Hi everyone! Sorry for the lack of update, but as I said, I am taking my time with the story and I am slowly gaining back some inspiration to continue this story. So hopefully, I can upload more chapters as time goes on. But I am a bit excited for this arc and how it will go down. With that, let us begin.

Chapter 72

Taiyang eventually arrive back at the farm as he wiped the sweat off his head. Once he got there, he saw Logan and Ashley outside sitting on the porch drinking lemonades. When Taiyang walked up to them, Ashley saw him and asked "Where are the boys?"

Taiyang replied "They are back in the academy at the moment."

"Well," Logan said, "Hope my boy starts attending there, don't like him to be far away from us."

"Yeah," Taiyang said, "Don't get your hopes up there. Where's your girl?"

"At school," Ashley said, "Baby girl still needs her education."

Taiyang nodded as he then looked at them both for a moment before saying "Okay, I know I am crazy, but NOW I remember you two."

Both Ashley and Logan looked at him as Ashley asked "What are you talking about?"

Taiyang nodded and said "Yeah, I remember now. You two were part of the Dreadlock Gang!"

He pointed at Logan and said "I know…you're actually James McCree."

He then pointed at Ashley and said "And you're the leader of the gang, Ashe Dreadlock!"

Both Logan and Ashley went quiet as Ashley said "You best be careful what you say, partner."

"But that doesn't make sense," Taiyang said, "Last I heard from your gang, they all died in some gang war."

Logan shook his head and said "Well, some of us survived that little war. Others…not so much."

As he rubbed his left robotic arm, Ashley was curious as she looked at Taiyang and asked "How do you know of us, if you don't mind us asking?"

Taiyang replied "It was a long time ago. My team went on a mission to protect a train that had shipments of Dust. That is when we encountered your gang."

"Holy smokes," Logan said, "That was you? Wow, it has been a long time."

Ashley then narrowed her eyes at Taiyang and asked "What are you going to do now that you know the truth?"

Taiyang shrugged and said "Nothing. As far as I know, you and your gang are dead. You guys seem to have life out here, you guys have a son who loves you both. Plus, I don't have the right to judge you guys. My first wife use to be a chief of her bandit tribe."

"Nice," Logan said as his wife smacked him across the head.

Taiyang then said "What about your son?"

"What about him?" Ashley asked.

Taiyang replied "How do you think he'll react when he finds out the truth about you guys?"

"He ain't gonna know about that," Ashley said.

"And if he does?" Taiyang asked.

Logan replied "Then we'll tell him. But for all his knows, we are just simple farmers."

"Yeah," Taiyang said, "Farmers who can kill you on the spot."

As both Logan and Ashley rolled their eyes, Taiyang asked "What about the others who survived? You still keep in touch with them?"

Logan leaned back in his chair and said "We keep in touch with a few, but there are only two that we know for a long time who stuck around: one of them owns his own saloon and the other is a bounty hunter. They've been close friends, almost like family. Little Susie and Victor see them as uncles."

"So," Ashley said, "We will 'politely' ask you to not tell our son about…"

"We're back!"

Hearing the voice, the adults looked over and saw Team AVGR making their way to the house. Taiyang then said "So, how did it go?"

Arthur replied "Well, after seeing Fox and Yatsu again, we walked around the campus and talked for a while. Now all we gotta do is train when we face Professor Dora."

"Hold up!" Logan said in shock, "You are going to fight her?!"

When they all nodded, Ashley shouted "Why?!"

"Um," Grif said, "Kinda complicated on that."

"Who pissed her off?" Logan asked.

"Grif," everyone but Grif replied.

As the Bear Faunus grumbled, Ashley looked at her son and his teammates and asked "So…I have to ask."

"Yeah ma?" Victor asked.

Ashley gave him a teasing smile and said "When your pa and I told you we expect you to bring a girl back home, we didn't expect you to bring 3 'strapping' young men with you."

When Taiyang, Arthur, Grif and Riku all looked at her in confusion, Victor blushed and shouted "Ma!"

"Now son," Ashley said, "If you aren't comfortable with girls, it is fine if you find romantic interest in the same gender, there is no shame in that."

"I am not gay!" Victor yelled.

