RWBY: Red Wolf Saga

Taking a Bite out of Crime

Yang leaned against the wall, sighing as she flipped open her scroll. She sent her father to send her something from home, in a vain attempt to help keep Ruby calm. The thing she forgot was that he always sent things late. All the time he's ever sent a package to anyone was always late. An impressive skill to be sure, but annoying as fuck. As Weiss and Blake quickly picked up on.

"What's wrong, Yang? I haven't seen you this annoyed since the dryer ate half your underwear." Weiss asked the blonde bruiser.

"It's nothing. I'm just annoyed by my dad." The blonde pugilist claimed.

"What did he do?" Blake asked, confused.

"He's a little late on sending something for me and Ruby." Yang replied with a sigh.

"Well, packages can take some time." Blake answered simply.

"This is different. This is late even for him. Something isn't right." Yang noted, a bit concerned.

At that, they noticed Azura heading out in a bit of a hurry. Curious, Weiss walked out and called him.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" Weiss yelled out.

"I have a special guest coming and I want to make sure his arrival isn't being made into a big deal!" Azura called out as he kept running.

"That doesn't sound like he's trying to be low key. It's almost like he's going to meet the Emperor of Mistral himself." Blake answered confusedly.

"Let's go check this out. I can wait for my package while we're out there." Yang replied, taking off after Azura.

With that the monochromatic duo rushed off after the blonde, trying to keep pace with Azura. Unfortunately, he wasn't making it easy on them. While he wasn't using his Semblance, at that point they would not have had the time to call out to him, he was still booking it like a bat out of hell. Getting outside, they saw him rushing to the airship pads. Further surprised they rushed off after him. It didn't take them terribly long to finally catch up to him, as Azura had stopped just before the pad, with a face of confusion, and indeed annoyance.

"Oh, by the gods…! By the Heavenly Emperor, damn those idiots…!" He groaned out in frustration as the remainders of Team RWBY caught up to him in time to see an airship with an azure-blue roaring tiger head mon painted elegantly on the side slowly touching down.

"A Sōtora airship? This far into Vale? We are too far west of their holdings for this to be official business…" Blake said, confused, to her teammates.

"This has to be someone important. Why else would they go to this much trouble?" Weiss noted with a nod.

"Looks like we're about to find out." Yang muttered.

Soon, the hatch to the airship opened as the ramp came down. To the shock of the girls, a red carpet was rolled out down the ramp directly in front of Azura and the three of them. Once the red carpet was rolled out, a squad of massive, muscular armed samurai guards in demonic looking demonic looking Grimm masks with massive steel kanabō held in one hand, katana and wakizashi at their hips, and naginata in their other hands marched down the ramp before separating into two groups. The two groups of guards stood at attention on opposite sides of the red carpet as a man dressed in robes walked out of the airship and down the ramp, a large trumpet in hand. Taking a deep breath, he blew on the trumpet to announce someone's presence as someone else in robes, wearing a royal hat and carrying an old-fashioned paper scroll, walked out of the airship and down the ramp.

Azura groaned in frustration. "Are they really doing this…? I did not want them to do this…" He let out; his annoyance clear in his voice.

"What didn't you want them to do, Azura?" Weiss asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm with Weiss on this. Who is this 'special guest' of yours?" Blake asked, her own eyebrow raised.

"Judging by the weirdo in the floppy hat and paper scroll, I take it we're about to find out." Yang answered.

Said man with the paper scroll then cleared his throat before unfurling it. "Presenting his royal furriness, the former leader of Lord Sōtora Azura's hunting pack! The ancient and wise Sir Seamus!" The man called out as thunderous footsteps could then be heard on the metal of the airship.

"Present arms!" The booming voice of the now visible leader of the guard shouted out, all the guards raising their naginata in disciplined unison.

