Well Oz, this has certainly been an eventful night." The vigilante mumbled, mask now off revealing his facial features, the most prominent of which were his orange eyes. "Mind if I see the footage from tonight's attack?" he asked Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy.
"I suppose you should." Ozpin replied, handing the screen to his adopted son. The footage showed a girl who was fighting thugs that had attempted to rob a dust shop called "From Dust Till Dawn". She looked to be around his age, maybe a year younger. She wore a black dress with red trimming and a red cape with a hood. She seemed to be fighting using a combination of a sniper and a scythe.
"Damn, she can kick ass," he said, receiving a look from Ozpin that said "language".
"That is Ruby Rose. She'll be attending Beacon with you"
"What? With me? But-," the boy stammered.
"Phoenix, I think you're more than skilled enough to attend my school," Ozpin stated, "Besides, you won't be attending officially, so you won't have a team. Just being there and participating in classes for a couple years should be enough for me to justify giving you a license without being accused of favoritism. Since you already have a room there, you should be able to attend all the classes without any complications. All the teachers have been informed of this arrangement." Phoenix was still seeing one major flaw in this "arrangement".
"But how am I supposed to do my uh… 'job'?" Phoenix inquired wondering how he would get to the city from Beacon.
"Simple. You fly," the professor retorted, smirking.
"No! Nonononononono! I am not getting on one of those floating death traps!"
"Ugh…" Phoenix groaned, sitting on an airship bound for Beacon Academy. Next to him A blond boy wearing a hoodie, jeans, and armor seemed to be having just as rough of a time as he was.
"So, you hate flying too?" the blond boy asked, looking slightly queasy.
"No! Of course not. I love it. Can't you tell? I'm moaning from the sheer joy of knowing that one slight issue with the engine is a death sentence," Phoenix retorted, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me!" a new voice, seeming to be female, exclaimed.
"Sis, stop," another voice replied. Phoenix looked up to see a girl with long blond hair. She wore a brown jacket and extremely short pants.
"But I'm so proud of you!" He then noticed who she was talking to.
"You wouldn't happen to be Ruby Rose, would you?" He asked the red caped girl.
"Sorry, do I know you?" Ruby asked, a look of confusion on her face.
"Well… uh… no," Phoenix stated, his mind racing to come up with an excuse for how he knew about her identity. "I just heard someone with that name was moved ahead a couple years and was headed to Beacon. Didn't know how she looked, but since she," he gestured towards the blond, "Seemed especially excited you were here and referred to you as her baby sister I assumed it was you."
"Oh, well it's nice to meet you. As you guessed I'm Ruby's older sister, Yang," the blond girl said, buying his response.
"Nice to meet you both. I'm Phoenix, Phoenix Fall," he stated, becoming less nervous.
Their conversation was interrupted by a hologram of someone who appeared to be one of the professors. "Hello and welcome to Beacon," the projection stated.
"Who's that?" Yang inquired. Phoenix, however, already knew it was Glynda Goodwitch, one of the professors at Beacon, and rather than listen to a lecture he had already gotten from Ozpin decided to look at some of the other students on the ship.
One of the first people he noticed was Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. She was wearing a white skirt white coat with the SDC logo on it, and even had white hair. She had a rapier filled with different types of Dust, and she was surrounded by luggage, most of which was presumably Dust for her weapon.
Another celebrity on their flight was Pyrrha Nikos, a master fighter from Minstral. She was wearing red and gold battle attire, her weapon and shield strapped to her back. She seemed to be looking at the blond warrior he had been sitting next to.
There was also a boy in green with a pink streak in his otherwise black hair, and eyes to match the streak. He was next to a redhead girl who was bouncing around him saying something about pancakes.
Finally, there was a girl who seemed to be ignoring everything around her, completely immersed in her book. She had yellow eyes and black hair. She was wearing a bow, although it took him a moment to realize it, seeing as it looked so much like cat ears, raising the question of whether or not she was simply trying to hide the fact she was a Faunus. "Somethings to look into," he muttered.
Before he could look around anymore, he overheard Ruby and Yang talking. "You can see Signal from up here. I guess home isn't too far after all," Ruby commented, looking out the window.
"Beacon's our home now," Yang replied, "Hey Phoenix, want to get a look at the view."
"No thanks. I'm fine right wh- aughhh!" Phoenix shouted as he was shoved toward the glass by the blond knight, who looked like he was about to vomit. Phoenix took one look out the window before falling backwards in fear.
"I guess the view isn't for everyone," Yang said commenting partly about the knight, partly about Phoenix, earning a glare from the latter.
"Well, it was a nice moment while it lasted. Wonder who we're going to meet," Ruby replied.
"Wait… Maybe I hit my head when I fell, but I think I see something on your shoe," Phoenix said as he got up.
"Ewww! Vomit boy got puke on my shoe!" Yang shouted trying to shake it off and running around.
"Grossgrossgrossgrossgross! Get it away!" Ruby shrieked running away with surprising speed. This incident just caused Phoenix to grin while shaking his head.
