(A/N: HELLO, EVERYONE! And welcome to my second fanfic! Just a quick note, I'm using my OC team STRK (strike) from my other fanfic, Beacon's Hidden Creed, in this fic as well. They will get a re-introduction for those who haven't read BHC, since some of their qualities are different, such as what year they are in, and that they aren't assassins. However, they are going to have the same semblances and weaponry, so they aren't going to be a wholly new team. I'm mostly including them to cover gaps that I see that aren't covered by teams RWBY or JNPR.
In addition, SHDW productions has given me permission to use a theme from his RWBY: Darkfall and RWBY: Twilight Abyss stories. I highly recommend them to all fans of RWBY. Go check them out!
That said, let's get rolling with this new story!)
Beacon Huntsmen Academy, Kingdom of Vale. Timeframe: Team RWBY's second year at Beacon, Week 2:
The intercoms buzzed loudly as the first classes of the day let out, and Headmaster Ozpin's voice rang throughout the school. "Would teams RWBY, JNPR and STRK (Strike) please report to the mission assignment hall. Again, Teams RWBY, JNPR and STRK to the mission assignment hall."
Confused, yet excited at the same time, the three second year teams quickly made their way from the combat classroom, where they had just finished watching Team CRDL get their butts handed to them after challenging third year Team CFVY, to the classroom reserved for teams who were about to be assigned long-term missions.
Waiting for them were Headmaster Ozpin, as well as Professors Goodwitch and Oobleck. "Please take a seat." Ozpin said as they arrived, and started up the Holo-table in the center of the room. "It is essential that you all listen carefully, as what I am about to tell you is highly classified, and known only to a few beyond the highest echelons of the governments of the four Kingdoms.
"While it is true that there are only four Kingdoms in Remnant, it has recently been discovered that there is a whole other world outside of our known world." With this, Professor Oobleck stepped forward as the Holo-table displayed a map of Remnant, which then shrank down and displayed three other large landmasses positioned far away from the area the twelve teens knew of.
"These continents have been found to have whole other civilizations on them, and, while similar to our own in very many ways, there is a marked difference at the same time." Oobleck stated in his usual fast-paced speech. "Where, in Remnant, almost anyone can have their Aura unlocked and gain access to their Semblance, or can simply use Dust, in these other civilizations, only a few have access to special… abilities… and are considered a class apart, known as superheroes. In addition, Dust does not seem to be present in their civilization, from what we have been able to gather.
"Unbeknownst to most of the rest of their world, these so-called superheroes actually have a school at which they train to harness their powers and learn how to help protect their world. We have contacted this school and agreed to host an exchange student program, where a few students from each world would cross over to the other and learn about the ways and means of the other for one school year, before returning to their homes and delivering what they have found to their corresponding leadership.
"The four Kingdoms of Remnant have decided that Beacon would be the best choice for the exchange programs' host school, and as such, Headmaster Ozpin was given the authority to decide which teams would get to travel to this other area. Now, as you might have guessed, the three teams assembled here were the ones he has selected for this groundbreaking mission, should you agree that you feel up to it."
Thoughtfully, Jaune raised his hand. "Headmaster? Do we know if there are any new species of Grimm in this area that we should be aware of?"
"That's another important fact, Mr. Arc. Thank you for bringing that up. These lands appear to be entirely devoid of the Creatures of Grimm." Professor Goodwitch announced, stunning the assembled students. Now Rachael, the cheetah Faunus of team STRK raised her hand.
"Ma'am, if there's no Grimm, what do these 'superheroes' train to fight against?"
Ozpin nodded to the question. "Simply put, Miss Dawn, there is no specific threat that they train to counter. However, there are those who abuse their powers there, and it is these individuals whom the students of the school you would be attending are trained to fight, in order to protect the remainder of the populace.
"At this point, you all know about as much as the rest of us, as we have had limited success with contacting the other worlds' government. Thus the need to implement the exchange program. Does this make sense to all of you?"
