Early morning, Beacon Academy

According to the Scroll he was given, it was 6 in the morning. Classes would start a 9, so there was plenty of time. Roy stopped looking outside and checked his teammates. The others were still sleeping. They were all in their underwear, which was pretty much just a boxer and a tank top. Their room was pretty standard, four beds and some furniture. They didn't have anything to unpack, so all they had to store was their Beacon uniforms nicely folded on their beds. Roy looked at the open wardrobe, and his gaze switched from his Army uniform to his Beacon uniform. Not wearing a uniform was a pretty serious offense for an on-duty officer, but here, he wasn't known as 2nd Lieutenant Anderson. No, here, he was just Roy Anderson, leader of team ROSE. Besides, they weren't exactly in the Federation's territory anymore. After spending nearly five minutes in his boxers in front of the wardrobe, Roy finally dressed himself in his student uniform and tied his hair in a simple braid. Still uncomfortable, he decided to wear his beret as well and checked his Scroll again. It was nearly 6:20 now, another forty minutes and he'd wake the rest of the gang, there was some things that needed to be addressed.

Not willing to spend forty minutes idle, Roy walked all the way down to the locker room to check the content of the lockers they were given. As the team's leader, he had the override codes for all four of them. The inventory revealed that they had three combat suits, three rifles, a machine gun and two pistols. In addition, they had five plasma grenades, sixteen power cells for the rifles, a backpack-mounted generator for the machine gun and six power cells for the pistols and the suits. All in all, they didn't have much. Most of their original equipment would be in Vale's Police Department's custody, or in the forest. Still worried by the thought of being unarmed, Roy took his holster and his pistol, checked its power cell, and strapped it on his belt, making sure it was hidden beneath his vest. If it came to that, at least he wouldn't be caught with his pants down. By the time Roy walked back up to the dorm, it was already ten past seven. Stella was already awake, taking a shower in the dorm's bathroom. Her uniform was also missing from the wardrobe. The sound would probably save Roy the trouble of waking the rest of his team. After another ten minutes, the team was dressed and ready to listen to their leader.

"Alright, for starters, I'll make things clear between us. We're still part of the Federation's military, and I'm still your commanding officer, so you'll keep calling me sir. We may be barely older that the rest of the students, but let's try to stay professional."

"Uuuhh, that's not gonna work out, sir. Didn't Ozpin said to drop all that Sir kinda stuff? Hot Dog's never gonna call you sir, either."

"Okay, fine, but as soon as we regroup with the rest of the crew, we'll go back to regulations, you all good with that?"

The rest of the team seemed to agree, and Roy sighed. Not even a day, and his orders were already questioned. Roy wasn't surprised. He read their files when he arrived on the Kashgar. Oliver barely finished his basic training before he got shipped here, and he enrolled straight after high school. Stella enrolled to get the Army to pay for her medical studies straight after high school, too. Eizan, well, Roy didn't know Eizan too much. He was one of the Kashgar's mechanics, always found him in a bunk or in the hangar. Never even talked to him before yesterday. From his behavior, he wasn't keen on following military regulations either, but wouldn't protest against it.

"Alright, second item on the list: We're going to be here for a while. If we're to work together, as a team, then we need to know each other. Oliver and I were shipped to the Kashgar together, and I have the feeling you and Stella kinda know each other." Roy looked at Eizan, who looked at Stella, who cleared her throat.

"Weeeell, he did spend a lot of time in the infirmary, so…"

"Good then, that means we won't have too much trouble working with each other. Okay, I've wasted enough of our time here, let's go fetch some breakfast, we still have plenty of time to talk."

In the hour and a half they had left, the group talked about how they ended up in the military, why they chose their specialty, and other trivial things like their favorite show. With their Beacon uniform, they were almost blending in the rest of the students. That is, if they didn't run into an excited Ruby and her team.

"See? I told you they didn't sleep in! Let's go say hi!"

Ruby ran towards team ROSE and stopped a few feet in front of Roy, who put away his Scroll.

