Disclaimer: See first chapter, except replace "Rooster Teeth" with "Viz Media".

Black Emerald

Ruby was rushing through her store, making sure that everything and everyone was up to snuff. Beacon had gone on break for a week or two, which meant that Yang had gone home to Patch. What that also meant was that soon there would be a rush on her store for everything from ammunition to weapons that needed to be made, and she was going to ensure that things were set up so she could profit off of it!

She whooshed from each side of the store to every other side of the store, making sure that everything was dusted, the dust was cleaned, and that the floors were clear. The arena was working and had to work, and that her point of sale system worked. Although she did call that thing a POS for a reason...

Yep. Her store was good, and there were rose petals all over the place. She gave a quick flux of aura, and watched as they all turned to dust that even quicker disintegrated. Zwei was sleeping on the pillow on the counter, a small bubble snoozing out of his mouth. First day of the two week break, which meant...that there was no way she would be getting a lot of customers today-

The bell rang as if to say how much she was wrong. She froze in surprise for just a moment too long before darting back over the counter. She was almost learning how to fly using her Semblance, that was cool!

It was a young girl, probably around Yang's age, that wandered in. She had light green, almost emerald hair with darker skin, like she was from Vacuo or somewhere near there. "Hi!" Ruby said, "Welcome to Summer's Weapon Shop!"

"So that's what this is," the girl said as she wandered the aisles. The door opened again and a young man entered the store, this time with gray hair, and a thick physical build to him.

Ruby's eyes darted to their weapons. The girl had a hook-based revolver weapon from what she could tell. Mistralian origin, could fire around thirteen shots per second depending on how fast the girl could pull the triggers, and a chain length that could be sixty...wait, no, eighty feet. That was cool! So cool! Being a weaponsmith was amazing!

And the guy...he didn't seem to have anything on him. A physical fighter, like Yang, then? She didn't appear to have anything either before Ember Celica was put into full gauntlet mode. His arms were muscular but they weren't a general like a brawler. His legs...well, he was wearing baggy pants, so maybe he was better built on his legs.

He stepped onto the arena, and suddenly everything made sense. There was a very quiet clang, as if he was deliberately trying to make no more noise than anyone else, but Ruby heard it as easy as the wind blew the window open upstairs and pushed Zwei off the bed in the dead of night.

Prosthetics. Probably with some heavy amount of ammunition in there, using...she couldn't actually see them so she had to make a best guess based on weight from a mere sound. Ooh boy that was hard, she'd had to guess maybe...forty five purity dust? Probably red or white, if she had a feeling, but really she wanted dust nowhere near her legs.

"Alright, I wasn't expecting this place to still be around," the guy said. "I mean, it's kind of quaint. Quaint!"

The girl ignored him, which Ruby didn't blame her for at all, as she went up to the counter. "Hi, I'm looking for an address, hoping you can lead us to it," she asked.

"Sure, what is it?" Ruby asked. She looked around the girl to see the guy messing with one of the dust containers. "Uh, sir, if you need some dust please wait. I have to unlock it for you!" she called out.

"Having dust issues? Seems to be a running theme in this town," the girl asked. There was a sweet tone to it, as if she was hiding something.

"Roman Torchwick came by a few weeks ago. He didn't get anything, but he still got away. Barely, just barely, but at least he didn't get anything!" Ruby answered. That was actually something she could be proud of, apparently. Torchwick was basically hunter-trained, so he was as good as most huntsman or huntresses were. Probably not to the level of say, Goodwitch or anything, but enough to beat a trained Ruby? Yeah, she had apparently nothing to be ashamed of for losing to him.

Apparently both Blake and Sun lost too, when they were trying to beat him down. And if Torchwick could beat those two at the same time, then Ruby had no issues with anything. That said, the fact there was an hour or two each night dedicated to 'training in arena' should tell anyone that despite being what Ruby should feel, it was not what Ruby felt. She should have done better, should have been better. She was a huntress in training, and she needed to live up to it.

