//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: A Start to a School Year // Story: Sunset Huntress: A New Beginning // by Wind Typhoon //------------------------------// Chapter 8: A Start to a School Year Two weeks had passed since their mission together and Sunset was currently getting ready to go to Beacon. "Wow, these past two weeks have sure gone by fast," Sunset said to Storm as they got ready to head to Beacon. "I know, it really feels like it's only been a few days," Storm responded as she got her Scroll and put it away. "Oh, I should mention that Ozpin sent me a message telling us about our team name," Sunset commented as she put split her twin sword into a pair of dual blades and put them on her waist. "Really? What did he decide to call us?" Storm asked as she grabbed her elbow blades and put them on her waist. "Well, let me ask you a question before I tell you. Is it normal for a team not to be named after a color or something similar?" Sunset responded. "Ah, I see you noticed that about most teams. Well, while it is the standard for teams to be named after a color or something similar, there are times where that is not the case," Storm explained. "That does make sense to me, especially since I've heard a lot of people actually debating whether some team names are based off a color or not," Sunset said. "Trust me; you don't know the half of it. Anyway, I can guess that our team name is different than normal?" Storm asked. "You guess correctly; out team name is SNST," Sunset told Storm. "Ok, now what about our team name?" Storm responded. Sunset was about to respond until she realized the joke. "Oh, ha ha ha, very funny," Sunset said in a slightly annoyed tone. "Hey, can't blame a girl for trying to be funny," Storm responded. "Well, it's not that I'm mad, I actually thought that it was actually pretty good, but Palom makes a lot of jokes about my name and it gets tiring after a while," Sunset told Storm in a kind tone. "I completely understand that and as a friend I should warn you that Nitro is kind of the one who cracks a lot of jokes," Storm told Sunset. "Thanks for the heads up, I have a feeling that I'm going need that information in the future," Sunset said as she sighed. "Hey, at least try to have a smile on your face. Today is our first day at Beacon," Storm said happily. Sunset stayed silent before a smile appeared on her face. "Your right, I really should be happy on a day like this," Sunset said in a more upbeat tone. "There you go," Storm said. Sunset smiled at that and then thought of something that she was curious about. "Hey, I have a quick question. Do we just head to Beacon when we are ready?" Sunset asked. "Of course, it honestly isn't that far from town so a lot of people just walk there," Storm told Sunset. "Then why does it have dorms if a lot of people can just walk from their house?" Sunset questioned. "Well, I image that it is a bit of a hassle to walk there every day, so a lot of people choose to stay there," Storm explained. "Well, what are you going to do considering you own a house?" Sunset asked curiously. "I already have a plan for that, I'm renting it out to someone," Storm said. "I'm not going to question your decision, after all it's your house," Sunset said as she grabbed her backpack. "You ready to go?" Storm asked. "I am, how about you?" Sunset responded. "I'm ready, I just need to wait for the people who are renting the house to come," Storm told Sunset. "So, should I wait with you for the people to arrive?" Sunset asked. "No, it's fine. Besides, you have to head to Beacon ahead of time," Storm said. "If you're sure, then I'll see you later," Sunset said as she headed to the door. "Ok, I'll see you at Beacon," Storm said. Sunset opened the door and exited the house. As she left the house and started to walk towards Beacon, she noticed that Palom and Porom were waving at her. Sunset smiled and walked over to her friends. "Hey Sunset, you ready to start at Beacon?" Palom questioned. "Of course, though I am a bit nervous," Sunset told Palom. "Well, me and my brother have a bit of news that might make you a bit calmer," Porom said with a smile. "Well, you're going to have to give me a pretty good reason to make me calm," Sunset said with a bit of doubt in her voice. "Well, would saying that the both of us got jobs at Beacon be a good reason?" Porom responded. Sunset simply responded with a look of shock. "Both of you got jobs at Beacon?!" Sunset asked out of surprise. "Yes we did, Ozpin actually came up to us today and offered us a job helping out at Beacon," Palom explained with a big smile on his face. "I'm happy for the both of you, but where are you going to stay?" Sunset asked. "Well, we are going