So.

Sorry to anyone who expected me to update Date a Fate. You see, I was on youtube the other day when I saw this ad...

And before I knew it, I was sucked into Terra, the world of Arknights. It's a great game, and I'm absolutely loving it. If I had to complain about something... it would be that I don't get to play it enough. Seriously. The game has an energy system (except AP is called sanity instead), so I literally cannot play it enough. I created a second account just to play Arknights more.

Needless to say, Arknights has taken over my free time.

That said, while I was playing, I couldn't help but notice a ton of interesting parallels between Arknights and RWBY. For instance, Originium is a wonder material, just as Dust is. Both worlds have their technology powered by said wonder material. And both worlds have humans and half-humans.

I just really want to explore what it would be like for those worlds to meet. As for why Rhodes Island is on Remnant... I'll reveal that eventually.

Not all operators introduced here will get focus. It's more to let you guys know who may potentially show up, and who's stationed where. This fic will probably only focus on the Vale teams.

For those who don't play arknights, I recommend searching up the names of the operators just to get an idea of their appearance. You might want to wait until you have an idea of who'll be the main characters, though, since a lot of operators got mentioned in this chapter.

Atlas. Vacuo. Mistral. Vale.

The names of the four kingdoms were well known throughout the land of Remnant. Bastions against the forces of evil, they had stood strong and united against the threat that loomed over humanity and faunus alike.

They stood against the creatures of Grimm. Dark, corrupted mockeries of regular animals, the Grimm sought only destruction, killing and destroying village after village. In a world where humans and faunus were surviving by a thread, it was difficult to find someplace truly safe.

The four kingdoms had provided that safety for centuries. Each kingdom trained experienced huntsmen and huntress, elite fighters that could match Grimm with the use of Aura - the power of the soul - and Dust, nature's wrath in crystalline form.

Yet despite the patrols of the huntsmen and huntresses, the land outside the kingdoms remained a dangerous and hostile place. Grimm existed on land, in the sky, and at sea. Attacks could come from anywhere. Even a single Grimm, if strong enough, could wipe out an entire village. Towns and villages vanished off the face of the map all the time.

There had only been four kingdoms for as long as anyone remembered. No one believed any town could last long enough and grow large enough to become a fifth kingdom. If anywhere was to become a fifth kingdom, it should have been Menagerie, an island of faunus that had survived for 80 years.

It wasn't.

The fifth and newest kingdom was the moving city of Rhodes Island.

Placed upon massive shifting platforms, the entire city was mobile. One could never know the exact location of Rhodes Island, as it constantly moved across the map to avoid large packs of Grimm. Perhaps that was why it had survived.

"Yet, that too is puzzling."

Ozpin was the headmaster of Beacon Academy, the huntsman academy of Vale. Appearing to be a middle-aged man with grey hair and spectacles, he was respected by even the other headmasters. Leaning on his desk was a cane - his weapon, the Long Memory.

Sitting before him was the source of his current deliberations. A letter.

It was from Rhodes Island.

Much of it was pleasantries, clearly an attempt to establish a positive relationship. He could not fault the letter writer, who only referred to herself as Amiya, for that. Rhodes Island was a new kingdom, and it needed all the allies it could get.

No, it was an offer located towards the end of the letter. An offer to open an exchange program for huntsmen- and huntresses-in-training to visit Rhodes Island, and for the 'operators' - for Rhodes Island called their huntsmen and huntresses 'operators' - of Rhodes Island to visit Vale, at least until the Vytal Festival began in a few months. From his contacts in the other kingdoms, they had all received similar offers.

Ozpin would have liked to accept the offer, but there were many things about Rhodes Island that didn't match up. So he had called two of his closest advisors to discuss the issue.

"Of course," Qrow grumbled. Qrow was one of Ozpin's most trusted friends, and the headmaster often relied on Qrow to perform various jobs. It was only natural that the scraggly huntsman was one of the people Ozpin turned to. "Atlas has always had the best technology, and even they can't just up and put their kingdom on wheels. How'd some random village manage it?"

