Chapter 18: Sun Shines Some Light On Several Things

Let me ask you readers a question. Do you even read the author's notes anymore? Seriously, do you? I'm getting the distinct feeling that I can more or less put whatever I want up here, and nobody would really say anything. Like, if I just put the lyrics to a bunch of random anime theme songs, or if I just unleash an entire paragraph of curses and swears, would anyone notice? Or am I just talking to an empty chamber here? I honestly have no clue if anyone pay attention to what I put at the top here anymore. But, maybe that's a good thing. Look, that's beside the point now. Let's just get to the story.

xxx

Ozpin normally liked his Sundays.

No, not the ice cream treat (those are preferred more by a different character entirely). We're taking about the day of the week here. Anyway, back on track, Ozpin liked to enjoy his Sundays. It was a day where he was free to drink coffee in his office, look out on Beacon Academy with satisfaction, and dodge petty complaint calls from those bastards on the inter-kingdom council. Seriously, those officials loved to get on Ozpin for whatever reason they could. It was always things like "You're using up too much funding," or "We're taking away funding," or "Your school cafeteria has had enough cases of food poisoning to get at least a dozen health agencies involved,". Okay, maybe that last one was a legitimate point. But, it wouldn't be, if Beacon actually got the funding it needed.

That last point struck a nerve in Ozpin. Quickly swallowing the bit of coffee he had in his mouth, he leaned over to the side of his desk. Grabbing a post-it note and a pen, he made a memo to himself: "Look into better food service alternatives."

Ozpin stuck the note on the edge of his desk, where he was bound to see it when he sat there again. Putting his writing materials back in their proper places, Ozpin leaned back in his chair and took a long sip of coffee. Yep, he could afford to take this day somewhat easy.

Just when he'd settled in his office hair quite nicely, he heard a notification pop up on his computer. Adjusting his seating, Ozpin looked at the little box. Ah, it was a notification from Glynda Goodwitch, his fine assistant. It read: "Wukong and Vasilias are requesting a meeting with you. Should I let them in?"

Ozpin took another sip of his coffee. Well, today was supposed to be his (mostly) off day. Still, he was a teacher and hunter at heart. Who was he to deny tow students the opportunity to meet with him? It was not only his duty, but his honor to serve his students in the best way imaginable. Plus, at least some had something interesting to talk about, other than grades.

Replying, Ozpin typed back, "Of course. Let them in. I'm free to see them right now."

With a press of the 'enter' key, Ozpin looked at his sent message. All he needed to do now was wait for two of his hunters-in-training to show up and—

The doors of Ozpin's office suddenly swung open and in stepped none other than Sun Wukong and his partner, Neptune Vasilias. "Hey, Professor! We've got news for ya!" the blonde monkey Faunus loudly announced as he walked towards the desk.

Ozpin stood up to greet the duo. "Well, you two look like you have something important to tell me," he observed. At the same time, he waved the hunters to have a seat at the front of the desk.

Sun and Neptune both sat in the comfortable chairs at the same time. Slouching, Sun continued on his train of thought. "Seriously, man. This is serious stuff. Like, space-cancer serious."

Neptune winced at the insensitive comment that Sun made. "…What my partner means is that we've got some info on a White Fang plan that you're gonna want to hear," added Neptune, not before shooting his partner an unamused look.

Ozpin sat back in his chair. Staring at the two, he steepled his hands in front of him, on the desk. "If you have any information on ANY terrorist activities, it's in everyone's best interest to tell me."

Sun and Neptune nodded in agreement.

"So, with that being said, why don't you start from the top?" Ozpin asked.

That made Sun and Neptune look at each other briefly. Turning to Ozpin, Neptunne asked, "Are you sure, from the top?"

"Right," nodded Ozpin.

"Well, alright then," Sun sighed. Before he began to speak, he sat up straighter in his chair. "Okay, well, it starts the day after we were taken off the junior detective program…"

xxx

About an hour later, Ozpin was beginning to regret his exact choice of words. So far, he'd heard how the pair had struggled with their depression after being taken off the police force, how Sun had planned to try and talk to him yesterday, and some odd existential crisis involving a twenty-sided die the pair had faced yesterday. They'd gone over every detail except for the important info. Seriously, they should have edited their planned conversation beforehand, so only the important details remained.

"And so then, it was another ten, and I was like, "Naw, that ain't right", so I—" Sun rambled on.

Ozpin had finally had enough. "May I interrupt you there, Mr. Wukong? So far, I've heard every part of your day, except for the important info you wanted to tell me. Unless this ties into your report, can we please just get to the White Fang plot?"

Sun pursed his lips together. "Well, you DID say ya wanted it from the top," he offered in his defense.

"The plot, Mr. Wukong," Ozpin firmly demanded.

"Right…" began Sun. "Well, here's the thing. Ya know that one guy we caught with that crash? Yeah, he was workin' for the White Fang. Like, a buddy of 'em or whatever. Anyway, he saw a buncha bomb makin' stuff in the van. Wires, pipes, detonators, all that jazz. So, we piece the clues together, and did some dirt diggin'."

