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The Rogue Arc is the sixth arc in The Four Huntsmen storyline. It focuses on the departure of a member of Team JORE and The Reclaim's hunt for various historical items. The White Fang also seeks for revenge whilst someone is being hunted down.

Theme[]

Running Away by Varna

Characters[]

Story[]

Chapter 63: Target Down[]

The slightly congested motorway of Vale was busy in the night: filled with cars, trucks and bikes. Vehicles moved at a tiresome pace, drivers only being able to look at the tall buildings as their only form of entertainment. As the traffic continued to move slowly but surely, every vehicles diverted into their various exits and thus the motorway became less packed.

Storming through the traffic was a blue motorbike, seeming as if it was in a hurry. Eli was on the bike with Bolzen equipped inside it's holster. As he continued driving his motorbike, Eli turned right to exit of the motorway, descending down to the main road. Eli looked towards his left and turned his bike towards that direction. He was heading towards a building with coloured lights spiralling. He then braked his bike and parked it near a residential area that was far from the building. Taking off his helmet, Eli revealed his blue hair and his scorning eyes. The blue haired boy was in a black tuxedo, dressed as if he was going to a wedding. Eli opened up the trunk in his bike and put his helmet inside.

Heading towards the building, Eli noticed that there were bouncers stopping someone from entering. "Let me in! I'm friend's with the guy who runs this party!" shouted a woman. He watched as the woman who was causing trouble tried to run past the bouncers but was caught by the them. The woman was then carried on the shoulder of the faunus bouncer as she attempted to throw her away from the vicinity of the party. "You stupid Faunus! All you know is to be animals!" The woman shrieked with anger. Eli decided to ignore this and move past the bouncers unnoticed.

Entering the party, many of the guests were in suits and dresses and dancing to a slow dance pop song. Eli smiled and made his way to the restroom. Unlike the party, it had a rotten smell and looked degraded. When Eli opened up a bathroom stall, it broke easily. He scoffed and moved to the next bathroom stall and locked it as he went inside. Opening his scroll, Eli used to this time to read a message that was sent for him. "Assassinate Vinyl Phine before she attempts to murder Ivy Ti. Make sure there are no witnesses. Failure is not an option." Eli read out in his head. He looked at the picture he was given of Vinyl and was hoping that he could find her.

Stepping outside the restroom, Eli made his way upstairs which was where the balcony was. "Where could Ivy be?" Eli thought to himself as he observed the room. As he watched what was going on downstairs, Eli realised that there was a drunk man who started fighting with another man. This caused a few people within the party to stop and watch the fight go on. "You stol' ma girlfre'!" shouted the drunk man as he broke his beer bottle, transforming it into a weapon. The other man looked in confusion at him, wondering about his well being. "Are you alright? I think you might need to go home honestly..." The man said as he came to the drunk man's aid. The drunken man became riddled with anger. "I don't need to go home!" He shouted as he swung the bottle which cut the other man's left cheek. Dropping to the ground, he was in intense pain. This caused all the guests to start leaving the party after they saw what had taken place. One of the bouncers rushed inside the building to deal with the situation. "Everyone move!" he shouted. People started to disperse away from the area. "At this time, she'll definitely strike. I'll find Vinyl easily." Eli said. Within the separating crowd was Oliver and Otter who were holding the hand of a blonde woman dress in a dark green dress. Eli watched the twins take Ivy outside the building for fresh air. "I'll need to watch them carefully...." Eli thought to himself.

Running down the stairs, Eli noticed that some of the dancers were beginning to tired and pass out. He noticed that there was lots of wine spilled on the floor and broken bottles. "This party is going to end soon... How does it get this reckless?" Eli wondered. He decided it would be a good idea to head towards the beverage table. Next to Eli was a woman with green hair and a yellow dress. He watched as the woman began mixing something with her drink. However, she didn't drink it. The woman put the drink down. As the woman and Eli made eye contact, the woman became shocked and then quickly picked up the drink. Eli decided to smile, attempting to contain his laughter. He then looked back at the woman and started to walk towards her. The woman then turned away from Eli and started to walk fast upstairs. Eli couldn't run after her because he didn't want to cause a commotion. He could tell that this woman was Vinyl Phine. Allowing her to fully go upstairs, Eli followed after her so she couldn't accuse him of following her thus failing the mission.

As he made it upstairs, Viynl was standing beside a window as Eli made his way towards her. His eyes gleaming as he approached her. Realising that she had no where to run, Vinyl threw herself out the window, breaking the glass with ease. This turned everyone towards the window as they looked at what they thought was woman attempting to commit suicide. "Damn it. She's near Ivy and I can't have anyone see me..." Eli realised.

Outside, Oliver and Otter looked surprised as they saw Vinyl on the floor, looking bruised but still alive. She slowly began to rise from the floor. Ivy looked shocked. "Vinyl?!" She called out in fear. The twins pushed Ivy away from Vinyl and a crowd started to emerge as they wanted to see if the woman who jumped out a window was alright. Vinyl looked at Ivy with anger as she pulled out a baseball bat ready to attack Ivy. "Take this you stupid brat!" shouted Vinyl as she charged at Ivy. "Leave Ivy alone!" Oliver said as his brother and him parried her attack in the bident form of their weapon White Stitches. Vinyl became annoyed as she was being stopped from trying to kill Ivy. "Why are you stopping me?" Vinyl asked. "We've been appointed to protect her!" Oliver said. Otter raised his brow at his brother. "Com' on. Now you make it sound like we're knights or something...." Otter complained. Oliver sighed at his brother. "That is because we fit that archetype regardless." Oliver replied. "Achetype? We aren't just people who can be copied you know. You make it seem like we aren't original." Otter said. Oliver face palmed, keeping his hand on his head for a while. "Please, stop. We are on a mission here. If it is not done to a significantly high standard then we are inadequate." Oliver replied. Hearing the word 'inadequate', Otter releases a sigh of frustration. Ivy then punched both the combined twins in the head. "You're supposed to be helping me! Not fighting each other you dummies!" Ivy shouted. Vinyl realised that she was being ignored by the three of them and this had only fuelled her anger even more. "Stop! Mocking me!" Vinyl shouted as she pulled a pistol and tried aiming it towards Ivy. Suddenly, this caused the crowd to back away from the situation, seeing that a more dangerous weapon is being utilised. Otter and Oliver went behind Ivy, trying to shield her. "You're only delaying the inevitable!" Vinyl shouted. Otter looked at Vinyl's head and noticed that bolt was stuck in it. The twins then grabbed Ivy and started running. "Let's go!" Otter shouted. Vinyl was confused. "Don't you dare ru-" Vinyl shouted as she was interrupted as the bolt detonated on top of her head. This cause a large commotion with the addition of lots of smoke and rubble scattered around the dead body of Vinyl.

On the rooftop was Eli, with Bolzen being placed back on it's holster. "Good. No one knows it was me." Eli said as he started to depart from the area.

Later, Eli had headed back to Beacon, walking through the courtyard. He took a seat on the bench next to his brother Johannes who was reading a romance novel. "Hey Johannes." Eli greeted smiling towards him. Johannes nodded at Eli. "Hello Eli. The Master wanted to tell you that you've been doing a good job. Your next mission won't be until they find something." Johanes informed him. Eli nodded at him and rose up. "Alright then. Goodnight Johannes." He said as he walked off.

Chapter 64: Upholding thy Name[]

An early bright Saturday shinned on the skies of Vale, especiallly at Beacon Academy. Within the dorm of Team JORE, it was slightly messy. Three articles of clothing were scattered across the floor. Onyx had just woken up and began to rise out of his bed. Looking around, he notices the strange mess and sees his team mate Jorey, already dressed in his casual outfit. "Good morning Onyx." Jorey greeted. Onyx groaned as he was feeling tired as he woke up. He looked around and noticed that Rufus and Eli were not present within the dorm. "Where's Rufus and Eli?" Onyx asked as he searched around the room. Jorey gave Onyx a confused gaze and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Haven't seen them at all." Jorey said. Onyx shot back the same confused gaze back to Jorey. "What are you even planning on doing this morning? It's saturday." Onyx wondered. "I'm planning on doing some training." Jorey replied as grabbed Emerald Stagger in it's nodachi form. Onyx's mind snapped. "Trying to upstage me are you?" Onyx asked confidently. Jorey laughed at Onyx. "This is a combat school. I've got important things to do rather than care about rivalry you know. Like the world?" Jorey replied snarkly. This irked Onyx quickly. "So I'm not worth it am I?" Onyx asked. Jorey scoffed at Onyx's behaviour.

Atemptting to head out of the dorm, Jorey was blocked by the opening already. The person at the door was Eli. "Hey you two." Eli said as walked into the dorm room. The blue haired boy was met with stares from Onyx and Jorey, wondering why he was up so early. "Now why are you up so early?" Onyx asked curiously. Jorey pointed at Eli's weapon Bolzen. "I was training as Jorey demonstrated for you." Eli answered. He headed towards the shelves and picked one book, picking up the clothes from the floor. "So early?!" Jorey exclaimed. Eli was perplexed at his teammates reaction. "Yes. I don't often get enough opportunity to use the ampitheatre because there's a fight club that's always there during the day. So, I use it in the early morning." Eli explained. Onyx sighed as Eli headed towards his bed to lie down in. "Have you seen Rufus?" Onyx asked. "He told me that he went home." Eli replied. Onyx and Jorey were both surprised, hearing that Rufus went home. Onyx punched the ground in retaliation. "Did he say why?" Jorey asked Eli as he paced around the room. "It's because of the way we acted to him three days ago..." Onyx realised. As Jorey looked at Onyx, he sympathised with the orange haired boy. He felt disheartened. "There's really no reason for you to feel sad to be honest... He did jeopordise the mission entirely." Eli added plainly. This angered both Jorey and Onyx. "Eli!" Jorey called out in annoyance, seeing that he wasn't helping Onyx cope. Onyx quickly then rushed out of the room.

At the upperclass district Vale, there was large mansion with vast array of space. In the distance, there were other mansions and a bit of a red forrest a further distance away. Inside the large mansion was Rufus, being escorted by a man in a black suit, wearing a gauntlet with blade on the right of it. "When your mother heard the news, she was worried sick about you." The butler said. Rufus nodded at him but didn't say anything. He walked along with the butler for a while until they were on the balcony. From the view, you could see the swimming pool and were benefited with a goad coastal view of Vale. "That will be all." Rufus told the butler. He gave Rufus a small nod and departed.

On the balcony was a boy with brown hair, similar to Rufus but much younger. "Ashley?" Rufus wondered. He was suprised to see his brother there. "I was expecting you Rufus." Ashley said smiling. Rufus sighed as he pulled a seat opposite Ashley. "I forget you have eidetic memory sometimes." Rufus mentioned. Ashley simply smiled at Rufus. "It's rude to forget about your younger brother." Ashley said chuckling. Rufus chuckled too but felt uneasy interacting with his brother. "I can tell it's about what happened at Stigma." Ashley said. Rufus sighed. "Everything that happened was just bad..." Rufus replied. He was feeling very sad. Ashley patted his older brother's head, sympathising with him. "Failure's happen all the time. I experience failure sometimes and I have perfect memory." Ashley pointed out, attempting to reassure his older brother. "We.... I let a village and it's people die! I can't face anyone after that!" Rufus exclaimed. "You can always ask mother if you want to step down from heir of the company." Ashley suggested, seeing as it was hard for his brother to bear. Rufus rised out of his seat, heading back inside instead.

Rufus was walking across a hallway in the mansion. Around the halls were pictures and potraits of members of the family. He did not look at them but someone else was. It was a tall brown haired woman. Her hair was short and spiky. She was wearing a green sleveless blazer and a long sleved black shirt under it along with black boots. "Hi mum.." Rufus groaned. The woman turned to her son and hugged him. "Oh Ruffie! You're alright!" The woman exclaimed as she put a tight grip on him. Rufus felt a strangling sensation and was losing air his mother hugged him. Her name was Fiammata Sabbia and she was the CEO of the Sabbia Steelwork Factory. "Mum! You're killing me!" Rufus squirmed. Fiammata realised what she was doing and then stopped. "Now you know how those people in Stigma felt then." Fiammata retorted. Rufus felt hurt from his mother's reply, wanting to burst into tears. "Look alright. I get it. You feel bad about your shortcomings. But, do get over it. You still have to run the company." Fiammata added, keeping a stern face. "Too bad those shortcomings killed a student and many people. Many people probably lost their families because of me. I caused this!" Rufus exclaimed as he looked away from his mother. Fiammata touched her son's hair. "Look at this picture son." Fiammata said. Rufus turned to it, avoidng her mother. "Bruno Sabbia. He was responsible for making blades with poor quality. And that during the Great War was horrible. Villages had fallen because guns broke easily, canon's exploded and blades broke. This meant that civillians couldn't protect themselves against the Grimm." Fiammata said. Rufus was shocked hearing this information. "That's terrible. Now I just feel like a spoilt child because of that..." Rufus commented as he looked down at the floor. "Exactly. It was such a horrible failure. But, Bruno decided to make ammends by personally visiting villages and reparing them free of charge and additionally funding those villages." Fiammata said. Rufus turned away from his mother again. "What has that got to do with me?" Rufus asked. "Nothing special. Just apologise to someone affected for your mistakes. You've got a duty to uphold. Don't let it plague your mind." Fiammata stated. His mother put her hand on his shoulder and started walking. "Follow me to my office." Fiammata said. Rufus looked up, deciding to follow his mother.

Inside the office, Fiammata was sitting on her chair. She had both her feet on the desk as she relaxed back. Rufus, however, was sitting up straight. Fiamatta opened up a drawer and pulled out a note. She then passed it to Rufus. "What is this?" Rufus asked as he unfolded the note. He glanced over the note, noticing the handwriting was familiar. "This is Aunt Scomodo's handwriting." Rufus pointed out. Fiammata nodded. "It sure is." Fiammata replied. Rufus continued to read the note and was imediately shocked. "Scomodo broke Officer Meyer's ribs?" Rufus asked shocked. Fiammata nodded. "Scomodo had lost in the Vytal Festival that she attacked Officer Meyer in retaliation." Fiammata explained. Rufus listened to his mother, not aware his aunt was like that. "Wait a minute... This is adressed to Jorey's dad? And they were on the same team?!" Rufus exclaimed in surprise. Fiammata chuckled at her son's reaction. "Uh huh. Team PRSA they were called. I suppose you've met him before." Fiammata replied. Rufus nodded in annoyance. "Yeah. He's the one who broke Leafey." Rufus said. Fiammata's vein pulsated in anger as she heard this. "Oh really? Looks like I'm going to have to teach him a lesson!" Fiammata shouted, feeling annoyed that someone broke her equipment. Rufus became scared as he backed away his chair. Realising what she was doing, Fiammata calmed down. "Anyways, I didn't know you did your hair like this. Your dad would be impressed." Fiammata commented. Rufus blushed slightly as he touched his ponytail. "My girlfriend Emma did it for me." Rufus said. Fiammata shot a menacing glare at Rufus. "Girlfriend..... huh. Her full name please?" Fiammata requested. Rufus became worried. "Why...?" Rufus questioned slowly. "I'm interested in my son's endavours at Beacon." Fiammata said with a friendly tone but with the same menacing glare. "It's Emma Austri...." Rufus stated. Fiammata smiled. "You can go now. By the way apologise to that student's parents." Fiammata said. Slowly rising up, Rufus felt uncomfortable as he went to leave his mother's office. "I will." Rufus said. When the door shut, Fiammata picked up her phone. "Could any of the staff please call me Emma Austri please?" Fiammata asked.

A few hours later, Onyx was at the door of the mansion. It no longer bright and sunny any more but dreary and heavily raining. Opening the door, the butler appeared and saw Onyx. "Mr. Rocker. Sorry to say that Mr Sabbia is not at home." The butler informed. Onyx was shocked. "So where is he!?" Onyx asked loudly. "His mother says he went to visit the parents of a recently deceased student at Beacon." The butler replied. Onyx started to think for a minute. "Col's parents!" Onyx realised. He ran off quickly, away from the mansion.

Chapter 65: Misadventures[]

The rain continued to pour heavily as cars were passing through the streets of Vale. Rufus was driving his car through this outrageous downpour as he was making his way to Col Shade's home. "I'll have to make things right." Rufus thought to himself. Even though his actions were brave, Rufus felt scared. What if they didn't forgive him at all?

As the car drove through Vale, Rufus looked at the window. There were lots of stores and houses as he continued driving past them. He noticed one store in particular and could clearly see three people armed, searching through the store. "Woah!" Rufus exclaimed. He parked the car beside the curb and turned of the ignition. "Someone's getting robbed!" Rufus noticed. Rufus left the car and ran towards the store.

Making his way to the store, Rufus charged through the door and looked the three armed people. "What are you doing?" Rufus asked. Rufus managed to get their attention: they all turned towards the brown haired boy. All of them were varied in height and age. It looked impossible for them to even know each other with such variety. The blonde one sitting on the counter with scroll with his hands stared at Rufus. "Stealing, what do you think we're doing?" The blonde man said as he smirked at Rufus. The red haired boy with the mohawk looked displeased with his statement. "Blaine! He's probably an idiot. You shouldn't have given that away!" The red haired one shouted. "It's not like he can beat us anyways." Blaine replied. The bear faunus girl sighed. "Let's just kill him now!" The girl exclaimed as she pulled out the axe she had on her back. Rufus noticed the ornaments on the axe which made it look expensive, wondering if she stole the axe too. "Stop mocking me! I can easily stop you!" Rufus shouted. He noticed as the three wasn't taking him seriously at all. Rufus pulled out a weapon from his sheath, expecting it to be Natura Orbis. He held the weapon in a sword stance.

The three looked at Rufus puzzled for a second. "Dude, that's not a katana you know..." Blaine pointed out to Rufus. The brown haired boy looked at what he was holding: it was the Boazhang Relvolver. "Ah damn it! I brought the wrong weapon!" Rufus said mortified. He felt like an idiot in this serious and tense situation. The three criminals started laughing at Rufus as they saw the boy as stupid. "Clancy, can we just kill him now?" The girl asked. "Sure. You go ahead." The mohawk boy ordered. The bear faunus walked towards Rufus with the axe, ready to attack him. Aiming the gun towards her, Rufus opened fire immediately. He had shot her five times in the chest. The girl was not expecting Rufus to have fired so soon and so was sent back by the bullet. "Ow.. arrrrrgh!" The girl shouted in pain. She continued to roll around the floor to stop the pain, however, it didn't look like it was subsiding. "Audra! What's going on?" Blaine asked, worried for the young girl. Clancy was perplexed but was aggravated at Rufus for attacking his friend. "I forgot how powerful this was..." Rufus noticed. Blaine started to examine what happened to the girl. "It looks to be some dust within the gun's chamber. Burn dust mixed with water." Blaine examined as Audra was in pain. "It burns!" Audra groaned loudly. He looked at Audra and wondered why she was in such pain. He then aimed his gun at Clancy. However, the boy with the mohawk was not impressed. He rushed straight towards Rufus and punched him the face, knocking him out.

A few hours later, Rufus woke up. He looked around him and noticed that he was in a bedroom. He was lying on a comfortable bed. "Is this... heaven? No.... I don't deserve that luxury at all." Rufus mused to himself saddened. He wasn't able to make amends with Col's family. The room he was in was cosy and blue. The bed was blue and so were the lights and carpet. As Rufus rised up from the room, he looked at the poster of Mistral. "Whoever's room this is must be from Mistral. Seems random to have a map of it." Rufus said. Walking towards the door, Rufus was about to open it. "We should have just killed him! Didn't you see what he did to Audra!" shouted a voice from outside the room. Rufus jumped back in fright, not wanting to be hurt. "They've captured me haven't they?" Rufus realised.

Getting up from the floor, Rufus opened the door slightly. He could see the mohawk boy arguing with a woman far older than him with red hair too. "He's Rufus Sabbia. Richest and powerful family. We could easily ask for a ransom. He is also very gifted. Unlike you." The woman pointed out. The mohawk boy got angry. "Mom! Don't you start this!" The boy shouted. Rufus was surprised. "She's his mother?" Rufus realised in surprised. "How do you even know that?" A woman with short green haired asked. Rufus noticed the tattoo on her arm and the nose piercing and thought she was scary. She was holding an alcoholic drink as she spoke. "I found out that Sabbia over there is a student at Beacon academy. He can slay Grimm which makes him really strong. He has the blood of a warrior on him. Scomodo Sabbia is a Sairyo Ryoshi. And so was Veloce Sabbia." The older woman explained. She looked at Rufus's door, making eye contact with him. Rufus quickly moved away. "But he hurt Audra and you have the nerve to put that guy in her room?!" Clancy asked angrily.

"Sabbia, I know you're awake. You might as well reveal yourself now." The woman pointed out, ignoring her son completely. Rufus opened the door slowly and made his way towards the group. Clancy gave a death stare towards Rufus, not trusting him at all. "Hi..." Rufus greeted her awkwardly. "I know you have a lot of questions. But, I'll answer the obvious ones. You're still alive because of your heritage. You Sabbia's seem to be immensely popular throughout history. And that's why I have kept you. And, you seemed to be able to handle the Baozhang Revolver tremendously despite it's recoil." The woman pointed out. Rufus nodded slowly, seeing how the woman knew what he wanted to ask. "You should be lucky. But, I don't accept you as one of us. Neither does Audra." Clancy clarified. Rufus had a puzzled look on her face. "We are the Reclaim. We are collecting weapons belonging to esteemed Huntsmen and Huntresses so they cannot be used in war." The woman answered. Rufus looked frustrated. "You mean stealing." Rufus replied. Clancy grabbed Rufus by his ponytail and pulled his hair. "Don't talk to my mom that way!" Clancy shouted. He looked annoyed. "Clancy, leave him alone." The woman said as she grabbed his arm, keeping a tight grip on it. For Clancy, this was painful for him to bear that he had let go of Rufus's hair. "Let me introduce myself, I'm Cheyenne. This is my son Clancy. The green haired girl drinking is Chloe. And you've met Audra, the girl you shot and Blaine." The woman pointed out to Rufus. Rufus looked and noticed a man with dreadlocks and armour, training with a sword. "And that's Glaucus!" Chloe exclaimed happily as she put her arm around Rufus, being buddy with the boy. Rufus was taken aback by the older girl's clingy nature, noticing as she wouldn't let go of him. "Your ponytail looks cute. Don't mind Clancy. He's just mad that he has a mohawk." Chloe mused. Rufus felt slightly uncomfortable with Chloe, especially since he had a girlfriend. Clancy scoffed at her. "So.. why I'm here?" Rufus asked. Glaucus, the one with dreadlocks approached Rufus. "You're here to help us with our goal. If you don't pull your weight, we will kill you." Glaucus pointed out, obviously not trusting the boy. Rufus felt intimidated by Glaucus. He was feeling uncomfortable from the intense feeling around him.

At Beacon Academy, the Grimm Studies class was beginning with Professor Port. Jorey and Eli were sitting together in their seats next to Emma. "Where's Rufus?" Emma asked the two. Eli was surprised to see Emma sitting next to them, considering how little they interact with each other. He could tell she was worried about her boyfriend. "We don't know, Emma. He's been gone for a while. Onyx isn't here either. He went to look for him..." Jorey said feeling worried. Emma felt scared, hoping that Rufus was safe.

Chapter 66: Sinking Feeling[]

Onyx had returned from trying to search for Rufus. He was sitting on the edge of his bed inside his dormitory. The orange haired boy had a look of gloom on his face and worry. His eyes began looking around the room, hoping that the dark brown walls and the brown desks will give the answers that he needs. He felt a sense of regret for what he had said. Onyx felt like he had let down Rufus. His best friend. Holding his scroll, Onyx was looking at a picture with him and Rufus standing together. Onyx was beginning to feel like he was going to tear up.

“Onyx, sorry for being a bother and don't punch me please for asking this!” a somewhat younger Rufus said in Onyx's head. “I'm not gonna punch so spit it out Rufus!” a younger Onyx shouted. “Eek!” Rufus said surprised. The brown haired boy sighed. “Whenever I see you, you always have an unhappy face. Why are you always angry?” Rufus asked. “The world sucks. That's why.” Onyx pointed out. “But why?” Rufus asked again, wondering what made someone so hostile. “My family is gone. My village is gone. The Grimm. The White Fang. And everything else just sucks.” Onyx replied, feeling tense. “That's why you should be a Huntsman. You can help fight Grimm, maybe even stop the White Fang. And that way, you'll be able to make enough money and help your orphanage.” Rufus pointed out. “That... actually seems like a good idea. Thanks Rufus.” Onyx said. “No worry! I'm your best friend so I'll help you as much as I can!” Rufus beamed. “Best friend, huh.” Onyx said.

The dorm room door was opening, entering the room was Jorey. He looked at Onyx looking longingly at his scroll. “Onyx.” Jorey greeted him. Onyx looked at Jorey then focused back on the scroll. Jorey sat on Rufus's bed that was opposite Onyx's. “Are you alright?” Jorey asked. Onyx banged hand down on the bed. “I should have supported him. Maybe then, he wouldn't be so mad not to see us.” Onyx said. Despite him only being gone for a while, Onyx felt he was to blame for Rufus feeling down and leaving. Jorey was absolutely stunned. He wasn't expecting the cold and mean Onyx to just talk to him like that. Normally, he'd just tell him to shut up or stay out of his business. It seemed like Rufus leaving made Onyx saddened to the the point that he needed to talk it out. “I regret what I said to. And I'm sure E- he'll accept our apology.” Jorey pointed out to Onyx. He knew what he said would have been hurtful to Rufus but he wanted to make sure that it would make him stronger not run away. Jorey felt as if he failed as a leader. Onyx nodded. “I hope so too. His butler told me that Rufus went to go to Col's house to apologise to his family.” Onyx mentioned. “Therefore, things should be fine.” Jorey said.

Except, three days later, things were not fine. Rufus had not returned to Beacon in a while. And the members of Team JORE were worrying for Rufus.

Jorey, exiting after a long lesson of History with Professor Oobleck, was about to turn towards the lunch hall. He was then stopped a hand. “Huh?” Jorey asked as he turned. He noticed Emma and could see that she was almost about to tear up. “Uhm, Jorey... is Rufus alright?” She asked. Jorey could tell from the way she was behaving, she was as her shy persona. “I hope so. But, we haven't seen him in a while now.” Jorey pointed out. Emma tears began to drop one by one. Realising what he said was bad, Jorey tried to put his hand on her shoulder to get her to calm down. Emma pushed Jorey away instead. “Ozpin will definitely conduct a search on him right?” Emma asked concerned. “You'll have to ask him.” Jorey said, feeling hurt. Emma nodded. “I'lll... uhm... try asking him then. He has too!” Emma cried as she hesitantly rushed towards Ozpin's office.

“You really shouldn't be worrying about your teammates girlfriend, you know.” A familiar female voice said. The moment Jorey heard this voice, he became irritated. “Carmen. Stop it.” Jorey responded. He turned behind to face his little sister and sighed. “What do you want?” Jorey asked. “Nothing. I was just trying to be a caring sister.” Carmen replied as she gave him a sneaky smile. “You've never been caring at all.” Jorey retorted. Carmen ignored her brother's insults and instead just stuck her tongue out at him as a joke. “Anyways, I saw your girlfriend Bridgette leaning beside your dorm waiting for someone. Probably you.” Carmen pointed out. “She's not my girlfriend. You know this. Otherwise I wouldn't flirt with other girls and she wouldn't punch me all the time.” Jorey reminded Carmen. “I've heard of marriages when men cheat on their wives because they were abusive so your relationship is like that.” Carmen snarkily replied. Jorey immediately put his face in the palm of his right hand, getting fed up with his sister. “You need to stop watching TV.” Jorey said. “Well, you need to go see your friend. And I'm going to train with my team.” Carmen said as she left her brother.

Instead of going to the cafeteria, Jorey headed back to his dorm, feeling pained since he sympathised with Emma. Jorey started to open the door then he witnessed the most excruciating experience: Bridgette was kissing Onyx. Jorey made a loud sigh. It was not only get their attention but a reminder that he needed to apologise to her for his behaviour before him and his team had left for Stigma. Bridgette and Onyx both jumped out in surprise as they saw Jorey. “What are you doing here Jorey?” Bridgette asked embarrassed. Jorey sighed once again. “This is my dorm room. I have keys here you know.” Jorey reminded Bridgette. He wondered if she was trying to make excuses. “I don't care anymore. I give you two my support in your relationship. I don't understand how it got to that point but, enjoy yourselves.” Jorey said as he started taking out his schoolwork and putting on the desk. Bridgette raised herself up from Onyx's bed and approached Jorey. “You're still jealous.” Bridgette said. “I'm not.” Jorey replied. “Yes you are. Stop lying!” Bridgette said, raising her voice a little.

“No I'm no-” Jorey said before being cut off by a loud whack on his cheek from Bridgette. This hurt the jade haired boy a lot. It was more painful than any of her punches. “Don't lie to my face Jorey! I've been your best friend for years. And I can see that you're jealous. So tell me how you feel.” Bridgette persisted. Jorey looked away from Bridgette and Onyx. “I feel... hurt and betrayed. Even though I know you don't feel the same, it still hurts me that you fell for Onyx.” Jorey muttered. Bridgette sighed whilst Onyx watched carefully. “Let this sink in: I'm not attracted to you. That is why I won't date you. I am definitely attracted to Onyx. But, you shouldn't let your jealously destroy our friendship. I became your friend because I thought you were cool. Then, you started acting all weird towards me, like you needed to impress me or gain my affection. But, you don't. All you really need is to just be the Jorey I knew.” Bridgette spoke. This was an eye opener for Jorey. He hadn't realised all this time he'd just been pushing Bridgette away from him. Jorey chuckled slightly. “You remember that camping trip we had years ago?” Jorey asked his friend. “Of course I remembered! After that day, we decided to fight Grimm!” Bridgette said, feeling nostalgic. Onyx listened to their conversation, noticing how they're talking about an intimate experience that they bonded together in. “Well. It was when the Grimm attacked. I thought I was going to die. I felt like I hadn't accomplished much and I needed to accomplish it or had any experiences. So, I guess I must have tried to find love as fast as I could because I realised that I could die tomorrow. And most huntsmen don't live long lives. I guess I just needed to.” Jorey said to Bridgette. Hearing what Jorey said, Bridgette felt sympathetic towards her best friend. She never knew that Jorey was deeply affected by the Grimm on their camping trip. To her, Jorey was always the brave and funny boy where nothing could bother him. She realised she didn't know him as well as she thought she did. Surprisingly, Bridgette hugged Jorey. This resulted in him blushing slightly after her emotional outburst. He then hugged her back. “Thanks, for still being my friend all these years.” Jorey said, feeling emotional. Onyx was stunned. He saw that Bridgette was there to support Jorey: something that he never did for Rufus. In fact, Rufus always supported him, every time. He was beginning to feel like he didn't appreciate Rufus' friendship. “Could you get off me now? This is getting weird.” Bridgette said. “Let me enjoy this for one more second, buddy!” Jorey beamed as he continued to hug her. Bridgette quickly sent a powerful headbutt to Jorey's forehead which knocked him down on the ground. He started to roll around the floor in pain. Onyx sighed at Jorey hopelessly. “That's what you get.” He mused. “I'll still punch you if you go too far though.” Bridgette pointed out to her friend.

Now entering the dorm was Eli. Noticing Brridgette was in their dorm, the blue haired boy waved to her. “You two may want to come to Ozpin's office.” Eli announced. The room was confused. “I assume it's about Rufus so I'll leave you guys alone for now.” Bridgette said as she left their dorm. Onyx and Jorey, the latter who was still in pain, both waved Bridgette goodbye.

As Team JORE entered Ozpin's office, they noticed Emma talking to Ozpin looking angry holding a book in front of his face in a threatening manner. “No! I'll search for him! I don't care if it gets dangerous!” Emma shouted annoyed. Seeing her, the boys could deduce that Emma was in her aggressive persona. “So, what's going on Ozpin?” Eli asked, ignoring Emma's outburst. He pulled her back away from Ozpin with small help from Jorey who didn't want to a casualty of her rage. “As you may know, Mr.Sabbia hasn't returned to Beacon for three days. We've notified his family and they are obviously scared so they have the police searching for him. To help with this investigation, I will be entrusting you three and Emma to assist them with the search. From their report, they found out he was going to the residence of late student Cole Shade. However, if it does get dangerous, I will have to call it off and instead employ the assistance of Huntsmen.” Ozpin spoke to Emma and the boys. Everyone nodded. “Trust me Ozpin. We won't let it get to that.” Jorey said. “I don't care if it does. I'll kill anyone that gets in my way!” Emma shouted. “Emma, please calm down, you're not helping the situation.” Jorey said. “Neither is he. He's telling us to just give up on him if things get bad.” Emma inferred. “I know that Mr. Sabbia is important to all of you. But, as headmaster of Beacon Academy, your safety must come first. But, do try your best to find Mr. Sabbia and return him.” Ozpin said. “Yes.” Onyx, Jorey and Emma responded. “All of you may leave except Eli.” Ozpin said.

As everyone left, Eli looked towards Ozpin. He waited for the door close so that they couldn't hear their conversation. “Mr. Leictreach, how do you feel about what's happened to Rufus?” Ozpin asked. “He's a fool. There's no reason for him to get upset and run away from Beacon because we told him the truth.” Eli responded harshly. “Sometimes it's best to give your friends the truth. But, do it in a way that benefits them.” Ozpin replied. “If he's offended, then he doesn't deserve to be in the school and wasted his time here. He's not my friend. I don't have any.” Eli explained to Ozpin. The Headmaster had put his hands together as he looked at Eli. “What are your feelings to the rest of your team?” Ozpin asked. “They're people I work with. That is all.” Eli said plainly. “Mr. Leictreach, those three have helped you during missions and have been nice to you but you tell me that they're just people you work with. Is that true?” Ozpin asked again. Eli nodded quickly. “Another thing, will the Chamber interfere if things get extreme?” Ozpin asked. “I can't make any promises. The Master decides.” Eli replied. Ozpin sighed, seeing that this conversation is getting him nowhere. “You may leave now.” Ozpin said. Eli nodded as he exited Ozpin's office.

The next day at night time, Team JORE along with Emma, walking along the streets of Vale. “So what are we doing exactly?” Emma asked the boys as they walked. Jorey was leading the group along the streets. “As we found out from the butler, Rufus took his car and we found out where Cole Shade lived so he must be in between that distance there.” Jorey explained to Emma. “Aah. That makes sense.” Emma realised. Jorey turned to Onyx. “You know what Rufus' car looks like?” Jorey asked. “Yeah. I'll tell you when I see-” Onyx paused. He looked across the road and noticed people with minimal armour and masks running towards something. “Wait. Guys, I see White Fang.” Onyx said, being fueled with rage. They all turned to Onyx and look in his direction, noticing them too. “What are they doing here?” Jorey asked. “Probably to murder some human who looked at them the wrong way.” Eli joked morbidly. “Quit it, Eli.” Onyx replied. “We should follow them.” Jorey decided. “But, what about Rufus?” Emma asked. Jorey smiled. “Well, we don't White Fang terrorising people do we?” Jorey pointed out to Emma. She nodded and decided to fight. “Well, I guess I'll just have to beat them up.” Emma decided.

As they followed the White Fang across the road, they noticed a few of them heading into an abandoned store that looked broken up already. “What are they doing?” Emma asked. Onyx noticed there was another group of them examining a car. He started to realise that this was Rufus's car. “Wait. Rufus was here. Those bastards might have something to do with his disappearance!” Onyx shouted as he started rushing towards them with Ironmen. “Onyx wait!” Jorey called out. It was too late, Onyx was angry. “Looks like we'll have a battle on our hands.” Eli said as he took out Bolzen, rushing towards the store. Jorey turned towards Emma. “Emma please tell me you're the onl-” Jorey stopped realising that Emma had rushed over to help Onyx fight the White Fang. “I'll tear you all to pieces!” Emma shouted back in her aggressive persona as she hit a White Fang member with the spike of Sfär Poäng. Jorey sighed again and took out Emerald Stagger to fight.

Chapter 67: Clarification Needed[]

Knocked on to the floor was a follower of the White Fang. As he tried to get up, he was sent back to ground by Onyx. The flame boy looked furious and determined. He immediately switched his attention to another White Fang member firing shots at Jorey who was readying an arrow. Rushing towards the White Fang gunman, Onyx gave him a straight punch towards his arm. It had shattered his aura and knocked the gunman unconscious whilst disarming him from his weapon. Jorey noticed this and looked up, smiling towards his partner. “Thanks man.” Jorey said. “Your welcome, partner.” Onyx replied.

Flying in between Jorey and Onyx was another White Fang member. “Get away from me you crazy girl!” he squealed. Emma started to walk slowly towards the member with a menacing smile. “It doesn't matter if I get away from you. I'll find you anywhere...” Emma said nonchalantly. These words sounded creepy to Jorey and Onyx, they could only assume that she was now her stalker persona. As Emma approached the member, she attempted to grab him. “Don't you dare you human!” roared another White Fang member, this time a female. She was wielding a dagger and tried to rush at Emma. Using her small size to her advantage, Emma ducked slightly and swung Sfär Poäng straight at her legs. This easily led to the attacker to lose balance. Emma shifted her body slightly and then pushed the attacker on to the floor, falling on top of her accomplice. “Woah!” The attacker shouted as she fell. “I'll follow him whenever I want you cretin!” Emma exclaimed. Jorey and Onyx both looked at each other in disbelief.

