Chapter 7

"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" Weiss clapped her hands together, in a good mood.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much Weiss… it's kinda weirding me out," Ruby commented, Percy nodding along with her, "Ruby, the ice queen herself cannot be seen out in public smiling too much."

Weiss shot him a scathing look, "Oh shut up, will you. How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances, parades, a tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking."

Yang sighed, "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring."

"Quiet you."

A boat honked in the distance.

"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?" Yang asked Weiss.

"Hey! The docks aren't stupid!" Percy argued, "They're important! They are important for sea fare navigation and ships!"

"Ugh, they smell like fish," Ruby commented, holding her nose.

Percy rounded on her, "What's the problem with fish, hm?"

Ruby stuttered, unprepared for his ire, "Uh… nothing."

"Anyway Yang," Weiss said, "I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And as a representative of Beacon, much like you four are, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom."

Percy rolled his eyes, seeing right through her façade, "So basically you want to spy on them to gain the advantage for the Vytal tournament."

Blake nodded in agreement, "Took the words right out of my mouth."

Weiss shook her head in denial, "Ah! You can't prove that!"

"Speaking of the Vytal Festival… ah… I don't know how to say this but… I'll be… sitting out?"

He winced as all four of them turned to glare at him, wincing under their blazing gazes.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

"What?" Yang was the first to yell at him, drawing the glances of pedestrians as they walked by, "Why? You're our strongest fighter!"

"Yeah!" Ruby was determined to make him cave, "Please don't sit outtt…" she pleaded, pouting cutely.

Percy looked away purposefully, determined to not to be drawn in to those orbs of hers. Otherwise he would lose this argument. Not that it was already impossible.

"Are you insane?" Weiss argued, "We have to win! And how are we supposed to do that without you, our leader?"

Blake interrupted his reply, "Yeah! This doesn't make any sense, Percy."

He shivered under their collective glares, "Guys, guys, I can explain. Relax," he raised his hands in a nonthreatening manner as they cocked their eyebrows, "So. We're a team of five. Now usually it's an advantage, but for the Vytal Festival, someone has to sit out. It might as well be me."

"No way! I won't let you," Ruby protested, "I'll sit out."

Percy shook his head, "I already informed Ozpin. This is a good chance for you four to develop more chemistry with each other."

"How could you be such a self-sacrificing, stupid, dolt!" Weiss raged at him, her fists hammering on his chest.

He sighed, sweeping her up into a hug. She stiffened for a moment, before relaxing in his arms.

The moment was broken when Yang whined, "Hey, why can't I get a hug?"

Percy glared at her as Weiss slipped away from his embrace, slightly embarrassed.

"I'm sitting out, and that's final. I won't always be there, and you four need to learn to work together," he glared at them as they gazed down at the ground, slightly abashed, "Weiss here still has something against Ruby despite promising to try to be nicer, and its causing rifts in the team. So, I want you to fix it and I'll see it when you do well in the Vytal Tournament."

"What is that?"

A shop had been robbed empty, and the five approached the detectives on the scene, who were muttering to each other.

"What happened here?" Ruby inquired, as one of the detectives replied, "Dust store robbery. Another one. Second one this week, and they left all the money too. Reckon it's the White Fang?" he asked the other detective.

Weiss scoffed, "Hmph. The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates."

"What's your problem?" Blake confronted Weiss.

Percy raised an eyebrow.

"My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane," Weiss shot back.

"The White Fang are hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided faunus," Blake stated, crossing her arms.

"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet!"

"So then they're very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale."

So she deflected the topic. Percy met Blake's gaze, her golden orbs flicking away immediately.

And she had that bow on top of her head all the damn time…

They kind of looked like ears. Was she a faunus?

Eh. He was probably just speculating.

"Hm. Blake's got a point," Ruby nodded, "Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy that Percy and I ran into a few months ago… Maybe it was him."

"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. Those faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."

Blake frowned at that.

Yang, who had been quiet the entire time, piped up, "That's not necessarily true."

"Hey! Stop that faunus!"

A monkey faunus was running from the ship that had been docked at port, jumping over the railing of the ship and landing onto the docks.

"You no-good stow-away!"

"Hey, a no-good stow-away would have been caught. I'm a great stow-away."

Percy sniggered. This guy was hilarious.

"Hey. Get down from there, this instant," the two detectives confronted him.

The monkey faunus chucked a banana peel at the detective, who growled as it slid down his face.

