Author Notes: Hello, I am thebigwaloo and this is my first ever fanfiction. Please feel free to review if you wish, I know I'm not perfect, so any critiques are welcome. Also keep in mind this is a story about me and my friends' OC's, so rwby canon characters will appear as only cameos. That's all I have to say. Enjoy!

What It Takes

Chapter 1: Introductions

"Hello and welcome to Beacon."

The boy looked up from the stunning view he had been staring at for ten minutes. He turned toward the sound of the voice and was met with the hologram of a blond middle-aged woman. Her hair was tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. She had bright green eyes and thin rectangular glasses.

"Who's that?" a blonde student inquired.

Her question was answered immediately by the hologram, "My name is Glynda Goodwitch."

"Oh," the blonde spoke, happy her question was resolved.

Glynda was dressed in a white long-sleeved suit with sleeves that are puffy near the wrists. Her lower body had a black business skirt with buttons running in a vertical line up the front of it along with black stockings.

"You are among a privileged few who received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy."

As she spoke her purple tattered cape swayed back and forth with her body. She stood up straight with her hands clasped behind her back in a very formal manner.

Needless to say she was definitely better dressed than the boy watching her. He was tall and lanky, with dark brown eyes, short messy black hair and a small, short black beard. He had white skin and wore a green t-shirt with a black bomber jacket over it as well as blue cargo pants, black sneakers and black fingerless gloves. He also wore a necklace that was in the shape of half a yin yang symbol. His name was Basil Kriegel and he was about to become a student of Beacon Academy.

Maybe this place is more formal and uptight than I thought, pondered Basil, as he tapped his hands on his legs. I don't even know if I'll be able to make friends here, thought Basil sadly, maybe I shouldn't have even applied.

"Oh wow!"

Basil was snapped out of his train of thought when a girl in a red cape suddenly noticed the view. After she cried out, everyone started looking at the amazing view from the airship that they were traveling in. Despite having seen it already, Basil decided to take another look, as it was spectacular. As he looked out the window he saw the buildings slowly pass by, the morning light reflecting off the building windows made the city of Vale seem like a sea of stars even in the early hours of the day. He could nearly pick out his own home as well as Signal Academy, the school for hunters he was trained at. Basil smiled as he remembered all the fond memories he had with his friends at Signal. All the tests and training he had to go through was certainly difficult for him.

All of it will be worth it, thought Basil, Beacon Academy is a great school for huntsman and huntresses.

Basil looked back out at the view as he continued to hold his internal conversation.

The teachers here will help me improve my combat abilities so that I may protect those in need, reasoned Basil, I just hope I won't fail completely and utterly during the first week.

Once again, he looked down at Vale and the magnificent view from the airship they were taking to Beacon. However, not everyone was enjoying the view as much as Basil did. This was made clear when he saw a blonde boy walk towards the bathroom holding his stomach.

This was then followed by the red caped girl screaming, "Aw Yang gross you have puke on your shoe!"

Concerned with whether or not the blonde boy was okay, Basil walked quickly towards the bathroom and opened it. Inside was a white tiled floor with white walls, white sinks, and grey stalls. The bathroom didn't smell dirty oddly enough, as if someone had just came in and cleaned it. If that was the case, Basil felt bad for whoever cleaned it because now all that could be heard was a vile retching sound from one of the stalls. Feeling kind of awkward about conversing with a person who was in the middle of vomiting, Basil knocked on the door.

"Hey, you alright in there?" Basil asked.

The vomiting continued for a little bit as the blonde boy tried to regain his composure. Once he was finished the boy answered.

"Yea, I'm fine just a little bit of motion sickness is all," he said in a strained voice

"Motion sickness is a much more common problem than people think." replied Basil

"That's what I always tell people!" exclaimed the boy.

Basil heard the toilet flush and the boy came out of the stall. He was dressed in a black hoodie with reddish-orange sleeves as well as blue pants with a white patch on the left knee and black shoes. On top of that, he wore a white chest plate and shoulder armor. He had two belts crisscrossing his waist, both of which were different shades of brown and one had a small pouch on it. He also had brown wrist-length gloves with exposed fingertips and a small metal plate on the back.

