Sons of the Desert

by RebornEmps

Remnant holds tragedies in every corner you turn but even in tragedy, hope appear. From the wild Frontier of Vacuo, there exists a group of wandering bounty hunters who have been through the thick of world. After a series of events have led them to Vale, the group seek refuge by passing as students in Beacon, adjusting to their lives as students and the criminal plots in the city.

2. Chapter 1: New beginnings

Disclaimer: This story contains graphic content description, so be mindful of reading at your own pace. I do not own RWBY; this is merely a fan story. Hope you enjoy.

UPDATE: I gave this chapter a bit of polish in terms of the second half. I rushed this chapter due to having to change the structure. Originally it was meant to follow the sequence of the original Volume 1... Until I gave it some thought and decided to follow Ice Queendom's better structure of events but expect a better fight sequence. And don't worry, the next chapter is almost done.

Arc 1: Academy Life luxury

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August 4th, 94 A.G.W. - Mt Glenn, East Sanus - 2:45 P.M.

It had been a couple of hours since the traveling group's pit stop at the abandoned city of Mt. Glenn. The group had expressed their thoughts earlier on, after having driven away just as the Grimm swarmed the plaza. And the remaining White Fang forces retreated in the same hurry manner as they. It was quite an unexpected way to start the day.

Despite the White Fang reversing their plan of resting on the abandoned city, Kino pointed out that at least they got to see how the Faunus cell operated outside of Vacuo, even though they failed to do so. Though at the moment he didn't engage in conversation, preferring to focus on safely driving.

Sigma was busy looking through the recovered files, thoroughly examining the system logs. A relaxing pastime to keep his mind sharp and adept at investigating and cataloging data. Especially one that will be used later for personal uses of their own to do some... unsanctioned selling.

Aurelio was the most enthusiastic out of the four, first showing enthusiasm for beating the Faunus Terrorists and sending them running. However, he pouted at having been left out of the fight. Given that his skills could have been used to do more than sneak around to take out the pilots by surprise.

In addition, Orion had taken the time to read the profiles submitted to Beacon, making sure everyone remembered the key pieces of information included into the admissions scripts. A group of young adults and a teen travelling for the purpose of a better opportunity at a Huntsman career than in Vacuo.

This was a pretty reasonable cover-up, especially for a group of their size and skill, used to dealing with outlaw Huntsmen, ambitious cartels, as well as other bounty hunters trying to make a living along with them. When compared to the jobs carried out in the desert wasteland, facing the White Fang was undoubtedly just an average day compared to their lives back home.

In a calmer mood, Orion closed the files containing their identities, placing them back in a folder within the vehicle trunk. He started the engine, the sound of the vehicle echoing through the desert night. He drove off, the headlights illuminating the lonely desert path ahead. His mission was complete. Though the sight of their supplies made him cringe as he took a deep breath over their diminishing amount of food.

"Our supplies should last for a couple of days more, but I'd rather eat charred sand than continue to gobble down these instant meals." Orion placed his arm over the seat, turning to see the rations left over from the almost month-spanning travel, being mostly bags of instant food.

His glance is drawn away by Aurelio reaching out for a bag of dry jerky with half of its contents eaten. With quiet crunching Aurelio passed around the bag of chewy strips of meat, Orion frowned slightly, declining the offer as he rubbed his chin, Sigma shook his head refusing the chips from the front seat and Kino grabbed a handful while keeping an eye ahead before addressing the situation. "Then we will have to figure out breakfast for tomorrow."

"On that matter, I shall leave this here should any of us wake up earlier than the rest, they can use it for breakfast." Sigma pulled a stack of Lien, motioning everyone to pay attention to his solution.

He placed it carefully on top of the cooler, wrapping it around the container handle. Making sure it stayed on it before turning to address the rest of the group inside the vehicle. Kino eyed the amount of Lien left around for whoever wakes up first the next day when they arrive at Vale.

"Well, that solves one problem."

August 5th, 94 A.G.W. - Vale, East Sanus - 8:22 A.M.

Amidst the warming and rising morning, the sun shone over the emerald city. A fresh new day in the lives of the citizens choosing to spend their day in this pristine Kingdom. And to the group of traveling hunters, it was their appointed day to get to Beacon academy for the new lifestyle ahead of them.

Parked in a multistory building, the immobile armored vehicle rested after its long voyage, affectionately named Big Bertha. Within its confines, the group slept through the morning, quietly resting in their seats as the new day arrived.

Aurelio tugged on a cover as he shook himself awake and with a quiet yawn, the Faunus teen sat up and licked his lips drowsily. The teenage boy slowly lifted the blanket over his body while scratching one of his horns, trying to get himself awake as he purred onto his hand before folding the cover that sheltered him from the cold night in a neatly made fold.

Once the young teen Faunus had set the blanket beneath the seat, he lazily stretched out to pick up the Lien and store it away in his pockets. With careful movements he stepped out of the car without waking the rest of his group, noting how most of them were sound asleep. Taking in the fresh air of the morning the breeze graced his roughened skin, a feeling similar to that of a sharp edge scratching him. It was something he wasn't used to, never in his life has he had the chance to visit the kingdoms outside of the Red Sea.

Sure, the Kingdom of Vacuo was a notable exception, but the desert city felt more like a stronghold that stood the test of time and Grimm. Being in Vale was like stepping into a maze of tight spaces and narrow roads, along with buildings decorated in pale tones trying to convey warmth. But for now, he had to deal with it, seeing that they'd be heading in the heart and pride of this kingdom.

Regardless of his mixed feelings about the city, Aurelio moved down the large multistory building, taking the time to take in the view of the buildings surrounding the multistory. When he reached the street, he calmly pulled out the map of the city's district to orient himself amidst the endless streets and twisting corners within Vale.

Choosing to walk alongside the street instead of taking the alleys, the teen began a calming stroll through Vale's commercial district, wanting to see in detail the many businesses open to customers in this day. Every store drew his interest, all presenting themselves with a theme of home and open air. Even a simple food stand invoked a sense of familiarity to anyone willing to approach.

Although he was eager to buy from every store he came across, he prioritized the needs of his team. The commercial district has many restaurants and venues that are capable of serving succulent meals for breakfast. However, Aurelio saw that the lavishly decorated food was more eye-catching than nutritional in this early morning setting.

It took some getting used to the vibrant streets, buildings highlighted by holographic lights and working cars. The city was built to be beautiful to the eye, a mix of modern architecture and innovative technologies improved certain aspects. However, despite its beauty every place in the world has its fair share of secrets.

Having travelled for half an hour around the lavishing district, Aurelio groaned frustratedly in his failure to find a proper place to buy adequate breakfast, having the biggest frown present while fighting a need to get back to sleep.

About to give up and buy prepared meals from a convenience store, he came to a halt at a crossroads to a locale that caught his attention. Across the road in front of him a simple yet appealing a Diner welcomed him with the smell of freshly cooked meals, "Wonder Dust Diner".

"Oh, this is definitely the place!" Just when he was about to cross the street to enter the Diner, a tanned skin man kicked out a pair of Faunus who had entered the establishment earlier. The Faunus hurryingly left, clearly soaked in a hot liquid staining their clothes.

"Get out of here! I don't want any trouble with you animals! Didn't you see the sign?" The man pointed to various posters and even neon signs plastered on his diner's opaque windows showing that the establishment and its employees weren't quite welcoming of Faunus, especially with a poster stating: "No Faunus allowed". In short, this was an anti-Faunus establishment refusing to serve any clientele beyond humans.

"So, the emerald city isn't as pristine as they make it out to be? Talk about false advertisement." Aurelio mentally joked in a rather... mocking manner compared to his usual tone for joking around. In spite of seeing his fellow Faunus being mistreated, Aurelio maintained composure as if it were something he saw every day.

Once the coast was clear, Aurelio calmly crossed the street and made his way to the entrance of the diner, walking over a small two-step entryway to the establishment. Opening the door to the diner, he was greeted with the ring of a small bell announcing his entry into the place, certainly making some patrons turn from their meals to notice the young Faunus teen. His presence souring the mood as the waiters behind the bar almost collectively groaned at the sight of another Faunus choosing to ignore the signs outside. One of the waiters rushed to the back to tell the manager, before any further altercations broke out and damaged the restaurant's reputation... Besides the obvious dislike for Faunus.

Walking slowly onto the dining bar, Aurelio greeted the quiet patrons with a kind wave before sitting down on a barstool facing the menu and desserts kept in the clear display counter, already imagining the sweetness of the cakes offered.

Unfortunately, the sight of the desserts was blocked by the manager, presenting himself with a clear annoyed tone. "Hey, didn't you see the signs outside?"

"Hey, can I get today's special for three and some Solitas-toast? All for takeout, please and thank you." Aurelio replied calmly, ignoring the dismissive sneers of the workers trying to get him to leave. Focusing on the chalkboard menu, Aurelio was certainly appealed by the range of dishes the establishment sold while ignoring the stares of the other customers disturbed by his presence in the establishment acting nonchalantly.

"Hey, handles. We don't serve your kind; I suggest you leave before things get aggressive." The manager leaned on Aurelio's personal space trying to use his size as a tactic of intimidation while keeping his eyes fixed on maintaining a menacing glare to it.

Aurelio slowly eyed the man threatening him, feeling the unwarranted aggression riling in the air with two more patrons of the establishment standing up from their tables, frowning towards the young teen while waiting for the manager to kick Aurelio out if he doesn't comply. "Hmm, that's a valid reason to leave... If it wasn't for a tiny itsy bitsy little detail."

