Chp. 8: Where There's Smoke...

Marton swung his club out as smoke poured out from it straight at Teams SLAA and HDAA. The smoke obscured their vision as they lost sight of Team SMMK.

"Can't see!" Atar said.

"Welcome to my world," Lloyd said.

The blind boy then heard something approaching fast towards his partner.

"Mitra, on your left!"

She turns her head to her right and sees Mina swinging her axe at her. Mitra leaned back away from the attack just barely avoiding it. Mina gives a few swings of her shotgun axe at Mitra as she dodges and weaves away from her attacks. Mitra waves her hand and shoots a wave of fire from her hands at Mina, forcing to backflip away from the attack. Mina fires a shot at Mitra, but Lloyd jumps up in front of his partner and deflects the shot away with Shinigami. He then charges at the rogue Huntress and gave several swings at with his kusarigama as Mina parried away the attacks.

Deriko and Atar rush over at Marton as he readies his club. Marton swung his club at the two as Atar rolled underneath the attack, while Deriko jumped away. Atar slashed at Marton's chest with Belize, making him stagger back a couple steps. Deriko rushes at the rogue Huntsmen and swings his sword at him, but Marton blocks the attack. Deriko swung his leg at Marton, but Marton caught his leg and swung Deriko into Atar as he rushed in to help. Deriko splits Mind Charger into his rifle and pistol and aims them at the rogue Huntsmen. He pulled onto the triggers of his guns, only for them to click. Shocked and confused, Deriko pulled the triggers a few more times, but his guns would not fire.

"My guns! They're not firing! I know they are loaded! Fire Dust is very effective against my victims!" Deriko shouted.

"My semblance can nullify the effects of Dust around me," Marton explained his semblance, Dust Nullification, with a chuckle.

"No fair! We're doomed!" Deriko exclaimed in panic.

Marton charged towards Atar and Deriko with a battle cry, while swinging his club around over his head.

Siavash and Yasu swung their weapons at Sil as he ducks down to avoid their attacks. Sil swung his hatchets at Siavash as he blocks the attacks with his sword, while kicking Yasu away from him. Siavash pushes Sil away and extended Simorgh Wings in its whip form before swinging it at him. Sil jumps away from the attack and then starts shooting at Siavash. Yasu dashes in front of his fellow leader and deflects the shots away. Siavash jumps over Yasu and rushes at Sil, but the leader of Team SMMK raised his hand as the area around the three was suddenly shrouded in darkness. This was the work of Sil's semblance, Darkness.

"What is this?!" Siavash asked.

"I can't see two feet in front of me!" Yasu said.

The darkness around them suddenly faded away as Sil stood behind the two team leaders. He swung his hatchets at them both, knocking them to the ground. Siavash and Yasu both stood back up from the ground and faced Sil.

"That darkness he emitted must be his semblance," Siavash said.

With a smirk, Sil flicked his hair away from his face before charging at Siavash and Yasu.

Amethyst and Athena rushed at Khaki who swung her sword at Athena, who projects a sword from her handle and blocks the attack. Khaki throws a punch to Athena's face, knocking her to the ground. Amethyst swung her broomstick at the rogue Huntress as she ducks down to avoid the attack. She shot a fireball from Hurricane at Khaki, knocking her back several feet. Khaki got back up and aimed her sword at Amethyst. The blade folded down and around as the handle changed into a pistol. Khaki began shooting at Amethyst as she ran away to avoid the shots. Athena finally got up from the floor and projected a mace from Armaments and rushed at the rogue Huntress.

Lloyd swung Shinigami at Mina by its chain as she backflips away from the attack. Mina fires a shot at Lloyd, but he quickly rolls away from the shot. Before Mina could open fire again, Mitra rushes over and tackles the rogue Huntress to the floor and knocks her helmet off her head. Mina faces Mitra, revealing her spider fangs with a loud hiss. Mitra screamed in fright upon seeing Mina's face close up as the Faunus kicked Mitra off of her. Mina got up to her feet and aimed her pistol down at Mitra and just as she was about to open fire, Lloyd charged in and slashed at Mina's back, making her cry out in pain.

