Two days later, Teams RWY and SHDW were still out searching for Blake. Skyler have his team a brief explanation about what had happened and they all agreed to help find her.
"I guess that makes some sense why she ran away," Hazel said as they walked, the sun beginning to set.
"Agreed," Dante replied, "I say that she saw what the White Fang was really doing and left."
"That's most likely what happened," Skyler agreed, "Blake may be... introverted, but she's no crook."
"If only Ice Queen saw things like that," Walker stated.
"Who knows?" Dante shrugged, "She might have a change of heart. She has had two whole days to think it over."
They kept searching until it got dark. Then a thought occurred to Skyler.
"Hey guys," he said, "We haven't checked the docks yet."
They all got wide-eyed and the team headed for the docks.
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When they got there, they walked through a maze of Dust crates until they heard the sound of a ship. They ducked behind a crate as a Bullhead flew overhead and landed in the open.
"What the heck?" Walker said, "This is a docking bay, not an airport. What's going on?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Skyler responded.
Their question was then answered when the doors to the ship opened. People in light armor and animal-themed masked poured out. On the back of their armor was the symbol for the White Fang.
"The White Fang?" Hazel questioned, "What are they doing here? More importantly, what do they want with Dust?"
Then a new voice spoke, "Hey! What's the holdup!?"
The group saw a man exit the vehicle. Skyler recognized him as the guy who Ruby had chased after before she was yanked away by Glynda. Roman Torchwick.
"We're not exactly the most inconspicuous bunch of thieves at the moment," Roman said, "So why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?"
"What the heck are the White Fang doing, taking orders from a human?" Dante asked, "Much less from someone like Torchwick."
"Something fishy is going on," Hazel agreed.
"Keep to the shadows," Skyler ordered, "Let's see if we can get more answers."
SHDW began to sneak their way through the crate maze and closer to Roman.
"So, what's the plan?" Walker asked quietly.
"Working on it," Skyler hissed.
"No, you idiot! This isn't a leash!" Roman berated a White Fang member, who was holding a coil of rope.
Before anyone could react, however, there was Blake. The team watched, a bit shocked, as she appeared behind Roman and put her blade to his throat.
"What the-" Roman exclaimed before groaning, "Oh for f-"
"Nobody move!" Blake demanded as the White Fang drew their weapons.
"And there's Blake," Skyler mumbled.
"Whoa!" Roman grinned, "Take it easy there, little lady."
Blake then grabbed her bow and swiftly removed it, revealing her cat ears, "Brothers of the White Fang! Why are you aiding this scum?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Dante muttered.
Roman laughed, "Oh, kid, didn't you get the memo?"
"What are you talking about?" Blake asked.
"The White Fang and I are going in on a joint business venture together!"
"Tell me what it is or I'll put an end to your little operation."
Suddenly, the air was filled with more turbines, blowing the wind wildly around the holdup.
Roman looked up, "I wouldn't exactly call it a little operation..."
While Blake stared in horror, Roman smirked. He aimed his cane at the ground and fired, resulting in a large explosion. The amount of smoke caused SHDW to cough wildly.
"Jeez!" Hazel complained, "How much dynamite is in that cane?"
By the time the smoke cleared they saw a new fighter in the area. He was a monkey Faunus with blonde hair, white jacket, and a tail. They watched as this newcomer easily defeated the White Fang members and went after Torchwick.
"Think we should help?" Walker asked.
Then more soldiers jumped out of the other Bullheads and towards the fight.
"Nah," Dante said nervously, "I think we'll be just fine if we stay right here."
Then a gloved fist knocked him into the open. Skyler looked at Dante incredulously.
"You were saying?" he asked before turning around and seeing a rather large figure behind them, "Uh oh."
The next thing they knew, they were all knocked into the open by this new challenger. They all stood back up, wielding their weapons and sizing up their opponent.
The guy was at least a head taller than all of them, wore more protective White Fang themed armor, was definitely a lot more muscular, and was now wielding a chainsaw. He also had a Grimm mask that covered his entire face.
"What the crap is with this guy?" Dante asked.
The White Fang Lieutenant revved up his chainsaw and charged. He was a bit slow, but when Walker tried to counter his first blow, Walker was easily knocked aside. The Lieutenant then did an overhead slash, Dante barely being able to block with his twin axes.
There was the sound of a gunshot and the Lieutenant immediately held is arm out, catching rope. Hazel had fired her spear tip, but the Lieutenant had caught the rope, the spearhead dangling.
Fortunately though, without the use of both hands, the Lieutenant wasn't able to keep the defending Dante at bay. Dante parried the saw away as the Lieutenant let go of the rope. After getting a few slashes in, Dante kicked the Lieutenant in the stomach, only able to send the bigger man stumbling back a little.
The Lieutenant growled and raised his saw, preparing to charge again. But before he knew it, he couldn't move. Walker and Hazel had used their weapons to wrap the Lieutenant up in rope and sword edges. As he struggled to get free, the Lieutenant turned around... only to find Skyler's gun pointed at his face.
