Chapter 2: Welcome to Beacon

(A week later)

I had done a lot of traveling since I've landed in Vale. So far, I haven't revealed my identity to anyone else. I learned that Grimm actually had a lot of value and a Huntsman can sell for a profit. There was a high demand for Ursa masks. The stuff was essentially ivory and was referred to in the market as "white gold". Those snake Grimm (I forgot what they were called) are wanted for their skin and fangs, and their poison can be used in medicine. It's extremely difficult to snag some without getting yourself or the Grimm killed. If you killed the Grimm before you could collect the desire part, it would dissolve along with the rest of the Grimm. That was the tricky bit. But the best part was that there was no limit to how many you could kill because they littered the woods. I had spent the past week killing Grimm and I made a decent profit from it.

Tonight I was in a dance club that had just reopened after a freak accident. I loved the atmosphere here. I took a seat and ordered a drink.

"You're a little underage", he grunted.

"Oh, no, no, no. I don't really like the taste of alcohol, it's always too bitter for my tastes. I'm thinking a Dr. Piper, if you don't mind."

The man (Junior, as his name tag said) smiled and slid me a glass bottle containing my favorite soda. Stratos has nothing like this. And I loved the music played here. The one playing right now was called "Red like Roses", and I couldn't help but sing along quietly. Junior's eyes followed someone behind me as I sang quietly.

"Quite the songbird aren't you?" a man's voice said to me.

"Nothing like a lively beat to calm your nerves", I agreed happily.

"I can imagine that someone such as yourself would have a stressful time in the field. Isn't that right, Nimbus Altos of the Halcyons?" I snapped open Pluto in Sword form whirling around. My blade was at the throat of a grey haired man with a pair of glasses, a black coat, and a green scarf probobly in his mid forties. A cane was in his right hand. A kind but serious look crossed his face. What caught me by surprise was the fact that he didn't even flinch.

"How do you know who I am?" I hissed quietly.

"I've kept my eyes on you ever since you met Ruby during the entrance exam. I knew from the start. And you should always know that my colleague, Port, has a knack for telling stories."

I gritted my teeth. Port was the name of that guy I sold an Ursa mask to not long ago. He claimed to be a Huntsman back in the day. I took the blade away from his throat and folded them up.

"Sorry. We Halcyons have a knack for trying to stay under the radar. I didn't catch your name, sir." I took a sip of my drink.

"Right, introduction. My name is Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon." I coughed in surprise as my soda almost went down the wrong way.

When I regained my bearings I said, "That Beacon? The one that Ruby was taking the exam for?"

"The same. We exist to train the next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses. Typically I find my students in training schools like Signal. But there are a few exceptions. Take Ruby for example. She skipped two years of training to come here. Then there was Blake Belladonna who was completely self-taught. As far as I've researched, you haven't appeared on any school database in Vale, or any kingdom for that matter."

"I learned from watching others. My home world has its own huntsmen training program, but I was never allowed to join due to…..semblance complications. Only recently did I discover mine. So I figured I'd make a living down here, where my kind rarely ever goes."

"Nimbus, I'm here to make a request. I want you to join us a Beacon."

I was stunned. From what I've heard, humans and Faunus typically didn't get along in such a way.

"While you were in the Emerald Forest, I had cameras watching your every move, just like I did for all of the other students. I saw what you are capable of. You can take out large Grimm quickly and I doubt that even Pyrah Nikos could have made the shot you did. And I can assure you that we do have plenty of Faunus within the student body."

I immediately stood up and said, "I accept!"

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(Beacon Academy)

I looked out of the airship that transported me to Beacon from the city. The campus was far below me and the students looked up at the incoming transport.

"It's beautiful", I said excitedly.

"I knew you'd like it. If you ever decide that you're ready, the area will be considered open airspace for you."

"All in good time Oz. I plan to make friends before I show my species. I want to make a good impression." A few of the students walked out to the transport, so as to see who was new here.

"Here at Beacon we pair up our students into groups of four. And this year we had a perfect class size for everyone to have a team. That was before you came. So unfortunately you won't be having a single team. Rather I'll have you pair up with multiple teams from time to time."

"I see." The doors opened and the setting of Beacon Academy was laid out before me. I stepped out with a sense of excitement, like stepping into a stadium for a concert. Some people muttered upon seeing me.

