The Big RWBY Fanfiction

by CharLottieXbumblebee

Basically my attempt at novelizing RWBY to the best of my ability, while also adding, removing, or changing aspects of it as I think work or sound better. Be good people. Starts at Volume 1, so buckle up. Will be adding quite a bit of additional stuff to lengthen the school year and have some domestic life before...the troubles... Volume 1: Complete

1. Chapter 1-4

The Big RWBY Fanfic

Prologue: Here we go Again

Mankind has always had a fondness for stories and legends. Tales of heroes conquering evil to bring justice and balance to the world. Forgetting quickly they themselves are merely remnants of a history long since passed.

Born into an unforgiving world of grim threats in the form of shadowy beasts, only superficially resembling wildlife. These creatures who became known as Grimm, seemed bent on the destruction of life, human-kind especially. And as if by fate, it appeared that darkness was bent on snuffing them out entirely.
Yet in darkness, there seems to always shine hope. Through determination and ingenuity, mankind found the material that would serve as the foundation for their lives in the world. Named for the foundation of all living things, "Dust".
With the raw power of nature's strength at their disposal, humans carved a path through the darkness, and in this divide man found the strength to build civilization. To found their own Life. Their kingdoms. So you may all build your monuments to this world of "Choice" you insist you live in. Build your towers as tall as the mountains, and train your soldiers to become your fated guardians.
However. As lights shine brighter, they edge closer to the time they will flicker and fail. And once the light is gone...Only darkness will be left in its stead.

In the cool late summer night, 5 men emerge from an ally, and stroll confidently through the street. The lead man, a thin red haired man with green eyes, clad in a White Polyester coat and black derby hat, stops to pull out a cigar, smiling as he lights it and continues down the road. Twirling his cane, he approaches a shop with a brightly lit neon sign proudly displaying "From Dust Till Dawn."
The orange haired man and his entourage enter the shop, eyeing everything down. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late?" The orange haired man tells the shopkeeper with a smug grin, tapping ash from his cigar onto the counter.
With the subtlety befitting his appearance, one of the goons pulls out a firearm to aim at the shopkeeper. Immediately raising his hands above his head, he exclaims, "P-please just take my money and leave!"
At this response the orange haired man cracks a smile, seeming to be enjoying himself, and in a soothing tone," shhh, shhh, shhh, we're not here for your money. I'm Roman Torchwick, I hardly need it." And in an instant returns to his flat threatening voice when addressing one of the goons, "Grab the dust." He returns to simply observing the men collect dust in any form they could find it in, crystal, powder, cartridge. And with a long drag of his cigar, leans against the counter looking out at the street.
One of the goons headed to the far side of the store that had yet to be touched; he sees by a wall reading a comic, a young, or maybe just short woman in a red hood. He pulls out a shortsword and points it in the girls direction. "Hey kid, put your hands up and you won't get hurt!" Without a response given, he walks up to the girl, and putting a hand on her shoulder, pulls her to face him, "Kid you got a death wish or somethin'?"
In reality she simply didn't hear him through her headphones he could now see. Along with the rest of her getup, a small corset and skirt laced with fabric, with a bodysuit underneath. At this he motions for her to take off her headphones. She does, and asks him, "Do you need something?" To which he responds,
"Yes! I said, put your hands in the air, now!"
"Are you...robbing me?"
"Yes!"
Then the girl smirks, "Ooohhh…"
As Roman is gazing at the street, smoking his cigar, he hears a crash as one of his men flies past him and through the window into the road. Bewildered he turns and sees the girl standing on top of a knocked over shelf yelling, "I am not a kid! I am a huntress and my name is Ruby Rose! And I won't allow this to continue!"
Roman stares at her for a moment of disbelief, before looking to either of his henchmen, "Okayyy...Well? Get her!"
In a flash of rose petals, Ruby lunged, latching onto, and swinging around the first henchman, using her own momentum as she dug her feet into the ground to floor him, knocking the wind out of his lungs, immediately switching targets to Roman, in another flash jumping at him, as Roman casually steps to the side, Ruby collides with the unsuspecting second goon, knocking him back before moving to his side, jumping into the air, and using both of her legs to propel him out of the second window. The third goon pulls his gun out, aiming it at Ruby's head, but as he pulls the trigger, again a burst of rose petals fill the space, and Ruby crouches to his side, and sweeps his legs, but before he can hit the ground she kicks him into a shelf, who's structure and contents splinter, and spill onto him as they both fall to the ground together.
Before she can revel in her victory, Roman, never missing a beat is already swinging his cane at Ruby, now winded from using her Rose Petals so many times in short succession. It takes all her concentration to dodge his blows, scanning, looking for an opening as she dashes around him. After a moment, she sees an opening, immediately she moves to exploit it. In a flash she's blindsided by Roman's left fist, as she flies out of the front door onto the street next to the unconscious goons she subdued earlier.

