Hello, everyone! This is Umbra the Hedgehog signing back in! Here we go, everyone. Picking up from where we stopped last time, with much less of a time crunch and much more time to iron out all the little wrinkles. Here's hoping you'll enjoy reading it as much as we did planning and writing it. Alrighty then, let's get started!

NOTE:

-This is a collaborative effort between me, Noctis Gaelum and Alastar the hawk. We claim ownership over nothing except our own original characters.

SMWK

Eventually, more students began to enter and take their seats, and at exactly 9 o'clock, the class began, led by the gentleman that the four youths had met earlier.

After a very sudden, very quick and very loud entrance by Team RWBY and their friends, four other students who had been christened by Professor Ozpin as Team JNPR, the man took the opportunity to introduce himself to the assembled group: Professor Peter Port. Much like when he saw Set, Maza, Wyatt and Kale and greeted them, he came across as quite eager to impart his knowledge to all his new students.

The rest of the classroom wasn't quite as excited as him, however.

While Port never once lost traction as he spoke of the creatures of Grimm and the stories that surrounded them, a good deal of his students were too busy trying not to fall asleep, be it through random chatter, scribbling things on a sheet of paper, or even just using their Scrolls under their desks.

Somehow, Set had managed to sleep through most of the class while Port was none the wiser. Maza was too preoccupied with her doodling to wake him up, while Kale was trying his hardest to pay attention, even though he quickly found himself nodding off.

Wyatt could not be more thankful that his team's seats were as far away from their teacher as they were.

By the gods… all this information, and they're not even paying attention? How is this my life?

He rolled his eyes before just deciding to continue taking notes, finding himself genuinely invested as Professor Port kept on imparting his class. He was currently finishing a story about a fierce battle he had with a Beowolf long ago.

Clearly, this man would make a fine teacher during their stay at Beacon.

"The moral of the story?" The older man rose up after taking a bow. "A true Huntsman must be honorable! A true Huntsman must be dependable! A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!"

Wyatt nodded at that.

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Just as he put his pencil down, the room was suddenly filled by the sound of a familiar voice.

"I do, sir!"

Right at that moment, Wyatt suddenly felt his enthusiasm draining away.

Not her again…

It was Weiss Schnee.

Typical Schnee… can't go one single day without shoving their names down our throats.

"Well then, let's find out." Professor Port's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Step forward, and face your opponent!"

He then gestured at a cage, which had some kind of creature with red eyes inside. As if on cue, the beast growled very loudly, and the cage began to shake around.

"Hmm? Huh? Wha?" Apparently, it was loud enough to get Kale's attention.

"Uh, Professor Port?" He turned his head to the source of the question, only to find that Maza's focus had also shifted. "Is that a real Grimm?"

Port looked at them in turn. "Of course, my dear girl!"

"Is this how every lesson is going to end? Because I like that idea!"

He laughed at that.

"I like your attitude!" Then he turned his attention over to Weiss. "Now then, Miss Schnee, please take a moment to prepare."

The group could see her standing up. "Of course."

As she walked up the stairs to do as she was told, Maza called out to her.

"Aim for its belly, Weiss! They're very ticklish there!"

Wyatt raised an eyebrow. "…I'm not even going to ask how you know that."

Meanwhile, Kale took a sheet of paper, crumpled it up, and threw it at his brother's head.

"Hey, bro! Wake up!"

"…Huh…? Wuzzat?" Set was visibly drowsy, not yet fully aware of his surroundings. "What's the matter?"

"There's gonna be a fight."

"Uh-huh… okay…" Set responded while scratching his eye.

Kale was confused by his brother's nonchalance, but it only took a second before he figured out what he did wrong.

"It's a Grimm fight."

"What?! Where?!" Immediately, the Faunus boy woke up and turned his head to where Professor Port was standing.

As if in answer, Maza chuckled. "Right there."

