Nah, it couldn't be that. It could be that someone was just plotting against me or something."
"You're senses are weird. What did you go through to tell if someone is plotting against you?"
Sandra asked, staring at him oddly.
"Well, considering what happened minutes ago. It could be Mister Xiao Long thinking about what he's going to do to the kid who's trying to steal his daughters."
Alyssa replied, bringing that up as the reason.
Hearing that one caused said daughters to wear a complicated look on their faces, which showed embarrassment from their flushed cheeks. It wouldn't be out of the norm for their dad to be thinking about something like that.
"That sounds about right," Yang didn't deny that it might be the case as she smiled nervously. "Sorry, Dani, but us attempting to get dad to like you earlier might've made it worse."
"That's fine. Not liking your daughter's male friends is kinda natural for a father," Daniel replied before continuing. "More so, considering how your dad might have interpreted in both your letters."
"Dani, for the last time. We didn't write anything that he might consider as bad…or incident. Our dad is just being dad, which is being overprotective."
"And don't forget embarrassing."
Both Yang and Ruby replied about their father with a better sense of familiarity with his reactions, causing a wry laugh to escape from his mouth.
"Well, can't blame a father for being worried about both his daughters. Especially, when one of them is two years younger than the first-years here, and maybe just a little bit naive."
At that moment, Ruby turned her attention to Daniel with adorable angry eyes.
"I'm not naive. I'll have you know that I'm a growing young lady."
"Well, that face right now proves my point."
Daniel replied placing a hand right on her head as Ruby continued glaring adorably at him, while Yang and Blake let a laugh escape from their mouth; and Weiss to a lesser extent. Seeing her second friend here and teammates all teasing her like this caused the young team leader to pout.
Besides them, Sandra's mind for some reason lingered on what she heard during their conversation, which soon reached her mind. She hadn't heard much about what her own father was like when she was growing up and hadn't thought about it much after growing up. But, since coming here, Sandra started thinking about all the things she had used to as a child. However, those thought much like the others were being pushed down at the back of her mind.
"Yea, that sounds so terrible," Sandra said, thinking back to the comment that Yang and Ruby made about their father being embarrassing. "Having a parent like that must be so terrible."
The simple utterance of those words was so silent that none of them were able to hear it, but her partner could. And Blake could hear those words a little bit clearer than Alyssa could.
"Hey, did you say something?"
"It was nothing. I was just thinking out loud to myself."
Sandra brushed off her concerns.
Alyssa and Blake didn't believe that Sandra was fine despite how serious she sounded at that moment.
Their worries need to be put on hold as their entire group arrived at the location where the others from their class were gathering too. There was a much smaller group of students there, almost sixteen counting them, meaning it would consist of four full teams counting them. Among that group were the members of Team JNPR, all of whom gave a light wave after seeing them.
"Hey, guys. Glad to see you made it here."
Jaune called out once Teams DUSK and RWBY walked over to meet them.
"Yo, Jaune. It looks as if the other students didn't want to come," Daniel commented noting the low number of students around them. "Well, I guess that it's not surprising as we're about to camp out inside the Emerald Forest. I mean, it's kinda like sleeping next to your enemies."
"Well, too bad for them, more s'mores for those who went."
Ruby chided in, almost looking forward to making the s'mores herself.
"I think that you mean, more s'mores for you."
Weiss added standing beside her partner with her arms crossed.
"Same thing."
Ruby didn't deny that while smiling.
"Wahahaha, I see that all the students interested in going on a vigorous adventure with their manly teacher have all arrived."
Port stood there, where the Vale airship was docked behind him; he was dressed in comfortable clothing, meant for the camping trip. Most of all, he looked excited and looked forward to the camping venture, which he'd spent effort planning for his students. Instead of feeling down that the other students either weren't interested in a camping trip or couldn't make it; Professor Port seemed as energetic as always.
It wasn't long until all the students gathered before their teacher and chaperon for the time, most of them looked to be on the same teams, but not the entire team.
"Well, students, or should I say campers," there wasn't a single response from the students, causing Port to let a light cough before continuing. "So, campers, we'll be using this airship here to head to a location, which has been a safe location. As your teacher and trip planner, I took the liberty of examining the Grimm activity all around the Emerald Forest beforehand. So, I'm certain that this will be a fun trip for you all."
Some were surprised about the amount of genuine effort that he put into this, considering that he hadn't shown a lot of this in class.
"Well, campers, it's time to board our ship!"
