Glynda Goodwitch considered herself a hardened individual. She was the leader of one of the best teams that Beacon had ever produced. She spent fifteen years on some of the most dangerous missions, fighting hardened criminals and some of the most dangerous Grimm imaginable. She had arrived to save countless villages from the fate of extinction.

Often she had thought of what the world would be like without the influence of Grimm and Salem. And now she had an answer, if he was to be believed.

And what she heard the child in front of Ozpin was truly sickening.

That an entire world could be blown back into the Stone Age, where murder was as normal as breathing, all because of dwindling resources and swollen egos, was horrifying. That those in power allowed sickening experiments like this FEV to be tested on their own people, with not only consent but encouragement, was sickening. That those few places that could be considered Humanity's last chance often had a cruel fate for those walking through their doors was nauseating. That such cruel groups like this Caesar's Legion was accepted with open arms in some places was mind boggling.

But the worst part of it all was that this child, easily old enough to be any one of her students, was talking about such a twisted, cruel world with the same ease as one would talk about the weather. How he talked about having seen people ripped in half as though it was normal. That he had confessed that he had easily taken hundreds of lives, that he had fought in a war, as though he was talking about reading a book.

And while it was hard to believe, even if it explained of some of his gear, the most damning pieces of evidence was when he played nine 'holotapes' from his strange watch. His 'Pip-boy' as he called it. And whether it was just what was being said or how real the emotions behind the words were, she was leaning on the side of belief.

The first one was of a woman who had been attacked and experimented on.

The second was of the woman and some man arguing about different ideologies.

The third had the woman learning her target's next destination, and of the man's future meeting.

The macabre man was alone in the fourth, and talked about what happened after his and the woman's interaction.

The fifth one told of how he found a crater, a place called the Big Empty.

The sixth talked about petulant 'gods' who didn't remember themselves, who didn't know of what happened to the land they called home.

The seventh had the story of the man finding war crazed tribals, encouraging them to work for a man- no, monster, named Caesar.

The eighth was arguably the worst, of how it talked about the man ordering the destruction of an entire people, down to the last child, simply because one man wished it so.

The final one showed that even this man, who spoke for a monster, was the last of his people, and told of how his dead family were defiled.

She was astonished as Ozpin kept a straight face throughout it, only asking the ocasional question here and there, but content to listen to the boy's - no, this man's, for he couldn't be called a boy after what he had went through - entire story. But she could see the cracks in the Headmaster's facade, those instances where even he was completely baffled by the nature of what he was told.

When Ozpin asked if Jason would like to join Beacon as a student, her heart broke even further when he asked what a school was. That his world was so broken that they didn't have such a basic facility truly struck her heartstrings.

When she questioned the Headmaster about his choice of accepting the Courier into the Battle School, she didn't know what to expect for an answer, but didn't care. As the man on the tapes, Ulysses had put it, she just wanted to know the why.

"There are a number of reasons," he had told her. "The most logical reason being that he is used to fighting people. Grimm are mindless monsters, creatures that anyone in Remnant can fight with relative ease, with little weight on their conscious. But the true enemies, the true monsters, are people. He won't hesitate when facing off against an enemy, a skill we desperately need for this… war of ours. Can you see Miss Rose capable of putting down those that need it? Or any of our students?" When his questions were met with silence, he continued.

"The more humane reason was to show him what peace could look like, what it feels like to not be afraid of experiencing any of the innumerable dangers of his Wasteland, even if for a short time. And whether he knows it or not, he deserves a chance to be a normal child, at least by our standards."

Glynda Goodwitch considered herself a hardened individual. But she had no idea how she would handle herself in that chaotic world where you had to draw blood almost daily just to survive.

Glynda Goodwitch was a woman who had thought of what the world would be like without the influence of Grimm and Salem. Now that she had been given an answer, she wished she hadn't.

In the following week of me being 'accepted' into a Battle School, I learned to read. Took three days, seeing how it was similar to English with different symbols and rules, but I did it. And during that time, I read all of what was considered common knowledge in this world, Remnant.

There were four Kingdoms, and the basic story we had going on was that I was a student from Vacuo, the Kingdom closest in climate to the Mojave. Learned enough that I should be able to come up with an excuse should I let something slip.

Faunus were a race of people with animal traits that was treated almost as badly as Ghouls and Super Mutants in some places.

They had their own Great War, but for different reasons and vastly different results than the one I knew. Luckily my last name fits with this Color Naming Rule, so I wouldn't be asked any questions on that.

