Rawr, everyone! I got a nice long one for you this week. Also, I actually have a new recommendation! If you're a fan of 90's animated series that were obviously made to sell toys, but are still entertaining (you know the kind I'm talking about), check out Dragon Flyz. It takes place in the 41st century, after most of the earth has been turned into an inhospitable wasteland of lava. A floating city called Airlandis holds the last of humanity, which sends dragonators (dragon riders/aviators) to Earth to collect fuel and battle the gargoyle-like creatures that now inhabit the planet. It's a fun little action series that makes you feel nostalgic for the 90's.

Anyway, enjoy!

Early one morning, a mass text was sent out between the members of Teams RWBY, JNPR, and SSSN. It read simply: "The war begins after breakfast." This declaration was met with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Some, like Nora and Ruby, dragged their teammates from sleep so that they could get breakfast as soon as it was served. Others, like Ren, Blake, and Scarlet, dragged their feet and groaned with longing for their warm, soft beds.

Still, everyone ended up in the cafeteria as it opened, and sat down to a hasty breakfast. The sleepier students perked up a little when their stomachs were full, though they still shuffled on the way to the dragonets' stalls, slogging through the new layer of snow that had blanketed the grounds over the course of the night.

The dragonets expressed confusion when their partners arrived. The sun was just rising. Wasn't it too early to be getting up?

Ruby giggled with excitement as she zipped around Storm's stall, checking the hay in the litter area, refilling the food and water dishes, and giving her dragon a kiss on the snout. "I hope you're ready, Storm! We're going to kick butt today!"

Storm tilted her head at her partner's excitement. Kick butt? Whose butt? Oh, who cares? Ruby's happy! She bounced up, barking eagerly.

"That's my girl!" Ruby patted her shoulder. "Eat up. This is going to be awesome!"

Weiss, meanwhile, was polishing Specter's scales with a clean cloth as he ate his breakfast. "I know it's a bit early, but I think you'll enjoy what the others have in mind."

Specter ate quickly, noticing that the door was cracked and that Weiss was wearing heavier clothes. We must be going for a stroll in the snow! How lovely!

Blake was smiling apologetically at Pit in his stall. "I'm sure we'll wake up fully once this thing starts. I still want to know what genius thought a snowball fight this early in the morning was a good idea."

Pit yawned, taking his time stretching. He didn't know what a snowball fight was, but he didn't want to be up this early. At the very least, he could get ready at his own pace. I wonder how Freya's handling this, he thought, his ears flicking. Nora will probably have to drag her out.

As he woke himself up, he also kept an eye on how Blake was acting. She seemed calm, even content. I'm not making her nervous, then, he thought, remembering Nautilus's warning about his powers. Maybe she would only be scared if he used them again.

Fang, meanwhile, had stuck his head into his bedding and was growling every time Yang touched him. "No. I'm not going outside! It's dark and cold, and I don't want to!"

"Come on, buddy," Yang urged. "This is gonna be so fun."

Why can't I make human noises yet? he thought despairingly. He lifted his head, barked once, then hid again.

Yang pondered what to do for a moment, then smirked. "Well, okay. I guess I'll have to tell Sun and Huo that you were too tired to compete."

Fang sat up immediately. Over my dead body! "Let's get this over with," he growled. Though Yang couldn't understand him, he felt that the sentiment was there.

The group gathered outside the stalls, the dragons and a few of the Riders still yawning. Twiggy hurried to hide under Titan's wing.

"It's cold," she complained.

Titan gently nuzzled the top of her head, hating that he couldn't heat up his scales for her. "Want to stand by Fang?" he asked.

Twiggy pressed closer to her brother, easily noticing the sad tone in his voice. "No, I'm okay with you."

"What's going on? Are we going to play? I think we're going to play!" Ao Guang was bouncing up and down next to Ren. He paused, noticing that one of his siblings was missing. "Hey, where's Freya? Freya, where are you? You still in your stall? Wake up!"

Freya, as Pit had predicted, was being pulled from her stall by a groaning Nora. "Why…?" she yawned. "Too…early…"

Zircon was staying close to Sage. "W-Why are we out s-s-so early? Is s-something wrong?" His eyes darted around nervously.

