I'm back! Nothing more to say except just enjoy the chapter which I was able to put up for all of you guys following cause I appreciate and love your guys support. Without further ado let's go!

(Opening Theme: Unleash the Power - Finley)

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Several Months later...

The streets of Vale were being decorated in time for the Vytal Festival. Red, yellow, and green streamers and balloons are proudly on display, and Team RWBYK were strolling through it all with an awed Weiss leading them all. A sign was being put up by the elderly shopkeeper of the From Dust Till Dawn store that read in bright red letters "WELCOME TO VALE!" for all the foreign newcomers from their kingdoms of Vytal.

"The Vytal Festival! Oh this is absolutely wonderful," Weiss of all people cheered with a smile that was almost comparable to that of a child's on Christmas.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Snow White," Ky noted for everyone. He was not wrong, either. Ever since she heard that Vale was starting to set up all of its decorations and preparations for the Vytal Festival, Weiss had been smiling almost nonstop for the entire day, and that smile had only become more constant after they had arrived in the city proper a few minutes ago.

Even though she was happy to see her partner so happy and excited, Ruby still had to admit, "Yeah, It's kinda weirding me out..."

"How could you two not smile?" Weiss happily asked in return. "A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances, parades, a tournament!" The more Weiss spoke, the more the group came to understand why she was so excited, mainly because they were all just as excited for the same things. Or so it seemed, until Weiss added one last thing to her list of reasons to be excited. "Oh the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breath taking."

That last one pulled a sigh out from Yang, along with the only comment that came to her mind in that moment. "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring."

"Quiet you," Weiss snapped in annoyance. It was not her fault that the things she found fun and interesting was different from most other people's. Well...not entirely any way.

"Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?"

"Ugh, they smell like fish," Ruby groaned while pinching her nose.

"Yeah. Kinda reminds me a little of home," Ky sighed fondly as he took in his own whiff of the air. When the others looked at him a little weirdly, he only shrugged and said, "What? I've spent most of my life by the beach. What can I say?"

"That aside, there is a very important reason as to why we should all be here right now," Weiss announced, getting everyone's attention. "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."

"Wow. That's so big of you, and yet, it all sounds so...fake," Ky sarcastically praised, only dropping the sarcasm at the end. "What's the real reason?"

"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament," Blake suggested, though from the tone of her voice, it sounded more like she was stating a fact than she was making a suggestion.

"Yeah, that makes way more sense," Ky agreed with a nod.

"Ah! You can't prove that!" Weiss instantly protested, but she only made the two smirk a little more since they felt that her reaction was proof enough.

"Whoa!" A startled gasp from Ruby caught everyone's attention. Turning to see what had caught Ruby's notice like that, everyone immediately saw a store that had been roped off with crime-scene tape and had been left very damaged. Upon moving closer, they started to get a better scope of how messed up the shop had become. There was glass from broken windows on the sidewalk and street in front of the store and inside, they could see several overturned shelves and the broken down front door lying across one of the counters. From the look of things, it seemed pretty recent, and that was only further supported by the fact that there was a pair of officers taking notes of everything on the scene.

"What happened here?" Ky asked once they had all gotten as close as they could without going past the crime-scene tape.

"Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week," the bearded detective replied while pocketing his notepad. He then turned to walk over to his partner while grumbling, "This place is turning into a jungle."

"That's terrible," Yang sighed sadly. "Was anyone hurt?"

"Thankfully, no," the other detective, a younger fellow by the sound of his voice answered. "The owners were out when it happened, and didn't learn about it until they arrived this morning to open up."

"Well, that's good to hear, at least."

While they did agree with Yang's sentiments, Ky and Ruby looked one another as they took notice of what the detectives were saying to each other about what they had found. Especially after they heard the younger one say to his partner, because it sounded a little familiar to her. "They left all the money again."

"Yeah, it just doesn't make a lick o' sense. Who needs that much dust," the bearded detective wondered.

"I dunno, an army," the younger one suggested.

"You thinking the uh, White Fang?"

"Ya I'm thinking we don't get paid enough."

That last bit prompted an eye-roll from Ky who just commented, "Ladies and gentlemen, Vale's tax dollars at work. What shining examples of security against crime."

Another eye-roll followed the overabundance of sarcasm, but the others soon became a little more interested in what Weiss had to say following the exchange between the two detectives. "Hmph. The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates," the heiress huffed crossly.

"What's your problem?" Blake questioned, surprising some of the others with how annoyed she suddenly sounded.

