CHAPTER 5

After Taeyeon’s violent outburst over Yoona not being worthy of Seohyun, which resulted to a damaged table and a broken mug, the owner of the coffee shop had a serious talk with her. She agreed to pay with what she had and that she would come up with the balance later. When she got back, the other seven were engaged in an equally serious conversation. Yuri and Jessica had already ordered their lattes and were now listening to Sooyoung as she drew a figure on a table napkin with colored lip balm.

“Okay, so one thing we know about the pink pig…” She finished the drawing off with a pointed tail that curled up like a real pig’s. “Is that she can drain another person’s aura when they’re in that dome thing that she makes. But how far can she reach with that thing?”

“First of all, you can’t draw even if your life depended on it!” Hyoyeon took Sooyoung’s doodle, crumpled it up and threw it at her partner’s face, meriting a few laughs from their friends and a finger gesture from Sooyoung that made Seohyun gasp. Hyoyeon was used to it so she just laughed it off. “Anyway, back to the pink pig… I could only see the dome for a second right after she made it. And I didn’t feel anything strange except when I got close to her to grab Sooyoung.”

“So it has limited range?” Taeyeon claimed her seat and joined the conversation. “We can use that to our advantage.”

“But what if she can make it bigger and we just don’t know it?” Seohyun pointed out. “We can’t see the dome at all times, right?”

Yoona let out another groan, honestly wanting to talk about anything that didn’t involve missions and fighting. They could talk about armpit hair for all she cared – anything but this. “I don’t see why we have to discuss this. We don’t even know who the pink pig is or if she’s ever coming back.”

Yuri nodded before taking a sip of her drink. “Yoona is right. Besides, we have the Grimm to worry about and they’ve been acting really weird lately. I think we should focus on that.”

No one spoke for a brief moment until Taeyeon pointed out the obvious: “Look who sounds so responsible for once!”

“Har har.” Yuri exaggerated a fake laugh then raised a fist in Taeyeon’s face. “You wanna take this outside?!” But before she could stand up and tackle Taeyeon, Jessica sat her back down.

“I don’t think you’re in any condition to be challenging anyone right now. Calm down and finish your drink.”

Yuri did as she was told. She knew Jessica was right and even if Jessica wasn’t, she knew she would’ve followed out of habit. She took another sip of her drink and felt their friends’ eyes on her. She waited for them to and for Taeyeon to taunt her like she always does, but they just sat there exchanging looks that probably meant something but she didn’t know what.

It was Yoona who broke the silence. “Unnies, did something happen?” she asked Yuri and Jessica.

Yuri shook her head and gave her dongsaeng a smile. “It’s nothing to worry about. I was just practicing and I got carried away.” She unconsciously clasped her hands together as if to hide her palms which were already wrapped in their usual bandages.

“Okay, if you say so,” Yoona replied, but her face said otherwise. She was obviously worried and she knew something had gone wrong, but she trusted her teammates to tell her whatever it was when the time was right.

Another awkward silence befell them only to be interrupted by the sound of scrolls beeping.

“It looks like we’re being called back.” Jessica closed the message just as fast as she had opened it.

Everyone else checked their scrolls but only Yoona and Yuri received a similar message.

“What does it say?” Sooyoung asked.

“It just says we’re needed back at school,” Jessica answered, echoing the words written in the message.

+

Yuri, Jessica and Yoona headed back to Beacon after saying goodbye to their friends. It wasn’t a long walk but it gave Yuri enough time to tell Yoona that she really shouldn’t worry about what happened while she was practicing alone.

“If I find out that ‘I got carried away’ actually means something else…” Yoona frowned at Yuri and then at Jessica. “I’m going to spend every waking minute making sure you guys don’t have any more alone time!”

Yuri and Jessica could only laugh at their protective dongsaeng, oblivious to the fact that she wasn’t joking like she usually did.

Professor BoA met them in front of the school and the four of them proceeded to the faculty room where they found Professor Psy sifting through some files behind Professor BoA’s desk. He lowered the sunglasses from his eyes and gave them a wink before getting back to work.

“Don’t mind him.” Professor BoA held their gaze and let out a deep sigh.

They hadn’t seen her this exhausted before. They guessed that she probably did investigate Emerald Forest and had been at it for days.

“Did we do something wrong, professor?” Jessica asked, breaking BoA out of the trance she was seemingly in.

“No, no. I called you three here to relay some information about the woman in the pink cloak.”

“But shouldn’t Sooyoung and Hyoyeon be—”

“She might be working with the White Fang.”

