Team PRAN were standing around the Beacon airfield with their equipment on, their bags packed, and a growing sense of anticipation as they waited for the airship that would carry them to Autumn Hills. They had spent over an entire day preparing and a mere fraction of the next day trying to calm themselves down while insisting that they weren't nervous at all… they didn't fool anyone including themselves. And now that nervousness was making them fidget like school kids until they couldn't take it anymore and they began pacing around in an attempt to walk off the butterflies in their stomachs.

Fortunately, the airfield was empty, most of Beacon was empty. Most students had already left for their own missions and that meant most of the faculty was taking some well-deserved time off. Unfortunately, the human mind had evolved to be rather suspicious of places that seemed just a little too quiet, there was a fine line between being actually safe and being mere moments away from finding yourself in the belly of an Ursa. Unfortunately for these four youths, the career that they were training for had a very favorable opinion about that little quirk of evolution and for reasons that could not be refuted. They may be called Huntsmen but the ugly truth was that the line dividing Hunter and Prey was a thin one. They hunted the Grimm and the Grimm were also hunting them so anything that could help keep the Huntsman on top of that dynamic was encouraged and cultivated.

Everyone was familiar with the feeling of being watched, everyone understands that it's not really a logical feeling but one born from mild paranoia. And despite factually knowing that, it only takes one single incident of it being right for everyone to take that feeling seriously even if it was purely coincidental… What our intrepid heroes were experiencing was that on steroids.

"We're being watched."

"Nobody is watching us, Nora."

"Yes they are and I know that you feel the same way, Ren!"

"Nobody is watching us… but if they were then I would not want them to know that I know."

"And what better way to pretend that you don't know than to argue with someone who does know as well but pretend that they're the crazy ones?"

"Exactly."

"Exactly what?" Jaune asked before he could stop himself.

Nora answered with a crazed glint in her eyes, "This is exactly how to keep our watchers off of their rhythm, if they are people then their brains will turn to mush trying to figure out if we are just crazy or are actually on to them!"

Pyrrha was confused, she didn't believe Nora but at the same time that headache she was nursing thanks to that conversation begged to differ. So she looked over to Ren for clarification, "Does that actually work?"

"More often than you'd think but less often than you'd hope."

"That… doesn't make any sense."

"Exactly."

Pyrrha and Jaune just stared at the pair for a few silent seconds before it finally dawned on them: they were being taken for fools and they should have seen it coming. Nora and Ren worked off of each other so well that at times it was hard to believe that they weren't close siblings, the pair had worked together to try and distract them all from their own nervousness and it worked. It worked so well that they couldn't get angry at the pair, the only thing that they could do was laugh at the absurdity of it all.

"Thanks," Pyrrha said once she stopped laughing. "I needed that, we all did."

"How long have you guys been practicing that?" Jaune asked.

Ren answered, "We haven't practiced it at all, it was all ad lib."

"Ad lib?"

"It means that we made it all up as we went along, it was something we learned when we were kids." Back when all we had was each other.

Nora then added, "Life in a settlement tends to be rather quirky. People don't have access to all of the distractions that can be found in the city so everyone learns funny little ways to deal with stress since it can literally be a killer."

"So what quirks do you think we are in for?" Jaune asked as he thought back to the settlements he visited with his family as a kid, Wasn't there one village that put blue cheese on all of their dishes?

Ren shrugged, "I have no idea but maybe the Huntsman we'll be tagging along with will know something. And maybe we'll get a chance to ask him soon."

"Well, we are supposed to meet him here in like…," Jaune checked his scroll for the airship schedule, the ship was running late by two minutes. "Apparently we were already supposed to meet him."

"Maybe he's dealing with traffic?" Nora suggested.

"On an airship?" Pyrrha pointed out.

Jaune answered, "Well, to prevent crashes, the airships have routes that they need to follow so maybe someone wandered into someone else's route."

Nora then suggested, "Or maybe they got the location mixed up, realized their mistake, and are walking towards us right now and trying to get our attention?"

"That's oddly specific," Jaune said while looking around fully expecting to see a grown Huntsman walking towards them while trying to get their attention but… there was no one in sight. "But I thought-?!"

"Thought what?" asked Nora.

"What you said was so oddly specific that I thought it was really happening."

"Well… it wasn't."