to be staying at Storm's house for the semester," Palom told Sunset. "That explains, why she said she was renting it," Sunset thought to herself. "Anyway, we better get going. We have to meet with her soon," Palom said. "Ok, then in that case, I'll see you two later," Sunset said. With that, Palom and Porom headed to Storm's house while Sunset walked to Beacon. After about 20 minutes of walking, Sunset arrived near the entrance of Beacon. As she was about to approach, she heard a motorcycle pull up beside her. When she looked over, she saw Tempest just riding up next to her and stopped. "Hey Sunset, you on the way to Beacon?" Tempest asked as she took off her helmet. "I am, you riding to Beacon?" Sunset responded. "Well, I actually was until I saw you. Do you mind if I ride along side you?" Tempest said. "I don't mind, I would actually prefer the company," Sunset told Tempest. Tempest simply nodded as she slowly rode alongside Sunset. "So, how has your day been so far?" Tempest asked over the low sound of the engine. "It's been good, anything happen to you recently?" Sunset responded. "Well, I've rented out my house to someone. I imagine that Storm did the same?" Tempest told Twilight. "Palom and Porom told me they actually the ones who rented Storm's house," sunset commented, remembering her earlier conversation. "Really, I'm happy for them," Tempest said in a happy tone. The two then had a moment of awkward silence as they thought of things to talk about. "Hey Sunset, why did you know so much about him?" Tempest asked, breaking the silence. "About who?" Sunset responded. "About Adam Taurus," Tempest said in a serious tone. Sunset eyes then widened at that response then she immediately calmed down. "Well, of course you know, I told you yesterday," Sunset said. "I figured know that, but I guess I shouldn't argue with your Sunset," Tempest said as she stopped her bike. Sunset then immediately breathed a sigh of relief before Tempest spoke again. "Or perhaps I should call you General Flare of the High Council," Tempest said in a calm tone. Sunset then quickly grabbed one of the blades from her waist, which Tempest assumed was another form of her weapon, and pointed it at Tempest. "How did you know that?" Sunset said in a very aggressive tone. "Now now; I was just saying that because I knew you were in the High Counsel," Tempest said calmly. Sunset was about to respond when she remembered where they were and put her weapon back on her waist. "We'll talk about this later," Sunset said in a very annoyed tone before walking off towards Beacon. Tempest stayed silent as she followed Sunset, a small smile forming on Tempest's face. After a few minutes of walking/riding, the two were at the entrance of Beacon. As they approached, they saw Ozpin standing by the main entrance. "Ah, there you two are," Ozpin said as they approached. "You were waiting for us?" Sunset said in a calmer tone. "I was, because I wanted to tell you both something," Ozpin told the two. "What did you want to tell us?" Tempest asked as she got off her bike and turned it off. "Well, a few things in fact. First off, I wanted to tell you Tempest that we actually have a place where you can keep your bike here on the grounds and I'll be happy to take it over there," Ozpin told Tempest. "Really? Thank you headmaster, I would appreciate it if you did." Tempest said. "It's not a problem; I just wanted to let you know. The second thing I wanted to let you both know is that we had a bit of an issue involving each of your team's respective rooms," Ozpin said. "Let me guess, there wasn't enough rooms available?" Sunset guessed. "Exactly, so, I've decided to give you both a shared room that we have for situations like this. I take you both are ok with this?" Ozpin explained. Tempest and Sunset looked at each other before silently coming to an agreement. "We don't have any problems with that at all Mr. Ozpin," Sunset said. "Ok, then here a copy of the key to your room for each of you," Ozpin said as he gave them both a key. "Ok, so I imagine that you have one last thing to tell us about?" Tempest asked as she put her key away. "Of course, and that would be to introduce you to your tour guide," Ozpin said. "Tour guide?" Sunset and Tempest responded at the same time. "Yes, I figured that since both of you just now attending Beacon, I would give you and your teams a tour of the place myself. Unfortunately, something came up and I had to get you a student who was here last semester to show you around," Ozpin explained. As Sunset and Tempest were wondering who could be their guide, they saw a familiar girl running towards the entrance. "Sorry, I'm late; I had a bit of trouble with my team," Ruby told Ozpin, panting