Yang and Weiss stood to the side as Ruby knocked on Usopp's door. "Usopp, are you there?"

There was no response.

"Maybe's he's asleep," Yang said.

Ruby knocked again, but nothing happened.

"Ruby, it's probably for the best that we don't get Usopp involved in this," Yang said. "We would have to explain Blake's secret to him."

"Blake's been missing all weekend. I'm worried, and if anyone can find her, it's Usopp."

"I agree that we need Usopp," Weiss said, "It will make this less of a waste of time. I don't want to spend who knows how long looking for her."

"Well, he doesn't seem to be here though," Yang said.

Ruby knocked once more, but there was still nothing. "Come on team, let's check the library. If he isn't there, we'll just have to go without him."

Usopp was browsing through the various bookshelves, looking for a book that might be relevant. A lot of the books that he had looked through in the past were dead ends that had no relevant information. Although, now that he was being more selective, it turned out that none of the book titles were particularly relevant.

Damn, I'll just have to go back to choosing something random.

He closed his eyes and reached out to a book on the shelf. Taking it out, he opened his eyes to read the title.

The Story of the Seasons? It's not too long, I guess I can give it a try.

Usopp sat down at a table and started to read the book.

It just seems like this is a fairy tale to explain the seasons. Nothing like this existed in my own world, so this probably is just fiction.

"Usopp!"

Usopp looked up from his book to see Ruby, Weiss, and Yang. "Oh hey, what's up? Did you all need something?"

"Yeah, you see, Blake's been gone all weekend, and we figured that you could help us find her."

"Blake's… gone? It's the weekend, she's might just be visiting her family or something."

"It's… more complicated than-"

"She's a criminal," Weiss said, "A member of the White Fang, hiding right under our noses. She ran away, and since Ruby insists on finding her, I don't want to waste any more time than I need to finding her."

"Weiss..." Ruby grumbled.

"Oh… So you want my help to arrest her?"

"That may be what Weiss wants, but Ruby and I want to hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions," Yang said.

"And then you'll all know that I was right all along!" Weiss said.

Usopp closed his book. "We should hear her out. She never seemed like a bad person."

"Exactly!" Ruby exclaimed, "Come on Weiss, let's go!"

As soon as the four made it to Vale, Usopp concentrated to use his Observation Haki.

"Well, Usopp, do you sense Blake anywhere?" Ruby asked.

"Vale is a large city. At least most of the people here have locked Auras. It makes people like Blake who have their Auras unlocked stand out more. There is an unlocked Aura rather close to us, but it's not Blake. Let me look around for minute."

"So you want us to just wait around?" Weiss asked.

"It shouldn't be too long… From a glance, I don't see Blake around. She's probably somewhere out of my range. We'll have to walk around a little bit, although that one unlocked Aura is getting closer to us. It might be an enemy, so be alert."

"Alright team," Ruby said, "let's get moving! Blaaake!"

"If she isn't in my range, then there's no way she can hear you."

"Oh… Isn't there something I can do to help?"

"I'm the one with the long range detection superpower here. Saying that out loud makes it seem pretty cool, ha ha. Anyways, once I do find where she is, then it will be your job to talk to her."

The team continued walking through Vale in a somewhat awkward silence. Weiss was looking somewhat disinterested.

"How long is this going to take?" Weiss asked.

"How should I know? She might not even be in this city. While my range is large, checking the entire city could take hours."

"Then why don't you just run around the city and call us with your scroll when you find her? You can run fast when you want to."

"If I move fast, then I'll probably miss a lot. I have to be at walking speed to do a thorough search."

Weiss looked somewhat annoyed, but she did not push the subject further.

About twenty minutes later, Usopp noticed Blake's Aura, as well as the Aura of someone he never saw before. "Ah… I think I she just got into my range. She's with someone else who also has an unlocked Aura," Usopp said.

"Great! How far away is she?" Ruby asked.

"She's-" Usopp stopped walking. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang all stopped behind Usopp as well.