"And what's that?" The manager slowly reached out for the coffee pot across the counter as he kept his gaze on Aurelio sitting just in front of him so casually.

"I don't listen to bastards." Aurelio snidely commented with a youthful smile, clearly pissing off the racist manager intentionally. This condescending attitude broke his last straw of patience. Within just a couple of seconds, chaos spread across the diner as the two patrons immediately stood up from their tables and the manager lunged the full coffee pot towards Aurelio.

In a whim, the world around Aurelio seemed to slow down to a crawl, tuning out the colors of everything but himself. The three men hoping to teach a lesson to the unruly Ram Faunus moved as if time progressed slowly, still focused on reaching the young teen. Getting up from the seat, Aurelio examined the scene in detail now that his Semblance had activated, his perception of time had slowed down to the point everyone beside him stood still. By supercharging his reflexes faster than the eye could track the teen Faunus proceeded to enact a "harmless" prank.

With a gleeful humming, Aurelio walked over to the two men bent on kicking him out of the establishment, carefully redirecting them to now face each other, unaware of their new trajectory. To add some spice to the situation, Aurelio moved their respective right arms outward, positioning them as if they were about to land a punch on their faces. Earning a satisfying smile at his own work, Aurelio inspected the sunglasses of one his assailants, curiously trying them out before storing them in the back pocket of his pants, now moving to the instigator of the situation.

It seems the tanned skin manager was amidst throwing the steaming coffee over to where Aurelio once held his seat, displaying a clear expression of disdain in an attempt to teach the Faunus his place... How unfortunate the opposite was occurring. Vaulting over the counter Aurelio carefully considered how to deal with the rude manager. A wide grin spread across his face as he pushed the man to an open space behind the counter before proceeding to wedgie the man, lifting him by the waistline of his pants with a strong grip.

Once his work was all finished, he grabbed a coffee cup scooping the liquid in mid-air and sitting back on the barstool, eager to watch the ensuing chaos unfold with his Semblance deactivating. The colors of the world around him returned along with the flow of movement speeding back to normality, giving a moment of silence before the catastrophe hit.

The two patrons that had stood up lunged at each other with a heavy momentum dragging their fists onto their faces in an instantaneous exchange of blows, knocking them to the floor without realizing what just happened. The manager got instantly lifted in the air, doing an uncontrollable roll before landing back-first against the floor with a heavy thud and becoming drenched in hot coffee.

The entire altercation instantly died out as the troublesome group groaned on the floor, unable to process how they instantly got knocked out in a flash. Taking a small sip of the coffee, Aurelio calmly exhaled at the bitter taste of the caffeine-filled drink and slowly turned towards the confused and shocked waiter. "Sooo... can I get my order for takeout?"

The waiter tensed up momentarily from the question before messily nodding and heading back to the kitchen area to get his order, wanting the entire ordeal to be over. After a couple of minutes, the waiter returned with Aurelio's order in a bag with the diner's logo, though the staff nervously approached Aurelio given what he did to the unwelcoming patrons. But instead of another mess, the young Faunus smiled gratefully, grabbing the bag carefully while putting out enough Lien to pay for the takeout and any damage he may have caused. "Thank you for your service. I'll be sure to come back on a better day!"

With a joyful wave, Aurelio walked out of the diner casually, as if nothing had transpired within the establishment. Before he could return to his friends, he took one last glance at the signs warning Faunus customers to leave, before using his Semblance once more to change the unwelcoming sign to haphazardly say: "MOre Faunus allowed." The change got a chuckle out of him, a small yet satisfactory sensation of dealing with unwelcoming patrons.

After a good thirty minutes of walking back to their temporary stop, Aurelio returned to the parked vehicle at an opportune time, since his teammates were beginning to wake up after the lengthy drive of yesterday. The collective sleepiness of the other three gradually faded out with the smell of warm and prepped breakfast delivered by the young teen.

The breakfast Aurelio got for the three of them was a simple but delicious dish of scrambled eggs alongside a sandwich bountifully stuffed with salmon. While Aurelio had to himself five sweet pieces of bread dipped in sugar and cinnamon sprinkled over it. It was safe to say that it was a refreshing meal after weeks of enduring instant meals, giving the four a commendable breakfast for having travelled so far.

Without wasting any more time, the group began to prepare themselves for the day ahead, kicking things off by driving out of the multistory building. Sigma retrieved the map of the city from Aurelio to find the most suitable road from their current location to the Skyport that would be picking up people seeking to enroll at the famous Beacon Academy. Presumed to be the better academy out of the four major ones, seeing as it held a distinguished reputation for taking anyone willing to take the chance to improve themselves.

However, the glory and fame of becoming Huntsmen wasn't why the current group had chosen to travel so far from home. They weren't here to become Huntsmen, rather to lay low for the time being after a deal went wrong, so they had to disappear for a while. Shade Academy was out of the question given that large portions of West Sanus can easily identify them, so Beacon was chosen for its distance, comfort, and liberties within student grounds, along with keeping the armored vehicle in use.

Taking the main road, the group began to head towards the Skyport where they would board the first ship to the academy. It seemed like a solid plan for them... Except for the fact that they can't just leave Big Bertha behind. They could have driven to Beacon since last night, if the damned school had accessible roads that didn't take too long. Seriously, who had the brilliant idea of placing it near a cliff and behind the mountains? Speaking of which...

"Since we're taking the fancy skybarge to the fancier Beacon, what are we going to do with BB?" Aurelio questioned while finishing his breakfast, savoring every bite left.

"I'll see to what to do about it once I drop you guys off. Vale's gotta be big enough to get this old lady across the Kingdom." Kino volunteered for the issue at hand, recognizing that driving to Beacon will be a lengthy trip on road.

"She's tough, not old!" Orion retorted, shooting Kino a displeased look over his comment. To which their driver rolled his eyes before complying with the bruiser of the group.

Aurelio peaked his head in between Kino and Sigma, curious about their current predicament. "You got a plan boss?"

"No but I'm sure I'll figure something out." There was no rush to get to their destination, given that the initiation would be held tomorrow morning. A day to arrive at Beacon, spend the rest of it getting to know the place before partaking the test the next day. So time was on their side.

"I got something in mind, but it'll probably take me a while to get it done." Orion dragged Aurelio back to his seat while alluding to finding a solution once He drops off the rest at the Skyport.

"You sure, Orion? We could use your people's skills." Taking a turn Kino asked, getting the hang of driving around enclosed spaces than the open terrains of the Frontier.

"Sure I'm sure, I trust you three can last a couple of hours without causing trouble."

"Of course, Orion, it's not like we'll blow up the school." Aurelio casually waved off the worries in his usual self, hiding a mischievous grin.

Yet the big man of the group saw through him, turning with a blatant look of disapproval. "I mean it. It'd be nice to have our cover last more than a day."

Aurelio scoffed at the insinuation with a mischievous snicker before sinking back to gaze at the passing streets. Despite some small discussion the group settled on Orion's plan, easing themselves into sightseeing what the city offered in the meantime.

Along their ride the radio tuned into the news, a little something to keep them entertained, hearing about today's weather along with the coverage of any news from the previous night and ones that were developing in the morning. Everything seemed to be quite normal until the radio began speaking of an altercation that happened earlier on the day inside a diner named Wonder Dust.

Upon hearing the name of the dining establishment, Sigma and Orion slowly gazed into the empty bag with the aforementioned diner's logo. Turning their relaxed stares to blank ones before shifting their gaze towards Aurelio, who was swaying from side to side and smiling innocently as if he didn't have anything to do with it. Even Kino peered from the rear-view mirror, despite his mask covering his face, he had a noticeable frown with a face expressing an all-too familiar "Really?"

Vale Transport Airship-757, Vale - 11:30 P.M.

After an hour of travelling across Vale's winding streets, the group had arrived at the designated Skyport with their luggage in hand and weapons stored away. Once their personal bags were taken care of, Orion drove off to his supposed solution, leaving the rest of the group to find and board the transport that'll take them to Beacon. Upon finding the gate leading to the transport, the group entered a large airship modeled after a cruise ship with the addition of four wings used to steer rather than float.

Once onboard the vessel, it took some time before the crowds of soon-to-be students got inside the ship, slowly taking off from the Skyport and heading towards the Huntsman academy in the far reaches of the city. The trio placed their belongings in the storage area of the ship, having bundled up their bags together to make sure it didn't get lost in the heaps of luggage stored within the storage room.

Aurelio threw himself onto the seats, willing to wait out the ride in peace after having fun earlier. So instead of provoking an incident, they remained to their own affairs, with Sigma reading various pamphlets advertising Vale's unique locations and Kino standing against the wall adjacent to the window, sinking into his own thoughts. Just as the trio eased themselves to wait out the ride, a sudden pair of colorful girls had approached them from the main passenger area.

"Hey there! I am Yang Xiao long and this mess of reds is my little sister, Ruby." A blonde young woman had approached the trio, boastingly announcing herself with a smaller raven-haired teenager by her side looking less than enthused to be drawing attention to herself because of her sister. The pair seemed almost opposites, even calling them sisters would be uncertain over their distinct lack of similarities between each other. The bright yellow haired woman wore a tan jacket that bared her midriff, with golden brown puffy sleeves. The supposed little sister wore a black long-sleeved blouse with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, and a matching skirt with red lining. Her outfit is topped by a red hooded cloak fastened to her shoulders, seemingly too big for her figure as it almost touched the floor.