"She's actually kinda cute," he thought. "Wait! What the bloody hell did I just think!"
Chapter Three: Beacon
When the ship finally landed, Phoenix was the first one off. "Land! Normal, non-flying land!" he exclaimed as he kissed the ground below him. His extreme reaction caused Yang, who exited the airship with Ruby shortly after him, to burst into laughter.
"What's your problem with flying?" she asked when she calmed down.
"It's not the flying I hate, it's the extremely high likelihood of something going wrong, causing me to fall to my demise in a giant metal death trap. Come on Ruby, back me up," he replied indignantly. However, when he looked over to where Ruby had been standing moments ago, she was nowhere to be found. "Uhhh… where'd she go?" he asked, looking at Yang. She only shrugged in response. The excited squeal that came from nearby, on the other hand, did answer his question.
When the two of them got to Ruby, they found her swooning over all the different types of weapons. "Calm down Sis," Yang said, pulling Ruby's hood over her head.
"Besides, I've made better," Phoenix mumbled.
"You did? Showmeshowmeshowmeshowme! Pleeeeeaaaasssseee!" Ruby begged
"Odds are you've already seen 'em. Remember those weapons they used as examples when you made yours at Signal?"
"That was you?"
"Yep." Upon hearing this, Ruby started an in-depth conversation with Phoenix about the methods used to create the weapons in question, as well as Ruby's own weapon, her "sweetheart", Crescent Rose. After the discussion had gone on for a few minutes Yang intervened.
"Can both of you calm down," she groaned, "They're just weapons."
"Just weapons!" Phoenix and Ruby exclaimed simultaneously before going into a rant about how important weapons were.
"Aren't you two happy with your weapons?" Yang asked once they stopped.
"Of course, it's just that seeing new weapons is like meeting new people," Phoenix retorted.
"Only better," Ruby finished.
"You know, you two have got to make some friends at some point," Yang said.
"Why would I need friends when I have you?" Ruby asked. Phoenix face palmed.
"Well, the thing is… uh…" she tried to come up with a response. Failing to do so, she quickly said, "bye," and dashed off, bumping into her sister and causing her to lose balance.
"Got 'ya," Phoenix said as he caught her at the last second. "Alright, let's get goin-gaaaahhh!" he cried out as he and Ruby were hit by a luggage cart.
"What are you two dolts doing!" Weiss shouted at two of them. "Do you have any idea the damage you could've caused? Do you even know what this is?" The heiress continued her rant, pulling out a vial of Dust and shaking it at them and causing bits of it to fly out.
"Hey uh, Ice Queen, you might want to stop shaking-," Phoenix tried to say, but was interrupted by Ruby sneezing, causing the area to be engulfed in flames. He used his semblance to keep the flames from reaching him and Ruby. Weiss, however, was not so lucky.
"You idiots! This is exactly what I was talking about!" she yelled, stomping her foot on the ground, which somehow caused all the ashes to fall off and leave her clothes without any blemishes.
"Sorry!" they both said, but Weiss seemed too busy telling the two of them off to notice. Phoenix, who had finally gotten tired of her nonsense, decided to shut her up.
"I am deeply sorry, milady. Tis just my cohort is allergic to self-absorbed spoiled little princesses," he said in a mock royal voice, grinning while Ruby started to giggle. The Ice Queen looked like she was about to draw her rapier, but before she could skewer him a new voice entered the conversation.
"It's heiress actually. Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company," it said. When Phoenix looked over towards the voice he saw it was the girl from the airship who had been reading.
"Finally some recognition," Weiss stated proudly.
"Oh, I knew," Phoenix pointed out, "I just didn't care." Before Weiss could kill him, the possible Faunus started talking again as though there had been no interruption.
"The same company infamous for its controversial labor force and questionable business partners," she said before walking away.
"I-! You-! Gaahh!" The heiress shouted storming off with her luggage.
Weiss' reaction to the accusations caused both Phoenix and Ruby to start laughing. Ruby, who was the first to stop, attempted to get the girl in black to stay. When that failed she fell on her back, mumbling, "Welcome to Beacon."
"Hey," someone new said, "I'm Jaune." When Phoenix looked up he saw it was the boy who threw up on the ship, which is exactly what Ruby asked.
"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on," Jaune argued.
"I'm sorry, Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind," Ruby replied, grinning.
"I was thinking something along the lines of 'The Puking Paladin'," Phoenix continued, earning a laugh from Ruby and a glare from the newly dubbed Puking Paladin.
"What if I called you two crater faces," Jaune retorted.
"Hey! That was on the Ice Queen," Phoenix stated indignantly.
"Anyway, my ACTUAL name is Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, and rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it," he said.
"Do they?" Ruby asked skeptically. The questioning caused Jaune to go into a panic, stammering that they would. Seeing it would probably be best to change the topic, Ruby drew her weapon, saying, "So… I got this thing."
"Woah!" Jaune exclaimed, "Is that a scythe?"
"No, can't you tell it's a laser sword?" Phoenix said sarcastically. "Of course it's a scythe."
