Cat's Deep Secret and Deeper Trouble
"Thanks for inviting us, Ruby, but why exactly are we here in the city again?" Jaune asked as he and his team are walking with team RWBY in the city.
"Weiss said she wanted to check on how the town folks are doing preparing for the Vytal Festival." Ruby answered.
"Which is something I'm very happy to look forward!" Weiss smiled.
"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss. It's kinda weirding me out..." Ruby confessed, kinda like the usually strict Weiss a little better.
"Me too, it almost makes me want to go back to doing the history essay Oobleck gave." Nora said. "Almost."
"How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!" Weiss expressed her feeling on the upcoming Vytal Festival.
"You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring." Yang sighed.
"Quiet, you!" Weiss snapped.
"So, any reason why we're at the docks for our Friday afternoon?" Jaune asked.
"Ugh, they smell like fish!" Ruby winced as she covers her nose.
"I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!" Weiss explained.
"Uh-huh, so in other words…" Jaune paused looking at Blake for the real reason.
"She wants to spy on them, so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Blake revealed.
"You can't prove that!" Weiss denied such claim, even though it might be true.
"Oh, being all sneaky little Weissy, think I can join in?" Nora asked.
"Nora." Ren glared at his childhood friend.
Ruby looks around to see if there's anything interesting than the docks, then she spotted something at the end of the street.
"Hey, look!" Ruby pointed and walk toward it as everyone soon follow her.
They soon arrived at a crime scene in front of a dust shop that has broken windows and yellow caution taps around to keep people out with two Vale policemen standing there trying to figure out what's the purpose of this.
"What happened?" Jaune asked.
"Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." Vale Officer 1 answered. The officers already knew these kids are Hunters-in-training thinking it's okay to tell them.
"That's terrible." Yang said.
"They stole all the Dusts?" Ren asked.
"Every single one this store has, and the weirdest part is that they didn't take the money." Vale Officer 2 mentioned.
"Seriously, not a single penny?" Nora confused.
"Yeah, who would need that many Dusts?" Vale Officer 1 asked.
"You know, I have read reports about the White Fangs are stealing more Dusts than usual." Vale Officer 2 mentioned.
"Seriously? We're not getting paid enough for this." Vale Officer 1 complained.
Weiss became angry after hearing the two words "White Fangs" and huff leaving the scene as the others notice this and follow her.
"Hmph! The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates!" Weiss angered.
Hearing that made Blake angry and decided to speak up to her.
"What's your problem?" Blake asked.
"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane." Weiss stated.
"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided Faunus." Blake pointed out.
"Hey Ren, didn't we encounter three White Fang members trying to hurt that traveling family?" Nora asked trying to remember that time.
"Unfortunately, we did." Ren sighed and worry that what Nora just said may make things worse between Weiss and Blake.
"See, they want to wipe Humanity off the face of the planet!" Weiss said.
"So, they're very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale!" Blake protested.
"Hmm, Blake sure is defending the White Fang like she knows them." Jaune whispered in Pyrrha's ear.
"Yes, I'm starting to notice she may have a connection with them." Pyrrha replied.
"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 mentioned the orange-haired thief.
"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum." Weiss said in anger.
"Now hold on there, Weiss, while it's true the White Fang have gone dark from their normal peaceful protesting ways, but that doesn't mean you can label all Faunus like that. I have Faunus friends and even they hated White Fang for what they're doing, even calling them freaks." Jaune explained that there are other Faunuses who hate the White Fang.
"I see, so you're saying there Faunus who want to wipe out their own kind?" Weiss asked.
"Jaune!" Blake gasped.
Before Jaune could respond, they heard a man shouting from the docks as they look to see a young man jumping off the boat.
He is a tan-skinned boy with short spiky light-blonde hair and blue eyes. He wears two red wrist bracers over black fingerless gloves and an open loose-collared white jacket with no shirt underneath, displaying his muscular physique. He also wears blue cargo pants tied up with a white belt. He wears white bandages on his legs and has a chain hanging from the belt loop on the right side of his pants. He sports black and yellow sneakers and wears a black cord necklace with a round gold pendant. He also has a long prehensile monkey tail the same color as his hair, showing he's a monkey Faunus.
"Thanks for the ride, guys! Haha!" The boy said.
"You no-good stowaway!" A sailor shouted.
The monkey boy is hanging upside-down with his tail holding him on a light pole while peeling a banana.