"Howdy, name's Aurelio! Lovely day, isn't it?" Aurelio immediately sat up straight from his lazy position, excited over meeting new people especially those within his range of age. Taking the initiative Aurelio stepped in front of Kino and Sigma, greeting the unlikely pair of sisters in behalf of the others.

"Sure is. Say, are you guys a group?" Yang looked with an encouraging smile to her sister, taking the lead with the conversation to make sure the five of them could get along.

"Yup, these are my friends, Sigma." Aurelio motioned to Sigma, wrapping his arms around the young adult wearing glasses, who calmly introduced himself despite Aurelio's eager attitude.

"Pleasure making your acquaintance." Sigma nodded his head in a greeting manner extending his hand for a friendly shake of hands, Yang gladly shook his hand, having a tight grip on Sigma's hand before proceeding to Ruby who haphazardly did her best to shake hands as cool as Yang did.

"And this right here is my big bro, Kino!" Aurelio leaned on Kino's arm hoping to impress the girls with his big brother leaning against the wall. Kino waved silently but in a welcoming manner, keeping to his own inner affairs but staring through his mask with a small smile. The silent greet seemed to make Ruby slightly nervous over the gesture before Aurelio came in to save the situation. "Don't bother with him, big bro is a brooding guy."

"Really? Me, a brooding guy, cabrito?" Kino chuckled softly at Aurelio's whispering remark, rolling his eyes amused over the joke. Quickly following on Aurelio's lead with banter as if they were truly brothers.

"Wait you guys are brothers? You don't look anything alike." Ruby stepped forth looking in between Kino and Aurelio's contrasting differences, Kino had a dark crimson hue of hair while Aurelio with blond hair and pink eyes. Safe to say that at first glance they didn't pass as brothers.

"Are you sure you want to call the pot black, miss kettle?" Kino leaned forward, raising his eyebrow over Ruby's ironic questioning in a joking tone, making Aurelio chuckle softly and earn a small snicker from Yang at the harmless but effective joke.

"... Fair enough." Ruby blinked slowly, feeling a small blush spread over her cheeks understanding the joke and chuckling in defeat.

"See Ruby? Meeting new people isn't so hard, you just need a small push." Yang warmly hugged her little sister over her willingness to naturally make new friends in the current group getting along, although Ruby tried to escape her older sister's playful hug. "Yang!"

Just as the mood lightened over the wholesome sibling banter, the news tuned into a recap section of recent events happening around the Kingdom Vale, certainly drawing in many passengers to pay attention to the news report.

"On recent news, what started as an orderly protest turned into a tragedy, as yesterday's Faunus movement to incentivize awareness of the mistreatment they face within society was disrupted by some of its members igniting an unfortunate altercation between Faunus and police enforcers. This morning we received footage of the protest descending into chaos. Be advised that what you are about to see is not to be taken lightly." The news channel displayed footage of the mentioned Faunus protest, showing the perspective of an onlooker from across the street who recorded the event. The footage started with the blaring voices of the protestors staying put shouting over their movement's purpose as the police enforcers stayed on the other end of the street in an orderly line blocking the route forward. The recording showed a fairly normal protest being carried out, until a sudden throw of a Molotov from behind the protestors caught the onlooker's eyes as the bottle cracked to spread some flames over the line of policemen.

"The ones responsible for this disastrous turn of events have not been found. However, it's likely that the suspects are agents of the notorious White Fang group, who have been at the center of almost every violent turnabout. The police speculate that such criminal elements could also be responsible for the rising number of Dust robberies kingdom-wide, costing the kingdom's main Dust supplier, the Schnee Dust Company several tens of thousands of Lien in stolen properties." The reporter kept going on through her usual routine of delivering the news.

As Ruby gazed back at her older sister who was watching the news report, she asked out loud, "The Snow Dust Company is quite big, isn't it?"

The trio of hunters watched the news report silently, focusing more on the ongoing coverage of the incident, leaving the sisters to converse amidst themselves. "That's quite true, Rubes. There's also rumors that the company have been doing shady actions."

"You focus on the SDC and not the altercation?" Aurelio asked without his usual glee, a contrast in behavior that certainly piqued Yang and Ruby's attention. Making the younger one register what she just said and take into consideration she was talking to Faunus.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to be insensitive!" Ruby scrambled regretfully, bowing her head apologetically over her previous statement. Expecting a scolding from the trio of friends, Ruby stuttered shyly while Yang readied herself to defend her sister. But to their surprise Aurelio waved it off jokingly.

"It's okay, relax, I'm not into those topics. Just be careful with your words. Not many Faunus would take kind to it." The teenage Faunus gently tapped his horns while looking at Ruby's surprised face, raising her head with a sigh of relief. Yang released her grip on her sister's cloak, relaxing herself over the defusal of the tense situation. Thankfully, Sigma chimed in to the rescue the situation with a calmer expression, returning the topic to the SDC.

"I wouldn't exactly say they're quite corrupt as the rumors claim, though there is certainty of questionable practices being exercised within the company, especially towards Faunus laborers." Sigma commented calmly, choosing to take a neutral stance on the conversation but clearly knowledgeable of the harsher actions the SDC employ in their workforce. Aurelio and Kino exchanged a few glances before shrugging it off, aware that dwelling on the topic would further lead to awkwardness between the current group... Unfortunate for them, a certain heiress had overheard them.

"What did you just say?" Most of the group turned to the source of the sudden question, seeing a pale-skinned young woman with pale blue eyes and long white hair pulled back into an off-center ponytail pinned with a silver tiara. The way she was dressed made her look quite regal, her most noticeable aspect was her strapless dress complimented by a bell-sleeved bolero.

"Um, excuse me? Who are you supposed to be?" Yang asked first, wanting to know who stood near them with a face of indignation. Before the regal girl could speak for herself, Sigma quickly stepped in, identifying the girl in white looking towards them with a scornful gaze over their previous statement.

"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the SDC, talented singer... and currently chastising us." Sigma shifted his glasses amidst his explanation/introduction of the girl that overheard their conversation. While Weiss was certainly pleased to be recognized, she immediately glared at Sigma for the unintentional joke.

Ruby shook her hands regrettably as she tried to apologize for the misunderstanding. "I-I... We didn't mean anything bad! We were just talking about some rumors we heard!"

"Rumors you say? The same kind of rumors coming from the anti-human groups that have been carrying out illegal activities, especially White Fang propaganda trying to stain my family's good name?" Weiss crossed her arms looking quite displeased over hearing her family's company being tarnished by gossip.

"You mean the same family that up until a couple decades ago didn't overwork their Faunus labor force? Look, miss, we're not taking to heart what the rumors spread... But reports of shady activities have been appearing lately." Kino spoke up clearly, his tone of voice had taken a neutral tone as he stopped leaning on the wall and stood between the group staring towards Weiss.

"Come on guys, let's try to take it easy." Yang tried to plead for a peaceful resolution but unfortunately if she was heard, she was merely ignored.

"And who are you to say such things, another Faunus believing in the White Fang's methods?" Ignoring Yang's statement, Weiss immediately focused on Kino, speaking up with a dismissive tone of voice clearly stating there was bad blood between her and the White Fang.

"Careful there, Schnee... That's some thin ice you're stepping on." Kino looked down on Weiss' bratty attitude, feeling some buttons being pressed over the heiress' comments. Speaking with a growing sense of annoying frustration over the conversation.

"Hmph, typical of Faunus, inciting conflict instead of listening to reason." Weiss didn't falter before Kino, even if he was taller than she was. Weiss maintained a prideful attitude as the two clashed verbally with indirect insults and burning stares.

"Woah, okay! It's clear we got off on the wrong foot! Why don't we try to look past this and try to get along? After all we are going to become students, so it's best if we don't start hating each other." Yang quickly stepped in between Weiss and Kino sending daggers to each other through their glares, trying to defuse the already tense situation.

"How about we all try to be friends? Hi there, my name is Ruby and this is Kino! I was thinking of getting ourselves acquittanted with Beacon by walking around campus grounds, would you like to accompany us?" Ruby tried to cheer things up with an honest gesture as she introduced herself and point to Kino who didn't stop sending daggers with his glare beneath the convenient mask.

"Oh sure! Maybe we could also, like, get all dressed up and go shopping, and talk about cute boys?" Weiss sarcastically began to list things a young teen would find interest in, seemingly poking fun at the audacity of Ruby suggesting such activities after a heated conversation. In Weiss' last part, she pointed to a lightly armored blond teen completely immersed in his own business before being used as reference.

"Really?!" Ruby innocently smiled over Weiss' answer, seemingly unable to notice her sarcastic and mocking tone, giving the young teen some glimmer of hope. A faint spark of hope that was quickly snuffed out when Weiss's expression switched from exaggerated excitement to a serious questioning glance that made Ruby wince in defeat.

"O-Oh..." Ruby quickly deflated from her enthusiastic attitude as she looked down sadly over her inability to have caught onto Weiss sassy attitude. Though for their luck, Weiss quickly turned around with a clear look of frustration.

"If you value any good advice, then I suggest you don't ever speak to me again." Weiss quickly began to distance herself from the group, shooting a dirty glance at them before she left to some other part of the ship.

Just as she disappeared into the crowd of students, the group of newly acquainted friends merely looked in silence over the altercation dying out. Yang and Ruby were unsure how to respond beyond exchange silent awkward stares over Weiss'... unfriendly attitude. While the trio merely stayed to themselves with Sigma patting on Kino's shoulder before immersing himself in his reading once more.

"Well, that was a thing." Aurelio joked in an attempt to improve the mood, earning an awkward look from the duo of sisters. Before any more conversations sprung forth, a holographic projection of two staff from Beacon came to be. Drawing the attention of the students onboard caught off guard over the sudden presence of Beacon staff.

