"So what's this all about?" Yang asked her team-mates as they all began to file into Beacon's auditorium. All of the first-year students had been called here out of the blue, Team RWBY in particular having been forced to abandon a perfectly good lunch to make it on time.
Weiss stamped a foot in frustration. "We don't know anymore than you do, Yang, just like the last three times you asked!" Ruby and even Blake were stifling chuckles at this exchange, but a quick glare from the heiress was enough to shut up the former.
They sat down near the back, being sure to leave four open spots next to them; sure enough, Team JNPR quickly arrived and made a beeline for their friends. "Did we miss anything?" Jaune asked the moment they took their seats. "We were making pancakes when the call came on our scrolls, and-"
"There's nothing to worry about," Ruby cut him off with a grin. "We just got here ourselves."
After a few more minutes, the intermittent flow of students slowed to a trickle, and Glynda Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin took their places on the stage. Ozpin gave the last few stragglers another few minutes before beginning his presentation, stepping up to the microphone and clearing his throat.
"Now, I realize this came at… short notice…" There was an apologetic note to his tone that made Yang wonder if this wasn't entirely intentional. "But now that you are all here, it is my pleasure to announce Beacon's annual Partnership Permutation Initiative." Behind him, a hologram screen flickered to life, displaying the title.
Yang leaned in closer to Blake, muttering "This should be good." The faunus girl just flicked an ear beneath her bow, though she gave an amused grin.
"As you know through personal experience, every year, we launch prospective new students into the Emerald Forest to retrieve some sort of artifact, as a form of initiation and a practical assessment of skills that transcripts and even the rather rigorous entrance exam are incapable of testing." The students all nodded, recalling their own experiences at the start of the semester.
Ozpin gave them a moment before resuming. "Now, for the sake of the test, we do allow a certain number of Grimm to take up residence in the forest, to provide a certain degree of challenge to the new students." He adjusted his glasses, gaze sweeping along the stands to affix his students with a serious look. "But we don't want them to be overwhelmed." Behind him, the screen changed from the static title to a live feed. Somewhere in the Emerald Forest, a hidden camera placed high in a tree was looking out over a clearing. Barely a scrap of the forest's grassy floor could be seen, concealed beneath a veritable sea of black, white, and red. Beowulves, Ursi, and the occasional Boarbatusk made up most of the army, but on the far side of the clearing, a golden-amber stinger drew attention to a deathstalker of not-insignificant size, snapping its claws impatiently at its smaller bretheren.
"Well... dang." Yang muttered. Some other students had outright gasped at the fearsome sight. Ozpin took a sip from his coffee mug, giving a moment to let the grimm scene sink in.
"And to that end, we have devised this yearly… exercise. Your classes for the next week have been cancelled for you to partake in this; it is completely mandatory for all first-year students, and optional, but recommended, for second-years." Yang had been wondering why Team CFVY was there, looking rather less impressed by the carpet of Grimm than everyone else. "Including this next saturday and sunday, you will spend the next seven days systematically exterminating any and all of these monsters from the forest. More Grimm will migrate into this territory after your work is done, but in numbers more… reasonable for the initiate students to handle. This will also serve as a test of your own skills, to see how well you have grown over the past year."
"So what's the catch?" Yang whispered to Blake, the two of them sharing a mirthful glance. This didn't seem all that bad, though some part of her was disappointed at the wasted weekend.
"There is a catch, however." Ozpin unexpectedly continued, interrupting the flurry of whisperings from the crowd. "The third object of this activity is to encourage students to be adaptable, to branch out somewhat from the familiar, to learn to work with and get to know those they are less familiar with. That is where the 'Partnership Permutation' aspect of this exercise comes into play."
A frenzy of whispers broke out in response to this as the hologram screen changed yet again. On one side was a simple overhead map of what Yang could only assume was the Emerald Forest, while the other half displayed eight blank portrait squares, each with a letter below them. Teams ABCD and EFGH, apparently. "Each team of students will be paired with one other, and the two will be assigned to a particular sector of the forest." A yellow line traced a roughly rectangular shape in one corner of the map, and the view zoomed in on that section. "Each day, the members of the different teams will be assigned a different partner, and they will clear out a particular part of the greater section." At this, the letters on the right side of the screen began to shuffle around. "On the last day, you will work with your original partner from Initiation again, hopefully now having learned a little something from working with others and applying that to your existing relationship."
His tone turned serious again, once more affixing the students with a significant glance. "But do not forget your mission, or the stakes. Medical staff will be standing by, but as with Initiation, if you make a mistake, death is a very real possibility." There was another pause, the tension in the air thick enough to cut through, before the headmaster relaxed his stance once more. "Team assignments and specific partnerships shall be sent to your scrolls shortly. You will have three more days of normal classes with which to prepare, stock up on ammunition, and whatever else you may need. You are dismissed… and I wish you all good luck."
Yang let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "Well… this will be interesting."
So. The idea for this particular fic came to me a while back, right around when I got into the show but before Volume 2 released. I unfortunately never got around to writing it, though… until now.
After the events of the Volume 3 finale, it sunk in to me how little we've seen Pyrrha interacting with anyone other than Jaune and Weiss. I can certainly accept Ruby's grief from the standpoint of seeing a loose acquaintance die, but I couldn't help but wish we'd gotten at least one scene with the two of them bonding or something that would have helped add to the impact of… well, you know what happened. On top of that, with how absent Blake has been from this volume, until the last few episodes, and the fact that Ren and Nora will be hanging out with Ruby now, it reawakened my desire to revive this particular concept.
Seriously, while Ruby and Yang are sisters, Blake and Weiss have their whole 'White Fang vs. Schnee Dust' thing going on, and Weiss and Yang had the dance planning in Volume 2, I think the last time we've seen Ruby and Blake directly interact with one another was all the way back in The Shining Beacon Pt. 2.
Along with being an excuse to write some less commonly-seen interactions, I also wanted to use this as an excuse to practice writing fight scenes. Thus, this story will pretty much mainly comprise of talking and combat; don't expect too much more of a plot beyond that.
As for time-frames, while I personally prefer to believe that the first three volumes took place over the course of a single Fall semester, the episode Best Day Ever makes a strong case for it being more like a year. For the sake of this fic, I will be going with the latter scenario, and placing this story just after Volume 2.
Through The Darkened Mirror and The Curse And The Blessing will take priority over this one, so updates will be sporadic, but I hope you enjoy this regardless.