Chapter 13: XTRM Dream

The wind was cold and harsh during that night. Deadly to anyone unprepared, though clearly nothing noteworthy to the various Grimm who pondered outside the town's walls. And only a minor inconvenience to the tall, fit teen who lay bundled up on the top floor of the town's watchtower. Although he was only wearing his usual attire; a long sleeved black tee-shirt, a sleeveless gold coat with twin coat-tails that had a navy, jagged pattern running down it, and a pair of faded out jeans, he appeared to be fighting off the cold well, simply sipping from a large flask he held in his hands.

His skin a golden beige, eyes a deep, warm brown, and his black hair just long enough to tie into a small ponytail at the back of his head, with a group of strands on his fringe curving around his face. He rested a soft smile out onto the snowy wilds. From his calm expression alone, you wouldn't expect that he was guarding the town from the hellish beasts of burden down below, cautiously eyeing their every move. There's a lot you wouldn't expect from him. You wouldn't expect that the supposedly relaxed man is ready to pounce and sound an alarm in a flash. You wouldn't expect him to be able to fry the dozen Beowolves he spotted from 100 meters away. Tundra Watch is a town for in the north. Difficult to transport supplies to, and even harder to defend against from Grimm. You wouldn't expect the teen, a mere first year in Beacon, to be on a mission out in this desolate area.

But Akashi Xavier was no ordinary first year.

His calm watch was interrupted as a trap door swung open, letting an orange light seep into the otherwise moon-lit room. Akashi turned his head as the head of another boy popped through, much frailer in stature, but having an aggressive expression, with a pointed and small nose and eyes, and a single green streak through his punk-styled hair.

Akashi gave a warm smile to his teammate as he stood up to greet him. "Aww, my shift over already?"

The punk boy frowned in response. "Don't pretend like this is fun for you." He grunted as he heaved himself up the ladder into the room, apparently pulling a large crate along with him. And instead of his own usual clothes, he was wrapped in a thick blanket-like robe, which was covering up hoodie after hoodie after hoodie. "How can you even stand this cold?" he mumbled.

In response, Akashi held up his flask, gave a bright, toothy smile, and said "Tea! Earl grey! I can make some for you, it's rather-"

"Oh god, shut up! It's not like I asked you!" he snarled back as he finally lifted himself and his luggage into the room, now showing that he was almost a foot shorter than his leader.

"Now now Mello, no need to be so rude." Akashi said sternly. "This is exactly your partner doesn't talk to you."

In a sarcastic tone, Mello replied "Oh! Of course! That's why he never speaks! And not because he's a god damn mute."

"You don't know that! What if he just never speaks when you're around?"

"I wouldn't be so... He wouldn't... Damn it, stop trying to confuse me!" Mello spat.

Akashi gave a jolly chuckle. "Relax, relax. I'm only joking. Though you really should work on that personality of yours." Akashi approached his friend, placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and smiled comfortably at him. "Remember that you're on a team. We'll have to trust you with our lives some day, and vice versa. You'd do well to form a bond with the others."

Instead of arguing back, Mello gazed at the ground in thought before casually pulling Akashi's hand down. "Alright alright, I got ya." he groaned. He hulked himself and the crate he was carrying over to the window. He dropped it beside the glass-less window and gave it a light kick, resulting in a series of mechanical whirs and clicks to emanate from it.

Akashi stepped to the corner he had perched himself in, knelt down and picked up his still sheathed weapon, sliding it over his shoulder where it clicked into place. "Good night. And be careful up here. You're positive you don't want any tea or coffee?"

"God, shut up! What are you, my mom?" Mello grunted as the crate completed it's transformation into his weapon. Akashi simply descended down the ladder smiling to himself, and pulled the trap door behind him. "Now then." Mello sat down in a comfortable position behind his weapon, carefully aiming at the Grimm roaming bellow, prepared to kill them with swiftness and accuracy.

Well, as accurate as a minigun-cross bow hybrid can be.

