Chapter 12: The History of the Rider's Powers

Yang burst through her team's dorm room door. Everyone inside the room became startled at this sudden outburst. Ruby was the first to respond to Yang's semi-panicked face.

Ruby: "What is it Yang?"

Yang: "Another one of those small dragons attacked the building just now!"

Weiss: "I thought I heard something roar in the distance, but I wasn't sure. Wait, what do you mean attacked?!"

Yang: "It literally flew straight into the side of the building and tried to eat me!"

Blake: "So what happened?"

Yang: "Kai managed to save me just in time. He's currently fighting the beast."

Weiss: "We need to go get the professors now!"

Alex: "Already done lass."

Weiss jumped in surprise and turned around to see the other members of Kai's team currently standing at their door armed and ready with Professors Ozpin and Goddwitch behind them.

Yang: "So I'm assuming you guys heard it too."

Alex: "Nope. We saw the whole thing happen."

Yang: "You did?"

Alex: "We did lass, we did indeed."

Back with Kai…

The wyvern snapped its jaws at him hoping to take a hold of him, but it missed and Kai managed to punch it square in its lower jaw. The beast was sent back out of the wall and it temporarily plummeted down towards the ground. Kai saw this as an advantage and decided to jump after it and give it a beat down. When the dragon recovered from its sudden daze, Kai landed on top of its stomach, which caused the beast to accelerate faster towards the ground. The two eventually hit the bottom, and it wasn't a pleasant sight or sound. Kai was thrown off of the wyvern and he smacked right into a tree.

Kai: 'Well, there goes my spine…'

The wyvern slowly got up and shook itself of the dust and debris from the ground. Once it recovered, the beast turned its attention to the dazed assassin. It locked its sight onto Kai and growled lowly while slowly approaching him. Kai stood up and staggered a little before getting in a poor and sloppy fighting stance. Kai spit on the ground in front of him before wiping a small amount of blood that was in the corner of his mouth.

Kai: 'Alright you, I'm gonna make sure that I send your (censored) to the moon!

As Kai rushed at the wyvern, a barrage of images began to flash through his mind. He stopped and grabbed the side of his head as he continued to see images of buildings burning and hearing people in the background screaming and yelling in terror. He saw many people fighting against many dragons and other creatures he didn't recognize. The more vivid the pictures got, the more his headache grew. Right when the wyvern was about to bite his head off, another individual managed to step between the two and clock the flying reptile away from Kai. The said person was Shangzu.

Shangzu (not turning around): "What the hell were you thinking?"

Kai (grunting & groaning): "You try to fight with a headache this bad…"

Shangzu: "I was getting those images too this morning. It wasn't pleasant."

Kai got onto his knees and continued to clutch the side of his head.

Kai: "Yeah, they aren't pleasant. Damn…"

The wyvern recovered from the hit it took and roared at Shangzu who stood in front of Kai. Shangzu had a giant single edged sword on his back and two pistols holstered on either side of his waist. He grabbed the hilt of the sword and unsheathed it. The wyvern growled as it began to circle the two. Shangzu stood his ground hardly shifting much at all. The wyvern was trying to find an opportune moment so strike. Before it could react however, it was suddenly blown away from an explosion that occurred. Kai, who was slowly recovering from is migraine attack, turned around to see hit team, Team RWBY, Team JNPR, and Professors Goodwitch and Ozpin, along with Winter. Shangzu turned around and saw Ms. Goodwitch. He instantly went up to her and bowed. He then took her left hand and gave it a kiss. Ms. Goodwitch blushed at this action but immediately took her hand away from his grasp.

Kai: "How many times do I have to ask you about not flirting with my female teachers?"

Shangzu: "You've never said anything about it."

Kai: "I kinda have Shangzu."

Shangzu shrugged & replied: "I must've not heard you then."

Kai: "Unbelievable!"

Weiss: "Can't you too just get along?"

Shangzu/Kai (respectively): "Apparently not." "Hell no!"

Weiss: "Ugh!"

Yang: "That's how you and ruby were the first part of this last semester."

Weiss: "You're not helping Yang!"

Shangzu: "Watch it!"

The wyvern suddenly darted towards the group of hunters and huntresses. Kai rushed past Shangzu, who was in a defensive stance, and punched the wyvern in the face. The beast rolled away from the group, but recovered quickly and charged again. Kai charged as well and slid under the small beast as soon as the two were mere feet apart. Kai appeared behind the wyvern and picked up a rock nearby. Once the beast turned around, Kai threw the rock and it hit the beast in the eye. It roared in pain and began thrashing around. It spun around and whacked its tail right into Kai's gut. Kai was sent back towards the group while rolling around in the dirt.