Wanting to get in on the fun, Logan said to his wife "Now darling, our boy can't be interested in the same team. Right son?"

"Pa!" Victor cried in embarrassment, "I am not interested in guys! Especially my teammates!"

He then turned to his teammates and said "Tell them, guys!"

His teammates stood there in quiet, thinking what to say.

"We dated a few times, but it didn't work out," Arthur said.

"It was only one night," Riku said.

"Eh, he was alright," Grif finally said.

As Taiyang laughed at their responses, Victor shouted "YOU GUYS ARE ASSHOLES!"

His teammates laughed for a moment as Arthur said "We're only joking, ma'am. But Victor here is interested in someone."

"Oh?" Ashley said, "And who might that be?"

Before Victor could reply, he felt a cold stare as he looked over and saw Taiyang glaring at him with so much hatred in his eyes. Victor gulped and said "I-I'll tell you guys some other time."

As Taiyang nodded, Arthur then said "Well, as much as we enjoy the scorching heat, we need to start training."

"I still want to know why you four want to fight the headmistress," Logan said, "Is it some sort of initiation for something?"

"Um…" Riku said, "Something like that. As we said, it's complicated."

Arthur nodded in agreement and said "Sorry ma'am, but it is. Come on, guys."

With that, Arthur led Victor, Grif and Riku away from the house as the team began to run a few maneuvers to use against Professor Dora. However, they would have to give it their all if they have any chance of beating her in order to get the Sword. And they know it will be a difficult task ahead of them.

They just hope nothing bad happens.

Later that night…

Velvet was looking through her camera as it was already nighttime at Shade. It was the only time of day where the weather was cooler at night than the day, even though it was past curfew. She would stay up in one of the roofs so that she could enjoy her time alone from Shade. Even though her teammates are there for her, Velvet is still targeted by Faunus haters, like Team CRDL…she doesn't understand why they have to be here.

Seeing that it was already past her curfew, Velvet looked around one more time before she spots something in the school ground. She looked closer and saw that it was a deer! Wanting to take a picture, Velvet held her camera so she can take a picture, but nothing showed up on the screen. A bit confused, Velvet decided to get closer, and quietly so that she doesn't scare the deer away. She has never seen a deer this far away from it's natural habitat, so why is it here?

After a while, Velvet made it to the courtyard and saw the deer still standing there as it was looking away from her. Now close enough, Velvet held up her camera to finally take the picture of the deer, but to her disappointment and confusion, the deer wasn't appearing on the screen. As she checked her camera, she looked up and jumped a bit when the deer was almost a few feet away from here!

"Oh jeez!" Velvet cried quietly, "How did you get here so fast, fella?"

When Velvet looked into it's green eyes, she heard a voice said "You. You shall be the perfect bait for my future champion."

Before Velvet was going to say anything, the deer's eyes started to glow green as Velvet was suddenly drawn to them. Her eyes then began to glow a faint green before her body became limp and she dropped her camera. Just then, both the deer and Velvet were engulfed in a purple vortex as the two of them disappeared, leaving behind only Velvet's camera on the ground.

The next day in the afternoon…

Arthur was swinging his Excalibur at Riku as he blocked his attack with his Way to Dusk sword. The two have been training while Grif and Victor were using their long-range attacks to knock down cans from a wooden fence. Taiyang and Logon both helped them by throwing them far so that they can hit the moving targets. But even with all that, it was all too simple for them since they are fully trained to fight. After a while of training, the team decided to take a break as they sat on the pouch and relaxed.

"This is not working," Riku said, "We can't become stronger like this. We are just reviewing our old combat skills."

"I agree," Grif said, "At this rate, we won't be able to improve."

Arthur sighed and said "But we can't just give up. We need to find a way to improve ourselves."

"Or convince Ms. Dora to have over the Sword," Victor said, "Which…will be impossible."

While Arthur sighed, his Scroll suddenly rang. When he took it out and saw the caller was Coco, he answered it as he said "Hey Coco, what's going on?"

"Arthur!" Coco practically cried, "Have you heard from Velvet?! Have you seen her?!"

Hearing Coco's worried voice, Arthur replied "No, I haven't. Why? What's wrong?"

Coco replied "She's missing! She didn't come back to our dorm last night and they found her camera in the courtyard this morning!"