The two figures seemed quite the uptight staff made itself known, but who spoke out first was a middle-aged woman with blonde hair tied, and bright green eyes covered by a pair of thin ovular glasses.

"Welcome to Beacon academy, I'm professor Glynda Goodwitch and beside me is the headmaster of the academy. Listen well to the following instructions of your test." The blonde professor stepped aside, letting the headmaster speak up and such person irradiated nothing but a sense of serenity and comfort. The headmaster introduced himself as an older looking middle-aged man wearing a set of shaded glass spectacles and silver hair with brown eyes. Sporting an outfit mainly consisting of a black suit over a dark green, complimented by long, dark-green pants. In addition, he used a cane to look professionally as he stared forward with a warm smile.

"It's an honor to meet the future huntsmen and huntresses who have chosen to enroll into my humble school. I am Professor Ozpin, I'm pleased to see many determined individuals willing to take on the path of becoming a Huntsman." The way Ozpin spoke had a fatherly warm to it, being grateful to see a large number of aspiring teens in joining the academy.

"However, the true worth of your abilities will be evaluated today by partaking in a test inside the Emerald Forest." Ozpin's welcoming tone switched onto one of authority as a holographic map was displayed before the headmaster , showing a general layout of the Emerald Forest. Although this explanation made a certain trio look on with surprise, not because of going onto the Emerald Forest but more over the... misleading information they acquired.

"Hey, didn't you say the evaluation was tomorrow?" Kino leaned towards Sigma, whispering in between paying attention to the explanation being given.

Sigma let out a snort of annoyance, taking out his technological tablet to read the inscription documents to make sure he didn't make a mistake. "That's not what the documents stated... Bizarre."

"Orion must be furious... Wherever he is." Aurelio widened his eyes, realizing that their fourth member was missing out on the test.

"I'm sure we'll meet him along the way." Kino sighed out his worries while rubbing his jaw, trying to make the best out of the current situation. Just as their conversation ended, the crowd of students headed over to the onboard lockers, preparing themselves for the upcoming initiation test. Without wasting any more time, the group went on to retrieve their combat gear from their lockers, the trio of hunters arming themselves on the spot instantly.

Kino's combat outfit consisted of a padded sleeveless vest beneath a poncho lined with an intricate flower detailing reaching down to his elbows, practically keeping most of his upper body hidden along with his usual mask. Besides that he wore a pair of cargo pants complimenting a pair of desert boots fitted for running at a quick paces and provide stable footing. Along his waist rested his weapon in its scabbard, with the handle of the weapon in reach of his right side and his secondary firearm resting on his left thigh holster.

Aurelio looked almost similar to Kino's in terms of clothing, although he definitely struck more as the desert wanderer with his style. The most notable detail of Aurelio's gear was his tattered cloak reaching down to his waist. A long-sleeved tunic covered his upper body, reaching just past his waist to cover a pair of loose pants tightened by a bundle of rope tightly knotted to hold both pieces of clothing together. Along with knee high boots matching a set of fingerless bracers in protection and on said item Aurelio quickly holstered his curved knives on each one as if they were mounted blades.

Sigma had the sleekest outfit of the three, bearing the resemblance to that of a military pilot, with clearly modified gear to suit being an engineer instead of being in the air. Especially notable by his aviator helmet which he carefully equipped. From his neck to his legs, his entire body was covered by a skintight suit, serving as the base for his combat outfit. Various pieces of armor covered vital spots, for his arms he had shoulder-length light armor reaching to his elbows along, his chest was the heavier part of the torso, along with some protection for everything below his waist. Not to mention a belt with the holsters holding his specialized firearms.

With the three of them having prepped for combat, a certain red haired girl approached them with stars on her eyes, rapidly analyzing their sheathed weapons. "Woooah! Your weapons look super cool! Do they have transformation mechanics?! Are they able to combine?! Do they have names?!"

Before Ruby could continue to dig for more information, Yang quickly lifted her out of their faces. "Sorry about that, Ruby can get pretty crazy when seeing new weapons, she basically becomes a geek about it."

The wording of her sister's obsession was received by said geeky sister with an elbow to the stomach, an attempt of defending her image. "I am not a geek! I am connoisseur of the fine arts of weaponry forging and modifying, thank you very much!"

Ruby pridefully stood for herself, happily expressing her interest over weapons. Her excited attitude certainly drawing a crowd of curious eyes over the loud outwardly cheerfulness. Though before the little crimson reaper could indulge herself on the prospect of studying the armaments of the trio the PA system across the ship turned on.

"All passengers be advised, we are approaching the initiation site, make sure you have all your personal belongings at your disposal and any non-essential items must be placed in the storage area."

With the announcement most of the students began to hurry up in preparing themselves. Kino signaled his group to get moving, already heading towards the nearest exit. Aurelio and Sigma quickly packed their items away and followed after him, with the Ram Faunus joyfully waving at Ruby and Yang.

"Sorry Red, I promise to let you geek out over our weapons another time." His joke seemed to draw the flustered anger of Ruby Rose and a good chuckle out of Yang.

The trio of hunters disappeared into the crowd leaving a flustered Ruby shaking her arms in annoyance over the topic. "It's not geeking!"

Emerald Forest, Beacon Academy - 1:02 P.M.

The airship had landed over the outskirts of the vast and lush Emerald Forest, dropping off the attending students alongside the edge of a cliff where Professor Glynda and Ozpin awaited them with high hopes. Upon seeing the location for the start of the test many attendees either looked on with eagerness or nervousness, seeing the distance between their starting point and the rest of the forest. Kino, Aurelio and Sigma lined up together alongside the participating students.

Just before the Headmaster and accompanying professor could signal the start of the test, a small airship distinctly decorated with Beacon's logo landed near the area. The ship's unannounced arrival drew the attention of every student on the cliff, even the professors', as it landed behind the rows of students with gentle ease.

Once grounded, the main doors of the ship opened up to reveal a rounded man clearly past his prime due to his gray hair and long thick mustache, with a burgundy suit and pants tucked into olive boots, similar in appearance and construction to cavalry boots. "Headmaster, I bring a lost person, claiming to be a student attending the initiation. He's quite the stud of a gentleman, speaking of... Young man, next time make sure to read the test's instructions before arriving to the academy."

The professor turned to the side of the ship, letting the young man reveal himself by stepping into the light with an innocent shameful smile. The young man definitely had the proper gear for fighting both Grimm and people, protecting every vital part of his body. Dressed in a modified military protective gear meant for heavy hitters such as himself, there were various thick protective pads on his shoulders reaching onto his forearm, along with a pair of kickboxing gloves for his hands. An armor plate covered his entire torso shielding him from any damage and for walking he wore a pair of armored boots meant for uneven terrain. Running across his chest was his leather strap holding his collapsible thick plated shield resting until he needed it.

"Orion!" Aurelio excitedly smiled in relief over seeing his muscle-bound friend, seemingly making his other two partners ease their worries over Orion being able to group back up before the test begun. While feeling some slight guilt, having to think of the many trips he had to endure to just arrive at the cliff.

"My mistake, Professor. I will do my best to make sure this doesn't repeat." Orion shamefully bowed before the professor who had given him the chance to attend the initiation. His actions made the rounded professor chuckle amusingly while stroking his mustache in a calm manner.

"Well, with such manners, I can't say possibly deny your chance to attend the academy. But best be careful in your stay at Beacon. Headmaster, Glynda." The jovial mustached professor bowed in respect to Ozpin and Glynda, receiving courteous nods as the professor excused himself to leave with the doors of the shuttle closing up, letting the ship take flight as it headed back to the academy. Mostly everyone watched the shuttle leaving with Orion slowly making his way to the row holding his companions in a single file.

"Aren't you a bit old to be a student?" Glynda reluctantly stated, not letting go her cautious stance while glaring at the recently arrived young man. Turning slightly gazing back at Ozpin who calmly let the situation play out with a calm sip of his coffee cup. The headmaster calmly eyed the bulky young man, trying to find any discernible inconsistency with him before sighing and gesturing Glynda to let it go for now, willing to continue this chatter at a later date.

"Young man, if you may, the test's about to begin." Giving an apologetic nod, Orion quickly joined to his friends standing beside Kino while drawing some eyes to himself over his unannounced presence interrupting the test.

"Where've you been, big guy?" Aurelio whispered over to Orion standing beside him, keeping an eye for anyone eavesdropping on their conversation.

"I managed to take Big Bertha to Beacon via some... convincing. But I took a transport from the academy to get here. I thought the instructions said the evaluation was to be tomorrow." Orion frustratedly added, rubbing his eyes after having to traverse from Vale to Beacon and from there to this spot on the Emerald Forest.

Kino gave him a small tap on his back trying to ease the tension. "As did we all. This is unusual but not setting us back."

Orion sighed to himself catching some air to relax, waiting for the initiation to begin, unaware of the incoming surprise. In an instant the metallic tiles sprung forth, launching the rows of prepared students into the air towards the Emerald Forest. Once Orion realized their predicament he turned to his friends, seeing them not surprised about this turn of events.

"So that's how it's gonna go?" Without a moment to waste, Orion got launched into the air followed by his teammates as the test to prove their skills in combat began with a rather simple aspect all huntsmen must come to figure out... A landing strategy.

His group soared through the skies at a relative calm manner, except for Aurelio incessantly and gleefully shouting as they surfed above the trees until they lost sight of each other. Orion raised his shield to the front, using his momentum to break through various trees to cushion his fall, until he landed on the ground with a roll. And there he laid, the tank of the group amidst a luscious emerald forest hearing the wildlife deceptively charming him into a sense of security, knowing that even in the most tranquil of places there might be dangers hidden.