"Don't worry," Pit called over. "It's some kind of game. Nothing to be afraid of."

Zircon gulped loudly. "Is it a d-dangerous game?"

Everyone jumped as a roar sounded from Huo's stall. "PISS OFF!"

Nymph rolled her eyes. "Language, Huo!"

"FUCK YOUR LANGUAGE! I'M NOT GETTING UP!"

Twiggy winced. "Where does he learn those words?"

"Pepper sometimes curses when agitated," Titan murmured. "Huo picked up on what she was saying pretty quickly."

Nimbus stretched out his large wings, shaking his head a few times to try and focus his vision. "Nymph, I can't see today. Do I need to see for this game?"

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Nymph soothed. "Just close one eye if you need to."

Nimbus obligingly winked one eye. "What if all animals originally had one eye, but they split apart and never turned back?" he mused.

"What's the matter, hothead?" Fang shouted to Huo's stall. "Can't handle the cold?"

"Go to hell!" Huo snarled, though he did end up following Sun out, snapping his jaws shut just short of his arm. "You owe me," he growled at his oblivious partner. "If I don't get extra meat or apples for this, I'm burning your fuzzy tail off."

"Good boy, Huo," Sun said, patting his neck. "Get ready to kick some major ass!"

Ruby jumped up and down. "Okay, now that we're all out, how should we do this?"

"Boys versus girls. Duh," Yang replied, rolling her eyes. "I mean, we do have equal teams."

"Aw yeah!" Sun grinned. "You ladies are going down!"

Storm frowned. "Uh, do they mean boy and girl dragons, or people?"

"People," Pit replied. "We only have four female dragons."

"Good point."

"Okay, let's go!" Nora shouted, her eyes blazing. "We dine on the blood of our enemies this morning!"

Freya groaned. No one should even be alive this early in the morning. My partner is insane.

The group split into two teams once they got to the large field, which was currently an unbroken, thick expanse of snow. The boys went to the far end while Nora, the self-appointed leader of the girls, tried to rouse the sleepier members of her team.

"Okay, ladies and ladies' dragons! This snow battle will determine the honor of our gender until the next one! Are you ready?!"

The dragons were all looking confused. Ruby quickly explained: "This is a game where we throw snow at each other."

Storm tossed her head. "Oh, so that's why they wanted us up this early! They didn't want everyone walking on the snow before we could play in it."

Titan shifted nervously. "If anyone throws snow at Twiggy, be gentle."

Pyrrha heard her dragon's nervous warble and patted his head. "Don't worry, Titan. This will be all in good fun. We just need to not get carried away."

Specter couldn't be more excited. "I shall blanket all of them in alabaster radiance!"

Fang snorted. "Now you're just making words up."

"I am not! Nautilus has been helping me expand my vocabulary."

"Wow, I never thought you'd have something in common with Huo," Pit noted innocently.

Specter let out a superior sniff at the mere thought. "Please. I'm nothing like that brash lunatic."

Freya's head drooped forward as she tried to catch an extra wink of sleep before this stupidity started.

Across the field, Sun was riling up his team. "Okay, everyone! We're gonna take them down! No prisoners! Don't go easy on them, just because they're girls!"

Jaune coughed. "Considering the fact that they have Pyrrha, Nora, and Yang, going easy would be borderline suicidal."

Scarlet gulped. "Yeah, I'm a little scared."

"Oh, we'll be fine!" Sun said, waving a dismissive hand. "We have a secret weapon. Huo's the hottest dragon here, so he can stand in front of us and melt any snowballs that come our way!"

"Won't that only work if he's in our immediate vicinity at all times?" Ren asked.

"Yeah, seems like a cowardly strategy," Neptune noted. "What about the pincer tactic? Half of us goes one way, half goes the other."

"That kind of maneuver generally works better if there's cover to hide the fact that a pincer move is being used," Jaune pointed out.

"Why don't we just go free-for-all style?" Sage asked. "This is just for fun, after all."