"Umh… hi there, Ruby, is there...something you need?"

"Oh, uuh, no, just wanted to say hi and, uuuhh welcome to Beacon!" Ruby was smiling in a way that made it more uncomfortable than it should. The other team members greeted each other, before Eizan resumed the conversation.

"News certainly travel fast around here."

"Well, Ozpin told us the news this morning and asked us to help you catch up a bit. I mean, you did miss six weeks of lessons…"

Roy crossed his arms and looked at Ruby straight in her silver eyes with a gentle smile, triggering some curious looks from her teammates.

"I see… Did he tell you anything else?"

"Well, he said you were from an Atlesian military school, and didn't arrive at the start of the year because you were away on a mission. We do have a meeting with him after this morning's classes, though."

Roy looked pensive, looking at the ground with a hand on his chin, before looking back to Ruby.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it. Talking about classes, what's Combat Practice? Lessons about general tactics and best practices?"

"Oh, no, well, kinda. It's a few sparring matches, followed by feedback by Ms. Goodwitch."

"Ah, is that why you're all out of uniform?"

"Well, duh, I'm not going to fight without my combat skirt!"

"Combat...skirt… alright, whatever, let's just get some good seats."

0900 hours, Beacon amphitheater

The amphitheater was big enough for at least three hundred people, but the class only counted about forty students. Most were sitting on the first rows of benches or standing in front of the stage. Once the bell rang, everyone focused on Ms. Goodwitch and listened.

"Good morning students. I'm sure some of you have heard rumors about newcomers. Let me put an end to them. Team ROSE, please, step onto the stage."

Everyone looked around and focused their attention on the four newcomers. Some started to whisper to their friends, but most stayed silent. Probably waiting for what they had to say. Getting to look at the other students while standing on a stage with a microphone was… more stressful than expected. Goodwitch resumed her speech, giving Roy some time to calm down. He noticed that team RWBY was teasing their leader again, who was blushing slightly. Roy relaxed and chuckled at the sight.

"Students, please welcome our newcomers from Atlas's Paulorth Military Academy."

Goodwitch then turned to Roy.

"Please, give us a brief presentation of you and your team."

Roy looked as his teammates, who nodded back. He then took a deep breath and looked at his audience.

"Good morning. My name is Roy Anderson. I am the leader of team ROSE. Here are my teammates Oliver McKelley, Stella Sternberg and Eizan Nakao. We are honored to join you at Beacon Academy and are looking forward to work with you."

Roy looked back at Goodwitch, who nodded. Taking this as a Good enough, Roy walked back to the rest of the class, followed by his team. The crowd was louder now, but Goodwitch quickly silenced them.

"Now, do we have any volunteers for our first duel of the day?"

The crowd answered with silence and a few coughs. Goodwitch pulled her glasses up and sighted.

"Very well. How about you, Mr. Anderson?"

Everyone looked back at Roy, who shivered slightly. Refusing would not be well received, would it? Roy was suddenly very glad that he brought his pistol, even if he only had one cell. Taking a breath, he stepped back up to the stage and stood at ease, waiting. Goodwitch tapped a few buttons on her scroll, and Roy's status was displayed on one of the giant screens above the stage. There was a generic male face instead of his picture, something he needed to update according to the to-do list Goodwitch gave him yesterday. The crowd started to whisper again, until a hand rose up.

"Yes, Mr. Ren, are you volunteering?"

"I am."

"Good." Goodwitched tapped a few more buttons, and the second screen showed Ren's status. "Now that our participants are ready, the match may begin."

Everyone stood back, and the lighting in the room dimmed until only the stage was brightly lit. Roy could hear some more chatter behind his back but noticed that he couldn't see much beyond the stage. Well, it was an arena now, apparently. Roy saw a faint blue hologram rise up and disappear all around them. Roy then eyed his opponent. A teen in a green, elaborate vest and white pants. He carried no visible weapons, and instead assumed a martial art guarding position. Well, now that would be interesting. Roy was well trained in hand-to-hand combat from his Ranger and officer training, so maybe he did stand a chance.

