Just want to say real quick that this is two years after the end of volume 2, so everyone is 19 except Ruby, who is 17. Just wanted to establish the timeline.
Chapter 1
Two men clad in jet black trench coats entered Ozpin's clockwork office, stood in front of his desk where he was seated and pulled their hoods down. They both quickly placed their hands horizontally over their hearts with their palms facing the ground to greet the headmaster. Ozpin nodded his head, causing the two men to move their arms to their sides as Ozpin slowly pulled out two folders from a desk drawer and placed them in front of the two men.
"Your new mission, knights," Ozpin said as he took a sip of his drink from the mug in his hand. Both men picked up the folders and thumbed through them slowly. The one to Ozpin's right nodded and smiled at the mission. He was slightly taller than his friend and had black, thick, loose hair that ran to his shoulders with black dog ears sticking out on top of his head. He had tanned skin and dark green eyes that complimented a typical, clean shaven human face.
"Wicked, I get the famous Pyrrha Nikos and team JNPR. Oh Ozpin, you love me so much," he said sarcastically, which was met with shaking heads from Ozpin and the other man. This other man eyed the information slowly as his friend looked over his shoulder, which was met with a shove. He had short black hair and facial hair under his bottom lip and on his chin that matched the top of his head. His white skin was contrasted by his iron grey eyes.
"I have team RWBY," he said as he closed the folder and looked at Ozpin, "What exactly is our mission sir?"
"I need you two to watch over, mentor and protect these two teams."
"Great, we get to baby sit," the sarcastic one said, earning a sigh and sideways glance from his friend.
"I know it doesn't seem that important gentleman, but trust me, this will be your most important assignment to date. On top of it you will still have your normal knight missions. Questions?" Ozpin asked.
"Why assign us these teams?" one asked.
"Farran," Ozpin said as he turned to the grey eyed man, "team RWBY has been tracking the White Fang. They've fought the White Fang on multiple occasions. They've won and lost countless times. With you, I hope they will be able to finally put an end to their activities. Ecru," Ozpin said, turning to the sarcastic faunus, "team JNPR is one of the most proficient teams here. They are close friends with RWBY and they want to get involved with fighting the White Fang, I know they do. You're going to ease them into fighting them so they can help RWBY and make sure they are as cohesive as team RWBY. Farran, you will also watch over team JNPR but RWBY is your priority and Ecru will also watch over RWBY with JNPR being his priority."
"Cool," Farran stated as Ecru patted his back.
"This is going to be loads of fun."
"Dismissed knights," Ozpin said as the two men saluted again and left the office, making plans on how to introduce themselves to the teams.
Team RWBY walked along the campus grounds going to the arena. Beacon and much of Vale itself had changed since the Grimm invasion two years ago. A new memorial had been put up for those who had lost their lives while multiple teams of Hunter's had been dispatched to clear out the tunnels below. Hundreds of new guards had been positioned around the city and at Beacon itself for a little while after the attack. Team RWBY itself had changed little except in appearance: they still wanted to take down Roman, Cinder and the White Fang, especially after the White Fang attack during the Vytal Tournament.
All of them had adopted the outfits that they had worn a couple of years ago when they tracked the White Fang and fought Roman Torchwick in a Paladin robot. The only real change any of them had made was Blake, who had started to carry around dust clips to use with her weapon Gambol Shroud. They were chatting amongst themselves when Ruby spotted two men in black trench coats admiring the statue of the two Hunter's that the Academy had had for years.
"Hey Yang," she said, leaning over so only her half-sister could hear her.
"Sup?" the blonde responded as Blake and Weiss talked about team SSSN.
"Who are those two?" Ruby asked as she pointed in the direction of the two men who were talking about the statue as one looked down and nodded his head. The other patted his back slowly as he smiled at one of the statues.
"Um… that's a good question. Hey Blake," Yang asked as she turned to her partner, "Who are those two?"
