A/N: This takes place chronologically before After the Fall, which took place around the time of Volume 6. As such, don't expect Team CFVY to appear. Also, I apologize for the short chapter.
The members of Team COAL spent the next few days recovering from the injuries that they had suffered on the train. They considered themselves very lucky to have survived the fight and were very glad to have reached their destination. Now, they were sure they'd be able to complete their mission and save their friends. Colby's resolve was stronger than ever. Now, he was not only about to save his friends, but he would avenge his father's death at the hands of the traitorous Deegan Garrick.
After the members of Team COAL had recovered from their injuries, they went to speak with Shade's headmaster, Professor Theodore. They left the infirmary, and Irving led them through the hallways to Theodore's office. The hallways reminded them of Beacon and the times they spent there.
"Hey, remember that food fight that Teams RWBY and JNPR got into?" Autumn asked as they went past what appeared to be Shade's cafeteria. "I wish we could have joined them. It sounded like so much fun."
"Yeah, it sure did," Colby replied. "We would've crushed both of them."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Colby," Autumn replied. "Remember that time Ruby beat you in combat class?"
"She got lucky," Colby said in an irritated voice. "But at least she didn't cheat like that time you used that laser pointer against Blake."
"Aww come on!" she replied. "It was so funny!"
"Goodwitch didn't seem to think so."
"Goodwitch needs to lighten up a bit. And besides, Blake used the same trick against me later when she threw that ball."
"How did you know she was a cat faunus, anyway?" asked Lily. "That was before she told us."
"I'm a dog," Autumn giggled. "My canine instincts can detect a cat from a mile away."
"I do hope she's okay," Colby said sadly. "Her and the rest of RWBY and JNPR."
"Last we heard, Ruby and Yang were back in Patch," said Ouranos. "They shouldn't be in any immediate danger. But the loss of an arm…"
"I know," Colby said sadly. If only I'd been there to help Yang."
"You can't be there for everyone, Colby," Lily said.
"Weiss is in Atlas," Ouranos continued. "It's probably the safest place in Remnant given its military and the fact that it's on a floating island above Solitas. She'll be fine."
"But Blake…"
"You learned firsthand how tough Sun is. He'll take care of her."
"I hope so."
"And then there's Pyrrha," Colby said sadly. "We should have been there for her. She would have done the same for any one of us."
"We couldn't have known where she was or what she was doing," said Lily. "And I'm sure she'd be proud if she knew how far we've come."
"Maybe she would," said Colby. "And how many others died? There were people there from all over Remnant who gave their lives defending a school that wasn't even theirs. He tried to remember a few. "Remember that CMSN team from Haven? That one led by that weird woman with the amber eyes? I never found out what happened to them after the battle. What was their leader's name again?"
"Cinder," Lily replied. "Her teammates were Mercury, Emerald, and Neo. I don't know what happened to them either."
"If they met the same fate as Pyrrha, I'm sure they died honorably and with the safety of everyone in Beacon and Vale in mind," Colby replied, unaware of Team CMSN's true nature and reasons for being at Beacon. "When we're done here, we're going to catch whoever was behind the attack. We all know that the White Fang were a bunch of pawns."
"Unlike us, the true kings of Beacon!" Ouranos laughed. He was of course referring to their initiation day, on which the pairs that would become Team COAL picked up the black kings.
"And queens," Autumn replied with a smile on her face.
A few minutes later, the team arrived at the headmaster's office. Like Ozpin's, it was located in the school's CCT tower. The team ascended an elevator and found themselves outside the door of Professor Theodore's office. Irving peeked his head in.
"Headmaster, the Beacon survivors I told you about are here," he said.
"Good, let them in," Theodore relplied. The members of Team COAL walked into the office and saw that the walls were covered in paintings of Shade's staff members as well as the headmasters of the other academies. One featured Theodore shaking hands with Ozpin, another showed General Ironwood, who was also the headmaster of Atlas Academy, and yet another featured Haven Academy's headmaster, Leonardo Lionheart. There was also one that depicted a girl in a checkered dress holding a dog.
At a desk at the other end of the room sat Theodore himself. He had short, dark hair, and he was very muscular. He wore a checkered vest and a blue-gray cape. "Sit down," he said. "Make yourselves at home." They all sat down in chairs in front of his desk.
"You are all truly remarkable young huntsmen and huntresses," he continued. "Not many first years would have survived the trip across the desert, and a lot didn't even survive the Fall of Beacon. Your friends on Team IRON tell me you came all this way to ask for Shade's assistance in something."
"That's right, professor," Colby replied. "We came all this way to rescue our friends, fellow students who were kidnapped by the White Fang during the Fall of Beacon. We discovered that they'd been taken to the Fang's main Vacuo base, and we've come here to rescue them. True huntsmen and huntresses never leave their friends behind."
"That's very noble of you," Theodore replied.
"So you'll help us?" Colby asked. "We're going to need the support of your students and teachers if we're going to do it.
"I'm afraid not," said Theodore. "You all risked your lives to come out here and save your friends and I commend you for your bravery, but I would have to put the lives of my students and teachers at risk in order to do this. I can't put their lives at risk to save a few students from another school."