Port announced as he stepped aside holding out his arm toward the entrance leading into the airship.
Hearing that, all the students began heading inside the airship as their teacher watched on, then went in after seeing the last one entered. Seeing all the passengers entering the airship, the pilot caused the ship's wings to unfold as it started ascending. Having already received the proper coordinates from Port, the pilot headed in that exact direction as requested.
Inside of the airship, the students stared out the windows watching the sights from that height, while others talked among themselves to pass the short time. Sandra, though was alone, leaning up against the wall she stared out of the window, watching the passing clouds.
"…."
She wasn't in the mood to talk to even the people from her friend group, instead of being more focused on all of the things going through her head. No matter what kind of effort she put into ignoring it, Sandra couldn't help thinking of her childhood. The more she tried ignoring it, the more those memories started resurfacing.
"I thought that I had gotten over all that."
Sandra mumbled to herself, turning her attention to the people around her, most of whom, she never thought that she'd associate with.
There was Daniel, who looked to be talking to Ruby and Weiss about whatever, but it might've been something a bit hilarious as both girls started laughing. For the youngest leader, it was a bit more apparent, while Weiss tried harder not to show it.
Then there was her partner, Alyssa, Yang, and Blake were all talking; the black-haired girl wasn't as invested in the blonde-haired women's conversation, but she looked to be enjoying herself.
And her other male teammate, Hunter was talking to the members of Team JNPR; well, he was signing to them, while Pyrrha was translating for him.
"I ended up meeting people that I never thought that I'd meet. And ended up befriending those people, and I even ended up saving or helping those people."
Sandra uttered, thinking back to the words she heard from Alyssa during their conversation.
'And I don't need to know about your past to know you're not the kind of person who you were trying to act like that first time we met in the Emerald Forest.'
'You shouldn't attempt to rescue people if there's no benefit to you. Or, if it would end up getting you killed. If you want to survive in Vacuo, then….'
"Tch."
Resonating in her head at the same time was her mother's harsh instruction, which was practically hammered in her head from the first memory. She was already aware that those lessons were the things that dominated almost all the decisions she made in her entire life.
"No matter how much time passes, why can't I…?"
Sandra placed a hand on her head as she seemed to bite the inside of her mouth.
"You okay?"
Sandra was so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't realized that Alyssa walked up to her, then placed a hand on her shoulder. She flinched a bit, turning her attention toward her partner.
"I'm fine."
"You talked about Daniel being sick, but here you are holding your head on your head. Do you have a headache or something, Sandra?"
Alyssa asked, tenderly placing her hand on Sandra's forehead.
"…."
Sandra couldn't react at all, despite being reluctant to receive interactions like this from people, she couldn't react immediately. She was looking down unable to stare at Alyssa, while faint red could be seen on her cheeks from the embarrassment building up.
"I think that I can feel you heating a…."
"A-Alright, I think that's fine!"
A flustered Sandra brushed Alyssa's hand aside while looking to the side embarrassed about the contact.
"Well, that was something."
"…."
Alyssa smiled after seeing that out-of-character reaction from Sandra, who'd been acting more natural around her instead of brooding.
"D-Did you come over here just to tease me? Or did you want something?"
"Well, I think that Coco has more reign on that position when it comes to teasing you," Alyssa laughed, causing a groan to escape from Sandra's mouth. "Come on, I saw you here alone and I wanted to see if you wanted to join in on our conversation. I know that you might prefer being alone, but I can see that you've been having fun when compared to the first time we all met a month ago."
"I don't…."
"Sandra, want to know something else?"
"Don't interrupt me again before I can even finish, but what?"
Sandra was irritated that she was interrupted.
"You don't get a choice. The question itself was more of a courtesy."
"Wait…hey, stop dragging me!"
Sandra was dragged off into the direction of Yang and Blake, who seemed to wait for Alyssa to return, bringing her partner too. Said partner thought that Alyssa was either this strong naturally, or she was using her semblance alongside it to drag her. Despite it being possible for Sandra to free herself from Alyssa's grasps using hers, she didn't do that or even attempt to do that.
"Did I change since coming here?"
Sandra asked herself as her partner finished dragging her over to Yang and Blake.
"Ah, hey, Sandra. I see that Alyssa ended up convincing you to come here."
Yang commented smiling as heartily as always.
"By convince, I hope that you mean practically manhandled and forced. It sounds like something that you'd do."
""And that's why we're good friends.""
Alyssa and Yang replied, not finding it weird that their methods were referred to as forceful.