"Our honor is at stake, Sage! We can't just-"

"Hey, losers!" Yang called over. "You gonna talk till the snow melts? You could just surrender now!"

"That sounds like the talk of someone who wants an excuse to give up!" Sun shouted back.

Scarlet coughed, scooting close to Sage. "If this gets too rough, I'm hiding behind you."

"I think you'll have to fight Zircon for that privilege," Sage muttered, glancing at his shaking dragon.

"Wh-What should I d-do?" Zircon whispered, eyes darting around frantically. He didn't like that Pit was on the other side of the field. He felt safer when Pit was close. Apparently, they were supposed to attack each other with snow. He didn't want to fight Pit!

"Hey, don't worry. It's just a game." Twiggy nudged his shoulder. "I'll stay with you."

"Th-Thanks…" Zircon scratched the frozen ground through the snow. He didn't necessarily feel safer with Twiggy around, but he felt better overall. He wasn't sure why.

With a shout from Nora, the girls started to surge forward, signaling the beginning of the battle. From there, everything was wet, cold chaos.

Freya, jarred from her quick nap, stumbled forward, yelping as her face hit the snow. She shook her head, growling grouchily. Fine! I'll get this over with, so I can go back to sleep sooner! With that decided, she ran across the field with a look of grim determination on her face.

Nora laughed. "That's my girl! Let's get 'em!"

Specter was plowing through the snow eagerly, letting out a series of high-pitched noises. This is glorious! We must do this every morning!

Weiss couldn't help but smile. Between the jarring coldness of the snow and her dragon's utter joy, it was impossible to feel tired anymore.

Twiggy was having the time of her life bouncing through the snow and trying to find Titan. She barked at Jaune, nudging him from the side.

Jaune yelped, almost falling over. "Easy, Twiggy," he laughed. "Save it for the girls!"

The two sides stopped a few yards away from each other and practically dove to the ground to grab and shape the snow. When the first snowball hit Jaune square in the chest, Nora let out a savage cry of "FIRST BLOOD!"

"Hey, I saw that!" Twiggy barreled forward, the point of the game finally clicking fully in her head as she scooped up some snow and hurled it at Nora, who yelped as her chest and midsection were suddenly dusted white.

"No you don't!" Freya barked, fully awake for a brief moment. Standing on her hind legs, she flapped once, sending her sister tumbling backwards into Neptune.

As poor Neptune fell into the snow, barely avoiding getting crushed by the horse-sized Twiggy, Nymph headbutted Freya, knocking the wind dragon off balance. Freya stayed on her side, tiredness suddenly returning as she closed her eyes. Nora let out a loud groan nearby.

Sun and Yang were in a heated personal battle, pelting each other with tightly-packed snowballs while dodging behind their fire dragons periodically. They were of the small, insane group of people who had no problem aiming for the face. (Though they were quick to make a scene if their own faces were hit.)

"Ha! Take that, you shirtless weirdo!" Yang shouted.

Sun opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted when Neptune called across the field.

"Sun, your coat had better be zipped over there!"

"Oh my god, Neptune! Not now!"

Yang snickered. "They are so married," she muttered to Fang.

Fang wasn't sure what "married" meant. He just found this whole situation hilarious. "Looking a bit sleepy, Huo!" he roared over Sun and Neptune's bickering.

Huo let out a puff of smoke as he snorted. "Come over here, and we'll see who's sleepy, you stripy prick!"

Fang smirked. "As you wish!" Spinning around, he lashed his tail against the ground, sending a blanket of snow over both Sun and Huo.

Huo 's scales heated up, melting the snow away as he glared at Fang with blazing eyes. "Oh, this will be fun," he growled, lunging at his rival.

Sun, who had started laughing hysterically when the snow covered him, immediately ran toward Yang. "That's it, Huo! Take them down!" He paused, suddenly remembering the ill-fated fight his dragon had had with Fang when they were young. "We're just playing, buddy!" he hurriedly added. "Don't hurt him."

