Author's Note: Hey hey hey! How's it hangin', folks? Welcome to the first chapter of my RWBY fanfiction, By Any Other Name. This intro chapter will be that, an introduction. To the characters, locations, etc. However, for people who have never seen RWBY, I highly suggest you go and watch up to at least Season 2, just so you have a better understanding of the characters who AREN'T my OCs. Kay? Good. Let's hope right on in.

I landed hard on a platform that was at the edge of a tall cliff I didn't notice during my fall. About twenty seconds after I hit the stone, I felt about a hundred or so eyes on me as I went from face-on-ground to sitting. When I looked around, a few people stood out. Two blondes, three raven hairs, a ginger, a white haired girl, and a redhead. 'Ah hells….' I suddenly remembered what happened, and frantically reached for my greatsword and knife. When I felt both hilts, I sighed in relief, only to find all of the people around me on their guard. Well, most of them. The one natural raven hair girl and the blonde girl seemed unfazed. 'Well, I do seem to be in a pickle here.'

"It would appear as though we have an unexpected- and uninvited- visitor." I turned around to find the most intimidating man staring at me. White hair, thin brown eyes, and a purple cross on his collar. "All new and returning students, please follow Ms. Goodwitch into the auditorium. I will give the Opening Speech once I have dealt with our guest."

I watched as the students milled around the man and I. 'Dealt with? Oh gods, what does he mean by that?' But, I worried WAAAAY too much, I guess. "Um… I know you've got places to be and things to do but-"

"You have questions." Blunt and short. This man means business, I suppose. "My name is Ozpin, and I'm a professor at this school, Beacon Academy. This is where we train potential Hunters and Huntresses to fight the monsters that dot this world, Grimm."

I nodded, and for some reason, raised my hand. When he nodded once, I spoke. "Professor Ozpin, I appreciate the information, but where am I? What is this place?" I felt him contemplate what to say next, felt him realize I'm not from this world.

"You are currently in the world of Remnant, in the kingdom of Vale. I don't believe you gave your name, young man." His voice commanded respect, something I'm somewhat inclined to give.

"My name is Tsukino Shinoha, and I'm from a world called Coronexia. I was part of a large scale battle when I was dropped onto your front door, Professor." I'm not this formal, even with my higher ups. What the hells is going on?

He closed his eyes, and took a sip of something from the mug he was holding, processing what I said. "You're a warrior, then. I'm not sure how you got here, but as long as you are, would you like to join Beacon Academy?" He looked me in the eyes, and I could see so much of this man and his past. But the thing I was most concerned about was his sincerity, which he had plenty of.

I thought about it for a moment. I help people, that was my life. But I'm in a strange world, surrounded by strange people, with strange laws. I grinned. "I accept, Professor Ozpin."

"Good. You should note that most of the educational processes may be different from what you're used to. We prefer the hands on approach, and we emphasize teamwork. As such, we will be having an 'initiation', if you will." The words flowed from him as though he's explained this so many times. It was incredible to see this man, who seemed so human, to talk with such autonomy. "We will assess your skills in this initiation and from there we will form your Hunter team, with whom you will go on missions to slay Grimm for the rest of your time at Beacon and beyond. Do you understand so far?"

"Professor, I don't work with people. I've never had a team. Never really needed one before. Now, I'd be happy to be assistance for another team, but I do not want my own team. My only 'team mates' have been my sword, Silver Lining, and my butcher's knife. They've kept me alive for years." I didn't want to insult him or offend him or make him think I was a moody child who wanted to do things their way, but it was true. I had been a loner for a long time, and party members slowed me down.

Ozpin looked troubled by my statement. "Why?" he asked. It was a confusing question.

"W… Why, what, sir?" I responded hesitantly. His voice seemed more intimidating than before.

"Why do you not want to join a team, Mr. Shinoha?" Oh. That was easy. "And you cannot say you have never needed one before."

"I'm strong on my own, and all the times I've been with a group, they slow me down. The only priority in battle for me is my own life. With a team, I have to worry about the lives of my teammates as well. It's a distraction, and I can't perform at my best." I said slowly, hoping that what I said made sense.

Ozpin nodded. "I understand where you're coming from. However, say you went down to an enemy. Who would back you up? Without a team, you may be fast and powerful, yes, but you would be doomed if you were defeated in battle."

I sighed. He has a point. "Fine. If whatever the criteria is for team selection gets met, I'll oblige." I stood up, looking at Ozpin eye to eye. "So… which way is the auditorium, Professor?"

As I walked into the room, I felt all eyes turn to me. I sat at the very back, blowing all of them off. As if any of them could be my teammates. I watched Ozpin walk up onto the stage, clear his throat through the mic, and all of the eyes on me snapped to him.

