Fang And Claw (Part 1)

Teal gazed at the scroll in fascination. He touched its white casing. Although scratched, it still has a shine. Teal opened the scroll to see it blink into life, the screen lighting up, asking for a password.

Teal grinned in excitement, typing in a password that he wouldn’t forget. The scroll then took pictures of Teal, storing them into its owner recognition system.

The woman not only gave Teal the scroll, she also reset it so that Teal can use it himself.

“This is so cool!” Teal exclaimed with joy.

“What’s so cool?” asked Bodhi walking by, dressed in his red robe.

Hearing this, Teal immediately closed the scroll, hiding it in his pocket.

“Nothing!”

“Not really convincing, since I can see the scroll in your pocket,” said Bodhi, “but I guess you can keep it since it’s your reward for helping someone. Just don’t use it when training.”

Teal let out a breath of relief.

“Thanks master.”

“No worries,” replied Bodhi, “just don’t cause any more trouble.”

In Mistral…

According to the cross-referenced files, the Chess-master has connections all over the world, with all sorts of organisations and thieves. It seemed that he had established a massive global underground network that he operates in.

Phoenix was content with the information he got, asking Jade to bring in the last batch of resources for him that could last for half a year before sending him to the south of Mistral to gather information in the criminal world where Phoenix found some information relating to the Chess-master.

Now all he had to do was waiting for information to come back from Jade. Feeling slightly bored, Phoenix decided to take a walk outside.

He strolled deep into the woods surrounding him, out of his protective force field, hoping to find some adventure.

Suddenly, a shuffle of leaves could be heard. Was it the wind? Or maybe some Grimm?

The noise came again, this time louder.

Alert, Phoenix stamped his right foot, sending his pistol flying out of its holster into his hand.

He then heard the sound of metal slicing through air. Instinctively he jumped away from his current location. When he turned to look at the location he saw with astonishment a halberd with its blades burying deep in the soil.

“Who’s there?!” yelled Phoenix.

Silence.

Phoenix studied the halberd. It was about two meters long, with long blades taking up almost a fifth of the total length. On the blade attached what looked like the barrel of a gun. Looking at the angle of the halberd, Phoenix glanced up towards the direction where it had been thrown from, which was the branch of a large covered by thick leaves.

Activating his mechanical eye, he scanned the branch for infrared radiation. The scan showed a humanoid figure crouching on the tree.

“Who’s there?” Phoenix repeated, “Stop acting so mysterious and show yourself or just leaf me alone!”

No answer.

“Not even appreciating my pun? Come on! Come out!”

Phoenix raised his pistol at the branch and fired. Almost simultaneously with the blast, a hooded figure in black leaped out from the tree, landing on the halberd and kicked Phoenix away.

Phoenix stumbled back up, gazing at the attacker, who was cocking his head and swinging his monkey tail.

A faunus.

“Are you with the White Fang?” asked Phoenix, aiming his pistol again, “What do you want with me?”

The faunus continued to stare.

“I’ve dealt with the White Fang before, and I’ve destroyed all their factions I’ve come across. I’m not afraid of you,” said Phoenix.

The faunus pulled his halberd off the ground and aimed the gun barrel at Phoenix.

“So we’re doing this huh?”

Phoenix dashed to the side as he saw his opponent’s finger twitching on the trigger, avoiding a blast. Phoenix fired two shots at his attacker, but the faunus blocked them with a swipe of his weapon.

While the opponent was blocking his shots, Phoenix charged forwards trying to bring a slice down with the blade on his pistol. Seeing this, his opponent lifted the halberd and plunged it at Phoenix.

Phoenix blocked, pushing the polearm away with all his strength and attempted another stab.

The faunus was surprisingly fast and agile, evading the attack and landing a powerful kick at Phoenix’s head. The blow felt as if he was hit by a sledgehammer, pain filled his skull. Dazed, he was punched again in the chest, knocking the wind out of him.

Phoenix fell.

The faunus towered over Phoenix, holding the halberd’s blade up his neck, and finally spoke.

“Before you die, I just want you to know that this is what you get for interfering with the Chess-master.”

Phoenix scanned the area with his mechanical eye, desperately searching for a way out. None could be found.

He could try to find an opportunity to shoot, but given his opponent’s reaction speed, the faunus would most certainly notice any movement Phoenix makes.

“There’s no way out of this,” said the attacker, as if reading his mind, “now die.”

It was then his eye found something. The inbuilt computer system detected a weak point on his attacker’s weapon – the gun barrel on the blade.

Just when the faunus lifted the halberd to deliver a final blow, Phoenix raised his pistol and fired.

The blast darted into the gun barrel of the Faunus’s halberd, exploding the weapon into pieces, bits of metal flew in all directions. Phoenix shielded himself with his arms.

The faunus was knocked back, stunned in surprise. Phoenix took the chance to dash forward, holding his pistol’s blade up the faunus’s neck.

“Who are you? Are you working for the White Fang?” Phoenix asked.

“White Fang? Ha! That’s funny,” the faunus chuckled, “they’re nothing compared to us.”

“How do you know about me looking for the Chess-master?” Phoenix questioned again.

“The master has eyes everywhere,” the faunus chuckled.

“Who are you?!” demanded Phoenix, his free hand grabbing the faunus’s coat.

“We are the Claw!” the faunus suddenly announced, chuckling, pointing at a spot behind Phoenix, “There’s one of us right there…”

Phoenix turned around before feeling a tug in his hands. When he turned back the faunus disappeared.

Cursing himself for falling for such a small trick, he quickly scanned the area, activating infrared sensors in his mechanical eye.

Nothing.

The faunus was gone.