Huo stopped short, rolling his eyes. Right, right. Don't bite. Jaws are stronger now that I'm bigger. I got it. He hated that he was repeating one of Nymph's lectures in his head, but thinking about her nagging voice was enough to snap him out of his blind rage. He didn't actually want to hurt any of the others, after all. Not even Fang. Taking a deep breath, he scooped up some snow with his paw and closed the distance between himself and Fang, shoving the snow in the other dragon's face.

Fang sputtered, tossing his head. "Why, you little-! Take this!" He jumped onto Huo's back, shoving his face into the snow. "Give up?"

"SCREW YOU!"

Sage and Jaune ended up in a fierce brawl with Weiss and Pyrrha. Poor Zircon hid behind Sage, ears twitching nervously. Twiggy darted from side to side, blocking any snow thrown at her friend while throwing some at her brother.

Titan found himself enjoying this game and bounded forward, tackling Twiggy and nipping playfully at her shoulder.

Specter whistled, entirely in his element as he whacked the snow with his tail. When a snowball flew toward him, he would snap it up in his jaws.

"Specter! Don't eat the snow!" Weiss scolded. "That's unsanitary!"

Nimbus and Storm, meanwhile, were making full use of their wind powers, flapping their wings and whipping up rival flurries of snow and frost. Storm gritted her teeth as Nimbus's larger wings pushed her back.

"I'll save you, Storm!" Ruby declared, running at Nimbus from the side and throwing a fresh snowball.

Nimbus spun around, trying to locate Ruby. He saw a blur running to the side. He stumbled forward, and his head suddenly hit something soft, which let out a yelp as it fell to the ground with a thump. He blinked, trying to focus, and saw the shape of Ruby lying on the ground, gasping for breath. His stomach twisted when she didn't get up right away. "Uh oh… Scarlet! Scarlet!"

Scarlet stopped throwing snow immediately at Nimbus's distressed bark. He ran over, kneeling at Ruby's side. "Ruby, you okay?"

Ruby groaned as she sat up, still trying to breathe properly. Nimbus had accidentally headbutted her, knocking the wind out of her completely. It didn't feel like anything was broken, thankfully.

Storm stared at Ruby, her heart sinking. Ruby wasn't breathing right. She wasn't getting up. Why wasn't she getting up?

Nimbus. Nimbus had hurt her.

Slowly, Storm turned toward Nimbus, her eyes narrowing. Her mind went blank and she lunged forward, shrieking a challenge.

In an instant, the snowball fight ended as teammates and dragons suddenly were scrambling to break up the fight. Nimbus was backing away, whimpering piteously while Storm fanned out her fins, showing her fangs and snapping at the air.

"I'm sorry!" Nimbus sobbed, shaking as blurs darted all around him. He couldn't focus on Storm. He couldn't see her face. All he could do was hear her shrieks. Was she going to kill him? "I didn't mean to!" he insisted.

Nymph rushed over, putting herself between Storm and Nimbus, thumping her tail threateningly against the ground. "Don't make me hurt you, Storm," she warned.

Huo hissed, his scales burning as he started to circle around, ready to pounce from the side if he had to.

Zircon crouched down, covering his eyes with his paws. "P-P-Please stop!"

It was Pit who calmed Storm down, padding over and resting his large head on her back. "Easy, now," he muttered. "Nimbus didn't do it on purpose. Breathe."

Storm struggled, which only made Pit press down more. Why was she being stopped? She had to protect Ruby! Ruby was hurt! She was…

It was no good. Storm couldn't move. Her alpha wasn't going to let her move.

After a moment, she let out a sigh, giving in to Pit's superior strength. As she did, she felt some lucidity creeping back in. With that came a sudden, hot flush of shame.

"Wh…Why did I do that?" she whispered, staring at Nimbus, hating the fear in his googly eyes. Her fins flattened against her head as she looked at Pit. "Pit, what happened?"

Pit shook his head. He didn't have an answer. Truthfully, he was trying not to show how disturbed he was. It's like she turned into a wild animal!

At that moment, Ruby managed to get to her feet and stumble over to her dragon. "It's okay, girl," she gasped, hugging her tightly. "I'm fine. Just got winded. It's okay."