Weiss did not seem to take notice, and simply answered the question. "My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided Faunus," Blake immediately defended.

"Misguided? They want to wipe humanity off the face of the planet," Weiss retorted.

"So then they're very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale," Blake shot back.

"Oh please. The White Fang has never been peaceful," Weiss scoffed.

"Really? Because from what I've heard, they were at one point, before they had a change in leadership. I'm not saying I blame them for taking a more heavy-handed approach in response to how most people treat Faunus in general, but if you ask me, I think they were better off before that had happened," Ky countered, surprising Blake a little when he admitted that.

"Hmm. I think Blake might have a point, actually," Ruby thought aloud. "Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy Ky and I ran into a few months ago. Maybe it was him."

"Oh, right? How could I forget about that pretty boy with the ridiculous haircut and the stupid hat?" Ky said, getting a small giggle from Ruby.

"Maybe, but that still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum," Weiss huffed rather haughtily, prompting Blake to start glaring at her, and that glare only grew stronger as the heiress continued speaking. "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."

"Okay, Snow White, we get it," Ky said rather harshly, and his lack of any playful tones made it clear that Weiss should watch herself if she knew what was good for her.

"Besides, that's not necessarily true," Yang started to say in her own attempt at playing peacemaker.

Yang's attempt at calming everyone down was quickly cut short when someone from the docks suddenly shouted, "Hey! Stop that Faunus!"

Hearing that prompted the team to rush back over to the guard rail by the docks, ready to spring into action, only to pause when they saw a blonde haired boy leap up onto the rail of a ship's deck, and wave to the sailors on board with a chuckle. A minute later, the boy had jumped off the ship, and onto the dock, before he leapt up to hang down from a lamppost by his monkey tail, proving that he was the Faunus that someone had been shouting about a minute ago even before the sailors on the ship had shouted after him. "You no-good stowaway!"

"Hey! A 'no-good' stowaway would have been caught. I'm a great stowaway," the monkey-boy corrected as he peeled open a banana that he pulled from somewhere, before he leaned to one side in order to dodge a rock that had been thrown at him by one of the detectives from earlier.

"Hey. Get down from there this instant!" the bearded detective ordered, only to end up getting a banana peel dropped in his face.

The monkey-boy then swung himself up on top of the lamppost he was hanging from, laughing all the while before he leapt over the cops in an impressive show of acrobatics and raced up the dock stairs leading to the street. Naturally the officers chased after him, but he did not seem to be paying them any mind, or at least not anymore mind than needed in order to know he had to keep running, and his escape attempt ended up leading him right past where and RWBYK were all standing. When he came up to the two teams, he actually did slow his pace a little bit, but only just enough to the point where he could throw a quick wink at Blake, much to her astonishment, and afterwards, he was off at full speed once again.

After watching the police continue to chase after the stowaway, Ky eventually had to ask, "Did we just see an actual, honest-to-god monkey-boy?"

"Yep," Ruby confirmed while popping the "p" at the end.

"Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes," Yang said to her friend, with an amused tone.

Weiss on the other hand was not willing to let the guy out of their sights just yet. "Quick! We have to observe him!"

"Right, because I'm sure having even more people chase after him will be a great way to convince him to stop running away," Ky remarked as everyone other than Blake took off after the monkey Faunus and his pursuers.

When he noticed Blake just standing there staring at where the monkey-boy had been just now, the bluenette immediately shouted, "Blake, come on! If Weiss is going to end up landing everyone in trouble, we should at least be there to see her crash and burn...And help get them out of it, of course."

Blake did not say anything in response, but did snap out of her stupor to follow after the others. The two teams quickly rounded the corner that they saw the officers and their quarry disappear behind, and easily spotted both racing down the adjacent street without any trouble. At once, the eight friends all bolted after the three, doing their best to catch up, until they rounded a corner leading to a side street. Not even slowing down for a second, Weiss made the turn as well, but end up stumbles back a bit from the impact of colliding with something, before falling to the ground with whatever it was she ran into, prompting the rest to skid to a halt right behind her.

Propping herself up on her arms, Weiss's eyes instantly widen when the Faunus boy suddenly disappears up onto a rooftop and out of the police's reach, and cried out, "No, he got away!"

"Are you alright, Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah. Why would anyone think to put a wall right after a turn?" The heiress muttered, rubbing her head

"'Well maybe because the "wall" you ran into were people..." a new voice then asked, sounding very irritated, while the rest of Team RWBYK started to look at Weiss a little nervously, and Ky froze upon hearing the newcomer speak.