""…?""
Sandra and Blake stared at their partners with similar dumbfounded expressions before letting a slight sigh out of their mouths. As their blonde partners did that, while laughing, their partners took a light glance at one another.
"So, are you looking forward to this camping trip?"
Blake decided to ask that question first.
"…I guess. I haven't gone camping out like this in the most conventional sense back at Vacuo."
"I can see that. And I can understand that," Blake replied, finding herself talking more and more since coming to Beacon. "I did something similar a long time ago before coming to Beacon from time to time, but I don't think that it could be similar to this."
"What? Was it some kind of weird training camp?"
"…That's not completely untrue to some degree."
Black replied a little bit cryptically.
"You know, I don't recall us talking like this much before."
Sandra brought up a good point since she hadn't recalled her and Blake talking to each other like this since the first time the two met, which was almost over a month ago.
"Well, you wouldn't be wrong. I haven't considered talking to people much after deciding to enroll in Beacon Academy. I was well aware that I needed to get to know the other students here, especially if I was going to be with a team for the next four years. But, I didn't think that it would be this fun being on Team RWBY."
"Even when you're being led by someone two years younger than you."
"Hahaha," Blake laughed a bit hearing that, causing her attention to be directed where said leader was, who was in the middle of laughing with Weiss and Daniel. "Well, there's a lot that I can acknowledge, which makes Ruby a good leader for Team RWBY. I'm sure that you could say the same thing about Daniel."
"…."
Sandra didn't give a single response, but she couldn't deny that Daniel was the right choice of a leader for Team DUSK. She and he didn't have the best introduction on two separate occasions; on the time the two bumped into each other, and he crashed into her during the initiation.
Afterward, Daniel was giving orders that none of them would've thought of. And despite Sandra's initial thoughts about him, there wasn't a single thing that she could hate about him overall.
"Yea, I guess," Sandra said shrugging her shoulders before turning to Blake. "I think that it's easier to talk to you compared to anyone else. Because…."
"Everyone else is a little bit more hyperactive."
"I was going to say a bit irritating when it comes to normal conversations, but I guess that fits too."
At that, both Sandra and Blake shared a light laugh between them.
Hearing their more or less introvert partners laughing together caused the extrovert blonde to send a secret smile in one another's direction. Both were aware their parents weren't the most expressive people, almost being their opposites. So, seeing them smiling like this warmed their hearts.
It didn't take long for them to arrive at their intended destination, which was the location that Port handpicked as it had the least amount of Grimm presence. Following its arrival in the Emerald Forest, the airship landed right in the middle of a clearing big enough so that it won't cause trouble.
All the students exited from the airship stretching their arms and breathing in the air around them. It has been a while since their group has been inside the Emerald Forest since the Beacon Initiation, and now they would end up spending the weekend here.
"Sir, what should I do now?"
The pilot asked having been ordered to bring them here, while professionally saluting Port.
"Hmmm, it would be dangerous keeping the airship here as Grimm could come and attack it. So, it would be best if you returned with the airship. If we need to hide anywhere, then we could take refuge in one of the ruins in this forest. And if we need to escape, then we'll contact the school to send back an airship to pick us up."
Port explained professionally.
"Yes, sir."
The pilot dutifully replied, saluting Port.
Seeing that their group would be fine, the pilot turned around and returned to the airship. It wasn't long until it had started ascending into the air, then started returning.
"Well, my wonderful campers! I believe that it's time that we converse about what we'll be doing for this weekend trip! I have planned a multitude of activities that you students can do within the Emerald Forest, and luckily all the teams here are already well acquainted with one another. So, this camping trip will also end up being a wonderful team-building exercise. Now, would everyone gather in their respective teams, with the leaders at the front?"
Doing as their teacher said, the teams all gathered together with their team leader standing at the head of them. Port nodded a little bit after seeing that, then stood in front of the Huntsmen-in-Training, who would all now be his camping during their trip.
"Well, one of the activities that I have planned out is similar to things most would find themselves doing at your typical camping trip. But, at a school filled with Huntsman and Huntress in training, I added in a unique twist onto these activities."
Port explained standing in front of his students who were all filled with anticipation.
Before long, Port pulled out his Scroll, then started sending something to the team's leaders, resulting in a series of four beeps originating from their Scrolls.
"Just now, I sent two coordinates to the Scrolls of your respective team leaders. The first coordinates lead to the spot that I chose as our camping site, which is will be waiting for you students to return to. And the second leads to the location that you'll be heading as your first activity. And that activity is…."
