On a Playful Wolf's Territory

"Think of it as motivation, Ron." Pierce said, playfully punching him in the shoulder, making sure the blow didn't actually hurt, only jostling him a bit. "If we eat then we probably'll have to find something to justify it. Besides, I think preparing a meal for guests is normal. Heck, I my family'd fill the table every time we had people visiting."

Ron laughs it off after the intentionally weak punch saying, "Yeah, yeah. I'll do that. It is good to know that we'll be going to place where the people are hospitable rather than pugnacious." Feeling a bit better, Ron turns back to Rory and asks, "So, anything else we need to know?"

Rory thought for a bit, her ears twitching back and forth.

"Well, I guess I could tell you about the Hunters assigned in the area," Rory said. "But I think they'd rather do that themselves when we meet them, so let's just sit back and relax for the ride."

Rory stretched a bit and yawned. "I myself could use a little more sleep. All those maid cafe night shifts are getting to me. A girl can't have eye bags, you know? Any questions?"

Ron thought for a moment before asking Rory, "Only one; how old are you? Because you look younger than most students I've met." Ron learned much from his two years of training and teaching with Professor Gris, but he already forgot one of the most important things she advised against. The advice was to never ever ask a woman her age. It was funny, really, how such a useful teaching can be so oblivious to some men.

Rory's ears drooped a bit and she smiled sheepishly as she twiddled her thumbs.

"Eheh...well, I'm fifteen," Rory said nervously. The last thing she wanted to do was bring about her age..which would eventually question how she had gotten into Beacon in the first place. "But I'm turning sixteen this year, really! So I'd be more or less in the same league as you guys."

Maid cafe shifts? Fifteen? Pierce wondered, an eyebrow raised as he thought about it. A bit young to be working and studying, huh. Pierce leans back in his seat, crossing his arms comfortably across his chest as he settled in for the ride. "To be fair, I'm eighteen so you've got a little ways to go." He joked, chuckling happily. "Well, don't stay up on my account. Feel free to relax."

Fifteen? That explains it, Ron thought to himself. He agreed with Pierce saying, "Yeah, go ahead and sleep. Any more questions can come later." Ron returns to staring out the window at the passing landscape.

Rory was relieved that no one was about to pry on why a fifteen year old was at Beacon, so she smiled, nodded and then sat back into the seat.

The voyage was long, but due to Aera's smooth flying (as well as some videos available for the small team to watch on the screen for the next few hours) it was durable and comfortable. They had been pretty high up in the sky and everything just looked like green sheets of land and little dots of buildings, but as by the time the sun had set, they flew lower. As they did, they could see a small mountain brushed with the orange of its trees and surrounding forests, the foliage like gentle wildfire as it blew in the wind. Rory had been awake by now and she sat up straight to point at it enthusiastically.

"That's it! That's Persimmon Mount!" Rory smiled.

Okay, guys, buckle up, Aera's voice came in through the speaker. I'm going to drop us down.

Rory and the others would obey and the ship would begin to speedily sink down lower and lower, the small mountain getting bigger and bigger as they did and the orange trees' rich brown-red bodies now fully visible. Since the mountain had very little flat land and clear space, Aera had to lower the ship at the very base of the mountain where there was a bit of flat dirt terrain. The airship landed with a small thud and soon the door to Aera's cockpit opened. She smiled.

"We're here," she said. "It was nice flying with you all. You were all quite behaved. I once had a team that messed up with the transmissions because they refused to turn off their scrolls."

Rory stood up and smiled. "Thank you, Ms. Aera. It was a wonderful flight!"

Aera shook her head. "No problem. You guys should head outside right now. I'll meet you up in a bit to say final goodbyes before I fly back. I have some other people to pick up soon."

The door opened wide and the ramp appeared again. As the three students descended, they would see a large manwith brown hair, narrow eyes and a sharp mustache. What he wore was outdoorsy but there were small hints of oriental influence to it as well.

"Ah, well if it isn't the three young recons for the mission," he smiled.

Rory ran up to him while shouting joyfully, "Xiao!"

Xiao grinned as he peered closer. "Rory? Rory is that you?"

Xiao laughed heartily as he opened his arms for the girl to leap into a hug.

"So, this was the surprise you were going to tell me about," he grinned as he tousled the girl's hair. Rory smiled widely.

"Uhuh! I'm acting as guide for these two, who're in charge of the recon thing," Rory said. She turned to Ron and Pierce. "Ron, Pierce, I would like you to meet Xiao Shu. He's one of Persimmon Mount's huntsmen."