"To be fair," Glynda spoke up from her position to Ozpin's right, "Mobile platforms do form naturally when gravity dust forms under the ground."

Glynda was another member of his trusted circle and the headmistress of Beacon Academy. She was honestly the more active of the two of them in maintaining order in the school.

Only Glynda and Qrow were in the room by Ozpin. He would have like to contact James, but that man was another headmaster, and had his own issues to attend to. That, and Ozpin didn't want to risk their communications being tapped into.

"But those things float," Qrow argued back, "Rhodes' stuff is literally on wheels!"

"Gravity dust would still make the task of placing buildings onto platforms much easier than it would initially seem, however," Glynda responded, "Though I agree it is strange that the entire city is mobile. Still, it is far from impossible."

"And where would they get that dust?" Qrow shot back.

"Perhaps they stumbled across a vein of it?" Glynda shrugged. "I am merely playing devil's advocate."

"Qrow, Ozpin interjected, gaining the attention of both of the two, "I sent you on a mission to investigate Rhodes Island. Before we start arguing, would you mind telling both Glynda and I what you found?"

Qrow backed away from Glynda. "Sure thing, Oz." He rummaged around in his pockets before pulling out a small device - a Scroll. He dropped it onto Ozpin's desk, and suddenly holographic images appeared before them - pictures of a kingdom the other two had yet to see for themselves. "The citizens," he started, "What do you notice?"

"Most of them are faunus." Glynda muttered. Indeed, for in every picture, nearly all of the people possessed animal traits of some kind.

"Got it right in one," Qrow confirmed, "I had to hunt for any humans, and whatever humans were there were all recent immigrants. Most of them refugees that Rhodes Island took in after the destruction of their villages."

"While strange that they would be nearly entirely faunus, there are a couple possible explanations for that," Ozpin mused, "Perhaps they started a village together due to discrimination, and only began to accept humans once they grew in size and status."

Qrow shrugged. "Sure, let's go with that. Anyways, Rhodes is taking in refugees wherever it goes. That's nice of them and all, but something else crops up then. I was listening around, and there don't seem to be any signs of the problems that always follow rapid growth. No housing issues, no sudden food shortage, nothing. It's as if-"

"It's as if the city was built to house more people than it actually has," Glynda finished, "Though that's not strange either. For a city on platforms, it must be difficult to expand its size once built. And as for the food, the entire city must be designed to be self-sustained. I can't imagine that they would rely on foraging food off of the land wherever they go, especially with how much people they must have to feed."

"Thanks, Glynda, for stealing what I was 'bout to say." Qrow reached behind him and pulled out a flask, gulping down some of the contents.

"Qrow," Ozpin sighed, "Please finish your report before drinking alcohol." For his friend was indeed an alcoholic.

Qrow shrugged, then capped the flask and stowed it away. "Yeah, yeah, alright. What else did I want to say?" His eyes wandered to the pictures floating between them, before they settled on one of a young rabbit faunus. "Ah, got it." He pointed to the young girl. "This little girl is the leader of Rhodes Island."

"What?" was Glynda's reaction, while Ozpin's brow furrowed. "This is no time for jokes, Qrow," Glynda scolded.

"Well, I wasn't joking," he retorted, "For some reason or another, that little girl is considered the leader of Rhodes Island. She's supposedly helped by two people, someone named Kalt'sit and another who was only referred to as 'Doctor,' but I didn't see either of them around while I was there."

"For such a young child to be thrust into such a position..."

"A child who is the same age as those walking through Beacon's halls, Glynda," Ozpin reminded her, "We have extraordinary children learning to be huntsmen and huntresses here at Beacon. It is a dangerous world out there, and people have an interesting habit of rising to the occasion."

