Games and New Students

Airships and jets had been swarming Beacon Academy for a while as Glynda and Ozpin gazed out the window of his office.

Glynda groaned as she witnessed what was happening down below.

"Ironwood sure does love bringing his work with him, doesn't he" groaned Glynda.

"Well running an academy and a military does make him a busy man" quipped Ozpin. "But they are an eye sore" continued Ozpin as his heard beeping.

"Come in."

Out of the elevator stood a man in a white suit and short black hair known as James Ironwood

"General" greeted Ozpin.

"Please. Drop the formalities. It's been too long" said Ironwood shaking Ozpins hand.

"And Glynda. It's good to see you too" as James held out his hand for her to shake.

All Glynda did was see grunt in annoyance and said "I'll be outside of you need me" as she took the elevator down.

"Well she certainly hasn't changed in years" said James.

"So what has brought you to Atlas. Its not normal for headmasters to come with their students to the Vital festival" said Ozpin pouring some tea.

"Well you know how much I love Vale this time of year. Plus with you hosting the festival, I figured this would be a good time to catch up" said James as he walked over to Ozpins desk.

" I am all for meeting old friends but the fleet outside has me concerned" said Ozpin.

"Well concern is what brought them here" said James

"I understand that travel between kingdoms has become increasingly difficult..."

"Oz... You know why I brought those men here" said James in a concern voice.

Ozpin sighed in worry and fear saying "This is a time of peace. Shows of power like this are going to give off the wrong impression" said Ozpin.

"But if what Qrow said was true then..."

"If what Qrow said was true then we'll handle it" snapped Ozpin. "It's the Vital Festival. A time for unity and peace. I don't want you scaring people by transporting soldiers across the continent" said Ozpin.

"I'm just being cautious."

"As am I. Which is why we will continue to train the students to become hunters and huntresses" said Ozpin.

The thought of hunters and huntresses reminded him of something that he wanted to discuss with him.

"Speaking of hunters, I've heard you have a very... special student here" questioned James.

"Well I have many students here. So of course there are going to be...."

"You know what I mean" snapped James.

Ozpin sighed as he knew who he was talking about but he knew his friend all to well to know where he was going with this.

"Yes, he is a very interesting student, I might add. Never in my many years at this academy have I seen a boy with powers such as this" said Ozpin pulling up a video file of Rex, battling the grimm and the recent news story they had of him.

Jame looked at the video and was intrigued by Rex's powers. How he took down two giant grimms on his own and seeing his different builds gave Ironwood more intrigue.

"Extraordinary. His powers really are incredibly. I too hav never seen such power. Who is this strange boy. Have you any idea of his background" said James acting excited.

"Well that's the thing. We have no information about him. On our first week of the academy, he was founded by Ruby Rose. Just laying on the ground. Not even the boy himself knows how he got there. Normally I wouldn't allow him into the academy but after his display of power, it sort of... caught my interest."

"Well of course. With powers like those, I'd be surprised by anyone that wasn't interested in him. He's like a one man army. Could it be his semblance" asked James.

"I don't believe it is since when he get hit, his body doesn't glow when a semblances defenses are used. So no, its not his semblance but just his own abilities."

"If its not his semblance and it is his own abilities, it reminds me of..."

"I ask that you don't go saying those names around, even if we are alone" scolded Ozpin.

"Fine but I must ask you about this boy. What is his name" asked James.

"He said his name is Rex Salazar. But after searching through many records, none of them have his name. As if he never existed. And it does have me concerned" said Ozpin as he gazed at his computer.

"I see. Well whether we find more about him or not, I'm more interested in his powers. Could it be possible if I use him on our dangerous missions, perhaps."

Ozpin slammed his cup on his desk, shocking James out of his trance. "Now James, I'm not going to tell you how to run your military but that boy is off limits. I don't want him on your dangerous missions. He is my student and he is to remain here until he is a fully fledged Hunter" scolded Ozpin.

"But look at his powers. He could easily win a fight and not have problems on our missions. If he can take down two giant grimm where several people couldn't take down one, then this kid is almost invincible" retorted James.

"My answer still stands, James. Mr Salazar is not joining your military."

James grunted in annoyance and began turning around until he began to think why Ozpin was acting different. He turned around and said "That boy may have powers this world has never seen before but do you really think that boy could win a war" said James as he got on the elevator.

As he left Ozpin thought in silence until he said

"I hope it doesn't come to that but I feel like he could be the key to ending it all. But the question is how to approach him with our problems at hand" said Ozpin as he looked at the screen and pondered in thought.