It wasn't for long because three White Fang members tried to come for the duo. Jorey, switching to the nodachi form of Emerald Stagger, swung his sword horizontally to force the attacker back. The attacker dodged and looked at Jorey. “Hah, you mi-” The attacker was immediately interrupted by a harsh punch from Onyx. Jorey tried to strike his sword towards the attacker that was aiming a gun towards Onyx which knocked him back from his aim. He continued to follow up that attack with more strikes which worn the member out, causing him to fall down.

Onyx was busy dealing with one member that was wielding a staff. He was trying to punch the opponent but he continuously blocked his punches with his staff by placing them in between the spaces of the claws on Ironmen. “Seems like your weapon isn't too good is it?” The staff wielder said condescendingly. This had enraged Onyx. He retaliated by sending a right hook towards the staff wielders cheeks but he had blocked it again by placing the staff in between the spaces of Onyx's weapon. “That's what you get for trying to take a fellow Faunus's weapons you disgusting human!” The staff wielder shouted. Onyx sighed. He clenched his fists harder and immediately the claws had retracted. “What!?” The staff wielder exclaimed in surprise. “Now take this you dumb animal!” Onyx shouted as he uppercut the staff wielder in the chin. This sent the White Fang member into the air. Onyx waited for him to fall, clenching his fists again as the claws return and began to unleash a barrage of punches at the man's chest. Jorey, who had just knocked down a White Fang member, noticed that Onyx's Ironmen claws could retract. “Woah, you can switch between claws now?” Jorey asked in amazement. Onyx nodded. “Yup. I had it done a while ago.” Onyx replied.

Emma was trying to swing Sfär Poäng towards two White Fang members who kept dodging her attacks. She was also being attacked by another member who had a katana. Emma was beginning to get frustrated as she couldn't hit them. “You can't reach them with your comically heavy spikeball, little girl!” shouted the swordsman. “My attacks will always find them.” Emma said as she swung again. The two members backed away but Emma's hand, shrouded in green aura, extended, hitting the both of them in the process. The swordsman was in shock from Emma's semblance. She used his shock to her advantage to absolutely pelt him with Sfär Poäng.

From what the three could see, it seemed like the White Fang that were investigating Rufus's car were dealt with. “That should be the last of them outside.” Jorey commented. Onyx and Emma both nodded. “They were totally easy, I could have taken them all on with just one finger.” Emma claimed calmly. She was now back to her normal self. “Still, I want to know why they were here.” Onyx wondered.

“You will now.” Eli said. They all looked towards his direction, noticing that he sitting outside the shop with a defeated White Fang member in his hand. The others looked at Eli in fear. “Jeez, this guy's been sitting out here the entire time?” they all wondered simultaneously. “The White Fang basically got angry that they lost Stigma because it was a good source of income for them. So apparently, Ajax told the higher ups and they're sending people after Rufus. Also, kidnapping a rich kid like him gets them more notoriety and could possibly ask for a ransom.” Eli explained. Everyone looked shocked. “So, that means we have to find Rufus and save him from the White Fang!” Jorey pointed out. “Well, finding him is the hard part, they only came here because they saw his car and noticed that he must have entered this abandoned store, probably meaning that he's already been kidnapped by another group.” Eli explained. “He can't have been!” Emma replied in disbelief. Onyx started to become furious. Someone had taken his friend. “This is bad. Rufus might be kidnapped and other people are trying to find him?” Jorey mused. He was feeling scared but he still wanted to help his team mate. “So, they're currently, retracing his steps, wondering where they can find him.” Eli added. Everyone released a deep sigh, feeling exhausted from the information Eli had relayed to them.

Jorey looked at both Onyx and Emma, the two most affected by this. “Are you two alright?” Jorey asked, wanting to know how they were feeling. “We'll just take anyone out that tries to hurt my Rufus!” Emma beamed confidently. It was hard to tell for Jorey if she was her violent persona or just her normal self. He then turned to Onyx. “Onyx?” Jorey asked. “I don't care about the White Fang, those dumb animals won't stop me. I'll get Rufus back, no matter what.” Onyx claimed. Jorey smiled, admiring Onyx's determination. “We still have to tell Ozpin though. He can probably get us some assistance if we do. We can't just do things alone.” Jorey mentioned. Everyone nodded in agreement with Jorey. “But what about Rufus' car?” Emma asked. “I'm surprised it hasn't been towed yet or found by the police but, we'll split up for now. One of us will bring his car home and inform his family too.” Jorey stated. “One problem. I can't drive yet.” Onyx pointed out, feeling ashamed. “Neither can I.” Emma added, also feeling ashamed. Jorey looked at Emma and Onyx in complete disbelief. “None of you can drive yet?! I can but I'm not crazy enough to break the law.” Jorey explained. Both Onyx and Emma raised the eyebrows at Jorey. “Come on, that's a stupid reason not to drive and hey!” Onyx exclaimed, realising that Jorey was calling him crazy.

“Seems like Rufus doesn't lock the door or take his keys with him.” Eli noticed. Everyone had turned to Eli who was sitting in Rufus' car and reacted in shock. “Of course, he'd take the car!” They all exclaimed. Jorey sighed. “Are you sure that you'll be alright?” Jorey asked. Eli nodded. “I know where his house is. I would have found it but thanks to Emma's stalker persona, it was actually easy.” Eli pointed out. “Is that what you guys call Griselda? I know she's weird.” Emma said. “Wait, they have names?” Onyx and Jorey asked. “Uh huh, there's Griselda, Akane, Xanthe and Nila.” Emma explained.  The two looked confused, not knowing which of the names corresponded to which personality. “Oh right. Akane is a really violent and angry person, I kinda like her. Xanthe is just really jumpy all the time and basically believes she can fly, really fun in a party. Nila, is just shy. Like, really shy.” Emma explained, realising that they didn't know. “Interesting.” Jorey said. “Anyways, I'm going with you Eli. I don't like the idea of you telling Rufus' family that he could be kidnapped.” Onyx said as he entered the car. Eli chuckled. “Oh, it would be fun to mention.” Eli said. Onyx glared at Eli. “You two enjoy yourself...” Jorey said woefully as they began to drive off.

As Eli drove Rufus' car, Onyx was looking outside the window. “So, what made you want to drive Rufus' car?” Onyx asked Eli. “So I can secretly take the car home and sell it.” Eli chirped sarcastically. Onyx detected Eli's sarcasm and glared at him. “Be serious here.” Onyx replied annoyed. “Well, if you want to know, it's because I can drive.” Eli answered. Onyx was not pleased with Eli's answer, seeing it as stupid. “So, what if the police stop you?” Onyx asked. “You're not the type of person to be worried about the law so it seems weird that you ask me this, Onyx.” Eli replied. Onyx started to get frustrated. “What's that supposed mean? Forget I ever asked. I shouldn't be even talking to you.” Onyx said, feeling insulted. Eli had made a left turn in the car. “Don't cry because I gave you a simple answer. I'm not too bothered about the police. I injured two people in front of you so obviously I have no worries.” Eli said. Onyx made an angry sigh, starting to get fed up with Eli. “It's got nothing to do Rufus that you're doing this? Dude, you're his partner!” Onyx pointed, seeing how Eli doesn't care. “It's because he's our team mate. We'd be ineffective without a defensive person. You and Jorey barely have any defensive capabilities whilst Rufus does. He's also much smarter than the both of you. It's simple.” Eli responded plainly. Onyx was starting to get more furious. Eli had no emotions at all or any feelings about Rufus. “You only care about the stuff you think matters. Did you even like Rufus?” Onyx asked. Eli chuckled. “How dumb of you to say that teamwork doesn't matter. And of course I did. I enjoy watching him tremble when I scared him. He was pretty good company as well.” Eli replied to Onyx. Onyx didn't reply, instead he sighed in defeat. He had given up in trying to argue with Eli. The electric boy was just too stubborn.

Reaching the Sabbia compound, Onyx had gotten out of the car to press the buzzer to be allowed access into the mansion. The two had waited for the gate to open and it did. Eli drove the car straight towards the parking space and awaiting them was the butler. Onyx walked towards the butler and sighed. “I suppose you have found the boy yet?” The butler asked. Onyx shook his head. As Eli stepped out of the car, he was observing the aesthetics of the mansion. “I'll allow you to see Lady Sabbia if you have news for her.” The butler said. Eli walked towards Onyx and The butler. “Your friend won't cause any trouble while he's here right?” The butler asked. Eli shook his head. “I'm only here to relay news. There isn't any trouble I can cause.” Eli said. The butler nodded. “Alright, now follow me.” The butler said, leading the two inside the mansion.

As the butler guided them towards Fiammata's office, a young boy with brown hair covering his left eye stepped out from a corridor with a towel on his back. “Oh, Onyx, what brings you here?” The boy asked. The butler stopped and so did Onyx and Eli. “It's about your brother, Ashley.” Onyx replied. Ashley looked at Eli and then back to Onyx. “He's not back yet? How does someone go missing at seven fourty one eleven in the morning?” Ashley wondered. Eli was surprised to how accurate Ashley was with that information, wondering how he knew that. “You'll learn later, just come with us and we'll tell you and your mother.” Onyx said, becoming frustrated already. Eli noticed this and wondered if he didn't like talking to Ashley. “I do hope he's fine wherever he is.” Ashley said, deciding to follow them. Ashley then looked at Eli with clear interest in him. “Who's your friend?” Ashley asked. “He's Rufus' partner and our team mate, Eli.” Onyx introduced Eli.

The butler took them towards the office and opened the door, allowing all of them to enter inside. “Lady Sabbia, Mr.Rocker and his friend Eli are here to speak to you.” The butler said as he closed the door.

At Ozpin's office, the Headmaster of Beacon Academy was sitting in his phallic shaped chair. Glynda was pacing around the office, thinking about the situation they were in. “So, there is the possibility that Mr.Sabbia could have been kidnapped?” Glynda pondered. “And now the White Fang is involved in this too because of Stigma.” Ozpin said. Jorey and Emma both nodded. “Even though this could be dangerous, I'll allow you to try and find Rufus. If the situation becomes dire, I'll have to hire professional huntsmen to deal with this situation.” Ozpin pointed out. “Thanks sir, we won't disappoint you.” Emma said. Glynda looked at Ozpin's decision with dismay. “Professor Ozpin, we can't lose any more students. Remember what happened to Team JHWL?” Glynda pointed out. “Team JORE already know what danger they got themselves into. If it is hard, they'll come back. Team JHWL did not.” Ozpin explained.

Fiammata banged her hand on the table. “I won't let my son be taken away from me! You two must find him!” Fiammata ordered. Onyx and Eli both nodded. “Yes miss.” Onyx said. “Make sure you deal with the White Fang too!” Fiammata shouted.

As they exited the office, Ashley looked towards Onyx. “Please do find my brother. It's urgent that you do. For this family as he is next in line to inherit this company.” Ashley said. Onyx could sense that Ashley was lying. “You don't care at all. None of you do.” Onyx pointed out aggravated as started to leave without Eli. Ashley was immediately interested and looked straight towards Eli. He waited for Onyx to leave before talking to Eli. “Then, could you help me? Make sure not to rescue my brother so that he loses his heir status.” Ashley requested. “I don't do orders.” Eli said as he left.

Chapter 68: A Claimed Member[]

An airship was passing through the skies of Vale, leaving the Kingdom. Rufus was sitting down inside this airship and he was looking outside the window solemnly. He was wondering how he even got himself into this mess. Rufus felt hopeless as he watched the airship past mountainous kingdom. He decided to look around the airship. On the opposite side of the airship was Clancy, glaring at Rufus. “I can see that you don't accept me as a member yet...” Rufus said slowly, not wanting to anger him. “Of course I don't accept you! Why would I? Mum was wrong about you being gifted.” Clancy replied. Piloting the airship was Chloe and she didn't look to pleased with Clancy's comment about Rufus. “I'm sure your mother had a perfectly good reason to bring him. She's a smart woman, you shouldn't doubt her so much Clancy.” Chloe suggested to her younger team mate. Clancy looked angry. “How are we even sure we can trust this guy?! For all we know, he could betray us or try to attack us. He might not even help us. People are probably looking for him!” Clancy pointed out to Chloe. Rufus looked down. He knew his family would try to look for him but he wasn't sure anyone from Team JORE would. “No one effective enough will look for me... My team hate me as it is. And, I've already failed my family.” Rufus lamented. Clancy smiled. “So you're just a failure aren't you? My thoughts exactly.” Clancy believed. Rufus sighed and nodded. “I'm still confused though. Why did she want me to go on a mission with you guys?” Rufus wondered. “To see your skills obviously. Ms.Reed mentioned that you're a student at Beacon. None of us are really experienced in fighting Grimm you'd be helpful.” Chloe explained. “So, I get that she wants to collect old weaponry to stop them being used in war but why are you guys so heavily invested?” Rufus asked. He wanted to know what everyone got out of by being criminals. “I kinda owe a huge debt to pay for Ms.Reed so I'm doing this to help her for helping me out.” Chloe replied, happily answering Rufus' question. The brown haired boy looked back to Clancy, hoping that he'd answer. “I'm not gonna answer you so quit it.” Clancy said. Rufus saw that coming. He knew that Clancy would refuse to answer his question.

“We're almost there boys!” Chloe shouted excited. Rufus was wondering what Chloe was talking about. “Wait, where are we going?” Rufus asked. “We're going to a shrine of an ex-Chamber of Requiem member. He owns a weapon that we want and we don't want it in the hands of the Chamber of Requiem.” Chloe explained. Rufus was confused. He didn't know what the Chamber of Requiem was. “What is the Chamber of Requiem?” Rufus asked. “You're so daft aren't you? The Chamber of Requiem are some secret group of people that work as spies, assassins, escorts and detectives around Remnant. They're everywhere basically.” Clancy interjected. Rufus didn't understand Clancy's hostile nature. It was quite similar to Onyx but with a subtle difference that he couldn't tell. “That sounds interesting.” Rufus answered. “Well it's not! They're also really well known at torture and they're all ruthless killers. Evil, the whole lot of them. If the Chamber ever get that weapon, they'll cause lots of chaos with it.” Clancy replied harshly. Rufus could see from Clancy's comments that the Chamber of Requiem were evil. He was actually beginning to understand Cheyenne's goal a lot more. It was starting to sound much more clearer as the experience he had delivering the Romeo artefact that was incredibly dangerous. Rufus looked down at the floor, starting to gather his thoughts. The words of Jorey and his partner Eli ringed throughout his head. He didn't really deserve his place at Beacon and he caused Stigma to fall. He was the one who let the Grimm win. Onyx was right, they were all right about him. He didn't deserve anything. He paused for a while and then sighed. He looked to Clancy. “I'll... do my best to help you.” Rufus declared, the words being painful to say. “You better.” Clancy replied seriously. There was no way back for him. Rufus couldn't see his friends accepting  him.

As they landed, the trio disembarked from the airship. The area they were in was grassy and damp. Clancy and Rufus found it easier to traverse as both of them were wearing boots. Chloe, on the other hand, was having trouble. “I'm going to get mud on my shoes...” Chloe lamented. “You should have changed shoes before we left idiot.” Clancy replied harshly. Chloe decided to ignore his insult. Rufus watched hopelessly at the two's bickering. He thought it would be better to just focus on the mission instead. Walking further through the open space, the trio noticed that there was a small temple out in the middle. Chloe stretched her hand out as a sign to tell the two boys to stop. “Wait.” Chloe said. She crouched towards the ground looking around the area. “The Chamber of Requiem are known to have spies. So, watch out for that.” Chloe pointed out. “What should we do then?” Rufus asked. He looked to Chloe and Clancy for a plan. “We could use someone get a spy's attention.” Chloe said. “Who's that going to be?” Rufus asked. The two Reclaim members looked at Rufus.

Heading towards the temple was Rufus. He wasn't happy that he chosen but he knew should have expected it. “This all seems like absolute trouble.” Rufus mused in his head. He was wondering what spy would around trying to find them. Rufus attempted to open the large door in the temple but there was no avail. “Well, that didn't work.” Rufus said, turning around. As he turned, there was an adult woman with brown hair holding a knife, reaching out trying to stab him. Without thinking, Rufus drew out the Baozhang Revolver and shot her three times. The shots had pushed her back and had slowly drained her aura. Chloe, with a large sword, was rushing straight towards Rufus. The boy was completely confused. As she got closer, Chloe jumped up, swinging her sword at a man above Rufus. From the impact of the sword, this sent the man crashing down into the temple. “Rufus! Get inside now!” Chloe ordered. Rufus nodded and climbed inside the hole that Chloe had made. He looked at the man that Chloe knocked back and saw that he was encased in ice dust. Rufus stared for a few seconds in curiosity before heading towards a weapon that he could see. It was a pair of nunchaku and he took them before seeing the man slowly get up. “Don't chase me please!” The brown haired boy shouted. Rufus started shooting the man repeatedly to prevent him from getting up and chasing him.

Rufus kicked down down from the temple and started bolt his way back towards the airship. However, he was being shot by sniper fire by someone. Rufus tried shooting at the sniper but was missing completely. “No. This weapon doesn't have any range.” Rufus realised. It would have been good if he had Natura Orbis instead as it's marksman form would have been helpful. More shots were being fired at Rufus by more Chamber of Requiem spies. This was becoming hard for him to handle. He then noticed as Clancy was using a staff to take down the spies that were attacking me. “If you're going to be this useless you might as well let yourself get kidnapped you idiot!” Clancy shouted at Rufus as he handling them. The sniper had shot Clancy, pushing him back into the tree. He then switched his weapon into a marksman rifle and began taking shots at the sniper. Due to the range of his weapon, he was able to get enough shots on the sniper to take him down with ease. Chloe rushed over to pick up Rufus from the ground. “Come on, let's go guys!” Chloe shouted as they started running.

At Beacon Academy, Emma and Jorey had just finished their conversation with Ozpin. Waiting for the two of them outside were Emma's team mates. “Oh hey guys.” Emma said, smiling. Jorey waved towards the rest of Team WEST. “Hey.” He greeted. “So, you haven't found Rufus yet?” Sigvard asked concerned. “Rufus has likely been kidnapped. And the White Fang are chasing him too.” Jorey explained, sadly. Sigvard and Bridgette both looked down. Trond was surprised to hear this news. “That's not good. I'd assume it's because of Stigma.” Trond said. Emma slowly nodded, feeling worried for her boyfriend. Bridgette walked towards Emma and hugged her partner. “It sucks though. We got ourselves in a situation we didn't know.” Jorey said. “Also, Emma will have to join us in some missions to find Rufus.” Jorey mentioned. “That's fine. As long as Rufus comes back, that's all we need.” Sigvard replied. This was feeling unsafe.

Later, Jorey was in amphitheatre, training with Bridgette. Using the nodachi form of his weapon, Jorey tried to attack her three times but Bridgette as able to use agility to duck and and dodge his attacks. She responded to his attacks with a high kick to the face. However, Jorey managed to block this with Emerald Stagger. He then released one hand from gripping the weapon and grabbed her leg, using it to push her back down. Despite being down, Bridgette used the dual axe form of Dobbelt Skarpretteren to hit Jorey in the leg which sent him down to the ground. She then had her axe ready to chip at Jorey's aura, believing that she has won the fight. However, Jorey picked an arrow and threw it straight at her. Despite not being on his bow form, the arrow had enough power to send Bridgette to the other side of the amphitheatre. Jorey then stood up from the ground. “Looks like you win.” Bridgette said as she was pinned down by the arrow. Jorey, sheathing his sword, walked towards Bridgette and took the arrow away. Jorey sighed and sat down on the floor. Bridgette, getting from the floor, sat down on the floor with her best friend. “Thanks for that. I kinda needed the training to calm myself down from the news that took place.” Jorey said. Bridgette could see that the situation with Rufus was eating Jorey. “You seem to be handling this worse than Onyx. How come?” Bridgette asked. “It's because I'm the team leader. I don't want to seem mopey but I feel responsible. We also heavily insulted him basically calling him useless and not deserving of a place in Beacon.” Jorey pointed out sadly. Bridgette raised her eyebrow, noticing how mean they were being towards Rufus. “I don't blame you. I would have said the same too.” Bridgette said. “Bridge...” Jorey said displeased with her statement. “Seems like this situation is a lot on all of you except Eli. How was his friendship with Eli?” Bridgette wondered. “I know Eli gets along with Rufus. Which is weird considering that Eli is scary as hell and Rufus is always  scared. But, they're really good at team work.” Jorey commented. He knew that Eli was concerned but for different reason.

Rushing into the room was Sigvard and Trond both carrying something. “Guys!” shouted Sigvard. Emma, who was sitting in the stands, turned to look at them. Jorey and Bridgette looked at the two boys entering the amphitheatre. In Sigvard's hand was his scroll whereas Trond was holding Onyx. “Let me go!” Onyx shouted as he tried budging from Trond's grip. “No dude! You gotta see this!” Trond shouted. The two both had a worried look on their faces. “Why are you holding Onyx?” Jorey and Bridgette both asked as they looked at the two confused. Emma climbed into centre of the amphitheatre and headed towards Sigvard and Trond. “We've got really bad news!” Sigvard exclaimed. “Let me go damn it!” Onyx shouted annoyed. Trond had released Onyx from his grip, causing him to drop. “What could be so important that you had to grab me forcefully?!” Onyx asked infuriated. “Just this morning just outside the Kingdom of Vale, a shrine that once held a Great War era weapon has been attacked. Investigations by detectives suggest it was by the Reclaim. One of the attackers of this group has been identified as being 17 year old Beacon Student, Rufus Sabbia who is the son of Fiammata Sabbia, the current CEO of the Sabbia Steelwork Factory.” A reporter explained in a video on Sigvard's scroll. Jorey, Onyx and Emma had a face absolute gloom hearing this. “No way. Rufus... is a criminal?” Jorey said, not wanting to believe this. Bridgette was in sheer shook. There was no way someone as meek as Rufus would do something like that.

Rufus had a look of shock on his face from looking at the news at the Reclaim's base of operation. “Oh no! Everyone knows I'm a criminal! This is bad!” Rufus exclaimed. He know knew his teammates would be looking for him now. Clancy gripped Rufus' shirt. “You idiot! You've ruined my mother's plan! I should just end you right now!” Clancy shouted. “Stop it Clancy! Rufus' presence being known gives people a reason to fear us. That's useful. We were able to take the son of wealthy family and use him.” Cheyenne explained. “Isn't that what Blaine's for?” Clancy asked. Blaine, who was sitting on top of a table, shook his head at Clancy. “My family isn't rich. Just well known like Sabbia's. Both of my family members were Sairyō Ryōshi.” Blaine explained. “Anyways, son, don't worry. The White Fang will also be on our tracks as well as the Chamber of Requiem. Even though we have a lot of opposition. It's harder on those two because they're going to have to focus on the bigger threat. So, that's good cover for us.” Cheyenne explained. Clancy looked at her mother and then Rufus and released Rufus from his grip, dropping him.

It was now night time in Vale. Standing on the Beacon Academy rooftops was Eli. He was holding his scroll as he looked at the moon. On the scroll, it had the words “Target: Rufus Sabbia”.

Chapter 69: Another Party has Joined the Fray[]

Inside Team WEST's dormitory, the lights were on despite it being night time. All of it's members were awake. Bridgette and Sigvard were sitting down Emma, holding Emma who was in tears. She just her normal self this time. “Everything will be alright. We'll try to help Rufus.” Sigvard said. Trond was pacing around the room. “Everything will be okay.” Sigvard ensured as Emma was still tearing up. The green haired girl looked like she was suffering to her emotions. “Rufus is in serious trouble! There's nothing we can do! He's gone!” Emma cried as she planted her face towards the floor in agony. Bridgette patted her partner in the back. “I can feel your pain Emma. But, try to compose yourself. We're all here to help you to the best of our abilities.” Bridgette said. She then turned head to Trond who was still walking around the room. “Trond, what are you doing?!” Bridgette demanded in a harsh tone. “I'm trying to think of something.” Trond said, continuing to walk. Bridgette became annoyed. “You should be helping to console our team mate.” Bridgette pointed out. Trond ignored Bridgette scolding and continued to focus on what he was doing. “Ozpin will probably just ask Team JORE and Emma to go try and help rescue Rufus. He's given exceptions to other people before so that should be fine. He might even just ask all of us to go.” Trond assumed from what he knew about Ozpin. Emma stood up. “That's right. All hope is not lost. I can still get Rufus back.” Emma said. She begun to wipe her tears away. “Thanks Trond... I'm going to go sleep now.” Emma said as she headed towards bed to sleep. Sigvard and Bridgette both looked at Emma in disbelief. “She calmed down so quickly...” Sigvard mused. Bridgette then turned to Trond. “And Trond of all people was able to cheer her up.” Bridgette pointed out. Trond was confused as Bridgette looked at him. “Not my fault she didn't remember how easily swayed Ozpin is.” Trond commented. Sigvard and Bridgette both sighed.

It was late on a Saturday morning as Jorey and Bridgette were walking and talking in the halls of Beacon. “This second year has gone by relatively quickly. I don't feel like I've actually done much learning at all.” Bridgette pointed out. Jorey nodded at his friend in agreement. “To be honest, I guess it's because a lot has happened that it feels that way. I've tried my best to focus but I'm not failing. The only person I'm worried about is Onyx though.” Jorey replied to Bridgette. “Yeah. He's not brightest person. So I can get why you're worried. And all this stuff with Rufus is probably hindering him. We'll probably have to help him study for that Dust class exam.” Bridgette said. As they continued walking, a few third year girls passed by the two friends. Jorey clicked his fingers at them and winked and they all laughed. Bridgette punched Jorey in the back for his stupidity. “Stop bothering people or else they're going to think you aren't serious about being in Beacon.” Bridgette scolded Jorey. He was feeling a large pain in his back as the result from Bridgette's powerful punch. “Alright. Fine.” Jorey said. The two best friends kept on walking as they made a right turn towards a corridor.

In the corridor was Professor Ozpin, drinking his coffee and walking with his cane. “Ah. Mr. Diamond and Ms. West, I wish to speak to you about Rufus.” He said as they approached them. Jorey and Bridgette immediately knew what Ozpin was talking about. They had both hoped that Ozpin would allow them to help Rufus. Before speaking to them, Ozpin took a sip from his Beacon mug. “As you may have seen on the news, Rufus is unfortunately working with the Reclaim. However, Eli tells me that they are possibly forcing him to work for them by force and this is obviously no wonder.” Ozpin explained. The fact that Rufus could be forced to sit did not sit right with Jorey. It infuriated him but he chose not show it. “And with such dangerous enemies holding dangerous weapons, I would tell you not to pursue him. However, I will allow Team WEST to assist you in bringing Rufus back.” Ozpin continued. Jorey was happy to see that Ozpin will help them with their troubles. He assumed that the Headmaster was acting this way because of what happened with Johannes who had lost all of his team mates. “I do hope you're able to complete this task well you two. I know you won't disappoint me.” Ozpin said as he walked off sipping his coffee. Both Bridgette and Jorey gave each other a high five and a hug. “Yes!” They both exclaimed in joy.

At the amphitheatre, both teams were at the stands. “So Ozpin just let us all try and help Rufus?” Sigvard wondered. Jorey and Bridgette both nodded. “I told you all. You never doubt Trond!” Trond exclaimed proudly. “I always believed in you Trond!” Sigvard shouted as he hugged his friend. “I know you did, Sigvard.” Trond said. “That prediction wasn't hard at all. I could see him doing that.” Eli said. He was sitting on the stands, reading a book that was titled “The Child Murdered”. They all looked at him and his book and then looked away from him, clearly being displeased from the title of the book he was reading. “Alright, so the main problem is, how do we actually find him? It's not like we just know where their base is.” Trond asked. “That's why I asked to meet here. How do we try to track down Rufus and The Reclaim? So far, they're only going for places or people in possession of rare weapons.” Jorey explained. Bridgette took out her scroll. “I have a list of places they could be. Most likely is the Sairyō Ryōshi tourist attraction we went to.” Bridgette pointed out. On her scroll was the map of Remnant of places that The Reclaim could be targeting dotted on the map. “If you haven't noticed, they've been looking in less crowded places. They'd have to be secretive about it.” Eli interjected. “Yeah. That's true.” Trond agreed. Jorey zoomed in to the map. “They've really only been around Vale, so they could be trying to go further and further out of the Kingdom.” Jorey said. Bridgette looked Eli and glared at him for his comment that she was wrong. Eli wasn't looking at her though, he was focused on reading his book. “Why don't we just follow their steps? We can gain more info on them and stop some of the opposition from trying to harm my Rufus.” Emma suggested in a creepy voice. “Griselda's right. In a weird way. That might really help.” Sigvard said in agreement. Jorey and Bridgette nodded in approval. “This better help us find Rufus then.” Onyx said as he stood up slowly. He was gripping his fist hard: Onyx was determined to rescue his friend.

The two teams made it towards the open field that was outside the Kingdom. They could see a little bit of damage that occurred from the small skirmish. Jorey walked over and noticed a few bullet holes on a tree. “This looks like it done from a sniper. That either means Rufus had a sniper or was encountering one.” Jorey commented. Bridgette and Emma were both looking around the open field, seeing that there's not much there besides the temple. “Me and Emma will move further inside the temple to investigate more.” Bridgette said as they walked towards the shrine. Eli was looking down on the ground and could see some footprints intertwining with each other at some points. “I think Rufus might have been running away.” Eli said. “Well, that does sound like him but how do you know?” Onyx asked as he walked towards him. He looked at the footprints too. Eli pointed at one footprint that had boots. “Those. I think those could be his boots but there's another one just in front of us here. But, their sizes are different. Also, the prints are less prominent meaning that they weren't standing for too long.” Eli explained. Onyx began to take in what Eli said but smoke started coming out of his brain, not really understanding what he was saying too well. Eli sighed at Onyx's lack of intelligence.

Suddenly, gunshots were heard from the temple. “We need to help Emma and Bridgette!” Sigvard shouted. His loud voice got the attention of everyone else and they all rushed towards the temple, trying to see if Bridgette and Emma were alright. Neither of their weapons had a gun mode, meaning that someone was attacking them. As they reached the temple, both Emma and Bridgette jumped out of the large hole from the temple. “Are you both okay?” Jorey asked. “There's a mercenary there.” Bridgette responded. Everyone looked surprised. “Looks like we're going to be fighting.” Jorey said as he took out Emerald Stagger in it's bow form. The temple doors had opened. There were eighteen men emerging from the door in yellow coloured outfits. Some were wearing suits whilst others were wearing hoodies or armour. All of them were equipped with black rifles pointed towards the group. Another man came out from the door. He wore a purple vest with a large orange gauntlet and black boots. He was wielding a cutlass. “Are you guys from the Reclaim?” He asked the Beacon students in his booming voice. “No.” Jorey answered for everyone. The man walked closer towards Jorey. “Then, please get out of our way!” He shouted trying to hit Jorey.

Suddenly, this attack was blocked by Onyx. The man was stunned to see that his attack was easily blocked like it was nothing. “Leave my friend alone! You have a problem with him, you've gotta take it up with me!” Onyx claimed in anger. Eli examined some of the men around the most prominent man. “Their outfits. They're probably all part of some gang of some sorts. But, this one isn't wearing his colours. Definitely a mercenary as Bridgette said.” Eli commented as he took out Bolzen. “Who paid you?” Trond asked the man. The man laughed at Trond. He used his fist to push Onyx away from him with ease. “Jin Baozhang. Me and his men are currently looking for his revolver which that Sabbia kid has on him.” The man answered. “Golnar, what should we do?” One of the men asked. “Start shooting.” Golnar replied.

Rushing into the open field was a Deathstalker, it was huge and fierce. It was clicking it's claws as it rushed straight towards it's main target: humanity. “Grimm!” shouted one of the gangsters. They all turned as they saw it reveal itself in it's menacing form. “Some of you handle the grimm whilst the other's handle these stupid kids!” Golnar ordered, trying to run away from the Grimm in fear. “Everyone away from the house!” Bridgette ordered. All the members of Team JORE and Team WEST spread themselves in different directions and so did Golnar and the Baozhang gangsters. Jorey's tactic had worked. The Deathstalker had completely avoided the temple but he chasing Trond and Sigvard. “Trond! Sigvard!” Jorey shouted, worried for the pair. “Don't worry Jorey. They've got it.” Emma said, confident in their abilities. “Yeah. They'll be fine. They're way stronger than they were in the Emerald Forest.” Bridgette assured.

“Sigvard!” Trond shouted. Sigvard looked at Trond and they both nodded at each other. “Yeah. Let's do it.” Sigvard said. The two friends both charged towards the Deathstalker with confidence. As the Deathstalker and the pair made their charge, they were getting closer. Sigvard took out Terä Leikkurit and performed a slide to hack off the Deathstalker's right legs, hindering it's mobility. Because of this, the scorpion Grimm began to slide, taking out a few of the Baozhang gangsters out in the process. Trond then started rushing towards the Grimm and jumped towards it's tail. He swung the spear form of Spidse Angreb at it's tail causing it's stinger to fall on top of itself. As Trond began to fall, he landed on top of the stinger. The impact of Trond's leg caused the stinger to press deeper into the scorpion's Grimm's body. “Let's give you some more pain!” Trond exclaimed as he hopped of the immobile Grimm. Sigvard began to lift up the Deathstalker but it was quite heavy. He could only really expose just a bit of it's underside. “I can't lift up much more, Trond!” Sigvard pointed out, struggling to carry it. “That'll be fine, Sigvard.” Trond. As he walked towards the exposed underside of the Deathstalker, Trond closed his eyes. He then pressed his palm into the Grimm's body, causing it's body to suddenly inflate and them implode.  The Grimm began to dissipate into black smoke.

Jorey was being fired at by some of the Baozhang gangsters. He managed to block most of their shots with his nodachi. However, due to their constant firing of their weapons, they had to reload. Jorey used this chance to start swinging his sword at two of them, causing them to fall down. However, despite this, the others managed to be able to reload. Bridgette spun her axe staff at one of the members, knocking them in the head which pushed them back. “No way! That would normally knock a normal human out! That didn't hurt them?” Bridgette realised. They all started to chuckle at the the two friends and tried to fire at them again. “I'll destroy you all if you touch any of my friends!” Emma shouted in a fit of rage. She came raining down towards some of the members with her large spike ball. She bashed one of the gangsters down towards the ground, causing serious damage. “Thanks for the help, Akane!” Bridgette exclaimed. “These gangsters have their aura unlocked.” Akane explained as she started swinging Sfär Poäng at the gangsters at a rapid pace. She knocked one criminal down. “You're going to lose now!” Akane roared. She began to repeatedly hammer Sfär Poäng into the criminal until his aura had shattered. “So, shattering their aura is the goal... Bridgette, I'll hang back. You two work on them at close range!” Jorey called out as he started running away to find a better place to use his arrows. Bridgette nodded as she saw Jorey run. She then split Dobbelt Skarpretteren into two separate axes and started to hack at one of the gangsters. Another gangster tried to swing at Bridgette but was sent flying by an arrow. Jorey had his reticule monocle on as he started aiming at more of the gangsters. Akane swung Sfär Poäng rapidly between two of the gangsters, causing their aura to instantly break. “Girls! Start moving now!” Jorey shouted at Bridgette and Akane. Bridgette ran away, followed by Akane, hitting another gangster with Sfär Poäng  as she left. The remaining members continued to fire at Bridgette and Akane, not noticing Jorey. Rapidly, five arrows were fired from Jorey's bow that were powered with wind dust. They were fired at such a high speed that tip of the bow began to ignite.  This managed to accurately hit all of the remaining members. This broke their auras completely.

Golnar had tried to punch Onyx but he had easily dodged the attack. However, Golnar slammed his cutlass into  Onyx's hip which pushed him down towards the floor. “Damn, this guys too strong!” Onyx thought to himself as he tried to get up. Despite this, Golnar had picked Onyx with right hand. “Get out of my sight. You're in the way of my money!” Golnar exclaimed. “So are you.” Onyx said slowly. Golnar then slammed Onyx's face towards the ground, causing the orange haired boy to be covered in mud. The mercenary held his cutlass next to Onyx's neck, ready to cut the boy. “Hey. What's that on your chest?” Onyx asked. Golnar laughed. “That childish technique doesn't work on me boy.” Golnar said. Unexpectedly, a bomb detonated in front of the two. This propelled them backwards. Because of this, Onyx was able to be free from Golnar's grip. Golnar was able to get up from this explosion, whilst Onyx was busy coughing. Eli was walking towards the two of them. As he passed Onyx, he picked up from the ground. “Damn it Eli, try not kill me next time.” Onyx complained. “I'll make sure to kill you next time.” Eli replied plainly. Onyx wanted to get angry at him but decided it was best to focus on the fight. “This guy is good. So, we'll have to take him out together.” Onyx said, his aura beginning to coat him. He ran straight to Golnar, ready to attack him. Golnar, with his cutlass, lunged at Onyx in the chest. The orange haired boy ducked under the attack easily and punched the mercenary repeatedly in the chest. These punches pushed the mercenary away. “Eli! Now!” Onyx shouted as he backed away from Golnar. Eli fired a bolt fom Bolzen towards Golnar and detonated it which propelled him into the air. Onyx rushed back to Golnar and clenched his fists, allowing the claws to appear. He unleashed a rapid stream of punches towards Golnar's chest, breaking his aura in the process. He then ended his attack with with a left hook at Golnar's chest which sent him flying. The impact of Onyx's punch was so powerful that Golnar's shoulder had shattered.

