Chapter 12 – Hitting the Streets
We join our crew in the cafeteria. Team RWBY, minus Ruby herself, is at one table while Team JNPR is on the other side. Nora is launching little bits of food from a spoon and Yang is catching them in her mouth. Naruto is sitting at the edge by Yang keeping track of how many Yang has caught. So far, she is at four. Then all of a sudden Ruby runs up and drops a giant book with a few things crossed out on it in front of Naruto and in big letters it says, "Best Day Ever Activities."
"What the hell is that?" Naruto asks Ruby with a weirded-out look on his face.
"I told you I had ideas" Ruby reminds him. Naruto then recalls her saying something along those lines the night their last semester ended a week ago. Ruby then addresses everyone at the table saying, "Sisters, friends, Weiss."
Weiss lets out a whiny "Hey!"
Naruto snickers and tells Weiss, "Looks like you've been downgraded."
Ruby continues, "Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream."
"This ought to be good" Yang comments.
"Hope you're right…" Naruto says hesitantly.
Ruby continues again, "A dream that one day, the four of us will come together, as a team, and have the most fun anyone has ever had…ever!" Hearing that it is a team activity makes Naruto breathe a sigh of relief.
Looking closer at the book, Weiss recognizes it and asks, "Did you steal my binder?"
Ruby then makes a double peace sign and says, "I am not a crook."
Naruto then chimes in and asks, "Is this what you did with your break?"
Ruby goes silent for a second and responds, "Maybe." Naruto then shakes his head but has a smile.
Blake, thrown off by all this asks, "Wait, what are you talking about here?"
"I'm talking about starting the semester off with a bang!" Ruby answers.
"I like to kick my semesters off with a YANG" Yang says to the chagrin of the others. "Eh? Guys? Am I right?" She then gets hit with an apple by Nora and then glares back at her.
Nora then let's out a, "Booooo!"
"You deserved that, ya know" Naruto says to Yang.
"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad" Yang says is response.
"It was pretty bad" Naruto says in turn.
A little annoyed, Yang decides to mess with Naruto by saying to Ruby, "The four of us huh? So, you didn't make that with Whiskers in mind?"
"Oh right! My bad Naruto!" Ruby says in response.
Naruto looks at Yang with a vindictive look and starts to say, "Oh you little…"
Yang, with a cheeky smile says to him, "We make a good team, right?"
Naruto realizes she just threw back at him what he said the night of the semester's end and he relents saying, "Damn it…"
They are drawn out of this conversation by Weiss getting hit in the face with a pie accidently by Nora. Nora tries to blame Ren who just facepalms.
"Ah crap…" Naruto says before grabbing his lunch and backing away.
"Wait, where you going?" Ruby asks him.
"If I take a side in this it won't be fair" Naruto answers.
Yang looks at him and says, "If you're not with us you're against us!" Naruto takes a few seconds to consider this and responds by flipping over a table and hiding behind it.
"You coward!" Ruby shouts before she gets clocked with a baguette from Pyrrha.
"Nice hit!" Jaune says to Pyrrha. He then gets sent flying from the other students fleeing from the room. Nora takes a bunch of tables and stacks them up before climbing on top shouting, "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"
Ruby gets back up, milk carton in hand and shouts, "Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be delicious!" Her team rallies behind her. Team JNPR then starts launching watermelons and Ruby yells to Yang, "Turkeys!" Yang nods and shoves her hands in them using them as gloves and uses them to deal with the watermelons before she hits Jaune and sends him flying. Naruto reaches up and pulls Jaune behind the cover.
"What are you doing behind here?" Jaune asks him.
"It's probably for the best if we just stay here" Naruto tells him.
"But my team is still out there!" Jaune responds. Naruto then gives Jaune a blank stare causing Jaune to relent.
This ends however when Yang hops over the table shouting, "No neutrality!" before clobbering them both with turkey punches.
Seeing this, Blake asks Yang, "Are you sure that was a good idea?"
"What's the worst that could happen?" Yang responds. She then turns around to see Naruto shove a pie in her face with enough force to knock her over.
"Naruto has entered the battlefield!" Ruby shouts. "Whose side is he on?!"
"Mine!" Naruto shouts before grabbing a baguette and a few watermelons. Pyrrha then overwhelms Blake with her dual baguettes.
Jaune then shouts to Pyrrha, "Turn around!" She then turns around to see Naruto shove a watermelon at her. She manages to duck it only for Ruby to knock her over while riding a lunch tray. As Ruby is in the air, Naruto hits her dead on with a watermelon. Ren runs to follow up on Naruto's attack but then slips when Weiss squirts out a bunch of mustard and ketchup. Nora then makes a hammer with a table leg and watermelon and then starts swinging at Naruto. Naruto is dodging but then gets hit in the back of the head with a turkey punch from Yang. However, Yang is caught off guard by a backswing from Nora and gets sent through the roof.
As all this is happening, Sun walks in with another guy with blue styled hair and a red overcoat with a dress shirt and tie, a gray pair of jeans and yellow goggles on his forehead. Ruby then activates her Semblance and makes a wind tunnel knocking Team JNPR against the wall with the food flying at them. Naruto hangs onto one of the tables. Sun then looks at his friend who is now covered in bits of food and color and says, "I love these guys."
The doors behind them fly open as Goodwitch storms in and uses her Semblance to set the room back to normal and stares right at the culprits before saying, "Children please, don't play with your food!" She then looks over at one of the tables and says, "I know you're there Mr. Uzumaki." Naruto comes out from under the table looking defeated. That is when Yang comes crashing back down through the roof after Goodwitch fixed everything and gives a thumbs up.
Naruto looks at Yang and says, "Whatever punishment we get, you gotta do it for me!"
Yang looks at him puzzled and responds, "How ya figure?"
"Because I tried to stay out of this, but you dragged me in!" Naruto tells her and she has no response.
Ozpin then walks in putting a hand on Goodwitch's shoulder and tells her, "Let it go." This makes Naruto and the others breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Still frustrated, Goodwitch lets out a sigh and says, "They're supposed to be the defenders of the world."
"And they will be, but right now they're still children" Ozpin says in his usual calm demeanor. "So why not let them play the part? After all, it isn't a role they'll have forever."
After things have winded down, Naruto asks Ruby, "So, what else you got in the binder?"
With excitement Ruby starts flipping through pages and says, "Campus joke organizing, trying different restaurants, game tournaments…" And she just kept listing more activities.
After about 14 activities have been listed off, Naruto finally asks, "You really planning on getting all that done in one day?"
"As much as I can" Ruby responds. Naruto then gives Yang a look that says, 'we sure about this?' to which Yang just shrugs.
Weiss then interrupts and says, "Absolutely not! Look at us! We're covered in food scraps and it's only the middle of the day! We're doing something more relaxing!"
"Okay…we'll go play some board games in the library then" Ruby responds.
"I'm down" Yang states.
"It doesn't really matter to me" Blake tells them.
Ruby looks at Naruto for his response to which he says, "I don't have any plans."
"Then we're good to go!" Ruby exclaims.
"AFTER we clean up" Weiss corrects her.
"I should have known I'd get covered after putting this stupid uniform on…" Naruto complains.
"You really hate putting it on that much?" Jaune asks.
An emphatic "Yes" is Naruto's response.
Multiple Atlas airships have begun landing at Beacon. Goodwitch and Ozpin are overlooking this from Ozpin's office as Goodwith says to him, "Ironwood certainly loves bringing his work wherever he travels."
"Well, running an academy and a military makes him a busy man" Ozpin responds. "But yes, those are a bit of an eyesore." He then receives a notification for a holo-message requesting access. He tells the requester, "Come in."
In walks General Ironwood. A tall man with short and neat dark hair with noticeable cybernetic implants on the right side of his head and a steely look in his eyes. He wears a white overcoat, with a gray undercoat, black sweater, a red necktie and a white glove on his right hand. His pants are white as well. Ironwood was cordial as he greeted them saying, "Ozpin!"
"Hello, General" Ozpin casually responded.
"Please, drop the formalities" Ironwood requests. He and Ozpin then shake hands. He then addresses Goodwitch whom had begun to approach saying, "It's been too long. And Glynda! It has certainly been too long since we last met."
