Chapter 12

Ron pulled the bolt back on Viridi Lanius to chamber a round from the fresh clip he had just slammed into the receiver. As the bolt came back he could see the 5.56 round slide into its new home between the firing pin and the barrel. Ron had adapted his combat gear for a desert climate. His regular dark green armor plate rested over a plain black t-shirt, exposing toned arms, and he wore dark tan combat pants with pouches running down along the legs. A pair of worn combat boots adorned his feet, laced tight to his body. He wore a jade beret with a patch sewn into the fabric, depicting an emblem on the front part the hung down over his forehead. A shield with a WA-47 rifle crossed diagonally over it, his own personal crest. His neck was tied with a jade bandana that was just a shade lighter than his chest plate and shoulder armor. His forearms were also covered in armor of a similar color with his scroll resting on the underside of his left forearm in an open position.

"So Joey what were you doing with Ironwood anyway?" Elodie asked the wolf faunus who was crouched over his gun case. The team had turned the living room of their home on the edge of Forever Fall into a temporary armory. Elodie had three sets of her collapsible quiver, Flurry, set out in front of her alongside a case of dust vials fitted to Tempest's dust wheels. Her armor had also been set up for the environment they were about to enter. Here jumpsuit had been traded out for tights that covered her legs and chest in a similar way to the jumpsuit, only this outfit revealed her midriff, toned abs and the top of her waist. She still had shoulder armor as well as gauntlets that allowed her to pull Tempest's string more comfortably. The tight fitted top held the same cross as her jumpsuit but it was much smaller, resting on the fabric at the center of her chest. Her boots were much less pronounced than Ron's, consisting of a much smaller frame and more narrow toes, with an arch at the bottom and a large flat heel.

"Oh not much," he said with a pause that Ron attributed to his focus on his weapons. In front of Joey's open gun case were his rifle, shotgun-sword, and twin pistols. All of his weapons were polished to perfection as he began loading them, handguns first, meticulously. His armor resembled the same armor he wore the night at the warehouse when they ran into team RWBY. While the dark brown duster he wore lacked sleeves it still had the shoulder armor from his other duster and his chest plate was still in place. His arms were much less pronounced than Ron's. The wolf's slacks had been replaced with a pair of dark blue jeans that were worn at the knees. He had small kneepads covering the worn area of his pants. His combat boots were much more pointed than Ron's, with harsh sharpened spurs that hung off of the back. His gas mask and helmet sat to the side of his gun case and one of his wide hats sat on the other side. "Ironwood was just praising my work on the Wilhelm initiative."

"That's strange," Chris chimed in from his position on the couch. He had finished his preparations long before his teammates by packing extra sets of his dust infused gloves and plasma fist tape into a small pouch on the roof of Joey's gun case. Chris had been dressed down as well, abandoning the kimono and sweatshirt for a brown gi with tan fighting pants. He still had the rope tied around his waist. His feet were naked with a pair of thin sandals sitting next to them. "With all of Atlas' attempts at removing people from the battlefield it's a surprise that Ironwood would praise a project intended to put civilians in a position to fight Grimm."

"He was praising the Wilhelm rifle itself," Joey sighed as he finished with his pistols. His attention turned to take count of the moon clips that rested on harness next to the pouch that held Chris' equipment. "Said the design was ingenious," Joey smirked as his hand took a handful of shells from a box within his case. The .40-70 rounds easily twice the length of the .45 long he used to load his handguns. One by one he placed the rounds through the feed chamber of Sunflower, the lever action rifle his father had built. After loading about 15 rounds into the weapon he chambered the first round by cocking the lever.

"Come on man," Ron patted him on the shoulder, "that's a good thing! It deserves more than some small smile." He was surprised to see Joey so calm about a compliment like this. Maybe it was just the fact that this mission was going to take Joey away from the new huntress in his life but it's not like Ron wasn't going through the same thing. Ron shook the thought as he placed his assault rifle onto the table, trading it for the large sword that rested across the platform. He inspected Grimm Reminder, a mere touch of the handle sent a familiar energy through his body. The sword was calling to his aura, as it always did when he wielded it. After inspecting it he put it back down, the blades call dying from his mind. Joey was loading his last weapon, Forget-Me-Not, the 20 gauge shotgun with a folded sword blade running along the top of the barrel was much shorter than Sunflower but at close range it packed a punch. As the breach of the weapon loaded Joey had already taken a hand full of shells from a different ammo box within his case. He began loading the weapon as Ron turned to Elodie.