Later, the gangsters were tied up towards some of the trees in the open field. Eli was near the criminals, holding his scroll and away from the group who were near or inside the temple. He walked over to Sigvard, Trond and Onyx. “I've already called the police. They should be here soon. We should probably stay put for now in case any more show up or Grimm.” Eli explained. The three nodded at Eli. “Well, that's good.” Trond said. Eli then looked to Trond. “Anyways, what did you guys find out Golnar?” Eli asked them. Sigvard and Onyx both glared at Eli, seeing that he clearly ignored them. “Well, we found out that Rufus also pissed off Jin Baozhang who's like a really rich crime boss. So, he's hired mercenaries to go kill him return his weapon.” Trond relayed. Eli had look of realisation on his face. “Ah. That was the revolver that Ajax had. It was stolen from him by a kid so Rufus must have received it from that kid.” Eli added. “Wait! So, you're telling me that filthy critter stole a weapon from a high criminal and sent him and the White Fang after Rufus? That guy's gotta pay!” Onyx declared. Sigvard and Trond were dismayed by Onyx's open racism. “Guys! You need to see this!” Bridgette called out.

They all ran over inside the temple and saw that Emma and Jorey were looking at the hole. “What's wrong?” Sigvard asked concerned. Bridgette pointed at the hole. “Look at it.” Emma suggested. Everyone looked at the hole and was completely stunned. There was ice around the hole and it was still fresh. “How is that ice still out in the hot sun?” Onyx wondered. “There's only really one suggestion. The Reclaim have possession of a powerful weapon.” Jorey assumed. “How?” Sigvard asked. “I was reading more into this incident and they found a man who was still frozen when they found him.” Jorey mentioned. “Woah!” Bridgette, Trond and Onyx exclaimed in surprise. Emma and Onyx both sat on the floor from exhaustion. “Then, it's likely the Longsword of Eis then. The Reclaim had stolen it recently. Apparently, the strikes from the weapon would cause ice dust to be released.” Bridgette mentioned. “Wait, you mean The Longsword of Eis?” Trond questioned. Sigvard mouth was agape as he heard this. “No way!” Sigvard exclaimed in disbelief. “Our enemies are sure strong... I don't how we'd be able to cope.” Emma said as Nila. Onyx was scratching his head, wondering what everyone was so shocked about. “What is the Longsword of thingmajigy?” Onyx asked. Everyone buried the heads in the palm of their hand at Onyx's lack of knowledge. “Wow, you're not educated at all. Don't you pay attention in Oobleck's classes?” Trond asked. “We can't blame him... He's been busy with other things.” Nila said in Onyx's defense. Eli sighed. “The Longsword of Eis is a sword that was wielded by the Sairyō Ryōshi, Eis Schneider. He was basically known as a hero in many cities in Kingdom of Mantle. He helped stop a lot of Grimm attacks with a simple sword. The weapon was then upgraded to fit Atlas technology said to freeze it's victims and cause them a fatal cold death that lasted long.” Eli explained. “So you see why this weapon is dangerous?” Jorey asked. Onyx nodded at Jorey. “That just means I have to get stronger than that weapon. Mercenaries and gangsters are now after Rufus. So, some measly weapon isn't going to make a difference. Everything from here on out is for Rufus.” Onyx stated.


Chapter 70: Collector's Edition - Commentary[]

The clashes of metal were hard as Rufus and Glaucus were fighting each other. Glaucus was equipped with a small axe whereas Rufus was using a blank katana. Both were capable of blocking each others attacks. Glaucus tried to swing his axe towards Rufus again but the brown haired boy managed to parry the attack with the training katana. “I think I might be getting better!” Rufus thought to himself happily. Glaucus grunted and put more force into his axe, pushing Rufus back. He was struggling to put more strength to resist Glaucus strength. The armoured man added more force into his axe which eventually broke Rufus' guard. This left the boy open allowing Glaucus to knee him the chin which launched him back. As Rufus tried to get up, he noticed that Glaucus' axe was pointed to him. Rufus was frightened. “Looks like I've lost!” Rufus exclaimed in fright. “Don't play into your enemies advantage like that. You should have just dodged instead of trying to fight back with strength. Force me into your advantage.” Glaucus advised Rufus in a serious tone. Rufus liked his advice but still found him scary because of his intense nature. “Thanks Glaucus.” Rufus said.

“Jeez, can you be any more useless?” Clancy asked condescendingly. Rufus had risen from the floor and dusted himself off as he looked at Clancy in slight fear. “I'm sorry.” Rufus apologised to him. “You're clearly not useful if you're going to lose that easily. The fight didn't even last long.” Clancy pointed out to Rufus. The brown haired boy looked down. “Clancy is right. What you did was absolutely reckless.” Cheyenne said as she walked towards Rufus and her son. Clancy smirked, seeing that his mother was agreeing with him. “We'll have to improve some of your strengths to make you a force to be reckoned with.” Cheyenne said. He then looked to Cheyenne. “How do I do that?” Rufus asked. “Your semblance. Show me it.” Cheyenne requested. Clancy chuckled. “It's probably something useless.” Clancy claimed. Rufus nodded and summoned a large brown dome shield. Clancy busted into laughter after seeing Rufus' semblance. “It's a just stupid dome!” Clancy exclaimed. “Clancy, shut up.” Cheyenne ordered in a strict voice. Clancy looked shocked as his mother told him to be quiet. Taking out an assault rifle, the red haired woman started firing outside the shield. “Hmm.” Cheyenne observed. She approached the dome and noticed that she was able to walk through it. “Do you know how to use dust with your semblance?” Cheyenne asked. Rufus shook his head. “I'll train you.” Cheyenne decided. Clancy looked annoyed at Rufus. “Mum! Don't teach him! He's obviously some no hope loser rich kid!” Clancy shouted. Cheyenne did not respond to Clancy.

After a while, Chloe came out of her room holding a bottle of wine. She noticed that Cheyenne was training Rufus and Clancy was sitting on his own annoyed. She then turned towards the other direction and saw Glaucus and decided to sit next to him and watch the training. “Hey Glaucus!” Chloe called out to him. Glaucus noticed Chloe and gave her a formal wave. “Hi.” He said in a stoic tone. “Clancy's a little bit jealous...” Chloe pointed out in a low voice, hoping that the boy doesn't hear them talk. Glaucus nodded at Chloe. “The kid is just making low grunts repeatedly. It's actually getting annoying now. Why is he so bothered?” Glaucus wondered. Chloe chuckled slightly. “You don't know?” Chloe asked. Glaucus shook his head, unable to understand why Clancy was so annoyed. Chloe took a sip from the wine. “He so desperately wants his mother's approval. Even though she's so focused with other stuff to actually spend time with her son. And now, this new guy shows up who's the same age as him but she's interested in him instead. That's enough to make him jealous.” Chloe explained. “Oh... I guess the fact that Rufus looks weak annoys him making him feel worthless.” Glaucus added. “Exactly!” Chloe pointed out smiling. “It'd be bad if Rufus turns out to be really good.” Glaucus said. Chloe was surprised to see that Glaucus had some hope in Rufus. “You believe he'd be good?” Chloe asked. “Actually, yes. When I was fighting him, he was really good. I'm assuming the katana is the weapon he normally uses. He'll probably get used to Baozhang Revolver in no time.” Glaucus noted. He was quite impressed with Rufus.

The next day, all the members of the Reclaim were up. Rufus was resuming his training with Cheyenne. “To actually utilise the Baozhang Revolver, you must continue to shoot your opponent until their aura is broken. After that, they're unable to move due to the boiling heat they endure from the gun.” Cheyenne instructed. Rufus was holding the revolver and aimed it towards one of the training dummies. He fired a shot and rolled towards the right, aiming and firing at another dummy in the process. The bullet had shattered the head of the dummy and combined with the dust, the head slowly began to deteriorate. Rufus then jumped backwards and fired a shot at one training dummy at one end and then another shot at a dummy from the other side. He was starting to pant, feeling exhausted from this movement training. “That's all for today Rufus. I'm going to go out in to town and get you guys some food. So, try your best to interact with everyone here. Makes us stronger that way.” Cheyenne instructed as she walked off.

Rufus sighed, wondering how he'd be able to interact with any of the members of The Reclaim. He then looked at a door and noticed it opening. Coming out of their room was Blaine holding his scroll and listening to some music. “Good morning Rufus.” Blaine greeted Rufus. “Hi, Blaine.” Rufus replied back. He looked around and saw the training dummies and realised that Cheyenne had left. “Looks like Ms. Reed went to go get us some food. That's good. It's nice that she tries to take care of us.” Blaine pointed out. Rufus nodded slowly, appreciating Cheyenne's nice actions towards them. “Looking she's been trying to train you. Don't worry about it. She just wants a stronger force to be able to take the weapons. She doesn't want to kill you obviously.” Blaine joked lightly. “I guess so.” Rufus said, lightly laughing at his joke. He realised he was being ridiculous in doubting his own skills. “See, you're all better.” Blaine laughed. He took a seat on a table and noticed that Rufus was looking at him. “For someone with such an amazing legacy, what made you want to do this?” Rufus wondered. Blaine's happy face had then turned into a completely serious one. “That legacy is why I want to ruin it. Everyday, people tell you how to act and behave. Then, they start comparing you to other people within your family making you feel weak.” Blaine explained. Rufus was astonished. This all felt very similar to him. He remembered during his childhood compare him to his aunt, his mother, his younger brother and his ancestor. Rufus felt like he had to behave and act a certain way to impress others. Rufus noticed that Blaine's joking nature and habit for sitting on chairs was an example of his rebellious behaviour. “I... get what you mean.” Rufus said. “But, that's just family I guess? Forcing people in ideas they don't like.” Blaine said in a joking manner. Rufus chuckled slightly at Blaine's joke. “Hey Rufus, tell how's Beacon Academy like? Like training? Classes? Any cute girls?” Blaine asked. Rufus lightly blushed as he mentioned cute girls. Suddenly, Rufus had a look of shock in his face. “Oh no... Emma...” Rufus realised. “Ooooooh. Who's Emma? A girl you like?” Blaine wondered with a coy smile on his face. “Don't worry about it... But, Beacon is a good school.” Rufus insisted, trying to move the conversation away. Rufus felt like he had forgotten her and had been rude to her. “

Tell me about your team mates then!” Chloe shouted, appearing behind Blaine. This had shook Blaine. “Chloe! Stop it! Everyday isn't always a party!” Blaine called out annoyed. Chloe chuckled at Blaine's reaction. “I didn't think you'd be so scared easily.” Chloe said covering mouth to stop herself from giggling any more. “My teammates... My team leader is honestly a great guy. He's heroic and against the murder of normal people. He's very flirty though when it comes to women.” Rufus explained Jorey to them. Chloe looked interested. “Wow. He sounds like a charmer. I want to meet him.” Chloe commented. “My partner is honestly really scary. He reads like some strange books with weird titles and can be really intimidating. Though, he's incredibly skilled and has the coolest weapon.” Rufus added about Eli. “Sounds like a jerkface to me.” Blaine commented. Chloe nodded in agreement with Blaine. “Yeah.” Chloe said. “The last member is my best friend. He's an idiot and he's really hot-headed and tries to answer questions with his fist. He's also really racist. But, he's passionate and determined. He's also been really helpful for me with fighting and helped my confidence slightly.” Rufus explained Onyx. “What a strange friend...” Blaine and Chloe said, questioning how someone like Rufus could have a friend like that. “It must be weird for you guys.” Rufus said. He then looked around and noticed Clancy sitting on his own. Rufus wanted to approach him but he was almost unapproachable due to his aggressiveness. He also saw that Glaucus was alone but didn't want to talk to him, finding him scary. As he looked back at Clancy, he realised he was playing the guitar. “Woah, he can play guitar?” Rufus noticed.

Clancy heard Rufus and looked up at him. “Too busy noticing my special talents?” Clancy asked, feeling prideful. “I think it's cool that you play guitar.” Rufus complimented the boy. Glaucus had walked over towards the middle of the room and started to do push ups. “This is actually my weapon.” Clancy said as he stopped playing the guitar. “What?” Rufus asked in surprise. The sides of the guitar had folded which turned  into a regular staff. The strings of the guitar were still there. “That's such a cool weapon.” Rufus said, admiring it.

“Rufus Sabbia!” a female voice shouted. All the members of The Reclaim had turned their heads in shock. Rufus was immediately shaken, wondering why his name was being called violently. “Please don't be mother! Please don't be mother!” Rufus thought to himself quickly. He then turned around to see who the voice. It was even worse: Audra. The bear faunus was angry and rightly so. Rufus had easily injured her which was embarrassing. “Yes, Audra?” Rufus asked. “I heard you've been getting strong. So! I want you to fight me!” Audra requested as she walked out with dual pistols with blades on the top. Rufus looked puzzled. Why did she want to fight him? It seemed as if she wanted revenge for hurting her. “Look! I'm sorry for hurting you but I don't want to fight!” Rufus said. Audra put her hands on her hips. “You're fighting me whether you like or not loser! You don't keep a girl waiting!” The bear faunus shouted, waiting for him to duel her. Both Clancy and Glaucus stood up and approached Rufus and Audra. “It'd be a good idea to show the fruits of your training. And you also get to help her improve to. That will make us stronger.” Glaucus recommended. “I just wanna see Audra tear you up to pieces.” Clancy stated. Audra leaned her face towards Rufus. “So let's fight.” Audra said.

Rufus was holding the same training katana as before but with the Baozhang Revolver equipped. He looked towards Audra who looked as if she was ready to kill Rufus. Glaucus stood in the middle between the two. “Remember, the first person to shatter the other person's aura wins.” Glaucus said. Both of the fighters nodded. “I'm going to tear you apart Sabbia!” Audra shouted in rage. Glaucus had then moved away from the two. “Fight!” He shouted. Audra started make a fast sprint towards Rufus. She took her weapon out and put the two pistols together, making a small bladed weapon. She then tried to hit Rufus at the hip but the boy managed to dodge the attack. Audra tried again but Rufus had dodged her attack. Realising that attack wasn't working, she attempted to push the blades close towards Rufus' neck but he instead ducked the attack kicked her, causing her to fall down. Grabbing Rufus' leg, Audra swung the blade towards his stomach which knocked Rufus back from the impact of her attack. She used this opportunity while Rufus was stunned to get up from the floor and start repeatedly striking Rufus with the blades. Rufus was finding it hard to deal with her onslaught of attacks. Audra ended up pushing Rufus away from her. She then rushed towards him and Rufus drew out the Baozhang Revolver and started shooting Audra with it, three shots hitting her which slowed down her run. This led to Audra stopping completely as she noticed that Rufus would continue shooting her and she wouldn't be able to take any more of the shots. Rufus put the Baozhang Revolver back in it's holster and lunged at Audra's chest. The boy managed to hit her but this wasn't enough. She kicked the sword away from her and split her weapon into two pistols and started to shoot at him from a close range. The bullets dropped Rufus towards the ground. Audra then attempted to stomp on Rufus but he then used the tip of the katana to push her foot up which had caused her to lose balance and fall down. Quickly, Rufus took out the Baozhang Revolver and fired the remaining shots in the chamber at her. He then swung his sword at her which sent flying backwards. Audra starting to get exhausted from this fight. “I can't be tired! Not now!” Audra shouted as stood up. “No scrawny boy with a bad ponytail is going to beat me!” Audra shouted enraged as she charged at Rufus with her weapon combined into it's bladed form. Seeing that she was getting close, Rufus held up a burn crystal in his hand and closed his eyes. He crushed the crystal and the large dome appeared protecting him. But, this time it was covered in flames. “That dome isn't going to protect you!” Audra shouted as she jumped straight at Rufus but was pushed back by the flames around the dome. “Too hot!” Audra squirmed.

The dome didn't last too long and it had went away. Audra's aura had then broke. “Rufus wins.” Glaucus declared. Rufus looked disappointed, seeing that his dome didn't last long. “Darn. I need to make that last longer.” Rufus said. “No! No! I can't have lost!” Audra screeched, throwing a tantrum. She was punching the floor repeatedly as she flailed her arms up and down in anger. Clancy was annoyed. He wanted to see Rufus lose but he ended up winning. Rufus walked over towards Audra and put his hand out. “It was a good fight. Thank you, Audra.” Rufus said. Audra was shocked, seeing that Rufus was still being friendly. “You're actually really strong. I thought I was going to lose for a second there!” Rufus exclaimed, scratching his hair with his other hand. Audra had blushed visibly as she grabbed Rufus' hand. “I'm sorry. For being so mean to you.” Audra apologised. “It's fine. I was a stranger who barged in her and I kinda hurt you so I can understand why you were so hostile to me before...” Rufus replied in a friendly tone. “Thanks for forgiving me Sabbia. I promise to not be so mean to you anymore.” Audra said as she headed back to her room.

Clancy looked at Audra's interaction with Rufus and noticed how her behaviour had changed immediately. “Was Audra acting nice?” Clancy asked in shock. Chloe had a coy smile on her face. “Sounds like someone's got a crush on Rufus.” Chloe pointed out to her team mates. Blaine bursted out into laughter as he had noticed Audra's change in behaviour. “That's so funny!” Blaine beamed. Clancy walked up to Rufus and grabbed him by the collar. “How are you so strong?!” Clancy asked angrily. “I guess it's because of my training at Beacon. And I think because you mother said I have potential.” Rufus attempted to explain, not wanting to get hit. “You? Potential? Don't be full of yourself! I don't see you as my equal!” Clancy exclaimed as he released Rufus, dropping him to floor. The red haired Mohawk boy started to walk off. “You may have convinced everyone you're good but you haven't even convinced me.” Clancy said as he walked off into his room slamming the door. Chloe had then approached Rufus, putting her hand around his shoulder. “Don't worry about him Rufus! He's just jealous of your talent. Besides, he's not even the best in the group. That would go to Ms. Reed and Glaucus.” Chloe pointed out to Rufus. He then slowly nodded. Rufus could tell Glaucus was powerful, noting how intimidating he was when saw him compared to Clancy. “It's dinner time! Chloe, set up the table!” Cheyenne ordered, entering the base. Quickly, Clancy exited his room in a happy mood. Rufus was confused to see that Clancy was now happy. “Welcome back mum! Do you want me to help you prepare the food?” Clancy asked his mother. “You sure can Clancy.” Cheyenne said in happy mood. For Rufus, this was quite unusual. Clancy was in a happy mood. He assumed that Clancy was behaving this way because he liked his mother's company and wanted to help her out as much as he could. He could see that Clancy was a good son trying to impress his mother any way he could even if he meant acting out to other people.

It was night time and it was raining heavily outside. However, The Reclaim were having dinner. On the table, there was plates of pasta along with different fruits beside each plate. “I decided it would be a good idea to have pasta because it's really high in carbohydrates which is useful and different fruits that would be healthy and also giving you balanced nutrition.” Cheyenne explained. Rufus was surprised at Cheyenne consideration and planning for the food for everyone. It seemed like this woman thought everything out that would be good enough. “So what are the plans for tomorrow?” Clancy asked invested in his mother's plans. “We'll be taking the Ninja's Katana. We'll expect opposition so I'm sending Rufus, Glaucus, Blaine and Audra. Since where it's located is more modern, we'll need Blaine to hack into their systems whilst Glaucus leads Audra and Rufus to fight anyone in our way.” Cheyenne explained. Rufus sighed. He was involved in another mission yet again. “The Ninja?? You mean the Sairyō Ryōshi, Ninja?” Audra asked. “Yes. His real name is Xavier Lynx.” Cheyenne added. “I can't believe we're going to acquire the weapon of the great Ninja.” Rufus said, feeling slightly bothered by this. “Wait, is the Ninja that guy who managed to conduct loads of successful stealth missions in the Great War? That's so cool!” Blaine shouted excited. “Of course the sneakiest guy has the most modern security. It almost like they're trying to prove no one can be better than him.” Rufus thought to himself in misery.

Chapter 71: Lynxed[]

The Reclaim were travelling in airship to retrieve Xavier Lynx's legendary katana. Rufus was sweating heavily: he couldn't believe that they were going to a high security area. “Are you shaking in your boots?” Audra asked Rufus, sitting opposite him in a similar manner to Clancy was. Rufus nodded silently at Audra. There was no way they'd be able to do something like this. Rufus hasn't felt more scared ever since he was frozen in place at Stigma. “Clancy was right, you are so useless.” Audra replied with a slight harsh tone. “Well, sorry for being so scared! High security area! How are we going to be able to access that area so easily?” Rufus wondered. Blaine chuckled. “Where the Ninja's katana is held has the same amount of security as a bird's nest on the ground. I can easily hack it. Piece of cake.” Blaine claimed to Rufus with a proud grin on his face. Rufus' nerves slightly calmed down from Blaine's words. “Blaine is our super-hacker. He's able to hack into anything.” Audra explained. “Awwh, I didn't know you felt that way about my skills.” Blaine joked. Audra looked angry as she looked at Blaine. “No I don't!” Audra called out. She flicked the blonde haired boy in the back of his head. “Oww!” Blane squirmed. He put his hand on the back of his held to help ease the pain. “I'm trying to do some hacking here!” Blaine exclaimed. Rufus was questioning the behaviour of The Reclaim, wondering how they're even able to get anything done.

“Guys, be quiet and focus on the mission at hand. There's no time for messing around.” Glaucus ordered with a heavy voice as he piloted the airship. Seeing that only Glaucus and Chloe have piloted an airship, Rufus assumed that the both of them have skills when it comes to piloting an airship. Considering that those two were the oldest of the group, it made sense in a way. “Blaine, have you got it done yet?” Glaucus asked. “No not yet! I'm trying to finish.” Blaine replied. “Wait, what are you trying to do?” Rufus asked. “He's attempting to hack in defence systems so we aren't shut down and jam their communication system and basically hack their electrical supply.” Glaucus explained to Rufus. He assumed that they were trying to turn off the lights to make it less hard for them to be able to see. “Then, it's good Audra's on our team. Because she's a faunus she can see in the dark and use that to her advantage.” Rufus pointed out. Audra's cheeks started to flush as she made an angry face. Rufus, only noticing her anger, was worried. “Sorry if that was racist. I don't know any faunus so I didn't mean to be rude.” Rufus apologised, looking away from her. “It's fine.” She said, calming her temper. Blaine chuckled quietly at Rufus' meek nature. “I've done it. The place should be in widespread panic now. It won't stop them from getting police or a Hunters help.” Blaine explained. “Alright, that's good. Start checking your gear and ammunition.” Glaucus said. Rufus started to look at Baozhang Revolver and the ammunition he had left on it. “Uhmm, I don't have enough boiled dust.” Rufus realised. He then watched as Audra was checking her ammunition and putting it on the utility belt that goes around her cheogsam. Rufus could see that she had lots of boiled dust with her. “Audra, could I borrow some of that boiled dust?” Rufus asked. Audra immediately started to blush as Rufus wanted something from her. “Sure.” Audra said. She started to crawl over towards him with boiled dust in her hand. She then took her weapon and loaded in the boiled dust within the Baozhang Revolver's chamber. She then took the rest of the Baozhang Revolver she had in reserve and passed it to him. “Thank you.” Rufus said, smiling. He took his gun back and the dust reserves she had. Audra's face became more red and she crawled back to her side of the airship as fast as she could.

Having landed and left the airship, The Reclaim were running straight towards the brick stronghold. “So who's defending this place?” Rufus asked, nearly behind ahead of everyone else. “Followers of Xavier Lynx. They admired his abilities so they train there to hone those skills!” Glaucus explained, lagging slightly behind the others as they ran. As they came closer towards the stronghold, there were men equipped with katana's, nodachi's, daggers and kunai. The men were dressed in a black garb that covered their entire body except their face. There was also what looked to be a mesh shirt under their garb. “They look like actual ninjas!” Rufus thought to himself in surprise. The men saw the Reclaim coming and they entered a battle stance. “Stop now!” They shouted. One of the men took out a shuriken from their pockets and threw it straight towards the group. He then continued to throw more at them. “How are we going to dodge these?” Rufus asked panicked.

Blaine chuckled. He stretched his hands outward and they emanated a yellow glow. Suddenly, the shuriken was pulled upwards towards Blaine's hand. “Take this!” Blaine shouted. His hands stopped glowing and he moved his hand back as he took out his weapon. Blaine ducked down and shoot upwards. As they looked up, they noticed one of the men above the air, likely trying to ambush them. “How did he see that?” Rufus wondered with a stunned look on his face. He had a lot of questions running through his head but he didn't bother to act on them as they were on a mission. The guard fell down from the air after Blaine's shots and his aura was broken as he hit the ground. Blaine reloaded his gun and started to shooting at the guard that had threw a shuriken at them. The shots that were coming out detonated small explosions. “Explosion dust?” Rufus noticed. Because of Blaine's shots, the guard was unable to have any opportunity to fight back. Audra jumped away from the group. She started to shoot at a guard that was attempting to attack them from the back. The guard had dropped to the floor and she rushed towards him. She put her foot on top of the guards and shot twice. She then kicked another guard that was behind her in the head, sending him back away from her. Four of the guards rushed over towards Rufus and Glaucus with their katana's. “Stop you invaders!” the guard shouted. Glaucus barged Rufus out of the way. “Glaucus!” Rufus shouted. As the men all charged towards Glaucus, they all seemed confident to take him on. He then planted his hand on the ground, grey aura surrounding him. Suddenly, the guards started to lose balance and stumbled towards Glaucus. Taking out his large battle axe that is adorned with a wolf ornament at bottom, he swung it straight at two the guards. The impact was devastating that it sent it them flying back. The third guard tried to swing his katana at Glaucus but he blocked it with ease. He then used his knee to hit the guard in the chin, knocking him backwards. Charging towards the other guard, he parried his attempt at an attack and slammed the axe down his shoulder. The guard dropped to the ground. “That's all of them! I'm staying here.   Doing that, I'll make the exit easier. You guys get inside!” Glaucus stated.

Blaine, Rufus and Audra ran inside the building and noticed that the guards were finding it hard to understand what was going on. “So what do we do now?” Rufus asked. Blaine took out a map and passed it to Audra. “This is the list of routes that have no light that lead you to the Ninja's Katana.” Blaine explained. Audra nodded. “I'll make sure to retrieve it.” Audra said. “What am I doing?” Rufus asked. “You'll be going with Audra. Just if anyone is using light, take them out. I'll be doing some extra hacking to ease the process.” Blaine said. They all nodded at each other and split up again.

As Audra and Rufus entered the darkness, Rufus realised he wouldn't be able to see the bear faunus. “Wait, Audra! How am I supposed to see you?” Rufus asked. Suddenly, he could hear the sounds metal clashing, not understanding what was going on. He then felt the wind as a man passed by him. He assumed that Audra had taken someone out. She paused. “Hold my hand.” Audra said. Rufus' face became bashful. He didn't know how to handle this. “Wh- what?!” Rufus cried. “Ju- just hold my hand!” Audra called out in a worried tone. Rufus felt shy as he stretched his hand out. “Akane would be so pissed. In fact, so would all of them and Emma. Honestly, I doubt she likes me anymore.” Rufus thought to himself with a sad look on his face. Audra grabbed his hands as she led him through the dark building. A punch could be heard and the groan of a man could be heard. Rufus was impressed by the fact Audra was able to fight and hold him at the same time. “There's nothing at the end of this corridor. Except the room there has a light.” Audra noticed. “That's probably the room where the weapon is.” Rufus pointed out. “Yeah.” Audra said as she led him towards the room.

The room that was well it up, they noticed that there were many followers of Lynx inside. Also, hanging on the ceiling by a large metal chain was the katana. “There it is! But there's too many of them...” Rufus said. “I got this. You get the katana.” Audra said. She sprinted inside the room and her blue aura started to shroud her as she ran. She then barged into one of the followers which caused a large impact causing a huge shockwave. This pushed the followers near her away and the one she charged into to hit the wall. As the other followers tried to attack Audra, Rufus started shooting at them with Baozhang Revolver. This pushed some of the other members away from her whilst distracting the followers who concentrated on her, giving Audra an opening. She then bashed one follower with the bladed form of her weapon which knocked him back. The other members tried charging at Audra with their daggers. Splitting her weapon apart, she then repeatedly fired shots at them with the handguns. However, one member grabbed her leg, causing her to lose balance. A follower who saw this lunged at Audra with his nodachi. “No!” Audra shouted.

The attack was blocked. Rufus was panting heavily as he blocked the attack. “I got it.” Rufus said relieved. He was holding the Ninja's katana and was using it to block the attacker The katana had a red hilt and the tsuba was in the shape of a bird. Rufus noticed that at the top of the hilt was an owl that had glowing red eyes. Rufus then struck the katana at the follower which pushed him away from Audra. He then sheathed the katana where Natura Orbis used to be sheathed. “Get off me!” Audra shouted as she kicked the man that was grappling her away.

As the two started to leave escape, they noticed that the temperature inside the building started to increase. “It's so hot here...” Rufus noted. “It's Blaine's doing. I wouldn't be surprised if he starts tampering with the sprinkler system in some areas.” Audra explained.The two started running through the stronghold. They noticed a few of the members were struggling to catch up to the two.  “They know our presence is here so we can go loud.” Audra said. She started firing shots at two of the follows chasing them. Rufus decided to lessen her work by doing the same.

As they exited, they noticed that Glaucus wasn't near the exit. They could see the bodies of unconscious followers of Xavier Lynx. “Glaucus has done some work.” Blaine pointed out as he too exited after them. “But, where's Glaucus?” Rufus asked. They looked towards the right and saw there was White Fang. “Wait! The White Fang are here!” Audra shouted in surprise. “Oh no that means Glaucus is in trouble!” Rufus exclaimed as he rushed towards the White Fang in the area. Blaine and Audra both followed Rufus.

When they reached the White Fang, they noticed Glaucus was sitting by a tree exhausted. “Glaucus!” Rufus shouted. They saw that there was a White Fang member holding a large machine gun. She was wearing a Grimm mask to cover her face and she was wearing the typical armour except the bottom middle of it was gone and all you could see was a black shirt. The girl had a large furry kangaroo tail. Rufus face went into immediate shock. He couldn't move. Images of Col Shade and the citizens of Stigma Town began to surround Rufus' mind. “Why can't I move! I need to save him! He'll die!” Rufus thought to himself. He then had more thoughts about what his team had said to him. “You let a person die! A partner. A son. A brother. A cousin.” Rufus recalled Jorey saying. “Stop whining.” Rufus remembered Eli saying to him. “If I don't save him their words will ring true! I need to save him! Otherwise, I'll never improve!” Rufus shouted. He stormed quickly towards Glaucus attempting to rescue him. Having the katana out, Rufus lunged it straight at the girl's arm which had enough force to push her away from Glaucus. On Rufus' face was one of sadness and anger. “I did it...”Rufus muttered. He looked to Glaucus. “Are you alright?” Rufus asked concerned. The armoured man stood up slowly. “Yeah I am. They got me by surprise.” Glaucus said. The other White Fang members looked astonished at what Rufus had done. “That Sabbia kid just punched Camellia!” One White Fang member shouted. As the girl up, she looked at Rufus with an irritated rage. “You have the audacity to hit me?” The girl asked Rufus. He assumed the voice he heard was the girl he pushed and also guessed that she was Camellia. He then gave her back a deadly stare. “Not when you insist on attacking my friends!” Rufus replied back with a serious voice. Camellia tilted her head and gave Rufus a confused face. “Dude, you know they kidnapped you right?” Camellia pointed out. Rufus' face became disappointed. Both Audra and Blaine shrugged their shoulders. “You know, she's not wrong.” They both muttered together. Rufus sighed in slight irritation. “Awhh...I wanted a chance to sound like a badass for once.” Rufus moaned, feeling down all of a sudden. All the other White Fang members looked at Rufus annoyed. “Stop being silly!” They all shouted.

As they all started to charge at Rufus, Blaine started firing at them with his submachine gun. This helped throw off some the members that attempted to charge at Rufus. Audra then rushed at the members who were distracted by Blaine's mini-detonations and used the bladed part of her weapon to push a member back. Turning around, Audra kicked down another White Fang member that tried rushing towards her. Quickly splitting her weapon apart, Audra gunned down three members who were fixated on Rufus.

Rufus held the Ninja's katana and took the same stance he did as with Natura Orbis. Camellia switched her machine gun into a large staff. She jabbed the staff towards Rufus which pushed him back. However, this left her in the open for Glaucus to attack her hip with his axe. Despite this, Camellia managed to dodge this attack with ease and try to punch Rufus. She was then pushed back by Rufus lunging the katana at her chest pushing her back. Glaucus helped by barging Camellia away. He tried to add more attacks by swinging his axe towards her but Camellia had jumped over the attack. The kangaroo faunus had stretched her leg out and kicked Glaucus in the head. He fell down from this attack but used this chance to use his semblance by touching the ground, causing the surface to be slippery.  From the moment Camellia dropped onto ground, she ended up slipping. Rufus had then glided across the slippery surface, using it to increase speed to send a powerful lunge that knocked Camellia back. The kangaroo faunus had rapidly rised from the floor, ready to attack. She transformed her staff into it's machine gun form and began to unleash heavy fire at Rufus. He decided to run back towards the tree to take cover due to the heavy fire. Glaucus instead had charged straight into Camellia's fire, using axe to block the shots. Rufus used this opportunity to sheath the katana and switch to the Baozhang Revolver. He then started shooting at Camellia to knock her back from firing. This had worked which gave Glaucus a chance. Camellia had switched her weapon to it's staff form to block any attack that Glaucus was going to try. He then leapt towards her and stretched his leg out, trying to kick her. Due to his strength, Glaucus kick broke her guard. It was even powerful enough to send her flying at a high speed to point that she hit a tree.

Rufus went towards one of the defeated White Fang members and took his holster. He placed the Baozhang Revolver inside so this time he had a space for it and the Ninja's Katana. Everyone looked exhausted as they put their weapons back. Glaucus walked to Rufus and stretched his hand out to him.  “Thank you for saving me.” Glaucus said. Rufus had then shook his hands. “It's no worries.” Rufus replied. “I now recognise you as an official member.” Glaucus declared. Rufus scratched his hair. “Than- wait what?” Rufus realised. Glaucus didn't see him as a member. He remembered that he was just outsider to them and was a large problem to them. “We have to go now.” Glaucus said.

As they walked towards the airship, Rufus was admiring the Ninja's Katana. “You're really liking it aren't you?” Blaine asked. Rufus nodded. “Yeah. It looks cool. It's got a owl ornament on this side and a lynx ornament on the other.” Rufus pointed out as he demonstrated the katana to Blaine. “It represents everything about Xavier Lynx. Owls are wise and are only active in the night. Lynx is just his family name.” Glaucus added. “This weapon's history is awesome.” Rufus muttered. He then looked at Glaucus' axe and Blaine's sub machine gun. “Though, I've noticed special things about both your weapons...” Rufus pointed out. Audra showed off her weapon to Rufus as she blushed. “Yeah, mine's a handgun that fires really fast and doesn't kick as much allowing me to be agile and accurate easily.” Audra explained. Rufus scratched his hair. “He wasn't talking about your weapon, Audra. He meant mine and Glaucus' weapons.” Blaine explained. Realising her mistake, Audra became annoyed. “Well, you don't appreciate good weaponry.” Audra said. “Sorry...” Rufus apologised. “My weapon is my father's. Feu Bouclier. It's called Glace Destructrice. It's an sub machine gun that's capable of having explosive rounds. Problem is, there is a lot of recoil on the weapon and it's range isn't too good so I have to be up close to actually deal any damage.” Blaine explained. Rufus was surprised to hear that Blaine had the weapon of his father. “Feu Bouclier. That's the weapon of The Nightshade! And he named it in honour of his mother.” Rufus noted. Blaine nodded. “Yup! You're right-o! He was just like the Ninja and only worked in the night. But, he was more explosive.” Blaine explained cheerfully. “Kinda sad that he died in Vexa to the White Fang.” Rufus said solemly. Blaine's face became serious. “Yeah.” Blaine said. Rufus remembered how fierce Onyx was whenever he saw faunus or the White Fang. He realised he didn't see that in Blaine. “How were you able to cope fighting the White Fang back there?” Rufus wondered. “I'm still pissed at them for killing my dad. But, then I remembered he forced me to become his subject. So, that evens everything out honestly.” Blaine joked slightly. Rufus felt uneasy, hearing that the great Nightshade was an abuser to his son taunted his image of him. He then looked at Glaucus. “My axe is Aleski Berg's. He had it forged before his death to Raymond and Helenia Panner.” Glaucus explained. Rufus shivered at the name Panner. “I encountered a Panner once. He's now a Professor at my school all of a sudden.” Rufus added. “The Panners were a prestigious family but suddenly after Helenia and Raymond they all went bad.” Glaucus noted. “That's what mother said about the Panners. Apparently, our families along with the Kapten's used not get along.” Rufus pointed out. “Kapten's... Another thing the Panner's have ruined. They're all dead.” Glaucus added. Rufus face turned into one of gloom. “That family's history seems tainted... I've probably tainted mine anyways.” Rufus mused as the entered the airship.