"So, I didn't quite catch your name, mister…?"

"Lie Ren, but you can call me Ren."

Roy smiled, and raised his fists, assuming his own guarding position.

"Alright Ren, you can call me Roy. Let's give 'em a good show."

As if Goodwitch was listening them, a loud beep signaled the start of the match. At first, both of them simply circled around, judging each other's moves. Ren then suddenly launched himself at Roy and tried to knock him off the ground with a swipe from his legs. Roy jumped up and tried to punch Ren in the guts. Ren dodged and tried to strike Roy in the back, but Roy rolled away. Both were catching their breath, circling again for another run.

"Well, that's some fancy moves you got there."

"And I can see Atlas trained you well."

Roy chuckled, and went on the offensive. He tried to send Ren flying with an uppercut, but he dodged the strike. Roy used the opportunity to grab Ren's right arm and tackled him to the ground with his right leg. Before Roy could land another hit, Ren jumped away, and Roy saw a pair of custom, green machine-pistols emerging from Ren's sleeves. Roy instinctively ducked out of the way and drew his own weapon. The bullets peppered the floor where he stood and went all the way into the crowd. Well, they would have, if they weren't stopped by the blue holograms. Energy shielding, then. That was good to know. When Roy looked back at Ren, he was running towards him, his pistol-mounted blades at the ready. Hesitating for a split moment, Roy backed up, knelt down, aimed at Ren, and shot him in the leg. Ren tripped forward due to the momentum and slid all the way toward Roy. The lieutenant then pressed his knee against Ren's back and his gun against Ren's neck, and heard a loud beep. The room's lighting returned to its previous state, the shields went down and Goodwitch emerged from the shadows. Roy flicked the safety of his pistol and holstered it, before giving a hand to help Ren up.

"That was a nice fight buddy, looks like I win." winked Roy.

"Students, as you saw, Mr. Ren's opponent stepped out of the designated arena. In a tournament style duel, this means that the official may call the match."

Roy was dumbfounded and looked at his feet. He noticed that when he backed up, he did walk past a blue outline. He then looked up to the giant screens and was surprised than Ren's aura gauge had reached the yellow zone, somewhere towards 30%, while his was down to 60%. Confused, he looked back at Ren, who could already stand on his two legs and looked back a Roy with a bow.

"It seems not. It was a pleasure fighting you."

Roy chuckled, and gave him a lazy salute.

"Likewise. Next time won't be so easy."

Both men then returned to the crowd, but team ROSE had plenty of questions. Ren was shot with a LENR pistol, but remained unscathed? A single shot to an unarmored body would lead to severe burn, if not much worse. Even a pistol carried enough kinetic energy to put an armored man down. Oliver and Stella got close to Roy, while Eizan looked at Ms. Goodwitch to take some notes.

"Well, that was interesting" whispered Oliver. "Never seen someone getting shot and walking like nothing happened. Did you see that pink shield of his?"

"What? So, they all have personal shielding, is that what you're saying?"

"There's no reason for him to be unharmed otherwise. It's like he isn't even in pain, and look at his clothes, they're intact." added Stella.

"Mmmhhh... I think we're gonna have to dig up this aura stuff. I thought it was just some medical thing. If we can't shield anything smaller than a ship, and they can outfit any kid with a personal shield, we need to know how. Also, did you see those shields on the stage? That could be really useful."

The trio then joined Eizan and remained mostly silent to watch the next fight. They'd read Eizan's notes on Goodwitch's debrief later.

Several duels later.

According to the two giant screens above the stage, the match pitted a certain Jaune Arc against a certain Cardin Winchester. Again, the room's lighting dimmed until only the stage was brightly lit, so that everyone could focus on the fight. Well, it looked more like a beating than a fight. Jaune didn't land a single strike, whereas Cardin kept on bashing that poor Jaune fella. Sloppy tactics, too much aggressiveness, inaccurate strikes… Roy could name a number of reasons why Jaune was losing. When he compared that to how Ruby and her friends saved them that night, the lieutenant could only wonder how much of a skill gap this school would accept. A loud beep signaled the end of the match and brought Roy back to reality.

