Welcome to volume 5. I own nothing
Chapter 15: Bandits and Brawls
Yang and (Y/N) had been driving for several days on end now. Both were tired and rather rugged from roughing it in the woods when they weren't cruising on Bumblebee. Right now, luckily, they were having a rare moment of relief in an air conditioned gas station. The motorcycle needed gas and Yang had noticed the bar inside, so she decided to get her and her brother hydrated. (Y/N) let out a yawn as he climbed into the seat.
"Tired little guy?" Yang asked smiling. He nodded, rubbing his eyes.
"A little, didn't really sleep well last night,"
"Hey don't worry, you'll get used to roughing it soon enough. Or you're gonna have to if
want to be a huntsman,"
"Whatever," he moaned, putting his head down on the table. The bartender then noticed them both finally. He eyed them suspiciously as he cleaned a glass.
"Aren't you 2 a little young to be drinkin'?" Yang removed her sunglasses, while (Y/N) looked up cutely from his position.
"Waters. It's hot out," she explained. The bartender nodded knowingly.
"Ohhh, sure," He ducked under the bar to grab the drinks. (Y/N) only then bothered to turn his head when he heard some shady guy chuckling from down the table.
"A-are you telling me YOU'RE too young to drink?" (Y/N) scrunched his nose.
"He's smells awful," he whispered as the man approached, eyeing Yang.
"You look like a regular huntress, and a beauty at that, especially for someone with a kid!"
"I'm good, thanks pal," Yang retorted.
"She's not my mom idiot," (Y/N) hissed, hoping the guy would take the hint. Clearly, he underestimated how stupid or drunk this creep was as he approached Yang.
"Seriously, not too bulky, not too lean, you're..."
"Just right. Yep. Like I said, I'm good," Yang said calmly. (Y/N), who was very grumpy by this point, was lashing his tail very threateningly.
"He takes a step further, I'm setting him on fire," he whispered to his sister.
"Not unless I say so," Yang ordered. The guy then proceeded to do what (Y/N) later in life would dub the "Cardinal Rule of Idiocy": he tried to touch Yang's hair.
"And your hair," Yang grabbed his arm and turned to him, opening her eyes to reveal their crimson state. The next second, Yang firmly attached her new robotic fist to the guy's face and sent him bouncing out of the place like a pinball. (Y/N) smirked mischievously.
"I love it when you do stuff like that," the bartender finally got back up and smiled at the duo.
"These are on the house," he said, putting down the glass bottles. "He's been drivin' me crazy," Yang reached for her bottle with her real, but it was trembling. (Y/N) noticed before gently placing his hand on top of hers. She looked down at him and he smiled sweetly and comfortingly. She nodded and took a deep breath before taking her bottle. She popped the cap off and began drinking.
"So what brings you two around these parts?" Yang raised a finger to him as she chugged.   (Y/N) struggled a bit with his bottle before popping it with one the blades on his gauntlets and chugging down the liquid as well.
"Thanks," Yang said as she finished. "And we're, uh...looking for someone," the man laughed nervously.
"Not many people come out here. 'Specially not with kids," he said eyeing (Y/N), who finished his drink. "Too far from the kingdoms. Only person worth notin' 'round here is...er-well...Ra-,"
"Raven Branwen?" (Y/N) finished for him. The bartender gawked at them before Yang motioned for her brother to follow.
"Come on (Y/N). Thanks again," (Y/N) dismounted from the stool and climbed onto her back, nodding at the gentleman.
"Thanks mister!"
"Now-now, missy! You don't wanna go messin' with bandits! 'Specially not with a kid around! They're a world of trouble!"
"So I hear," Yang said as they left. They walked past the drunk on their way back to Bumblebee. Yang slapped her sunglasses back on and hopped onto the bike, revving it a bit before the idiot stopped her.
"Hey, girlie,"
"Seriously?" She groaned. "This isn't over?"
"Want me to beat him up this time?" (Y/N) asked as he got up grunting.
"I heard you're looking for someone?" He smirked, revealing the missing tooth Yang had knocked from his mouth.
"So what if we are?" Yang asked.
"If it's Raven you're after, I can take you to her,"
"You?" (Y/N) asked in a monotone "really?" voice. The man puffed out his chest.
"I may not look it pipsqueak, but I'm a pretty big deal in the Branwen Tribe," the little dragon clicked his tongue in annoyance. He could see the lie in that one, and yet....
"He's not lying. He knows where Raven is," he whispered to Yang, tugging her coat. She looked at him with disbelief.
"Seriously? This guy?"
"My sight hasn't been wrong before," Yang looked at the guy very suspiciously before sighing.
"Alright, let's say you do know where Raven is, what's in it for you?" The guy put on a falsely innocent look.
"Can't a guy be a Good Samaritan and help a poor pretty girl and her kid along the way?" (Y/N) growled at him.
"I already told you, stupid, she isn't my mom, she's my sister!"
"Whatever pipsqueak,"
"You don't get to give him nicknames," Yang warned. "But, if you do know where Raven is, and you'll take us to her, then fine, lead on," the guy smirked.
"Here's the thing, it's a bit of a way into the forest so it would make more sense driving there. Oh course, your bike can't hold all 3 of us, so I guess you can just leave the kid here and pick him up on the way back," Yang gritted her teeth.
"Not happening. How far is the camp?"
"Several miles into the woods," She glanced back at (Y/N).
"Can you make that trip?" He smirked and gave 2 thumbs up.
