Larger Issues

AN: Welcome back for the next part of Larger Issues! If you are somehow new to this story, be mindful that it is part of a larger series and much of any confusion as to what is happening here can be explained by reading the previous part of the series- Big Issues.

Also, sorry this took longer than expected to write out, had some other things that came up that needed my attention more than this massive project. But now it's here for you all to enjoy. On with the show!

Exciting Adventures

Raven wasn't used to flying.

To be specific- she wasn't used to flying without her own power involved.

The airship that they were in with Taiyang, Vernal, and Tater… along with two dozen other people were heading towards Vale. There is a planned stop before they would be crossing the ocean, a time that they could use to stretch their legs and get a decent meal.

"So… excited to go home?" Tai asks his first wife and mother of his eldest daughter.

"Sort of. Are you sure there is enough room there?" The woman asks, trying to cover her hesitancy.

"For us, yes. Especially with the others out of the house for a while." The blonde man smiles. "We could remodel and surprise them when they come home."

"Really?"

"Hey, why not?" Tai laughs. "C'mon, you know the place well enough. No neighbors close enough to complain about the noise, we have the room to put you three up while building the additions…"

"What? Are you planning to give me my own room or give the lovebirds their own?" Vernal smirks. She was liking this man better than her biological father, though that could be brought up to debate if it was because of Raven and her improved mood that put him in the positive category or if she resented her parents yet from all of those years ago. It was probably both events that influenced her so much now.

"Eh, we can wait to make final plans once we're home. You know, get the measurements and stuff."

"Right." Vernal leans back in her seat before pointing at Tater who was sitting quietly, his size requiring him to use two seats. "And you said you got a job for the big guy?"

"Yeah, I'm on pretty good terms with the Headmaster at Signal and we could use someone to be the groundskeeper." Tai shrugs and crosses his arms. "Won't have too much to worry about, just looking after some of the students who live on the campus so they don't get themselves in trouble, take care of the basic repairs, that kind of thing."

"Riiight."

"Hey, at least he will have a place to stay on campus."

"That will do." Tater rumbles, only concerned that he'd have a roof over his head.

"Ha, anyway… we probably should add a guest room or two for friends coming over." Tai returns to thinking about the addition to the house.

But it was Raven who nudged him with her elbow with a smirk. "Or are you planning ahead for grandkids?"

"R-Raven!? I'm trying NOT to think about that!" His outburst caused the other three to laugh at him.

"It's going to happen sometime." The woman reminds him. "After all, how many times did we go before I found out Yang was on her way?"

That made the father sulk in his seat, arms crossed and all.

"How much was it?" Vernal's grin almost seemed predatory, wanting to make the man squirm for her own amusement.

"Well…" Raven thinks back to twenty years ago. "The times we had then weren't very plentiful but they were VERY passionate." She sighs at the memories, both her and Tai blushing. "It was actually when I was on a mission with Summer when I found out that I was pregnant… or at least we strongly suspected that I was."

"Ha! She threw us a party that day once you were back and confirmed it." Even the blonde's sour mood couldn't last long with that kind of good memory.

"And my brother drank enough for both of us." Raven's comment brought another round of laughs.

"Sounds like things were pretty good." Vernal says with a smile, wishing she could have something like that herself. Granted, with how her new sisters in Ruby and Yang are, she wouldn't be surprised if they did that. Though she wondered exactly what the order would be while fairly sure of who would be first.

And more stories were told as they flew to their layover stop.

—

"Yang? Are you going to sleep?" Ruby asks.

"I was thinking about it. Kind of had a long night." The elder sister yawned at the end.

"You were getting a last round with Denko, weren't you?" Weiss accused her, smirking as the taller girl squirmed a little. Movement on the lower bunk caught her eyes. "And you too?"

Blake had been trying to curl up to make herself smaller but froze when called out.

"Wouldn't you?" Yang asks, turning the table on the heiress.

"Hmph! I'd need to have a significant other for that first." She motions to the girls in front of her before gesturing to Ruby. "Right now, I just have my sisters and best friend."