Ruby asked, "Why did you-"

"Shh! Someone is behind us and around the corner," Usopp whispered.

Everyone turned around, and Usopp rested his hand on Black Kabuto just in case. Walking from around the corner was a girl that everyone besides Usopp recognized.

"Penny?" Ruby said.

The girl turned their way, and she smiled. "Hey guys, what are you up to? And who is the long nosed man?"

"I wanted to ask who YOU are. How do you all know each other? I don't remember seeing you at Beacon."

"Alright guys," Ruby interrupted, "Usopp, this is Penny. We met in this city last week. Penny, this is Usopp. He's a fellow student, and he's technically a part of my team."

"Oh, I see. Are you one of Ruby's friends?" Penny asked.

"Hmm… you could say that," Usopp said. "We were looking for our teammate Blake."

"Oh, you mean the Faunus girl!"

Just now it clicked that Blake was a Faunus in Usopp's mind, although he would never admit how long it took for him to make that connection. The White Fang was a Faunus group, so it should have been obvious that if Blake was a member, she would be a Faunus as well.

"Wait, how did you know that?" Ruby asked.

"Uhh, the cat ears?"

Immediately after Yang pointed out that she just had a bow, realization hit the entire group.

"So, where is she?" Penny asked.

"Actually, Usopp just found her, I think. Right?" Ruby asked.

"I did… although checking again she seemed to have walked out of range."

"What?! Well, Penny, Blake has been missing since Friday and so we've been looking for her."

"That's terrible! Well don't you worry Ruby, my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate."

"Uh, that's really nice of you Penny, but Usopp has this covered. He has an ability that's perfect for this."

"Even so, I really want to help out!"

Yang and Weiss looked at each other. They wanted to run, but without Usopp, they would just be looking aimlessly.

"Um..."

"Well," Usopp said, "if she wants to follow us, it should be fine."

Yang and Weiss held their heads down. Unfortunately, there was no escaping from their situation.

The group started walking again. By travelling in the direction where Usopp first found Blake's Aura, they were able to find it once again. Usopp walked in front, while Penny and Ruby were talking with each other behind him. Staying further back, it seems that Yang and Weiss were having their own conversation. They decided to still follow the group while hopefully minimizing contact with Penny.

As Usopp's detection range was quite large, it still took twenty minutes to reach her and the person that she was with. The fact that the duo were also moving somewhere didn't help. When the group neared an alleyway, Usopp looked back to make sure everyone was still with him. He then led them straight into that alleyway, where the group came face to face with Blake and a monkey tailed Faunus. Blake's jaw dropped, and her eyes went wide.

With his task complete, Usopp moved to the back of the group to let the others talk. Weiss, on the other hand, moved directly to the front.

Blake looked at Weiss, then at Sun. Sun simply nodded towards her, and Blake regained her composure. "Weiss," Blake started, "and everyone, I want you all to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with the-"

"Stop! Do you even know how long it took for us to find you? I was thinking this was going to be fast with Usopp's ability, but it still almost took a whole hour! And in that time, I've decided that I don't care."

"You don't care?"

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

"No, I haven't been one since-"

"Then I don't want to hear it!"

Ruby looked between the two, blinking once before cheering, "Yeah! Team RWBY is back together!"

Usopp blinked. That was way easier than I thought it was going to be. I guess she just used to be a bad person.

"I guess we should go back to Beacon now." Ruby said.

The monkey tailed Faunus said, "Actually..."

"Wait, who are you?" Usopp asked.

"I'm Sun, but you should know that there was something important that Blake and I were planning on doing. Do you want to help?"

Later that night, Usopp, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Ruby, and Penny were all lying on a rooftop, overlooking a large shipment of Dust.

"Hmm… People are approaching in some sort of aircraft. From their Auras, it's no one I know."

"Finally, something happened," Weiss said, "We've been waiting around on this rooftop for ages."

"Should you really be happy about something like that?! I mean, whether it's this Torchwick guy or the White Fang, they're going to be dangerous either way!" Usopp said nervously.

