While attending Beacon Academy, in the Kingdom of Vale, it was quite common for the students to see abnormal things. Wither that was the transforming weapons, their rather "unique" entrance exam in the Emerald Forest, or the fact that the monsters known as the Grimm were often used for exposure in the classes. At the center of the chaos was Team RWBY, a group of exceptional young women who seems to get involved in nearly everything that happens in and around the Kingdom of Vale. Standing at the helm of team RWBY is Ruby Rose, with her Sniper Rifle/Scythe combo weapon, the Crescent Rose. By her side is her sister Yang Xiao Long, the buxom Brawler wielding the shotgun gauntlets, the gold-colored Ember Celica. Weiss Schnee, heiress, tactician, and mage all in one, and wielder of the Multi-Action-Dust-Rapier named Mrytenaster. To round up the foursome was the mysterious Blake Belladonna, a wildcard who wields a weapon, the Gambol Shroud, that was a sword with sheathe, and a kusarigma chain pistol. All in all, fairly well versed and well traveled. Still, the four young ladies had to be surprised on a chilly fall day.
But seeing a whole legion of students, weapons and all, swimming up the river that led Beacon Academy was certainly an odd sight. The ladies had been in town, on a very practical shopping trip to get their weapons sharpened or polished, obtaining more ammo, recycling expelled cartridges, and routine maintenance. It had been almost a month since Blake had confronted Roman Torchwick down at the docks, and revealed her heritage to the rest of the team. The festival was just about to kick off, and all of the schools were arriving between semesters, as to not interrupt classes. It seemed this one was second last.
"Weiss, Blake, you need to come and see this! They're actually climbing up the cliffs!" Ruby said in an excited her mind starting to move at hyper speed at the thought of the new weapons the large crowd, close to a couple hundred at least, were most likely carrying.
"I think they're from that school in the North...what's it called again?" Yang asked, standing next to her sister to look out of the window, watching the people crawl their way up the sheer cliff face. Standing at the very top was an old mustached man, built like an ox. Said man was smacking the blunt end of his long lance against the ground so hard it was leaving small indents, shouting at his students so loud his voice that it could almost be heard from the airship. The silence that followed Yang's question made it clear nobody was aware of the name of the school.
"It's called Asmund Academy, located in Kingdom of Atlas. Apparently, shortly after the war, a berserker by the name of Asmund established a colony at the outer reaches of Atlas. It's notorious for a Spartan ways of teaching students, being particularly brutal and still being run by its original founder." Weiss voice chimed in as she too looked out a window, pointing at the old man as he contused to shout. His head was covered in a black bandanna, and he seemed to wear a military jacket of some sort over his shoulders, choosing to wear a black shirt under that, and a pair of white pants. Ruby and Yang turned their heads in union to give the heiress and odd look, even tilting their heads slightly. Weiss only noticed her teammates staring at her a few seconds later, jumping slightly before starting to explain.
"I had to do some research when I was choosing which I wanted to go to. So don't be giv-Hey look, those two are waving at us!" Weiss suddenly pointed out to two people standing on small part of the cliff that jutted out from the rest of the rock face, perhaps just enough to plan their feet upon. From that distance all that was distinguishable was a cowboy hat, blue with a gold trim on the head of one figure, and the mass of grey hair that covered the second one's head. They suddenly winced as the old man sent a volley off orders their way, and quickly resumed their action, using their hands to climb up the last couple feet, pulling themselves over onto the grass. The pair seemed to within the first ten to arrive at the top and like the others, proceeded to rest and attempt to drip dry themselves.
"Wait...how could they even see you three? We must be at least 40 feet away." Blake suddenly piped up from her seat, having put down her book a minute before she spoke. There was a pregnant pause as the majority of Team RWBY pondered the question, looking very puzzled.
"They decided to wave at random? Or they just were waving to an airship for fun?" Yang countered with a shrug of her shoulders, a rumble signaling that the airship was landing.
"I guess we'll see them again during the Festival or the Tournament, and we and ask them then. Vale is a small enough place. I'm sure they'll pop up somewhere." Blake continued as the gangplank lowered as the fearsome foursome exited the flying vehicle, while Yang began holding the end of Ruby's clock so she wouldn't run to the arriving students and gush over their weapons, much to Ruby's protest.
"One these days, I'm really am going to break Cardin's legs..." Pyrrah mumbled under her breath violently stabbing her peas with a fork. The young Winchester and his team were once again picking on Velvet, tugging on her rabbit ears and generally calling her names that the rabbit Faunus was not enjoying, and she was practically on the verge of tears.
"Hey, is your brother named Peter?" Cardin chimed in with a chuckle, his teammates quickly joining in.