He laughed mischievously as he jumped away from them, getting to land and passing by them. He passed them, blowing a kiss and winking at Blake as he sprinted away from the detectives.

Percy snorted again. That guy had some serious son of Apollo vibes.

"Well Weiss," Yang commented, "You wanted to see the competition. And there it goes."

"Quick! We have to observe him!"

Weiss led the chase for the guy, as the five of them ran across the streets of Vale.

Weiss ran into a girl, falling onto the ground.

She ignored her, watching the monkey faunus as he ran away and flipped onto the rooftops.

"No! He got away!" Weiss said in disappointment, her lips pulling down into a frown.

"Uhh…" Yang started, before Percy interrupted her, "Weiss, you knocked over someone."

He gave her a flat look, before Weiss remembered and backed up.

She could really be dense sometimes.

The girl had orange hair and green eyes, and some kind of a green and black choker on her neck. She wore black pants with green stripes and a blouse.

"Salutations!"

Who uses the word 'salutations'?

"Hello," Percy said evenly, already ticked off. The only people who used 'salutations' were either trying to scam you or just socially inept.

Yang looked put off too, "Are you… okay?"

"I'm wonderful. Thank you for asking."

She was still lying on the ground, prone.

Percy shared looks with his team. Their eyes all said the same thing: WTF?

"Do you wanna… get up?" Yang asked.

"Yes!"

The girl flipped up onto her feet. Percy took a step forward, suddenly interested. He didn't see any muscle movement that he would normally detect with his senses. The rest of his team didn't share his sentiment, however. They all took a step backwards, put off.

"What are you doing?" Weiss hissed in his ear. He ignored her.

"My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Hello Penny, I'm Percy."

"I'm Ruby."

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head?"

Percy sniggered silently, having to hold it in as Blake elbowed her side.

"I'm Yang," she amended.

"It's a pleasure to meet you!" the strange girl said.

"You already said that." Weiss raised her eyebrow, confused.

"So I did!"

"Well, sorry for running into you," Weiss finally apologized as Percy rolled his eyes at her late apology.

"Take care, friend!" Ruby said.

They left her standing there in the middle of the street. Percy felt a little bad, but she was a little strange.

"She was… weird," Yang commented.

"Now, where did that little faunus riffraff run off to anyway?"

Percy groaned at her, "Can you please stop insulting him?"

"What did you call me?"

The girl – Penny – was in front of them. Weiss instantly pointed to Yang, looking away.

Yang apologized instantly, blushing in embarrassment at being caught, "Crap, I'm so sorry. I definitely didn't think you heard me?"

"No, not you…" the orange-haired girl moved towards Ruby as Percy placed a hand in his pocket, thumbing Riptide just in case, "you!"

Ruby leaned backwards, "Me?!"

"I-I don't know, I—what, I—um, uh-"

Percy moved towards Penny, placing a hand on her shoulder to placate her, "Now, now my friend, there's no need to antagonize-"

Penny rounded on him, "You called me 'friend'. Ruby called me 'friend'. Am I really your friend?"

"Ummm…" Percy was put on the spot, as all four of his teammates began shaking their heads frantically.

He would have listened, but she was just intriguing.

"Sure. Why not?"

They fell to the ground in disbelief.

"Ahaha!", she pumped her fists in the air, "Sen-sational!"

Penny turned to Ruby, not minding that she was on the ground, and grabbing her shoulders, "We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"

"Ooh, is this what it was like when you met me?" Ruby whispered to Weiss.

The heiress answered, "No, she seems far more coordinated."

"Weiss, she's already learning the lines from you," Percy smirked, while she turned to him in anger, "You know that was sarcastic."

"So it would seem."

"Anyway, Penny, what are you doing here in this prestigious kingdom Vale, which has had no robberies recently?"

Percy laid the sarcasm on thick, not knowing if she would catch it or not.

Penny answered, "There actually has been a robbery in Vale just recently. Two dust shops were ransacked! As for why I am here, I'm here to fight in the tournament."

How did she know the two dust shops were ransacked?

"How did you know these two dust shops were robbed?"

"The information was provided to me."

Weiss interjected, "Wait… you're fighting in the tournament?"

Penny saluted, "I'm combat ready!"

Percy groaned internally. Either she was some android cyborg thingy, or she was utterly socially inept.

"Forgive me," Weiss said, looking entirely unapologetic, "but you hardly look the part."

"Says the girl wearing a dress," Blake commented.

"It's a combat skirt!" Weiss rebutted, as Ruby slid next to her, "Yeah!"

