Disclaimer: RWBY is an animated series created by Rooster Teeth. The cover image for this story is a screenshot from the Volume 8 opening.

I was currently careening through the air at high speeds. The Emerald Forest below me was nothing more than a green blur. Beacon really didn't skimp on their student launching technology. If a normal human hit the ground at this speed, they would stop being a human and start being a red smear.

Fortunately, I don't need to worry about my landing strategy because I can just teleport directly to the ground.

So I did.

In the Blink of an eye, I was on the ground. I checked my compass to confirm my heading and started running. Ozpin mentioned that the relics we needed were to the north, so I just needed to get there, grab a relic, and find a partner. Hopefully I'll run into either Ruby or Yang, but it's a big forest. I doubt I'll run into anyone before I get to the ruins.

I pushed through some bushes and was immediately proven wrong when I made eye contact with Weiss Schnee.

Oh boy.

I sighed (internally, where it counts) and put on my best smile. "So," I began. "It looks like we're partners."

She sighed (externally, where it's rude) and replied. "I was hoping for Pyrrha, but perhaps she'll be on my team." Under her breath, she added: "At least I'm not stuck with that child…"

Gee, I wonder who she's talking about.

I cleared my throat. "I think we got off on the wrong foot earlier. How about we try again?" I ventured. "My name is Jaune Arc. I fight primarily with a sword that mechashifts into a shotgun, but I also have a shield. My Semblance allows me to teleport short distances. I hope we'll get along."

She blinked at me in surprise before replying. "As you know, I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. My weapon, Myrtenaster, is a Multi Action Dust Rapier. My Semblance allows me to create Glyphs with a wide variety of effects that I can enhance with Dust. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." After a pause, she added: "I appreciate that you're taking this seriously."

I nodded at her. "Excellent. Now we just need to get our relic. Let's go."

She nodded primly and set off walking in the wrong direction.

"Uh, Weiss?" I called out. "The relics are in that direction," I said as I pointed north.

"And how would you know that?" she questioned heatedly.

I wordlessly held up my compass.

"Oh," she blushed.

After about five minutes of walking, we still hadn't run into any Grimm. I asked her for more details on her Glyphs, which she was happy to provide. I unfortunately couldn't take notes in a monster-infested forest, but I'd have plenty of time to pick her brain over the next four years.

Right after she finished explaining how her time dilation Glyphs worked (which I couldn't wait to exploit) I heard a branch crack behind us. I glanced backwards and caught sight of a pair of glowing red eyes peering out of the bushes behind Weiss.

"On our six!" I called out as I drew Alba Mors. I kept it in its sword form; she was too close to the Grimm for me to risk friendly fire.

The bushes parted to reveal a Beowolf lunging into the clearing with a wild swing that Weiss barely blocked with her rapier. Five more followed the first to encircle us. None of them had the larger size and additional bone plating indicative of an Alpha, thankfully.

The force of the Beowolf's blow sent Weiss skidding back, but she stayed on her feet. She took a deep breath and assumed a fencer's stance. Instead of lunging forwards, however, she stood there and adjusted her stance slightly while focusing on her attacker. Maybe she was waiting for orders?

"I've got your back. Go on the offensive," I said.

Instead of replying, she spun the chamber on her rapier, kicked forward, and delivered a flaming strike to the Beowolf that had struck her.

While the Beowolves were focusing on her, I looked towards the group of three on my right and Blinked. When I opened my eyes, I was standing behind them with Alba Mors in a two-handed stance.

Before the Grimm even had a chance to notice me, I brought my sword down on one of their necks where they had no bone plating. The Aura-enhanced blow cleaved right through the Grimm's flesh, and I pivoted to deliver a spine-severing slash to the second one. By now the third Beowolf had noticed me and swung a claw, but I juked to the side, severed the offending limb, and slit open its belly.

As it collapsed, I looked up in time to see Weiss dueling one of the two remaining Grimm while the last circled around to ambush her. I shifted Alba Mors into a shotgun, took aim, and put a slug through the sneaky one's skull right as Weiss finished off her opponent.