Kai: "Ooof! (Rolling in the dirt.) That hurt like a (censored)."

Shangzu: "You didn't have any weapons you idiot."

Kai: "Yeah, ya think? Now I know not to do that…"

Shangzu: "Oh do ya?"

Kai: "Shut up."

Shangzu: "Alright, I was gonna help you up, but now…"

Kai quickly flipped himself back up and dusted himself off. He looked at his cousin dead in the eyes and then turned his attention back towards the still flailing reptile. Alex sighed and walked up to him with his weapons in hand. His other free hand was placed on Kai's shoulder and Kai turned around to be greeted with his weapons being shoved into his chest. Alex simply smiled and gave him a light pat on the back. Kai sighed and quickly got his gear on. As soon as he finished, the wyvern had stopped thrashing around and used its good eye to locate where Kai was. It saw him and immediately growled at him. Kai unsheathed his two swords and got in a battle stance. Ms. Goodwitch was about to interfere, but Professor Ozpin gently placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a look that said 'Let him be'. Ms. Goodwitch sighed and reluctantly relaxed from her stance.

The wyvern roared and flew in the air. Kai looked up and saw that the wyvern was planning on performing a series of aerial assault methods. Kai sheathed one sword and reached inside his hood and got out a grappling device. He shot the grapple at the side of a building, and launched himself toward it. Once he reached the building, he came to a stop and scanned for where the wyvern was. Turns out, the wyvern was watching him the whole time, and was currently heading straight towards him and a high speed. Kai barely dodged out of the way when the wyvern collided with the building. As he was falling, he shot the grapple again at the other building nearby and went towards its roof. Once he was there, he sheathed the other sword and reached for his duel pistols in his holsters.

The wyvern climbed out of the hole in the wall and located Kai. It roared again and flew towards the young assassin. Kai started shooting at the beast attempting to hit its wings. However the wyvern was a bit more agile than he thought, and he ended missing or hitting the reptile's armored scales. Right before the wyvern reached Kai, Shangzu stepped in between them again and kicked the wyvern in the face. The wyvern flew back a good few feet away from the two to regain its balance. Shangzu launched himself at the wyvern and managed to grab hold of it. He then started to mess with the puny dragon's wings causing it to descend towards the ground. The wyvern and Shangzu reached the ground and began to wrestle with one another. Kai saw this as an opportunity to strike. He ran off the cliff and performed a semi Leap of Faith. As he descended towards the ground, he drew out both of his swords and did a mid-air flip. He pointed the blades at the ground and the twin blades met the exposed beast's chest. Shangzu dodged out of the way before Kai reached the winged beast. The wyvern yelped in pain and then slowly faded out of consciousness. Kai sighed and pulled out the two swords out of the dead beast's underside.

Shangzu: "Well, it looks like you officially killed your first wyvern."

Kai looked up at his cousin, who was not casually leaning against the opposite wall.

Kai: "Not really an accomplishment if you ask me."

Shangzu: "True, but it was your first wyvern."

Kai: "Second really, but my first one killed. You helped with that."

Shangzu: " Kinda had to."

Kai: "No you didn't, but you chose to."

Shangzu: "Yeah, you have a point, but what kind of cousin would I be if I didn't help you?"

Kai: "What kind of cousin aren't you already."

Shangzu sweat dropped and replied: "Still holding a grudge huh?"

Kai: "It's been a day."

Shangzu: "Really? It feels like a month."

Kai face faulted after that comment.

Kai: "What the hell am I gonna do with you?"

At that moment, there was a sudden spark of electricity, which then became a series of electric lightning bolts coming down from the sky so suddenly. The sky got darker, and more storm clouds blocked out the sun. A giant bolt of lightning suddenly crashed down towards the center of the area they were currently at. Everyone had to cover his or her eyes for the flash was blinding. After a good thirty seconds, the lightning stopped and before them stood one of the mythical creatures of legends. In front of them was a white dragon with piercing blue eyes. It was definitely twice the size of the wyvern they had just fought earlier, but it wasn't nearly as enormous as Shangzu's companion they met yesterday. However, this particular dragon seemed to be more intimidating than Shangzu's dragon despite the obvious size difference between the two monstrous reptilians.

Yang (shocked): "What on Oum's green Remnant is that?"

Blake (stunned as well): "It… It appears to be a dragon."

Jaune (scared): "A-A-And a real o-o-one at that!"

Shangzu walked up towards the dragon and stopped a few meters away from it. The dragon noticed his presence and acknowledged him by turning and nodding in his direction.

