Initiation. Today's the day... Jaune stared at his reflection in the mirror. He felt nervous. How couldn't he? How could he avoid being nervous in this situation? Today was the day that his skills were finally going to be put to the test.

...

... His skills...

...

... There wasn't anything to worry about. With his great-great-grandfather's weapon, Creocea Mors, by his side, he couldn't lose. As long as he believed in himself, Jaune could do anything.

...

Jaune looked over at the grey-haired boy brushing his teeth next to him, "... Hey, Merc?"

"That's not my name."

"I'm feeling kind of nervous. How do you deal with nerves?"

Mercury spat out his toothpaste before answering. "I don't get nervous over stuff like this. I can handle this." Mercury looked Jaune in the eyes and sighed before continuing, "If you're really going to have a nervous breakdown on day one then you probably don't belong here."

Jaune didn't miss the words at the end of Mercury's sentence. You probably don't belong here. No, there was no doubt about it now. Ever since last night when Mercury asked Jaune how he got into Beacon, Jaune had had a feeling, but now he was sure. Mercury knew about Jaune's secret. How did this happen? How did Mercury figure it out? Am I really that transparent?

"Don't tell anyone, please." Jaune didn't want his time at Beacon to end before it even began.

Mercury just went back to brushing his teeth. "Don't worry, I won't."

He- he's not going to tell anyone about that? He's going to keep quiet even though he knows? Jaune couldn't help but smile as he put away his toothbrush. He wasn't really sure what to think of Mercury before now because Mercury didn't talk to him that much, but now it was obvious. Mercury was the kind of person who kept your secrets safe. The best kind of friend. "Thanks, Merc," Jaune said before leaving the bathroom to try and find his equipment. Despite everything, Mercury still believed in him enough to give him a shot. He couldn't let his new friend down.

"Still not my name."

I really hope we end up on the same team.

"Don't tell anyone?" Don't tell anyone what; that Jaune's getting nervous on his first day? Who cares?

Mercury turned his attention away from the blonde who he had been straddled with, to the future. He knew that teams would be selected at some point in the near future. But when? Before the initiation? After? How much influence did Mercury have in who would be on his team? What could he do to ensure that he didn't end up on Jaune's team? Could he do anything to make sure that he was on a different team than Jaune's?

Would they be assigned teams based on personal skill levels? Mercury was confident that his fighting style put him a few leagues above Jaune and his sword in terms of skill. No, probably not, that would mean that all the worst Hunters-in-training would be on the same team, meaning that none of them got any better. They would probably make the worst students pair together with the best students if that was the case, condemning Mercury to his fate.

What if the teams were assigned based on how much the students had interacted with each other? Mercury bit down on his toothbrush in frustration. If that were the case, then Mercury was definitely going to end up on the same team as Jaune: the two of them barely interacted with anyone but each other in the past day.

I really don't want to be stuck with him on my team. If that happens, I'm going to drop out. Literally: anyone but him, Mercury resolved before spitting out his toothpaste for the last time.

As Neon's fourth ponytail was finally done up, she looked at herself in the mirror. A light blue tank top (always a good color) with a purple bra (also a good color) clearly visible underneath; pink skirt (GREAT color) with her favorite white belt (EVEN BETTER COLOR) on as well; her SUPER-cute white collar on; and all of her skating gear, conveniently colored white. Her tattoos also looked really cool, the heart right below her eye was still a bit painful to think about, but at least she hadn't tried to get the rainbow star that covered her right upper arm on her face instead. Her hair, which she had just spent just about forever getting ready, was also looking GREAT. The largest two of her orange ponytails were being shown off to the world, as if to say: "Look at me, I'm Neon Katt, and I'm the most important person in the room!" Because if Neon's ponytails could talk, that's what they should be saying. Her aqua highlights that stood in her bangs looked great, as well.

All in all, Neon was looking AMAZING.

That said, Neon couldn't say the same about her two new friends.

Ruby Rose was wearing a weird-looking dress thing that looked like she pulled it out of a fairy tale. Black and red: ew. Maybe I'd think it looked cool if I was like, twelve. No tattoos, either, from what Neon could tell. Black and red boots: more like black and red: no thanks. Her hair was black, but it looked like it was dyed red at the ends. WOW she is obsessed with black and red.

Ruby Rose has a nasty case of trying too hard to look cool, Neon concluded, before looking at her other, much more clingy, new friend.