Ruby, seemingly oblivious to Phoenix's comment, continued, "It's also a customizable high impact sniper rifle."
Jaune just gave her a confused look and said, "Huh?"
"It's also a gun," the two weapon experts stated simultaneously.
"So… what do you have?" Ruby asked curious about Jaune's weapon.
"I got this sword," he replied, drawing it, and causing Ruby to go "Oooohhhh." "And this shield," he finished pulling out the sheath which transformed into a shield.
"So what does it do?" Phoenix asked as Ruby poked the shield causing it to go back into its sheath form and Jaune to fumble with it.
"The shield gets smaller," he explained once he got it under control again, "So when I get tired of carrying it I can just, uh…, put it away."
"But wouldn't it weigh the same?" Ruby asked, slightly underwhelmed.
"Yeah, it does," he replied dejectedly.
In an attempt to cheer Jaune up, Phoenix pulled out his secondary weapon he made, a retractable staff called Peacekeeper. He used it instead of The Blazing Hooks to keep people from suspecting his identity. "Not that anyone seems to have any idea who I am anyways," he thought, remembering all the times criminals had no clue who The Flaming Shadow was. Getting back to the task at hand, Phoenix had his staff expand. "Hey, you're not the only one with a simple weapon," he said, looking at the knight.
"Well I like both your weapons," Ruby said' "not many people have an appreciation for the classics."
"So, do either of you have any idea where we're going?" Jaune asked the two of them.
"What! I was following you!" Ruby exclaimed, shocked that he didn't know where he was going.
"Follow me," Phoenix groaned, "Been a while since I've been here, but I think I still know my way around."
"You've been here!" Ruby and Jaune replied, shocked.
"I'll explain on the way. Let's go before we're late," Phoenix said, running towards where they were supposed to go. "Well, are you coming?"
"Your Ozpin's son!" Jaune practically screamed.
"Adopted son, yes. And will you keep it down? I'm trying to keep it a secret from people as long as possible. I only told you because I slipped up and told you I'd been here before," Phoenix explained, hoping that he wouldn't need to go into greater detail, or worse, accidentally give up some slightly more important secrets. Before Ruby and Jaune could ask anything else involving their current topic Yang called over to her sister, shouting, "Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!"
"Oh, hey. Got to go! See you guys after the ceremony!" Ruby exclaimed, waving at them as she ran off.
"Great… where am I going to find another nice quirky girl to talk to? Well, at least I have you Phoenix," Jaune said, looking over to Phoenix, only to find he was walking over to a girl in black who appeared to be immersed in the book she was reading.
"Hey, uh, thanks for helping us back there with the Ice Queen," Phoenix said to the girl, disturbing her from her reading.
"No problem," she said calmly.
"Anyway, my name is Phoenix, Phoenix Fall," he introduced himself.
"Blake Belladonna," she replied.
"So, I was curious what you were reading. Must be pretty good for you to be absorbed in it," he inquired, curious to see if her choice in the book could serve as a clue to if she was a Faunus. He knew it was a long shot, but there was a chance. Also, part of him was genuinely interested in what she was reading.
"It's about a man with two souls," she answered, "Each fighting for control of his body."
"Interesting…" Phoenix muttered. "Not a clue, but I might check it out some time," he thought. "I've always been more partial to stories about heroes who have to fight against the odds to save the world, sometimes needing to break the rules to help others," he told her.
"I'll keep this brief," Ozpin said as he stepped up to the microphone on the stage and brought an end to their conversation.
"Bye Blake. Talk to you later?" Phoenix asked her after the speech concluded, wanting to see what all the commotion was near the front of the stage.
"Sure," she said, pulling the book over her face.
"What about Jaune? He's… nice. Plus one friend," Yang said. She and Ruby were discussing Ruby not knowing anyone.
"Yeah, but I think Weiss counts as a negative friend. Back to zero." she said with a sigh.
"Forgetting someone?" Phoenix asked, walking up to them.
"Oh, Phoenix. I guess I thought you were just being nice as an obligation, being the headmaster's son and-" Ruby tried to say but was cut off.
"Ruby…" Phoenix said, sounding serious for once, "This is exactly why I wanted to keep that a secret. If I'm going to be here, I want people to like me for me, not just act nice because I can help them out."
"Hold on! You're the-" Yang tried to exclaim but was, like Ruby, interrupted by Phoenix.
"Yang, it would be greatly appreciated if you could avoid announcing my identity to the entire school," he said, exasperated.
"I'm sorry…," Ruby mumbled dejectedly.
"Hey, it's okay," Phoenix responded, "Just know that I am your friend."
"Dawwwwww!" Yang said, before both Phoenix and Ruby threw a pillow at her face.
When Ruby looked around after the discussion, she saw Blake sitting off on her own.
"That girl," Ruby said, causing Yang to look in the same direction as her.
"What, you know her?" Yang asked.
"Not really. She saw what happened in the courtyard, but didn't say much, and she left before I could say anything," Ruby replied as a sly grin spread across Yang's face.
"Well, now's your chance," She said, grabbing Ruby by the arm and dragging her towards Blake. Phoenix got up and followed them.