"Oh James!" Goodwitch says in an almost mocking fashion giving a wave. She then looks to Ozpin and says, "I'll be outside." She then leaves the room.
"Well, she hasn't changed a bit" Ironwood comments.
"So, what in the world has brought you all the way down from Atlas?" Ozpin asks. He then picks up a mug and kettle pouring a cup for himself and Ironwood. "Headmasters don't typically travel with their students, for the Vytal Festival." He then hands one of the cups to Ironwood.
"Well, you know how much I love Vale this time of year." Ironwood responds. "Besides, with you hosting, I thought that this might be a good opportunity for us to catch up."
"I can certainly appreciate the quality time between friends, however, a small fleet outside my window has me concerned" Ozpin retorts.
"I'm merely being cautious, Oz" Ironwood states.
"As am I James" Ozpin tells him. "And shows of force like this do not send a good message."
"If you are being as cautious as you say, then what is it you're hiding from me?" Ironwood asks.
Ozpin dawns an exasperated expression before rolling his eyes and asking, "This again?"
Ironwood puts down his cup before looking back to Ozpin saying, "Don't play coy right to my face, Oz."
Ozpin sighs and states, "I suppose I can't keep this a secret any longer." He then brings up a feed to a monitor in the room and says, "Just watch."
Ironwood then watches the footage of the Warehouse incident with the mutated Ursa. After getting past the initial shock, he asks Ozpin in an accusatory way, "How could you keep this a secret?!"
"What you just watched was recent footage" Ozpin informs him. "Until then we had had no real evidence these Grimm really existed, mere rumors."
"Oz, you should have told me earlier…" Ironwood states with anger and a hint of fear.
"All that might have happened is you showing up with your forces and trying to intimidate the people of Vale into telling you something they don't know" Ozpin responds. "I will not allow that."
Ironwood takes offense at this, but takes a deep breath to calm down and ask, "Is this Salem?"
"It has to be" Ozpin responds. "However, there seems to be another factor."
"What do you mean?" Ironwood asks.
"Some of my students that have seen this first hand claim that the Grimm were mutated after ingesting some mysterious new Dust" Ozpin answers.
"That wasn't in the footage" Ironwood points out.
"It wasn't, but I believe my students" Ozpin retorts. "There were two incidents, and in each one different students mention this phenomenon of the Dust changing the Grimm."
"And what have you done about this?" Ironwood asks.
"I've recalled Qrow, but I have yet to tell him why" Ozpin responds.
"Why would you wait to tell him?" Ironwood continues to question.
"I don't want this being discussed outside of this office" Ozpin answers. "If this is Salem, I don't want her to be aware that we know about this Dust."
"Do you have any of this Dust?" Ironwood further inquires.
"No, and it has not been seen outside of the two incidents" Ozpin answers. "However, the criminal Roman Torchwick somehow had it."
With disgust on his face, Ironwood states, "What kind of nonsense is it that something so powerful is in the hands of basic criminal scum?"
"I'm trusting you with this James" Ozpin says looking Ironwood in the eye. "Please do not tell anyone about what you just learned."
Ironwood stares back at Ozpin before saying, "I won't tell anyone Oz, but if I see anything I will act."
Ozpin sighs and says, "That is all I can really ask at this point."
We rejoin Naruto with team's RWBY and JNPR in the library. Team JNPR are trying to read books. Nora is sleeping on one as Pyrrha takes away Jaune's comic book to make him read something more knowledgeable, much to his disappointment. Team RWBY are currently playing a tabletop game called Remnant: The Game. Naruto is trying to figure it out from watching but is very lost.
It is now Weiss' turn and she states, "I have…absolutely no idea what's going on."
"Yeah? That makes two of us…" Naruto adds.
Yang goes next to her to try and help and says, "Look, it's easy! You're playing as Vacuo which means that all Vacuo-based cards come with a bonus."
"That sounds dumb" Weiss responds.
As Yang starts looking through Weiss' cards, she tells her, "See, you've got Sandstorm, Desert Scavenge... Oh, oh! Resourceful Raider! See, now you can take Ruby's discarded Air Fleet—"
While crying dramatic tears Ruby whines, "Noo..!"
"—and put it in your hand!" Yang tells Weiss.
"Okay…?" Weiss states still confused.
"And since Vacuo warriors have an endurance against Natural-based hazards, you can use Sandstorm to disable my ground forces and simultaneously infiltrate my kingdom!" Yang continues to explain to Weiss, but she then points a finger at Weiss. "Just know that I will not forget this declaration of war."
"And that means...?" Weiss asks, clearly having not grasped the overwhelming amount of new information.
Still with dramatic tears Ruby explains, "You're just three moves away from conquering Remnant!"
Weiss' demeanor turns from confusion to one of an overconfident villain. She stands up with psychotic laughter before saying. "Y-yes! Fear the almighty power of my forces! Cower as they pillage your homes and weep as they take your children from your very arms!"
Yang then holds a card in front of Weiss and says, "Trap card." As Weiss becomes baffled, Yang shuffles the pieces on the gameboard and tells her, "Your armies have been destroyed."
Now with dramatic tears of her own Weiss exclaims, "I hate this game of emotions we play!"
Ruby then hops in her lap with her own dramatic tears still going and says "Stay strong, Weiss! We'll make it through this together!"
Weiss then hugs her while saying, "Don't touch me!"
After another five seconds of trying to process what he saw, Naruto states, "I have no idea what just happened…"
"Oh, come on Whiskers" Yang responds. "It's not that complicated."
"I disagree!" Naruto indignantly responds. He is very much out of his element here.
Yang snickers before saying, "Look, as our friend you're gonna have to learn this." Naruto grumbles as Yang then turns her attention to Blake and says, "Alright Blake, you're up!"
Blake who was in a daze responds, "Oh, um, sorry, what am I doing?"
"See? It's not just me!" Naruto exclaims.
"Oh, shut up" Yang tells him. She then explains to Blake, "You're playing as Vale, trying to conquer the Kingdoms of Remnant!"
"Right…" Blake states trying to figure this out.
Jaune then walks up to the table and asks, "Hey! Can I play?"
"Sorry Jaune, we've already got four people" Ruby tells him.
Jaune looks at Naruto and then responds, "Don't you mean five?"
"I'm observing, not playing" Naruto informs him.
"Besides, this game requires a certain level of tactical cunning that I seriously doubt that you possess" Weiss confidently states.
"Uhh, you attacked your own naval fleet 2 turns ago" Yang says to Weiss. Weiss makes an annoyed sound in response which causes Naruto to snicker. Weiss glares at him so he stops.
"Bring it on, Ice Queen!" Jaune exclaims confidently. "I'll have you know that I have been told that I am a natural born leader!"
Weiss retorts with, "By who? Your mother?"
"A-and Pyrrha!" Jaune responds.
"Hello again!" Pyrrha says while waving.
"Naruto says so too!" Jaune further states with more confidence thanks to them both being in the room.
"Oh, come now" Weiss starts to retort. "You know I have no respect for anything he has to say."
"Okay first, ouch" Naruto states with annoyance in his voice. "Second, Jaune did a great job during the midterms, ya know."
"Hmph, it wasn't anything our team couldn't have handled" Weiss states with earned confidence.
"Yeah!" Ruby exclaims in agreement.
"Maybe, but the point still stands" Naruto doubles down.
With confidence in his voice thanks to Naruto's endorsement, Jaune says, "Come on, let me play your hand for a turn."
"I'm not trusting you with the good citizens of Vacuo!" Weiss exclaims.
"You just did an evil villain speech…" Naruto reminds her.
"Oh, hush you!" Weiss tells Naruto.
"Why not?" Jaune asks. "You've trusted me with way more important stuff before. I mean, you told us all that Blake is secretly a Fa-"
Pyrrha rushes over and covers Jaune's mouth before saying, "Fun-loving person, whom we all admire and respect…" This makes Jaune laugh nervously.
Naruto facepalms and says, "Seriously Weiss?"
Weiss then mutters, "I didn't know we were still keeping it a secret when I told him…" They all look over to see Blake staring daggers at them.
Wishing to escape this now awkward moment, Jaune says, "Right…Ladies, enjoy your battle." He and Pyrrha return to their table.
