Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise? I told you all that this was going to happen, and it was. My very first story ever made was over five years ago, which was the older version of this story you see here. It was also over five years ago that I became a permanent fan of RWBY. I thought about it for so long, and now I am ready to do this. I am finally prepared to re-master the story of my OC Team - Team DRGN. Let the journey begin... again!

What does it truly mean to be a hero - to walk the path of a Huntsman or Huntress? Simply protecting mankind from the dark armies infested with the creatures of Grimm is not as easy as It is. To be a protector, does it require a strong sense of justice, or having the strength needed to shield all of humanity? Or perhaps one becomes a Beacon of justice through darker means - maybe as a means of atonement from their dark pasts. Regardless of the circumstances, many different types of protectors lurk around Remnant, as all go through training so that one day, they too can become Huntsmen/Huntresses. For at Beacon Academy, many new students were about to embark on a new chapter in their lives.

*Eastern Vale Village*

In the windy valley at a small village, a small tribe of swordfighters watched as two young dark blue-haired swordsmen, both with gray eyes, clashed their blades in a fierce battle. The younger of the two, who wore a sleeveless blue jacket over his black attire and brown boots, tightened his headband. Meanwhile, the older, who was wearing a gray long coat over his blue shirt and black pants and plain brown shoes, took a deep breath. After the battle concluded, the elder addressed the two. "Excellent work, you two. I have no doubt that you both will do well once you head off to Beacon tomorrow."

The older boy bowed respectfully. "Thank you, uncle Fujin."

The younger one folded his arms. "Oh come on, father. I've been training for this all my life. I'm a stronger samurai than Ryu could dare to be!" He glared at his older cousin beside him.

"Lee, that is enough!" Fujin narrowed his eyes. "You know that we treat all family members in the Yahto clan with the utmost respect. And even though our clan is not as big as it used to be, you both will uphold this tradition when you head off in the morning, are we clear?"

Ryu and Lee both bowed again. "Yes, master Fujin."

The elder nodded his head. "Good. Now then, let us continue with our sparring match." He spoke, as Ryu and Lee clashed blades once again.

"Come at me, Lee." Ryu muttered.

Lee huffed at him. "With pleasure, Ryu..."

*Mountainside Monastery*

Within the mountains circling Vale laid a monastery, where a small tribe of monks and priests lived in peace. Inside a cavern of some sorts, two white-haired individuals, one large-bearded man and a young golden-eye coloured girl, who had a white sweater and a light-blue miniskirt as well as blue mini-heel shoes, traversed through the cave until they reached a small shrine. "Oh mother, I thank you for watching over me and father, as well as our tribe." The young girl prayed.

"Oh Gwen. Even though your mother is no longer among the living, I make sure to visit her shrine everyday." Her father, Frost Charlotte, explained. "I know that if she were here, she would be moved to see you walking the path of a Huntress like her."

Gwen sighed. "It is true, but my training is not fully sufficient, my spiritual powers are not as strong as you or Nahyuta's." She looked around. "Where is he anyway?"

"Your brother is still studying for his medical exam tomorrow." Frost explained.

"Oh yes, that's right." Gwen remembered. "I must confess that I am jealous of Nahyuta. He has such mastery of our family's power that he is able to travel outside our monastery with confidence." She looked down. "Will I ever reach the same level as him or you... or even mother?"

"You stop that nonsense this minute!" Frost scolded, startling his daughter. "If you didn't wish to learn our techniques with the element of ice, I would have never taught you to begin with. I will admit that I was hesitant to bestow it upon you, but I can now see potential within you, my dear." He then reached into his pocket, and pulled a small gold-chain with a light-blue jewel in the middle. "And I also know that she would agree with you."

Gwen gasped. "M-mother's necklace?!"

The old priest nodded. "She wanted me to give you this, when you were to follow in her footsteps." He put the necklace around her neck.

Gwen gripped the necklace tightly, before hugging her dad. "Oh, thank you father! I love you!"

"I love you too, Gwen." Frost smiled as he returned the hug. "Come, let us head back."

*Alleyway*

Near an abandoned building stood a group of teens. The first one had blonde hair in the style of a fohawk, while he wore a yellow-vest over a black t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off, as well as black multi-zippered pants, sneakers, and fingerless gloves. The second one was a short purple haired Russian teen with a purple t-shirt, black track pants, black sneakers, a purple cape, and a strange crown. The third was a tanned Spaniard male with black hair, a gray shirt with a black vest, light-blue jeans, and red boots. The last one was a blue-haired female with a small feathered headband with her hair in a ponytail, who also wore a dark-red tank-top with a small green jacket, some white khaki shorts, brown open-toed shoes, and the biggest thing of all, a pair of large blue-bird wings on her back.

