Disclaimer and other warnings: Let's get this out of the way first, I in no way own anything related to RWBY, that belongs to Rooster Teeth. I hope you enjoy.
NOTE: This story is currently undergoing extensive rewrites.
"I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look among you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose – direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step. It is up to you to earn experience."
Ruby Rose studied the headmaster as he sauntered off the stage. She did not clap or cheer as many of her fellow prospects did; no, she was entirely focused on the white haired man. The easy way he carried himself, the ever present cane, the complete lack of emotion in his eyes. If she was honest he scared her.
She had first noticed his lack of emotion during her interrogation in Vale. Headmaster Ozpin had been nothing but kind and understanding, yet the encounter had still unnerved Ruby. He had smiled and gestured and, to anyone watching, appeared the epitome of the gentle headmaster. None of it had reached his eyes.
Though, Ruby was not too bothered by it; she had accepted his invitation to Beacon after all. What did she care if the headmaster was a bit mysterious? She was at the top combat school in the kingdom if not the world. Whatever oddities the man possessed, he ran a fine combat school.
A combat school she was now allowed to wander, with Ozpin's speech over all of the prospects were free until sun down. Ruby was out of the chamber the second Goodwitch said, "dismissed."
Her first stop was the locker room, even a combat academy had to have some rules on weapons. Usually, Ruby was nigh inseparable from her "sweetheart" but after the accident with the white haired banshee, she was willing to reconsider. Nearly blowing herself and another student off the cliff face had not been the best way to arrive at the academy. Accidentally shooting another student with a 22mm dust round or having a massive blade deploy in an enclosed area would not go any better. To her chagrin though, Ruby didn't know which locker was hers; she had only skimmed the orientation document preloaded on their scrolls. Was it 636 or 366? 363? With a huff at having to stand still, she pulled the folded PDA from her belt. The collapsible tablet was another perk of being a Beacon student; anyone accepted who either didn't have one or did not have the necessary model was given one free of charge. A quick click and Ruby was headed for locker 343.
Unlocking it, she was surprised to find all of her ammunition already stacked in the bottom section. A change of clothes had been folded over the two dozen magazines. Beacon's staff worked fast. Beacon's staff had gone through her stuff. Ruby ignored that thought. Soon Crescent Rose and her combat boots joined the high caliber magazines, pressed into the bonding layer at the back of the locker. After a second of thought she stashed her dress and snatched up the other set of clothes.
It'll probably be a while before anyone else decides to come in here, she shrugged and went on into the shower. At Signal the locker rooms had been divided between girls and boys, Ruby thought Beacon would be the same. Why wouldn't it be? The lack of a gender designating sign slipped her mind.
The scythe wielder learned Beacon's locker room was in fact coed when she exited the shower. In her haste to beat the crowd Ruby had not bothered to grab a towel, she guessed they were in the supply closet at the far end of the room. She managed to make it to the closet, retrieve a towel, and began drying herself before noticing the two people standing at their lockers. One was a tall blonde boy who's impression of a tomato would have been funny if it wasn't her he was freaking out about. It was Jaune, one of the two spectators to her earlier explosion. The other was a girl in sleek black armor, an orange reflective visor concealed her face. A squeak and shower of rose petals, and Ruby was safely back in the showers.
"Blondie's gone if you want to come out. He might have run away faster than you did" Even with the tip, and her clothes actually on, Ruby only peaked her head out the door. Only an orange visor stared back.
"Uh, thanks." The visor showed no emotion. "Didn't know this wasn't just the girl's locker room."
"Ah, so you just prance around for the girls?" Ruby squeaked.
"No, I-ah...I didn't think anyone would come into...the public locker room." The black clad girl laughed, the chuckles muffled by her helmet.
"Whatever you say Red," her tone suggested she didn't really believe the still slightly blushing girl, "try to remember these are coed next time."
Ruby nodded and ran a hand through her damp hair, her heart rate had slowed and she had regained her natural pallor for the most part. The visor walked away, glancing back one last time from the doorway.
"Oh yea and Red," Ruby looked up, "thanks for the show."
Ruby sputtered and covered her face to raucous laughter. Was it too early to grab a cot and just hide?
It was a with a blank page in front of her and a pen head clamped in her teeth that Yang found her that night.
"Whatcha doing?" Bright silver eyes snapped to her. Ruby removed the pen from her mouth, tapping it against the paper out of habit.
"Writing back to Signal or home or I don't know." Ruby had originally sat down an hour ago to write back to anyone at Signal, unlike Yang she didn't get to drag her friends to Beacon with her. After a few moments of thought Ruby had decided to write home instead, unlike Yang she didn't really have any close friends. She had all the people she needed with Yang and Qrow and Dad, why waste time she could be training or caring for Crescent Rose by talking to her peers? Unless they had a very unique weapon or were clearly better than her, Ruby only socialized with them when forced. She had once completed a group project without actually talking to her partner, they received the highest grade in the class.
"Making progress?" The sisters grinned at each other. It was nice to be around a familiar face again.
"Not at all." Yang laid down on her cot beside Ruby. Ruby sprawled out on her own. "Do you think tomorrow will be better?"
"Depends," Yang's lilac eyes glittered in the dim light, "do you plan to blow up the shrieker again or are you going for more oblivious peep shows?" Even with her face covered, Yang could see Ruby's blush. Her ears had gone bright red, why did I tell her about that?
"Yang!" The aforementioned sister just giggled at the whine and settled into sleep. Ruby soon joined her, paper forgotten and the pen left to roll away.