from the running she did. "Its fine Miss Rose, I completely understand. Anyway, I believe you know why I called you here?" Ozpin said. "Yes, you wanted me to walk the leaders of two new teams around the school," Ruby responded. "I'm glad that you remembered that. Well, I would like you to meet the leaders, whom I believe that you have meet before," Ozpin said, a slight smile forming on his face. Ruby took a look at the two girls and immediately smiled. "Hey, you were the ones I saw last week right?" Ruby asked with a smile on her face. "That is right; though I don't think that we introduced ourselves to you that day," Tempest said in a cheerful tone. "I don't think either of you did introduce yourselves, but I guess we can use today to do that," Ruby said in a similar tone to Tempest's. "Well then, now that I've seen that Ruby got here, I must be off," Ozpin said as he got Tempest bike and walked off. Ruby, Sunset and Tempest all waved goodbye to Ozpin as he walked off. "You know, Ozpin seems like a dependable headmaster," Sunset commented. "I can agree with that, although no one can quite tell what is going on in that mind of his. It's like he has his own plan and isn't telling it to anyone," Ruby responded. "Anyway, I believe I'll start with the introductions. You can call me Tempest," Tempest told Ruby. "Sunset Shimmer, but you can call me Sunset," Sunset said, a small smile forming on her face. "Nice to meet you both," Ruby said. "So, you want to take us on that tour Ozpin was telling us about?" Tempest questioned. "Of course," Ruby said with a smile before turning around and walking towards Beacon. Sunset and Tempest simply followed Ruby without another word said between the two of them. After about an hour of walking around Beacon; Ruby, Sunset, and Tempest arrived at the fountain plaza at the back of the school. "So, this is the last place you wanted to show us?" Tempest asked as she looked around. "Yep, this is actually where a lot of students come to relax when the school day is over or whenever they have free time," Ruby explained. As Sunset and Tempest looked around, the noticed a group of four students talking amongst each other. "Hey Ruby, do you know those students?" Sunset asked, motioning in the direction of the students. As Ruby looked at the group, a big smile appeared on her face. "Of course I do, they're actually good friends of mine. Come on, I want you to meet them," Ruby said as she walked ahead of them. Tempest walked forward to join Ruby, but was stopped by Sunset. "We need to talk," Sunset told Tempest in a serious tone. "Still a bit mad about that comment from earlier? Well don't worry, we will a chance to talk. But before we talk, I want you to think about this. How would I know about the High Council?" Tempest responded before going ahead to join Ruby. Sunset just stood there for a moment before taking note of the last sentence that Tempest said and went off to join Ruby and Tempest. "Hey Ruby, you showing two new students around?" one of the students asked. "Yep, these are Sunset and Tempest. Sunset and Tempest, I would like you to meet team JNPR," Ruby responded, Sunset and Tempest waving hello at the students. "Well, nice to meet you both, my name is Pyrrha Nikos," Pyrrha said in a kind tone. "Jaune Arc, it's nice to meet you all," Jaune said nervously. "My name is Lie Ren, it is a pleasure," Ren said in his calm tone. "Hey, where did Nora go?" Ruby asked noticing the energetic girl was missing. "Did somebody call for me?" Nora responded from between Sunset and Tempest. The two girls just looked at each other silently before stepping away from Nora. "Is she always like this?" Sunset asked Ren curiously. "You learn to deal with it," Ren said in a neutral tone. Sunset then heard a noise and looked over to see Nora looking at Tempest. "Hey, it may seem rude, but do you mind if I ask a private question?" Nora asked in an energetic tone. "Um, I don't mind, but if it's private can we go a bit away?" Tempest responded nervously. "Sure," Nora said before grabbing Tempest's arm and dragging her a bit away from the others. "So, you and her are starting to come here today?" Jaune asked Sunset. "We are, but we're not in the same team. We're actually leaders to each of our own teams," Sunset responded. "That's interesting; normally when people enter, they're usually put in a team together. However, I'm guessing that you two impressed Ozpin a lot," Pyrrha commented. "Well, I'm not sure what Tempest did to impress Ozpin, but all I know is that Ozpin saw potential in me and wanted me to attend," Sunset told Pyrrha. "Hey, that's just like me!" Ruby exclaimed happily. "Hey Sunset, I hate to be the one to interrupt, but what is that gauntlet of