"What!?" Jaune then looked right at Nora and asked, "Then what was all that about?"

"What was that about?"

"What you said about the man walking towards us and trying to get our attention, it was so oddly specific that I assumed that you were just describing what you were seeing.

"Well… I didn't. I just suggested something that might have been happening and it turns out it wasn't"

Jaune was about to say something or at least he thought he was. But before the words could form in his head he heard Pyrrha's voice shout out, "I can see it! I can see the airship!"

At that moment anything he would have said was promptly forgotten in favor of looking up into the sky to see if he could spot the airship and he did. At first, it was just a dark shape on the horizon but it soon got closer, one moment it was close enough that he could make out the shape, and the next moment he could see it clearly, and soon after that it was landing.

Jaune then held his breath along with the rest of his team as they waited for the Huntsman to open the doors and step out, and in the back of his head, he chided himself in his father's voice for being so nervous. You've done work with professionals before, raise your head and stick out your chest. You got a resume and you should be proud to rep it! All of you ought to be proud…

And just like his inner dad suggested, Jaune fixed his poster, and as he did his teammates joined along. He and they were still nervous but they were hiding it well.

Then the doors to the airship opened up and out stumbled a large slouching man, his hair looked like a brown messy pile of yarn, his skin was tanned, and his eyes were a clear hazel. His clothes were a green trench coat over a white turtleneck sweater, and dark brown trousers over a darker pair of boots. As for his weapon, there was a weird-looking rifle slung over his shoulder that they would need to get closer to figure out anything about it… All in all, he wasn't exactly what they had expected but there was nothing about him just yet that struck them as off.

Unfortunately for them, they had not done a very good job at hiding the fact that they were trying and failing to get a read on him and he had some choice words about that, "Oi, what are you all standing around looking like a bunch o' dicks? Come on and git yer asses inside before the pilot decides that he is sick o' looking at you all."

Pyrrha asked, "Sorry but um, are you the Huntsman that we were waiting for? The one heading to Autumn Hills?" What kind of accent is that? She quickly glanced at her teammates and could see in their eyes that they were thinking the same question.

"That's me alright" He noticed an odd expression quickly running through their faces. "What? Am I not what you were all expecting?"

"No, it's just… nevermind." Pyrrha grabbed her bag and climbed aboard as the others followed closely behind. To everyone's pleasant surprise, the man helped them with their luggage, not that they had much.

The man was the last one in the airship which quickly took off after he finished buckling himself in, "Alright now that we are all inside we can git introductions out of the way. My name is River Heathcliff, I do a lot o' work but my specialty is as a… Detective!" He tried to strike a dramatic pose as he said that last part and to his credit, he succeeded.

"That's cool!" Jaune instinctively said with stars in his eyes. "We've worked with cops before but never with a proper detective!"

Heathcliff nodded, "The Raid on the apartment building serving as a storage place for Rage, that was a total shit show if you don't mind me saying. Not yer fault mind you, ya did good, ya all did damn good despite what happened. And then there was the shit fest that the White Fang Rally turned into, good job taking down that Grimm. It would have been beyond tragic if it had gotten to those civilians."

As he was talking a question popped into Pyrrha's head, "Excuse me, but if you don't mind me asking, why is a detective working on this case? I thought that we were just dealing with Grimm sightings."

Heathcliff shrugged, "That's a fair question but I'm afraid that the answer is boring. The truth is, not every job I take is a case. I'd be buggered out of my mind if all I ever did was solve mysteries, maddening stuff really. And the conclusion is usually mundane as all bloody hell… but enough bout me, let's talk about the job."

"We were reading up on it," Pyrrha excitedly said. "Is there anything you can tell us that wasn't included in the files?"

"Fraid not, the folks who compile them are very thorough, they're completely anal bout everything. But I suppose that's why they do such a bang-up job."

"But can you at the very least tell us about Autumn Hills and the people there?" Nora asked rather expectantly.

"Nope. I've never been there."

"Well, can you clarify some of the more confusing things in this file?" Ren asked while trying to ignore a feeling of dread crawling up his spine.

"I never read the files," Heathcliff slapped his stomach. "My gut tells me everything that I need to know about any case."

"Is it a Semblance?" Pyrrha asked hopefully.

"Nope. But sometimes it is indigestion."

