"Go away!" a voice called out from the other side of the gate. "We only follow the animal god here!"
"Huh, I did not expect this," Xander admitted.
Leo, still glowing like a hundred watt lightbulb as he hadn't figured out how to turn down his aura or make the wings go away nodded. "Yeah, this wasn't something I expected either."
"I've said clearly and repeatedly I'm not a god," Xander called out. "Would you like me to at least enlarge your town and increase your water supplies?"
"We built this place in the name of the animal god and according to his will, we don't want it perverted!" the voice yelled back.
"Alright," Xander conceded. "May the animal god guide your steps."
"...and yours," the voice replied in a lower tone.
"Everyone back on the buses, we're off to stop four," Xander said.
"You're just going to accept that?" a faunus woman asked, surprised.
Xander nodded. "People have a right to live their lives without others butting in, so if they don't want my help I won't force it on them."
"Whatever else you are, at least you're a good man," she decided.
Xander grinned. "Thanks," he said with a smile.
"Are you really just going to give up?" Amalla asked.
Xander nodded. "From everything I've heard they are happy the way they are and aren't hurting for anything, so I'll leave them to it. I'm still going to create forests and lakes, but I won't touch what they've claimed."
"They have put a lot of work into their town," Amalla said, "I can see why they'd be prideful and not want it altered."
"So back on the road we go," Xander said, "we can sleep on the buses as we travel."
"They're certainly more comfortable than the mines ever were," Leo said as they climbed back on board the buses. "Hope my light doesn't keep everyone up."
"Want me to remove it?" Xander offered as they settled back into their seats.
"No," Leo said, "I'm sure come sunrise I can figure it out." At Xander's curious look, he raised his hand to show the blue ring he was wearing.
"Benevolent not wise," Xander said with a chuckle, placing two fingers on Leo's head and tapping a Blue Mana, letting it flow into the lion faunus while the buses pulled back onto the road.
Leo closed his eyes, a thoughtful look on his face and over the next couple of minutes his angelic aura brightened and dimmed several times before flickering out, his wings vanishing. "Got it," he said happily.
"Wake me when we get to the next stop or if there's a break in the road or we need another forest or lake," Xander said as he closed his eyes.
"Affirmative," the T-800 said from the driver's seat.
Sunrise
Xander came awake with a surge of energy and a smile as a massive wave of Mana flowed through him. "Good morning," he said, before noticing half of the people in the bus were floating on the ceiling and several were wearing far too small clothes. "What did I miss?"
"You tend to hand out blessings when people poke you in your sleep," Leo said, amused. "Also I've discovered I don't need to sleep anymore, wish I'd had that when I was in school."
"Can you sleep?" Xander asked, concerned. "Not needing to is great, but not being able to sounds like a nightmare."
"I've taken a nap, it's just I don't feel the need anymore," Leo replied.
"That would be vigilance," Xander said thoughtfully, "angels are ever vigilant so they don't need sleep."
"Anyway, whenever someone would wake you up enough to create a forest you'd also bless them with something at random," Leo said. "It was honestly pretty amusing."
"Why are their people on the ceiling?"
"Plenty of room to stretch out and the novelty of it," Leo replied. "Apparently you can sleep on air and it's really comfortable."
"Neat," Xander said.
"We are low on fuel," the driver reported.
"Pull over and I'll refill the tanks while everyone stretches their legs," Xander said.
"On it," the T-800 replied.
The bus pulled over, the two following doing so as well.
Xander stepped outside and stretched while most of the people did the same.
"Time for a run!" Gai announced loudly. "I'll reboard when you catch up!"
"Have fun," Xander said, amused as Gai quickly vanished from sight.
"How does he have so much energy?" one of the White Fang members asked in disbelief.
"Clean living, exercise, attitude," Xander said with a shrug.
"You probably should have told him to wait when he reached the next stop," Kakashi said with a sigh.
"He wouldn't… He would," Xander realized. "I guess we'll catch up with him when we reach Kuo Kuana."
"He can run all the way to Kuo Kuana?" Amalla asked in disbelief.