"Professor Port's got some kind of Grimm inside that cage." Kale pointed at the exact spot. "He selected a student from among us to fight it. Some sort of talent show, I guess."

"Really? Who did he choose to fight it?" Set asked.

"The Schnee girl." Wyatt answered him, completely uninterested.

Maza nodded. "Yep. Weiss Schnee."

"The crabby one?!"

Kale was the next to nod. "Yeah, the crabby one."

Wyatt looked away. "Go back to sleep, sir. I bet that girl is just going to nag the Grimm to death."

"C'mon, Titan. I wanna see if her prowess matches her big head!"

"I'm with you, bro." The two brothers seemed very enthusiastic. "If she jumped at the chance, she must be really good."

As if in response, the group's attention was diverted by the sound of a door opening.

…Well, most of the group. Wyatt was still completely uninterested.

The others turned to the door, and as expected, Weiss was standing there, clad in the white outfit that they were familiar with, and with a rapier and pouch strapped to her hips on opposite sides. She wasted no time in making her way back to the center of the classroom, standing in front of the cage while keeping her distance.

"Oh, man, here we go." Kale was quick to speak again.

As the white-haired girl grabbed her weapon and got into position, they could hear her teammates cheering her on.

Yang was the first one. "Goooo, Weiss!"

"Fight well!" Then came Blake, sounding much more cheery than she did the previous night.

Last but not least, there was Ruby. "Yeah, represent Team RWBY!"

Weiss wasted no time in snapping back at her leader, basically demanding to be allowed to focus. While Set, Maza and Kale winced at that, all Ruby did was offer a quiet apology.

"Alright!" Professor Port spoke up, grabbing everyone's attention once more. He was currently holding a weapon that was placed on the wall mere moments ago: a blunderbuss with a pair of identical axe blades attached to the stock.

Maza tilted her head. "Wait, when did he grab that?"

"Let the match begin!"

He swung his weapon, and the impact broke the lock on the cage door, which dropped down to the floor. Weiss saw her opponent clearly: a single Boarbatusk.

"Let me know when it's over." Wyatt was entirely focused on his notebook, which he was using to draw some random sketches.

"Suit yourself, Big Man." Set answered shortly after, never taking his eyes off the fight before him.

The Boarbatusk immediately charged Weiss, who used her rapier to deflect the attack and then rolled over to her left, quickly shifting her posture so she and it were still face to face. After it stopped its assault, they both studied each other for a moment.

"Ooh, she's got good reflexes." Maza immediately made an observation.

Kale nodded. "Left-handed grip. Cool."

"Lefty, like me. Hmm…" And as usual, Set offered a snarky response. "Okay, she gets one point."

Next up, it was Weiss who rushed over to face the Grimm, seemingly hoping to jab her weapon right into its skull. Instead, its armored body ensured that the attempt would merely end with said weapon trapped in its tusks. Despite being thrown off-balance for a moment, though, Weiss still held on to the hilt, getting tossed around but refusing to surrender.

"Bold new approach!" Professor Port commented on it. "I like it!"

Kale looked at him for a moment. "Was that sarcasm?"

"I dunno, bro." Set immediately answered. "His fabulous mustache is too distracting for me to spare the mind power to figure it out."

Even as the two had their little conversation, they still noticed that the Boarbatusk managed to separate Weiss from her rapier, wasting no time in ramming her with its tusks and knocking her back.

Professor Port quickly made another comment. "Oh-ho! Now what will you do without your weapon?"

Weiss looked up almost immediately after that, and she saw the Grimm rapidly heading in her direction again.

"Oh, this is big." Maza's eyes widened at the scene.

Her panic immediately subsided, however, when the white-haired girl rolled over to the side and dodged the attack. The beast crashed into a desk, and Weiss quickly ran over to grab her sword once more.

The Faunus girl smiled. "Yep. Her reflexes are still great."