Looking up at the person who had spoken, Weiss saw that the thing she had ran into was actually a pair of people, one was a girl with orange hair that had a pink bow tied into it, and was on the ground as well; the other was a boy with red-orange spiky hair and while the former was smiling widely despite her sudden fall, the latter was most definitely upset, given the glare he was throwing at Weiss. Seeing both teens and the glare that the red-orange haired one was giving her, Weiss immediately stood back up with a yelp. "Uh...Sorry, I didn't see you," Weiss apologized.

"Yeah, well you probably would have if you had thought to slow down before making that turn," the boy retorted while dusting off his pants.

Feeling rather cowed by that retort, Weiss could not help but find this situation familiar, and could not help but lean over to her partner and whisper, "Is this what it was like when you first met me?"

"Uh...More or less," Ruby admitted with a shrug, not wanting to admit that this guy did not seem as mean as Weiss did back then, considering he had not raised his voice to yelling levels just yet.

What none of the girls of Team RWBYK had realized yet was that the boy of the group was sporting wide grin upon seeing this particular male. "Aptus!" Ky cheered as he pushed past Weiss to approach his best friend.

The red-orange haired boy's cross look immediately turned into a slight surprised look, before it transformed into an ear-splitting grin. "Ky!? Long time no see!"

They then met each other halfway and did their unique handshake.

"What are you doing here?" Ky said as he step back to look up at his friend, who was a few inches taller than him.

"I came here to visit you," Aptus told him. "After everything you told me about Vale and Beacon, I decided to come check this place out."

While Ky continued his reunion with Aptus, the girls of Team RWBYK watched not to far away.

"Wait, did he say Aptus?" Ruby asked. "As in his best-friend we keep hearing about in stories?"

"I think so," Blake replied. "He did mention he was a Faunus too."

They took the time to take in the boy's appearance. While he was a bit cross at first, seeing his smile again definitely gave him the appearance of someone who was really friendly amongst people he knew. Add that in with the way his green eyes seemed to shine after he first saw Ky and it was clear to the huntresses-in-training that he really did care a great deal for the blue-haired boy. He also looked to be two years older than Ky with goggles pushed up onto his forehead, blue eyes, not to mention that his spiky, unkempt spiky hair that was kept in a long ponytail and the black goggles on his forehead gave him a certain bad-boy vibe that was hard to really resist.

(Imagine him with small fox ears.)

In terms of his outfit, Aptus's attire consisted of a black jacket that he keeps unzipped with silver buttons, zipper tag and sequin details on the pockets. The jacket has checkered pattern at the hem. Underneath, he wears a gray shirt with a V-neck. He wears crimson cropped trousers are hemmed with the same checkered pattern as the jacket and black buckled boots with red soles along with a red shoulder guard with a black spike on top long piece of armor on his left arm, reaching all the way to the bottom of his hand. He also wore a black, fingerless glove on his hand and what appears to be a red gauntlet with a golden outline as well a silver cuff on his forearm.

Lastly, they then noticed his small fox ears, showing he indeed was a Faunus.

The reunion between the duo was cut short, when Ky noticed the other person, who was a girl still lying on the ground, not appearing the least bit bothered by the fact that she had been nearly forgotten in their excitement. Coming to a quick conclusion, Ky looked back to Aptus and asked, "Say, who's your friend, Ap?"

"Friend?" Aptus asked, confused by what Ky was referring to, until he turned back to look at the girl that was still on the ground. "Oh damn!"

"Sal-u-tations," the girl happily waved to everyone before Aptus could apologize for forgetting about her.

"Um...hello," Ruby hesitantly greeted, just as put-off by the girl as everyone else.

"Are you...okay?" Yang asked.

"I'm wonderful. Thank you for asking," the girl replied, still just laying on the ground, much to everyone's confusion.

After a quick exchange of unsure looks between one another, Yang asked, "Do you...need some help getting up?"

"Oh, no, that won't be necessary," the girl replied, and she finally jumped back to her feet, startling everyone into taking a quick step back when she did. "My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Hi there," Ruby greeted, not wanting to sound rude. "I'm Ruby."

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head," Yang asked Penny before Blake elbowed her in the side. "Oh! I'm Yang."

She then looked over at Aptus. "What about you, stranger?" Yang questioned, and despite the fact that she was trying to sound like a suspicious person, the effect ultimately failed when everyone saw the grin on her face.

"Who am I? Oh, the name's Aptus. Got it memorized?" the Fox faunus proudly declared.

"That depends on whether or not you can make it memorable," Yang teased back.