yours for?" Ren asked, pointing to the gauntlet on Sunset's right arm. Sunset went silent as she thought of a good answer. "If it's something private, you don't have to answer. However, if I may ask, can you show it to us?" Ren told Sunset. "I don't mind showing it," Sunset said as she lifted the gauntlet. The gauntlet itself looked more like an arm guard that went from Sunset's wrist to her elbow with a red glove covering her hand. The gauntlet was gold in color with small indent in the middle that had Sunset's Scroll in it. "Wow; that gauntlet seems really cool. Does it have to do with your weapon?" Ruby asked a sort of sparkle appearing in her eye. "I actually did use it when learning how to use my weapon and have kept it on ever since," Sunset told Ruby. "I'm going to guess that you didn't know how to fight at first, so you used that gauntlet as a learning tool?" Pyrrha questioned. "You guessed that correctly, how did you know that?" Sunset responded. "Well, I will admit that I had to undergo something similar," Pyrrha said, a smile appearing on her face. Sunset was about to ask more until she saw Nora and Tempest coming back. "We're back," Nora said in a very energetic tone. "Hey, we we're just talking to Sunset for a bit. What did you two talk about?" Ren responded. "Well, to be completely honest, I would rather keep that private," Tempest said as she rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. Everyone else just nodded in understanding to what Tempest said. "Well, it was nice talking to you, but Tempest and I have to go see if our respective teammates are here," Sunset said. "Oh, that's right. We kind of did completely forget about them," Tempest said, remembering that they didn't wait for their teammates. "I'll come with, I need to see how my team is doing," Ruby commented. "Ok then, I guess we'll see you later," Jaune said. With that, Ruby, Sunset, and Tempest said good-bye to team JNPR and headed back into the school. "You know, I'm curious who your teammates are Ruby," Sunset commented. "Do you want to go meet them?" Ruby asked in a happy tone. "Sure, I'm curious as to who they are as well," Tempest commented while Sunset nodded in agreement. "Awesome, just follow me," Ruby said before heading into the school quickly. Sunset and Tempest followed soon after while Tempest had a thought in her head. "If the teammate that Nora was talking about is who I think it is, then I promise that I'll take care of them," Tempest thought. After following Ruby for a few minutes, the three of them arrived at the dorms. "So, this is where your team is staying?" Sunset asked. "Yep, if you two can wait out here, then I can see who is here at the moment," Ruby said as she grabbed the handle. "I don't mind waiting, what about you Sunset?" Tempest responded. "I'm in a similar mindset," Sunset said. "Great, I'll be right back," Ruby said before opening the door, heading inside the room, and closing the door behind her. "So, what type of people do you think will be on Ruby's team?" Sunset asked Tempest. "I don't know, but I have a feeling that I know what their team is called," Tempest told Sunset. "I think I might know as well, but I would suggest that we let Ruby tell us," Sunset responded. After she said that, Tempest immediately remembered something and moved slightly away from Sunset. "Did I do something wrong?" Sunset asked curiously. "No, but I need to write a note in private," Tempest said as she got out a piece of paper and a pencil. Sunset just nodded as Tempest wrote down what she needed to. As Tempest was writing, Sunset notice a group of three people walking down the hallway away from them. "Must be more new students," Sunset thought. As they turned the corner, she caught a glimpse of one of their faces and her breath caught in her thought. "What is she doing here?" Sunset thought as the three students disappeared around the corner. "Ok, I'm done writing the note," Tempest said, breaking Sunset out of her trance. Sunset just nodded as the door opened. "So, only one of my teammates is here, but I still want to introduce you," Ruby said in a slightly disappointed tone. Sunset and Tempest then walked to the open door and entered the room. When they entered the room, they saw a teenage girl in a white dress and knee high boots sitting on one of the beds. "Are there the two you wanted to introduce to me?" the girl asked. "Yep, I'm sorry about bothering you, but I only did it because they asked," Ruby said in an apologetic tone. "It's fine, not like I was doing anything anyway," the girl said before getting up off the bed. When Tempest saw the girl's face, she instantly remembered a picture that her father had sent her. "So, this is how she looks like