Chapter 12: Hunters On The Prowl

Hey folks! It's The Draigg here! Um… I'm having a hard time thinking of an entertaining author's note to type here. Well, maybe you'll enjoy how meta this is getting. I'm So Meta, Even This Acronym. Ha! It's fun! Thanks XKCD, for inventing that joke which I just blatantly stole! Now, let's get to the chapter, before I get fined for copyright reasons, huh?

xxx

Meanwhile, around the time that Roman and Neo just bought a bunch of fancy (and deadly) new toys from Junior, a bunch of Beacon Academy students just arrived in Vale City. To be more specific, Sun, Neptune, Weiss, Blake, and Ruby had just stepped off of the latest airship to arrive at the air dock.

Looking around, Neptune asked, "Hey, where's Yang?"

This answer came with the loud rumble of a high-performance engine. Blasting out of the cargo bay opening, Yang rode her motorcycle, the Bumblebee, up the gathered group and screeched to a halt. "'Sup, ladies?" she greeted.

"Wait, you're telling me we could've drove here?" Neptune asked the air. Heck, if only two people rode from Beacon to Vale City, the he would have certainly paid less for the airship tickets. Great…

"It's easier to just put it on the ship," Yang said with a wave of her hand. Then, kicking down the kickstand, Yang got off the bike and turned to Sun. "So, what're we doing, Mr. Officer?"

Sun motioned for everyone to gather around him. Once everyone did so, he began to explain, "We're gonna need some info on what the hell the White Fang wants with a bomb. Yang, ya said ya knew someone with their ear to the ground?"

"Right, I can go there," Yang replied.

"Good. I'll go with you. Also, we should probably try to see the bomber. I think his name was… Kira. Yoshikage Kira. I think he's at Vale General… so, who wants to go there?" asked Sun.

"I'll go," Blake volunteered.

"I'll go with her," Neptune added. Blake shot him a weird look, but quickly dropped it. She was still feeling a little resentment over the first time they had met. But, she was willing to put aside hatred for the sake of stopping the White Fang.

"Groovy…" Sun muttered. "And, uh, Weiss n' Ruby? Just uh… see if anyone bought bomb stuff. You know what I mean?"

"Not really," Weiss said.

"Uh… metal parts… fertilizer… wiring. A bunch of hardware stores should have that stuff around. Check in a few, to see if anyone bought that stuff at the same time," ordered Sun.

"Got it!" replied Ruby, giving Sun a goofy salute.

"Great! Now, guys, let's get out there!" Sun cried, pumping his fist in preemptive victory.

"Yeah!" Yang and Ruby cheered. All they got from anyone else was nods of approval.

Getting ready to go, Yang walked over to the Bumblebee and swung a leg over the seat. Kicking up the kickstand, Yang patted on the back of the seat. "C'mon, monkey boy, you're ridin' bitch."

Sun smirked a little at the joke he was about to make. "I didn't know I was Neptune," he teased.

That made Neptune snap a little. "Who're you calling a bitch, bitch?!"

"Oh, you," Sun said, tying best not to laugh.

"I'm not a bitch!" Neptune yelled.

"…You're kinda a bitch," Yang added.

"I didn't ask you! Just… ride out of here already!" cried Neptune, completely exasperated.

Sun walked over to the Bumblebee and got on the back. Holding onto Yang's waist, he said, "See ya later, bitch booooooyyyyy!" At that, Yang and Sun sped off, leaving only a trail of laughter and tire marks behind.

Neptune could feel a few veins pop in his head as he heard some snickering behind him. Turing to the offender, he saw Blake cover up her chuckling with her hand. "Not a word… Let's just go," he growled.

Spinning on his heel, Neptune began to stomp down the street. Blake followed after him, but she called out to Ruby and Blake, "I'll call if we find anything!"

"Got it!" Ruby yelled back.