"Oh trust me, Goldie, I've got plenty of ways to make sure the memory of me is burned into your mind," Aptus promised.

Hearing that, Ky dropped his head into his palm. "Really? Fire puns," He questioned. "You've reached a new low, Ap."

"And what are you?" Penny then asked the blunette, apparently having deduced who Aptus was by now.

"My name's Ky. Nice to meet ya!"

"Likewise," Penny confirmed enthusiastically. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Um...You already said that," Weiss frowned in reminder.

Penny just blinked for a moment before her smile was back again and she said, "So I did!"

"Well, sorry for running into you," Weiss apologized as she and the others turned to leave.

"Take care, friend," Ruby added as she waved goodbye for now.

"We'll see you around, buddy," Ky said as he copied Ruby, neither of them noticing how Penny's eyes widened upon hearing their words.

Once they were a fair enough distance away, everyone let out a collective sigh of relief before Yang said, "She was...weird."

"Um...have you met us? We're pretty weird too," Ky said, pointing at the whole group.

Yang raised an eyebrow at this. "Yeah? How so?"

Ky then held up six fingers, as he counted down on them. "First, we have a cute silver-eyed girl that carries around a huge scythe, a Ice Queen with the personality of a five year old, an emo ninja bookworm, a blond super soldier who loves puns just as much as me, a fox faunus that's basically a human flame thrower and me... a golden-colored eye guy who swings around key-shaped swords. We're all pretty much weird."

Ky then noticed they all had different types of reactions from what he said. "...Well, I can't argue with that," Yang said with a shrug.

"Excuse me!?" Weiss exclaimed in anger.

Blake just gave Ky a mere blank stare, though her eye twitched slightly. "..."

Ruby's face burst into red hot flames, as steam flowed out of her ears. "C-Cute?"

"I'd say quirky would be a bit more accurate," Aptus corrected as he turned his attention to the huntresses-in-training. "So, judging by the names, I'm guessing you're the infamous girls of Team RWBYK that I've heard about."

"Yeah, that's us," Ruby proudly confirmed, as her blush faded. Her smile faded a little though when she asked, "Wait, you've heard about us?"

"Mostly from Ky whenever he called to update me on how things are going for him and the rest of you guys," Aptus explained, getting in a bit of teasing while he was at it. "It seems like you four left quite the impression on him."

"Well, what can we say? We're just so awesome that we're pretty much out of this world," Yang joked.

While Ky grinned a little at the pun, the others all either groaned in disapproval or rolled their eyes at Yang's attempt at a joke before Aptus got back on track again. "Well, it's nice to finally meet you all, you know, aside from when I got knocked over."

"I'm really sorry about that," Weiss apologized once again.

"Just don't make a habit of it, and it'll be fine," Aptus reassured her with a smile. "Unlike Ky here, I'm not really one to hold grudges for nearly an eternity."

"Hey! I do not hold grudges for that long!" Ky protested.

"Bud, need I remind you that you're still carrying a grudge against me from how I beat you almost a year ago in our Struggle match?" Aptus questioned.

Ky had no argument for that, at least not aside from anything other than crossing his arms and huffing in annoyance while grumbling, "I would've one if you hadn't used that fire attack like some kind of stupid, overpowered steroids!"

Ruby just giggled at her friend's attitude, before bumping Ky's shoulder with her own. Ky gave her a playful eyeroll showed that he had now recovered from whatever bruising his ego had taken just now, and Aptus took that as his cue to move onto another matter. "So, what were you guys in such a big hurry for, anyway?"

"We were chasing after this Faunus riffraff that may be a student visiting from Vacuo for the Vytal Festival," Weiss explained, not noticing how Blake had shot her another glare for the way she described the monkey Faunus from earlier. "You didn't happen to see him, did you?"

Aptus just stared at Weiss for a minute before he finally said, "Uhh...what?"

"What she meant to say is...." Blake began, glaring a bit at Weiss before looking back at the fox Faunus. "Did you happen to see a blonde guy with a monkey tail and an open shirt run past you before we met up?"

Aptus crossed his arms in thought for a minute before answering, "I think I might have seen someone like that before I met up with you guys, but the only person I really noticed was Weiss. I hadn't even realized Penny was standing next to me until one of you guys mentioned her to me."

"Well it was worth a shot," Ruby sighed. "Guess we'll just have to find him the old fashioned way."

The others all would have nodded in agreement, had they not had to come to a sudden stop at seeing Penny somehow standing right in front of them with an odd look on her face, much to their surprise. "What did you call me?" the odd girl asked.

