The following day during Lunch, both teams RWBY and JNPR sat together as had become standard for them while Blake seemed lost in thought while staring at the book in her hands. Unlike her other books, this one was blank when she had gotten it and was now full of various scribbles and notes including the white fang flags both past and present, a drawing of a man in a mask with small horns atop his head as well as a rose insignia.
"Whatcha doing?"
As Yang had slid up alongside her partner, the blonde's voice had broken through the Ravenettes trance while staring at her book, causing Blake to snap the book shut, preventing anyone from noticing its contents.
"Nothing… Just going over notes from last semester."
"Lame."
As she speaks, Yang catches a grape in her mouth courtesy of Nora, who uses her spoon as a makeshift catapult to launch various berries at the blonde brawler who catches them in her mouth with ease causing the hammer wielder to giggle. On the other side of Yang, Ruby lets out a huff and with a heave, slams a binder onto the table catching the rest of the group off guard. The binder's cover is written 'Vytal Festival Activities, Property of Weiss Schnee' which had been hastily crossed out with a red marker pen and a new title, 'Best Day Ever Activities' written underneath in the same red.
"Sisters... friends... Weiss."
"Hey!"
"Four scores and seven minutes ago, I had a dream."
" This ought to be good."
"A dream that one day, the four of us will come together, as a team, and have the most fun anyone has ever had... ever!"
"Did you steal my binder?"
"I am not a crook."
While Yang continues to catch fruit thrown by Nora, complacent with her sisters' antics, the rest of RWBY can only stare on in confusion as Ruby begins scanning through the binder now filled with hastily filled with ideas of things to do. Blake is the first to regain her senses questioning the young rose on exactly what she is talking about.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about kicking off the semester with a bang!"
"I always kick my semesters off with a Yang! Eh? Guys? Am I right?"
However, at Yang's joke, the rest of the group can only stare at her while a cricket chirp before an apple suddenly ricochets of the blondes head sent by Nora before she gives a boo at the joke. The group can only laugh before Ruby begins her explanation of what she had planned.
"Look guys, it's been a pretty hectic first few weeks and between exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year, our second semester is going to be great! But the break starts at the end of this week, and once the two-week vacation is up, classes will begin again, and we might not have much spare time! Which is why I've taken the time to plan and schedule a series of wonderful events for us to do over the holiday."
"I don't know whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store."
While Ruby pouts at her partners' remark, Yang picks up the apple and tosses it while glaring at Nora only for the fruit to veer off course and sail across the room, missing its target. Moments later, an unfamiliar voice yells out in protest, causing Nora to start giggling. Seeing Ruby still searching through the binder, Pyrrha took the chance to remind the hooded girl that the school dance will take place at the end of the break while looking off to the side at Jaune. Once Pyrrha had mentioned it, Yang's attention shifted, causing the berry Nora had tossed to bounce off the side of her head.
"Shoot your right Pyr, I had totally forgotten about that… Guess I need to find Talon so I can ask him."
"I wouldn't bother I'd already asked him… Apparently, since he's still on active duty even while here, he may be called away for a mission and not be at Beacon for the dance… Even if he is here, he said he already had someone in mind to ask."
"So he said the same thing to you… Dammit."
At Weiss and Blake's admission, the blonde brawler and the rest of the group can only stare at the two in surprise with Yang putting on a tone of mock hurt at the 'betrayal' by her partner and her teammate.
"Blake… Weiss… I'm hurt. Here I thought we were friends and yet you go behind my back trying to steal my man."
"Please, like I could have coped with how smug you would be if he had taken you to the dance… I should have realised I think we can all guess that it would be Pyrrha that Talon will ask to the dance."
Once Weiss says this Pyrrha can only flush red while looking away only for Blake to speak up that Talon also seems interested in the 2nd year rabbit Faunus Velvet making the rest look at her in confusion before adopting an understanding expression while Yang groans aloud.
