Chapter Text
A girl with mint green hair and dark skin was walking alongside a boy with silver hair through the streets of Vale before the former caught the elderly store owner of “From Dust Till Dawn”.
“'Scuse me, sorry. I'm not really from around here.” She said as she made sure he was okay. “Would you mind pointing me in the direction of this shop?”
She held up a piece of paper with writing on it and showed it to the shopkeeper, who looked it over before nodding and pointing in the direction they needed to go. Nodding in thanks, the girl joined back up with her partner.
“I knew you were lost.”
“Mercury, I will seriously pay you to shut up.” She said before showing that she had snatched the shopkeeper’s wallet.
“That's not your money.”
“But it can be yours for 5 minutes of silence.”
“Mmmm... no deal.”
“Fine.” The girl sighed as she took the Lien inside and left the wallet somewhere the shopkeeper could find it again.
“Whatever. You want me.” Mercury smirked. “So, how much farther?”
“A few blocks.” The girl, Emerald, said.
“Ugh... this place is so dull.” Mercury groaned.
“Eh, I kinda like it. Tall buildings, diverse culture…”
“And nice dopey people who are easy to pickpocket.”
“That's every city.” Emerald pointed out.
“Ooh, Emerald! Master thief! Please don't take my money! I barely have enough to get by!” Mercury sarcastically said.
Emerald glared at him before letting out a groan of frustration as she continued walking.
“Ugh... you're no fun today.” Mercury grumbled.
They soon arrived at a bookstore called “Tukson’s Book Trade”. The owner, Tukson, greeted them.
“Welcome to ‘Tukson's Book Trade’, home to every book under the sun! How may I…”
He gasped when he got a closer look and recognized the two of them as Mercury had picked up a book.
“How may I help you?” Tukson asked calmly.
“Just browsing.” Mercury casually said.
“Actually, I was wondering, do you have any copies of ‘The Thief and The Butcher’?” Emerald asked.
“Yes, we do.”
“That's great.” Emerald smiled.
“Would you... like a copy?” Tukson asked.
“No, just wondering,” Emerald said. “Oh, oh! What about ‘Violet's Garden’? In paperback?”
“He's got it. Hardback too.” Mercury said as he browsed the books.
“Ooh, options are nice,” Emerald said eagerly.
“Eh, no pictures.” Mercury said in disinterest. “Hey! Do you have any comics?”
“Near the front.” Tukson said.
Mercury walked over, not noticing the young man who was also in the store.
“Oh, no, wait!” Emerald said before her eyes narrowed. “What about… ‘Third Crusade’?”
Tukson became nervous as both Emerald and Mercury eyed him carefully.
“I…don't believe we carry that one.”
“Oh.”
“What was this place called again?” Emerald asked.
“Tukson's Book Trade.”
“And you're Tukson?”
“That's right.”
“So then I take it that you're the one that came up with the catchphrase?” Emerald noted.
“Yes.”
“And, what was it again?” Mercury asked.
"Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun."
“Except the Third Crusade.” Mercury quipped.
“It's just a catchphrase.”
“It's false advertising!”
“You shouldn't make a promise you can't keep, Tukson.” Emerald said, her voice becoming more threatening. “I hear that you're planning on leaving. Moving all the way to Vacuo.”
Mercury began closing the blinds.
“Your brothers in the White Fang won't be happy to hear that. And neither are we…” Emerald said. “You know who we are, don't you?”
“Yes.”
“And you know why we're here?”
Tukson: Yes.
“So... are you going to fight back?”
“Yes!”
Tukson leapt atop his counter, threateningly. Mercury and Emerald backed up slightly as he leaped at the former and slashed at her, but she dodged. Tukson looked forward and was surprised at Mercury as he raised one leg for a kick with his shotgun-greaves, only for him to get a tap on his shoulder.
“Hi,” Ben said. “I was just browsing the comics and couldn’t help but notice you were threatening this man. Now I’m not sure what he’s done, but I’m willing to bet you’re not nice people.”
Mercury lowered his leg.
“Better move it along, kid, before you get hurt.”
Ben smirked, his eyes beginning to glow a brilliant white and black.
“Funny. I was about to say the same to you.”
Before Mercury and Emerald could react, they were sent flying straight out of the library front doors. As they tried to get up, Ben blew out a strange crystal blue mist and, much to their shock, it transformed into a small pack of Beowolves, only instead of black, they were white, and the red parts were replaced with blue.
“What kind of Grimm are those?!” Mercury asked.
“They’re not exactly Grimm, more like the reverse,” Ben explained. “Now, please leave. Tukson’s is the only bookstore that has the comics I like here.”