"Any of you ever met these Maroon kids?" Ron asked his team over the sound of Joey's shells sliding into the shotgun. He finished the loading process with an audible sound of the lever chambering a shell.

"Nah," Joey shook his head, "they're from Vacuo and we haven't exactly had time to interact with the visitors from Shade, Atlas and Haven."

"Well whose fault is that?" Ron raised an eyebrow to his teammate, sarcasm dripping from his question. Joey was the one constantly dragging them into sabotaging the White Fang which often led to them not being around Beacon itself during their free time.

"This is gonna suck isn't it?" Elodie asked as she attached one of her collapsed quivers to her left hip, the second to her right and the third to her back along the belt that was fastened to her waist.

"Yep," The matter of fact statement mixed with Chris' smile and a large hand being place on the rabbit's shoulder was the fighter's way of telling her to deal with it but her smile back at him told Ron that she could.

"Ron you know you love messin' up their plans nearly as much as I do," Joey snickered as his weapons were carefully packed into his case.

"Yes I do," Ron smiled as he placed Lanius' strap over his head. The weight of the weapon felt good against his body as he let it hang so that he could place Grimm Reminder on its magnetic holster against his back. The magnet on his back plate held the blade in place as he let it go. "But right now I'm looking to mess with a few Grimm, you game for it?" He extended a hand to the wolf as Joey closed the case and locked it into place.

"Always," He took Ron's arm as his leader helped him up, "just try to keep up with my kill count, boss."

"Last I checked Ruby had you beat," Ron joked as Joey scowled at him.

"Is this gonna be a thing now?" Joey asked him as he looked to Elodie and Chris, "so I let a cute girl kill a few extra beowulves and suddenly my record on the team goes out the window?"

"To be fair I'm right behind you," Elodie winked at him.

"No, no El," Joey bantered with the rabbit as he picked up his case. "We talked about this, that Goliath we took down for CFVY was a team effort, just cause you got the finishing hit does not mean it counts to you." Joey looked to Ron and Chris for support who just shrugged.

"Come on team," Ron tried to get them focused and on the move as he picked up an extra case. This one wasn't for weapons though. It was a guitar case that carried the acoustic guitar he brought with him on long missions. "Bullheads up in one hour so we oughta be there waiting for Team MARN." Chris began towards the door, followed by Elodie and then Ron with Joey carrying his case behind them.

"And even if we did count it," the wolf was still on about the Goliath as the team stepped out of their home and into the brisk morning air at the edge of Forever Fall where the house was located. Ron saw that the sun was barely rising as Joey shut the door of the home behind him. "It still only counts as one."

"Joey," The familiar voice of the rabbit faunus reached Yang's ears as she made her way down the corridor leading from the dorms to the gym. She was wearing a pair of exercise shorts and an old t-shirt with her hair tied up into a messy pony tail. With Ruby scheduled for release from the infirmary this morning her focus had shifted to training for the tournament. "I put a plasma arrow through its eye! If that doesn't count as a kill than what does?"

"Elodie," Joey's accent rang through the corridor as Yang rounded the corner, noticing that she was behind team FWCS. The strange part was that while she was completely dressed down, Ron's team was dressed up. "I put about 20 shells in the damn thing, Coco nearly overheated her gun tearing its leg off and who summoned up the plasma for your arrow in the first place?" Yang wasn't sure what the argument was about but it sure sounded like a lot more fun than the last fight they had all been in.

"Heya hotshot," Yang called as she saw Ron's entire body turn in attention to the nickname that was quickly becoming her go to for calling him. "Where are you guys off to?"

"Oh hey Yang," Ron acknowledged her with a weak chuckle as the blonde approached the team. Joey and Elodie's argument seemed to stop for a moment but the rabbit hadn't taken her eyes, a soft rust color, off of the wolf. "Turns out Ozpin is shipping us off to Vacuo to assist another team in an extermination mission." Yang felt a slight bit of disappointment at this, seeing that she was starting to enjoy the company of FWCS' leader.

"What you were gonna leave without telling me?" Yang jokinkly placed a fist between the jade chest plate and shoulder armor, her attention turning to Joey. "And you, headed out without telling my sister? She told me how you snuck into her room. What's the deal with you two anyway?" Joey avoided eye contact with the blonde as he adjusted his gun belt.