Taking a cautious stroll through the thick forest, Orion held his shield with a tight grip, being on alert for any sudden movements. Having missed the initial briefing of how the teams will be formed, he made sure to try to find any of his teammates to avoid pairing up with any of the other attendees taking the test. Lucky for him, he caught the sight of Kino leaping down from the trees with his main weapon in hand. Using the branches to climb down, being careful of his footing and landing besides Orion.

"Alright, let's get this done. Sound off." Orion calmly turned his earpiece on, reaching out to the rest of the team through their communication's channel.

"I'm here, big guy!" Aurelio reported in with his usual joyous attitude.

"Loud and clear." Followed on by Sigma responding calmly through his end.

Taking a quick glance at his surroundings, Kino began to check the direction of their objective using the shadows being casted by the sun as a handy way to orient themselves. "Aurelio, head to the temple ASAP. Keep yourself away from any other person and meet up with Sigma."

"You got it!" The last thing to be heard from Aurelio's end was static as he activated his Semblance to start searching for Sigma.

"The rest of us will do our best to catch up and rendezvous in the designated point. Avoid engagements with Grimm if possible, good hunting." With that statement Kino stood back up, sharing a brief glance towards Orion before taking the lead towards the direction of the temple.

While the K and O of the team headed off on their own, Aurelio was on his own patch of forest, looking on with eagerness to slice through whatever Grimm crossed his path. But stayed his hand for the current goal of finding Sigma before any of the other students paired up with either of them.

Surely running across the woods for a good minute, he managed to come across with Sigma beside a large rock sorting through various Dust ammo types for his own weapons and his team's, quickly deactivating his Semblance Aurelio appeared before his compatriot. "Everything set up?"

"Almost, I'm just finishing sorting the Dust." Sigma calmly commented as he finished filling the magazines with their most used Dust type by each other. Once done with that, Sigma jumped onto Aurelio's back holding onto his younger partner tightly before sprinting off towards the location of the temple. With his Semblance active reaching the temple's location took less than a couple of seconds in normal time but for Aurelio it was a good minute of carrying around Sigma as they traversed through the dense forest. Passing by several unaware Grimm at rapid speeds, seemingly appearing as nothing but instant blurs to the beasts who looked with genuine confusion between their numbers.

The two continued on undeterred until they reached a large clearing with various scattered pieces of rubble from the old temple assigned as the spot to find the relics. Sigma jumped off Aurelio's back and moved to approach the temple, noticing that barely anyone else has arrived given that many of the relics still remained up for grabs. With quick footing, Aurelio inspected around the temple to find anything else besides the chess pieces, stumbling across a surveillance camera and waving to it, knowing they're being watched before returning to the front. "So, which piece shall we grab? There's towers, horses and priest for us to choose."

"As long as all four of us grab the same piece we should be fine, grab a set of matching pieces." Sigma focused on his technological tablet motioning his partner to the stone pedestals displaying the various relics in question as he focused on tracking the rest of his team via the earpiece each one of them possessed. Without any time wasted, Aurelio slowly began to choose over the many options for relics, playing eenie meenie miney moe until he grabbed four Black Bishop pieces.

With their respective relics chosen the two of them decided to stay on temple, seeing as it was the designated meeting point for the students taking the test. Now having to wait for the missing half of their group to arrive. Waiting on for their teammates to come out of the forest, the two of them were met with Yang coming out of the tree line with her partner, a fair-skinned young woman with wavy black hair and amber eyes introduced as Blake by Yang. Along with a hyperactive ginger young woman dressed in an armored corset with a bright pink skirt riding a limping Ursa, being chased after by an exhausted Mistralian styled young man panting heavily from having to follow the energetic ginger who later on introduced themselves as Nora and Ren.

The growing group seemed to have an easy time carrying out the test, until a Nevermore glided above the trees with two colorful figures latching onto its body. Swooping into the sky, the Nevermore cawed loudly as one of the figures fell off the swirling crow Grimm.

Yang launched herself onto the air, managing to catch her little sister with worry written in her face, quickly sprinting back to the temple. Once the two sisters reunited there was a good minute of sibling chatter with underlying tones of concerned, relief and kindness. After the pair reunited, Ruby nervously pointed out that she might have, sorta, accidentally left her teammate behind on the soaring Nevermore. Causing a genuine reaction of confusion from Yang as she turned to glance at the Nevermore noticing a white spot on the feathery body.

Orion and Kino managed to reach the clearing with little resistance encountered, noticing a large gathering of teens along with their teammates at the temple... seemingly watching attentively at something amidst the sky. Slowly drawing their gazes upward, the pair noticed a Nevermore violently flying as it tried to get someone off its back.

"Is that someone on a Nevermore?" Orion raised his hand over his eyes, trying to see the person on top of the Grimm.

"Yup." Kino responded in a deadpanned manner trying to identify the blur of white desperately holding onto dear life.

Orion gave a whistle of genuine impression over the lasting hold of the person still attached onto the feathers of the Grimm before losing its grip after a violent twirl.

"I think they're falling."

"They are falling."

Quickly holstering his shield, Orion began to stretch out for how to proceed with catching the woman in midair and prevent her from hitting the ground. "So, Spearthrow or Roundabout maneuver?"

With a heavy sigh and slow backpedaling, Kino gave himself enough distance to carry on with this decision, using Orion to lunge him into the sky by a heavy swing. He took a quick a dash to gain speed in his hurrying race against time, keeping track of Weiss' trajectory, until he managed to get enough force behind him to jump onto Orion's arms, who spun him around rapidly to gain even more speed before being flung onto the air to intercept Weiss falling.

Miraculously reaching in time, Kino caught the heiress in midair, sending the two across the sky in an uncontrollable direction. Kino defiantly managed to hold Weiss closely as he tried to figure in which direction they were now heading to. Weiss and Kino momentary exchanged a couple of glances at each other, Weiss feeling a little embarrassed over her position and Kino checking if she was okay, until their attention was brought forward over gravity leading them back down to the grassy ground.

With their direction changing from falling to lunging towards the ground, Kino's grip on the heiress tightened, causing a reaction from Weiss as she instinctively used her glyphs to slow their descent. Various white glyphs in the shape of the Schnee emblem deaccelerated their fall, helping the two reach the temple with a softer landing. Scooting closer to the harsh fields, Kino managed to land on his feet without any problem while he shook his head with minor annoyance over seeing glyphs once more in his life. Though his reluctance was shortly lived as he turned to face Weiss in his arms seeing that she was holding onto him despite being on safer footing.

"Are you alright?" Just as his voice spoke out, Weiss quickly let go from his hold, standing up on her own with no visible drawbacks from the fall, aside from some dirt on them.

"I-I had it controlled." Weiss slowly brushed her combat skirt off any dirt, adjusting her tiara and making sure her weapon was holstered properly. Her voice sounding with indignation but small noticeable tones of embarrassment present as she began to compose herself.

"Quite so." Rolling his eyes in response, Kino momentarily gazed at Weiss to make sure there weren't any injuries on her and seeing as neither of them were wounded, the two slowly walked over to the ruins where they were caught glances of their respective partners.

Weiss immediately went on a tangent on Ruby for abandoning her a top of the Nevermore. And to contrast the conflicting chatter of Weiss scolding Ruby, Aurelio quickly approached Kino with a small smile and teasing chuckle.

"What?" Knowing that Aurelio chuckling was never a good sign for comfort, Kino slowly reached out to grab the remaining black bishop piece.

Only for Aurelio to quickly pull it away from Kino's reach, keeping a wide grin and sly stare. "So now you save falling snow angels after having had a heated exchange of glares? Didn't know that the desert could freeze." Aurelio blurred across Kino, still determined to joke about the irony of Kino saving Weiss with more teasing banter.

"Ha ha, cabrito. Give me the relic before I make you Nevermore meal." Kino grinned underneath his mask with a deadpan laugh, trying to catch Aurelio using his Semblance to childishly prolong their banter. Aurelio laughed on continuously zipping around Kino, before any more attention was drawn to them, Kino managed to catch Aurelio with a headlock. Their bantering continued on until Aurelio gave in, chuckling to himself and handing the last Bishop piece over to his friend.

However, the calm moments of the test subsided as the tree line rustled with the sounds of gunfire and... girly screams? From the forest, a giant Deathstalker emerged carving a path through the forest as it chased after Pyrrha dodging the Grimm's pincers and trying to get off a blond teen holding onto its stinger for dear life. The scenario seemed completely strange for the group standing by the temple, looking on with puzzled faces as Pyrrha shouted the name of her partner, apparently named Jaune, being launched off the stinger. The blonde teen groaned in pain as it tumbled over to the grassy field with Pyrrha trying to reach over to Jaune, being sent onto the ground near her partner by the Deathstalker's pincer hitting her.

Trying to intervene in the conflict, Kino and Orion rushed out to the clearing with their weapons in hand. Until the Nevermore cawed loudly, beating its wings with swifter moves, launching forth various sharpened feathers towards the duo. Clearly showing that the two Grimm were coordinating their attacks.

Orion raised his shield, extending it by double its size to cover himself and Kino from the plume bombardment of the Nevermore. Leaving them at a good distance away from Jaune and Pyrrha trying to recover with the Deathstalker rushing them with the intent of crushing the two with its stinger.