Chapter 72: River Spark Archaelogy[]

Jorey and Eli were walking together in the streets of Vale. The sun was still up with small wind breeze coarsening through. Traffic was slowly starting to build up as magpies and robins flew around the sky. Whilst Jorey was licking ice cream, Eli was busy eating a muffin. “It's too bad Onyx isn't here. He's missing out on some delicious food.” Jorey said. “He's either on a date with Bridgette or he's busy training to focus on rescuing Rufus.” Eli replied with a plain smile. Jorey felt hurt, placing his free hand on his chest. “Don't say that... And how did you know?” Jorey asked. He wondered how Eli found that information. “Dude, it was easy. The two used to be at each other's throats. Now they're in each other's throats.” Eli pointed out. Jorey had a face of disgust from Eli's statement. “Eugh. Ewww! Eli!” Jorey cried out. Eli chuckled happily in a sinister tone. He found torturing people by planting images in their head was hilarious. Jorey repeatedly shook his head, almost as an attempt to rid the image of Onyx and Bridgette kissing from his head. He decided to look around the street and noticed there was a group of girls walking the opposite way. Jorey used this opportunity to shoot a wink at one of them. The girls had noticed this and rolled their eyes at Jorey. As they passed Eli and Jorey, they glared at the both of them. “Creep.” One of them muttered as they passed by. “I'm not sure if they were talking about me or you.” Eli added. Jorey lowered his head in shame. “Don't play dumb Eli, you know they were talking about me. Besides, you're not a creep at all. Just scary.” Jorey said. Eli became intrigued. “Scary? People don't really see me that way. I'm often seen as some sort of prankster, hooligan and a weirdo around school.” Eli pointed out. Jorey patted Eli on the back. “Nah, dude. You're really good at intimidating people which is a really handy skill. You're fine the way you are.” Jorey said. “Thanks Jorey.” Eli said, giving him genuine smile.

The two made their way back to Beacon, now entering their dorm. They noticed that Onyx was sitting down and was waiting for the two of them to return. “Wasn't Team WEST supposed to be here?” Jorey asked. “Yeah. But, they were called to do some assignment for Professor Panner.” Onyx answered. “Damn that sucks. Looks like we'll have to start without them.” Jorey said as he sat down next to Onyx. After closing the door, Eli sat down with Jorey and Onyx. He took his scroll down. “How do we predict where the Reclaim will move?” Onyx asked. Eli opened up his scroll, showing the map of the continent of Sanus. “It seems like their plan is to stay in Sanus so far. And they've only stolen four weapons.” Eli explained. “Yeah. The Longsword of Eis, Aleski's Axe, Glace Destructrice and the Octagon Element.” Jorey added. Eli zoomed further into the map with his scroll and started to dot places. As he tapped them, an area would marked with a cross. “So that's where they've been.” Onyx assumed. They're left with only four weapons left in Sanus.” Jorey pointed out. “So, where could they actually be?” Onyx asked. “I doubt they'd go for the The Ninja's Stronghold though. It's got a lot security there that it's impossible to invade right?” Jorey wondered. Eli shook his head at Jorey. “There is a slight chance though. A report detailed that when Aleski's Axe was stolen, they found that the alarm was tampered with constantly and their cooling system was shut off.” Eli said. “So, they'll have a hacker, therefore making that process easy for them. What about the Doom Fury or the Cross Blade? Or Model: Summer Rise?” Jorey suggested. “No. The Cross Blade and Doom Fury is too far away. Whilst it's hard to dictate the Model's location. The Ninja's Katana is the closest to where they found Octagon Element, they'll most likely be there.” Eli guessed. “Yeah, I guess you're right. We'll go there then.” Jorey decided. Onyx started sigh, feeling relieved all that prediction was done. “Phew, all that smart talk started to wear me down.” Onyx exclaimed as he lied back down. Jorey and Eli raised their eyebrows at Onyx. “That's because you found it hard.” Eli said. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Rising from the floor, Eli headed towards the door and opened it. At the door was Johannes, Eli's older brother. “Johannes.” Eli said with a happy face. “I need to talk you in my dorm.” Johannes stated. Jorey and Onyx looked curious as to what the two could be talking about.

In the dorm of Team JHWL, there were still four bed as usual. It looked like the beds were structured to make a complete square. “Eli, I just wanted to talk to you about this whole situation with Rufus and I wanted to know how you're feeling.” Johannes explained to his little brother. Eli sat on one bed whilst Johannes sat on the bed opposite. “Kinda feel sorry for the guy. He got into a situation he didn't expect and just got forced into working with enemy. So the whole world sees him as a criminal. All of this because we blamed him for our mission's failure.” Eli mused. Johannes looked concerned. “You did?” Johannes asked. “Yup. And he got all crybaby about it. What an idiot.” Eli said. Johannes face started to look more serious. “You shouldn't be so hostile to your team mates all the time. Knowing you, you probably said some mean things.” Johannes stated. “If he can't ta-” Eli said. “He's your partner. You should be looking out for him and improving him.” Johannes interrupted. Eli face became saddened. “You expect me to help someone who's scared all the time?” Eli wondered. “Yes. To be a great team member, you need to be supportive. I know you don't think much of your team even after being with them for a year but you need to realise that those boys are trying their hardest to get their team mate back. You ought to do the same. They're your team mates. They'll do the same for you and you know that.” Johannes continued. Eli knew that Johannes was right. He wasn't being supportive at all neither did he try to help Rufus. Eli wondered if things would have been different if he had tried helping Rufus with training and possibly increasing his confidence in battle. He knew that the team would try their best to help him too. “There's still a problem. Rufus is my assassination target.” Eli said. Johannes had a look of shock. “So..., who do you place first? The Chamber or your team mate?” Johannes asked. Eli looked at his older brother and shrugged. “I'm... not sure.” Eli said. “Let me give you a better question. Why did you join Beacon Academy in the first place? Whatever your answer is should dictate what you'll do.” Johannes added. “It was mostly because of you. I only really did anything because of you. You're the coolest guy I know and you always paraded like being a Huntsman was great despite the neglect our parents gave us as Hunters. And I thought it'd help me acquire new skills to assist the Chamber.” Eli explained. “Then, that decides what you'll do. Remember that the punishment for failing something this large scale is death.” Johannes said. Eli had a look of intense worry on his face. “I know what I have to do.” Eli decided. He stood up about to leave his brother's dorm. “Remember Eli, I'll support any decision you'll make.” Johannes promised.

Eli left his brother's dorm and headed back to his own. However, they noticed outside their dorm, Professor Goodwitch was talking to them. She noticed Eli coming their way and turned towards him. “Mr. Leictreach, good, you're here.” Professor Goodwitch said. “What is it?” Eli asked, standing next to Onyx. “Ozpin said that you have found the location of where the Reclaim might be?” She asked. Jorey nodded. “Yup!” Jorey chirped. “Right. As Team WEST in unavailable, Ozpin has contacted you a duo of a Huntsman and a Huntress that specialise in their knowledge of these weapons. They'll be assisting you in your rescue mission.” Professor Goodwitch explained. “But what about Emma?” Jorey asked. “Ms.Austri will continue to assist you.” Professor Goodwitch answered. Onyx felt relieved that they were going to be helped by professionals. It would give them a chance to learn from them and also make the mission increasingly easier. “If that is all the questions you have, I shall be going now. They should be here within twenty minutes.” Professor Goodwitch said as she left Team JORE. “Twenty minutes? Let's get to the air pads now!” Jorey called out as he started running. Both Onyx and Eli ran with Jorey to go wait for the airship.

After waiting twenty minutes, an airship was coming through Beacon. It slowly started to land. The airship had the words RSA written in large blue letters on the side. “Oh no... Why did it have to be him....” Jorey said, feeling disappointed. “Wait, what's wrong?” Onyx asked. Eli shrugged shoulders, unable to understand Jorey's plight. The two wondered what would make Jorey so annoyed about the Professional Huntsmen and Huntress. “Actually, now that I think about it, that logo does seem familiar.” Eli realised. The airships hatch had opened and two people exited airship. It was Jorey's father, Acheron and his assistant, Silica. “Damn it dad... Why are you here?” Jorey asked. Acheron looked at his son cluelessly. “Well, obviously, I'm here because you need help.” Acheron replied, wondering why he was acting so hostile. “But, I didn't want your help!” Jorey exclaimed irritated. Silica started to wag her platypus tail a little. “Well, we're burden with people we don't want. I'm sure that's what your dad thinks.” Silica said with a chuckle on her face. Onyx sniggered and immediately put his hand on his mouth to hold back his laughter. Eli smiled at Silica's insult, wanting to laugh. “Hey! I'm like the best son ever!” Jorey called out. “You're his only son.” Silica and Eli pointed out snidely. “And you predicted where the Reclaim would be and I'm proud of you for trying.” Acheron said. “Fine, maybe I'll let you help us. For our team mate.” Jorey said. Onyx and Rufus sighed at Jorey's interaction with his father.

Whilst inside the airship, Acheron was the one piloting whilst Silica took the seat next to him. “By the way Jorey, how are your sister's doing in the first year?” Acheron asked. “They're doing good. Holly's been 100% repeatedly in all her classes. Carmen is getting better at combat whilst the other girls don't like Cerise but the boys like her.” Jorey explained. Acheron chuckled. “That never seems to change. I feel sorry for their teammates.” Acheron said. “Actually dad, they're all in a team together.” Jorey mentioned. “Really? The three of them. Wow, their team mate must get annoyed.” Acheron added. “Nah. Their team mates are two conjoined twins. Really good people.” Eli noted. “Three girls and two boys? Seems like an interesting team.” Silica commented. Acheron nodded at Silica in agreement with her. “By the way, what do you guys get out of helping us?” Eli asked. “Well, as you know, we at the River Spark Archaeology specialise in finding things and preserving them for humanity to look at. But, the Reclaim ruins that. They're expecting the next Great War so by stealing it stops other sides from taking them.” Acheron explained. “That makes sense.” Eli said. “It doesn't matter what your goals are. I want to save Rufus.” Onyx said. “Is... Rufus that Sabbia kid? The brown haired one whose weapon I broke?” Acheron asked in a worried tone. “Yes, why what's the problem?” Onyx wondered. Acheron became worried. “Fiammata is going to kill me.” Acheron stated. “Wait, you know Rufus' mum?” Onyx asked shocked. Acheron slowly nodded. “Wait! Dad, you know Rufus' mum? How?” Jorey wondered, his face full of surprise. “Her older sister Scomodo was my team mate in Beacon.” Acheron explained. Now everyone on the airship had a face full of shock. “The Sairyō Ryōshi, Scomodo Sabbia?” Silica asked with hey eyes widened. “Now, you're cooler than I thought.” Jorey said. Eli was starting to wonder what kind of team Acheron was in. “What is the rest of your team?” Onyx asked. “Well, we had Stephen Panner and Punane Kapten.” Acheron responded. Eli was surprised to see the names on Acheron's team. “Jeez, a working class boy like you in a team with the upper class... That's insane.” Silica commented. Acheron scratched his hair and chuckled. “Yeah. Sadly, Stephen passed away after we graduated and Punane has been missing for years.” Acheron mentioned. “Now that's just depressing.” Jorey commented. “Doesn't matter now, we're about to land.” Acheron said.

As the airship landed, everyone began to take their weapons out. In Acheron's hand was a shovel whereas Silica was holding a pickaxe. They all started to run to the Ninja's Stronghold with their weapons in hand. As they approached the building, they saw two large metallic robots with heavy artillery attached to them. Their guns were pointed at Team JORE. Also coming towards them was Camellia. “Two paladins? How did the white fang get them?” Acheron wondered. “I knew it was a good idea to stay here after you guys hurt my brothers!” Camellia claimed with a grin on her face.

Chapter 73: Rebound and Reinforced[]

“Damn it! What are you doing here?!” Onyx asked aggravated by the White Fang's presence. Jorey and Eli could see Onyx's anger, unsure whether it was his blatant racism against the faunus or that Rufus wasn't here. “We were trying to wait for you guys. But, the followers of the Ninja interrupted us and tried to attack us so we struck back and with more reinforcement.” Camellia stated as she pat one of the Paladins. Acheron and Silica looked towards the Stronghold and could also see the bodies of the Ninja's followers. “Oh no! A lot of them are hurt!” Silica called out. Jorey looked worried. “Damn, we have to get them to safety!” Jorey noticed. “That's going to be hard with them in the way.” Eli pointed out. “So, they were able to predict we were coming here. The White Fang get more cunning and cunning.” Acheron mused. “Then tell me, what happened with the Reclaim?!” Onyx demanded. Camellia had a look of distaste at Onyx's tone with her. “The Reclaim huh.... They got away... I really wanna kill that Sabbia brat, so bad.... He made look like a fool in front of my brothers and sisters.” Camellia mumbled, her veins beginning twitch rapidly. Onyx smirked and started to walk closer towards Camellia. “Over my dead body. You won't hurt my friend.” Onyx stated. “I'll crush his dirty human face and then squeeze the nutrients out of your damn tangerine body!” Camellia shouted. Onyx's anger had taken control of him and so he attempted to punch Camellia.

However, Onyx was slapped away by the Atlesian Paladin. Eli then jumped up into the air and caught Onyx to stop him from flying away and save him from extra harm. “Are you okay?” Eli asked. “Yeah I sho- It's weird to see you be nice to me all of a sudden.” Onyx noticed. “Do you want me to drop you?” Eli asked plainly. “No.” Onyx squealed. Eli allowed Onyx to stand up as he released him from his arms. “Now, we should be focusing on the White Fang.” Eli stated. Team JORE were about ready their weapons to fight but Silica stuck her hand out to block them. “Don't worry. The boss has got the Paladin and the small fry.” Silica said.

Already approaching the Paladin that slapped Onyx away was Acheron. On his back, there was a strange looking shovel. He took out from his back and held it like an actual weapon. “Wait, is your dad's weapon a shovel?” Onyx asked Jorey, finding it hilarious but deciding to hold back his laughter. “Don't underestimate it.” Eli suggested, knowing that the most weird weapons are always the best ones. The Paladin attempt to hit at Acheron, however the man  jumped over the attack and grabbed it's arm. He repeatedly dug the shovel into the Paladin's arms, breaking it's thick armour with ease and exposing it's wiring. The Paladin then started to swing it's arm in order to throw Acheron off balance. “Dad watch out!” Jorey called out. Acheron rolled off the Paladin's right arm and rushed towards between it's legs. The large mech began to unload it's machine guns towards Acheron however he slid in between it's legs. He used this chance to push the shovel into it's legs. Trying to turn around, The Paladin tried looking for Acheron. He wasn't there. “He's above you!” A White Fang member called out. It looked up and there he was. Acheron was in the air, holding the shovel as if it was a spear. The Paladin tried to hurl missiles at Acheron but he directly launched himself on the Paladin. The shovel had broken the right arm of the Paladin and it started to become wonky. “Whoa....” Jorey and Onyx mused as they watch Acheron effortlessly take on a large mech. The wiring was now exposed. Suddenly, the shovel had then transformed into a light machine gun. Acheron stood stationary as he fired a barrage of water dust at the Paladin. This was so powerful that it started to shred the wiring and even started to break the metal as well. Seeing as the Paladin was beginning to stumble, Acheron hopped off the Paladin by kicking it away from him. Landing back on the ground, Acheron turned his weapon back into a shovel and put it back. “I'm going to go inside and help the followers and get them to safety. You guys handle the Paladin and this Lieutenant please.” Acheron said. He rushed into the stronghold as Jorey and Onyx looked at the Paladin. Because of Acheron's kick, the Paladin started to stumble towards the White Fang members. The Paladin had fallen backwards and had knocked three members down. Rapidly, the mech started to malfunction until a large explosion had occurred. “No way!” Onyx exclaimed. The explosion had sent all of the White Fang members accompanying Camellia flying in the air in different directions.

Camellia watched as her men were easily taken out without actually fighting the opposition. She was irritated. “He just defeated my brothers and sisters without even needing to fight them.” Camellia realised. She had a mixture of shock and annoyance from how effortlessly the Paladin was dealt with. It left her with just one Paladin and herself to fight. “That's just how good the boss is.” Silica said as she drew out a pickaxe.  Camellia observed Silica and could see her large brown platypus tail.  “You're a faunus too!” Camellia called out. Silica nodded at Camellia then turned to Team JORE. “You guys. Take on the Paladin. It may be trouble for you guys. That one looks a lot stronger and reinforced than the one Acheron took.” Silica said. She swung her pickaxe as she walked towards Camellia who was holding her machine gun.

Jorey and Eli both nodded at Silica, shifting their attention to the Paladin. Onyx, however, was still looking at Camellia. He slowly turned to Paladin. “Damn it. I wanted to beat that damn jumping jack.” Onyx said. Jorey rolled his eyes at Onyx. “I can understand her calling you tangerine but you really need to tone down the racism.” Jorey commented. “Or not be racist.” Eli added with a sharp tone. “Doesn't matter, let's just focus on that mech.” Onyx said, readying Ironmen.  The Paladin was aiming itself at Silica who was busy fighting Camellia. The kangaroo faunus unleashed her bullets towards the platypus faunus who was doing flips away from her attacks. Eli rushed towards the Paladin and fired a bolt from Bolzen on to the Paladin's machine guns. He exploded the bolt, throwing off the Paladin's aim. The mech had still fired a missile but it instead was heading towards Onyx and Jorey. “Oh no!” Jorey called out as he backed away from the missile hitting ground. Onyx instead ran forward and towards the Paladin instead. He tried to punch it with Ironmen but he was then swatted by the Paladin's right arm. He was pushed away into a tree. Slowly, the orange haired boy got up. “It's really strong. Your dad must be super powerful, Jorey.” Onyx claimed as he looked at it. Jorey nodded. “Yeah.” Jorey said. Now that Onyx was out of it way, the Paladin concentrated it's fire on Eli, attempting to attack him with it's fist. Despite this, Eli was able to dodge with ease. He was trying to fire at the Paladin but he could not as it swung it's arms towards him. He then rolled away from this attack. It then fired a missile at Eli but he managed to jump away from it. However, the Paladin punched Eli in the chest, sending him flying back to his team mates.

Eli managed to land and slide all the way back to his team mates. “We're going to need a plan.” Eli said. Jorey and Onyx both nodded at Eli in agreement. They all looked as the Paladin started firing it's turrets towards Team JORE. The team all jumped away from the fire and moved back. “My arrows really can't do much damage to that. Even with wind dust.” Jorey noted. “And I can't get close without it trying to fire at me. Also, Bolzen isn't good at long  ranges.” Eli said. “I can't get close to actually do any damage. Damn it! Rufus' shield would have been good so we don't have to keep running.” Onyx complained. “There's no use complaining about that now. We've just got to deal with what we've got. Explosive arrows!” Jorey called out.

Camellia had her weapon in her staff form as she duelled against Silica. She tried to spin her staff towards Silica's head but the platypus faunus grabbed the staff and swung herself into the sky. Silica's sudden weight had dropped Camellia to the ground. Switching her weapon, Silica's pickaxe had turned into a shotgun. As she was falling, Silica repeatedly fired shots at Camellia. These shots had caused the kangaroo faunus to bounce on the ground. Silica then attempted to elbow Camellia in the chest however she rolled away from this attack. “What?” Silica said as she dropped to ground elbowing nothing. Camellia got up from the ground and switched her weapon to it's machine gun form, pointing it towards Silica. “I will not be beaten a race traitor!” Camellia shouted. Silica took a deep breath and exhaled a white mist towards Camellia. “What is this?” Camellia said, wondering what she was doing. She then had a shock face and immediately held her nose. “Eergh! That reeks!” Camellia claimed. Silica used this chance to continuously shoot at Camellia. This pushed the kangaroo faunus back, allowing Silica to stand up with ease. She transformed her weapon to it's pickaxe form and swung as she walked towards Camellia. “Why would you help these humans! One of them destroyed our best way of generating income!” Camellia claimed. Silica hit Camellia in the cheek with the pickaxe, knocking her back. “Typical of the White Fang. Wanting nothing more than just pure revenge. You've lost the plot.” Silica said, walking to Camellia more. But, the humans! They banished us to an island made us work with that cursed land! And they mistreated our brothers and sisters!” Camellia yelled. Silica struck Camellia in the other cheek which pushed back. “Maybe if you got out of your stupid little Menagerie bubble and stopped eating the White Fang propganda, you'd realise that humans aren't as horrible as you think they are!” Silica retorted as swung her pickaxe at Camellia which incredible force that it knocked her into the ground, breaking her aura and rendering the White Fang lieutenant unconscious. “I don't care what you are, get in the way of my goals, your face is meeting the end of Quartz.” Silica said as she put her weapon back.

Eli ran straight towards the Paladin who began to fire at the lighting boy. He rushed straight towards the Paladin whilst Onyx ran around. Jorey, taking out six arrows, aimed it towards the Paladin and fired them. The arrows were shrouded in green mist, likely due to using wind dust to power them. Because of this, the six arrows were launched at fast speeds. Eli then fired six bolts with Bolzen into the air and rolled away from the Paladin. All arrows were connected with the bolts and they had hit the Paladin. Detonating them, Eli ducked away from the explosion. This had pushed the Paladin back and caused a lot of dents and tears through the Paladin's armour. Onyx, who was at the back of the Paladin, repeatedly punched the mech, digging the claws inside it's armour. The Paladin spun around which resulted in Onyx being thrown off from it's back. It then walked backwards in order to stop him.

However, it was blocked by Acheron's shovel with just one hand. He looked at Onyx. “Start moving. I've got this.” Acheron said to Onyx. He nodded and started running away to his team. Normally, he would disagree and start fighting but it was a professional this time and he had to listen. “Dad, what are you doing!? We've got it! Don't start acting like you're here for us!” Jorey shouted at his father. Onyx shook his head at Jorey. “What are you saying? We won't have enough to beat that thing!” Eli pointed out. Acheron look disappointed at his son was angry at him. It look like he didn't want his help. Acheron put his shovel back and the Paladin started firing missiles at Team JORE. “What?” Onyx asked as activated his semblance to roll away from the missile. “My dad is not going to here act like he's the hero and like he's always been there!” Jorey argued. Onyx and Eli immediately grabbed Jorey by the collar as they ran away from the Paladin that was chasing them. “Acheron! Don't listen to your idiot son!” Eli pointed out loudly. “What are you two doing? He's my dad!” Jorey exclaimed. “Nobody cares about that. Don't get us killed because of your selfishness.” Eli said aggravated. “Rufus is important. Besides, you should be lucky to even still have two parents!” Onyx yelled. “He's never there!” Jorey yelled back. “Neither me and Onyx have parents and I can move on easily. You do realise he's never there to support and provide for your ungrateful self. Don't get us killed. Deal with your father problems later. No one cares, Jorey.” Eli added. Jorey sighed. “Jeez, I've been acting like an annoyance these days. I'm sorry guys...” Jorey apologised. Onyx and Eli released Jorey from their grip, dropping him on the floor. The Paladin continued to fire at them but seeing that Jorey was on the floor, it turned to him. Jorey took out five arrows and aimed his bow at the Paladin. “Take this!” Jorey shouted. He fired of the arrows as they were shrouded with a large green cloak. Instantly, the arrows hit the Paladin and the force they had absolutely destroyed the armour, exposing all the wiring and metal. Acheron then rushed over and then slid towards the Paladin's legs with his shovel. He swung his shovel towards both legs, cutting them immediately. This immobilised the Paladin and dropped it on the ground. Acheron then grabbed Jorey from the floor. “I'm still your father whether you like it or not...” Acheron sung lightly as he jumped towards the Paladin with his shovel. He aimed it towards the man that was inside and he immediately put his hands up.

After a while, the police had came and started arresting White Fang and Camellia. Acheron was busy talking to an investigator whilst Silica helped the paramedics deliver the followers of the Ninja into the ambulance. Onyx was punching a tree in anger. Jorey and Eli watched as the orange haired boy was angered. “Why is so mad?” Jorey asked. “It's probably because The Reclaim were just here and we literally missed them.” Eli explained. “Oh. That girl was talking about Rufus like he defeated her. And, from what I saw Silica fighting her, she was scarily strong. Did Rufus get better at fighting?” Jorey wondered. “He probably did get better. Must mean the Reclaim were effective in training him.” Eli said. Onyx stopped punching the tree and turned to Eli and Jorey. “Then that means when we take him back, we'll be even better than before.” Onyx claimed.

Chapter 74: Intervention[]

Team JORE and the River Spark Archaeology were on an airship heading back to Beacon Academy. Acheron was piloting whilst Silica sat with the others, next to Eli. “Now that they've got the Ninja's Katana, that leaves them with three weapons for The Reclaim to find.” Jorey stated. “Not going to lie, I'm going to have to sit this conversation out because I won't have any idea what you'd be talking about.” Onyx pointed out. Jorey and Eli look disappointed in Onyx. “Someone doesn't pay attention in Oobleck's classes.” Eli mused. Onyx then looked to Eli. “How can you? That guy speeds through lessons like it's nobody's damn business.” Onyx questioned him. “I record the lessons using my scroll. That makes the process so much faster.” Elli explained. “But that's so long...” Onyx complained. Jorey rolled his eyes at his team mate, seeing that Onyx still had trouble learning at school. It almost looked as if he wasn't bothered to learn. “Beacon isn't just fighting Grimm. You at least have to know the history.” Silica advised Onyx, noticing his lack of knowledge. “What's the point? I'll end up better than all those guys.” Onyx claimed. “Well, you get to know and praise them for the time of peace that we've been receiving for so long.” Silica pointed out to Onyx. He saw that the orange boy's arrogance was holding his knowledge. He thought he was better than that. “What a great peace we've been happening.” Onyx grumbled snidely.

“Anyways, we should be going after the Doom Fury for the Reclaim. That one has a location we can at least pin down unlike the Model: Summer Rise whilst the Cross Blade is just in Vacuo.” Eli suggested. Jorey nodded in agreement. “Yeah. You're right Eli. They seem to be going in a pattern so that makes sense.” Jorey said. “Do you really still think The Reclaim will still go in that pattern?” Silica asked Jorey and Eli. The two both looked confused as they nodded at Silica. “They'll have coverage of the media and there's four parties chasing them. White Fang, us, Baozhang Industries and mercenaries. Maybe even five if we see a Chamber of Requiem member.” Acheron explained. Jorey had a moment of realisation. “Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks dad! Then, that means they'll be looking for the Cross Blade instead.” Jorey guessed. “Nope. The Cross Blade is held in a part of Vacuo where violent sandstorms are common. It's most likely to be the last place they'll be.” Acheron added. “But, that just leaves us with just The Model: Summer Rise. No one knows it's exact location so why would they choose that?” Eli asked. “They'll be trying to throw us off from chasing them. The White Fang and Baozhang Industries will have figured out their pattern and think they're going for Doom Fury. So, whilst they get Summer Rise, the other parties will be fighting, effectively cutting down the opposition.” Silica explained. “And, whilst the other parties are fighting, that gives them enough time to spend a lot of it trying to get Model: Summer Rise.” Acheron added. Jorey and Eli were surprised at Silica's and Acheron's great afterthoughts about their plan. These were professional Hunters who knew exactly what they where doing. “That means we're going for Model: Summer Rise then.” Jorey stated.

Onyx was listening to their conversation with a puzzled look on his face. “Could someone explain to me any of these terms? Like, what's a Baozhang Industries? Or Cross Blade, Doom Fury or Model: whatever?” Onyx asked feeling lost. “Boazhang Industries is a crime syndicate ran by a man known as Jin Baozhang. He was from a rich family and ended up turning to crime. The Baozhang Industries are mostly known for selling dust illegally and trying to kill any competition. They only operate around Sanus Rufus has the Baozhang Revolver in his possession so he clearly misses his gun. ” Eli explained. Jorey and Silica recoiled from Eli's knowledge of Jin Baozhang, wondering how he knew that in such detail. “Okay, what about the others?” Onyx asked. “The Doom Fury is a light machine gun once owned by huntress Midori Ryuichi. She comes from the legendary Ryuichi family from Mistral known for creating seasoned warriors. The weapon was held in the Kingdom of Vale on her request. Likely due to the fact her husband was from Vale. As for the weapon itself, Doom Fury is actually said to be really powerful. Historians say it has a large magazine with an estimated fire rate of 1200 rounds per minute. It's seen as destructive because of it's really potent with fire dust and lightning dust to mow down large amounts of Grimm.” Acheron explained. “Sounds cool but Doom Fury is a horrible name.” Onyx said. “Your weapon is named Ironmen and your last name is literally Rocker.” Jorey pointed out. Onyx grabbed Jorey in a headlock as he nudged his head whilst looking back at Acheron. “Yeah, continue.” Onyx said. “Model: Summer Rise is a sniper rifle that's basically known for being really loud. It's a good weapon though. It uses a devastating combination of wind and burn dust. Because of that, the bullets are faster but are covered in flames. It's owner Wolfgang Faustin was a brilliant weaponsmith. Though, it's believed he lacked combat skills.” Acheron explained. “Why was it called Model: Summer Rise?” Onyx wondered. “Well, Faustin never had an actual name for it. It was a prototype weapon that ended up being really good.” Acheron answered. “Why it's called Summer Rise? Research says Faustin named after finding out a woman that he stalked loved the summer season. Romantic isn't it?” Silica explained to Onyx. Team JORE had looks disapproval with Silica's comment about stalking being romantic. “The Cross Blade? People know where it is but it isn't easily accessible with the violent sandstorms within it's vicinity. Sometimes the church it's in could be buried or be very open. If you do get in, you've got to find the weapon somehow. The legend of the Cross Blade has been known for centuries but no one knows who owned it. There's a bit of debate between historians suggesting that the man was likely seen as religious deity and held the sword in the church so that only those worthy could worship him or he was a follower of a religion and held the sword in the church as a form of dedication to a religious deity in order to prove he was worthy of their worship.” Acheron explained. “That's why they're saving best for last then. That means we only have one shot to reach Rufus.” Onyx noticed as he was no longer holding Jorey in a headlock. He clenched his fist, feeling determined again. “But, why are these weapons so heavily praised and held in places?” Onyx asked. “Because for some people, the weapon is an extension of that wielder. It's as if that person is still there and is residing where it'll be protected. If you don't believe that you could say it's a firm show of their legacy and their accomplishments. You also get to understand a little bit about that persons personality. So the weapons remains as almost as a symbol that this strong weapon is what a Huntsman or Huntress uses.” Acheron explained with more passion to his voice. “That's actually pretty cool. But why bother with found weapons?” Onyx asked. “Well, cause we found most of the weapons The Reclaim have or are after. We really don't want it in their hands. Also, we kinda feel responsible since we made people aware of their existence.” Silica pointed out. Jorey and Eli looked in surprise in hearing that they found the weapons. “Wait? You found them?!” Jorey exclaimed.

Inside Ozpin's office, there were two cups of tea on his table. Ozpin was drinking one whilst Johannes was drinking one too. “I wouldn't have called you for this Mr.Leictreach. But, because The Reclaim have attacked the Followers of the Ninja, it creates a serious problem. Meaning that Mr.Sabbia could be labelled as a criminal.” Ozpin explaned to Johannes. The older blue haired boy took a sip from his cup of tea and put it down to speak to him. “I've recently just heard about this. But, why wouldn't have called me?” Johannes wondered. “There's the matter of the loss of your team last year despite the fact that you've seemed to handle it quite well after all. However, your membership to the Chamber of Requiem makes me wonder if you've been assigned to Mr.Sabbia.” Ozpin replied. Johannes shook his head. “No, Professor Ozpin, The Master hasn't not given me that job.” Johannes assured. Ozpin then took another sip of his tea. “Good. Then, Mr.Leictreach, I suggest that you try to intercept the Reclaim and bring Mr.Sabbia back.” Ozpin said. Johannes nodded whilst Ozpin took another sip from his tea, this one being longer. “I do trust your skills and I've seen no drop in your performance at your time at Beacon Academy. So, I'd like you to remember that a Huntsman's most important job is to protect people so I do hope you take my advice as I wish you long and good career as your time as a fully fledged Huntsman.” Ozpin explained. Rising up from the chair, Johannes nodded at Ozpin. “I won't fail you.” Johannes stated.

The Reclaim had returned to their base and could see that Clancy was waiting for them. “We're back!” Blaine sang as they entered. Clancy crossed his arms as he looked at the group. “Had any problems?” Clancy asked. “There was one problem.” Audra pointed out. Clancy flailed his wrists nonchalantly as he closed his eyes. “I'm pretty sure with that Sabbia brat on your team, there was no way you got the weapon.” Clancy claimed. Rufus walked up to Clancy and presented the Ninja's Katana in front of him. “Here. I've got it.” Rufus stated. “What?” Clancy asked. He slowly opened his eyes to see Rufus holding the Ninja's Katana. He immediately jumped back from Rufus in sheer shock. “How did you get that? I heard there was White Fang waiting for you!” Clancy exclaimed. Glaucus walked past Clancy and towards Cheyenne's room. “Yes, there was.” Glaucus replied. Clancy watched Glaucus go towards his mother's room and noticed he was heavily bruised. “Why are you going to my mother's room?” Clancy asked. “A very secret and private meeting.” Blaine muttered in a joking manner. Audra and Chloe both started laughing with Blaine at his joke. Clancy became irritated at their laughing but continued to look at his bruises. “To treat my injuries. I was attacked by a White Fang Lieutenant but luckily Rufus came to save me.” Glaucus said as he entered the room.

Clancy eyes had widened as he looked at Rufus. “There's no way you're that strong!” Clancy exclaimed. Rufus put the Ninja's Katana back in it's holster. He scratched his head at Clancy as he bowed his head. “Yeah. I'm surprised at how good I've just gotten. Rufus said. Chloe walked over to Clancy and grabbed him by the neck, shoving him into her chest as she began to nudge him with her fist. “Stop being mean to Rufus Clancy! He's been doing his job well. You're the only one who's like this to him.” Chloe pointed out. Clancy pushed Chloe away to get himself out of her grip. “Audra! Do you like Rufus being here?” Clancy asked. Audra became bashful and had a worried look on her face. “No of course I don't! He's clearly incompetent and an idiot at best!” Audra fumbled. “Audra, I can't take that statement seriously whilst you're obviously blushing.” Blaine muttered. Audra turned to Blaine, getting flustered. “No I'm not!” Audra claimed. Clancy kneeled down in defeat. He was alone.

Exiting her room was Cheyenne. She headed towards Rufus, Audra and Blaine and she could see that he was holding the Ninja's Katana. “Good job you three. Not only did you defeat a White Fang lieutenant, you've also sent a message to our enemies that we are serious about our goal.” Cheyenne said. “Right. Goal... Making sure they aren't in any use in any war.” Rufus said, still feeling confused about her goal. “Are you still confused?” Cheyenne asked. Clancy shook his head. “Only an idiot wouldn't be able to understand.” Clancy snarked to Rufus. Ignoring the mohawk boy, Rufus nodded. “Notice how you're currently being chased by Baozhang Industries for only just a revolver. These weapons are powerful and gives them an advantage over other forces. The Kingdom having these weapons stands as their display of power and as a warning that they are powerful.” Cheyenne explained. “But, why are you and Clancy so heavily involved?” Rufus wondered. “My husband and I lived in a settlement where one of these weapons were held. The Hunters realised there was no hope and only bothered in retrieving the weapon that was there. The government only care about saving their face and their image. But, I'd like to expose that. I brought Clancy with me because he was the only one I could save.” Cheyenne explained in a softer voice. Rufus felt really sympathetic towards Cheyenne and he was starting to feel that people care more about symbolism than actual people. Cheyenne looked inside the pockets of her coat and passed threw Rufus, Blaine and Audra a packet. “Take. This is your reward.” Cheyenne said. Rufus looked to what Cheyenne rewarded them with: a packet of sweets. It felt really odd working for people where seen as villains to be handing out sweets. “Thank you?” Rufus said, still feeling a bit creeped out by Cheyenne's motherly nature.

Rufus took the katana and handed it to Cheyenne. “You can keep it Mr.Sabbia.” Cheyenne said. Rufus was confused. “Wait what?” Rufus and Clancy asked. “Keep the Ninja's Katana.” Cheyenne stated. Rufus tilted his head. “Why?” Rufus wondered. “Glaucus told me that you saved him. That clearly means you're really good. Also, I know that your weapon of choice is a katana so I thought it would be a good idea for you to use one. So, please, keep Xavier Lynx's weapon.” Cheyenne. Rufus sheathed the katana once again. “Our next mission, we're heading for the Model: Summer Rise.” Cheyenne declared. Clancy looked shocked. “But, we can't find it's exact location. We should be going for Doom Fury!” Clancy shouted. Cheyenne smiled at her son. “It looks like you've been reading my map haven't you? The others will have figured out our pattern by now. Going for Model: Summer Rise allows us to be free from enemies as we try to hunt for the weapon whilst they all fight each other for Doom Fury.” Cheyenne explained. Clancy paused for a second and then smiled cockily at his mother. “That's smart.” Clancy said. “Then, who's going on this mission Ms.Reed?” Audra asked. “I'll be going along with Chloe, Rufus and Clancy. You'll have to sit this one out  Audra as you watch for Glaucus.” Cheyenne said. Audra looked down disappointed. “Glaucus is boing to talk to.” Audra stated. Rufus fell down on to the floor, having to do another mission again.