To say that Team PRAN was disappointed was an understatement; They were disgusted. They couldn't believe that this failure of a human being was a Huntsman much less one that specialized in detective work. Sure they weren't detectives themselves but they had worked with police, they were familiar with all the processes involved, they knew the kind of meticulous people needed for it to all work, and after this conversation, they had zero doubts that Heathcliff would not have lasted a week in any of those stations… they wouldn't go as far as to say that he was a fraud but they all silently resolved to keep an eye on him and a finger on their scroll to report him to Beacon if necessary.

As for Heathcliff, he noticed how the atmosphere on the airship grew really heavy really fast, he noticed the way PRAN was looking at him, he noticed how their posture had steadily grown more defensive, "Yer all glaring at me, you're doing yer best to hide it but I got under yer skin. Remember that, pissing people will git under their skin, and annoy them something fierce. That's when the logical part of their head starts to lose control, they git sloppy. It's like a fight, a pissed-off guy will forget about control and punch with all their might, they're predictable and will overextend."

Heathcliff waited for them to respond but they didn't, they weren't going to be impressed by him deducing something that anyone could have figured out, and that made him glad. People were often too easily swayed by authority, he had seen teams of first-years buy into his bullshit without much resistance. Those teams often made for poor investigators unless they could be made to see their folly early on… but now he had the opposite conundrum. Ma always did warn that if I acted the clown then people would see me as one… these kids won't believe me if I tell them it was just a little test. I'll have to show them with my actions.

The detective sighed again, "Alright then. I can tell that none o' your are in the mood for jokes and I don't blame you. I've made a terrible first impression and I'm sorry. Let's git down to business, open up the files and tell me everything that you folks put together on yer own. I'll tell you what's what and fill in the blanks."

Jaune cast a glance towards Pyrrha and then Ren and Nora, none of them were too sure about this Heathcliff guy but at the same time they didn't have a choice… well that wasn't completely true. They could choose to blow the man off, they could choose to ignore him for the remainder of the trip thus starting the mission on the worst foot possible. They could choose to undercut their investigation by causing a division that would set the tone for the rest of the mission.

Pyrrha sighed resigned to the reality that they had to give Heathcliff a chance and pulled out her scroll and projected the files into the air, "So what can you tell us about Autumn Hills?"

Heathcliff nodded, "So for starters, the map is a little outdated. Three months ago there was a massive downpour that widened the river thanks to erosion. The people of the town were able to use Plant and Earth Dust to repair some of the damage and reinforce the rest of the Hills but the river is still noticeably wider than the map would have you believe. Also, the money for Dust came from a family called the Whitebays, they farm various vegetables and run the only inn in town, they went into debt to buy the Dust. The Mayor, Carla Blues, led a donation drive to reimburse the Whitebays but there is a rumor that she did it only to avoid owning that family anything."

Pyrrha and the rest of her team blinked in surprise and confusion, "O-okay, that was more than I expected. How did you find out about any of that?"

"I was at the place doing some preliminary research. Updating those dusty records."

"Why tho?" Nora asked.

Heathcliff pointed at her, "That's a great question! The answer is that the folks who put those files together rely on Archived data and normally that's pretty accurate. But when dealing with settlements they become a tad unreliable, not that I can blame the buggers. Settlements rise and fall all the time, it would be a nightmare trying to keep accurate track o' them all."

"But Autumn Hills is considered a success story, they should have trustworthy records," Ren quickly pointed out.

"They ought to but what ought to happen and what actually happens aren't always the same thing. Ask yourself, how is the information gathered?"

Ren recalled his childhood, he and Nora once lived in a settlement where his father was a respected man. "It's mostly self-reported," Ren answered. "People in charge of a settlement are expected to keep the Kingdom updated, it's a requirement to get aid and occasionally an inspector will arrive, usually with the announcement of their arrival only coming after they already arrive."

"Why would they do that?" Pyrrha asked.

"Because a hidden inspector can watch to find out what settlement might try to hide from them… but what does this have to do with Autumn Hills?"

Heathcliff smiled, "Another great question! You see the place is trying to become self-sufficient, and the Kingdom gives favorable treatment to places that prove that they have what it takes to survive and thrive. Needless to say, having a town's natural defenses get damaged… it's not a pretty thing to look at even if it does get fixed. The failure of Mount Glenn made the pencil pushers a little peckish when it comes to long-term investments, the erosion isn't a red flag but it is a yellow one."