"Oh Weiss!" There was a small burst of rose petals before the short girl found herself tackled on the floor and wrapped in a hug. "You do care!"

"Ah! G-get off of me, you dolt!"

Yang and Blake watched the two tussle on the floor, simply glad that they didn't have too much to worry about now. No Grimm or bandits, no terrorist groups, just riding a train north with friends and family.

"This is the furthest we've been from our boys, huh?" Yang comments as she lets her right arm hang over the edge.

Blake's ears twitched as she flinched from both the words and the sight of the metal arm. "Y-yeah."

"Think they miss us as much as we miss them?" Yang smiled as Weiss finally squirmed enough to roll, taking Ruby down to the floor where she was quickly pinned down and ribs were tickled.

"I think so." She squeezed her monkey by her side for comfort.

"Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I

See you cryin'?

Oh, didn't I, didn't I, didn't I

See you cryin'?

Feelin' all alone without a friend

You know you feel like dyin'!"

"Eh, we're big girls who can take care of ourselves." Yang tries to blow off her own worries, though her eyes wandered to the pillow wrapped in a shirt.

"Um… sure?"

The blonde hung her head over so she was looking at the Faunus upside down… with a wide grin. "But you know that it's gonna be a big deal when we see them in person again."

The cat's ears stood up straight as she caught the inflection in her friend's tone, instantly blushing as thoughts about what she'd do with Sun raced through her mind.

"Hehehe, yeah, thought so." The brawler cheered. "Can't wait to jump my man too."

"Hey! Wanna play?" Ruby calls out, now done with her little wrestling match with Weiss and holding up her scroll with the Ancient Tomes title screen up.

"You mean 'Kick your butt'? Then sure, we got time to kill." Yang shrugs before rolling over to drop to the floor, easily landing on her feet.

She went to the small closet that held their bags and opened it to retrieve hers, top shelf as she is the tallest while Weiss is on the bottom. Just as she reached up to grab the handle, Blake appeared next to her reaching for the bag.

"Let me help." Blake retrieved the bag, only to find a miffed blonde staring at her. A glance at the other girls revealed that they were surprised by her action.

"I don't need that kind of help." Yang states with a small amount of irritation in her tone, making a show of using her right arm to pluck her bag easily from Blake's hands.

"But I-"

"Just don't." Yang didn't even look at her, taking the yellow duffel bag back to her bed and tossing it up, pulling her scroll from an outer pocket.

Blake's ears folded back in shame, not helped by looking at Ruby and Weiss to find a mix of disappointment, sympathy, and irritation on both their faces, driving it deep that what she did was wrong and unnecessary, even though it came from good will.

"You kids all good in here?" Qrow pops his head into the room, though pointedly looking at the closet just in case and using the door he opened as a blind.

"Y-yeah, we're fine." Ruby responds. While everyone heard the initial nervousness, they didn't draw attention to it.

"Gonna settle down for some game time." Yang holds up her scroll for her uncle to see. The device was given a new look thanks to the yellow case with tire marks going up the middle, complete with flames that moved as the scroll was turned.

"Ancient Tomes again?" The man laughs.

"What? It's a great game." Yang counters.

"And I got Weiss into it!" Ruby cheers, holding her scroll with its new case of rose petals and shell casings on snow.

"Ha! I'm not sayin' it isn't." Qrow countered, watching as Weiss picked up her scroll in its blue case with bars of music notes, with each foot of the note being a snowflake. Blake shuffled over to her bed where her case is black with purple flowers.

"Alright, I'll check on the others and see how they're settling in. Don't be surprised if I pop into the game to kick your butts."

"Invite them to play with us!" Ruby calls out before the door closed.

—

In the cabin of Team JNPR…

Jaune and Pyrrha sat together on her bed reading a comic together as Ren meditated on the top bunk across from them, Nora playing a game on her scroll, also with a new case depicting a blue sky with clouds that form a heart.

