Chapter 2: Falling Into the Wrong Crowd

It was a bright and sunny day in the city of Vale, and Mato was fuming.

He had spent the night in an alley because he convinced himself it would be too much of a hassle to go all the way to the wilds when he was going to be coming back to the city the next day. Then he woke up to find the locals still trying to hunt him down, or someone else with 'wild black hair and a tail', preventing him from getting any breakfast without a boat load of extra trouble. He'd ended up heading back out to the wilds anyway, making a meal out of a brown, antlered beast he found in a copse of trees. And, truth be told, it had been a tasty creature, proving Remnant's great food wasn't just due to the skill of its chefs. It just hadn't been worth the extra hassle.

Mato wondered if he was making a mistake evading his hunters instead of taking them on. It would set a bad precedent if they thought they could push him around. But the fact that they were even still looking for him showed they were the sort to hold on to grudges around here. As fighters they were no threat, but their weapons were disproportionately powerful for their strength level. Until he had settled on a more long term living plan beyond just living hand to mouth, avoiding conflict would be wisest.

That wasn't to say he was hiding. He walked down the street openly; it's just that they weren't seeing him. It was rather fortunate that the physiology between saiyans and humans were so similar. The police were looking for a man with spiked black hair and a tail, so by tucking his tail under his shirt and tying his hair back Mato was basically invisible to them. People were people everywhere, even if they were mudmen. They don't see what they aren't expecting, and who would expect someone being hunted to walk causally down the road bold as brass?

At the moment Mato had a simple mission, to learn Remnant's lunar cycle and where it was in that cycle. To do that, he could ask random passerby until one was patient and knowledgeable enough to answer him or he could seek out a repository of knowledge and inquire there. Mato chose the latter, better to spend a little time for a guaranteed answer than potentially waste a lot more time with nothing to show for it.

He was walking past a window filled with books, which was a good sign. Mato stepped inside, a bell tinkling over the door to announce his arrival. The room he was in was quiet and the lights were dim. It created a sense of safety, like he was inside a cave. Books on shelves lined the walls and decorated several stands scattered around the room. There wasn't anyone inside with him, so Mato relieved the pressure on his scalp by slipping the tie he had fashioned out of some twine he had found in a trash bin off his hair, letting his spikes return to their natural shapes.

Still, he did need to talk to an actual person. These books weren't liable to tell him much. On a whim, he flipped one open and stared at the lines of script. Nothing. Well, not nothing nothing. He could tell they used a character based form of writing and judging by the arrangement of the lines it was read left to right, but that didn't tell him anything about what was actually written there.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun." A man with impressive sideburns and a deep voice emerged from the back, who Mato assumed to be Tukson.

"I'm more interested in the moon." Mato replied evenly. "Do you have anything on the lunar cycle and where we are currently in it?" He'd almost said 'this planet's lunar cycle,' which probably would have prompted some annoying questions.

"There might be something over on the wall to your left." Tukson said, moving to reorganize a pile of books on the counter in front of him.

Mato smiled bitterly. This was going to be awkward. "I was hoping you could read it for me. I can't read." The admission hurt his pride, made worse when Tukson whipped his head around incredulously.

"What? You can't read…" He trailed off, staring intently at Mato. Recognition bloomed in his eyes. "It's you."

"It's me?" Mato could sense trouble approaching. He kicked himself for removing his 'disguise'.

"You're the guy from yesterday. The one who fought those huntsmen." Tukson appeared to be half afraid, half impressed.

"And if I am?" Mato's mind was already slipping into the steely focus of impending combat. His ki stirred awake, the power strengthening his limbs and sharpening his senses. He had to admit it was a bit ridiculous; Tukson looked as though Mato could kill him with a stern gaze.

Tukson could see the hard glint on Mato's eyes and held up his hands placatingly. "Whoa, hold on. We don't want to fight you, we just want to talk."

That didn't really reassure Mato, it just raised more questions. He asked the first one that came to mind. "We?"

Tukson began to answer, but was cut off by loud voices outside. The group didn't enter, just walked past the door chatting loudly, but Tukson still jumped and stared at them with wary eyes. "It's not safe to talk here." He strode over to the door, locked it, and flipped what Mato assumed to be an open/closed sign around. "Let's go in back." He led the way to the room he had emerged from. Mato weighed his options. He could just leave, but he was interested and this probably wasn't a trap.