"UGH, why couldn't I be born with cute animal ears or red hair it would make nabbing Oz jr. so much easier."
"Sis I think we both now if anything got in the way of your hair you'd probably cut it off."
"I for one think that…"
However, the heiress is cut off by a pie slamming her in the face briefly stunning the heiress while the rest of her team can only stare on in surprise. Across the table, Nora, who had thrown the pie, quickly puts her arm down before sitting back in her spot, pointing at Ren who has his head in his palm. Pyrrha can only sit alongside Ren with her hand over her mouth in shock while Jaune simply sits staring wide-eyed at what has just taken place.
Outside of the cafeteria, Sun walks alongside a blue-haired boy recounting the last few days' events and meeting team RWBY.
"Man, that's harsh."
"I know we were fighting side by side. She was super fast, and I threw a banana at the guy, which sounds gross, but it was awesome."
"Nice!"
"Right? And the best part is, she's a Faunus. But that's a secret, okay?"
"Got it."
"And not a, 'I'm gonna go tell Scarlet the second Sun turns his back secret', I'm talking secret secret."
"Whoa, chill out, man, okay? I got it. I got it!"
"You better."
As the two continue to walk side by side, they fail to notice the number of food splatters that appear across the window panes and students' shadows running within the food hall alongside them while they continue their conversation.
"I just don't want to screw this up, you know? The people here are the coolest! No offence to you guys."
"None taken."
"They're just in here. I'm really excited for you to meet them. So be cool, okay? You're gonna be cool, right?"
"Dude."
At this Sun takes a moment to look over the figure alongside him. The boy having tan skin, blue eyes and messy light-blue hair in the form of an undercut. Wearing a white dress shirt and black tie under a red jacket adorned with a wide, upturned, black collar and a silver reticle across the back. He also sports a pair of grey jeans with black padding strapped to the sides and black shoes fastened with straps. His attire also includes black fingerless gloves and a pair of yellow-tinted goggles typically worn on his forehead. Once Sun looks at his companion's face, he shows off a trademark grin while his teeth give off a sparkle.
With this, Sun remarks that he has a good point before pushing the door to the cafeteria open only for the two to be nearly run over by a group of fleeing students while one of the group yells out that it's a food fight. Once the students' rush is gone the two look into the mostly vacant cafeteria only to find team RWBY on one side with JNPR on the other standing atop a tower of tables stacked together in a ramshackle manner.
While the two can only stare on, Nora at the very top of the table tower gives off an over-exaggerated villain laugh before announcing in a sing-song tone that she is now queen of the castle.
On the opposite side of the hall, Ruby slammed her foot down on one of the tables while crushing a milk carton in her fist as she spoke to rally the other members of RWBY.
"Justice will be swift. Justice will be painful… It will be DELICIOUS!"
"Yeah"
At this, Nora jumped from the top of the table fort calling out off with their heads as her team followed behind her. The ginger landed before a pile of oversized watermelons as she and her team began bombarding RWBY with a hail of melons. To this, Ruby called out to her sister as Yang adopted a pair of turkey gauntlets to punch away the fruit.
With this, the fighting fully begins as Weiss first uses a ketchup bottle to trip Ren before using a swordfish as a fencing blade. Blake first uses a baguette to imitate her sword before adopting a string of sausages to mimic her gambol shroud line to duel Ren who uses a pair of leeks in place of daggers. While this occurs, Nora breaks off a flag pole from the wall before using it and a giant watermelon as a hammer to send Yang flying through the roof and then sends Weiss flying back into a pillar breaking it in the process.
"Weiss, Weiss! Don't leave me! Nooo!"
Pyrrha using her polarity sends a wave of soda cans at Ruby the only member of RWBY still standing however after the young rose cradles Weiss she quickly uses her speed to take off with the wind pulling the soda can wave back towards JNPR. Ruby stops herself on the far wall causing the shockwave to crack the wall behind her before dodging to the side as JNPR is slammed into the wall quickly being followed by the volley of food painting the wall in all manner of colours. Moments later team JNPR each slide down the wall leaving only their outlines.