"Far from, sorry to say, cupcake." Set replied quickly. "If she was half the big shot her terrible attitude and her ego would have us believe, she wouldn't have lost her rapier that quickly and easily." He then turned to his brother. "Kale, I'm sure we agree that our teachers back in Vacuo would have found that… how did they say it? 'Preposterous and unacceptable, not to mention mediocre'?"

Kale sighed. "Yep, that's exactly what they used to say."

"Lady Rosé was always pretty demanding. Not to mention her extensive language left me boggled more than once."

The older boy chuckled briefly. "Yeah, we always called her 'Lady Sesquipedalian' when you weren't around."

"Oh, bless you."

Maza was the next to chuckle, amused at her teammates' antics.

As they spoke, the battle between the Boarbatusk and young Miss Schnee came to a close, after she dashed in and pierced the creature's stomach.

"Oh, hey, she took my advice!"

Set was quick to comment on this. "That was sloppy at best."

"Bravo! Bra-vo!" Professor Port didn't seem to agree. "It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training!"

Wyatt looked up, still completely uninterested. "Is it over? Good. Now we can go back to the class."

"I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today." Their teacher's timing was spot-on, almost like he heard that. "Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

Wyatt's reply was pretty emotionless.

"…You must be joking." He sighed. "Well, I suppose we're done here." Then he turned to his team leader. "What is the plan now, sir?"

Set glanced at his team for a second. "Well… we might as well go back to our room to change out of these ridiculous things. After that—"

"A training session?" Wyatt quickly suggested. "I have some ideas we could explore."

He followed that up by handing his notebook over to Set, who found on it a list of exercise ideas he had been writing down. The Faunus boy was shocked to find that the very first option was Ursa wrestling matches.

"…I was gonna say 'get back to our little background check session', actually." He tried his best not to come off as confused. "We still need to know more about each other before we operate as a team. Also, Sunshine has been begging me non-stop about our parents' story and all that."

Maza suddenly screamed, shaking Wyatt from the excitement as she did. "Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes! Story time!"

"But—"

"Please?"

Wyatt sighed again. "Okay, fine. If that is what you want, Maza, I will honor your wishes."

"Thank you!" Maza hugged him for barely a second. "Come on, let's go, let's go!"

Before any of her teammates could say anything else, she very quickly rushed for the exit.

"…But maybe we could train afterwards." Somehow, Set was completely unfazed by her actions.

Wyatt shrugged. "Forget about it. The moment's gone anyway." Much like her, he made his way to the exit, although nowhere near as fast. "I will go for a walk after the story. Any one of you can come along if you want."

"Your call, Tall Guy." An immediate answer came from the team leader.

Wyatt looked back at Set, without breaking stride. "I can assure you, sir, that the fact you are shorter than me doesn't imply I'm above average when it comes to height."

As though in answer, he turned back to his front, only for his forehead to collide with the top of the door frame.

"…That doesn't prove anything." He just kept on walking, massaging his forehead as he did.

Set snickered at the scene, while Kale let out a chuckle.

"I heard that!"

Some time later, the four teens were at their room, now wearing their regular clothes instead of the uniforms that they wore for their class.

As he laid on his bed, Kale breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, man… this feels so much better."

"I'll never button anything all the way up again in my life." His brother definitely agreed. "I like breathing, thank you very much."

Maza nodded, even knowing that her teammates weren't looking at her. "I like my outfit too." Then she sat up on her bed. "So, about that story…"

Laying on his hammock, Set looked at her, and he chuckled at her excited facial expression.

"Alright then. Get comfy, get cookies, get tissues. You're gonna need all of them."

Kale raised his hand. "I think I'm gonna help out with that." He pointed back and forth between Set and himself. "You know, brothers. Might as well, right?"

"Yay!" Maza was visibly shaking. "I'm so excited!"

"I honestly don't really mind if you share the story." Wyatt shrugged before sitting on his own bed like the others. "It was going to happen at some point anyway, right?"

Kale nodded. "I guess so." Then he turned to Set. "So, little brother, you want to start us off?"