"Velvet is gone?" Arthur said as the others looked at him in shock, "Do you guys know how she was missing?"

"We don't know!" Coco shouted, "We told the Headmistress about it, and she is helping out. I mean, kind of, but we found nothing!"

"Okay," Arthur said, "My team will head to Shade and help you guys out."

"Thank you!" Coco cried.

When Arthur hanged up, he looked at his teammates and said "We need to head to Shade. Velvet's missing."

"Missing?" Riku asked, "What happened?"

"They don't know," Arthur said, "She just disappeared last night. All that was left was her camera."

Grif then said "Well, anyway we can help?"

Arthur replied "Well, we should head to Shade and see how we can help."

They nodded as Taiyang and Logan overheard them as Logan asked "One of them students went missing?"

"Yeah," Victor said, "A friend from Beacon."

"If you like," Logan said, "I can ask around the town, see what we can find."

Catching on, Taiyang said "I can tag along and help you."

"Thanks," Arthur said as he turned to his teammates, "Let get ourselves ready and head out."

After that, Arthur and the others got themselves ready and made the trip to Shade. Once they got there and Arthur sent a message to Coco saying they were there, they waited until they saw Coco, Fox and Yatsuhashi rushing up to them. When they were close, Coco said "You guys made it!"

"We got here as fast as we can," Riku said, "Did you guys start searching?"

The three of them shook their heads as Fox said "We were about to search before you showed up."

"Guess it's a good thing we came," Grif said, "Where should we start?"

Coco then replied "I am going to ask around, see where the other students saw our bunny girl. My money is some of the racists here."

"I'll get in on that," Grif said.

Yatsuhashi then said "I am going with Ms. Field to check the surveillance."

"I'll head with you, big guy," Victor said.

"And I'll go on and search where Velvet disappeared," Fox said.

"We'll go with you," Arthur said as he motions himself and Riku.

Once they all got their roles, they headed to different directions as Fox, Riku and Arthur were in the courtyard where Velvet's camera was last found. While they look around, Arthur looked to see if there were any clues, and was about to give up, until he noticed faint hoof marks on the ground. He kneeled down and examined the marks and, while the hoof prints belong to that of an animal, the hoof prints specifically belonged to that of a…deer…

"This is insane!" Arthur shouted in his head, "Why is it always a deer?!"

As he got up, Arthur looked at the others and asked "Did you guys find anything?"

Both Fox and Riku shook their heads as Riku said "Nothing here."

"Alright…" Arthur said, "Why don't you guys head back with the others. I'll keep looking around."

"You sure?" Fox asked.

Arthur nodded and replied "I'm sure. Don't worry about me."

Both Riku and Fox nodded as they headed back to the school. Once they were out of sight, Arthur looked back at the hoof tracks as they were leading him away from the school. Gripping his Righteous Fury as he loaded his gauntlets as he followed the tracks. After a while of tracking, the trail eventually faded away. Arthur looked around and saw that he was a secluded area, far away from Shade. Just as he was about to head back, he turned around and jumped back as he saw the deer in front of him.

Irritated, Arthur raised both his gauntlets at it and said "I swear to the gods, I know you are following me! I want to know why you are doing it!"

As the deer stared at him, Arthur sighed as he said to himself "I am losing my mind if I am shouting at a deer."

"Your instincts don't seem to fail you."

Alerted by the new voice, Arthur jumped a bit as he looked around to see who was talking to him, but there was no one there. As he looked around, the voice said "Right here, young hunter."

He turned back as he was looking at the deer as he saw it's eyes glowing green. The deer then somehow spoke "It would seem that you have a sharp mind, young hunter."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" Arthur shouted, "What the hell are you?!"

The deer replied "I am Hircine, Lord of the Hunt. You have heard of me from my champion, who goes by Jonathan Dragonborn."

"Champion?" Arthur as before he realized what he meant, "Oh crap…you're one of them, aren't you? A Daedric Lord?"

"That is correct," Hircine said.

"Yeah, I heard about your kind from Jonathan," Arthur said as he aimed his gauntlets at Hircine, "Now what do you want?"

Hircine chuckled and replied "To see if you are worthy to become one of my hunters. Or, champion as you might put it."