"I'm surprised there's anything here then," the girl meandered meaninglessly. "Any case, the address," she said, pointing to a small piece of paper.

Ruby glanced at it. "Oh yeah, that's Tukson's place! Closed down a few days ago because he went on vacation. Was going to go in a few weeks but I just told him to take it now. Beacon students didn't help his bottom line that badly," she said.

The girl took the paper back. "Oh...so he's not there?" she asked.

"Tukson? No, he left a few days ago. Two? Days ago I think? Something like that. If you're looking for another bookshop, there's a few more down the street, but they have just the latest big ones. If you want the small ones, just wait until he gets back," Ruby answered.

"Hey, do you have any .45's? I can't find the ammo," the guy shouted from the back. Ruby gave a quiet sigh.

"Near the front! Right under the sign that says 'ammunition'!" Ruby called out. The man looked confused for a moment before he saw the sign. Why did it seem like no one read those signs she'd made? It wasn't that hard to read.

"Wow Mercury, now you can't even read," the girl teased. "So Tukson's not here. Any idea when he will get back?" she asked.

"I can read just fine! I just prefer the pictures," the man replied, shrugging.

"A few weeks, I think he said? Why, there a book you need specifically from his shop? He does have a vintage comic book selection that's really nice," Ruby answered. She said the last bit a bit louder so Mercury would hear it. His head perked up.

"Vintage? What's the general rarity?" Mercury asked. He leaned forward onto the girl, obviously making her uncomfortable, but it was the kind of uncomfortable that seemed all too normal. They knew each other, obviously. And she had awesome chain sickle revolvers, Ruby had to see those in action at some point. She could defend herself from some guy easily. But if it got worse, she'd step in.

"Um...three I think. I don't know, I don't pay attention to comics anymore. I haven't had time in months!" Ruby answered. She felt a sweat drop come down from the back of her head.

"Three rarity!? Em, we are going to that store," Mercury announced. The girl looked even more annoyed now than she had when she learned that Tukson had already left.

The girl, Em, sighed loudly. "Fine. Fine! I can see I'm not going to win this. Come on, we need to have a talk with someone."

"Come on, don't you need some ammunition at least?" Mercury said, pointing over to the boxes and boxes of .45. Ruby was glad that her order had come in quickly. Apparently there was a drought on that kind, and had been for a while.

"You know what, fine. Two boxes," Em said. Mercury gave a grin and fist pumped a bit, before putting the two boxes on the counter.

Ruby tallied it up, before she looked at the receipt as it printed out. "Huh, you're my hundredth customer exactly. Congratulations!" she said, handing him the receipt easy.

"I am? Do I get anything for it?"

Ruby looked around. She hadn't planned on anything, it had just been a random fact, but she could totally use this for something. She pulled Zwei's pillow over the counter, putting it directly in front of Mercury. "You get to pet Zwei for a bit?" she tried.

"That seems kind of lame," Mercury said, reaching out gently and petting the corgi lightly on his head. Zwei gave a small whoof.

Ruby wasn't sure what exactly happened after that. Zwei had shot towards Em, who'd been walking towards the exit with a small dust crystal in her hands. However in doing so the pillow shot forwards, hitting Mercury and pushing him directly towards the light dust arena.

He got sent flying and tried his best to keep himself steady, only to exactly hit one of the weapon stock shelves.

She always kept her weapons completely without any ammunition, for this exact scenario. But she somehow missed this one, as it let off a loud boom as the dust inside went explosive. When had she forgotten to take dust out of a weapon!?

Which made a single shot ricochet off the wall and into one of the hard light arena walls, which activated the moment Mercury's foot had first stepped in it. Which went straight through Em's wallet, causing lien cards to come flying out without any holes in them.

The green haired girl froze for a long moment. "I...hope that was an accident?" she asked aloud. Ruby hoped she meant that towards Mercury because there was no way that was going to be anything but an accident if she was supposed to have done it.

That was a million to one shot, and that was saying something considering she was a sniper.

"Hey come on, let me outta here!" Mercury said, pounding on the walls lightly. "Come on, what's with these things? What is this, a prison cell?"