On the other end of the hall, Sun exclaims that he loves these guys; however, his companion simply stares at him less than impressed as he was covered in stray grape soda from the fight. The doors behind the two then burst open with professor Goodwitch growling in frustration while using her telekinesis semblance to re-organise the room.
"Children, please… Do not play with your food!"
While the professor adjusts her glasses, Nora burps aloud as both Team JNPR and Team RWBY try and fail to compose themselves before a screaming Yang then crashes from the ceiling into one of the tables only to shoot up and give a thumbs up seemingly fine. At the children's antic Glynda can only grumble before Ozpin approaches and places a hand on her shoulder.
"Let it go."
"They're supposed to be the future defenders of the world."
"And they will be, but right now they're still children. So why not let them play the part? After all, it isn't a role they'll have forever."
With this Ozpin turns and walks off while professor Goodwitch gives one last sigh while watching teams RWBY and JNPR laughing amongst one another before turning and following the Beacon headmaster out.
Meanwhile on the opposite side of Beacon with Talon finally released from the medical bay, the younger Ozpin decided it best to make his way back to his team so that he can finally introduce Horizon to RWBY and JNPR. However, once he'd finally made it back to the team's dorm, he quickly found the full effect of his absence when even without opening the door arguing could be clearly heard from the other side.
"We've not been ordered to walk around for no reason, so I don't see why you're so insistent on this?!"
"We! Have been ordered to try and sort all the weird dust robberies and everything going on… Something we can't do just lying around all day!"
"Well, not all of us schedule when they fall asleep! I'm tired so butt out of it!"
"Of course you wouldn't be so tired if you didn't spend every night fantasising about your teammate!"
"I… That's… Shut up! That isn't true, and you know it!"
"I-I hate to butt in, but Gale does kinda have a point!"
"S-Shut up Prim! You're on my team so you should be backing me up here."
At the interaction, Talon can't help but shake his head in a mix between amusement and frustration. The horizon teams mostly gelled together quite well, but Gale and Scarlet had a history of being at each other's throats and clearly, today was no different. Gale was stoic and valued the mission above just about anything else, on the flip side Scarlet was hot-headed and took a lax approach to most situations, so it was easy for the two to argue. Talon could only thank Oum that the two were at least on separate teams as he pushed the door open cutting the argument off before it could go on any longer.
"All right that's enough of the bickering we have stuff to do."
"Oh, Oum just when my day couldn't get better!"
"Love you too Es."
"I.. Er… S-Shut up! If you say stuff like that people might think I actually like an idiot like you!"
"Anyway while we do need to look around it would be better to do so later today since most of the robberies were done at night…"
"Hey, don't just ignore me!"
"Since we're going to be here for the foreseeable future I thought it best if we introduce ourselves to the other teams so we can clear up any confusion and that way we don't have to repeat ourselves should anyone be unsure of what we're doing."
Ignoring agent Esren's remarks, Talon quickly rounded up both teams Anubis and Osiris before making his way around Beacon explaining that he had arranged for them to assist with professor Goodwitch's class later that day to help the first years learn how to work together to defeat a stronger foe.
Later that day within the Beacon Academy library, Team RWBY plays a board game named Remnant: The Game while JNPR sat nearby either reading to themselves or in Nora's case sleeping while using a book as a pillow.
As Yang stares at her sister intently waiting for Ruby to make her next move, Weiss can only watch on seemingly bored as Blake seems lost in thought not even paying attention to the game at hand.
"Hmmmmm... All right... All right! Yang Xiao Long, prepare your kingdom for battle!"
"Bring it on!"
"I deploy the Atlesian Air Fleet! Looks like I get to fly right over your Ursai and attack your walls directly!"