"Oh, I'm really sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me," Yang quickly apologized, thinking that Penny was referring to when she had called her weird, while Weiss darted her head back and forth in bewilderment, trying to figure out how the girl had gotten in front of them from where she was without any of them noticing.

"No, not you," Penny corrected, stepping past Yang and the others until she was standing right in front of the blue/red duo, and getting a little too close for their comfort. "You two!"

"Us?" Ky and Ruby both exclaimed in question.

"I-I don't know, I-what I-um, uh..." Ruby stuttered, while Ky just rapidly glanced about in an attempt to figure out what he could have said that may have been offensive to this girl in some way.

"You called me 'friend,'" Penny clarified for Ruby before turning to Ky, all the while sounding really excited. "And you called me 'buddy'! Am I really your friend?"

"Uummm..." Ruby did not know what to say at this point, and ended up just looking over Penny's shoulder to see what her teammates' thoughts were. It should not be surprising that the rest of Team RWBYK were motioning for them to say no, but what Ruby did find interesting was that Ky had already had his answer loaded even before the others started to discreetly signal him. Too bad for them it was not the one they were telling him to give. "Sure, of course we are," Ky grinned happily.

"Yeah, why not," Ruby shrugged soon after, mainly just going with the flow that Ky had set at this point, even if it did make her ignore the others' silent signals.

The rest of Ky and Ruby's friends could only give the two disbelieving stares before comically falling to the ground. Not that Penny ever seemed to notice, since she was practically glowing at their answers, and happily pulled the both of them into a bone-breaking hug as she happily cheered. "Ahaha! Sen-santional! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!" She had to pause at that last one, apparently only just now realizing that Ky was a boy, but just as quickly added on to her statement afterwards. "Along with all kinds of other fun subjects that friends talk about!"

"Ooh, is this what it was like when you met me?" Ruby quietly groaned to Weiss, now finding herself as the one in the familiar situation that Weiss had been in earlier.

"No, she seems far more coordinated," Weiss instantly replied after dusting herself off.

"Geez, just how bad of a first impression did those two leave on each other?" Aptus asked.

"Now that is a long story that involves a lot of yelling, arguing, and a few explosions," Ky replied, only confusing Aptus a little more. "I'll tell you more later."

"So...what are you doing in Vale?" Yang decided to ask Penny, seeing as they were not likely to get rid of her anytime soon.

"I'm here to fight in the tournament," Penny happily replied, surprising everyone.

"Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?" Weiss questioned in surprise. She was definitely not expecting one of the competitors to be so...well, someone like Penny.

"I'm combat ready!" Penny saluted with pride, apparently thinking that was the best answer she could give. It did little to change the impression that everyone had of her.

"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part," Weiss said, voicing what nearly everyone was thinking.

"Says the girl in a dress," Blake disputed.

"It's a combat skirt," Weiss immediately shot back.

In an instant, Ruby was right by her partner's side with a proud smirk as she said, "Yeah!"

If that was not a reminder that at least half of Blake's team wore such attire, then the low-five that Ruby and Weiss shared right after that sure did. What surprised everyone was when Ky suddenly said, "Honestly though, I kinda have to agree with Snow White." He then smacked his lips a little before adding, "Wow, that felt really strange to say. But anyway, even Rosebud looks more threatening than you, Penny."

"Hey!" Ruby pouted, a bit irritably.

"In a good way," Ky assured the crimsonette with a pat on her shoulder.

"Wait a minute," Weiss realized before any further arguments could break out. Walking over to Penny, Weiss immediately began to question, "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed...rapscallion?"

"The who?" Penny confusedly questioned.

"The filthy Faunus from the boat," Weiss clarified while showing Penny a very badly drawn picture of the monkey-boy in question.

Looking at the picture in Weiss's hand, Ky found that he could only say, "I'm not sure if the quality is due to it being a rushed job or not, but judging by that picture, I'd say that Weiss doesn't really have much of a future as an artist."

"Seems so," Aptus agreed, none of them ever noticing how Blake had seemed to grow a little more irritated with Weiss until she finally spoke up.

"Why do you keep saying that," Blake interrupted, surprising everyone with how upset she sounded and looked. Of course, it was a lot less surprising that she was focusing most of her attention on Weiss. "Stop calling him a rapscallion. Stop calling him a degenerate. He's a person!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to this trashcan as a 'trashcan,' or this lamppost as a 'lamppost,'" Weiss then sarcastically questioned, her attention now fully off of Penny and onto Blake.