Soon, two more large, muscular samurai guards in demonic Grimm masks came marching out of the airship and down the ramp. One was carrying a truly massive backpack on his back, his steel kanabō held in one hand and his naginata in the other with his blades at his hip. The other, his kanabō on his back with his swords at his hip and his naginata held in one hand, walked beside his partner while holding a leash in his other hand. At the end of the leash…

It was a truly massive hound with long curly hair, much of its normally brown coat now deep grays or clear whites due to age. Its long muzzle drooped a hint, mirrored by the clear bags under the dog's eyes. Long, thin legs made the animal almost as tall as a short Huntress at Beacon. The girls knew it as a Valian Wolfhound, an ancient breed now long out of favor, used by the poor and country nobles to protect their grounds and livestock from wolves and worse. It was in reality a very plain, old dog that clearly had seen better days from the scars on its body and advanced age. Yet Azura's wrath at making such a scene was shocking for the three.

"Who… is... Responsible for this…!?" Azura ground out, barely holding back his anger.

"Ryū and Sano were my liege." The giant guard said, handing Azura the leash.

Azura gritted his teeth as he accepted Seamus's leash. "Of course, they were…!" He replied as two men began making their way out of the airship and down the ramp.

"I don't like how he said were there…" Blake whispered.

"Don't expect a lengthy introduction then." Yang dryly whispered back.

"This doesn't look good…" Weiss muttered, seeing Azura's rage bubbling up to the surface as the two young men came into view off the ramp.

One of them was a young man two inches taller than Azura with a scarlet red pompadour, a long toothpick in his teeth, and a katana at his hip. He wore blue non-formal robes under a black leather biker jacket with the Sōtora clan's tiger head mon symbol on the back. He had the widest smile on his face and a katana and wakizashi at his hip as he walked up to Azura.

The other was a young man the same size as Azura with wild, spiky electric yellow hair. He wore a red headband on his forehead with bandages wrapped around his hands and forearms. His non-formal robes were black in color with the Sōtora clan's tiger head mon symbol on the back and only bandages covering his bare chest beneath them with a katana and wakizashi of his own at his hip. Topping off his appearance was a pair of sandals with no socks on.

"It's been a while, boss! How ya' been!? We brought Seamus to yus, like ya' wanted!" The taller one with the red pompadour and toothpick announced.

Azura tried to keep from grinding his teeth as he looked at the man. "I can see that, Ryū! What were you two idiots thinking with this!?" He growled out in annoyance.

"Chief, are you okay? We did as you instructed, or at least what we were told was your instructions. We brought your eldest companion, safely, soundly, and in style." The spiky, electric yellow haired one answered in kind.

"I did not say 'in style,' Sano! I just said safely, soundly, and quietly! I wanted this to be low profile!" Azura all but shouted so loudly that anyone watching from Beacon could hear.

"So, filing down his claw is not in like with safe and sound?" Sano asked, pulling out a file.

Azura sighed in response. 'Give me the clippers and file. I will take care of his claws later." He replied as Sano handed him the items in question while the other large armored and masked guard set down the backpack for Azura to take.

"C'mon, boss! We just wanted to make sure yer boy Seamus got an escort worthy of yer position!" Ryū insisted, looking a bit worried at having potentially messed up.

"Who're these two chuckle heads?" Yang asked.

"WHY IS THERE A DOG!?" Blake yelled, jumping onto the back of Yang, "Save me, partner!"

"No." Yang answered, leaning back, and letting Blake slide off.

"Also, that wasn't a cheap trip. Doesn't that airship need the premium airship Dust to run?" Weiss asked.

Azura sighed. "To answer your questions in order? These two idiots are Sagara Ryūnosuke and Ichimonji Sanosuke, two of my retainers and two future Yakuza bosses of Tora Kuni. The dog is my first hunting hound, Seamus, who does not have too many years left in him. Hence why I asked for him to be brought here so that we can spend the last of his golden years together. And yes, that airship runs on premium airship Dust…" He explained in complete annoyance.

"Wait, there's premium? Ryū, didn't you fill it up with the medium stuff?" Sano asked.

"Well, those engines are going to need to be rebuilt." Weiss answered, folding her arms as Azura turned so red with rage that he looked like he was going to explode.

"Um… yeah? Sorry, boss." Ryū replied apologetically.