"Easy! I needed to stretch my wings anyways," (Y/N) jumped from the bike and hovered a couple of inches above it, spooking the guy who fell on his butt. (Y/N) hung upside down by his tail from the station's roof. He smirked, crossing his arms.
"Surprised? You don't have to worry about me keeping up,"
"You're a real freak of nature pipsqueak," he muttered. (Y/N)'s smirk faded as he rolled his (E/C) eyes.
"He's fully capable of carrying you high enough to die from impact," Yang warned. "Don't make me let him do that," (Y/N) grinned evilly as the creep gulped.
The ride was silent after that little threat, as it should be. The boy kept up well with the bike, sweeping through the air and performing all kinds of aerial stunts. He was a far more confident flier now. Yang laughed at his tricks and called out to him as he dove back to fly closer to the bike.
"Show off!"
"I learned from the best!"
"You're gonna get tired doing that!" He stuck his tongue at her playfully.
"No I won't! I've been itching to fly for days!" He shot upwards and let himself fall a ways before catching himself. He cheered happily as he felt the wind rushing around him. Yang smiled as she saw how much (Y/N) was thriving like this. Again, she couldn't help but notice how much bigger he was now. Eventually, the group came to the deeper parts of the woods.
"How much further, pal?" Yang asked.
"This should just about do it," Yang stopped the bike in a clear and (Y/N) landed in front of them. The shade dude got off the bike.
"You two wait here. I'll go up ahead and make sure the coast is clear," he ran and disappeared into the dense foliage. Yang lowered her sunglasses and shook her head.
"He's lying you know," (Y/N) said.
"I don't need your sight to know that little guy,"
Yang took off her gloves, jacket, and glasses and left them on the seat of the motorcycle. She stretched out. The two of them then stiffened at the familiar sound of a gun cocking. Yang quickly guarded her face with her mechanical arm as a shot was fired at her. (Y/N) hissed and moved closer to his sister as the shady guy and a group of bandits emerged from the wood work.
"I can't believe you were dumb enough to let me lead you here,"
"I can't believe you were dumb enough to lead us here," (Y/N) retorted. Even for a undertrained, not even a true huntsman in training yet, he was unimpressed by the sight of the bandits. Yang was even more so.
"Is this everyone?" The shady guy chuckled.
"Yes little lady. This is it. Well, unless you count the whole rest of the camp back that way,"
"That way?" Yang asked pointing.
"Yes. That way,"
"Wow, you're dumber than I thought," the dragon mocked as Yang stepped up.
"Good to know. Thanks," the guy did not take the hint.
"Now to pay me back for this tooth, we're gonna take your bike. And you're gonna take your lumps. Why don't we also throw the kid in because I'm sure someone will pay big for a freak like him," (Y/N)'s eyes narrowed as he and his sister drew their gauntlets. The bandits readied their weapons as the guy drew his gun.
"You got the jump on me last time, sweethea-," the gun was knocked from his hand by an irritate (Y/N) who launched a fire dust infused projectile at him (the mechanism in his weapon acts like Weiss's rapier).
"Shut up and get on with it," Yang also readied the gun on her mechanical arm, making the bandits uneasy.
"Alright...get them!"
The bandits charged and Yang tore through them with ease. The first, she kneed into the air before laying him out flat. The second, she sent flying with a shotgun propelled roundhouse to the chest. She then kicked away a gunner before spin kicking three guys at once. Realizing Yang was a bigger threat, the bandits tried to focus on (Y/N), who they perceived as a weakness.
They were wrong.
(Y/N) viciously tore through the opponents, albeit not as gracefully as Yang. He knocked a out cold with one right jab to his head, possible breaking something, while tail whipping the two guys behind him. He then propelled himself off his punch in order to slam his right on the head of a different bandit, definitely cracking their skull. The gunners had even less success as (Y/N) flying was just too fast for them to keep up with. He even managed to get them to shoot each other by flying between them. He then initiated dagger mode on his gauntlets to slice up their weapons. As Yang wrecked a group of the assailants, (Y/N) saw the shady guy aim a shot at his sister. Not even bothering to waste his dust, he kicked up a large stone and tail whipped it at the gun, making him miss Yang. The blonde turned angrily at him as he tried getting his weapon to work. Yang propelled herself right at him, only to herself over him only a foot away and send him flying into the last of the guys. (Y/N) grinned.
"Nailed it," his grin vanished as he saw her clutch her shaking arm. "Yang?" She took a deep breath.
"I'm fine. Come on (Y/N)," he followed Yang towards the bike when the shady guy coughed.
"Who are you?" He staggered to his feet. "It doesn't even matter. When Raven finds out what you did, you're both dead!" Yang sighed.
"Possibly. But I doubt it. I'm her daughter after all," (Y/N) smiled smugly as he sat on the bike.
"Which means,"
"I'm dead," the guy managed to get out before collapsing. (Y/N) tsked.
"What do you know, he did have some brain cells," Yang chuckled.
"Alright, that your daily sass quota met. Let's go meet my mom,"

Sorry again that it's on the short side guys, I just want to keep this balance. So I've been listening to a ton of music when a few random thoughts occurred to me: if I were to give (Y/N) his own theme, it would either be called Claws Out and Fired Up or What It Takes (this one would be more of an answer to Ironwood's theme Hero. We'll get to this in V7 and if I decided to go back and write the Atlas/RNJR routes). If choosing an existing song to act as a theme it would either be King Again or Something Wild from Pete's Dragon. Let me know your thoughts.