As Luck would have it, LUSH and RWBY were in different classes that semester.
Harry always kept an eye and ear open for them and trouble…and it seemed like RWBY found trouble like a niffler found Shiny. It got the point that he swore that should he ever get back home, that He would buy the witches in his life, gifts of apprehension. McGonagall and Granger put up with a lot for his sake.
During their basic training, Lu had upgraded their Scrolls to run his script.
Sirius had crafted 'com earrings' for the team. while Harry's only worked when he was human, it gave the team an unhackable advantage. Lu kept on trying.
Harry had improved Ursula's Pack and shield with the tricks of his runecraft. Didn't know enough about her Weapon to be willing to try.
After three weeks of intense training, an Advanced Huntsman took LUSH out on a trip. They were investigating an explosion in a local Dust mine. One of the few not owned by Snee.
They dropped from the airship and approached the foreman. Seeing Ursula and Lu, the Foreman yelled for them to get back to work. Ursula curled her lip and laughed. Lu hacked the man's scroll.
One thing led to another and the former Boss drew a light whip and threatened her with it. She laughed at him.
"You Claw are all alike." The man yelled.
Harry smiled as Sirius punched him in the side of the face. "Sorry, you had a spider on your face."
The Huntsman, a bulk of a human, grunted. "This is no Faunus doing unless running for your life is now a crime."
"This is White Claw, I'm telling you!" The man screamed from the ground.
"Tell that to the twenty Grimm just around the corner." Lu spoke up. "As to workers … no human or Faunus has crossed the threshold for at least three days… in either direction."
"That means that the odds of survivors in there is very low." Harry stepped to the lupinian's side.
Sirius drew his Wakizashi, and spun it out into his Naginata/ Staff. Blade down, orb up/out. [Homenum Revelio]
"You so need to teach me that one." Harry watched the 'older' wizard.
Three ghosts floated out of the ground. One had horns and two had long ears. All three were misshapen.
"What does that mean?" Lu asked softly.
"That they are below us, alive, and on their feet." He turned to glare at the human he decked. "And not a human among them." A wand less, silent summoning, and a rock the size of his fist jumped into his palm. "How far inside are the Grim?" He asked Lu, bouncing the rock in his hand.
"Just around the corner of the main shaft." The blue-gray beastman pointed. "You are going to have to get it to bounce to get it…"
Sirius had charged the stone, and chucked it into the mine. The rough sphere glowed as it sailed down the centre of the tunnel before curving around the corner and impacting something 'soft'.
As Ursula lumbered up, shaking her head, Harry was dusting his coat off. "You never leave me any GRIM to bash."
"That's because it takes hours to wash the blood out of your fur." Harry smiled up at her. "And we know that you prefer grooming the son of a bitch rather than him grooming you. And while you are in the bath, he pouts and whines." He Glared at the Dog-animagus. "At least you got him to stop licking himself."
The Huntsman raised an eyebrow.
Sirius preened, knowing that the other half of the joke would be impossible to get any laughs.
The orb on the staff and the centre barrels of the buckler shields poured light into the darkness, cutting away the void from the shadows. The staff was like a fire torch. The barrels were more like electric torches.
Hearing Ursula grumbling about them having all the fun, Harry cast a [Luminos Maxima] on the end of her mace/ tetsubo. She had explained and shown everyone her toy. She called it her 'Knocker'*. The main use was as a long Iron Mace, with flaring vanes to catch and break the enemy's weapon. But the weapon had a hatch above the grip where she could load a Dust round into it and then pull the trigger, and knock the wall down, the door in, etcra.
She even let Sirius try it.
They had all laughed as he was sent flying backwards from the kick of the weapon.
Lu was in the centre of the formation, as he continued to tinker with his scroll, comparing his map with the one he uploaded from the Overseer's scroll.
Harry had been carrying a 'charge' for about three days again when they rounded a corner and a Giest gathered loose rocks around the chamber and turned the dust covered golem to face them. Harry didn't even falter as he locked eyes with the Grimm, and released his charge.
The Grimm turned a granite gray, as it was petrified.
"Again pup?" Sirius smiled at him.
"No, that was the best option here." Their Instructor looked the new statue over. "The rock here is filled with Dust chips and dust. Any sharp impact would have detonated and a chain reaction that would have cleared the mine of organic or dust type matter."
"And that's if the explosion was contained." Lu looked up from his Scroll.
"How risky are we talking about here?" Harry frowned at the Huntsman.
The Brute, Rubius Von Tussle, 'call me Rubi', turned to look at the Lad. "No more discharging Dust Rounds. Your weapons should not have any effect should you miss your targets."
Over the next six hours, the four of them circled Lu as he directed the team down into the depths of the mountain.
When Sirius cast the charm, again it showed the three Faunus behind a massive rock blocking the way.