"So, Neos..." The purple haired boy spoke up to the blonde-haired delinquent. "Tomorrow we begin our new life."

"I know, Sergei." The boy known as Neos Xanthos nodded.

"A-hem!" Sergei raised his voice. "I prefer to be called by my nickname!"

Neos rolled his eyes. "Sorry... 'King.'" He addressed with air-quotes. "And how about you, Rockwell? And you, Janey?" He asked the Spaniard and Bluebird Faunus respectively.

"It's going to be one hell of a show!" Rockwell cheered, as he pulled out a guitar. "Tomorrow, Beacon Academy will be my stage."

"All right, settle down, Rock." Janey calmed him, before looking around. "I wonder where the boss is? He said he was going to meet us here."

"Hold your wings, girlfriend." A female voice called up, as a taller, older red-haired female dragged an even larger red haired man by the arm. "You know how Ron gets when some of the cubs end up leaving the pack."

Ron faced his younger sister, before speaking in a gruff voice. "Yeah thanks, Dawn..." He turned and faced his gang members. "Well what else can I say? 'The Bastard Beowolves' are family to each other. And seeing some of them run off to become Huntsmen and Huntresses is something I'll never really get, but whatever..."

"Hey, come on, Ron. You know that no matter what happens, I'll always be a Bastard Beowolf at heart." Neos assured his gang leader. "After all, when I lost my family all those years ago, you gave me - all of us - a home."

"You've taught us all so much growing up on the streets." Rockwell added.

"I'm glad I was able to find anyone willing to accept me for who I am." Janey nodded.

"You are more than a comrade, dear leader. You are family." Sergei concluded.

Ron gritted his teeth, before pulling everyone in a large group-hug. "Y'all are the best damn kids I ever had! You'd better visit soon, got it?!"

"Oof- sure thing, 'dad'." Neos struggled to breathe.

*Downtown Vale, lot #236*

In the backyard of a house, two people were having a sparring match. The first one was a crimson haired lad with a dark-blue jacket over a red t-shirt, a pair of leather boots, light-blue jeans, and a pair of dragon-shaped gauntlets. The other red-haired man, who was his father, wore a similar outfit except there was no shirt, which exposed his abs. "Phew! I think that's enough training for today, Damien."

"Okay, dad." Damien wiped the sweat off his forehead with a towel, before tossing another one to his pop. "Thanks for the last minute warm-up, it really helped."

"Anytime. After all, tomorrow you head off to Beacon Academy. I'm so proud of you!" He hugged his son.

"Thank you..." After hugging his dad, Damien saw a family photo on the wall, depicting him, his father, and a red-haired female with a Komodo-Dragon tail. "...I just wish mother were still here."

Damien's father frowned. "I know, son. I miss her too. Even though she's no longer alive, I know she'd be proud of you."

"Dad..." Damien sighed, before they heard a doorbell ring. "Put a shirt on! We've got company." The crimson haired lad dashed to the door. He opened it and saw an elderly maroon-haired Cat-Faunus, whom he easily recognized. "Aunt Lydia! What are you doing here?"

"It seems a certain someone wanted to see you, Damien." His aunt, Lydia Maroon, smiled and pointed to her daughter; a eight-year-old cat Faunus with the same coloured hair as her mother accompanied with pink-ribbons to tie her hair up in pigtails, as well as a green jacket over a yellow shirt, as well as blue shorts, and finally, a small maroon cat tail.

Damien's eyes widened. "Mindy?!"

Mindy squealed, before she dove at her older cousin. "DAMIIII!" She hugged him.

Damien laughed as he held his little cousin. "Well now, I didn't expect you to come visit me like this."

"I'll say..." Damien's dad walked in, still shirtless. "I didn't get a chance to make some tea for you."

"Well, when little Mindy heard Damien was heading off tomorrow, she really wanted a chance to say good-bye." Lydia explained. "Mindy, how about you and Damien go play the Switch upstairs, while me and Hanzo here catch up on business?"

"Ooh okay!" Mindy nodded, as she followed Damien upstairs to his room.

As the two kids went to the upper level, Hanzo and Lydia headed to the kitchen as the former starting boiling water. "So, you certainly have things under control, don't you?" Lydia asked.

"I don't know what you mean, Lydia." Hanzo bluntly answered.

"Oh come now, Hanzo, you know exactly what I mean!" Lydia retorted. "Have you still not told Damien about... well, you know..." She pointed to the same family photo from earlier.

"Not yet... I'm still waiting for the right time. After all, deep down I know he's still thinking about her every day since that moment eleven years ago." Hanzo touched the spot on the photo that contained his wife.