As this is happening, Sun walks up with his companion and says, "Sup losers."
"Yo, Sun!" He and Sun then fist bump.
Sun looks to his companion and tells him, "Naruto here's a real bro." This causes Naruto to dawn his signature grin. Sun then addresses team RWBY saying, "Ruby, Yang, Blake... Ice Queen."
"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" Weiss asks obliviously.
"Such a mystery…" Naruto says dripping with sarcasm. Ruby gets a chuckle.
"Thanks to that crazy food fight of yours, I never got a chance to formally introduce you to my old friend" Sun explains.
"Uhh, aren't libraries for reading?" Sun's companion asks.
"Thank you!" Ren exclaims.
Nora then pops her head up shouting, "Pancakes!"
"Shut up" Sun says to his friend. "Don't be a nerd."
His companion puts a finger up and responds, "Geh, geh, geh, geh! "Intellectual", okay? Thank you." He then waves to everyone and introduces himself. "I'm Neptune."
"So, Neptune, where are you from?" Weiss asks.
"Haven" Neptune responds as he approaches Weiss. "And I don't believe I've caught your name, snow angel."
"Um, I'm Weiss" she responds, clearly into it.
"Are you kidding me?!" Jaune exclaims back at the Team JNPR table.
"Pleasure to meet you" Neptune responds to Weiss.
"I never took you as the board game playing type" Sun says to Blake.
"Right, well, I think I'm done playing actually" Blake says as she lightly shoves Sun to the side. "I'll see you guys later."
Nora sees this and shrugs before saying, "Women."
Naruto looks at Nora and says, "Maybe you should go back to napping." Nora shrugs again and rests her head on her hand. Naruto then looks over to see Jaune's annoyed face at Neptune flirting with Weiss and looks over to Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha and whispers, "Still?" They all nod with Pyrrha looking disappointed.
Neptune looks over at Naruto and asks, "So, where's your team."
"I don't have a team, I'm an add in, ya know" Naruto responds.
"An add in?" Neptune questions. "Why would they do that?"
"It's because there wasn't anyone else to put him with once the initiation got canceled" Ruby explains.
"Okay, so why was the initiation cancelled then?" Neptune further inquiries.
Jaune, who has walked up closer to hear all that's being said answers him saying, "There was a Deathstalker and Nevermore attack. We took them down though." Jaune says trying to sound impressive which is not working.
"And Ozpin thought Whiskers here was too valuable to send home" Yang adds.
Neptune snickers and asks, "Whiskers huh?"
Naruto gets an annoyed look on his face and says, "Putting a stop to that right now. I already gotta deal with Yang calling me that and I'm not letting anybody else start."
"Well I'll start calling you that as long as I keep getting called Ice Queen" Weiss tells Naruto.
"Hold on, I've never called you Ice Queen" Naruto reminds her. "I've only mockingly called you princess."
"Besides, Whiskers is my cute name for him" Yang chimes in. "Nobody else gets to use it…well maybe Ruby."
"Don't worry, I won't use it" Ruby says reassuring Naruto.
"Thank you…" Naruto says with relief in his voice.
Neptune gives Naruto a once over and says, "I find it hard to believe you're that good."
Naruto then steps towards Neptune and says, "I can prove it right now."
Sun gets in between and them and says to Neptune, "Dude, back off. Remember how I told you about the guy Blake and I had to team up against? Naruto took him down by himself." Hearing this makes Neptune back down. Seeing this gives Naruto a satisfied grin.
Seeing Neptune back down, Yang states, "That was lame."
"That isn't lame, it's intelligent" Weiss says trying to correct her.
Yang rolls her eyes and says to Weiss, "I don't get your tastes."
"I knew you were an intellectual the moment I saw you" Neptune says complimenting Weiss. This causes her to blush a little which adds to Jaune's jealousy.
Neptune then notices that they're playing Remnant: The Game and says, "You know, I'm actually pretty good at this."
"Well then, maybe you should take Blake's spot" Weiss tells him.
"Wha?" Jaune exclaims. "Why would you tell him that when you told me you wouldn't trust me with it?!"
"Simple" Weiss starts to explain. "It's not my kingdom and Neptune has played before."
"She's got you on that one" Naruto tells Jaune.
"Fine!" Yang exclaims with glee. "I was looking for another conquest!"
Twenty minutes then goes by, and Neptune has won the game. He then tells them, "That was a good game, but only one kingdom can rule the day."
Ruby is shocked, Weiss is impressed, Jaune is dumbfounded, and Yang shouts, "This is a travesty!" Naruto starts laughing at Yang's indignant response until she looks at him and says, "Shut up…"
Pyrrha gets up from her table with her team and says, "I think we've hung around long enough. We'll be going now." She then gives Jaune a slight pull making him get up with his team.
"See ya guys" Naruto says to them. Team RWBY waves them off.
"We should probably get going to" Sun expresses.
Neptune then gets up and winks at Weiss saying, "Until next time." He and Sun then leave.
"Glad Jaune was already gone when that happened…" Naruto mutters. He then gets up and tells them, "See ya guys tomorrow."
"See ya Naruto!" Ruby tells him.
"Take it easy Whiskers" Yang says.
Naruto smiles and then leaves the library.
As Naruto is heading back to his dorm, he comes across three unfamiliar students. What he does not know is that these three are Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald disguised as students from Haven. He thinks to himself, "More and more of them arrive every day." He then decides to go introduce himself. As he approaches, he asks, "Hey! You guys are from another school, right?"
"Yeah, actually" Emerald answers. "We're from Haven."
"Wow, they must be dropping all of you from Haven off at once" Naruto comments. "I just met another student from Haven a bit ago."
"They just couldn't wait to get rid of all of us" Mercury responds.
"Oh, I know that feeling" Naruto adds.
Cinder is looking at Naruto and notices he fits the description of the one who took down Roman and Neo. Emerald picks up on what Cinder is thinking and is now far more cautious, although she does not show it. Mercury on the other hand is none the wiser.
"Let me introduce myself!" Naruto exclaims. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, a student here at Beacon!"
Not wanting to rise any suspicions, Cinder plays nice and introduces herself as well saying, "My name is Cinder Fall."
"I'm Emerald Sustrai" Emerald follows up.
"Mercury Black" Mercury says casually.
"So, you guys planning on being in the tournament?" Naruto asks.
"Of course we are" Mercury responds.
"So, then where's your fourth?" Naruto further inquires.
"She should be along in a few days" Cinder answers. "She had a few things to take care of back home first."
Naruto looks at Mercury and asks, "So you're the only guy huh?"
"Yeah, but they all want me so it's fine" Mercury responds. Emerald rolls her eyes and Cinder does not react.
Naruto notices this and takes note that Mercury is really cocky. He then asks, "You guys need any directions? Beacon can be rough to navigate on your first day."
"We appreciate the offer, but we prefer to explore around" Cinder answers.
"I get it" Naruto tells them. "Welcome to Beacon then, see ya around!" He then heads for his dorm.
"We'll be counting on it" Cinder responds.
Emerald waits for Naruto to get further away before she asks Cinder, "Was that really him?"
"He definitely fits the description" Cinder responds.
"Wait, that was him?!" Mercury exclaims as he then goes to chase Naruto down.
Cinder grabs him by the collar and says, "Stop."
"Oh come on, I can take him" Mercury says in protest.
"You don't know that and besides, it doesn't matter" Cinder responds. "If you get into a big fight right now it will draw too much attention to us. You will get your chance, but not right now."
"Fine…" Mercury relents.
"Now let's keep looking around this place" Cinder tells them. "Best to know our surroundings."
We join our gang once again in Professor Port's class. They are all bored but at least Team RWBY are not falling asleep this time. Naruto is sitting next to Pyrrha and they are both watching Jaune trying to ask Weiss to go out with him…again. Weiss is not paying any attention to Jaune's attempt. Naruto starts feeling bad for Jaune. Seeing Jaune strike out so badly reminds him of when he kept getting rejected by Sakura.
"Think you'll have any better luck in this world?" Kurama asks him.
"Hopefully" Naruto internally responds to the fox. "It'll help that I won't be asking anyone that I just think is pretty. But that's a long ways off."
"If you say so" is Kurama's only response.