"While it's true that the White Fang has some dangerous members," Blake said, "the rank and file members won't be a problem, even for students like ourselves."

"And besides, Usopp, I've fought Roman before. While he… got away from me, he won't be able to handle all of us together," Ruby said.

"And I'm Combat Ready!" Penny added.

"Alright… It just seems strange that the news would make a big deal out of this guy if he would lose to a bunch of students."

Sun climbed up to the roof and joined the others. "Did I miss anything?"

"There are people approaching, so get ready for a fight."

Sun took out his staff. "Alright."

A Bullhead descended from the sky, it's searchlights illuminating the large Dust crates. The Bullhead flew to the ground, extending a ramp for White Fang members to disembark.

"Is that..."

"Yes, it's them..."

They're here, they don't look that tough I guess.

Usopp descended from the roof and aimed his slingshot at the White Fang members that were exiting the craft. "Multi-Shot: Fire Dust Star!"

Each soldier was shot back by small explosions of fire.

"Already taken out, you useless animals?" A voice called out from inside the Bullhead.

"Usopp!" Weiss yelled, "Why did you just attack so suddenly?! Wait for the rest of us!"

"I'm a ranged fighter, I should be attacking first! What are all of you waiting for? We already know that they are the enemy, we shouldn't give them the chance for a fair fight."

"Everyone, let's just get down and help Usopp," Ruby said.

Everyone followed Ruby's lead as Roman Torchwick exited the Bullhead. "Oh great, it's a bunch of kids."

"Wait, so it was Roman and the White Fang?" Ruby asked.

"Why would they work with someone like you?" Blake asked.

"It's a joint business venture. I would love to stay and chat, but..." Roman fired off an explosive round from his cane at the group and then ran back into his Bullhead.

A cane gun? That reminds me too much of Brook...

Everyone scattered, and two more Bullheads flew in, shooting their guns and preparing to drop off more White Fang soldiers.

"Green Star: Platanus Shuriken!"

The shuriken flew towards one of the metal aircraft, cleanly slicing it in two and causing it to crash into the ground.

Meanwhile, Penny charged and fired a beam to destroy the other aircraft. Any remaining soldiers were dealt with by the rest of the group.

Roman's Bullhead only started to fly into the air before Penny sent swords into it's hull. By pulling on the strings attached to those swords, she prevented any chance of escape.

"Damn those kids," Roman said, "They just keep getting weirder."

Penny pulled harder, causing Roman's Bullhead to crash into the ground. Everyone surrounded the crash site with their weapons ready.

Roman emerged from the crashed Bullhead, although seeing himself surrounded, he could do nothing else but curse. "I surrender."

Dropping his cane weapon to the ground, he let himself be restrained.

"That really was easy with everyone here. Anyways, did you just shoot a Beam!?" Usopp asked Penny with stars in his eyes.

"That I did."

"That's so cool! Are you a robot or something"

"A robot? Of course not," Penny said before hiccuping.

"Oh, that's a shame. Robots always are the ones shooting beams, but I guess that was just your Semblance or something. A beam Semblance..."

Usopp walked of rambling to himself about wanting a beam related semblance.

Did he… want me to be a robot? Penny thought.

Roman Torchwick and various White Fang soldiers were handed over to the Vale Police department soon after their arrival at the scene. After some questioning, Usopp and the others were all let go to return home.

"It kind of feels weird," Usopp said.

"Weird? What do you mean?" Yang asked.

"Well- ah, forget it. It's late, and I want to go back to Beacon." It's weird to be catching criminals instead of trying to avoid being caught.

"Wait, where is Penny?" Ruby asked.

Usopp focused his Haki and saw her Aura inside of a car. "She's in a car, which seems to be driving away from us. Maybe her parents came to pick her up."

"Or maybe you scared her off with all your talk about beams! Why do you think beams are so cool anyways?" Weiss asked.

Usopp just looked at the ignorant girl in pity.

"What's with that look?!"

The next day, Usopp went to Ozpin's office early.

"I must say, Usopp, you initiating a meeting with me is a first. Is this about the incident from last night?" Ozpin asked.

