Chapter 1

Author's Note: This will be the first official chapter in the story. This is my first FanFiction that I've ever written, so please leave me any feedback you can, not matter how brutal, as anything and everything helps out…just try to keep it constructive.

Anything in italics will be are the thoughts of a character.

Ruby's scroll began buzzing the familiar tone of her favorite Achieve Men song, 'Hunting all night.' She quickly shut off the scroll and made sure she did not wake her teammates. After checking her scroll, she saw that the time is 4:30am… she mentally cursed herself as she sat up desperately wanting to go back down to sleep. 'I have to wake up and get everything in order' was the official reason she gave when questioned by her teammates as to why she would wake up so early. The real reason, however, was that she had moved so far away from Signal Training Academy and was three hours behind them. Between classes, training, and homework the only reasonable time she had to talk to her old friends was early before they went to school and late (for them) before Ruby went to sleep. She shuffled to the decent sized bathroom, which was included in every room for the Hunters-in-training. One of the perks of going to the number one hunting school was the fact they the school had no problem splurging money on their students in the name of luxury.

Each room has four beds, desks, and armoires, as well as a bathroom with a toilet, sink, and bathtub which doubles as a shower. There was also a mini kitchen, in each room which held a mini fridge, two stove burners seemingly built into the marble counter-top and a sink for washing dishes. All things considered, this was a pleasant place to live. She entered the bathroom, shed her tank top and pajama-bottoms, and stared into the mirror. With a surprising burst of energy, she slapped both of her cheeks and stretched her body until joints began popping. Her hand lightly slapped the wall next to the light switch and she began searching for the sound-canceller; she didn't want to wake her team as she showered, and luckily for her, beacon had installed (into every dorm room) a button that when pressed would activate the dust imbedded in the wall's paint and block the noise from going through the surface. She had mentally prepared herself for the day, and so she began with her morning ritual of brushing her teeth, showering, simply dressing in a few comfortable clothes until Team RWBY had to leave, and stepped outside the bathroom ready to face the world.

The time was now 5:19am and she had about 40 minutes to talk with her friends before she had to begin waking her teammates up. So, she quickly grabbed her scroll from her bed, shrunk back into the bathroom, dialed her friends' numbers and spent all the time until 6:00am speaking of her wild adventures in the Emerald Forest. Needless to say, her friends' thought she was the coolest person in the world, an honor which she would happily carry with her. 6:00am came all to quickly as she was forced to hang up her scroll and ready herself for the barrage of pillows and curses which was sure to come her way. She grabbed her whistle and blew air into it as hard as she possible could.

"What the hell?!" Yang jumped down from her bunk and was in her signature fighting stance within a few seconds, Ember Celica at the ready. It took her a moment to look around at her surroundings and realize what was going on.

Blake had just sat up and was glaring at the younger sister while she flatly asked, "This is going to be a recurring event, isn't it?"

"Ye-p!" Ruby said, popping the 'P' sound.

Weiss was just glaring at her and looked as though she was putting in physical effort not to say as many derogatory words that came to her mind. In the end she settled for her signature insult, "You insufferable dolt, are you incapable of acting like a civilized person?"

Yang chimed in, "Yeah, was that really necessary, sis?"

Ruby's expression had suddenly turned very serious, yet her movements remained quite childish…almost as though she was mocking them. While pacing back and forth she said, "Yes. I hope you all haven't forgotten that we have exactly three days to prepare for the Hunt. We've got no time to lose!" The three older girls simply looked at each other and sighed in unison.

Yang jumped up and landed on her top bunk while saying, "I'ma go back to sleep for a few, wake me up when Blakey and the Ice Queen are done in the bathroom."

Weiss just scoffed and muttered, what Ruby assumed to be, insults under her breath while walking to the bathroom. Weiss walked past Ruby while rubbing her eyes and accidently bumped into her and sputtered out, "Watch out, you dunce!"