"You little brat!" Mina yelled.

Before Lloyd could attack again, Mina swung her weapon back at Lloyd, knocking him to the floor. Mitra shot a blast of wind at the Faunus, sending her flying and crashing through a wall and out of the temple. As Mina stood herself back up, Mitra and Lloyd jumped out from the hole in the wall and charged at Mina. As the two were approaching, Mina put away her shotgun axe and raised her hands at her two opponents and a pair of webbings shot out from her hands and struck Lloyd and Mitra. The two had been caught into the grasp of Mina's semblance, Spider Webs. Mina swings her two opponents around before slamming them into the ground.

Marton swung his club at Atar and Deriko, sending them flying out of the temple's entrance and crashing into the ground. The two got up and saw Marton walking out of the entrance and approaching them with a smirk on his face.

"Come on, kids. Give me a real challenge," Marton said.

Atar growls in anger as he activates his semblance and rushes towards Marton. He swung his gauntlet blades at the rogue Huntsman as Marton weaved and dodged his attacks. Marton swung his club at Atar's stomach, sending him flying into Deriko as he was rushing in to help, and knocked them both to the ground.

As Atar and Deriko were getting up, Athena and Amethyst shot out from the temple's entrance and crashed onto the ground next to the two boys. And just then, Mitra crashed onto the ground next to the four as Lloyd ran over to her.

"I see you guys are having much fun as we are," Atar said as the girls stood back up.

Siavash and Yasu suddenly crashed out from the temple and onto the ground closeby to their teams. As they got up, Team SMMK slowly approached.

"Give up already. All we want are the artifacts," Sil said, flipping his hair away from his face.

"Fat chance of that happening!" Lloyd said.

"Suit yourselves," Sil said.

The leader of Team SMMK aimed his pistols at the eight students and just as he was about to open fire, a man carrying a large sword with a chainsaw-like blade on one side, dashed at Sil and struck him in the chest knocking him down to the ground. That man was Samuel Whitlock.

Before Marton, Mina, and Khaki could attack Samuel, a couple gunshots were heard as Mina and Khaki were both struck in their backs with bullets making them cry out in pain. A woman armed with a katana in one hand and a pistol in the other, charged at Marton from behind and slashed Marton at his chest as he turned around to face her, knocking him down to the ground. That woman was Laura Whitlock.

The members of Team SMMK then recovered and rushed themselves to the Whitlocks. Sil swung his hatchets at Samuel as he parried away the attacks before blocking another attack from Marton, swinging his club at him. Khaki swung down her sword at Laura as she blocked the attack. Laura ducks down from Mina as she swung her axe at her before kicking her in the stomach. Samuel swung his sword and Sil's chest, knocking him down to the ground, before punching Marton across the jaw. Laura blocked another attack from Khaki before shooting her in the stomach, forcing her to stagger back. Mina shot a web with her semblance at Laura, but the teacher saw the attack coming and weaved away to the side and fired off a shot to the rogue Huntress's head, knocking her down.

Before any of the members of Team SMMK could attack once more, Teams SLAA and HDAA ran up and joined up with their teachers. Realizing the battle was no longer in their favor, he lets out an annoyed growl.

"You all made a big mistake crossing us!" Sil said, flipping his hair away from his face.

With his semblance, Sil engulfed the area in darkness. The Whitlocks, and Teams SLAA and HDAA couldn't see anything around them. When the darkness recedes away, they all find Team SMMK are now gone. Samuel and Whitlock turned around to face their students with angered looks on their faces.

"You all better have an explanation for why you all are out here and why those people came after you," Laura said.

Haven Academy

Headmistress's Office

Later back at Haven Academy, the Whitlocks had brought Teams SLAA and HDAA to the Headmistress's office with Professor Bellerose sitting behind her desk.

"So you all found a hidden room within the temple and discovered these artifacts and Team SMMK ambushed you all?" Bellerose asked.

"Yes, Professor Bellerose," Siavash answered.

"Can you present them to us?" Bellerose asked.