Roman casually walks out of the store with one of his cases full of dust, gingerly shutting the door behind himself and strolling down the steps, dropping the case at his feet, "You really didn't think I could tell what you were doing? It was a feint Little Red! Take a lesson or two." Visibly frustrated Ruby gets up and pulls out her compacted weapon from her back, which unfolds out to a segmented scythe, with the length of the weapon serving as a heavy sniper. "Ohh, Impressive Red! But I'll show you professionals don't need gimmicks bigger than they are." At the taunt Ruby fires her rifle behind her for momentum as she charges towards Roman, who almost effortlessly uses his cane to lift himself into the air, and kicking down on Ruby's shoulders as she flies past him, digging her scythe into the ground to turn herself around. Only to be met with Roman pointing his cane at her, "You were worth every cent, Truly you were!" As a red flare shoots out of the cane towards her, she barely manages to block it with her weapon to the best of her ability, still getting singed on her edges as she's knocked onto the steps of the shop. Opening her eyes, she sees Roman climbing up a fire escape with the case of dust in hand. As police sirens draw nearer, he tosses the case onto the roof, and yells down to her, "Well Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening, and as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid this is where we part ways." He then hops onto the roof out of sight.
With a pained sigh, Ruby gets up, and dashes to the fire escape, quickly rushing up, and in a few moments leaps onto the roof, landing several feet behind Roman, "Hey!"
Roman's face turns to one of annoyance, as he mutters, "Persistent…"
Seemingly out of nowhere a VTOL appears in front of Roman, opening its side doors allowing him to jump to land inside it, before turning again, puts his smile back on while pulling a red dust gem from the case. As he turns and tosses the crystal to Ruby's feet, exclaiming, "End of the line, Red!" he raises his cane once again, and fires a flare at the crystal. Causing it to erupt in a spire of flame, cracking the roof. Roman leans on his cane he chuckles, "What a shame, she was quite fun to- Huh?"
He cuts himself off in surprise, seeing not only Ruby not a smoldering corpse, but in front of her casting a circle of protection with her wand, a woman in a pencil skirt, a button up, and a purple cape. Waving her weapon, she creates several purple masses around her, that streak out homing towards the VTOL's engines. In the chaos of the ship getting hit, Roman stumbles into the cockpit yelling, "They got a huntress!"
A woman clad in a red, gold accented dress gets out of the co pilot seat and moves to the back.
During this the Purple caped Huntress pulls out a cartridge of blue dust, emptying it out into the air and using her wand draws it into a circle above the craft, as black clouds form over it. And with a flick of her wrist, wand in hand, large jagged ice cicles fall into the VTOL, puncturing holes throughout it.
The woman with the red dress appears in the back of the vehicle, and the symbols on her dress and arm began to glow like flames and she sends out a wave of fire towards Ruby and the huntress, The Huntress manages to create another runed circle to block the immediate area as the rest of the roof around them burns. Then the woman turns her hand up, like a command, and the embers surrounding Ruby and The Huntress begin to light up before exploding. Ruby uses the last of her energy to burst into rose petals, falling out of her dash just after the explosion ends, while the huntress merely jumps out of the way of the epicenter. Then, using the rubble from the roof, she flicked her wand as purple energy surrounds the wreckage, collecting and forming it into a great spear, that she then hurls towards the vehicle. The Woman holds up her hand and shoots out bursts of flames in quick succession, making short work of the spear. Only for it to reform as several smaller lances surrounding the craft and hurling towards it. The woman forms several red rings around the VTOL, and with a hot burst of energy dissipates the arrows.
Ruby collects herself as she lay on the ground, and with a struggle manages to get her scythe back into its rifle form to fire several shots at the woman, which she nonchalantly blocks with a single hand. Then with a motion of her hands, the remaining embers around the two on the roof began to glow bright. In an instant The Huntress creates a runed circle to throw Ruby to safety, as she rolls behind a large piece of debris. As they looked back to the VTOL, which was already flying away.
She walks over to Ruby, who in a surprisingly energetic voice exclaimed, "You're a real huntress! Can I have your autograph?!"