Penny Polendina was wearing a grey and lime green overall skirt (ew) over a white blouse. She also wore a pink bow on her head and had black and green stockings on that covered up black boots. Penny also had a REALLY weird looking black and green thing around her neck that matched her stockings. Neon couldn't tell if Penny had any tattoos. Maybe the weird thing was covering a really cool one? Probably not, Penny didn't seem cool enough to have a tattoo, let alone a cool one. Neon was both satisfied and disappointed seeing Penny's hair was a plain orange. It broke up her color scheme a bit but a few highlights here and there wouldn't kill her.

On the other hand: Penny's not trying hard enough to look cool.

Both of these girls needed Neon's help, and Huntresses were supposed to help people, But maybe I should wait and see if we end up on the same team first. If I accidentally help them out too much and they end up outshining me, that'll be bad for me and MY goals.

Neon turned to look at Ruby. She had a great big grin on her face while she was cradling a big red block. "You sure look happy!"

Ruby's smile grew even bigger. "Yep. No more awkward small talk and 'getting to know you' stuff." Ruby started petting her big red block. Weird. "Today I get to let my sweetheart do the talking." She held it up to her face and made a weird purring noise. Was that what Ruby's problem was? She didn't want to talk to anyone? Didn't want to hang out with Neon? WOW. What a jerk.

"Cool!" Neon lied about what she thought of the situation. "What's that thing?" It was probably her weapon, but what kind of a weapon was a big red block?

Suddenly, Ruby's big red block loudly unfolded, startling both Neon and Penny, almost causing Neon to fall over. It was a very good thing Neon wasn't wearing her skates yet. It wasn't a big red block at all! It was a big… red…

"It's a scythe!" Penny announced.

"It's also a customizable, high impact, sniper rifle."

"What?" Neon didn't know how to react.

"It's also a gun." Ruby proudly announced, the smile on her face bigger and more confident than ever.

THAT THING was Ruby's weapon? It looked… big. And scary. And it could probably do a lot more in a fight than Neon's glow stick nunchucks. "..." Noise came out of Neon's mouth, but it wasn't words…

"That looks magnificent, Ruby, my friend!" Penny declared as she leaned in to touch Ruby's scythe. Ruby still backed away. I see I'm not the only one who thinks she's too clingy.

"So… what do you got?" Ruby asked while she made her scythe go back to its original big red block form. How am I going to follow up that?! THAT THING'S A MONSTER!

Penny stood up, and suddenly a bunch of SWORDS came flying out of her back. Neon couldn't resist falling in surprise this time. How could she resist? SWORDS?! WHERE DID THEY COME FROM?!

The swords flew around a little bit before coming to rest around Penny's head. "These swords are my weapons!" Penny put her hands on her hips and let her swords dance around a little bit before announcing, "I'm combat ready!"

"Woah..." Ruby responded, leaning in to touch the swords herself. In contrast to Ruby's response to the same situation, Penny leaned in closer to let Ruby get a better look. Neon, on the other hand, had no way to respond. I… I underestimated these two… I thought I'd have to teach them stuff for them to outshine me but they've already got me beat. It's only initiation day today…

"What about you, Neon, my friend?" Penny asked as her swords disappeared back to wherever they came from. Now Ruby and Penny's eyes were on her.

"Um..." She grabbed her glowstick nunchucks. To think just a few minutes ago she had been so proud of them. "I've got these." It felt weird not hearing any happiness in her own voice. "They're nunchucks filled with dust. I can crack them to make them do a bunch of stuff." Wow. This must be how it felt to be people that weren't Neon. It felt like she was disappointing.

"Woah..." Ruby still insisted on getting really close to Neon's weapon. How could she be impressed by these? She has a giant SCYTHE GUN!

"What kind of 'stuff'?" Penny asked as her face closed in to the nunchucks, awe in her voice. How can SHE be impressed by these?! She has SWORDS! MAGIC FLYING SWORDS!

"Um… I can make stuff freeze solid, or explode, or shock things by hitting them with this." Neon suddenly felt really out of it. She wanted to go home. Nunchucks weren't as cool as scythe guns or magic flying swords, and she knew it. Back in Atlas, everyone thought her weapon was amazing because of how unique it was, but nothing was more unique than MAGIC FLYING SWORDS and SCYTHE GUNS.

But then, Neon perked up. A brilliant idea formed in her mind. With these two next to me, we can easily become the coolest team at Beacon. And then, the world! It was obvious! They weren't cool enough on their own, so they needed her help, and with their weapons combined with her own, they would be the toughest Huntress team in Beacon! IN THE WORLD!