"I don't know, maybe new students?" she asked in response. The girls had now stopped to watch the two men as Weiss redid her ponytail.
"They look like Hunter's, not students," Weiss pointed out as she finished putting up the off-set ponytail.
"True," Ruby said as she watched team JNPR walk by. They themselves had changed little in the two years they had been attending the academy with team RWBY in appearance nor in the way they acted.
"Meh, oh well," Yang said as she walked away. One of the gentleman looked at Ruby with grey eyes, smiled, said something to his partner who laughed as the two turned and walked out of sight, blending in with the students.
The school arena was used by Glynda Goodwitch to teach fighting to the students so they could train to better themselves as Hunters. The arena was filled with students as the start of the semester began.
"Good morning third years," Glynda said loudly so that her voice would carry in the large area, "I'm happy to see everyone back here for the second semester. This semester-" she went on as team RWBY and JNPR took seats next to each other. Ruby was still thinking about the two gentleman as Glynda went on about how students would be fighting more often in the arena and how there would be team battles, with grades being based on how the teams performed.
"First two teams to fight… team CRDL and team JNPR," she said the names and the faces appeared on two separate banners across from each other.
"Good luck guys," Weiss said as JNPR stood up.
"It shouldn't be too bad, I mean come on, it's CRDL," Jaune said with a little bit of shakiness in his voice that was met with a firm clasp on his shoulder from Pyrrha.
"We'll be fine Jaune," Pyrrha said with a smile that Ren and Nora returned.
"Let's go break some limbs!" Nora exclaimed as Ren shook his head and the team left to head to the preparation area. Team SSSN took their places, which was met with smiles from team RWBY, but mainly Blake and Weiss. After the Vytal Festival and the Grimm attack, team SSSN had decided to transfer from Haven to Beacon to be with their friends.
"How do you guys think this is gonna go?" Sun asked as the two teams stepped into the arena.
"Frankly, I think JNPR is gonna wreck them," Yang said with a grin as she prepared to watch the brawl.
"Students, teams, I have you two fighting, yet you won't be fighting each other," Glynda said, causing chatter to quickly encompass the arena over what was happening, "Quiet. Instead, this will be an eight on two match up."
"Whoa, what?" Ruby asked barely aloud as CRDL and JNPR looked at each other confusingly.
"Why can't we just beat them professor?" Cardin asked, earning a look from Ren as Glynda answered.
"Because of certain reasons Mr. Winchester. You eight will be taking on two elite students here at Beacon. They are team FE," she said as the two figures that team RWBY saw earlier entered the arena. One had a white mask pulled over his nose and lips, showing a grey cross on a black shield while he pulled his long sword from its sheath on his back. The grey sword was unique in that it didn't come to a single point; instead, the blade was forked with a space running down the middle and a barrel ending the gap six inches from the tips of the blades. The other had a hood on, with three small tan orbs painted on the front that covered his eyes and was sporting a grin as he pulled out a large double bladed axe that was strapped to his back. The axe had a large blade on one end and a smaller blade behind it, which were both connected at one end via a large and thick piece of steel. The swordsmen held his blade in both hands, pointed in the air and close to him in a typical knight pose as the other rested the axe on his back with one hand as they put their backs together with the swordsmen facing CRDL and the axe holder facing JNPR.
"I'll take JNPR," Farran whispered quietly as Ecru nodded.
"Then we switch, deal?"
"Deal."
"Begin!" Glynda yelled as Ecru ducked while Farran rolled off his back and charged directly at team JNPR. They prepared and were met with a slash that Pyrrha bounced off her shield as the man ducked and punched at Jaune, who barely moved his head. Ecru had charged at CRDL and swung his axe around with one hand easily as he blocked a strike and stabbed with the pointed ends of the axe at Cardin and quickly pulled out three small red marbles. He swung and moved his other hand around, causing the marbles to fly and hit Sky in the face as Ecru easily felled Russell with a solid swing.