"Hotaru, my sister..." Lydia muttered.

*The Next morning*

The big day finally came as a large airship bound for Beacon flew all across Vale to pick up all the new applicants. The first stop was the Yahto village, as Ryu and Lee boarded the carrier before it then took off. "Hmm, this is some airship... It certainly is a lot bigger on the inside." Lee commented.

"Technology sure has come a long way." Ryu nodded.

Lee turned towards his older cousin. "...I'm going to the other side now."

"Why?" Ryu asked.

"To be far away from you as possible!" He shouted, before storming away in a hurry.

"Lee..." Ryu sighed softly, before folding his arms.

The next stop was the monastery in the mountains, to which Gwen waved her father and tribe goodbye, as she got on board. As the airship took flight again, a male white haired monk in white-and-blue monk clothing dashed towards Frost, before sighing. "I was too late..."

"Sorry, Nahyuta..." Frost comforted him.

"It is all right, father. I will make it up to Gwen soon enough." Nahyuta assured.

Stop number three was the abandoned lot that was currently the Bastard Beowolves hideout. The airship tossed down a ladder for Neos and Rockwell to climb, as Janey simply flew up while she carried Sergei.

"Phew, thanks for the lift." Sergei bowed.

"Why couldn't I have one?" Rockwell pouted.

"As if I'm everyone's personal air taxi." Janey shrugged.

"Well, only one more stop left..." Neos muttered. "Who's left I wonder?"

His question was answered as soon as the last passenger got on board, which was none other than...

"Damien?!" Neos' eyes widened at who he saw.

The crimson haired lad turned towards the spiky-haired hoodlum, before he gasped as well. "Neos!" He ran towards him, while the latter did the same.

The two shared a bro-hug, as the other Bastard Beowolves walked towards them. "Man, I haven't seen you since Sanctum! It's so good to see you again." Damien smiled.

"Likewise." Neos smirked.

"Hey Neos, are you going to introduce us to your comrade?" Sergei wondered.

"Oh yeah." The teen nodded. "Guys, this is my best friend, Damien Crimson. He and I were close as hell during Sanctum. Damien, these are my pals from the Bastard Beowolves; Janey Bluebird, Rockwell Sanchez, and Sergei von Amethyst." Sergei elbowed him. "But he likes to be called 'King'."

"Hello, nice to meet you all." Damien greeted them, as he shook everyone's hands.

"A pleasure to meet the friend Neos talked so much about all this time." Janey smiled.

"Well, Neos told me all about the gang he was raised in over the years." Damien replied.

Suddenly, the conversation was interrupted as a hologram of a young, female professor appeared. "Hello, and welcome to Beacon Academy." The hologram greeted.

"Oh, and who might that be?" Rockwell commented.

"Wait for it..." Neos muttered.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch." She continued.

"Well she's a bit of a cutie..." Janey smirked.

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." The hologram concluded, as it disappeared.

"Hey, look over there!" Sergei pointed as they could see Beacon Academy in view. "Our new home..."

Their concentration was broken as they saw a blonde-haired teen in knight's armor running through the airship, due to a bad case of motion sickness. "I guess not everyone can handle being on here." Damien commented. "I hope he'll be okay." Then they heard two girls freaking out over puke ending one of their shoes.

Ryu looked over the commotion from his spot, before muttering to himself. "This will be quite the journey..." He gave a small smile, as the airship prepared to land.

And there it is, the start of a tale reborn. When I first made the original story, I had a lot of fun doing it because I read so many OC stories at the time, and I really wanted to make mine just like everyone else's. But it was the first story, and I didn't know shit about story writing (in fact, I probably still don't), so I kept it very simple and followed the same formula as the show. Needless to say, with the more recent criticisms on the previous story, it was clear that it didn't live up to the expectations I was hoping for. That didn't mean I hated it, but after writing some RWBY Crossovers, the RPing sessions I did with Blazing-Saint (really helped get the creative juices flowing), and taking in the critiques, I feel a lot more confident to write a completely new-and-improved story.

This tale is going to be drastically different from the older version, several new characters I wanted to include before are now making their appearance here (including the OCs of Blazing-Saint, which you will see next chapter). Not only that, but I even tweaked some of my OCs backstories and personalities, plus finding someone to draw my OC Team (thanks to Deviantart user "The-Casual-Mike) to make it so complete. Finally, I want to assure you that despite the abundance of characters, I am going to do my best and make sure the main four OCs get the most attention. But rest assured, they still will interact with the actual characters of the show.

It's a brand new adventure, I hope you'll give it a chance. With that said, I will see you all next time for the next chapter.