Port intentional pause for a dramatic effect caused a reaction from the students standing before, who were waiting to hear what it would end up being.
"Photographing and exploring those locations to your heart's content. You can even videography the locations and give your thoughts about the ruins as well."
Their teacher revealed catching their attention.
"Uh, Professor Port? What does the purpose of this?"
The fourth team leader asked, raising her hand.
"I'm happy that you were courageous asked that question, young lady. Inside of the Emerald Forest lies a series of ruins from an ancient kingdom, which had been destroyed by the Grimm. I'm sure that some of you recall that ruin where the relics were located," Port reminded them of their initiation, causing them to think back to the place he was talking about. "I believe that my colleague Profess Oobleck informed you that it's important to know about history so that you could learn about it. In this exercise, you'll be looking at those ruins and wonder about what it was used for in the past before their destruction."
Neither team leader nor member could come up with a single response after hearing their professor's response. It was an interesting and fun idea for them to look around at the Emerald Forest's ruins, which would give them far more of an opportunity to explore them.
"And if we run into Grimm at some point?"
The leader asked again, but Port chuckled at that.
He found that question as an amusing thing, then Port glanced forward at all his students before pulling out the same weapon he used to release that Boarbatusk in class. It is a battle-axe, which seemed to also be a mixture of a blunderbuss; ironically named Blowhard.
"Well, my students, you are Huntsmen-in-Training. So, I'm sure that you're well aware of what we do when meeting a vicious Grimm."
Port stated directing his Blowhard toward the skies above.
"We murder it!"
Nora energetically and strongly announced, almost pulling out her hammer, Magnhild.
But, before she could do that, Ren placed a gentle and calm hand on Nora's shoulder, which successfully quelled her temperament.
"Hahaha, yes, I like that energy, Miss Valkyrie," Port declared as he looked at all the team leaders. "I'll be the job of each team leader to lead their teams to their specific ruin using the coordinates sent to their Scroll. And then it will be your job to lead them to the campsite, where I'll be awaiting your return."
Those were the last words that Port said before starting to head off in the same direction as the campsite that he picked out for the trip. In his hands, he carried around a knapsack that he soon placed on his back, which looked to be big enough to haul around the supplies needed for the camping trip.
Port was walking off alone in the forest without a care in the world as he whistled to match the mood that he was in. Of course, even though his lessons were less than interesting, Professor Port was a real Huntsman. All four teams stood around the same spot almost a minute after their teacher left.
"Well, can't stand around here doing nothing. Let's head out to those ruins, team."
Daniel stated as Ruby shared the same opinion.
"Yes, Team RWBY will now be commencing the Ruin Exploration Mission!"
Ruby announced, raising her fist out energetically.
"Hahaha, this is going to be so much fun!"
"I didn't think you'd be interested in finding ruins, Yang."
Blake said, turning to her partner.
"I'm not. I'm looking forward to fighting against whatever Grimm comes up," Yang replied, which was something that Blake should've expected from her. She started also seeing the other reason that their professor had them doing this as a first activity. "And for once, I can see the reason behind Professor Port's weird lessons. But, what makes this one fun is that it's more hands-on."
"I'm interested in seeing what ruins Professor Port has us looking for. I just hope that our team leader doesn't get us lost after a couple of minutes."
"We're not going to get lost, Weiss. And if we do, then we'll have to find another Nevermore and…."
"We! Are! Never! Doing that again!"
Weiss shouted seriously at Ruby before she could bring up that suggestion, which was the same thing that she'd suggested during the Beacon Initiation. It was a memorable moment, where the duo hitched a ride on a Nevermore to find the relics, resulting in their battle with it.
"Come on, Weiss. We still reached our destination, and we became Team RWBY because of that."
"And because of that Dani was able to hold you like a princess."
Ruby and Yang, of course, tried making Weiss think about the positives
"Please don't remind me."
Weiss placed a hand on her forehead sighing.
"Well, then Jaune, shouldn't we be heading out too?"
Pyrrha asked, turning to face her partner and leader.
"Right, let's head out to the ruins, Team JNPR!"
Jaune announced, showing his determination in this situation, something that his teammates could agree with.
"Hahaha, let's look for some Grimm!"
"Nora, we're supposed to be finding ancient ruins, not Grimm."
Ren reminded Nora, who didn't appear to pay much attention, while Pyrrha smiled at her energy; then turned her attention to Hunter, who started signing.
'Let's see which team ends up there first.'