"Alright, girls." Neon wrapped her arms around Ruby and Penny, discomforting the first and delighting the second, "Do either of you know how to skate?"

I'm ready for this.

An announcement came up over the overhead speakers: "Would all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation?" That was Ozpin's assistant, or whatever she was supposed to be. "Again, all first year students to Beacon Cliff for initiation."

Sun looked over at his posse. Sage and Roman looked back at him. "Alright, let's go, guys, follow me!"

Roman scoffed. "Right, right, whatever you say, kid."

Sun was pretty satisfied with how he and Roman were getting along. It was good hanging out with people with similar hobbies. He held his catch up. "Check it out, new watch!"

"Oh-ho!" Roman seemed genuinely impressed. Obviously he was impressed, it was a pretty expensive watch. "Looking good, banana boy! Always count on a Faunus to find the most expensive thing in the room." Roman looked around, making sure that his mark wasn't around to see, before pulling out a wallet. "New wallet. Found it on the ground somewhere."

Ah. That's not good. "Hey, man, you probably shouldn't take-"

"Ah, ah, ah. Found it. Same as how you found that watch of yours, banana boy." Roman opened the wallet up and took the lien out of it before throwing the wallet away. He gave Sun a smug look.

Sun didn't feel great about taking money from people. That was a line that he didn't like to cross. People needed that to like, live, and stuff. Food and valuables, that was okay, but money's too far.

But it was pretty obvious that Roman didn't have the same values as Sun. Maybe it'd be fine: after all, stealing people's stuff was pretty much the same as taking their money. They just spent their money on dumb stuff that didn't matter all that much. Like watches. And shirts.

And food.

… Whatever, it didn't really matter anyways. If they needed it so bad they wouldn't have left it out in the open for other people to take.

"How about you, Sage, you find anything good?" Sun asked, turning to look at his other new friend.

"I can't believe you two..." Sage growled. Woah. He looks pissed. "You shouldn't steal-"

"Find!"

"- other people's stuff. What's wrong with you?" Uh oh. I don't really know Sage that great. Maybe we should have made sure he was cool with this stuff before we did our little show and tell.

"Relax, Sage." Roman said as he put himself between Sun and Sage. "We're just having a bit of harmless, good, old-fashioned fun. We're going to give it all back by the end of today."

"We are?" An elbow to the ribs. "Ah, yeah, that's right, we are!"

Sage gave Roman a death glare. Sheesh, if looks could kill. "You threw their wallet on the ground."

"So they could find it easier!"

"After taking their lien."

"Ah… I..." Roman shrugged. "Alright, you got me." He threw the lien he acquired on the ground as well, then held his hands up in mock-innocence. "See, that's everything."

"Their wallet's back there."

"You're not really going to make me-"

Another death glare.

"... Fine." Roman picked the lien back up and ran back to where he had throw the wallet. He was back in just a couple of seconds. "There. Took the wallet with me this time."

"That wasn't the prob-"

"So where is Beacon Cliff, exactly?" Sun interrupted to save his new racist kleptomaniac friend.

"Don't try and change the sub-"

"Don't worry, Sage, I'll return it right after initiation," Roman lied.

"You think I'm going to-"

"Speaking of which, I've been meaning to ask, Roman, what kind of weapon do you have?" Sun changed the subject.

"You can't just-"

"I've got this baby here!" Roman played along as he held up his cane, which Sun had barely noticed up to this point. "Fashionable and deadly, just like its owner."

"Ah, you mean its original owner, 'cause you sure aren't talking about yourself, Bowler Hat."

"Oh ho! The monkey's got jokes!"

As Blake stood on the precipice of Beacon Cliff, she reflected on how the day had been going up to this point. She woke up to the sound of arguing. Someone stole Adam's wallet. Someone had stolen Cardin's watch. She had had to listen to both of them whine about their loss and point accusatory fingers at the other. Blake had expected better out of Adam. She had expected it out of Cardin, but it was still giving her a headache just thinking about it.

Whatever. There wasn't any use thinking about their failures. This was the part that she had been training for anyways. Initiation. Once she was an official student of the school their plan could well and truly begin. This was just an easy first step in a intricate and fragile plan.

There weren't a lot of ways that the initiation could go wrong, but that wasn't the problem. Her team would ultimately be the biggest problem with taking on Beacon.