The atmosphere in the airship had lightened up considerably, and the doubts that PRAN had for Heathcliff were starting to alleviate. It wasn't gone completely, the stains of a bad first impression weren't washed away that easily. But he had made progress and had a whole trip to make more.

"So do any o' you have any more questions for little old me?" asked Heathcliff with a soft smile.

A crowd had gathered at the smallest and farthest of the hills that made up Autumn Hills. Unlike the other mounds of earth that made up the town this one stood out through how bare it was, nothing was planted and the only structure was a small radio shack. The defining feature of this hill was a large patch of concrete that served as a landing pad for airships and as a basketball court when airships weren't scheduled to come, they hardly were ever scheduled to come.

"Alright everybody make room, make room!" Sheriff Silvia shouted to no avail, her voice was drowned out by the crowd. Almost everyone in Autumn Hills had come, after all, what else were they going to do? And while she understood the appeal of the novelty, she was also growing frustrated. In the sky, she could see a black dot that she felt confident in assuming that it was the airship that they were waiting for. It was still far away but it would close the distance quickly, those ships were lighter and faster than their bulky appearance would suggest.

"Everybody get back!" Silvia shouted again and was once again ignored, That's it, no more Miss Nice-Sheriff! She marched up towards the radio shack, opened the door, and was shouted at by the air traffic controller inside.

"How Many Times Do I Have To Tell You Damn Kids!? Nobody is allowed in- oh! Sheriff, I didn't see you there. Sorry." The Air Traffic Controller was an elderly man by the name of Bill Cabbage, he used to live in Vale but came to Autumn Hills about 20 or so years ago as a way to retire without actually retiring.

"It's no problem Bill, do you mind if I borrow the megaphone? I gotta get rid of these people."

"Go right ahead, Sheriff! I'll buy you time to clear the field."

"Thanks, you're a peach!" Silvia took the megaphone and marched back outside. She then took a moment to survey the crowd before taking a deep breath and shouting as loudly as her throat could handle into the microphone, "I SAID GET BACK! SERIOUSLY, THIS IS AN AIRFIELD AND THERE IS AN AIRSHIP COMING! WHAT DO Y'ALL THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN IF THAT THING LANDS WHERE YOU ARE STANDING? MOVE YOUR ASSES! GET BEHIND THE YELLOW LINE! OR I SWEAR TO THE BOTHERS THAT I'LL REVOKE YOUR DAYLIGHT PRIVILEGES FOR A WEEK!"

There were murmurs, grumblings, and groans but ultimately the crowd did move away from the landing pad and move behind the yellow line that marked the danger zone. Not long after they moved back did the Airship move in with great speed and grace, Silvia didn't know how an airship could move like that but she didn't need to understand how something works to appreciate watching it work… but that wasn't the reason for the butterflies in her stomach. Can they do it? I know that Heathcliff is a skilled detective but what about the kids he's bringing? What will they discover? Can they figure out who was killed and prevent others from dying?

The town of Autumn Hills held their collective breath as the airship finally landed, their imagination ran as the doors opened and Heathcliff stumbled out laughing along with four teenagers who were laughing with him, "And that's how I caught the Jarlo pie murder! Heathcliff loudly said with pride.

"Bullshit!" A small redhead girl dressed in pink and white and carrying a massive hammer with ease replied, "You really expect me to believe all that stuff about the honey and the goat?"

A young pretty man dressed in green Mistralian clothes and armed with dual pistols then said, "It does sound far-fetched but I could happen, thorny goats are notorious for their love of honey."

"There were some goats on my uncle's farm, you'd be surprised by all the places that they can sneak into," said a blond young man in knightly armor that was matched by the sheathed sword on his hips.

"I understand that, but tracking down a serial killer is still a little out there," The final person was a tall gorgeous red-headed woman in armor reminiscent of gladiators and armed with a spear and a shield.

The town watched in collective silence as the five individuals talked amongst themselves in a conversation that was impossible to follow, they watched as those individuals unloaded their surprisingly sparse luggage. They watched and listened as the conversation shifted to another subject that they couldn't follow either since it seemed to refer to another earlier conversation that they weren't present for, not that it would have mattered… and then Silvia had enough.