"Hey I'm Jaune," stated the boy.

"My name's Basil."

"Good to meet you Basil."

"You too Jaune," responded Basil, smiling. Maybe making friends wasn't going to be as difficult as he originally thought.

"No you won't!"

The girl was arguing with a boy who stood at 5'11", while she was only 5'3". Despite the height difference the boy had backed up, slightly intimidated by the girl. She had pinkish, pale skin, green eyes and silver hair. Her hair was of medium length and parted on her right side with her right side tucked behind her ear, while her bangs on her left side dangled near her eyes in an unorganized way. The rest of her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she wore blue, moon shaped earrings. She had on a plain sky blue shirt, blue jeans and silver combat boots. She also wore a white sweater over her shirt and had a light blue scarf draped over each shoulder. The boy she was talking to was her brother.

"Oh come on Sylvia, I can't live without some form of relaxation," replied the boy. He was tall, with shaggy, short blonde hair. He was pretty well built for his age, but Sylvia rarely noticed it. He had golden brown skin from being in the sun often. He had on a white tank top underneath a red zip up hoodie with blue jeans, yellow fingerless gloves and brown sneakers.

"Re, you and I both know that you get plenty of relaxation on a daily basis. You barely studied at all last year and nearly failed out of your classes!"

Re grinned. Sylvia was obviously exaggerating over his grades. For one thing he got straight B's for his final grades last year which was not even close to, "nearly failing out of class." Secondly, if he had nearly failed out of class he would not be on this airship going to Beacon, one of the most prestigious academies in Vale. As for the studying, that part was true. Re didn't like to study too much, if at all, whereas Sylvia couldn't study enough for an exam.

"Sylvia if I study for as long as you do my head will fall off. I'm honestly surprised that yours is still screwed on your shoulders," Re stated.

At this Sylvia smiled, "I'm more surprised that you consider yours still on your shoulders."

Re chuckled at that, "Look I'll promise to study a little bit more if you learn to relax more often."

Sylvia thought about it and then replied, "Make it a lot and you've got a deal."

Re rolled his eyes amusedly, "Fine, if that will ease your conscience, sis."

Sylvia smiled again, "It would thanks." She then turned to the window. Her brother may be a pain in the butt sometimes, but she still cared for him. She smiled to herself, besides now I can force him to study more, Sylvia thought, he has no idea what he's getting into.

The intercom buzzed suddenly and a man's voice came on.

"This is your pilot speaking, we are about to descend to Beacon Academy. Please gather your things and be ready to leave the airship. Again, we are about to descend to Beacon Academy. Please gather your things and be ready to leave the airship."

Re grinned widely, "Come on Sylvia," said Re, "Let's show Beacon what the Challis family is capable of."

Basil heard the pilot on the intercom and knocked on the bathroom door that Jaune had reentered upon descent of the airship.

"Hey Jaune!" yelled Basil, "The airship is about to land I'm going to go gather my stuff. I'll see you later."

Jaune let out an audible grunt in understanding and Basil headed out of the bathroom and towards the exit. He let out a sigh of nervousness as the ship descended toward Basil's future. The airship landed on the runway and the doors opened.

Sunlight hit Basil's face as he walked off the airship with everyone else. He quickly shielded his eyes from the sudden brightness until they had adjusted. As he removed his hand from his eyes, he immediately took in a sight that would stick out in his mind for a long time. He was standing on the exit ramp of the airship looking out at a pathway made of hexagon stone pieces which lead to a circular courtyard with benches around it and the Beacon logo, two crossed single bladed axes surrounded by a laurel wreath, was located in the center of the courtyard. The courtyard was surrounded by several green trees and had lampposts lined up on either side of the path, which lead up to a site that took his breath away. In front of him was what looked like a castle surrounded by two rings of stone archways, an inner one and an outer one. In between the two rings and within the inner ring were pools of water where lily pads were growing. Within those rings was Beacon Academy. It was a collection of buildings, each of which was topped by multiple turrets. There was also a tower with several lights emanating from it, resembling a beacon.

Basil smirked at this. That must be where they got the name, thought Basil.

"The view from Vale's got nothing on this!"