Skyler gave a little wave, "Hi."
Skyler pulled the trigger just as the ropes returned to their weapon handles, thus causing the Lieutenant to spin. This allowed the flames that burnt him to roast him from all sides. After most likely gaining second degree burns, the Lieutenant was kicked in the face by Skyler, sending him sprawling near where Blake was.
Blake glanced at the Lieutenant and then to SHDW, and her eyes widened, "Skyler?!"
Skyler smirked and gave a two-fingered salute, "Hey Blake!"
"Smooth," Hazel said.
But then they were surrounded by White Fang members. The team stood shoulder to shoulder as the members closed in.
"Hey!"
Everyone looked up and saw Ruby on top of a crate, wielding her scythe. And to SHDW's surprise, Penny was behind her.
"Well, hello, Red!" Roman smirked, "Isn't it past your bedtime?"
"Ruby," Penny said, "Are these people your friends?"
"Penny, get back," Ruby said, turning to her.
Roman took the opportunity and fired his cane at her. He scored a direct hit and Ruby went flying and Roman began laughing.
"Ruby!!" Skyler yelled, getting angry.
But so was Penny. She turned to Torchwick and glared. Ruby got back up.
"Penny!" she said, "Wait, stop!"
"Don't worry, Ruby," Penny's eyes narrowed, "I'm combat ready!"
SHDW watched in amazement as Penny's backpack opened and several blades appeared and hovered over Penny's back. Leaping from the rooftop with the weapons acting as wings, she sent three of her swords to knock two White Fang soldiers down before even landing on the ground, where she proceeded to fling the swords at one enemy, impale another to a wall, create a barrier of spinning steel against a running attack, leaping over a goon with her swords in tow, and finally making a wheel that she threw to knock multiple Faunus off their feet.
Three Bullheads came from the skies and opened fire on the battle, but Penny merely formed a shield and launched two of her swords into the wall behind her, which in turn pulled their wielder back with their strings. When her swords swirled around her again, she commanded them to open their points and build up a large glowing ball of green light. With a punching action, several bright lasers cracked the pavement when they fired at the transports and sliced each one in half, causing several of the White Fang members inside to fall and letting everyone watch as Bullheads fell in pieces behind her.
Skyler and his team all stared with slack jaws, "Whoa..."
Penny aimed her swords at the remaining Bullheads holding the crate of Dust and pulled back on their wires, tugging the aircraft with them. Seeing the Bullhead's flight fall under Penny's control, Roman grimaced and turns to run towards the last transport.
Penny, after her large green pupils dilated for a second, pulled with all her might on the strings and the aircraft crashed into a stack of crates, causing an explosion as a result.
Roman watched from the safety of his escape, "These kids just keep getting weirder..."
With his observation made, he used his cane to close the doors, and the jet lifted off, flying away from the lost battle.
Blake walked over to Team SHDW, just as shocked as they were. After a few moments, she turned to them.
"So... How much did you hear?" she asked.
"Nothing we didn't already know," Skyler answered.
"What do you mean?"
Skyler put a hand on her shoulder, "Blake... I think we all need to talk."
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Later, a handful of police cars were at the docks, where Ruby, Blake, the monkey Faunus named Sun, SHDW, and Penny were sitting on boxes in silence. That is, until Weiss and Yang appeared on the scene.
Ruby began speaking quickly to explain the situation, "Look Weiss, it's not what you think, she explained the whole thing. See, she doesn't actually have a bow, she has kitty ears and they're actually kind of cute..."
But Weiss ignored her and squared off with Blake, who calmly looked her down, "Weiss, I want you to know that I'm no longer associated with the White Fang. Back when I was with the-"
"Stop," Weiss interrupted, "Do you have any idea of how long we've been searching for you? Twelve hours. That means I've had twelve hours to think about this. And in that twelve hours, I've decided... I don't care!"
"You don't care?" Blake asked, surprised.
"You said you're not one of them anymore, right?"
"No, I-I haven't been since I was younger-"
Weiss silenced her, "Ah-bah-bah-bah-bah! I don't want to hear it. All I want to know is that the next time something this big comes up... you'll come to your teammates. And not some..."
Weiss looked at Sun behind her as she caught herself, "Someone else."
Blake slightly smiled and wiped a tear from her cheek, "Of course."
There was silence until Ruby exclaimed, "Yeah! Team RWBY is back together!"
Team SHDW grinned at the scene.
"Well," Walker said, "Things seemed to work out."
"Agreed," Hazel replied, "In fact, I think they could've worked things out even if we didn't get involved."
"Oh come on!" Dante assured, "We took out that big guy, didn't we?"
"He's got a point," Skyler said, "We worked great out there. No doubt we can do well in the Vytal Festival Tournament."
"And maybe you can finally try to ask out Blake," Hazel grinned.
Skyler sighed, "This isn't gonna go away, is it?"
The whole team replied, "Nope!"
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And that ends Volume 1! Now to rephrase my last after note: This story will NOT be on hold, simply just slower updates. My primary focus is now on React-iverse. Till next time guys!