In fact, all of the younger team members had gotten new cases. Part of it was for protecting their devices, part of it was for fun, and part of it was because they were able to tap into one of Ozpin's accounts for their group spending money.

So they indulged in minor pettiness.

Knock knock

Qrow poked his head in to find a mostly quiet room. "Sheesh, almost thought you kids were sleeping in here."

Nora gave the man a wave before going back to her game. Ren gave no indication that he was aware that they had company, though nobody doubted that he was fully aware.

"What's up? Did something happen?" Jaune asks.

"Just thought I'd check in on you all." Qrow shrugs as he leans in the doorframe.

"That's it?" Pyrrha questions.

Qrow glanced back at the door for the other team before letting out a sigh. "Checked on the others and caught a bit of tension in there but it's not my place to get involved… at least not yet."

"So you'd like us to keep an eye on them?"

"Pyrrha… two of those girls are my family, is it wrong for me to have some concern?""

"Oh, if it's just that then I don't mind."

"Thanks. I think they have some things to work out but just in case…" The man looked and sounded like he was pleading but grateful.

"We'll help when we can." Jaune assures Qrow.

"Oh, and the girls are gearing up for an Ancient Tomes session. You'll be able to play for a few hours until we hit the mountains and the signal will get pretty spotty."

"I found their group! C'mon guys!" Nora was enthusiastic about the entire team getting in on the action to pass the time."

—-

"Find anything?"

"They took some food and drinks. Nothing big but all stuff ready to eat without preparation." Talon reports her findings.

"Medical supplies are gone. Mostly bandages and pain medication." Anya had been the one to check out the local doctor office.

"Got positive ID's from witnesses. They are our perps." Itazura states, holding up her scroll displaying pictures of those who attacked Haven. Hazel and Tyrian's have green check marks next to them while Mercury's had a red ex. Emerald and Cinder's pictures were darkened as the former was known to be in a Mistral jail cell while the latter was presumed dead but unconfirmed. Adam had a picture with the rest but his had a red ex as well.

While only having confirmation that two of them had been here, given how Salem's forces stuck together combined with the injuries that they sustained, it was easy to assume that they had stayed on the airship and let the other two take what was needed.

"And I found where they landed." Denko adds. "Not a very good landing from what I can tell and they took a rolling start when they left. Looks like a wheel took out a fence."

It didn't need to be said that they had no idea which way they flew given their evidence but the locals saw their craft heading northwards though some say they saw it turn to the west.

Staying the night had given them a chance to rest and investigate but now that they had what they needed, they had to follow what they could now that it was early morning. They had no delusions of catching up to the aircraft unless it crashed but they may be able to find something useful along the trail.

—

"I want you to want me!

I need you to need me!

I love you to love me!"

"Dude, keep playing that and you'll drain the battery. Then you won't hear her sing." Neptune nudges his buddy with an elbow.

"H-hey! C'mon man!"

"Honestly, I'm just waiting to find out the results of our hard work will go with your girl." Scarlet leaned back in his seat, enjoying the peace.

"Your hard work?" Reese leans over to question him, their view of the others' faces upside down.

"Hey! It was supposed to be a secret!" Sage hushed.

"Too late now." Scarlet shrugs. "Besides, it's not like she'll find out from us."

"Hmm… good point."

"Now you have us all curious about what you've been up to." Arslan comments, standing up and moving to look down on Sun where he could see her.

"May as well tell them." Neptune advises, his words causing Bolin and Nadir to lean in.

Sun squirmed in his seat as all eyes were focused on him, even some of the few other passengers who were beginning to get curious about what the Huntsmen students were talking about.

"Eh… fine." He relented after a few seconds. "I recorded some music and put it in her gift."

"Well, that's sweet." Reese smiles.

"Gonna tell them the rest?" Scarlet teases with a wide grin, clearly enjoying this.

Sun gave him a small glare but sighed. "We… played the songs that are on the recording."

"Oh?" Nadir leans in. "How much? Sounded like Blake did a cover of the songs."

"Ummm…"

"We played the songs, instruments and all while he sang." Sage answered for his team leader who was looking rather embarrassed.