"No, it's an arena," Ruby answered as she hurried over to turn it off. An instant later she grabbed the lien cards and repaired Em's wallet, handing it back to the girl.

"You have an arena...in your shop. Kinda small, isn't it?" Em asked.

"It's mostly meant for training purposes, or for demonstration," Ruby explained as she turned it off.

"I'm going to guess that that was the hundredth guest bonus. If it was, that was awesome and I am doing that again," Mercury announced. Em rolled her eyes but left the shop, the bell ringing lightly. The dust crystal that she'd somehow snagged from one of the other weapons, which again how was that there, was lying on the floor. Along with another two lien cards that she just left.

Mercury left grumbling a moment later. "That was weird Zwei," Ruby said as she picked up the cards. "They also left a bit here," she said as she left the shop, shouting towards the empty street, "You left some money here!" she called out.

No one answered. Both Em and Mercury were gone faster than she would have thought. Ruby gave a sigh as she went back in, writing on her scroll to keep an eye out for the two.

Qrow came walking down from the stairs a minute later, which explained just about everything that just happened. "Heya Rubes, you're out of the good stuff," he commented. "And what was that bang I heard?"

"Were you up there the entire time!? And I don't keep alcohol Uncle Qrow!"

He shrugged. "Well, yeah? Course I was kiddo. You knew I was...oh right you were already down here when I flew in. Uh...sorry?"

"Uncle Qrow..." Ruby sighed as his Semblance continued to mess with her customers.

Gaming Break

"Thanks for letting us come back Ruby! I wasn't sure if you were going to let us or not," Taiyang said from his place on the couch. Yang was next to him, her tongue out a bit as she focused solely on the big screen on the other side of the room.

Ruby's attention was mostly at the screen too. On the other side from Dad was Uncle Qrow, who was playing with only one hand and was still kicking both her and Yang's butt. And Jaune's too, who was on the other side of Yang.

"Of course I would! But as long as you're not yelling at each other," Ruby answered. Her eyes were glued to the screen, trying to not look at the screen in the upper right. Qrow's screen, mostly.

He wasn't even looking half the time and he had gotten a kill streak of nearly ten already. If they hadn't had the points set to the first thirty, Ruby had no doubt that they would have started to play a different game by now.

"That was just the once! We're cool now, just like I told you we'd be!" Yang answered.

"Or they got it out of their system the first night in Patch. By the way, when can you come back Ruby? I sent that letter in, the one you wanted me to," Uncle Qrow said. "That shouting match was legendary."

"Eh, I've had worse. Remember that one fight between Summer and me right as-" Taiyang started before he glanced at Yang. "Right before then, you know the time."

Qrow laughed. "Oh yeah, okay, never mind. You need more skill in screaming Yang to top the lungs on Summer."

"Mom liked to scream? I don't remember that," Ruby said.

Qrow was about to say something, and he glanced meaningfully towards Taiyang. "Don't you dare say it," Dad answered. "And no, not really. She was just...passionate."

"Sounds like my mom. Course, with seven daughters and me she kind of had to learn," Jaune said.

"Seven!?" Dad shouted. "I could barely handle two!"

"Saphron, my oldest, did a lot of the work. She's married there, out in Argus now I think," Jaune said.

"Oh yeah that'd help a lot. Still a lot though..." Taiyang said. "Kind of like what Yang did with Ruby."

"I wasn't about to let you screw up Ruby too, Dad," Yang answered instantly. Her eyes turned back to the screen to see hers was gray. "Oh come on! Qrow!" she shouted.

"Hey, just get good. I can't help it if I'm better than you," the huntsman answered with a smirk. "I'm not even trying here- oh come on Arc!"

"What was it you said? Just get good?" Jaune teased.

"And yet here I am doing the worst, but yet I'm the one that actually owns the thing," Ruby muttered as she glanced at the score. She was in fourth place, not that she was surprised. This was only the second or third time she managed to even play Ring. A game based on space huntsman who found some giant space ring. Out in space.

