Dawn 5:00 AM

It was quiet in the shopping district in Vale. Nothing but empty streets and cicadas chirping. But it will no longer will be as by morning, the shops will be all opened for business.

There were already various store owners opening their shops early. The lights lit up their buildings and showing the names of what they type of store they are. Ranging from food, clothes, books, Dusts, etc.

Speaking of the last part, a store owner of one of the dust shops in the district was walking to their shop. The owner is a man in his 40's with short black hair and a goatee.

His shop is located in a currently secluded area where no other shops were open yet, other than his. When he got to the building, he unlocked the door with the key and walked inside.

Looking around, the place was still intact. No signs of any damages or missing items. All that he needs is too wait and prepare for the oncoming customers when morning hits.

As he was waiting, the door behind him opened as two figures walked in. One of them wore a simple black shirt and pants, while wearing a beanie. Where as the other figure wore a black hoodie.

The owner didn't expect people to arrive this early, but the poor soul won't realize what's gonna happen next.

"Uh, welcome you two." He greeted the two figures as if they are customers. "The store's still closed right now. You gotta wait till morning at 8."

"That's fine. We just want to ask some questions." The beanie figure said with a deep male voice, meaning that he is an adult.

The owner felt a bit suspicious from that response, but he replied anyway. "Sure. What is it you want to-"

"Where's the dust?" The black hooded person asked, with his young and raspy voice, along with that weird accent the owner wasn't familiar with.

"Eh, don't mind him." The beanie followed. "He's usually likes to get on to the point." He lightly hit the hooded person's side, which made the latter to grumble. "But like what he said. You have any dust around?"

"Oh, of course." The owner showed the two figures all the dust that were kept in the tubes along with some dust crystals on the counter. He also said he stored a few more dust tubes by the back of the store, incase he runs out.

The beanie was delighted of this, where as the hooded person kept quiet. The former then said. "Good. And i want to ask another question."

"Go ahead." The owner allowed.

The beanie look both ways before asking the question. "Do you work alone here?"

"Uh, yes?"

"Good. That means we can rob you easily - NOW!"

With that response. The front windows were immediately destroyed as more figures arrived outside the shop. The owner was alerted and took action as he was going to take out his gun in a drawer.

But he wasn't fast enough as his arm got hit by a bullet. It hurt like hell, but his Aura manage to protect it. He looked back front to see the hooded person had pulled out a weird looking pistol. For the gunner though, he know it as the Luger p08.

The person then fired another round to his forehead as the impact knocked the owner back to the shelves behind him, which he then dropped to the ground, presumed to be dead.

The hooded person then saw a nearby security camera by the corner of the shop, which he immediately aim his gun on the camera and shot it to pieces.

"Alright. Now that's taken care of. Everybody grab the dust!" The beanie shouted as more people entered the store. All of them were wearing black hoods and sleeveless white vests, with a few wearing black shirts under them. Also they wore masks that covers their face.

They did what the beanie told and grabbed all the dust that were in the shop.

The beanie turned to the black hooded person. "No evidence." He was referring to the bullet that the latter used to kill the shop owner.

The hooded person sighed and nodded, searching for the bullet.

For about a few minutes, the shop was getting ransacked by the group of men, and there was nothing to do stop them. A few of them men broke the door that led to the storage area, where the owner said he had kept a few of those dust tubes.

Though their main objective was to steal all the dust, some of the men decide to take something that they want, which includes money, comic books and magazines, especially those 18+ stuff.

The robbers got what they needed and they exited the store with all the dust they could carry.

"Alright. Let's get out of here." The beanie ordered while walking out of the store with a bag of dust.

The hooded person finished checking around and was about to leave aswell, before he heard coughing and groaning from the counter.

He went there and saw that the owner was still alive, but injured.

The owner layed on the floor, feeling a heavy concussion from whatever bullet the hooded person used at him. What's worse is that the bullet had made his Aura to shatter quite easily with his forehead dropping bits of blood, now leaving him vulnerable to any attacks.

Just what was that bullet made out of...

He tried to get up, but the concussion was just too strong, leaving him on the floor like he was stuck in glue or one of those flex tapes.

When he saw that the hooded person was infront of him, he desperately tried to get his gun. As he did though, the person stepped on the gun along with his left hand. The latter then slid the gun away, leaving the owner now unarmed.

The hooded person aimed his weird pistol again to the owner expecting that he's going to shoot him, ending his life quickly.

But, he didn't.

The hooded person pulled out the magazine of the pistol and was likely inspecting the ammo of it. After that he put the gun away, and what comes next was him pulling out a sickle.

The owner's eyes wided and was going to break free, but the person stopped him again by stepping on his arm.