"Yeah…sorry…" the last part of her apology trailed to a whisper as she noticed the shoulder strap of Weiss's nightgown had been knocked off, and she was glaring at the shorter girl's shoulder. When Weiss slammed the bathroom door, she was removed from her trance and glanced around very quickly only to see Blake with her face to the wall and her sister already snoring softly.

After an interesting morning of prying Yang from her bunk and getting everyone fed, they found themselves ready for the day. It was almost 8:00am, and they all decided to head to the gym to start their day. They left their dorm at the same time as Team JNPR was getting ready to head out also.

"Oh, hey guys! Sleep well?" Jaune asked happily. He almost immediately regretted asking as he saw annoyed looks on Yang and Weiss's faces, indifference in Blake's, and an ear-to-ear grin on Ruby. "…That whistle was you, wasn't it?" Jaune asked meekly looking at Ruby.

"But, of course! It is a leader's duty to make sure their team is up and prepared for the day. I have no intention of letting my team start to slack off just because they're –" Ruby's sarcastic comment was cut short by a hand burying its knuckles into her head.

"Quiet you!" Yang said playfully aggressive. She looked at Jaune and stated, "Don't you worry about hearing that whistle again, we'll take care of it." Yang's boisterous attitude greatly overshadowed Ruby's cries of pain.

"That's what I was afraid of…" Jaune said quietly. "I would suggest tapping out, Ruby. There's no way you can endure that for long." he stated while walking away.

"Good luck!" Pyrrha said gleefully while walking away. Nora was already laughing manically and Ren simply let a grin slip onto his face.

Yang finally relented on her assault and released her younger sister. She stood back and admired her handy work as Ruby's hair was all frizzy. Ruby held the top of her head, her bottom lip puffed out, and tears threatened to emerge from her eyes.

"Oh, you poor girl…" Weiss thought, as her heart began to race. "Wait, what? Where in the world did that come from?" She shuddered and walked past Ruby, stopped and tilted he head towards the young leader slightly, "I thought you were the team leader? If you start crying, there's no way I'd ever follow your orders," she said while sending an unconcerned glare at Ruby.

Ruby immediately sucked it up and agreed with Weiss. "Yeah, like I would ever cry…" she said. Blake let out a sigh as Yang started to laugh. Weiss, however, had turned her head back to the front and found her heart relaxing. She had no idea why seeing the young Huntress-in-training in pain made her so uncomfortable. They began to head toward the gym, but when they got there, they were amazed at how many people were already using it. The place was packed. Of course, many of the students in there would be there for much longer.

120 professors was all there was in the entirety of Beacon academy, including the headmaster. That means, since there are teams of four, a total of 480 students were guaranteed a position in the school. However, over 2,000 students were currently visiting from all across Remnant, to gain access to the amazing school. Hotels and inns were predominately occupied with many would-be-students. Luckily for Team RWBY, since beacon was an academy in Vale, Native Vale citizens got first picks for the dorms until the student fodder cleared after the Hunt. Weiss, of course, got the dorm room position by paying an unknown amount of money to an undisclosed person.

After seeing the amount of people loitering in and around the gym, Team RWBY simply decided to just take themselves elsewhere. They didn't quite want to travel all the way to Vale to go to another gym, so instead they decided to go to the arena, where the Hunt would take place. Upon arriving, however, they saw that it was off limits with Headmaster Ozpin speaking to, what looked like, an IT tech.

"Hey, professor?" Yang said as the team approached the two. Ozpin gave a glance that said to give him a moment.

"…yes, I want to make sure everything is in working order. If you don't think you can have the simulator's CPU upgraded in time, then we'll worry about it after the Hunt." Ozpin said right before taking a sip of his coffee.

"No sir, I have no doubt that the upgrades will be finished in time…I was just wandering if you were sure, this is going to make the potential difficulty much greater for the higher levels of the simulator. I don't want any of the students getting hurt." the tech said while scratching the back of his neck.

