Chief A/N: Hello again everyone! That's right, Vanguard is back and ready to go! Hope everyone enjoys the next arc of RWBY: Team Vanguard!

Chapter 18: Welcome Back

Nigel sat on his family's corporate airship back to Beacon, returning from his two weeks of break. He looked out the window and watched as Vale passed beneath, the city appearing so peaceful through all the current scandal that plagued the city. In all honesty, he was actually glad he was returning to Beacon, that he was going to be able to see his friends and his dear Velvet again. Home was always empty and lonely since his parents always chose work over family outings and events or even dinner. Beacon had basically become a home away from home, so he was more than happy to return.

Over the intercom, the pilot announced "Attention Mr. Holland, we are on approached to Beacon now." Nigel nodded and replied "Excellent! I shall gather my things and ready for the landing." Nigel wore a white shirt and blue jeans, choosing to go with a more relaxed selection of clothing as opposed to his wardrobe of last semester. He picked up a blue leather jacket that had his nation's flag, Union Jack, on the back of it and threw it on. His jacket was a special order since it was infused with Earth Dust, making it more durable than most clothing.

He picked up his duffle bag and his weapon, Edgar's Revenge, along with the newly modified ammo backpack. It was lighter weight and smaller since it was simply a backpack, so it was easier to break but made him a little more nimble than before. The airship docked at Beacon and Nigel started to make his way off the airship, one of the servants of the Holland family attempted to take his baggage from his since it was their job. Nigel pulled his duffle bag away from them and urged "No, no. Allow me to care for my own belongings. Don't want the rest of the school to think I'm pampered." The servant nodded and stepped back onto the airship, allowing Nigel to exit and clear the airship.

Nigel waved as the airship took off and flew back to his family's home, leaving Nigel at the most prestigious of schools for huntsman and huntresses. He readjusted his ammo bag and started walking towards the school, happy to return to the room of a metal queen sized bed, 3 wooden frame twin beds and four Blackhound Grimm pups. He walked through the doors, moving around the groups of students that were busy catching up to move out of the way. The walk was a bit, but he eventually made it to his room and unlocked the door with his scroll. He opened the door to find Kira sitting in the middle of the floor with the Grimm pups cuddled up to her legs and napping peacefully.

Kira put her finger to her lips as she gently petted one of the pups, the Blackhound shifting a bit under her hand. Nigel slowly closed the door and set his duffle bag on his bed, looking at Kira with a raised eyebrow as she would shift to each pup and pet them. He was about to leave to put his weapon in his locker, but the pups must've caught his scent since they woke up and started to actually bark at him in a happy way. Nigel immediately went to one knee and started petting the pups to get them to stop barking since very few people actually knew that the pups were there. The pups all sitting and waiting for their turn to be pet, acting more like trained dogs rather than Grimm.

Nigel looked at Kira and questioned "So how was your break, Kira?" Kira smiled and replied "It was nice and peaceful. The pups were well behaved and enjoyed their time out in the forest."

"So, how did you come to take care of the pups while we were away?"

"Before Alexi left I walked in and saw the puppies. He was just going to just leave them here and let them run amok so I offered to take care of them."

Nigel nodded and exclaimed "That was very nice of you. I'm glad someone took care of the pups while we were away. Did you happen to tell anyone about them?" Kira shook her head and replied "No, I figured you guys wanted to keep your pets a secret."

"Yes. I'm sure we would have to get rid of them if anyone found out. Thank you for taking care of them."

Kira smiled her new wide smile that she had acquired during her time at Beacon, the shy girl that had an anxiety of even talking to anyone almost non-existent. She stood up and sighed "Well, I should probably get back to my room. Nabuya will throw a fit if she doesn't see me when she gets back from home." Nigel chuckled and agreed "I'm sure she would. Enjoy your day, Kira."

"You too Nigel."

Kira gave the Blackhound pups one last pat on each head before leaving the room, all of the pups focusing on Nigel. Nigel started patting heads and chuckling "It's good to see you pups again."

Airships continued to dock and unload students returning to Beacon, one standing out… or more accurately, standing over. Victor Roman, exchanging his Grimm bone armor for a red hoodie with the sleeves torn off and a black shirt with his family symbol, the face of a wolf with a crescent moon backdrop in silver, on the front. His not short brown hair was still spiked but was short enough to reveal his brown wolf ears that would twitch every once in a while. His blue jeans were still dirty and scuffed from fighting and training and his boots a dirty brown. Next to Victor stood his sister, Selena "Grey" Roman, along with her massive broadsword, Storm Breaker, on her back.