Taking a long, deep breath to calm himself, Azura looked at the two fools before him. "Get out of my sight and have the local engineers get to work on rebuilding those engines before you leave. Before I snap and do something I might regret." He told the two as calmly as he could in this situation.

"Uh…" Ryū tried to speak but was swiftly cut off by Azura.

"NOW!!!!!" The young samurai lord roared in fury.

"You heard the chief! Run away!!!" Sano yelled in kind as he and Ryū booked it back into the airship.

With far more haste than they had arrived, the carpet was rolled up and everyone swiftly piled into the airship. Some of the men practically flung themselves in, an impressive feat inside all that armor, to avoid their lord's wrath. Soon the engines roared to life, and they were gone, leaving only the four humans and now their old dog remaining.

"Borf." The old dog let out, wagging his tail.

Azura took a deep breath, then slowly let it out as he looked down at the ancient hound with a smile and kneeled. "Hello, Seamus. How have you been, boy?" He asked, petting the old dog and gently scratching behind his ears.

With that, Seamus licked his face in kind. However, as the affections of the old dog came in, Azura noticed the distinct smell of prime steak on his breath. This only further irritated the man.

"Did they seriously give you prime steak too? That won't be good for you." Azura groaned in frustration.

"Borf." The dog answered, wagging his tail.

"I don't care that you're old. Your aged stomach can't handle that stuff anymore." Azura replied back.

"So why do those two work for you?" Weiss asked.

"Probably because they're cheap." Yang snickered.

Azura sighed. "I picked those two idiots up off the streets of a castle town I eventually inherited after they tried to mug me. Even as I beat them in a fight, I saw potential in them. Potential to be so much more than common street thugs, to the point that I didn't want to let their potential go to waste." He explained.

"Can we leave? The dog is staring at me…" Blake said, now hiding behind Weiss.

"Blake, pull yourself together. I'm half a foot shorter than you." Weiss groaned.

"Yeah. Besides, with how old this dog is, he doesn't look like he could bite or chew anything anymore." Yang replied with amusement.

"Seamus may be old, but he can still fight when necessary. However, when it comes to humans and Faunus, he's completely harmless as long as you don't threaten me, him, or anyone he's been ordered to protect. Isn't that right, boy?" Azura replied, giving Seamus a smile as he petted his back gently.

"Borf." Seamus agreed, panting lightly.

"Let's head back. Hopefully, my package arrived." Yang groaned, only to be cut off by the sound of another airship.

The four and dog looked up to see the Vale air mail service airship land down on the pad after the air was cleared. From the ramp, several workers unloaded various parcels and crates of mail. One of them noticed the group and looked at his pad.

"Are any of you expecting mail?" The man asked, looking up from his pad.

"I am. Is there anything under the name 'Yang Xiao Long' from a 'Taiyang Xiao Long'?" The blonde pugilist replied.

"I think I found you. Sign here for me." The man said, handing her a small pen stick, and Yang signed. "Jim, get the weird package out here!"

"Finally!" Jim yelled from inside the Airship.

They came out, hauling a wooden crate with them on a dolly. Setting it down, they then went back in to get another crate. While everyone else was confused, Yang smiles and went over to the first crate and opened it. To their shock, a black and white corgi in a red collar leaped out with the force of a bullet, tackling Yang to the ground and beginning to lick her.

"MORE DOGS! PROTECT ME TEAMMATE!" Blake yelled, jumping onto Weiss's shoulders.

"Blake, seriously…! Stop…!" Weiss groaned out, trying to stay balanced with her cynophobic teammate on top of her clinging to her for dear life.

"Easy, Zwei. There'll be plenty of time for kisses." Yang giggled as she got the dog off her face before wiping herself off, the little hound panting heavily and wagging its little corgi tail a mile a minute.

Azura smiled as he observed the little dog. "A corgi. An excellent choice for a dog. Full of energy and a lot of fun to be around." He remarked as the two hounds observed each other.

The two canines walked up to each other and walked around each other to check each other out. They soon began sniffing each other's butts before perking up, their tails wagging.