"You didn't answer my question." Mato said as he joined Tukson in the back room. "Who are 'we'?"

"We're people who are sick and tired of being taken advantage of and oppressed." Tukson said cautiously, like he didn't want to give any more information than that. Suddenly, Mato understood. They were a disenfranchised group, they saw him handedly defeating fighters who serve the authority that keeps them down, and they wanted him to fight for their cause. Mato should have guessed from the start.

A large number of saiyans worked as freebooters and mercenaries. Many ran their own pirate or raider gangs out in the fringes of space, preying on undefended systems. The warriors' main source of work was squashing whatever new pocket of resistance the Trade Organization had found recently. Being paid to fight things was a cornerstone of the saiyan economy.

"And you want me to help make that stop." Mato folded his arms, trying to look stern. He'd never done mercenary work before, but he'd heard the trick was to put on a hard front. Seem too eager and you wouldn't get paid as much.

"Yes." Tukson nodded eagerly. "Will you join the fight?"

"I'm no crusader, but if I get a nice offer…" Mato said. Tukson's expression shifted ever so slightly. Had he genuinely thought Mato would freely mire himself in some petty human class conflict?

"Well, I can't promise you anything myself. I'll take you to our leader; he'll want to speak to you anyway." Tukson shifted awkwardly. "We'll have to wait until night, that's the only time he can be reached."

"My schedule's free." Mato said as he took a seat in the center of the room. He had been meaning to find some time to meditate anyway; he hadn't since he had arrived here. "Come get me when you're ready."

Tukson sputtered around the back room for a bit, moving piles of books here and there, and really just doing a poor job of masking that he was trying to keep an eye on Mato. It was a relief when he went back up front to reopen the store, Mato could finally concentrate. He wasn't really feeling like being introspective, so he simply worked on flowing his ki throughout his body in different concentrations. Eventually he started hovering above the floor to add a little difficulty. It didn't do much; even among saiyans, a race naturally gifted at controlling their ki, the ability to fly had always come easily to Mato.

The hours passed, and just as Mato started to get hungry again the sky had darkened. Tukson was back, having changed into an odd white and black outfit. "Follow me." He led the way out the back door, giving Mato a look at the emblem on the back of his shirt. A snarling beast's head, marred by claw marks. Not the logo of a group that talked first and fought second, Mato thought.

They crept, with annoying slowness, through the darkened streets. Tukson was a nervous one, constantly looking over his shoulder for pursuers. Mato just hoped they got there before his stomach collapsed into a singularity of hunger. From his brief exploration of the city, it seemed as though they were heading into the industrial areas of town. There were less people here, and more trash.

Finally, Tukson paused before the door of a dilapidated building. He slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out an odd mask. It almost resembled the ones on those 'Grimm' Mato had encountered. Tukson took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

A slot in the door opened. A similarly masked face looked out at them. "Who's the runt?"

"A new recruit." Tukson answered tersely. Mato sniffed, getting the scent of the door keeper to repay that comment later. Besides him, there were a large number of people gathered within.

"Where's his mask?" The door keeper asked suspiciously.

Tukson sighed irritably. "I only have mine, not any spares. Now are you going to let us in or not?"

There was the sound of locks being unlocked. "Fine, but you'll have to answer to Adam." The door swung open, revealing a dimly lit hallway.

"He's here?" Tukson asked, sounding almost alarmed before he collected himself and led the way inside. "Good. He'll want to speak to the new guy."

"We'll see." The door keeper said ominously as he shut the door behind them. Tukson marched down the hallway sharply and turned around the corner to face another door. He paused for a second and gulped audibly. He was nervous, Mato realized. Nervous about bringing Mato here, or nervous about being here in general?

Before he could work it out, Tukson pushed open the door into a cavernous space. It was a warehouse, the place littered with storage containers and crates of all sizes. It was also full of people, all in the same uniform and mask as Tukson. As Mato and Tukson walked across the floor, the hum of activity and chatter slowly ceased. When the duo stopped in the center of the room, silence reigned.

A man in a black suit emerged from the crowd and approached them. He was a leader, Mato could tell. Aside from the fact that he was the only one not in uniform, he walked like a warrior did. Quickly and purposefully, but in no way rushing. It was the stride of someone who expected that any obstacles in his way would not be there by the time he reached them. This was Adam, no doubt.

