Chapter 4

Beacon is a lot like any other school, you go to class and hope you get good grades, deal with social groups, and try to keep above the stress. And the training to fight an ancient unending evil. That too.

But you can make a lot of the same mistakes here that you do for normal schools, like over-sleeping. We didn't oversleep, but RWBY and JNPR did. Lee and I woke up around six, just getting our things in order. Lee and i had caught up on our lives the night before, just lying in our beds telling each other what happened before now.

Lee had come from Vacuo, a traveling caravan to be precise, and he and his family traveled around the continent selling their wares in towns and villages. He'd had to learn how to fought really young because of grimm and bandits. Then when he was about twelve his family made the move to the valean area, and they started to trade with villages around here. Then when he turned seventeen he left for beacon.

I told him about my past as well, at least the stuff that mattered. I told him about growing up in my village and moving here, and what I had been doing these past twelve years. After all that we decided it had been a long enough day already and hit the hay.

"Do you think we can beat the others to Ports?" I look over at Lee and smirk at his question.

I then turn to our door, "considering we have a fifteen minute head start? Yeah, I think the odds are in our favor."

We then make our way towards Professor Port's room, ready for the torture waiting inside. It takes us maybe five minutes to get there, with us going at a leisurely pace. Oddly enough the class room was empty except for us, so we decided to just take our seats close to the middle, not too far back to be considered not paying attention, but also not too close to want to look like teachers pets. We sat there for two minutes then before someone else came in through the door, a very, rotund someone else.

"Ah! The new students! Got here early to get the best seats for my class, eh boys?" Port was almost exactly as they showed him in the series. A rotund man, still tall and energetic, with a very finely groomed mustache. "Alas! What is this? You're sitting in the middle! Well I can't let my newly named proteges do such a thing, no sir! Up you come lads!" and he gestured towards the very front of the room. Damn, I had hoped Ozpin was kidding when he said that Port liked us. Oh well, I could never be rude to someone with Ryan Haywoods voice, what a majestic man.

"Right away sir, Come on Ash!" well at least Lee is enjoying the attention, ah well, Port isn't the worst person to have as a teacher.

"Oh Ho! Lots of energy in you young gentlemen! Would one of you like to be the volunteer for today's activity? Originally I was going to have a student volunteer for the prestigious position, but with you two strapping young lads I think one of you would make the perfect paragon of what a huntsman should strive to be!" ah shit. I can't say no to that. He might put me in the hole.

I turn to Lee and we both have the same idea. We bring our fists to our hands and begin the chant.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot!" I whip out my rock while Lee has his own. Damn, I forgot we always chose the same things. This goes on for a while, both of us getting the same as the other for the longest time until finally… I slip up.

"Ha! Rock beats paper! You lose!" shit!

"So I'm going up then?"

Lee claps me on the back as other students start to low in the classroom, "You know it brother!"

We go back to our new seats, the ones at the front, and get ready for the class. About a minute left before we start RWBY and JNPR burst through the door, panting for breath and exhausted from sprinting over here. Weiss breaks off from the rest of her team and takes her seat up front, next to Lee and I. Her team follows her to the other front row seats and take their seats for the class.

"Monsters! Deeeemons... Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Ha-ha!" And there we go, Port is in full swing now.

After Port's bad joke Ruby jolts awake, how was she already asleep? We just started for God's sake! Nobody laughs at Port's joke, poor guy.

"Uhhhh... And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses..." at this he shoots Yang wink, gross man she's like forty years younger than you. Self control Peter, please."Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"

"Ayyyy-yep!" Who the hell said that!? Did you just get pumped up from Port? Fair enough, the guy's got a strange energy about him that just infects you.

"That is what you are training to become. But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome man... Me! When I was a boy..." Atta boy Port, way to steer us back in.

He continues his story for a while, it's actually kinda gripping. If you read through the narcissism you can tell he's really trying to get his points across about what huntsmen are all about. But then there's the damn giggling from a certain black and red haired tiny tot.

"...Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter', he told me..."

Ruby continues to giggle at her little drawing she's making. I look over at Weiss and see her gripping her pencil like it's a certain someone's neck. And I thought I had anger issues. Ruby shows off her rendition of 'Professor Poop' and blows a raspberry. Yang and Blake manage to stifle their giggles, and even Lee is holding back a laugh! What the hell man, it's not even that funny… heh.

Port: "Ah-heh-hem!" ah shit, lost track. "In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!"

Port takes a little bow, obviously proud of himself for his excellent speech. He then straightens out again to wrap up his lesson,

"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable!"