Farran quickly swung his sword at Nora, who blocked with her hammer as she quickly swung it around, which Farran ducked under as he separated his blade into two down the middle as he caught a downward strike from Ren. Jaune came from behind and swung as Farran rolled away and tripped Jaune as Pyrrha and him dueled, moving quickly and dodging each other's strikes. Ren quickly fired off shots as Farran side stepped and ducked under a slash from Jaune, who turned around in time to receive a kick to his chin from Farran as Nora swung with her hammer, connecting with his ribs and sending him back to Pyrrha who slashed him twice and tripped him on the ground.
Meanwhile, Ecru was ducking under slashes from Dove and Sky as he connected with Cardin and launched him into Russell. He moved his left hand and the marbles tripped Sky with three solid hits to his left leg as Ecru placed his hand at the bottom of the handle and pushed it forward, causing the blades to sink into the handle until the tips of the axe blades were about to cover a hold at the top of the handle. The small axe blade flattened and a grip popped out along with a trigger as Ecru held the grip, placed the shotgun against his shoulder and held the trigger down, blasting five shotgun shots into Dove that launched him back into a wall. He shot five more at Cardin, extended the small blade out and quickly inserted a new clip by sliding it into the barrel then pumping the shotgun as he watched Farran get tripped. He whistled as Farran got up and ran to him, jumping over his sliding teammate and slamming his reformed axe into the ground as Ren rolled quickly out of the way.
Farran shook his head to clear it and barely blocked Cardin's mace from an overhand strike. Russell quickly slashed with his two daggers that Farran blocked with his second blade as he jumped and kicked Sky, launching off him to punch Dove. Russell moved in again with a strike that Farran blocked with his vambraces that were underneath his trench coat. Cardin shot out three explosive shots that caught Dove and Russell as Farran reformed his long blade, slashed Sky and slide under Cardin, who swung and missed with his mace. Farran pulled the cross guard of his blade down, with one forming an iron sight on top and the other forming a trigger as a repeating lever popped out and around it and his hand. Finally, the top of the sword swung down to connect with the bottom of the blade to form a bayonet as Farran placed his hand on the back half of the blade, which had folded to form a flat grip for him to hold. Farran quickly aimed and shot Cardin, who stumbled back from the shot to his shoulder, popped the lever forward and back and shot again, felling Cardin as he reformed his blade.
All the while, Ecru was swinging at Pyrrha as he moved his other hand to keep the other three at bay with his marbles. They exchanged blows until she used her semblance to move his blade and struck him in the stomach as Nora uppercutted him with her hammer, launching him high into the air as Ren jumped up and slashed down with his gun blades, sending Ecru tumbling back to earth as Farran ran and slashed at Jaune, who ducked under it and brought his shield up to deflect another blow. Ecru landed with a thud as Farran separated his sword and swung wildly at Pyrrha and Nora, who blocked and moved as Farran slowly moved to Ecru, picked him up and ran to one end of the arena.
"You okay?" Farran asked through heavy breathing as he set Ecru back on his feet.
"Yeah, JNPR's just annoying as hell to fight. Can't wait to train them," he responded as he set the axe back on his shoulder and looked at them. Jaune was giving quick orders as Cardin stood up with his team.
"I got them," Farran said as he walked in the direction of JNPR, who raised their weapons as he formed his rifle and got off multiple shots quickly. Ecru charged at CRDL blasting his shotgun and using the larger blade on top to bring down Russell. Farran reformed his blade as Pyrrha and Jaune charged, catching Jaune's stab by grabbing his arm, pulling him forward as he brought his knee up and caught Pyrrha with a shot to her gut with the hilt of his blade that knocked the wind out of her. Ren slashed at him as Nora tried to line up a shot with her grenade launcher while Farran blocked his strikes, head-butted Ren in the chest and slashed him, causing Nora to quickly get angry, reform her hammer and jump into the air to slam it down. Farran watched this, jumped to the side to avoid the explosive shot and brought down Jaune with two stabs from his separated blades.