Percy rolled his eyes, "And your necklace is a combat necklace. And your ponytail is a combat ponytail."

"Of course!" Ruby agreed, either not seeing the sarcasm or just not caring.

"Wait…" Weiss shook Penny's shoulders, "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed… rapscallion?"

"The who?" Penny blinked, before Weiss raised a drawing in front of her.

What? How does she already have a drawing?

"The filthy faunus from the boat!"

"Why do you keep saying that?" Blake interjected, her golden eye twitching in annoyance.

"Huh?"

"Stop calling him a rapscallion. Stop calling him a degenerate. He's a person!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trashcan as a trashcan, or this lamppost as a lamppost?" she gestured.

"Weiss, that's enough," Percy interjected, giving her a flat look.

"Or what?" she challenged, looking up at him.

"There's no need to antagonize other people for no reason. He might have been a stowaway, but that doesn't mean anything. Faunus are still people, Weiss."

"I'm just referring to things as they are!"

"Stop it!" Blake growled.

"Stop what? He clearly broke the law. Give him time, he'll probably join up with those other faunus in the White Fang."

"Ugh! You ignorant little brat!"

Blake clenched her fists, seemingly tense, but she then walked away.

Or attempted to walk away.

Weiss followed, "How dare you talk to me like that! I am your teammate."

"You, are a judgmental little girl."

"What in the world makes you say that?"

Oh, the irony. Percy shared a look with Ruby and Yang, "We should probably… go."

Blake and Weiss continued heatedly arguing in the background.

"Where are we going?" Penny interjected, looking as peachy as ever.

They had continued to argue all the way up into their dorm room.

"You want to know why I don't particularly trust the faunus? It's because they've been at war with my family for years. As in actual bloodshed. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear, board members executed, an entire train car full of dust… stolen. And every day, my father would come home furious, and that made for a very difficult childhood. You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars! Thieves! And murderers!"

"Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"

Well that solved it. Percy had already known she was a faunus from the bowtie and the way she defended the White Fang.

"I-"

Percy instantly knew she would fly out the door, but he didn't go to block the entrance or confront her. She needed space.

"Blake! Wait! Come back!" Ruby shouted.

Weiss looked conflicted and angry, as Yang sat in her chair in disbelief.

Blake was flighty, that was for sure. Though Percy couldn't say that he exactly blamed her. The White Fang, from what he had read, had been a peaceful movement before a change in leadership. A change in leadership that turned it violent. There wasn't really anything wrong with her being a former member of the White Fang; the problem would be if she was still a member of the White Fang. He wasn't really worried about her; he knew she would come back in time.

Though he still got Weiss' perspective too. A hasty generalization born out of fear, nonetheless, but still justifiable and valid.

They had gone through the streets of Vale all weekend, looking for her.

"The police might help," Weiss suggested, while Ruby rounded on her.

"That's a horrible idea."

"Weiss, we should hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions," Yang suggested softly, not trying to provoke the heiress.

"I think when we hear it, you'll all realize I was right."

"On the contrary," he sent a pointed look Weiss' way, "the White Fang was actually a peaceful movement before a change in leadership that turned it violent. So if she is a former member of the White Fang, you shouldn't make a big deal out of it. She's not a criminal."

Weiss only scoffed.

Behind them, Penny complimented her, "And I think Weiss' hair looks wonderful today!"

"Ahhh!" Ruby scrambled for a second, "Penny, where did you come from?"

"Hey guys. What are you up to?" she said innocently, as if she hadn't been tailing them.

"Uuuhhhh…" Ruby spoke articulately, as Yang answered, "We're looking for our friend Blake."

"Ohhh, the faunus girl!"

Percy clapped as the other three stood, dumbfounded. "You're a genius Penny!"

"How did you figure that out?"

"The cat ears?" Penny gestured to her head.

Percy took one look at his teammates' dumbfounded faces and cackled madly before Yang clocked him lightly in the side of the head.

"So, where is she?" Penny asked.

Gods this girl was dense. But still hilarious.

"We don't know. She's been missing since Friday."

Penny gasped in shock, "That's terrible!"

Ruby smiled unsteadily as Penny squeezed her shoulders, "Well don't you worry Ruby, my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate."

"Uh, that's really nice fo you Penny, uh, but we're-we're okay. Really. Right guys?"

She looked around to find Yang, Weiss, and even himself gone. Percy felt a little guilt, but not enough to make him go back and save Ruby.

Percy scoured for her all over Vale, before arriving at the docks to take some fresh air.