"Well, it's a pretty crazy story." The Faunus boy stretched his legs for a moment. "Now, me and Kale, we're from Vacuo, but our parents aren't. They're actually from Vale, and believe it or not, they couldn't stand each other's guts." He scoffed at that. "In fact, they worked hard to rip out each other's guts."

Maza gasped dramatically at that revelation. "No way…"

"Yeah, I know. I couldn't believe it when they first told us either." Kale chuckled.

Many years ago…

"Ten-hut!"

Human soldiers huddled, facing the man who yelled the summons.

"Battalion Three! Status report!"

A woman with green hair saluted him. "Faunus rebels are situated in Sectors T, R, and A, General! Private Plata faced one of their rogue ensembles, and was forced to retreat, sir!"

"Damn…" He shook his fist in anger. "Battalion Two!"

"Unit Jing separated for recon. They are currently situated in spots where Faunus were commonly seen, sir! They're reporting in every two hours with activity, sir!" A man with light reddish-brown hair responded. "Unit Xuan, which stands before you, managed to gather materials to forge new weaponry, sir!"

The general nodded. "Great news, son. Well done." Then he turned to the last group. "Battalion One!"

"We seized Sectors 3 through 8, sir! The Faunus were merely routed, but we now have the advantage, sir!" A young lady with sky blue eyes and hair reported.

That made him grumble for a moment. "Not the results I was expecting, but still a victory." He looked at her and nodded once again. "Good job, soldier."

Just as he was ready to start giving out orders, a loud yell interrupted him.

"Medic!"

Right on cue, a different man stepped up, running through other soldiers, until he reached the front lines, panting and gasping for air.

"Somebody help me!"

Battalion Two's colonel was shaken. "Private Midnight! What's wrong? You were to dispatch with Unit Jing!"

It took a moment for him to start talking.

"Private… injured… separated from unit… outside." Not everything could be made out from what he was saying, but those words were understood by most of the assembled group. Even though it looked like he had more to say, he passed out after gasping loudly.

Before fading out completely, however, he was able to hear one last thing.

"You heard him! Get the med team and head out on the double! That's an order!"

Meanwhile, in a location far away from the human military outpost, there was a similar outpost present, except this one was occupied by nothing but Faunus.

"Listen to me, my brethren!" A man with black hair and yellowish-brown eyes was standing in front of the assembled group, speaking loudly so that everyone would listen to him. "I've just received reports from our forces that several of the human soldiers have been driven away!"

The crowd cheered at the news.

"True, it's not an absolute victory, but we have made our point clear once more!" He scowled, which gave all those within close range a view of his snake fangs. "Our kind has existed as long as theirs, perhaps even longer!"

The audience collectively cried out in agreement.

"Faunus participation was important during the Great War! We were promised equal rights!" He began to approach his audience. "We were given a continent to call our own! But were we treated as equals?"

Everyone replied in a single voice. "No!"

"Even after all that has happened, everything our ancestors have lived and suffered through, humans still think of us as nothing but animals!" As he continued to walk, the crowd cleared out a path for him to get through. "They think they can exile us to Menagerie! They think they can treat us like we're beneath them!"

Everyone cried out again.

"But they are wrong!" By the time he had made it to the center of the crowd, he clenched his fist and raised it. "We are Faunus! We are strong! We are proud! And most importantly…" Then he brought it down. "…we stand together!"

Once again, every single Faunus cheered at their leader's words.

"And because we do, I want to thank everyone who was involved in this." In the midst of their celebration, said leader turned around. "Wolf Pack, what can you share?"

A canine-natured Faunus boy stepped up. "Grey Luna, leader of the Wolf Pack. We forced one of their guys to step back, Naga. I don't know if they'll try to return, but if they do, we'll be ready."

"Good. That's good. We're moving closer to our goal, and what you did will act as a guiding light." Naga turned to a different ensemble of Faunus. "Bear Claw!"