Naruto then quickly glances at Pyrrha to see how she's reacting to Jaune and Weiss and she just looks disappointed. He then asks her, "You ever gonna tell him?"
"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asks trying to feign ignorance. Naruto just gives her a deadpan face in response to which she responds, "…Is it that obvious?"
"Even to a dunce like me" Naruto answers. "And Ren and Nora know too."
After some silence, Pyrrha answers, "I don't know…"
Naruto then starts drawing a parallel to himself and Hinata, although to a lesser degree.
As class ends, Weiss gets up and tells Jaune, "No, no, no, yes." The yes was in response to a compliment. She then rushes out with her team.
"What's their rush?" Naruto asks out loud.
"I have no idea" Pyrrha answers.
"Well I'm gonna go grab a snack" Naruto tells her. "Hopefully I'll see you guys later."
"Take care" Pyrrha says to Naruto as she and her team go to cheer up Jaune.
Naruto is walking around the campus grounds with his pastry. On his way to dorms, he sees some people in a tree. He walks closer and sees it is Sun and Neptune. After a few seconds of watching, Naruto yells up to them, "Sun?! The hell are you doing up there?!"
Sun freaks out and yells back at Naruto, "Dude, shut up!" This confuses Naruto so he walks close to the tree.
Yang sees Sun and Neptune after the commotion and yanks them both into the room and they both let out a yelp. She then sees Naruto and says, "Whiskers, you better get up here too!" In two quick motions Naruto hops up the tree and then into the room.
Team RWBY are now staring down Sun, Neptune, and Naruto. Blake is the first to speak up saying, "I can't believe you guys were spying on us!"
Playing innocent, Sun starts to say, "What? We weren't spying, we were…okay we were totally spying." Neptune gives Sun a disappointed look at how quickly he fessed up.
"Hold on, I wasn't spying!" Naruto shouts in his defense. "I was just walking by when I seen them in the tree!"
Blake then looks at Yang for confirmation and Yang says, "Whiskers is clean on this one."
Sun then looks at Naruto and says, "Man you're a nark."
"Oi!" Naruto indignantly responds. "I didn't rat you out, you just suck at hiding!"
"What do you mean?" Sun questions. "I'm great at hiding!"
"Then how'd I spot you so easy?" Naruto asks in an accusatory tone.
"I hate to say it, but he's kind of got you on that one" Neptune tells Sun.
"Yeah, okay fine…" Sun says in defeat.
Naruto gets a satisfied look on his face before noticing Team RWBY's attire and says, "Nice outfits! I like the new looks!"
"Oh, thanks!" Ruby says as she and the rest of the team appreciate the compliment which temporarily breaks the tension.
Neptune decides to capitalize on this further as he says to Weiss, "I knew you had a great fashion sense."
"Focus people!" Ruby exclaims. "You still haven't told us why you were spying on us."
"Because you guys always seem to get up to something fun" Sun explains.
"I just followed him to see where this was going to go" Neptune explains further.
Ruby and Blake are not pleased, Yang is indifferent, and Weiss is conflicted.
"Anyways, Neptune and I heard your plan and we wanna be a part of it" Sun states.
"Part of what?" Naruto asks.
"We were planning on going to different locations to try and find Torchwick" Ruby explains to him without hesitation.
"Ruby, what are you doing?" Blake says to Ruby. "What happened to not telling anybody?"
"But…it's Naruto…" Ruby responds.
"Try not to give her too much flak" Yang tells Blake. "In half a year he's almost become a big brother to her."
"Does anyone really need two hyperactive blonde older siblings?" Weiss asks.
"Hey, I'm fun not hyper!" Yang exclaims.
Naruto gets a chuckle out of this but then he gets a serious face as he says, "I'm kind of offended you guys didn't tell me about this in the first place."
"We didn't want to get our friends involved…" Ruby explains.
"That's dumb" Sun says. "You should always get your friends involved." Everyone in the room collectively rolls their eyes at him.
"Even if you didn't want to get JNPR involved, you still shouldn't have hid it from me" Naruto explains. He then looks directly at Blake and says, "Don't forget I'm already a part of this."
Blake looks back at Naruto and recalls him being there for her when she and Sun investigated the White Fang at the Warehouses. She then says, "Naruto's right, he's a part of this."
"Hey, I was there too!" Sun exclaims.
"Oh, right" Weiss starts to say with sarcasm. "You were such a help sitting there knocked out against the warehouse door."
"Not cool…" Sun mutters under his breath.
"Hey, he was trying to help that day" Blake says in defense of Sun brightening his mood a bit.
"Am I wrong?" Weiss asks expecting a real answer, but Blake cannot give one. However, Weiss looks at Neptune and says, "I won't object to them coming." Neptune then shoots her a smile.
Ruby then groans before saying, "Fiiine…now we need to figure out who goes with who."
"I'll go with Blake" Sun states.
"I'll be investigating the White Fang so bringing along another Faunus makes sense" Blake states in agreement.
"I'll go with Neptune!" Weiss says all too eagerly.
"Wha?" Ruby expresses. "You're supposed to go with me."
"It's fine Ruby" Yang tells her. "He can go with you two and I'll take Whiskers."
"Works for me, ya know" Naruto states in agreement.
"Okay then" Ruby relents. "Looks like we got our teams. Everybody head out!"
Ruby, Weiss, and Neptune have arrived at the CCT tower. Ruby is marveling at the sight of it as she says, "Woooow! I forget how big the Transmit tower looks up close!"
"You should see the one in Atlas!" Weiss exclaims.
"Please, tell me more" Neptune requests of her.
Weiss smiles as she decides to do just that. "It should come as no surprise that the tower in Atlas was the first one. Atlas developed the Cross Continental Transmit System to allow the four kingdoms to communicate with one another. It was their gift to the world after the Great War."
Ruby decides to tease Weiss saying, "Oooh, look at me! My name's Weiss! I know facts! I'm rich!"
"Weiss is an intellectual and as a fellow intellectual I appreciate the learning opportunity" Neptune states much to the delight of Weiss. "I also appreciate Atlas' gift." Ruby just rolls her eyes.
"Despite your eye roll you wanted to come here even though we could have made the same call from the library" Weiss reminds her.
"It's not like I was rolling my eyes at the tower" Ruby says as she gets out her scroll to take a picture. Unfortunately, she stumbles and drops it only for it to be picked up by the orange-haired girl they met last semester named Penny Paulendina.
Shocked, Ruby exclaims, "Penny?!" Penny is also shocked to see her and does not know what to say. Ruby then says, "Where have you been? We haven't seen you since that night at the docks!"
"S-Sorry. I think you're confused" Penny says before she starts hiccupping and throws the Scroll to Ruby "Uh... I've got to go!" She then tries to leave.
"What was that about?" Weiss asks.
"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out" Ruby states before going after Penny and shouting back to Weiss, "You go make your call! I'll meet up with you later!" This annoys Weiss until she realizes she is now alone with Neptune.
Neptune in his suave style says to her, "Shall we?" Weiss smiles as she leads him into the tower. As they make their way up the tower, Neptune catches her practicing fake smiles and asks, "What are you doing?"
"Trying to keep up a fake smile" Weiss responds.
"Why?" Neptune asked as anyone would.
"There is a certain someone I don't want to talk to. I also want to make sure they don't ask questions" Weiss further explained.
"As brilliant as you are beautiful" Neptune says to her, quickly turning her fake smile into a real one.
As they arrive on their floor, an AI hologram appears and says, "Hello. Welcome to the CCT. How may I help you?"
"I'd like to go to the communications room, please" Weiss says to the AI.
"Absolutely" The AI responds. "Could you please place your Scroll on the terminal to verify your identity?" Weiss does and the AI responds, "Perfect! Thank you, Miss Schnee." Weiss then heads to the terminal with Neptune in tow, but just off to the side so he cannot be seen on the monitor.
A Schnee Corp Operator comes on the monitor and says, "Thank you for calling the Atlas—Oh! Miss Schnee! Good afternoon! Would you like me to patch you through to your father? I think your sister Winter might be here as well."
"No, thank you!" Weiss says trying to sound as nice as she can. "I was actually wondering if you could find some files for me. I've compiled a short list."
"I see" The operator confirms. "If you don't mind...what may I ask is this for?"