"Heathcliff? What are you doing? Who are these people and have you forgotten your manners!?"

"Oh! Sorry there, I didn't see you. These are the students that I'll be taking care of for a while and let me tell you, they are clever!" "Heathcliff's eyes scanned the crowd as his Semblance activated, giving him a gut feeling about the people he looked over. His Semblance couldn't tell him anything specific about the people in that crowd, a gut feeling was just that. But more often than not it had pointed him in the right direction and right now it was drawing him towards people who seemed less upset about his foolish behavior than others.

"Then introduce them and do it properly," Silvia handed him the megaphone. "And be careful with that, it belongs to Bill."

"Thanks," Heathcliff then leaned in and whispered something to Silvia before turning back to face the crowd. "Hello everyone! You already know who I am so I won't repeat it. As for my colleagues here, they are the students from Beacon and they have already worked with police and done a great job so we can expect them to pick up on things quickly. Now normally we'd do a little meet and greet but there's an investigation that needs to get on the road and these kids got a grade to earn so kindly shove off! And thank you for yer cooperation." Heathcliff handed the megaphone back to Silvia before grabbing his bag and started to walk towards the crowd fully intent on walking through it.

There were some unhappy murmurs but the crowd did comply and made room for them to pass through. Team PRAN took their luggage and joined Heathcliff at the edge of the crowd, they walked alongside him to the other side and as they did he gave them instructions, "I'm going to be talking to the Sheriff and mayor to get caught up. You'll be staying in the same place that I stayed in, the townsfolk will show you and let you know when the town meeting will start. Arrive an hour early so we can swap notes."

Nora's eyes were sparkling, "Swap notes? So you want us to investigate before then?"

"Yup. But the most important thing is to familiarize yourself with the town and people here, poke around, ask plenty of questions, and always keep your weapon on hand."

"Are we in danger here?" Pyrrha asked.

"Of course we are! We're here to investigate Grimm sightings in a town that is steadily getting more and more nervous, the chance of an attack is a real concern." He watched as the girl nodded in understanding before he parted ways with them, They're going to do fine.

"So now what?" Nora asked Pyrrha once Heathcliff was out of sight.

"First we unpack and then we start looking around," as she finished saying that, she spotted from the corner of her eye a rather large friendly-looking man beelining towards them.

The man soon reached them and gave them all a polite bow, "Welcome to Autumn Hills, my name is Brandy. I'm the town's unofficial deputy and-," He gave Pyrrha an odd look, it was as though he was trying to remember something and it was on the tip of his tongue. "Hey, I know this is going to sound strange but… are you the girl on the Pumpkin Pete's cereal box?"

Pyrrha smiled, it wasn't a genuine smile but rather a fake completely artificial one that she had cultivated during her time in Mistral's arenas. It was a smile meant only for the eyes of her fans, strangers who held her to an impossible ideal that she was not allowed to shatter, "That's right, do you like the cereal?" Her voice took on a sweet soft tone that sounded friendly, nonthreatening, and completely fake to anyone who truly knew her.

"Not really, but my little sister loves it! Too bad she's in Mistral visiting relatives, she'd love to meet you. But enough about my family, I got to get you situated where you'll be staying for a bit."

"That sounds wonderful," Pyrrha said, very much relieved that it wasn't going to go further than that.

They had only walked a few feet when Jaune asked Brandy, "Can you tell us about the town and people?"

"What would you like to know?"

"Start with the town," Ren suggested. "Describe it as you show it to us, maybe something will stand out in a helpful way."

Brandy smiled and asked, "How about I take you to the watchtower? That way you can see the whole town and on the way there I'll tell you about the people here. It's not too far away from where you'll be staying."

"That sounds great!" Nora quickly answered.

"Then follow me!" Brandy quickly looked around for something to talk about before briefly pointing at the scattering crowd, "Did you know that about a couple thousand people are living here? I know that it doesn't look that way especially if you're judging by looking at the buildings on the topside."

"Buildings on the Top side?" Jaune asked, confused by how that was worded. "What does that mean?"

"Most of the people here live inside the hills. Not all but most of the houses on top simply mark the entrances to the real town. They all serve as shelters for those who have to stay on top and they also just look nice. Oh, and of course some facilities just work better with sunshine and fresh air, like the town hall, the dinner, and the inn where you'll be staying."

