The Boy with the Peculiar Watch

Every dream was always the same whenever he slept at night; a city awash in fire and the skies flashing with red and green light, warships flying overhead and a boy trembling with fright was trapped in a burning warehouse with his teacher standing between him and their attackers; a monstrous creature with a golden arm and a man with silver hair. 

Their speech was inaudible over the ringing in the boy's ears as he watched their lips move but the teacher turned to his student and slapped a peculiar black watch on his wrist that started beeping and flashing a combination of green and blue.

"Watch…Activate Emergency Protocol: Chronosapien Flare! Passcode: W4Y382K!" The bearded man yelled out as he pushed the boy away when a second flash of light flooded the room with a red light.

"Recognition Code accepted, Activating in 3…"

"2…"

"1…"

The ringing in his ears stopped him from hearing the last words from this man as his final sight of his teacher disappearing into red light before his vision blurred into a blinding white.

The boy felt his body getting sucked through the void as he looked to the watch on his wrist; the face of the watch was increasingly flashing a frenzy of green and blue. His body sank like a stone into the white abyss ever faster and for a brief instance he could see the watch flashing purple, with one last look around his blank surroundings he saw the ground or the ceiling getting closer to him and as he braced for impact…

THUMP!

A young boy woke up in a heap at a halfway house and irritating some of his bunkmates. Finally awake after the knock to the head, he began his trek to the bathroom; sweeping the dark hair from his eyes and tied up his dark, shoulder length hair. After splashing some water on his face; he took stock of his usual look and aside from the tired looking bags under his brown eyes and the still healing scar on his left cheek, he seemed to be the kind of person that would disappear in a crowd pretty easy. "Well…I just gotta get accepted and I've made it, Beacon Academy should be a good place to get stronger…Those weird monsters nearly killed me too much already so it might help to learn more about…whatever this place is." He thought to himself as he threw on a dark camo green button up shirt with a pair of brown cargo pants and wearing a monochrome pair of sneakers.

The boy hadn't been too sure how he ended up in this particular town, but currently as it stood; it hardly looked all that different from Starshine Canyon. He would hear a sound of cracking glass on the ground which brought him out of his thoughts; when he picked it up, it seemed to look like a electronic device but the step on it had prevented him from checking what it was so with some hope and a little advise he remembered from his teacher: He dipped into an alleyway and brought that black watch up and started to look at the face…This left him with two options, with one: he COULD take a little peek at it with one of his "friends" but the sound of cars revving up and people starting their day meant that he'd be answering a lot of questions but the second was a club nearby. Sure he'd look a little young but right now, he needed information and fast.

—Inside the club—

Junior Xiong was overseeing the cleanup of his club following the ransacking at the hands of a rather hot tempered and violent blonde; the night before was tough enough when someone came by to hire some of his men for a job but the one girl army assured that nearly everyone in there took their lumps.

The door creaked open as a teenage boy walked in, whether he was nervous that he took a wrong turn or he looked like he had seen a ghost of his own and with what looked like a broken gizmo in hand. "Uh, can I get a water and some help with this?" The boy would ask as he grabbed a stool to sit at the bar and began to turn the piece of broken tech around his fingers.

"You know, you're in the wrong place for repairs, kid…And in case you didn't notice, I'm not in the business for reselling broken scrolls." Junior grumbled as he walked over to confront the boy, giving him the benefit of the doubt seeing as he was a new face but also not willing to give an inch because the last teenager to enter his club trashed it.

"I found this in the street in the street and it was all broken up…I just wondered if you knew anyone who could help." The boy retorted with a defensive look on his face; "Besides all I asked for was a water, it's not like I asked you for booze."

"I don't serve kids…period, leave the scroll with me and walk away, then I'll pretend that none of this happened and you don't annoy me, you can trust me when I say that I'm not the kind of guy you wanna annoy." Junior growled, irritated with the kid's snark and suddenly came up with an idea; "In fact, why not leave the scroll and that weird looking watch while you're at it. You can consider it your toll for walking out without a problem." Junior sneered with no intention on letting himself get walked over again.