"That's enough. Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament style duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match. Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now, please try to refer to your Scroll during combat. Gauging your aura will help you decide when it is appropriate to attack, or when it's better to move to a more… defensive strategy."

Goodwitch then talked about some festival, which seemed to cheer up everyone but team ROSE. Might be something important they missed. However, before they could ask Ruby and her team, the bell rang, signaling the end of the class. Ruby talked to Jaune about something and ran off, probably to her meeting with Ozpin. Apparently, Ren was part of Jaune's team, along with a red-haired girl and a ginger one. Roy watched both teams leave the amphitheater and checked the time on his Scroll. Lunchtime. Well, he knew where Ren's team would go. Roy looked back to his team, who was debriefing all they've seen.

"Alright people, it's lunchtime, let's go get something to eat. I think I found us some people to talk to."

"Already? You're getting popular, El-Tee." said a grinning Oliver.

"Shut it. Like I haven't noticed your conversations with those girls."

"Well, they did ask about you first."

"Come on boys, let's go!" said Stella waving at Roy and Oliver.

Lunchtime, Beacon dining hall

Roy and his team approached Jaune and Ren's team, who were sitting on one side of an otherwise empty table. Roy cleared his throat and spoke first.

"Hey, umh, mind if we join you?"

Jaune took a moment to answer, seemingly lost in thoughts.

"Oh, sure, go ahead."

Each team was now seated in front of each other, eyeing each other out until the red-haired girl started the conversation.

"Hello again, I'm Pyrrha, this is Ren, Nora, and our leader Jaune."

Each member greeted each other, and the usual talks to get to know everyone followed.

"So... there we were...in the middle of the night…"

"It was day…"

"We were surrounded by Ursai…"

"There were Beowolves."

"Dozens of them!"

"Two of 'em"

"But they were no match! And in the end, Ren and I took them down and make a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"

At that point, Ren just sighed.

"She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now…"

Pyrrha noticed that only Jaune wasn't listening, instead playing with his fork in his plate.

"Jaune, are you okay?"

"Uh? Oh, yeah, why?"

"Looks like something's been bothering you. A lot." answered Roy.

"Guys, I'm fine, seriously, look!"

Jaune's smile was even more awkward than Ruby's. Roy was about to say something until a maniacal laugh caught everyone's attention. It was Cardin and what was probably his team, apparently picking on a girl with rabbit ears. Oliver leaned and whispered to Roy.

"Uuuuhh, are those real?"

"I don't know, I guess? How the hell should I know?"

Pyrrha brought them back to the conversation. She was describing several cases of "practical jokes" that sounded a lot like bullying. One of those picked team ROSE's interest.

"I didn't land far from the school!"

"Wait, those are rocket-propelled lockers?!" asked a dumbfounded Eizan.

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask…"

"OOH! We'll break his legs!"

"Guys, really, it's fine. Besides, he's not only a jerk to me, he's a jerk to everyone."

"Ow, that hurts!"

Everyone looked back at the rabbit girl, whose ear was in Cardin's fist. Roy whispered to Oliver.

"Well, I guess they ARE real, huh."

"Man, what a crazy world we live in."

"Atrocious, I can't stand people like him." commented Pyrrha.

"Yeah, you're not the only one." added Stella.

The rest of the lunch break was spent asking and answering questions. Since they didn't want to blow their cover, they couldn't ask about that Vytal Festival, but they did get some information about aura. The fact that they didn't know about aura was a surprise to team JNPR but was quickly explained by the fact that they were supposed to be a new kind of military unit. One that could be able to face the Grimm without the use of Aura, but of technology. Of course, there were a lot of holes in that explanation, but team JNPR didn't seem to notice. As both groups left the hall, Roy's Scroll chimed. He looked at the screen and noticed that it was a message from Ruby. Can we talk? Meet us in our dorm after dinner.

"Interesting" mumbled Roy to no one.