"Heeellllloooo!" Yang yelled to catch Blake's attention. "I believe you two may know each other," she said, releasing Ruby and throwing her towards Blake.
"Aren't you the girl that exploded?" Blake asked, confused. "Uh… yeah. My name's Ruby." she answered, "But you can just call me crater… uh… actually just call me Ruby. Before she could embarrass herself anymore, Phoenix stepped in.
"Hi Blake," he greeted, noticing that she was still wearing her bow, even though it was almost time to go to bed. "One point for the Faunus column," he thought.
"Well Blake, I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister. I… uh… like your bow," Yang said, trying to come up with a way to start a conversation, "it goes great with your… pajamas." Phoenix, seeing this was going nowhere, went over to his bag and wrote a sticky note to put on it that read, "You touch this bag without permission, you die." When he returned, he found Ruby and Yang in a fight. Before he had the chance to break them up, Weiss stormed over demanding to know what was going on. "Oh not you again!" both sisters shouted in sync. The situation quickly devolved into an argument.
"Should we step in?" Phoenix asked Blake. Part of him wanted to get them to stop, the other part wanted to sit back and see how this played out. Blake simply responded by blowing out the candle she had been reading by. "Who turned out the lights?" Phoenix asked, seeing as all the other lights in the room went off when Blake blew out the candle.
Chapter Four: Initiation
The first thing Phoenix heard when he woke up was a voice ecstatic shouting, "Wake up lazy butt," and then repeatedly announcing it was morning. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember where he'd heard it before. The moment he sat up he recognized her: the girl from the airship who wouldn't shut up about pancakes. She was talking to the same boy she was with during the flight.
"Well, no time to talk," Phoenix thought, grabbing his bag (sticky note still on it) and making a break for the locker room, taking special care not to be seen. Ozpin had arranged for him to secretly have an additional locker where he would store his Flaming Shadow gear. When he finally reached his destination, he took a moment to survey the room, looking for anyone else in the area. When he was sure no one was around, he opened up his bag. Inside it was his mask, coat, swords, etc. Phoenix quickly stuffed it all into his locker. The only thing he kept with him was his lighter. With that done he breathed a sigh of relief.
"That was easy," he thought. Just as he thought this, he heard footsteps behind him. He quickly slammed the locker shut just in time to keep Weiss from seeing its contents.
"Oh, hello," she greeted him in an unusually cheerful way. "I'm glad to see you again."
"That makes one of us," he grumbled.
"Excuse me?" she snapped at him before quickly catching herself. "I mean that I came here to apologize to you for the 'incident' yesterday."
"Thanks. I-"
"After all, why should two people as clearly superior as us fight? The son of the headmaster should only associate with the best of students."
"And let me guess, you're one of those students."
"But of course. The two of us would make an ex-"
Phoenix cut her off before she could finish her proposal. "I'm just gonna stop you right there. No."
"What do you mean 'no'?"
"What I mean is that even if I was going to be on a team, which I'm not, I wouldn't want to be on a team with you, Ice Queen."
Weiss' rage was momentarily replaced with confusion, "What?"
"I'm not an official student, but being Oz's son lets me come anyway. How did you even find out about that?"
"I heard that blond oaf screaming. Here I thought he and that girl you were with were the only two fools who had managed to stumble their way into Beacon. Clearly I was mistaken." With that she stormed off.
Once he had had his breakfast and got dressed in his street clothes, Phoenix headed back to the locker room to meet up with Ruby and Yang. When he found them they appeared to be in a discussion about teams. "I don't know. I… I'll just be on your team I guess," Ruby muttered.
"Maybe you should try being on someone else's team," Yang replied nervously as she stroked her hair.
Ruby picked up on what Yang was trying to say and exclaimed, "My dear sister Yang, are you implying you do not wish to be in the same team as me!"
"Am I interrupting something?" Phoenix asked.
Ruby instantly ran over to him and replied, "No, your timing is perfect. Maybe since my sister has betrayed me you can be on my team."
Phoenix just gave a confused look to Yang who said, "It's not that I don't want to be on the same team as her, it's just that I thought… I don't know… maybe it'd help her break out of your shell."
"Wha-! I don't need to break out of my shell, that's absolutely-," Ruby argued before Jaune finished her sentence, "Ridiculous!" and then saying something about locker 636.
"Anyway, want to be on my team?" Ruby asked, looking slightly desperate.
"Sorry Ruby, I would if I could, but…" He proceeded to explain the same thing that he had to Weiss.
"But why not just-," Ruby tried to ask before Phoenix finished her sentence.
"Attended Beacon officially? Simple, if one more person joined there would be an odd number of people, so one of the teams would have one extra person. Satisfied?" he asked the two of them.
"Just one more question," Yang said, "You say Ozpin is your dad, but your last name is Fall. Why?"
"Well…uh… you see… funny story," he said nervously, cursing himself for not bringing smoke bombs he could use to get away. Before he could act on plan B, using his semblance and lighter to set off the fire alarm as a distraction, an announcement over the speaker system said, "Will all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation."