"Borf…!" Seamus barked surprisingly enthusiastically for his age, his tail wagging.

"Bark!" Zwei barked back in reply, his tail practically a blur from its enthusiastic wagging.

"See, knew he'd make friends. I don't know what dad was worried about." Yang said, giving a smile.

"It seems my old boy Seamus made a new friend." Azura agreed with a smile of his own.

"Can we go back…? Blake is getting heavy…!" Weiss groaned.

"Blake, get off. Come on." Yang groaned before walking off, Zwei chipperly following behind dutifully.

After Blake got off Weiss, thankful as she was for that, they returned to the dorms. Azura and Yang soon began to introduce the two dogs to the rest of Team AZRE as slowly everyone noticed someone was missing. As if right on queue, Ruby arrived and burst into an immediate explosion of excitement.

"ZWEI!!!" Ruby yelled, and like a rocket Zwei tackled her and gave her plenty of face licks.

"How in the name of my grandaunt's flamethrower can that dog move like that!?" Zhan exclaimed in shock.

"She has a flamethrower?" Rena asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Family heirloom." Zhan simply answered.

"About time you showed up, Ruby." Yang said.

"Sorry, I was getting myself some snacks." Ruby answered as she hugged the corgi that was licking her face off.

"Ruby, how can you eat so much and stay that thin?" Weiss asked.

"Well…" Ruby tried to say, before being cut off.

"Borf!" Seamus barked loudly, his tail wagging.

"BIG, FLOOFY DOG!" Ruby yelled, rushing forward to hug.

Azura immediately shot in front of Ruby like a bullet. "Easy, Ruby! He is old! He does not have a lot of time left in him!" He quickly explained.

"Oh… come here, big puppy." Ruby said, giving Seamus the come hither and opening her arms.

"That is better." Azura replied with a smile.

"Borf!" Seamus barked as he, as quickly as his old legs could carry him, bound up and tackled Ruby to the ground, starting to lick her.

"Good boy!" Ruby happily said, hugging and petting him happily.

Ember smiled at the sight. "That's so cute…" She commented happily.

Azura raised an eyebrow. "That's odd. Seamus isn't usually this good with strangers." He explained.

"He isn't?" Ember asked, confused.

"Curious…" Blake muttered, pulling out her notebook.

"Very curious indeed. How peculiar…" Weiss muttered, eyes narrowed in suspicion at her partner and team leader as the basketball player of a hound continued to affectionately lick her.

"Well, Ruby always was good with animals. That's why I had dad send over Zwei. Figured he could be our team mascot." Yang explained.

"You're the best big sister ever!" Ruby exclaimed from under the giant elevated carpet licking her into the stone age.

Weiss marched up to Zwei and picked him up by the scruff of his neck to hold him up in front of her with a frown. "Are you telling me that this drooling, dopey mutt…" She started to say as Zwei looked at her affectionately, his tongue hanging out as he panted happily.

Immediately, Weiss made an about face at how cute the pupper was. "Is gonna stay with us foreva and eva!" She squealed with joy as she hugged the corgi, who licked her affectionately.

"I knew you'd warm up to him." Yang smugly said.

"I'm not happy about this!" Blake replied from atop Zhan's shoulders, looking at the doggos in sheer terror.

"Keep your panties from getting in a twist Blake. He's harmless." Yang said.

"Are you afraid of dogs?" Ember asked, concerned.

"They're not even that aggressive of breeds. At least they aren't two Arctic Atlesian Shepherds." Rena piped up.

"You're not changing my mind!" Blake yelled, getting a chuckle from the others.

Later That Night

As everyone was off in a study group, Ruby carefully dropped down from their window. She knew the Dust robberies were not going to stop. The fact she thwarted one was only going to make Roman more desperate. She looked back at the string of robberies related to him. He had not failed. She failed to stop him in their first encounter; she simply slowed him down. With Kong likely out of action and not getting that big dust payday, she knew they would likely find something, anything to rob. Which meant she had to be out on patrol, and using her Semblance rushed into the city.