"Hey! A no-good stowaway would've been caught! I'm a great stowaway!" The monkey boy bragged.
Before he could eat the banana, the two Vale officers arrive right under him.
"Hey! Get down from there this instant!" Vale Officer 1 ordered and got a banana peel in the face which makes him angry.
The monkey boy swings off the light pole while laughing as he doesn't seem to be afraid of getting into trouble with the authorities and runs away. When he ran pass team RWBY and JNPR, as if the world is going in slow motion, the monkey boy turn his head to Blake and winks at her which she was surprise by this and Jaune notice this making him smirk. The monkey boy continues running with the Vale Officers chasing behind him.
"(I think I'm gonna like this guy.)" Jaune thought.
"Well, Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes..." Yang said.
"Quick, we have to observe him!" Weiss quickly said before everyone starts running.
Jaune decided to help the monkey out and teleported himself right behind the two officers.
"I'm really sorry about this." Jaune said placing his hands on their back.
"Huh?"
"What"
Jaune used Chaos Control to teleport the officers away from the street back to the docks on the boat the monkey came out of.
"Thanks!" The monkey boy thanked giving him a thumb up as he jumps up a building going for the rooftop.
"You're welcome!" Jaune said.
"No, he got away." Weiss winced.
"Sorry, I couldn't… huh?" Jaune became silent of seeing Weiss on top of a girl mean she must've run into her during the chase.
Yang point this out and Weiss soon see the girl quickly getting off.
The girl has short, rather curly orange hair with a small ahoge on top that came down to her chin, and she wear a pink bow on the back of her head. She also has bright green eyes, light skin and freckles. She wears a whitish-gray old-fashioned blouse with short gray feminine overalls, as well as a black and green collar with a matching pair of stockings. A layer of skin concealed her metallic structure and spherical joints, and her irises bore similarity to the shutter of a camera. Breasts sizes: AAA-cup.
"Sal-u-ta-tions!" The girl greeted as she still lay on the ground.
"Um... hello." Ruby greeted nervously.
"Are you... okay?" Yang asked.
"Yeah, that was a heck of a fall." Nora commented.
"I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking." The girl answered honestly.
Everyone look at each other thinking how weird this girl can be though they didn't want to leave like this either.
"Do you… want help getting up?" Jaune offered a hand to help the girl up.
The girl thought for a moment and told Jaune she can get up on her own as she flip herself up and now standing on her own two feet.
"My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!" Penny introduced herself.
"Hi Penny, I'm Ruby."
"I'm Weiss."
"Blake."
"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Yang asked and got hit in the side by Blake. "Oh, I'm Yang."
"I'm Jaune."
"Pyrrha, please to meet you."
"I'm Nora and I hope we can be good friends!"
"Lie Ren, though you can call me Ren."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Penny repeated.
"You already said that." Weiss pointed out.
"So, I did." Penny realized.
"Well, sorry for running into you!" Weiss apologized and started walking away.
"Yeah, we'll be going now." Jaune said as he and the others follow Weiss's lead.
"Take care friend!" Ruby said.
Both teams walk side by side being quiet for a few seconds until Yang broke the silent.
"She was... weird…" Yang said just sure how to put it into words.
"I don't know, I kinda like the weirdness from her." Nora commented.
"Now, where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to?" Weiss wondered.
"Weiss, I really think you should" Jaune stopped his sentence when Penny suddenly appeared right in front of them shocking the group.
"What did you call me?" Penny asked.
"Oh, I'm really sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me!" Yang apologized as Weiss looks back and forth trying to figure out how she got over there so quickly without being notice.
Not even Jaune saw that coming and he has superspeed that is faster than Ruby's.
"Not you." Penny walked through the group to Ruby leaning her head a little forward to hers. "You."
"Me? I-I don't know. I, what I, um, uh..." Ruby became nervous of what Penny is talking about.
"You called me 'friend'! Am I really your friend?" Penny asked.
Ruby wasn't sure how to respond to the question, so she looks to her team and friends for some advises. Blake, Yang, and Weiss motioning her to deny the weird new girl as for team JNPR: Jaune shrugged with a smile, Pyrrha also smile with a nod, Nora nodded rapidly, and Ren just smile.
"Y-Yeah, sure! Why not?" Ruby decided to give Penny a chance, this caused her teammates to comically faint while Jaune and his team gave her the expression of approval.
"Sen-sational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys! Like Jaune!" Penny excited.
