NOTE: All characters in the official RWBY canon are property of Monty Oum and RoosterTeeth. Original content/characters belongs to me.

SETTING:

Beacon Academy, about 2 years after end of Season1 Volume2 (and some original locations, to be introduced in later chapters).

(Please note that things that are going to be determined, such as who Raven is, what Cinder's end game is, what happened to Yang's mother, details about team SSSN, Ren's village mission, etc. will likely not be addressed. This fic assumes those questions to have been answered but it tells its own more independent story referencing those areas as little as possible).

Opening scene:

Team RWBY's dorm room was very quiet. Nobody was asleep. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang are sitting in a square, playing Remnant: The Game. Having caught Torchwick and gotten open to more fun, Blake proves that she is a formidable player.

Ruby (playing as Vacuo) was muttering gibberish herself, calculating what move to make. She finally decided and with gusto she claimed "Alright, Weiss. I play Unbearable Sun!" She threw down the card. "Now until the end of my third turn from now, your Fearless Soldiers will take twice the damage. Since my Vacuo soldiers are immune to these hazards, I can move them into place to attack on my next turn. And on the turn after that, your…"

"Hold on!" Weiss yelled, interrupting Ruby.

Ruby groaned and said "Not again…" She sobbed for a moment and then asked "why do you have to stop me every time?"

Weiss gave her a reprimand in her usual style, saying "Perhaps if you tried to think about how I might respond you would have made a better move."

"I think she made the right move," Blake said.

Yang was chuckling. "Sorry sis, I guess we all would have stopped you."

Ruby was getting angry, hitting the table with her fist as she was yelling with her eyes closed. "As your leader I order you to let me win!"

Weiss, Blake, and Yang all said "Nah…" simultaneously.

Weiss began her counter move. "I play my trap Atlesian Upgrade," she said with a laugh. "Now my Fearless Soldiers can damage your creatures before your creatures will damage mine. Plus it lets some of our creatures fight immediately. Since Vacuo Soldiers don't have very high defensive power and my soldiers have high offensive power, I think I you know what will be done."

Ruby sighed and sat down. She checked the time and looked out the window. The sun was close to the middle of the sky. Several large clouds were in the sky but there was no expectation of rain. The wind was calm but threatening to get stronger. From the distance, howls of Beowolves could be heard from the Emerald Forest, but nobody was concerned. The forest was full of Grimm and they couldn't get to Beacon.

Blake, who was playing as Mistral began her turn. "My turn. I…" but she was interrupted. There was a very urgent knock on the door. Blake opened it to find Nora and Pyrrha giggling. Both of their hands were covered in white.

Yang looked at Pyrrha and Nora's hands and began asking "Um, Pyrrha, Nora… what's that on your…"

Pyrrha closed the door. She turned to team RWBY who was only half paying attention.

Pyrrha answered in a whisper, suspecting that her teammates might be listening in. "Jaune and Ren. They bet us that we won't be able to get Ren to say more than 15 words in a row."

"I talk enough for both of us," Nora giggled with her usual speedy talk. "I mean not that Ren and I are an "us" us and Jaune, well, he talks a lot too. Not as much as me and Pyrrha does talk more than Ren and I love hearing Ren talk which you know how little he does and… HEY! Is that Remnant: The Game? Did you see the new expansion that Remnbro released last month? Atlesian Paladins, Dust Shops, and…"

Pyrrha put her hand on Nora's mouth. Nora tried to lick Pyrrha's hand off but to no avail. Sora sighed and closed her mouth. "Anyway, we need to borrow your bath products," Pyrrha continued, resulting in team RWBY suddenly paying attention to nothing other than to Pyrrha and Nora. "Ren is apparently very specific about the kinds he uses. We already used up his shampoo and soap so step one is complete"

Weiss refused. "I brought exactly enough for me to use for this semester. I don't have any extra and I am also very specific."

Blake smiled a little and added "And I don't think you want to let him use my brand."

Yang rolled her eyes, but she clearly liked the idea. "And why do you think having different brands will make him say fifteen words?" she asked skeptically.

Nora was very quick to reply. "Isn't it obvious? He will ask about…"

There is another knock on the door. Ruby, still looking sad from not being able to make a good move in the game but still smiling from the idea of team JNPR's bet, opens the door. In the hall are Ren and Jaune, both of whom walk in.

While Ren stood in the doorway, Jaune walked in and moved around team RWBY's table, looking at the state of the boardgame. "Hey, Pyrrha. Hi, Nora," he started, and then went on to greeting every member of team RWBY. "Nice hair today Weiss. So, Pyrrha, Nora. What are you doing here? Not trying to get help in our little bet, are we?" His tone was very friendly, but it had hints of suspicion.