"You think a line like that intimidates anyone?" The boy asked with a growing snark in his tone and narrowed his eyes; "I've dealt with worse guys then you and I gotta say…you're no Animo and you're no Vreedle either."

"Who the…Look, you got five seconds to get out of my club before I get you into the hospital." Junior was starting to get sick of hearing him talk, he reached over to grab the watch off of the kid's wrist but felt himself get blown back in a pulse of green electricity and hit the glass wall with a confused daze.

The kid smirked as he held up his covered wrist; "Sorry pal, but you're not the first to try taking this thing off…and considering most people around here are equally scummy, I think it's time to get a little busy." The kid would say with a small grin while turning the face of his watch and then pressed two fingers down to let the whole room get illuminated in a green light.

—A few minutes and a brutal beating later—

The Kid left the broken Scroll with the unconscious Junior and fished out a still intact one from one of the pockets of Junior's men; "Thanks for the help, Mister!" He would yell out as a rolling bottle fell and hit the ground.

With some of that pent up aggression worked out, He had finally been able to catch the next ship towards Beacon Academy. Thankfully he was able to  pay for a good meal beforehand; "Not as good as Starshine's hot dogs but I'll take it." He would remark to himself as he took stock of other people on the ship with him. Even back home, he was a people watcher and he had to admit some people were more vibrant looking then others; There was a redhead practically talking another dark haired boy's ear off, a blond boy who looked like he would empty his stomach if the airship even shook the wrong way and they were the more "normal" looking ones.

"This seat taken?" A girl would ask as she sat next to him; she looked like one of the youngest on the ship or at least a couple of years younger than he was.

"Nah, make yourself comfy…we still gotta long way to go before Beacon." The kid would shrug as he decided to at least be sociable; "I'm Jason, Jason Moss." He said to introduce himself.

"Oh, uh..Ruby, Ruby Rose." She responded politely; being an introvert or at the very least not used to casually talking with new people made it somewhat awkward without her sister alongside her.

"Nice to meetcha, Ruby." He said and smiled a little, leaning himself back to try and relax himself as he realised that he wasn't all that equipped for talking with someone that wasn't going to end in a fight.

"So…uh, nice watch you got there?" Ruby mentioned, looking like she was trying her hardest to not let the awkward silence permeate; "I don't think I've seen it in any store before."

"Well, it was actually something I inherited from my teacher, he gave it to me as a…graduation gift." Jason would mention, even though it was technically true, it still kind of stung to remember.

"Well, hopefully you can put it to good use…What exactly does it do?" She asked quizzically; restraining herself from getting her hands on it to examine it but was stopped when an older looking blonde girl swiped her hood over her head.

"Come on, Ruby…I leave you alone for five seconds an-Oh…Hi there." She said with a jovial wave; "Sorry about my sister, she can be a little intense about certain stuff." She remarked apologetically while Ruby was objecting to Yang.

"It's no problem…We were just talking, that's all." Jason replied with a slight hint of relief now that the attention was away from the watch attached to his wrist.

"Well, I'm Yang. Ruby's older sister and her most able bodied protector!" Yang proclaimed dramatically and putting Ruby deeper into embarrassment; "And if you're nice to me, then you're my friend too." She added with a playful wink.

"I-Uh…That's great, I'm always on the lookout for new friends." Jason mentioned with a budding anxiety and a rather warm flush tinting his cheeks as he noticed Yang's rather….intense stare at him, "Jeez, One's too nervous to talk and the other's got the restraint of a bulldozer." He thought to himself before trying to focus himself.

"So, New Guy…what's your story anyway?" Yang would ask as she grabbed the seat in front of him and playfully peeked through the space between the seats; "You take the entrance exam or did you get greenlit by a teacher?" she asked him curiously and found her gaze looking him up and down.