Grey was wearing a grey t-shirt with a white jacket that would only cover the upper half of her torso. Her grey hair had been cut over the break, her hair now just above her shoulders as opposed to the center of her upper back. She was wearing black pants along with Black combat boots and her Dust belt around her waist. Her grey wolf ears and wolf tail displayed openly like she always did. Victor took a deep breath and sighed "It's good to be back." Grey rolled her green eyes and replied "We never really left. We were in Vale the entire time."

"Not the entire time. We went to the beach for a few days. You got that tan for Dev."

Grey turned and exclaimed "It was not for Dev. What if I'm trying to get the attention of someone else?" It was Victor's turn to roll his eyes, which he did, and questioned "So the person you were texting the entire time wasn't Dev?"

"Shut up. Weren't you up every night texting Pyrrha?"

"Shut up."

Victor picked up the pace and easily made his way through the crowd due to his size, Grey following him since he made it easy to go through a crowd. Grey jumped and grabbed the back of his hoodie, her feet no longer touching ground as Victor walked. "Come on Big Guy. You can tell me, did Pyrrha send you tit pics?" Grey exclaimed. Victor stopped, reaching back and grabbing Grey's arms and pulled her in front of him. Grey noted the extremely irritated look on Victor's face as he exclaimed "That is none of your business."

Grey groaned "Come on Vic. Pyrrha has a serious set on her, so don't be greedy." Victor had a look on his face that signaled he was done talking and dropped Grey before continuing to walk to the school. Grey laughed "What's the matter Big Guy? Still absolutely nowhere with her?" Victor continued walking, picking up his pace a bit. Grey couldn't help but stop and laugh since she knew how much Victor liked Pyrrha and how he was never good at flirting.

Grey took a moment to catch her breath and heard a familiar female voice call "Grey!" She turned to see her partner, Kristine Lykos, pushing through the crowd to make it to her friend. Grey ran herself and met her friend, the two hugging as soon as they met. "It's so good to see you Kris!" Grey cheered as the two hugged. Kris let go of Grey, but kept her hands on her shoulders and replied "It's good to see you too. I've missed my best girl friend."

"I've missed you too. So, if you're here…"

Kris rolled her mismatched green and yellow eyes and exclaimed "Yes, Dev is around here somewhere." Grey smiled, thinking about Dev making her eyes turn pink, and replied "I can find him another time, but right now I want to talk to my bestie." Kristine giggled and said "Right. Anyway, I love what you did with your hair!"

"Thank you! I had it done at this nice salon right here and Vale. We should take the team there!"

"Really? That sounds great!"

"I know. You look great by the way, and you've got a really cute outfit."

Kris stepped back, letting Grey get a better look at the dark gray button up shirt and blue jeans. Kris questioned "You really think it's cute?" Grey scoffed and answered "Total lady boner right now. Trying to catch some attention?"

"Maybe… did Victor talk about me at all?"

Grey sighed and regretfully answered "No. He spent most of his time talking to Pyrrha." Kris leaned her head back and groaned "Ugh. I guess that explains why it would take forever for him to text me back."

"Here. I got something that will draw his attention to you a little more."

Grey quickly reached out and unbuttoned two more buttons on Kris' shirt, displaying a large amount of cleavage but not enough to deem slutty. "Bingo. You may not have assets like Pyrrha, but you gotta make them pop." Grey exclaimed as she crossed her arms. Kris looked down at her now increased show of cleavage and then back up at Grey, who looked like she was drinking in the sight of her chest. "Grey!" Kris called to regain Grey's attention, Kris noting that Grey's eyes were pink for a second but shifted back to green upon looking back up. "Right!" Grey exclaimed as she focused on Kris. "Let's find Vic show you can show off your girls!"

Kris raised an eyebrow and chuckled "Right. So let's drop our stuff off in our rooms and weapons in our lockers." Grey nodded and added "And we'll probably run into Victor along the way." The two re-shouldered their bags and headed towards the school, ready to begin once again.

Victor dropped his bag in the room, said hi to the pups since he grew fond of the little pups, and headed to the locker room to put his weapon away. He walked in with his battle ax, Defensor, on his back and approached his locker, seeing Dev pulling a new looing weapon off his back. It resembled his long sword, Red Queen, but it look massively modified. The blade looked like it had been modified into a barrel and the guard was turned into the chamber. Victor opened his locker and exclaimed "Looks like Red Queen got an upgrade this break."

