Chapter 13: Friendly Faces

Ruby left the house her and the others were staying at, as she wanted to do some shopping. They were running low on food, thanks to Nora and her gluttony. But this was like a small adventure for Ruby to get to see the town of Mistral more.

"Let me see here, according to the map...the closet store should be...ah over there." Ruby said to herself. "Oh, I wonder if I'll see that girl Headmaster Lionheart mentioned..didn't get her name nor did I get the other two's."

Ruby walked around Mistral for a little as she began to wonder about Yang, wondering if she'll ever catch up to her and the others. She also had her other friends on her mind too. "Man..I wonder what Coco and Velvet are up too? I hope they're fine, wait. What am I saying? Of course they are, Fox and Yatsuhashi with them." She made it to the store as she goes inside and started to look around.

As Ruby looked around the store for things to buy, she caught a small glance of some rather familiar face.

A man in red struggling to find something what appears to be in the frozen lane with all the soda products and other cold drinks. "Where is it...where is it? This is way harder to find than I expected.." a clear gripping of a leather glove was heard.

Ruby curiously walked over as she lightly taps him on the shoulder. "What'cha looking for there?" She looked at the row of soda's as she saw some in there that might be something to try.

"Well, I was looking for an orange soda it's called Fanta I believe? Not exactly sure but anywa-" the man turned to face Ruby seeing the familiar red cape and those wonderful sliver eyes. "Oh my...goodness Ruby is that you?!" his expression flipped from frowning to a very clear joyful happiness.

"Yep, it's the one and only!" Ruby said with a gleeful grin. "I don't think there's any Fanta in there, maybe I should ask Uncle Qrow when I get back to the place we're staying at."

"It's been SO LOOOOOOONG since I saw anyone from Beacon! Me and my team have been hanging out here at one of our teammate's house. I'm so glad you are okay! You remember me, right? It's me Dr. Pepper!" He spun in a circle ending on a pose with a proud thumbs up. "How are the others?"

Ruby let out a small giggle. "Of course I remember you, where to start...Yang's back a Patch hopefully, unless she's chasing to catch up with me, Weiss I don't know if she's going to be let out from Atlas..Blake's whereabouts are unknown..." She rubbed her arm a little as she looked down. "Nora, Ren and Jaune are okay. Aside from...from losing Pyrrha....Oh and Vest is with us. And Ozpin too." She looked up at him as she had an awkward smile on her face. "We've ran into a lot of trouble on the way here, from a Gesit Grimm. To Tyrian and...some sort of child who might be part Grimm.."

"Child part Grimm? A murder manic haven't seen in years on the loose again? A Grimm? That sounds like...A NORMAL TRIP TO ANYWHERE TRAVELING IN REMNANT!" Pepper did over dramatic motions to really exaggerate. He rose his hands in the air looking to top it off. "Anyway," he cleared his throat and looked back at Ruby. "Glad to hear anyone is doing well...er as well as they can be. We all been through our fair share of suffering and drawbacks, even losing our closest friends..."

Ruby lightly nods. "Oh and uh...Ozpin isn't his normal self, he reincarnated. But aside from that, I do need to get some stuff, Nora ate almost all the food at the house. Her hunger hasn't changed one bit."

"Oh...Oh really? He reincarnated? Oh oh my, next you're tell me he's a random farm boy or something," Pepper burped covering up his mouth. "Excuse me, I drank my usual before coming to the store. Anyway, where are yall staying at? I'm sure my team would LOVE to drop by and see them once more."

Ruby nervously chuckles. "Ehehe...you're not wrong, he's a farm boy. I think he said his name was Oscar? Anyway, the house we're staying at is kinda big. A ground floor, a second floor and a down stairs."

Pepper facepalmed hard tilting up a bit. "Son of a GRIMM! Me and my big mouth...These last few months has NOT boated well having one thing after the other.." he sighed deeply as he looked down arms dangling. He adjusted his hat then looked at Ruby once more. "Lovely, our headmaster is now a farm boy. Big house ya say? Mind writing down the address and giving it to me, or better yet, showing me the place? Of course after shopping for food and whatnot."