Tukson kept his composure, but Mato could smell the fear on him. "I've brought him. The man we were looking for. He's willing to fight for us."

Adam somehow was able to look disdainfully at Tukson despite his face being mostly covered by a mask. "Is he?" His gaze shifted to Mato. "You know who we are." It wasn't a question.

Mato had absolutely no idea. "I know what they say about you." He said instead. "Though perhaps you'd like to give me your own opinion."

Adam scoffed. "Oh, I know what they say." He started to pace. "They say that the brothers and sisters of the White Fang are fanatics, dangerous radicals acting out of hate rather than a desire for equality. They mock and insult us for continuing the fight for true freedom from humanity's oppression while they settle for the scraps from humanity's tables. They enjoy the benefits of our struggles, while all the while wishing we didn't exist. But we aren't going anywhere, not until there isn't a single Faunus that is treated with anything but respect, no matter how hard we have to fight."

It was an impressive piece of oratory, Mato thought as the crowd surrounding them broke into cheers. And an informative one. So they were members of a subspecies of humanity that had been mistreated, either in truth or just in appearance, and were willing to fight against humanity as a whole to correct that. And not all 'Faunus' shared in this viewpoint. That was fine; more enemies meant more fighting he could get paid for.

"Are you ready to join the fight?" Adam asked as the cheers died down.

Mato folded his arms. "That depends on what I'm offered."

The atmosphere got noticeably tenser. "You think to profit from our struggles?" Adam's voice was tight.

Mato nodded. "I could care less about your little human conflict, but I'm out of work at the moment and fighting is my specialty. For the right sum, I'll happily crush your enemies for you."

It's amazing how a silence could convey detailed information at times. The current silence was one of everyone in the room restraining themselves from trying to murder him in a frenzy. Mato might have been a bit too blunt. One man had less restraint than the rest. He was a big fellow with a mask that covered his entire face, pushing his way through to the front of the crowd.

"We don't need trash like this fighting for us. Scum that think they can waltz in here and make demands are no better than humans." A chorus of assent rose from the onlookers. Tukson appeared to be surreptitiously stepping away from Mato. But Mato wasn't too worried. All he needed to do now was put on a show.

"Is that so?" The crowd quieted to hear his words. Mato had intentionally spoken at conversational level to catch their attention. "I was under the impression you could use all the power you could get your hands on."

"We don't need any weak power you could give." The belligerent man replied. Mato had to keep from laughing. He couldn't have set himself up better if he had tried.

"Really? Then how about a little wager?" Mato held up a finger, playing his part perfectly. "We fight. If you win, I'll fight your little war for you freely and without complaint."

"And if you win?" Adam asked. He was interested, Mato could tell.

Mato shrugged. "If I win, then you can just consider that my audition. After I show you firsthand my power, I have no doubt you'll be willing to shell out the cash."

"Heh. Fine by me." The big man stepped forward, hoisting yet another of this planet's unusual weapons. It resembled like a sword, but the blade was in tiny pieces rather than a solid edge and there was a handle part of the way down the blade. The hilt also looked overbuilt, probably hiding some machinery or trick. Mato reminded himself to be careful.

"Tukson, you'd better get back." Tukson heeded his advice and Adam made a significantly less hurried departure, leaving Mato and his enemy alone on the floor. It wasn't just the weapon and any tricks it might have, after his boasting Mato couldn't allow even the slightest injury or misstep or the crowd would jump on it. He had to win by an overwhelming margin to keep the façade he was trying to sell them going. But how to do that? Hungry as he was, pulling out all of his power would be difficult. That would make winning through raw power risky, if he was even a smudge too slow or weak his enemy could get in a lucky shot. That left him with winning on skill. That shouldn't be too hard.

"Crush him Bruno!"

"Kick his ass!"

"Demolish him!"

The peanut gallery was having a good time, at least. Bruno did something to his 'sword' and it roared. Looking closer, Mato could see those little blades on it were attached to a track and the track was rotating the length of the blade, producing a sawing effect. A dangerous modification, but only if Bruno could connect with his weapon. Mato just needed to not let that happen.

