Chapter 3: The First Step

Jaune Arc had recently been admitted into Beacon Academy. He wasn't the most talkative fellow, nor was he inclined to be so. Without much of a home to return to, he kept moving forward, never looking back once. Of course, there was going to be challenges, such as the Grimm, or bandits, even ten page essays weren't out of the equation. But so long as he kept a cool head, and a steady blade, he could beat any challenges in his way.

"Wakey, wakey, sleepy-buns!"

Oh, and with his personal alarm clock, Pyrrha Nikos, of course.

"Good morning,

Good morning,

Good morning,

It's morning!" She said in a sing-song voice.

Arc couldn't help but sigh. Every moment of the day Pyrrha was always at 100%. Full throttle, 0 to 60 in a matter of five seconds. He could never keep up with her, so he gave up trying a long time ago. She would talk about everything on her mind, whether it was in the bathroom while he was brushing his teeth...

"I can't believe we've been at Beacon for a full day now! Not that I thought we'd be kicked out or anything. I am a straight-A student and you're, well, you! But it's so incredible, don't you agree? We've together for so long!"

When they were adjusting their equipment...

"What are the odds that we'd be paired up together? Though I guess we're already together-together, so maybe I could just ask the teachers if they could put us on the same team?"

While they were eating waffles...

"But even if we don't, I will always love you, Arcy-poo! Wait! What if we make a plan? One that will make sure we're on the same team? What if we bribe Salem?! No, that won't work, she has a school..."

While they were equipping before the initiation test...

"I know! We'll have a calling sign!One that only we'll recognize! That way, we'll locate each other in the forest! Can you recognize a rabbit squeak?"

"Pyrrha?"

"Yes, Jaune?"

Arc sheaths his sword in his collapsible shield and fastens it to his waist. "Do rabbits make a lot of noise?"

Pyrrha thinks on that for a second. "No... but that's why it's PERFECT! No one will suspect a thing!" She yells enthusiastically.

Arc couldn't help but smile. Her enthusiasm was contagious, which was a good thing, too. 'If she didn't drag me out of bed each morning then I probably wouldn't get up in the first place.' He humors his girlfriend. "Alright, let's practice that rabbit call." He says with a small laugh.

"Ohhhh! We're SO going to end up on the same team now!" Pyrrha says with a series of giggles. They walked out of the locker room, leaving behind a Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long.

"Huh. Wonder what those two were so excited about?" Yang asks her sister.

"Oh, who cares? What's more important is that you seem a lot happier this morning." Ruby says, smiling at her sister.

"Yep! No more awkward socializing! Now I can just let my dear Bumblebee do the talking." Yang says, hugging her sword.

"Alright, but Yang?" Ruby looks at her sister worriedly.

"Muh?"

"You should try to socialize more. You're always so worried about me, that you never have any time to yourself. Get to know some people!" Ruby urges her sister.

"Ugh, you sound like Mother..." Yang grumbles.

"Ouch, burn." Ruby said with a chuckle. "But I'm just saying, sis. You may want to find a team without me, for your own sake." Ruby says.

"My dearest little sister Ruby, are you implying that you don't want to be on a team with me?!" Yang accuses angrily.

"What?! No, of course I do! That accusation's completely-"

"Ludicrous!" Ren says, looking for his other sets of clothes. "There's no feasible way I stored my belongings in locker 636! I'd remember something like that, right? Why does this have to happen today of all days..." He groans while passing Blake Belladonna and the champion fighter, Nora Valkyrie. Also known as the "Goddess of Lightning."

"So, Nora, have you considered who you will ally with? Rumor is that teams are forming today."

Nora takes a moment to think about it. "Hmmmm... Who knows? I'll just leave it up to chance." She said with a shrug.

"Really? Because, if you prefer, I could be your partner." Blake suggests.

"Sure! That sounds neat!" Nora says enthusiastically. Secretly Blake plotted...

'Yes! We'll be insurmountable! The strongest fighter in Beacon combined with the smartest student in Beacon! Perfect grades, perfect combat scores, we'll be so popular!'