"Hey, we managed to get Jaune in on it too. The guy is pretty good with a guitar." Neptune adds.

Sun dropped his face into his hands. "Sometimes I think Kali is trying to kill me in very creative ways." He mumbles.

"What do you mean by that?" Arslan asks, having heard her fellow blonde.

She got a blue eye giving an odd half-glare through his fingers. "When my girlfriend was at her heaviest, she helped put it in her head to get intimate with me."

"Umm… I thought you didn't mind that?" Reese asks. "And you went back for more."

Sun turned his glare to the green haired girl. "The sex was great. Getting smothered is another thing." His glare faded as the blush crept back. "And Blake can get very… into it. I was worried that my aura would break at times under her before she lost some of the weight."

"So… our boy likes his girl big but worries his nights with her might be his last, huh?" Scarlet teases, ruffling the blonde's hair. "What a way to go out, doing what you love."

"Hey! Come on man!"

"Nothing wrong with that." Bolin shrugs.

"And what other ways do you think your girl's mom is trying to kill you?" Nadir queries.

Sun groaned. "Help building the school, leading the attacks against the White Fang, overall embarrassing me… Itazura didn't help when her plan to trick the White Fang involved me getting stabbed."

"Well… think of it this way." Arslan puts a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up at the plump martial artist. "You've proven yourself to her family that you'll stick with them through any hardship and have gone far and above what most would do. And her family knows you're a good man for her."

Sun stared at the young woman in awe. Arslan wasn't known for speaking too much but it was clear that when she did it was worth listening

Bolin reached over and patted his back. "Hey, no worries. You're in good with her family and still working hard to help them. Nothing to worry about. Relax and we'll get our first taste of Vacuo soon."

That did assure the Faunus that he had friends to back and it would be them relying on him to teach them about the dangers of the desert. Though with that thought in mind, a quick glance at them revealed that they may need a change of attire.

—

Emerald sat in her cell. Nothing new at this point.

Her greatest form of entertainment being whenever she was brought in for another round of questioning was counting how many ways they would rephrase the same question.

Yesterday, they had gotten ahold of some files detailing her past from the town she had called home before Cinder had recruited her and given her a new reason to live.

She had cooperated with them on much of that but it was obvious to her that they didn't know the full picture, only focusing on her part for the attack on Haven and Beacon.

Sure, there were questions that would lead to who was pulling her strings and demands to know the full scope of the overall plan by her organization… but she refused to say anything that would be useful to them. At the same time, she knew that she was purposefully kept in the dark about the big plan in case of an event like this.

But still, she was back in her cell where time was barely a concept, waiting for the next meal or round of questioning.

—

"Sienna! Good to see you again!" Kali greeted the tiger woman with a hug.

"Same to you. I assume all of the farewells have been taken care of before you left?" The former High Leader of the White Fang asks as she leads the trio towards the dock where their ship was ready to depart.

"Oh yes and a bit more I can tell you on the ride home." Kali laughs just thinking of the stories she'd tell.

"And how long will you be waiting to call them to ask about their gifts?" Ilia grins, wanting to be with her for that call. She may have gotten over her crush on Blake thanks to being with Itazura but she could indulge in teasing her friends.

"Long enough to give them time to enjoy them." The mother replies with a wide grin. Meanwhile, Ghira followed his wife wondering what mischief she was causing this time.

"Were there any problems on the way here?" Sienna questions.

"Our ride was uneventful." Ghira answers, catching himself from trying to instinctively use his now gone left arm as they climb a short set of steps with rope serving as handrails. "Yourself?"

"Just a few Beowolves. They didn't last long against us." Sienna dismissed their concerns with a wave of her hand. "We just have a few things to take care of yet. Probably will be shipping off in an hour so go ahead and drop your stuff in your rooms."

"Alright." Ghira hefts the bag with what little brought with him and Kali's remaining possessions after what she didn't need was brought back by Sienna.