"Alright. This is my final offer." Drew sat across from Arin, sliding the piece of paper on the table to him. "Your feedback would be appreciated." Arin slid the paper closer, and reached inside his coat and pulled out his rarely used glasses, sliding them on to examine the diagram. He examined every detail, studied every small design choice, until he placed the sheet back down and slowly removed his glasses, looking at Drew.

"A glove? A fucking glove? Really?" he asked in a dry, humorless voice.

"Not just any glove! A robot glove, with magnets and a bouncy ball." Drew replied, arms folded defiantly. "Also, when did you get glasses?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I should've realised your great design choice sooner," he said, face lacking any surprise. "Here, let me make an improved one." Arin retrieved a pen out of his pocket, flipped the paper upside down and began scribbling on it before sliding it back to Drew. Curious to what he wrote on it, Drew pulled it closer to him in order to examine it.

It was a penis. "This is a penis." said Drew.

"Correction." Arin wagged a finger at Drew, knowingly. "It's a dildo. And you use it to go fuck yourself."

"You..." Drew began to retort back before falling silent. "... That was actually kind of funny."

Arin shivered ever so slightly. "Getting complimented by you doesn't feel good... Feels like I did something wrong."

Across the training court that Arin and Drew were in, Richard gazed at them in malcontent. "Hey, are... Are you two actually going to help?" he called. "You did promise me you would!"

"You didn't answer me though. When did you get glasses?" Drew pouted at Arin, ignoring Richard's pleas.

"I don't have to tell you everything I do. What are you, my mom?"

"Well, when did you get them?"

"Uhhh... Like, about 3 months ago I think."

"Wasn't that right after we had the fight with... "Lefty" I think his name was?"

"... It's Raito."

"Oh, I was right? Haha! Lucky guess!"

"Shut up..." Arin facepalmed at his partner's comment, as he remembered his ex-best friend, now-convict.

"What else have you been hiding from us, anyway?"

"Uhhh, I've been doing rehabilitation for my shoulder."

"Oh... wow, really?" Drew gulped at the serious topic.

"Oh yeah. Also, my parents called recently. I'm apparently adopted, and half-Faunus."

"Wait..."

"And by the way, I've decided to leave Beacon to pursue a career as a pop idol. Good luck defending the world without me."

Drew pouted back, annoyed he'd been tricked for a second. "You could hardly do much defending anyway."

Arin promptly gave Drew a swift sucker punch to the gut. "Could that do much? Huh?! Could you do that much?!"

As Arin and Drew quarreled, they noticed Richard now standing beside them. "Seriously! If you aren't going to help, you should leave!"

"We are helping." Drew shrugged off the pain. "You getting angry makes you more motivated, right?"

"Oh, ha ha." Richard said sarcastically. Ever since the team competed in the Vytal festival's amateur basketball tournament, Richard had been making some changes to himself. Some were in his school life for instance, he no longer harassed other students over trivial issues (an improvement which was long overdue, his classmates would say). Others were more subtle, like buying the team's groceries a bit more often, yelling at friends and students more out of concern for them than the rules, and well... sarcasm. Sarcasm was new.

But there was one change that brought them all to the empty practice court today: Richard wanted to train. He was the first to admit he was an arrogant person, and before he would say that he's the strongest person on his team. But now he was just a little bit more realistic with that viewpoint. He wasn't as fast as he wanted, not as strong as he wanted, and didn't have the endurance he wanted, and, quite frankly, there was little that the gimmick of ricocheting a basketball around could do. Thus, he began to train, and often asked his friends for help.

"Yeah, well look at this!" Drew held up the piece of paper he had been working his art on. "I was designing a new weapon for you! It's cool, isn't it?!"

Richard gave a reserved stare at the paper. "... That's a penis."

Drew quickly twisted the paper around. "Wrong side. Sorry."

Ignoring Drew's suggestion, Richard turned to Arin. "Do you mind practicing with me?"

Arin grunted. "Isn't Nina good enough to train with?"

The two glanced over to Nina from across the arena. She was pointing her metal bat diagonally upward and smiling widely, yelling "Don't worry coach! I'll homerun all the sportsballs!"

"She, umm... helps me test my strength and endurance. The harder I throw, the further she swings it back." said Richard. "But I want to spar against you to test my speed, since your Semblance would make you difficult to hit!"