"School project" Weiss quickly answers.
As the operator is overlooking the list she says, "Um...there are some sensitive documents on this list, ma'am."
"Well, then, I'll be sure to treat them with care" Weiss says not backing down.
With nervousness in her voice the operator says, "Right...very well." She transfers the data before telling Weiss, "The data is being transferred to your Scroll now."
"Wonderful!" Weiss exclaims. "That will be all, then."
"Are you sure you wouldn't like me to patch you through to your father before you go?" The operator asks.
Weiss forces a smile before saying, "Yes, I'm sure." The call ends and Weiss drops her forced happy expression.
"What was that about?" Neptune asks.
"I told you there was someone I didn't want to talk to…" Weiss answers.
"I didn't think it would be your father" Neptune comments.
"I don't want to talk about it…" Weiss informs him.
Neptune does not press the issue and instead asks, "Want to take a walk?"
Weiss really considers it but tells him, "I really need to track down my airhead of a teammate."
"Oh, trust me. I get it" Neptune claims referring to Sun.
Ruby managed to track down Penny who was looking around nervously. Ruby grabs her shoulder causing her to jump in fright until she sees it is Ruby. The two then start walking down the street. Ruby asked Penny, "So, we're looking around for Torchwick and those guys who were helping him."
"I wish I could help you, Ruby, but I don't know anything about those men" Penny told her.
Ruby then decided to ask about something else, "Well, what happened to you that night? You were fighting off the Grimm while my team fought the big one. What happened? Were you kidnapped?!"
"Oh, no! Nothing like that!" Penny replied, hoping to calm Ruby down.
"Then where did you go?" Ruby asked in a more reserved tone.
Penny thought about how to answer before she said, "I've never been to another kingdom before. My father asked me not to venture out too far, but..." She then looked at Ruby wanting her to understand. "You have to understand, my father loves me very much; he just worries a lot."
"Believe me, I know the feeling" Ruby responded with a smile, knowing how protective her own father can be. Penny then smiled back; happy Ruby understands. Ruby then asked, "But why not let us know you were okay?"
Penny was more hesitant to answer this question as she said, "I...was asked not to talk to you. Or Weiss. Or Blake. Or Yang. Anybody, really."
A little surprised, Ruby asked, "Was your dad that upset?"
Penny shook her head saying, "No, it wasn't my father..."
They then hear an announcement being made as they look to the plaza where a holographic image of Ironwood with multiple AK-130 battle androids and two massive metal storage cases can be seen. Ironwood then said, "The AK-130 has been a standard security model of Remnant for several years, and they have done a fine job. Wouldn't you agree? Wouldn't you agree?" There was then sound of clapping from what must have been a live audience. "But...the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation, and "fine"...Well, that's just not good enough, is it? Presenting... the Atlesian Knight-200!" The doors to the massive storage cases open and new bigger and shiner battle androids come out and knock down the AK130's. "Smarter, sleeker, and admittedly, a little less scary. These models will become active later this year, but they won't be alone! Now, the Atlesian Military has always supported the idea of removing men from the dangers of the battlefield. However, there are still many situations that will undoubtedly require...a human touch."
This caused confusion to dawn Ruby's face. Penny seen this and asked, "Ruby..?"
Ironwood then continued his unveiling, "So, our kingdom's greatest minds, in cooperation with the Schnee Dust Company, are proud to introduce...the Atlesian Paladin!" The image of Ironwood is then replaced with one of a large white mech suit with large guns instead of hands and was over twice the height of the Knights. Ironwood's voice then announced, "Now, we couldn't have them here for you today, but these mechanized battle suits will be seen defending the borders of our kingdom within the year!"
"Whoa, sure could have used that thing a few months ago…" Ruby said in awe.
Feeling uncomfortable, Penny asked, "Ruby? Maybe we should go somewhere else." Two armored Atlas soldiers then noticed Penny and started calling in backup. Penny then started backing away before she started running.
Ruby finally noticed this and said, "Penny! Wait! Where are you going?" She then noticed the soldiers chasing her friend and realized Penny might be in trouble. She then ran behind Penny to back her up.
Penny ran down an alley and one of the Atlas soldiers gestured to his partner before saying, "Down here! She went this way!" Penny kept running and started crossing the street on the other side of the alley. The soldiers follow, but a trunk nearly runs them over. One armored soldier is able to stop the truck in conjunction with the driver slamming the breaks. The other runs along still trying to chase Penny.
Ruby was still trying to catch up to Penny. She then cuts a wooden support beam causing a makeshift structure to collapse and create a blockade the soldier still chasing them will have to get around. Ruby then finally gets to Penny and grabs her before shouting, "This way!" She then activates her Semblance and tried whisking them away. However, Penny is much heavier than expected and they crash into the ground. As Ruby gets up, she does not notice a truck coming. The driver honks the horn, but it was too late for Ruby to notice. Seeing this, Penny pushes her out of the way and stops the truck.
Awestruck and unsure of what to make of this, Ruby asks, "Penny…?"
Penny looked to the truck driver and asked, "Are you okay?" Freaked out, the driver simply nods. Penny then noticed the expression on Ruby's face along with the bystanders. She then notices the soldiers and takes off again.
Ruby once again runs after her shouting. "Penny! Come back!" After having gotten away from the soldiers, Penny is looking around for where to run next and is flustered. Ruby finally catches up and shouts, "Penny! Please! What is going on?! Why are you running? How did you do that?!"
Penny is too nervous to get out anything intelligible. She says, "I-I can't! Everything's fine!" She then starts to hiccup. "I-I don't want to talk about it!"
Concerned for her friend, Ruby tells her, "Penny, if you can just tell me what's wrong, I can help you!"
Penny starts walking away exclaiming, "No! No, no! You wouldn't understand..."
Not giving up, Ruby tells her, "Let me try! You can trust me!"
Feeling desperate, Penny relents asking "You're my friend, right? You promise you're my friend?!"
Ruby stays calm and says, "I promise."
Penny pauses before saying, "Ruby...I'm not a real girl." She then shows Ruby her hands that the truck ran into, and the "skin" has been ripped away revealing metal underneath. She then stares at Ruby with sorrow in her eyes.
Unable to think of what to say, Ruby simply let out, "Oh." After another minute to let initial shock ware off, Ruby says, "Penny, I-I don't understand..."
"Most girls are born, but I was made" Penny explains. "I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura." She then turns her head almost as if ashamed. "I'm not real..."
Ruby took her friend's hand and said, "Of course you are. You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts that makes you any less real than me? I mean, one my best friends even has a metal arm!"
"They do?" Penny questioned. Ruby nodded. "But I didn't see anyone on your team with a metal arm" Penny commented.
"He's not on my team" Ruby explained. "But he was the first one who I made friends with when I got to Beacon, and he tries to look out for me."
"I see…" Penny says now getting the picture. "But he would still have been a person in the first place, not like me…" Penny now looked down sadly.
"You're not like those things we saw back there" Ruby told Penny, referring to the battle androids. She then tapped Penny's chest and said, "You've got a heart, and a soul; I can feel it!"
Overjoyed, Penny responded, "Ooohh... oh Ruby!" Penny then picked up Ruby into a hug and shook her back and forth. "You're the best friend anyone could have!"
Getting slightly crushed, Ruby meekly let out, "I can see why your father would want to protect such a delicate flower…!"
Penny put Ruby down, now back to her normal happy self. She then said, "Oh, he's very sweet! My father's the one that built me! I'm sure you would love him!"
"Wow. He built you all by himself?" Ruby asked.
"Well, almost! He had some help from Mr. Ironwood. He also has a new partner that's develop-" Penny explained before getting cut off.
"The General?!" Ruby exclaimed. "Wait...Is that why those soldiers were after you?"
"They like to protect me too!" Penny further explained.
Ruby scoffed as she said, "They don't think you can protect yourself?"
"They're not sure if I'm ready yet..." Penny responded. "One day, it will be my job to save the world, but I still have a lot left to learn. That's why my father let me come to the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it's like in the rest of the world, and test myself in the Tournament."
Thinking about what Penny said, Ruby asked, "Is this about that scary new Dust?"
Penny tilted her head and asked, "What new Dust?"
