"Hm? Oh yes Jaune I'm perfectly fine." Pyrrha stated as she looked at her partner and smile. What makes you think something's wrong?" Jaune just scratched his head as he the rest of JNPR and RWBY started walking through the school on their way to class. First day, couldn't risk sleeping in for this, left a bad impression.
"Nothing, nothing it's just…"
"You've been super depressed ever since yesterday because Gales isn't with us." Nora popped up as Ren nudged her. "What?"
"Yeah what Nora said. You sure your alright?" Pyrrha sighed slightly as she looked at her team.
"Yes well…" Pyrrha began as she sighed. "I do admit I'm a bit sad that he won't be with us. He'd make a great Huntsman."
"I agree, he showed great promise." Ren added in as looked to team RWBY and saw them nod in agreement. For some reason though, he did notice that the girls were slightly upset about that fact. Then again he was as well. Gales showed a natural synergy with their groups, it was like he had worked them for years. It would be a shame to lose someone like that. "However we can't change what happened though."
"Or~ can we?" Nora pipped in as she she started to think. "Maybe we could convince the teachers to let him come back to school! That way we could get him to stay with us and we could all work together again."
"I don't think it works that way Nora." Ren added in as the group made their way into class as a few other students walked up behind them.
The students sat with their assigned teams, in a way made sense considering that they were going to be spending the next few years together. "Well then it appears that everyone is here!" Professor Peter Ports looked at his gathered students and made a noise. "It is a pleasure to meet all of you, I am Professor Ports, I hope we can all get along during our time together." He released a deep laugh as he spoke. "Oh who am I kidding, of course we will! Why I'm certain that by the time the semester is up you won't just see me as a teacher but as a confidants, perhaps even a friend." Ports stated before being met with silence. "But right now, for you to see e only as a teacher is fine, that said let us start our first class today by seeing which teams are all among us." He reached for his scroll as he smiled behind his mustache. "When I call your team name, I want you to introduce yourselves." He coughed into his fistfor a momet as he started listing off teams.
"Team CRDL."
"Here." Four voices calle out as they introduced themselves to the class
"Team JNPR."
"Here." Jaunce, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren introduced themselves.
"Team RWBY."
"Here." Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang introduced themselves.
"Team CLR."
"Here." Only one voice called out as the rest of the of the class looked to the back of the room. A few eyes widened in surprise, the rest just looked on in confusion at the sole Huntsman in training as he grinned at them. "Gales Ashe, nice to meet you guys." He looked down to a group of surprised faces as he waved. "Hey guys."
Lunch
"Gales is here, Gales is here, Gales is here." Nora sang as Gales sat next to Teams RWBY and JNPR with a smile on his face. Ten trays of food stacked in front of him as Jaune looked at the sight in a bit of disbelief.
"Someone's got an appetite…"
"You… uh… you're really going to eat all that?"
"Well duh~" Gales gave an honest smile as he started on his first plate, finishing it in record time as the others watched, all save for Pyrrha who casually started on her own plate.
"Oh dear…" Ren muttered as he stared at the sight, watching Gales devour the plates before him as his eyes slowly turned to look at someone else. Nora, she'd grabbed just as many plates as Gales had, and was eating with just as little abandon. 'There's two of them…'
"Wow, look at them go…"
"Honestly, how uncivilized."
2 minutes and twenty plates were empty as Nora and Gales just rubbed their bellies in satisfaction. "Ah~ that's a little better… know, I'm sure you all have questions."
"Yeah." Jaune admitted as he looked at the one-eyed teen. "What happened?"
"We were worried when you didn't show up at the ceremony yesterday." Blake admitted as she ate at a more civilized pace.
"Yeah sorry I couldn't go, I got called away to Oz's office."
You were called to Professor Ozpin's?" Gales just nodded as his one good eye drifted around the room and leaned on his palm. "Oz needed to talk to me about something important, so I headed to his office around the time the ceremony got underway." Ruby made a noise as she started munching on her cookies and Gales turned his gaze to her."What is that?"
"What's what?"
"That thing you're eating."
"You mean… cookies?" Ruby looked at her sweets as Gales tilted his head.
"What's that look for? You look like you never saw a cookie before." Yang joked as Gales just stared at the sweets on Ruby's plate.
"Seen? I've never even heard the word until today…" The table immediately went silent as they all looked at Gales in confusion or -in Ruby's case- shock.
"What?"
"How could you have never heard of cookies before? Everyone's heard of cookies."
"Well I'm not everyone it seems." Gales stated as he leaned on his hand and made a noise. "Are they any good?"
"They're the best!" Ruby stated as she took another bite before offering one of her cookies to Gales as stared at it for a moment before picking it up. More like a rabbit than anything Gales started nibbling on the treat before stopping.
"Is this cocoa? Holy - this is cocoa!"
"Those are chocolate chip cookies, best ones in Vale." Ruby stated proudly.
"But it's so sweet. It's not bitter at all. It's way sweeter than than the choco back home." Continuing his nibbling Gales made an almost purring noise as Blake twitched. "How'd you get it this sweet?"
"Vale secret." Pyrrha stated. "Although I'm certain it requires a lot of sugar."
"Sugar, you mean like Sugar Beet or sugarcane?"
"Refined sugar actually."
"How do you refine sugar?" That got Gales a few confused looks as he stopped munching and looked to Pyrrha while she scratched her cheek.