When Hircine said that, it caught Arthur off-guard. Why would a Daedric Lord choose him to be a champion? What kind of trick is this? Arthur remembered what kind of powers Hircine offers to his 'hunters' and said "What? You going to make me into a werewolf?"

Hircine laughed and said "Why would I give you the power of the wolf when you have it in you? All I am offering is to…'awaken' the beast in you."

Arthur huffed and said "Like I am going to fall for your games. Jonathan warned us about you and told us not to deal with you guys. Now If you excuse me, I am looking for someone missing."

With that, Arthur turned his back at the Daedric Lord and headed off. But as he took a few steps, Hircine said "I wonder who? It wouldn't happen to be a certain rabbit girl, right?"

When the Daedric Lord said that, Arthur stopped in his tracks, looked back at the Daedric Lord with rage in his eyes and asked in a demanding way "What did you do to Velvet?!"

Hircine turned his head away from Arthur and said "Why would you care? I thought you do not want to 'deal' with me."

"You bastard!" Arthur shouted as he raised his gauntlets and fired a few rounds at Hircine. However, the bullets shattered upon impact before they touched Hircine. The Daedric Lord laughed and said "Good, so much hatred in you."

"Why did you kidnap her?!" Arthur shouted.

Hircine replied "I need a reason for you to participate in my hunt."

"Your hunt?!" Hircine asked in confusion.

"Yes," Hircine said, "Complete my hunt, and you will get your prey back."

There isn't much choice here. If Arthur participates in this 'hunt', he might be Hircine's 'champion' and bound to the Daedric Lord. But if Arthur doesn't, then Velvet will be trapped with Hircine for gods know how long. But at this point, his only concern is saving Velvet from this Daedric Lord.

Arthur took a deep breath and said "Fine, I'll do this 'hunt' if it means saving Velvet. Now where is she?"

Hircine laughed and said "Not in your world."

Before Arthur was about to ask what he meant by that, a large purple vortex surrounded them and they disappeared into thin air.

Arthur gasped for air as he fell to the ground. Using his hands to get up, he felt soft grass on his fingertips and, when he looked up, he saw that he was in the middle of a forest. Confused, as Arthur stood up, Hircine appeared next to him and said "Welcome to my realm: The Hunting Grounds."

As Arthur looked around, he felt the air…different, like there was a sinister tone in the atmosphere that made him a bit unsettled. Gripping his Righteous Fury, Arthur said "What is it with this place?"

Hircine replied "My realm is one giant hunt. As for you, you will hunt a ferocious beast for me."

Arthur groaned and asked "Fine, what am I hunting?"

Hircine replied "A beast of my creation. It is vicious, dangerous and intelligent. Killing this beast will prove a challenge for you, if you fail, you will die. Once you kill the beast, bring it's head to me and I will return your rabbit."

"Alright," Arthur said, "Let's get to it."

Before Arthur was about to head out, Hircine said "When I say a hunt, I mean a REAL hunt."

As Arthur gave him a confused look, Hircine's eyes glowed green as Arthur's gauntlets glowed green before they disappeared. In shock, Arthur looked at the Daedric Lord and shouted "What gives?! How you expect me to kill your beast if I can't use my weapons?!"

Hircine replied "You cannot use those weapons for this hunt, they are not fit for this task. Your sword would be enough."

When he heard that, Arthur reached back and felt his sword Excalibur still there. Hircine then said "Now that you are prepared, let the hunt begin. I will be waiting for you."

With that, Hircine disappeared into thin air, leaving Arthur by himself. Looking around, Arthur was by himself as he drew his sword. And so, the hunt is on as it was the only way for Arthur to save Velvet from Hircine. He just hopes he makes it in time.

Uh oh! Looks like another Daedric Lord has come into play! This time, Hircine has picked Arthur for his little 'hunt'! What kind of hunt it is? You will find out next time! And yes, Logan and Ashley are based on Jessie McCree and Ashe from the game Overwatch because, let's be honest, those two would be a cute couple. Nice little backstory for them, right? Use to have a gang together, but after one near-death experience, they decide to change their names and settle down to have a family. Would be a perfect ending for them, right?

Anyways, will Arthur be able to save Velvet from the hands of Hircine? Find out next time. Until then, please stay safe and review!