Library

Team RRWBY, minus Rex, were playing a card game across from JNPR.

Rex was continuing his readings on the history of Remnant. After learning about Salem, he decided to dig deeper the worlds history. He decided not ask anyone about her because, 

So far, he couldn't find any information about Salem. He also began to think about the other problems that seemed to have surfaced for rex to worry about, like the White Fang that Blake talked about and the Grimm. So on top of finding Salem and stopping her, he had to deal with the White Fang and the Grimm. He just groaned at how already jam packed his hero duties were getting. He also didn't find any history on why their moon was broken and looked like it was almost in the shape of a crescent moon. 

As he kept reading, his teammates were playing Remnant: The Game. Ruby and Yang seemed to know hat was going on but Blake and Weiss were still left in the dark.

"Hmmmmm... All right... All right!" Ruby said, pointing at Yang.

"Yang Xiao Long, prepare your kingdom for battle!" Ruby exclaimed, bursting with excitement.

"Bring it." Yang replied with her hand balled into a fist.

"I deploy the Atlesian Air Fleet!" Ruby stated as she slaps her card down on the table, causing Yang to gain a look of shock.

"Looks like I get to fly right over your Ursai and attack your walls directly!" Ruby exclaimed, making noises like airplanes flying and bombing as she made a bird with her hands.

"You Fiend!" Yang replied dramatically as she pointed at Ruby.

"And since Atlas is part of Mantle, my repair time is only one turn." Ruby added before her older half-sister started to laugh arrogantly.

"Pretty sneaky, sis, but you just activated my trap card!" Yang replied as she flipped over the card, making Ruby very nervous.

"If I roll a seven or higher, fatal feathers will slice your fleet in two!" Yang explained as a scene of a Nevermore was flying over a field of swords impaled in the ground as it plays over the conversation.

Not to be outdone by her older half-sister, she began to point at her while saying to her, "But, if you roll a six or lower, the Nevermore will turn on your own forces!" Ruby countered as the Nevermore from earlier is now shown to be turning back toward Yang, destroying her Army while making her lose the game in the process.

"That's just a chance I'm willing to take." Yang stated, glaring at her sister while getting ready to roll, landing a perfect 10.

"Nooooo! My fearless soldiers!" Ruby cried out as she was close to tears.

"I'm pretty sure they were all Robots any way." Yang said.

"BAH! I say BAH!" Ruby cried.

"Not until I draw my rewards! Which are double this round thanks to the Mistral Trade Route!" Yang said

"Oh, and what's this? The Smugglers of Wind Path?" Yang asked, allowing herself to draw two cards.

"Bah! I say Bah!" Ruby retorted.

"I say, it looks like I'm taking two cards in my hand!" Yang replied.

"Have you no heart?" Ruby asked before putting her head on the table with a groan.

"Well, Weiss, it's your turn." Yang said happily, ignoring her little sister's groaning.

"I have... absolutely no idea what's going on." Weiss said, staring at the cards blankly.

Sliding over to her white haired teammate Yang began to help her out.

"Look, it's easy! You're playing as Vacuo which means that all Vacuo-based cards come with a bonus." Yang explained like it's easy.

"That sounds dumb." Weiss replied, still not understanding this board game.

"See, you've got Sandstorm, Desert Scavenge... Oh, oh!" Yang said, looking through her cards until she found a really good one.

"Resourceful Raider! See, now you can take Ruby's discarded Air Fleet—." Yang explained, only pausing for Ruby to cry "Nooo!", "—and put it in your hand!" Yang finished.

"Okay." Weiss replied, still having no idea of what she's saying.

"And since Vacuo warriors have an endurance against Natural-based hazards, you can use Sandstorm to disable my ground forces and simultaneously infiltrate my kingdom!" Yang explained happily before She pointed at her sister's partner.

"Just know that I will not forget this declaration of war." Yang added before sliding back to her seat.

"And that means..." Weiss asked.

"You're just three moves away from conquering Remnant!" Ruby moaned, causing Weiss to stand and a thunder clap accompanied Weiss' overjoyed psychotic laughter scaring Kirby with her words.

"Y-yes! Fear the almighty power of my forces! Cower as they pillage your homes and weep as they take your children from your very arms!" Weiss exclaimed dramatically.

"Trap card..." Yang said.

"Huh?" Weiss asked confusedly.