Dev closed his locker and answered "Yeah. Modified Red Queen to dual purpose as a sniper rifle. You modify Defensor any?" Victor took his axe off his back and set it in the locker, responding "Just that the barrel slash grip extends father than normal, so I can use it as a halberd if need be." Victor put his weapon away and closed his locker door, seeing Deveraux standing by him with a look of neutral expression. Dev was wearing his usual dark trench coat worn open and the tails nearly dragging on the floor with a dark blue shirt underneath. His pants were a dark blue, held up by a belt with two holsters that were empty, so Judge and Executioner were in the locker.

Dev's eyes stared into Victor's gold eyes, the two almost seeming like they were in a staring contest. Victor was the first to break and smiled, greeting "It's good to see you man." Victor held out his hand for Dev to shake, who smiled and shook as he replied "Good to see you too man. Have a good break?"

"It was pretty good. Chatted with a lot of people over the break."

"Including Pyrrha?"

Victor rolled his eyes and responded "Yes, Including Pyrrha. Also Blake and Kris so you can't give me shit." Dev laughed and pointed out "I will always give you shit for something."

"True. So… you talk to Grey during the break?"

Deveraux shrugged and replied "Yeah. Issue?" Victor shook his head and sighed "It really doesn't matter if I have any issues with the two of you. All I know is Grey was always smiling whenever she texts you." Dev looked to the side, a small smile working across his face as he proclaimed "That's good to know. So have you finally picked a girl? Or are you still too chicken shit to ask Pyrrha out?" Victor dropped his head and groaned "Chicken shit."

"Wow. Never expected you to admit that."

"Well, I did. My mind goes blank whenever I talk to her. I just get lost in those radiant green eyes of hers."

Dev chuckled and shook his head and sighed "Dude, you've been bitten by the love bug… and you got it bad." Victor quickly defended "Hey, I like her. But I wouldn't go so far as to say I love her." Dev shrugged and exclaimed "You can bury those feelings as much as you want, they will explode eventually."

"Whatever. I'm gonna go unpack. Later."

Victor turned and walked out of the locker room, heading towards his room to unpack. As he was walking, he ran into Grey and Kris, who were headed to the locker room themselves. Kris' eyes lit up as she saw Victor and cheerfully greeted "Hey Victor! Good to see you again!" Victor smiled and replied "Good to see you… too…" His sentence trailed off as he noticed Kris'… assets since they were pretty visible.

Kris smirked and leaned forward a bit, questioning "Is something wrong?" Victor caught himself staring again and responded in an embarrassed way "I, um, no. Nothing wrong. So, how was your break?" Grey rolled her eyes and told Kris "I'll be heading to the locker room. Later Kris, Big Guy." She patted Victor's arm and left the two alone, Victor's eyes constantly glancing at Kris' cleavage. Kris held her arms out and stretched, pushing her chest out as she responded "it was pretty fun. Chilled with Devy a lot and chatted with my parents. What about you?"

Victor, again, was staring at Kris' chest and wasn't paying attention, so he responded "Wha? Oh, yeah. Tons of fun… seeing Mom and little Marie again." Kris put her hands on her hips, happy that she was able to have Victor's attention for once in her time of flirting with him. "So… what are you doing later today?" Kris questioned as she crossed her arms. Victor did his best to focus and replied "Just going to unpack and probably catch up with everyone. You?"

"Probably the same. Well, I'm going to drop off Crystal and Striker in the locker room. I'll see you around Victor."

Kris winked at Victor and walked around him, Victor following her with his eyes until she entered the locker room. Victor shook his head and started heading back towards his room, his mind in a bit of a haze.

Grey walked into the locker room and spotted Dev sitting on a bench, his elbows resting on his knees and his chin on his fingers. Grey took a seat next to Dev, thinking that he appeared to be thinking about something very hard. She sat quietly and waited for Dev to move, his head slowly turning towards her, brown eyes looking her up and down. Dev finally spoke, pointing out "You changed… a lot. Clothes and hair?" Grey straightened up, flicking a bit of her now shortened hair and questioning "Yep. What do you think?"

Dev looked a bit longer and answered sarcastically "Well, I think you look great." He stood up and patted her shoulder, walking out of the locker room and leaving her alone. Grey watched him walk out and then she looked down at herself, at her new clothing and ran her fingers through her short hair. Grey muttered to herself "Was it something I changed? Did I do something wrong?" Grey sat there a little bit longer, trying to figure out what she changed that Dev didn't like.