Blearily Ruby Rose sat up from her cot. One second she was blinking, staring at the cavernous room in confusion, then she was sprinting to the locker room. More than a few people shot her dirty looks as she blitzed past, stomped toes and checked shoulders marking her path through the crowd. She wasted no time opening her locker and stripping out of her night clothes.
Standing in her underwear, Ruby suddenly decided to look around the room. Not again. Heat flooded her cheeks as four, fully armored students came into view; standing along the back wall, they had seen everything. The fact that they all wore reflective visors did not help, neither did the fact that the breast plates of their armor clearly showed only two of them were girls. Embarrassed at her lack of clothing, Ruby's hands immediately moved to cover herself; which meant she dropped her battle dress and gave a clearer view of herself.
"Nice-" the shorter of the two males began to call to her, but a swift smack to the back of his helmet silenced him.
"I-I..ah..didn't see you all." One of the girl's helmet cocked to the side at her stuttering, almost as if she was amused. That's the girl from yesterday. That same girl then snapped her fingers at the boys, who obediently turned around. Ruby picked up her dress.
"Hey Red. No problem, though you'll probably want to get used to changing with other people around." Her voice was muffled by the helmet, she was kind enough to leave out that she had warned Ruby of this exact thing the day before. Ruby wondered why the quartet all wore the same armor. Were they a team? Could they just pick teams?
"Yea...I just didn't expect anyone else to be here. Again." A muffled exclamation followed her admission, and the shorter boy was smacked again. There wasn't any real force behind it, even if she couldn't hear it the swaying of the fours' shoulders showed they were laughing. "Uh, you guys can turn around now." The boys glanced at the apparent lead girl before turning fully.
"Interesting choice." A deep rumble came from the taller boy, he stood a good half foot above his teammates. Ruby felt four pairs of eyes roving over her, appraising her. It was a bit disturbing. "See you on the field."
It was a confused and still slightly pink Ruby that Yang found in the middle of the locker room. She shrugged it off and moved past her sister to collect her own gear. Whatever it was, she knew it couldn't have been worse than almost blowing up the Schnee heiress.
"Ready little sis?" Ruby jumped at her sister's hands clamping down on her shoulders.
"Uh, yea. Of course. Any idea what the challenge is?" Her voice wavered slightly but Ruby was smiling ear to ear. Yang decided it was best not to ask what had happened in her absence; between nearly launching the Schnee heiress off a cliff, walking out of the shower in front of Jaune, and being teased by a visored weirdo, Yang had heard enough freaky encounters for the week.
"Nope." With that both of the sisters marched out the door and onto the Cliff path, Jaune waved as they passed. Well, he waved at Yang and struggled not to gape at Ruby. Likewise, she blushed and refused to meet his eyes. Yang laughed all the way to the cliff.
For a rare moment the sisters were silent as they waited for the rest of the prospective students to line up on the designated plaques. After nearly twenty minutes, Ozpin and Professor Goodwitch sauntered to the middle of the line.
"Yesterday, I urged all of you to take the first step in applying yourselves and bettering the future. What you see before you is that first step." Ozpin jabbed his cane at one of the seventy silver plates. "Your challenge, should you accept it, is quite simple." He paused to sip from his coffee, it was freezing at the top of the cliff. His gaze swept the prospective students before he continued.
"At the far northern end of the Emerald Forest there is an abandoned temple. Twenty relics lie within it. You all will pair up, advance to the temple, retrieve a relic, and return to the cliff top within forty eight hours." Again he met each of the assemblies eyes. "There are many dangers waiting for you, and though the staff will observe your progress they will not interfere in the test. Do not hesitate to destroy any obstacle in your path or you will most certainly die."
A shudder seemed to run through the line of prospective Huntsmen as Ozpin extended his hand to the launch pads, inviting them to accept his challenge. Fear tickled the edge of Ruby's mind as she looked down the line, only fifty of the plates were manned. Only forty of them would leave the forest as students. There was a chance fewer would escape at all. Ozpin did not seem concerned in the slightest.
"Oh, I forgot to mention. The first person you make eye contact with upon landing will be your partner for the next four years." A chorus of protest erupted at the Headmaster, he merely sipped his coffee. Ruby craned her neck as one boy's voice boomed over the crowd.
"Only direct eye contact results in a pair, correct?" Ozpin and Ruby stared at the oddly boy. The other three armored students stood with him.
"Only direct eye contact." The headmaster sipped his coffee. The ghost of a smirk tugged at his lips.
"Perfect." Several of the students began shouting as the combat armored prospects locked their visors, reflective plates firmly in place. Ruby saw Ozpin grinning at the tactic. Really, Ruby was jealous of the quartet. They were effectively exempt from the random selection. Who are they?
Silence fell over the line as the first plate launched, no one had stepped onto it. The second was not as empty. Ruby sighed at the slow progression, she was almost at the opposite end.
"So...ah, are you like dropping us off in the forest?" Jaune asked, oblivious to the explosive springboard he was standing on and the launches going on to his left.
"No, you will be falling." How Ozpin managed to answer with a straight face, Ruby would never know. A muffled chuckle brought Ruby's attention back to the armored boy. Jaune continued his questioning.
"Did you pass out parachutes earlier or something?" The black armored students all seemed to freeze under their armor. Ruby giggled at the lead boy rapidly patting his back, or more accurately the smooth plate that an emergency shoot should have been locked too. It seemed they weren't as prepared as they thought.
"No, you are responsible for your own landing strategy." Ozpin's steady explanation snapped the girl back to the cliffs. she turned just in time to see Yang whip on her aviators and soar into the unknown. Ruby steeled herself, a click thrummed up from the plate, and she was off.
A red rocket sailing above the Emerald Forest.