Team PRAN quickly glanced around to try to spot any signs of these underground homes. Most of the hills were dedicated farmland with a small house by the field, normally something like that wouldn't be too interesting but now that they were looking at it, the houses did seem a little too small. Now they would be the first to admit that this wasn't their field of expertise but these were small single-story houses that a family of four or six could comfortably live in… but these were massive fields, the kind that were impossible to handle without equipment. But if Brandy was telling the truth and there were people inside the hills, then it wasn't too hard to imagine that this community could handle these fields.

"Meanwhile Brandy continued to talk, "Soon we'll cross a rope bridge. They're nothing fancy but they are wide, strong, and do a damn good job connecting all the hills that make up our community together. Hell, they're probably the most expensive thing here save for the cost of hollowing out the hills and building a town. But I'll let the bridges toot their own horns."

There were three things that they noticed about the bridge in question as they crossed it. The first was that calling it a rope bridge was misleading. It was a suspension bridge wide and strong enough to handle heavy car traffic even though that wasn't something that this town had to worry about. The second thing that they noticed was that there was a similar bridge in between every hill connecting each hill to the one directly next to it… and while looking at a different bridge, they noticed the third thing. And that thing was that at the point where the bridge connected to a hill, there was space right underneath the bridge that someone or something could hide in.

Pyrrha then noticed a fourth thing that wasn't connected to the bridges but it did answer an earlier question. "Oh look, there are windows on the sides of the hills. Little doors as well with cute dirt roads leading to the bridges, we just couldn't see them earlier because of where we were standing!"

Brandy laughed, "Yep, that is a bit of a problem living here. Despite our best attempts to flatten things a little, these are still hills and that means that it's very easy to lose sight of things, especially at night. After one too many accidents, Mayor Carla put a kinda annoying curfew but it has helped a lot. Though that did mean that Sheriff Silvia and some of the deputies, myself included, had to move topside just to help keep watch."

Ren decided that now would be a good time to prod just a little, "So this is a place that suffers from poor visibility, would it be fair to assume that there is a possibility that the Grimm we're hunting has been around for longer than the reports suggested?"

"That's fair and I'd reckon that it's accurate. Not many people are out here at night and even fewer are looking at the foot of those hills. That nasty beasty could have been here for who knows how long before someone finally spotted it."

"And when was the first sighting and who was the one to report it?"

Brandy scratched his chin as he thought it over, "I'll have to dig up the report but I'm pretty sure that it was just a couple of months ago and that it was Mayor Carla herself who saw the creature."

Nora chimed in, "The mayor was the one who spotted it? What happened?"

"Well according to her, she was doing some stargazing when she heard what sounded like a wild animal slipping on the slopes of the hills. You see, it's a defensive measure against the Grimm but sometimes animals fall victim to it. Either way, Carla grabbed her flashlight and went to where the sound was coming from and I'm sure you can figure out the rest."

Nora nodded along imagining everything playing out, "Okay, so the type of Grimm wasn't in the report. Can I assume that she didn't get a good look at it?"

"That's right. There were a couple of other sightings afterward but no one ever got a good look. The bastard ran off every single time, I guess it was shy or something like that," Brandy softly laughed while imagining a shy Grimm.

"So we're dealing with a Grimm that's smart enough to run away… that's problematic."

"But at least it's just one!" Brandy answered as they finished crossing the bridge. "The place you'll be staying is super close by, just a couple of minutes more!"

Pyrrha thought that she had misheard him, "I'm sorry but did you just say that it was one? As in the Grimm is working by itself?"

"Yeah, I did… is there something wrong?"

She weakly shook her head, "It's probably nothing, but it is weird that a Grimm smart enough to know when to run away would also work alone. Are you absolutely sure that the Grimm is alone?"

Brandy mulled it over as he tried to recall all of the reports he and Silvia had received, no one ever got a good look at the creature but the descriptions were all similar and it was always alone. "I'll admit that I'm not completely sure but I am pretty sure. The thing was always seen alone, if there were others then somebody would have seen it by now."

Jaune then said, "So just to be clear, we're dealing with a lone unidentified Grimm that seems to possess higher than average intelligence but is also acting in a way that feels off." A fearful thought crept into his head, What if… what if it's not a Grimm? What if it's someone like me? Or like that poor woman we hunted at the Rally?