There were monsters called Grimm, which made the expansion of the Kingdoms nigh-impossible. And while a majority of them were big with crazy abilities at times, I'm going to hold onto my opinion that a horde of hungry Deathclaws running for you was worse until I'm proven otherwise.

But the most interesting thing for me was this substance called Dust. Best I can describe it, Dust is a series of minerals with varying effects depending on its refinement process, making it a versatile natural recourse for both power and weapons. If you don't like the way I described it, blame my brain. It went super sciency when we were separated. And luckily, the school has a state of the art workshop, so I can give my weapons an upgrade.

Speaking of weapons, I had a portion of my microfusion cells, pulse grenades and plasma grenades sent to Atlas. The reasoning went along the lines of 'more tools to combat Grimm and another resource to power the Kingdoms.' So hopefully I'll get a shipment of those as repayment, seeing as they are mine and cannot be replaced yet. It's heartbreaking that my baby is going to be collecting dust for a good while.

And so that brings us here, me in my Elite Riot Gear, minus the Helmet, on my way to a school that teaches kids to fight monsters. Why doesn't the Mojave have something this useful?

The airship I was on was carrying a fair number of first year students, people who attend a school, and while it was mostly crowded, I found a nice, quiet area for me to continue A History of Mantle. There was only one other person, a girl in black with a ridiculous bow that occasionally twitched if one looked close enough, but she was also reading, so we didn't talk to each other. Yay, knowledge!

An announcement ran out throughout the ship, the dominatrix from the other day, talked about… something. Not going to lie, I was distracted by the book and trying to get used to the music here. I still had my favorites saved on my Pip-boy, on the off chance that I couldn't get the Radio New Vegas signal (like right now), but I figured that I needed to learn to appreciate what people here consider music. As a side note, I've learned that my ears are not at all compatible with techno and dubstep.

Now, this Beacon Academy was… insane. I read a story with a castle, even dreamed of owning one myself. But this, this one building could easily be compared to the Strip. That was crazy for me to comprehend. No building in the Mojave could match up. And all of this space was used for one sole purpose, without any dickwads fighting for the right to control it (*cough*Omertas*cough*) was incredible.

*BOOM*

Ah, yes, can't go anywhere nice without an explosion going off.

At the site of the explosion was- oh shit! It's Red Hood! And she's being yelled at by some chick in white. Like, pure white. Who wears white? That shit stains like no other.

So after the harpy left, I walk towards the girl. "You certainly know how to make an entrance," I say, startling her.

"I'm sorry, who are… OH! You're the armor guy from the Dust Shop! And if you're here, that means you're attending Beacon!"

"Yep, that's me. Vigilante at night, probably asleep during the day. Don't think I got your name before the Dominatrix started beating us."

"Domin- oh, her, yeah." Oh, she started blushing. Should I not call the woman that anymore? "Um, I'm Ruby Rose! Huntress-in-training, all though I guess we all are. Or, some of us would be Huntsmen, I guess, but-"

Yeah, stopping this train wreck. "That's a very fitting name, given your color scheme. Name's Jason Silvers, and as you can see, I'm a firm believer that black goes great with everything." Oh, that got a chuckle out of her.

"I'm with you on that. Too bad it practically kills you during Summer."

"Bah, who cares, I look badass. I wear this stuff in deserts."

"Oh, speaking of cool, I got this bad boy," she said, pulling out her scythe. "Crescent Rose, my baby! Not only is she a scythe, but she's also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle!"

"Damn, that's nice. What caliber does it fire? I remember you using the recoil to do flips and junk, so it has to be at least .50 caliber." Her eyes practically lit up.

"Well, nothing that big. Just normal .308's, making it much more manageable when it's in rifle mode. And I've been meaning to ask, what about your weapon?! You know, the one you used that night!"

I grinned as I pulled out my baby, letting her look in wonder. "This is the Holorifle, a one of a kind energy based, pump action rifle. It uses microfusion cells, more specifically model No. 1040 MFC, a medium-sized energy production unit, which are a self-contained fusion plant with an output of 1040.8 VDC. And while the ammo is rare and it can only hold four rounds at a time, it's completely worth it when all it takes are two clean shots before whatever it hits is turned into ash. Luckily, Atlas is working on making more, so hopefully I'll be able to use it more often."

"That's amazing! I've never even heard of ammo like that! Can-can I hold it?" I hold it out into her waiting hands. She was looking at it like someone gave her a million caps. "Ooooh, and it comes with a night vision scope! This is so cool! But why 'Holorifle?'"