"Oh, I got in from one of the schools outside of here, it's a trek but this place was really well renowned." Jason remarked, having rehearsed this story to himself on the way here.

"Oh yeah? Where'd you go originally?" Ruby asked him, "We came out of Signal…Well…Yang did anyway." She added with a nervous giggle.

"Ruby, don't sell yourself short! You stopped a robbery at a Dust Shop…there's not that many students in basic combat school who could do that." Yang said and ruffled Ruby's hair; "Besides, You had Qrow teaching you…that alone makes you special."

"I uh…I came from Haven, Special request to the headmaster." Jason winged it, thankfully the two had missed his nervous scrambling for a backstory with their own talking.

"Hello, My name is Glynda Goodwitch and it is my duty to welcome you all to Beacon Academy; You've done well to gain entrance at this prestigious academy and it is here that you will earn your place as a future Huntsman or Huntress." The Holographic blonde would say to the group in the airship as Beacon Academy slowly came into view from the clouds.

"So buddy…what kinda game did you bring to the table?" Yang asked as she poked Jason's arm to get his attention; "That a gauntlet?"

"Actually, it's something much better then just a watch but it's real abilities is better suited for another time." Jason would respond; wanting to take things slow and avoid freaking people out if he told them too much about the watch.

"Boo! Tell us more!" Ruby said with a mock pout, "So if that's not a weapon then what IS your weapon?" She would ask as the ship landed and allowed everyone to get off.

Before he could respond to Ruby's rather inquisitive comments about the watch/his possible weapon, the blonde from the airship barrelled past him and began to dry heave into the trash can nearby.

"Well…I guess air travel isn't for everyone." Jason chuckled a little as he walked along with Yang and Ruby but even he had to stop and marvel at the sight of Beacon Academy up close.

"Maybe…but the view you get at Signal's nothing compare t-"

"AAAAAH!" Ruby squealed in both Jason and Yang's ears, causing the two to wince at her sudden boost in energy and watched her bouncing in place; "Yang! Yang, Look! That girl's got a giant Lan-ooo and that guy's got a fire sword!" 

Yang had to grab Ruby by the hood before she ended up running amok or getting herself too overexcited. "Ruby, take it easy…they're just weapons, after all."

"JUST weapons? They are so much more then that…they're an extension of our bodies and a good look at the kind of person that they are! It's so cool!" Ruby gushed as she adjusted herself after being pulled.

"She does have a good point, Weapons are really cool and they show off how creative someone can get, whether they're a Huntsman or a student." Jason pointed out with a slightly more restrained excitement then Ruby's.

"Oh, is that a fact? Then how about you show us YOUR weapon, Mr. Creativity~" Yang said playfully as she poked his chest, her violet eyes gazing into his brown eyes to call his bluff.

"Well, I got this." he would say, reaching into his pocket to pull out a baton that was roughly the size of a sword handle and then flicked his hand out. With a swift motion; it extended outward into a silver bo staff, the tips were black and it looked like it had a muzzle for firing shots on one side. "It's not really much but if I adjust it." Jason said and retracted it, before bending it at a point with a metallic Click! and it managed to look like pistol that was crafted from a pipe; "Then I got range."

"Huh…Never thought that someone with something so fancy looking on his wrist would have a soft spot for the plain looking gear." Yang said to tease him, but despite that, something subtle did suit him a lot more; "I mean, it's no Ember Celica." Yang added as she showed off her gauntlets; "But if it works for you then all good…Now I think I have a job for you…and that is to get some friends for my sweet baby sister." 

Before Jason and Ruby could even ask her to stick around; Yang vanished with a group of other people that she called her friends, leaving the two of them in the dust.

"Well…So much for getting used to normal." Jason thought to himself as he tried to get Ruby out of her dizzy state.

"Wait, hold on a sec! Don't we have dorms to get to?" Ruby asked in a daze but as she struggled to steady herself; she ended up crashing into a cart carrying a bunch of suitcases, all of which were branded with a snowflake logo.