"What's that? Literally anything else? Let's go!" Phoenix said as he ran towards the exit. As he ran he saw Jaune pinned to a locker by what appeared to be Pyrrha's spear.
When he got to the cliff, he was still wondering how he would explain everything to them. "It's only a matter of time before I have to tell them," he thought, "But where do I even begin."
His thinking was interrupted by Ozpin starting another speech, "For years you have trained to become warriors. Today we will put your abilities to the test in the Emerald Forest." Afterwards Goodwitch started talking about teams, something that Phoenix just tuned out. However, since he was on the first launchpad, he had no warning when he was catapulted into the air, his only thought being, "Probably should've listened to one of their speeches for once."
When he saw the trees rushing towards him, the first thing he did was reach for his swords, only to find they weren't there. "Blast! Looks like we're doing this the hard way!" Phoenix yelled, pulling out and extending his staff. When he got close to the trunk of a tree he just shoved his staff in before propelling himself from the tree. When he landed he dusted off his shirt before pressing a button on his glasses, which he had given record function. "Got to figure out what Oz wants us to do," he said to himself before watching the recording.
"Now then… if I were an abandoned temple with some so-called relics in it where would I- Wait, is that smoke?" Phoenix thought. "May as well give whoever started it a hand," he said as he ran off in the direction of the fire. He started to slow down when he heard voices, and when he heard who one of them belonged to he almost turned around.
"Well perhaps if you had exercised even the slightest amount of caution in your strikes, I wouldn't have set the forest on fire!" Weiss shouted to who Phoenix could only guess was her partner. When he heard her partner respond he couldn't help but laugh. The next thing he knew, Ruby's scythe was at his throat. When she realized who it was, she immediately lowered her weapon, causing him to breathe a sigh of relief. This relief was short lived, as moments later he found the entire lower half of his body encased in ice.
"What the bloody hell is going on here?" Phoenix yelled as Weiss emerged from the bushes.
"You! I could ask you the same question!" she yelled back at him, her sword pointed at his heart.
"Woah there. Let's stop pointing weapons at me so I can explain myself," Phoenix said, hoping that this wouldn't be how he died. She seemed to calm down slightly, but still kept her sword pointed at him.
"Talk. Now!" she demanded.
"Okay. I was going through the forest when I saw smoke. I came over to see what was going on. When I found you two and realized you were partners, I started laughing. I mean, seriously. What are the odds that the two of you would end up together," he explained, his last remark earning him an annoyed glare from Weiss. "Alright, can you let me go now? I would be tapping my foot but it's still frozen," he said with a grin.
"It's definitely this way… I mean this way. It's definitely this way," Weiss said, pacing back and forth, "Alright it's official, we passed it."
"Why can't you just admit you have no idea where we're going?" Ruby replied.
"Of course I know where we're going. We're going to the… Forest Temple," Weiss responded.
"Oh really. The Forest Temple. What a brilliant deduction princesses. I suppose it's only because we're holding you back that you haven't discovered it yet!" Phoenix yelled.
"Exactly!"
He'd had it with her. "Why is it that you seem to think you're so bloody perfect!" he continued, at this point just venting.
"I'm not perfect," Weiss retorted, "Not yet anyway."
"Look, I need a moment to cool off. I'll be back in a bit," Phoenix mumbled, "Going to go try to find a good vantage point to get a bird's eye view." As he walked away he could hear Ruby and Weiss continue to bicker.
"For the record, this is NOT what I meant by 'bird's eye view'!" Phoenix yelled, clinging to the back of a Nevermore with Ruby and Weiss.
"Look on the bright side. You finally found something you hate more than flying in airships," Ruby pointed out.
"How are we supposed to get off this thing," Weiss demanded to know, seemingly just as terrified as Phoenix.
"Simple. We jump," Ruby answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Are you insane?" both Weiss and Phoenix yelled, but Ruby was long gone. "I die you are so haunted!" he yelled as he let go of the Nevermore, screaming in terror.
"You insufferable little dolts!" Weiss shouted after them.
"Sounds like another girl is in trouble!" Yang shouted, searching for the source of the noise. To answer her search, Blake pointed upward. Above them they saw Ruby and Phoenix falling from the sky, Ruby yelling "Bonsai!" while Phoenix was just screaming and yelling a random string of curses. Before Ruby could hit the ground she was hit by Jaune, who was also flying through the air. Phoenix, however, continued to fall and landed face first in front of Yang and Blake.
"Did you two just fall from the sky?" Blake asked Phoenix, who answered, "Yeah," his response muffled due to the fact that his face was still in the ground.
Before he had the chance to recover, he heard an Ursa's enraged roar, and quickly stumbled up, only to find out that the Ursa had been dealt with by the duo from that morning. "Nora, please never do that again," the boy said, looking over to where the girl, apparently named Nora, had just been, only to find that she was missing. Locating her was not hard, seeing as she was making a large commotion. She had grabbed a rook piece from a display of chess pieces behind them, and was singing about how she was "Queen of the Castle".