From the corner of her eye, Jessica saw Yoona flinch at the mention of the terrorist organization but neither of them said a word.

“Professor…” Yuri started but couldn’t finish voicing out her thoughts.

“Yes, I know, Miss Kwon.” The professor leaned back on her desk and crossed her arms over her chest. “That means if you decide to go on this mission, you might also run into your former teammate.”

“But I thought you didn’t want us to go after her?” went Jessica’s quick remark. She didn’t want to admit it but she was rearing to go.

“I think the three of you deserve answers. Frankly, we all do. I will allow you to follow this piece of information but on the condition that you won’t pursue her or the cloaked woman past your limits. Fall back when you have to. We don’t know what they have up their sleeve and how deep their connection is with the White Fang. Or whoever it is they’re working with.”

Yuri and Jessica knew that they wanted to go but Yoona hadn’t made a sound during their entire stay in the room. Sensitive to her needs, they knew they had to wait for her answer.

“Miss Im, I will understand if you decide to sit this one out—”

“That is what I want to do, professor.” Yoona met BoA’s eyes like she was forced to do the first time she was called to this office for a debriefing, though this time she wasn’t blinking away tears. “But I’m going anyway. Thank you for letting us do this.”

Professor BoA offered the three of them a smile. “Thank me when you finally get your answers.”

+

The piece of information that came from the military unit in Atlas led Yuri, Jessica and Yoona to the center of Mountain Glenn. They dropped down from the airship and were promised extraction when they needed it. Professor BoA thought it was wise not to let one of their airships land in this wasteland for fear that the Grimm would swarm around it and destroy it. They couldn’t risk any losses at this point.

“It makes sense,” Yoona mumbled loud enough for Yuri and Jessica to hear.

“What makes sense?” Yuri asked. She kicked a broken piece of the pavement toward a ditch and it made a clunking sound when it fell.

“That she would be here.” Yoona looked up at the demolished buildings and then down at the trail of deep holes that were probably made with explosives. “Sometimes she would rant about the world needing a big change. She said everything that’s broken can be fixed if she was strong enough to do something. Maybe she wants to start here.”

Jessica vaguely remembered hearing their former teammate say those things but didn’t pay much attention, thinking it was just a political view. But now that they were here in this run-down, abandoned sector of the kingdom, she wished that she would’ve been more suspicious of such ramblings. Maybe then she would’ve found out earlier that their former teammate had been deceiving everyone with her cheeriness and that annoying aegyo.

“This is where the Grimm invasions started getting worse, too,” she said as if giving a tour. “At the same time, it was one of the White Fang’s headquarters.”

“You’re right.” Yuri crouched down next to one of the holes and peered down into the dark expanse. “If I remember correctly, Team RWBY discovered the headquarters underground. Yang told me about it once. Maybe we should jump in, too?”

“We’re not sure what’s down there! We can’t just—Yoona!!”

Jessica’s outstretched hand barely came into contact with collar of Yoona’s school uniform when she realized that their dongsaeng had already jumped down. Yuri followed without a word, leaving her on the surface. “Ugh. These reckless idiots…” Not having much choice, she jumped in after them.

An old train car broke her fall. Upon closer inspection, they seemed to have reached a subway. Rusty train tracks ran from where she stood and beyond what she could see in the dark. Yuri and Yoona were close by, searching for signs of movement.

Just then, the lights flickered above them and a voice called out…

“I didn’t think you guys would fall for the trap this quickly.”

The three of them turned toward the voice and drew their weapons, save for Yuri who only had her fists up.

“It’s the pink pig!!” Yoona announced, pointing at the cloaked woman with her naginata. Her voice echoed through the tunnels.

“Pink what? I’ll show you—”

But the cloaked woman was cut off by the figure standing behind her. A shorter woman appeared and held her arms out to her sides. “Teammates! Welcome! Dwid yuuu gwuys mwiss meeeeeeee?”

“Ugh! That annoying voice!!” Jessica cringed at the sight of aegyo that called for a punch. She wanted to charge in and throw that punch but Yuri rushed toward her and Yoona who was nearby.

“It’s her…” Yoona had to remind herself to breathe. She had thought of the many ways that this moment could play out but now wasn’t the time to be a baby about it. She distorted the space beneath her feet and out came a gust of wind, which she got ready to strengthen so it could fling her up to the train car where their former teammate was.

“Let’s win first, ask her questions later,” Yuri ordered, sounding like a team leader for once.