now," Tempest thought to herself. "Well then, my name is Weiss Schnee, a pleasure to meet you both," Weiss said politely, bowing slightly. "A pleasure to meet you Weiss, my name is Sunset Shimmer and my friend here is Tempest," Sunset introduced, noticing that Tempest was a little out of it. "I see your friend is a bit of a thinker," Weiss commented. Sunset just responded by nudging Tempest and that seemed to break her out of her trance "Sorry about that, but I just wanted to ask something. You're the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company right?" Tempest asked curiously. "That is correct, I see that you've heard of me," Weiss said, a small smile forming on her face. As Weiss said that, Sunset simply looked at Ruby and sly motioned towards the door, which Ruby understood. "Of course I have, I honestly like what your company does," Tempest said in a happy tone. "Really? Well do you mind if we talk by ourselves in that case?" Weiss asked Tempest. "I don't mind at all," Tempest said before walking over to Weiss. "Me and Ruby will be outside if you need us," Sunset said, a bit annoyed at Tempest being a very quick talker. "Ok," Tempest simply said. Sunset and Ruby then left the room, leaving Tempest and Weiss alone. After they got outside, Ruby and Sunset just leaned agains a nearby wall. "So, do you want to tell me a little about your team while we wait?" Sunset asked in a slightly awkward tone. "I don't mind, what do you want to hear first?" Ruby responded. Sunset thought about that for a moment and she came up with a good one to talk about first. "Well, why don't you tell me about your other two teammates? Speaking of which, where are they?" Sunset told Ruby. "From what Weiss told me, they are helping Ozpin with showing students around like I did with you two," Ruby explained. "I guess that makes sense, now what did you all do to have Ozpin do that to you?" Sunset asked innocently. Ruby just blushed a little at that comment. "How did you figure it out?" Ruby responded. "While I have a feeling that you would agree to do this, something just tells me that is not the case," Sunset told Ruby. "Well, you guessed correctly. Me and my team kind of had a big food fight this morning and Ozpin had us guiding students around as a punishment," Ruby admitted, a blush of embarrassment on her face. "Wow, I didn't think it would be something like that," Sunset said, a smile on her face as she thought of that scenario. "Tell me about it," Ruby said. "So, what about the names of your other teammates?" Sunset asked. "Right, I guess I should tell you about them. Well, I guess I should start with my older sister, Yang Xiao Long," Ruby said. "Sister?" Sunset said in a skeptic tone. "Well, more accurately half-sisters," Ruby told Sunset. "You know what, I'm just going to leave it there because I don't want to bring up anything family related at the moment," Sunset said. Ruby just smiled and nodded, though Sunset noted that Ruby seemed a little glum at the mention of family. "Better ask Yang about that later," Sunset noted mentally. "Anyway, I shouldn't need to say much about Yang, other than she is kind of a very strong puncher and try not to get her mad," Ruby commented. "Don't piss her off, got it," Sunset said. "Our last member is Blake Belladonna," Ruby said. As soon as Ruby said that name, Sunset's mind couldn't believe what she had just said. "Blake Belladonna, you said?" Sunset asked slowly. "That's tight, why do you ask?" Ruby responded. "Well, does this Blake happen to be a cat Faunus?" Sunset asked "She is, so you two know each other?" Ruby told Sunset. "I guess you could say that," Sunset said, remembering a time when she was on a mission with Blake and Adam. "Hey, I just noticed that you're a Faunus," Ruby said out of surprise. Sunset kind of just looked at Ruby when she said that. "Really? You didn't notice the ears and tail?" Sunset asked out of shock. "I'm going to be honest, until I got a good look at you; I didn't see them at all," Ruby commented. Sunset just sighed at that and just let it slide. "So, I'm going to guess that your team name is RWBY," Sunset commented. "Right on the nose," Ruby said, touching her own nose. Sunset smiled at that little display and thought of something. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know if a person named Mercury is attending Beacon would you?" Sunset asked awkwardly. Ruby thought about that for a moment before responding. "I think I remember a Weiss telling me about her leading a boy named Mercury earlier. Why do you ask?" Ruby responded. "He's a friend of mine and I want to surprise him," Sunset said. "Oh, that's a good thing for you to do," Ruby said as the door to the room opened and Tempest walked out. "You two are finished?" Sunset asked. "Yep, we just finished up," Tempest said as she walked next to Sunset. Sunset looked at Tempest quickly and then back at Ruby and Weiss. "So, I guess we'll see you both later?" Sunset asked awkwardly. "We definitely will, but if you ever want to meet up, let me know," Ruby said. "How would we do that?" Tempest asked. "Well, me or Weiss could give you our Scroll information," Ruby commented, Weiss blushing a little at that comment. "Is something wrong Weiss?" Sunset asked, noticing her blush. Weiss just stayed silent and looked at the ground. "Well, I might have already given Tempest my information," Weiss replied quietly. Tempest was then confused about why Weiss was embarrassed before realizing it herself and blushing a lot. "Oh, so did you talk about interesting stuff?" Ruby asked. "What do you mean by that?!" Tempest and Weiss responded in unison. Sunset just smiled at that while Tempest and Weiss just blush just grew more. "I'm just asking what you talked about," Ruby said innocently. "She is such an innocent mind," Sunset thought, looking at Ruby. "Well, Sunset and I had better get going. We have to find our teams after all," Tempest said quickly, obviously not wanting to make the conversation last longer. "Ok, see you both later," Ruby said in an upbeat tone before she and Weiss headed back into the room. "They seem nice," Sunset commented as she and Tempest walked down the hallway to their rooms. "I can tell," Tempest said quietly. "Just so you know, I won't judge if you tell me you're a lesbian," Sunset whispered. Tempest just blushed at that comment as they walked down the hall in silence. After a while, they saw their teammates in front of a set of two doors. "There you two are, I was wondering if you two were even here," Storm said. "When did you all get here?" Tempest asked happily, the blush on her face a lot less noticeable. "We all actually got to Beacon around the same time and we were given a tour around the school by two girls," Wind began to explain. "They were very nice and happy to lead some new students around," Phaze continued. "Eventually, they showed us to the dorms and even showed us to this door, though I'm not sure why," Nova finished "Well, I guess before we continue on, I should comment that all of us are going to share a room," Sunset told the group. The all just stayed silent as the thought about to respond to that until the click of a lock broke that silence. "The key worked," Tempest said as she opened the double doors. When the doors opened, they revealed a very big room that was the size of about three regular door rooms and had a second floor. On the right wall of the ground floor were four beds with a few storage chests next to each of them. There was also a gaming area in the far right corner, a dining area with kitchen in the left corner, a living area with a TV and a few couches along the left wall, a big window along the back wall, and a spiral staircase in the center of the room. Everyone went into the room and was amazed by the architecture. "Hey Tempest, are you sure this is the right room?" Sunset asked as she looked around the room. "I'm sure it is because I looked at the room name on the door and it's the same one we have on our keys," Tempest told Sunset. Sunset looked at the door and saw that it read 'Special Room 01', which was the same as on her copy of the room key. "Well, I can see that Ozpin has us spoiled," Sunset said. "I noticed. So, what do you think of this place?" Tempest asked. "In all honesty, I think it's perfect for us," Sunset told Tempest, a big smile on her face. Tempest was about to say something else when Shade came up to them. "So, I just checked out the second floor and it has four normal beds along with a futon," Shade told the two. Sunset thought about that and then looked at Tempest. "So, I imagine your team will be upstairs and my team will be downstairs?" Sunset questioned. "For right now, let's not worry about that. I just want to get settled in and rest for right now," Tempest told Sunset. Sunset was about to say something in response, but suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion. "You know what, I think that would be good," Sunset said. Tempest smiled and patted her on the back. "Later on, we talk about that thing we talked about earlier before we got here," Tempest told Sunset. Sunset just looked at Tempest as she realized what she was referring to. "For now, let's got settled in," Tempest told Sunset before walking away with Shade. Sunset just stood there as she went to a bed and sat on it. "Something tells me that this is going to be a very interesting year," Sunset thought as she decided to get settled in.