"I suppose those chess pieces are the relics," Phoenix thought, looking over at the "Forest Temple" as Weiss had called it.
He started paying attention to everything else again when the boy in green called out to Nora, to which she responded, "Coming Ren!"
"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked. Yang tried to respond, but before she had the chance, a Deathstalker burst through the trees, chasing Pyrrha, who called out to Jaune, which Phoenix could only assume was her partner. This set off a chain reaction of people yelling each other's names, concluding with Nora yelling out her own.
Yang, having had enough of this madness, shouted, "I can't take it anymore! Can everyone chill out for TWO SECONDS before something crazy happens again!" They stood there for two seconds, during which Ren ran up to them, and Nora made binoculars with her hands.
After the two seconds passed, Ruby, who had jumped down from the tree she had been flung into when hit by Jaune during the name calling reaction, pointed upwards, saying, "Uh… Yang, Phoenix."
They all looked up to see Weiss clinging to a talon of the Nevermore, shouting what Phoenix could barely make out as, "How could you leave me?"
"I said jump!" Ruby responded.
"Seriously Weiss, if the guy afraid of flying jumped, you should be able to!" Phoenix continued, hoping to use her stubborn sense of pride to get her to jump.
"She's going to fall," Blake said in a surprisingly calm tone.
"She'll be fine," Ruby replied.
This, however, was proven incorrect, as Ren stated, "She's falling." But before she could hit the ground, Jaune jumped out of a tree catching her. He had, however, seemed to forget gravity applied to him as well, but he was soon reminded.
When they landed, Weiss, who was on top of Jaune, sarcastically called him her hero, to which he replied, "My back."
Pyrrha, having finally been caught by the Deathstalker, was batted in front of Phoenix and the others. "Great, the gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang exclaimed.
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby yelled, charging towards the beast and letting out what was an attempt at an intimidating battle cry, but was, in reality, what Phoenix thought was "Adorable."
"Why do I keep thinking that sort of thing?" he thought. "Ruby wait!" both he and Yang yelled, chasing after her, but her semblance kept them from catching up. She tried striking the beast, but it simply batted her aside.
"Don't worry, I'm fine!" she shouted back at them.
"Ruby, if you're fine, I'm an expert pilot," Phoenix retorted, drawing his weapon and his lighter. Before he could do anything, The Nevermore launched a storm of feathers, knocking Yang and Phoenix back while catching Ruby's cape, preventing her from escaping. Phoenix tried lighting a fire, but his lighter didn't seem to work. "Damn it! It must've gotten wet when Weiss froze me," he thought, "I swear if Ruby gets hurt because of her I'll-." His train of thought was interrupted by a white blur flashing past him.
"You are so childish," Weiss said, having frozen the Deathstalker's tail just before it hit Ruby. "And dimwitted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style," She continued.
"Here we go again," thought Phoenix, groaning.
"And I suppose I can be a bit… difficult at times," she finished, "But if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you stop trying to show off, I'll be… nicer."
"Well, that's surprising."
"I'm not trying to show off, I just want you to know I can do this," Ruby countered, to which Weiss responded, "You're fine." Phoenix and Yang both ran up to Ruby, and Yang embraced her.
"Thank Gods you're okay!" Phoenix exclaimed.
"Don't ever scare us like that again," Yang finished
"Uh… guys, that thing's circling back around," Jaune said, pointing up at the Nevermore.
"So? We don't need to waste our time with them. Our only goal is to obtain an artifact and return to the cliff," Phoenix said, immediately going into his more serious "tactician mode".
"Agreed, there's no point in fighting these things. Let's grab an artifact and move out," Ruby finished.
"Run and live. That is an idea I can get behind," Jaune said, grabbing the other rook piece. Ruby and Phoenix both grabbed knights, Ruby taking a gold one and Phoenix taking a black one.
"You heard the girl! Let's move!" They all ran off, Ruby taking a moment to pose heroically on a rock, and Yang taking a moment to admire her sister taking charge.
They got to the site of some old ruins before the Nevermore was able to catch up to them, perching itself atop a spire. "Doesn't look like there's any way around fighting now," Phoenix said. Before he had the chance to come up with a strategy however, the Deathstalker burst through the woods behind them.
"Run!" Jaune yelled, panicked.
"Nora, distract it!" Ren ordered, pointing at the Nevermore.
"You got it," Nora cheerfully replied, pulling out her grenade launcher and firing multiple shots at it while dodging the feathers it sent flying at her. The Deathstalker charged at her from behind, but Blake and Ren distracted it as Weiss got Nora out of the way. The nine of them started to cross the bridge, but the Nevermore charged through it, leaving Blake, Pyrrha, and Ren on one side, with everyone else on the other side. Meanwhile, Nora had just launched herself and Jaune across the gap. Nora, upon getting to the other side, accidentally knocked Blake off the edge. She used her weapon to grapple onto the back of the Nevermore, landing multiple blows as she ran along its back.
"It's tougher than it looks," she informed them when she got off it.