Basil turned his head toward the voice and saw the two girls from the ship. One of them was slightly taller than the other with long, messy, bright gold hair, with a few locks sticking out and a small cowlick on top of her head. The other had medium length black hair with red streaks and a red cloak.

As Basil walked by them, he began to notice more of the two girls. The blonde girl wore a tan vest over a yellow shirt. She wore black shorts and a skirt in the back with knee-high boots. She was pale in color and had lilac eyes. Basil certainly wouldn't mind getting to know her better. Of course, He knew he would never work up the nerve to do that. Not that he was scared, he was just always unsure of himself. Plus a girl like that probably had several guys wrapped around her finger already.

The girl with the red cloak also had on a black blouse and a skirt with red trim. She had on black leggings and black combat boots with red trim. She had a pale white comparison and silver eyes, which was an odd eye color for anybody.

As he walked away from the two, he couldn't help but notice that something was a bit different about the girl in red. I mean, the fact that she had silver eyes was interesting, and how she was currently fangirling over people's weapons was certainly cute, but there was something else that was odd. Then he realized what it was, the girl in red looked very young to be attending this school.

I wonder why that is, pondered Basil, maybe she is just visiting and the other girl is her friend? That didn't make sense; guests weren't usually allowed on the airship to Beacon. Maybe she was moved up in a year previously, Basil continued, or maybe-

WHUMP!

He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't notice the girl in front of him had stopped and ran right into her. The girl had almost fallen over due to the impact and was getting her bearings as Basil realized what happened.

"Oh I'm so sorry," Basil said quickly, "I wasn't watching where I was going and didn't notice you had stopped."

The girl looked up. Well, looked was probably the worst way to describe it. She more turned toward Basil. She stood at an average height for a girl with medium length, shaggy, tomboyish brown hair and light brown skin. She wore a brown tunic underneath a frayed, brown cloak that only seemed to cover her shoulders and some of her back. She had baggy, black pants and tan sneakers with a white horizontal stripe. She also had a small, tan scarf wrapped around her neck, not covering her mouth. But her most prominent possession was the black cloth that wrapped around her head, covering her eyes like a blindfold. Her hair seemed to slightly cover the blindfold as well, seeming to emphasize the conclusion that Basil had come to. This girl was blind.

"That's okay," she replied, her voice was quiet and soothing, almost as if nothing had happened.

Basil stood there awkwardly and asked, "So what's-"

BOOM!

Basil and the girl both jumped at the sudden noise. Basil turned toward and saw black smoke and what looked like fire and lightning mixed within.

"What kind of explosion was that?" the girl asked.

"Uh…" Basil was very confused by the question; what did she mean by what kind of explosion?

The girl seemed to read his mind and said, "I felt a lot of energy from it, was it dust?"

Basil was even further confused by this. How did she know the explosion was full of energy? At least he was able to answer her other question.

"Yea, I saw some lightning coming out of it so it must have been."

The girl nodded as though she knew it all along, she was certainly intriguing to say the least.

"So what were you going to say?" prompted the girl.

Roused from his thoughts Basil answered, "Well, before my eardrums exploded, I was gonna ask what your name was?"

The girl chuckled slightly at that, "I'm Namra," she replied.

Basil smiled, "My name is Basil. It's nice to meet you Namra."

She smiled as well, "Nice to meet you too."

Basil grinned widely. He had a feeling Namra would be his first friend in this new environment. He looked toward Beacon. In that academy lay his future, new trials and struggles. But it also would hold new memories, friends and experiences. Basil felt a mixture of both nervousness and excitement at the prospect, and he hoped Namra would be with him through that.

"We should get going to the school."

Basil snapped out of his thoughts and nodded. Quickly he realized his mistake but before he could correct it, Namra started walking toward the academy. Basil wasn't sure if she somehow knew he nodded or if she wasn't waiting for an answer. Basil assumed the former considering the fact that she knew so much about the explosion. Basil quickly followed her to the entrance ready for whatever lay ahead.