"Stop that!" Blake shouted.

"Stop what? He clearly broke the law! Give him time; he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang."

"Weiss, the guy hitched a ride on a boat. That's not any reason to think he's likely to go and become a terrorist. Besides, he seemed a bit more like the loveable mischief maker type to me than the type to hurt someone without a care," Ky disputed, hoping that he could help diffuse this situation before it got too out of hand. He failed, to say the least, because after hearing all that Weiss said, Blake finally snapped.

"You ignorant little brat!" Blake growled heatedly before spinning on her heel and angrily marching away, trying to put some distance between her and the Schnee heiress.

Needless to say, everyone was shocked that Blake had actually said that. Sure, they knew that she hated people that treated Faunus poorly for some reason, but none of them had ever seen Blake get so upset. From what most of them could see, this was probably even worse than that, and as usual, it did not seem like Aptus was going to help the situation.

"Oh no she didn't," was the first thing that Aptus muttered after watching Blake storm off for a minute.

"This doesn't look good," Ky admonished, having already seen Weiss was preparing to shoot back. He probably should have said something to Weiss first though, because she was already moving by the time he had turned to her.

"How dare you! I am your teammate," Weiss snapped before anyone could stop her, marching right up to Blake soon after.

"You are a judgmental little girl," Blake retorted like clockwork, no longer feeling like she needed to distance herself.

"What in the world makes you say that?!"

"The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with a terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be."

"So you admit it; the White Fang is just a radical group of terrorists."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

As the two continued to bicker back and forth with no signs of stopping, Ruby, Yang, Ky and Aptus felt their worries increase more and more. They all knew that Weiss was not likely to back down when her views were challenged, but this was the first time that Blake had ever spoken out so passionately and angrily on a subject, and she did not seem anymore likely to concede defeat than Weiss. Things were only likely to escalate from here, and the group all knew that it was only a matter of time before someone said or did something that they could not take back afterwards. They wanted to try and step in to help, but for the life of them, not a single one of the other hunters-in-training knew what to do. It honestly seemed like no matter what they said or did right now, they would likely end up ostracizing one of the two girls, and that was the last thing they wanted. Plus, the fact that Blake was being so vocal and emotional on the whole matter was kind of scaring them a little. This was a whole new side of her that they had certainly never seen before.

After staring back and forth between the two for a few more minutes, the boys eventually came around to asking why they were even worrying about this so much. Sure, Blake and Weiss were their friends, but this was not necessarily their mess to help clean up. If anything, it was more of a job for Blake and Weiss's teammates, but it did not seem like the sisters were too sure on what to do either, given how they were just standing there watching their partners go at it. That did make them feel bad for even considering to leave Ruby and Yang to deal with this, but what else could they really do at this point? Besides, there was another matter that they had to attend to right now that was not only being put off a bit, but was also getting a little soured by this whole argument.

"Yeah, this isn't what I had in mind for when you finally came to visit here in Vale, Ap" Ky said to his best-friend.

"I know it isn't," Ap reassured him before turning back to the arguing girls. Seeing that Weiss and Blake were still going and showing no signs of slowing down, he could not help but ask, "Is this normal for them though?"

"Kind of, but kind of not," Ruby hesitantly shrugged. "I mean, Weiss does tend to act all high and mighty a lot of the time, but Blake's usually not this...this..."

"Involved? Emotional? Loud," Ky supplied.

"Yeah, all of that," Ruby confirmed while nodding to the blunette in thanks.

Hearing the others conversing with each other, Yang turned to them and said, "Maybe you guys should go. No reason for you all to have to see any of this inner-team drama."

"You sure, Yang?" Ky asked, not wanting to leave her and Ruby to have to deal with this on their own.

"Positive. Your friend did come all this way to have a fun visit with you. There's no reason for you to ruin that by having to help with something like this," Ruby reassured him.

Ky was still a little worried about leaving the sisters with this mess, but considering how certain Ruby seemed to be about how well they could handle it, he found it hard to argue. Besides, she did have a point when she mentioned the reasons for Aptus's visit. It would not do for them to give him a sour impression of their friends or Vale by making him stick around to watch all of this, but that did not mean Ky was willing to let things slide completely.

"Okay, I guess we'll just get going, but I'll check on you guys back at the dorm later to see how things have turned out," Ky promised.

"Thanks," Yang and Ruby both nodded in appreciation, as Ky led Aptus away from the verbal battle ground.

Just barely a few minutes after they had left, they realized that Penny had chosen to follow them, or more specifically, Ky, and when she realized her presence had been noticed, Penny happily asked, "Where are we going?"