"Do you know what else is neat? Lie Ren. That's myself." Ren says, appearing seemingly out of nowhere.

"Hi, Lie!" Nora says with a wave, chuckling at her rhyme.

"Yeah, hi- Now, I didn't seem to catch your name, beautiful." He says, directing it at Blake.

"If you must know, my name is Blake Belladonna, and may address me by my full name until the foreseeable future." She says coldly.

"So we have a future, eh? Sounds promising." Ren says, refusing to take the hint. "So I heard teams were being formed today, been thinking we could be an astounding pair."

Nora joins in on the conversation. "Actually, I heard teams are going to be four people each."

Lie turns around. "Truly? Then perhaps we could be on the same team as well. I would appreciate the company." He said with a bow and a smile.

"Whoawhoawhoa, hold up! Lie Ren, do you have any idea as to whom you are speaking to?" Blake demands.

"None at all." He answers truthfully.

"This is Nora Valkyrie."

"Hi again!" Nora said with a cheery grin.

"Nora graduated top of her class at Sanctum Academy."

"I've unfortunately never heard of the Academy." Lie says, having grown up away from there.

"She's won the Mistral Regional four times in a row. That's a world record!" She said, getting more exasperated the more she explains.

"I'm sorry?"

Blake was pinching the bridge of her nose. "She's on the cover of every Strawberry Sloth's breakfast cereal..." She mutters. She would be severely disappointed if that was where Lie knew Nora.

She was disappointed. "I'm sorry, that's you?! Strawberry Sloth is my favorite cereal!" Lie said, flabbergasted.

"Yeah, it's pretty neat. People complain it isn't good for you, but ehhh, who cares?" She says nonchalantly.

"So, now that you know who you're talking to, do you really believe that you are in a position to ask her to be on your team?" Blake says, her eyes turning into slits.

"I... suppose not. I'll be on my way." He says, embarrassed.

"Wait, Lie! Come on, don't be such a sour-puss! I, for one, would love to be on your team." Nora says with a grin.

"Oh, you don't mean that!" Lie says, his mood improving significantly.

"I mean, you seriously can't. He's just a wannabe!" Blake argues.

"Well, it seems like two spots have been filled, now there's only two left... Sure you don't want to join?" Ren says.

"Like I'd want to join a team with an arrogant human like yourself." She says with cruel intent, before storming off. "Ouch." Ren said appropriately.

A 'ping!' signaled an announcement. "Would all first year students report to Beacon Cliffs for initiation? Again, all first year students please report to Beacon Cliffs for initiation."

"Well, see ya later, Lie!" Nora said quickly.

She left, leaving Ren alone. He sighs. "Well that could have gone better..." He laments.

"Having trouble there, lady killer?" Ruby said, walking over with Yang.

"Sis, please." Yang said sternly, offering Ren a comforting hand on the shoulder.

"I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. My father, Li Ren, says that confidence is all you need. Is he wrong?"

"Listen, Lie. Every girl is different. Even if confidence is all your dad needed to woo over your mom, that doesn't mean it will win you Blake." Yang said in mature tone.

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Yang." He said sincerely.

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They all arrived at Beacon Cliffs. There stood Salem and Emerald, ready to give instructions. The row of students included all of those we've meet so far, as well as a rabbit faunus and a woman wearing a pair of sunglasses. They both wore punk-rocker outfits.

"For years, you all have trained to become Huntsmen and Huntresses, and today your skills will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Salem states.

Emerald speaks up. "I bet you're all thinking that your going to be assigned teams today. Well... You'd be right." She says, not quite sure why she phrased it that way herself.

Salem continues her explanation. "Your objective is to reach the end of this forest, where several relics are held. These relics will determine which team you will be placed on. The team you are placed on will be your partners for the rest of your time here at Beacon. As such, you will want to partner yourselves with whom you will work well with. That being said, the first person you meet will be your partner." Salem said with a straight face.

"What?!" All the students start freaking out. Salem chuckles. 'I always love that part.'

