3Disclaimer: RWBY is the sole property of Rooster Teeth and the late Monty Oum. KP360 claims no ownership save for any OCs, abilities and locations.
Order Trailer:
"Stand still you mongrel!"
The life of a Faunus on Remnant is not exactly a great one. Although the war has long past, many Faunus are still seen as nothing but animals. Discrimination is common place in the areas where both races live.
"You can only run, can't you beast?"
A particular figure was darting through the trees. The forests of southern Mistral had quite a bit of cover, but even here he knew he was being watched.
"You're nothing but a dog!"
"Faster, I have to go faster…"
The person can hear rustling near the bushes next to him. All decked out in combat gear, it seems like he's ready to face whatever comes. The grey leather armor fits him well as he dashed through the trees. His head darted around, listening ever so closely. A black wolf mask obscured much of his head; everything below his eyes was covered by a facemask.
The rustling was growing closer.
"Anytime now… come on!"
"Just keep running why you don't? Filthy animal!"
The rustling was right beside him now. The boy figured he will have to fight. Then the underbrush exploded and a black shape threw itself at him. This beowolf has been tracking him for quite some time. However, what it received instead was a sharp pain in its neck as the figure it leapt at lunged his hand forward, two jagged claws extending from a gauntlet on his wrist. With a violent wrench, the figure tore the claw out. The wolf-like Grimm instantly collapsed, black smoke simmering off of it as rapid decay set in.
However, the boy was still hesitant and he had good reason to. For not long after the slaying of that one beowolf, he can already hear the loud chorus of howls and snarls moving towards him. If there was one thing he hated about the wolf-like Grimm, is that there's never just one of them around.
Multiple dark shapes darted out of the brush, their bone-like masks glinting in the moonlight. The boy lost no composure as he extended both pairs of claws. Even with Beowolfs being fast in their own right, the speed which this warrior moved was almost unnatural, shredding multiple beasts with a whirlwind of slashes.
More and more of the piled in, and it was at this moment the boy's supposed pursuer hit the scene. It was another youthful looking male dressed in similar garb to him, except his face was unblocked and his armor was a more reddish color. The first thing he witnessed was the smoking corpses of multiple Grimm as the figure before him darted around.
"Whoa, the shitshow started without me huh?" he mumbled.
"Yes, so if you would be so kind to actually start helping me I would have it much easier." Wolf mask shot back "In fact there's 6 of them heading towards you right now!"
The other boy grimaced and flicked his wrist towards the incoming beasts. A moment past before those creatures howled in pain as their eyes were shot out, ornate shurikens embedded in them. He smirked as he pulled out two more shurikens, only this time they seemed to be spinning faster and laced with wind. Another flick of the wrist and both of these screamed towards his targets, bisecting them completely as they flew forwards and back again like a boomerang. The boy's grin got bigger as he caught them expertly.
Back with Wolf-mask, there were only a handful of Beowolfs left. Even with this the wolf like creatures still hungered for flesh as they pounced at him with claws outstretched. Wolf-mask closed his eyes before reaching behind his back. If he was going to finish it, he might as well take out all of them. The monsters sank their claws into him, only to be met with a cloud of smoke.
This cloud of smoke rapidly dashed towards the remaining Beowolves, phasing through them before circling back again. The monsters let out startled yelps as they tried to swipe at the miasma, but being smoke, their blows simply passed through harmlessly. Then Wolf-mask resolified a few distances away, crouched down and a ōdachi held in both hands. Wordlessly he then sheathed the sword, and with that moment, the Beowolves split into multiple smoking pieces.
Wolf-mask then took a deep breath and rose up, taking off the helmet in the process. Underneath he was look like your average 17 year old, his black hair tied into a ponytail and his honey colored eyes observing the surrounding. However, two wolf ears jutted out in the midst of his hair, indicating his Faunus status.
He then did a head count of the now smoking corpses of Grimm, a smile slowly raising as he did so.
"That's 15 to a measly 6. Looks like I win."
The other boy from a few feet away scoffed when he heard that.
"You don't say? You got here earlier than I did, not to mention that semblance of yours is straight up bullshit."
"Keep complaining, the Grandmaster always said you'll be come an expert at that!"
"Kiss my ass, wolf boy!"
Indeed, the lives of Faunus were not the best around here. But strife like that has no place within the Band of Dark Night. As the silent perpetrators of Order within Remnant, there must be no tension between its warriors, as, according to their motto, the shadows must always remain unbroken. Training with the intensity of a primary combat school, the Band is widespread across Remnant, but many remain closer to their headquarters in Mistral.