"Uh...I'm giving Ap a tour of Vale, since this is the first time he's been here," Ky explained to her. "Afterwards, most of us are probably going to do our own thing for a bit."

"Oh that sounds fun! Can I join you all? It's my first time in another kingdom, too," Penny requested.

Ky looked over at Aptus, who shrugged. "She seems okay." He said.

With a grin, Ky nodded at the chirpy girl, "Sure. Just stick with us and you'll see tons of fun stuff."

While Penny grinned happily at her acceptance into the tour, that did not stop Aptus from moving closer to Ky, and asking, "Ky, I don't want to sound like 'that guy', but did the concept of 'stranger-danger' mean nothing to you, or do you just have some kind of obsession that prompts you to try and make friends with every weird person you meet?"

"Okay, one, I do in fact understand that concept. It just doesn't get practiced very often since literally everyone in Twilight Town knew each other," Ky replied, sounding rather annoyed by that particular part of the question. "And two, you don't really have much room to talk when it comes to being weird."

As entertaining as they found the conversation of the departing group to be, Ruby and Yang found their amusement vanishing once more when they turned back to Weiss and Blake, seeing them still arguing, and prompting them to both wonder if it really was smart to let their friends from other worlds leave like that, because it seemed like this was going to take a while to resolve.

"So, sharing a room with four girls?" Aptus teased with a smirk. "You sly dog."

Ky gave him a deadpanned expression "Shut up. It's not even like that."

XXXXXXXX

Just as Ky said, after giving both Aptus and Penny a tour around Vale, or at least the best one that he could give, Penny ended up excusing herself shortly after she realized that the sun was beginning to set, and the boys then spent the rest of the day just hanging out in Vale so that they could take in the sights of how festive the city was becoming now that so many decorations were up for the Vytal Festival. Of course, they knew that they could not stay in the city forever. There would eventually come a time when Ky had to get back to Beacon, whether it was the weekend or not.

When Ky did return to the dorm room with Aptus, they not suddenly heard angry yelling coming from just down the hall. The duo quickly made their way to the source of all the yelling, the two voices growing clearer until they were right outside Team RWBYK's door. Neither of them knew whether they should be gaping in surprise or sighing tiredly at what they already figured was going on inside, so for now, they just settled for Ky knocking on the door to see if it would be alright for them to come in. When Ruby opened the door, she did smile a little bit upon seeing them, but it was clearly half-baked and very strained, and they all had a good idea why.

"They're still going at it?" Ky asked.

"I'm not even sure if they've even stopped while we were eating dinner," Ruby replied, stepping aside so that Ky and the others could come inside, allowing them to better hear Weiss and Blake continue their...conversation from earlier.

"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!" Weiss snapped at Blake from where she was sitting on her bed.

"That is the problem," Blake shot back from her seat directly opposite of Weiss.

"You realize you're defending an organization that hates humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil."

"There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think the White Fang hates humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"

"People like me!?" Weiss demanded.

"To be fair, your family's company isn't exactly well known for being really good to its Faunus workers," Ky reminded Weiss, earning him a discreet elbow from Ruby as her way of telling him that was not helping. "Sorry. I'm just saying..."

"And that's without the fact that you're discriminatory," Blake accused Weiss.

"I'm a victim!" Weiss retaliated, surprising everyone into silence with that remark. Seeing that she had the full attention of the room on her, Weiss figured she might as well explain why she said that. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus? It's because they've been at war with my family for years."

"Please tell me you mean as in various protests and employee strikes that made getting work done harder for everyone else," Ky could not help but ask.

"No, I mean war as in actual bloodshed," Weiss sadly replied as she turned to lean on the bookshelf by the window, unable to really handle the weight that always came when she had to talk about this heavy subject.

Flashback Start

Images began to appear, starting with the Schnee Dust Company logo. The logo was lit from the right corner as the image was changed by flames consuming the logo to reveal a dark red sky with black silhouettes of various Faunus warriors, each having the symbol of the White Fang on their bodies.

"My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember." Weiss stated.

The image changed once more to show the silhouetted of multiple Schnee Dust Company members and in the center was a younger Weiss. Shoulder-length white hair wearing a white dress with straps, standing at 3'2". Suddenly a majority of the taller silhouetted members began to disappear.

"And ever since I was a child, I've watched family and friends disappear; board members executed. An entire train car full of Dust, stolen." Weiss continued.