At that moment everything else faded away and his body operated on autopilot as his thoughts tried to make sense of this Grimm. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he was trying to convince himself that this was all merely a coincidence and not anything he had to really concern himself with. After all the chances of running into a second person like him so soon after the Rally was nigh impossible! Not to mention that if that was the case then how did this person keep it under wraps for so long? No. No. No. It was impossible… or at least it was nearly impossible.

An unnatural calm befell his mind as he felt the touch of a friend rest upon his shoulder, "What's wrong?" Ren asked in his usual monotone voice.

Jaune whispered back as he did not want to cause any misunderstandings in the town, "There's one possible explanation for this Grimm's behavior but it's so unlikely that I don't think it's worth considering."

Ren was about to say something when Brandy's voice caught everyone's attention, "We're here!" He and Jaune both made a mental note to continue the conversation later and with the others before looking to find out where "Here" was.

The answer to that question was a wide two-story building that had been painted Sky Blue and on the front porch was a big cloud-white wooden sign with sky blue letters that said "Whitebay's Inn."

Pyrrha was the first to comment, "Whitebay? I remember that name, Heathcliff brought them up during the plane ride here. He said that they grew vegetables and ran the only inn in town."

Ren then added, "Don't forget that they also bought Dust to undo the erosion damage, they must have a lot of money."

Brandy walked up to the front door and opened it, "Well come on in and drop your luggage here, the staff will take it to your room for you and we can continue the tour!"

Team PRAN walked inside and took a look around the lobby as they laid their luggage on the floor for the staff to take. The wall, ceiling, floor, and even the receptionist's desk were all made of some kind of light smooth shiny wood that none of them could identify. Even many of the decorations such as the plant pots, picture frames, and even a life-sized statue of a River King.

Brandy spoke some words to the receptionist and soon afterward the employees of the establishment came out to greet them. Pleasantries were briefly exchanged before the employees took PRAN's luggage to rooms that they would see much later on in the day. Throughout it all, Jaune was distracted but not by any thoughts regarding possible connections between himself and the Grimm he was sent here to investigate. His thoughts now dwelled on the wooden replica of the large bipedal frog-like monster known as a River King.

"Why a River King?" Jaune asked, staring at what he was assuming was some kind of trophy.

"Maybe it's a trophy?" Nora suggested.

"I figured that but why a River King? I'd understand if it was an Ursa or a Nevermore or a King Taijitu or a Deathstalker or a Boartusk or even an especially angry Beowolf! But a River King? A River King?"

Suddenly an old stern voice grabbed the young knight's attention "Have you ever faced a River King, child?" The speaker was a man who looked like he walked right out of a Western, everything from his clothes, to the tired worldly look on his face, and the sawed-off lever rifle strapped on his waist came together to make a man who could only be called rugged. And that rugged man of the earth was looking Jaune right in the eye as he walked closer, his footsteps were heavy and purposeful. "Sure that thing might be silly looking on land but in the water… it's king."

For a moment Jaune was so impressed by this stranger that he almost forgot that he had been asked a question, "Y-yes, I have fought them."

"Sure you have." The stranger said with a smirk as he walked a little closer, getting everyone's attention in the process, "Maybe on dry land where it's at its weakest, but if you're by the water…well, there's no escaping its jaws."

"T-that's not true though."

The man chuckled, "And you'd know because?"

"Because I've been swallowed by one and I cut myself out of its belly."

The stranger's eyes widened, "What? You can do that?!"

"Yeah, you can… it's actually a pretty easy way to kill a River King."

The stranger looked at Jaune's armor and weapon before glancing around the room to look at the rest of the team who were looking back at him wondering what his deal was. For the briefest of moments, there was a light in his eye, an emotion that was breaking through but it vanished as soon as it appeared, "Well… I guess a River King may not seem like a big deal for you but it was a big deal for the town. It was when we proved to ourselves that we had what it took to beat the wilds without help. Now if you'll excuse me, I got work to do," and with that, the stranger walked out of the inn.

"Who was that guy?" Jaune asked, looking over to Brandy.

"Oh that's just Andy, he moved here about two years ago."

"And when did the River King incident happen?"