Rufus was in his room, looking at the poster of the map of Mistral. He was looking at the map and was pointing at a certain area in the northern part of the kingdom. He was pointing at a spot that was marked 'Austri Swordsman School'. The door had opened and a female voice shrieked at seeing Rufus. He turned around in fear and noticed that it was Audra entering. “Sorry!” Rufus apologised. “I'm actually sorry. I'm not used to you being in my room all of a sudden. My bad.” The bear faunus said. She took her seat on the bed as she laid down. Audra noticed that he was looking at her map of Mistral. “You're looking at the map of my Kingdom?” Audra asked. “Yeah. I actually have a really close friend who actually born from there.” Rufus explained. “I kinda like the Kingdom. Sadly, there's a lot of death outside the city as people kill each other for weapons.” Audra pointed out. Rufus looked surprised. He hadn't known that Mistral was such a dark place outside it's main city. He had a lot to learn about the world. Rufus thought that it was likely him joining the Reclaim was a good experience for him to learn about the darker stuff about the world as a more privileged life from an upper class family had clouded his views about the world.

Chapter 75: The Long Trip[]

Rushing through the forest was a grey SUV with heavy tires suited for off road driving. It was weaving in and out past trees and Vale's wildlife. However, the vehicle was still bumping loudly. “Do we really have to take a car!” Rufus complained loudly. He had a face of discomfort from being lifted up and down suddenly as they drove through a bumpy road. “Stop complaining!” Clancy barked at him. Rufus shrieked from Clancy's comment. He wanted to listen but found it hard for him to bear the rigid ride. “We aren't taking the car the whole way. We'll be stopping at a place away from the Grimm. The car will be safe there.” Cheyenne said to Rufus as she drove the car. Blaine and Chloe were both finding this car journey hard as well. Blaine's cheeks went green, feeling like he needed to vomit. As the car moved further into the forest, the car had then stopped. “That's it for now. Everyone, weapons out.” Cheyenne stated. She took the key off the ignition and took off her seatbelt. She then helped release Chloe's seatbelt before getting out of the car. Everyone else had left the car feeling a little hazy from the uncomfortable ride. It wasn't long enough until everyone regained their balance from this. Taking out their weapons, the Reclaim awaited for the orders of their leader. “Let's start moving this way. There will be Grimm further on this area, so make sure you're on the look out. If you see one, kill it. The less we have, the easier our job is.” Cheyenne said as she started walking. The other members of the group started following her but Rufus looked confused as he looked at the SUV. “Are we just leaving the car? Wouldn't someone steal it?” Rufus asked. “I hooked the car to my laptop so basically it would be unable to start without my permission or being a really good hacker of course.” Blaine explained to Rufus. Rufus was honestly surprised at the usefulness of Blaine, seeing as how he made the situation easier just by hacking.

The Reclaim continued to walk through the forest and their weapons equipped on the ready. They looked around for any sight of Grimm. “Chloe, we are we currently?” Cheyenne asked her subordinate. Listening to her superior, Chloe opened her scroll and looked on the digital map of Vale to see where they were. “Yeah, we're about the zone of where Faustin's lab could be.” Chloe pointed out. “Alright. That's good.” Cheyenne said. “So what's the best place to assume where he is?” Blaine asked. They noticed that far ahead that they could see the towering mountains of Vale, surrounding the entire kingdom. “We'll start by searching for clues from the base of the mountain.” Cheyenne ordered. Rufus was looking around the forest, being on the lookout for any Grimm. He then saw a large crater that was on their right. “Wait! There's a crater over there! That might just give us some clues!” Rufus exclaimed. Cheyenne stopped which resulted in everyone else stopping. They all looked at the crater Rufus was looking at. “What good will a crater do?” Clancy asked condescendingly. “That's a good one Rufus. A crater might help us see if there were any weapon scraps. Faustin was a brilliant mechanical engineer when it came to designing weapons. He could have been testing prototypes.” Cheyenne said. She walked past Rufus and headed towards the crater. Cheyenne stood in the middle of the crater and her aura started to shroud her. The Reclaim members watched in awe as the dirt in the ground began to slowly shrivel and die and any show of plant life fell short. On the ground, the noticed that there were chunks of metal scattered on the floor. Rufus was impressed at Cheyenne's skill but was absolutely riddled with questions once he saw her change the ground. “How did you do that?” Rufus asked. “My semblance allows me to absorb moisture. I can take a really high intake of moisture when it comes to dirt or plants or the air itself but when it comes to humans or faunus it's a lot harder to do so.” Cheyenne explained. He knew what she did was a result of her semblance as he could tell from her aura but to absorb moisture had the brown haired boy intrigued. “That's our leader for you.” Chloe praised. Clancy smiled as he saw this mother doing her job.

Picking one chunk, Cheyenne started observed it. The metal had scorched marks on the bottom of it and had the name Wolfgang scratched on to it. “What is that?” Chloe asked Cheyenne. “It appears to be a part of a sword. This part looks like the tip. But the burn mark look like it's been done by a rocket launcher. If the lab is to be in the mountains, there must be more clues towards the mountains.” Cheyenne deduced as he looked at the scrap. She started to dust off the metal to look for more clues. “I'll analyse this crater meanwhile all of you go further towards the mountain to find the location of his lab.” Cheyenne stated. The Reclaim nodded and Chloe started to lead the group closer towards the mountains.

As the group walked further, they started noticing that there were cuts on the trees. Some looked less obvious but as they got closer, they began to notice that some of the trees where short despite the tree looking old. “Faustin looks like he's been hitting the gym.” Blaine joked. Chloe started to laugh at Blaine's joke, grabbing him by the shoulder. “That's actually really funny.” Chloe said, still continuing to laugh more. Rufus found their laughter to be awkward despite the threat of Grimm in the area. Clancy had ignored their joke and started to look at some of the trees. “What weapon was this done by?” Clancy asked, noticing there were many holes in a tree. Rufus stopped as well to look at the tree with Clancy much to his chagrin. As he examined the hole, Rufus pushed the tree. “These looks like bullet holes.” Rufus pointed out. Clancy observed the holes in try once again, confused as to how Rufus reached that conclusion. “You can tell it's a bullet how because how parts of the tree was removed in a similar fashion in each hole. From the size of that, Faustin was likely using a rifle.” Rufus added as he looked at the tree. Clancy was surprised at Rufus' ability but was still annoyed to see that he was actually decent. Rufus kept looking at the tree more and could see that the tree looked very dry. “Seems like he was using ice dust.” Rufus noted. He then noticed that Clancy stopped replying. Clancy was frozen as he noticed that there was an Ursa coming close towards them. He then saw as there were more Grimm beginning to pile on them. “The Grimm!” Clancy shouted. Rufus turned towards Clancy and could see the Grimm nearby. He was afraid for the lives of the others but hoped that they could at least deal with the threat.

Nearby, the pair could hear the sound of rapid gunshots going off. “It looks like Blaine's fighting! Him and Chloe are going to need my help!” Clancy called out as he rushed towards them. He had his weapon in it's staff form as he ran. Suddenly, two Beowolves leaped in front of Clancy, attempting to maul him. He then spun his staff into the Beowolf that was the closest to him, splitting the Grimm in half. He dealt with the other Beowolf by jumping towards it and shoving his staff into it's head. “Get out off my way!” Clancy yelled. His attack pushed the Beowolf on the ground. Clancy shoved his staff further onto the minor Grimm causing it to dissipate into smoke. Rufus soon followed after Clancy, taking out the Baozhang Revolver and using it aim and shoot at a Boarbatusk that was rolling it's way towards Rufus. However, it was reflecting his shots with it's tough armour. Rufus decided to put the revolver back in it's holster and draw out the katana. He ran with katana out towards the ground. As the Boarbatusk came closer to him, Rufus jumped out of the way of it's attack and then stabbed the Grimm out of it's rolling technique. He carried on running as this Grimm also now is only smoke. Clancy continued to run until there was a large winged Grimm standing out in his path. Rufus looked up and noticed the four legs of the Grimm: it was a Griffon. “We can make a plan!” Rufus shouted. Clancy charged ahead towards the Grimm in his staff form, trying to jump and knock it in the beak. However, the Griffon blocked his attack with it's arms. It instead grabbed Clancy and dragged him into the ground. “Clancy!” Rufus shouted. He leapt to the Grimm with katana in hand and cut of it's arm. This had released Clancy from the clutches of the Griffon. He then got up from the floor and started to become angry. “This thing is annoying!” Clancy commented. The Griffon, still focused on Clancy, screeched at him for an amount of time. It started to rapidly flap it's wings, as if it was about to take off. “No you don't!” Clancy shouted as he switched his weapon to it's marksman rifle form. He started to take shots at it's right wing in order to reduce it's mobility. Because Clancy was rapidly firing ice dust ammunition at the Griffon, this stopped it's wing from trying to fly. Seeing that it's attempt to leave was futile, the Griffon started to chase after Clancy. The chase was cut short however. Clancy tried to flee but noticed that Grimm had stopped. Rufus had the katana lodged inside the Griffon's hips. He then jumped of, taking the sword out of it and flipping towards the Griffon's head. Rufus had sliced the head of the Griffon and it began to drop onto the ground from Rufus' attacks. The Grimm had been taken out. Landing back on the ground, Rufus sheathed the katana. He looked at his hands noticed they were shivering. “I was so scared but I managed to do it... I think I'm getting better...” Rufus mused as he was impressed with his own skills. Clancy had brushed past Rufus, knocking him back. “Keep moving.” Clancy muttered with a hint of jealously as he walked. Rufus looked confused and followed the boy.

There was a large Nevermore circling the sky. Next, it nose dived to the ground, attempting to attack something. It found it's prey. “Huuuurh!” Chloe grunted as she launched herself into air from a tree. She swung the sword into the body of the Nevermore as it closed in on her. Chloe ended up cutting the entire body of the Nevermore before it had any chance to properly attack her. She had completely cut the bird Grimm in half. As she landed back on to the ground, Clancy and Rufus had finally reached the two of them. “Are you guys alright?” Rufus asked. He looked happy to see that Chloe was alright. Blaine, on the other hand, was busy mowing down two Ursa's with his submachine gun. They continued to charged him as he continued to fire at them. It reached to a point that they could no longer take any damage that they became weak and fell down to the ground. “I really hate the Grimm. How do you even deal with them Rufus?” Blaine asked. “I don't know either. They're all just so scary. I sometimes get all nervous and worried but now I'm just trying to brace through it.” Rufus replied as he looked at his hands shaking.

Unexpectedly, Chloe was thrown into the air. The boys all saw this and were surprised to see her be launched. They turned around and noticed a large Grimm walking slowly towards them. It was large humanoid Grimm with a mask covering it's face and spikes shrouded on it's shoulders. The arms were droopy and were swaying as the Grimm walked towards them. It's leg and arms were cylindrical in shape and it's grey armour was protecting the Grimm's chest area with red markings all over it. Blaine looked frighted as he began to creep away from the Grimm. “What is that thing?!” Blaine asked freaked out. Chloe had dropped to the ground right in front of the Grimm. “Chloe!” Rufus shouted. Clancy switched his weapon into it's staff form and gripped it tightly. “Get away from her!” Clancy shouted as he charged towards it to protect his team mate. The Grimm had then raised an arm and aimed it towards Clancy. Shooting out from it's hand was a black substance that hit Clancy and left him stuck. “No way! That's a Slouch!” Rufus called out. As the Grimm approached Chloe, it readied it's hands to pummel her. However, Blaine's shots had knocked it's hand away from her. The blonde haired boy ran around the Grimm and started firing at it. Wanting to be rid of the nuisance, the Slouch aimed at Blaine and started firing the black sticky substance at him but Blaine managed to dodge. This also resulted in incoming Grimm to be stuck on the spot, one noticeable Grimm being a Deathstalker. Rufus analysed the Slouch's movements, noticing that it was quite slow. Chloe had slowly gotten up from the ground and headed towards Clancy and stabbed her sword on the substance. This led to the substance vanishing and allowing Clancy to be free. The Slouch was still focused on stopping Blaine that it had fired it's substance earlier to try and get Blaine which ended up with him stuck. It then started to approach him. Clancy repeatedly fire shots at the Grimm's back to stop it from moving towards Blaine, however, this was quite the opposite. It was moving much faster. “What?” Clancy noticed. Chloe released her other hand from holding the longsword and swung it at the direction of the Slouch. A large green line sprouted from Chloe's arms and on the other end was a ring. The ring had constricted the Grimm's leg and had stopped from proceeding. “Rufus! Now!” Chloe called out, holding the Grimm in place with her lasso. Rufus ran as fast as he could towards the Grimm and sliced the leg off from the Grimm which caused it to tumble over. He then grabbed Blaine and dragged across the ground and away from the Slouch who began to fall down. As it fell, Clancy used this chance to jab the Grimm's back repeatedly with the staff form of his weapon. Rapidly, Chloe was shot with the Slouch's black substance with the Grimm's feet. “No way!” Blaine shouted. The Grimm arose from the ground and span around; it's arms starting to sway faster. Because of this, Clancy was thrown off from the back of the Grimm and it's leg had came back but it's body became slightly shorter. It turned towards Chloe and charged towards her, it's speed being much faster this time.

“Blaine! Start shooting at it now!” Rufus called out. “It'll just reach her quicker!” Blaine called out. “That's the point!” Rufus replied back as he rushed straight towards Chloe. Blaine headed closer towards the Grimm as he fired the shots from his Glace Destructrice. The explosive rounds were causing the Grimm to move at such a fast speed. As he started getting closer to Chloe, Rufus took out a fire dust crystal and put it into his mouth. He then used his aura as he crushed it with his teeth. Spreading his arms out, Rufus summoned his bubble shield to protect her and himself. The Slouch was then caught in a fire due to Rufus using the first dust crystal in sync with his semblance. The Grimm started to stumble away from the shield, trying to remove the fire from it's body. Blaine continuously fired at Grimm to keep pumping damage in to it. It was at this moment that Clancy came rushing through towards the Slouch with his staff ready. The feisty red haired boy was angry and had a score to settle. He jumped on to the head of the Grimm furiously jabbed it in the back of it's head pushing it further. As Rufus' shield had finished, Chloe took the Longsword of Eis and headed straight towards the Slouch. Both Chloe and Clancy made repeated strikes onto the Grimm, causing it stagger back. Chloe then stabbed her sword into the ground, causing a large ice structure to rush at the Grimm, launching it far in the air. This sent the Grimm crashing into the mountain.

The Slouch was knocked out and smoke began to erupt from it's body. Rufus and Blaine caught up to Clancy and Chloe. “Darn, that thing was a hassle!” Blaine claimed as he wiped the sweat from his face. Clancy looked exhausted as he watched the Grimm disappear. He then became shocked as he noticed a hole coming from the outside of the cave. “Guys! You might wanna see this!” Clancy called out. Chloe looked at what Clancy was looking at and was shocked too. Blaine and Rufus reached the two and could see the massive hole in the mountain. Inside the mountain, it looked to be some sort of laboratory. “This must be Wolfgang Faustin's lab....” Rufus mused. “What did you all find?” Cheyenne asked. They all turned behind and noticed that Cheyenne was back. “Look mum! I may have just found us the lab!” Clancy called out. Cheyenne was surprised and thus she patted her son on the head. She punched the hole and entered inside. “I'll explore the whole thing myself. You all stay in here. There might be Grimm roaming around so I'll have to be extra cautious for the safety of everyone.” Cheyenne stated. The group nodded and waited for Cheyenne.

After Cheyenne had left, the group had rested on the ground near the mountain and hoped that she was fine. A man had then slowly emerged from the inside of a tree and walked towards the group. He stood towards them and they all drew their weapons out. Rufus looked shocked as he saw who the person was. “Rufus. I'm here to bring you back to Beacon.” He said. “One of your friends Rufus?” Blaine asked. Rufus shaked his head. “No. It's his brother. Johannes.” Rufus said. Standing out with his grenade launcher, Johannes looked at the Reclaim. “You've caused a lot of worry for your friends.” Johannes said.

Chapter 76: Intervention II[]

Johannes stared down the members of the Reclaim, knowing that they were going to attack him. Clancy was clearly annoyed by Johannes' presence. “I don't care if you are his friend! You're disturbing our mission!” Clancy shouted rushing at Johannes with his staff to lunge at him. Using Granatwerfer, Johannes blocked the attack with the dual bladed form of his weapon. He then countered by bumping the boy in the nose with the blade. This had knocked Clancy back. Johannes rushed towards him and kicked him in the leg, causing Clancy to fall. Johannes ran to Rufus, attempting to grab him. However, Blaine started firing at him which stopped Johannes from proceeding towards him. Johannes switched Granatawerfer to it's grenade launcher form and fired it at Blaine. This forced the blonde haired boy into moving to make sure the grenade launcher didn't hit him. Chloe rushed at Johannes with her longsword and tried to swing at him. He managed to dodge this attack by bending his body then running over towards Rufus. Yet, Johannes had to stop and turn to deal with Clancy who had leapt towards him with his staff. Johannes fired a grenade launcher directly at him, causing him to be sent back flying. Rufus look scared as he noticed the skirmish. “He's handling all of them so easily... Eli's brother is ridiculously good.” Rufus thought to himself. Chloe swung again at Johannes to push him away but he easily dodged the attack. “Rufus. You have to come back to Beacon. You'll be much safer. Whilst there are people trying to kidnap you, there are others trying to kill you.” Johannes stated. Rufus had a face of half-shock. He knew someone could be trying to kill him but he wasn't expecting it to be true. It was way too much for him to face. “Leave him alone!” Blaine shouted as he started firing his weapon at him. Johannes quickly dodged his fire and transformed his weapon to it's dual bladed form. He hit Blaine in the elbow, knocking him up. Johannes then grabbed Chloe's neck, noticing that she was trying to flank him from the right side. He kept a tight grip on her neck which resulted in her aura breaking.

Suddenly, Johannes was shot twice which knocked him back. The additional damage he received also made it hard for him to hold his weapon. “I've accepted that fate. I brought this upon myself ever since I let Stigma fall.” Rufus said as he had the Boazhang Revolver aimed at Johannes. He wasn't expecting Rufus to have fought back against him. This would have made this rescue mission much more difficult than that. “I understand. But, my mission is to still bring you back to Beacon.” Johannes stated. Rufus started shooting at Johannes again with the Baozhang Revolver but he managed to avoid all shots. Blaine added more shots which pushed Johannes back. He was then hit in the back by Clancy's staff. Seeing that his attack hit, Clancy continued with more attacks on Johannes' back with his staff. “I don't care that you're here for Rufus! Get in our way and you'll pay for it!” Clancy shouted as repeatedly hit him with his staff. Johannes then kicked jumped up in the air and kicked back Clancy's staff. Blaine started to shoot at him but he started to block the shots with his dual blades. Quickly, Johannes turned around to face Clancy and hit him in the face which pushed him back. Clancy tried to reply by doing a low sweep attack with his staff to knock Johannes of his feet. However, this failed: Johannes jumped in to the air again and struck Clancy in the chest which sent him down. Johannes added additional attacks by hitting Clancy in the chin as he landed and another attack at the boys shoulder. Rufus then lunged at Johannes with the katana which pushed Johannes away from Clancy, trying to protect himself. “Please Johannes. Just go. I don't want anyone to get hurt.” Rufus said to him. Johannes ignored Rufus. “I'm sorry but I must complete my mission. I can't allow you to help them fulfil any their motives.” Johannes replied to Rufus. He wondered why the boy was so adamant to not leave the Reclaim. These were the people that attacked him then kidnapped him and are now using him to help achieve their goals. Johannes couldn't understand what Rufus was trying to do. “What do you gain out of helping them?” Johannes asked. Rufus looked up at Johannes with a fierce face. “I get to live. I can't stand being weak and useless to my team. They were better off without me.” Rufus said in a saddened tone. Johannes was knocked in the head by Clancy's staff which knocked him towards Blaine who fired at Johannes. This was starting to become problematic for Johannes. He didn't want to attack Rufus but he knew he would attack him back. It was hard to deal with the Reclaim. Johannes looked down on the floor and noticed that Chloe was unconscious. He then picked up from the ground. The other members of the Reclaim looked at Johannes with a shocked face. They wondered what he was going to do with her. “Unhand her, Johannes!” Rufus called out. This time now drawing out the Baozhang Revolver as he sheathed the Ninja's Katana. “Is this what they teach you guys at Beacon? Sacrifice the people for your crude goals?!” Clancy asked. Johannes shook his head. “Being a huntsman must be such a pitiful job if they really don't care about people. My mother was right.” Clancy said. “Beacon Academy didn't teach me to do that. Underhanded tactics work because they get you distracted.” Johannes claimed as he transformed Granatwerfer to it's grenade launcher form. He fired another grenade towards Clancy which pushed him away. He dropped Chloe on to the ground. Johannes rushed straight to Clancy and slit his weapon to it's dual bladed form and struck him twice in the air. Blaine attempted to attack him from the rear but as Johannes landed he back flipped over him. He then used this chance to plant his feet on top of his back which knocked him down towards the ground. However, Clancy started shooting at Johannes which knocked him him away. Johannes transformed his weapon again and started to fire more grenade launcher shots as Clancy replied back with shots from his marksman rifle. The two stopped firing in order to reload but Clancy ended up reloading almost instantaneously. Johannes could not reload his grenade launcher fully, only having three grenades within his weapons magazine. He decided to transform his weapon into it's dual bladed form and tried to swing at both Blaine and Clancy which resulted in both of them dodging and blocking his attacks. Despite this, Johannes was fast and this kept the two of them on their toes, finding no way to be able to outperform him in speed. As Clancy dodged one attack, Johannes hit Blaine in the hip which sent him flying towards Clancy. This knocked the two back. He switched Granatwerfer to it's grenade launcher form and fired a grenade from it. It had exploded and it had erupted into a thunder strike, fatally hitting the two. Rufus watched as Johannes dealt with the Reclaim in fear. He wanted to flee. “I need to run otherwise I'm in trouble! But, I can't. I'd just be doing the same thing I did at Beacon and Stigma!” Rufus thought to himself. His heart was racing as he tried to decide whether he should flee or stay.

Johannes was then repeatedly shot by a gun coming from the hole in the mountain. Rufus turned to the hole and realised it was Cheyenne who was there holding an assault rifle. “I heard the gunfire so I had to come out and help.” Cheyenne called out. She noticed that Chloe was on the floor knocked out whilst Blaine and Clancy where heavily hurt. She looked to Johannes and glared at him. The blue haired man glared back at her. “Why are you here?” Cheyenne asked him. Johannes kept quiet and decided not to answer her. “He's here for me. To bring me back to Beacon.” Rufus answered. Cheyenne looked surprised as she looked at Rufus. “Bring you back to the place that caused him so much trouble? Hasn't the boy suffered enough?” Cheyenne asked she looked at Johannes. He charged straight at Cheyenne with Granatwerfer and tried to attack her. However, Cheyenne's assault rifle had turned into a spear and she managed to block Johannes in time. She used this opportunity to then grab Johannes' face and start to use her semblance on him. Johannes started to lose breath and started to kick his feet up in order to get away from his grip. Rufus watched in horror as Cheyenne dealt with Johannes with only two moves. “Did she train at a combat school to? She's insanely good... Cheyennne better than most current Huntresses.” Rufus pondered. Johannes' face began to shrivel up. “This is what happens to people who mess with my allies and my goals.” Cheyenne said. Dropping from Johannes hand was a strand of green hair that fell on his feet. This resulted in Johannes using semblance to immediately teleport in front of Chloe. “Eli will come for you, Rufus. You may not like what he might do to you.” Johannes said as he started to take off. Blaine and Clancy finally stood up, ready to chase after Johannes. “Leave him. Let him go. He's not a threat anymore.” Cheyenne ordered. Rufus felt exhausted after how draining the fight was. He then knelt in front of Chloe and put his hand on her chest to fell her pulse, wondering if she was okay.

After a while, Chloe had woken up. But this time, the Reclaim were now inside of the mountain which looked to be the laboratory of Wolfgang Faustin. She looked around her surroundings confused. “Is this Dr. Faustin's lab?” Chloe asked slowly. Rufus, who was by her side, looked happy to see that she was alright. “Chloe! You're up!” Rufus beamed walking towards her. He then nodded at her to confirm that they were in the lab. Chloe shook her hair and then placed her palm on her head as she slowly stood up from the floor. “What happened to that guy?” Chloe asked. “Cheyenne dealt with Johannes. He's gone now.” Rufus said, looking saddened. He felt like he did something wrong by attacking Johannes, almost as if he had betrayed Eli. This sensation he felt was putrid and it made him feel disgusted with himself for doing so. “That's the second time now she's helped me. Damn, how am I ever going to repay my debts to her?” Chloe wondered. “Debt?” Rufus wondered. Chloe chuckled. “I've been on the run for 6 years. I was a part of a bank heist that went wrong. Ms.Reed helped me go into complete hiding. So, I owe her a lot. That's why I want to help her.”  Chloe said. “Wait! You robbed a bank?” Rufus asked surprised. He didn't think Chloe was the type of person to rob a bank. To Rufus, Chloe looked to much of  a free spirit to waste it on robbery. “Yup! By the way, even though I'm in hiding, Chloe Goldson is still my real name if you're wondering.” Chloe explained. “But, 6 years? How old are you?” Rufus wondered. “I'm 24 years old. And yes, I did try to rob a bank at 18. There were some people at my group who were that age too but I don't know where any of them went. Probably not in Vacuo.” Chloe pointed out. Rufus clicked his fingers after Chloe mentioned she was from Vacuo. Her laid back attitude made sense considering the kingdom she lived in. “I also owe you too. You saved me three times. You protected me twice from the Slouch and then again from that guy.” Chloe said. Rufus smiled at Chloe. “It's fine.” Rufus said. She then walked over towards Rufus. “Maybe I can give you something good?” Chloe asked, tugging the shoulder of her dress. Rufus looked left and right, wondering what Chloe meant. “Have you ever been with a woman before?” Chloe asked. Rufus' entire body became fully pink red. “Uhmm no! But I think I'll fine without it!” Rufus yelped. “Oh, you must have already done it with Audra. No need, I'll show what a real woman can do.” Chloe pointed out as she walked to him slowly. Rufus started to back away, hoping that Akane or Griselda would appear to help him.

“Would you two stop acting like children!” Clancy shouted at the two. Chloe immediately turned back to normal as she looked to Clancy. “What happened?” Chloe asked. Rufus noticed that Clancy had came back, wondering what he has to tell them. “We've found the Model: Summer Rise.” Clancy stated.

Following Clancy, they were taken to the top of the mountain where Blaine was holding the sniper. Rufus looked at the sniper, noticing how amazing it looked. The weapon had a white and green colour scheme with a large sniper scope and a long barrel. The Summer Rise had revolver type chamber despite it being a sniper. “Is this the Model: Summer Rise?” Rufus asked. “That's what we're trying to prove.” Cheyenne said. She then took out pairs of ear muffs and passed to everyone. “Why are you giving us this?” Rufus asked. “You'll see.” Clancy chuckled. Everyone started wearing their ear muffs. Blaine was looking through the scope of the weapon, trying to find any Grimm in the area. He noticed that there was a group of Beowolf passing through a narrow corridor in the forest. Blaine aimed at them and begun to fire. The chamber of the Summer Rise heated up into a yellow form and fired. The sound of the gun was powerfully loud that even with ear muffs, the gun was still loud. Within seconds, the entire Beowolf pack was demolished. Everyone had taken their ear muffs off and looked at the dead pack in shock. “Yo! This gun is awesome!” Blaine shouted. He decided to hold the Model: Summer Rise in his hands. “That is the gun then. Let's search the rest of the lab.” Cheyenne said The Reclaim nodded at their leader and started to head back inside the lab.

At Beacon Academy, Team JORE were in the amphitheatre having trained together. They had finished their training and started to pack up to leave. Emma walked inside, feeling a little hesitant to talk. Eli noticed Emma's behaviour walking, wondering if she was Nila. “Hey Nila!” Eli called out. Nila stopped as Eli saw her. “Oh. Hey.... Eli.” She greeted him slowly. Jorey and Onyx both turned to Nila, realising that she was here now. “Hey Nila!” Jorey and Onyx greeted her happily. She waved towards the two boys instead of actually verbally greeting them. “Uhmm. So, sorry if this is to forward but can I join your next mission to find Rufus? I don't want to seem like I'm just depending on you guys. And Ozpin said it was okay.” Nila asked. “Yeah, it's fine. The more the merrier!” Jorey exclaimed. Rushing into the amphitheatre was Bridgette and Sigvard looking shocked. “Guys! There's a problem!” Bridgette called out. Everyone focused their attention on Bridgette and Sigvard, wondering why they being so noisy. “Eli's brother Johannes is heavily injured!” Sigvard shouted out. Eli looked shocked. “Brother?” Eli wondered.

In Beacon Academy's infirmary, Team JORE were the only one's visiting Johannes. He was on the bed with a few bruises but nothing that looked to fatal. “What happened?” Eli asked worried. “He lost the water in his body and suffered quite a lot of bruises and burn marks. Likely from battle.” The nurse pointed out. Eli looked scared. “Who did this to you?” Eli asked. “The Reclaim did this... They attacked me and so did your friend Rufus.” Johannes pointed out, coughing in between each pause. Jorey and Onyx looked shocked. “Wait what? That isn't right! Rufus would never attack anyone. That's wrong right?” Onyx asked, with a face of disbelief. Johannes shook his head slowly and coughed twice. “No.” Johannes said. Eli gripped his hand tightly. “Guys?” Jorey wondered as Onyx stormed out of the infrimary. Eli turned to Jorey. "He is going to pay for what he's done." Eli said with his eye gleaming. Jorey could tell that Eli was serious from his words. He didn't know what he might do. Jorey decided to chase after Onyx who had left the infirmary. "I will kill him." Eli decided.

Onyx was sitting beside the fountains in the Becon Academy courtyard. There were two girl around him, feeling infatuted with him. "Look! It's Onyx, isn't he so cute?" One of the girls said. "Go away!" Onyx barked. The girls shrieked and ran away from him all giddily. Jorey had reached Onyx and noticed he was brooding by the fountain. "I can't believe that he'd go to their side." Onyx said. "They're the bad guys! He's clearly being manipulated. If we don't rescue him, things will get even worse. He might end up being a proper criminal this time and you don't want your friendship of years to be in vain do you?" Jorey asked Onyx rhetorically. Onyx sighed and smiled at Jorey. "You're right, I guess. We'll just have to stop things from getting bad." Onyx stated.

Chapter 77: The Fallen Five[]

Acheron and Silica were sitting in their airship, currently waiting for Team JORE. Eli was walking towards the airship with a calm but intimidating demeanour. Besides Eli, Emma was running to the airship as she sat down. The two archaeologists looked at the girl confused, wondering why she was here. “Hi, I'm Xanthe Austri, currently hosting the body of Emma Austri! I'm one of Rufus' girlfriends!” Xanthe explained hurriedly. The two became even more confused after hearing Xanth speak, wondering if she was crazy. “She's got multiple personality disorder. This one you're talking to right now is Xanthe, she is one of the four  other personalities Emma has.” Eli clarified. He entered the airship and sat down. Both Silica and Acheron decided to ignore Emma's peculiar problem and thought it would be best to allow her to join their mission. “Where's my son and his orange friend?” Acheron asked. “They'll be here. We got held back by frightening news: The Reclaim are at the location of where the Model: Summer Rise is.” Eli stated. Acheron and Silica were stunned. “What?!” They both exclaimed surprised. Acheron banged his hand down on his control panel. “We predicted where they'd be but not their timing.” Acheron muttered. “Then there's no time to waste. We have to get there now!” Silica called out. Approaching the airship was Jorey and Onyx. The two partners were together as if they've known each other for nine years. “We gotta go quick! The Reclaim is there!” Acheron called out Jorey and Onyx entered.

The airship had taken off and started flying as fast possible towards it's destination. “Question? Why are we still going for the Reclaim now? Wouldn't they have left already if they're already in that area?” Onyx asked. “We don't know if they've got the weapon. So, it is a possibility that they're still searching. We also don't know if they've found his laboratory either. Even if they have, Wolfgang Faustin was a really great engineer, so we can find something interesting, they've done the job for us!” Silica exclaimed. “Come on, Sil. Don't start making us look like we're lazy.” Acheron chimed as he tried to pilot the airship as best as he could. “True. All we know from Johannes is that they're there.” Onyx said. “How did you get that information by the way?” Acheron queried. “Johannes is my older brother. He encountered the Reclaim and was injured from battling them. He likely found it himself. He's skilled in that regard.” Eli answered Acheron. Acheron was wondering why they couldn't just use Johannes to assist them but it doesn't matter now due to his injury. “The Reclaim are sneaky people.” Acheron mused. His scroll then started to vibrate on his chest. Since it was there, Acheron couldn't not reach it and pilot the airship at the same time. Silica had ended up grabbing it from his chest pocket and opened it up. The Beacon Academy students stared at Silica's invasion of personal space. “Breaking news! A shoot-out between the White Fang and Baozhang Industries has taken  place at the Elysium Graveyard. Twelve people have been confirmed to be dead and ten people have been injured. It has been reported that both parties were likely trying to acquire Doom Fury, the weapon of Ryuichi Clan member and Sairyo Ryoshi, Midori Ryuichi.” The reported stated. They all looked surprised whilst Jorey was shocked. “That could have been us. I feel like you saved us, dad.” Jorey blurted. He felt relieved to see that their father's interjection had kept them alive. “No worries.” Acheron added. Everyone still felt quite easy from the fact that there was a shoot-out nearby. “But, the White Fang don't need the weapons. Neither does the Baozhang Industries. Why?” Onyx asked. “To put it simply, both expected Rufus to be there and he wasn't there. Also, trying to stop the other group from meddling in their plans.” Silica explained. “Also, isn't Doom Fury a kickass weapon anyway? Who wouldn't start a shoot-out from that?” Xanthe claimed. They all looked at Xanthe as if she was insane. “I mean, she's not wrong. They get a good weapon to use or sell rather than some random kid.” Eli defended Xanthe.

The airship could see mountains that surrounded Vale but the pronblem was there were Grimm around the area. There was a lack of aerial Grimm which meant that the airship could land at the forest calmly.

Everyone had left the airship and started making their way through the forest and towards the mountains. It seemed that they would likely find any clues from there. “Be careful guys, make sure to watch out for Grimm.” Acheron said as they started walking. “So what are we doing now?” Jorey asked. “We'll be splitting up. Me and Silica will search through the mountains for clues whilst you guys stay in the forest to find clues as well.” Acheron detailed. “Alright that seems okay.” Jorey said. Acheron and Silica started to split away from the four students at Beacon Academy and headed outside the forest and towards the mountain. “Have fun and don't get hurt.” Acheron said as he waved. As he left, the group wondered what they would start with.

Eli had already started looking at the trees, noticing that there were some that were destroyed. “It looks like Grimm must have been here lately. Means that The Reclaim encountered them.” Eli pointed out. The group all looked at the trees and could see this too. “That means we better be on our guard.” Jorey said as he took out Emerald Stagger in it's nodachi form to be ready for any surprise attacks. Emma was also observing some trees as well and could see that there were bullet holes in some of trees that look like they have been that way for ages. “Bullet holes. Rufus would have been able to figure this out.” Emma said, feeling saddened. Onyx patted her on the back as they both share the same feeling of missing Rufus. “Wait guys! There's a crater over here!” Jorey called out. They all looked surprised and started running towards Jorey. As they reached him, they noticed the crater he was looking at. From it, they noticed that there were scraps of metal lying around. “His laboratory is probably already here.” Eli assumed. “Yeah, that's right. We just need to hope my dad and Silica find it.” Jorey replied.

“Drop your weapons!” A female voice called with a sword pointed towards the group. More and more people started to close in on them with their weapons aimed towards Team JORE and Emma too. They looked as if they were ready to fight. The others were wearing outfits in colours of yellow whilst there was one man and one girl who was not wearing those colours. “Damn, we're trapped.” Jorey said. He looked at the people in yellow with their weapons out and were surrounding them. “Baozhang Industries.” Emma noted. She could see their colours and remembered it from their skirmish when they started their second investigation. “We're here for Rufus Sabbia. Anyone of you seen him?” A deep male voice asked. The man was dark skinned and had a high top hair with shades and a trench coat. To the group, he was dressed flashily, wondering who he was. “And they hired mercenaries too!” Jorey exclaimed. Onyx looked angry as they asked for where Rufus was. “Why do you think we're here? We're looking for him!” Onyx shouted as he charged at one the Baozhang gang member. Onyx punched him in the face and knocked him away from them, causing him to slide across the rough ground. Jorey spun around and swung at the person who had their weapon pointed at his back. As he noticed who the female was, Jorey smiled. “Hey beautiful.” Jorey flirted. The girl was Lucretia. She wanted to smile but she grimaced instead after seeing Jorey's face yet again. “You just don't leave me alone, do you?” Lucretia wondered as she looked at him. “Dude, now is not the time to flirt! It's to fight!” Onyx said, dodging a shot from a gang member. He then grabbed the shooter's hand and punched it, propping the gun from his hand. The gang member looked surprised which made them unable to focus at what Onyx was doing. He quickly revealed the claws from Ironmen and punched both the criminals hands which sent them towards each other. Due to the claws, this led to him receiving intense pain. “How much money do these people really want to waste?” Jorey wondered. It looked like they were all ready offended by Rufus' actions and ready to take their revenge upon him.