Kris walked in and noted Grey was sitting on a bench, her eyes now a blue as opposed to the usual pink in Dev's presence. Kris took a seat next to Grey and put a hand on her shoulder, Grey immediately stating "What did I change that Dev didn't like?" Kris tilted her head, one wolf ear going down while the other perked up, questioning "What happened?"

"I just… I just sat next to him and asked him what he thought of my new look and he just…"

"What did he do?"

Grey leaned forward on her knees and finished "He said that I look great in a really sarcastic way. Did… did he mean that I don't? That he doesn't like the changes I made? What if… what if he doesn't like me anymore?" Kris wrapped her arms around Grey and comforted "He's probably got something on his mind. Plus he's always a sarcastic so I wouldn't take it personally." Grey covered her eyes with her hands and took a deep breath, responding "He was never sarcastic with me, especially being sarcastic about how I look."

"Well, you can talk to him later and maybe he'll have something better to say."

Grey wiped her eyes and sighed "Should I have cut my hair? I mean, I thought it looked cute." Kris urged "It does look cute. Look, if Dev doesn't like how you look then he can shove it." Grey's eyes flashed red for a moment as she stood up and stated "Yeah! Deveraux Mercer can shove it!" Kris jumped up and exclaimed "Yeah!"

"I don't need him! I can get any guy or girl I want!"

"Ye- wait what?"

Grey spun towards Kris and suggested "How about we go get Kira and Nabuya and head into town for a girl's night?" Kris had an eyebrow raised and replied "Yeah, sure. I could use some girl time."

"That's great! Let's get Kira and Nabuya and head out!"

Grey grabbed Kris' hand and pulled her out of the locker room, heading towards their room with smiles on their faces.

Alexi shouldered his bag and walked off the airship with the last of the students that were returning to Beacon. Since he was from the far north near Atlas, travel even by airship took a large amount of time, excluding the fact that he missed his original time in the early morning so he caught a later flight. As he was walking, he heard a familiar voice call "Alexi! What's up?" He turned to see Yang walking at a quick pace to catch up with him, a smile on her face as she finally caught up to him. Alexi smiled and questioned "What are you doing here so late? Don't you live close by?"

Yang shrugged and replied "Yeah, but Ruby and me chose to chill at home a bit longer. Sucks though, I like lounging around and doing nothing." Alexi laughed and agreed "Same here. Brought my game station with me this time. Probably post up in one of the common areas with a 12 pack and drink while gaming."

"Doesn't that sound like the dream. Care for one more?"

"Sure. Getting drunk alone just sounds kinda sad."

Yang laughed and replied "No, going home alone is sad, or you're in a relationship." Alexi rolled his eyes and replied "Either way. So I'm guessing that you had a fun break?"

"Fuck yeah. Didn't really leave the couch so I just sat around in my underwear."

"Bet your parent's loved that."

Alexi noted the small silence and looked over at Yang, seeing her happy demeanor lessen a bit. Alexi thought for a second and questioned "I'm guessing that it has something to do with your parents?" Yang took a deep breath and replied "Well, kinda. Dad is still around but mom… not so much."

"Damn. I'm sorry."

Yang had a small smirk on her face and replied "It's fine. I never really knew my mom, but I do miss Summer sometimes." Alexi looked at Yang with a raised eyebrow and questioned "Summer?"

"Yeah, Ruby's mom. My mom kinda disappeared when I was really young. Then Dad met Summer Rose and had Ruby, but Summer went out on a mission and just… didn't come back."

Yang stopped for a moment, looking like she was about to cry so Alexi put a hand on her shoulder and comforted "It's okay. I know what you're feeling." Yang looked at him and questioned "Really?"

"Yeah. My "parents" aren't mine and my sister's real parents, they're our adopted parents. She was about 4 at the time so I doubt she really remembers, but we were in a car crash that killed our birth parents. I know how it feels to lose family."

Yang wiped her eyes and sighed "I'm sorry about your parents, but it's nice to talk with someone who knows how it feels." Alexi patted her shoulder and attempted to lighten the mood by exclaiming "So I got the new Galaxy Battles: Warzone. Figured we could give that a try." Yang smiled again and said "I heard that game was really good. Just let me know when I'll be there." The two continued their walk until they entered the school, dispersing to their rooms and meeting up with teammates.

Chief A/N: Heyo! Looks like the next off is off to a good start. Remember, PM to me (ChiefD3m0n1c), SOVIETxEAGLE or roosterteethfanatic or review with any thoughts comments or concerns. Until the next update!