Siavash, Athena, Lloyd, Mitra, and Deriko took out the necklace, gauntlet, crown, lantern, and book from their bags and placed them on the desk. Bellerose takes the book and opens it. She flips through some pages and looks over them for a moment and soon stops at one page. She looks back and forth between the artifacts and book for a moment before looking up at Mitra.

"Ms. Anahi, can you put on that necklace?" Bellerose asked.

Mitra takes the necklace and puts it on her neck. Upon putting it on, she felt something off with her Aura, and the source of this was coming from the necklace.

"It... it feels like the necklace is tugging onto my Aura," she said.

"Now, focus your thoughts on a cat," Bellerose ordered.

Mitra gave a confused look to the headmistress before the thoughts of a cat came into her head. Then without warning, her body swiftly morphed and changed to a small black cat. The students yelled out in shock and backed away.

"What is this?!" Yasu asked.

"It defies all science and logic!" Deriko yelled. "I must know the secrets behind this!"

"Why is Mitra a cat?!" Siavash asked.

"Can she change back?!" Laura asked.

"Two ways. Ms. Anahi must think of her normal form, or take off the necklace," Bellerose answered.

Samuel kneels down to the student turned feline and takes the necklace off of her. Upon doing so, the cat shifted and changed back into Mitra, who had a shocked look on her face.

"What just happened? Why was I a cat just a second ago?" she asked.

"And how did you know how the necklace worked?" Atar asked the headmistress.

"The book said so. Those artifacts apparently hold a magical power within them," Bellerose answered.

"Magic? Like with Salem? The four Maidens? The Relics?" Amethyst asked.

"Yes. The necklace can change the wearer into any animal they want. The crown can not only greatly enhance the wearer's senses, but also create lost senses as long as the crown is still worn,"

"Really? Let me try this on," Lloyd said as he snatched the crown off from the desk.

He puts the crown on his head and right as he did, he suddenly smelt the faint of smells all around the office, he could hear everything that was going on throughout Haven Academy, and he felt the faintest breezes throughout his body. Lloyd then started unwrapping the bandages off of his head covering his eyes, and once they were off his eyelids opened as the insides of where his eyes used to be were glowing gold. Lloyd turned his head around all around the office and stopped upon facing Mitra.

"I... I... I can see..." Lloyd said as tears started to stream down his cheeks. "I can see you Mitra!"

"Really?" Mitra asked.

"Every last detail of your features," Lloyd said.

"Mr. Shapour, I know it's been a while since you've had sight, but that crown doesn't belong to you, and I'd like you to take that off please," Bellerose said.

Lloyd sighed in disappointment and reluctantly took the crown off, and as soon as he did, Lloyd's vision went dark and his enhanced senses went away. He puts the crown back on the table as Mitra starts wrapping the bandages around his head and over his eyes again.

"Sorry, Lloyd," Mitra said.

"It was nice for a short while," Lloyd said.

"As I was saying, the gauntlet allows the user to fire out blasts of energy, however welding a second gauntlet will let the user do so much more.

"More. Like becoming a sorcerer or something?" Yasu asked.

"You could say that. The lantern holds similar power to the silver eyed warriors," Bellerose said.

"And the book is some sort of journal that keeps track of artifacts like these?" Samuel asked.

"Yes, and it is also a spell book from the looks of it," Bellerose answered, flipping through pages. "These artifacts require aura in order to be used. Without aura, these artifacts are practically useless. And legends say that the magic artifacts are presumably from Remnant's first humanity."

"What do we do with these?" Samuel asked.

"There is a team of Huntsmen in Kuchinashi that I met that deal with situations like this. They call themselves Team SAFR (Sapphire)," Bellerose explained.

"Then we'll leave tomorrow," Laura said.

"Can we come?" Siavash asked.

"We were the ones that found these artifacts," Athena said.

"It'll be fun to learn more about these magic artifacts," Amethyst said.

"I must learn the secrets behind these artifacts!" Deriko said.

"Besides, it's still the weekend," Siavash added.

The Whitlocks looked at each other for a moment before shrugging and turning their heads back to the two teams.

"Fine. But remember, we're in charge,"

"Like always," Athena said.

Author's Note: Khaki's semblance was never revealed in RWBY: The Grimm Campaign.

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