"Oh, that happened when I was just a kid so about… 20 years ago? Either way, it was hilarious, the town was having a fishing competition when a Grimm got tangled up in all the hooks and fishing lines. Everyone was freaking out until they realized that the thing couldn't break free, so James Whitebay took his fillet knife, killed the thing, and was crowned the winner of the competition."

"Okay… so what the fuck is Andy's problem?"

Brandy shrugged, "I dunno, he's just like that. Now let's forget about him and show you what this town really looks like."

The town of Autumn Hill had several watchtowers with each one having been built on a hill that was noticeably taller than the others around them. Furthermore, each tower was positioned in a way that nearly covered all blind spots, this was not a coincidence. When the towers were built experts had mathematically calculated the ideal location for each tower and Earth and Plant Dust was then used to terraform whichever hill had been chosen, it was a long and expensive process but it was worth it.

The Tower that PRAN was now looking out through was located in the center of the town on a hill that was artificially made to be the tallest. And it was up there that they realized that the name of the town was a complete misnomer; To start with none of these "Hills" were hills, perhaps they were before someone decided to build a town here but now they were all wide elevated plateaus. In addition, despite how the town's name suggested a connection to the Forever Fall, any connection between that forest and the town was flimsy at best. They were too far away from each other with nothing but a wide mostly empty plain that was kept that way to make it easier to spot approaching Grimm.

But all of that being said; The town was gorgeous.

There were somewhere between 13 to 15 "hills" that made up the town and each one, save for the one that had a landing pad, contained a large field of crops and a small building or two next to the field. Most fields contained wheat and others had various vegetables with corn being the most popular choice for vegetables. And between each "hill" was a river that winded around each one in such a manner that almost seemed impossible to have occurred naturally and above the river were bridges connecting each hill.

And then they saw a hill that was stained red with dried-up blood.

"What's going on there?" Nora asked Brandy as she stared into a pair of binoculars that she found in the watchtower, I can see Heathcliff over there with the sheriff and another woman, they're not happy.

"Oh… that, um, well… someone maybe got killed possibly by the Grimm."

"What do you mean by maybe and possibly and why wasn't this on the file?" Pyrrha asked with an uncharacteristic sharpness to her tone that made it clear she was not going to accept anything but a clear and distinct answer.

Brandy quickly glanced from Pyrrha to Nora to Ren and then to Jaune, each one looking at him as though they had caught him in a lie. And to be fair, they did. An omission of the truth was indeed a lie, In hindsight, taking them to the watchtower was a bad idea… time to come clean.

"I'M SO SORRY!" Brandy nearly shouted as he bowed in apology. "WE DIDN'T WANT YOU JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS!"

Ren sighed and then used his Semblance on Brandy to calm him down, "Why did you hide it?"

"Is-is this your Semblance? That's so cool."

"Thank you, now could you answer my question?

"The Bluegrass family a couple of days ago found the hill like that, we don't know how it happened or even who or what got killed. We took pictures and took the remains into storage. We left the hill like that because we thought that it would help with the investigation."

Jaune thought about the time frame, "A couple of days ago? Okay, that would explain why it wasn't on the file but why try to hide it from us but not Heathcliff."

Nora's eyes widened as she figured it out, "It's because they don't know us but they know Heathcliff."

Brandy nodded, "You're right, we were afraid that you'd just pull out your scrolls and then get on your social media and start talking about some kind of massacre on the hill."

Pyrrha recalled the conversation they had with Heathcliff when they were traveling to town, "You were afraid that the pencil pushers in Vale would hear about this and hold it against the town before you even find out what happened."

Brandy hung his head in shame, "I know it's scummy but the sheriff and mayor insisted, they said that the town couldn't afford nasty rumors floating around like that."

Pyrrha sighed, "We understand but you have got to be honest with us." She then looked at the rest of her team, "Let's go talk to Heathcliff and get to work."

Author's Notes: Originally I intended at some point in this chapter to cut over to Team RWBY but I just did not have the room and I think that was for the best. It was more important to set the scene, provide some general thought and motivation, and introduce characters that will have a role to play.

Next chapter I will delve into the subterranean homes of Autumn Hills and if possible, share some limelight with RWBY since their mission is arguably more important for the overall plot of the story.

No. I will never tell you the story of the Jarlo Pie murder or how the honey and goat were used.