"Take a breath Pyrrah. You'd get in serious trouble for even beating him up, let alone breaking his legs." Ruby countered, trying to bring some common sense to the table that was stewing with anger. The bird-named team had turned into Birds of Prey for anyone unlucky enough to be on their own, while still masquerading as perfect little angels. It was clearly spreading a shared feeling of anger and resentment throughout the two teams and the breaking point was near.
Well...at least until the eggs threw flew the air.
Green and Brown eggs, moldy and clearly rotted made contact with the head and the back of each member on Team CRDL, the shells cracking and leaving a very gross stench and slime to stain the armour or shirts. Silence fell among most of the cafeteria as Cardin stepped forward with a snarl on his face, looking at the lobbers of the eggs. Said lobbers were located at the entrance of the mess hall, leaning against the doors. Closest to Teams RWBY and JNPR was a cowboy hat-wearing girl with long black hair that nearly reached her slender waist. Said hat was blue-grey mix that, bullets strapped around the bulk of a hat, kept there with a dark blue band. One of her gloved hands traced along the golden brim of her hat, the gloves themselves being brown leather with golden cloth frills on the end that moved around when she moved. One of her bright blue eyes was looking to the side, giving the advancing grunts an icy look. Her boots seemed to be the same brown colour, with a stronger material, and had matching gold frills that started just under the tips of her purple socks. She wore a simple purple miniskirt held up by a golden belt, leaving her upper legs quite bare. He shirt was sleeveless and white, bearing her pale belly while not revealing much else, and curled inward slightly at the hem Over that she wore a vest-duster combo that seemed to have been relieved of its sleeves quite roughly, judging from the frayed ends at her shoulders. The area around her shoulder was purple, while the folds of were lined with gold. The duster was a couple different shades of blue, and reached down to her ankles. There was a line of gold frills just before the hem, while the hem large threads hanging off, arranged into spikes of sorts.
"Now, if the eggs aren't enough of a sign of how rotten you are, I'm sure my partner and I can talk some common sense into you...whoever you are." The boy across from the cowgirl said, brushing a bit of his hair out of his dark green eyes with one gloved hand. Said gloves were a dark maroon colour, fingerless, with circular gold metal tips on each knuckle and large silver silvers cuffs that had stars embedded in them. His hair was long enough to reach the base of his neck, silver in colour, had bangs that framed his face, and was messily styled into a few vertical spikes. His head was slowly bobbing in time with the beats of music that was leaking out of headphones draped around his neck. Said headphones were mainly black with dark red lining, a few bullets strapped onto the arch, the bullets being silver in colour. The red lining was mostly on the outside of the thick headphones, and the wire that led to the source was also red. He was wearing a dark grey t-shirt, with red lines that seemed to glow and pulse in time with the music, the lines moving from his shoulders to a point on his back somewhere. Over the shirt, he wore a dark brown vest, unzipped, and sleeveless with an absurdly high collar. Finally, over the shirt and vest, he wore a simple grey jacket that had black pads sewn into the shoulders and elbows. He wore a pair of poofy black pants on his legs, a pair of pads also sewn into the knee of said pants. On his feet he wore a pair of large, brown boots that seemed to cover up to the middle of his shins, blocking the end of each pant leg from view.
"Listen here whoever you are, as Team CRDL has some advice for you. RUN!" Cardin said with a snarl as the pair stood up properly, hands finding pockets as they shared a look. All in all, they were as cool as cucumbers.
"Wait...how is that pronounced exactly?" The grey haired boy said with a chuckle, holding one his hand forward in a slightly defensive maneuver.
"CARDINAL! CAR-DIN-AL!" Cardin roared, looking like he was ready to take a swing at the unnamed boy, who just seemed to be holding back laughter.
"You really shouldn't have called yourself that. So many bird puns are going to be flung your way." The boy said between laughs, holding his sides and bending over gently to laugh. Said bending was just in time to dodge a punch from Cardin himself, while the cowgirl weaved around a short jab from Russel Thresh. The boy moved under Cardin's reach to stand beside his partner, the pair now against the table Velvet was sitting at, sharing a quick look and a nod before moving again.
"You really are a bunch of birdbrains to try and bully a poor girl. It's usually the quiet ones that are the most dangerous." He said between laugh as Cardin charged him yet again, steam practically coming out of his ears. The boy simply stepped backward onto the seat of the table and front flipped over Cardin, sticking his tongue out at him after he landed. He twitched slightly as if he was temporarily disturbed by something, and then ducked Sky's right hook that came from behind. Sky's fist connected with Cardin's nose, which resulted in both young men crying out in pain and holding their bruised appendages. Meanwhile Cowgirl, as most people dubbed her, had slipped between the legs of both Dove and Russel with ease, and somehow causing the pair to slip up and fall on their faces. The boy simply clicked his tongue a couple times and shook his head sadly.