"Thank you, Ms. Aera." Pierce said, nodding politely at their pilot before following Rory and disembarking, stepping into the fresh mountain air. Man, this feels perfect. Pierce said, taking a deep breath and savoring the feel of the area. Seeing Rory run into the hunter's arms, Pierce can't help but smile, the sight warming his heart. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Shu." He said politely, extending his hand for a firm handshake with the father figure. "Don't worry. We will take good care of Rory while we are in her company. I will personally see to it that nothing happens to her."

Ron nods to Aera as he steps out in thanks, seeing how anything he said would just plain be copying what Pierce had said. He looks around, admiring the colors of the trees, truly glad to be out far from the city. When Rory jumped in greeting to the man, Ron gave a slight smirk at the adorable sight. When Pierce finishes what he is saying, Ron thinks, Great, now I need to think of something to say that isn't a repeat of Pierce. He finally says with a slight bow, since Pierce was already going for a handshake, "Pleasure to be here, sir."

Xiao let out another hearty laugh and shook his head.

"I think you underestimate little Rory over here," Xiao told Pierce as he tousled the wolf faunus' hair as she pouted. "If you've ever seen her hack a tree, you'd think someone twice my size did it."

"Xiao... Rory said exasperated. Xiao laughed again and shook Pierce's hands and followed by patting Ron on the back.

"Well, now, it's nice to meet the both of you," he said. "We'll be heading up the mountains now. Follow me."

Nearby, there was a small automated buggy with four seats.

"Well, hop on!" Xiao said before Aera began approaching them. "Ey, Aera! Leaving already? Why not drop by the village?"

Aera shook her head. "Can't. Have another pickup. You kids have fun. It was a pleasure flying with you."

"Thank you once again, Ms. Aera."

"No problem. You kids have fun."

With that, Aera left for the airship and as the buggy started with Xiao driving and Rory in the front seat, they saw the ship fly away.

"Looks like we should get going too," Xiao said. "If it gets too dark we might bump into Beowolves. Not that that would be a problem with hunters-to-be like yourselves eh? So, I take it this is your first visit to our beloved Mount Persimmon?"

"Yes, it is the first time I've been anywhere near this area," Ron answers. "It's a lovely place, both from far off and up close. Hard to believe there are any Grimm near it." Ron was still admiring the different colored trees out the side window.

"It's my first time as well." Pierce replied, tearing his eyes from the scenery that was flying by outside. True, the entire forest was a completely different color than the lush green and mottled browns that he was used to but the feel of the forest was there. Just like the first time I saw Forever Fall... He mused, chuckling lightly at how he reacted to the red trees. "If anything comes at us, I'm sure the four of us can handle it."

"Well, yes, of course," Xiao chuckled. "If you're able to handle your initiation, the Grimm here shouldn't be a problem at all. However, I would like to keep the buggy free from scratches."

Rory let off her own laugh. "This is the wilderness, so yeah, it's a pity there are Grimm here, but what can we do? That's why we have Hunters and Huntresses after all."

"Yup," Xiao agreed. "Lady, that's my partner, and I have been making sure the village is safe from the Grimm here. It's nothing big, just a few Beowolves and Ursa, but in numbers they can be a hassle to a village with such little technology."

"Xiao and Lady helped my Uncle Zephyr in building a small perimeter to keep them from going in," Rory said. "It's a great help to the village and it's one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress someday, so I can do the same."

"Admirable girl, isn't she?" Xiao said slightly turning to the two. "So, why do you two want to be Hunters?"

Ron thought for a moment, then decided it was fine to tell. "Well, my memory only goes back a couple years. The person who found me at that point was an ex-professor at Beacon." He paused thinking a little bit, before continuing, "I learned that the easiest occupation that goes around a lot of the world are Hunters. So I asked her to train me and I eventually came to Beacon. I figured I'd eventually find out what happened in those past sixteen years that have escaped my memory if I travel enough."

"My father's a hunter." Pierce replied after Ron finished his story, looking at Xiao. "Me and him would defend our village since we lived at the edge of a forest by our village. We were the only ones in that area, at least. So now I'm studying to be a hunter and take over that job. Even though he won't admit it, he's not getting any younger so I'm planning to help him out once I finish Beacon. Maybe help the entire province."

"Both admirable stories, that they are," Xiao said. "Well, they do say the path of a Hunter is one that leads to futures and pasts and dreams and destruction."

"So, Xiao, any more news on that Grimm we're investigating on?" Rory asked.

Xiao shook his head a bit and grinned. "Eager to get onto the job, now are you all?"

He paused for a bit and his face turned stern. "Nothing new yet. It's last attack was four days ago. We haven't seen it since. We've kept everyone away from the lumber house and attacked trees so not to mess with evidence. I honestly didn't see it myself. I was on the eastern perimeter at that time and Lady was a small distance away from it."