The hooded person look to the sickle and mumbled. 'I should get a better weapon that this crap.' then looking back to the owner as he was going to slash him.

"Wait. Please no. D-Don't do it."

He ignored his begging and raised the sickle up into the air.

"No! Don't kill me! Have mercy. Please!"

Ignoring those again, the hooded person slashed the owner.

_________________________________

Beacon

*CLANG*

Comes the sound of two swords colliding to eachother, before pulling away as both of the users stepped back and face eachother. One of the fighters, was the leader of team JNPR, Jaune Arc. The one with the name that is short and rolls of the tongue, which ladies suppose to love it. He was equipped with his usual sword and shield. Crocea mors.

The other fighter was none other than the fourth specialist of Beacon, Erich Hartmann. Or as his codename says, Jäger. He too was equipped with his own sword, which he didn't really bother of naming it, but he may will be.

Both of the students were in the arena, the arena that was used for sparring. Students from the first and second year watches the sparring match. The third and fourth years usually don't bother seeing all these sparring between the freshmens, but since the specialist was participating in the match, it attracted them to see how well he does in battle.

Some of the students were cheering for either of the fighters. A few were also betting their lien to see who would win. Team RWBY were cheering for Hartmann, while NPR were all cheering for Jaune to show what JNPR could do.

Team CFVY were also rooting for the German. Well, mostly with the two girls of the team. Where as Yatsuhashi and Fox were looking to the Blonde knight and think if he may get the chance to win. Nevertheless, they still root for the german.

With CRDL, Cardin didn't bother who to cheer on. He doesn't really care about sparring matches unless it involves with him and his teammates or Faunus fighting. Where as the rest of his team, are watching the sparring. Sky and Russel bet eachother on who would win, winner takes all after.

Back to the arena, both fighters were panting and sweating as they were pretty much in almost equal level. For Hartmann, he felt a bit unprotected when he is currently wearing his Wehrmacht helmet and his ss camo. But that was fine when he has his aura, that he unlocked two days ago, to do the protecting.

After unlocking his Aura, he got into spars with Glynda and a few of his friends to test out his protection of his newfound Aura. This sparring match was his chance to prove himself to be stronger.

With those thoughts aside, he focus back on to his opponent. Jaune was figuring out a chance to attack again. Even though he has his shield on, and Hartmann doesn't, he decide to go on the offense each time.

Every slashes the blonde boy attempt, Hartmann manage to dodge almost all of them thanks to his reflexes with no armor on. And when Hartmann counter-attacked, Jaune blocks them all with his shield, and even use it to hit the German a few times.

This time when Jaune swinged his sword at him, which Hartmann dodged, he uses his shield and hit the German to the face. Incapacitated for a moment, Jaune had the chance to slice him.

Hartmann recovered quickly, just in time for Jaune's blade to make contact with his body. He uses his right arm to tank the attack as the sword sliced it. He grunted, feeling a stinging pain from the arm and quickly back away.

He look to his arm, seeing the grey aura flickering on it. He glanced to the scroll as his aura bar was on yellow. Jaune did put a number on him, but so he did the same with the blonde.

Jaune look to his own scroll and he was also in the yellow bar. He need to be careful, but he also have to win this fight.

The blonde straighten himself and charge again to the German as both of their blades clashed again. The Audience hear clang after clang from the parrying.

Hartmann let out sweats as he kept defending himself from Jaune's attacks. Having enough, he decide to go on the offense.

Parrying yet another attack from Jaune, Hartmann push his sword and slashed Jaune's shield simultaneously.

Jaune didn't expect the sudden offense as he use his shield. Now he is in the defense.

The audience saw how Hartmann fought with his sword. They never had seen that set of skill before. Weiss even recorded it all with her scroll and plan to send it to her family, mostly to her older sister, Winter.

Winter did say that she had her interests in the boy. Don't know what it means to the Heiress, but she hoped it wasn't what she think it was.

..

What was she even thinking of going that far?

Shaking those thoughts away, she focus back on recording the fight.

Hartmann strikes Jaune's shield a few times. When he got an opening, he thrusts his sword into his chestplate. It knocked Jaune back a few feets away, as he grunted.

It looks like that Hartmann will win the fight as Jaune grew exhausted. The latter gritted his teeth and gather his remaining energy to attack the German.

The German was ready, which he had the time to think of an idea.

As they parried their swords yet again, Hartmann raised his sword up along with Jaune's, making another opening to his chest - quickly riposte the sword to his shoulder - then use his legs to knock the blonde knight to the ground when he was vulnerable.

Jaune landed with a hard thud. He tried to get back up, only to met with the blade of Hartmann's sword aiming to his neck.

After that, a buzz from the 'Bell' rang, which signals that the fight is now over.