"Nah." Arin grunted in defiance.

"... Well then." Richard took a deep breath, trying to remain calm, despite a small vein bulging in his temple. "Would you care to tell me why?"

"He's sober right now!" Drew chirped in without permission. "He needs to be drunk in order to do it! It's 'cause he does the whole "drunken kung-fu master" thing!"

Arin shrugged. "No, I don't really need it."

Drew and Richard now gave Arin a similar confused look. "R... really?"

"Yeah."

"Then... why do you drink so much when you fight?"

Richard scratched his chin curiously. "And... how does your Semblance work anyway?"

"I 'unno. Not really sure how the whole "Semblance" thing happens. I'm not even sure what it is. It's kind of like... my body knows when it's gonna get hit. When it's gonna hurt. But like, only a second in advance- half a second even. So I have to get out the way myself before whatever happens happens. The whole being drunk thing was to make the it easier to dodge, I guess. Or a placebo thing, I dunno."

"... Or because you're an alcoholic." Drew commented condescendingly.

Arin gave Drew a blank stare before looking over his shoulder. Then his other. He frantically started looking around the immediate area. "It... It's gone! Where is it?! I can't find it!"

Drew was taken aback slightly by the sudden outburst. "W-what's wrong? What are you looking for?!"

Arin went from a panicked face back to his glaring one. "Where I asked for your opinion."

Drew did not respond.

Nina walked ahead of the group as they made their way back to their dorm room, stretching her arms and shoulders over her head. "Aaaah~! That was super fun Richy, can we do it again some time?"

"Of course we will! I have much much more I need to improve on!" Richard clenched his fist, visibly shaking in frustration.

"Yeah, sure you do." Arin said, voice void of any encouragement. "Keep on trying your best 'til you can beat an angry Nina."

Drew placed finger to his chin as he thought deeply. "I wonder if it's possible to beat an angry Nina..."

Nina placed her hands on her hips at let out a jolly, loud laugh. "Bwahaha! Don't be stupid! I am invincible!"

"No, no, no~" Arin grinned mischievously, placing a hand on Drew's shoulder, causing him to tense up in fear. "Our fearless leader would obviously be able to take her on! He's so strong after all!~"

Drew blushed in embarrassment, averting his gazed to the side. "Yeah, well maybe I could..." he muttered.

"Blasphemy..." Nina mumbled as she glared at Drew with hate. Drew shivered in response, but tried his best to ignore the supposedly unkillable monster he's a leader of.

"Just you all wait! My Semblance will be super strong, and unbeatable, and o.p. as shit, you'll see..." Drew pouted. He raised his finger to the sky. "One day I'll be known across the entire world! Men, women, and children will be squealing "Kyaa~ It's Drew Naywing! Hurry up, so we can get his autograph~!" and shit." he mumbled menacingly.

And then, as if on queue, the team suddenly heard a voice squealing "Kyaa~ It's Akashi Xavier! Hurry up, so we can get his autograph~!" Two young huntresses zoomed past the team.

"Huh." Arin restrained a chuckle. "Looks like that guy already beat you to it."

Drew's face slowly contorted into a frown. "..."

"Naywing, are you okay?" Richard asked.

"I wanna fight him."

"Yeah, he's alright." Arin answered.

"No, seriously. Where is he? He's called Ash something? Akashi? That's a stupid name. I'm gonna fight him." Drew grumbled as he stomped in the direction of the two girls.

Starting to pace behind him, Richard commented "I think we should follow him."

"I mean, yeah we probably should."

"I wonder if this Akashi guy will give me an autograph. He sounds pretty important!" said Nina.

"Don't say that in front of Drew please..." Arin groaned.

After marching angrilly after the two girls, Drew managed to navigate his way to the sound of a reasonably sized crowd gathered on the landing platform for the helipads. They were all chatting excitedly with each other, while keeping their eyes peeled on the sky, expecting a certain Bullhead's arrival.

Drew however, was not as eager as the crowd was. "Alright, where is that Ak-ass prick?" he grumbled, looking across the gathering.