I offered her a smile. "Ready to continue?" I asked.

"Let's," she answered with a pleased expression on her face.

Weiss and I were in the middle of a conversation on tactics when we made it to the ruins. We had fought our way past quite a few Grimm at this point, but nothing too dangerous. We hadn't been hurrying, so I wasn't surprised to see that we weren't the first people here.

"Hey, Jaune!" Yang called out with a wave.

I waved back as Weiss and I approached the temple. It looked like Yang's partner was that black-haired girl in the bow that had been present when Ruby exploded.

"Are the relics we need to get in here?" I asked.

At Yang's confirmation, Weiss and I walked in to see… chess pieces? I picked up a gold knight to inspect it as my mind raced. Why did Ozpin choose chess pieces? Is there a meaning behind each piece?

"Are you fine with picking a knight?" I asked Weiss. We're partners, so I probably shouldn't make decisions without her input.

She paused to think but ultimately nodded and followed me out of the temple to where Yang and bow girl were standing around with… Ruby and Pyrrha? Didn't see that coming.

"Hey, Jaune!" Ruby called out with a wave while hugging her sister.

I had a brief moment of déjà vu to Yang's identical greeting from earlier. I guess they really are related.

I opened my mouth to reply but got cut off by a girl riding into the clearing on an Ursa.

"YEEEE-HAAAAW!" she shouted as the Ursa collapsed to the ground, dead. "Awwww... It's broken," she pouted.

A boy in a green shirt ran into the clearing after her. "Nora! Please... Don't ever do that again," he panted.

The girl apparently named Nora ignored him and ran over to the temple to look at chess pieces. Ruby followed her in, leaving Pyrrha to the mercy of Yang's teasing.

Once Ruby and Nora had their relics, the eight of us convened in the clearing.

"Why don't we all head back to Beacon together?" I suggested. "There's safety in numbers." No one voiced opposition to the idea, so I continued speaking. "Great. Should we all introduce ourselves? We should all be on the same page in case we need to call out names during battle. I'm Jaune," I finished as I waited for the next person to speak.

"I'm Ruby!"

"The name's Yang."

"I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the—"

"I'm the queen of the castle, Nora Valkyrie!" Nora said as she cut off Weiss and held a rook piece aloft like it was Master Sword or something.

"Ren," said the tired-looking boy who had followed her.

Pyrrha timidly glanced around at the group before introducing herself. "My name is Pyrrha."

The last person to introduce themselves was Yang's partner. "Call me Blake," she said.

"Great," I said. "Let's head back."

And we did.

We were about halfway back to Beacon. The eight of us had easily dispatched the minor Grimm that occasionally attacked us, and I got a brief glimpse of everyone's weapons and general fighting style.

Right now, Yang was pestering Blake, Nora was pestering Ren, and Ruby was chatting with Pyrrha, who looked less uncomfortable than usual. Ruby seems to have that effect on people.

All of a sudden, Blake went on high alert. "Incoming. Something big," she said as she drew her complicated-looking weapon.

We all froze, and I drew Alba Mors in shotgun form while extending the barrel for enhanced accuracy. Now that Blake had pointed it out, I could faintly hear the sound of something large forcing its way through the trees. A massive pincer smacked a tree out of the way to reveal an Elder Death Stalker.

That's bad.

We all opened fire, and a volley of bullets and explosives smacked into the monster. I aimed my slugs at its back legs to hopefully slow it down. Death Stalkers have sturdy chitin across their entire body except a softer underbelly, but aiming at the joints was a much better option than trying to pierce its bone plating. This thing was old, if the moss growing on it was any indication.

Unfortunately, the Death Stalker tanked our shots and continued its charge.

"Scatter!" I called out. "What are your Semblances?" I called out as I paused my firing to reload. "We need a strategy! I have line of sight teleportation!"

Everyone rattled off their Semblances. Ruby was fast, Weiss obviously had her Glyphs, Blake made clones, Yang converted damage to strength, Nora converted electricity to strength, Pyrrha was basically Magneto (her Semblance was apparently a big secret, but a friendly smile from Ruby made her spill her guts), and Ren could mask emotions to hide from Grimm.