Ruby starts to balance an apple… on her pencil… on a book. What the actual hell is this girls malfunction? Ah well, she's just a kid.

"A true Huntsman must be dependable!"

And now she's asleep again. HOW?

"A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!"

And now she's awake! And picking her nose! What kind of person has this kind of dedication to lowering standards!?

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

I raise my hand at the same time, though not nearly as fast, as Weiss and her cry of "I do sir!" Port gives out a smile, I think, that mustache is hard to read. He then points at me, what the hell did I say about staying under the radar?

"Mr. Ryut! I believe you would make an excellent candidate for today's test of skill and honor!" I can physically see the wind blow out of Weiss' sails. She really wanted to prove herself huh?

I leave the classroom to get my equipment, I only grab my armor and hammer as that's all I should need for the pig.

I take up my position opposite the cage, Lee leading the cheer for me with RBY, and JNPR, even though I only really know Jaune from that team. Oh dear, Nora is eyeing my hammer, I don't think I like that look in her eyes. Weiss on the other hand is positively scowling in my direction, not sure what I did to her to deserve that, but ok I guess.

"Aaalright! Let the match…. Begin!" And with that Port chops off the latch of the cage, come on man those would be re-usable if you didn't break them. The Boarbatusk immediately charges at me, hate in its' eyes. I widen my stance to give me more control of my maneuverability and get ready to dodge the first attack. The beast charges straight at me, unwavering in its' course. I jump out of the way just as its' about to hit me, then I SLAM my hammer into its' side, it flies off into the wall but doesn't seem to fazed by my attack. I hear a cheer coming from a Lee, and the rest of the people on my side.

The pig then turns around and begins to charge its' spin attack, rolling into a ball and spinning in place building up an ungodly amount of speed in the process.

"The belly!" I hear lee yell, "Remember the belly!" Well how could I forget? It's only one of the confirmed weak spots. The boar does its' spinning attack rolling high speed towards me. I blast the bottom of it with my hammer and it goes flying into the air. While its' up there I press the button on my hammer to activate the hook, and I swing my hammer towards the beast, piercing its' body with the hook. I then slam my hammer downwards bring the pig back to earth, it's' now stuck on its back and I capitalize on that. I retract the hook back into its' spike form, then I slam said spike into the underbelly of the beast, effectively gutting it. I then activate my aura and it flares up around me, fire begins to cover my hands and cover my hammer, the spike allowing my flames to flow into the Boarbatusk itself. A smell of bacon begins to fill the air as I literally cook the beast from the inside out, it begins to bloat, then finally the flesh gives way to my flames, ending in an explosion of grimm smoke, and flames. The class is dead silent for a few moments until-

"Whooo!" Lee starts to cheer again, he's a good friend.

"YEAHHH!" oh, hey Nora. Thank God she's still in her seat.

Port then steps forward a manic grin on his face, this one I can actually see through his mustache with how wide he's smiling. "Bravo! Bra-vo! It would seem I made a good choice with you today Mr. Ryut!" he then looks at the clock on the wall and returns to his normal grin, good, seeing his teeth was weird. "Well, sadly that's all the time we have for today! You are dismissed! Well done team AL! Excellent teamwork! Mr. Luse, well done on you for supporting your teammate with advice! Now remember class… Stay Vigilant, and do the assigned reading!" Lee gives a self satisfied smirk and a thumbs up to Port, you know maybe this class won't be as bad as I thought, Port's a nice enough guy.

We all headed off to our next classes, though Weiss went away in a huff, followed by Ruby. Don't get involved, It all works out. But then a voice pierces my thoughts, 'But will it? You took Weiss' place, who knows what might happen…' I can't think about that, Port and Ozpin can handle it, 'But are you sure?' I have to be.

I must have hesitated too long, Lee is looking back at me with a knowing look on his face, "We can check you know, would it hurt if we just made sure?"

I shake my head, "No, we can't. If we mess up the one thing that brings them together then the whole team might be screwed, we have to trust Ozpin."

"Trust me to do what exactly?"

"JESUS FUCK!" Ozpin had popped up behind me sometime during that last sentence and heard us talking! Shit, play it off, "uh… well… you see sir… we were worried about Ruby and Weiss!"

Lee comes up next to me and nods vigorously, "Uh… yeah! We saw that Weiss was getting frustrated and we were worried that something might be wrong, but we thought it would be best left to the teachers to counsel them instead of us, with our limited life experiences!" Jesus, where did you pull that out of? Hopefully he buys it.