Picking up where Sun left off, Neptune began to explain as well. "We got help from Team RWBY yesterday. So, we went into Vale City, where we tried to pick up on any fresh clues, other than the ones we put together. After a bit, we finally got a big one: Roman Torchwick's working with the White Fang. He bought at least five bombs for them. Now, we don't know what he's doing with the White Fang, or what they're planning. But, sir, we can say that we're going to need some help on this one. So, uh, that's why we came to you first. Yeah…"

Ozpin drummed his fingers together as he absorbed all of that information. It was a rather large info-dump, after all. After a minute of silence, Ozpin silently got up from his desk chair, and walked over to a nearby filing cabinet. Sun and Neptune couldn't help but look on in confusion as he opened the largest drawer and began to rummage around for something.

After a minute or so of searching, Ozpin seemed to have found what he was looking for. Walking back to his side of the desk, he placed two badges on the desk, along with two standard service revolvers.

"I'm putting you back on the force," he calmly said. "You're to go back to the Vale police to gather as much information as you can. I want you to find where the hideout of the White Fang is. Or, failing that, where the bombs are to be placed. Understood?"

Sun eagerly grabbed the badge off of the desk, while Neptune cast them a rather confused look at the other badge and guns. "Uhh… sir?" Neptune pointed out, "We… never gave you our badges OR our guns…"

Ozpin stared blankly at Neptune for a second, before reaching over and snatching the badge out of Sun's hand. Looking at it closer, Ozpin noticed it wasn't a junior detective badge, but a real one, used by the VCPD. Without a word, Ozpin scooped back up the guns and badges and walked back over to the cabinet. Dumping the goods back into their drawer, he muttered under his breath, "I should remember to return those…"

"Aww…" Sun disappointedly groaned to himself. Man, it was so close to being right of a cop action flick! So close!

"Anyway," Ozpin briskly continued, completely ignoring the previous odd occurrence. "When you accomplish either objective, I'll assign you a hunter team to assist you in stopping the plot one and for all. Is this all understood?"

"Right, sir!" Neptune said with a crisp nod.

"Fuckin' crystal!" added Sun. That got him a sharp glare from Neptune. Understanding this, Sun wasted no time in correcting himself. "I mean, I understand perfectly."

"Good, good. You're dismissed," Ozpin said, standing up.

As the duo of Sun and Neptune walked out of the office doors, Sun made sure to yell back, "Thanks a lot, chief!"

Ozpin made sure to give a small nod in return. But, as the doors closed, he sat back into his office chair, a little confused. Sun had just called him chief again. Did that student somehow delude himself into thinking he was in some sort of police procedural show? Given the way he'd delivered the report on his day for the past hour, it was almost like he was trying to be one of those loose-cannon types.

Sighing, Ozpin waved that idea away. There were odder students that attended Beacon Academy before. And that's not even getting into the one that thought she was some sort of masked rider who dispensed justice. She had to spend at least two terms in the hospital in an ill-guided attempt to land a kick from a moving motorcycle. That move nearly got Beacon a lawsuit, due to the student's parent's misguided attempt to find someone to blame. It wouldn't be the first (or last, for that matter) case of that occurring.

But, Ozpin had to admit, being called "chief" was a new one. If anything, he was a little surprised that it hadn't happened already. After all, he had legitimate badges and guns to hand out. Oh, that's right, the badges and guns! He'd nearly forgotten!

Swiveling his chair to the side of his desk, Ozpin grabbed his post-it notes and pen again. Clicking the push button on the top of the pen, he wrote another note to himself. It read: "Remember to give back badges and guns in the drawer. And offer to pay for any damages it may have caused."

Satisfied with the note, the headmaster of Beacon Academy stuck it next to his earlier message. Well, it looked like his Sunday had been a little more productive than he'd originally thought, all things considered.

But, enough of serious business time. He had a pot of coffee that Glynda was brewing that just begged to him to be enjoyed. It would be an affront to himself and Glynda if he didn't drink every drop of it. Heck, he might as well bring along Professor Oobleck to enjoy it. At least that hyper-active history fan had a real appreciation for the art of caffeinated-beverage brewing.

Yeah, that sounded like an excellent idea. Picking up his scroll, Ozpin began to lay out his plan for the rest of the day. Really, one of the most important men on all of Remnant could afford to take a small break, right? He had faith that his (somewhat) completely sane and rational students could pull through and save the day for the good of everyone.

After all, that's what they were being trained for, right?

xxx

You know what? I'm just going to skip over the normal begging for reviews and just leave some song lyrics here in case anyone notices. Consider it a test. So, on that note, please enjoy the untranslated lyrics to Space Runaway Ideon's theme, Fukkatsu no Ideon:

Kikoeru ka kikoeru darou harukana todoroki/Yami no naka kokoro yusaburu mezame hajimaru

Daichi wari sosori tatsu sugata seigi no akashi ka/Densetsu no kyojin no chikara ginga kirisaku

Otakebi ga denkou sekka no ichigeki o yobu/Furueruna hitomi korase yo fukkatsu no toki

Hito yo inochi yo hajimari o miru

Supeesu rannauei Ideon Ideon/Supeesu rannauei Ideon Ideon

Tatakau ka tatakaeru ka obieru kokoro yo/Semari kuru aku no chikara ni yuuki o shimese

Sora ni tobu kagayaku sugata inochi no sakebi ka/Densetsu no kyojin no chikara ginga kirisaku

Hissatsu no waza ga utsu no wa waga mi na no ka to/Osoreruna kokoro hirake yo fukkatsu no toki

Hito yo inochi yo chikara o miru

Supeesu rannauei Ideon Ideon/Supeesu rannauei Ideon Ideon