"The new Dust that—" Ruby started to explain.
Penny heard the soldiers coming and grabbed Ruby by the shoulders before telling her, "You have to hide!" She then lifted Ruby effortlessly.
Struggling, Ruby let out, "Penny, wait! What are you doing? You don't have to go with them! I can help you!"
Penny then dumped Ruby into a literal dumpster and lifted the lid a little to say to her, "It's okay, Ruby. They're not bad people; I just don't want to get you in trouble. Just promise me you won't tell anyone else my secret. Okay?"
Ruby sighed and said, "I promise." She then lowered her head so Penny could close the lid.
One of the soldiers shouted, "There she is!" as he approached.
"Sal-u-tations, officers!" Penny said to greet them.
"Why were you running? And what happened to the other girl?" One of the soldiers asked.
"What girl? I've been by myself all day!" Penny answered before she let out a hiccup that indicates a lie. Thankfully, the soldiers do not know this, so she just smiles.
"You shouldn't cause such a scene" The soldier told her.
"Are you okay?" The other soldier asked.
"Just a scratch" Penny answered.
"Penny, your father isn't going to be happy about this" The solider said.
The other soldier then said, "Please, just come with us."
"Yes, sir!" Penny exclaimed.
As Penny walked off with the soldiers, Ruby looked on from the dumpster with sad eyes. The then thought, "How can one girl be expected to save the world from all the bad guys. Especially if more of those awful Super Grimm show up…" Her thoughts are broken from this when a rat screeches from within the dumpster and Ruby yelps and ends up closing the lid on herself.
Naruto is riding on the back of Yang's motorcycle Bumblebee to a nightclub in a shady part of town. He says, "There's a lot less people than I expected."
"I seen that too" Yang comments. "I wonder why…"
Trying to keep the conversation going, Naruto asked, "So, you frequent this club often?"
"Eh, it's complicated" Yang responds. This only manages to confuse Naruto. As they walk in the club Yang says, "Guess who's back?" A lot of guns get pointed at them.
Naruto blinked a few times before asking, "Is this what you meant by complicated?"
"Kinda" Yang responds.
A large man with black hair, a black beard, a black vest, white dress shirt, and red tie comes pushing through his goons saying, "Stop, stop! Nobody shoot." He knows full well what will happen to him and his club if Yang goes on another rampage, especially since this time she has backup. "Blondie…you're back. And I see you brought a friend. Why?"
Yang grabs him by the arm and starts dragging him to the bar as she says, "You still owe me a drink."
Naruto follows them with his hands in his pockets. He notices two dark-haired girls with color-contrasting clothes to differentiate them as they are clearly twins. He notices them glaring at Yang so he asks, "Hey Yang, any reason those two are glaring at you like that?"
Yang looks at them and says, "Oh, them? I kicked their butts last time I was here."
"Oh…so why'd you guys fight?" Naruto asks.
"I might have been destroying the nightclub" Yang answers.
"Oh, so that's why the whole thing with the guns?" Naruto asks to which Yang nods.
The large man notices Naruto is not thrown off at all by hearing this and asks, "Are you as crazy as she is?"
Yang throws him down on one of the chairs and says, "Come on Jr., I thought we were friends."
The now revealed Jr. responds, "Blondie, you got a weird definition of friend." Yang looks at Naruto and he shrugs. Jr. shakes his head as he starts pouring them each a drink and asks, "What do you take kid?"
"Whatever you got works" Naruto responds. Jr. then pours each of them one. Naruto then starts looking around and spots a slight shine in a dark corner.
"Okay Jr., I need to know what you know about Torchwick" Yang tells him.
Jr. sighs before telling her, "It was a one-time de—"
Naruto cuts him off saying, "Why not just show us on camera?"
Shocked, Yang states, "I didn't know he had cameras in this place. Good looking out Whiskers." Naruto grins as Jr. is shocked. He thought they were pretty well hidden. Unfortunately for him, Naruto's eyes had been very sharpened through years of fighting people with the Byakugan, Sharingan, Rinnegan, or some combination therein. Yang looks back at Jr. saying, "Okay, show us what you got, or I reduce your club to rubble." Jr. is annoyed, but knows she's good for the threat, so he leads them to the room with the recordings. After showing them footage on fast forward they confirm Torchwick has not been there. This leads them both to be irritated. Yang then says, "Come on Whiskers…" as she leaves the club.
"Hope the others had better luck…" Naruto mutters as he follows.
Blake and Sun have managed to locate the White Fang who are miraculously at warehouses again, just not by the docks. Blake is not pleased as she says, "You would think the police would be keeping an eye on this place."
"Well, the last incident was months ago" Sun reminds her.
"That shouldn't matter" Blake responds. "I guess we should have expected some of the police to be on the payroll though…" Sun does not like the thought, but there is not really another explanation.
They walk inside the building and see cases filling a whole hallway before coming upon another man announcing, "New recruits, keep to the right!" They do just that to not arouse suspicion.
A thought occurs to Sun upon holding his White Fang mask and he asks, "I don't get it. If you believe what you're doing is right, why hide who you are?"
"The masks are a symbol" Blake answers. "Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters."
"Grimm masks...that's kinda dark" Sun comments.
"So was the guy who started it…" Blake says in an almost shameful tone.
"Always sunshine and rainbows with you" Sun comments before they head further in.
They come upon a room with a stage set up and a room littered with more White Fang members. A lieutenant walks on the stage and announces, "Thank you all for coming. For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for, for so long!" The sound of footsteps is heard as Torchwick starts walking up on the stage, much to the protest of the crowd.
"Guess it isn't really a surprise that he's here" Blake comments.
Sun spots someone behind Roman and mutters, "Oh no…"
Blake then spots the person as well and sees that it is Neo before she comments, "This is a problem…"
"Thank you, thank you!" Torckwick says in his smarmy tone. "Please, hold your applause!"
One of the new recruits with deer antlers shouts, "What's a human doing here?!"
"I'm glad you asked, "Deerie!"" Torchwick responds mockingly. "Now, I'll be the first to admit, humans...are the worst." He then motions to himself. "Case in point. So, I understand why you would like to see us all locked away, or, better yet, killed!"
Confused, Sun whispers to Blake, "So, is he going somewhere with this?" Blake does not respond.
"But, before the claws come out, I'd like to mention the fact that you and I all have a common enemy: the ones in control, the people pulling the strings, the dirty, rotten humans that run our kingdoms!" Torchwick continues on now starting to win over the crowd. "Government, military, even the schools: they're all to blame for your lot in life! And they're all pests that need to be dealt with! Fortunately, I'm the best exterminator around...No offense to any rodents in the room." He then snaps his fingers and Neo pulls the tarp off revealing an Atlesian Paladin-290 with the mark of the White Fang painted on its shoulder, leading the crowd to cheer.
"That…is a big robot…" Sun states in both amazement and fear.
"How did he get his hands on that?" Blake asks in a similar tone.
"As some of you may have heard, this right here..." Roman says as he taps the Paladin. "...is Atlas' newest defense against all the scary things in the world. And thanks to my "employer", we've managed to snag a few before they, uh, "hit the shelves". Now, many of your brothers have already moved down to our new operation in the southeast. If you'd rather stay within the city, that's fine...But if you're truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you. Any questions?" The White Fang applaud showing they are all in.
"We should probably go…" Sun mentions.
"Couldn't agree more" Blake responds.
"Now that all being said, this shiny new toy is not the only new product we're working with" Roman continues on, drawing Sun and Blake's attention again. "See, my employer has a brand new, never before seen product that has yet to hit the market. And it's far more dangerous than anything this hunk of metal can muster!" The White Fang are completely engrossed in whatever he plans to reveal.
"What could he be talking about?" Sun asks.
With nervousness in her voice, Blake says, "I can think of one thing…" Sun then realizes what Blake is thinking, the Grimm enhancing Dust.
"But before I can share it with you, there's a couple non-believers in your midst that need to be dealt with!" Roman announces. He then looks towards Blake and Sun and says, "Monkey-boy, Kitty-kat, long time no see!"
The rest of the White Fang starts to turn around. However, Blake, thinking quickly, shoots out the lights to distract them so her and Sun can run for it. Faunus can see in the dark, so they are able to run without bumping into anyone. However, once out of the building they see Torchwick chasing them in the Paladin.