And that was exactly what these two boys were doing here right now. Unlike the huntsman academies within the four kingdoms, those who pledge allegiance to the Band defend more than just humanity. Its assassins fight for the very balance of Remnant itself. And the Creatures of Grimm in their minds are just one of the abominations that threatens the concept of Order which must be eradicated at all costs. The two may have been successful this time, but the very monsters they kill outnumber the Band by a long shot, and thus there is no rest in this line of work.
"I got to say, luring out this pack of Beowolves by forcing yourself to emit negative energy is useful as ever, Sven. Your insults are getting better too; I think you actually managed to almost hurt my feelings this time."
That was the plan, it was used many times by these two when out on these Grimm hunting missions. By exploiting the Grimm's natural attraction to negative feelings, the duo seeks to lure them out before finishing them off at once. Of course, this only works on small populations such as on this occasion, as when hundreds of the monsters congregate in a single area, they would require more back up.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm a saint I know." the shuriken user, Sven Azuki, snickered. "With the power of my tactics and Drayton Ashwood's silent killing techniques, it's no wonder they call us the power duo of the Band of Dark Night!"
"That's the worst name for my semblance if I ever heard one." Wolf-mask – Drayton – rebuffed.
"Oh come on! Like you can come up with better! I mean seriously, Wraith? That's so cliché!"
"My so-called clichéd name for a semblance did help me win our little contest." Drayton pointed out.
"Aha! So you admit it?" and the argument went on for a while, ending with the two of them laughing like close brothers.
"I still can't believe you're going to Beacon and leaving me behind! It's nice that the Grandmaster wishes for more cooperation with the 4 kingdoms and thus is beginning these projects, but we're separated now! What am I going to do without my little wolf?" Sven groaned again. Drayton grew solemn as that topic came up again.
"I'm sure my replacement would be a fine partner, plus this means you can spend more time with Cherry and not worry about me, in your word, cock-blocking you all the time." He sighed again and put his helmet back on "Still, I cannot understand the Grandmaster's decision. Why did he recommend me to Beacon when there are other warriors more qualified?"
"What's with that attitude? Aren't you the 'Shadow Wolf'? The one who's ways gets things done? Heck, even if you still think some elders of the Band sees you only as His apprentice it doesn't make you any less qualified to attend a huntsman academy!" Sven assured him.
Drayton nodded with resolve "Right… him… Until I make him answer for his betrayal, until I make him face justice for what he's done. I will get the answers I need, even if I have to search through his entire organization to do so."
"Just don't think about it too much. He's strong, and don't take this the wrong way, but even if he was the one that took you under his wing before his defection… I don't think you're ready for him the way you are now."
"I am well aware of that. Which is why if Beacon can actually be enough to hone my skills, I will accept the Grandmaster's request."
"Your dedication never ceases to amaze me… If only I had-"
The two boys were interrupted by a loud snarl coming from the forest behind them, they turned to see glowing red eyes glaring hard at them. The trees exploded outwards an armored Beowolf, larger than the ones they just eliminated, loped towards them with fangs bared.
"Right… there's always an Alpha… well, since we're already here, how about we make do with a little going away party?" Sven smirked as he channeled his aura into his shurikens.
Drayton grinned under his mask "Who am I to stop you?" as smoke gathered around him and he drew his sword once more.
"Every battle… Every action I take… it will bring me closer to you… And I will bring you to justice!"
Then the two youths charged the beast, no uncertainty whatsoever within their eyes.
Gathering Trailer:
"It's always good to be back in the streets of Vale…"
Nighttime is approaching, and the nightlife in the city of Vale is always vibrant. This far out on the city's edge it's a bit darker though. But it's nothing that she hasn't seen before. There really isn't much left in the 4 kingdoms that she hasn't seen before.
The streets are rather dark, but the teenage girl had something to work with. Twirling out what appears to be a baton, she lit one end of fire, thus illuminating more of the area before her.
She was a traveler, always like seeing the sights. The last time she's been in Vale was a couple of months back, when she just graduated from Signal Academy. Since then, she had been going from place to place, seeing everything Remnant has to offer. You could say she can't sit still for long.
Yet Dawn Vermillion isn't exactly going around the 4 kingdoms just to be a tourist. No, she holds a mission that has much more meaning to just travelling and sight-seeing. She wasn't a girl that especially stood out, with her short maroon colored hair tied into two buns, her rather lithe figure hidden by a large green cloak and her knee high steel tipped boots clicking softly as she walked over the stone street. Not that she minded of course, it made what she does easier to get by.
"Polybius… Have we made any progress?" the girl asked internally. Soon after this, one of her aquamarine eyes shifted to an opaque light green.
"4 knights, gather within the makeshift haven, and stand against strife, however unlikely the outcome."