Just as the Deathstalker lunged its stinger over to Jaune and Pyrrha, a solid wall of ice froze the scorpion Grimm in place, trapping it momentarily. The duo looked behind them to see Weiss with her rapier glowing a bright sky blue from her usage of Ice Dust. She smirked to herself over her successful freezing of the majority of the Deathstalker's body. "Pyrrha Nikos, I finally-."

"To the temple, people! And fast!"

Orion shouted harshly across the fields, shielding himself from the barrage of feathers, while Kino shoot at various feathers aimed in their direction. Jaune and Pyrrha quickly followed suit as they hastily made their way onto the temple for cover, grabbing onto their relics with haste, leaving behind frustrated heiress trying to have a conversation with her person of interest but following behind to avoid being struck by the Nevermore Grimm.

The rest of the group quickly rushed over to the scattered ruins of the temple on the grassy plains to get some cover and discuss how to proceed. Having already retrieved their chosen relics but stuck between two massive Grimm not letting them walk away made the situation a bit more complicated to solve with simple propositions but it at least helped to calm down.

"What's the plan now? We have the relics, and the Grimm are off our backs! We could use this chance to return." Yang spoke up as the colorful group gathered to ponder on a way to return to the academy.

"I'm all for that if you ask me!" Jaune quickly sided to Yang's choice of action, shifting attention between the Deathstalker wrestling against the ice and the group.

"That may be a good idea, but the Grimm will follow us back into the academy." Blake countered the option of running back to the academy noting that even if the Deathstalker remained trapped, they still had to contend with the Nevermore still flying around. Although just as she finished explaining her point, a certain hyperactive ram Faunus shared his idea.

"How about we kill the giant bird and scorpion Grimm and THEN run back to the academy? We can blow them to smithereens with all twelve of us!" Aurelio excitedly explained, certainly drawing some thoughtful glances from the others, leading Sigma to analyze the many elements the group counts with.

"We do have enough manpower to dispose of both Grimm, splitting ourselves into two teams of six should be sufficient to eliminate them and allows us a safe passage once done." Sigma grabbed a nearby sturdy branch as he traced over the mud their plan to split the bird and insect Grimm to better deal with them in coordinated teams rather than crowding in a large group.

"Now that sounds like an awesome plan! Beating Grimm until they beg for mercy!" Nora cheerfully chimed in, bouncing erratically in unstoppable joy alongside Aurelio's own hyperactive behavior. In accordance with Nora's personality, Ren sighed to himself, shaking his head over the excited ginger's eagerness to go back into fighting.

"Are you insane? We already retrieved the relics, there's no need for us to fight the Grimm." Weiss protested in bewilderment over the suggestion on fighting the Nevermore and Deathstalker over returning to the academy immediately. Standing firm with her rapier looking down on the decision to fight while Pyrrha tried to object on the notion but quietly shut herself due to Kino shifting his attention from the Nevermore to the heiress.

"If you think the Grimm will simply let us leave, you must be quite dense, Schnee." Kino stood before Weiss with a ticked off tone, defiantly staring through his visor before bumping his shoulder onto hers with a dismissive intent. Moving away from the gathering towards the ruins, set on taking care of the Grimm before they prove a bigger threat later down the line.

"How dare you...!" Despite Weiss' protests, Kino remained focused on facing the two large Grimm chasing after the group. And not a second wasted he was shortly joined by his teammates readying themselves, standing in agreement with his choice. Aurelio eagerly grinned while spinning his knives skillfully around his hands, Orion cracking his shoulders and retrieving the shield on his back while Sigma checked on his technologically advanced firearms, distributing several cartridges filled with Dust specialized for each of his companions' tactics.

Just as the four-man group had gained enough distance, they were quickly joined up by the gathering of teens choosing to do this now rather than runaway. Slowly but surely following their lead, coming to terms that the Grimm would have cut them off in their attempt to return to the academy.

"Alright, people... Time to work for a living!" Aurelio happily exclaimed over the newly formed group charging forth into the ruins, his group taking the lead as the Nevermore flew over them trying to use its sharp feathers to impale anyone. Quickly scattering to avoid being hit, the twelve members of the group split up but did not change their course of heading towards the ruins.

Once they reached the clearing overlooking a ruined structure in the middle of a ravine, the Deathstalker broke through its ice cage, screeching loudly over its humiliation and rushing after the group. Aurelio and Orion stayed behind in the clearing with the four teens that'll later comprise team JNPR to deal with the massive scorpion, assuming a defensive positioning with Orion and Jaune acting as the main defensive line. Beside them Aurelio and Ren stood with their weapons readied, acting as the distractions to keep the Grimm unfocused on a single target. And behind the defense formation laid Nora and Pyrrha aiming their guns waiting for the clash with the Deathstalker.

While the situation at the clearing unfolded, Sigma and Kino followed after team RWBY through the only bridge leading to the dilapidated ruins. The six man group managed to cross halfway into it before the Nevermore shot more of its feather unto the supporting pillars of the stone bridge. Piercing through various supports the bridge began to collapse immediately, almost sending the team down with it if not for their quick thinking.

Ruby and Yang used their weapons to propel themselves onto the main tower, miraculously having saved themselves from the sudden crumbling of the bridge. The two shared knowing nods as they proceeded to shoot back at the Nevermore circling around. Weiss had managed to activate her glyphs in time to close the distance, letting her stand on solid footing with a resounding tap of her heels. Blake managed to use her Semblance to project a clone of herself to avoid the crumbling bridge altogether, allowing her safe passage to the other side. And the pair consisting of masked Faunus and goggle-wearing young man managed to jump on the edge of the now gone path thanks to their coordination, continuing forth to deal with the Grimm.

The Nevermore swooped back in the direction of the temporary team KRWBYS standing their ground on the tower. Cocking their weapons in succession, the team faced the incoming Grimm with confidence in their own skills, slowly waiting in place as the Nevermore glided towards them without any intention to stop. Just as the figure of the avian Grimm approached them, the entire group began to shoot out everything within their respective arsenal, sending an intense barrage of firepower aimed at the incoming Nevermore.

A heavy rain of bullets and projectiles was directed towards the Nevermore being enveloped in an unrelenting firing line with the intent of making it change direction or get a lucky shot to kill it. The result was more of the former, as the projectiles managed to hit on one of the Grimm's wings, making it lose its balance and sending it into an uncontrollable course to crash with the tower. With a swift and brutal collision, the Nevermore destroyed the tower as it tried to regain its composure with loud caws distinctly punctuated with anger.

Kino and Sigma immediately rolled off their position the moment the Nevermore lost control of its direction, managing to avoid the crash and shower of debris. However, the same couldn't be said for the rest of the group falling alongside the debris the moment the crash occurred... for the first few moments. The girls that would later comprise team RWBY ran across the falling structure, using whatever means at their disposal to propel themselves back onto the structure. Slowly but surely one by one they had managed to save themselves from the deep abyss of the ravine, earning some momentary rest to catch their breathing.

Once the rest of the group returned safely on the solid parts of the structure, the entire thing shook making the more experienced hunters gaze down into the misty ravine below the ruins. The thick mist underneath the structure hid whatever the threat was causing the rumbling, until large red spots glowing through the thick fog could be seen climbing up. Upon closer inspection the source of the rumbling became apparent, two massive fuzzy arachnid Grimm crawling up the ruins' pillars, emerging in unison with the Nevermore and Deathstalker to surround the group of colorful teens and hunters.

"Aurelio, Orion! We've got Dread Willows!" Kino shouted over to his teammates through his earpiece across the bridge fighting off the Deathstalker, but immediately turned to shoot downwards with Sigma to the crawling Grimm spiders. The arachnid beasts shrugged off the bullets due to their exoskeletal armor but still chose to jump between pillars to avoid being hit on less protected areas.

While Kino and Sigma kept their barrage over the Dread Willows below them, Orion had managed to hear the loud shouting from his companion, turning just in time to take on the heavy pincer of the Deathstalker angrily trying to get the colorful teens. Aurelio and Ren used their agility to slash at the exposed parts of the beast and even scratch its armor to shift its focus away from Orion. The bulky man quickly went to the edge of the broken bridge about to respond through the earpiece on him before he noticed the two arachnid Grimm.

And the moment Orion gazed upon the beasts, Aurelio quickly dashed away from the battle to his companion's side, seeing the full view of two massive Dread Willows screeching beneath the ruins and evading the continuous barrage of bullets. Orion turned towards the young Ram Faunus looking on with a glare over the situation's development before exchanging agreeing nods. Aurelio immediately sped back to draw the attention of the armored scorpion, using his weapons to scratch on the Deathstalker's stinger, taking its focus off Ren and Jaune while letting out hisses of annoyance over the blur of attacks.

Returning to the group, Orion ran past Pyrrha and Nora in a dash with intent on clashing against the large Grimm. The two teens looked on with confusion over the bearded tank shouting for Aurelio to guide the beast to him, managing to redirect various swings of the giant scorpion onto Orion's direction with wide swings of its massive pincers. Orion grinned over the Deathstalker sending out a powerful backhand with its pincer, as his shield began to assume a purple glow before clashing against Grimm's limb. Aurelio quickly activated his Semblance to run back to Orion's side, climbing onto his teammate's back with a tight hold on the strap on his friend's back, eagerly waiting for moment of truth.

"To infinity..."

The Gravity Dust in Orion's shield reacted accordingly with the force of the Deaths talker's swing, creating a shockwave that sent him and Aurelio flying towards the Dread Willows in the ruins. The resulting shockwave made the Deathstalker stagger back into the clearing while team JNPR braced themselves over the sudden powerful wave while looking on with varying looks over the development of the situation.