Jessica and Yoona agreed. It wasn’t like they could do a lot of talking with the cloaked woman around. Her semblance was a threat. They scattered around the train car and aimed for their former teammate who still hadn’t moved except for the quick motion of holding her buckler up in defense.

“Stay away from the pink pig!!” Jessica shouted at Yuri who was too focused on attacking. The cloaked woman was standing by with her whip in hand and Yuri was within her range.

“Don’t worry, unnie! I got it!” Yoona zoomed past the cloaked woman and dragged a strong rush of wind with her, knocking the cloaked woman off of the train car. “Yuri unnie! She’s vulnerable now!”

Yuri nodded as she ran toward their former teammate who still hadn’t moved. She threw a punch then another and another but they had no effect. “Dammit…”

“What’s the matter, Yuri-yah? Not enough protein in your system?” The shorter woman belted out a laugh from behind her buckler. She lowered it a bit and threw Yuri a taunting wink.

“Gaaaaah!!! Shut up!!” Yuri expended part of her aura to double her strength then launched her fist into an uppercut only to be absorbed once more by the shorter woman. She leapt back then dashed to the side, aiming for the part of the shorter woman’s body that wasn’t covered by the buckler. She charged forward with both fists at the ready—

“Yuri, take the other side!”

Jessica was suddenly running alongside her, telling her to veer to her right.

“Got it!”

Yuri shifted directions and leapt up, now aiming for the right side of their opponent’s head from above. “Absorb this!” She dropped down and hammered a right hook into her target while Jessica slashed from the left with her kotatsu then spun it around to gain momentum for a .

Another loud laugh.

“Ouch guys… I’m so hurt. NOT!!”

Yuri and Jessica quickly leapt back after realizing that their attacks were still absorbed even though they had hit the exposed parts of their opponent.

“What the hell?! How is she doing that?!” Yuri was just about ready to pull her hair out in frustration. She turned to Jessica who was catching her breath on the other side of the train car. “Are you okay??”

Jessica nodded. Their target still hadn’t moved. She was getting frustrated too but that did little to help her when she was conjuring ice. She needed to slow her breathing down, but she saw Yuri preparing for another charged shot while the cloaked woman was running up the side of the train car with Yoona on her tail, and she instantly failed to keep her focus.

“Unnies, look out!!” Yoona tried to distort the space surrounding the cloaked woman but her semblance activated a second too late and the slash with her naginata that she did to make up for it got caught in the twist.

“Yuri! Behind you!!” Jessica needed a running start for any of her icy projectiles to reach the cloaked woman and that took time she didn’t have. The frozen projection of her weapon landed near Yuri’s feet and shattered against the roof of the train car.

“This is for calling me a PINK PIG!!”

Yuri heard the cry from above her and saw the bright outline of thin film starting to form before her eyes—

“Gotcha!”

The cloaked woman was caught off guard when she saw a dagger coming right at her but instead of its sharp tip she was met with a smug smirk and a quick wink.

“Ugh!” She lost her focus and with it went the activation of her semblance. She focused her energy on landing on her feet instead and right next to her appeared her assailant with the reclaimed dagger. Then she disappeared again. “Teleportation, huh? Tsk. How annoying!”

Taeyeon reappeared next to one of Seohyun’s scouts and signaled that their plan more or less worked. Seohyun picked up on the message from the other side of the tunnel where she was sure to be beyond the range of the cloaked woman’s semblance. She sent another one of her scouts and focused her aura onto it, causing a ray of energy to shoot from its center and toward the cloaked woman.

“Where the heck did that come from?!” went a shrill cry.

The cloaked woman jumped down from the train car and tried to activate her semblance again—

“Over here, y !”

And out came Taeyeon from behind her.

“Gaaaah!! Stay out of this you !!” The cloaked woman spun around with her whip in hand and, with underhand force, it transformed into a long blade that hacked across the space where Taeyeon’s torso was supposed to be. “Stop running away and get back here!!”

Taeyeon reappeared at the other side of the train car just when another one of Seohyun’s attacks made its way toward the cloaked woman who was still ranting and screaming in frustration.

“You annoying brats!! When I figure out where those things are coming from—”

Worried that Seohyun’s position would be found out, Taeyeon rushed out from cover and willed herself to reappear in front of the raging woman who reacted with a gasp and widened eyes. Taeyeon met them with hers and flashed a grin. “Has anyone told you that you have pretty eyes?”