"What? Do I have to report all my moves to you now?" Ron joked back.

"No.." Yang's face took on a more serious look as she thought of a real reason to be irritated with him for suddenly leaving. "I just, I was so mad yesterday that I never got to thank you."

"For what?" Ron asked as he looked back to his team. Chris rolled his eyes as his arms crossed and he turned to look back in the direction they were originally headed.

"Well everything," the blonde blurted out. She didn't know where to begin so she just did the first thing that came to mind. In an instant Yang found herself pulling the other team's leader into a strong hug, her arms resting between his neck and the hilt of the sword that hung from his back. "You helped save Ruby's life," she said softly as she noticed that his arms hesitated at first before hugging her back. After a moment his hands moved to separate them, Yang's cheeks turning a slight pink as she realized she was prolonging the embrace.

"We're hunters," Ron told her, "we have to look out for each other. Ruby would have done the same for me I'm sure." The burning in Yang's cheeks intensified as she realized he hadn't completely broken the embrace, his hands still on her waist.

"Yea well make sure your team looks out for you out there," She laughed, "otherwise it won't be Ruby that has to come bail you out."

"Don't worry about me sunshine," Ron invoked the same inflection he had used the previous day when referring to her, "just don't go getting into any fights with the White Fang while I'm gone."

"No more White Fang for me," Yang told him as she finally removed her arms from his shoulders, "from here on out I'm training for the tournament."

"Good luck," Ron told her, "we gotta get down to the bullheads but I'll shoot you a text when we land."

"And Joey what about you?" She asked the gunslinger.

"What about me?" He looked confused.

"You gonna let my sister know that you're leaving?"

"Already did," Joey produced his scroll and waved it in a small motion to show that he was a step ahead of the blonde.

"Guys can we get going?" Chris asked.

"We probably should," Ron acknowledged his team's fighter, "Bullhead's up in 20 minutes." The team said their goodbyes to the blonde brawler and after a moment of watching them walk away she turned, with a new energy in her step as she moved toward a day of tournament training.

Mason Gray and his team were waiting at the Bullhead departure pad. They had packed light for the mission, each of his teammate relegated to one pack and their weapons. Mason knew that they didn't need to bring much since they would be going to a port town that, by all reports, was still intact. Their mission would be to keep it that way. He checked his scroll for the time, noting that they had fifteen minutes until the bullhead was scheduled to depart. He and his team stood close to the large aircraft in an attempt to avoid the chilling bite of the fall morning. Mason was somewhat lucky that his combat gear included a pair of pants. Mason wore a black leather vest over a short sleeved white t-shirt with a pair of black leather pants. He had a brown leather harness that hung pouches from his chest and his signature stone necklace hung around his neck on a thin leather necklace. Raze, his dust powered sledge hammer, rested along with his pack against the Bullhead. The hammer itself was about half of his height. Both sides of the hammer's head had a circular surface that was connected to the rectangular block which housed all of the weapons mechanical pieces. The pole of the weapon was wrapped in a mesh grip on the bottom half with leather on the top half. He looked to the teammate who had gotten them this mission in the first place. Azule was shivering as he moved closer to the bullhead in an attempt to warm avoid the slight breeze. He had not yet changed into his combat armor and the shorts he currently wore offered little protection from the cold air and his face showed obvious frustration with the weather.

"Come on Azule," Mason caught the amphibian's attention, "cheer up. You'll be back in Vacuo in no time."

"Yea," Azule nodded, his frown unchanged. "But being in Vacuo later isn't going to warm me up now." The amphibian's complaint was met with a touch on his shoulder by Team MARN's largest member. Ray Stewart's hand glowed with the slight orange-yellow of his aura as Azule's shivering stopped.

"There," Ray smiled. He had followed his leader's example and had already donned his combat gear. He wore tan pants with dark shin armor and kneepads. He'd also placed an armored black chest plate depicting a stylized golden sun over his chainmail shirt. A single pauldron sat on his right shoulder and an armguard over his left forearm. The armguard had several scratch marks across it. Ray's neck was wrapped in a tan shemagh with black squares. A large claymore sat within a large brown leather scabbard on his back, the handguard a shining gold. "Now cheer up. We get to slay some extra Grimm before the tournament!" Mason regarded his teammate's cheery attitude about the mission with a smile of his own. While it was mainly for Azule's benefit that they were returning home he felt it would be good practice for the upcoming competition.