He would've kept glaring upon the crowd, if it weren't for the sudden arrival of Ruby and Yang. "Oh hey, it's Drew! What're you doing here?" Ruby greeted.

Drew immediately went from angry to jitterish. "Ahh! R-Ruby! Yang! What're you doing here?!"

"We were just heading to train a bit. But uh, what's going on here? Some boy band arriving?" Yang joked.

Like a swaying pendulum, Drew once again switched from childish embarrassment to childish rage. "Oh! That's right! Guys, tell me EVERYTHING you know about this guy named Akashi, or whatever his stupid name-."

"You mean Akashi Xavier?!" Ruby yelped, jumping up and down, stars shining in her eyes. "Aaaaahh! Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh I love him!"

The pendulum stopped moving. Drew's face went dead. "... huh?"

"Oh...? Ohohoho?" Arin, who had just arrived behind Drew had just heard the last exchange given, and was beaming with the widest open smile he had ever had in his life. "Ohoho hohoho? Ruby, are you, per chance, a fan of this Akashi person?" Arin said, not even bothering to hide his glee.

Yang rolled her eyes at the prospect of listening to her little sister rambling on about her new crush, but Ruby became flustered and blushed a hint of pink. "Well, not really a fan! J-just sorta interested in him, y'know? I mean, he's a super cool Huntsmen, and really strong. Aaaah, and his weapon too! His weapon is amazingly cool! A high-power rifle-katana hybrid! With a blade that can conduct the dust, but the bullets are so strong he practically doesn't need it! I heard he can fire that thing with one hand! That's amazing! He's amazing! He's soooooo cool!"

Arin was utterly beaming. "Oh, is that so?" He walked up beside Drew and lightly poked his cheek. "You hear that buddy? He's amazing! And Ruby thinks he's amazing!"

Drew gave no response, his drooping emotionless face just stared into nothing. He grabbed the hilt of his sword. "He's dead. His whole family's dead." he muttered.

Arin wheezed so hard it could only be audible to a Faunus with sensitive hearing. Between his laughing fit he rested his hand on Drew's, preventing him from pulling his sword out any further.

Just then, the loud humming of a Bullhead sounded, quickly followed by the screams of the crowd. The vehicle rose above all, carefully positioning itself to land on the platform. Richard approached Yang and Ruby to continue the conversation. "Miss Xiao Long, miss Rose, please who exactly is Akashi Xavier, and who are his team?"

Yang was momentarily confused about Richard's new manner of speaking, but didn't pursue the subject. "Well I'm not as big a fan of them as Rubes here, but even I know about Akashi-" The Bullhead landed, and the door slowly fell down, showing the four figures standing at the top of the walkway down. "-and I definitely know about team XTRM."

"Extreeeeeme!" Ruby cheered, crossing her arms in front of her and reciting the team's fan-made chant. At this point, Drew's soul has completely left his body, and moved onto the next life.

Ignoring Ruby's eccentricity, having plenty of experience dealing with Drew's, Richard focused on talking to Yang. "Well, we don't. Could you explain?"

"Of course, buddy!" Yang punched Richard's shoulder. He had to catch himself from yelling at her. "They're only first year students, but they're already incredibly strong! They're allowed to go off on high-level missions, and sometimes don't even need a teacher to accompany them! I think they were away on a two week long mission, and are only coming back just now. No wonder we don't see them in class!"

"Wait." Richard's eyes widened with anger. "They haven't been in class. And I haven't seen them in class at all. They... haven't been in... class." The law-abiding citizen in Richard was flaring inside of him, like volcano ready to erupt. It took all of Richard's will power to keep that volcano plugged up.

"Uhh... You okay there Richy?" said Yang. Richard was indeed trembling.

"I'll... be fine. Just continue..."

"So, umm... their leader is Akashi Xavier. He's from some rich family or something I think." As she remarked, Akashi walked down the ramp, waving and smiling joyfully at the crowd.

"How original." Arin snarked.

"A rich dead family." Drew mumbled, only within earshot of Arin. Arin forcibly re-sheathed Drew's half-drawn sword.

Ruby had puffed her cheeks out and glared at Arin. "Hey! Not just any family! The Xaviers have a long history of defending Vale! They're a family of proud knights!"