The cloaked woman’s long blade retracted into the handle and out went the whip from the other side, which she used to snag Taeyeon’s ankle from under her nose. With a strong pull, she had Taeyeon on her back. Taeyeon’s daggers fell from her grip after the impact and landed meters away from her position, leaving her vulnerable. “Heh. Thanks. You’re not too bad yourself, shortstuff. Now, for some payback—”

Another ray of energy that came from above forced the cloaked woman to roll out of the way, giving Taeyeon enough time to scramble for her daggers.

“Just because you have a y and that eye smile doesn’t mean I’m gonna go easy on you from now on!” Taeyeon announced before she disappeared from view again.

Seohyun, who was relieved that her attack came on time, found herself blushing a few seconds after hearing what Taeyeon just said. What the? So that’s why unnie took so long to jump out of our cover earlier. She was checking out the pink pig’s !!

Back where Yuri had taken time to regroup after almost being attacked by the cloaked woman, she saw and heard everything. “Taeyeon!! Stop checking the pink pig out and do your job!!” she yelled, poking her head out from behind a pile of rubble.

Jessica heard the remark while she was sprinting to get herself out of the cloaked woman’s range. “But, seriously, is it even possible to take your eyes off of her? She’s a bright pink blob!!”

“EXCUSE ME?!” The cloaked woman had just jumped back up on the train car beside the shorter woman with the buckler who had remained in a defensive position throughout the fight. “THIS IS HOT PINK!”

“Isn’t it Barbie pink??” Yuri was slowly leaving her cover and looking for an opportunity to strike while the cloaked woman was distracted by their argument.

“Hot pink!!”

Jessica caught Yuri’s gaze, which signaled her to keep the insults going until they were both close enough to strike. Despite how risky it would be to get close to their opponents, Jessica thought it would was worth a shot. “More like eye-sore pink!!” she shouted at the top of her lungs while she worked on a frozen projection of her weapon behind her back.

“How dare you insult pink?!!” The cloaked woman brought a foot down, causing the train car to shake from the force. “Don’t you know that when god created the color pink, he felt fuzzy feelings afterwards?! That’s how special it is!!”

“When god created pink? Or hot pink?” Yuri took another quick step forward, careful not to let the cloaked woman notice her getting closer. She spied Yoona heading for the back of the train car, hovering slightly above the ground as she moved. At this rate, she could attack from the right, Jessica could charge from the left side, and Yoona could cover the rear – a classic flank.

“All pink!!” the cloaked woman argued.

“So not the Barbie pink you’re wearing?”

“This is hot pink!! How many times do I have to—”

“I dunno what color that is…” Taeyeon came up from behind the cloaked woman and tapped her on the shoulder. “But I know who’s hot in here!”

“Shuuuuuuuuuut uuuuuuuup!!” The cloaked woman stumbled backwards when she tried to hit the figure that spoke from behind her. She fell off of the train car and Taeyeon went down with her.

“YAAAAAAAH!!”

To her surprise, the fall didn’t hurt at all. She opened her eyes to look for what broke her fall and found—

“So you’ve fallen for me, huh y ?”

“What did you say—”

Then Taeyeon was gone again.

Yuri felt like throwing up out of the frustration she felt over Taeyeon’s shenanigans. “She almost got you, you idiot!!” she screamed into the air, not knowing where Taeyeon was at the moment. “Stop hitting on her and start hitting her!! Do you want us to die in here or something?!”

“Shut up!” Taeyeon appeared behind Yuri and lightly punched her in the shoulder. “Don’t you have a teammate to beat?” She tilted her chin upwards toward the shorter woman with the buckler.

“I know, I know.”

Yuri’s words barely reached Taeyeon before it got lost in the sound of her body whipping past everything in front of her and then up toward the top of train car. Yoona and Jessica had seen her movement seconds before she spent her aura on speed and had started to move forward from their positions as well. The three of them came together in mid-air—

“Yoona, now!!” Yuri shouted as she leaned forward into a dive.

“Already done!!” Yoona activated her semblance the moment she realized that they had practiced this move before. The space below them became fragmented and the pieces pulled apart from one another like repelling magnets but only slightly.

“The dome is active!!” Jessica noticed a slight pull from inside her and she guessed that Yoona was being affected too because her semblance had a weakened effect. In a slight panic, she threw the frozen kotatsu copy at the cloaked woman, who was standing on one of the broken platforms, and missed.