After they looked it over it was decided that they needed to get to the other side of the Deadfall. Harry glared at the Dog Animagus. "There are a few rare times that I really hate being the only thing that can slide through a soup can." Harry sighed, and became the smallest snake he could.
Under the massive boulder, he squeezed, and after crawling ten feet, he emerged into a fifteen by thirty pocket Chamber.
A Massive Goat Male was glaring at a Hare that was even bigger. An Elephant girl, even smaller than Ruby was pressed up to the far wall.
Okay…" Harry spoke softly and quietly, "Who wants something to eat? Drink?"
All three heads snapped around to look at him.
"Where did you come from?" The Goat lowered his head.
"How did you get here?" The Rabbit snapped his ears back, the small bells on rings at the tips jingled merrily.
"You said you have Food?" The Elephant female pushed between them.
Harry handed her his canteen. As she raised it to her lips. "Three mouthfuls only, otherwise you won't have room for the food and you will eject everything." He pulled out three honey/nut bars. They lasted longer than meat and the herbivores could eat them too.
After each member of the trapped Faunus had had their three swallows and were chewing their bar, Harry swung his eyes over their light source. It was an orb the size of a basket ball, and hung over the Rabbits head.
"Lucky that you Three were behind this rock." Harry turned to the boulder.
The Ram snorted.
"No really, Thunk's Semblance is 'Impact'. He punched the wall and the stone fell and smashed a very young Death-stalker." The girl, who Harry was fighting Calling her Dumbo, smiled. "I am Ellie Phontana, and you meet Theodore." She waved a hand at the rabbit.
"We have fed and watered you." Harry tucked his canteen back into his sleeveless leather duster. He had added a bowler hat and goggles to his outfit. "Does anyone need Medical Aide?"
The heads shaking no.
"So… let's blow this pop stand."
"No Dust Blasts!" The three of them chorused.
"I was not thinking about using Dust." He ruffled his hair as smiled. "I said 'Let's Kick this Pig', last month, and was decked by Hog Faunus."
The guys snorted in amusement.
Harry turned and made a complicated hand gester. "Rock Beats Mage!" Trusting the Team to be listening on the earrings.
The ten foot cubic stone shrank to three cubic feet and was launched down the Hall.
"Damn it, Pup!" Sirius yelled from where he and his Staff/Naginata were laying.
Ursula and Lu were laughing at the antics as Rubi just shook his head.
Ursala waddled over to the female and placed a hand on her shoulder. Ellie's ears rose and Ursula sighed. "When you get back to the Inn, you will want to have a bath. Harry has some chocolates in his coat there."
"Why are you carrying chocolates?" Thunk asked the Lad.
"Because our healer is an eight foot Ursa Faunus. She can rip me apart, put me back together, only to repeat herself. I want her Fat, Slow, and Happy. It's not if you can out run the bear, it's if you can out run the other guy… And that Son of a Bitch Cheats!" Harry pointed at Black as he was picking himself up off the floor.
"Who? Me?" He streaked his hair back with one hand… "Never!" He saw how the rest of LUSH was glaring at him… "Well… then was just that one time…"
"Three in the last week." Harry snarled.
"Two the weekend before." Ursula laughed.
"And eight the week before that." Lu smirked at Black, "I have been keeping a list." He led the way back up to the main entrance.
In the Giest Chamber, Harry asked Sirius to charge a wedge of shale for him and set it to remote detonate.
Black, sensing a prank, complied.
Harry shoved the wedge somewhere that would really stuff, I mean snuff, the Giest.
As they exited the mine, the Foreman began to verbally assault the three Faunus. Harry motioned to the Foreman and then to the side of the mine entrance.
Ursula, understanding what Harry was wanting, grabbed the Foreman by the scruff of his vest. "I think we want to be standing over here while Potter reports on the mission."
Twenty feet from the yawning cave, the Foreman broke lose and snarled at the Polar Bear Faunus, "What do you need to report?" He waved at the three. "You saved my workers, you cleared the mine and destroyed all the Grimm."
"Yes, maybe, and no." Lu punched data into his Scroll. "We only searched sixty percent of the mine. We saw no need to go further as they were the only living souls in the mine."
"And we didn't get all the Grimm." Harry smiled at the guy. "About twenty minutes in, there was a Giest. It golemed up, and we could not destroy it without blasting the Mine."
"What did you say?" The man freaked out.
Harry got in his face. "Mine go…"
Sirius snapped his fingers…
Boom!
The mountain shook as the chain reaction that Rubi had warned them about rolled throughout the Mine.
Harry put his hand on the Guy's Shoulder, "You can Sign Lu's Scroll saying we completed your mission and we Leave yea to your… investment operatunity. Or you can Sign it saying that we failed the mission and we walk away."
He signed the page saying that they had failed.
"So sorry about your Workers." Lu spoke up as he took back the stylus. "Seeing as they were in the Mine when we failed. Our Team LUSH-ETT is heading back to town. Huntsmen Rubius, will you be joining us?"