Emerald and Mercury, not wanting to risk whatever tricks this wild card had, quickly fled. However, Emerald briefly stole one last glance at the boy.
“Huh… He’s actually kinda cute.”
“Are you alright?” Ben asked Tukson.
“Yes, thank you, young man,” Tukson said gratefully. “They were intending to kill me for deserting the White Fang. Adam takes that sort of thing personally.”
Ben hissed in concern, remembering Weiss and Blake’s history.
“Say no more. I’ll leave some of my little pets around to keep you company.”
He blew another bout of mist and summoned small white versions of Nevermore, one of them perched on Tukson’s shoulders.
“A little mix of friendly company while you work and security. It’s a package deal.”
Later that day, Teams RWBY, JNPR, and MOBS were sitting together in the cafeteria. Blake was sketching in her notebook, a bucket of raw fish next to her as she sketched with one hand while her other hand casually darted back and forth inside, removing one of the raw fish so she could take a large bite from it.
“Whatcha doing?” Yang asked.
“Nothing,” Blake said after swallowing the fish in her mouth. “Just going over notes from last semester.”
Yang caught a grape in her mouth, tossed to her by Nora.
“Lame.”
“I swear you’d better not gain so much weight you can’t fight,” Martin said. “You don’t have the calorie training Simone has.”
"If you say so," Blake said, shrugging as she looked down into her bucket of fish, not quite understanding what the problem was.
“I could help if you so wish,” Simone offered with a smile. “I know a few tricks that can benefit you.”
Ruby then placed down a large binder, catching everyone’s attention as she cleared her throat.
“Sisters... friends... Weiss.”
“Hey!” Weiss said indignantly.
“Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream.”
“This ought to be good.” Yang smirked.
“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!” Ruby said.
“Did you steal my binder?” Weiss asked.
“I am not a crook,” Ruby said defensively while making peace signs.
“Why do I feel like this is a reference beyond our understanding?” Orlando noted.
“What are you talking about?” Blake asked.
“I'm talking about kicking off the semester with a bang!” Ruby declared.
“I always kick my semesters off with a Yang!” Yang said. “Eh? Guys? Am I right?”
“That was so funny, I forgot to laugh.” Martin snarked.
“Booooo!” Nora jeered as she threw an apple at Yang.
“Look, guys, it's been a good two weeks, and between more exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester is going to be great!” Ruby said. “But, classes start back up tomorrow! Which is why I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today.”
“I’m kinda surprised so much time passed in the interim,” Ben noted. “Think anyone will know what we were doing during that time?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll have a side story covering all our school adventures before mierda hits the el ventilador.” Orlando quipped.
Martin held up a sign reading, “RWBY + MOBS Chibi, coming soon.”
“I don't know whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store,” Weiss said to Ruby.
As for Yang, she picked up the apple Nora threw at her and threw it right back at her, making her duck as it hit a different hapless student.
“I don't know. I think I might sit this one out.” Blake said.
“Sit out or not, I think that however we spend this last day, we should do it as a team!” Weiss said.
“Weiss, that’s amazing,” Simone said proudly. “You’ve come so far in such a short time.”
Weiss was about to make a snarky retort, only for a pie to hit her in the face. As it slid off and she glared, Nora pointed at Ren, who just facepalmed while Pyrrha giggled awkwardly and Jaune covered his ears nervously, knowing what was about to happen next.
“As a certain cartoon rabbit from the shows I used to watch with my sister and brother would say…” Weiss growled out. “Of course you realize…THIS MEANS WAR!”
Meanwhile, Team SSSN had met up with another team of Huntsmen from Mistral that they were friends with, Team WLKA (Wonka), consisting of Wilbur Schokoladen, Luna Payne, Katie Vitellery, and Atticus Vox.
“And it turns out the White Fang were responsible,” Neptune said, having finished clarifying the events of what happened at the docks last semester. “Which Blake kinda suspected but didn’t want to believe.”
“Man, that's harsh,” Luna noted.
“I know, we were fighting side by side. She was super fast, and I threw a banana at the guy, which sounds gross, but it was awesome.” Sun said.
“I will admit, it was pretty awesome,” Scarlet smirked. “Who knew your usual juvenile humor could be so useful in combat?”
“So juvenile.” Katie huffed. “At least throw it at their feet. That way they’ll slip and be debilitated.”
“Oh, it looks like a party is going on,” Wilbur noted excitedly as he saw food being splattered on the windows as students ran around.
Cardin wound up slapped against a window.