There was a plot apparently, but it was mostly known for its multiplayer which even she had to admit was actually kind of fun with three others that she knew. Even as her character got shot for the tenth time in two minutes, this time by Yang of all people. "Yang, I'm looking at the score, don't kill me," Ruby said.

"Then you should choose a better place than out in the open!" Yang answered back. She froze as her character died instantly, Jaune's coming in and stealing her old weapon. "What was that, Jaune?"

"Melee button. It gets rid of all shields or is an instant kill afterwards," Jaune repeated.

"There's a melee button?" Qrow asked, hitting it twice out of curiosity, not curious at all when Jaune walked into it and his character died instantly. "Oh, so there is."

"Now I know you're cheating," Jaune muttered under his breath. "Nobody could be that lucky twice in a row."

"It's not luck, pal, it's skill."

"No, no, it's complete luck," Taiyang argued. "Any events in the shop we'd need to worry about Ruby?"

"Not recently. Let's see, you know the Torchwick thing...there was a case of Uncle Qrow's Semblance causing things to change. I know I checked a few weapons to make sure they weren't loaded, and yet they were. And worse off they actually went off," Ruby answered. She ignored Jaune's cry of despair as she managed to get a point now.

"No one was hurt, right?"

"No, just their wallet. It was a close call though, if those hard light arena walls hadn't gone up it could've been a lot worse," Ruby answered.

"Oh yeah, there's a reason I wanted those installed!" Uncle Qrow bragged. He quit bragging a moment later as Yang finally got her revenge on him.

"I thought that was because you wanted an excuse to train me," Ruby answered. "Not because it might eventually save some random person's life. Weird thing though, he had weapons for shoes."

"Weapons in his shoes?" Taiyang asked. He looked back at the screen. "That doesn't seem right."

"No, weapons for shoes. He had prosthetic legs. I bet he was here for the Vytal festival, they looked Mistralian."

"Odd," Qrow said, looking introspective a bit. "You'd think that they'd want Atlas for those. They have the best prosthetics."

"I don't think I could do prosthetic," Yang said. "I mean, I suppose if something happens I could but...it'd be a change."

"My grandpa had a prosthetic arm from Atlas," Jaune volunteered. "He had a small sawblade in it that he used to cut firewood to make it easier on him. He challenged my dad once to a wood cutting contest and used it, won by a landslide."

"See, that's how you use a prosthetic. Cheating," Qrow nodded. "Also, speaking of cheating, Ruby are you screen peeking?"

"Not trying to, but you keep flashing the scope and my name happens to light up in bright red light! I'm trying not to!"

"Try harder then, it's hard to win if you all won't let me," Qrow complained. He complained a moment later as Yang got to him again.

"Ha ha, yeah, suck it blue! I mean red, Qrow's red this time," Yang said. She gave a low groan of despair as Jaune got to her, and the timer eventually counted down to zero.

Ruby gave a sigh of relief. "Okay, so am I the only one who hasn't been able to play this all that much? Am I the only one doing any real work?" Ruby asked.

"Never touched it before in my life," Qrow lied. She knew he was lying because she'd caught him just the other day when she went upstairs for a quick break playing the campaign mode. She had a few spoilers because of that particular incident.

"So that's one for yes," Dad teased. Qrow glared at him, which he returned heartily.

"It's similar to other shooters I've played," Jaune shrugged. "We occasionally have a game night with a few of the other teams and someone brings this one out," he said.

"Really? I haven't seen it there. Wait, is this the team with Ren and Nora on it?" Yang asked.

Jaune nodded. "I know you don't like Weiss Yang, you or Blake, so both Pyrrha and I offered once, told you who was in it, and weren't discouraged when you said no."

"Weiss? Weiss Schnee?" Uncle Qrow asked. "She's going to Beacon? Why would she be going to Beacon?" he asked.

Yang shrugged. "I don't know, I never asked. I don't like her much, she's too...uppity. Looking like she's too good for the world."

"She's not that bad. Once you get over her attitude, she's nice," Jaune argued.