"Oh, you gotta be kidding me!" Sun shouts as he and Blake head up to the rooftops as they are pursued from the street. "So, you wouldn't happen to have...oh, I don't know...some form of backup?!"
"On it!" Blake says already trying to contact her team with her scroll. As her teammates answer she says, "Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back—"
Sun cuts her off by shouting, "HEEEEELP!"
Weiss on her end rolls her eyes and looks at Neptune. Neptune is embarrassed a little by his teammate and says, "I know I know…" He and Weiss then rush out the door.
Sun continues to shout over the scroll, "Big robot! And it's big! Really big!"
Ruby on her end says, "Oh, I am not missing this!" She then rushes off to join the fight.
Naruto is sitting on a bench as he overhears this from Yang's scroll. He asks, "How does Blake always manage to find all the trouble?" He and Yang then see Blake, Sun, and Torchwick start going by.
Blake shouts at Naruto, "Shut up and come help!" Yang snickers at this as her and Naruto get on Bumblebee and drive after them.
Yang manages to get pretty close to the Paladin thanks to her ride and Naruto says, "So that's the robot Sun was freaking out about huh?"
"Sure looks like it" Yang says. Her and Naruto then both say, "This'll be fun." They both get a little embarrassed at saying the same thing. Blake and Sun are now hopping from car to car trying to avoid getting hit by the Paladin. "Ready Whiskers?!" Yang yells out to Naruto who nods and then Yang breaks a little launching Naruto at the Paladin.
Roman sees something coming for him and when he sees it is Naruto, he starts to sweat remembering how badly Naruto messed him up last time. Naruto then lands a dropkick on the cockpit and Roman yells, "No, not again!" as the Paladin almost falls over and allows Blake and Sun to get more distance. Roman tries to grab Naruto with the Paladin, but Naruto jumps off.
"Phew, nice save man!" Sun shouts over to Naruto.
"I'm really hoping Yang has a way to play you screaming over the scroll again!" Naruto shouts back.
"Oh, I got it covered!" Yang tells them holding her scroll. Ruby, Weiss, and Neptune now arrive on the scene.
Sun, feeling embarrassed, wants to redeem himself and yells to Neptune, "Come on, we're up!" Sun then goes to distract Torchwick while Neptune readies his electric trident weapon, Tri-hard. Torchwick swings the Paladin's arms at Sun who manages to vault over them leaving the back exposed as Neptune jams his trident into the Paladin's back limiting its movement temporarily.
"Whoa, nice job guys!" Naruto yells in approval.
"I've had enough from you two!" Torchwick yells as he has the Paladin's torso spin around and knock both Sun and Neptune off the road.
"On no, Sun!" Blake shouts out in concern. Weiss is also concerned about Neptune.
Naruto goes from excited to dumbfounded as he shouts, "Are you kidding me?! I just gave you props!" This makes Yang and Ruby laugh.
Seeing he no longer has the advantage, Roman gets on his comms and calls back to the Warehouse telling them, "Get those two cages we have in the back and bring them here!"
"Hey Ruby, do me a favor and jump up!" Naruto tells her.
"Uh, okay!" Ruby does just that as Naruto then stands under and then launches her right at Roman. As she is being launched, Ruby yells out, "Weiss!" Weiss in turn freezes the ground under the Paladin and Blake wraps the Paladin's legs with her weapon's ribbon. Ruby fires her sniper propelling herself further and strikes the Paladin causing it to slip, trip, and fall over.
"Oh, for the love of…!" Roman grunts out as he tries to get the Paladin back on its feet. However, Naruto and Yang both hit the Paladin and knock it over the guard rail and Roman yells on the way down, "I hate these brats!"
"Great job, guys!" Ruby tells everyone. "We got him on the ropes!" She jumps down along with her team and Naruto.
As the Paladin hits the pavement, he shouts over the comms, "Where the hell is my backup?!" Then they all hear the sound of a truck backing up on the road above and two cages get dropped out of the back releasing two Borabatusks.
"What, is that all?" Ruby asks. Roman opens the cockpit of the Paladin and throws two Dust vials he had in his jacket pocket. Ruby clams up a little seeing the Dust vials fly towards the Grimm as does the rest of her team.
"No no no!" Naruto shouts as the two Grimm ingest the Dust and both grow as big as an Ursa with glowing blue symbols on their tusks. Naruto then activates his Semblance and shouts to Roman, "Where do you keep getting that Dust?!"
Roman closes the cockpit door and responds, "Professionals don't give up their suppliers kids!"
"You made a mistake Torchwick." Blake tells him. "Enhancing the Grimm won't make them listen to you."
"The way I see it, as long as I'm in here they'll prioritize the ones outputting an Aura" Roman retorts. "Namely you five!"
Whether he is right or not, the first Borabatusk rushes down Ruby. She manages to jump out of the way but the Borabatusk crashes right through one of the highway's support pillars without slowing down at all. Naruto goes to attack that same Boarbatusk, but Roman comes in and has the Paladin swing its arm at Naruto, but he manages to dodge it and punch the mech knocking it back.
"Look out!" Weiss shouts at Naruto as the other Borabatusk charges at him. He just manages to dodge out of the way. Blake then starts shooting the Paladin drawing Roman's attention.
"We're going to need some serious teamwork to pull this off!" Ruby announces.
"Hope I don't throw you guys off" Naruto responds.
"In this situation the more the better" Ruby answers in kind. "I wish Sun and Neptune were still here. Penny would be a big help too…"
They all look at Ruby and ask, "Who?"
"I'll explain later!" Ruby shouts as Roman throws a car at them making them all scatter. Ruby then yells out, "Freezer Burn!" Weiss and Yang respond by Weiss freezing the ground again and Yang jumping up and then punching that same frozen ground with her Ember Celica creating a cold mist that obstructs the Paladin's sensors and the Grimm's line of sight.
"Perfect…" Naruto mutters in glee as he gets in multiple hits on one of the enhanced Boarbatusks since he does not need to be able to see thanks to his Semblance.
Team RWBY meanwhile are running around making distractions as The Paladin cannot currently target them. Roman fires at one of the distractions but this opens up Roman to an attack from Ruby who strikes at the cockpit. She then lands and shouts, "Checkmate!" Weiss and Blake begin to act; however, they are interrupted when one of the Super Boarbatusks charges at them. They both manage to dodge, but due to Blake being closer when the Grimm charged, she was unable to fully dodge causing her to spin in the air and slam into one of the support pillars making her Aura flicker but not fully break. Weiss runs over to check on her.
"Blake!" Ruby and Yang both yell out of concern and also run to check on her.
"Ha!" Roman starts to taunt. "Looks like I found you now!" He is about to fire on them when…
"Back off!" Naruto shouts as he shoulder checks the Paladin.
"I'm sick to death of you!" Roman shouts at Naruto making him smile.
As Weiss is helping Blake back up, the other Boarbatusk charges at them and Ruby yells, "Come on Yang!"
"Kind of annoying that we haven't come up with our tag team name yet" Yang comments as she follows Ruby who jumps over the Boarbatusk, uses her scythe to hook one of its tusks, then Yang punches it cutting off its momentum. Ruby then fires her scythe forcing the Grimm to rear up and expose its underbelly allowing Yang to get in another punch and knock it on its back. As Ruby starts to land, the other Boarbatusk rushes her down.
As she sees this, Yang yells out, "Ruby, look out!" As Ruby starts to turn around, Naruto tackles her out of the way and takes the hit sending him flying hard headfirst into a nearby wall.
"Naruto!" Ruby and Yang shout out in concern as they go to check on him.
Naruto is in rubble with his head bleeding and says to Yang, "So this is what it takes to get you to say my name huh?" Yang smiles and jabs him, happy to see he's relatively okay.
Ruby breathes a big sigh of relief and says, "Naruto I'm sorry, you got hurt protecting me…"
"Don't worry about" Naruto says to reassure her.
"Not looking too good there kiddo" Roman says taunting Naruto. Yang turns around and rushes Roman in anger due to two of her friends getting hurt. One of the Boarbatusks starts to rush her but Blake, now back on her feet, cuts at the Grimm from the side and allows Weiss to get in close and temporarily pin it down using gravity Dust. Yang then gets sent flying through a pillar by Roman and his Paladin.