Ozpin chuckled, "It's a little late for that. I have students injured on a seemingly day-to-day basis. Though I appreciate your concern for these young Hunters-in-training, there is a reason we have a full medical bay under the bleachers of the arena. We want these students to have a 'safe' environment for pushing themselves beyond their limits." Ozpin seemed to look completely calm.

"Alright sir, I'll have it done right away." the IT tech said right before walking away.

"Now, what can I help you ladies with?" Ozpin said in his uniquely kind tone.

"We were wondering if we could use the arena for training, but it sounds like that's a no-go." Yang said while brushing hair out of her eyes. "Why mess with things so soon before the Hunt?"

"An upgraded CPU would help the simulation compartmentalize and respond to different stimuli at an exponentially increased rate." Blake said with a hint of intrigue.

"Uh huh…ummm…what?" Yang and Ruby said in unison.

"The Hunt is going to be harder for us, your dolts." Weiss informed while staring down into the arena. It was an indoor arena, but still rather large. The fighting area was a large circle, about one hundred meters in diameter, with walls around the perimeter, about five meters tall. Atop the walls were where the bleachers began.

"More difficult only at the higher levels. Any difficulty setting above ten will be quite a bit more responsive than previous years. Make sure you prepare yourselves adequately, ladies." Ozpin said as he watched the construction from afar.

"What difficulty is the arena set to for the Hunt, Professor?" Ruby asked inquisitively. The other three girls turned their heads to look at Ozpin realizing that they hadn't given any thought to the Hunt's simulation as a whole.

"The difficulty is basely proportional to the score you were given during your initiation in the Emerald Forest. And since yours, and Team JNPR's, scores were perfect twelves, your teams must come to a consensus on the difficulty you desire…it can be no lower than twelve, however." Ozpin stated matter-of-factly.

"How many levels are there?" Yang asked

"Sixteen. Though levels higher than fourteen are generally the setting at which our professors train at. And a sixteen has only been beaten a handful of times, thrice if memory serves. And two of those victories were from knights." Ozpin said as though he were lecturing college students about the dangers of drinking alcohol. He knew what was coming.

"Oooohh, who was the other one?" Ruby asked with her eyes wide as though she was about to be given the meaning of life itself.

"That would be my 'team' and I. It was about fourteen years ago when myself, Glynda, James, and Qrow had decided to take on that beast of a level. But, of course, the computer has been upgraded, including now, three times since then. So I shudder to think about how horrific the battle would be now." Ozpin said slightly wearily. He looked at the girls and sipped his coffee, waiting for the inevitable.

"I had no idea our uncle is on a team with you. That's pretty damn cool." Yang said right before Blake elbowed her is the side.

"Watch you language." Blake said glaring at her.

"Anything for you, sweetheart." Yang said sarcastically. Blake rolled her eyes, turned to look at the arena, and let out a small chuckle.

"It is not an official team, we just often find ourselves providing one-another assistance." Ozpin stated.

"Oh, guys! Wouldn't it be cool if we beat the simulation at a sixteen? I think we can do it!" Ruby stated, earning her a smile from her partner.

"Indeed. Simulations, no matter how responsive, operate on a predetermined set of parameters." Weiss said confidently. "Surely we can beat it."

Yang was already on board with this course of action as she slammed her right fist into her left palm. "Fuck yeah, we'll kick its –" Yang was cut short by another elbow in her side.

"It sounds like I don't have much of a choice, though I suppose it may be fun." Blake said while retracting her arm from Yang's kidney.

Ozpin simply let out a sigh and opened his mouth to interject. But before he could get a word out, the girls were already running away. "Thanks professor, gotta go train!" Ruby said as she led her team away.

"Well, I did say they needed to push themselves." Ozpin thought as he attempted to drink his coffee. Noticing it was empty, he began to walk back to his office.

The girls had stopped running once they had gotten to the courtyard and began looking around for places they could train with each other. They couldn't just fight in the open, an unsanctioned fight would have professor Goodwitch breathing down their necks. They thought about going back to the Emerald Forest, but it was off limits as there were scouts out there looking for more potential Nevermores after the one Team RWBY took down. A fight would be sure to attract all of the scouts within a three kilometer radius.