"Your armies have been destroyed." Yang answered, shuffling the pieces on the board as Weiss's pieces disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I hate this game of emotions we play." Weiss stated, slumping in her chair with Crocodile Tears before Ruby hops into Weiss's lap crying with her partner.

"Stay strong, Weiss! We'll make it through this together!" Said Ruby.

"Shut up! Don't touch me!" Weiss shouted, hugging her partner.

"Blake. It's your turn." Yang called out.

"Sorry, What am I doing?" Blake asked, completely distracted.

"You're playing as Vale, trying to conquer the Kingdoms of Remnant!" Yang explained.

"Right." Blake replied, not really listening.

"Hey! Can I play?" Jaune asked, coming over to their table.

"Sorry Jaune, we've already have four players." Ruby replied to her fellow socially awkward Leader.

"Besides, this game requires a certain level of tactical cunning that I seriously doubt that you possess." Weiss added.

"Says the one attacked her own naval fleet 2 turns ago." Yang said, making Weiss cross her arms in annoyance.

"Bring it on, Ice Queen! I'll have you know that I have been told that I am a natural born leader!" Jaune said with confidence in his tone.

"By who your mom?" Weiss asked sarcastically.

"A-and Pyrrha." Jaune answered, making everyone look towards the table next to them, seeing the waving Spartan.

"Hello again." Pyrrha replied sweetly.

"Come on, let me play your hand for a turn." Jaune begged.

"I'm not trusting you with the good citizens of Vacuo!" Weiss replied stubbornly.

Rex just chuckled at their arguing until a familiar Blonde Monkey Faunus and his blue haired friend came walking in

"Sup losers" said Sun with Neptune next to him.

"Hey sun" said Ruby.

Sun began saying hello to team RRWBY but called Weiss "Ice Queen" to which she replied "why does everyone keep calling me that."

"Because I was the one that gave you that name. Suits your personality, if you ask me" said a voice from behind a bookshelf which revealed to be Rex.

"Hey man. How's it going" said Neptune as the Goggle Duo bumped fists.

"I didn't get a chance for you to meet my old friend here. Meet Neptune" introduced Sun.

Neptune began walking over to Weiss saying "I don't believe I caught your name, snow angel" as Jaune silently said "are you kidding me".

"Come in dude. You can pick better than that" thought Rex in disbelief.

He then heard Blake said something about not playing anymore and began walking away. He looked towards her and wanted to follow her but figured she didn't want to talk to anyone.

He felt sorry for Blake. This world seemed to be discriminated when it came to Faunus. And since she was part cat, she had felt that part of the world she wish didn't exist.

To be honest, Rex saw a little bit of himself in Blake. They both wanted to become heros and they've been hated by people of their world.

On Rex's world, people didn't like that an Evo was the supposed "Hero" of their world. They threw garbage at him and telling him to get lost. At first, Rex decided that if they didn't want him then he wasn't going to risk his life for people. But then he realized that being a hero isn't about the fame or glory. It's about doing the right things for the right reasons. And he continued to do his job even if people hated him. And he's stuck by that reason for a long time now.

He broke out of his train of thought and figured that he should go and talk to her.

Timeskip

Blake was sitting alone in their dorm reading her journal until she heard a knock at the door. She looked up and saw Rex walking in. "Hey" was all he said as he walked over to her.

"Whatcha reading there" he asked.

"Just...uh... notes for this semester" stuttered Blake as she shut her book.

"That's reminds me I have to...uh... talk to Professor Port about an assignment" said Blake as she sat up and began walking out of her room until she was stopped by Rex grabbing onto her arm saying "don't just run away. Stay. Tell me what's wrong."

Blake was reluctant as she didn't want to talk about it but she knew that Rex wouldn't let it go so she obliged. She sat down on her bed as Rex did the same.

Blake sat quietly as to try and gather her emotions. She mustered up whatever courage she had and said "How can you be so calm about this" yelled Blake.

"What do you mean" asked Rex.

"The W.F. could be planning an attack and were just sitting here, doing nothing" she continued.

Rex moves back a little at her outburst then said "Blake I get that your angry but you can't keep worrying about them. Worry about..."

"I can't stop worrying. The W.F. are ruthless. They want to hurt humans because of how much they hurt us" said Blake as she looked at her bow and drooped her head down a little.

"I get that but..." said Rex until the door to their room opened and the girls were complaing about the game they were playing. 

"Ugh, we should have never let him play!" complained Yang.

"You're just mad cuz' the new guy beat you! See, if you had just attacked when I told you none of this would have happened." said Ruby, cheekily. 