“Who’s that?” Atticus wondered.
“The people here are the coolest! No offense to you guys.” Sun said.
“None taken,” Atticus said. “I’m an online geek anyway, don’t know how cool I really count as.”
“Well, I’m sure they’ll find you cool regardless,” Sage noted.
“I take it THOSE are your friends?” Katie said with an annoyed raised brow. “Excuse me, but I’ve already been in trash once in my life…never again.”
“Lighten up, you prima donna.” Luna scoffed. “This ain’t Atlas high society like you’re used to.”
The members of Team WLKA were all from different kingdoms. Wilbur was the son of a butcher/hunter family in Vacuo, Atticus was a hacker who had lived most of his life in Mistral, Katie was from Atlas, much like Weiss and Simone, and Luna was from Vale.
Teams SSSN and WLKA walked into the cafeteria
“FOOD FIGHT!:
Katie shrieked as she dodged a whole melon hitting her and immediately tried to avoid getting in contact with any of the splattered food remains.
“Looks like we came just in time for a good show.” Atticus chuckled.
Team JNPR was standing atop a tower of tables stacked in a ramshackle manner as Nora cackled like an evil queen.
“I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!”
“Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful!” Ruby declared as she crushed a carton of milk in her hand. “It will be delicious!”
“YEAH!” The rest of Team RWBY cheered.
“Off with their heads!” Nora declared as she jumped down from her tower.
“Yang! Turkey!” Ruby called out.
Yang used two cooked turkeys as makeshift gauntlets to smack away high-speed thrown melons.
“It’s still tamer than my last party!” Orlando laughed, using a baguette as a makeshift rapier.
Martin shook a can of soda and popped the tab, applying his Semblance to blast it at high pressure. Simone was just grabbing whatever landed in front of her to get some lunch.
“Are you okay under there, Benjamin?” She asked gently.
Ben was hiding under a table, rocking back and forth while putting his hands to his ears.
“Somewhere over the rainbow…!” He sang fearfully.
Weiss ended up being knocked into a pillar, falling unconscious as Ruby caught her.
“Weiss, Weiss! Don't leave me! Nooo!”
“Dramatic much?” Simone said.
Martin then grabbed a few more soda cans and glared as he began shaking them all violently.
“Uh-oh,” Nora said. “Duck and cover, people!”
However, it was too late as Martin spun around, the cans vibrating as a result.
“Time to hit five stars!” He called out.
The cans all popped open, leaving Team JNPR flattened against the wall before dropping down, their outlines visible in the large mess of soda. He then took a step back, catching Yang, who had gotten knocked into the ceiling during the whole mess.
“Thanks, gorgeous,” Yang said, batting her eyes playfully.
“I love these guys.” Sun chuckled.
However, Neptune was completely drenched in soda and unamused. Katie peeked out from behind an upturned table to make sure the coast was clear.
“Oh, thank Oum and Dahl, is it over?”
A loud throat clearing was heard as everyone turned to see a very annoyed Glynda there.
“Children, please. Do not play with your food!”
Using her Semblance, Telekinesis, Glynda repaired the room to exactly the way it was as Ben came out from under the table he was hiding under while Simone wiped her mouth with a napkin.
“At least two of you had common sense to not get involved in this mess.” Glynda sighed. “Benjamin, Simone, I’m giving you both extra credit for good behavior.”
“Thanks, ma’am…” Ben muttered.
“Oh, let it go, Glynda,” Ozpin said as he walked up beside her.
“They're supposed to be the defenders of the world.” Glynda sighed.
“And they will be, but right now they're still children.” Ozpin pointed out. “So why not let them play the part? After all, it isn't a role they'll have forever.”
In an old warehouse, the White Fang were moving crates as Emerald and Mercury entered.
“Oh, look! She sent the kids again! This is turning out just like the divorce!” Roman scoffed as he gave the two a condescending hug.
“Spare us the thought of you procreating.” Emerald scoffed in disgust as she and Mercury pulled away.
“That was a joke,” Roman said before producing a piece of paper. “And this... just might tell me where you two have been all day.”
Emerald gasped when she realized.
“I'm a professional, sweetheart. Pay attention, maybe you'll learn something.” Roman smirked before looking at the paper. “Why do you have this address?”
“Wouldn't you like to know?” Emerald scoffed.
“Yeah, I would.” Roman sneered back. “Now, where have you been all day?”
“Cleaning up your problems. One of them, at least.” Mercury said. “The other one… Is still a mess.”
“Well, that’s what you got for trying to do a big boy's job.” Roman mockingly said.
“Or maybe they wound up running into unexpected interference.”