"But that's what huntsmen do," Colby said. "It doesn't matter which school or kingdom we're from, we're meant to look out for each other and stand united against the forces of evil. We have the Vytal Tournament every year to remind us of that."
"You make a good point," Theodore replied. "But you're asking me to put my students' and teachers' lives at risk in an operation run by a team of first years."
"We aren't your average first years," said Lily. "You said yourself that not many would be able to survive the journey across the desert."
"Yes, but attacking a military target is another matter altogether."
"We didn't just make it across the desert. We survived an encounter with the traitor, Deegan Garrick, and took down the Beast. You may not believe us, but we did."
"Oh, I know that you took down the Beast," Theodore replied. "We have eyes everywhere." He paused for a moment, and then sighed. "You all are exceptional students," he admitted. "By slaying the Beast, you accomplished something that not even full-fledged huntsmen were able to do. Tell you what: I have a series of missions that need to be done. If you do them and prove to me that you have what it takes, I'll lend my forces to your fight against the White Fang."
"Alright," said Colby. "We'll all do whatever it takes to prove to you that we can do this."
Theodore smiled. "I like that attitude. Your first mission will take you to downtown Vacuo. As I'm sure you're aware, this kingdom has both an abundance of dust and a high crime rate. I hired some scientists to help me create this experimental new type of dust, but one of them double crossed me and stole a batch of it to sell to the infamous gangster Grimm Slimm. I've pinpointed the location of the deal, and I want you to stop it from taking place."
"And what exactly does this dust do?" Ouranos asked.
"That is for me to know and for you to never find out," Theodore replied. "All you need to know is that you're supposed to retrieve it for me."
"Understood," Ouranos replied.
"My spies say that the deal is going to happen at 10:00 PM this Saturday night. You have until then to prepare. I suggest training and maybe modifying your weapons before then. When you're ready, you'll go meet one of my field agents. She's a student like you and a little young for it, but she's...exceptional. That's all I'll tell you for now. If you're lucky, you might get to see what makes her so special firsthand."
"I definitely look forward to that opportunity," said Colby.
"She'll meet you at the Papa Jaune's in downtown Vacuo at 9:00 PM."
Colby was delighted to hear that they'd be going to Papa Jaune's, which was his favorite pizza chain. He hadn't had it in months. For the moment, though, he tried to contain his excitement.
"Understood, sir," he replied.
"Do you have any questions?" Theodore asked.
Colby remembered his semblance acting differently during his fight with Deegan. He wanted to know more about it, and why it had done what it did.
"I have one. It's not really about the mission, but it's pretty important to me and I wondered if you'd know anything about it."
"I'll try to answer it as well as I know how."
"During my fight with the traitor, my semblance did something it never had before," Colby explained. "It normally allows me to jump up to 20 feet in any direction, but this time it enabled me to create huge shockwaves when I hit the ground. Do you have any idea why it might have done that?"
"Some huntsmen and huntresses have multi-tiered semblances," Theodore explained. "As they become more experienced or get into really intense emotional situations, they may discover that their semblances are capable of more than what they originally thought. It seems that your semblance was not merely long-distance jumping, as you thought it did, but it uses some sort of energy to produce shockwaves like the ones that propelled you forward or shook the ground during your fight with Garrick. You should continue training. You might find that there's even more to your semblance than you think."
"I definitely will," Colby said.
"If you all don't have any more questions, then you are dismissed. I suggest you make use of the time between now and Saturday to train and possibly upgrading your weapons. Our weapons teacher, Rowena Sunnybrook, should be able to help you with that. And our training area is called the Sandpit Arena. Your friend, Mr. Dunstan, will show you where it is."
"We won't let you down, professor," Colby replied. "Alright, team, let's get ready. We'll prove to Professor Theodore that we do have what it takes to bring down the White Fang."
The team left the headmaster's office and began preparing for the mission ahead of them. They'd do whatever it took to convince Theodore to lend them his aid. Colby, in particular, kept thinking about what Theodore had told him about semblances. He'd keep training to see what else it could do. He fought Irving in the Sandpit Arena a few times over the next few days, but it didn't seem to do much else. At least not for the moment. He hoped that it could do more.
But for the moment, he needed to focus on the task at hand. Theodore was counting on him, and so were dozens of Beacon students and Beacon Academy itself. He would need to give it his all if he were to succeed in his mission.
A/N: I realize that the "multi-tiered" semblance thing is a bit of a stretch, and I included it to sort out some problems with Colby's semblance. His semblance has a long, complicated history of development, but it essentially started out as him being able to teleport short distances. The mods in this RP I was in told me it was too OP, and I downgraded it to him being able to jump long distances. People have told me that anyone with an aura can do this, but not until after I started writing this. No one in the RP told me, and the RWBY wiki doesn't explicitly say that anyone with an aura can do it, but that makes sense given what we've seen in the show. I turned it into what it is now, but that still didn't satisfy a lot of people. The third tier will be different.
And the RWBY wiki does not explicitly rule out the possibility of huntsmen discovering over time that there's more to their semblances than they thought, and the fact that we haven't seen it in the show doesn't necessarily mean it can't happen.
I hope this explanation is enough for you. In any event, this fic could be thought of as an AU.