Pyrrha just gave a nervous smile and looked at Nora. Nora decided it was her time to shine; she took a deep breath and said "We were just uuhh, asking them what mission they want to go on this year! Yeah, that's it!" Pyrrha gave Nora an approving look. "We're second year students so now we get a mission without having to work with a professional Huntsman or Huntress! We get to show what we can do! What do you think Ren? Where should we go and why? Use aaaaallllll the details you can!"

Ren just gave a small sigh and said with minimal emotion "I think Jaune should choose. He's our leader."

Pyrrha and Nora look at each other a little disappointed. They give team RWBY a "play along" look.

Yang was quick to catch on to Pyrrha's wishes. "Well, we were thinking about going on a wilderness mission," she reported; it was indeed the truth: team RWBY had discussed this earlier. "We heard there were attacks on some settlements in the Napier Forest. Probably nothing but I want the adventure there."

"If there are people there then they might want to be customers of the Schnee Dust Company. People in the small settlements don't survive long without Dust," Weiss added.

"And I get to help people!" Ruby exclaimed with a little squeak.

A moment later, Ren looked at the time, put his hand on his stomach, and said a little more loudly than he usually spoke "We're going to get lunch. Join us?"

Yang stood up, flipping over the table in the process and replied "Sure, I'm starving."

Scene 2: The Main Hall

After a short lunch, all students at Beacon from every year and from every kingdom congregated together in the main hall for Ozpin's usual speech.

Yang was chatting with a few people of other teams Ozpin entered the room. Step by step, Ozpin took the stage and began his speech as the students gathered around their teams. "I'll try to be brief," he began in his usual quiet manner. "As you know, the four kingdoms do not have many opportunities to come together. Even though your missions will be separate from each other, some of you will work on connected missions. And even when apart, we are together in spirit." There was some muttering from the students. Ozpin paused, looked at some individuals from each kingdom, sighed, and continued at a higher volume and with more emotion. "After the War almost drove us into extinction, we now stand together. As second-year students, you will be tasked and tested on this mission. You will have ways to communicate with us but you must not use those ways unless absolutely necessary. You will go on missions with your team with no professional Huntsman or Huntress. Choose carefully and good luck."

The students applauded and congregated with their teams to discuss what missions they want.

"Alright, so are we decided? The Napier Forest?" Ruby asked.

"We agreed a week ago and the registration screen for it is right there!" Weiss replied, a little frustrated

Team RWBY walked over to it and registered. The mission was to begin the next morning.

Scene 3: Later that night, team JNPR's room. Jaune and Ren are alone there

Ren looked at Jaune and asked "So what are Pyrrha and Nora doing to win our bet?"

Jaune shrugged. "I don't know," he answered, distracted. "I should talk to them. You know. I can be their friend, see if I can learn something. It's not like they want something more. I mean Nora is… well, you know."

Ren smiled a little. "Yeah," he said, obviously trying to give Jaune a hint. "And Pyrrha is…"

Jaune interrupted Ren. "She loves how good a friend I am to her. I know. Anyway we have a couple days before our mission starts. I'm going to the Artie's comic book store. Want me to get you something there?"

Ren looked around, checked the door, and then got real close to Jaune. "Get me some Samurai Shampoo and Lotus Leaf soap," he whispered.

Jaune took a couple steps back and asked "From the pharmacy by Artie's?"

"Yep."

"But why? Don't you have enough?"

"Just trust me on this."

Jaune exited the room. "Okay," he said.

As Jaune exited the room, he ran into Ruby.

"Hey Jaune. Getting ready for your mission?" she inquired.

Jaune smiled a little. "Not yet. Still have a couple days," he said, looking down the hallway to see if Pyrrha or Nora were coming. "We're going to help a lab that works with the Schnee Dust Company to test their materials. We might get free samples!"

Ruby's eyes widened. "Bring me some, OK?"

Jaune chuckled and said "Alright. I'm getting some comics and other stuff for the trip. Good luck on your mission!"

"Thanks. You too."

Ruby entered her dorm and began packing her bags. She wished she could have Zwei join up again but to the dismay of everyone on her team (even Blake's), he had to go back to Taiyang in Patch.

Scene 4: The next morning, just outside the gates of Beacon. The sun is up and there are no clouds. There are several small planes ready to take students on their missions. A few other teams have already left and a few others are currently outside as well, waiting for their pilot

"Alright. This is our first real mission," yawned Blake. She didn't get much sleep that night from the excitement of having a chance to just work with teammates. "Working with Oobleck was fun and better than we expected but I still think it could have gone better."

"I heard that, Miss Belladonna!" Oobleck yelled from a distance.

Just then, an older man walked towards team RWBY. "You're team RWBY?" he asked

Team RWBY just nodded

"Alright," he said, "Let's go to the Napier Forest."