Hartmann won the sparring.

Glynda was seen walking to the arena as she was the one responsible for ending the match. "And that is the sparring match for today. Specialist Erich Hartmann is the Victor." She declared.

The audience let out cheers from those that rooted Hartmann and groans from those that rooted for Jaune. Especially to RWBY and NPR.

The holo-screen above lit up and it showed the two competitors along with their Aura battery. As they can see, the blonde knight's Aura was low, in the red. Where as the Specialist was still on the yellow. Which also indicates that Hartmann was already victorious even without doing the finishing blow.

Even if he did, the blow might hurt the poor blonde real bad, and that is very illegal in sparring matches.

And who knows one day someone might break their opponent's legs.

Anyways, since the fight is now over, there was no need for Hartmann to keep pointing his sword by Jaune's neck. He sheathed his weapon and lend him a hand to get up.

Jaune accepted it as he sat down.

"You ok?" Hartmann asked.

"Yeah, i'm good." Jaune replied. "Just need to rest here a bit."

Both fighters then turn their heads to Glynda. The woman then spoke to them. "That was a swell fight from you two." She turned to the German first. "You're doing pretty good with that Sword of yours, Mr. Hartmann."

"Heh, well you did teach me with using it. And i also have some teachers too." Hartmann glanced at Weiss whom the latter finished recording that sparring match.

Glynda smiled a bit before turning to Jaune. "You on the other hand, still need to work on your combat effectiveness. You barely even look to your scroll. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or better to move for a more defensive strategy."

Jaune sighed. "Yes, Professor." He said before standing back up to his feet.

"You two may take your leave." Glynda said as Jaune and Hartmann left the arena. Then she turned to the audience. "Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away. It won't be long before students from the other nations start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing."

With that the final bell had rang, signaling that today's class hours is now over. What's best is that it's the last day of this week's school day.

Hearing that the Vytal festival is coming soon, some of the students, were anticipated and excited for the upcoming torunament. Glynda also said that those who choose to compete in it will be representing all of Vale.

Weiss was among them, along with Ruby and Yang too. She was pretty excited of the Vytal festival, which she had forgot to send the recording of the sparring match to her sister.

She then click on the video and send it, which her team leader noticed.

"You've been recording the fight?"

"Yep." Weiss replied. "I had too for my family to find out more about Hartmann, mostly for my older sister though."

"What, she interested in him?" Ruby said with a slight smirk.

"Don't ask..." Weiss frowned.

______________________________________

After the sparring match, Hartmann and Jaune put back their weapons to their respective lockers, then they parted ways as Jaune reunites back with his team. The former thinks that he may have disappointed them for losing, turns out they didn't as Pyrrha said he tried his best.

Perhaps she may teach him a bit more on Jaune's combat moves.

Hartmann was heading to his dorm, but got sidetracked a bit when CFVY came and congratulate him of his victory in his first sparring match. They all knew before how he didn't have any Aura after the incident in the cafeteria a few days ago, until he revealed it to them and the rest of the academy now knew about it.

They were pretty glad he wasn't Auraless anymore, if that's even a word.

He finally made it to his dorm room and rest up by laying down on the couch. That sparring match really tired him out. He wasn't that much of a fighter when in CQC back in his homeworld.

He was more of a gun user, and he still is to this day, with the exception of him able to do CQC now.

Speaking of guns, the German eyed to the second un-opened crate that contained German weapons and equipment. He got up and head towards it, not before picking up the crowbar that was next to them.

It didn't took a moment before Hartmann rip out the top of the crate with the crowbar.

He set the top aside and looked inside the crate. Tons of new stuff to use and keep.

His eyes set on a familiar looking automatic Rifle. He picked it up and it is shown to be, what he thinks is a rare weapon he ever saw - the FG-42.

He never knew such a gun like this exists as he only heard it through mentions by other people. If he wasn't wrong, only special paratroopers were allowed to use this gun.

He pulled out the magazine and noticed that the bullets were the same as the ones used for the Kar98k. With the latter being gone now, he had atleast 30 clips to spare - which is about 150 bullets.

He can finally put them to use with the FG42

The problem is that he has no clue how it works, but in his theory it probably works like a regular assault rifle like the STG 44.

Putting the gun aside, Hartmann continue to search the crate. He found more of the grenades, wonderful. Then there is more ammo for the FG-42, which is sweet.

There is even a pistol - the Walther P38

He now has a sidearm. Pretty useful in combat situation if your primary gun ran out of bullets and you have no time to reload. Top of that, the P38 comes with several dozens of short magazines of it.

After about 15 minutes, he finished searching the whole crate. He decide to keep the FG42 to use it in the future. He'll stick with the MP40 for now. And for the Walther p38, he'll probably use it in further occasions.