"I think I will." The Huntsman followed the wolf down the road, "It's going to take a bit of drinking to wash the taste of this failure from my mouth."
LUSH
In the tavern inn below the mine, while Lush listened to the trio of Faunus speak of their time in the mine together.
The Innkeeper shared a piece of wisdom. "Snee, the son in law… jock or something, came out here, 'ran' some tests, and decided that the mine was still workable but it would be more profitable to sell it, and just buy the DUST after it was cut from the rock. It's been a passed around over the last ten… twenty years, used as collateral and the like in everything from loans and gambling to Dowery and even the prize of a lottery. The last one to buy it, hired these three unfortunate souls to inspect it and set off a minor blast to see if any real digging was possible."
"So he buys the played out mine, hires three Faunus with more troubles than Brains," Sirius grinned. "Sends them in, sets off the blast and cries White Claw. The Government reimburses him, Pounds to the Penny, and he then sells the mine and walks away."
"With his dislike of the Faunus in general and the White Claw… part of the reason he was so aggressive with us…" Rubius peered into his mug ale, "And their dislike of Him… no wonder the Grimm showed up."
Ursula sniffed the air. "Ellie, time for that Bath." She pointed at Sirius. "Stay." She herded the little elephant gal out of the Taproom.
"Do I want to know what that was?" Thunk asked.
"No." The rest of the table chorused.
"There are some things that males have no business knowing about." Harry pulled out two big bars of chocolate. "Thank the Light that Faunus and Humans have the same clocks." He pushed the bars towards Sirius.
"Why me?" He whined.
"You're the one sleeping with her." Lu answered. "Even if only as her puppy."
"There are times I hate my life." Sirius pouted as he stood and collected the candy. He suddenly grinned, "But not tonight!" tucking the bars in his teeth, he turned and before his second step, he was a dog, scrambled for the stairs.
Thunk blinked before turning to Theo, "And about that, do I want to know?"
Theo squinted at Harry. "No… I don't think you do."
LUSH
After a short night of drinking, the team known as LUSH was riding a train heading for Beacon. The Airship was borrowed to drop them off, and Rubius wanted to take the long way home.
Theo decided to head back to Menagerie, and Thunk was torn… but decided to visit the 'Homeland'.
Ellie had found the whole Dog and Bear thing Ursula and Sirius had going, amusing. Harry quickly found the small elephant girl to be a riot as well.
Her Semblance was 'Mass Matter Manipulation' or as she called it. 'Grow'. She could change the size of anything she could touch. Her weapon was a Whip that was normally fifteen feet long… and she could channel her Semblance through it. As she was eighteen, and an unregistered Huntress… She was quickly folded into the team as an unofficial member. To cover the fact that teams were four and Instructor… Harry or Sirius would play the pet,
Rubius wanted nothing to do with it, and soon sent them home while he handled a private matter.
Two days later, a human, three Faunus, and a black dog exited the train at the Beacon main station and wandered off towards the Academy.
Something caught Harry's eye, and as he focused… he saw a red cloak over a black dresser and combat boots.
"RWBY" Harry changed his trajectory.
Ursula and Sirius were on his heels. Ellie frowned as she looked at Luzilo.
"Team RWBY." The Lupinian drifted in their wake as he was tapping on his scroll. "The Leader has a knack for finding trouble even greater than Harry. If she is out… we can get a little bit of practice working as a team." He tapped the wolf head earring. "Okay everyone, Our Striker has found us a little more than it looks like. I noticed that the Claw had a gathering about a mile from here, Atlas had a little operation and Yang was roughing up a couple things in a nightclub. RWBY are gathering. And where RWBY is, JPNR is going to be enroute. Followed by the Headmistress. Let's make this Quick." He scrambled up the ladder of a freeway support and pulled out his Sniper Rifle. "Ellie, show us what you can do, Padfoot, play the pet angle."
The four ladies of RWBY were confronting a massive MECH with a red 'White Claw' emblem on the arms.
Harry touched down behind the machine, having taken to the air as a Peregrine Falcon to get ahead of the girl in red, in the superhero landing. The impact causing his eyes to flare.
"All points be advised. Target is bigger and Dumber than Thunk." Harry smiled. "Hey Ursula. If you want to play you better hurry."
[Season 2 episode 4: painting the town]
TBC
AN*
The Knocker(as in Knock -Knock…BOOM)
A flanged Tetsubo, with a barrel up the shaft. She can load a '40 mm round' into the chamber and blast her Target with Dust Shard Fletchets. She packs her own rounds. By mixing and matching her dust and/or shards she can create a variety of effects, but needs supplies, her lab, and four to six hours to craft her rounds. Time for the Dust to set up and 'dry' rather than assemble. Max number of rounds to craft in a six hour time frame is 300.
Unless she is looking for trouble, she only carries 18 in the Bandolier across her chest.