"Whether you like it or not, the kid's the leader," Qrow continued, "Kiddo's name is Amiya, and she's a rabbit faunus. To be honest, she seems like some random naive kid, always talking about making the world a better place."

"...Like your niece, Qrow?" Ozpin asked, amused.

"Exactly like my niece, Oz."

"And yet she governs one of the five kingdoms. In fact, the city became a kingdom under her leadership. So, Qrow," Ozpin leaned forward, "Do you believe someone's pulling the strings behind the scenes?"

"Heck, yeah. Two advisors, both who avoid the public? Odds are high that at least one of them are one of her pawns. Salem."

The room seemed to grow darker at her name. Silence fell, punctuated only by the ticking of the gears suspended above them.

Finally, Ozpin broke the silence. Fingers crossed and glasses glinting, he asked, "Are you sure these advisors work for Salem?"

"No," Qrow admitted, "But like I said, the odds are high."

"We cannot act rashly. If the city is truly controlled by Salem, then every citizen in that city is a hostage," Glynda noted, "We cannot openly accuse them of anything, especially since we have no evidence."

"We'll accept their offer."

Both of them turned to him in surprise. Neither had expected Ozpin to reach a decision so soon."

"Sir?" Glynda asked tentatively, one eyebrow raised, "Why?" Her voice was purely curious, without a single hint of offense that he made the decision so abruptly without their input.

It was one of the qualities he liked about her. She didn't leap to conclusions.

"The biggest problem with Rhodes Island is that it is an unknown," Ozpin stated, "If we send a team or two to Rhodes Island, we can also argue that they should be accompanied by one of our huntsmen. They could find information from the inside out."

"We'd be inviting them into Beacon as well," Glynda pointed out.

"Yeah, this could be an attempt by Salem to do anything," Qrow agreed, "Sabotage the CCT, gather information from us, find the location of the maidens, whatever! Especially the maidens, seeing as fall was just recently stripped of half of her powers."

"It would be very difficult to do any of those tasks," Ozpin noted, "Considering they'd be surrounded by their peers all the time, and that we'd be on the lookout for any suspicious activities from them. It would be worth the risk. We can verify our concerns about Rhodes Island. If Salem is truly in control, then having teams there puts us in a position to fight for the city. If not, then no harm done. Either way, we cannot allow the potential fall of a fifth kingdom."

"Sure, that sounds good and all, but who's going with the brats?"

Ozpin and Glynda turned to face Qrow as one. By his widening eyes, he knew what was coming.

"Oh-"

"Qrow," Ozpin began, "Let me preface this by saying that you are a valued member of this circle, and the work you do-"

Beside him, Glynda let out a sound that seemed suspiciously like a stifled laugh.

A reptilian face peered down at a small figure. Its shadow blotted out the light, but the figure took no notice, locked in deep sleep.

Crushing jaws approached the prone figure-

"IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP, DURIN!"

Durin snapped awake so fast that her little head smacked straight into the snout of the being standing above her, who was now chortling with laughter. She pouted. "Meanie... Don't do that... again, Rangers," she slurred, head already beginning to wobble back and forth as she began to slip into dreamland once again.

Unfortunately for her, a finger then flicked her awake again.

"Owie... Yato..."

The other two members of her team, Yato and Noir, stood behind Rangers. While Yato stood silent and straight like a soldier, black horns protruding out of her hair, Noir chuckled from behind a mask along with Rangers at his latest prank.

"Now, now, little one. We are here." Rangers nodded out the window of the airship - a bullhead, they were called - they were on as it showed a rapidly approaching sprawl of buildings. "We'll be in Vacuo before you-"

Durin's head hit his arm as she fell asleep again.

Rangers sighed.

"Well, you know how Durin is," Noir spoke up, spinning a shield on the tip of one of his fingers, "We'll just wake her up again once we're there."

"She could at the very least stay awake more," Rangers complained, "When it comes to troublesome teammates, she's barely better than Ifrit."