"Isn't your friend Jaune the same though?" said Arin.

"He! ... He is... umm..." Ruby struggled to find an answer that wouldn't offend her fellow leader.

"There are still other guys y'know?" Yang shrugged a finger over at the next boy strutting after Akashi. The confidence that was evident in his stride was all the more emphasized by his apparel: a pair of stylishly ripped jeans and leather jacket, decorated with various studs, which covered a plain white tee, and his hair fluffed out into an afro. Aaand a large curved case that was hoisted behind him by a strap. A cheeky smile graced his dark skinned face, and he lowered a pair sunglasses to sneak a wink to the crowd, resulting in a few squeals. "So that guy's Danny. Danny Trigger."

Drew exited his despair-trance, and reluctantly mumbled "... that's kind of a cool name."

"He sounds familiar." Arin scratched the side of his head.

Yang gave a small sigh. "He should. He's known to be a bit of a playboy. I have a friend from my old school who messed around with him once. Didn't end so well."

"No, no, it's something else... God, I can't put my finger on it!"

"Have you two met before?" Ruby suggested. "Maybe he remembers you?"

"Nah... Even if we did meet one time, I doubt he'd remember me."

"Unless you make a typical first impression."

Arin grunted. "What does that mean?"

Yang shrugged, cocking a smile. "Arin, I wouldn't be surprised if you introduced yourself by going "Hey! I'm a grump! Are you a grump? Let's be grumpy together!" "

Despite Yang's joking tone, those words resonated with Arin. "Hey, I'm grump..." his mutterings echoed.

As Arin was the subject of a very very bad meta joke, Nina, who had been ignoring the conversation in favour of petting Moonmoon, noticed a change in her pet's behaviour. As the third member of team XTRM walked down the ramp, Moonmoon arched his back and growled slightly at them. Nina snapped her head over to a rather tall figure in a long black coat. The coat reached just above their black shoes, and the hood was up, and tightened around their head, showing no sign of their face.

Nina broke Arin's conversation, wedging herself between the four and pointing to the cloaked figure. "They! Who is they?! Them, who!"

Yang backed up, cautious of the energetic girl. "Uhh... That's Ray."

"Moonmoon doesn't like him!" Nina, echoing her pet's growls. The tall Ray twitched his head slightly towards her as she did.

Yang instinctively raised her hand slightly between Nina and Ruby. Fortunately, Ruby was quicker to talk about Ray. "Y-You don't need to worry about him! He wouldn't hurt a fly! He just... uh..." Ruby pondered for a moment. "He doesn't really do... anything."

Richard raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

"Well, he doesn't talk to anyone I think. He usually just stands in the back while the rest of the team talks to people. But that just makes him more mysterious! Sometimes he refuses to co-operate with his team mates, and walks off and does his own thing. Like a badass!"

Yang gave a light smack on the back of Ruby's head. "Language."

"Sorry..."

"So he simply walks away from his team? In the middle of battle too?! Does he have any idea how dangerous that is?!" Richard yelled.

"No no, that's the thing!" Ruby puffed excitedly. "He's meant to be strong! Like, really strong! It's just a rumour, since no body has seen him fight, but he can apparently take on a whole hoard of Grimm by himself! He might even be stronger than Akashi!"

As Richard was about to rant about how irresponsible that was, a voice cried out from the helipad. "Bwahaha! Don't worry ladies! Your idol is finally here!" The once jittery and excited crowd silenced and turned into only a few saddened sighs and regretful groans. Even Ray, upon hearing the all too familiar voice of their partner, quickened their pace. DARN & co. directed their gaze to the helipad to see a much smaller statued boy, sporting a green jacket, emblazoned with a light blue symbol on the right breast, along with a simple brown tee, dirt green cargo pants, a large duffel bag on his shoulder, and also having a green streak in his hair. "I know, I know. It's amazing to meet me."

Arin asked the question they were all regretting to ask. "... who is that... sassy lost child?"

Ruby and Yang sighed in unison. "That... is Mello."

"More specifically, Mellodious Nevermind."