“I don't care how much money he wastes. As long as I get paid of course.” Lucretia explained as she swung at Jorey with her weapon. However, Jorey managed to block her attacks. Jorey then tried to swing Emerald Stagger at her lower body but she jumped over the attack and tried to lunge at Jorey from her jump. He managed to roll away into the attack but then get knocked flying by a Boarbatusk that entered the area. The Grimm started stomping it's legs and started to roll towards Jorey to attack him. A bolt was then stuck to the Boarbatusk and then exploded. “I'll handle the Grimm.” Eli decided. Jorey got up from the ground and gave a thumb up to Eli, hoping that he deals with the Grimm quickly. “Do it. They're intervention could make things really tricky for us to be able to fight.” Jorey explained. He looked at Lucretia and the two started to charge towards each other. “Ignatius! Handle the green haired girl!” Lucretia yelled. “Got it!” shouted the man in the trench coat. He was holding a baseball bat as rushed to Emma.

Onyx was currently handling the Baozhang gang members on his own. He rushed over to grab one of the members by the collar and then punched his face. Three gang members rushed towards him and attempted to attack him with their swords. However, Onyx activated his semblance and ducked from the first swordsman attack. He turned quickly and sent an uppercut towards the second swordsman who was to his right which sent him in the air. Onyx then kicked the first swordsman into the third swordsman as the second swordsman was falling down. He rapidly punched the second attacker as he fell and turned his attention towards the remaining two. “How dare you mess with us!” shouted the third swordsman. He charged to Onyx and he simply responded by punching his sword. The swordsman had blocked this attack but all it took was the orange haired boy to put more strength into this clash and it overpowered the third man. Onyx added in left hook from Ironmen with the claw attachment which knocked him towards the ground. The force was so powerful that the swordsman bounced. This left the first swordsman who tried to attack him left out of the three men that tried to triple team him. The others saw that Onyx was trying to take all of them on so they began firing their weapons at him. He then rolled away from their attacks and grabbed the swordsman. Onyx was planning to use him as a shield however the Baozhang gang members still shot him. “So you don't care about your own men. People like that make me sick.” Onyx stated with a serious face. He blocked a few of the shots with Ironmen with ease but some shots were hard to dodge had still hit him which pushed him back a little. Onyx retracted the claws from Ironmen and punched a Baozhang member that was wearing a yellow chest plate to protect himself. He noticed that his attack had failed. The armoured man smirked, seeing that Onyx's weapon was ineffective for him. “Let me just punch you harder.” Onyx said. The armoured man smirked more, thinking that Onyx would not be able to do it. Onyx readied his hand backwards then launched his fist into the man's chest. The impact of this punch had completely nullified the armour that was protect him, allowing him to feel the pain as if he was not wearing one. This sent the man flying towards two men who had their weapons aimed at Onyx which resulted in them being knocked down. Then, a large burly man wielding a cleaver had tackled Onyx on the ground. “Get off me!” Onyx yelled. He looked annoyed as he was pinned to the ground. He was trying to escape from him doing this. The man holding the cleaver attempted to suffocate Onyx by ferociously gripping his neck and covering his mouth and nose. Onyx tried to push the man using Ironmen but it wasn't working as he was still pinned down on the floor being crushed. He then gripped his hands to release the claws from his weapon which impaled the large man. This sudden pain surprised the man, sending him off Onyx. The orange haired boy managed to get up from the floor and was prepared to dish out his revenge on this man. However, the man had already risen from the floor. The man with the cleaver swung at Onyx but he jumped over his attack and landed on top of his large weapon. “What?” He wondered. Onyx responded punching him in the face with both fists which caused him to stumble. Seeing that he could fall soon, Onyx jumped off him by kicking him in the face with his boots. The large man ended up slowly falling down on the ground as Onyx walked away to deal with more of the Baozhang gang members.

More Grimm started to enter the area that they were fighting in. There were some Beowolves and Ursa heading towards Onyx. Eli took out the grip from his weapon, showing the knife in it. He used it to stab cut the Beowolves arm and then slice it's entire body off. The Grimm were distracted Eli who was handling a Grimm. Eli put the fore grip back onto his weapon and fired a bolt from Bolzen. The bolt had exploded and killed the Beowolves and Ursai that were coming in that were trying to attack them. Rushing towards him was a Boarbatusk. Eli swayed from it's attack and fired a bolt as it rolled past him. He exploded as he started firing more at different Grimm.

The Grimm entering their fight had given Nila a frightened face. She was trying to concentrate on fighting Ignatius but was found herself scared because of the Grimm. “Baby, you scared of some Grimm?” Ignatius asked her. Nila shook her head but then a small Grimm had passed by her slithering around until she stepped on it after being startled. Ignatius chuckled. “Are you sure?” He asked her, slightly adjusting his shades. “Affirmative... I'm just worried they might disturb me fighting...” Nila replied softly. She didn't really want to fight Ignatius and there wasn't a need for her to do so. However, she knew that they were a danger to Rufus. Ignatius attempted to hit Nila but she managed to block it with Sfär Poäng with ease. Ignatius tried again but Nila still blocked with her spike ball. “With a weapon like that, you should be hitting me. Not playing so defensively.” Ignatius said. He started increase the pace of his attacks, repeatedly tying to hit Nila. However, every time he hit, Nila was able to parry the attack just as fast. Ignatius put more force into his attack to push Nila down. However, Nila did not budge at all. She decided to put more strength into her attack that knocked Ignatius back. She then swung Sfär Poäng at Ignatius. Even though he managed to block it with his weapon's baseball bat, the strength of Nila using Sfär Poäng had knocked him again. “I won't let you harm Rufus...” Nila said as she hit him again which knocked him on the ground.

Jorey and Lucretia continued running towards each other but tried the same tactic. The two of them tried jumping at each other and tried to strike. Jorey when for a shoulder strike with his sword but Lucretia had easily dodged the attack by thinning her body. He noticed how his attack had easily missed the girl. “Is that semblance?” Jorey asked.  “No. It's an ability of my family”. Lucretia claimed. The two had both landed on the floor and Lucretia's body returned to normal. Her weapon then transformed to a revolver and started shooting at Jorey. He then rolled away but was still shot by Lucretia. “There's a revolver in that weapon?” Jorey asked surprised. He didn't think that she had one due to the fact her weapon was a revolver too. “Yes there is.” Lucretia said. Jorey got up from the floor and lunged at her with Emerald Stagger but she dodged. She switched her weapon back to it's sword form and started to attack Jorey with her weapon. Jorey parried her attack and countered by swinging at her with sword three times. These hits had thrown Lucretia off balance which helped him tremendously as he tried to finish her off by slide kicking her. However, the girl managed to easily regain her balance and flipped over the kick. She used the momentum she had to hit Jorey in the head but he easily blocked it. She tried to put more strength into sword to push Jorey down but he added more strength. Realising she'd lose the fight if she continued to resist him, Lucretia backed away. Jorey lunged at Lucretia, however, she swayed away from him and parried the attack. She then responded by ducking under Jorey's hand and standing in front of him. Lucretia smiled as she was close to him and then launched her sword into his chest. This pushed him back in surprise by seeing Lucretia right in front of his face. She low kicked him in the leg as it caused him to fall down. Jorey stretched his sword towards Lucretia. Because of the length of the nodachi, Jorey hit her in the neck which brought her down. She fell down too which ended up being on top of him.

Ignatius was rapidly attacking Nila but she was continuously blocking. “Are you sure you can keep blocking my attacks baby?” Ignatius asked as he continued to hit her. Nila had blocked it with her spike ball then tried to counter, however, Ignatius easily ducked under and hit her in the thighs. This knocked Nila down. Ignatius stood there waiting for Nila stand up. “I hate beating women but I'd like my money.” Ignatius said. She slowly stood up from the floor and decided to use her semblance to extend her arm to hit Ignatius. From the speed of the extension this knocked Ignatius though a Nevermore that tried landing down. “And I.... must save Rufus!” Nila exclaimed. Getting up from the floor, Ignatius looked annoyed. “Oh baby, you're going to regret what you just did.” Ignatius said. He tightened the grip on his baseball bat and it slowly turned to assault rifle. He started to fire at Nila but she blocked the shots with Sfär Poäng. Ignatius switched his weapon into it's baseball bat form and rushed at Nila. He unleashed a fury of strikes towards Nila but she managed to block all of them. Ignatius then jumped up and smacked the baseball bat on top of her head. He then continued his rapid strikes on her which caused Nila to tire easily. “Looks like you're getting tired.” Ignatius said. He had no fatigue as he unleashed an onslaught of hits to her. Nila's aura began to fade away and break. “No aura? Huh, being a huntress must suck.” Ignatius claimed as he used his knee to hit her in the chin which was incredibly powerful that it knocked her unconscious. “I didn't even get to see Rufus...” Nila said in her head.  “No...! I must save Rufus!” Akane yelled in her head. “I have to find Rufus....” Griselda said solemly. “Rufus! Rufus! Rufus!” Xanthe barked. “Rufus...” Emma said.

Lucretia was still fighting Jorey but she looked around them. “That blue haired guy just took down a whole load of Grimm with no sweat? He might join soon. And their tangerine friend already dealt with most of our men. We're out numbered.” Lucretia noticed in her head. She then looked at Ignatius and sheathed her weapon. Jorey looked at her confused. “What are you doing?” Jorey asked. “Ignatius! We're retreating! This is a losing battle. We can't take the two of them!” She called out. Ignatius nodded and put his baseball bat and started running. “Sorry cutie, I'll dance with you later.” Lucretia said as she winked and blew him a kiss. She jumped onto the tree and started retreating by jumping from tree from tree. “Emma!” Jorey and Onyx called out. Jorey rushed towards Emma whilst Onyx tried chasing Lucretia and Ignatius. “Onyx! Don't bother. We aren't here for them.” Eli called out to his team mate. Onyx stopped chasing them and headed towards Jorey. Emma was on the floor: knocked out completely. She was hugging the handle of Sfär Poäng and looked saddened.

Chapter 78: Crumbled[]

The airship was flying again, Team JORE looked panicked as Acheron was trying to bandage Emma. Jorey and Onyx were next to Acheron, trying to help him bandage the girl whilst Eli was sitting down on his seat watching. “Whoever that mercenary was did a lot of damage to your friend here. It looks like suffered a concussion and probably a bit of blood loss. There's no permanent damage from what I can see but I'm not a doctor.” Acheron said as he finished bandaging her. Onyx was frustrated, wondering if she would be alright. “If only I had finished them quicker! Maybe this wouldn't have happened...” Onyx mused as he looked at Emma. “I should have finished my fight quicker.” Jorey lamented. He felt like he didn't take his fight with Lucretia seriously despite their constant attacks at each other.  “There's nothing you can really do now. It's happened. We'll just have to take her to the infirmary at Beacon.” Acheron commented. “Damn that jazzy mercenary. I'll get him for that.” Onyx declared. “Mercenaries are the worst people to come across. Sometimes they'll be on your side then all of a sudden you see them again on the opposite side.” Silica added. “How come?” Jorey asked. “Mercenaries only really work in order to make money. It's never for some good or evil. They don't care as long as they make money.” Silica explained to Jorey. He felt uneasy after Silica had said that. Jorey was wondering if Lucretia was also obsessed with making money to impress someone. “Alright, let's allow the girl to rest.” Acheron said as he stood up and walked to his seat next to Silica. Jorey sat on a seat opposite Eli whilst Onyx took a while to get up. He ended up taking his seat next to Jorey.

“So what's the plan for Doom Fury?” Onyx asked. “I'm not ready for that. I don't really want to fight on a graveyard...” Jorey pointed, feeling spooked out. Onyx looked shocked as Jorey told him where Doom Fury was held. “Wait? A graveyard?! Okay, there is no way I'm fighting there. All kinds of horror takes place there!” Onyx exclaimed. Eli smirked at Jorey and Onyx's reactions to fighting on a graveyard and began to chuckle. “Fighting in a graveyard actually causes that person's soul to haunt you making you their slave for ever.” Eli fabricated. The two looked obviously shocked from Eli's lie, believing it to be real. Acheron sighed at Team JORE's behaviour. “No a ghost won't haunt you. Besides, we aren't going to Elysium Graveyard. If I'm able to contact the Ryuichi clan, I should be able to convince them to transfer the Doom Fury back to Mistral.” Acheron explained. Jorey looked up at his father, wondering what he meant. “Why would the Ryuichi clan listen to some middle class guy like you?” Silica sarcastically asked. “Probably. My half-niece, Yaara, has a Ryuichi on her team at Haven. Might work.” Acheron replied. “Yaara? I feel sorry for the Ryuichi on her team.” Jorey mused in joking manner. “Don't the Reclaim have a hacker on their team? They'll easily find the location that way.” Eli pointed out. “That's the point. It's to bait them into trying to find the weapon. That way, our job is made easy and we can find them.” Acheron clarified to Eli. Jorey clicked his finger at his dad. “That's actually smart.” Jorey said. “Okay, but how are you going to convince a whole clan to listen to you?” Silica asked. “This Ryuichi is apparently the daughter of the clan's leader. Also, they'll likely listen seeing as their family weapon is attempting to be stolen.” Acheron pointed out. Silica too clicked her fingers at Acheron. “Got it. Good idea.” Silica said.

After a while, Emma was transported to Beacon Academy's infirmary. She was on her bed and beside her was Johannes who had less equipment attached to him than he did before. Johannes was awake but was looking at Emma who was clearly injured from that fight. The members of Team WEST stood at the bedside of their fallen team mate, looking at her all solemnly. “Emma...” Sigvard said quietly, tearing up. Trond was comforting his best friend, hugging him to make sure he was alright too. “Don't worry Sigvard. We'll skewer that mercenary that hurt Emma.” Trond promised. Bridgette looked perplexed. “This shouldn't be happening at all.” Bridgette said. The nurse walked over to Team WEST. “So far, Ms.Austri has suffered a serious concussion and a massive blow to her jaw. Her back is bleeding but she'll be fine. For now though, Ms.Austri will be active after a week but she'll have to wear a protective mask.” She explained. Sigvard and Trond both looked at the nurse whilst Bridgette avoided eye contact with her. “Thank you for helping her.” Sigvad said to the doctor.

Bridgette had left the infirmary and saw that Jorey and Onyx were standing outside. She looked around and noticed that Eli wasn't there any more. “Of course Eli is here. He doesn't really care for Emma, does he?” Bridgette commented. Jorey shrugged his shoulders at Bridgette. “What were you expecting him to do? He wasn't going to sit here.” Jorey pointed out. Bridgette sighed and looked at the two of them. “I'm going to have to talk to you two by the way.” Bridgette said. Onyx and Jorey looked at each other and then at Bridgette. “The both of us?” Onyx and Jorey both wondered. “Look... I know you both really want to find Rufus and bring him back. But, you need to realise something about the things you want and how they hurt other people. My own team mate is hurt because of her dedication to finding her own boyfriend. This will seriously effect us and other people who aren't even involved will be hurt too. There was a shoot-out at the Elysium Graveyard and that one of those examples.” Bridgette stated. Onyx clenched his fist whilst Jorey looked confused. “Bridgette, what are you saying?” Jorey asked. “The truth.” Bridgette replied. “So, you think we should stop chasing after Rufus?” Onyx asked her in a serious tone. “He's a part of the Reclaim now. I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't recognised as a criminal. So, yes. Stop going after him.” Bridgette declared. Onyx immediately responded by punching Bridgette in the face. This sent the wisteria haired girl on the ground. “Onyx!” Jorey shouted in surprise. He didn't expect Onyx to punch Bridgette because of their possible relationship. “I expected that.” Bridgette said slowly. “Don't you dare tell me to give up on my friend! It's not your damn place!” Onyx shouted. “I know but still, he's caused a lot of damage.” Bridgette continued. Onyx readied his fist again but Jorey grabbed Onyx's fist to prevent him from trying to attack Bridgette. “Let me at her! She's acting as if Rufus is the problem! She's trying to make be abandon my best friend!” Onyx shouted. Jorey was struggling to handle Onyx. “You don't have to resort to punching my best friend then!” Jorey called out. Bridgette slowly got up from the floor and looked saddened. “I just don't want you guys killing yourselves over this. The Kingdom already has enough problems, we don't need more.” Bridgette said. Jorey looked back at Bridgette as he tried handling Onyx. “I'm willing to sacrifice myself for Rufus. He's a friend and he's been kidnapped by some jerks who thought they'd make something out of him. He hasn't done anything to deserve this. Everything that's happened was because he was trying to make things right but couldn't because he was scared. Like you said, Emma wanted to rescue him because she loves him. And that's what love is. It doesn't matter what you think but we'll save Rufus no matter what.” Jorey spoke. “What about the other people who get hurt?” Bridgette asked. “Hunters protect people first. And that's what we'll do.” Jorey told Bridgette. She sighed and smiled at Jorey. “Looks like I'll never get through to you. I guess you are right. I'm sorry, Onyx for making you angry.” Bridgette apologised. Jorey released Onyx, hoping he wouldn't attack her. He looked to ground. “Yeah. I'm sorry for overreacting.”  Onyx said. Bridgette then hugged Onyx. Jorey averted his eyes slightly, feeling jealous still.

In Team JORE's dorm, Eli was pacing around the room with his scroll. “Master, he's just impossible to find! We barely make it to them.” Eli complained. “That's not my problem. My problem is when you don't complete your assignment at the allotted time.” A distorted voice replied. “Could you at least send some spies to help out?” Eli asked. “And waste spies? No. You are on your own. Stop making excuses Leictreach.” The voice insisted harshly. “Master, please. I've been doing good work, I'm going to need help.” Eli said. “Exactly, so someone as good as you should have no problem.” The voice pointed out. “But I can't do this so easily.” Eli appealed. “Then, clearly you don't deserve to be in my organisation. Do you want to die?” The voice asked. Eli stopped moving around the room. “No.” Eli said in a straight voice.  “Good. If you fail to complete the task, you'll be removed from the organisation. Understood?” The voice explained. Eli had a face of shock as he walked towards the window and looked to the sky. “Yes.” Eli said.

Chapter 79: The Extent of Jealousy[]

In the Reclaim's hideout, Audra was looking at the Model: Summer Rise in amazement whilst Blaine had held it out in front of her. “This weapon looks really amazing.” Audra admired. She had a sense of relief and satisfaction from seeing the weapon. “I know right! I can't believe we're almost completed with our goal in Vale.” Blaine said. “Me too...” said Chloe, Rufus and Clancy all passed out on the floor.

“Blaine, could you leave the weapon in the storage holder please?” Cheyenne asked. She was busy searching in the fridge. When she was done, she had pulled out a large soda bottle. Blaine had left to go store the weapon. Cheyenne headed towards the counter at the bar in their hideout and placed the bottle down next to a bottle of wine. She then took out seven glass cups from the cupboard and placed them on the counter. Cheyenne started to pour wine in three cups and then put it down. Grabbing the soda bottle, she poured it in the the remaining five cups. Afterwards, Blaine had came back from storing the Model: Summer Rise. “Everyone, come get your drinks.” Cheyenne said.

Everyone had walked over towards Cheyenne who had drinks set up for everyone. Cheyenne had a bright smile on her face as she handed everyone their drinks. “Thanks for your efforts for helping me with my goal to stop the bloodshed over weapons and keeping them from falling into the wrong hands.” Cheyenne stated. Blaine looked at Cheyenne. “How come I got the soda and not the wine?” Blaine asked. “Yeah. We're all adults practically.” Audra complained. “Sure, but you're not responsible enough. I don't want you to start going overboard with the wine and end up drunk before our next mission.” Cheyenne explained. “You let Chloe have wine!” Blaine pointed out. Chloe appeared next to Blaine with the wine in her cup as she took a large sip of it. “I won't be in the next mission anyway!” Chloe beamed as she stuck her tongue out at him.  Blaine was gradually getting irritated with Chloe. Rufus took a sip from his soda, finding the flavour nice. “It's cola. That's always good!” Rufus beamed, trying to encourage them to drink. Audra quickly took a sup from her drink whilst, Blaine sighed in defeat. He too took a sip from his drink. Cheyenne passed Rufus another cup. The brown haired boy looked at her confused. “Uhmm?” Rufus asked. “This is for Glaucus. Check if he is okay.” Cheyenne said, smiling at the boy. Clancy violently hissed at Rufus which almost shook him.

Walking towards Glaucus room, Rufus sighed. He was hoping that Glaucus would be in a good condition for their next mission. Opening the door, Rufus saw Glaucus, bare chested, punching a punching bag repeatedly in a boxing stance. “He recovered really quickly!” Rufus noticed mentally. He wondered how good Glaucus was at recovery. Realising that Glaucus hasn't noticed him yet, Rufus knocked on his door. Glaucus paused his training and turned to Rufus. “Hello Rufus.” Glaucus greeted him with his serious voice. Rufus felt intimidated by the sheer domineering tone of his voice. “Oh hi Glaucus! Cheyenne asked me to give you your drink!” Rufus called out. Glaucus sat on his bed side as Rufus passed him his wine. “It's wine.” Rufus stated. Glaucus looked at the wine's purple colour before take a small sip of the drink. “This is my old teachers favourite wine.” Glaucus said, chuckling a little bit. Rufus eyes widened. He had never seen Glaucus chuckle before. “Old teacher?” Rufus wondered. “Yup. I was trained by him along with another student he had. He always liked this wine.” Glaucus answered. Rufus noticed that this old teacher of Glaucus had likely passed away and was someone dear to him. Glaucus took another sip. “Sadly, he sacrificed himself for another student from Grimm. It was a noble sacrifice but the other student has deluded himself to thinking that it was the master's fault. So, I took his family's prized possession.” Glaucus continued, pointing to his axe. Rufus felt absolutely stunned from the information Glaucus gave him. “Was the student... Marcin Berg?” Rufus wondered. He remembered Marcin helping them with Gary Panner immensely. Glaucus didn't speak. He only nodded and took a large sip from his wine. “I knew he looked like he was always angry but darn that makes sense.” Rufus mused. He decided to leave Glaucus alone and closed the door for him, finishing his cola.

After a while, everyone had finished their drinks. Chloe was sitting with Blaine and Audra watching Clancy play guitar. Rufus started bobbing his to Clancy playing music. The song Clancy was playing had a soft melodic and upbeat feel to it. Cheyenne noticed Rufus leaving Glaucus' room. “Rufus. We're going to be doing some more training today. It's going to be a balance training.” Cheyenne called out to him. Rufus sighed. “More training?” Rufus complained. Cheyenne nodded at Rufus. “It'll be necessary for when we get to Vacuo.” Cheyenne explained. Seeing his mother speak to Rufus, Clancy struck a unharmonious note. He dropped his guitar and walked over to his mother and Rufus. “What training?” Clancy asked. “Rufus is to be doing some balance training.” Cheyenne explained. Clancy glared at Rufus. “Why him? You should be training me!” Clancy exclaimed. “Your balance doesn't matter. We're training Rufus because he has the most potential out of all of us.” Cheyenne said. Clancy placed his hand on his chest in shock after hearing what his mother said.

Cheyenne and Rufus began their training. Rufus was standing on the end of a long thin platform. “So, this is balance training.” Rufus mused. “Yes. Imagine as if you're trying to cross a small wooden bridge or a walking across rooftops.” Cheyenne suggested. Rufus look frightened with the imagery Cheyenne gave him. “That's not really good imagery! That's kinda scary!” Rufus exclaimed in fright. Cheyenne chuckled at Rufus. “It's fine. Just get to the other side.” Cheyenne told him. Rufus nodded slowly. “Just... get to the... other..... side.” Rufus replied as he slowly started to slide his feet across the platform. He faltered a little at the begin but managed to regain balance easily. “Use your other foot more.” Cheyenne instructed him as she held his shoulder to keep him steady. Using her help, Rufus managed to put his right foot in front to allow him to make it faster. He decided to actually walk by using both feet instead of dragging his foot across. Cheyenne stopped holding him and this sudden change within his weight nearly made him fall. However, he managed to recover by putting his foot on the other side of the platform. Rufus had made his way to the other side of the platform. “I did it!” Rufus beamed as he stretched his hands up in the air. He then suddenly dropped off from the platform. “You aren't done yet. Go at it again.” Cheyenne ordered. Rufus sighed as went back on the platform, prepared to go at the platform again.

A few minutes later, Rufus had walked across the platform four times. It was now his final time. At this point, Rufus was able to walk across the platform with no trouble. Suddenly, Rufus threw his katana at him which made him jump in the air. Clancy had started laughing, thinking that Rufus had jumped of the platform. He then landed on top of the platform, slightly toppling on the right side of the platform. “I did not see that coming. You almost killed me!” Rufus shouted. Clancy's eyes had came out of his socket in surprise of seeing how Rufus managed to land on the platform. “Look, you're still on the platform. So, you're fine.” Cheyenne pointed out. Rufus looked at the ground and noticed he was still on the platform. “Whoa! That's so cool. I think I've just gotten used to the platform that I got good at it.” Rufus noted. “Yes. The training isn't exactly perfect but it is a good and cheap way to settle out how to train your balance.” Cheyenne explained. “Yes, but it is a really good way of training.” Rufus complimented. Clancy growled at Rufus for complementing his mother's training. Rufus shrieked from Clancy's roar, causing him to jump off. “Clancy? Come here please.” Cheyenne asked. Clancy, being a good son, walked over towards his mother. “Yes, mum?” Clancy asked. “Do not distract Rufus from his training.” Cheyenne ordered in a harsh tone. “But-!” Clancy tried to protest. “Do you want us to fail and get arrested? Or even worse die?” Cheyenne asked rhetorically.  Clancy became silent. “No...” Clancy muttered. “Then, don't disturb him.” Cheyenne berated. Clancy nodded at his mother and moved away from the two. He sat on the floor and watched them as he curled his feet into a ball.

Cheyenne walked over to grab the katana and passed it to Rufus. He took the katana and looked confused. “What's going on?” Rufus asked. Cheyenne pulled out her weapon in it's spear form. “We're going to be fighting.” Cheyenne explained. Rufus looked shocked. “Fighting?” Rufus asked. Cheyenne nodded at Rufus. “Yes.” She said. Slowly, Rufus unsheathed the katana. Cheyenne to a fencing pose with the spear pointed at Rufus. “I'll only make my way to you at a slow pace to let you fight and help you balance at the same time.” Cheyenne said as moved towards him. “Okay...” Rufus mused. She lunged at Rufus with slow strike but he managed to dodge the attack with slight ease. Rufus manage to keep his feet on the platform, making him feel at ease. Cheyenne tried to attack Rufus again but he had parried the attack with the side of the katana. “Okay, I'll try to increase the pace.” Cheyenne stated. “Wait, what?” Rufus wondered. Cheyenne then started to push Rufus back rapidly with rapid strikes with her spear. Rufus had responded by meeting every strike she threw at him but was struggling to balance on the platform. She had pushed the boy back. Cheyenne continued to do this until Rufus reached the edge. She then lunged at Rufus on the platform which Rufus tried to block but the strength of the attack had pushed him off the edge. He ended up sitting on the floor as Cheyenne had her staff pointed at him. “That's good. I'll be going to  store. You should be able to fight with someone else now.” Cheyenne told Rufus. He was perplexed. “But, I lost to you. That means more training, right?” Rufus asked. “Yes, but you did manage to do well blocking my attacks. You lost because I was far more skilled at fighting. Your balance is good.” Cheyenne explained. “Mum! Can I come with you to the store?” Clancy asked, wanting to spend time with his mother. Cheyenne shook her head at her son. “No. I want you to help Rufus with his balance training.” She said with a stern voice. “Oh.. okay.” Clancy said disappointed looking down. She then started grabbing her stuff to leave. “Alright, I'm leaving to go buy ammunition and food!” Cheyenne called out as she left.

Clancy turned around in Rufus' direction and looked at him with pure malice. “You!” Clancy shouted. Rufus looked scared from Clancy's tone of voice. “Yes?!” Rufus exclaimed. “Don't you mock me!” Clancy shouted as he rushed at Rufus. He then tackled the boy onto the ground and began to immediately pummel him with his fists. “This group would be better if you were dead!” Clancy shouted with an aggravated tone of voice. Rufus felt pained as Clancy was attacking him. He knew that Clancy was jealous because of how his mother spent time with him instead of Clancy but he hated the fact he took it out on him. Rufus squirmed as he had no way to get Clancy off him. Swiftly, Clancy was grabbed by a green rope and pulled away from Rufus. The rope was from Chloe's semblance. She was holding her drink as she had the rope in her hand. “Don't screw up his training. If you're not going to behave don't bother training him, I will. If you want to impress your mother maybe let her see that your taking this training seriously and actually being a member of our teams.” Chloe lectured him. Clancy look frustrated but he felt like Chloe was right. Chloe's rope had dissappeared and Clancy had risen from the floor. The red haired boy walked over to Rufus and stretched out his hand to him. Rufus grabbed his hand Clancy picked him up from the floor. “Fine. I'll help you train.” Clancy said as he averted eye contact from Rufus. The brown haired boy smiled, seeing that Clancy was trying to be friendly with him. “Then, let's get better together.” Rufus said, shaking his head. Clancy gritted his teeth from Rufus' words. He could tell from Clancy's reaction that he didn't like what he said.

Blaine and Audra both sighed, seeing that situation had resolved itself. “This guy is going to be the death of us.” Blaine joked. Audra chuckled at Blaine's joke. “That is true. I think I'd rather be arrested at this point.” Audra said. Blaine nodded with Audra in agreement. “You said it.” Blaine said as he was on his laptop.

Hours later, Cheyenne had returned back to the hideout with bags of food and dust ammo. She then dropped the bags of food behind the counter and walked over towards the storage room to store the the dust. “Looks like Rufus' has done some training with Clancy.” Cheyenne noticed as she saw Rufus still walking on the platform fighting Clancy. Rufus and Clancy both looked tired as they stood on the platform. Cheyenne walked up towards the two of them. “You two can stop now. You're exhausted so it's best you get some rest.” Cheyenne recommended. Rufus started to sigh loudly, feeling relieved. He got off from the platform. “Good job son. Thanks for helping him with his training.” Cheyenne noted. Clancy gave his mother a smile, almost as if he was a child. “No worries mum!” Clancy beamed.

“Ms. Reed! You need to see this!” Audra called out. Cheyenne rushed over to Audra who was gesturing her towards Blaine's laptop. “What is it?” Cheyenne asked. “I just found out that there was a shoot-out at Elysium Graveyards between the White Fang and the Baozhang Industries.” Blaine answered. Rufus was surprised. It looked like Cheyenne was right that her plan to go for the Model: Summer Rise had worked. “Where from?” Cheyenne asked, looking at his screen. “I transcribed a call from one of the phone calls between a Ryuichi clan member. It looks like they've scheduled to transfer the Doom Fury from Elysium Graveyards to Mistral.” Blaine explained. “Isn't that bad?” Rufus asked. Cheyenne shook her her head. “No. It means we don't have to deal with the White Fang. Though, the Ryuichi clan is a problem because everyone in that family can fight.” Cheyenne answered. “Where is it being transferred?” Rufus wondered. “It'll be going pass Forever Falls.” Blaine pointed out. “Okay, that's good. We're close by to Forever Falls so catching the train there won't be hard.” Cheyenne said. Rufus' eyebrows had lifted upwards in shock. “Are we going to invade on a train?!” Rufus asked loudly. “Yup!” Blaine beamed. “That means I'm going...” Rufus said sighing as he slowly fell down on the floor. “You'll be going with me, Glaucus and Audra.” Cheyenne informed him. Rufus felt relieved to see that Glaucus and and Cheyenne were going with him. “Alright, I have really strong people with me!” Rufus called out. Audra had slowly blushed, thinking that Rufus had called him strong. “Now, rest up, we have an important day.” Cheyenne stated. Audra and Rufus nodded at Cheyenne and had headed to their room to rest.

It was now an early morning in Forever Falls. The blood red forest was full of vegetation and plant life around whilst the sun was shinning brightly. A train was passing through the forest with quick speed. On top of it was Glaucus, Audra and Rufus. Also on top of the train was a man and woman looking at the three with their weapons out. One of them was holding two  small spike balls meanwhile the other was wielding a tonfa. “We knew you invaders would be here.” The man said. “You dare disrespect our family?” He asked. Glaucus drew out Aleski's Axe and brandished it in front of the Ryuichi clan members. “He's already disrespected one. He can do two.” Audra claimed. Glaucus and the two guards had rushed at each other. Noticing how slow Glaucus was, they nodded at each other and the man who was holding the two spike balls jumped over Glaucus with ease. He then rushed over to Rufus with his weapon ready to attack him. However, Rufus unsheathed his katana, ready to protect himself. The man swung at Rufus but he parried the attack with The Ninja's Katana. He then countered his attack by lunging the sword at his hip. Rufus added more by hitting him on the hip one more with a side attack which sent him off the train. The woman watched as her family member was kicked of the train. “No!” She yelped. She then looked at Glaucus with anger. “Get out of my way! I have a score to settle with that brown haired boy!” She shouted. Glaucus moved in closer towards her, not allowing her to pass at all. “Doesn't matter! The police will be after you at one checkpoint!” She shouted. She attempted to jump over Glaucus but he swung at her with his axe with incredible force. She was sent flying off the train and into an airship.

Far away, Team JORE and the River Spark Archaeology were waiting for the train with the police. Around the area was lots of short buildings and the ground was filled with stone. Onyx was looking at the train longingly. “Today is the day that I could be reunited with Rufus.” Onyx thought to himself. Jorey put his hand on Onyx's shoulder as he smiled at him. Onyx smiled back at Jorey. Suddenly, there was the sound of gun fire. Team JORE immediately drew out their weapons and looked around them. It was the Baozhang Industries. On the rooftop there was someone with a rocket launcher. Onyx noticed this and decided to duck away. “Rocket launcher in bound! Everyone get to cover!” Acheron yelled. Everyone who was fearing for their life started to run away from the rocket launcher. The rocket launcher fired straight at Acheron. “Dad! No!” Jorey called out, fearing for his father's life.

Chapter 80: On the Rail[]

The rocket had exploded and caused large smoke to erupt. “Dad!” Jorey cried out, looking at the smoke. The man who fired the rocket launcher was smiling as he held his weapon on his shoulder. However, this didn't stop the gunfire. The police continued to shoot at the gang members whilst there was one of the radio. “Calling for back up near Forever Falls!” The officer had called out. Onyx started to engage in a fight with the gang members along with Silica. Two of them started firing their pistols at Onyx but he blocked the attacks with his fist using Ironmen. Silica helped Onyx by shooting one down with her shotgun. The other shooter was taken aback by his ally being taken out. Quickly, he was punched towards the ground by Onyx who saw that he was distracted.

The smoke started to clear and Jorey looked at the smoke to see if his father was injured. “You didn't have to go and hurt yourself!” Jorey called out. Acheron became visible again for Jorey to see. The man was standing still with his arms out and his blue aura shinning. He was fine with no visible bruises or scratches on him. Jorey was immediately happy to see that his dad was fine and he was even impressed at how he managed to survive a direct hit from a rocket launcher. “How did you do that?” Jorey asked. “It's my semblance. I can take as many hit as possible.” Acheron explained. Jorey was surprised: he never knew his father had a semblance like that. “Wow dad!” Jorey said as he went to go hug him.

All the Baozhang gang members looked perplexed as they saw that Acheron suffered no injuries or any visible damage to him. The man who was holding the rocket launcher prepared to fire at him again whilst Jorey was hugging him. However, in his face was Bolzen. Eli was standing next to him with his weapon in face. “Don't you dare.” Eli said with eye gleaming. The rocket launcher wielder was scared and stopped aiming at Jorey and Acheron and began to jitter as he looked at Eli. “Get away from him!” shouted another gang member. Eli looked behind him and noticed he had a shotgun pointed towards his own back. He chuckled at the man which made him feel uneasy. Eli fired Bolzen at the cheek of the rocket launcher wielder then swept the feet of the man behind him which caused him to fall down. Eli then jumped up and kicked the rocket launcher wielder towards his ally. The bolt exploded and caused two of them to be taken out together.

Eli aimed Bolzen towards another short rooftop and noticed that there were some of the criminals sitting there with snipers. He fired his weapon at them and detonated it. The explosion it cause was massive, causing all of them be sent flying off the top of the building with ease. He was then rushed by three men who where holding swords. Eli rushed straight towards them with a smile on his face. His right eye was gleaming a bright blue colour, almost appearing demon like. This had intimidated one of the gang members which had slowed down his speed. Eli charged at one of the members who attempted to attack him but he was too fast. Eli had pushed the member away from him. He then punched the other member in the gun and fired a bolt onto his shirt and kicked him away from himself. Eli slowly started to walk away as the man stumbled from Eli's kick, sending him towards the edge of the rooftop. The man had then started to fall of the rooftop and Eli detonated the bolt. Because of this more of the gang members were blown away by the explosion of Bolzen.