The twelve students thought about what they had learned, and one by one they agreed that the exchange program made a good deal of sense. After quick discussions amongst the three teams, it was agreed that all of them felt up to the task laid before them.
"Very well, then. Professor Oobleck will be contacting the rest of your teachers and families to inform them of your mission. In addition, Misses Rose and Xiao-Long, your uncle, Mister Branwen, has been chosen to be the adult chaperone for this expedition, (Ruby squeed and began bouncing in her chair), which is part of the reason I selected your team as one of the teams for this mission. He should be arriving on campus any moment now, should you wish to go greet him. You all are given the rest of the week off to prepare yourselves for this venture. Good luck, all of you."
Filing out of the room the three teams went their separate ways to get ready for the upcoming mission, RWBY to the docks to greet Qrow, JNPR to their dorm to pack, and STRK went to the campus's forge, since they had recently gotten back from a hunt in the Forever Fall, and wanted to perform maintenance on their weapons.
With Team JNPR in their dorm: Jaune was running on autopilot. His team had been chosen to be some of the first citizens of Remnant to interact with a whole new culture. To him, this was a surefire way to uphold the Arc family legacy. Yet he couldn't help the feeling that things in this new land wouldn't be even remotely easy. Call it a sixth sense, a gut feeling, whatever, but Jaune couldn't help but feel that he would be thrust into a full-fledged battle at least once while he was on this mission.
Pyrrha, in all honesty, felt much the same, though her feelings bordered more on worry for her leader. She knew that he felt a great deal of stress about his family's honor, and she worried that he might get too caught up in that and slip up.
On the other hand, however, was Nora. The ever exuberant pink haired bomber was jabbering on and on about meeting new people. And of course, one topic was ever present on her mind: "Hey Ren, d'ya think they have some new, untried type of pancakes? Ooh, what about syrup? Whaddya think, Renny?" She was saying, switching her tone between a boisterous babbling and an (almost) hushed whisper. Her unofficial minder just smiled ruefully, feeling pity for whoever would have to tell her that pancakes were probably universally the same. He certainly wasn't going to do it. He preferred to keep his legs intact, (even though he knew she wouldn't do that to him.)
Reaching their dorm, the four began going through their belongings, deciding what to take and what to leave behind. A mission that lasted a whole school year, though, was rather difficult to envision, and very few things ended up in the 'stay' piles.
With Team RWBY at the Beacon Bullhead docks: Fifteen minutes had passed since the quartet arrived at the docks where the Bullheads ferried people to and from Beacon. That was how long Ozpin's "any moment now" lasted. When the messy haired, perpetually drinking scythe wielder finally disembarked from one of the last lunch-time commute Bullheads, he was almost immediately glomped on the arm by his red-clad niece.
"UNCLE QROW! DIDJA MISS ME? HUH, DIDJA?" Ruby squeed, as he lifted his arm, and Ruby, with little effort.
"Hmmm… nope. I've always got an eye on ya, squirt. You should know this by now." Qrow grinned as he ruffled her hair. By now, WBY had joined the reunion, and Yang was having her usual "who can squeeze tighter" handshake with her uncle. (She quickly lost, as always. Qrow wasn't a professional huntsman for nothing.)
"So I take it by you girls meeting me here that you accepted the mission?" Qrow asked, finally getting down to business.
"Yes, sir." Weiss replied. "Although I'm honestly a little confused as to why we were chosen ahead of, say, Team CFVY, who would be better prepared for such an important diplomatic mission."
Qrow smirked at the Schnee heiress. "I think that you might be part of the reason, Snow White. ("HEY!") I think it's because you can think like that that you are just the right person for, as you put it, 'such an important diplomatic mission.'"
Blake nodded. "I agree. With Weiss there, we have someone who is used to not only negotiating but can also be very, and I mean this with all the goodness I can muster, stubborn about getting their way." Ruby and Yang were quick to nod their agreement with their Faunus friend's assessment.