A tall, strong, experienced-looking lady spoke up. "Wren Grizzly, main scout of Bear Claw. We were forced to leave, Naga. They were carrying weapons we had never seen, and… we all survived, but some of us were seriously harmed."

"That's okay." His face expressed worry and solace. "Heal up. But I will need you to tell me more about those weapons."

A cloaked figure descended from above, landing right behind him.

"…Prowl." He turned around. "I have faith that you've proven you're worth the money we paid you."

Her response was quick. "I brought the hurt to two of their most menacing units. If they're lucky, they'll spend the rest of their life breathing through a tube."

"Only two?" Naga replied, raising an eyebrow as he did. "That's… disappointing."

She scoffed at that. "I wasn't finished. Ask how many actually bit the dust; it'll certainly change that face of yours, Sitetara."

He sighed at her attitude. "I still don't understand why you're so insistent about not joining our group. We're all in this together, Prowl." He offered her a hand.

"Sorry, I don't play well with others." She slapped his hand away. "Especially those who can't even carry their own weight."

This earned her a collection of both cheers and scorn from many of the Faunus that were present.

"Even so, we appreciate your help." Naga bowed his head for a moment before looking at her again. "For what it's worth, at least take a moment to recover your strength. If we need your help before you leave, I promise we'll compensate you just like we did for this job."

She rolled her eyes at that. "What do you take me for? One of your routed weaklings? No thanks. I'd do better resting on a tree branch." She turned away from him. "I'll be back if I subtract another human from the scene. Adios."

With that, she left the scene, just as quickly as she entered it.

"I don't get it, Naga." Wren spoke to him. "Why do you stand for that woman and her ego? She obviously doesn't care for anyone but herself."

He nodded. "I know, but she's helped us plenty in the past. Besides, she's a Faunus too, and as far as our cause is concerned, that makes her our sister… for better or worse." Then he turned to look at her. "Maybe she'll join us one day, or maybe she won't. Maybe she'll learn to treat others better, or maybe not."

Before she could reply, he started to walk away.

"Right now, I'm just thankful that we've achieved as much as we have, and I hope we'll achieve much more in the future."

All she could do was stand there and look at him, amazed by his patience and inspired by his words.

Back at the human outpost, Private Midnight woke up with a jolt.

"Huh? What?! Where—"

"At ease, soldier."

He turned his head to the source of the voice that interrupted him, only to find himself faced by his commanding officer from Battalion Two.

"C-Colonel Sorrel, sir!" He quickly tried to compose himself.

The colonel gestured at him to stop. "Don't bother. You've already strained yourself enough."

He simply did as he was told.

"Your orders were clear, Midnight. You were supposed to provide reports on the Faunus every two hours." The brown-haired man's voice was firm. "You abandoned your post."

Despite his obvious discomfort, he nodded. "…There was a fellow unit member in trouble, sir."

"Yes, that was made very clear."

He brought a hand to his forehead. "Is he… alright?"

"He'll pull through. He always does." Sorrel sighed. "…Was it the mercenary again?"

He just nodded again.

"That Faunus sure has it in for you, soldier." For a moment, the colonel seemed amused. "Old flame of yours?"

Private Midnight chuckled along with his CO. "Yeah, right. She wishes."

"Well, whatever the case is, I'm glad you're alive. We need every man and woman we can get in this fight." Sorrel stood up and began to make his exit. "He's in the infirmary, if you want to see him."

His subordinate saluted him. "Thank you, sir."

At the infirmary, there was another soldier, just as Sorrel had said. His hair was a dusky shade of purple, his eyes were light green, and he had a tanned complexion.

"You know, I'm starting to wonder if you're just getting yourself hurt on purpose." He was being tended to by a woman with blue-gray hair and eyes, who took the opportunity to sass him.

He laughed in response. "What gave you that impression?"

"Oh, I don't know… the way your face lights up like a signal flare every single time I get stuck patching up your wounds?"