Blake just didn't want to deal with anyone so she sat up and began waking away. But before she could, Rex grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

"Stop walking away from us, Blake" he said, which made the rest of the team turn toward them. 

"We're team RRWBY. We have each other's backs. We look out for each other. So please, let us help you ." said Rex as he tried to reason with Blake.

"Yea rex is right. Lately you've been quiet, antisocial and moody!" said Weiss. 

"Uh, have you met Blake?" snarked Yang.

Weiss then said "Which I get is kind of your thing, but you've been doing it more than usual! Which quite frankly, is unacceptable! You made a promise to me, to all of us, that you would let us know if something was wrong!" as she then flipped in the air and onto a chair while pointing at Blake saying  "So, Blake Belladonna, what is wrong."

She still stood on the tilted chair until she put in back and returned back near the girls and Rex.

"I just, I don't understand how everyone can be so calm." said Blake/

Ruby began to approach Blake and said "You're still thinking about Torchwick?"

"Torchwick, the White Fang, all of it! Something big is happening and no one is doing anything about it!"

"Ozpin told us not to worry. Between the police and the Huntsmen, I'm sure they can handle it." said Yang until Blake shouted saying,

"Well I'm not! They don't know the White Fang like I do!"

Weiss decided to try and calm everyone down as she said "Okay, between blowing up nightclubs, stopping thieves, and fighting for freedom, I'm sure the 4 of you think that you're all ready to go out and apprehend these ne'er-do-wells, but let me once again be the voice of reason" which made Rex snicker at her as she continued saying  "We're students! We're not ready to handle this sort of situation!"

Ruby tried to argue with her by saying "Well yeah, but..." until Weiss stopped her by saying.

"We're not ready!"

"And we may never be ready! Our enemies aren't just going to sit around and wait for graduation day. They're out there, somewhere, planning their next move, and none of us know what it is, but it's coming! Whether we're ready or not!" yelled Blake.

"Ok well then what are we waiting for. Lets get out there and do something" said Rex.

Ruby jumped in cheer as she then said "Alright, now all in favor of becoming the youngest huntresses" 

"Ahem" 

"Sorry youngest huntresses and hunter to bring down a corrupt organization conspiring against the kingdom of Vale... say I." said Ruby as she finished, sheepishly.

"Yes, I love it when you're feisty" cheered Yang

"I guess it could be fun" said Weiss.

"None of you said I" pouted Ruby.

"I" smirked Rex.

Ruby gasped and said "thank you" and rushed over and hugged Rex.

"Hey don't leave me out of the hug" smirked Yang and squeezed Rex and her sister.

"Oh no. I forgot my game in the library" said Ruby.

"We're doomed" groaned Weiss.

"Well good to know our priorities are in check" said Rex sarcastically.

"Come help me pick up" said Ruby as she pulled Rex along with her.

"Woah" said Rex as he tried to keep up with Ruby until they hit someone.

"Ow. Sorry are you alright" said Ruby as the person held out their hand.

"Yes we're fine. Just watch where you're going."

Ruby excepted her hand as Rex got up on his own saying "sorry about that. She doesn't know when to stop."

"It's cool. Just keep a leash on her, why don't ya" said the boy.

"I'm Ruby and this is Rex" said ruby as he waved hello to them. This caught the eye of the two which caused Rex to internally flinch.

"So are you guys transfer students" asked Ruby.

"Just coming in from Haven, actually" said a voice from behind the two who revealed to be a woman with black hair and amber eyes.

"Oh, so you're here for the festival. Well, exchange students have their own dormitory" said ruby.

"I guess we just got lost" said the boy.

"Oh don't worry happens all the time. Well your building is east of here" said ruby.

"Ok. Thanks for the directions" said the black haired woman. The lady and the others began walking past Ruby until she stopped by Rex and gazed at him.

Rex looked at her and she looked at him. He began feeling uncomfortable until she said "so you're Rex, right. I've asked the people here and heard that you have some.... interesting abilities" said the woman in a intrigued way.

"Word travels around that fast, huh" said Rex scratching his head. "But yes. I do have awesome abilities" said Rex in a cocky attitude.

"Indeed. Well it was nice meeting you. I can't wait to see what you can do at the festival" said the woman as she began walking away.

"Uh, yea. Same to you" said Rex as he watched them walk away.

"Oh and welcome to Beacon" yelled Ruby.

The lady smirked at what she said and said "yes. I'm sure that our time here will be something to be...

...Remembered."