Not like he needs them or anything. Besides, he doesn't know what to do now after class. Until he heard a buzz from his scroll.

BZZZT

He picked up the scroll and saw a notification. It was a message from Ruby. He tapped the message as it says;

"Hey Hartmann, you busy?"

He texted her back.

"Nope. Just messing around with all of my stuff."

Not even a few seconds, Ruby then texted,

"Ah, good. I was wondering if you can come with us to the city to see what the people are preparing for the upcoming Vytal Festival. So you in?"

Hartmann thought about it for a moment, and he obliges.

"Sure thing. I just need to change first."

"Alright, we'll meet you at the courtyard. Be fast if ya can!"

He put down the scroll and went to change his outfit for the trip to the city. Finally he's not gonna sit his ass all day and have something else to do.

______________________________________

Hartmann is now in the city with all of team RWBY. He wore a simple grey t-shirt and brown pants while deciding to keep his cap on. He really likes wearing it now. He bring no weapons since it wasn't really useful and totally unnecessary.

Top of that, the city itself seems pretty crowded and festive. A fight in this condition would cause so much attention and a bit of chaos.

Speaking of the former, Hartmann could see confetti everywhere on the streets, there were people selling some food or merchandises, and some are putting up signs, one of them being 'WELCOME TO VALE' which he guesses is to greet the foreigners from the different kingdoms.

He was pretty amazed by the decorations that the Vale people did, so did team RWBY. Weiss, however - was awestrike.

Weiss stared at all of what is happening with a wide open smile with her hands on her cheeks as her eyes sparkled. Hartmann wasn't the only one noticing it, infact the rest of her team does too.

Yang first asked. "Man, what's up with you, Weiss?"

Her sister - Ruby, followed. "Yeah, i don't think i've ever seen you smile this much. It's kinda weirding me out."

The blonde chuckled a bit. "You're looking as goofy as Ruby usually does."

"What?!"

Weiss finally spoke. "I'm afraid i can't help myself. After all, the Vytal festival is finally upon us. A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be Dances, Parades, and a tournament too. The amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!"

"It is indeed, breathtaking." Hartmann replied. "But i find it a bit strange how the city looked like the festival already started. It is still a few months away."

"Well that is above all else of this event!" Weiss said. "Even before the vent properly begins, people and sights from all the kingdoms join in a massive celebration!"

"I see." As he was talking to Weiss, Ruby was arguing with Yang about the whole 'Goofy and annoying' thing.

"You're saying i'm usually this annoying...?" She exclaimed while raising her hand like it was measuring something.

"Nah, even worse." Yang cross her arms on the back of head with a smug.

'Whaat?!"

Blake meanwhile didn't say a word as she kept walking with the rest.

The five students then pass by the docks where a ship was already parked. "That's a pretty big ship." Hartmann pointed out.

Weiss look to where Hartmann was talking about the ship by the docks. "It is. I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom."

"Don't believe all of that belloni. She just wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Yang said with a slight smirk.

Weiss let out a scoff. "You can't prove that."

Hartmann chuckled before continue to walk to the crowded streets. He stick together with the girls since one of them, including himself - could easily get lost. Thankfully, they reached the un-crowded parts of the streets.

"Get back, people. Get back!" A shout was heard from their left side. They saw what seems to be a crime scene and a group of people surrounding it. "There's broken glass around here, so watch your step." said a VPD officer to the crowd of people.

The students decide to check it out and went to the scene. They stopped behind the 'Do not cross' police tape, then they observed on what happened here.

The crime scene involved a dust store that got ransacked and vandalized, with it's windows broken and it's stuff stolen or missing.

"What happened here?" Hartmann asked, observing the destruction.

"Looks to be like another dust robbery." said a man that was beside Hartmann and the girls, which they didn't notice. "This is maybe the third time this had happened this week."

The fair-skinned man was possibly in his 30s as he looked pretty built and had brown hair in a buzzcut style. He wore a green olive shirt, camo pants and aviators covering his eyes.

"Man, that's rough." said Yang. "I feel bad for the store owner when they find out about this."

"Looks like you don't have too." the man replied.

"What?" Yang and the others look back to the store and they saw two VPD officers carrying out..a bodybag.

When the crowd saw it, they let out gasps. Some took out their scrolls and took pictures or recording the scene. One of the VPD officers grew irritated as he went to the front of the crowd.

"Everyone step away now and mind your own business! Professionals are working here!" He shouted.

They all step back a few feets away but some are still watching the crime scene.

Hartmann and team RWBY did the same, until the former saw the aviator man step across the tape and walk to the cops. He called out to him, but he didn't listen and kept walking to the cops.