This earned her an amused eye roll from her patient. "You know, if you want to go out on a date with me, you could just say it."

"Oh, for the love of…" She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'd punch you right now if it wasn't my job to ensure your recovery." Then she started to make her way out. "I need more supplies."

As she did, the soldier waved at her. "Always a pleasure, Glaucia!"

She said nothing.

He laid down and closed his eyes, but only a few seconds went by before he heard another voice.

"Glaucia, huh? You're on a first-name basis now?"

He immediately opened his eyes, and was met by the sight of the one who brought him back: Private Midnight.

"I've got this in the bag, Axel." He laughed again. "She totally loves me."

His fellow soldier rolled his eyes with a scoff. "Well, congrats, Kai. Make sure you invite me to the wedding." He followed this up with a thumbs-up, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'll bring the cake."

"You prick…" Kai's reaction was nothing but genuine amusement.

Axel chuckled as he took a seat next to him. "You know, if you hate the army so much, you could just get one of those Faunus to shoot your pinky toe off." Then he punched him in the shoulder. "Instant medical discharge."

"What, and miss all the fun? No way, Midnight." Kai immediately returned the gesture. "I get plenty of scars to show off to the relatives, I get just as many chances to hit on Glaucia, and most importantly… I get to keep you busy, you lazy jerk."

That got Axel to facepalm, although he still seemed just as amused as before.

"Well, this makes about… what, eight times I've saved your hide?" He reached into one of his pockets and brought out some food, which he then handed to his companion. "You really need a better hobby, Zedong, because you owe me big time by now."

Kai scoffed at that. "Doesn't count. Your biggest fan put me here this time." He then proceeded to take what his friend had brought him. "This one's on you, buddy."

"Fine, but that still makes seven." Axel then took some more food out of his pocket, this time meant for himself. "…You do realize she just made up the supplies thing so she could get away from you, right, moron?"

This time, the two of them laughed together.

Back in the present…

"…I never would have imagined that my loving, peaceful momma would ever be the kind to leave others 'breathing through a tube if they're lucky', but there ya go." Set had a grin on his face, clearly finding the contrast amusing.

Kale nodded. "And that's not even getting into how I felt when we found out Dad was always a smart aleck, not just at home." Then he chuckled. "Who would've guessed?"

Wyatt looked at the two for a moment, completely astounded.

A surly mercenary and a respectable soldier… I am no longer surprised that these two turned out the way they did.

Meanwhile, Maza had a big smile on her face.

"…This is already the greatest story ever told in the history of Remnant." She started to shake from the excitement. "What happened next?"

Man, oh man, have I been waiting to get this one out there. Going through familiar events is definitely fun, but we all get a bigger kick out of the more original stuff we've been going over, and in particular, I was really hoping we'd get the ball rolling with this bit at the end. We look forward to expanding and having fun with it as we keep moving forward, and we hope you'll like it. In the meantime, though, it's time to bring out the list again, because we've got quite a few to go through here:

- Plata: Plata is one of the Spanish words for "silver".
- Grey Luna: Different spelling, but like in Chapter 6, grey is a color.
- Wren Grizzly: Wrens are small, brownish birds in the Troglodytidae family.
- Naga Sitetara: Sitetara is one of several transliterations for "black" in the Sanskrit dictionary.
- Sorrel: Sorrel is a brown color with a tint of red to it.
- Glaucia: Glaucia is the feminine form of the Portuguese Glaucio, which means "bluish-gray".
- Kai Zedong: Zedong is a Chinese name which is generally taken to mean "moisten-purple mushroom".

The first day has gone by, the class didn't go as poorly as a lot of them expected, even if there were some bumps along the way, but more importantly, it seems like our four teens are actually starting to bond together as a team, even if it's in the loosest possible sense of the word. What's coming next? Only time will tell, but for the moment…

This is Umbra the Hedgehog signing off.