"Damn, if only we were more familiar with the campus." Yang said, instantly realizing her mistake. She quickly covered her side and closed her eyes readying herself for a pain that never came. She peaked through her eyes and saw Blake simply walking casually next to her, "You're not gonna hit me again?"

"I don't care if you swear on your own time, just be more professional around people you aren't close with…like our teachers." She said shooting her a glare.

"We're close? We've known each other for less than a week…you gotta buy me dinner first, babe." Yang said as she started laughing. Blake, however, just turned her head when she noticed her face getting warm.

"Why in the world am I getting flustered over that ridiculous comment?" She thought to herself as she walked slightly faster past Yang.

"Where do you guys think would be a good place to fight? Most of these areas are pretty open." Ruby said, partly distracted by darting her head around looking for secluded, open areas.

"There's always downtown Vale. Probably a gym or club or something." Yang said crossing her arms behind her head.

"You don't fight in clubs, Yang." Blake said, wondering if they were talking about the same kind of club.

"No, YOU don't fight in clubs…I got a track record." Yang asserted with an abnormal amount of pride, even for her.

"Yaaaang, dad said to stop that. You're gonna get in trouble one day." Ruby worryingly mentioned.

Blake and Weiss just shook their heads, when a flurry of rose petals appeared in front of them. "Wha – Ruby Rose, where in the world did you run off to?" Weiss yelled.

"Over here, guys!" Ruby yelled back while waving her arms.

It would take some getting used to how fast Ruby was. She managed to cover about fifty meters in just a second. All three girls ran over to Ruby who was standing in front of a large gate. Right in the middle of the gate, was the legendary insignia of the Knight-Hunters. Ruby had climbed the wall and was looking over the top of it.

"Really, Rubes? What happened to 'We only got three days to prepare for the Hunt?' Is now really the time for an autograph?" Yang asked while mocking her younger sister.

"An autograph?" Blake asked, looking over to Yang.

"Ruby has always admired the Knights, ever since dad read her those knight-in-shining-armor stories when she was younger." Weiss was now looking at Yang as she continued, "She used to play around with a towel tied around her neck and a wooden sword in her hand, trying to save the damsel-in-distress." Yang said, laughing.

Ruby jumped down, red-faced, looked Yang straight into the eyes, and began to speak, "Oh yeah, and who played the damsel-in –" the red in Yang's eyes stopped Ruby in her tracks, but the damage had already been done, so she persisted on. "Y-yeah, Yang would put her hair in a ponytail and say 'Please, O please, brave knight, save me.' It was soooooo cute." She squeaked out, as the red in Yang's eyes moved south to her cheeks.

Weiss was laughing at them both as Blake's 'aww' slipped out during her chuckling. They were all interrupted by the sound of the gate opening suddenly. They each scattered to different hiding spots as a very elegant car began to exit. All of the girls noticed who was sitting in the back, as there was no mistaking his mask; it was the Knight-General.

His masked ended right on the bridge of his nose and slowly descended down the sides of his face as it went right under his earlobes and wrapped around his neck. His hair was about four inches on the top, black, combed backward, with the sides and back all cut short. He had brown eyes, defined cheek bones, and one very small hooped earring in each ear. It looked as though he was wearing a normal, plain, grey t-shirt with a black leather jacket on over top. He only wore his leather jacket when he was going to battle. Even without being able to see anything else through the window of the car, the girls knew he was wearing his dark grey cargo pants, held up by a black belt, brown combat boots, and a pair of black leather gloves. Everything he wore was all form-fitting while still allowing for a full range of motion.