"Huh, barely five minutes of meeting the new girl and she's already falling for me." Jaune smirked.
"Looks like it." Pyrrha chuckled.
"Oh, is this what it was like when you met me?" Ruby asked Weiss who just got herself off the ground and brushing herself clean a little.
"No - she seems far more coordinated." Weiss answered, remembering how she and Ruby met when they first came to Beacon.
"And there was that explosion." Jaune added, also recalling that day of meeting Ruby.
"So... what are you doing in Vale?" Yang asked curious.
"I'm here to fight in the tournament." Penny answered.
"Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?" Weiss asked surprise.
"I'm combat ready!" Penny saluted.
"Oh, is that like your own catchphrase? I'm liking you more!" Nora said.
"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part." Weiss pointed out Penny's outfit.
"Says the girl wearing a dress." Blake rolled her eyes.
"It's a combat skirt!" Weiss corrected her teammate, and the two skirt wearing sisters speed over to her showing they support her, Weiss holds out her hands to them and the two low-five her.
"Girls can take real pride of what they're wearing." Jaune said to Ren who nodded.
"Wait a minute." Weiss realized something and walk over to Penny placing a hand on her shoulder.
"If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed... rapscallion?" Weiss asked.
"The who?" Penny confused.
"What Weiss mean to say is that do you know a blonde monkey Faunus who ran pass here not too long ago?" Jaune rephrased Weiss's question.
"Oh, that Faunus boy! Then no, I don't believe I know him since we're probably from different Kingdoms." Penny answered.
"I see, so that filthy Faunus is a mysterious." Weiss said in a slight dark tone.
"Why do you keep saying that?!" Blake snapped getting the white hair girl's attention.
"Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!" Blake stated.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?" Weiss mocked Blake's defense for the Faunus boy.
"Stop it!" Blake demanded.
"Stop what? He clearly broke the law."
"I don't think that's the case, sure he stowaway on a boat but I don't think he's the kind of guy who would hurt people and he probably doesn't like the White Fang either." Jaune pointed out.
"How'd you know that?" Yang asked.
"Just a gut feeling." Jaune said.
"That still doesn't excuse him being the same race just like the White Fang!" Weiss glared.
"You ignorant little brat!" Blake mocked, clenching her fists.
"How dare you!" Weiss snapped.
"I think it's time we get back to Beacon." Jaune suggested.
"No argument here." Pyrrha greeted as the other two teammates nodded.
"Can you take us with you?" Yang begged.
"Sorry, but I think as their teammates you should try and help them resolve this." Jaune reminded them.
"We'll try." Ruby said.
Jaune smiles at Ruby knowing she'll do the best she can to help with the "Weiss vs Blake" problem though it won't be easy, but she'll have him for support whenever she needs it in case things don't go well.
"See you back at the dorm." Jaune said before he teleported himself and his team to their room.
(Team JNPR Room)
"Huh, are they still at it?" Jaune asked groaning as he can hear Weiss and Blake still arguing from across to their room.
"They've been going at it for hours now." Ren said.
"I can understand Weiss not liking the Faunus, she had a really hard time growing up with the White Fang being at war with her family for years. Bloodshed spilled on both sides and it still goes on because of how Weiss's father treats the Faunus, I believe Weiss may also have a disliking toward her father as well." Pyrrha explained as she looks out the window.
"I wonder if Blake is gonna run away." Nora said.
"What makes you say that?" Jaune asked.
"Just a hunch." Nora shrugged.
"Blake, wait! Come back!" Ruby's voice called out from the other side of the door.
"It sounds like you hunch just went off on a high note." Ren pointed out.
Jaune quickly got off the bed and went out the room seeing Ruby with her team's room door open.
"Ruby, what happened?" Jaune asked worry.
"Don't know exactly, Weiss and Blake were just arguing, and things went bad." Ruby sobbed a little.
"And I think we just found out Blake maybe a Faunus." Yang added.
"Oh, that's gonna be troublesome." Jaune sighed, thinking that Blake will need some alone time.
KO a new chapter is done and hope you all enjoy it!
Damn, looks like the cat is out of the bag now and things are going to get intense from here as Jaune and friends will soon learn a little more about Blake and her dark past with the White Fang while finding themselves against the group themselves. They're going to get some help from a certain monkey friend though Jaune might be in trouble when he faces something dangerous in the hand of a thief man.
KO comment, favorite, and follow through of how this story will go!