"Sweet! New guy!" someone said. I looked around to see that there were in fact, many Faunus around here too. Of course I had never seen any Faunus breed other than other Halcyons before. It was a rather strange experience, but a cool one too. We walked until we were in the dorms. Mine seemed to be a little empty with only me inhabiting it, but that would give me plenty of room for my personal belongings.

"If we ever happen to find any new students, they'll join your team", Ozpin assured me, "Go on ahead and make yourself comfortable. If you have any questions come see me in my office in the clock tower."

"Will do Professor!" I saluted him casually.

He turned to leave but turned back and shook my hand, "And Nimbus, welcome to Beacon." And with that, he left. The Wizard of Oz was really starting to grow on me in a good way. I was looking forward to having him as a teacher.

During my first day at Beacon, I stayed under the radar. I had just picked up my school uniform. I had mine specially made so my coat was long, like the one I wore in battle. It was a design that was rarely ever used, but it was acceptable by school policy. Apart from that nothing else happened other than my tour of the campus, and I saw not a sign of Ruby and her team. I would have loved to meet them then.

Night had fallen over Beacon Academy and many of the students had went to bed early, with the exception of a few Faunus, me included.

I ran to the edge of the cliff overlooking the valley below. It was all beautifully lit under the light of a full shattered moon moon. Even if the moonlight wasn't there, I could see perfectly at night, like all Faunus. While in motion I dove over the edge with my spread wings and I took flight for the first time in the past week. Having to hide my wings like this was making me fell like a bird in a cage. That night-time breeze swept me up in its embrace and carried me back to the top of the Beacon clock tower at the center of campus and I perched on the steeple on top.

Only one person had seen me do this. Down in the court yard was a girl with brown hair and a pair of bunny ears. I believe her name was Velvet. She waved to me excitedly and I waved back in my signature two finger wave, then I put my fingers to my lips, silently saying, "Don't tell." I knew that she would respect the wish of a fellow Faunus, and she did.

Grimm howled in the far distance. They kept their distance from the school, knowing that intrusion would lead to certain death.

A mechanical roar filled the air as a small transport dropped off four students at the gates of the school. Sure enough, it was Ruby's team. It was the same group of girls who helped her kill the Nevermore, not long ago.

I saw a petite girl in high heeled combat boots, with a snow white dress with a combat skirt. Her skin was light, flawless with the exception of that scar over her left eye. Her hair was just as white as her dress, and her eyes were icy blue. A rapier was sheathed at her hip. I couldn't help but think that she was pretty. There was a girl dressed in a black dress with a white shirt, a black bow on top of her head, and a sword sheathed at her hip. Her eyes were yellow and catlike, and her hair was black. She was very mysterious at a first glance. The final member of the group was my height exactly, probably my age too. She wore a short sleeved brown jacket with a white shirt underneath. She had a skirt the same color as her jacket which covered her backside like a short cape, and the pants beneath was short and black, leaving the rest of her long legs exposed. The jacket and shirt also failed to cover up her lower stomach, leaver her belly button exposed (perfect inner, by the way). She was very athletic with a perfect frame. Her eyes were violet. But her most outgoing feature of all was that hair of hers. It was down past her hips, was a bright, radiant yellow. Heck she almost seemed to glow like the sun! In a nutshell, she was drop dead gorgeous, a go-to girl. I saw how Ruby was limping a little.

"You okay Ruby?" the girl in white asked.

"She took a nasty hit from that Torch-what guy", the blonde said, "Of course she's hurt! Come on!" she grunted as she lifted Ruby onto her back.

"Thanks Yang", she said snuggling tight. Those two were sisters, I could see it clear as day. I smiled and put my mask over my eyes.

Spreading my wings I launched high above the school, arced over the team, then hid my wings as I fell down to the ground behind them. The girl with the bow in her hair whirled around first.

"Incoming!" she yelled as I zipped past them with a slice of my blades. "That mask!" she yelled getting her footing, "He's one of them!"

"Where is he?!" the girl in white looked around, "I can't see him!"

"Humans and your lousy eyesight", the girl in black muttered as she dashed forward towards me. Our swords locked.

I smiled, "A Faunus. I should have seen that coming. I'll make the game a little fairer." I activated my blades and the light produced illuminated my form.

"He's mine, Blake!" Yang yelled as she darted forward and Blake disappeared in a flicker of black. Yang struck my blades with enough force to push me back on the ground. But I held my stance.

"There's more to you than meets the eye, Goldie", I smirked as I dodged a fireball from her Gauntlets. We exchanged blows, not one met its mark.