Kali's ears twitched and stood up straight along with Sienna's. And every Faunus with ears as their trait did the same.

"Is something wrong?" Ghira paused on the gangplank as he noticed everyone going still and quiet.

—-

"Hmph! Such a simple task to trace their modes of transportation." Watts scoffs from his desk. "Such pre planned routes and times makes them vulnerable to be headed off by an opposing force."

"Yeah? Then why didn't you do this earlier?" Mercury commented from his bed in the lab, his new legs partly assembled nearby.

Arthur rounded on his patient. "Because I was busy dealing with you and Tyrian's injuries and replacements!"

The doctor turned away to calm himself. Sometimes he forgot that as good as the two men were at doing their jobs as assassins for the group, they were just as good at getting on his nerves by either their smart mouth or insane theatrics. At least Hazel would listen, having had his hand treated and left to do his own thing that wouldn't strain his hand.

"However, Our Lady has sent Grimm to deal with the ones we do know where they will be." Arthur indulged the question that hadn't been asked, partly from his own pride, partly because he was trying to head off the annoying questions.

"And our new team member?"

"Patched up and sent on an assignment." Watts answered easily. He didn't know the Faunus personally yet but that could change if he was successful with what Salem asked of him. If not, he hoped that Adam would at least be able to gather some intelligence for him.

As it was, he had a building plan for Adam and his troops. Those loyal to him had been cut down to a fraction of what he had from the beginning but their numbers would be quite useful. And as for Adam and his combat abilities, every report he had read on his files showed that it took the combined efforts of several Huntsmen just to break even. Not counting that his semblance is about pure destruction.

While it was true that his attempts to unify the Faunus under his own banner had failed thanks to unexpected circumstances,he was still powerful and influential with a small but well armed army behind him. All Salem had to do was ensure that the focus of his power was aimed in a way that would benefit her.

The White Fang had been good for escalating tensions between the Faunus and humans in the past and much of the racism and prejudices are alive and well but some of the latest efforts had begun to unify forces against them from both species.

And Watts, under Salem's command, would undermine that unity.

—-

"Grimm!"

That one word shouted out sent the entire dock into chaos as hundreds of people either began fleeing to the relative safety of the boats on the river or fought their way through the masses to fend off the creatures.

"Damn it!" Sienna curses as she pulls Cerberus Whip from her waist as Ilia draws Lightning Lash and Kali draws a pair of pistols from beneath her robes.

"Mufasa is on the ship." Ghira grumbled as he ran up the gangplank.

His wife heard him and spun around to shout. "Organize the Militia! And get the weapons on the ship ready!"

The massive man momentarily paused, not wanting to be lectured about fighting so soon with a missing arm. He turned to the nearest woman on board.

"You heard her, gather your weapons and prepare for battle!" Ghira's words were met with a roar of challenge, the Faunus quickly moving to distribute weapons as many of them were still in uniform with armor yet in event of a time like this. "Get the guns ready! They may need fire support and the docks kept safe!"

Around them, the few Huntsmen from Mistral ram to take on the beast's head on as the dockyards defenses kicked on, the tall pedestals that held statues revealing themselves to be turrets and several walls rose up from the ground that would force anything attacking on the ground to go through various choke points in a pseudo-maze.

Very quickly, the turrets were occupied shooting at smaller Nevermore, and by small that meant large enough to grab a person in their talons and fly off. The Huntsmen were deep in the attacking Grimm and drawing plenty of attention to themselves and making a good dent in their numbers but they'd be lucky if they weren't overwhelmed in the next few minutes.

Their relief came in the form of a trio of Faunus women who ran across the top of the walls and went after the Grimm that had slipped past the Huntsmen and into the maze.

While the turrets would have turned their firepower to the killboxes in the maze once the Grimm entered, they were preoccupied by the Nevermore and a swarm of Lancers that had joined the attack. Their reprieve came as the mounted guns on the ships let their bullets fly.

At that point, the Militia had streamed through the simple maze and joined the fight coming from the forest and any advancement that the Grimm had been making was lost. And with the dozens of new combatants on the field, less focused attention was given to those with Huntsmen training, allowing them to fight freely.