"Just you, huh? I'd meant I'd fight all of you, but I guess you'll be a decent punching bag."

Bruno snarled at the insult and charged. He swung his weapon in a horizontal arc that would have torn Mato's torso in half. Instead of allowing that, Mato leaned back so the whirring blades would pass over his head. Bracing himself with a hand on the floor, he kicked up at the sword as it passed over him. The kick blew the weapon upward and threw Bruno off balance. Mato nimbly spun to his feet and drove an elbow into Bruno's gut. The force behind the blow was enough to send him flying into a crate on the edge of the circle of people, smashing it to pieces.

The crowd had gone silent. Mato straightened up from his stance, smirking. He'd done damage, but he didn't think that would be nearly enough. Sure enough, Bruno was on his feet and rushing back into the fray within seconds. This time, Mato let him attack without pause, dodging every strike. When a particularly strong downward slash buried the sword into the ground, Mato lashed out with a kick. Bruno went flying backward, into a crate next to the first one. In a bit of pure showboating, Mato used his foot to free Bruno's weapon from the floor and flip it over to him.

Even with his face hidden, it was quite clear Bruno was seething. He scooped up his weapon and leapt into the air. Just what Mato had been waiting for. An attack with all his strength behind it. Mato drew his ki up into his forearm. The sword descended like a bolt of lightning and Mato caught it barehanded. His fingers formed a pincer that caught the weapon by its flat, the rotating blades kept from his palm by nothing but the strength of Mato's fingers.

Bruno tried to yank his weapon free, with increasing urgency as his efforts had no effect. Mato's arm didn't even budge. This was the money moment for him. His foe's strong suit was physical force; to overpower him so blatantly would be resounding proof of his abilities to the watchers.

Speaking of which… Mato, still holding the sword in a death grip, turned to find Adam's face in the crowd. "Have I proven myself yet? Or do I need to start really hurting your friend here?"

Adam's mouth was a hard line. "Bruno, that's enough." Instantly, the struggles to free his weapon from Mato's grip ceased. Mato was impressed. That was some serious obedience Adam could inspire. Adam nodded at the two of them. "Both of you come with me. The rest of you, get back to work." And like that, the circle of gawkers was disbanded.

Mato followed Adam to a side room off the warehouse floor, being sure to let Bruno go ahead of him. Mato couldn't be sure, but he seemed the sort to cut down a man after the battle was over because he was on the losing end. Inside the cramped office, Adam settled behind a desk strewn with what looked like maps while Bruno loomed over his shoulder.

"You've proven you're strong." Adam said without preamble. "And you were right when you said we need power. The White Fang may be the strongest it's been in years, but it's still not strong enough. Not for the plans we have."

"Then you shouldn't have made me go through all that trouble to fight for you." Mato replied. "Still, I trust my audition was satisfactory?"

"It was." Adam steepled his fingers. "So what do you want in exchange for your help?"

"At the moment, nothing." That surprised the two of them. "Currently I am in need of food and lodging. Provide those for me, and I will consider my first outing on your behalf already paid for. After you've seen me in action, we can discuss what would be appropriate compensation for my services." Mato thought they were buying it. In reality, he wanted some time to get an understanding of Remnant's currency, so he didn't end up asking for a pathetically small or ludicrously large amount of money.

"Awful generous of you." Bruno muttered, clearly suspicious.

"A man must work." Mato recited the familiar idiom while shrugging. "I am not so shameless as to demand payment before providing my end of the arrangement."

"Is that so?" Adam shifted some of the papers on his desk. "We have several camps beyond the kingdom's borders that have come under increasing Grimm attack. A team is departing from this location to one such camp tonight. I'd like you to go with them." He glanced back at Bruno. "Take him to Perry, then finalize the men for tomorrow's heist."

"Yes sir." Bruno walked over to the door. "Follow me." Bruno led him back out into the warehouse floor and over to another White Fang member, this one amusingly wearing glasses over his mask. "Got one more for your group, Perry." Without another word, Bruno turned on his heel and was gone.

Perry looked Mato over. "So you're with us, huh? I can't say I don't want you, anyone that can fight worth half a damn would be useful right now."

Mato was spared having to respond by someone else speaking. "Hello Perry! You wouldn't happen to know where the men I was promised are, would you?"