He thought that the man would get in trouble, but to his surprise - he was talking to the cops, like if he was part of them or something.

"What's the situation now?" The man asked as he looked down to the bodybag that he definitely think it was the owner of the shop.

A female VPD officer spoke. "Well as you can see here we got ourselves a casualty, possibly the owner of this shop. Judging by the smell and the cold blood on the floor, he was killed possibly many hours ago."

"The poor soul lost a lot of blood." said another VPD officer. "He was shot two times. And then whatever weapon that the killer uses must've stabbed the neck with the sharp tip of the weapon and then they just ripped-."

Quickly, the female officer cut him off. "Please don't talk about the details...you're gonna make me puke again." She said as the officer apologized.

The man knelt down to the bodybag and open the head area, where he could see the deceased body of the owner. There was a huge slash mark by the front of his neck, right at his vocal cords. Like what the female officer said, any person could puke seeing it. The man sighed and muttered something before closing the bag.

He stood back up. "Well, i wish you officers good luck on solving the case."

"Thanks, sir. Though you could assist us if you want?" The female officer offered to the man.

"Sorry ma'am, but i'm a military man, not a cop." With that, the man - that seems to be a soldier in a military, left the crime scene and let the cops handle it.

Outside the area, Hartmann and team RWBY witness all of it. Well, Yang had to cover Ruby's eyes when the bodybag was opened, unabling her to see the body. Nevertheless, they all felt bad for the poor guy. And it was just the day when the preparation of the festival started.

He could've had customers coming endlessly into his store and make lots of money. Instead death just chooses the right time to kill him. Poor man.

Anyways, they didn't realize that they were still standing near the crime scene, which the military man walk over to them. "You kids still here? You heard what the officer said?"

"Oh, right. Sorry." Ruby apologized. They were about to leave, before Hartmann has a question he would asked to him.

"One question, though?" He said.

"What is it?"

"Are you really in the Military?" This got the attention from RWBY aswell, most specifically to Weiss. She haven't encountered one of the soldiers of the Defense force in Vale after all the times she had spent here.

Hearing what the German said, the man give him a smirk. "Yes siree. Name is Richard Marlowe. Second lieutenant in the VDF."

"Oh, i heard about you!" Yang exclaimed. "I think you helped trained some of the huntsmen in Beacon, a few years back."

"I sure did." Richard nodded. He then asked "Speaking of that, i'm assuming you kids are huntsmen too?"

Ruby nodded. "Yep, in training actually. We're still first years."

"I see. Well you girls certainly did pick out cool huntsmen outfits." All of team RWBY appreciated the compliment. Weiss and Blake giving the soldier nods. Ruby said that it was nothing while blushing a bit. And Yang smirked while flexing herself and saying thanks.

Richard then turned to Hartmann and observed his hat. "Nice hat, kid."

"Danke." Richard raised his eyebrow from that response. He didn't know what the word means, which Hartmann noticed. "It's a foreign word in Vacuo, not that popular around." He said while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Ah, so you're originally from Vacuo? I see. The more you know, i guess." Richard nodded a bit before turning to all of them. "Well, i appreciate this conversation, but it's best for you kids to leave this scene." He look back to the crime scene behind him, as the Cops were taking the bodybag away to a safer place.

"That will be done, sir." Weiss give him a nod and was the first to walk away, with the rest of RWBY and Hartmann following her after waving goodbye to Richard.

The five focused back on the topic of the crime scene that whomever caused it and killed the poor owner. If they know, they might bring them to justice. They then overheard a conversation from two more VPD officers nearby.

One of them said. "This may be a rumor..but i heard that the white fang was behind all of this."

"Yeah, you're probably right." His partner said before sighing. "We don't get paid enough for this type of shit..."

Weiss frowned and put an arm on her right side. "Speak of the devil..as they say." She said referring to the white fang. The Faunus terrorist organization known throughout Remnant.

"The white fang? Oh! We learned them in oobleck's class a few days ago." Ruby said, remembering the subject from the class.

Weiss nodded. "I whole-heartedly agree that the authorities must do their due diligence. It would be an Awful shame for the festival to be ruined by that gang of villains."

"True."

"You don't know that they're behind this." The group then turned to Blake, which she had finally opened her mouth after being silent the entire afternoon. Stating that all this mess was not caused by the White fang.

"What makes you say that, Blake?" Weiss asked.

"Remember Roman Torchwick, who Ruby fought off before school started? He's still at large."

"Hey, i fought him too." Hartmann added.

"Yeah yeah. But i'm saying that there's a decent chance this was his handwork, not the white fang." Weiss and the group thought about that. Roman is a criminal after all, and something like this can be done by scums like him.