"What. Are. You. Doing?!" A prim and proper voice would break the mood as a girl clad in white stood over Ruby in a derisive huff.

"Sorry about that, we got a little turned around here, we can help clean up." Jason stepped in as he helped Ruby to her feet.

"Sorry?! You knock over my belongings, cause a potential hazard with the Dust that you spilled and all you can say is sorry? Dolts! The both of you." The girl ranted as she swiped a phial of Red Dust out of Ruby's hands.

"Hey, she just tripped…there's no need to get a bug up your butt about it." Jason snarked at her and stood up for Ruby, "Besides it's not like any of those are cracked, it's not a big deal."

"Excuse me? This is Dust, it's specially mined and purified by top end Atlas suppliers, but that is besides the point!" Weiss ranted; "These are still highly dangerous to knock around! One wrong move and you'll blow up your weapon…Well? Aren't you going to say anything?" Weiss focused her tirade on Ruby who responded with a powerful sneeze that detonated the Red Dust and sent a collage of Ice and Lightning crackling in the air.

Jason was shocked to see something as mundane sounding as Dust literally explode the air around them and made him see Weiss's point a little.

"Absolutely unbelievable! This is exactly why I warned you two to be extremely careful!" Weiss snapped at the two with fervour.

"Look, we're really, REALLY sorry…I promise that I'll make it up to you." Ruby did her best to try and apologise despite the girl's never ending yelling.

"Just…Just watch where you're going anyway-wait, aren't you a little young to be here anyway? This isn't a playpen for children so just…"

"Look, I said I was sorry, Princess!" Ruby finally argued back as a third girl stepped into the fray, wearing a black and white outfit complete with a bow.

"It's Heiress, actually…The Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company who are one of the biggest suppliers of Dust to the world…and one of the most dubious companies around, thanks to their bad labour and questionable methods." The girl mentioned flatly which shut the Heiress up and made her storm off in a huff.

"You certainly know your stuff…You wanna come hang out with…us?" Jason asked but trailed off when he saw the bow girl leave without even as much as a goodbye.

"Face it, Jason…I don't think anyone else will want to." Ruby said dejectedly as she flopped backwards onto one of the nearby benches; "Welcome to Beacon, I suppose."

"You know…I can help you two out if you're looking for friends…I'm Jaune, it's nice to meet you guys." The blonde mentioned with a small sense of optimism towards the two.

"Ruby." / "Jason." The two would introduce themselves to him as Jaune walked over to get a better handle on them while they wandered the courtyard.

—A few minutes later and some time being lost later—

The trio managed to find their way back to the auditorium so that the headmaster could give his speech to the others; Ruby split off so she could talk with Yang while Jason decided to hang out with Jaune.

"Look, I don't know why it's such a problem that I get motion sick! It's not like I planned on it!" Jaune groaned while standing next to Jason.

"Well, that part I get…But trust me when I say that puking in an enclosed space is never great." Jason responded with an embarrassed laugh; "I mean, one time I was with Kevin and…Yeah, you kinda get the idea…" Jason remarked as the mike broke the talking kids or in Ruby's case; her continuing problem with Weiss and brought their attention to Ozpin.

As the speech went on, Jason glanced around the crowd, so far he picked out the girls he saw earlier plus Jaune and a redheaded girl who looked incredibly focused on the speech at hand; he didn't know her name but he did have to admit, the red hair and the green eyes made him feel a little sense of happiness but at the back of his mind…it also made him feel a pang of guilt and sadness.

"You will all sleep in the ballroom tonight as the dorms will be set up in time for the conclusion of your first training mission."

"He seemed…off…"

"Yeah, it was like he wasn't even there."

Jason decided to join Jaune in greeting the others but what he wasn't expecting was for Jaune to declare that he was a natural blonde to the others.

"This place is definitely going to need some getting used to…" Jason thought to himself as he wondered about how he was going to get through school here and more importantly…How to get back home?