Roman cringed as he looked to see Cinder approaching, as Emerald smiled.
“Cinder!”
“I thought I made it clear that you would eliminate the would-be runaway,” Cinder said.
“I was going to…” Roman grumbled.
“He was going to escape to Vacuo! Mercury and I decided to take it upon ourselves to kill the rat.” Emerald said. “Only this kid got in the way before we could get that done.”
“Well, perhaps he did you a favor. I want your hands clean while here in Vale.” Cinder pointed out.
“I just thought…” Emerald tried to say.
“Don't think... obey,” Cinder said coldly.
“Y-Yes ma'am. It won't happen again.” Emerald said, bowing her head apologetically.
“To be fair, I was gonna do the actual killing,” Mercury said. “I’m the assassin here, after all.”
“And you.” Cinder began as she turned to Roman. “Why wasn't this job done sooner?”
“Sorry if I've been busy stealing every speck of Dust in the Kingdom!” Roman scoffed.
“You're an inspiration to every punk with a gun and a ski mask.” Mercury snarked, getting a laugh from Emerald.
“Look around, kid. I've got this town running scared! Police camping out at every corner, Dust prices through the roof, and we're sitting pretty on an old warehouse with more Dust crystals, vials, and rounds than we know what to do with!” Roman said. “Speaking of which, if you guys wouldn't mind filling me in on your grand master plan, it might actually make my next string of robberies go a little smoother!”
“Oh, Roman. Have a little faith.” Cinder purred. “You'll know what you need when you need to know it.”
“Like when you’d call me next time after that magical night we spent together two years ago?”
“I thought I told you never to talk about that EVER again,” Cinder growled, a tinge of red on her cheeks. “Besides, we're done with Dust.”
“Then what now?” Roman asked.
“We're moving. Have the White Fang clear out this building.” Cinder ordered. “I'll send you details and coordinates tonight.”
“Coordinates?”
“We're proceeding to phase two.”
Meanwhile, Team MOBS was hanging out with Team WLKA.
“So, any reason for the blue skin, senorita?” Orlando asked Luna.
“Ate a piece of gum that tasted like tomato soup, roast beef, and blueberry pie. The blueberry part turned out to have some minor side effects.”
She then demonstrated by swelling into a large, round form, her head, hands, and feet intact as she grew to nearly ten feet tall.
“She can actually get much bigger than that if she pushes herself,” Atticus said. “As for me, I can use my Semblance to shrink down to smaller sizes. It’s more useful than it sounds. And I’m also a very prominent hacker around Mistral.”
“I’m from a prominent noble family in Atlas,” Katie said proudly. “I’m sure you remember me, dear Simone.”
“Yes, yes, that charity gala where you exposed a particular family for being less than charitable and then wound up getting covered in squirrels from laughing so hard it triggered your Semblance.” Simone playfully said.
“Oh! That was one time!” Katie huffed.
“And I’m Wilbur. My family has been hunters and cooks in Vacuo for generations, but I decided to bring smiles to people by protecting them from Grimm, instead.”
He took a big bite of a chocolate bar and patted his big belly. However, he also had plenty of muscle packed into his fat.
“That’s a lotta chocolate,” Martin noted.
Wilbur gave Martin another chocolate bar.
“Here, I have plenty. In fact, my Semblance lets me create a chocolate syrup that I can control. Perfectly sticky to trap enemies, and quite delicious.”
“Sounds like something you’d see out of One Piece.” Ben quipped.
Jaune was busy out in the forest area of Beacon, practicing his sword and shield skills before looking to see it would be dark soon.
“Better head back or Pyrrha and the others will get worried.”
As he made his way back to campus, he heard what sounded like a cry. Curious, he followed the source of the noise, finding a large tree. In one of the nearby bushes, he found what looked like a basket.
Reaching toward the basket, he saw something shifting and saw what was quite possibly the cutest baby girl he had ever seen. She looked just under a year old. She had light brown hair, soft and puffy cheeks that would make anyone want to touch them, an adorable little face with a cute button nose, a pair of shining blue eyes, and a squirrel tail, indicating she was a Faunus.
"Um... hello?"
The baby just held out her hands to Jaune, burbling as he noticed there was a card on the basket and picked it up, seeing that it only read “Please Take Me” and then turned it around to see a name written on the back: “Makoto”.
“Is that your name, sweetie?” He asked before picking up the basket. “Come on, this forest ain’t safe.
As he walked with Makoto back to Beacon, he didn’t notice Death watching with a proud look on his face, glad that the baby would be able to live a full life under the young knight’s care.