Adam was far too confident in his abilities. His original plan was just to storm Beacon with the full force of the White Fang and kill Ozpin then and there. Blake adored her boyfriend, but he had a tendency to be a bit bull-headed. … No pun intended. None of them knew what Ozpin was capable of. If Adam attacked Ozpin and lost, then that would be it. The White Fang would collapse without him. Blake would collapse without him. Adam's biggest fault was that he didn't know how important he was to everything and everyone around him. Which was a big part of why Blake was always by his side; she knew how important he was even if he didn't.

The other problems lied with the two students that had been intimidated into joining them. Cardin Winchester and Velvet Scarlatina. They were already going to become students at Beacon, so it made sense to recruit them at the time. But Cardin had been defiant of them even as his family was being threatened. It took a display of overwhelming force to convince him to go along with the plan. But what if he changed his mind? What if he betrayed them? In retrospect, it may have been a better choice to kill him then and there, or just leave him oblivious to their presence altogether. Velvet was no better. She was a coward in every aspect of the word, who had set aside her own morals for the sake of her family, but she was a skilled fighter. So was Cardin, really. Which was why both of them were coming. A decision on Adam's part, to recruit skilled students to assist with the plan: one faunus, and one human for… reasons that escaped Blake's understanding.

Why did they need Cardin? Adam had no affinity for humans, and his decision to recruit a known bigot instead of someone more tolerant of Faunus was even more confounding. The ear pulling and name calling that Cardin was fond of was something that Adam hated seeing in humans, so why had he been the one to be recruited?

Despite being his girlfriend, Blake still didn't understand Adam that well.

"For years you have trained to become skilled warriors."

Oh? Apparently Ozpin had finally decided to begin the initiation. But what would they have to do?

"And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Glynda Goodwitch, Ozpin's aide, spoke up, "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today."

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Mercury audibly sighed a sigh of relief. That made things much easier for him. He just had to launch himself as far as he could from Jaune in order to make sure that they wouldn't end up as partners. With his new legs, that would be much easier. I'll have to thank Ozpin for these later.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the Emerald Forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

Sage smirked. Finally, something to be excited about. Fighting. He looked around for the reactions of the students around him. A few students looked worried, some looked excited. Sun and Roman were in the latter category. Sage didn't want to look at them right now. One last student caught Sage's eye. A boy with grey hair, who was getting ready to jump. Jump?

An even bigger grin appeared on Sage's face. Obviously. All the good students will launch themselves even further than everyone else. I like the way this guy thinks. Sage got ready to activate his Semblance.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation. But our 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." All of this was making Jaune very nervous. This was… more than he was expecting. "Are there any questions?"

Jaune raised his hand before asking, "Yeah, um, sir-"

"Good. Now, take your positions."

As everyone down the line of students stood in their ready positions, Jaune got even more nervous than ever. Why did no one else look worried about this? "Uh, sir? I've got a, um, question." He heard a strange noise coming from the direction of the other students. "So, this landing strategy thing, uh, what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?" That noise was getting closer. A rainbow suddenly launched itself into the air. What?

Ozpin gave him a weird look as the noise got closer. A green light went flying through the air now. "No. You will be falling."

Falling? So, does that mean that everyone else- "Oh, I see. So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?" The sound of a gun going off interrupted the noise approaching Jaune.

"No, you will be using your own landing strategy."

"Uh huh. Yeah." But how am I supposed to be able to survive a fall like this? Maybe the 'landing strategy' has something to do with it. There was a very loud grunt, like something launching itself, as the sound came even closer to Jaune. He looked to his left. All the other students were gone now. Where did they go? "So, what exactly is a landing strate-" the ground was suddenly gone. Jaune was now flying. "-GGGGGYYYYYYYYYYY?!"

Ozpin turned to look back at the students now flying through the air. He silently took a sip of his hot chocolate and smiled, content with how things had turned out.

So, this chapter was a pain to write. My computer decided to update twice while writing this, erasing everything without letting me save. So, this chapter came out later than it was planned. My bad.

Also, I didn't realize it before now, but did you realize that most of this world's team RWBY are either bad guys or a bit morally grey in the main show? Like, out of all of them, Sage is the only one who hasn't done anything illegal onscreen yet. As such, that's how I'm writing him from now on. As the only good guy on a team of thieves and sadists.

Again, I would appreciate a review or two to let me know how I'm doing, what you think of the story, what you like, what you didn't like, WHAT YOU FEEL I NEED TO REWRITE, you know, stuff like that.

Seya.