Back on the train, Cheyenne was running inside the train. On the floor were the unconscious members of the Ryuichi clan and various guards trying to protect them. Cheyenne had her spear out and was prepared to fight anyone in her way. As she passed into one cart in to the next, there were guards waiting for her with their weapons out. Cheyenne hurled herself forwards into the guards with her weapon to lunge towards them. In one strike, three of them were taken out and were thrown onto the floor. She then swung her spear towards the left to push one of the Ryuicihi clan members away from her. It was it at this point, three of guards started shooting at Cheyenne at the other side of the train cart. She then ducked under a small cart that was beside her. Suddenly, part of the cart's roof became exposed by a heavy punch. The three gunmen looked up in confusion and stopped firing at Cheyenne. Seeing that they were distracted, Cheyenne pushed the cart towards them which ended up knocking one of them over. Dropping down from the hole was Glaucus and Audra. Glaucus slammed his axe into the gunmen on the left of the train cart which took him out. The other one tried to reload his weapon but Audra started shooting at him repeatedly which knocked him out. “Boss, are you okay?” Audra asked her. Cheyenne nodded. Rufus, who was still on the top of the roof, was looking inside. Seeing that it was safe, he dropped into the train cart. “How are we going to find Doom Fury in this train?” Rufus asked as he looked around. He noticed that it wouldn't take much for them to search every cart easily. “Simple, we look for the place that has the most opposition.” Cheyenne replied. Rufus understood what she meant. The Doom Fury would have be the place where they'd face more opposition because the Ryuichi Clan would try their best to protect the weapon. Glaucus turned to Cheyenne as he sheathed his axe. “We don't have much time. They have police waiting nearby as back up waiting for us.” Glaucus informed. Cheyenne leaned against the wall of the train, trying to come of with a plan. “Alright. Me and Rufus will head back to the front of the train. You guys head to the back. I'll try to make sure the train keeps going and try to get a hold of Chloe to pick us up.” Cheyenne conjured. The Reclaim nodded at Cheyenne, understanding her plan fully.

As Glaucus and Audra ran into the previous cart Cheyenne came from, they noticed that some of the Ryuichi clan members were regaining their conciousness. Audra put her weapon back into it's bladed form as she charged straight into one of them which knocked them back into a wall. Glaucus then pushed aside one of the members from getting his way and hit another away with his axe. The two entered in the next cart and noticed there were more guards in the train than usual.

Rufus and Cheyenne were rushing towards the front of the train and the amount of guards inside were numerous. One of them trying charging at Rufus with their sword but was shot down by Cheyenne using the assault rifle form of her weapon to take them down. As they got closer towards the guards, her weapon transformed back into a spear. Some of the guards saw that the invaders were getting closer and proceeded to run at the two of them. There was one who was holding a club who was ready to attack Rufus. However, Rufus didn't allow him to try attack him as he fired four shots from Baozhang Revolver. This pushed the man away and managed to cause significant damage that it started to chip away at his aura. He then put the revolver back in it's holster and drew out the katana instead. A Ryuichi clan member, wielding a katana as well, started to charge at Rufus too. “You will not get your hands on our family possession you thief!” She shouted as tried to attack Rufus. He managed to parry her attack with ease. Rufus was about to unleash a counter attack to push her away from him but she instead barged him with her sword. He instead lunged at her but she easily dodged it. “How dare you fight me with your stolen goods!” She roared. The woman attempted to knee Rufus but he dodged it out of fear of being hit. Rufus then drew out the Baozhang Revolver and started to shoot her to get her away from him. This had worked. It knocked the woman back away from Rufus and finding it hard to move from the damage the weapon is doing after the bullet had hit her. About to fire another shot, Cheyenne had lunged her staff straight into the woman's stomach which had easily broken her aura, knocking her out. “Don't waste time. Let's go.” Cheyenne said to Rufus.

As the two entered the next car, they noticed that there was a man with a grenade launcher aimed straight at them. “I wanted real invaders and all I get is a mom and her son? Damn, I'm just going to have to rip you all to shreds!” He claimed as he started firing grenades. Rufus shrieked as he started firing and tried jumping over the grenades to avoid being hit. He then used his semblance to cast a bubble to shield himself.  The man continued to launch grenades at the shield until he realised it didn't work. “No use wasting ammo on that.” He stated. Cheyenne ran straight for the man with her spear ready to attack him. Seeing Cheyenne open, the man started firing at her. This gave Rufus the chance to come out of his shield and run at the man as he focused on Cheyenne. She was able to continuously dodge his grenades with ease. Cheyenne then leapt towards the man and kicked him in the face which caused him to launch off the floor. This gave Rufus the chance to take out his katana and strike him while he is in the air. As he passed him, Rufus sheathed the Ninja's katana and watched as the man fell down, defeated by the duo. “Good work Rufus.” Cheyenne complimented. “Thank you, ma'am.” Rufus replied. “Now time to stop this train.” Cheyenne said. She opened the door and headed into the the operating cart of the train. Before opening the door, she transformed her weapon into it's assault rifle form and started shooting at the two in the drivers seat of the train. The two fell down onto the floor s Cheyenne put her weapon back and sighed. “It looks like the train will be moving for a while. We'll have to regroup with the others. But for now, I'm contacting Chloe.”  Cheyenne said as leaned against the wall of the train. She opened up her scroll and started to contact Chloe.

Audra was busy in one of the train carts and had just bashed a person's face into a pole. “That's the last of this cart.” Audra noted. Glaucus was busy looking through the window of the cart and noticed that there was loads of Ryuichi Clan members inside the next cart. “Looks like that's where Midori Ryuichi's Doom Fury is held.” Glaucus pointed out. Audra looked at the window too also noticing there was that many of them in one cart. “How are we going to get through all of that?” Audra asked. “We'll make the situation uncomfortable for them but good for us.” Glaucus explained. He opened the cart of the door and Audra nodded but was still confused by what he meant. As they passed into this next cart, all the Ryuichi members turned their attention to Glaucus and Audra. The guards started firing their guns at them and it was at this point Glaucus planted his hands on the floor. This caused the floor to suddenly become slippery which made the aim of the guards wonky, making them miss shots. It was at this point that Audra started shooting at the guards. The Ryuichi Clan looked angry as they were finding it hard to make it across the Glaucus. Some of them even started jumping on the chairs to try and reach Glaucus. However, the bear faunus was shooting at them which stopped them from proceeding. Audra looked up and saw the light and noticed that this cart had no windows. She then started shooting at the light sources to make sure there was no light in the cart. “Bingo.” She muttered. The cart became dim but still enough for everyone else to see with ease. One of the clan members saw Audra and threw a grenade towards her. She then kicked the grenade away from her and sent it back to the sender. The grenade had exploded and caused a lot of smoke to erupt inside the cart. This made it hard for Glaucus to see any of the Ryuichi clan or any guards. Although, Audra was able to see easily due to her being a faunus. She put her weapon together to form the bladed form. She used this chance to rapidly strike one of the guards and punch him onto the floor. Changing up her target, Audra hit one of the Ryuichi clan members in the neck with the blade which knocked them upwards and banging their head on the ceiling of the train. She then rushed at three of the clan members with her weapon and kicked them because they were unable to see through the smoke and then she charged into another with semblance. This pushed the two away from her. The last one was outside the smoke so she split her weapon and started shooting him as he watched two of his clan members be thrown from the smoke. She then punched the man in the face which caused him to fall backwards.

The two put their weapons back and saw that there was no opposition in the cart left. Remaining in the train was a large safe on the side of the train. Audra and Glaucus walked towards it and looked at it. “You think this is where Doom Fury is?” Audra asked. “We'll find out.” Glaucus said planting his fist on the top the safe. The armoured man did it with such sheer force that it dented the safe and opened the safe door. As it opened, there was a light machine gun with lots of bullets strapped to the door. The gun itself was mainly green and nearly had the look of a shark. Audra lifted up the weapon and noticed how heavy it was. “Hopefully, they've called Chloe.” Audra told Glaucus. Outside of the car, the two could hear gunshots coming from the other two final carts. “What's going on?” Glaucus wondered. He opened the carts door to look in the window and realised that there was White Fang inside the train. “Glaucus? What's happening?” She asked. “White Fang.” Glaucus answered. He sighed and took out his axe. He knew that they weren't going to have an easy escape but he was unsure of it made it easy for them.

The train was starting to make it way where Team JORE, River Spark Archaeology and the police where. Jorey, having taken out a Baozhang gang member down, he noticed the train was coming. “The train is here!” Jorey called out. Nearly everyone had stopped fighting the Baozhang gang but realised something else. “It should be stopping! Why isn't it stopping?!” Silica called out. As they looked at the train, they noticed there was lots of smoke coming from a cart and they could also see members dressed in black and red from afar on top of the train and entering. “The White Fang are on the train!” Jorey called out. From the moment he heard the White Fang, Onyx started chasing the train that was coming their way fast. “Onyx!” Jorey called out again as he ran. “Go after him Jorey! You too Silica, get on the train!” Acheron ordered. “Aren't you coming?” Silica asked. “I'll be with Eli!” Acheron explained. Silica nodded as she continued running to the train. Both Jorey and Silica chased after the train too and headed in front of the train's path. However, there were still a lot of members from the Baozhang gang. Seeing that the train was there, they all started running after it. “Get our bosses weapon back!” One of the called, chasing after the train. However, some of them were thrown off by a sudden explosion by Eli's weapon Bolzen.

As Onyx, Jorey and Silica saw that the train was getting closer, they all jumped into the air allowing the train to pass and not hit them. They then landed on top of the front car of the train. “We just made it on the train. Let's get inside and search for the Reclaim and make sure to deal with the White Fang.” Silica ordered. Jorey and Onyx both nodded at Silica. Jorey opened the hatch on the roof of the first cart and jumped down. Silica then jumped down from the hatch and then Onyx. As they all looked at them, they were shocked to see the defeated drivers. “That's why the train never stopped.” Jorey pointed out. Silica sighed. “Looks like they must have figured out the boss's plan.” Silica realised. “Or one of the guards or that clan told them out of spite expecting us to do their job for them.” Onyx commented. He chuckled thinking that Ryuichi clan were weak. “That is our job besides, no one could have predicted that the Baozhang gang would be keeping us busy.” Jorey argued, seeing as Onyx was getting arrogant.  “Doesn't matter now. They aren't here so next car.” Silica ordered the two of them.

As they moved in the next car, they noticed that it was empty and could see the defeated guards and members of the Ryuichi clan. “Those guys really tore this place apart.” Onyx commented as he looked around. He wondered if Rufus was actually here with them if so he would be reunited with his friend again. “You could say that again.” Silica mused as she saw a lot of the damage on the train. Seats were ripped and there were weapons and drinks scattered all over the floor with broken glass from the train windows. “As much as I wanna help the Ryuichi Clan, we have to put a stop to the Reclaim's menace and they aren't here so let's move to the next car.” Jorey suggested. Jorey had then walked towards the car door and was about to open so that they could proceed towards the next car to find Rufus. However, charging with guns blazing where the White Fang who started getting numerous. Onyx and Silica both took battle stances seeing the White Fang enter the car. “Get away from him!” Onyx shouted furiously as he rushed over to help Jorey. One of the White Fang members had their weapon pointed to Jorey and as soon as they heard Onyx's voice he turned his attention to him. The member had attempted to shoot Onyx but he had punched the gun out of his hand which caused it to fly out in the air. Onyx then repeatedly punched the man to protect Jorey. Seeing that Onyx was protecting him, Jorey took out Emerald Stagger and began to face off the White Fang. Two of them tried to attack Jorey but he dodged both their attacks by leaning back, their swords narrowly missing him. As he raised his body up, Jorey then replied with two sword swings with his nodachi which knocked one out and then he lunged at the one which knocked him into a wall which hurt his head. Silica, using Quartz in her pickaxe form, knocked a weapon out of one White Fang members hand. They attempted to grab their weapon by trying to run away from Silica but then her pickaxe had extended, chasing the person trying to flee. She then pulled the grappling hook of her weapon to drag them back to prevent them from using their weapon. Releasing the grip from the grappling hook, Silica then hit the person on the floor which stopped them from being able to move at all.

Coming from outside the train, there was a loud engine sound that was hovering around the train. “Is that an airship?” Jorey asked. “The Reclaim are likely trying to escape! We need to stop them! Forget about the White Fang!” Silica shouted. “But we need to protect the Ryuichi Clan! They're in danger!” Jorey pointed out worriedly. He didn't want the White Fang to harm any of them just because they were human. “I'll go then! I'm the one who's trying to get Rufus back.” Onyx decided. Jorey and Silica both nodded at Onyx, giving him to go-ahead to try and get Rufus before the Reclaim can escape. Getting up from the floor, Onyx started running from train car to train car.

Cheyenne and Rufus were running too but the White Fang were chasing them. Rufus had his katana drawn as he was stopped by a White Fang member. He rushed straight to Rufus and rapidly started trying to attack him out of desperation but he managed to block his strikes. “This guy is out of it. He's not focused at all that he's really easy to beat. Is the White Fang desperate for me?” Rufus pondered. The man tried to strike Rufus but he parried the attack upwards causing the White Fang member to be knocked back. Rufus used this chance to lunge him to knock him back more. He then struck the man at the chest three times in rapid succession to cause him to fall down. However, more White Fang members started to gang up on Rufus but then Cheyenne started firing her gun at all of them, taking them out with ease. “Thanks boss!” Rufus said happily. “No worries.” Cheyenne said. She also started to hear the dark sound of a engine, believing that Chloe had brought the airship. “She's here. Let's start making our way out now!” Cheyenne instructed. Rufus nodded with her in agreement and the two of them started running in the next car. Inside, they noticed that some of the Ryuichi clan members they had defeated started waking up and fighting the White Fang. The two of them didn't want to get involved so they started to run past the fight. One of the White Fang members noticed Rufus and started firing his shotgun at him but he managed to jump on top of a char and then kick the shooter in the face in order to protect himself. Cheyenne, on the other hand, was not being touched at all. She was charging with her spear and started to lunge at any of the foes that were in her way. She ended up pushing a White Fang member into the gun fire of a Ryuichi clan member which took them down. The two had pushed through the car door and left the car door open.

As they entered the next train car, they noticed that there was a broken safe and defeated Ryuichi clan members. “Looks like they've got the weapon.” Cheyenne noted. Rufus looked at the defeated members of the clan and had sympathy for them. They were defeated because of him and it felt like it was his fault for why any of this had happened. “It's too late to redeem yourself now Rufus.” He thought to himself. Another person entered their cart and they had their weapons out ready to attack them. The person who entered was a woman wearing a Grimm mask of a Beowolf to cover herself and was carrying a rocket launcher aimed at Cheyenne and Rufus. The two of them looked shocked, wondering if she was really going to fire that. “Are you crazy?! Don't fire that in here!” Cheyenne shouted at her. “I don't care! You humans continue to ruin the goals of the White Fang so it's my goal to ruin you!” She shouted. She fired the rocket launcher and the rocket was headed straight for Rufus. His eyes had immediately widened in fear. “Not gonna die! Not gonna die! Not gonna die!” Rufus repeatedly squirmed as he ducked down from the rocket launcher and started crawling towards the girl. The rocket had completely missed Rufus but was still going. It had passed through the door of the next car and hit the wall of the car, completely destroying it. Rufus and Cheyenne both looked back and watched as the train began to catch on fire and was full of smoke. Cheyenne ran towards the White Fang member and had snatched the rocket launcher out of her hand and whacked her in the head with the weapon which broke her nose. She then tossed the weapon away and started to run into the final cart. The smoke started to pass into the cart that Cheyenne and Rufus were in and then into the final car rapidly. The fire was being fed by the sheer amount of wooden items that were in the train and spread incredibly quickly. Rufus struggled to see and started coughing from the smoke. “I can't see!” Rufus exclaimed. The brown haired boy continued to cough and was unable to walk due to the smoke. Rufus opted on crawling his way out slowly towards the final car. The fire was hard for him to bear.

Onyx was lying down on the floor, knocked out by the explosion. He then slowly got up from the floor and saw the fire that was on the train. He looked around and saw that the last four train cars were no longer connected to the train anymore. “Rufus...” Onyx said. He noticed that there was a large smoke in the other train cars. He started to running to the other train cars and started rushing towards the next train car. As he walked into the next train car, Onyx noticed that there were White Fang and Ryuichi clan members who were still fighting but finding it had to because of the fire. He continued to run past them. However, two White Fang members had their pistols pointed at Onyx and started firing at him. “Get out of my way!” Onyx shouted. His body began to lit up orange and Onyx easily dodged their bullets with ease and managed to block some of them by predicting where they were aiming. Onyx's fists were feulled with a powerful rage that when they connected with the jaws of the two men that were firing at Onyx, their bodies were thrown at such a high speed that they cause two dents on the train. The other White Fang members noticed Onyx's incredible strength and decided not engage in battle with but they were unable to regardless due to the fire. Onyx walked into the smoke and into the next car and started coughing slowly. “I'll get to Rufus.” Onyx said to himself determined. He walked towards the other side of the next car and noticed there was someone on the floor. However, he couldn't see them properly due to the smoke clouding the both of them. Onyx continued to cough and this had shocked Rufus who was the man on the floor. He looked at the person who was on the floor standing still. In fear, Rufus drew out his revolver and started repeatedly firing all the shots from the Baozhang Revolver. He then started reloading as the shadowy figure was knocked back from the gun fire. Rufus was then pulled away by Audra who was helping him up onto the floor and dragged him towards the airship. “Audra...” Rufus said, coughing slowly. Audra smiled at Rufus as she took him towards the open hatch of the airship. Waiting for them was Glaucus who helped Audra and Rufus up into the airship. “I've got them!” Glaucus called out. Rufus watched as the airships back hatch started to close and looked at the train. Through the smoke, he noticed there was someone with red hair who was in pain. He noticed that his attacker was holding an iron weapon and at that point, he had a face of shock. “It can't be....” Rufus muttered in surprise. The airship had then flown away into the direction of the base as quickly as possible and managed to escape the area without anyone witnessing them leaving.

It was now the next day and Onyx was sitting on his bed looking at the window solemnly in his uniform. Eli and Jorey both noticed how saddened Onyx felt and could see that he had bandages on the top of his neck. “Dude? What happened?” Jorey asked as he came close towards Onyx. Eli was leaning door and sighed. Onyx was upset once again. He always found this attitude of Onyx's to be a pointless drag. “I saw Rufus. At least I think.” Onyx muttered. He had his hand on the chin, looking at the window with a bored look now. “How do you know? Did you see him? The smoke was way to thick.” Jorey pointed out. Onyx took off the blazer of his Beacon uniform and pulled up his shirt which exposed the bandages around his back. “He shot me. I knew it was him because it was with that revolver.” Onyx explained slowly. He pulled his shirt back down and then put on the blazer. “Maybe it was the smoke? He couldn't see you obviously!” Jorey assured. Onyx's widened. “That's not the problem. He shot me. He thought I was a threat to him. He doesn't normally attack people. It's not like him. They've changed him. Is he a criminal now?” Onyx questioned. Eli rolled his eyes at Onyx whilst Jorey was trying to find words to convince Onyx that Rufus was still a good person. “No. He maybe associated with the criminals but he probably has a bad case of Stockholm syndrome because he's been with them for a good amount of time so clearly he's gotten to know them. Besides, his acts are technically excused because it's likely he's being forced to do so. So, please, quit your whining. The more you sit here and mope, the more likely he'll be considered a criminal.” Eli said. Jorey turned to Eli. “Eli! That's a little mean.” Jorey pointed out. Onyx sighed. “I guess you're right. And I don't want that to happen.” Onyx said as he slowly got out of his bed. Onyx walked towards his team mates. “Let's get to class then.” Onyx decided. “Wait? You actually want to go class?” Jorey asked with a confused look on his face. “We'll get Rufus for sure this time. So, it'd be a good idea to just live a normal day.” Onyx said. Eli got up from leaning from the wall as the team started going towards their class.

Chapter 81: The Clash[]

The Reclaim felt hectic. There was lots of intense movement that was occurring in their hideout. Audra and Clancy were in the storage room trying to load their weapons with dust. Clancy had added fire dust into his weapon whereas Audra added wind dust. The two of them were rushing as they tried to load their weapons, feeling satisfied. Rufus and Glaucus walked inside of the storage room too and had grabbed their weapons too. Rufus was looking at the amount of dust he had on him whilst Glaucus sheathed his axe. Blaine, on the other hand, was outside the storage room with his laptop on top of the counter. He looked at it for a while and then closed it as the screen shut off. Blaine then rushed over towards the hideout's exit, passing by Cheyenne who was waiting for the others. As Blaine left the hideout, he made his way inside the airship and sat down on the airship with his sub machine gun ready. Chloe was sitting on the pilot seat with her longsword on her back. The other members of the Reclaim had rushed into the airship and sat down inside. Seeing that everyone was inside, Cheyenne stepped onto the airship as it began to take off. Slowly, the hatch of the airship started to close as Cheyenne smiled. The moment it closed, the airship began to storm off towards the direction of Vacuo.

In Team JORE's dorm, Eli was twisting the barrel of Bolzen, tightening the weapon. He then placed the bolt cap onto the barrel. Eli opened up the weapon's magazine and started to add in explosive dust ammunition into his weapon. He put the magazine back into his weapon and the bolt cap of Bolzen started to light up at the same time Eli's left eye gleamed. Jorey grabbed the bow form of Emerald Stagger and placed it on his back. He was looking at his bag of arrows which where numerous. Jorey picked up the bag and carried it with him. Onyx stared at Ironmen for a few seconds. The weapon appeared to be different. Virginia's claws were more sharpened on the weapon and were a lot longer than before and the weapon seemed to be bigger. Onyx then took two fire dust crystals and clenched the both of them in his fists as he he stuck his hands inside Ironmen. Jorey and Eli started to make their way out of the dorm whilst Onyx was walking out the dorm. Before leaving, Onyx turned his head towards a bed beside the wall. He noticed that Natura Orbis was in it's katana form under the bed. Onyx had caught up with Jorey and Eli as the team made their way towards the airship. This time, Onyx was carrying Natura Orbis and brought it inside the airship. Acheron and Silica looked at Team JORE and waved at them. The airship then began to take off and hurried itself in the direction of Vacuo.

Many hours later, The Reclaim had made their way to Vacuo with ease so far. They could see the sandy oasis of this eastern part of Sanus. Rufus was looking out the window from the airship as he admired the sand. “Mum's probably made Ashley inherit the family now just to shut the news stations up.” He mused to himself. His head was leaning against the window of the airship as he looked outside to see anything worth of note. The wind began to pick up quickly. Rufus watched as the sand started moving about and could see the wreckage of cars and airships. There was also a withered carriage that was on top of a rock. Rufus slightly shivered as he looked at it. “Are you shaking in your boots, Rufus?” Clancy asked Rufus in a demeaning tone. Rufus nodded, not looking at Clancy as he spoke. “Hmmph!” Clancy grunted. “This area is incredibly unsafe! Of course he's going to be scared. I'm feeling that way too.” Audra explained to Clancy, trying to defend Rufus. Clancy looked at his side of the window which had more destroyed cars than Rufus' side. “Hey Rufus! Come look at this!” Blaine exclaimed as he looked at his laptop. He was typing away on his keyboard as Rufus moved his attention onto Clancy. He took a small glance at his laptop but was unable to understand what he trying to do. “What?” Rufus asked. He decided to pay attention to what was on Blaine's laptop. Rufus noticed that these were messages that The White Fang sent to each other about him. “As you can see here, I've hacked into the the text messages of the White Fang and Baozhang Industries.” Blaine said. “Isn't that an invasion of privacy?” Rufus asked, feeling weird. “We also stole weapons which in turn led to their families getting angry at us. So, I think this isn't too bad.” Blaine pointed out to Rufus in a joking manner. Rufus slightly chuckled at Blaine. “That's true. It's weird that you guys know your acts bad but still do them.” Rufus commented. “It's because it's better to do a detestable act that has a positive outcome.” Cheyenne added. Rufus turned to Cheyenne and could understand what she meant. “So what did you find Blaine?” Cheyenne asked. “The White Fang have just exited the kingdom. As for the Baozhang Industries, they're making their way.” Blaine explained. “That's good for us. It gives us enough time to find the weapon.” Cheyenne said.

The airship continued to storm it's way toward the Reclaim's destination. However, the wind became aggressive to the point that it was beginning to feel violent. Despite the weather, the airship was trudging on fine. But, then a huge gust of sand tackled the side of the airship which pushed it backwards. “Whoa!” Blaine and Clancy exclaimed as they felt the storm coming. Blaine tried to grab a hold of his laptop so it would drop. Cheyenne turned to Chloe who was trying her best to control the airship as they all tried get through the sandstorm. Rufus hit head after being sent flying on the back of the airship. “Rufus!” Audra called out. Rufus felt the pain on his head as Audra tried to grab him. The sand had dived towards the airship but Chloe rolled the airship away from the powerful impact of the massive barrage of sand that was heading their way. Still, some of the sand had hit the airship, pushing it towards a different direction at a fast speed. The airship was sent hurling towards the ground but Chloe had managed to stabilise the airship to the point that they were able to fly upwards again. The destructive winds continued to drag the ferocious sand into the area but the airship was swaying in and out, trying to avoid the sand.

After a while of avoiding sand, the church was nearby and Chloe and Cheyenne could see it. “We're here guys!” Chloe chanted. “Wait, really?!” Clancy asked surprised. Clancy, Blaine and Audra tried to rush towards the windows to view the small but graceful church. It was made out of stone but was dusty and wearing out. There were vines appearing around the side wall of the church. “This is where the Cross Blade is?” Clancy asked, unimpressed. He was starting to wonder just how good this weapon must have been if it was held in such decayed place. “The tale of the Cross Blade takes place centuries ago. Of course it would look all worn down. No one is keeping it at a good standard at all.” Cheyenne explained to her son. “Oh right.” Clancy said, as he was corrected. The airship had landed beside the church and the hatch had opened up, allowing the Reclaim to exit. Rufus, however, was still breathing heavily after the arduous disaster he had experienced. “Give me.... a second...” Rufus groaned as he felt exhausted. “Are you alright Rufus?” Audra asked, feeling concerned. “I'lll... be fine.” Rufus said as breathed slowly.

The Reclaim had entered by opening the golden doors of the church all together. There were twelve rows of chairs and a round balcony area. As they walked, Glaucus noticed remnants of a bone that were completely worn out. “I presume that's a human skeleton. Probably the man who admired the deity.” Glaucus concluded. Cheyenne nodded in agreement as she pointed at the altar: a large red marble statue of a man holding cross shaped sword. “Looks like I was right. It was made for admiration to that deity.” Cheyenne mused. Rufus looked around the area, feeling uneasy. “So, how are we going to find the Cross Blade?” Rufus asked. Cheyenne walked up to the altar and looked at the statue whilst Blaine walked up to the altar. “Hello, I'm Pastor Bouclier and I'm here to take the service.” Blaine joked. “Well, from the cartoons and tv shows Clancy used to watch, there's always a secret passage. Sometimes it's the statue or a bookcase.” Cheyenne explained as she walked down to touch the vines hanging down on the wall. “You really think it's that easy?” Audra wondered. “Would really be a waste if the hard to reach Cross Blade was literally just that.” Chloe added. Cheyenne touched the vines, using her semblance.  Slowly, all the vines began to deteriorate in the church. Rufus and Clancy watched Cheyenne in amazement as they followed the vines with their eyes. Cheyenne then moved towards the statue and punched it with ease. The marble statue had then crumbled down which exposed an underground pathway. “I told you.” Cheyenne said smiling at Chloe and Audra. The two of them, including Blaine, had a face of shock as they saw how easy it was for Cheyenne to find a passage. Everyone looked at the hole with curiosity.

Suddenly, there was the sound of gunfire going off. This was followed by three explosions outside the church. “Our enemies are here. I think the White Fang and Baozhang Industries made it here.” Cheyenne realised. She then looked at her subordinates. “Rufus and Clancy, come with me. The others, deal with them.” Cheyenne ordered. The rest of the Reclaim followed her orders and drew their weapons out, ready to take on their numerous enemies.

Acheron was piloting the airship towards the church, trying to manoeuvre the airship to completely avoid the rapid sandstorm that was coming. A bullhead had overtaken them but found itself enveloped by the sandstorm. Acheron instantly sped up the ship and took it to a high altitude to avoid the sandstorm. Everyone was strapped to their seatbelts as the experiences the extreme steep movement from the airship. “That bullhead was just wiped out!” Jorey exclaimed surprised. “Good riddance... That.... means.... less enemies... to face.” Onyx said as was breathing heavily. His stomach felt like it wanted to come out of him. As they continued, they could see the wreckage of vehicles spread out across the ground. “I can see a lot of old and modern vehicles...” Jorey mused. “It really does tell you how sought after the Cross Blade is.” Silica pointed out. “There are some vehicles out which are likely from the Baozhang Industries. Airships were a great invention.” Eli noted. “You got that right.” Silica agreed. As the airship made it's way towards the church, they noticed the rapid amount of gunfire that was continuously going on. “It's like an all out war here.” Acheron commented. “How are even going to get through that?” Silica wondered. “Easy, we just beat anyone up.” Onyx suggested. “Yeah, I agree with Onyx. We have to fight our way through this, it's the only way.” Jorey added. “Okay, that's the plan then.” Acheron said.

The airship had landed away from the enemies and everyone started rushing out with their weapons all out.   Onyx and Eli slided into the action with the Baozhang Industries and the White Fang clashing each other. Eli shot the bolt at the crowd of enemies and detonated it. The explosion was large, sending everyone within it's vicinity flying. Coming towards Onyx was a White Fang swordsman, he lunged straight him but Onyx dodged the attack. He then clenched his fists and punched the attacker in the chin. Ironmen ignited in flames and so was the swordsman as Onyx's fist made contact. This forcefully knocked the man's teeth out and knocked him towards the Baozhang gangsters. Jorey had stood back whilst everyone was running and started firing arrows at people at the door. One of his arrows knocked one person into submission whilst another arrow pinned them towards the door. Seeing that Jorey was standing back, one of the Baozhang gangsters tried to rush at him with a club. However, Jorey transformed Emerald Stagger into it's nodachi form and slammed his sword straight onto the man's head, burying him into the sand. Silica swung Quartz repeatedly, hitting her enemies out of the way who were on two opposite sides. In front of her, there was five men. She stretched out Quartz and launched the grappling hook. Silica pulled one of the men close towards her and she jumped on top of him. She then kicked him down to ground, using him to launch herself towards the others. Within one swing of her pickaxe, the remaining four were hit down on to the floor. Acheron was running with shovel on the ground. He picked up a member of the White Fang in his shovel and then launched them away from him. He then did it again with two White Fang followers.

Entering the church, they noticed the knocked out members of the White Fang and Baozhang Industries. Acheron was more focused on the crushed statue that was at the altar. “We here!” Jorey called out. Onyx started running towards the altar. “Rufus!” Onyx shouted, hoping he'd hear. However, Onyx moved back to avoid small rapid explosives that were coming his way. Blaine was holding weapon, trying to prevent him from moving. “I won't let you interfere!” Blaine called out. Chloe rushed straight after Onyx with her longsword but Eli fired a bolt which caused Chloe to back away from him. He detonated bolt just as she tried to move away from it. Eli walked towards Chloe with Bolzen. “I've got it from here.” Eli called out. “Of course he gets to fight the attractive girl.” Jorey groaned, wanting to fight Chloe. Suddenly, a woman was sent flying from the balcony and towards the ground. Jorey stood back and noticed the woman's pink hair. As she opened her eyes, she sighed. “Oh, hi Lucretia. Having problems?” Jorey joked. Glaucus was standing at the balcony and jumped over the railing to go towards Lucretia. Lucretia stood up from the floor. “Could you help me please?” Lucretia asked, feeling slightly irritated. “Sure. I won't deny a pretty girl.” Jorey said as he winked.

Glaucus held his axe, ready for Jorey and Lucretia. Lucretia rushed towards Glaucus but she easily pushed aside as Jorey tried to swing his sword at him. Parrying Jorey's attack, Glaucus forced his strength into his axe which knocked Jorey back. Lucretia started shooting at Glaucus with the revolver form of her weapon. This knocked Glaucus back which enabled Jorey to to swing his nodachi at Glaucus' back which knock him back more. Lucretia, seeing an opportunity, charged in with her weapon in it's sword form. Glaucus planted both of his hands on the floor and activated his semblance. The floor became slippery which caused Lucretia to fall and slide across. “Lucretia!” Jorey shouted. Glaucus swung his axe at Jorey which sent him crashing into a pillar. Glaucus walked towards Lucretia and tried to attack her with his axe. Jorey, having got up already, turned Emerald Stagger into its bow form. He fired the bow continuously at Glaucus in order to stop him coming for Lucretia. “Come at me big guy!” Jorey taunted, trying to encourage Glaucus to target him. This didn't work. Glaucus still went for Lucretia but Jorey continued to fire arrows at him. Glaucus couldn't deal with the arrows so he instead had to switch his attention to Jorey. He then started to charge at Jorey with his axe and attempted to swing at him. Jorey rolled away from the attack and ran off. Above Glaucus was Lucretia, lunging straight for his head and hammering him down on the ground. “Nice one.” Jorey said.

Acheron jumped down into the passageway and noticed how spacious it was. It was a large open cave with wooden beams trying to support the weight of the church and him. As Acheron walked, he noticed Cheyenne, Clancy and Rufus who were looking at a large cross symbol. “Madame, I'm assuming that you must be the leader of the Reclaim.” Acheron assumed as he looked at her. Hearing a strangers voice, they all turned their attention to him. Rufus had the face of dread as he saw Acheron. “Ah damn! It's Jorey's dad!” Rufus exclaimed. “Wait. You know this guy, Rufus?!” Clancy asked. Rufus nodded slowly at Clancy, wondering what was going to happen. Coming down the passageway, Silica had Quartz on the ready for any danger. “Here we are, boss.” Silica said. Cheyenne was examing their outfits, wondering who they could be. “You have a faunus but you're not White Fang. And you aren't wearing yellow. Who are you?” Cheyenne asked. “River Spark Archaeology. Your robbery of weapons interferes with the hard work we've been doing. So, we're here to put an end to it.” Acheron stated. “I won't let you.” Cheyenne said as she took her spear out. Acheron took a step forward. “We'll see about that madame.” Acheron said. “Don't disrespect my mother by calling her madame!” Clancy roared at him. Acheron was taken aback by Clancy's sudden loudness. “Your son. What kind of sick person would bring their child with them to feel their deeds?” Acheron questioned. “So you expect me to abandon my child? What a great parent you must be.” Cheyenne commented. “I'm actually proud of what my kids have accomplished. All of them, training to be hunters at Beacon.” Acheron claimed with a calm mood. “Hunters. You mean the occupation that cares about it's appearances than people? Great way of teaching your kids.” Cheyenne pointed out mockingly. Her and Acheron started to charge towards each other with their weapons out.  “You two, stay out of this.” She ordered to Clancy and Rufus.

Silica rushed as well to join Acheron but then jumping in front of her was Audra with her pistols aimed to her. “You're not swimming anywhere, platypus.” Audra claimed. Silica narrowed her eyebrows at Audra's joke, noticing that she was a bear faunus. “I didn't know you were the type to make racist jokes, Audra.” Blaine claimed with his sub machine gun aimed behind Silica.

Inside the church, Chloe swung her sword straight at Eli, sending him flying towards the balcony. She then jumped towards the balcony and tried to attack him whilst he was on the ground. Eli managed to roll away from the attack and fired a bolt towards Chloe. He detonated pre-emptively to push her away from him which she did. Eli jumped back on his feet. Chloe rushed in behind to try and stab him in the back but Eli performed a backflip over her head. Eli fired a bolt whilst do so and detonated it, pushing her back a little. He fired more bolts at her and detonated them as Chloe ran straight towards him. She managed to use her agility to completely dodge the bolts and make her way to Eli. She then  jumped towards him and lunged the the sword at him. The ice from the Longsword of Eis began to creep on to Eli's chest. Chloe kept lunging at him continuously with the sword, not allowing Eli any break. Eli gripped Chloe's hand and sent an electrical stun attack towards her. Getting sent an electrical shock, Chloe backed away from Eli. “What the hell was that?” Chloe asked. “That was my semblance. I had to use it to get away from you.” Eli replied. He noticed at the ice was on him and started to chip it off using Bolzen's knife. “Besides, that was some good swordsmanship. It's a little rugged so that tells me you must have learned it from a criminal.” Eli detected. Chloe looked at Eli surprised. “There's no way you could just guess that from seeing me fight!” Chloe called out. “So, it is true.” Eli chuckled. He rushed straight towards Chloe and fired bolts towards Chloe and detonating them. However, Chloe managed to dodge all of them and rolled herself towards Eli who was trying to rush at her. She used this chance to swing the longsword straight at Eli's feet, sweeping him onto the floor. Eli tried to fire a bolt at her but she ducked her head to completely avoid it. Whilst Eli was still in the air, Chloe lunged the longsword into his chest and knocked him back. On Eli's leg was a block of ice that was immediately crushed the moment he hit the wall. He managed to get off the floor and looked at Chloe. “Longsword of Eis is good.” Eli noticed. He increased the blast radius of his bolts and fired two of them on the floor where Chloe was. She moved back, trying to predict the blast radius but was taken by surprise when they detonated,  causing a bigger explosion. This merely sent her sliding across towards the other side of the balcony. The floor that Eli fired the bolts on where gone and were just crumbling. “I thought I had that.” Chloe grumbled as she felt disappointed. Apologies for the surprise.” Eli said. Chloe sighed, finding Eli to a bother. As Eli fired more bolts near Chloe, she stabbed the sword into ground, causing spikes of ice too rush out and headed in Eli's general direction. This had contained all the bolts that were in the floor but Eli had jumped into the air to avoid the spikes. Chloe ran to Eli and swung her sword out, causing a platform of ice to emerge. She used this chance to slide on to make herself reach Eli faster. He tried firing some bolts but she was to fast for him. Chloe forcefully pushed Eli back as she struck him in the shoulder which pushed him down. Eli fired more bolts at Chloe which caused her to move back. Chloe stabbed the ground, creating more ice to try and trap Eli. She managed to encase him with ease and sheathed the sword as she had trapped him now. “He can't use his sticky explosives when they're trapped in ice. That's good. That weapon poses a problem.” Chloe said sighing. Eli was lying down in the ice prison trying to break out. He was shivering heavily due to the ice. “I actually have to do this.....” Eli said. He placed his hands on the ice prison, using semblance to an extreme. This had caused the electrical charge to travel from the ice and towards the bolts. They began light up and then detonated causing a massive explosion. “The bolts exploded? I thought they wouldn't work whilst in ice?” Chloe asked surprised. Because of the explosion, Chloe was sent flying in to the air for a brief moment until gravity kicked in and dragged her down. The explosion had caused the entire balcony to fall down. “Eli!” Onyx and Jorey called out, feeling worried about their team mate.