Soon enough, Weiss and Ruby were left all alone. They were left to their own devices to find where one could buy a bunch of bomb-making materials. Unfortunately, that in of itself wasn't a lot to go off of. There were more than enough hardware stores in Vale City's city limits, so the White Rose pair had no real place to start.

"So… what now?" Ruby asked Weiss.

"I have no idea," the white haired girl admitted.

The area around the empty dock grew awkwardly quiet. The pair noticed a random tumbleweed blow past with the breeze. Which was odd, considering there was no vacant lots nearby. Ruby rubbed the toe of her left boot on the pavement.

"S-sure is windy today…" she stiffly stated.

Weiss and Ruby suddenly came down with the weirdest case of deja-vu. Oh well. But, in all seriousness, they needed to do something to save their sanity from this awkwardness.

"…Want to get something to eat?" Weiss offered.

That made Ruby perk up. "Crepes? I want a cheese crepe!" she said, her mouth filling with saliva.

Weiss nodded. "That sounds good," she agreed. That sounded pretty good to her as well. She could also use a fresh cup of coffee too.

Ruby slipped her hand into Weiss' which made her girlfriend blush a little. With a gentle smile, Ruby urged Weiss to come with her. With that, the pair left the air dock, in search of a place to have time to themselves.

xxx

Meanwhile, speeding down the street was a less touching scene. Sun clung tightly to Yang's waist as she gunned the Bumblebee down the freeway, swerving around cars and pushing the speed limit at every opportunity. Yang, even though she was getting her rider's high, couldn't help but feel a little awkward. Or rather, something felt awkward against her. Yang understood why Sun had a raging erection right now, with holding someone as hot as her and riding a speeding a motorcycle and all. Still, it wasn't like she was expecting for Sun to get an adrenaline boner at all.

"Don't think about his dick… don't think about his dick… don't think about his dick… Man, it's really stiff… Damn it! I thought about it," was Yang's looped thought process as the blonde-headed pair rode the bike. A few minutes of dick-related awkwardness later, the pair drove off of the freeway ramp and into the seedier downtown area of Vale City.

Sun tried to yell over the rushing wind. "Hey! Where is this place, anyway?!"

"Huh?!" Yang yelled back.

"What?!" Sun shouted back.

"Say that again!"

"Eh?!"

"What?!"

"What?!"

"How 'bout you slow down!"

"Should I slow down?!"

"What?!"

"What?!"

That routine continued as Yang broke the speed limit down the streets of inner-city Vale City.

xxx

Meanwhile, Neptune and Blake were engaged in a conversation as the y walked down the street. Well, Neptune was. Not so much for Blake. She was only half-listening to his frustrated ranting.

"—I'm a bitch?! Seriously, Sun's a bigger bitch than me. You know, he asked me to kill a spider the other day. It was just sitting there on the window. What kind of man can't kill a spider? Seriously!" Neptune spewed out at Blake.

"Uh-huh…" Blake mumbled, paying more attention to her open scroll. At that point, her attention levels were at a severe low. She only picked up the parts where she should chime in, to sound like she was listening. Her interest was more captured by the forum she was browsing. Blake was logged on to a Ninjas of Love discussion forum. And, there was someone wrong on the internet, which couldn't stand uncorrected. What kind of scrub could forget the part where the shogun sent the Shiro to the land of Wuxia? A real scrub, that's who.

"—Hey, are you even listening?" Neptune suddenly asked.

"Uh-huh," Blake grunted again.

Suddenly, Blake could feel Neptune look over her shoulder. Defensively, Blake closed her scroll and slipped it into her pocket. "Didn't your mom teach you about personal space?" she spat.

"You know, it's not cool to ignore someone," Neptune flatly pointed out.

"Well, it's not cool to read other people's scrolls," Blake retorted.

"So… ninjas, huh?" Neptune said, trying to change the flow of conversation.

That made Blake cautiously guarded. "What's it to you?" she asked.