"Then let's hit it with everything we've got!" Yang replied. The four girls started unloading rounds into the beast, while Phoenix could only sit there, wishing he had The Blazing Hooks. He was not, however, completely idle. While the girls fired at the beast, he used his glasses to scan it for weak points. When the Nevermore crashed into the tower they were standing on, he found himself wishing for his normal gear again, this time his grapnel gun. He instead improvised, using his staff to help him vault between the falling pieces of rubble.
"None of this is working!" Weiss declared once they had reached solid ground.
"Obviously. Anyway, my scan shows that it's only armored on the outside and has a weak point at the neck," Phoenix informed them. "Think you can base a plan around that?" he asked Ruby, curious to see what she could come up with.
"I have one idea, but it's kind of crazy," she answered.
"I like it already," he replied, smirking.
"I! Hope! You're! Hungry!" Yang yelled, blasting round after round into the Nevermore's mouth while Phoenix held said mouth open with his staff.
"This had better work!" Phoenix shouted as he and Yang jumped off of its back while it crashed into the cliff side. "Now!" Phoenix and Ruby ordered as Weiss charged forward, freezing the Nevermore's tail. As she moved back to her original position, Blake fired her grappling hook towards Yang who grabbed it and pulled. When Weiss had returned to her original position Ruby launched herself into the rope of Blake's hook while Weiss created a glyph that held Ruby in place. The result was a slingshot-like contraption.
"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked, to which Weiss responded,
"Can I?"
"Can yo-?" Ruby tried to ask again, but was interrupted by Weiss indignantly saying, "Of course I can!" She removed the glyph, launching Ruby and the Nevermore. Weiss then set speed glyphs all along the side of the cliff to increase Ruby's already tremendous speed. When Ruby landed against them, she dragged the Nevermore, who had its neck caught in Ruby's scythe, up it with her. When she reached the top she fired it, decapitating it.
"Take that 'ya bloody demon bird!" Phoenix cheered. He then noticed how high up she was and was and wondered how they'd get her down.
"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, the four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team JNPR," Ozpin announced. It was the ceremony for the formation of teams. After this, the only four left were Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang. "Lead by…," it almost seemed like Oz was pausing for suspense, "Jaune Arc."
"What? Me!" Jaune exclaimed, shocked by the professor's choice.
"Congratulations young man," Ozpin calmly responded as Pyrrha playfully hit him, only for him to fall to the ground. Ozpin then called the four remaining students up and called their names. "Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as team RWBY, lead by…," he paused for suspense yet again, "Ruby Rose."
"I'm so proud of you!" Yang exclaimed, practically tackling her sister with a hug.
"Agreed," Phoenix thought to himself, watching from the rafters.
"Looks like things are shaping up to be an… interesting year," Ozpin concluded.
Chapter Five: The First Day
"Gagh! I'm up! I'm up! Blasted clock…," Phoenix groaned getting out of bed. At first he was confused about where he was, wondering why he wasn't in the warehouse he used as a base back at Vale. "Hold on…," he thought to himself, taking in his surroundings. After a moment he face palmed, wondering, "How the bloody hell did I not recognize my own room?" The walls had several posters and prop weapons from various different shows, movies, and comics. In one corner of the room there were tools spread across the floor, along with a half made weapon, basic weapons that could be modified or deconstructed, and weapon components. Right next to his bed (in the upper right corner of his room) was a metal dresser, on top of which were models of various different models of Atlesian military vehicles and robots, along with his clock and his glasses. Hung on the wall to the left of his bed was a large TV with a gaming console plugged into it. Below the TV there were various games. On the back of his door there was a dartboard. Almost all the holes on it were in the center.
After putting on his glasses and finding his school uniform, he set out to his first class at 9:00.
When he was about halfway to the class, he heard panicked shouts of "We're going to be late!" Before he had the chance to get out of the way, he was plowed over by both team RWBY and team JNPR.
"Wait! Slow down! You're not going to be late. We're halfway there and we have- WHAT!" he exclaimed seeing that it was 8:55. "Hey! Wait up!" he yelled, sprinting after them.
When they all got to class, they were all out of breath. "We *gasp* made it *gasp* just in time," Phoenix wheezed, wondering how he was able to run on rooftops and fight criminals all night but be tired out by this. Once they all took their seats, Professor Port, who was teaching this lesson, started telling them some nonsense about his childhood, completely ignoring any lesson plan that may have existed. Phoenix looked over at team RWBY, seeing that Ruby was just as bored as him, drawing pictures, balancing supplies, etc. in an attempt to keep entertained. These actions, while entertaining to him, seemed to be enraging Weiss. When Port asked if anyone thought they possessed the necessary skills to become a huntress, she immediately put her hand up.
"I do sir!" She declared.
"Well then," Port replied, gesturing to a cage that appeared to have a Grimm in it, "Step forward and face your opponent. Class will take a five minute recess while Miss Schnee grabs her equipment."
Yang and Phoenix had decided to play a children's card game to pass the time while they waited for Weiss. Yang seemed to have Phoenix backed into a corner and would almost certainly win if he didn't beat her this turn.