"AND BEYOND!!"

With an echoing boom Orion and Aurelio got launched into the air towards the Dread Willows continuing to dodge the barrage of bullets from Kino and Sigma, now joined by Yang and Weiss trying to take out the approaching spiders. However only Kino and Sigma recognized echoing shockwave produced by their teammates surfing through the air, quickly lunging towards the spiders, though the two girls from team RWBY looked on with equal shock over the figures heading their way.

A spider Grimm jumped back onto the main pillar having moved on its own accord and unwittingly into Orion and Aurelio's trajectory, resulting in a heavy crash against the armored beast that cracked its outer shell. Despite the superficial damage, the Grimm had other problems as the momentum behind their crash managed to throw it off, sending it tumbling into the misty ravine.

Quickly latching onto whatever edge of the pillar's surface for dear life, the duo watched one of their targets fall into the thick fog while angrily hissing at the perpetrators of its fall. With one Grimm down, the remaining Grimm turned to screech defiantly over its falling accomplice, lunging onto the pillar where Orion and Aurelio hanged at, barely dodging the piercing of the spider's leap. Raising its armored tipped legs to strike the hanging duo, the Dread Willow screeched ready to kill off the intruding hunters before a sudden weight tipped it off the pillar, causing it to lose its footing while trying to recover with hasty maneuvers. As it fell down, Kino could be seen on the carapace of the falling Grimm using his machete to slash at the exposed parts of the Grimm's armor, damaging the monster amidst their descent into the ravine.

Sigma shook his head over his teammate's decision to have leapt off the ruins, noticing that Aurelio and Orion watched along with him as their leader battled a top the Dread Willow in free fall. Without wasting a second Orion reeled in his armored shield, punching a large section of the pillar to let himself fall with lots of debris around him. Following on his teammate's actions, Aurelio cheerfully waved back at the trio watching from above before letting himself fall to join in finishing off the Grimm.

A completely baffled Weiss and Yang looked on as the young Faunus teen and bulky man joined their leader in a suicidal leap of faith, clearly unsure how to react over what they just saw.

"What the...? Are you guys for real?" Yang cocked her shotgun gauntlets disposing of the spent shells, hoping to get a response from the only remaining member of the hunters that didn't throw themselves into the crawling Grimm.

"Would you believe that this isn't the craziest thing we've done? But don't worry, we'll be back before you can say Nuckelavee." Sigma calmly commented before joining off the rest of his team below the ruined structure barely standing amidst the ravine. His statement left Yang trying to repeat that last and failing on it as Sigma jumped off the edge. "Nuckawhat now?"

Weiss shook her head, unable to even begin to comprehend the thought process of jumping off to face Grimm. "It's official, they're all insane."

As much as she was willing to criticize them even further for their strange behavior her focus was drawn back to the returning Nevermore still set on pestering the group of girls.

While they dealt with the Nevermore, the four hunters descended at rapid speeds, quickly adapting themselves to slow down in their own ways, Aurelio used some of the falling debris to jump onto the main pillar, using the structure to run down the fall with blazing speeds. Orion and Sigma coordinated their descent by activating their respective Semblances. Orion activated his first, manifesting several Aura based limbs either attached to his body or able to move as extensions of himself. In this case, he doubled the number of his arms with Aura based projections, moving in between falling debris to slow down his fall in a controlled manner while throwing some large stone fragments towards Sigma, missing him entirely as the pieces of debris headed upwards.

Sigma graced the falling debris passing by, enveloping the broken off fragments in bright blue trace lines spreading across each rock signaling the activation of his Semblance. Pointing his hand upwards, the debris reacted to his Semblance as his descent was slowed down by being pulled up through an invisible magnetic force with the debris above him. His Semblance allowed him to magnetize any object he came into contact, able to be identified by the bright trace lines on the objects he touched, and for this particular instance he was slowing down his fall by pulling himself up to the approaching debris.

Kino on the other hand still remained on top of the falling Dread Willow, fighting off the Grimm trying to pry it off its free-falling body. The armored tips of the Grimm's creepy legs clashed violently against Kino's machete with deadly accuracy despite plummeting to the ground. The sound of metal and bone clashing echoed across the ravine, the boney spider legs being kept at bay with both of Kinos' weapons, using his secondary heavy firearm to shoot back any spider leg outside of his main weapon's reach. His efforts paid off with bleeding cuts across the Grimm's limbs, however as much as he wanted to continue the ground was getting closer and closer. Making him leap off the Grimm and impale his blade onto a wall of the ravine, using it to slow down his descent while hearing the screeching onto the mist before he approached the bottom of the ravine.

One by one, the group of hunters landed on the very bottom of the ravine, checking on their situation before the two Dread Willow angrily made it to the bottom as well. The abominations resembling spiders survived the initial scuffle and the damage sustained during the fall, now seeking to endlessly torture the four-man team for disrupting their feast. Their harrowing hiss had managed to agitate several Grimm in the area, drawing a horde of smaller spider Grimm to eviscerate the meddling group.

Kino quickly reloaded his revolver and secondary firearm, looking at the incoming wave of creepy crawlers. Quickly turning to his teammates preparing themselves for the incoming horde of massacre incarnate.

Orion split his shield in half, transforming each half into mechanized power gauntlets while the floating Aura arms cracked their nonexistent bones, expecting a good fight.

Aurelio spun his curved knives upside down to show off his weapon's main function, spawning forth blades of energy igniting with a powerful roar. Turning his knives into a pair of crackling sabers made out of Dust energy.

And Sigma switched his firearms into their secondary mode, assuming a more complex design with various pieces glowing up from the chambered Dust, essentially wielding two energy blasters powered by Dust.

The four hunters exchanged glances between each other before the leader nodded confidently, trusting their own abilities to handle themselves in the incoming suicidal bout. Not wasting anymore time, the respective members took off to deal with their chosen evils.

Aurelio quickly dashed into the swarm of young Dread Willows, swinging his energy sabers at extreme speeds and cackling to himself over burning through the swarm of spiders. Orion and Sigma dashed off to deal with the cracked giant Dread Willow, with the former using his phantom limbs to catch and fight back against the limbs of the beast while the latter fired off explosive energy bolts made from Dust. The two seemingly able to dislodge several legs off the beast with skilled coordination. And Kino immediately returned to the tango of death with the more pissed off Grimm, clashing once more in a vicious exchange of metal against bone.

Kino parried or redirected any strike meant to mortally wound him, using his machete's blade and heavy firearm to counter the ever-increasing flurry of rapid strikes by the spider Grimm furiously proving itself as a worthy contender for the title of Alpha. Every moment was vital as either could gain an edge over the other if a single mistake presented itself, the Dread Willow quickly shot various strings of paralyzing web towards Kino, causing the young man to jump away from the incoming blobs of webs seeking to snare him. The moment Kino jumped off the ground he took his shot, pressing down the trigger of his secondary weapon shooting forth a powerful round that sent him away from the beast, increasing the distance between Faunus and Grimm.

Being mindful of his step, Kino landed in a spot untouched by the loitered paralyzing webs and activated half of the Dust ammunition on his main weapon now glowing a bright red color due to the Fire-Dust being imbued into his blade. Though the Grimm did not back off so easily, immediately pursuing after the hunter through the field of webs. Kino used his secondary firearm to battle the beast while his machete sliced through blobs of web aimed at him. The rising temperature of his blade served to cut easier into the webs without getting his blade tangled in them.

Immediately closing the distance with a snarling hiss, the Grimm kept up with Kino's barrage of bullets piercing through its armor but shrugging off any pain to drive its legs forward to impale the masked Faunus. Quickly dodging at every opportunity, the young man narrowly avoided the strikes meant to end his life, feeling the ground shake from the growing battle of survival. Using the bladed ended of his weapon he grinded against the armor of the Dread Willow, Kino kept the attacks at bay with precise swings before shooting a round of Ice and Fire Dust mix, sending forth a torrent of steam slashing at the Grimm but hiding both the Faunus and Grimm into a thicker fog screen.

With the steam building up it began to clog his visor, causing him to it momentarily to get a clear view of his opponent hiding away in the mist. Despite the sound of fighting from his team continuing on the background, the fact that the creature Grimm chose to sneak around made him wary, it's normal for Grimm to develop tactics as they evolve over time but for a Grimm to adapt almost instantly was only reserved for the Alphas. And here he was, waiting for the evolving force of nature to strike, pushing himself to catch every sound, any movement, just anything so he could deliver the decisive movement to end the battle.

Through an eerie moment of silence Kino aimed at a sudden crack of noise, shooting forth upon his instincts kicking into overdrive. Unfortunately, he aimed at the wrong direction as the bullet zipped through the mist having missed its target. The Dread Willow leapt from behind him, hissing loudly in satisfaction in its strategy. Instantly realizing his mistake Kino did his best to turn towards the Grimm, moving his body at his limit to react in time, having managed to point his main weapon in between the beasts' eyes...

Only to hear the sound of an empty magazine, making the masked Faunus freeze momentarily over his carelessness and leave himself to an open swing from the spider's counterattack, sending him towards the nearest wall. Hitting the rock with a loud crash, the Faunus became enveloped in the thick mist mixed with gravel and dirt clouding the area. The deathly arthropod boastingly crawled closer to where Kino laid against, eerily taking its time to savor the despair of the situation as its mandibles clicked ever so hungrily to feast on a person. Raising two legs to impale Kino, the beast drove the sharp appendages towards the pinned Faunus, piercing right through the mist and into wall of hardened rock.