"I really wish we could just take a break," Azule sighed, "I just want to swim without worrying about a school of Blackjaws chasing me down."

"You should be happy to rid your precious ocean of those creatures," Mason's silver haired partner chimed in. Nickole Luna had elected to wear her combat armor as well. The silver armor consisted of a breast plate depicting a crescent moon, reminiscent of a time before Remnant's moon was shattered, silver plated gauntlets that formed to a point between her middle and ring fingers, greaves, a belt with the same moon symbol as her chest and black tights underneath. Her weapon was held to her belt on a hook. The large crescent blade appeared to be made of the same silver as her armor and the handle was wrapped in a black leather grip. "Any chance to cleanse something sacred of these beasts should always bring a smile to one's face."

"We won't be cleansing anything if Team FWCS doesn't show," Azule scoffed, his shoulders shuttering as the cold returned to him. As if on cue with Azule's next complaint a team of four approached the bullhead that MARN had been standing in front of. Mason recognized two of the boys from the team as the ones who Azule had bumped into in class. The first thing that Mason had noticed was the disproportioned amount of gear each team member was carrying. One carried a guitar case and two weapons, a sword and rifle. The one with a unique accent was pulling a wheeled case full of gear. The rabbit carried a small backpack with two blades in sheathes on her thighs. The final member of the team carried nothing at all.

"Team FWCS?" Mason called out to them as he approached the four newcomers. The jade armored student with the rifle hanging from his neck stepped forward and extended a hand.

"Ronald Feldgaunt," he introduced himself as Mason took his hand and shook it, "Leader of team FWCS. This is Joey Wulfechester, sniper and weapons expert."

"Howdy," Joey regarded Mason with his hat as he and the other two stopped.

"Christopher Russet," Ron continued. "Dust specialist and CQC."

"Hello," the larger one smiled at Mason with a slight wave.

"Elodie Snow, Archer specializing in combat utility."

"And keeping you all on track and alive," The rabbit smirked at her leader before looking to Mason, "Nice to meet you."

"You as well," Mason answered, "I'm Mason Gray and this is Team Maroon." Mason began by pointing to his teammates who were still close to the bullhead. "That's Azule Beryl, Ray Stewart and Nickole Luna. So was that intro rehearsed or..?" Mason was curious as he looked over the team one more time. Ron paused with a shocked face as though Mason had discovered one of his most well guarded secrets.

"Only sometimes," Ron recovered with a chuckle as the two leaders began to walk back toward the bullheads.

The introductions were kept short as Ron and Mason got their teams loaded into the single bullhead that would be their home for the trip to Oar's Rest. Ron had occasionally caught the unarmored member of team MARN, Azule, staring across at his team and the leader cleared his throat before speaking, "Something wrong Sharkbait?" Ron yelled over the roar of the bullhead's engines, invoking the nickname he had heard Ray use days before. Even with the doors shut the sound of the engines combined with the speed at which they were travelling made for a loud commotion that Ron had to compete with.

"Uh," Azule's noise of hesitation was barely audible, "no nothing's wrong." The unarmored boy looked away from Ron and FWCS' leader noticed that the large swordsman, Ray, had also averted his eyes from their team.

"Azule heard a rumor that your team is bad luck," Nickole spoke up. Despite the elevation of her voice her tone was matter of fact. "That you got your huntsman killed during your first mission." Ron was taken aback by how direct the silver haired girl was but that feeling was quickly replaced as his eyes dropped toward the floor. Chris had also moved his gaze from the other team toward the floor. Elodie and Joey were not exempt either, the wolf's eyes hiding behind his hat and the rabbit's ears obviously drooped over eyes that had suddenly become a melancholic blue.

"Nickole!" Ray exclaimed, "We can't just bring something like that up!"

"And why not?" The silver haired girl questioned him. Ron was still avoiding eye contact as he listened to them go back and forth. "If it's just a rumor they can tell us right now and alleviate Azule's worries."

"There ain't nothing to alleviate," Joey spoke up. His comment stung for Ron and it was visible on the faces of every member of the team.

"It's not a rumor," Ron sighed, "but if we were going to tell you about it you would need to know about the huntsman first." Ron swallowed as he summoned up the strength to relive one of his most painful memories.