I own quite a lot of things, like a computer to write this story on. What I do not own is RWBY or any other franchise I happen to reference.
The Emerald Forest
Yang didn't know where she was. Well, she knew she was dreaming, but she had never seen this place before. However, this place seemed comfortable to her.
It was a plateau of a mountain above the clouds. She could see other mountains peaking over the clouds, but none were as high as she was. Interestingly enough, Yang was not cold. Though that might be explained by the pool of lava in the middle of the plateau. The noonday sun shown down on her, filling her body with an energy she didn't knew she had.
Yang took a long deep breath, taking in the fresh air.
"Man, it's beautiful up here." She muttered.
"Indeed it is, much as I hate to admit it."
Yang froze at that voice, her eyes widening in horror. She started to look around, trying to find the source of the voice.
"Over here, Little Dragon." The voice called. Yang turned to the pool of lava in the center of the plateau. She moved just in time to see it explode as something huge burst out of it. Yang shielded her eyes from the stray drops of lava. After a few seconds, her eyes shot upwards to find what came out of the lava. She froze at the sight.
Large leathery wings, similar to that of a bat's, blocked out the sun. The beast's scales were a black that seemed to suck in the light around it with tips shining a dark gold. Bleached white bone with golden tribal markings covered certain parts of the beast, making it look as if it was wearing armor. The beast landed in front of her, dark gold flame dancing in its maw. The beast reared up its head and roared, spewing the flames to the sky. Yang took a step back when the beast's gleaming red eyes looked at her.
"Hello, Little Dragon." Yang's Inner Grimm said. Yang tried to speak, but no words came out.
"You must be surprised at my new look. I will admit that it invokes a certain awe when seen for the first time." The IG began to admire itself. That set Yang's mind strait.
"You're here to try to take over my body again, aren't you?" Yang asked, bringing her fists up. With a twitch of her Aura, Ember Celica cocked and enveloped her fists. What Yang didn't expect was for her IG to start laughing its head off.
"Take you over here? In the middle of a bunch of hunters and huntresses in training, not to mention the clearly certified hunters as well? Hah! You must be stupider than I thought! We would be dead in a few seconds!" The Dragon Grimm laughed. Yang slowly got out of her stance in surprise. What had happened to the mindless beast that would try and take her over? This wasn't how things were suppose to go! They were suppose to try and take you over and turn your body into a Grimm with Aura!
"No, I am here to give you a proposition." Yang blinked in shock, and the Draconic Grimm continued. "I noticed how the Bitch's Aura had been increasing in leaps and bounds, yet no one could explain why. With that amount of Aura, she could clear an island full of Mature Grimm without any rest. It was quite strange, and then it hit me."
"What?" Yang asked. Her IG smiled, revealing pure white teeth sharper than knives.
"Her Grimm. She has somehow made a deal with The Devourer. They must have been working together for some time." Yang's eyes widened in shock.
"No. That's impossible." She said, stumbling backwards. The IG's smile grew even wider at this.
"Search deep inside you. You know it to be true." The Draconic Grimm hissed out. Yang stopped panicking and blinked.
"Did you just say that?" Yang asked in shock. The IG blinked.
"Huh. Didn't think you would catch that in your panicked state." Yang's Inner Grimm muttered.
"You didn't even pull it off right! You are most definitely not my father!" Yang yell at the Grimm, outraged that such a mistake had happened.
"Anyway," The Grimm growled, bringing Yang back to reality. "I want to make a similar deal."
"What?" Yang asked. Why would this thing want to make a deal?
"I will supply you with my power willingly on the behalf that you use it. That also means I get to stick around in your head and watch what is going on." The Draconic Grimm proposed. Yang's eyes widened in shock.
"Why?" Yang asked. The Grimm did it's best to shrug.
"Now that I finally have a mind that can think clearly, fighting you doesn't seem that appetizing. Sure, I love the good fight, but it wouldn't be a good thing to do here. I want to see exactly why my kind is the way it is. Also, I am pretty sure that I experience everything you do." The Grimm explained. It made sense, but that was why Yang was worried. It could help immensely, but what would happen if the Grimm got bored? Would it decide to take over again?
It was a risk she would have to take. Yang would do anything, anything, to make sure she could protect Ruby.
"You've got yourself a deal, Grimm." Yang said. The Grimm only grinned.
"Call me Tiamat, Little Dragon." The now named Tiamat said to her host.
'You know, when he said test, I really didn't think that this would be it.'