"I can take you there, yeah. I don't think uncle Qrow ever said the address for it. Hmm, I'm gonna have to get a lot for food. Maybe something Nora wouldn't touch...something spicy?" Ruby asked herself as she looked around. "Oh yeah, can you grab me those soda's at the top there? I'm sure Jaune's getting tired of drinking tea and water."

Pepper jumped up and spun in a ball for joy. He landed gracefully giving a thumbs up. "Of Cooooooooooourse, Ruby-doo! Sometimes you need a little more than your H20's and your teas!" he opened the freezer door angelically standing on one foot, pulling out some of his favorite sodas and some others.

~~~

Ruby had everything she needed and bought, with some help from Pepper. She walked out from the store as the sun was shining in her face. She covered up by putting her hood on as she looked up, she blinked as she saw Scarlet standing on the roof of one of the buildings. She stopped as she rubbed her eyes a little, looking back at the building she didn't see Scarlet anymore.

"Okay....weird." Ruby said a bit scared. "Hey, Pepper..did you see that?"

Pepper's body was visibly shaking with terror. "W-w-what was that?! Oh sweet brother almighty! She looked like...that girl from before at the island when my team faced....Or am I thinking of something else? What's in these sodas? Am I currently drunk? Did I just freaking see a child with Grimm parts? Or....was that the ghost of...her..." he burped again still frightened holding some of the begs Ruby and him bought. "Oh my.."

"Uh I don't know, I might have to warn headmaster Lionheart and the others...but if you saw her, then...why is she?" Ruby asked. "Oh no..." She looked at Pepper. "Come on, follow me. I think Ozpin would like to hear this." She started to dash off not too fast, she wanted to have Pepper keep up with her.

"INDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED, lead the way!" Pepper opened up the metal backpack and put the bags inside. He then reved up his legs in a figure 8 pattern before blasting off after following Ruby to warn the others.

Ruby dashes past Haven Academy as she went past Cora and Queen. "Oh oh, you two! Can you warn Headmaster Lionheart for me? Me and Pepper think we might've seen someone evil."

Queen cocks an eyebrow up as she looked at her. "Sure??"

"Great thanks!" Ruby shouted as she made it to the house, stopping in her tracks. "UNCLE QROW!!!"

"Sup, Queen? Me and Ruby off warning the others. Can't talk right now see ya later byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee." Pepper ran past Queen and Cora in a flash! He dodged and move around People before catching up with Ruby sliding on his heels before fully stopping.

"What is it?" Qrow asked opening the door looking at her as he noticed Pepper. "Well now, if it isn't Red Jed Pepper. Is this all you shouted my name for Ruby? You could've at least said you where bringing guest over."

Ruby shakes her head. "No it's not because of that, me and Pepper think we may have seen someone suspicious, where's Oscar? I need to tell everyone and Ozpin what we saw."

"Him? He's in one of the rooms talking to Ozpin about stuff." Qrow said. "Come inside, it's best if we didn't draw attention to ourselves."

"Hello my good sir, it is indeed I Dr. RedJed Pepper! We indeed have news about a mysterious horrifying person!" He was rolling those r's hard doing all kinds of weird and random poses. "But of course, best not to draw attention." He then quickly curled up into a ball before he dashed inside.

Ruby walked inside the house as Qrow closed the door behind them Nora, Jaune and Ren looked over as Ruby didn't see Vest anywhere. "Where's Vest?"

"Sleeping." Qrow said. "Hey Oscar! Come here."

"Coming." Oscar said picking up Ozpin's cane and walking out of the room he was in. "What's up?"

"We need Ozpin." Ruby said.

"Oh..well okay." Oscar said as his eyes glowed before Ozpin had control. "What is it?"

Pepper slid inside with one foot on the ground and the other foot raised higher. "Me and Ruby saw a person half Grimm and half Human on the roof across from the store! We suspect the person in question might be a problem child," he explained while his arms crossed.

"Wait, you mean she's here? I wanna break her legs!!" Nora shouted pumping her fist in the air.

"That's the thing, we don't know where she went. The moment I rubbed my eye's thinking I was seeing things, she was gone. But she didn't look like the child we encountered before...she looked, more like...a teenager." Ruby said.

Ozpin rubbed his chin as he held his cane. "My, this is indeed a problem..if she's lurking around in the shadows, then it can only mean our enemies are getting closer. Question is...how are they going to get here?"

Qrow took his flask out and took a sip from it. "Problem or not, we need to make sure the kid isn't in any location near Haven academy, she might be able to sneak inside and be a spy."

"Right, we've made that mistake already with Cinder.." Jaune said looking down. "Right under our noses..but we don't know who this person's name is, or what intention she has or who she's related too."

Pepper sighed and pulled out a Dr. Pepper. "She's here? So Ruby was that the person you were referring to before?" He then drank a Dr. Pepper. "You all met her before or something?"

"If she's the one you encountered before, then there's a likely chance who ever she's connected too may have given her a growth spurt to become a teenager." Ozpin said as he tapped his cane on the floor. "What details can you give me?"

Qrow thinks for a moment as he looked at him. "Well, for starters...her hair was a reddish color, and her eyes were black and red..with red veins under her eyes...my guess is that she has Grimm DNA inside her body making her part Grimm."

"True, but she has the body of a girl, she's no longer a little kid." Ruby said.

Ozpin looks at them all. "Alright. I think we should prepare to head to Haven after Vest has fully recovered, if the enemy is nearing Mistral to have Haven fall. We would need to be ready." He looked at Pepper. "Go back to your team, tell them to be ready on stand by. Who ever this girl is, and who's she related too. It can only mean what lies ahead is going to be a terrible path for us all."

Pepper smirked and nodded. "Of course Professor! Team SODA always ready for action no matter the challenge!" He stood proudly putting his hands on his waist and nodded. "We'll give this girl the fight of her life! No matter half Grimm or full Grimm or even 100% human! All shall face the light that shines from WITHIN!" He jumped up in the air very confidently raising his fist. "Off I go!" He curled up into a ball revving up to build up speed and once again blasting off out the door to warn his team.

"Oh yeah...one more thing I forgot." Qrow said looking at Ozpin. "When Nora hit her in the face with her hammer, there was no scratches nor bruises on her face."

"Looks like our fears are only starting to come true.." Ozpin said.