"He's a lot faster than the buses," Xander said, "and probably a bit pent up from basically sitting on his hands while we traveled."
"Plus he would better serve by scouting the path and eliminating Grimm as an advance guard," Kakashi said.
"Need another nin?" Xander asked.
"Who do you have in mind?" Kakashi asked.
"Iruka," Xander decided. "He's patient, good with kids, and is a chakra sensor."
"He's a good choice," Kakashi agreed.
Xander tapped the required Mana and Iruka appeared in front of him. "Hold on, let me buff you a bit."
Iruka waited while Xander licked his thumb and granted him Flight, Regeneration, Holy and Unholy Strength, as well as Reflexes and Vigilance. He winced and had to adjust his now too tight clothes while Xander created an emerald ring and handed it to him.
"Let me make you some bigger clothes," Xander said, really wishing he knew a spell that auto adjusted clothes.
He gestured and created a couple of tables before filling them with a large collection of clothes as there were also a number of people from the first bus who needed them as well.
"What enhancements did you grant me, Lord Xander?" Iruka asked as he gathered replacement clothes.
Xander absently listed them off while creating another couple of tables that he filled with food and drink.
"Vigilance?" Kakashi requested, perking up.
Xander licked his thumb and wiped it across Kakashi's head. "Granted."
Iruka had changed in the empty third bus and came back out. "What are my orders?"
Xander created a copy of White Fang and passed it to him. "Kakashi will catch you up on all the odds and ends, but basically it's just an escort mission."
Leo grabbed a breakfast burrito and an orange juice.
The three T-800s approached.
"Can we get some basic armaments and a resupply ring?" one asked. "We feel a bit lost without proper gear."
"Sure," Xander agreed, creating a trio of colorless rings for the surprisingly verbal T-800 and his friends.
"If I didn't know better I'd swear they were human," Leo said.
"Yeah, they have developed quickly," Xander agreed. "They are already more human than the most developed T-800 I've met."
"Think they'll want to keep running the buses after you're gone? A regular bus service between all the villages would really help the economy," Leo said.
"If they don't they can train people who do," Xander said. "I'm sure there are a number of people who wouldn't mind making a go of it."
"It does seem like a good job, you'd get to meet and talk to all the different villages," a fox woman said as she pealed an orange.
"Well, let's get on the buses and go see if the next village is more welcoming than the last one," Xander said cheerfully.
"Flight?" a young faunus boy asked as Xander was about to board the bus.
"Sure," Xander said and tapped him on the head, making him giggle as he lifted off the ground.
"Damnit!" a woman cursed.
"Oops," Xander said. "Everyone, quickly on the bus!" he called out and fled.
Two hours later
"Barely got a connection," Leo said as he examined his scroll, "and the atmosphere's probably as clear as it's going to get."
"Hopefully I can fix that in a moment," Xander said as they pulled into Fourth Stop.
"A lot of empty fields," Leo noted, "and part of the wall is destroyed.
A little over a dozen faunus came out to see them, hopeful looks on their faces.
"Are you here to help?" a little bunny faunus asked, bouncing in place excitedly.
"I am, if you want me to," Xander promised.
"We surely do," her mother said with a smile.
"I'm so glad to hear that," Xander said. "The last stop wasn't in favor of it for religious reasons."
"What happened here?" Leo asked.
"Grimm managed to break through a couple of months ago," a wolf faunus said. "We didn't have the people or the supplies to fix it, so most everyone who was left… left. We're the only ones who stuck it out."
The wall, a stone and wood construct less than a foot thick, suddenly sealed itself, broken wood rejoining and blocks of stone leaping back in place. Not a moment later the wall thickened and changed, becoming a massive bulwark of granite as the tiny village swelled and expanded, small wood dwellings becoming massive stone edifices.
The villagers cheered.
"Still barely got one bar," Leo noted.
"We couldn't afford a tower," the bunny woman said apologetically. "The best we get is one bar from mid morning to just after noon."
"If you can spare the Mana for three more supply rings we can build them a cell tower," one of the T-800s offered.
"Sure," Xander agreed, taking the time to create a trio of colorless rings and pass them out to the three.