Ruby and Yang looked at one another as they went to the amphitheater/assembly room/auditorium. Then Ruby piped up in a whisper. "Whoa! Did you see that? He looked so cool!"

Yang nodded in agreement. "Did you see that sheath on his back? That thing is gigantic! I'd be willin' to bet it's about as big as your weapon, sis. He's got to be pretty strong to use a sword like that, ya know? And that other sheath looked like it was holding a butcher's knife. I wanna fight him so badly now!"

Ruby giggled a little bit. "Jeez, sis. You're always picking fights. But I kinda want to take a crack at him too." When she listened close enough, she could hear others talking about the guy as well. The whole school must be talking about him!

When everyone finally got settled into their seats, the gossip started up again. Ruby was separated from Yang, but she ended up next to a girl with an adorable little bowtie in her hair and her nose stuck in a book. "Hi there! I'm Ruby, what's your name?" Ruby asked cheerily, hoping to make a new friend.

"Blake. And if you don't mind, I'm trying to read." she responded, sounding bored and annoyed at the same time. Ruby backed off, a little upset now.

"Oh… Sorry, I didn't mean t-"

"It's fine. I shouldn't have been rude to you." She closed her book. "It's nice to meet you, Ruby." She held out a hand. Ruby grabbed her hand and shook it, smiling.

Ruby let go, and sighed. "It's crazy, you know? Being here, with all of these people. I never thought I would be here so soon. And then that boy shows up out of nowhere, and that's the only thing people seemed to be talking about."

Blake nodded slightly. "Yes, it is strange. But by the looks of things, he isn't from here. He looks like he fell from the sky. There weren't any aircrafts flying over the school, we would've seen them coming in. I wonder how he managed to get that high without wings or jumping from a plane?" When Blake looked back over to Ruby, she saw Ruby had the blankest 'Confused' look on her face. "I lost you, didn't I?"

Ruby nodded. "Little bit, yeah." She responded a little nervously. To be honest, once Blake started talking about planes, Ruby got lost. But Blake seemed pretty confident, so Ruby just nodded. Suddenly, the doors opened again, and in walks the boy, unharmed and laid back. Ruby started to get up when she noticed Professor Ozpin walk on stage. 'Hi Professor! Can't move yet, Mister Skyfall.'

"Hello, students. As most of you know by now, I am Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy. Today, you have arrived fresh from your years at combat schools. Some are here by skill alone. And others… by fate." Ozpin said, watching as every collective mind thought 'THAT GUY GOT IN!?' He cleared his throat. "As I was saying, you're all here because you have decided that you wish to become Hunters and Huntresses. Here at Beacon Academy, we strive to make sure that our students know of every possible path to defeating the Grimm, and keeping the lives of innocent people safe." The room was silent as a house on Christmas night. Ozpin looked at the many attentive faces and allowed himself a small smile. "Tomorrow, we will hold our orientation and you will be assigned to your team. For now, you all will be sleeping the in Dining Hall. This way, you can make some allies and friends to help you through your journey at Beacon. That will be all for now, and I wish you all the best of luck."

Ozpin turned around and walked offstage to be replaced by Glynda Goodwitch, Ozpin's right hand and the Disciplinary Coordinator. "You free to explore campus grounds and the city, but be back before 10 PM. We will lock the doors then, and anyone foolish enough to be outside will be stuck there until morning. I expect you all up and ready to head into the Woods tomorrow. You are dismissed."

The whole room began buzzing with talk of plans for the day, but Ruby, along with Blake (who stuck her nose back into her book) and Yang went to follow the mystery boy from the sky. Turns out he just wandered into town, exploring the place. Curiosity was his guide, and it led him all over the place.

Suddenly, he stopped moving, and they did as well. "Do you think he saw us?" Yang whispered. Ruby shook her head. He hasn't looked behind him once, has he? Just as Ruby was about to call to him, she heard a woman scream, and someone shouted something about "Dust" and to "hand it over or else." This got all of their attention, but it looks like Mystery Boy heard it sooner, because he was running full speed toward the shouting. "Maybe we should help him," Blake suggested, "Before he gets hurt." Ruby and Yang nodded, and the trio ran after him.

I wasn't paying attention, I suppose, because I ran headlong into the white haired chick from the landing area. She looked absolutely pissed that I ran into her, but I didn't have time to deal with her right now. 'Please let me make it in time to help them!' I thought, a hand going to the hilt of Silver Lining.

