The streets of Vale are being decorated for the Vytal Festival. Red, yellow, and green streamers and balloons are proudly on display, Team RWBY and Team King are strolling through it all with an awed Weiss in the front. A sign is being put up by the elderly Shopkeep that reads in bright red letters "WELCOME TO VALE!" for all the foreign newcomers from their respective kingdoms of Remnant.
Weiss: she then stops and raising her arms in amazement "The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!"
Ruby: "I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss. It's kinda weirding me out..."
Weiss: she turns to Ruby "How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!"
Yang: "You really know how to take a good thing and make it sound boring."
Weiss: "Quiet, you!"
Yang: as they stop near the docks and the sounds of foghorns are heard "Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?"
Ruby: "Ugh, they smell like fish!"
Weiss : "I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!"
Blake: "She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament."
Weiss: "You can't prove that!"
Ruby: she turns her head "Whoa." the team looks at a shattered window down the street and a door full of yellow caution tape of the Vale Police Force before walking over to the detective in front, who is writing on his pad "What happened here?"
Detective 1: "Robbery. Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle." He walks over to his partner"
Yang: "That's terrible" she sighs sadly .
Detective 2: "They left all the money again."
Ruby: "Huh?"
Detective 1: "Yeah, just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much Dust?"
Detective 2: "I don't know, an army?"
Detective 1: "You thinking the White Fang?"
Detective 2: "Yeah, I'm thinking we don't get paid enough"
Weiss "Hmph! The White Fang." she crossed her arms and points her nose in the air with her eyes closed "What an awful bunch of degenerates!"
Blake; "What's your problem?"
Weiss: "My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane."
Blake: "The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths." crossing her arms, getting serious "They're a collection of misguided Faunus."
Weiss: "Misguided? They want to wipe Humanity off the face of the planet!"
Blake: "So then they're very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale!"
Ruby: "Hmm... Blake's got a point. Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago... Maybe it was him."
Weiss: "That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum. "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal.
Yang: "That's not necessarily true"
Sailor 1: "Hey, stop that Faunus!"
As the teams overhears the cry for help and rush over to investigate, a Faunus with a golden monkey tail named Sun Wukong is seen running down the length of the boat and leaping on to the edge as the two sailors are about to apprehend him.
Sun: he looks back at his pursuers "Thanks for the ride, guys! Haha!" he jumps off and hits the dock running
Sailor 2: "You no-good stowaway!"
Sun: he uses his tail to hang on a lamppost while he peels back a banana "Hey! A no-good stowaway would've been caught! I'm a great stowaway!"
Detective 1: "Hey! Get down from there this instant!"
Sun drops the banana peel on the detective's face, who growls in return. The monkey-like Faunus twirls up to crouch on the lamppost, laughs in amusement, and proceeds to leap off and run away from the detectives. As he runs past Team RWBY, he winks at an astonished Blake in slow motion before time speeds up again and he continues to be chased by the officers.
Yang: "Well, Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes..."
Weiss: "Quick! We have to observe him!"
Weiss, Yang, and Ruby give chase. Blake stands still, lost in thought, then comes back to reality and follows her friends.
On the other hand Y/n leisurely strolls to his destination, this situation was something he didn't deem very important.
——
The team rounds the next corner, but then Weiss bumps into someone and trips. She looks up only to see Sun jump on to a building and disappear from her view.
Weiss: "No, he got away!"
Yang: "Uhh... Weiss?" she points strangely at the girl underneath her teammate
Y/n rounds the corner and sees Weiss on top of a another girl.
The princes eyes widen and his mouth slowly moves as he silently words "Fruity"
He begins to walk right back where he came from.
Weiss quickly gets up
Weiss: "Y/n it's not what it looks like!" She screeches as she runs after him
Penny: still down on the ground, smiling widely "Sal-u-ta-tions!"
Ruby: "Um... hello."
Yang: "Are you... okay?"
Penny: "I'm wonderful! Thank you for asking."
Yang: the team looks at each other in bewilderment before Yang speaks up again "Do you... wanna get up?"
Penny: thinks about this for a moment "Yes"! she leaps back on her feet while the team steps back a little "My name is Penny! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
As Penny introduced herself, Y/n and Weiss come back, and Weiss is a little red after explaining what happened to Y/n.
Ruby: "Hi, Penny. I'm Ruby."
Weiss: "I'm Weiss."
Blake: "Blake."
Yang: "Are you sure you didn't hit your head?" Blake hits her side "Oh, I'm Yang."
Penny: "And who's he?" She says getting into Y/ns face
Ruby: she pulls her away from Y/n "His name is Y/n, he doesn't talk much, sorry."
Penny: "It's a pleasure to meet you!"
Weiss: "You already said that."
Penny: pauses again "So I did!"
Weiss: "Well, sorry for running into you!" they turn around and start walking away
Ruby: she turns back and starts waving "Take care, friend!"
Yang: when they get far enough away from a startled Penny "She was... weird..."
Weiss: looking to her right "Now, where did that Faunus riff-raff run off to?"
Penny: suddenly in front of a surprised Weiss "What did you call me?"
Yang: as Weiss looks back and forth in shock and Yang looks apologetic "Oh, I'm really sorry, I definitely didn't think you heard me!"
Penny: "No, not you." she walks through the group and leans her head down to Ruby "You!"
Ruby: she's clearly startled "Me? I-I don't know. I, what I, um, uh..."