"It's a process… one I don't exactly understand myself." The redhead admitted as she looked to Gales… I take it you don't refine sugar where your from?"
"Nope, we grind it up and sometimes mix it with honey but can't get anything this sweet." Gales admitted as he finished his cookie before taking a moment.
"So uh… exactly what happened when you were summoned to Professor Ozpin's office?" Getting things back on track Jaune took a bit of his own food as Gales made a noise. "Oh right… well it went something like this…"
Yesterday
"You called me here because I'm getting kicked out your school." Gales stated calmly as he crossed his arms. "Shame too; I was actually kind of interested in seeing what would happen if I joined. I mean less you count my limited time at the Wycademy I've never been to school."
"You may still get your chance." Ozpin stated as he looked at the teen for a moment with a restrained smile. "As you've probably realized, every year when students are accepted into beacon , we make sure the number is divisible by four."
"For teams right? You need teams of four for every team of students you guys make?" Gales stated. "I figured as much when I realized the entire initiation wasn't just against Grimm but other students too." The teen muttered. "We were fighting for our placement in the school."
"Exactly, however this year is a bit different. You see, during the initiation test you managed to impress quite a few of the professors watching and they gave you exceptional scores and recommendations. Especially when they realized that you weren't going to turn against your fellow huntsmen and huntress just in order to pass and leave them behind."
"Yeah well; I didn't want to hurt their chances." Gales shrugged. "Besides… I don't turn on my comrades, I could never do that." His thoughts shifted to a familiar white haired teen as he clenched his fists unconsciously and took a calming breath. He said that… but he and Abel were still on opposite sides now. What would he do when they crossed paths again? He shook his head as Ozpin noticed his conflicting thoughts and chose to keep it to himself.
"Yes; well, because of what you didn't do during your initiation, and your exceptional skills. He others have convinced me to break this rule this year." Gales perked up for a moment.
"Really?"
"Yes; and the way you performed in the Emerald Forest gave me an idea. You will be a member of… your own team."
"Awesome!" Gales cheered. "Wait what? I get my own team… just like that?"
"During initiation you showed extraordinary skill on your own, both tracking Grimm as well as fighting them, and more importantly you were also able to work well with both teams. So you will work with both team RWBY and team JNPR. If the leaders can't decide what to do in a situation, you step in."
"Huh…" Gales stayed silent for a moment. "I have the weirdest sense of deja vu right now." The teen stated as he stared off into space for a moment. "Either way, I'm fine with it. Lets go."
"Good. allow me to explain this to you. You will be managing both RWBY and JNPR. You'll be allowed rearrange members as you see fit depending of the situation. If you think that certain members will work best for a mission, you may take them with you. Also, if the leaders can't make a decision, you will make it for them."
"Is that about it?"
"Yes, I do believe so." Ozpin admitted before he fell silent and started to think. "Oh yes, Gales… I have to ask, have you managed to unlock your Semblance yet?" Gales blinked before tilting his head in thought.
"Semblance… that's the thing that makes everyone on Remnant special right? I did some reading about it a while back." The teen muttered before shaking his head. "But; no, I haven't." "Not sure if I need it though." The teen shrugged as he smiled lightly. "I mean. I got this far without it right? Heck I don't even know how to use my "Aura" yet so yeah."
"A fair point. I'm simply curious, that's all." Ozpin admitted as the teen turned his gaze towards the window of his office and stared outward. "You aren't like most teen's Gales, I'm quite curious to see what your Semblance manifests as."
"Maybe you'll see one day… maybe not." The teen admitted as he looked back to Ozpin. "That said is there anything else I should know about?"
"No, I believe I kept you long enough. Enjoy your time here, make friends, and fight for the right reasons. Goodbye."
"Later Oz."
Present
So… your our manager?" Weiss raised an eyebrow as she looked at the one-eyed teen.
"I prefer the term handler, but yeah." Gales admitted as he nodded his head. "I'll be working with you guys during our time here, both as an extra member of RWBY, and JNPR." He stated as he yawned into his hand. "Jaune, Ruby, you two will still be in charge of your teams, bu if you need any advice or something just feel free to turn to me for help. Also if you have no idea how to handle a situation, I'll take over." Gales explained before pausing. "That said when I gotta be the leader of CLR though, I'll be rotating between all your members, see how well we can all work together if one of us gets benched for whatever reason." He looked between Ruby and Jaune for a moment. "You two ok with that?"
"Yep."
"Hey I'm just glad I have someone to turn to." Gales just nodded his head as he looked at the rest of the teams.
"That's good to hear, and as I said, you need any advice or even just want to talk I'm all ears." He looked to the eight as he smiled. "In fact; that goes out to all of you, come to me if you want to talk, need help, or even just want to hang out for a bit. You're my teammates sure but I wanna be your friend too."
"Yeah." Jaune smiled.
"What do you say, arm's in?"
"Arms in." Without another word the eight leaned over the table as they put their arms in a circle.
"RWBY, JNPR; I look forward in working with you guys, and I hope you all feel the same way."
"Yeah."
"That said, long as we're here, things are gonna be tough for us, but let's give it our all and become great Huntsmen and Huntresses, let's make our time here the best we can make it. You guys promise me that, and I'll do everything in my power to make sure you all come back from your quests beyond the city limits."
"We'll promise you the same thing."
"Then when it's all said and done, let's all come back and tell our stories. Not just to each other, but those that follow after us."