Yet as all of that was going on, a white Nevermore the size of a robin landed by the room where Ghira had dropped his group's belongings. It hopped over to and around the pile and eventually found something shiny and gold with glowing blue glass.

The white Grimm pecked at the shiny object a few times before trying to grasp it with its feet and fly away, failing as the object was too heavy and still clasped to the other bags.

Footsteps alerted the Grimm to approaching danger, but it had been so focused on the shiny that it was too late. The last thing it saw was a large studded shaft swinging at its head.

Ghira hefted his tetsubo onto his shoulder, proud that Mufasa had done its job and he had thought to grab his weapon just in case of something like this. Though given that the unusual Grimm had been focused on the Relic, he attached it to his belt for safekeeping before going back out to lead.

—

If there was one good thing about flying west it was that the planet below them turned the opposite direction, reducing the flight time. Yet despite the hours they had been flying to the small town that served as a strategic layover for flights between continents, it was only noon when they landed.

"Hmmm…."

"What is it, Tai?"

"I was just thinking, we aren't too far from where Ruby and the others had their little crash."

"Didn't they finish their trip to some small farming town to the north?" Raven asks as she tries to recall the tale.

"Yeah, well… how upset do you think they were when they found out that they could have gone here from there and been to Mistral and back to Vale in a week?"

Vernal jumped into the conversation there. "Didn't anyone tell them?"

"I don't think anyone who knew had the heart to tell them." Tai admits with a wry smile. "After everything they did and fought through, telling them that they could have skipped all of that so easily probably would send them into a few days of sulking."

"Well… I know what to tell my 'sisters' when we call them from home." Vernal grins, almost unable to wait to do what she said. Fortunately, her training as a bandit had instilled in her a strong sense of patience, when needed.

"Incoming!" A man shouts as he points to the sky.

The four fighters look to where he is pointing to find a swarm of Lancers diving down at them. More shouts from behind alerted them to the ground based Grimm attacking the landing strips.

"Tater! Protect the Bullhead! Vernal! Get those Grimm!" Raven orders, pointing at the Beowolves and Ursa charging their way through the fences and largely shrugging off the few armed guards that had opened fire on them.

Almost instantly, the former bandit ran over to the nearest patch of grass and dove in as if it were water. Moments later she emerged from next to the paved strip with her weapons swinging, taking the head of the nearest Beowolf before shooting searing beams through an Ursa and the one behind it. From there, she was in a frenzy of motion, tearing into the beasts with ease.

At the same time, a few Grimm made it around the group that stopped to fight Vernal and went for Tater. The half-blind former bandit made short work of them, a single swing of his fist to each taking them down to the ground where he'd stomp on them to end their existence, if the first one didn't do the job already. He was a force of brutal efficiency… with an emphasis on the brutal.

"So… we're gonna take the fight up to them?" Tai smirks as he recalled one of the combos they had used when Team STRQ was whole. "Portal Mayhem?"

Raven was on a similar wavelength as she gave a matching smile. "Be ready." With that, she transformed into her blackbird form and flew up to meet the Lancers, returning to human form in time to draw Omen and bisect the nearest one. Her next swing of the blade struck at nothing but it left a portal behind as she twisted out of the way of a stinger and grabbed the fleshy line so it could pull her back to the Grimm that it belonged to.

Taiyang burst out of the portal, surprising the Lancer nearest to him with a punch to the face that sent it spinning in a daze. He landed on the back of another that was flying below the one he had hit and drew Huo from his belt.

"Ya know what I really hate?" He asks as if the Grimm could do more than buzz at him. "WASPS!" He shouts as he lashes out with his tonfa to break the wings near their bases. As the Lancer began to fall, he fired a shell into its back and jumped into the open air.

In a flash, he was gone as a portal opened up under him and a new one had him emerge from above Raven where the blonde promptly attacked the next Grimm as Raven would jump from one to the other and slash at them with her katana.