The speaker was a man with bright orange hair hidden by a round cap. Mato noted the fineness of his clothes, the way he swaggered as he walked.

"Torchwick." Perry said evenly. "You were promised men for tomorrow night, not tonight."

"Time waits for no man Perry and neither does crime." Torchwick replied glibly. "The situation's changed, I need the men now."

Perry shook his head. "Go talk to Bruno; he was putting the teams together. I have more important things to do than drop everything to hold your hand."

Torchwick held up his hands mock-defensively. "Whoa, easy there Perry. No need to bite my head off, I know where to go." He sauntered off, chuckling.

Perry sighed explosively when he was gone. "That man's a great asset to our cause, but he really rubs me wrong. Whatever." He turned back to Mato. "I saw the video of you fighting; you can fly, can't you?"

Mato answered by lightly floating a foot off the floor. Perry smiled. "Then I have something you could do. My team is heading out to the camp shortly, but because we need to stay out of sight it takes almost two days to get there. That might not be fast enough. I want you to fly there directly to make sure everything is okay there."

"As long as there's a meal at the other end of that flight, that's fine with me." Mato said.

Perry shrugged. "I'm sure they can throw something together for you once you're there." He pulled out a small device from his pocket and tapped its interface a few times. "When you arrive, tell the camp commander 'sheathed claws are sharper'. That will prove you're with us." He finished his tapping and held up the device. The screen was showing an arrow, with some writing below it. "This will point you to the camp, just follow the arrow."

Mato took it and experimentally turned around. The arrow turned with him, keeping its original direction. "Handy. Anything else?"

It was tough to read someone wearing a mask, so Mato wasn't sure what the odd expression on Perry's face could mean. "You- It's nothing." He visibly composed himself. "Might as well get going, the sooner you get there the sooner you get that meal of yours."

Mato nodded his farewell and headed for the exit. He nodded at the door keeper as he unbolted the door and opened it. Walking past, Mato threw a punch faster than the other man's eye could track right into his gut, making him stagger backwards. "You okay?" Mato asked, all concerned.

The doorman rubbed his stomach. "Yeah, I'm fine. Wonder what that was?"

"Who knows?" Mato left him to try to work it out on his own. Once outside, he shot skyward until the lights of the city turned to dots beneath him. The wind gently ruffled his hair as he confirmed his heading on the little device. It was a beautiful night, he had something new to keep him busy for at least a few weeks and a quick flight ahead of him with food waiting at the end. Mato was beginning to not hate being on Remnant.

AN: Mato is too much of an impressionable youth to be hanging out with such a bad bunch. They'll be such a negative influence on him, he might even start committing crimes! On a more serious note, he hasn't yet realized why they think a guy with a tail ought to care about what happens to faunus.

Yes, Bruno is Banesaw. Mainly because the character doesn't have a real name and I can hardly have his colleagues call him that. Bruno means brown, kinda like his tanned skin, and he has some similarities to the Pokemon Bruno.

Review Responses: metalgear870: While what we eat are indeed the fruit of the tomato plant, those are still considered vegetables from a cooking standpoint. Much like how broccoli is properly a flower and carrots are properly a root, the 'vegetable' classification really only exists on the culinary level.

Jackalope89: Well, as of this chapter we can safely say that this takes place before the start of volume 2 and after Cinder conscripted the White Fang. I want to say Roman's heist that night is the one Blake and Sun crashes, but it might screw up the timeline a bit (I haven't worked out all the details yet) so I won't commit to that yet.

helkil: I wanna bring in some female saiyans too, since they are pretty underrepresented in DBZ works. Problem is that Mato's whole stranded arc doesn't really work if there are other saiyans around, so it might be a while before we see any.

epikphael: Thanks for the praise! It took me a long time to get a name for Mato, but when I thought of it it fit so perfectly I had to use it. As for capitalization, since we're reading from Mato's perspective he doesn't capitalize the name of his species the same way I wouldn't capitalize "humans".

GotenGT: While I'm not saying romance isn't going to happen, those two pairings are unlikely considering he's joined Blake's friends-turned-enemies and Velvet's only interaction with him was him beating her and her friends up.

shadows being: I hope it grows on you, things are going to pick pretty quickly.

Thanks for all the feedback, and I'll see you guys next time On Dragon Ball RWBY! Guitar riff.