"This shit again, huh? It's not like I haven't been aware of that for the past 3 weeks! I already know we have to go to Vale but what then?"
Yup, Polybius… an unknown entity that even she doesn't know how it inhabited her mind. It has been with her ever since, after what she dismissed as nonsense mutterings occasionally graced her mind 3 years back, each time one of her eyes would turn to the same green color and the words fill her head for the duration. It wasn't until after this mysterious force somehow predicted she would awaken her semblance in a spar against her good friend Yang Xiao Long would she really start paying attention to it. At first she thought of it as makeshift coincidence, but more and more "prophecies", always in the form of one short, obscure sentence, became apparent did she finally began to work more actively in deciphering what it all means.
She had little success in doing so, even going off to see quite a few shrinks in order to determine whether she was going insane or not. Even Signal's drunk huntsman Qrow Branwen had little idea what it means, at least Dawn supposed he didn't, for he did tell her to keep tabs on the strange entity, saying it may come in handy someday.
And come in handy it did, for ever since graduation she was sent on a riddle filled adventure of sorts, Polybius would surface every so often to give her some unexpected phrase, where she would figure out some but be stumped at too much. Although, if she had to ask, going all over Remnant to find answers was fun to say the least, not to mention during this time she managed to hone her skills even more; maybe she would continue her schooling to become a huntress for real now.
It was about a month ago, when she had just received her approval of entry into Beacon Academy prior to go on another vacation to Atlas, did Polybius's riddles suddenly took a turn for the bizarre. Whisperings of knights and guardians, of calamity and cataclysm all of this made no sense to her. It doesn't help the fact that Polybius' prophecies are always vague as can be, she has absolutely no idea what it means half the time. These new whispers tells of the gathering of 4 supposed knights that will be the bastion against the Dark forces of Remnant, or at least that's how she views it as. So far, the only one of these alleged 4 knights that have been made apparent is her and that's only because one phrase spoke of her maroon hair.
Deciding to forget about prophecies for now, Dawn made her way to a nearby club. Maybe a few drinks will rest her mind.
Whoever this club's managed by, it is apparent that the housekeeping needs some work. A good number of windows were broken, the dance floor and many lights seemed to have suffered damage, and even some of the bouncers dressed in black suits seemed to have sustained injuries somehow.
She made it to the bar and sat down.
"Did the place get run over by a Goliath or something?" she asked the bartender.
The stink eye Junior Xiong gave her was scathing.
"If you're not going to order anything, quit making small talk. Especially about what happened here."
"Oooh, secrecy. Well, might as well give you some patronage to pay off the damages. 3 shots of fireball please."
Junior raised an eye at that "You got quite a lot of confidence, little lady."
"I can hold my liquor, just bring it up."
"Whatever you say, just don't come crying to me if you pass out in my bar." Junior shrugged and poured her the drink she requested.
"I must say, for someone with poor housekeeping skills, the way you blend the drinks is quite good." Dawn complemented as she downed a shot.
"Very funny" Junior quipped "Except you forgot the part where I had to get surgery." The owner and bartender had a large neck brace wrapped around his neck, and indeed it looks like his movement was limited.
"What exactly happened here, anyways? Did a Goliath really stomp its way through here?"
Junior scoffed "I wish! No, we'd probably won't be as hurt in that case. Here's a tip from me, the two worst things in this world are people who mind other people's business too much, and blonde girls. Stay away from those two kinds of people at all costs." He muttered somewhat bitterly.
"The first one, I won't ask about, but what could a blonde do against a big burly man and a couple of his goons?" Dawn snickered.
"Don't even ask, girl's punches hits harder than a shotgun's. Where does she even get all that strength is beyond me?" Junior groaned.
"Must be one hell of a beating. What did this girl look like, I would love to meet her one day." Dawn grinned again.
"Long blonde hair, wore a crop top and shorts, lilac colored eyes that turns red in an instant, oh and she has these gauntlets. Trust me, don't get associated with a girl like that."
"Wow, what are the odds?" Dawn giggled at that "Ahhh, Yang Xiao Long… still beating up the boys left and right I see."
"Wait, you know her?!" Junior balked.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. We went to school together. I haven't seen her in a while I wonder how she's been. Good to see she's still kickin' ass around here."
Junior bristled at that "If I wasn't hurt I'd pound you for keeping that from me." Dawn grinned at that.
"Careful there, those be fightin' words. Well, I like the drinks you serve here. I might come back sometimes." Slipping a couple lien onto the counter, she turned to leave. "Keep the change."
She didn't get two steps away from her seat before she suddenly raised her baton behind her. The small stick soon expanded into a 6 foot long metal bo staff. With good timing too, as two individual sounds of metal meeting metal soon rang out.