'No kidding.' Ruby said, staring over the vast expanse of trees. The forest was almost as big as the one near their home. Ruby could feel Grimm stalking in the forest, waiting for something with an Aura to be made their dinner.
'Why would they even have this by the school?'
'To toss Huntsmen in training into? You know, for training? But really I'm more worried about Yang.' Ruby snuck another glance at her sister. She had felt different this morning. Almost if her Aura had something happen to it.
'It is odd, but you are going to need to focus here. Ozpin is coming'
"I see you all made it here on time." Ozpin said from behind them, making all of the students turn around. His face was emotionless, same as last night. "For this entrance test, you will need all of your skills to survive this test."
'He's good.'
'What?'
'He's making everyone scared so they would stop acting rationally. Probably trying to see if any of you are actually ready to become hunters.'
'Well, I definitely am ready!'
'That's because the Old Crow decided to take you under his wing. Not everyone had that same privilege to have one of the Heroes as their uncle.'
'Right.'
'Also, you might want to pay attention, Ozpin is finishing up the rules.'
"After you get the relic from the ruins, you and your partner must come back to the top of this cliff. Oh, I forgot to mention," Ozpin took a sip of his coffee. "Your partner is the first person you make eye contact with in the forest."
"What?" Ruby nearly shouted in shock. She could hear Yang's intake of breath. One of the reasons Ozpin brought her here was to keep an eye on Yang! Why would he have a chance to have them not partnered up?
'Remember how teams are formed here.'
'What do you mean by…? Oh!' Ruby realized what Fenrir was alluding to. Each team was formed in fours. That meant two partners were put together into a single team. She could still be on the same team as her sister if they weren't partnered together.
"You will be making your own landing strategies." Ozpin said as he stepped back. Ruby blinked.
"Landing strategies?" Jaune asked, missing one of the students on the end go flying off from a launch pad that sprung up beneath him. Ruby's eyes widened at that.
'That's new.'
'No kidding. What was Ozpin drinking when he thought this up?'
'Probably coffee.'
With Fenrir laughing in her head, Ruby looked to Yang. Yang smirked at her sister and put on her reflective shades. She leapt just as her pad began to launch her, sending her flying much farther than most others. Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose and got ready.
'Here-'
'-We-'
''-GO!'' Ruby disappeared in a flurry of rose petals.
Blake landed on her feet. She always did. No matter the height or the distance, she would land on her feet. One of the things she could thank her Faunus side for. Even if she had to keep some of it hidden.
She closed her eyes, creating a map of the area in her head. While the rest of the hopefuls were propelling themselves and making sure they didn't land right in the middle of a pack of Grimm, she was using the height to try and map out the forest as well as she could in the air. She had seen some ruins near the cliff, but were those the ones that the artifacts were at?
'Best head that way and see what would happen.' Blake thought. She turned to head the way the ruins were at.
Only to see an eruption of dark gold flames a little ways away from her. Blake took a step backwards in shock. She could feel the heat of the flames from where she was at.
"What in the Seven Hells?" Blake let out. A burst of flame like that wasn't supposed to happen. No semblance she knew of could do something like that. Then again, she didn't really have that much experience with any semblance other than her own or Adam's.
Still, she probably should go over and check the area out. The stream of the odd colored fire had finally died down, but she could see that there was still some fire burning.
When Blake got there, she saw an interesting sight. There were two Grimm slowly dissolving and burning in that same dark gold flame that erupted earlier. In the center of the newly made clearing was a girl with long blond hair. She was panting with a shocked expression on her face.
"I did this…" She said, looking around. The girl eventually saw Blake and blinked. Blake noticed that her eyes shifted colors from a crimson red to a pale lilac. The girl reached to her face to adjust something, only to realize that she had nothing on her face.
"Great, just great." She muttered, than a smile split her face.
"Hey there! I guess I'll be your partner, right?" The girl said happily, startling Blake with the sudden mood change. "My name is Yang Xiao Long, what's yours?"
"Blake. Blake Belladonna. We met last night." Blake said, still feeling slightly uncomfortable with the name. That was her name now, and probably will be it for the rest of her life.
"Oh yeah, I remember you." Yang said, slamming her hand into her palm. "You're the one who told my little sister about the Ice Queen last night."
That was when Blake remembered her. She was that overprotective sister of that Ruby girl who had the guts to call the Schnee Heiress a tsundere. Considering what happened, it was a fair call. Not that she would ever say that to the heiress's face.
"Well, we better get going!" Yang said, turning to start walking away from the clearing. Blake watched her a bit, than began to follow.