Naruto gets back up to his feet and with noticeable anger in his voice says, "I've had enough…"
"You have back up so you can afford to go wild" Kurama tells him. Naruto rushes the other Boarbatusk and Roman goes to attack him but Yang, who now has red eyes and a flare to her hair, grabs the Paladin and stops it dead in its tracks.
"What in the hell?" Roman says with concern in his voice.
"Yang's taken enough hits now that her Semblance has made her strength skyrocket!" Ruby explains. Roman goes to attack Yang but she takes down the Paladin in a single shot.
As Naruto is tangling with the semi-injured enhanced Boarbatusk, he gains a faint red in his Aura as his eyes also turn a bestial red and his whisker marks spread further across his face. He hits the Boarbatusk with his staff and it cracks the armor.
"Uh, guys?" Ruby says to her teammates in confusion. "What's going on with Naruto?"
"I don't have a clue" Weiss tells her.
"Me neither but…" Blake says trying to best describe it. "It feels almost feral…" As this is happening, Weiss is no longer able to restrain the other Boarbatusk so it breaks free and rushes Naruto. However, Yang, still with her Semblance active, punches the oncoming Boarbatusk sending it sliding back a bit. Yang and Naruto then meet eyes and are both surprised to see the other has red eyes.
"Wow, gotta say I like the look" Yang says complimenting Naruto.
"What look?" Naruto says in confusion.
Yang points to her eyes and says, "The red eyes and the change in your whisker marks?" Naruto looks stunned at the revelation.
Kurama then looks down at his claw and notices a very small amount of his chakra is mixing with Naruto's making him stronger. "Hmm…It's likely due to his current emotional state." Kurama theorizes. "His connection to my power has always been tied to his emotions, specifically anger."
"It doesn't throw you off?" Naruto asks Yang.
Yang raises one of her brows and answers, "I just said I liked it."
"Well, your look is better" Naruto responds.
Ruby has a perplexed look on her face as she asks, "Are they flirting?"
"That's what it looks like" Weiss answers. Blake just shrugs.
Ruby then sees the Boarbatuasks getting ready to charge again and she yells, "Bombshell!" All of them look at her confused. She then points at Yang and Naruto and yells, "That's you two!"
Naruto and Yang look at each other and shrug as they rush to one of the Boarbatusks. Naruto puts Orange Spark into single staff mode and asks Yang, "Wind, fire, or lightning?"
"Oh, I gotta go with fire!" Yang answers. Naruto places the Dust in his staff and uses a Dust overdrive and with Kurama's enhancement there's a wave of fire. Yang then jumps along with the wave combining it with her own ignition as she shouts, "Now we're talking!" She then comes down with a devastating blow combining her Semblance with Naruto's flame to break through the Boarbatusk's armor making it stumble punch drunkenly into an uppercut from Naruto finishing it off. Blake and Weiss are stunned while Ruby is in awe, but she stays focused. A blue stream goes into Yang from the dead Boarbatusk just as the releasing stream from the Ursa went Ruby.
"Checkmate!" Ruby shouts signaling Weiss and Blake to restrain the injured Boarbatusk again. Weiss uses the last of her Aura to make gravity sigils to slow the Grimm down as Blake makes a few cuts to the Grimm before wrapping the Grimm's legs up with her weapon's ribbon. Ruby then uses her Semblance to go forward, and a faint stream of blue comes off her red form and her strike does far more damage to the Boarbatusk than she was expecting. This surprises everyone but Ruby again yells, "Bombshell!" making them keep focusing on the Grimm. Naruto and Yang come in from both sides and punch the Grimm causing internal damage that combined with Ruby's strike and earlier injuries finishes off the enhanced Boarbatusk. Upon this one's death, a blue stream goes into Blake giving her a concerned look.
"What's wrong" Weiss asks.
"You saw that blue steam just go into me, right?" Blake asks.
"One just went into me too" Yang adds.
"One went into me too when we beat the Ursa and I'm fine" Ruby points out hoping to give her teammates reassurance.
Naruto, now back to normal tells her, "You had a faint blue trail coming off your attack."
"I did?" Ruby responds in surprise, clearly having not noticed. "Although, I did notice that I hit the Grimm harder than normal…"
"Maybe you're amplified by the Dust's effects now?" Weiss suggests.
"At the moment it's just circumstantial" Blake adds.
"Wait a minute…" Weiss says now realizing something. "That means I'm the only one who hasn't absorbed one of those streams!"
"Knowing our luck, it's gonna happen to you soon enough" Yang tells her.
"Hold on, where's Roman?" Blake asks. They all look around, but he is gone.
"That's probably why he used the Grimm in the first place…" Naruto comments.
"I can't believe this!" Blake shouts in frustration.
"We stopped Roman from selling any of those Paladins, that's the important part" Ruby points out.
"Ruby's right, tonight's a win" Naruto states.
"We should go find Neptune and check if he's alright" Weiss suggests.
"And Sun" Blake points out.
"Right, him too" Weiss says dismissively.
After some searching, Naruto and Team RWBY manage to find Sun and Neptune at a noodle shop. Blake taps Sun on the shoulder. He turns around to see them all looking beaten and annoyed.
"Uh, oh hey guys!" Sun says nervously. "Looks like things went pretty well!"
Neptune then turns and tries to defuse the situation saying, "I knew you guys would be fine."
After some annoyed silence, Naruto sits at the end of the counter and tells the owner, "I'll take a large bowl." He then looks back at Team RWBY and asks, "You guys want any?" Their stomachs collectively growl as they start sitting down. Yang throws Sun and Neptune out to make room for the whole team.
"Hey, what about my noodles?" Sun asks as said noodles subsequently go flying at his head.
"Dude, stop digging a deeper hole" Neptune tells him.
While waiting for their food, Naruto and RWBY discussed the night's events.
"I still can't believe after all that Torchwick still managed to get away…" Blake said, clearly still disappointed.
"We'll get him eventually" Ruby tells her.
"We didn't come away tonight empty handed" Weiss mentions. "Not only did we hear about a base in the Southeast, but we now know Torchwick having that Dust wasn't a one off. He has a source."
"Whoever that source is knows a lot more about that Dust than we do" Naruto points out.
"Think they know how it can affect people?" Yang asks.
"There might be some trick to it" Blake speculates.
Naruto looks at the whole of Team RWBY and tells them, "Hey guys, don't try to keep me out of the loop anymore."
"We learned our lesson" Ruby states. "We would have been in a lot more trouble if you weren't there tonight."
"By the way, what was red-eyed bestial looking state you had going on tonight?" Yang asks.
Naruto shrugs and says, "It's new to me."
"You're getting a lot better at lying" Kurama tells him.
"I'm not really proud of it…" Naruto internally responds.
"Maybe he was altered by the Dust since he was the first to fight a Super Grimm" Blake speculates again.
"Makes sense to me, ya know" Naruto comments. However, he then recalls his fight with the Beowolf and that the stream didn't go into him. He is broken from this thought as the food arrives and they start chowing down.
"Oh, that hit the spot…" Naruto comments feeling satisfied.
"You said it!" Ruby says in agreement. The rest of the team are also in agreement.
"So, how new are those outfits?" Naruto asks.
"We got them during the break" Weiss answers.
"Why do you want to know?" Yang asks.
Naruto hesitates but then tells them, "Because they're kinda ruined…" They then look down at their outfits and see they are all scuffed up and torn.
"Oh, that's just great!" Weiss shouts in annoyance.
"And I really liked this look!" Yang shouts equally annoyed. Blake and Ruby aren't as audible with their annoyance, but they are not happy none the less.
"I bet that's what your grudge with Torchwick is really about!" Naruto says jokingly. This makes Ruby laugh and the mood brightens again.
"Just add it to the list of reasons to dislike him" Blake comments.
"I have numerous similar outfits, so it isn't that bad" Weiss comments.
Thinking it over, Yang says, "You know, I think I can make this work."
Naruto laughs before saying, "Yeah, you probably could."
Ruby then yawns before saying, "We should head back. I'm really tired…"
"Preaching to the choir…" Weiss says as they all head home.
Chapter End