Without another word the three cyborgs disappeared into the walled city.
"Let me spruce the place up for you a bit," Xander said, tapping some Green Mana to make all the fields flourish before creating a massive forest around the village. "Okay, I'm going to create a fresh water lake and a couple of mountains for resources. Any preferences?"
"Lightning dust," the bunny faunus said, "you can never get enough of it out here."
"You got it," Xander said before leaping into the air and flying off.
"I hope you're ready for immigrants," Leo said, "because you're going to get a lot of them."
"That would be wonderful," the bunny woman said as everyone entered the village to see the changes.
"Somebody pinch me because I must be dreaming?" a man said.
"If a place was ever Grimm proof, this is," a woman said, amazed.
"I wonder where my house is," another muttered.
Leo laughed as everyone scattered to find their homes, taking a seat on the ledge of a fountain. His scroll beeped a moment later. "Six bars? That's better than in a major city." He quickly checked his messages and started sending replies.
Xander found him still typing when he returned ten minutes later. "Got a signal?"
"Their signal tower is even better than the ones in the cities," Leo replied.
"While very rugged, their communication technology could use some improvement," one of the T-800s said as the three stood nearby awaiting further orders.
Xander's scroll beeped and he found one of the T-800s had sent him schematics for an improved communication tower… and another had sent him pictures of birds. "Excellent work," he told them.
"Would it be alright if we stayed here?" one of the T-800s asked, "they look like they could use the help."
"Sure," Xander agreed, "just remember to obey the local laws."
"We will," the three chorused.
"I've got a message from Ryu," Leo said, "he's got a couple hundred faunus ready to go."
"Excellent," Xander said, "tell him I'll open the portal to his location in five minutes."
"Sent," Leo replied.
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"He'll open the portal to my location shortly," Ryu told General Ironwood as they looked over the hundreds of faunus who had been collected from three of the mines run by the Schnee Corporation.
"Good," the cyborg general said, "that will free up my soldiers to investigate Mantle's slum for faunus discrimination and abuse."
"Not sure that will work as a long term solution, but in the short term it should be rather effective," Ryu said, amused.
"People are assholes, especially to those they consider beneath them, not much I can do about that, but if I apply a boot hard enough to get it through their heads that the powers above won't tolerate their current level of behavior, we should get at least a few years of peace before we have to do it again," General Ironwood said. "Be they faunus or human, people are people… disappointingly enough."
"Civilization is a man trying to ape the angels and ignore the whispering of their devilish nature," Ryu said.
"A tad too poetic for me I'm afraid," General Ironwood said, "but then since I've spent half my life dealing with recruits my faith is a bit more practical. Take a boy, train him well, knock the stupid out of him as many times as it takes to stick and you get a functional member of society. The vast majority of assholes simply haven't gone through the latter procedure enough times or at all."
"An underlying philosophy of treating others as you would want them to treat you often helps," Ryu offered.
"Sadly the number of people who can even spell the word is vastly inferior to those that need it," General Ironwood said.
A portal suddenly opened up in front of the pair as they walked and they found themselves standing in front of Xander.
"How'd it go?" Xander asked.
General Ironwood stiffened and fell back on formality to hide his shock, "Lord Xander. Did you mean to bring me here?"
"Nope, but I heard you were helping out so I don't mind talking to you as well," Xander told him. "Would you like me to restore your body to completely organic?"
Ironwood froze for a second. "I hadn't thought that was possible… I'll probably need a couple of medical personnel nearby so they can testify I'm me and I haven't been replaced, but I would appreciate it."
"Gather whoever you need, I'll leave the portal open," Xander promised.
"Good, I'd better get back before some lackwit does something stupid and assumes I've been kidnapped," General Ironwood said, nodding his head to the two and stepping back through the portal.
Yelling could be heard through the portal as Ironwood ordered soldiers to stand down and questioned their parentage and the possibility of their fathers being a common piece of produce at full volume.
"I like him," Xander decided.
Typing By: Abyssal Angel
Beta By: Abyssal Angel and Mist of Shadows