Weiss blushed slightly at the praise, and as the now group of five walked back towards the dorms, they simply chatted expectantly about what they thought would encounter in these new, unknown lands they were about to go to.
With Team STRK in the Beacon Forge/Weapon Maintenance building: Team leader Shane Adamantine was in the middle of disassembling his glaive, Nightshade, to replace the woven steel wires that allowed him to swing the blade away from the staff of his weapon. As he carefully removed the old wires, he listened in to his girlfriend and teammate, Rachael Mithril (A/N: I would like it if someone could suggest new last names for Team STRK, I would like them to be themed after metals, real or fictional.) bickering good-naturedly with their other two teammates while she repainted her Tong Fa batons, which seemed to constantly be in need of a fresh coat of paint.
"All I'm saying, is that you two need to show a little pride in your relationship status." The Cheetah Faunus said, needling her two teammates, who weren't nearly as… public… with their affection as Rae and Shane were.
Tabitha Runean, the vicious, always angry looking axe wielder of the team just rolled her eyes and scowled at Rachael, while her boyfriend Kenneth Silver just looked up from where he was replacing the Shock Dust crystal in his lightning spear. "Just 'cause we don't flaunt our relationship like you do, doesn't mean that it is any less of a relationship, Rae." He calmly said. "In fact, I think it makes it easier to handle when it is kept between just the two partners."
"Whatever you say, Kenny. Just giving my opinion." Came the undaunted reply.
Tabitha rolled her eyes again and muttered something about Rae needing to keep her opinions to herself. But despite her tough, crass demeanor, Tabitha was really a good friend to many people, and only acted tough to keep people from bothering her unnecessarily. She really, really liked her quiet time. She then went back to checking the latches that combined her twin axes into a railgun.
Finally seeing a chance to get a word in, Shane called his team over and had them sit down around him while he collapsed his glaive's staff down to the size of a hunting knife's hilt and stored it on his back. "I want to hear your opinions about our new mission." He said. "Personally, I'm both excited about it, and nervous at the same time, though that's probably mission jitters. Tabitha, your thoughts?"
Tabitha thought about it for a moment, then said, "I'm a little concerned since we don't know the customs of this new culture we will be interacting with. By that, I mean it could be extremely easy to offend someone without meaning to. And since we will be in a school full of people with powers that are likely unlike any we have seen before, that could be a major problem."
Next was Rachael. "I'm going to say that I'm pretty excited about the prospect of meeting new people, though I do have the same feelings about accidentally upsetting someone as Tabby."
Finally, Kenneth took an extra moment to think about his answer before he delivered it. "Mostly, I'm interested in finding out about the fighting styles of this new area, and how they might be of assistance against the Grimm. From the way Headmaster Ozpin made it sound, these 'superheroes' have powers that are unique to the individual, however, since their powers are supposedly from a source other than their Aura, there might be overlaps with some of our semblances. And since they're a different culture, they might have found different ways to use the powers that are shared."
"Well put, Ken." Shane said. "OK, we leave in two days, so rest up and get ready, because two days is also when we leave Remnant behind for a whole year. Get going, guys.
Two Days Later: The three teams plus Qrow met at the Beacon landing pads with all their gear and baggage, and boarded the Bullheads that would take them to the Atlesian Command Ship that would take them most of the way to their destination. A few dozen miles out, they would switch over to a fleet of Bullheads that would carry them and their baggage, plus a large quantity of Dust, the rest of the way to the floating school known as Sky High, where they would be staying for the majority of the mission.
As the Command Ship departed, Ozpin watched from his office window, and quietly, to himself, muttered the only thought running through his mind: "Stay safe, all of you."
(A/N: Well, there's the first chapter of Sky High Huntsmen. I hope you all enjoyed it enough to stick around for the rest of the story. Read, Review, Fav and Follow, please! Till next time, Gajeel out!)