"You're not wrong. But consider the white fang's modus operandi with their tendency of lying, cheating, and stealing. This is clearly their doing, I say." Weiss explained, slowly walking away from the crime scene.

"Coming to that sort of conclusion without proof is idiotic." Blake said with a frown on her face.

Weiss was taken aback from that attitude and faced the black-bow girl. "How dare you speak to me that way?!"

Before the conversation escalates into an argument, Hartmann stepped in between the girls with his arms raised infront of them. "Okay now. Let's not start a fight here."

Ruby followed. "Yeah, come on you two. We can discuss this back in the dorm. For now let's-"

"Somebody stop that Faunus!" A shout was heard as they turned to where it came from. "He dined and dashed!" The shout was heard again. Then a monkey Faunus appeared, jumping amongst the crowd with great reflexes. They all got a clear look at him when he dropped down to the ground on his knees.

The Monkey Faunus is a tan-skinned boy with short spiky light-blonde hair and dark-grey eyes. He wears an open loose-collared white jacket with no shirt underneath, displaying his muscular physique. He also wears blue cargo pants tied up with a white belt, and two red wrist bracers over black fingerless gloves.

The Faunus look back to where a person was chasing him, but was blocked by the crowd. The former then said. "Sorry 'bout that. I just don't have the cash on hand. Put it on my tab 'kay?"

"Get back here, you thief!" The person shouted again, trying to pursue him.

The Faunus then continued to run as he went infront of the five beacon students, which he immediately set his eyes on Blake - and giving her a wink. Blake was dumbfounded by it as he then continued to run when two cops were on his pursuit.

"Stop right there, criminal scum!" One of the officers yelled.

"Make me!" The Faunus taunted and kept running.

As Ruby watched the cops chasing the Faunus, she felt like assisting the latter. "Don't worry, officers! We'll help you catch the guy! Come on, team!" With that Ruby used her speed to catch after the Faunus.

"Sis, wait up!" Yang shouted as she went after he sister.

"Maybe i can observe him, too!" Weiss said before following them.

Hartmann groaned a bit. "Oh boy, here we go again.." He says, as he and Blake follows them.

___________________________________

When the cops stopped a bit to catch their breath, Ruby slips by them before saying, "I got this!", then she uses her speed semblance. The Faunus look back and what he saw now is a red-caped girl chasing after him.

"Whoa! Who are you?" He exclaimed, while acknowledging her speed.

"A girl that'll bring you to justice! You're mine!" Ruby replied.

The Faunus smirked. "Heh, see if you can catch up from these moves!" He then jumped and uses his tail to grab the lamp post, which give him a boost as he jumped to another lamp post with his hands, then ran to the side of a wall for a moment before turning left.

"Nobody can evade me and my super speed!" Ruby said before turning the same path where he went. Unfortunately Ruby didn't look to where she was going, which had caused her to crash her head into something hard.

"Gah!" Ruby dropped to the ground, now with a stinging pain on her head. "Ow..." She look to where the Monkey Faunus supposed to be, but he was nowhere to be seen. He actually did evade her and her super speed.

'Oh! Are you okay?" asked a young feminine voice infront of Ruby.

"Huh?" Ruby then realizes she had crashed into a girl, about the average age of the first year students. The girl had fair skin along with having green eyes and some freckles too. The girl has short and curly orange hair that came down to her chin with a small cowlick on top, and she wore a pink bow on the back of her head.

Uniform-wise, she wore an off white old-fashioned styled off the shoulder blouse with frill detailed trim and frill flared cuffs that half covered her hands alongside copper button detailing on the lower parts of her sleeves. She also wore a pair of black thigh-high leg pieces that seemingly were attached to her black shoes.

The girl then offered her hand to Ruby. "I apologize for being crashed into you. Is your body injured?" She asked.

Ruby replied. "Oh, um no. Sorry about that." She politely declining her hand as she can get up by herself. As she got up, she could hear her sister calling out to her.

"Ruby!"

"Eh?" Ruby turned to her left and she saw the rest catching up to her, some panting of how far they had to run. "Oh, hey guys."

"Did you catch the thief?" Weiss asked.

She sighed sadly. "No, i didn't manage to. I was on his tail, not literally though, but i bumped into this girl here."

"What girl?" Hartmann asked.

"Oh, how wonderful! To think i would encounter students of beacon in this place!" The same girl exclaimed, getting the attention of him and the rest of the RWBY girls as they all turned to her. "My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

The five students stood there confused, but since she was greeting herself, it's rude to not greet her back.

"Hey, Penny." Ruby spoke first. "I'm Ruby."

"I'm Weiss." Weiss followed.

"Blake." said Blake.

"Name's Yang." said Yang.

"And i am Hartmann." said Hartmann.