"Says that boy that has a major crush on her," Yang teased back. Jaune's face blushed brightly red. "Or was it someone else that decided to try to serenade her with a guitar?" she asked.

"That was...definitely, definitely someone else. Not me at all. My uh...twin cousin, twice removed. Juane Arc, you may have heard of it. Him."

"Right, lover boy," Yang teased.

Taiyang gave a quiet sigh, "Quit teasing the kid Yang. So what if he has a crush on Weiss? I mean, I remember a few crushes you had as a kid-"

"No! No, no need to bring any of those up!" Yang shouted, immediately standing up. Ruby grinned and gave a quick glance to Jaune and Qrow as she started up another game. She moved even quicker, taking Yang's controller and moving it to the far side of the room.

"Ruby!" Yang yelled as she realized that her character was getting massacred in moments. Ruby cackled evilly as they ganged up on her sister.

"How many parties do you students have up there? I know back in our time we got up to some crazy shenanigans," Taiyang said, leaning back with a grin as he watched Yang continually try to hunt down Ruby's character over and over. It was almost to the point he'd usually have stepped in, but...he must have trusted Ruby to know what to do by now.

"There's a few," Jaune answered. "Depends on who's up and who has what classes. Of course, we were banned from a good chunk of them because of the whole docks debacle."

Qrow nodded, ignoring the cry of Ruby as he mercilessly gunned down her character. "I remember hearing about that. You tried to go to the cops. Good idea on that one. Shame it didn't pan out."

"It was the least I could do. I know I'm not up to par with Pyrrha yet."

"Jaune, no one's up to par with Pyrrha yet," Yang commented. "Seriously, it takes me and Blake to gang up on her before she even has to take us seriously. Team Cardinal just got their butts kicked, all four of them, at the end of the semester!"

"Don't compare yourself to the greats, kid. You're your own man, and don't let it bug you. It may seem that it's impossible to keep up, and it just may be, but consider this; the end goal is all the same. You're supposed to be a huntsman, and that means the only thing that really matters is being able to kill the Grimm," Uncle Qrow said.

"Spoken truly like the madlad that tried to keep up with Summer of all people," Taiyang teased.

"Mom was good?" Ruby asked carefully.

"Heh, she was one of the best. All of us were. Team Stark, STRQ. We had our disagreements, nothing quite like you and your docks incident, but we always managed to chug it out," Taiyang answered.

"I'd say. She beat all of us in a one on one, and then beat both Tai and me in the same go around. I don't even know how she did that."

"She stabbed the ground, and followed it up by hitting a rock at you. She counted on your own Semblance to take you out of the fight," Taiyang answered.

"Seriously!? That's how she did it!?" Qrow roared. He grumbled a moment later as he took his eyes off the screen, his side filled with red. Yang had got him that time, and he ignored the 'yes' coming from his niece.

"Yep," Taiyang said. "It was hilarious. One second you were all for taking her out and then boom, rock to the face."

"That's never easy," Jaune said.

"What would you know pipsqueak," Qrow grumbled. Jaune's screen turned red a moment later.

"How come you never talk about Mom all that much?" Yang asked next to him. "Or Team Stark. It's always just stories like that, funny ones, but never the kind Port likes to tell."

"If Port could tell funny stories he'd be a lot easier to be around," Uncle Qrow muttered.

"I don't think he's too bad. I sneaked in there once and he didn't call me out on it," Ruby spoke up. All four heads turned to her. "Oh...uh...oops. I shouldn't have mentioned that."

"No, but now I have to ask Peter about a few things..." Taiyang grumbled. The oven dinged a moment later. "You're up Rubes. I'll take over," he said.

Ruby nodded, and used her Semblance to make sure she wouldn't block too many people's way. As she went into the kitchen, she heard more than a few groans from the other three players. Apparently Dad was really good at Ring...

And thus we start off volume 2 with Emerald and Mercury making their first appearance...and then get Halo. I mean Ring. First of two updates today, as I won't be available next week. So double update!

Until Next Time!