Crimson I: New Teams

"I can't believe that we actually made it!" Yang Xio Long said with tears in her eyes as she smothered her little sister with a huge hug.

"Sis! Now's not a good time!" Ruby tried to object as she struggled out.

"Really, you couldn't save the hugs and kisses for later?" Weiss asked with a sigh. Blake (of course) seemed impartial to all of this. "We're the on display and everyone has their eyes on us, so at least try to make a proper first impression."

"C'mon, don't be so uptight," Yang told her white-haired teammate. "We've got a lot to be proud of, I mean only three teams made it through the trials this year and ours was probably the most-"

"And it seems that our final teams have also returned successfully from the entrance missions," Ozpin noted as the screen changed showing eight shadowy silhouettes.

"Wait there were two more teams?" Ruby asked as she looked to Weiss and Yang who looked just as confused as did the majority of the attendees at the assembly. "We… we didn't see anyone else out there that made it, did we?"

"These potential students were part of a separate training exam in a separate woodland area," Ozpin addressed to the crowd more than Ruby herself. "As such, their trail would take longer, but two teams were successful, perhaps even a few of you had heard rumors of them from the dropouts." The heavy doors leading into the hall finally opened leaving two additional groups of four headed up onto the stage, both of them appearing a tad rough from combat after having less time to refresh themselves once their conflict had ended.

"Returning back with the platinum playing cards we have Jin Kisaragi, Amane Nishiki, Celica A. Mercury, and Kagura Mutsuki. This group will be led by Jin Kisaragi to form team JACK," Ozpin introduced as the groups made their way onto the stage.

"Looks like we'll be dancing together for some time," a… person with light purple hair wearing a yukata said to a dark-haired man with violet eyes that was trying hard not to cringe. A bubbly red-haired girl merely giggled while a tall blonde was muttering something his breath... Ruby swore she could faintly hear the word brother.

"Team JACK huh?" Yang said, before smirking. "You know that dark haired guy's kind of cute." She then noticed the 'really?' look Ruby was sending her way. "Well he is."

"Kisaragi... I've heard of their family, they happen to have close ties with Atlus," Weiss admitted as her eyes noticed the blonde one. "...Unfortunately, I've never met them in person."

"Moving on…" Ozpin said as he looked over the list. "The last group returned the cobalt tarot cards. Tsubaki 'Izayoi' Yayoi, Noel Vermillion, Azrael, and Ragna will create team RAIN... Which will be led by Ragna the Bloodedge."

"Bloodedge? What kind of name is that?"

"Is that the group that everyone's been talking about?"

"Yeah, I heard that from one guy that Ragna managed to slay twenty Ursa Grimms by himself before finding his partner and then slew another thirty on the way to his objective."

"Then there's Azrael, rumor has it that he fought three different giant beasts at once and took them down with just his bare fists. Then when he and Ragna arrived at the relics, he tried to fight him before Ozpin broke them up."

"That's insane! What about the girls?"

"If half the rumors are true, they're totally NOT dateable."

"Shame too, they look pretty cute."

Curious what all of this supposed was about, Ruby took a quick look at the second group. The first person she laid eyes on was a large tattooed man with long blue hair and a growing goatee. He seemed to be looking over all of the other candidates, searching for potential opponents. His eyes and Ruby's met for a moment before the monster of a man smirked harshly. Ruby could swear she heard a low growl and averted her eyes to one of the girls. This one was a young blonde who was trying to act confident with a straight back, but who was clearly sweating nervously. Ruby felt sorry for her, but moved on to look at the redhead girl in a strange tan uniform who was staring daggers into the back of the fourth member's head like she was trying to decide how she'd assassinate him.

Ruby then got a look of the fourth member and she had to catch her breath. He was a tall man who seemed somewhat thin, but had an overall toned body. His hair was pale and spiky and his eyes were of differing color; a red right one and a green left one. His jacket was crimson red and his clothing beneath was black with thin white outlines. On one of his metal belts was a large sword which seemed to have a gun's revolver on it. He looked like he hadn't slept well and stood at the front in sort of a drowsy slouch. Looking the screen, Ruby saw that this was the leader of RAIN, this was Ragna the Bloodedge.

"Ooo, so does my sweet little sister have her eye on someone after all?" Yang asked with teasing smile. "He's certainly not hard to look at, especially if the two of you are sporting the same colors."

"N-No! Not a chance!" Ruby yelled out catching attention from a few people, yet Ozpin merely continued his speech. "It's just… look at him."

"Yeah, there seem to be some serious similarities goin' on here," the blonde agreed. "You should go talk to him! Introduce yourself! You'll need some new friends, won't you?"

"I...I guess," Ruby admitted as she returned her gaze to look at the mystery man. The figure let out a small yawn before noticing that the young girl was staring at him. Ruby blushed and was at a loss at what to do, so she gave a goofy smile and gave the 'peace' sign with one of her hands. 'What am I doing? That was weak…'

The silver haired man had different thoughts and gave a small chuckle before returning it with his own friendly 'peace' sign. Ruby then considered that her sister might've been right, maybe she could make a friend after all…

Author's Note: Went back and made a few well needed edits. Not much else to say since I'm re-posting the other chapter with this one. Ciao.