The boy was walking down the pathway toward Beacon. He had a gruff expression as he surveyed the courtyard, looking at all the other students, trying to size them up. The boy's name was Porphyrios Chroma. He was taller than the average man and had a relatively muscular body. He had long, scraggily, jet black hair with a purple tint and a scraggily, black full beard and mustache. He wore a long blue tunic with white cargo pants and black boots. He also had a red head scarf, dark gray eyes and brown skin. However his most interesting feature of all those was that he was a Faunus with a pangolin tail. Despite his heritage, no one seemed to be bothering him or trying to pick on him at all. This was probably due to his intimidating appearance and permanent scowl he wore on his face. In short he was not one to mess with.

"All of these students look ready," Porphyrios said to himself, "but none of them are worth any of my time or worthy to be my teammate."

He started to wonder if anybody would even be a challenge to him, when suddenly he was pushed to the side by a boy with blue hair. The boy was off in a rush to get to the academy for some reason. Angered by the blue haired boy's rudeness, he quickly regained his footing.

"What a tool bag," Porphyrios observed, "I hope I don't get stuck with him as a teammate, he would slow me down for sure."

Continuing his walk, he began to go over scenarios in his head of what initiation might be like tomorrow. As he approached the entrance to Beacon he looked to his right and saw two girls deep in conversation with each other.

Porphyrios rolled his eyes, "Probably just conversing about the latest movie they saw," he commented cynically, "They'll drop out within a week." And with that he continued his walk into the school.

The two girls meanwhile continued their conversation with each other as if oblivious to everyone else in the world.

The girl on the left was fairly short, with reddish brown eyes and olive skin. Her hair was wavy and colored honey brown; it was a little longer than shoulder length with bangs on her right side. She also had a pigtail on her right side, tied up with a gold ribbon. She wore a black dress that had a sweetheart neckline with gold swirls edging it and a rounded asymmetrical skirt. The same gold swirls formed a crisscross design on the skirt made of two lines that cross twice and a third one going from one cross point to the other on the left side. The dress also had an icy blue sheer long sleeve shirt that had a gold ring that attached to her middle finger. She also wore an icy blue corset with a gold ruffle at the top as well as black combat boots with gold toes, laces and stitching. Her jewelry consisted of a golden chain made out of swirled links, black studs in her ears and a black cuff in her cartilage.

"All I'm saying, Celestia, is that we should try to be on the same team together," the golden haired girl stated.

"And all I'm saying Aurelia is that I don't think it's gonna work like that," replied Celestia, brushing her pink bangs out of the way.

The girl named Celestia was a good five inches taller than Aurelia. She had fair skin with steel blue eyes. Her dark pink hair was long with her left side tucked behind her ear and the right side dangling next to her face. She was dressed a lot simpler in comparison to the first girl; she wore a white tank top underneath an open black, leather jacket. She had on dark blue skinny jeans and black combat boots. She also wore diamond stud earrings, but other than that her attire was pretty casual. However, being a Faunus, she also had dark pink, small, floppy dog ears on her head. The two girls had been best friends for quite a long time and were having a very important discussion.

"But what if your teammates don't like Faunus?" asked Aurelia, "What if you get picked on? Wouldn't you feel more comfortable if you knew you did all you could to avoid it?"

"Well…" Celestia hesitated, "I don't know, I just think the selection process would prevent that," she said, indecisively.

"Well I would feel more comfortable if I at least try to help and protect you like I used to back at Sanctum," responded Aurelia.

Celestia smiled, she knew that Aurelia was just looking out for her due to her Faunus heritage and her unnatural shyness to strangers. But nevertheless, she knew that Aurelia couldn't protect her forever and that perhaps it was time to be independent.

And yet…

"Alright," Celestia said, in an accepting tone, "we can try to become teammates during initiation, but if we are on different teams then there is nothing we can do about it."

Aurelia put on a frown, as if the concept of being on different teams disgusted her, which quite frankly it did. She had been a part of Celestia's life for quite some time and hated the idea of being separated from her for so long. She was stubborn that way and hoped that good fortune would swing her way for once in her life.

"Fine," Aurelia declared, "but if we are on separate teams and you are getting bullied, I'm coming after them."

Celestia smiled again. "I wouldn't have it any other way," she assured, and they both walked into Beacon, ready to start their first years of training.