"Hahaha, Hunter, are you suggesting a challenge?"
In response to that, Hunter smiled with the most genuine cheerful smile Pyrrha had ever seen from him since the first time the two met. More so, than herself, she felt that Hunter had gone through the most chance since coming to Beacon, but there was a lot that could happen in the next four years.
"I think that Daniel has been a good influence on Hunter."
"That's up to debate. Let's hope Hunter doesn't attempt tasteless jokes."
Sandra commented sighing at the thought of that.
"None of my jokes are tasteless."
"What about that stupid jackpot line from the initiation?"
Sandra reminded him.
"Come on, that was perfect. And besides, I like the sound of it."
Daniel replied before turning to his teammates and friends, as well as the other team.
"So, are we going to stand around here? Or are we going to get this start?"
"I'm with Daniel in getting this started."
Ruby raised her hand.
"Yea, same here."
Jaune said raising his hand.
"You guys go at things as energetic as possible. Well, we won't get anywhere without remaining here."
The other team leader replied, raising his hand.
"So, we'll be meeting up at the campsite! Let's head out Team RWBY!"
Ruby called out before heading in the direction as stated in the coordinates on her Scroll.
"Come on, Team JNPR!"
Jaune announced before starting to head out with his team.
"Well, can't let ourselves be outplayed. Let's go, Team DUSK."
And Daniel started heading out with his teammates following behind him.
"Well, let's head out then."
The fourth team leader said with less energy compared to Ruby, Jaune, and Daniel, but his teammates followed him nonetheless.
Their venture into the Emerald Forest started as smooth as possible, minutes passing as the four teams were led by their respective leaders. But, as one would expect, traversing through the forest, which is known for being a Grimm-infested forest, it didn't last long.
In that instance, Team DUSK was being hounded by multiple Grimm, the most prominent types being Beowolves, and Ursa. And all four members were preoccupied fighting against the Grimm that almost had them surrounded, but not overwhelmed.
"Rah!"
Daniel exclaimed, swinging Retribution in his right hand, slamming it against a Beowolf, sending it backward as a large gash appeared across its chest. Reacting to this, another one charged in after seeing that one of its pact members was taken out. It raised its claws to slash at Daniel, but the silver-eyed leader spun around on its front foot and kicked it off course.
Before it could even growl, the Beowolf met Vanir's gun barrel, and soon found a bullet lodged in its forehead as its body began dissipating. Followed up by slashing the previous Beowolf again by using Retribution, causing it to suffer the same fate as its brethren. Pointing Retribution at the others surrounding him, Daniel fired blasts at all of them, focusing his attention on headshots.
One Beowolf after another started charging at him from behind, but all of them soon had an arrow penetrate their foreheads. Smirking, Daniel held up a thumbs up without speaking as Hunter was positioned somewhere where he could snipe Grimm without being surrounded. A situation like this was the most detrimental for someone that was focused more on long-ranged combat rather than close-range.
And so, as Daniel, Sandra, and Alyssa attracted their attention, Hunter was free to shoot as he pleased.
"Let's go!"
Alyssa was having a field day fighting against the Ursa gathered around her, holding her batons, Gwyn Ddraig in her hands. Both batons were slammed against Ursa's body, causing them to almost buckle from the force in each of the strikes aimed in their abdomen. Not losing momentum, she aimed a strong strike at one of Ursa's heads, breaking their mask and causing their deaths.
Charging at another one, Alyssa held her left baton as started letting out a purplish light; then slammed it into the Ursa, pushing it back from the strong repulsive force. As it was sent backward in that general direction, a red spear with purple thorn-esque patterns penetrated it. The Ursa faded as a cloud of black dust too, revealing Sandra's form as she retracted her spear.
"Alyssa, mind not throwing your Grimm at me?"
Sandra, not sounding mad requested.
"Sorry, partner. But, I knew you could handle it."
Alyssa replied as flames covered her batons, which she later thrust into another Ursa, causing its body to be set ablaze, and let out a painful growl.
"I think you forgot that I was standing here."
Sandra commented preparing her Gae Bulg, aiming a slash backward leaving behind a trail of flames as she cut off Ursa's head. She spun around her red spear in her hands without showing impeccable finesse as Sandra started charging at a horde of different Grimm. Sandra propelled herself up, using her spear, then stepped one of the Beowolves in the head using it.
"Come on, I could never forget about the position of one of my friends."
Alyssa stated as she dealt with another Beowolf, but Sandra's eyes widened a bit.