Storm wrapped her wing around Ruby, starting to shake a little as the realization of what she had almost done sank in even deeper.

"I, uh, think the snowball fight's over," Jaune said, putting a hand on Twiggy, who was shifting nervously.

"I agree." Pyrrha nodded once, leading a silent Titan toward his stall.

The others calmed down their dragons and led them back in subdued silence, only to stop short when they saw Doctor Oobleck and Gust standing at the edge of the field. Oobleck took a swig out of a large thermos as he walked over. "Well, now. Got a little spirited, did we?"

"Sorry, sir!" Ruby said immediately. "We thought a snowball fight would be fun, but things just…"

"Got out of hand?" Oobleck finished, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, yes. That tends to happen when you're dealing with elephant-sized elementals. Roughhousing is generally not an advisable pursuit, at least not between dragons and Riders. Dragons and dragons, yes. People and people, yes. Keep it that way in the future."

"Yes, sir," they all muttered.

Storm, meanwhile, was pleading with Gust. "I'm so sorry!" she whimpered, bowing her head and suppressing a sob. "I don't know why I attacked Nimbus like that!"

"I do," Gust said, nodding knowledgably. "I certainly do. It's a well-known fact that the mind of a dragon will lose a great deal of sanity in response to seeing their Rider in distress. Loss of control is common, especially for dragonets." She fixed Storm with a stern look. "Controlling oneself in the face of such situations is what we will be learning in the coming semester, among other things."

"Good!" Storm said, her voice still shrill and desperate. "I don't want to hurt anyone!"

"No dragon ever does," Gust said, her voice becoming gentler. She turned to Nimbus, who was still trembling. "Don't be afraid of Storm. She's still your friend. She struggles with her nature, as do we all."

Nimbus nodded shakily. "O-Okay." He looked at Storm, whose blue eyes had regained that familiar, non-threatening look. "I really am sorry, Storm," he warbled.

Storm padded over, lightly nuzzling his cheek. "I'm sorry too. I won't attack you ever, ever again, Nimbus. I promise!"

Oobleck watched the exchange with a smile. "Talked some sense into them, did you?" he muttered fondly to Gust. "Truly, it would be a wondrous thing if we could understand the language of dragons." He nodded to the students. "Dry off your dragons, and go rest. I do believe the kitchens have been fully-stocked with everything needed to make hot chocolate."

"That sounds perfect!" Ruby sighed. She patted Storm's shoulder, glad to see her dragon in better spirits.

Before they reached the stalls, Ao Guang trotted over to Storm and touched her side with his wing. "Hey. You okay?"

Storm managed to smile, her face warming a little at Guang's closeness. "I'm better now."

"That's good!" Guang chirped. "I'm gonna think of a new game, one we can all play without getting hurt. That's a good idea, don't you think?"

"Definitely!" Storm agreed.

"Cool! Let me know if you think of anything fun!" Guang bounded back over to Ren, nudging his partner cheerfully before padding into his stall, wholly content that everything was okay again.

Less convinced was Zircon, who kept his gaze fixed on the ground the entire walk to the stalls. I didn't try to protect Nimbus, he thought mournfully. Nymph and Huo ran over right away, but I just hid. I'm nothing but a worthless coward. He had always rationalized that his fear was something that would one day keep everyone safe, but what good was caution if he couldn't even stand up for his own brother?

Sage noticed his dragon's downcast look and scratched his neck. "It's okay," he soothed. "No one's fighting anymore. Everything's fine. It won't happen again."

Zircon nuzzled Sage's arm, feeling a surge of love as his partner tried to comfort him. I'll protect you, Sage, he vowed silently. I'll try to learn to be brave for you, even if I can't be brave for anyone else. He entered his stall, curling up on his bed of hay and closing his eyes. He was glad to be within the walls again. There was no risk of looking at the disapproving expression that was probably on Nymph's face right now.

The teams bedded their dragons, leaving extra treats in the food bowls, giving varying degrees of comfort, before eventually coming together outside the stalls and heading inside. Doctor Oobleck was right: It was time to rest.

…..