"You will acquire no assistance from the teachers during this test. Don't hesitate to destroy all in your way, for the Grimm that occupy this forest will not. Prepare to launch."

As she said this, the pads they all stood on began to launch each of the students.

"Uh, Headmistress Salem? I have a question..." Ren says nervously. He didn't seem to notice each of the students soaring into the air.

"I am not accepting any questions at this time, thank you." Salem says quickly.

"What? B-But, I was kind of wonderiIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" His question was cut short by his sudden disconnect from the earth.

Salem watched them all fly off with a totally neutral expression. Emerald walked over to her and handed her a cup of tea. "Aw, thank you Emerald."

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Each of the students soared through the air, each equipped with their own landing strategy. Arc unsheathed his sword and impaled it into the nearest tree, using it as a stopper and safely landing on the ground. He looked up into the air and saw Pyrrha standing on top of her shield like a surfboard, surfing across the treetops.

Yang hit the ground running, looking for a partner as quickly as possible. She considered her options.

'Who should I partner with? I want to partner with Ruby, but that might not be possible... I could partner with Lie. He may be a shameless flirt, but he's still nice when it counts. Not sure how good he is in a fight, though... Wait, there's still Weiss. She's pretty cool and mysterious, but not a very good conversation partner... Oh, come on! There has to be someone else I can partner with. There's Ruby, Lie, Weiss..."

She skidded to a halt when she saw the figure of a nearby person. She made eye contact with them.

She realized she was locked eyes with the blank-faced Blake Belladonna. They stood there for a few seconds, Yang doing her best to give a smile. Blake turned and left.

"No! Wait! Please come back! Awwwww..."

Blake kept walking, tugging on her dress whenever it got snagged. "Ugh... Stupid... Plants..."

"Ugh... Stupid... Tree..." Blake looked up to see Lie hanging from a tree, his shirt being hung on a tree branch. "Oh... Hello, Blake! I was just... hanging around..." He said, losing heart halfway through it. This caused her to head back the way she came.

She returned to Yang's side. "You better pull you weight."

Yang was ecstatic. "Yes! Thanks, Blake!"

Lie was still in the tree. "Wait! I am in need of assistance! Come back, please!"

"Ren? What'cha doing up there, you Silly-Billy!" Nora said, appearing below him.

"Oh, hello, Nora. I was, uh, just hanging around?" He says again, trying the same joke again.

Surprisingly, Nora laughs at this. "Didn't you just say that?"

"Yeah." Lie says, dejectedly.

"You need help?"

"I would really appreciate it."

"Alright, I'll get you down in a jiffy!" Nora says, taking out her grenade launcher and firing at the spot of the tree right behind Lie.

"Wait! Nononononono-" He's cut off by the explosion. The branch flies off the tree, taking Lie with it and sending him into the air. He screams, and closes his eyes in expectation of the fall, but it never happens. He opens his eyes to see Nora smiling at him, having caught him.

"Hi!" Nora says, happily.

He couldn't help but chuckle. "Hello!" Ren says with a small wave.

Author's notes: I was SO excited to write this chapter! The introductory scene in chapter 4 is one of my favorites in Volume 1, and doing it with swapped characters was so much fun! Oh, and the Arkos ship has already sailed! No beating around the bush with this one.

Now time to respond to reviews:

DarkDevilKnight:

I think I prefer "Headmistress" instead of "Headmaster" for Salem but this is a good story so far.

Thank you so much for correcting me on that! If anyone notices a spelling or grammatical error, please tell me so I can correct it ASAP! Thanks for the feedback!

Lord Of Memory:

This is really cool. So we have Ren replacing Jaune, so will Nora replace Pyrrha? Interesting to see that the faunus are the top dogs now. I can't wait for the next chapter, this is a wonderful piece of art.

Thank you so much! I never had someone compliment one of my works like that before! Pyrrha did indeed replace Nora, as this chapter proves. Also, the faunus aren't quite the top dogs, as will be revealed further down the line...

Royal2:

Good chapter, man. Can't wait for more.

Thanks! Should be updated fairly often.

See you all next episode!