"Well, let's just say I rolled my die to a ninja book before," said Neptune, feeling the d20 in his pocket.

Blake raised an eyebrow. "…I'm not following."

"You ever roleplay?" Neptune asked.

"…Depends on what you mean by that," Blake answered. Whether he meant sexual roleplay or RPG style gaming would change the tone of this conversation drastically.

"Like, tabletop stuff. You know, dungeons? That type of thing?" clarified Neptune.

"Oh!" Blake said. "Yeah, I did that once or twice."

In fact, Blake knew well enough of the world of tabletop RPG games. She was introduced to them when she needed to kill some time while she was a member of the White Fang. And, of course, her player character was a ninja/martial-artist. Those few games were pretty fun, from what she remembered. Still, from the looks of it, Neptune had many times more experience than her.

"What game did you play?" Neptune asked, his tone giving away his excitement.

"Uh… Warriors of Aldara, I think…" Blake struggled to remember.

"Oh yeah, I remember that! A beginner's game, but it's still good!" Neptune gushed.

"Beginner?" Blake repeated.

"Well, it's kinda easy… But, that doesn't mean it's not fun! I'm more into Darkest Dungeons or Shadowfall, though. Ever heard of those?" the blue(?) haired intellectual continued.

"No, not really," Blake answered.

"Well, Shadowfall's more of my favorite. It's a cyberpunk game, set in an alternate version of Atlas. You can get cybernetic implants, big guns, or whatever! Heck, you can even upload your mind into a robot body! Man, it's cool!" explained Neptune.

"Hmm… well, it sounds interesting," was Blake's polite reply. To be honest, if she was going to be into tabletop roleplaying games, she would prefer to stick to the ones with ninjas and samurai. But, it was more a matter of personal taste than anything.

"Yeah…" Neptune happily sighed. Then, perking back up, he asked, "Hey, wanna see my d20?"

"I guess?" Blake replied.

Neptune's grip tightened around the d20 he was playing with in his pocket. Pulling it out, he held it towards the sun with his thumb and index finger. He was presenting it more to himself than Blake. "It's my luck one," he explained. "I never leave home without it."

"Lucky, huh?" Blake said with a smirk. It was kind of funny how passionately Neptune was geeking out over this. At least he really loved his hobby.

"Yeah! I'm sure this thing saved my life more times than I can count," Neptune said dreamily, as if seeing it was making him relaxed. In his mind, he couldn't help but revere the Random Number God that held power over the die, and by extension, his luck. Praise be unto him.

"I'll bet," Blake purred, going along with his nerdy ramblings. This was getting more entertaining than arguing with a bunch of wrong people on the forum. Way, way more entertaining and amusing.

Tossing the d20 in the air, Neptune caught it as it fell towards the ground. He kept on playing catch with it, occasionally checking to see what number faced up when it landed in his hand. As it stood, he kept on rolling high number. Looks like the Random Number God was smiling upon his humble, well-worn die once again. Neptune knew he could use some of that precious luck today. Everyone was going to need that luck if they were going to stop the White Fang in time. Maybe he should do a few rolls with them in mind. After all, who couldn't use a few rolls for luck? Nobody, that's who.

With a heaving toss, Neptune tossed the die higher than normal in the air and caught it again. Opening his palm, he looked at the number result. Huh. It landed on a 10. That was the lowest roll he had gotten in a while. What that translated to in his mind was that their success could swing either way. Well, at least there was still a chance. A half chance, but that was still a chance.

A chance was all they needed to save the day, after all. It was all according to everyone's initiative.

xxx

Yay! More numbery goodness! Seriously, a die with more than six sides is pretty cool. Ever seen one with more than two hundred? It's crazy. It's pretty much just a ball. Impractical as shit, but damn, they sure are cool. I suggest you look them up. Anyway, please roll for the initiative to leave a review for me! Roll any number equal or higher to than one, and you have to do it. So, get on it!

This is The Draigg, and I'm rolling out of here… for now!