"Did you forget about the Grimm's position?! Behind you!"
Sandra announced as Alyssa turned around to find a Beowolf standing behind her, then found herself knocked in another direction.
Her Gwyn Ddraig fell to the ground due to the impact, but Alyssa didn't look concerned as she recovered from its attack. She stared at her weapons on the ground and found herself cracking her knuckles as the other Ursa had started covering at the 'defenseless' girl.
"Alright, so we're doing this the old-fashioned way."
Alyssa stated, then propelled herself forward at a higher speed, more than before.
She used her Semblance, Pendragon, which raises her physical parameters higher than normal, and golden light could be seen sparking around her.
Alyssa nailed it right in the stomach, causing Ursa's body to bend as it let out a painful groan and was blasted backward. A second Ursa charged at her, but the blonde grabbed it by its wrist, then slammed it into the ground, cracking it. It was followed up by stomping on Ursa's head, smashing its head in, resulting in its death as well as its eventual disappearance.
After picking up Gwyn Ddraig, Alyssa kept on fighting against Ursa and Beowolves around her. Hunter gave his three teammates assistance, piercing the Grimm in vital spots, deterring or killing them using his arrows. But, another Grimm, a Creep appeared behind Hunter. Its sudden appearance didn't go unnoticed, but Hunter wasn't able to react in time.
"Hunter duck as low as possible!"
It was a good thing that Hunter had a partner backing him up.
Following that order, Hunter ducked as the Creep moved to attack. Before, it could, Daniel took Retribution and caused runes to appear along the blade before hurling it toward the Creep. Retribution was sent rotating around like a saw and sliced off the Creep's head before it could attack the hunter. As a result of the manner, in which it was thrown, Retribution started heading back in Daniel's direction.
"Well, all that practice paid off."
Daniel uttered to himself after catching Retribution in his hand.
Seeing his partner defending him, Hunter gave Daniel a thumbs up, which he returned smiling.
It didn't take them much longer for the members of Team DUSK to defeat all the attacking Grimm, who continued heading toward their intended destination. From their venture into the Emerald Forest and fighting against the Grimm, the four-man team could see the sun starting to set.
"Well, that was a good workout. I haven't fought a Grimm in a while."
Alyssa said smiling and stretching out her arms.
"I have to admit it was cool fighting against Grimm after all that time."
Sandra agreed with her partner, recalling the feeling of being able to fight against a Grimm.
"I was surprised to see Daniel tossing Retribution like that. It sounds almost like something that Ruby would do."
"Well, I got that idea from my dad and brother. I managed to pull it off once, which is the reason that I told Hunter to duck. Believe me, throwing a weapon not meant to be thrown, then having said weapon return is harder than it looks."
Daniel replied, ensuring that he was going in the right direction after that battle.
But, using the experience he accumulated at Mistral, Daniel was reassured that he was leading them in the right direction. Of course, using his Scroll, he could've made it easier, but he wouldn't have it all the time to tell him his exact location.
'I have practiced doing trick shots using my arrows without using my semblance a lot. So, I can understand it's difficult doing it all the time at the right time.'
Hunter signed to them.
"All of us has our ways of fighting. I see that more and more as we fight and train together, as well as all the things we've experienced in life."
"Careful Alyssa, you're starting to sound like an old woman."
"And you're starting to sound more playful partner."
Alyssa counter as she and Sandra kept on with their banter.
"I can see what Alyssa means, though. I mean, you hated me the first time we met."
"Yea. I mean, I don't hate you. But, I don't like you either."
"Kinda feel as if you're teasing me rather than being serious."
"Who knows. Being around you people has affected me."
'You're welcome.'
Hunter signed smiling as Sandra rolled her eyes.
"Here we are."
Daniel caught their attention as the group reached a location.
Before they were an ancient ruin, appearing to have been almost overtaken by the grass and plants, its entrance looked to be blocked too. Based on appearance alone, it could have been a shelter of some kind, which was used as a means of escaping from the Grimm. But, because of degraded, it was, it was impossible to tell what it originally was without exploring it in greater detail.
"You sure this is the right place, Daniel?"
Alyssa asked.
"Of course, the coordinates match the location of the ruin here. So, let's take the photos."
Daniel replied, taking out his Scroll and accomplishing their task.
Hunter, Sandra, and Alyssa agreed with him and retrieved their Scrolls to take photos of the location. All four of them did just that, taking photos from different angles of the ancient ruin. Daniel walked right up to the structure, removing the plants and other things around the outside to see if there was anything on it.