~~~

Ruby was trying to learn how to cook from Ren, while Qrow was taking some sips from his flask. Nora was sitting down thinking about what was said, Jaune was looking at Oscar wondering if he was still Ozpin or back to Oscar.

"Something troubling you Mr. Ark?" Ozpin asked.

"I was just thinking that's all. Argus is a train ride away from here, we could stop there next if we're successful in saving Haven." Jaune said.

"Indeed, that's where we'd need to go to get to Atlas as well, there's a Atlas military base off the course of Argus." Ozpin said. "I know things haven't gone as we've planned. But know this, we will prevent Haven from being the next Beacon. Stopping it from falling will help Mistral out a bunch."

Jaune lightly nodded his head. "Yeah...I just don't know what to think of that girl...she's the first person we've ran into to have Grimm DNA flowing in their body without any inner damage to the body."

"You're right on that.." Ozpin said clearly not telling them about Salem. Only him, and a few handful of people are aware of Salem, and Vest is one of those people he had told. He got up and went to the other room as he sat on the bed. "Oscar, I'm going to let you back in control, there's some thinking I have to do. If I don't say anything then you know."

Ozpin had let Oscar back in control as Oscar was a bit confused on what Ozpin told him, would he be able to hear his thoughts? Or was it something different? Eventually he was itching to get to the bottom of it all.

"GAHH!!! I burned the food!" Ruby shouted as she whines a little. "I'll never be a good cook!"

"It takes time, and skill." Ren said. "Some of us aren't so lucky to have it skilled off hand. I'll handle the rest no worries Ruby, you've managed to try your best."

Ruby pouts as she leaves the kitchen and sits down on the sofa with her arms crossed. Qrow chuckled a little as he rubbed her head. "You're just like your mother, which isn't a bad thing....try to cheer up some, at least you've managed to warn us about that evil."

A/N: [I don't own Red Jed Pepper, I can't take credit for him, Vest, Cora or Queen.]