"What has the Grimm actually done, that you know of?" Ron asked. It seemed like they just needed to ask this local Hunter to get a lot of information about this Grimm. So, Ron was making sure he got everything.

"So the attacks are still by the forest." Pierce commented, his mind whirring as he started to think of the scenario. That should make it easier on our part. "Well if it's by the forest, it should be easier to track. Lots of things to leave marks on. Damp floor, scratches on trees, broken twigs. It should be easy enough to follow."

"Hmm," Xiao said thinking for a moment. "Well, I'll show you the footprints tomorrow morning. They trace back and forth from the lumber house to the woods. However..the footprints stop abruptly in the middle of the fields. They also recorded the sound the Grimm made. It wasn't howling or growling, but sort of sing-song-ish. Think of a whale call. And there's that blurred picture, of course, but it's not much help save for its scale.

"So, tomorrow, we'll be asking the main witnesses questions and viewing the scene," Xiao said. "We sent some hairlike samples found there to the labs in the cities. We should be seeing results, too. It's strange, though...large Grimm rarely show themselves in the mountains. It's not normal..."

"Well," Ron says, "I'm sure we'll be able to find this thing."

"That's actually a lot to work with, given the circumstance." Pierce said, smiling as his brain worked overtime, trying to figure out what the creature was. "I'm sure we'll have this 'case' solved in no time. Don't worry sir, We'll make sure this thing doesn't hurt anyone else."

"That's good to hear!" Xiao said. "Welp, let's sit back for a while as I drive this baby up the mountain."

Despite the drive having been an hour, the silence that followed hadn't been awkward. The scenery during twilight was breathtaking for Rory as she watched the fiery color of the trees shimmer in the wind. The air was fresh and all the things that she smelled in the city (the sewage, the smoke, the chemicals) were all cleared away. It soon got dark and by the time they reached a flatter plain, they came to a small village with around ten to twenty houses. The people there wore simple clothing. Mostly sweaters and pants and dresses. A few children were gathered around a campfire near what looked like a chain-link fence and a cluster of trees before the plain sloped down past it.

In the center of the village was what looked like a bigger fire surrounded by stone and three long tables filled with roast turkey, baked potato, fruits of every color and large barrels of beer and punch. A ton of chairs circled around it and the houses. A bit of lively music could be heard among a group of men, women and children near the hearth. Some people holding a variety of instruments.

The buggy soon stopped and Rory was the first to hop off.

"This is it, guys! This is Persimmon Village!" Rory said. "Come on! Everyone's waiting to see all of you. Thanks for the ride, Xiao!"

She took the two boys by the hand and dragged them towards the large bonfire in the middle where a few people were.

"Hey, look! It's our little wolf cub!"a man with blonde hair said. He was a bit stout and had a thick mustache and wore the clothes of a lumberjack. Rory went over to him and leaped into a hug.

"Dad!" Rory smiled as she embraced her foster father tightly.

"We've missed you, Rory!" the man said as he let go of her and pinched her cheeks. "My how you've grown!"

He turned over to Ron and Pierce and smiled warmly. "Why, hello, there. Who are you two?"

Rory giggled and shook her head.

"Isn't it obvious, Dad? These two are the ones going to help with the Grimm Investigation! This is Ron Rouge and Pierce Michellis."

Pierce couldn't help but smile as they arrived, the joyful air of the town contagious and filling him with warm happiness as he looked around the town. As Rory introduced him, he nodded politely, extending his arm towards the man. "Pierce Michellis. It's very nice to meet you sir."

Ron's expression mirrored Pierce's once he stepped out of the car. He thought to himself, Ahh, the joys of small villages. He let Rory pull him to the party, admiring every part of it. When Rory introduced the two of them he said with a bow, "Ron Rouge, at your service. Your daughter has been a very hospitable guide."

"I'm glad to hear that," the blonde man said. "I'm Zeke Veiller, by the way. Just an ordinary lumberjack, of course, but I'm pretty popular here. Haha, kidding. Anyways, welcome to the village. We're grateful that people as young as yourselves are bothering to help simple folk like us."

"They may ask you guys to the center of the circle later," Rory explained smiling. "Just so that everyone knows you guys. But in the meantime, let's eat shall we?"

Zeke waved goodbye and Rory led them to one of the many long tables and handed them forks and plates and knives. A kindly homey woman with brown hair was giving a ham that had been laid out. There was more food around. Fruit salads, pastas, breads of all sorts and cream of mushroom soups.

"Help yourselves," Rory smiled.

"Alright with me," Ron says. As they get close to the food, Ron lets his eyes roam the entire platter. He responds to Rory with, "Gladly." He then begins to load his plate with as much meat, fruit, and bread as he can. Then he gets a second plate to start filling up.