All of the clothing had all been embedded with omni-dust, a rare type of dust with an almost unlimited amount of energy. It was too expensive and rare for the world to use it as an energy source, but the few who could get their hands on it, took full advantage. And, somehow, the Knights never seemed to have a problem getting their hands on more. His clothing has many different compartments to hold any practical equipment he might need. He kept two pistols on the back of his waist, on his belt, loaded with dust rounds. In the seat next to him, however, they saw it; Deus Mortem, the Knight-General's personal sword.

No one truly knows what his weapon is capable of, it has only been seen in use in its present form, which is a rather large, two-handed sword. The Knight-General, of course, can wield it one-handed without any problems arising. Deus Mortem has a very thin space running down the middle of the blade, so many have hypothesized that it is capable of splitting into two swords, little more is known, however. This hypothesis does give credence to the namesake of the weapon: though Deus Mortem technically means 'God of Death' in Latin, it could also be the two names 'God' and 'Death' given to each of his two sword halves. The hilt of the sword was made from leather, and one could see two triggers directly underneath where the blade began. So, it is safe to assume that when separated, it can fire some sort of projectile. The blades then protruded upward, and about half way up, there was another separation between the blades, perpendicular to the space running down the center of the blade. Throughout the blade, one could see omni-dust embedded within the metal.

The car drove off as the girls were still gawking from their respective hiding spots. The gate finally managed to close, and the girls emerged and regrouped back in front of the gate.

"I've never seen so much omni-dust in my entire life, yet he wears it like an accessory." Weiss stated, rather awestruck.

"Jealous, princess?" Yang asked in her mocking tone.

"Yes, actually. That much omni-dust could power an entire city. And did you see that car?" Weiss asked as she began to compartmentalize everything she just saw.

"No kidding. It looks so elegant, but that thing is built like a tank." Blake said while surprisingly monotone.

"I wonder how many shots it would take to blast a hole through it?!" Yang askes to no one in particular. "Hey Rubes, could your sniper – Ruby?" Yang said after turning around, slightly panicking.

Weiss and Blake turned around also to find the absence of their team leader. They all began looking around the gate for her and tried to see if she was still in the tree where she hid earlier. Yang, nearly having a heart attack, was calmed when she heard her sister's voice, "I'm over here guys!"

Ruby's voice came from behind the wall of the Knight-General's estate. The other three girls quickly climbed to the top of the wall to see Ruby standing on the Knight-General's lawn.

"Ruby, do you know how much trouble you could get in if anyone finds you here?!" Weiss asked with genuine trepidation.

"But no one is allowed in here, which means it's the perfect place to train. I mean, when he goes out on hunts, he's usually gone for days, or even, weeks at a time." Ruby state nonchalantly.

"But what if he does come back soon? He's been known to defeat entire herds of Goliaths in mere moments." Weiss stated while looking to her other teammates for support.

"You believe that crap? I mean he's good, probably better than anyone else in the world, but even that seems like a bit much." Yang said as she hopped down next to Ruby. "Besides, my sis is right, this would be an ideal place to train."

"You can't be serious!" Weiss asserted.

Weiss looked over to Blake, who just glanced around his manor for a few seconds before hopping down as well. "I don't see any maids or butlers, no security…it's just empty. He probably only lets people in under his direct supervision. If we want a secluded place to train, there's no better spot." Blake said while looking up at the heiress.

"C'mon Weiss, I'll share my cookies with you tonight!" Ruby said playfully.

"Get down here Ice Queen, we need to train or else we just reorganized our dorm for nothing." Yang said with steadfast determination.

Weiss knew that she had lost this battle, and a Schnee never abandons their comrades. Reluctantly, she jumped down and stood next her team. "We had better not lose the Hunt." Weiss stated.

"Yaaaayy!" Ruby squealed as she tackled Weiss in a bear hug that would rival Yang's.

Yang, as though fate had called upon her, grabbed Blake, the other two hugging girls, and scooped them all into a huge bear hug. After letting them go, her determination was replaced by and ear-to-ear grin. She looked them all dead in the eyes, readied Ember Celica, and shouted, "Alright ladies, show me what you're made of!"