While Ruby slaps her card on the table before imitating the noise of an aircraft flying and bombing, Yang can only feign indignance as she points at the young rose.
"You fiend!"
"And since Atlas is part of Mantle, my repair time is only one turn." (Ruby peaks her head up. She gives a look of surprise as, offscreen, Yang can be heard laughing arrogantly.)
However, at her sister's attack, the blonde brawler simply laughs arrogantly before revealing a card in her hand and announcing that the attack had activated her trap card much to Ruby's surprise.
"Pretty sneaky, sis, but you just activated my trap card!"
"Whaaat?!"
"Giant Nevermore! If I roll a seven or higher, fatal feathers will slice your fleet in two!"
"But, if you roll a six or lower, the Nevermore will turn on your own forces!"
"That's just a chance I'm willing to take."
While Ruby and Yang continue their banter Team JNPR sit close by with Ren and Pyrrha studying while Nora sleeps and Jaune pretends to study with a comic book hidden in front of the textbook's pages.
"Nooooo! My fearless soldiers!"
"Eh, most of them were probably androids."
"Goodbye, my friends, you will be avenged."
"Not until I draw my rewards! Which are double this round thanks to the Mistral Trade Route!"
"Bah!"
"Oh, and what's this? The Smugglers of Wind Path?"
While the two continue with their back and forth, Pyrrha clears her throat and then confiscates the comic book Jaune is reading before trading it for the textbook he was hiding behind. But while Pyrrha starts to read Jaune's comic, a Nevermore player piece is tossed over Jaune's shoulder before another piece bounces off his head.
"Well, Weiss, it's your turn."
At the blonde brawler's words, Weiss attention snaps back to reality before looking at the cards in her hand and the table before her as she declares that she has absolutely no idea what is actually going on. This admission causes Yang to slide alongside her and place a hand on her shoulder as she explains the game's rules to the heiress.
"Look, it's easy! You're playing as Vacuo which means that all Vacuo-based cards come with a bonus."
"That sounds dumb."
"See, you've got Sandstorm, Desert Scavenge... Oh, oh! Resourceful Raider! See, now you can take Ruby's discarded Air Fleet—"
"Nooo!"
"and put it in your hand!"
"Okay."
"And since Vacuo warriors have an endurance against Natural-based hazards, you can use Sandstorm to disable my ground forces and simultaneously infiltrate my kingdom! Just know that I will not forget this declaration of war."
"And that means..."
"You're just three moves away from conquering Remnant!"
Once Yang had sat back in her seat, and Ruby had confessed to how close Weiss could be to winning the game, the heiress suddenly stands as cartoonish thunderclaps and lighting stir behind accompanies Weiss' overjoyed psychotic laughter.
"Y-yes! Fear the almighty power of my forces! Cower as they pillage your homes and weep as they take your children from your very arms!"
"Trap card..."
"Huh?"
As Yang produces another trap card, she quickly shuffles the boards' pieces around admitting that Weiss's army has now been destroyed making the Heiress slump forward in her chair while Ruby hops into the girl's lap.
"I hate this game of emotions we play!"
"Stay strong, Weiss! We'll make it through this together!"
"Shut up! Don't touch me!"
Even at the Heiress's own words, she still hugs the young rose closer too her. Simultaneously, the older of the two sisters can only hold off a laugh in amusement at the pair before turning her attention to her own ravenette partner who still seemed to be staring off into the distance.
"Alright, Blake, you're up!"
"Oh, um, sorry, what am I doing?"
"You're playing as Vale, trying to conquer the Kingdoms of Remnant!"
"….Right."
At the unsure and somewhat bored reply, Jaune quickly interrupts curious if he can also join the game, however, his idea is quickly shot down after Ruby admits they already have the maximum number of players while Weiss remarks on the games strategy elements only for her point to be cut off by Yang.
"Besides, this game requires a certain level of tactical cunning that I seriously doubt that you possess."