I could work with this.

"Blake, Ren, and Ruby! Keep it distracted. Blake, send clones at its legs. Ren, cloak yourself and shoot at its eyes it to confuse it. Ruby, move around and snipe it. Aim for the legs if you can!" That should buy us some time. "The rest of you, get over here!"

I looked at the assembled group. "We need to disable its natural weapons to go for the kill. Weiss, give some of your Shock Dust to Nora so she can charge herself up. The rest of us need to hit Yang a bunch to charge her up. Afterwards, the two of you need to grab its arms behind the pincers to hold them still long enough for us to cut them off. Pyrrha will deal with the tail, and I'll kill it. Weiss, you need to use a gravity glyph to increase its weight and hold it down. Got it?"

Weiss sighed and started doling out Dust to a gleeful Nora. Yang rolled her eyes and braced herself while Pyrrha and I started smacking her with our shields.

"Pyrrha, I'm going to teleport above its head and do a downward stab into its brain. My sword has Grav Dust to make it heavier, but I need you to use your Polarity to pull it down with extra force. Can you do that and still sever its stinger?"

"Yes, but I need to touch your sword first," Pyrrha replied. She reached out to touch the blade, and a black glow briefly surrounded it.

I nodded. "Alright, team. Let's do this!"

Weiss stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground and a black Glyph appeared under the Death Stalker, pulling it to the ground.

Nora crushed the Shock Dust crystal in her hand and enveloped herself in lightning. A manic smile spread across her face as she vibrated with energy.

Yang smashed her fists together, her eyes went red, and her hair burst into flames. The two bruisers ran at its flanks and grabbed hold of the arms of its pincers.

Pyrrha hurled her shield like a discus, and a black glow enveloped it as it hit the base of the stinger with pinpoint accuracy, severing it instantly

The Death Stalker cried out in pain, I Blinked, and I was looking down on the Grimm from mid-air.

I felt the pull of Weiss's Glyph even as I sent an Aura pulse into the core of Alba Mors to activate enough Gravity Dust to last a few seconds. All of a sudden, the blade was coated in black energy and I felt it being pulled downward. The weight of the sword grew nearly unbearable as I brought it down with a battle cry.

The bone plating shattered under the force of the blow, and Alba Mors plunged through its armor into the soft Grimmflesh beneath. Alba Mors went straight through its head down to the hilt, and the Death Stalker spasmed as its nervous system was obliterated.

Ruby, Pyrrha, Blake, and Ren sprinted in to hack at the joints of its pincers to sever them, and the Death Stalker finally went still as both its forelimbs were severed.

The effects of Weiss's Glyph and Pyrrha's Semblance faded, so I pulled my sword out while twisting and wriggling it around to make sure the thing was dead.

I waited until I saw the Death Stalker begin to disintegrate before I relaxed.

Ruby cheered, and the rest of us did the same. Even Weiss, though I doubt she'd admit it.

I sheathed my sword and smiled. We weren't even students yet and we had already taken down an Elder Grimm. Now all we need to do is make it back to Beacon. Fortunately, Grimm of that caliber are rare, and we're right next to a Huntsman Academy. I highly doubt that we'll encounter anything too dangerous on the way back.

It was at that very moment that the Elder Nevermore flying in the air above us let out a shriek and sent a volley of spear-like feathers down at us.

Oh, for fuck's sake.

Author's Note: R.I.P Arkos. I hinted at it last chapter when Jaune mentioned that he knew Pyrrha. I have a good reason for doing it, though, which I'll go into more next chapter.

I haven't described what Jaune's outfit is because it's a huge pet peeve of mine whenever a story spends several paragraphs just describing people's outfits. That being said, someone in the reviews asked, so I shall deliver.

Jaune wears dark gray tactical pants, steel-toed boots, and a white leather coat over a navy-blue t-shirt. His armor consists of bracers on his forearms and shin guards. His hair is the same as it is in canon.

(First published on July 9, 2021)