Then she'd create a portal for either Taiyang or herself to fall into to pop out to engage the Grimm seemingly at random. For anyone watching from the ground, and there were many, it was almost like a dance between partners, erratic but perfectly timed that displayed the immense trust the dancers had in each other.

Yet none of them saw the white Nevermore swoop into the aircraft to locate and investigate the Relic onboard. Though once it emerged from the door, Tater was there to swat it from the air and its body splattered against the ground.

—-

Sun found it rather amusing that he had been nearly around the planet once so far in the span of two years without really intending to do so. Two years since he had left his home in the desert of western Sanus to attend school in the lush mountain kingdom on Anima. From there, he had hitched a ride on a boat that nearly went up to Solitas on its way to Vale on the eastern end of Sanus. Then he had gone from there to Menagerie, then back to Mistral, and now nearly back home again.

In short, he was quickly becoming more well traveled than most in their entire lives… and he hadn't finished his schooling yet.

Though he was hoping that whatever Blake had to do at Atlas wouldn't take so long that she couldn't come to Vacuo and see him, he had promised that she'd meet his cousin, Star. If not, he'd have to wait for summer break… and he really hoped that she would be ready for the heat in that case. Vacuo was hot for most of the year during the day, enough that nearly everything would be shut down for two or three hours during midday so everyone could stay away from the worst of the sun's glare. But to stop by in the winter months, it was cooler to the point of being comparatively comfortable at noon.

But their stop at the coastal town of Flotsam was due to their aircraft needing to refuel and the fact that there was a small sandstorm brewing a short ways inland that would force them to divert or wait it out.

"Oh wow, it is hot here." Reese was the first to break out in a sweat followed by Neptune as they were the ones wearing a hoodie and jacket, respectively.

"Meh, it's not bad here. Got a nice breeze from the ocean, reminds me of Menagerie." Sun comments casually.

"THIS isn't bad?" Neptune was incredulous, sweat dripping into his eyes and forcing him to wipe it away with his gloved hands.

"I'm not having any problems." Sage shrugs.

Neptune was left to glare at the taller man as he noted the fact that while Sage did wear a coat, it was both mostly white and open… and had no shirt underneath it.

Movement caught the blue-haired man's attention, finding that it was Reese removing the hoodie to reveal she wore a black tank top that did little more than cover her chest.

"Oh sweet relief!" The plump skater girl sighs as her skin could breathe in the open air.

"Just watch that you don't burn." Bolin reminds her, being the palest on their team by far and thus more susceptible to sunburn.

"Eh, passing out from heat exhaustion would Not be cool." Neptune admits to himself as he unzips his red jacket and finds immediate relief by doing so. Removing it completely, he settled for tying it around his waist for now.

Scarlet could admit that his coat was rather warm but he rarely wore it correctly anyway, preferring to have it draped over his shoulder when he wasn't in a fight.

"Hmm? Good timing for a cloud to hide the sun for us." Nadir comments as the light dims a fair degree suddenly.

Arslan shielded her eyes with a hand as she looked at the 'cloud'. "I don't think that's a cloud."

Sun instantly turned to look for himself and went stiff. "Ravagers!" His shout made the entire town quickly scramble to bring all children indoors, lock down all of the homes and businesses, and the population to arm themselves to drive off the Grimm that were now diving down to attack.

"Shit!" Scarlet cursed as the bat-like Grimm swooped at the group, drawing his sword and cutting through one of its wing membranes and making it flop out of control and crash head first into a brick wall. He was quick to use his pistol to finish off the stunned creature.

The others were quick to divide themselves between long-range and short-range combat abilities. Sun timed his strike to make contact with the neck of the Grimm coming at him, snapping it easily. Sage cut his in half with no trouble as Bolin smacked another down to the ground and crushed its skull. Arslan was able to hook one as it flew by and force it around where it met its end at her fist.

Meanwhile, Nadir, Neptune, Scarlet, and Reese provided cover fire, picking off most of the Grimm before they could get close. Most of the townspeople preferred that option as well, though they were prepared for close combat as well.