Penny: "You called me 'friend'! Am I really your friend?"
Ruby: "Uuuum..." she looks over Penny's shoulder while her teammates motion to deny her, while Y/n shrugs "Y-Yeah, sure! Why not?"
Penny: Ruby's teammates comically faint while Y/n has the same stoic face. Penny looks overjoyed and laughs "Sen-sational! We can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys!"
Ruby: groaning to Weiss as she brushes herself off "Oh, is this what it was like when you met me?"
Weiss: "No - she seems far more coordinated."
Yang: "So... what are you doing in Vale?"
Penny: "I'm here to fight in the tournament."
Weiss: "Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?"
Penny: she salutes "I'm combat ready!"
Weiss: "Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."
Blake: "Says the girl wearing a dress"
Weiss: with her arms crossed "It's a combat skirt"
Ruby: the skirt sister speeds over to Weiss' side "Yeah!" Weiss holds out her hand and Ruby low-fives it
Weiss: realization hitting "Wait a minute." walks over to Penny and grabs her by the shoulders "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed... rapscallion?"
Penny: "The who...?"
Weiss: holding up a poor drawing of the criminal-in-question "The filthy Faunus from the boat!"
Blake: "Why do you keep saying that?!"
Weiss: she turns her attention from Penny to Blake "Huh?"
Blake: she walks over to Weiss, angry "Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!"
Weiss: "Oh, I'm sorry". she releases Penny and motions to objects around her "Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?"
Blake; "Stop it!"
Weiss: "Stop what? He clearly broke the law. Give him time; he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!"
Blake: she growls, clenching her fist "You ignorant little brat!
Weiss: Weiss looks offended, but when Blake walks away, she follows "How dare you talk to me like that! I am your teammate!
Blake: "You are a judgmental little girl."
Weiss: "What in the world makes you say that?"
Blake: "The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with a terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be"
Yang: sliding up to Ruby, looking uncomfortable "Um, I think we should probably go..."
Penny: popping up behind Ruby, smiling "Where are we going?"
Weiss: "So you admit it! The White Fang is just a radical group of terrorists!"
Blake: "That's not what I meant, and you know it!"
Watching the team of women argue Y/n starts to become a little concerned.
——
As Yang and Ruby continue to observe, the scene shifts from afternoon near the docks to nighttime in their dormroom.
Weiss: "I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!"
Blake: "That is the problem!"
Weiss: she gets up go her bed "You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"
Blake: gets on her feet as well "There's no such thing as pure evil! Why do you think they hate Humanity so much? It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"
Weiss: "People like me?"
Blake: "You're discriminatory!"
Weiss: "I'm a victim!" as they stare each other down in silence, Weiss leans in close, leering as she speaks quiet "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust the Faunus?" leaning against the bookshelf by the window "It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood." bangs her fist on the bookshelf
Ruby: going over to comfort her "Weiss, I-"
Weiss: "No!" she turns away and walks back over to Blake "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers!"
Blake: "Well, maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"
Silence drops down on the scene again. A surprised Weiss backs away slowly, and Blake realizes her mistake as she looks around at her teammates.
Blake: "I... I..." she dashes out the door
Ruby: "Blake, wait! Come back!" she runs over to the door and calls to her.
Y/n sighs knowing he must intervene.
Y/n: "Weiss..." his soft synthetic voice raises "I know that it must've been hard, but not every Fannus is like that." he pauses "You gotta understand where Blake is coming from, and clearly your words seemed to hurt her." he reasons
Weiss: "You don't know anything!" She screams at him
Y/n looks appalled, his once worried face turns expressionless. He tried to help but that must've not been good enough.
Y/n: "Yeah... I guess I don't." he whispers "I'll go find blake." distaste was clear in his mannerisms
He runs our the door and starts going were Blake went.
Weiss: "Y/n wait!" She screams as she realzised what she's done.
------
Blake runs outside and arrives at a statue of an armored man with a sword and a hooded woman wielding an axe on an outcropping, staring at the Beowolf under the stone heroes in particular.
She closes her eyes and slowly lifts her arms up to her bow and pulls the string to release the bow from her hair. She wipes away a tear away as the camera pulls up to reveal her Faunus ears. On the verge of crying, she becomes startled when she hears a voice above her.
Sun: "I knew you would look better without the bow.
She turns around and looks up.
——
It shifts to morning at Beacon. Ruby wakes up from her beauty sleep, yawning in the process. She looks over at Blake's empty bunk and Y/ns empty floor bed, and groans sadly.
——
The scenery then shifts again to Ruby, Weiss, and Yang walking through the empty streets of Vale.
Ruby: "They've been gone all weekend...
Weiss: "Blake's a big girl, I'm sure she can handle herself!"
Yang: "Well what about Y/n?"
Weiss just lowers her head and goes slient.
Yang: "Weiss, come on. She's one of our teammates."
Weiss: "Is she? We all heard what she said!"
Ruby: "Weiss."
Yang: "Maybe she is, maybe she isn't. Either way, she's missing, and we need to find her!"
Weiss: "A member of the White Fang! Right underneath our noses!"
Ruby: "I just hope she's okay..."
——
Elsewhere, Blake is sipping a cup of tea and sighing. She looks up at Sun sitting across from her, who holds his drink with his tail as his hand props his head up. He takes a sip when Blake puts her cup down.
Blake: "So, you want to know more about me..."