I did, and it looked like a basic robbery: A game of 'Guess the Antag', goon clones totting different basic weapons, 'Give us the money or we shoot' type stuff. Nothing worth using my sword, or my knife. "Hmph. I was kinda hopin' for a challenge," I murmured as three of the goons lay unconscious. I watched the GTA winner run out with whatever those tubes were holding. "Sir, will you alright if I chase him?" I asked the owner of the shop, called 'From Dust Till Dawn'. He nodded, and I took my leave, chasing the flaming redhead in a bowler hat. "Hey, you, with the stupid hat! You owe the shop owner some canisters!" I shouted at him, which made him turn back.

"Listen, pal, it's been fun while it lasted, but.." He lifted his cane, pointed it at my head, and a scope flipped out from the end. "I think it's time we went our separate ways." He pulled the trigger, or whatever fired it, I wasn't too sure. I was too slow and couldn't block it, but someone else pushed me out of the way.

Turns out I was being followed, and the one who took the shot for me was one of the raven haired ones, a girl in a black and red dress. 'See, Ozpin? THIS is why I don't do teammates. But, to be fair, she did kind of save my life.' So, with that mentality, I turned to see Bowler Hat hop onto a rooftop. "Hey Dandydick," I shouted, causing him to turn back to me. I smirked. "You missed! Whoop whoopwhoopwhoopwhoopwhoopwhoop!" I climbed up the wall of the building he was standing on, which pissed him off to end. As I landed, I drew my knife, Stained Silver, and slashed the next shot in half. "Ya know, Bowler Hat, I wasn't going to use Stained Silver OR Silver Lining, but you're forced my hand here." I snickered a little. "Get it? Because I have to use my hands to wield either blade?"

"OK, you know what, screw it. Combat plane." he said, tilting his body to the left. 'Combat plane?' I didn't understand until I saw what he meant. Bigass plane, not unlike the planes Beacon students travelled to Beacon with. Except with two very large caliber miniguns pointed straight at me. Bowler Hat smiled. "Any last words?"

"A couple," I said. "First, your hat and hair are stupid. Games of Guess the Antag must make you so triggered. Second, while you do have some pretty big guns, let me guess. You're overcompensating." Well, that set him off pretty hard.

Ruby groaned. She didn't know why she jumped in front of the boy and why she decided to take that shot. Blake ran up to her, to make sure was ok, while Yang glared up at the building, and the plane. "You better come back, jackass. I'm gonna knock you out for letting my sister get hurt!" She was mad, and that boy was going to pay for it. Blake debated going up to help when they all heard the guns rev up and start firing, sending chunks of building toward them. Yang grabbed Ruby, and they got to a safe distance away.

"No respect from him.. He runs into me and then just runs off without an apology! Does he even know who I am?" The trio turned around to see a white haired princess type ranting as she walked toward them. "Have any of you seen a boy run by here?" She paused, and realized that she had seen these three before. "You wouldn't happen to be attending Beacon Academy, would you?" They all nodded. "Oh, well, then, this makes things much easier. I'm looking for the boy who fell from the sky when we arrived."

Yang was quick to respond. "Sorry, sister, but I'm getting first crack. He let my sister here get hurt and didn't even bother to see if she was alright. I'm gonna knock his sorry tail into next friggen week!" Before the white haired girl could respond, Blake interjected. "If he can get out of that gunfire, that is. Even if he does, there's no guarantee he'll be well enough for you to knock him out. And you must be Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."

Weiss beamed with pride and ego. "Finally, someone with respect. So, what was that about gunfire?" She asked, semioblivious to the miniguns roaring behind her. Yang and Blake looked at each other, then to Ruby, who sighed. Suddenly, they heard someone shout "Oh, Bowler Hat~~! Your pilot has some of the most awful aim I've ever seen!" All of them made the same assumption out loud "That would be the sky boy."

Tsukino had managed to either redirect or slash the bullets from the miniguns using only Stained Silver. His shout had made his enemy turn red with rage, but he hopped aboard the plane anyway. "See ya later, Silver!" He shouted. There was no way Tsukino would let him escape easily. He began chanting in a language not known to Remnant, and a large stone hailstorm struck at the plane. However, there was another mage in the vessal, one who specialized in fire magic. They began a duel of mana and power, but a third contender entered the frey. Glynda Goodwitch supposed Tsukino against this newcomer, and drove the plane away from the city. With the skirmish over, Tsukino got the most distinctive feeling that he was going to be in a LOT of trouble.

A/N: Hello again readers! (God that sounded like Caboose) *ahem* Thanks for readin all the way through. Sorry about the long first chapter, but I managed to introduce most of the important characters early on in a decent enough manner. Also, props to the first person who gets the joke I put in. I'm gonna steal a line from one of my favorite Fanfiction authors, TheSib. Please review. It really will help me improve my writing. Tata for now~~!