"No, actually, this was for a longshot request. I know I signed a contract, but I was just wondering if I could go back on the part where I have to work with Team CRDL. I don't like them, and I certainly don't want to follow any orders from Cardin."

"That sounds reasonable enough. I'm surprised it took you this long to ask."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, me working with them is important- wait, was that a yes?!"

"Did I misspeak?"

"Wait, you agreed so easily? I don't have to talk with them ever again?"

"You may have to do so once you become a professional Huntsman."

"Still though… that was too easy! If I had known that it would be that simple, I would have asked ages ago!"

"If you have any more problems, feel free to ask me. Your position as a reserve force is still an experimental idea. Forcing someone to work with an incompatible team would be more detrimental than helpful. But anyways, I actually have an important thing to discuss with you, if you don't mind."

"Important? If it's about the rotten egg incident, then-"

Ozpin took a sip of his hot chocolate. "No, it's actually about those plants you use, or as you call them, 'Pop Greens'. I have lived for a long time, and I never have seen or even heard of them. I'll be frank here, that weapon of yours is extremely dangerous. I would ask where you found such a thing, but I don't even trust myself with that knowledge. If these seeds were given to the Huntsmen and Huntresses of the world, I'm sure that it would help the state of the world greatly. However, should this weapon fall into the hands of the enemy, it might just doom the world."

Usopp shivered. "I never felt that my Pop Greens were that impressive. They're good tools, but isn't saying that they could doom the world an exaggeration?"

"I certainly hope so, but you should remember that your 'Platanus Shuriken' cut a Bullhead in half. And based on Initiation, that isn't even your strongest plant. As a protector of Humanity, I wished to ask you whether or not you think any malicious forces could ever find and use these Pop Greens for themselves."

"That would be impossible," Usopp said before realizing his mistake.

"Impossible? What makes you so sure?"

"Ah- um, well, you see, Pop Greens are a unique plant species only found on an island that was very difficult to reach and escape from. While I managed to do both, that island… burned to the ground as I was leaving it. I think it was creature in the water that caused that..."

"A Leviathan Grimm perhaps?"

"I don't know. I was more focused on getting away. Regardless, any plant life would have been destroyed, so it's not something to worry about. And even if they got their hands on them, they aren't easy to use. It took me two years to learn how to use them safely and effectively, and that was with an experienced teacher."

"That information certainly makes things less worrisome."

Usopp let out an internal sigh of relief that his on the spot made up explanation was accepted.

"However," Ozpin continued, "I still need to warn you to be careful with those Pop Greens. Do not trust anyone with those seeds, and take care to make sure they are never stolen. In case they are, great effort should be given to retrieve them before any malicious force could properly learn how to use them. Having these seeds is a great responsibility. Do you understand, Usopp?"

"Y-yes..."

As Usopp left Ozpin's office, he let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding. He took out a Pop Green and just stared at it.

What the hell? Doom the world? Are these things really that strong? That's impossible… Why do I feel like I suddenly have a target on my back?

At the local jail, Roman Torchwick sat in a lonely cell, awaiting trial for his various robberies and potentially working with the White Fang. A guard came by to drop off food, but Roman did not move an inch.

"Hey, you, breakfast is here. Don't starve yourself."

Still, there was no response. Roman was almost eerily silent.

"Hey! I swear, you were the loudest most annoying little shit when you came here."

Nothing. Roman wouldn't even turn around.

"Are you even alive? I won't be so stupid as to open your cell to check, but I WILL bring a mop to poke through the bars if you continue to just do... nothing."

If Roman cared, he certainly didn't show it.

"Ugh... somehow, you manage to be even more annoying without doing a thing."

The guard came back with a mop as promised, and he even warned Roman before poking him. The poke caused Roman to fall over and shatter.

"What the hell?!"

The guard quickly tried to unlock the cell's door, but that door shattered as well. In it's place was a door that was almost identical, but it had a busted lock.

"Damnit! Why did this have to happen on my shift?"