While the attack didn't last long, it was more than enough for a white Nevermore to swoop in and take a close examination of the Relic held by Neptune as he dealt with several Ravagers at once as he found that his Lightning Dust shots were the most effective of the groups long range options.

"Behind you!" Reese shouts and aims her Dust pistol, the green burst killing the small Grimm.

"Thanks!" He shouts back and focuses on eliminating the rest of the attacking Grimm.

—-

Oscar was deep into the game of Ancient Tomes. Part of it was because he saw some of the others play it back at the house in Mistral, part of it being that it was his first real game experience. Having the others grouping up with him to help show him the ropes was nice, even if they were all at higher levels than him… for now.

It was pretty obvious as to who were the new players like him, that being Weiss, Blake, and Pyrrha. But before they knew it, they were all at least at level ten and had acquired several skills and tested them in combat to great effect. Then there were the armor sets that boosted their abilities… so many to choose from. Some were relatively useless for combat, some that were tricky or their effects were randomized, then there were others that could greatly boost the character in combat.

Yang and Nora both used a set that made them much stronger the more they were hurt. Ruby had one to enhance her speed. Heck, even Qrow used a set that called a murder of crows to attack his enemies.

And that was without getting into the classes and their skills or the weapon skills or the faction skills.

And the lore… boy was that deep.

"You should ask Denko about the history of The Empire when you see him again. Hope you'll be ready for an hour long talk about that alone." Yang had said.

Granted, the sheer breadth of the lore called out to Weiss and Blake, being a major factor for why they are playing. Both girls would stop to read every in-game book they could find, prompting the entire group to laugh when they found 'The Lusty Faunus Maid'. Weiss blushed fiercely once she recognized what it was about as it never directly said what was happening. Blake was invested in finding the rest of the books.

But Oscar's enjoyment of the gaming session was interrupted as the server connection began to get fuzzy.

"Looks like it's time to call it quits until we're out of the mountains." Qrow tells the team. They could hear the groans of frustration through the walls from the others at that announcement but they couldn't deny that they wouldn't be able to play for much longer and that they needed to get up and move.

"Well… that was fun watching you two playing games." Roman says as he lays on his bed. "But isn't there something more productive to be done?"

"Like what? A train doesn't exactly have all that much room for combat practice." Qrow dryly tells the man.

"Aura training?"

"Would have thought that the 'Great and Powerful Oz' would have covered that part of the squirts lessons by now?"

"Um… I haven't found my semblance yet." The boy in questing chimes in.

"Hmph, I've taken on quite a few Huntsmen in my time and I've never discovered mine." Roman scoffs.

Oscar turned to look out the window to think. But as he looked out at the landscape rushing by, the wilds covered in a layer of snow, he noticed a few things flying in the sky. At first he thought that they were birds but as they drew closer he began to notice details about them.

Namely that they may have wings but otherwise looked nothing like birds and the fact that they were black with bone white heads made it clear that they were Grimm. Roughly a dozen of them at the very least.

"Um… guys? I think we have a problem."

Both men looked out the window where he was pointing. "Ah shit." They said together.

AN: For those who don't recognize it, the song used is 'I Want You to Want Me' by Cheap Trick. It's a song that works for both sides of their relationship and worked perfectly with how things are going now.

But as things are going, the first parts of the teams' journeys have gone well but now they have problems once they've stopped. And the mysterious white Nevermore... that will be explained later. Even so, Blake and Yang are having the worst time of anyone given the dip in their friendship on top of being separated from their loved ones. Well... they are doing better than Emerald, she doesn't even know how long she has been in prison anymore.

More excitement to come in the next chapter, though I'll be returning to working on Small Issues again. Plus, if I get time, I'll be trying to adapt this series into a manga format. THAT part will be slow going with how many other projects I have going unless I get some real free time to use. Maybe set the stage for some of the artists who are interested in turning the Issues series into a comic as well. We'll see how things go on that front and I'll keep you updated.

Reviews are welcome!