“I’ll keep Nolan looped into teamspeak as long as I can so he knows what’s going on,” Fox sent.

“Thanks,” Nolan sent. “See anything yet?”

Fox sighed softly.

“It’s dark down here. Just a long passage leading down … Oh, hold on,” Coco cut in. She’d spotted something.

“Four paths, in the cardinal directions,” Coco sent. “The south cave has collapsed, but there’s still three choices: north, west, and east. I can’t see far down any of them.”

Reese came up with a plan. “So Coco, Fox, and Olive each lead me, Sage, Scarlet, and Octavia down one of the paths,” she sent.

“Wait,” Olive sent. “I hear voices this way. I’m pointing east, but you probably can’t see that.”

“East? That’s back toward the city,” Coco sent. “Is it possible these mines extend that far?”

“You thinking this is another Mountain Glenn situation?” Fox asked.

“Could be,” Olive sent. “The whole area was mined pretty heavily. That’s why these are the Wastelands—they literally wasted the land, draining an oasis so they could dig under it to the Dust beneath. All that’s left is sand.”

“Give me a second,” Fox sent. He faced each of the open caves for a short while, north, east, west. Then he turned back to the east.

“These caverns could be twisting around, but I’m sensing those Auras up ahead—east.”

“Which is where the voices are coming from,” Coco sent. “Good enough for me. Let’s go. Slowly and cautiously.”

The voices gradually grew louder, though Scarlet couldn’t make out what they were saying. Soon they saw a light a long ways off, which grew brighter as they tiptoed forward. Scarlet could make the others out better now, and Coco even switched off her glasses.

“I guess we’re on the right track,” Olive sent. “Get it, because we’re on a mine railway?”

A few members of the team groaned.

- RWBY: Before the Dawn, Chapter 13