After taking hot showers and changing into dry clothes, the twelve Riders met in the common area, where Ren quickly set about making hot chocolate for everyone.

"Ooh, can you put some vanilla in mine?" Scarlet called over.

"Will do."

Ruby sighed, throwing herself onto one of the armchairs, glad that it was still early enough that none of the other students were using the common area yet. "I hope our dragons will be okay."

"Nimbus seemed fine when I put him in his stall," Scarlet noted. "I think whatever Gust told him calmed him down."

"I'll check on Zircon later," Sage said. "I think seeing a fight between our dragons distressed him a bit."

"It's a shame that snowball fights are too dangerous," Weiss sighed. "Specter was having a wonderful time."

"You can always throw snowballs at him as a one-on-one thing," Ruby suggested.

"True. I may do that. Oh, Ren! Is there any peppermint over there?"

"Let me check…" Ren muttered, rifling through the cabinets.

"ACHOO!"

Everyone turned as Sun let out a loud sneeze. Neptune cocked an eyebrow. "Well, well. Could it be that justice is finally being served to a certain coat-shunning ruffian?"

"Ruffian?" Sun snorted. "Weiss, stop screwing up my best friend's vocabulary!" He sniffed loudly. "Anyway, I'm fine."

"Uh huh." Neptune looked doubtfully at Sun's tee-shirt. "Remind me to get you some warmer pajamas for Yule."

"Just as long as they aren't what Jaune's wearing," Sun insisted, glancing at his friend's incredibly-lame bunny onesie.

"Aw, come on!" Jaune protested. "Onsies and slippers are literally the best thing in the winter time! They are super warm! You basically become a human electric blanket."

"Ooh, let me see!" Nora zipped over, hugging Jaune. Her eyes widened. "Omigosh, they're so soft!" She squeezed her leader tightly. "I might actually fall asleep here."

Jaune snickered, then noticed Ren giving him a sideways look. "Hey, I didn't say I was volunteering to be a human blanket," he joked, shoving Nora away playfully.

"Ugh, fine." Nora rolled her eyes. "Ren, I'm getting you warm pajamas and making you my personal heater! It'll be way better than you sleeping in your freaking clothes!"

Ren let out a grunt. Jaune noticed with a slight smirk that he wasn't at all protesting the idea. Then again, it wasn't exactly a secret that Nora snuck into her best friend's bed whenever she had nightmares. (Or whenever she claimed to have had a nightmare.)

The cocoa was eventually finished, and the group sat around the common area, some on couches, some on armchairs, some sprawled on the floor, sipping contentedly. Ruby ended up snuggling with Yang on one of the chairs. Team JNPR took one of the couches, where Nora slumped drowsily against Ren. Pyrrha sat close to Jaune, hesitantly resting her head on his shoulder, smiling when he shifted closer and yawned. Sun was on the floor, leaning against an armchair that held Blake. Neptune sat nearby, wanting to scoot closer, but ultimately deciding against it. Scarlet unabashedly fell asleep on Sage's lap. Weiss sat in a lone chair and started cleaning as soon as she finished her cocoa, insisting that Ren stay put.

Ruby yawned, putting her empty cup on a nearby table and licking the chocolate mustache from her lip. "Four more days till Yule…" she murmured.

"Yep." Yang ruffled her hair gently. "You excited?"

"Mm hm. Uncle Qrow's gonna be here. Either tomorrow or the day after. That's what Dad said." She closed her eyes, slumping against her sister. "I can't wait…"

The friends parted ways eventually, Team SSSN going to their dorm room for some extra sleep. Ruby, Yang, and Jaune, of course, had family time planned, and were quick to drag their teammates along once they roused themselves. Of course, no one had any complaints about that.

Things went a little south, didn't they? This is totally not a sign of things to come. Absolutely not. Nope.

I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving. Eat lots, and then eat even more! It's literally the holiday for it. And don't get trampled on Black Friday. Better yet, don't go out on Black Friday. Wait till Cyber Monday. That's what I'm gonna do!

If you like what you see and want to show extra support in exchange for rewards, my P/atreon is Solora Goldsun.

Peace out!