"Because when it fires, the shot looks like holographic cubes." If it was possible, I think her eyes and smile got wider exponentially.

"Cool!"

*Hey, Jason?*

Yes, Brain.

*Weren't you supposed to be doing something else? Something important? Something that needs doing right now!*

…

"CRAP! THE CEREMONY!"

Ruby looked up and the same horrified look as mine grew on her face.

"OH CHEESE AND CRACKERS YOU'RE RIGHT!"

And so a friendship was born that day from the fan(boy/girl)ing over weapons and terror of missing an important ceremony with no idea the layout of the massive facility.

Ain't life grand?

Ruby Rose was writing a letter to some of her friends in Signal, telling them about how nervous she was initially arriving, but quickly made a new friend who seemed as big a Gun Nut as herself! She wrote about how distant the Headmaster seemed when giving his speech, but wrote it off as him giving it so many times.

"Woo!" a familiar voice at her side exclaimed. Ruby looked up at her blonde half-sister, Yang Xiao Long. "This is great! It's like a giant slumber party!"

"Not sure Dad would like all the boys, though," Ruby said.

"I know I do~," she almost purred, looking at a particular group that was wrestling with no shirts on, revealing some very nice physiques. Yes, Yang was certainly enjoying herself with all the potential eye candy. "So what's my baby sister doin'?"

"Oh, just writing a letter to the gang back in Signal. I promised to tell them about things going on at Beacon," the Reaper told the Brawler.

"Aw, thats so cuuute!" In response, she was hit in the face with a sizable pillow.

"Shut up! I couldn't take any of my friends to school! It's weird not knowing anyone here!"

"Oh yeah, well what about that one guy you ran into the Auditorium with," the yellow sister teased. "Did he not count as a friend?"

"Yeah, what gives? Kinda hurtful that I don't count, if I'm being honest," a male voice said. Both sisters turned to see Jason standing next to them, wearing a brown bear onesie, the front not zipped up all the way, showing a black crop top.

"N-no no," she stammered out. "You're definitely my friend, it's just, uh…" she trailed off as she started looking away.

"Meh, no problems," he waved off. "So, mind if I sleep with you guys? The only person I know is the chick that's balancing a table on her nose, and I don't think I can feel safe with that next to me." The girls looked in that direction and indeed saw a short, redheaded girl doing that same impossible act. It utterly confused them when they saw how the guy next to her was drinking tea, as though it was the most normal thing in the world.

Truly, Beacon was where all the interesting people gathered.

"Yeah, go ahead," Yang said. "But if you do anything weird to Rubles, you're-"

"'Gonna regret it,' I know," he finished her sentence with exasperation, throwing his sleeping bag down. "Sorry, but the only person I'm interested in right now is the Sandman."

"I'm with you on that," Ruby mumbled, putting away the letter. She's probably be able to finish it in the morning anyway.

"You know, I gotta ask, man. What's with the onesie," the blonde asked.

"Because I thought it looked nice and the interior feels amazing." Nothing in the Wasteland could match it, and he would defend that statement to the death. "But enough about me, what's this about you and not having friends?"

"Well, see, here's the thing-"

"She's upset that you're the only friend she made and made an enemy of the newly dubbed Ice Queen."

"Yang!"

"Tell me I'm wrong, sis."

"Well, yeah, you're not wrong, but I only met them because I caused an explosion in the middle of campus! I'm not sure what that means about the future of my social life."

"Rubes, it's only been a day," the yellow sister tried to comfort the red one. "These kinds of things take time."

"She's right, you know," the cyborg replied. "First day and you found me, so tomorrow I bet you'd make, maybe two or three friends at least. And maybe a nemesis or two, those are always fun to have."

"But I don't want to be anyone's 'nemesis.' I just want to go and fight Grimm…" Ah, yes, the perks of wanting to be anti-social.

"Oh, I know," with that, Yang dragged Ruby away. "See you later, man! I'm taking her to go talk to other people!"

"Wait! Where are we going! Jason! Help me!"

The Courier simply waved them off, deciding that it was none of his business.

And so, while his new friend was pulled into the scary world of social interactions, he got inside of the wonderful sleeping bag, and went to sleep in record time.

Pyrrha Nikos was still not completely sure if she made the right choice coming to Beacon.