Nina tilted her head. "Mellodit- mell- mello dice- blah!"

"Does he have enough syllables in his name?" Richard snarked.

Yang elbowed Richard's arm playfully. "Look at you, being sarcastic! Well done!"

"So I take it yous don't particularly like this guy?" Arin grumbled.

Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "Well, it's just that he's sorta..."

"Overconfident?" Yang suggested.

"Yeah, and a bit... loud."

"And annoying!"

"And he's kind of the weakest in team XTRM..."

Arin's eyes widened slightly in realisation. "Oh, so he's just like Drew."

"... Yeah, I guess." Ruby and Yang shrugged.

And another metaphorical arrow pierced Drew's heart.

Among the crowd, Mello was soaking in all the attention and praise he wasn't getting. Unfortunately for him, it was cut short when Akashi called out to him. "Mello! Hurry up please!"

He rolled his eyes with an exaggerated sigh. "I'm sorry ladies, but duty calls." No one responded.

Akashi started walking along the pavement, followed by his team. "Now then, did we all write out our report for Ozpin?"

"Relax, man! I wrote it on the way back." Danny cackled wholeheartedly.

Mello, now caught up with the group, made a complete 180 in his mood. "Oh, what did yours say? "I slept the whole day, and flirted with the waitress"?"

Danny glared at Mello, then jabbed him with his elbow. "Oh, like you did so much, you short little prick."

Mello returned an animus glare, reaching his hand slightly to his duffel bad. "You got a problem?"

The silent tension the two shared could be cut with a knife. But instead, it was slapped away, as Akashi clapped his hands together, gaining his teammate's attention. "No fighting. Either of you." Mello and Danny averted their gaze to the ground. "Apologise."

Danny sighed deeply. "Sorry, Mello."

Mello grumbled in frustration. "Sorry, Dan. You big-haired prick."

"Mellodious!" Akashi scowled.

"Y'know what? I ain't even mad. I love my hair." Danny floofed his afro with childlike joy.

"Oh my god, you're such a loser..." Mello mumbled.

Akashi was dissatisfied, but decided to drop the argument. The one he wasn't in. Instead, he turned his attention to Ray. "Ray, do you have your report done?" he asked in a supportive tone. Silently, Ray reached into his pocket with his gloved hand, and pulled out his scroll. "... Is that a yes?" Silence again. And then Ray placed his scroll back in his pocket. "... I'll take that as a yes."

Despite being emotionally wrecked, Drew kept an eye on Akashi and his friends as they walked on. He yanked on Arin's shirt, who was still in a conversation with Richard, Yang, and Ruby. "We're going after them." he muttered.

"What? Oh, yeah, them. Sorry you two, gotta babysit." he farewelled to the sisters.

"Thank you for being patient with us." said Richard.

"No problem! Don't get yourselves killed!"

"Good luck!"

"So all I'm saying is, with the weather changing, cargo pants are definitely in this season, right?" said Mello, finishing his rant.

"Absolutely! And I'm sure you'll pull them off this year better then ever!" Akashi clapped enthusiastically. His team was walking along a wide, but secluded path along the castle, making their way to Ozpin's office.

"Exactly! I'll be a fashion ico-"

"OI!" A loud voice echoed, stopping them all. Akashi turned around to to see a boy, with a similar height to Mello, storming towards them, a look of pure anger on his face. He marched closer, stepping closer and closer, squaring his face up Akashi's. "You wanna fuckin' go?!" he grunted.

Akashi blinked a few times. A slight blush creeped across his cheek at the implication. "I-I'm sorry... Could you, umm..."

Before Akashi could give a proper response to Drew's proposal, Drew was hoisted up by the neck of his hoodie by Arin. "I apologise for Drew. We normally don't let him interact with the outside world."

Drew struggled against his partner. "Ugghh, shut up!"

"Can we... help you?" Akashi asked nervously.

"Yeah, in all seriousness, he does wanna fight you."

"Oh! Haha, of course. A fight. Where are my manners!" Akashi laughed, letting out the breathe he didn't realise he was holding.

Danny's brow furrowed in confusion. "Nope, that's still a bit... not normal, don'tcha think?"