"Step aside!" the girl in White jumped forward with her rapier. A series of white glyphs covered the area, illuminating the entire field. Now she had a clear view of me. She dashed back and forth on each glyph, making it very difficult to keep up.

But I started to play her game, launching off of her glyphs in the same manner. My friend up in Stratos had a glyph semblance too, and we sparred in the same way. After a few exchanges, we took to the ground and exchanged in close hand combat. She was fast in her strikes.

"Excellent!" I exclaimed, "You fight with an unparalleled elegance, little lady!"

"Don't you dare call me that you jerk!" she swiped at me making a slight cut in my mask.

"You don't let your temper hamper your strokes either. Impressive."

BANG!

The girl in white leapt away as Ruby jumped into combat with that giant scythe of hers.

"Ruby! No! Not in your condition!" Yang yelled.

"It's okay! I've got him!" She dashed forward and swung the scythe right at me. But she stuck it in the ground and landed a kick to my mask while twirling around on the scythe's handle like and acrobat! While I was still on the ground, the tip of the scythe was pointed at my neck. Ruby won!

"Woohoo!"Yang applauded, "That's my girl!"

I smiled and laughed. "Excellent job Ruby! You're a lot tougher than I let on!" I hid my blades and removed my mask. The scythe folded up.

"Nimbus! What are you doing here?!" she helped me up.

"You know him?!" Blake raised an eyebrow.

"He's the guy that saved us back in the Emerald Forest!" Ruby jumped up and down now facing them.

"Oh! You're that guy who sniped down the Nevermore ice trap from like a mile away!" Yang mimed a bow drawback.

"Err…two hundred and forty yards give or take", I shrugged, "Ruby. Would you mind?"

"Right. This is Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and my sister Yang. We make up team RWBY!" I chuckled a little at the acronym.

"Well, Blake, Yang, and Weiss," I extended my blades in bow form and held it out to the side as I bowed, "my name is Nimbus Altos. Pleasure to meet you all! I suppose that The Wizard of Oz didn't give you guys the memo. I kind of fell smack dab in the middle of your exam and Ozpin saw my talents and graded me as he would a student. After watching me for a little while, he enrolled me at the academy."

"Ooh! Just like me!" Ruby almost squeaked in excitement.

"I'm sorry about startling you girls. But I saw your performance by the ruins. I wanted to have a taste of it myself. I was genuinely impressed."

"Well you gave us a bit of a scare", Blake said, "That mask of yours looked like that of the White Fang."

"What's the White Fang?" I asked out of genuine curiosity. The others went silent for a moment.

"You're kidding right?" Weiss asked, "You've never heard of the White Fang?" I silently shook my head.

"Have you seriously been living in a cave for the past few years?" Blake asked bluntly. So they told me about the once peaceful Faunus rights group who turned violent.

I whistled in surprise, "I'm not exactly accustomed to those kinds of racial views. I came from a place that's a little isolated from the kingdoms of Remnant. It's called the island of Stratos. It's a place with its own Huntsman program and it's a place where humans and Faunus get along without a hitch." I lied about that last part. I looked down to the mask in hand, "I just wear the mask of the Grimm for sentimental reasons."

"Well, say no more!" Yang came out of nowhere and hooked her arm around mine, "We're taking you home tonight to talk a little more, Nimbus!"

I blushed. I would be the guy that she tugs along. Just my luck.

(End of Chapter 2)

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HEY HEY HEY! Beowulf is back!

I would like to begin with a note that I forgot to mention in Chapter 1. You all remember this as the battle in episode 8, Players and Pieces. While that battle was incredible, I did notice one fatal flaw that Monty didn't account for: the Nevermore's tail (still trapped in ice) should have prevented Ruby from carrying it up the cliff face! Sorry to point that out Monty. But it provided a perfect point to introduce Nimbus to the game! So I suppose that it served a great purpose!

Back to the present chapter, I now have a new issue on hand: pairings!

Considering that most of the RWBY cast are girls, Nimbus is open to several possibilities! I hate to say it but Ruby is off the list. I mean, she is almost Hinata-blush adorable, I'll admit it, but Nimbus is 18 and Ruby is 15. A high school freshman and a college freshman. Not going to work. I need responses from you people!

I know that you guys are still waiting for the second OC narrator. Don't worry he'll be there and he'll be ready for a smack down unlike anything ever seen before in the world of Remnant! I will be putting a very new spin on the ball game!

Ultimately, I will be pulling out all the stops and making this story awesome!

Peace out for now! Beowulf Out!