That disturbance she made, however, got Zwei's attention and he barked. He then began to sniff around for his strange human, getting the rest of their attention. Yang looked around before finally speaking up.

"Where's Ruby?" Yang asked open ended in tone.

"She was just right here." Weiss replied, looking to where her partner was once standing.

"How the hell is she gone? She's a bull in a Mistral shop." Rena said, looking around.

Azura, immediately concerned, looked at his friends. "Does anyone have something of Ruby's for a scent sample?" He asked his friends.

"I think Zwei already has it…" Ember said, pointing to Zwei, who got stuck trying to jump through a crack in the window.

"Better to have two hounds tracking instead of just one. Basic rule of hunting." Azura explained.

"Will her brush work?" Yang asked as she pulled it out of her backpack. "She nearly forgot it in the bathroom this morning."

Azura nodded as he took the brush from Yang. "That will work nicely." He replied before whistling.

The old giant hound slowly walked in on well-worn legs and soon sat in front of Azura. As Azura held it out, he gave it a big sniff, and his ears perked up at the smell. Right on cue, he walked over, pulled Zwei out of the window gently, and carried him out of the room as he bound after the scent.

"I guess it's a Rose hunt tonight." Yang said with a sigh.

"Follow those hounds!" Azura called out, rushing out of the room after the two dogs.

"Well, this night got troublesome…" Rena sighed as everyone followed in kind.

Later: In the City of Vale

Ruby ran and leaped across building after building, scanning the area for potential signs of activity. Much to her surprise however, she found a group of White Fang in action. To her shock, they were bold enough to try to break into a warehouse, with a larger than average Faunus using a blazing chainsaw to try and cut into the bulkhead. Looking it over, there were easily several dozen, far more than her tango with Kong. Leaping down and landing on her feet, Ruby brandished Crescent Rose.

"Stop, thieves!" Ruby yelled.

The entire group practically in unison turned to face her. While most were confused and getting into a muddled firing line, the giant with the chainsaw stopped his work and turned to face her. Then a low chuckle could be heard in the autumn air as he walked forward, chainsaw slowly revving.

"Well, well, well! If it isn't the little Rosebud who foiled our plans last time! Brother Kong will reward me if I bring your head back on a pike, human!" He chuckled as he revved his chainsaw.

"Boss, what about the Dust?" One of the White Fang grunts behind him asked.

"We can deal with the Dust AFTER we take care of her. Better to get the meddler out of the way sooner rather than later." The lieutenant replied.

"Wait, he's still alive? I dropped a warehouse on him!" Ruby exclaimed in shock.

"Brother Kong is too strong to fall for something like that, human scum! Take her!" The lieutenant replied, ordering his men to attack.

With that, the horde of White Fang lit up the night with muzzle flashes and the thunderous roar of automatic gunfire. Using her Semblance, Ruby shot forward as she dashed between the hail of bullets. With her trusty scythe at the ready, she slashed through the barrel of a rifle, slicing it off. She continued to dash her way from White Fang member to White Fang member, slicing the barrels off their rifles to force them to abandon them. Once she was finished, she swiftly ducked under a slash from the lieutenant's chainsaw as the grunts drew swords, axes, even metal bats and lead pipes. Soon, the White Fang members rushed in to get into melee range of the red reaper.

Using Crescent Rose, Ruby slashed and batted away blows from the White Fang members' weapons. Batting away a slash from a sword, she swung with the momentum of her scythe and kicked the grunt in the temple to knock him down to the ground and knock him out. Dodging a swing from a metal bat, she swung the blunt end of Crescent Rose into the side of the next one's head, causing her to crumple to the ground like paper as she was rendered unconscious. However, she knew that there were too many. Taking them all down non-lethally would drain a lot of energy and leave her open to the lieutenant's chainsaw. She needed a plan of some kind…

Couple Blocks Away

As the seven Huntsmen-in-Training trailed behind the two dogs sniffing to their hearts' content, they were all wondering what could have possessed Ruby to do this. They did not have the longest time to ponder, as both Zwei and Seamus's ears perked up and diverted course towards the sound.