"It is a pleasure to meet all of you!" The girl named 'Penny' said happily.

"Um, yeah..you already said that." He corrected.

Penny pauses a bit. "So i did!"

The five students continue to stare awkwardly at the Penny girl. "What is with this girl, Ruby?" whispered Hartmann to Ruby.

"I-I don't know." She whispered back as she is trying to find a solution to end all this staring. She then decide to apologize to her since she did bumped into her seconds ago. Hopefully that would end all this awkward staring. "Well...sorry for running into you, hehe." Ruby chuckled a bit while gesturing to the others to leave the other way where they came from. "Take care, friend!"

They walked away, leaving her alone. Though, Penny stood still for a few minutes, processing of that word Ruby just said to her.

"Friend..."

__________________________________________

The Five beacon students decide to walk back to Beacon since the day is almost over. The sky is turning orange as the sun is slowly setting. As they were walking, they thought about that Penny girl, back there. The way she moved looked almost mechanical, like she was programmed to do it.

"That girl was...weird." Yang said.

"You tell me..." Ruby replied, still rubbing the part of her head that bumped into her. It was still stinging a bit.

"Though i feel a bit bad that we left her alone, like that." said Hartmann, with Ruby and Yang kinda agree by it.

Weiss however, let out a shrug. "Eh, she'll be fine. It's too bad that strange girl made us lose track of the Faunus criminal."

"May i ask, Weiss. What is with you tracking down that monkey faunus that just did a small crime?" Hartmann asked.

"Because he may be connected to the white fang and that dust shop robbery, along with the murder of that owner."

That answer made Blake to eye on the heiress. Of course she heavily disagree with that answer, taking her back a few days ago when she had that conversation about the white fang with Weiss and Hartmann.

She wasn't the only one that disagree with Weiss. Ruby, Hartmann, and Yang also thought the same. The latter spoke up. "Weiss, watch what you're saying, okay?" Ruby and Hartmann both nod in agreement with the blonde.

"What? Am i wrong?" She then pulls out a paper with a rushed and poorly-drawn drawing of that monkey Faunus. When did she even drew that? Nevertheless, Weiss continued. "This flagrant law-breaker is probably already a member of the white fang."

"Look, Weiss. You got to stop making those assumptions. That's what i'm saying here." Hartmann said assuringly.

Yang give him a nod. "Besides, Blake already explained that to you."

Weiss humped and flicked her hair. "I fail to see the issue. To begin with, the white fang is just a gang of villainous scum. And they certainly don't seem concerned with improving their reputation." she declared.

"Just stop!" Blake exclaimed

Weiss, Yang, Ruby and Hartmann, all turned to the black bow girl as she was looking down to the ground. She has fed up of Weiss' nonsense, thinking the white fang that way. Since Blake interrupted what Weiss was going to say after, the latter let out a sigh towards the bow girl.

"What is it now, Blake?" Weiss asked. "You keep treating as if i'm wrong."

"Because you are wrong." Blake bited. "You are just a judgmental little girl and a discriminatory."

"What in the world makes you say that!?" Weiss demand as Hartmann, Ruby and Yang grew worried of the situation happening between the heiress and the bow girl.

Blake continued. "The fact you think that the white fang are a group of unredeemable Faunus. They are just very misguided!"

"That still doesn't change the fact of all the atrocities they have done to the Humans, especially to Atlesians like me!" Weiss argued. "The Faunus of the white fang are pure evil!"

Blake gritted her teeth. "There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate humans so much? It's because of people like you! People like you are to blame for what that group does!"

Weiss' eyes wided as let out a gasp. She thinks people like her, and the Atlesians are the reason why the white fang is like what it is now, a radical terrorist organization that harms humanity. That is a complete insult to the Heiress herself.

Hearing of what Blake said to Weiss, it's about time for Hartmann, Ruby and Yang to try and defuse the situation.

"Come on you two, cut it out." Yang said calmly.

"This is no time to argue. Let's just go back to the school." Hartmann followed.

"Yeah, come on Weiss. Drop this out." Ruby said to her partner. Even when they tried, the argument still escalated when Weiss spoke out, still shocked of what Blake said about her.

"I'm...to blame?"

The argument is escalating really fast. Hartmann and the Rose-xiao-long siblings knew this is gonna be bad. "Seriously, you two. Cut it out, please." Yang begged for them to stop, but it escalates further when Weiss took a step forward.

"Do you not know how i am a victim in this. Do you know how much the white fang took a toll in my life? Why i don't particularly trust most Faunus?" Weiss took another step forward as she monologues.