After the crash, Chloe was lying down at the bottom of the rubble along with Eli also next to her. She was unconscious but Eli was not. Eli looked at his hands noticed they were slightly charred. “I used too much of my semblance.” Eli said as he scratched his head. He slowly got up from the rubble and dusted himself off. Onyx and Jorey both looked at Eli surprised. “Eli!” They called out.  The fights almost seemingly stopped as they all turned to Eli. “I'm good. Though, I'm gonna need a while for my aura to recharge. So, I'll fight some of these trash mobs for you, Onyx.” Eli said as he noticed Baozhang gangsters rushing in with their weapons. Taking a hold of Bolzen, Eli walked past Glaucus and gleamed his left eye at him. He then headed off to help Onyx as he fired a bolt at one of the gangsters and exploding it.

Glaucus looked at Chloe with a slight shock on his face. “He took Chloe out..” He mused Glaucus gripped his fist and sighed. “Doesn't matter now. I'll fulfil Ms. Reed's goals and we'll all leave together.” He added.

In the cave below the church, Silica swung her axe at Audra who blocked it with her blade.  As she tried to force Audra back, Silica was interrupted by Blaine's gunfire which made it hard for her properly knock her back. She decided to cartwheel away from Audra, who attempted to chase her. Audra continuously tried to hit Silica with her weapon but she continued dodging her attacks. “Let me hit you, stupid beaver!” Audra shouted out of frustration. Blaine fired at Silica which knocked her back which allowed Audra to hit her. Hitting a wooden beam, Silica looked up and had an idea. As she got up, Audra started charging at her. Silica jumped backwards onto the wooden beam and jumped over Audra and then swung Quartz in her face, sliding her across the floor. “Quit the racist remarks. You're no better than the White Fang.” Silica claimed. Blaine grabbed Audra to stop her sliding and picked her up from the ground. Silica looked at Blaine's sub machine guns and noticed what they were. “I knew I've seen that weapon before. Glace Destrucrice. The weapon of Feu Bouclier, the Nightshade.” Silica pointed out. “Yeah, so what?” Blaine asked. Silica gazed at Blaine a little bit and smiled. This clearly freaked out Blaine and Audra who grimaced at her. “Seriously, what are you doing?” Blaine asked. Silica clicked her fingers in realisation. “You're his son. I knew it added up. Child of the Nightshade runs away with father's weapon. Saw it on the news.” Silica deduced. Blaine's eyes became dark and sighed. “Yup. You're right on that one. Forget about him anyways.” Blaine said as his eyes returned to normal. Rushing into towards Silica, Audra used her semblance to send her flying. Silica used this chance to wrap her tail around a wooden beam and Blaine began firing at her as she ran on top of it. Blaine's explosive rounds managed to wear and tear the beam to the point that it was about to collapse. Silica jumped to another beam as Blaine continued to fire at her. She then launched her self towards Blaine to kick him in the face. However, Blaine stretched his palm out to use his semblance to bring Silica closer to him. Not expecting the sudden speed change, Silica missed Blaine completely. She landed on the ground and hit Blaine with her pickaxe with hurt. Silica changed Quartz to it's shotgun form and started shooting Audra repeatedly who was trying to charge at her which sent her flying. Silica ran to Audra but she was stopped by Blaine who was using his semblance to prevent her from moving. Seeing her chance, Audra ran to Silica instead to use her semblance. “This will break your aura!” Audra claimed. Silica pressed a button on Quartz to release the grappling hook. She pickaxe gripped on a wooden beam and she used this to propel herself onto the beam. “See you!” She exclaimed as she blew a kiss at Audra and Blaine. “Her weapon has a grappling hook too?!” Blaine exclaimed. Both Audra and Blaine deactivated their semblances before one another would hurt each other. They took their weapons out and tried to shoot at Silica but where unable too. In fact, they were trying to hold their noses. “What's that smell?” muffled Audra. “Ew... it reeks! Of socks or something!” Blaine complained unable to bear. Silica smiled, feeling happy to be able to use her semblance. She then jumped down towards them and used her aura to send a powerful aura shock wave. Both the bear faunus and the blonde haired boy were sent in different directions of the cave.

Glaucus was proving increasingly difficult for Jorey and Lucretia. Jorey tried firing his arrows at Glaucus but managed to deflect them using his axe. Lucretia swung her sword at him but Glaucus grabbed her with his free hand. “Lucretia!” Jorey shouted. Glaucus slammed her face into the ground, causing a large gash on the floor. Transforming his weapon to it's nodachi form, Jorey went towards Glaucus in order to rescue Lucretia. Jorey lunged at Glaucus with nodachi in his chest but he instead blocked it with ease. Lucretia began firing shots with the revolver form in her weapon which knocked Glaucus back. “Jorey, move back for a second!” Lucretia called out. Jorey nodded and jumped away from Glaucus. “You got any ideas?” Lucretia asked as she looked at him. Glaucus stood there, breathing slowly just like Lucretia. “I thought you had some. Isn't that why you called me here?” Jorey asked. Lucretia made a coy smile. “Nope. I wanted you to come up with one.” Lucretia replied. Jorey had a face of disbelief, wondering how Lucretia was dependant on him. “So far, he's really strong. We can't play the strength game... Though, I did notice that he's not fast. We'll have to play the fast game. You go in close whilst I provide the quick fire.” Jorey suggested. Lucretia nodded at him. “Got it.” She said. Transforming her weapon to it's sword form, Lucretia charged at Glaucus, expecting him to try and attack her. Instead, Glaucus planted his hands on the floor to make the floor slippery. Instead, Lucretia used this to her advantage to slide towards Glaucus. “I played goalkeeper for handball, that's not going to throw me off balance!” Lucretia shouted as she swung her towards Glaucus. He put his sword in the path of her in order to parry her attack. Jorey, using his semblance, fired five arrows from his bow which were released at furious speeds. All of them had hit Glaucus and knocked him back. He tried to use this chance to swing and Lucretia but she morphed her head downwards to avoid the attack and knock him off his feet. This time, Jorey fired off another arrow powered by his semblance and it Glaucus back and knocked him down. The armoured man was sent flying through the roof of the church. Lucretia and Jorey both expelled sighs of relief after seeing that Glaucus had finally been defeated. “Wow, that guy was a lot of work to take down.” Lucretia said. “You said it!” Jorey exclaimed as the two walked to each other. The two gave each other a high five. “Jeez, thank you for saving me there. How much do I owe you? I can't give you money though.” Lucretia asked. Jorey looked confused. “Owe you? You don't give me anything. Part of being a huntsman is helping others.” Jorey said, smiling. “You're weird. I'll give you something.” Lucretia commented. “Uhmm, not killing me at any cost?” Jorey suggested. “That depends on the price. Forget, I'll give you something else.” Lucretia said as she kissed Jorey on the cheek.

Acheron swung his shovel at Cheyenne but she managed to duck the attack and lunge at him with his spear. Acheron then parried the attack with the shovel quickly. Seeing at how quick he was, Cheyenne tried to swing her spear at his head but Acheron managed to dodge the attack by bending his head down. Cheyenne then tried sweep him down with her feet but Acheron jumped in the air. He then hurled himself towards her with the shovel but Cheyenne easily blocked the attack. She added more strength into the attack which pushed Acheron onto the wooden beam. Seeing that he had the height advantage, Acheron switched his weapon to his weapon's light machine gun and unleashed it at Cheyenne who ran away and took cover beside a rock. She switched her weapon into it's assault rifle form and started firing at the wooden beams Acheron was standing on. She used this chance to try and destroy the wooden beams. Acheron noticed that Cheyenne wasn't aiming but the wooden beams so he instead jumped of the wooden beams. However, Cheyenne continued to fire at the wooden beam which confused Acheron. As a result, the beam came off and hit Acheron in the head. Cheyenne used this chance to transform her weapon to a spear and then rush at Acheron whilst he was trying to recover and lunged at him which pushed him back. “See that pinkie! You can't beat my mum! She's way too much for you too handle!” Clancy called out. Rufus was busy twiddling his thumbs. He couldn't comprehend what had just happened. “Blaine and Audra lost....” Rufus mused with a melancholic tone. Cheyenne repeatedly attacked Acheron with her spear, knocking him back and forth. Acheron decided to pick up the dirt from the shovel and then threw it at Cheyenne's direction. Being hit by mud, Cheyenne was unable to see for a while. Acheron swung his shovel straight at her feet, causing her to trip. Before she could fall, Acheron then swung the back of the shovel straight into her chest. This was enough to send Cheyenne flying to the other side of the cave. “Mum!” Clancy shouted as he took his weapon out and started firing at Acheron. Taking only the first hit, Acheron blocked the next few shots with his shovel. “Come on Rufus! Help her!” Clancy called out. Rufus didn't know what to do. “If Jorey's dad is here, then could my team be here?” Rufus thought to himself. Clancy saw that Rufus was behaving in a neutral stance. “I see what this is! You're just waiting to be rescued aren't you!” Clancy called out. “No.. it's not that like that...” Rufus replied with look of shock on his face. Looking annoyed, Clancy turned his weapon into it's staff form and charged straight at Acheron. “I won't let a guy who uses a shovel as his weapon ever take me down!” Clancy called out. Acheron decided to dig his shovel in the ground and threw a large chunk of dirt at Clancy. The red haired boy had dodged this but then was smacked to ground by Acheron's shovel. Pinning him to the floor, Acheron attempted to strike him down with his shovel. However, he staggered back by Cheyenne's shots. Instead, he decided to kick Clancy which rolled him towards Cheyenne. “Don't you dare touch my son with your tainted huntsman hands.” Cheyenne remarked with a serious expression. She picked her son up from the floor and placed him near Rufus. “You're going to be safer with Rufus, okay. We'll get out of here soon.  I want you to grab the Cross Blade, son.” Cheyenne said. Clancy had risen from the floor and limped towards the cross that was on the platform they were standing on. He grabbed the top of the cross and pulled out what looked to be a sword. The hilt and the guard where connected which formed a cross with the blade itself. The blade looked as if it had never worn out and was black in colour. It had different coloured gems spread out around the guard of the weapon. Cheyenne smiled at her son as he picked up the weapon. She then then turned to Acheron who was standing with his shovel by his side. Cheyenne planted her hands on the dirt ground, beginning to absorb the moisture of dirt. Acheron watched her curiously, finding her semblance to be strange. Silica and Rufus both looked around the cave and noticed that the wooden beams started to wear down and the plants and vines starting to die. Cheyenne leapt at Acheron with her spear but Acheron managed to block it. She decided to jump back and then readied her fist to punch Acheron. The force of her fist was completely overwhelming. An explosive wind current erupted from her fist, causing the wooden beams to easily break. This was even dragging Silica back from the powerful punch from Cheyenne. Rufus and Clancy were pushed back by the punch from Cheyenne. Taking out a burn dust crystal, Rufus crushed it and summoned a fire shield to protect him and Clancy.

Everyone who was above the ground could feel a tremor from Cheyenne's punch. “What's going on!” yelled a White Fang member in the church. Everyone had stopped fighting. Jorey looked to the ground and noticed it was beginning to crack. “Guys! The ground!” Jorey called out. The church had roared and the floor began to topple down and crumble towards the secret passageway. Everyone who was inside the church on top of the main floor were dragged down to the cave all of a sudden. This caused a massive burst of smoke to cover the entire cave. Suddenly, crashing into the roof of the church, was a Nevermore with it's head stuck. It began to caw at it's large number of prey in the area. One of the Baozhang members looked at the bird Grimm frightened. “It's a Grimm!” He shouted. Jorey slowly got up from the floor and placed his hands on his head. “I have a massive headache...” Jorey mused. Eli was already standing up and picked up Onyx from the floor. Silica was sitting beside the cave walls, away from the rubble. Coming out of a broken marble slab was Lucretia who looked frustrated. The only people that escaped harm were Blaine, Audra and Silica who were away from the rubble and Rufus and Clancy as the rubble burned from Rufus' shield.

As the smoke began to clear, Cheyenne looked exhausted as she was breathing heavily. “That should have done it.” Cheyenne claimed. Her aura had completely escaped. Her vision started to become weary. Standing in front of her, however, was Acheron with who was breathing slowly. She had a look of shock on her face but could not hold for too long as she fell down passed out. “So much for a church dedicated by a deity.” Acheron commented as he looked at the rubble. Clancy had sunken to the floor in shock. “Mum!” Clancy screamed with tears in his eyes. Onyx looked around the cave until he noticed Rufus. “Rufus!” Onyx shouted with a smile on his face. Rufus' shield had dropped down and he saw Onyx, not angry but smiling. “Onyx?” Rufus questioned. “I apologise for not being a good friend! I'm sorry I was such an idiot! I didn't support you or even try and help you out at all! I promise to be a better friend from now on! All that I ask for is that you come back to Beacon! Where we can be friends again. Forgive and forget!” Onyx shouted at Rufus. The brown haired boy's eyes had widened in surprise. “There's no use ruining your life like this! Remember why you went to Beacon in the first place. You always told me that, you never had to worry about Grimm throughout your entire childhood so you thought that by being a huntsman you could help protect someone else's childhood! You can still do that now! You just have to come back Rufus. So, I'm sorry.” Onyx said, smiling at his friend. Rufus started to tear up inside and felt happy. “I'm sorry for all of this! I never meant anything to go wrong on Stigma or even have any of the weapons I have on me! I don't deserve any mercy! But, I'd like to come back to Beacon so things can return to normal!” Rufus cried. Jorey looked Rufus and Onyx and smiled at the two of them. Onyx walked towards Rufus to try and hug him, however, Clancy quickly pointed his weapon towards Rufus' face as he grabbed him. “Stay away from him! Or he dies!” Clancy called out. Onyx looked annoyed. Rufus all of sudden became worried. “If you were never here! None of this would have ever happened! This is all your fault!” Clancy shouted. Jorey had his arrow ready to aim at Clancy whilst Onyx creeped towards him slowly. Clancy noticed this and used his semblance to fire a shot at Onyx then aim his rifle back at Rufus. “Don't you test me! I will blow his head off!” Clancy shouted. “You're right Clancy... It is my fault. I did this to you.. I deserve death.” Rufus accepted as he looked down slowly. Clancy looked disgusted with himself. “Don't you say that! You're supposed to beg! I'm the one in power here! Don't defy me!” Clancy shouted, his voice starting to break. “I get it... Your jealous of me. You just wanted to make your mother proud but I come in and ruin everything. And, I can tell how much of a good son you're trying to be. Protective and helpful. I wish I was as brave as you are Clancy.” Rufus said, feeling disappointed with himself. “Stop that! You don't get to talk about my mother!” Clancy cried out as his voice started to break. The red haired boy's eyes began to water down the ground. Seeing that Clancy was distracted, Onyx readied his fist and punched the air. Coming out of Ironmen were the claws, fuelled with burn dust inside strings that launched at Clancy. The fire from the tip of the claws had hit Clancy, throwing him towards the cross. As for the Cross Blade, it was launched into wall. Clancy's aura had depleted fully and he was on the floor unconscious.

Silica and Acheron walked towards the Cross Blade and looked at it. Taking the weapon, Acheron had picked it up. He looked up at the roof of the church as the Nevermore was still stuck in the roof. “Well, we've got some work to do. Call us students from Shade Academy to arrest these guys.” Acheron ordered Silica. “Got it boss!” Silica called out. She took out her scroll and started to contact Shade Academy to her location. Acheron jumped onto the rubble and towards the roof to deal with the Nevermore.

Onyx walked towards Rufus and the two of them had hugged each other. Jorey smiled as he saw the touching moment. Beside him was Lucretia who still had her weapon out. She then rushed to Rufus with her sword and attempted to lunge at him. However, Onyx pushed Rufus out of the way and kicked Lucretia's sword which pushed the girl back. “No, you don't.” Onyx said with a serious face. Jorey took out Emerald Stagger. “Stay away from Rufus, Lucretia.” Jorey called out. Lucretia looked at the two of them and had a serious expression on her face. “He's my target! Jin Baozhang promised he'd pay me if he died and got his weapon back!” Lucretia shouted. Rufus looked worried as he heard the name Baozhang. “That doesn't matter to me. Leave my friend alone!” Onyx called out. Landing in Lucretia's hand was the Baozhang Revolver. “Take. It's your boss' weapon, right? He should be happy with just that!” Rufus told Lucretia. She looked at Rufus with a frustrated look. Looking around her, she didn't have a chance. “He's not my boss. Just a paying customer.” Lucretia corrected Rufus. She clenched her fists in frustration and ran up the rubble and out of the church.

After a while, students from Shade Academy had came to the church and arrested the White Fang and Baozhang gangsters. The remaining members of the Reclaim were also arrested too. Rufus was no longer in the possession of the Ninja's Katana. Afterwards, everyone had left the large cave, leaving only Team JORE in the church. “By the way, here's Natura Orbis.” Onyx said as he passed Rufus his weapon. In possession of his actual weapon, Rufus felt at ease. “I'm sorry, Leafy.” Rufus apologised. He sheathed Natura Orbis to where it usually was and looked happy having it there. “It must have been cool holding the Ninja's Katana!” Jorey shouted at Rufus. Rufus had a guilty face of glee. “Yeah! Sure it was!” Rufus called out.

Suddenly, Rufus was pinned to the wall with a gun in his face. Jorey and Onyx took their weapons out and were shocked to see who it was. “Eli!” they both shouted. “What are you doing!” Jorey added. “I'm doing what's right. He has to die for his crimes.” Eli stated. “It doesn't matter anyways! If he comes back to Beacon, he'll be pardoned!” Onyx explained. “It wasn't even his fault! He was dragged into this!” Jorey shouted. Eli pinned Rufus to the wall even harder, ready to shoot a bolt at him. “You guys just don't get it! It's not that. He angered the wrong people so the law won't even care if he dies!” Eli pointed out. “Rufus is our team mate and he's your partner. Are you really willing to throw all of that away?” Jorey asked. Eli nodded. “Yes! He is responsible for injuring Johannes! I must avenge him!” Eli called out. Jorey sighed. “Revenge is not the best answer. You can't use hatred to inform any of your decisions. Johannes lost his entire team, he wouldn't like you to even lose one member.” Jorey claimed. “It's not just vengeance, it's a necessity not for the world but for me! He has to die!” Eli shouted back, with his voice starting break. “What necessity? Eli, I don't understand you!” Jorey shouted. Eli looked back at Jorey, still pushing Rufus into the wall. “If I don't kill him, I'm in trouble.” Eli stated, slightly hesitating the pull the trigger. Jorey looked at Eli with a smile on his face. “We're your team, Eli. We're brothers. We'll stick with each other through hard time. We'll bear your troubles, together.” Jorey stated. Eli's eyes widened. In his head, he could hear Johannes words ringing true to him. He looked at Rufus and back to Jorey. “He's right, Eli. I'll help you no matter what! I'm stronger now!” Rufus exclaimed. Eli started to shake and a tear left his eye. He released Rufus from the wall. Eli started to breath faster and heavier. He stared towards the ground with hollow eyes. Jorey came towards Eli and grabbed him by the neck. “Now, let's go get some drinks alright. It's been a hard time and we've still got six weeks left of school to spend so we need to all chill!” Jorey shouted. All of Team JORE started walking up the rubble and making their way out of the church. Eli's scroll had lit up as they walked.

Chapter 82: The Sand and the Stone[]

Team JORE had returned back to Vale via the River Spark Archaeology airship. They had just exited the airship and were busy talking to Silica. “So, what happens now?” Jorey asked Silica. “For now, we'll be trying to find where the Reclaim have stored the other weapons and returning them back to either where they were or putting them in a more secure place where they cannot be stolen. The other members of the Reclaim will be arrested and jailed whereas for Rufus, he'll be pardoned due to technically being forced under his will and the fact that he was kidnapped.” Silica explained. Rufus was scratching his cheek, feeling blessed that he was able to get such a pardon. “What about the Cross Blade, that doesn't belong to anyone currently and the church is basically gone now.” Eli pondered. “Yes, that. The church will remain ruined as it is too dangerous to send anyone to help rebuild so the Cross Blade will be kept in a museum in Vacuo. So, we won't bother about that.” Silica explained. Jorey, Eli and Rufus sighed disappointedly, wanting to explore more of the church. “Anyways, thanks for your help Silica.” Onyx said, smiling. “No problems. By the way, Eli, you made my nephew Darren happy about his new prank material.” Silica said as she stepped on the airship. Eli nodded at Silica, wondering how Darren was.

Afterwards, the airship had taken off and left the city. Team JORE waved at flying airship then turned around for their next course of action. “So, we should start getting a drink now.” Jorey said. Onyx nodded in agreement and turned to Rufus. “What bar do you wanna go to, Rufus?” Onyx asked. “Probably, the Four Legs...” Rufus decided. Jorey nodded in agreement with Rufus. “That's a good choice. Let's go and celebrate the return of our team mate!” Jorey exclaimed as they walked towards the bar. “By the way, Rufus, you seem really calm for someone that spent an awful amount of time with a criminal group. In fact, you also seemed really close to them that you ended up protecting one of them too. Very neutral of you.” Eli noted. Rufus' eyes widened from Eli's words. “Yeah. I ended up getting to know them for a while. They were all cool people. But they weren't as cool as you guys. I guess I ended up getting blinded their personality that I didn't really question their actions. I was also scared that you guys would have seen me as a worthless criminal so I ended up losing hope.” Rufus explained. Onyx stopped walking for a few seconds. “I didn't lose hope. I couldn't lose hope. You're my best friend and this all happened because I didn't support you.” Onyx stated. Seeing that Onyx stopped walking, the rest of the team turned to him. Rufus walked towards Onyx and was feeling emotional when he saw how gloomy he looked. “It wasn't all in vain. If I didn't get kidnapped in the first place, we may have never bothered with the Reclaim. They might have gotten what they wanted.” Rufus pointed out, trying to look at the positives. “I still feel responsible for this. As your friend.” Onyx said. Jorey cleared his throat and the two looked at him. “Technically, it was all of us. We let our emotions control our decisions and that almost tore our team apart. I guess we just need to try better.” Jorey said. Onyx and Rufus both nodded in agreement whilst Eli had nodded but slowly. He knew that he would sometimes let his emotions get the better of him and that was often a flaw for him.

Team JORE continued to walk along the street and this time, finally entering the bar. As they entered, the bar felt bare. There was only one booth with people in it. “Cheers! To our team mate's recovery!” A familiar female voice shouted. “Cheers!” Two male voices shouted in agreement. The people in the booth heard footsteps entering in and turned their heads to people who were coming in. Team JORE saw them and realised it was just Team WEST. “Holy moly! It's Rufus!” Bridgette shouted in surprise. Sigvard and Trond both stepped out from the booth with their faces looking angry to Rufus. “You shouldn't be here right now! You should be rotting in prison.” Trond said. Rufus looked shocked at immediate hostility from Trond and Sigvard, not understanding why they were like this. “Yeah! You endangered our team from your association with a group of thieves!” Sigvard called out. Rufus raised his arms up. “Look, I'm sorry, okay! I didn't mean any harm.” Rufus said. “Sorry doesn't cut it!” A female voice called out. Trond smirked at Rufus as the female began to exit the booth and walk towards Rufus. “Have fun dealing with Akane.” Trond said. Akane stomped her way towards Rufus and glared at him. Rufus was afraid at what Akane could do. “Akane, I can exp-” Rufus said before being interrupted by Akane hugging him. “It's not Akane... It's Emma.... I'm just glad your safe.” She said as she was crying on his shirt. Trond and Sigvard were stunned. They weren't expecting Emma to be happy to see Rufus. Rufus was also surprised too. He took a look at Emma's hair and noticed the bandages. “Emma, why do you have bandages? Were you hurt?” Rufus asked worried. Bridgette got out of the booth too and looked at Rufus. “She was helping your team with rescuing you. We did too for a while but one mission, she was defeated by a mercenary.” Bridgette explained. Rufus looked at Bridgette with a shocked face and then turned to Emma. He started to tear up too and hugged her back. “I'm so sorry Emma. I didn't mean to cause you any harm.” Rufus expressed. “It doesn't matter, I'm just glad you're safe.” Emma said. Bridgette leaned on the seat as she smiled, seeing that Emma and Rufus would be fine. “Really? You're not angry at all?” Trond questioned. “Trond, leave them alone. She loves him way too much to hate him. Besides, Emma knows that it was her choices that got her hurt not just Rufus. That's what love is.” Bridgette said as her eyes laid on Onyx.  “That sounds like absolute rubbish but whatever.” Trond said, giving up on the argument. Jorey put his hands on both Rufus and Emma's shoulders. “Let's start drinking now!” Jorey cheered.

Team JORE had joined Team WEST's booth. Onyx sat at the end of the booth next to Bridgette who was next to Jorey who was next to Rufus. Opposite them was Eli, sitting next to Trond who was next to Sigvard who was next to Emma. Jorey raised up his drink up. “A toast to our future!” Jorey shouted. “The future!” Everyone cheered as they raised their drinks up.

Inside one of the top floors of a towering skyscraper, there was an office. The office contained many armed Baozhang gangsters at the door. Entering the office, Lucretia walked towards the front desk. Jin Baozhang was standing up looking at Lucretia. “Ah, Lucretia. Did you complete the task?” He asked with his deep voice. Lucretia bowed to Jin and passed him his revolver on the desk. “Here. I've returned your weapon.” Lucretia said smiling. Jin picked up his revolver and looked at it for a while and then put it back in it's holster. “Thank you. And what about the Sabbia brat?” Jin asked. “Him? I couldn't bring him to you. The White Fang and River Spark Archaeology made it hard.” Lucretia explained, keeping a calm tone. Jin walked around his desk for a bit. “It was difficult for you.. Well, I'm going to have difficulty paying you.” Jin replied. Lucretia was frustrated and shocked. “No! I gave you your weapon back! I deserve pay!” Lucretia complained. She felt annoyed that she wasn't receiving anymore for her effort. “That doesn't matter to me. You didn't complete the full task. So you don't get paid.” Jin said. “Please sir... I need this money..” Lucretia pleaded, begging on her knees. Jin furiously planted his on to his desk. “No! I am the boss here! You don't complete fifty percent of a task an expect any payment from me!” Jin yelled. Lucretia backed away from Jin, wondering if he was going to kill her. Readjusting his suit, Jin sighed at Lucretia. “You'll just have to find money somewhere else if you want to see your sister outta jail or pay for your other sister's treatment.” Jin said cackling. Lucretia was horrified. She stood up from the floor as she looked at Jin. “You're despicable...” Lucretia berated. “And you should get outta my building. Guards, show her the way.” Jin said. The gang members had pointed their gun at Lucretia, pointing to the exit of the door. Lucretia turned her head to Jin as she left with a scowl on her face.

A day later, Acheron and Silica were in the Reclaim's hideout. With them was the rest of their archaeology team. They were taking all the weapons and ammunition they had from their storage room. Some of them were spending time eating their food. “Honestly, I'm surprised they were able to put a hideout inside the mountain.” Silica said. Acheron was looking around the hideout. “They didn't. It's not theirs.” Acheron corrected Silica. “What do you mean?” Silica asked, taking a sip of the Reclaim's wine. Acheron narrowed his eyebrows at his subordinate. “Why are you drinking on the job?” Acheron asked her. Silica looked at the bottle and released what she was doing. She stopped drinking the wine immediately and decided to listen to her boss. “You know the blonde guy you thought that you noticed was the son of The Nightshade? His name is Blaine Bouclier. He's eighteen. This is his father's hideout. According to the information I found from his interrogation, his father used to bring him here to train to be a Huntsman. Clearly, he didn't want that and must have ran way from home years after his father's death.” Acheron explained. “So what made him want to become a weapon's thief?” Silica wondered. Acheron walked off towards one of the rooms of the Reclaim and Silica followed him. Opening the door, the room had bed and was plastered with numbers. “Blaine was their hacker. He was apparently really brilliant with computers but Feu didn't want that and often pushed his son to fighting even though he didn't want to. He met the leader's son Clancy during a rave. The two became friends so he ended up getting involved with the wrong crowd. So, when Clancy's mother decided it was a good time to start the Reclaim, Blaine was one of the first to join. He ran away from home with his father's weapon.” Acheron spoke. He closed the door on Blaine's room and started moving towards Glaucus' room. “Makes you think that it was a good idea all your kids decided to become hunters in training on their own.” Silica commented. Acheron rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Exactly.” Acheron said.

Opening the door in Glaucus' room, Acheron looked inside and noticed there was lots of training equipment inside. “This thirty one year old is  a special case. Glaucus Pyre. Came from a semi prestigious family in Mistral. He moved to Vale in order to learn from a family friend along with Marcin Berg. However, the trainer ended up dying due to Marcin's fault. Clearly, Glaucus blamed him and stole his family's weapon which at that point he met the Reclaim.” Acheron explained. Silica sniffed the room and was surprised at the smell. “It smells nice in the room. Looks like he takes cleaning seriously.” Silica noted. Acheron decided to ignore Silica's weirdness as he closed the door and headed to Chloe's room. “That's just weird.” Acheron said.

Entering Chloe's room, it was a complete mess. The bed sheets were on the floor and so was the chair. There was also lots of drinks there too. “Chloe Goldson is an example of why teaching your kids cleanliness is a good thing. Twenty four years old. Her father was a pilot in Vacuo so she ended up learning to fly an airship by the age of 13. However, she got involved with the really really wrong crowd. At 18 years old, she ended up as part of a crime ring for a while. She was the getaway pilot for a bank robbery but it failed. Chloe managed to avoid all of the trouble whilst everyone else didn't. Chloe somehow met up with the leader and she promised to keep her safe as long as Chloe helps her.” Acheron said. “Wait? So won't she have a longer sentence?” Silica asked. Acheron nodded. “Yup. That gets added because of her association to that crime.” Acheron added. He closed the door and started making it towards Audra's room.

He opened the door to Audra's room and noticed the map of Mistral. “Audra Leitz, who was the bear faunus you fought, came from Mistral. She's eighteen years old. She grew up in the lower class part of the kingdom with bandits. Normally, they fought over weapons and she must have not wanted to be associated with that. She therefore decided to leave the clan and stowaway on a ship to Vale. Apparently, the leader was on that ship and found out so she kind of convinced her to join the Reclaim.” Acheron explained to Silica. Silica expressed a sigh of relief. “Thank you that one's gone. I couldn't deal with her remarks about me being a faunus. I hate the White Fang but I also hate faunus who think it's a good idea to make racist remarks on other faunus.” Silica said. The had closed the door and started making it to Clancy's room.

Inside Clancy's room, they noticed that there was an acoustic guitar lying on the floor and another one that was smashed. There was also lots of writing on the wall. “Sounds like a problem child.” Silica commented. “That's because he is. Clancy Reed is the seventeen year old son of the leader of the group. He was bullied at school so he became very rebellious and close towards his mother because of this. He used to be close with his father but he died during a Grimm attack. His mother saved him and therefore became close to her. Probably wanting to do anything for his mother's affection. Before she even started the Reclaim, the mother became more neglectful of her son and focused more on learning the history about the world. So Clancy would try his best to help her. Basically, he had no qualms following his mother to the edge of the earth. Apparently, his anger stems from the fact that other members of the Reclaim got her mother's attention than him.” Acheron pointed out. Silica sighed. “I'm starting to feel sorry for that kid. Neglected by his own mother.” Silica said sighing. Silica decided to close the door this time and Acheron moved towards the last room in the hideout. Silica followed Acheron as they both opened the door.

Scattered around Cheyenne's room was a large variety of maps of all the four kingdoms and schematics and floor plans of the buildings they raided. “Cheyenne Reed.  Fourty five years old. Grew up in the same village as her husband. She went to Signal and finished schooling there. She was trained by mercenaries afterwards. After having Clancy, her village was destroyed in an attack and could only save her son. It was this point she dedicated herself into studying the weapons of famous people. Cheyenne likely decided to start the Reclaim only a year ago. So, she's likely been training for many years and studying being focused on stealing weapons. Fun fact: the settlement she lived in was where the Octagon Element was before being moved.” Acheron explained. Silica had a face of shock. “Really? This woman was so focused on her own goals that she basically forgot about her own son. That's just sad and yet she still somehow acted like a mother to the other members.” Silica realised.

Several weeks later, Team JORE were sitting down in their dorm feeling relaxed. “It's the end of the second year! Feels like we've barely studied at all.” Jorey said feeling exhausted as he laid on his bed. Rufus was sitting on his bed as he looked at Jorey. “Yup. I'm actually surprised that I was able to still get really good grades. I guess everyone got jealous.” Rufus said. Jorey nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Especially in combat class.” Jorey said. Onyx put his arm around Rufus' shoulder. “That's thanks to yours truly.” Onyx said. Eli was leaning by the window as he looked at his team mates. “I have to tell you guys something. About why I tried to attack Rufus and what I meant that I might be in danger.” Eli stated. Quickly, all the relief had left the dorm. They all turned to Eli. “Eli it's fine.” Rufus said. “No, let's hear him out.” Onyx said with a serious face. He wanted to know why Eli would try to murder his best friend. “What is it Eli?” Jorey asked worriedly. Eli turned his face to Rufus. “You angered the wrong people when trying to steal the Octagon Element. The weapon belonged to an Ex-Chamber of Requiem member. I know that because I am one.” Eli explained. Jorey and Rufus had their faces stunned into silence. “Really?” Jorey asked. Eli noticed that Onyx's face was dumbfounded as he didn't understand much. “Chamber of Requiem is a secret operative group that specialises in escort, spying, interrogation and assassination.” Eli explained to him. Onyx narrowed his eyebrow at Eli. “Why would you join a group of murderers?” Onyx asked. “I didn't. You don't get to decide whether or not you get to join the Chamber. They do. They kidnap orphans younger than ten years old and train them to join their organisation.” Eli explained. Jorey was shocked and so was Onyx. The orange haired boy placed his hands on his chest, feeling lucky that didn't happen to him. “Why hasn't the government intervened yet?!” Jorey asked. “That's because they don't know. The Chamber of Requiem have been effective in completing missions that they're allowed to do whatever they want.” Eli mentioned. Jorey was stunned. He couldn't believe that such a group would kidnap orphans would be allowed to exist. “So, why are you danger?” Rufus asked. “I didn't complete my mission. Sometimes, the punishment for not completing a mission is death. I disobeyed orders. And by telling you guys about my association is an even bigger punishment.” Eli said. Rufus looked shocked and immediately stood up from his bed as he went to Eli. “This is all my fault, Eli!” Rufus exclaimed. “It's not. It's mine. I was unable to kill you. I failed the mission so I deserve any much of the blame.” Eli said. “So what can we do?” Jorey asked. “For now? Nothing. If I do end up being painted as an enemy of Chamber of Requiem, I'll need your help.” Eli said. “Doing what?” Rufus asked sharply, wanting to help him as much as possible. “Invade and assassinate the leader.” Eli stated. The dorm was silent. Rufus looked down at the ground, pondering things. “We can't do that! Can't we just tell someone in the government? They'll believe you right? Killing just lets the Grimm win!” Jorey shouted. “I'll do it.” Rufus decided. Jorey and Onyx looked shocked, hearing that Rufus would help Eli. “Thank you Rufus.” Eli said, smiling. “Wait? Really?” Jorey asked. Rufus looked at Jorey with a saddened look on his face. “It's still think it's my fault he got into this mess. So I'll do whatever to protect him even it means killing a dictator.” Rufus declared his support. Onyx nodded. “That settles it. If he's going. I'm going. That just leaves you.” Onyx said. Jorey was trying to contemplate his options. “Jorey, just remember. The world doesn't care about your ideals. Only you do. Besides, you said that we're a team and that we support each other. Remember?” Eli pointed out. Jorey nodded slowly. “ I guess I will. We are a team after all. But, I'm not going to get finishing blows.” Jorey added. Eli chuckled at Jorey. Rufus and Onyx both smiled at Eli's genuine laughter. “Thank you guys. Really.” Eli said.

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