"It looks like the dogs have picked up something." Yang said, rushing after them

"Lead us to Ruby, boys!" Azura called out as the dogs took off in the direction of the sound, following close behind them.

With that the dogs gained speed and bolted off, with the rest of then having to pick up the pace. Despite his short, stubby legs, Zwei kept pace with the long gait of the wolfhound. They soon all heard the sound of battle, getting louder and louder. When they finally got through an alleyway, they saw something in front of a large warehouse. Before them was a massive brawl between a giant group of White Fang members and Ruby, fighting hard against the great mass of miscreants. 

"It is Ruby! She is in trouble!" Azura called out.

"She needs us!" Yang answered in agreement as she and Azura rushed in together to aid the Rosebud.

The rest in rapid succession gripped and brandished their weapons and charged in kind. They may not have understood what was happening or why Ruby went through with this, but they did not want to see her die. Soon, Weiss used her Glyphs to fire a barrage of Ice Dust at their foes while Zhan launched blazing balls of flame. The explosions of ice and fire blasted some of their enemies away from Ruby, creating gaps in the lines for them to form up on the red reaper. Said Huntress-in-Training looked at her friends and sister in shock as they formed up on her protectively.

"Guys!? What are you doing here!?" Ruby exclaimed, before ballpark smashing a poor gecko Faunus.

"Saving you!" Weiss responded, unleashing a barrage of thrusts on a buffalo Faunus before blasting him away with a shot of ice from her Glyphs.

"I don't need saving! I got this!" Ruby shot back.

"Oh yeah! You really got this, Little Red! You're all over this!" Zhan replied sarcastically as he ballpark smashed a large crocodile Faunus away.

"Hey, sarcasm and snark are my thing." Rena scowled as she knocked back a wildebeest Faunus with a lightning-charged thrust of her spear that exploded on contact.

"Can you guys focus and beat these fools up!" Yang yelled as she nearly took a poor leopard Faunus's head off with a punch.

"Yang is right! Focus on the enemy! Banter and chewing Ruby out can wait!" Azura replied with his katana out, batting away thrusts from a Komodo dragon Faunus's sword before turning his katana into a naginata and slashing them twice across the chest before kicking them away.

With that, the rest gave a nod and waded into battle. The eight of them worked like a well-oiled machine as they worked together to defeat the White Fang. Blake blocked a sword slash aimed at Weiss's blind spot to allow Weiss to hit the enemy Faunus with a barrage of thrusts from Myrtenaster to down them. Yang used her gauntlets to block a metal bat swing aimed at the back of Blake's head before unleashing a shock of Fire Dust, knocking the opponent back enough for Blade to ensnare the enemy in Gambol Shroud's kusarigama form and fling them away. Azura spun his naginata to bat down a sword swing towards Yang's undefended back, allowing the blonde fighter to knock the opponent back with a flaming punch that exploded on contact.

On and on, the eight continued to fight together. Taking out opponent after opponent while watching each other's blind spots. However, soon one of them left themselves open as the lieutenant tried to attack Ruby with his chainsaw. Before he could, however, he felt two powerful chomps down on his rear end. Roaring in pain, he dropped his chainsaw and looked to see the two hounds had bitten down hard on his rumpus, growling in fury. This momentary distraction left him open as all eight of the Huntsmen-in-Training attacked him simultaneously, knocking him back into a wall as the dogs released him and watched him fly back and get knocked out.

"Thank you, good doggos. Come here!" Ruby said, hugging the two dogs happily and petting them, getting their tails wagging.

"Bark!" Zwei replied, licking the red reaper.

"Borf!" Seamus barked as well, licking Ruby as well.

"I guess that was more eventful than a study session. Hope we pass Port's test tomorrow…" Ember said worriedly.

"This was kind of a bigger priority, but I think we did great. Talk about 'taking a bite out of crime,' huh?" Yang replied with a grin, followed swiftly by her companions groaning into the ether of the dark night. All except for Azura, who laughed at the pun.