"Speaking of Ifrit," Noir said, "I wonder how the other Vacuo team is doing? After all, they got Ifrit, resident nuclear bomb."

"Just be glad that we got a separate airship."

A single finger tapped him on the shoulder, and when he turned, he found Yato silently pointing to another window - one that gave a clear view of an airship on fire as it plummeted to the ground. Already, people where gathering on that side of the bullhead, pointing and and whispering in worry.

The operators of Rhodes Island had a feeling they already knew what had happened.

"Poor Silence." Noir murmured.

"Poor Ptilopsis," Rangers added.

"...Mayer." Came Yato's quiet agreement.

Istina flipped another page of her book.

She ignored the absolute chaos that was Gummy trying to cook on the floor with a fire crystal while Zima tried to stop her. She ignored Beehunter picking fights with just about everyone who looked at her funny.

She even ignored Cliffheart's attempts to use her ropes and hooks to snag Matterhorn's shield as he was getting water, while Courier frantically tried to get her to stop.

The only person she didn't ignore was the girl sitting next to her. And that was because she was sleeping on her shoulder.

She dearly hoped Pramanix woke up soon. She had never been a physically fit person, and her shoulder was getting sore.

Nearl leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes as she listened to the hum of the bullhead's engines. Beside her were Nightingale and Shining, people who had been her friends since even before Rhodes Island.

"This is nice." Nightingale's voice. Nearl opened her eyes.

Yes, it was nice to be working with them again.

"Liz," for that was Nightingale's true name - 'Nightingale' was but a codename, "How are your arms?" Nearl asked.

Nightingale rotated a wrist. Then the other. Then she began to stretch her arms, wincing a little. "Sore. They're still sore. But..."

"At least you can move your arms freely," Shining murmured, "We were worried that you may never recover from your Oripathy."

Nightingale gave a small, shy smile.

While the three of them were content to speak calmly and quietly, however, it was a different manner for the operators on the opposite side of the bullhead.

"...And I told you, just because I'm stunned doesn't mean you can draw whiskers on my face!" Liskarm complained.

"I'm training you to be more aware of your surroundings," Franka whined.

"Sure, and I'll 'train' you to be more aware when you're sleeping!"

Beside them were Vanilla and Jessica, who exchanged worried looks.

"Should we stop them?" Vanilla asked, the horned girl turning to Jessica.

Jessica shook her head and whimpered as she curled up in a ball, her cat ears pinning themselves to her head.

Texas didn't understand.

Exusiai had wings. She had wings. She was one of the Sankta, with wings of light and a halo. She was a literal angel.

Said angel was currently throwing up in a trash can due to airsickness.

Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.

Texas patted Exusiai on the back. She was her partner, after all, even if Exusiai was often far too loud and spoke too much for her liking.

"Shouldn't have eaten those apple pies," was Texas' comment. Exusiai's response was to give her a half-hearted frown before throwing up again.

"Tex~as!" rang out another voice.

One of Texas' wolf ears twitched in annoyance.

Behind her was Lappland, who was reaching out towards Texas in a gesture vaguely reminiscent of a hug. Fortunately, she was restrained by another wolf-girl, Sora.

"Miss Texas said that you have to leave her alone!"

"No! Lemme go!"

"No! I won't let you disturb Texas!"

Texas was quite grateful for the last member of their squad. Even though Sora had never held a weapon before - she had been an idol before joining Rhodes Island - Texas was glad there was at least someone to keep Lappland on a leash.

Texas' eyes drifted to the other Rhodes Island team-

Huh.

The four operators of the other Rhodes Island team on the bullhead with them were mostly quiet. Frostleaf had her eyes closed, but with her headphones on, it was clear she was listening to music. Meteorite was examining some files. Angelina and Cuora were talking in hushed tones about what school would be like.

...How Texas wished she had a normal team, instead of an airsick angel, armed psychopath, and idol singer.