'Something is off with her.' Blake thought to herself. The fact that Yang was able to switch from being slightly frightened to cheerful in an instant was not normal.
Blake would keep an eye on her, just in case.
Weiss was having a bad day. The first day was one as well, and more and more things were just piling up to make the day bad. First she nearly was blown up, which was embarrassing because she was the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and should know better. She then had to find the girl who protected her and apologize to her. She spent about an hour looking around the school grounds before she realized that the girl was actually coming to Beacon to train as well. That meant that the girl was probably some sort of protégé if she was that young and was already going to Beacon. Once she realized that, she ended up being late to the assembly. Then this morning she was hit on by this blond dunce who had no idea who she was. Then it turned out the true entry exam was being flung into a forest full of Grimm and having to find some sort of relic with the first person you made eye contact with!
Seriously, this was insane! If anyone messed up in the slightest way, they would be food for the Grimm in this forest. Ozpin didn't mention anything about dieing in this forest, but she could guess that there were people who did die just because of how the form to come to Beacon was written. It had you sign that Ozpin or any of the staff weren't responsible for any deaths, and for the years you were there Ozpin was legally the guardian of everyone going to Beacon.
Now, though, Weiss had to concentrate. She needed to find a good partner and fast. She did not want to get stuck with someone like that guy who was hitting on her. She was a Schnee, and it was important for her to find a partner that was worthy of that title.
Weiss turned to start looking for a partner when she heard something roar. She turned, her rapier in her hand, ready to strike at whatever was going to burst out of the woods.
Then all she saw was red.
Weiss stood stock still, staring into the soulless crimson eyes just a few inches away from hers. She could feel the claws of whatever sort of Grimm this creature was slowly piercing the back of her neck. She felt drops of blood running off the claws and drip down her back. Then the eyes turned silver.
"Weiss?" Ruby Rose asked with slight surprise. She then leapt backwards, removing her weapon from Weiss's neck. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! A pack of Beowolves attacked me and I was fighting them and there was another Beowolf heading towards you and-"
"Stop!" Weiss shouted, holding her hands up. Ruby's mouth snapped shut. Weiss looked at the girl for a few seconds, sorting everything she knew about Ruby Rose in her mind. This girl either had been accepted into Beacon early, or she was much smaller than most people their age. If it was the former, this girl was very skilled. If it was the latter, then Ruby must have some sort of trick that compensated for her height.
"Well, it looks like we're partners now." Weiss said. Ruby smiled and nodded. Now they only had to travel through a Grimm infested forest and find some ruins with relics to pass the test.
It seemed her day was looking up, slightly.
-Neo's Ice Cream Corner
And done!
Neo: Took you long enough!
I know. I could give excuse after excuse for why this chapter took nearly a year. But that wouldn't make any of you happy. So I am going to say that Life Happened, and start working on the next chapter.
Neo: Anyway, Review time!
First one is from Bob-365: Well this was interesting. Rubes managed to make friends a lot more easily. Why? (Don't answer with 'because I'm the writer.) It would be quite interesting to have IG help out with social interactions like some sort of IRL visual novel, or dating sim, or something.
Neo: The reason why Ruby is making friends much more easily is because she is a little less hyperactive around new people than she is normally. She is a little more thoughtful and careful because she wants to make good first impressions. Considering what secrets she might have to reveal, she doesn't want people running away from her on the first day
At least, that is the reasoning I am using. The next review comes from FOODninja-321: NORTH SOUTH WEST!But I have a question for you!When will you edit the first chapter to decrease the amount of caps?And do you play TTT?
Neo: Ultima might. He half wants to keep it there because he wants a reminder on how he has improved, but he might change it by Chapter 10, if we ever get that far. And no, we do not play TTT. That is mainly because I am a fictional character and Ultima has no friends
Hey! I do have friends! Anyway, the next review comes from Hina Birdy.
Neo: We aren't going to put your review up mainly because it was so big, but we will tell you this.
I have some ideas about how I am going to do the pairings, but I want to let them develop without people knowing who is going to be with who.
Neo: Who knows, I might be the next member of royalty!
…I would complain about spoilers, but that is vague enough. Anyway, the last review comes from Khajiit Ra'Koor: I hate it when promising stories die off after 2 or 3 chapters she said and yet the last update was in November
Neo: Well, we're back now!
Indeed. The next chapter shouldn't take as long hopefully.
Neo: Chapter 5: Improper Pieces! Where Yang feeds a snake, Weiss gets a crush, and Ozpin plays strip poker with Qrow! This is Neo signing off!
And Ultima Out!