An explosion sounded at the docks. He whipped his head, sprinting towards it.

He groaned when he saw the signature hat and orange hair.

Roman fucking Torchwick.

The monkey faunus from before landed a banana peel on Torchwick's face, then landed a kick to his face.

Percy grinned. It was official. This guy was good in his books.

"Leave her alone."

White Fang troops dropped from the bullhead, surrounding the blonde monkey faunus.

"You are not the brightest banana in the bunch, are ya kid?"

Percy made to go help before he saw the monkey faunus demolishing them. He whipped out a staff, spinning it skillfully to break bones and knock the troops unconscious.

He watched as Blake came in angrily, attacking Torchwick with ferocity. She dual wielded Gambol Shroud, blurring from side to side with her shadow clone effects, but Torchwick was no slouch. He blocked with one cane, trading several blows of his own.

Torchwick pushed Blake off him, but the monkey faunus came in, his staff turning into two nun chucks that had guns on the edges. They clashed blows quickly, the monkey faunus using his weapons to fire off several shots, and Blake landed a blow to Torchwick's side.

Torchwick shot at a container above them, and Blake and the monkey faunus dove to the sides, avoiding it just barely.

Torchwick leveled his cane-gun at the monkey faunus on the ground.

"Hey!"

And there was Ruby. Of course, she was there.

"Oh, hello Red! Isn't it past your bedtime?"

Percy watched Ruby turn around to Penny to say something before Torchwick fired, blowing her back with a pained cry.

The eccentric orange-haired criminal had the nerve to laugh.

He narrowed his eyes, that was it.

Percy landed in front of Torchwick, taking in the surprised criminal's eyes.

Riptide was out in an instant.

It cut left, then right, and Torchwick was so busy keeping up that he missed the haymaker to the jaw. He stumbled, and Percy pushed the advantage.

"Your villain laugh is horrible, by the way. I've seen way better," Percy taunted, Riptide coming down on Roman's cane with force.

The criminal shook, and a boot to the chest sent him flying into one of the containers. Percy leisurely walked toward him, content to draw this out as long as possible to make him suffer for hurting Ruby.

More bullheads came in, however, and Percy was forced to flick a ward shield up to prevent himself from getting hit.

He flicked his eyes instantly back to Torchwick, but he was gone.

Gods damnit. He'd been too arrogant. Percy swore that dude's semblance was getting away or something.

He watched as the girl, Penny, whipped out an arsenal of blades, attacking the White Fang troops and shielding herself from the bullheads.

A green beam spat out of her blades, bisecting two of the bullheads in two.

The third bullhead tried to fire, but a quick sketch and a piercing ward bisected it in half as it fell into the ocean.

There was another bullhead. Torchwick had to be on it.

The last bullhead quickly ascended, and Percy sketched another piercing ward rapidly, sending it towards the bullhead.

Except it was too far away, and too weak. It only dented the metal of the bullhead, not doing any real damage.

Weiss and Yang came towards them, Weiss with an unreadable expression on her face.

Ruby worriedly got up, "Look Weiss, it's not what you think she explained the whole thing you see she doesn't actually wear a bow she has kitty ears and they're actually kinda cute."

Percy shot her a look, "You're rambling."

Ruby blushed in embarrassment.

Weiss came to face Blake.

"Weiss. I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with-"

"Stop. Do you have any idea how long we've been searching for you?"

Percy was dumbfounded, and apparently Blake was too. Who knew Weiss actually cared?

"Twelve hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in those twelve hours I've decided: that I don't care!"

"You don't care?"

"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?"

"Upupupupup! I don't wanna hear it! All I want to know, is that the next time something this big comes up, you'll come to your teammates, and not some…", Percy could tell Weiss was about to insult the monkey faunus next to him again, and he shot her a look that said, 'don't ruin it', "someone else," she finished.

Blake wiped a tear from her eye, "Of course."

Even Weiss had a little smile on her face.

It was sweet. Weiss had definitely changed for the better.

"I'm still not quite sure how I feel about you," Weiss pointed at the mischievous monkey faunus.

"He's good in my books," Percy grinned, wrapping an arm around the monkey faunus.

"What's your name again?"

"I never told you my name?"

"I know, that was just to make it less awkward."

"Ohh. Sun."

Percy nodded, "Sun here is a very talented huntsman and ranked number one in his class for mischievousness," he bullshitted as Weiss raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, where's Penny?" Ruby piped up.

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'til next time!

Next Chapter: June 15th

-thann3