Drew released himself from Arin's grasp, landing on the ground as Richard and Nina caught up with them. "Yeah! I got beef with you! And those other three, I guess."

Mello answered on Akashi's behalf, scoffing in Drew's face. "Ha! Who exactly are you? I doubt some no-named runt like yourself could even put a scratch on the likes of-"

"Shut up, Mello!" said Drew.

"Haha! Yeah, shut up!" Danny hollered, echoing Drew.

Mello was about to yell back in retaliation, until Akashi lifted his arm in front of him. "I'm sorry but, who are you, and why do you want to fight us?" Akashi asked politely.

"Oh, me?" Drew smirked before straightening up his posture. Then he proceeded to make several poses with his arms. "I'm the Fiery Hero: Team DARN's D!"

Arin raised a hand to his temple. "Oh god, I forgot he did that..."

Mello folded his arms and mumbled "Are you... serious? Are you being serious right now."

"A... A hero you say. Very well met!" Akashi smiled brightly at Drew. He extended an arm for him to shake. "I suppose that makes me.. the Thundering He-"

"No!" Drew yelled, surprising and slightly hurting Akashi. "Stop that! Besides, it's Arin's turn to roll call now!"

"No it's not." said Arin plainly.

Richard approached Akashi and shook his still extended arm. "I however, would love to introduce myself. My name is Richard Rolland."

"Oh, hello there Richard!" Akashi smiled back, shaking his hand.

"... however." Richard tightened his grip on Akashi's hand. His eyes glared daggers at him. "I, as Drew did indeed say, "have beef" with you."

Akashi retracted his hand nervously. Danny walked up, placing an arm over Akashi's shoulder. "Hey. You got a problem with my boy?"

"With all of you actually. Not attending class, going on dangerous high-ranked missions, going on dangerous high-ranked mission WITHOUT a teacher! An evident lack of safety on your weapons! Causing a pUBLIC SCENE AT THE HELI-"

Arin stepped in, placing his hands on Richard's shoulders. "It's okay Richy! It's okay. Just breath." Richard started breathing heavily, before slowing down to deep breathes.

"And you!" Nina stepped forward this time, pointing to the mysterious Ray. "My Moonmoon doesn't like you! Something's wrong with you!"

Ray stood in silence for a moment, staring at Nina (she assumed). They quietly stepped to the side, bringing Akashi and Dan to divide between the two of them.

Akashi held up his hands, trying to calm the eccentric team down. "Everyone, please calm down! There's no need to-"

"Oh, shut your yap!" Drew snapped. "Drop the whole goody-two shoes, gentleman samurai act!"

Akashi tapped the hilt of his sword, which was hoisted over his shoulder, and smiled proudly. "Well, I am a samurai after all-"

"No. No no no. Don't even try to fool me."

Akashi tensed up ever so slightly slightly. "... what do you mean?" he asked calmly.

Drew grinned mischievously. "The gold and blue colour scheme. The neo-samurai get up. That super-polite and proper mannerism. Hell, I bet that that katana of yours shoots out lightening!" Drew leaned in closer to Akashi's face, with the smuggest of smug grins. "I know who you are~"

Akashi remained initially calm. Then, his hand which had only tapped his weapon, proceeded to grasp it firmly by the handle. "You know what? Perhaps a friendly bit of... sparring between us would be good."

"Don't be ridiculous, Akashi!" Mello scoffed, stepping forward and lightly shoving both Drew and Arin. "These idiots are below us. Hell, I bet I could take on all of them!"

Drew's grin contorted into a frown. "What did you s-"

"What was that, you little shit?!" said Arin, evidently more angry than Drew.

Mello smugly smiled. "Oh? I'm sorry, do you actually think you can go even a second with me?" Mello's hand edged closer to his duffel bag, hanging from his shoulder.

"Bitch, you won't even be able to hit me." Arin pulled his coat off, letting it fall to the ground. And then he similarly reached his hand around his back to his hoisted gun-knife.

But in a single, swift move Mello snapped his hand into the bag, and pulled the trigger on his weapon.

And it didn't even hit Arin.