Ecru moved the marbles around to hit Dove in the face as he connected his shoulder to Sky's chest and brought his axe on him immediately as Cardin swung his mace wildly, smacking Dove that sent him into the wall as Ecru dodged the shots. Finally he jumped back, kicked off the wall as Cardin swung, formed his shotgun and sent three shots into him, felling Cardin as he hit the wall and slid down it slowly with Dove.
"Team CRDL down!" Ecru yelled as the students now focused on Nora, Pyrrha and Farran. He had separated his blades and was blocking strikes from both women as he tripped Nora to focus solely on Pyrrha, quickly reforming his single blade and exchanging blocks, dodges and slashes with Pyrrha who was constantly shooting and using her spear. She was using her semblance to move his blade, which Farran realized and grinned under his mask as he blocked a strike, swung at her and as she ducked quickly kicked her thigh. She stumbled as he punched her right cheek, which she barely recovered from as she stabbed with her javelin that caused him to jump back, allowing her to throw it.
Farran sidestepped, allowing the javelin to impact the wall as he charged forward, jumped over her and brought his blade down on Nora, who had started to get up. He quickly turned to Pyrrha, who had recovered her javelin and aimed her rifle at him. She shot three quick shots that he dodged as they dueled one again, with Farran feigning a slash, kicking her knee, and punching her shoulder, causing her to whirl around as he slashed her back, downing her as the crowd looked on in shock with mouths agape.
"Team JNPR down," Farran said as he he sheathed his sword. He walked over to Pyrrha, who was sprawled on the ground and held his hand out to her as he pulled his mask down.
"Very impressive Ms. Nikos," Farran said as he pulled her up, "I saw your fights while I attended Sanctum. You truly are one hell of a fighter," he said with a smile as he walked over to Jaune.
"And just as impressive Mr. Arc," he said, holding out his hand and clasping it around Jaune's, "Always wanted to meet a member of the Arc family. Exceptional sword skills," he said as Jaune watched him walk over to Ren and Nora with a confused looked.
"Last but not least Ms. Valkyrie and Mr. Ren," he said as he walked over to the two of them and helped them up, "Very interesting watching you two fight. You two are fantastic as a duo and something I would not want to meet on the battlefield again."
"Thanks… and you are?" Ren asked as Pyrrha and Jaune walked over to them.
"My name is Farran Empyrean. There is a lot to discuss but you need to talk to Ecru Killian," he stated as he pointed at Ecru, who was helping team CRDL up, "because he is watching over you four. Your team is truly amazing and we are going to make you perfect."
The team nodded slowly and poured over his words as Ecru yelled for them and motioned them for him to follow as Farran walked over to Glynda.
"Ah Professor Goodwitch, long time no see."
"It has been awhile Mr. Empyrean. How are you?" she asked sternly while typing in the results of the match and grades.
"Well, now in pain, but ready for the next fight. You?"
"Good and you may proceed whenever you like," Glynda said as she took a few steps back.
Team RWBY and SSSN were watching the two men help the teams up, quiet as they reflected on the fight that they had just witnessed.
"How… How the hell did those guys beat them?" Sun asked as Weiss shook her head.
"I have no clue… think we should keep our eyes on them?" Blake asked her team as Ruby and Yang watched team JNPR talk with the man with the mask.
"Nah, they seem friendly," Ruby said as the man walked over to Glynda.
"I am curious though, why fight them and why send JNPR with the axe guy?" Weiss asked as the man pulled his mask back up and looked at team RWBY.
"I challenge team RWBY to a four-on-one fight!" he bellowed, causing cheers as team RWBY looked on, shocked.
"Guess you're about to find out. Good luck," Neptune said as they got up and walked to the preparation area.