Shangzu: "Is there word from the Almighty One?"

The dragon shook its head in a yes gesture and spoke aloud telepathically for everyone to hear.

?: 'Yes, the Almighty One speaks. Darkness is to befall this land soon. Many of the Fallen Dragons will dominate the earth and burn it into ash.'

Yang (while pointing): "It talks!"

Weiss: "Quiet Yang!"

Kai: "What do you mean Fallen Dragons? I do not understand this. Who's the Almighty One?"

Shangzu: "The one and only deity of Remnant. Monty Oum himself."

Kai: "You mean God?"

Shangzu: "Some call him God, others call him Oum, or the Creator, or the Almighty One."

Kai: "So the creator of this world is the 'Almighty One'?"

?: 'Yes Kai Tetsuya, and he has a request from you.'

Kai: "Me? Why me? I've done nothing that could possibly find favor with Oum himself."

?: 'He has seen your talents and skills, and he believes that you are the one capable of saving the world from total annulation. He is asking you to be the Protector of Remnant.

Kai: "Protector?"

?: "Yes. The Darkness shall rise again, and you, Kai Tetsuya, are humanity's last hope of survival.

Kai: "Why me? Why not my cousin? Why not Professor Ozpin, or anyone else?"

?: "Your questions will be answered in due time young assassin, but right now, you need to begin your Dragon Riding training. Your cousin's mentor will be assisting you on this journey. It will be hard, but you are humanity's last hope. In fact, you may be the Realm of the Dragons' last hope as well."

Kai stood in place and pondered a moment. All of this sounded like a giant responsibility for him. There was definitely going to be a lot of weight on his shoulders if he agrees to be this so-called "protector" of Remnant. Just then Pyrrha intervened.

Pyrrha: "Wait, Mr. Dragon.

?: 'Please young lady, don't call Mr. Dragon. It makes me feel old. Call me Dragoon.'

Shangzu: "Yeah? Well you are like two thousand or so years old Dragoon."

Dragoon: 'Silence youngling! You don't know what you speak of!'

Shangzu: "Youngling? I'm not one of your younglings! I'm in my twenties."

Dragoon: 'That is quite young in my book.'

Pyrrha interrupted: "Anyways, why is there a "Protector" needed for Remnant. I thought that was what the Maidens were for?"

Dragoon: 'The powers of the Maidens were indeed given to protect the world, but they were only limited. In fact, the history long forgotten from that tale is that the old man whom had shut himself away before the Four showed up, was a former Rider.'

Professor Goodwitch: "That's impossible. There is no part of that story of that old gentleman anywhere in Remnant."

Dragoon: 'And that is exactly what I mean Ms. Goodwitch. The history of that man was forgotten, because many didn't know where he "vanished". However in his later years, he disguised himself as an old farmer and hid away his secrets and powers. After the fall of the "Fallen One", he grieved many times because of the loss of his dragon in the times of the wars before that of the human and Faunus struggles. He noticed that after the Dragon Wars, people and Faunus were becoming too hostile towards each other for control of race dominance in the world. Rather than share his gifts and attempt to fix the world, "the old farmer" hid himself away from the world and all that was known of him was lost in the decades to come.

'However when the four Maidens came along, he noticed how some people have changed and they seek to make the world a better place. Because he was nearing the time of his death, he decided to give the Maidens their powers of Summer, Winter, Spring and Fall. However these powers were only mere fractions of his true capabilities. What was also lost was the part of history after the visit from the Four. A month after the Maidens encountered and left the "old farmer", another visitor came across this man's house and land. He found the farmer working on his crops while he passed along down the road. This young man was lost and decided to ask the man for directions to a nearby village.

'The kind "old farmer", whose heart had changed due to the four Maidens having visited him before this encounter, decided to help this young man. He invited him to his house and they sat and had some tea together. They talked like two strangers getting to know each other for the first time. Eventually the night came, and the youngster politely told the old man that he was to be on his way. However, before the old man let him leave, he gave the young man a book. A book that was long forgotten through the decades passed. The young man gladly accepted this gift and proceeded towards his destination. After fifteen minutes of having left the old man's house, he heard an explosion occur over his shoulder.

'The young man turned to see a huge fire running ablaze across the country side. He knew that the explosion occurred near the old man's place, if not at his place. He decided to run back and help this man. After the kindness the "old farmer" showed him, the young man couldn't simply leave him if he was in trouble. Little did he know, the farmer was going to die in minutes. When he returned back to the site, the young man looked around and saw that the old man's house, crops, and land were destroyed and burnt to a crisp. He was in a slight panic, and began to search for the old man. He removed stones, brick, wood beams, anything that the old man could've been under. After having searched for a good ten minutes, the young man was about to give up when he noticed two wooden doors on the floor underneath a crushed table and rugs.