"Ah, I see. Yes I too have noticed the rift between the two, in fact I was on m way there now. Care to join me? I'm sure Ms. Rose and Ms. Schnee would like to hear your thoughts on the matter between them. I'm sure you know the problem already?"

I give off a nervous laugh "He he… yes headmaster, we know what's wrong…. I suppose we can come with you, if not to just reassure ruby about things."

"Excellent, follow me then boys."

We make our way towards where Ruby and Weiss are, Lee and I staying behind Ozpin the whole time so we can just follow him. He knows the place much better than we do.

"Ozpin made a mistake! And frankly, I deserve better. Even being on that oafs team would have been better." Oaf? Who's she talking about. She then turns about and storms off further into the school grounds.

Ozpin moves behind Ruby, while Lee and I wait where we are, behind a wall. "Hmm, now that didn't seem to go very well. Though who was she talking about at the end there? Another mystery to be seen I suppose."

Ruby turns toward Ozpin, nearly in tears, poor girl. "Is she right? Did you make a mistake?"

Ozpin chuckles, "That remains to be seen…."

"What do you mean?"

Ozpin walks around Ruby, Leaving us out in the open watching the whole thing go down, luckily Ruby is more focused on Ozpin. "I mean, it's only been one day. Ruby... I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet. But at this moment, I would not consider your appointment to leader to be one of them." He then leans directly in front of her"Do you? Being a team leader isn't just a title you carry into battle, but a badge you wear constantly. If you're not always performing at your absolute best, then what reason do you give others to follow you? You've been burdened with a daunting responsibility, Ruby. I advise you take some time, to think about how you will uphold it." he then leans back again and look over to us, more specifically, me. "Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Ryut?"

At this Lee shoves me out from our hidey hole! Damn him! I'll pay him back later. I collect myself and stand up straighter,"Yes sir, I think you've made an excellent point. Leaders are the examples to their teams. And it's up to them to never lead them astray or towards a bad route. But in my opinion a leader also has to know when to put the boot down. You can have friends, but don't forget you're the one in charge. And you were put there for a reason." Ah, it doesn't seem like Ruby liked that. Ah well, it's how I feel about leadership. Maybe I should just reassure her about herself yeah? "But again, to each their own I suppose. You might honestly be a better leader than me, who knows yet? But I'm always here if you need a hand." and with that I put out my hand for a shake. I may not be the leader that Ruby is, but I can still be her friend.

Ruby smiles at this, and then shakes my hand, "Thanks Ash, it's nice to know I have a friend looking out for me."

Ah-ha! Now's my chance! I pull Lee out from behind the wall and hold him up by the back of his shirt, "two friends! Lee is also here!" Ruby then giggles at our antics as Lee and I start to scuffle with each other, Him for me holding him up like a cat, and me for him abandoning me. This then turns into full out laughter as we have each other by the throats of our shirts. We then turn to her with confused faces and realize what's going on, and we join in the laughter.

Xx time skip xX

We get back to our rooms later, Ruby thanking us for reassuring her, even though Ozpin did most of it. But hey, helping is helping I suppose. We do a bit of our reading and studying, then once we're done with that we play games! It was something that Loga- Lee… something that Lee and I used to do on earth a lot. They even have similar games here!

"Watch out for that troll!"

"Shut up, Lee! I can't fight the troll with that damn Mimic chasing me!"

…

"You aren't really gonna equip that are you? It'll bring your stats down!"

"Rule of cool, if it looks bad ass I'm gonna wear it, I'll just improve my skills to make up for it."

Yes, they have their own version of Dark Souls, called Shadow Life. It's amazing, don't judge me.

We eventually settle down for the night, when I start to get a headache from looking at a screen for so long. But then I'm lying in bed for hours, my headache only getting worse.

And along with my headache are cramps, all along my body. My legs, my arms, even my torso. It feels like growing pains but worse.

"Change."

Excuse me?

"The Change Always Hurts."

What the hell?

A/N: Well! Two weeks isn't bad right? Right? Anyway, I realised I never did this before in the other chapters so her it is. I definitely do not own RWBY, the only thing I own is this story's eventual plot change, and the characters I add. Cool! Got it done! Anyway, I want to thank everyone who has favorited this story and everyone following it! You truly have touched my stone cold heart. Another thanks to Baz' Az' Zul, for introducing me to the discord. It's really helped with my process just seeing other authors as interested in RWBY as I am! And also thanks for the one on one help. So again, Read, Review, and while I'm not desperate for them anymore, if you want to see them in passing or even recurring, send me an OC! I'll most certainly get back to you within a day and tell you what the deal with them could be! Thanks again for reading! Until next time!