"My turn," Phoenix declared, "I draw. I'll start out by destroying your two face down cards with Stampeding Destruction and Mystical Space Typhoon. Then I activate Burst Stream of Destruction, allowing my Blue-Eyes White Dragon to destroy all your monsters."
"But now you're not able to declare an attack," Yang pointed out with a smug grin on her face.
"Not yet. I activate the spell card Silver's Cry. This allows me to summon another Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my Graveyard. Then I'll activate my face down card, Call of the Haunted, to bring back my third Blue-Eyes White Dragon.
"Get together all the monsters you like. They're still all Blue-Eyes White Dragons, so you can't attack me."
"You're right. I can't attack with a regular Blue-Eyes White Dragon. But I don't plan on using a regular Blue-Eyes White Dragon. I activate Polymerization and fuse my three dragons together. Now come forth, Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!"
Yang remained unphased. "I'll admit that your card is pretty strong. But it's not strong enough to beat me in one attack. You can't win."
"The Duel isn't over until the last card is played, and I'm about to play that card. I tribute my Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon to summon the Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon!"
"Why would you do that?" Yang asked as she and some of the other students who had decided to watch the game got confused looks on their faces. "It's way weaker than your Ultimate Dragon."
"On its own, yes. However, it's not on it's own."
Yang's confidence started to waver. "What do you mean?"
"All of the dragons in my graveyard are giving it power. Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon's attack raises by 300 points for every dragon in there. Since you managed to destroy so many of my dragons he gets a massive boost. He now has an attack of over 9000! More than enough to crush you! Now, feel the wrath of every dragon you've slain! Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon, wipe out her remaining life points and secure my victory! Shining Neutron Blast!" Phoenix commanded, beating Yang.
"Impossible! I was so close! You must've cheated somehow!" she accused, causing him to raise his hands defensively.
"Not at all. I simply know how to harness the near unlimited power of dragons. Your warriors were no match," he stated. Before they could finish their argument, Weiss returned, fully equipped in her battle gear.
"This isn't over," Yang said, returning to her seat.
As Weiss took her place in front of the cage, her team cheered her on. "Go Weiss!" Yang yelled while Blake waved a little flag that said "RWBY" (where she got it Phoenix had no idea).
Ruby simply cheered "Represent team RWBY!"
Phoenix, figuring he may as well join in since they were the closest thing he had to a team, yelled out "And try not to die!" earning him an annoyed look from Weiss. With that, Port used his blunderbuss ax to cut off the lock, releasing the Boarbatusk held inside. It immediately charged at her, but she dodged at the last second and landing a strike on it.
"Hang in there Weiss!" Ruby yelled as Weiss charged at the beast. It was, however, ready, and it countered her strike, leaving her sword trapped in its tusks. "Show it who's boss!" Ruby encouraged, distracting Weiss and disarming her. Thinking her an easy target charged at her, only for her to evade its strike. Its missed blow caused it to lose balance, giving Weiss the opportunity to regain her blade.
"Weiss, go for its belly!" Ruby advised.
"It has no armor there!" Phoenix continued.
"Will you two shut up and stop telling me what to do!" Weiss demanded, as the Boarbatusk rolled at her. She used a glyph to block it, sending it sprawling on its back, and another to launch herself towards its weak point, impaling it.
"You have been burdened with a heavy responsibility Ruby. I suggest you take some time to consider how you will handle it," Ozpin finished. He had been giving a speech to Ruby about what it meant to be a leader.
"Sorry about him. He's not exactly the best with inspirational and uplifting speeches," Phoenix said once Ozpin had left.
"Gaah! Phoenix, when'd you get here?" Ruby asked, surprised by his sudden presence behind her.
"Do you mean when did I start listening or when I started standing in this particular spot?"
"Uh… both?" Ruby asked, confused by the question.
"Well, I've been listening from the start. I was standing just around that corner over there," he said gesturing to a nearby corner. "As for when I started standing in this particular spot, just a few moments before you asked me."
"You were spying on me?"
"I heard your fight with Weiss and wanted to make sure you were okay. When I found you, you were talking to Oz. Back to what I was originally saying, Oz isn't great when it comes to inspiring people," he said.
"I don't know, I think he helped-" she tried saying.
"Ruby, he told you to always be at your best, no matter what. Trust me when I say that can be incredibly tiring. If you ever need someone to help, I'm there for you. Oh Gods I just realized how cliché that sounded. I am so sorry for making you listen to that," He said, his last remark causing Ruby to laugh. "But seriously, the offer still stands," he finished his preposition.
"Thanks Phoenix. I'll let you know if I ever need to take you up on it."
When he got back to his room, Phoenix flopped onto his bed and sighed. "Well, that was one hell of a first day." Before he had the chance to rest he got an alert on his phone.
"Hostage situation in downtown Vale. SDC facility at corner Lake and 16th. White Fang," it read. The alert was from the police scanner he had on his scroll, which was set to alert him to major crimes.
"So much for studying," he thought to himself, running off towards the locker room.