"Uhh, you attacked your own naval fleet 2 turns ago."
"Bring it on, Ice Queen! I'll have you know that I have been told that I am a natural-born leader!"
"By who? Your mother?"
"A-and Pyrrha!"
"Hello again!"
"Come on, let me play your hand for a turn!"
"I'm not trusting you with the good citizens of Vacuo!"
"Why not? You've trusted me with way more important stuff before. I mean, you told us all that Blake is secretly a Fa-"
"Fun-loving person, whom we all admire and respect."
Before Jaune can blurt out Blake's heritage, Pyrrha is quick to slap a hand over his mouth and finish his statement. With that, everyone looks cautiously at Blake, who holds obvious annoyance in her expression at the recent reveal of her secret. As the pair returned to the desk with the rest of their team footsteps suddenly sound a short distance away as Sun and the blue-haired boy he was with earlier enter the library.
"'Sup losers."
"Hey, Sun!"
"Ruby, Yang, Blake... Ice Queen."
"Why does everyone keep calling me that?"
"I never got a chance to formally introduce you to my old friend."
At that, the group direct their attention to the male stood alongside him only for that male to question Sun on the fact that they are in a library and aren't libraries for reading much to Ren's thanks given the persistent noising breaking his concentration.
"Uhh, aren't libraries for reading?"
"Thank you!"
"Pancakes!"
"Shut up. Don't be a nerd."
"Geh, geh, geh, geh! 'Intellectual', okay? Thank you… I'm Neptune."
With introductions out of the way, Neptune is quick to notice the heiress sat within the group who questions the group's recent arrival.
"So Neptune, where are you from?"
"Haven… And I don't believe I've caught your name, snow angel."
"Um, I'm Weiss."
"Are you kidding me!?"
"Pleasure to meet you."
Neptune gives Weiss a charming smile that causes the heiress to quickly fluster much to Jaune's frustration and surprise of the rest of the group. However, Yang is the first to break the silence chipping in about Weiss's older brother figure who had recently got out of the academy infirmary much to the heiress's embarrassment.
"Good luck there baby blue but if you are interested in our little ice queen, you'll have to get the approval of our resident super soldier."
"Yang! Don't act like he's my older brother!"
"Eerr who are we talking about?"
The group then notice Sun's confusion and realise that neither he nor the other new arrival to the group has actually met the younger Ozpin. To this, Blake cuts in remembering the discussion, she had with Sun after she had ran away.
"He's the one you shot in the throat the other day Sun."
"Geh what? He's a student here?"
"What did she just say Sun?"
"Erm well you see Neptune, my dearest bestest buddy, when I got here I may or may not have stowed away, so I got chased by these angry sailors and then when I thought I was in the clear this huge dude in armour grabbed me… Naturally, I tried to wriggle free and then my chuks kinda went off and caught him in the throat."
At his friend's 'explanation' Neptune can only give a deadpan look before remarking that he had shot a student in the throat the first day he got here and also reminding Sun that this was why Neptune had insisted Sun should have waited. However, Yang, Weiss and Pyrrha cut off the two's bickering, clarifying that he wasn't a student but a specialist soldier who was now stationed out of Beacon much to Neptune's frustration and Sun's worry.
"Oh, that makes it even better… I really can't trust you to be on your own. Now we've got a pissed off super soldier who will want to get even with you which means I'll probably have to bail you out…"
"Hehe… See can always trust you to have my back huh Nep…"
Seeing that his teammate had a point and couldn't argue his way out of this one, Sun instead tried to change the subject to anything else.
"On an unrelated note, I never took you as the board game playing type Blake?"
"Right, well, I think I'm done playing actually. I'll see you guys later."
As she speaks, Blake shoves past both Sun and Neptune before storming out of the library much to the surprise and confusion of her team with Nora just shrugging and remarking 'women' as Jaune joins the rest of RWBY in the board game while Sun and Neptune settle into the group.