The projectile launched from Mello's unseen weapon, and tore through his bag, leaving the front side in scraps. At the short range between the two boys, Arin surely wouldn't have been able to dodge that, even if he was fast. Fortunately in Arin, he had his Semblance. He felt pain. Or rather, that he would feel pain, specifically in his lower torso. He put two and two together, and realised that Mello would fire his weapon. Almost before Mello pulled the trigger, Arin rotated back, pivoting on one foot, letting the projectile fly past him at tremendous speed. Drew also luckily escaped the line of fire, jumping out of his skin and yelping loudly as he did.

Arin saw this as an opening, and took it. In a single motion, he stepped back forward towards Mello, pulling his gun-knife out as he did so, with the intention of hitting Mello with a swift strike. Or at least, he intended to until his Semblance activated again. He tried his best to stop his forward momentum, gritting his teeth in the short moment he had before he crashed into Mello's weapon. He managed to stop, the skin on his neck just centimeters away from the small sword in Mello's hand.

As Mello chuckled to himself, Arin was confused and worried. His Semblance told him he would feel a sharp pain in his throat, but he didn't know why. Why did Mello have a sword? Didn't he have a gun? With careful movement of his head, Arin glanced down to Mello's other hand, which did indeed hold a large gun of sorts. The bag which contained it was now ripped up on the ground, allowing the weapon to fold out. The gun barrel was thick and long, and the end of it had a bow-like design to it, making the gun look like a crossbow (even though there was no evident mechanisms or string for it to work as such). But back towards the hand and trigger, there was a large, barrel-like ammunition container, and two separate handles for better grip, showing that the gun was in fact a minigun.

But there was one more detail that answered Arin and his team's confusion. The side of the ammo barrel had a large handle, that opened up the barrel for Mello. Inside must have been where he retrieved that sword, because inside was dozens and dozens of similar blades.

And now, Arin stood with a blade close too his neck than he would like, facing off against Mellodious, and presumably the rest of his team. And yet, only a single thought was going through his head. "A gun that shoots out swords... son of a bitch stole my idea."

AN: So fun fact number 1 about team XTRM: Team XTRM is pronounced "Team extreme". I felt like I didn't emphasise that enough, and that half of you just read it as a jumble of letters. I didn't plan that shit.

Fun fact number 2 about team XTRM: If you use the other initials of every team member in the team name, except for Ray, then their team would spell out team DARN. Yeah. I planned that shit.

Fun fact number 3 about team XTRM: They were almost made at the same time as team DARN. Since team DARN was envisioned as a semi-satire of your generic RWBY oc team, an earlier draft of them were as these cookie-cutter tall, buff, confident white dudes who just go around assuming that their helping people out, but didn't realise they accidentally cause more carnage and mayhem. But that idea was then pushed back in exchange for a more relatable set of characters: losers.

But at some point I figured: y'know, beyond the four of them, Drew Arin Richy and Nina don't really interact with anyone else besides team RWBY, and as an oc writer it's a general rule of thumb to keep interaction with the main cast to a minimum if at all possible (hence the lack of Weiss and Blake this chapter). So my all-genius brain figured that if I give them more people to interact with, it shouldn't be friends, it should be rivals who are objectively better than them, just to drive home the "Team DARN sucks" message, so I used my idea the generic main character archetype from before (minus the whiteness). So, from like chapter 2 or 3 I've been waiting to anxiously to bring in team XTRM to this mess of mine. Yeah. I planned that shit.

But now I have to wait for forever to introduce team PLAY after this fic ends, because I think I like the characters in there more. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: this fic is still indeed ending, wrapping up with this arc. I know that a couple of yous said that you would still like to see me continue this after this arc, so I'll make a compromise: After the Team XTRM arc ends, I'll do a chapter or two pretty much in this AN style of writing now, where I describe all the stuff I planned for the future of team DARN. Full disclosure. You'll figure out who manages to warm Arin's cold, traumatised heart, find out if Nina will ultimately choose between her human friends or Moonmoon, you'll see Richard fucking die (not really), and see Drew literally become the most traumatised person in the series. And then become Space Jesus. Sort of.

Yeah, I planned a lot of shit.