"Well, I can't see anything out of the ordinary on the outside walls," Daniel stated as he curiously started circling the ancient ruin before turning to his teammates. "So, does anyone want to come in with me to explore the inside of the ruin? I think that we might find something interesting inside."
That sparked multiple questions to enter his teammates' heads as all of them wondered who would end up going inside of it. While Hunter and Alyssa thought about if either of them would be of any use combat-wise in that enclosed space, Sandra's attention was focused on the ruin itself. As Sandra was looking at what seemed to be utter darkness within that enclosed space, she found herself tightening her fists.
She was aware of the trouble at that moment, and she felt her heartbeat starting to race as she thought about her going inside there. But, Sandra's concerns were unfounded as Daniel brought up something.
"Well, I think that Alyssa and I should go there alone. Hunter and Sandra should remain outside, and look out for any Grimm who decides to show up," Daniel stated, then started giving his reasoning behind that decision. "I realize that an enclosed space like that wouldn't be the best condition for Hunter and Sandra. He uses a bow n' arrow and she uses a spear. I might not be able to use Retribution, but I still have Vanir. Alyssa would be fine as she still has her batons."
Hearing Daniel's explanation, neither of them could see anything wrong with that as Sandra let a silent breath of relief leave her mouth.
"I'm fine with that. Sandra, can you and Hunter handle things out here?"
Alyssa asked.
"Of course, do you even need to ask?"
Sandra reassured Alyssa without showing her issues about entering the ruin.
"Well, don't know if we'll be able to hear anything inside the ruin. So, Sandra can you hold out your wrist?"
"Uh, sure."
Sandra was dumbfounded as she received that weird request from Daniel, but she didn't refuse and held out her wrist toward him.
Daniel's right index finger was pointed at Sandra's wrist, and a crimson rune appeared there, matching the color of her aura. It faded as quickly as it appeared, surprising Sandra, but she still have the vaguest feeling that it was still there.
"What did you put on my wrist?"
Sandra asked curiously.
"Look here," Daniel raised his wrist, revealing the same rune on his wrist, but blue matching his aura. "It's a rune meant for tracking, but it can be used to alert me if something happens. All you need to do is focus aura around it, and the same rune on me would glow too."
"That one impressive semblance, Daniel."
Alyssa stated surprised after seeing that.
Daniel didn't give a single reply, knowing that it would take a lot longer to explain. Realizing that there's not much time for that kind of conversation, Alyssa followed behind him as the two entered the room. Hunter and Sandra could see two lights from their Scrolls turn on as the two ventured inside the ruin.
Seeing their respective partners enter the ruin, both decided to do as requested and stood outside ensuring that no Grimm would attack them. As the two were standing there for a minute, which turned into several more. Hunter turned his head, taking note of the discarded stones around them.
Hunter had an idea, then started going along with it. Sandra noticing the noise turned to see Hunter pushing two stones over towards her direction. Knowing what Hunter was intending, Sandra gave a light smile and went over to assist him. It didn't take them long to use the stones as makeshift seats in a position, where the two could do their assigned task.
Hunter got Sandra's attention after taking her on the shoulder, then started signing.
'I never thought that Daniel could use his runes like that too.'
Hunter signed.
"Yea. Though, I don't know how to feel about having one of his runes on me. I don't have many good memories in a situation like this with someone's semblance on me," Sandra stated cryptically, but Hunter couldn't tell what it meant. "It does make me more curious about what other semblances could do with training. Using my Phasing, I turn myself and anything else I touch intangible. I heard from a teacher of mine that I might be able to find other uses, but I haven't found out anything."
'Well, a semblance is something that's a big part of us. So, it would develop as we develop. At least, that's what Mister Kheiron told us back at Sanctum. He also mentioned that it represents us as people.' Hunter signed, then a faint smile could be seen on his face. 'Like mine, which is the same as my name, a Hunter that aims to hit their intended target. It sometimes makes me think if I was meant just to hunt people like my dad wanted me to.'
Sandra lowered her eyes at that comment, not thinking for a second that was all Hunter was as a person.
"If you think like that you're going to prove him right. So, don't think that you're meant to be someone who can hunt and hurt others. There are Grimm out there hurting people too, and as future Huntsmen, we hunt Grimm to keep that from happening. Isn't that the reason you're here?"
Sandra asked Hunter, causing him to smile and nod his head.
Once those words left her mouth, Sandra looked down as her next words seemed more directed at herself.