"It's because they've been at war with my family and my father's company for years. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across it's back for as long as i can remember. And they had continue to do so when my father took over. Ever since i was a child, i watched many employees, associates and friends disappeared and killed by those monsters, all because they work for the SDC!" Weiss huffed a bit, gritting her teeth.

Hartmann made another attempt to defuse this. He put one of his hand on her shoulder. "Weiss, please-"

"Stay out of this!" Weiss shoved his hand away and stared back Blake. "Every day my father came back home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood. They have turned my life upside down, and you have the nerve to tell me that I am to Blame?! THEY'RE NOTHING BUT MURDERERS!"

Blake finally snapped. "WE ONLY EVER WANTED TO BE TREATED EQUALLY AND WE'RE JUST TIRED OF BEING PUSHED AROUND!"

Silence drop down as the four did not believe what they just heard from Blake, with shocked faces. Weiss backs away a bit as she was as shocked as the rest of them. Blake had her eyes wide when she realized what she had said to them. She made a mistake.

"B-Blake?" Yang said, breaking the silence as she reaches out for her partner. What she and the others did not expect is when the bow girl immediately turns around and bolted. "Blake, where are you going?!" Yang called out, desperately.

Not wanting the team to be separated, Ruby pursue after Blake. The former have to be responsible to take care of her team.

Hartmann grunted and looked to Weiss with an exasperated look. "du Kapitalist miststück! (You Capitalist bitch!)" he exclaimed to her before joining with Ruby to get Blake.

Weiss ignored what he said, and since she didn't know what it means as her mind was processing that her teammate - Blake, is part of the white fang? Seems obvious when she was defending the organization's evil atrocities.

Ruby chase after Blake as the latter turned into an alley. The former made it to the alley to see that Blake was already gone. Hartmann manage to catch up to her. "Where did she go?" He asked.

"I don't know." Ruby said with an exasperated tone. She then inhaled before calling her out.

"BLAKE!"

_____________________________________

Night time had finally fallen into the city. The once crowded streets were now almost empty, with a few shop owners closing their stores. The people went back to their homes where as the visitors went back to their hotel rooms.

Meanwhile, the Monkey Faunus - the one that had evaded the cops with no difficulties, is now sitting on the roof of a building near the bridge. He was very satisfied of the meal he ate in that restaurant, but it's a shame that he forgot to bring some money. Which he remembered that he gave it to one of his teammates as a favor to keep it safe before he bounced to see the city.

He'll pay it back tomorrow, if he meets the PoPos or that guy again.

That aside, the Faunus stared up towards the night sky, seeing all the stars and the shattered moon lighting it all up. The Faunus exhaled. "I sure do love quiet nights like these." he said to himself with a smile.

His eyes then set down below when he felt like he saw a figure passing by the streets above him and went under the bridge. The Monkey faunus dropped down safely to the streets for a better look at the figure.

It wasn't that hard for him to recognize who that figure was. It was that black bowed girl he passed by.

He decide to finally introduce himself to her, since he know what she really was.

Blake had to abandon her team after what she accidentally said to them. With her fast ninja-like reflexes, she manage to outrun her team leader with her speed. After that, she decide to go the bridge and went to the dark underside of it.

She did it as to hope that anyone would not see what she was going to do.

She closed her eyes and lift one of her arms up to her bow and slowly pull one of the string. When she released her bow, it had revealed the thing that she had hid for a while she came here and into beacon.

A pair of Cat ears.

She opened her eyes and stared back at the bow. The reason why she had been defending the white fang all afternoon is not because she's faunus. No. It's because she was once part of the organization.

Looking at the bow brings back memories that she wanted to forget the day she had left the organization along with her fellow white fang associates. And the disappointed voice from her mentor.

"The white fang needs you, blake."

The past voices echoes through her head as she closed her eyes.

"You're leaving us?"

She clenched the ribbon on her hand, desperately trying to forget about all of those.

"Let this be a warning, Blake. If we meet again, i won't go easy on you."

She gritted her teeth with a single tear slowly coming out of her eyes. She then hear the voice of Weiss from recently.

"They're nothing but murderers!"

And after that, her head was clear. All those voices had vanished when the tear drop down to her cheek. She wiped it away and let out a sigh, thinking of what she was going to do next.

"I always think you look better without the bow." She heard the familiar voice of that Monkey Faunus behind her. She turned around and saw him smiling at her. "Wanna tell me what's troubling you, fellow Faunus?"

==To be continued==

That is a wrap for this chapter.

By the way, i'm informing to you readers that volume 1 will come to an end in just 3-4 chapters after this. Of course the story will continue in volume 2, where more stuff will be explored. New interactions and plotlines. I may do some trailer scenes by the end of this volume.

Anyways, leave a comment, let me know your thoughts or opinions on this chapter.

With that out of the way, i'll see you next time.