'He never saw these two doors before when he was at the house moments earlier, but he decided to investigate it. He ascended down a set of stairs before coming across an underground room filled with old bookshelves, an old chest, a desk, and many other objects. In the middle of the room however he saw the "old farmer" bleeding from his head with a broken left arm. The man was slowly crawling towards the chest. The young man quickly ran up to him and helped him. The "old farmer" however jumped and tried to kick at him thinking it was one of his attackers. Once the old man stopped to see whom it was, he softened. The young man asked him what had happened, and the old man told him that a group known as the Templars moments after he left his house attacked him.

'He said that they demanded him to tell them what he told the young man. And he told them the truth, but they didn't believe him and began to beat him up. They then started to destroy his walls, his floors and other belongings to find the chest he was currently crawling towards. When the young man asked him about what was in the chest that the attackers needed, the old man told him the story and history about the Dragon Riders and the Protector, or Guardian, of Remnant. The man told him that he didn't believe in that story and other stories about the Riders that he had heard from others, but the "old farmer" gave him a key to open the chest. The young man hesitated, but he opened it saw what the contents where of the chest. There in the chest was a sword crafted by the best Rider Blacksmiths, several books and journals, a set of armor, and other minor things.

'The young man turned towards the old man who was leaning against one of the pillars watching the young man rummage through the chest. Moments after reading the journal entries and looking through the other contents of the chest, the young man's opinion about the Riders and the Guardian changed. He looked towards the "old farmer" and slowly walked up to him. Once he was at an arms length away from the "old farmer", he stopped in place. He instantly knew that he was the forgotten Guardian of Remnant. The "old farmer" told him that his hypothesis was correct and that the reason the Templars attacked him was because they were looking for him, but they didn't know that he was actually the man they were looking for. They only thought that he was associated with the Riders and the Guardian. The old Guardian was now dying because of his beat down from the Templars earlier, but before he died, he gave the young man another gift. It was the gift similar to that of the Maidens, but it was much more. The Guardian passed on his remaining powers to the young man.

'After his powers were transferred over the young stranger's body, the "old farmer" gave his last breath and died. The young man thanked him for his kindness once more, and buried him on that piece of land where the "old farmer" has lived for many years. After he buried the old man, he took the belongings in the chest and placed them all in his bag and other bags he managed to find through the wreckage. After that, he burned the underground library, and with his new powers, cleared away the destroyed site and replaced the burned ground with fresh grass, green plants, and a tree. To this day, that tree stands, and under that tree is the grave of that "old farmer". Years later, the young man managed to pass down his powers through twelve different disciples of his. They each had a share of the man's powers. However, they weren't recognized in the world, and usually remained hidden from the general population. For a time, the world seemed to be at a harmony and at peace.

'But of course, that all changed. One disciple became power hungry and tried to take all the power for himself. This disciple attacked his mentor and managed to steal the rest of his power. Little did the other eleven know, they were going to be the next targets for this power hungry thief. Of the eleven other disciples, there were only four that stood a chance against their corrupt comrade. After a major battle against the corrupted disciple, three of the four disciples fell at the hands of the corrupted. However before they all died, they gave their powers to their remaining comrade who swore to use his powers for the good of mankind and for the Faunus. After obtaining their powers, he got back up and fought his fallen comrade in an intense battle that lasted for so many hours. After a certain amount of time, the corrupted disciple seemed to be on the verge of victory. However from the depths of the earth appeared a dragon. The dragon was hidden throughout the decades after the Dragon Wars. He is the first dragon ever created by Oum himself. He rarely shows himself to anyone, including the rest of us dragons created after him.

'No one knows what happened to the first dragon ever created. However we do know that he helped the remaining disciple defeat the corrupted disciple and seal his powers away. This sealing however cost the energy of the remaining disciple and the first dragon. The First disappeared without a trace, and the disciple became the Guardian of Remnant. One recognized him as such, but it has been told in his journal entries that the First granted him more powers and that the First was the only one to recognize him as Remnant's Guardian. Since then, the powers of the Guardian have been passed on from generation to generation.'

Kai: "So you're saying that Shangzu & I have these powers?"

Dragoon: 'On the contrary Kai, I'm saying that you alone have these powers of the Guardian. Your cousin here only has a fraction of that power.'

Kai looked at Shangzu who merely shrugged at his cousin's questioning look.

Kai: "So what has come of the corrupter's power?"

Dragoon looked at him seriously & replied: 'It has been stolen and opened once again.'