"Ahh, I didn't see you girls earlier. Aren't you two pretty?"
Two girls then landed, one wearing white and the other red. Their disinterested gaze housed other intentions as they sprung their bladed heels towards Dawn, only to be met by another block.
"Hey now, why all the hostility? It's not like I've stolen your boyfriends or something, have I?"
"Since Blondie is not here right now, you will have to take her place, right Melanie?" one of the girls addressed the other.
"Indeed so Miltia, indeed so." Melanie addressed her sister.
"Ah, you two are the vengeful types. I'm sorry, but I have to be somewhere." Dawn brushed it off, before having to duck under another kick. This took her by surprise as she felt one of the twins kick her at the back of her head, knocking her down. The Malachite twins then raised their bladed heels upwards, intending on getting one more strike in.
Only to find their bodies completely bounded and unable to move.
"My, my, I really should stop drinking alone…" Dawn mumbled as she rubbed her head; Aura managed to soften the blow but she'd be lying if she said those two didn't know how to fight. Looking to the twins she smirked, seeing them helpless as multiple vines sprouted out of the ground, wrapped around them. At this point she also noticed some of the other people in the bar raising weapons at her, so she activated her semblance once more and tied them up too.
Seeing the twins still vainly struggling to get another strike in, Dawn sighed and gave her staff a small twist. The Malachite twin's eyes widened in horror as one end of the metal pole widened and a large sprout of fire shot out of the end.
"Now, I really didn't like what you did just then, so I'm in a bit of a dilemma right now. You see, I really like this place and I would hate to burn it down, as well as I'd feel super guilty if I'd marred your pretty faces in any way. However, you did just assault me so…"
"Hold on! Everybody drop your weapons!" Junior shouted to his henchmen.
"Look, little lady. I just started repairing the place, and I'd really appreciated if I don't have to do it again. So why don't we let bygones be bygones and I'll give you a free drink?"
Dawn seemed to contemplate it for a bit, before grinning slightly "Well, I suppose since you've taken care of me in the past half hour, so I suppose I'll let it slide just this once. Just make sure your pets don't cross me again, otherwise…" she let out another burst of fire. Junior nodded rapidly, as such Dawn released everybody, the tangled henchmen all tumbling to the ground. Junior let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm going to have to hold you on that free drink though, I have somewhere to be right now. Perhaps I'll see you some other day." She motioned and sauntered out the door, giggling to herself as Junior shouted at her to send a word to Yang that she's been blacklisted.
Back out onto the streets of Vale. The semester will start soon. She was about to check into a hotel to stay in for the night before one of her eyes turned to their green hues and words filled her head again.
"The sky will burn, the land will decay, and the Beacon will draw evil. Silver will be awakened, The Fall will be covered by Cinders, and darkness will overrun. Tread by the cutting swords of wounds reopened, Tread by the fires of broken bonds, Tread by ancient forces reawakened, for better or for worse. 4 knights must stand, lest they be trapped by the coming cataclysm, lest they be trapped by Salem."
Dawn gasped at the revelation; that was the longest message Polybius ever left her. Not to mention the timing. Will her time at Beacon be marred by events described? She hardly has anytime to figure this out!
"Damn, whatever you're doing inside there Polybius, you wanna turn it down a bit?"
She looked towards the Skyline of Vale, towards the shining tower in the distance. This far Beacon Academy looks quite ominous and foreboding. Dawn steeled herself; whatever Polybius had meant to warn her of, she has to be ready soon.
"Alright, those other 3 knights better have some idea of what they're going to do, because I sure don't. Only one way to find out I guess."
Vines began scrambling up from the payment, carrying her with renewed speed towards the glowing tower. It was time to face destiny.
A/N: Well, with Volume 4 airing yesterday I thought it'd be about high time that I wrote one of these myself. This story will be focused on my OC team, Team FAAD (Fade), and their journey that will involve them with struggles of their own. There will be times where the team interact with canon events, but mostly will follow a separate storyline as they have their own adventures to go on.
This was harder than I originally thought it would be. Mostly because of the naming rule. With my One Piece story I can just slap a random name onto a character and develop from there, but with this everything has to match a color so I had to choose from multiple, that includes changing some of the character's names around to fit what it is today. It was quite a lot of fun though, and I hope this introduction is enjoyed. This is just the beginning, so we'll see how popular this gets and go from there; I do have another story I'm also working on after all!
As of right now pairings are undecided as I'm still developing plot. I'll let you guess on who you'd like to see ends up with who though.
That's all for now! Tell me what you think so far, and what I can add in the future. Meanwhile I'm excited for next week's episode! Actually… I still haven't seen the season premiere yet… not a first member haha!