A small, younger Weiss stood behind the shadow of a taller man with white hair much like her own. The man was sitting down in a chair with his head looking down, casting a shadow over his eyes as his hands gripped the desk in front of him, his facial expression comparable to that of frustration and anger.

"And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood." Weiss finished.

Flashback End

Ruby moved closer so that they could offer the young heiress a supportive shoulder. It was only natural for Ruby to do so, being Weiss's partner and all, but when Ky saw Ruby do that, he could not help but smile a little bit, or at least they would have if it were not for the tension that was currently in the air right now after hearing about that little bit of Weiss's history. And unfortunately, things were about to get a little worse.

"Weiss, I-" Ruby began, only to get cut off.

"No!" Weiss did not want to accept any form of pity, as she proved after angrily shrugging off Ruby and then going right back to glaring at Blake. "You want to know why I despise the White Fang," Weiss demanded of Blake. "It's because they're a bunch of liars! Thieves! And murderers!"

If any of them were expecting Blake to be cowed by Weiss's words, they had little time to be disappointed, because what she said in retort had ended up being far more shocking. "WELL MAYBE WE WERE JUST TIRED OF BEING PUSHED AROUND!"

No one could say a word after hearing that. They were all too busy trying to process the fact that Blake had said "we" instead of "they", which could only have meant one thing that none of them had been expecting. Even Ruby and Ky were staring at Blake in shock after hearing that, but none of them seemed to have been taking that declaration harder than Blake herself. Judging by the look on her face, Blake had not meant for that to slip out, but now that she had, any and all righteous anger that had been in her eyes before was now gone and replaced with great shame, sorrow, and above all fear. That last one was most obvious to Aptus, considering it was one that he was all familiar with, but in her current state, Blake was not able to recognize any of that. All she knew was that she had just let out a majorly huge secret, and none of her teammates or friends seemed to be taking it very well.

"...I...I..." Blake stuttered, but she was ultimately unable to say anything, and just ran out of the room as fast as she could.

"Blake! Wait! Come back!" Ruby called out, being the first to realize how big of a mistake it was to have reacted like they had to hearing Blake's secret, but unfortunately, Blake was already gone, and Ruby was not sure that she could even catch her if she tried using her Semblance right now.

Luckily for Ruby, Ky was the second person to react, and he had an idea of his own on what to do. "Ap," Ky started to say.

"Way ahead of you," Aptus confirmed before Ky had even gotten to the actual message, and like that, he was off and chasing after Blake.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to let him after her right now?" Yang asked Ky after the couple had left. She wanted to go after Blake and help too, but right now, she had to wonder if it might have been better to just let her be alone for a little while, especially given how Weiss was glaring in the direction that the blonde's partner had taken off in.

"Positive," Ky nodded. "Besides, if anyone can help Blake right now, it would definitely be Ap. Not just because he's a Faunus."

"Why should we even bother? I think it's pretty clear what's happening here," Weiss questioned with a huff.

"Weiss, do us all a favor, and shut your damn mouth," Ky snarled angrily, startling everyone with just how upset he sounded right now, and when she saw how he was glaring at her, Weiss felt it would be much better for her health if she did as he said.

Seeing the white haired girl had been silenced, Ky spun around on his heel and marched a few feet away, trying to calm his nerves. He then felt a soft hand on his shoulder and saw that it was Ruby, looking at him with concern with Yang behind her. "You okay?" The crimsonette asked.

"Yeah...sorry about that," Ky apologized

"Don't be. I mean, everyone's kind of running on some pretty high emotions right now," Yang tried to play off.

"You're right. Maybe we should all just call it a night and let cooler heads prevail later on," Ky suggested. When Ruby looked like she was about to protest, he immediately added, "Aptus will call to let me know if and when he found Blake, or just to update me on whatever they end up doing afterwards. The second they do, I'll be sure to let you guys know, okay?"

"Promise," Ruby asked.

"Promise, Rosebud," Ky nodded in return.

Hearing that from Ky made Ruby feel a little more reassured, but she still could not help but worry as she turned in for the night. It was a feeling that Ky shared with her as he tried to convince himself to try and go to sleep, despite any worries he had for their friends.

XXXXXXXXX

And that's another chapter! This has to be the hardest chapter i have worked on since i started this fanfic, but i still enjoyed it. You may like it, some of you may not like it, but i hope you do. Now on to Aptus, I always planned for him to go after Blake, and both will explain their backstory in the next chapter.

Anyway, comment and let me know what you think, Next time, it may or may not be the final chapter of Volume 1. Until then...Keep moving forward!