Expecting a blob of blood to paint the rock with a dark tone of red, the insect Grimm eagerly pulled its legs back... Or at least tried to, fumbling back with a sudden loss of balance as it reared it legs back, only to see the mist clear up to reveal Kino missing and its armored limbs on the walls fading away. The Grimm clicked its mandibles in confusion accompanied by shrieks of pain, unable to comprehend why its legs were cut in half.

Until the dreadful spider felt a heavy footing on its back as if someone had landed on top of it. Trying to get whatever had gotten on it, the Grimm lunged at its back by crashing it against the rocky wall of the ravine, feeling the rough surface scratch nothing but its own exoskeleton as whatever had been on the back jumped off just in time to avoid being crushed. The spider hissed in annoyance over the self-inflicted damage, turning away from the wall in hopes of finding its assailant. Unfortunately, the moment it separated from the ravine's wall most of the legs were slashed apart by a swift swing, making it recoil in pain and fall on its belly screeching.

That's when the Grimm saw it, the face of its prey staring back with no visible emotions... What the beast saw was like meeting the gaze of a fiercer monster.

Piercing dull toned lavender eyes staring into the Grimm's shrieking and defiant mind, an empty stare devoid of any sensation. Without anger. Without joy. Without comfort. Without Fear present in Kino's eyes... As if the sight could even be considered eyes, it was unnatural, doing the one thing Grimm were known for, stir fear into anyone that dared gaze into its eyes. But now that harrowing gaze stared back with contempt for the beast... For once, the Grimm hissed not in defiance, nor in any last-ditch effort to survive, it was pure fear for the dead man walking before it.

Trying to crawl away in despair, the Dread Willow was only met with a heavy boot pressing roughly against the exoskeleton protecting its head and a searing blade slowly emitting an abnormal amount of heat. The machete blade now pressed against the carapace, beginning to heat up the beast's armor and slowly letting the body of the Grimm bubble up with rising temperature. Watching the tar-like exterior of the Grimm beginning to sweat profusely, Kino pressed his blade harsher against the spider's protected head letting out more cries of pain caused by the blade roughly cracking away the mask and the scorching heat making it squirm in agony.

It was truly a sight to behold, a human being torturing a once mighty Grimm with no hopes of ending any time soon. Once Kino managed to get through the exoskeleton, he slowly pulled his weapon out of the beast's carapace letting the Grimm hiss in ease. Giving an opportunity for one last attack as its last remaining legs lunged towards Kino in a desperate final attack... before the finishing blow came down from the machete striking deeper into the spider's head and igniting the chambered Dust mix in the gun's magazine. Halting whatever retaliation the Dread Willow tried to enact as its remaining body parts squirmed in agony, barely missing Kino who remained motionless over the Grimm.

A chain reaction of the Earth and Fire Dust spread across the body of the Grimm, flooding its insides with an explosive wave of magma. Letting out a mix of pained hissing and the sound of scorching magma rupturing the body, the Dread Willow let out its last breath, using up the last vestiges of strength to writhe in pain. Kino didn't care for the drawback of force behind the magma wave bubbling the corpse as he retrieved his machete revolver and stared emptily towards the dead Grimm like an observer too intrigued over his work.

With a slow step, Kino began distancing himself from the magma hardening over the exposure to the elements, keeping a couple inches of distance between himself and the cooling molten rock. When the magma finally hardened, Kino's Semblance faded into the back of his head, letting out a groan of annoyance as he held his aching forehead from having to rely on his reckless Semblance. His eyes slowly drained its eerie dull tone and turned back into their golden coloration, a sign that he was back to normal.

Letting out a tired exhale, Kino put his lenses back on and sheathed away his weapons, choosing to ignore the faint tolling bells within his thoughts due to his Semblance. Regardless of the Semblance's side effect subsiding, the horned Faunus was approached by the rest of his team having dealt with their respective Grimm. Orion shook his hands as his weapon turned back to its shield form and his Aura limbs faded out. Sigma lifted his goggles back onto his helmet while calmly replacing the spent Dust crystals. Aurelio walked back to the group panting softly, holding his stomach over having laughed quite a lot over his ruthless carnage of Grimm.

With their situation taken care of, a new problem arose, finding a way out of the ravine to get back to the academy. "Well... Anyone up for climbing?"

Amphitheater, Beacon academy - 5:10 P.M.

After an exhausting climb and trek back to the academy, the group had handed out the relics they recovered and proceeded to join the rest of the successful students that returned with their set of relics in hand. Now they were sitting through a lengthy ceremony meant to announce the formed teams, waiting for their turn to be mentioned given that they had coordinated themselves into being place in the same team.

"Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie, the four of you retrieved the White Rook set. From this day forward, you will work together as team JNPR. Led by... Jaune Arc, congratulations young man." Ozpin calmly congratulated the newly formed Team JNPR, watching with high hopes for this group, knowing that the best of hopes come in the least likely of places. His statement made Jaune falter nervously, looking quite taken aback by the surprising reveal of him being the leader, although he received a hopeful reinforcement from Pyrrha giving him a warm smile before the team stepped off the stage for the next team to get announced.

"Ruby rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Botan, and Yang Xiao Long, the four of you retrieved the White Horse set. From this day on, you shall work together in sisterhood as team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose." At the Headmaster's closing words the group of colorful teens reacted differently but in well-mannered ways. Yang went on to give her younger sister a congratulatory tight hug, making said sister cheerfully smile while fighting on to not be squished by her older sister's embrace. While a certain heiress looked on with a face pertaining shock trying to hide a sense of distasteful disapproval.

Despite their varying looks, the girls walked off stage retrieving some sense of tranquility as they stood together waiting for the final team to be announced. Once the four joined the crowd, the last group made itself present. In a line, Kino and his team walked onto the platform with an air of battle-proven confidence.

Kino certainly drew quite a couple of glances at his way of presenting himself or rather his insistence on keeping his face hidden. A horned Faunus walking without needing the world's approval and clearly intent on hiding away what laid beneath his mask, stood firm as a leader waiting for his team to follow.

Orion was the next one to enter the stage, shifting the air of the mystery to one of latent strength, he held a sense of warmth and an imposing presence. He formally stood beside his leader, looking front and center with a stark and serious face.

Aurelio walked close by behind his teammates, playfully imitating Orion's march while grinning for the audience. The jovial Ram Faunus waved at the crowd, flashing a peace sign before adopting a serious look, following on his teammate's example of discipline.

Sigma was the last to enter stage, following the group with an uninterested mood of the current events as he was more focused on various arrangements on his electronic tablet. Although he promptly stored it away once he joined his team, fixing his glasses one more time before assuming a calm look.

"And finally, Kino Astartes, Orion Grey, Aurelio Vonian and Sigma Brine. The four of you retrieved the Black Bishop set. From this day on, you shall work together as team Chaos. Led by... Kino Astartes." The screen displayed the profiles of each member, even for a portrait picture Kino still wore his mask, with their initials forming the team's name, K.O.A.S.

The four of them stared forward outwardly looking as calm as possible, but Kino frowned under his mask with the most unamused face he could muster over the choice for the team's name. "That... sounds stupid."

Before he could dwell further into it, he turned toward his team with a melancholic gaze, feeling at ease after all their time of travelling. A sight that made him drop his guard briefly as Aurelio extended his hand for a cheer amidst themselves. One by one, the newly made team KOAS placed their hands together and in unison the four members raised their hands, enjoying the small bonding moment before walking off the stage to join the applauding crowd of newly appointed teams. The Headmaster silently chuckled at the display of comradery, raising one of his eyebrows over the sight of the six leaved emblem on Kino's poncho, able to recognize it but choosing to remain silent over his discovery.

"I'd never thought I would see the emblem of Vanitas again... This year is shaping up to be a very interesting one." Ozpin grinned to himself with an entertaining train of thought, as he calmly approached the microphone to give the closing words to all the formed teams accepted into his prestigious academy.

Team KOAS had placed itself a couple of feet away from team RWBY, certainly making some of the all-girl team shift their attention from the Headmaster to the group that stood out from the crowd. Aurelio waved warmly towards Ruby with a kind smile as he leaned forward to be able to be seen, greeting her and her newly made team. The girl in question sheepishly waved back, guaranteeing an exchange of looks between some members of their respective teams, Orion was grinning from his position, having found new material to tease Aurelio with.

"It is with my solemn praise that I welcome you all to Beacon Academy, the beginning of a new chapter in your lives. May you become the huntsmen and huntresses we believe you can be."

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Author's Note:

Rules for the transitions, if it's on the same day I'll mention the date once and when a new day comes it'll be shown. Just to not confuse anyone with some doubts about it.

On an unrelated note, Remnant's map barely made any sense if you take a good minute to think about it... Either the world is too small or too large, so to save some time and mental strength, I'll stick with making Remnant a bit bigger to fit the long distance between Kingdoms without making it an empty world.

Also, for those wanting to know how the characters look, in my profile you'll find a link to the sketches of their looks in their combat gear on my profile.

And yes, Blake is still Blake just with a small name change given her situation.

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Feedback (with chapter 1's)-

Another S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Yeah, I should have made the transitions clearer to follow. It's a work that still needs improvement, so there will be better ways to transition from here on out.

Guest: Not quite but this group is one tough team. So, they shall perform quite well in Beacon and who knows? Ozpin could find some interest in this team.

And in terms of ages, Aurelio is the youngest, followed by Kino then Sigma and Orion being the oldest. However, for Beacon's acceptance they submitted inaccurate ages, but their real ages will be mentioned further on. But yes, expect mayhem to unravel near team KOAS.