"Bunch of featherheads these guys are, eh Rickel? No sense of teamwork or syncrasy." The boy said with a chuckle, suddenly walking over to the tables where Teams RWBY and JNPR were sat. He stopped just before them, giving off a friendly wave to the amused crowd before him.
"Hi there. Can I borrow your bird?" He said quite bluntly, already reaching for the untouched turkey in the middle of the table. There was a stunned silence before Ruby suddenly nodded, speaking in a semi-awkward tone.
"Uhh...sure. Go right ahead." She said, suddenly aware of the fact that her sister was munching on popcorn.
"Yang, where did you get the popcorn?"
"Nora gave it to me. This is pretty fun to watch!" She replied through a mouthful of popcorn, shoveling another handful into her mouth.
"Then where did Nora get it?" Ruby said as a puzzled look came upon her face, to which Ren finally piped up from his usual silence.
"It's best not to ask or question where Nora gets things from. Trust me." His calm voice said; leaving the teams in silence save for Ruby and Yang munching on the popcorn as the boy walked over to the recovering Cardin.
"Now, can we say this was a lesson you learned about..." He paused, raising the bronze-cooked bird over his head for a second before bringing it down. A great "THRUMP" sound followed the boy brining the turkey down.
"Talking Turkey!" He said, pleased with his handiwork. Cardin's entire head was now stuck inside of the turkey, causing him to flail around and eventually trip and fall on a slippery patch of floor, joining his teammates on the floor. There was a mix of applause and laughter in the immediate area around the pair as they shook hands and sat across from each other, checking in with velvet. After a brief conversation and a few nods and smiles, the boy and Rickel took the turkey at velvet's table and carried it over to Team RWBY's table, plopping it down on the platter where it belonged.
"You do realize you're in monumental trouble, right? Outside of classes, fighting isn't permitted." Weiss said, entering full-on lecture tone instantly, only to be stopped when Rickel held up her hand and shook her head gently.
"Save for the turkey, we didn't touch them if you want to get technical about it." The boy said with a wily grin, grabbing an apple from the middle of the table, taking a big bite out of it a second later.
"I guess you could say you Toucan work together really well." Yang said with an equally large grin, leaning in as she made her joke.
"Aaaaaah! I like her! She'll have me raven with laughter!" The boy said as he pointed to Yang with an even bigger smile, while the rest of the table let off a soft groan. It was hard to decide who was worse with their jokes.
"So you two are from Asmund Academy, I take it?" Pyrrah asked as she injected herself into the conversation, also being the face of their two groups. She was always one to roll out the welcome wagon.
"Yes ma'am. My name is Colden Winters. The cowgirl over there is Rickel, my partner. She doesn't talk much...or at all really." Colden said with a shrug, to which Rickel just gave off a short wave and a smile to the group before proceeding to get herself a pear.
"Wait...do you realize name is also a pun? Cold-in-Winters!" Yang asked after a moment of silent, chuckling a little bit as the realization passed through her mind, a few chuckles resounding through the table
"Well my brother is named Snowden, so I think my parents were well aware of the puns. I've embraced it, quite frankly. Oh...can we sit here? I just realized we kind of just plopped ourselves down without asking." Colden asked with a sheepish look on his face, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. Silence followed as the Beacon students focused their gaze on something just behind him. Colden's face fell from the smile to a flat frown as he realized what was coming.
"Oh crap..." Was all he said in a mildly annoyed tone as a massive hand forced his face into the table, another doing the same to Rickel. The hands belonged to Asmund the Berserker himself, who was frowning from under his large white mustache. The boy couldn't help but grin as his face was forced into the table, and the massive man spoke in a deep, rumbling voice.
"You put that turkey on square-headed guy?" He asked simply, tugging on Colden's hair.
"Yep. He was being a bully to Miss Scarlatina over there. So I took proper action. And technically, I didn't touch him until I put the turkey on his head. By technicality, Rickel and I did follow your no fighting rule." Colden said with a grin, letting out a pained chuckle as he face was slammed into the table again. He and his silent partner were then lifted up by the imposing man and carried out of the hall.
"Hey! Watch my dog for a bit!" Colden called out before being taken out of view by his elderly, but nowhere near frail, headmaster.
"Dog...?" Ruby asked, suddenly noticing Colden's seat had been filled by a very demonic looking dog. It looked to be a German Shepherd, with all black fur and with a pair of red eyes. It just sort of sat there for a moment, where Colden had been previously. Blake quickly packed up her things and slowly slid away, her feline nature kicking in and causing her to move to a table across the hall. It eventually open its mouth and let it's tongue hang out in a friendly manner, causing a single sentence to be said that was agreed upon by everyone present.
"The people from Atlas are weird."