"Besides, look at me. I'm essentially a phantom without anything in the world that could tether me. So what does that say about me?"
He almost couldn't believe the words Sandra spoke right then, aside from being one of the biggest honest hints of genuine feeling she's ever shown. More than that, there was a hint of sadness behind those words, which Hunter heard in her voice alone.
'Sandra….'
Hunter tried signing a response for that moment but wasn't able to finish.
"Whoa, that was certainly something."
"I wouldn't be surprised if we found something like that in another ruin."
Daniel and Alyssa came from outside of that ruin, brushing off the dust and anything else that managed to get on their clothing. Seeing their teammates exit from the ruin, Hunter and Sandra stood up to meet them halfway.
'Find anything interesting?'
Hunter signed.
"Yea, it looks as if this place ruin here was used as a hideout from Grimm. It looks like one Grimm, in particular."
Daniel replied.
"We took a lot of photos of some photos drawn along the walls leading inside of the ruin too. It looks almost like a warning for someone who ends up running into it. I think that Professor Port would get a kick out of seeing what it looks like."
Alyssa noted.
"Speaking of, let's head to the camping site before it gets too dark out," Daniel suggested to them taking note the sun was getting lower and lower as the sky was getting darker too. "If we're going to talk about what we found in the ruin, then we might as well do it back at the camping site."
"That sounds like a good idea. Not much reason to do it right now."
Sandra replied as the four of them started heading out.
Daniel, of course, took the lead, seeing that coordinates leading towards the camping site were sent directly to his Scroll. All of them once again ventured inside the Emerald Forest, listening for ambushing and also keeping their emotions checked to keep Grimm from gathering around them.
"So, did anything happen, while we were in there?"
Daniel asked, turning around to Hunter and Sandra.
There was a cause as Hunter didn't know what to inform them about, and Sandra wasn't speaking about it at all.
'Nothing happened. Sandra and I were just having a conversation.'
Hunter replied, signing those words naturally.
"That's cool. I like that Sandra here is attempting to bond with her teammates."
Alyssa teasingly said, while wrapping her arms around Sandra, who looked annoyed from that action.
"Hands off."
Sandra to prove her point, used her semblance to slit out from Alyssa's grasps, causing the blonde to stumble a bit from the suddenness of it. Despite what just happened, it still didn't remove the smile and happiness that had welled up within herself as Sandra was becoming more accustomed to them.
"Well, it's good to see that Sandra is enjoying herself here."
Daniel was smiling too after hearing about Hunter and Sandra were talking to each other.
Together, the members of Team DUSK proceeded to head in the direction of the campsite before the sun fall and brings about night.
Elsewhere, the fourth team, which came on this trip found themselves standing near their assigned ruin, looking more like a shrine. A lot like the other places around here, it was almost impossible to tell whether or not it was a shrine. But, that was the closest explanation their group could come up with.
Their team finished taking their photos and looking around the area, with their team leader standing around in the same position. He had been surveying the area around them to ensure no Grimm could come out and attack them from behind. But, there wasn't anything noticeable around them aside from a dark cave that looked to be a little closer to the shrine.
"Well, we're finished with this assignment. So, let's head back before something happens."
He suggested to them as the others agreed.
"Yea. But, don't jinx it by saying something like that."
His female partner stated.
"Come on, don't tell me you believe in things like that."
Her other male teammate said, laughing lightly.
"We didn't run into a single Grimm coming to this place. And I call that the luckiest thing to happen to use so far."
Their leader stated before kicking a random rock close to his feet aimlessly.
After finishing their assigned task, they started heading in the same direction as the campsite their professor had chosen for this trip. As their group was leaving the area, the random rock their leader kicked found its way inside the cave, bouncing off the walls. It caused the noise from the falling rock to echo across the walls throughout the cave. Near the end of the cave, once the echoes settled, a growl could be heard inside the cave accompanied by deep red eyes peering forward.
A/N: Well, this is the end of the next chapter of RWBY – Team DUSK, it was time for the camping trip that Professor Port planned out for his students. Before all that, an additional scene where Taiyang Xiao Long received a letter from his daughters detailing their experience at Beacon Academy. Well, Daniel now has something else to worry about. Their group has arrived in the Emerald Forest, where their camping trip is going to be held, and Port planned out some activities for them. The first of them was exploring some of the ruins inside the forest, which Team DUSK completed, after fighting against some Grimm first.
Sandra still seems to have some personal issues, and in this end, there appears to be something inside that cave.