It was too late to call out to Taeyeon to distract the cloaked woman and Yuri had already spent most of her aura on her speed and strengthening her strikes. “Yoona! We have to knock the pink pig out!!” Jessica pushed herself forward after she landed and spent everything she had left on freezing the air that came from every slashing movement Yoona’s naginata made, causing each one to drop down at the cloaked woman like Krystal’s icy arrows.

“Sica! Yoona! Get away from her!” Yuri forced herself to get closer even though she saw the dome’s outline flicker every time the cloaked woman moved from one platform to another to dodge Jessica and Yoona’s attacks. She rushed toward one of the platforms and threw a charged punch at it, causing it to break into chunks that were hurled right at the cloaked woman’s position. She was preparing for a second strike when Yoona let out a panicked scream.

“Nothing’s working!!  It’s like our attacks just disappear before they hit her!”

Yuri and Jessica quickly turned to the shorter woman with the buckler and saw her giggling to herself.

“It’s you, isn’t it?!” Yuri came charging toward their former teammate, tempted to remove the bandages from her hands and activate her semblance.

The shorter woman grinned, her buckler now covering only her chest. “So what if it is me? Whatcha gonna do, Yuri-yah? Awre yuu gonna hit widdle ol’ mee with that swembwance of yuurs?”

Yuri bit down on her lower teeth in anger. She knew she could activate her semblance and get this over with. She’ll die. Then what?

“Yuri unnie, what are you doing?!” Yoona propelled herself over to Yuri’s side after she saw the latter glued to the spot in a daze with her hands in front of her face. “Keep them on. It’s not worth it.” Then she pushed Yuri aside, leaving herself to deal with their former teammate.

“D’awww… Yoongie-poo, you’ve grown!”

“And you clearly haven’t!” Yoona activated her semblance once more, hoping the distortion would throw the shorter woman out of balance and finally leave her vulnerable.

But the distortion didn’t materialize.

“Nice try, Yoona. But just like you, your magic tricks are useless.”

“Gaaah!! Then take this!!”

But no matter how much Yoona’s blade came down and cut across the figure in front of her, not one scratch appeared.

Jessica was nearing her limit, having been exposed to the dome for a long period of time. She drew back to catch her breath and saw Yoona wasting her efforts on attacking the shorter woman. Yuri wasn’t looking too good, either. She knew what those knitted brows meant – Yuri was thinking of doing something stupid.

Without a second thought, Jessica rushed to Yuri’s side and nudged her side. “We don’t really have time to be standing around like this but I just have to ask if you’re okay.”

Yuri shook her head and clucked her tongue as she diverted her eyes toward Yoona and their former teammate. “Was she always this annoying?”

Jessica shrugged. “She had her moments. But right now I just want to punch her in the face.”

Yuri managed to let out a small laugh. “It must be that aegyo that calls for a punch!”

“That must be it. But this time I can really hit her and not feel guilty about it.”

“Unnies!” Yoona called out. She was hunched forward, grabbing her knees to support herself. “WE CAN’T HIT HER!!”

“Don’t you know how to get around her semblance?!” Jessica yelled back.

“No, I don’t,” Yoona answered in a mutter. That just goes to show that I don’t know her after all. Saddened by the futility of everything they had tried up until now, Yoona withdrew from the fight. She hovered off of the train car and ran as far into the tunnel as she could manage. She saw Seohyun’s scouts come from this direction earlier.

“Yoona! I’m sorry I haven’t been much help. I kept attacking from here but nothing seemed to connect. What happened?”

Yoona let herself fall on the ground and closed her eyes. She heard Seohyun rush to her side seconds later.

“You didn’t get your aura drained did you?”

“Not all of it.”

Seohyun saw bits and pieces of what happened on the train car, how Yoona tried so hard to get through the shorter woman’s defenses, and she felt the struggle. But as much as she wanted to comfort Yoona right now, she had to help Taeyeon get back to distracting the cloaked woman. Now that the dome was activated, Taeyeon couldn’t teleport close to the cloaked woman without getting weaker and she was nearly at her limit.

They all were.

“What’s the matter guys? Getting tired of playing with me?”

Seohyun heard the shorter woman’s voice through one of her scouts.

“Yuri, don’t let her get to you!” went Jessica’s voice.

Seohyun couldn’t keep track of the rest. She was exhausted. At this rate, they’ll run out of aura even without the pink pig’s help. “Taeyeon unnie, if you can hear me, tell everyone to fall back—”

“GET READY FOR THIS, YOU PINK PIG!!”

Seohyun heard interference through her scouts. “Uh… was that Hyoyeon unnie just now?”