It's definitely an improvement from how it would be if she had stayed in Minstral, where everyone treated her like a celebrity, like someone who was so high above them they didn't deserve the privilege to speak to her. She thought it'd be different here.

People were still nervous to talk to her, and she was still being put on a pedestal. She was still known here, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. They still revered her for her battle prowess, on her victories from a country away, but it was slightly more dilated than if she had stayed home.

So, yes, she believed that it was a little better here than if she had attended Haven Academy.

At least until a certain white haired heiress approached her. Pyrrha had met people with angles like hers before, wanting to use her status or abilities for their own purpose rather than trying to get to know her as a person. But she was always taught to be kind to people, to let them down gently lest she hurt their feelings. But there were times when she just wanted to tell people to screw off, to leave her be. But she was too sweet a person to tell them that, too Good Natured.

"And that's why we'd make the best team in all of Beacon," Weiss Schnee told the Champion. Oh, yes, there was no denying that, if paired up, they'd be a force to be reckoned with. But Pyrrha couldn't see herself having an enjoyable time at Beacon if they were to be together for the next four years. "So, what do you think, Pyrrha?"

That I want you to leave me the fuck alone. "Why… yes, we might," she said. Before the Heiress could continue, she was bumped into by someone.

"Ugh, excuse you," she all but hissed at the boy immediately. He was a bit taller than Pyrrha, with messy platinum hair that stood out against his black armor and duster, sunglasses covering his blue eyes. A large duffle bag was slung over his shoulder and he had a strange, dark green watch on his left wrist.

"Why, my apologies, Snowflake," he said, giving her a slight bow. "I didn't mean to accidentally run into you. Please pardon my inexcusable actions." It was hard for the Champion to contain the slight giggle that was threatening to emerge from this sight, but she did it.

"Snow- Do you know who I am?!"

"Don't know, don't care."

"Wha-! I am Weiss Schnee, heiress of-"

"As I said before, 'dont know, don't care.' We've all got a date with a cliff side, so I'm making sure I ain't late. So you and Bronze over there," he lazily waved in the Champion's direction, "can do whatever." With that, he turned and walked off.

He walked off and didn't even grace Pyrrha with a glance, the only acknowledgement she received was a lazy wave and a weak nickname.

It was amazing!

And if he didn't know about Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company and famed music idol known across Remnant, that could usually be recognized at a glance by practically anyone, that meant only good things for her.

Weiss continued their 'conversation,' but the Champion wasn't paying any attention, only giving the occasional nod as she pulled her things together and walked towards the initiation site.

If she were to be asked, at this moment, who she would pick between people who knew of her like Weiss, or people who didn't give a flying fuck like the boy in black armor?

Well, she already made her choice.

"For years you have trained to become warriors, and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest," Ozpin told the dozens of students before him. His gaze stuck on the armored student towards the end of the line, guessing that this would probably easier for him than almost everyone else.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams," Glynda stated. "Well, allow us to put an end to that confusion. Each of you will be given teammates… Today." A red cloaked girl groaned while the Courier scowled a bit.

Did you hear anything about Teammates?

*I don't recall so.*

Crapbaskets.

Ozpin took center stage again. "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to pair up with someone with whom you can work well." Double crapbaskets. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Triple crapbaskets. That last part was met with varying degrees of reactions.

"After you've partnered up," he continued, "make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your way, or you will die." Oh, isn't that nice.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but the instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one, and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Anything you want to ask, Brain?

*Well, I do have one question, yes.*

"Good! Now, take your positions."

*How are we getting into the woods?*

That's… actually a good question.

"Um, sir, how exactly will we be getting to the forest exactly?"

"Well, take a look to your right," the Headmaster said.

When the Courier did, he saw Yang get launched into the air.

"Professor Ozpin."

"Yes, Mr Silvers?"

Ruby Rose was catapulted into the air as Ozpin took a sip from his coffee.

"Go fuck yourself."

And then the Courier flew.

I love my job, the headmaster thought to himself.

Alright boys and girls! Listen up! The most important thing to keep in mind that is that this is a Jaune replacement. I love the blonde moron, I really do, but I've read to many fanfics where the inserted character is either an extra on Team RWBY or a full team of uncreative and flat OCs. I have neither the patience nor the creativity to do either of those things, so I'm replacing Jaune Arc. And while Jaune is one of, if not the most relatable character, he's kind of a blank slate in terms of ability at the beginning, so that's part of the reason why so many fanfics give him the busted powers. Just wanted to get that out of the way beforehand.