Ruby sat in a dark room with a single light, with a look of guilt blanketing her face, as the huntress, who Ruby had learned was a teacher at Beacon named Glynda Goodwitch, paced around the table with a tablet in her hand. "I hope you realize what you did tonight will not be treated with leniency. You put others, and especially yourself in great danger."
"But they started it! They were robbing the store!"
With a quiet sigh, Glynda looks away, "If it were up to me, you'd be home now. Sent away with a pat on the back." And slamming her riding crop on the desk by her hands, "And a slap on the wrist. But… Much to my dismay, there is someone who would like to speak with you first."

She moves out of the way as a bespectacled man in a green suit walks through the doorway, holding a plate of cookies.
"Ruby Rose…" He notices something and leans closer to her, "You...have silver eyes."
"Uh, um…" she fidgets uncomfortably.
Breaking off suddenly, he continues, "So! Where did you learn to do this?" He gestures to Glynda's tablet that shows her fighting in security footage from the shop. She hesitantly responds, "S-signal Academy."
"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"
"Well, one teacher in particular."
"I see…"
He places the plate of cookies on the table in front of Ruby. Tentatively she picks on up, and begins eating it. After seeing no rebuttal, begins shoveling the rest into her mouth. The man appeared amused by this, and continued. " It's just that I've only seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before. A dusty, old Crow." Through her full mouth, she responds in a muffled tone, "Oh! Thass ma uncle." She swallows her food, and with an embarrassed expression, wipes off her mouth. "Sorry, that's my Uncle Qrow! He teaches at Signal on occasion. I couldn't even hold the gardening tool version until he started teaching me personally. But now I can fight with the best of them!"
"So I've noticed." He sits at the table, staring at her intently. "And what, may I add, Is such a small, young girl, such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"
"Well...I want to be a Huntress."
"You want to be a slayer of monsters?"
"Yeah! I only have two more years of training left at Signal! And then I intend to apply at Beacon! My sister is starting there this year. We both want to become Huntresses, and I want to be one 'cause our parents taught us to help people whenever you can. The police or military are fine, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting!" She stares at the two of them with a wide grin, as Glynda and the man stared back, studying her expression.
"Do you know who I am?" Asked the man suddenly.
"You're professor Ozpin. You're the headmaster at Beacon."
A warm smile forms on his face, "Hello."
Smiling back Ruby responds earnestly. "Nice to meet you."
"You want to come to my school?"
"More than anything!"
Ozpin looks over to Glynda, who shows signs of disapproval and frustration. And turns her back as Ozpin continues. "Well, okay."
Ruby, shocked, but mouth and eyes wide with excitement, begins stammering her thanks and how appreciative she is, as Ozpin shepherds her out of the room, to allow her to get home.

As the two enter the building once more, Glynda starts again, "Are you certain you want to allow this? She's young and far too reckless. She went up to that roof with almost no stamina or aura, and several injuries already. Had I not shown up, she would have with certainty, died."
Ozpin doesn't respond for a few seconds. Before replying, "It may have been reckless, but she demonstrates the qualities necessary to be a huntress intent on fighting the wrong in the world."
"You're saying she seems to be pure-hearted? Rather than seeming irresponsible? Even if it were the case, how will she do at Beacon 2 years early? It's not an easy task."
"Sometimes. An earnest, good soul is more suited to difficult tasks, rather than a survivalists."
Glynda stops her attempt to speak reason, recognizing Ozpin has made up his mind. And side by side they continue down the hall.

Chapter 1: Orientation

Ruby sat on the main deck of their airship heading to Beacon for the first day of the semester. She looks deflated as her older sister Yang, paces back and forth their aisle, excitedly repeating, "Oh I'm so happy, my baby sister gets to go to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!" She immediately wraps her arms around Ruby, picking her up and crushing her in a hug. While being crushed, Ruby gasps out, "Please...stop."

"But I'm just so proud of you!"

"It wasn't anything, really I just fought some robbers, and talked to Ozpin"

"But it was so cool! Everyone's going to think you're the coolest thing since sliced bread 🍞!"

"I don't want to be the coolest thing since sliced bread! I just wanna be a normal loaf of bread kind of girl! Maybe with a tab of butter on the side."

"I'm just teasing you, aren't you excited?"

Ruby sighs," I am excited… I just. I got moved up two years, I don't want people to think I'm getting special attention or something."

"But you are special." Yang wraps one arm around her sister, leading her down the deck. A holographic newscast begins to play on the wall by them, the host describing the robbery and asking for information on the whereabouts of the Vale crime boss, Roman Torchwick. A mugshot of him flashes across the screen before switching to footage from a protest from that day. Members demanding civil rights for the animalistic humanoids who share the world with humans, named Faunus, before it was interrupted by a violent extremist faction of the Faunus the newscaster referred to as the White Fang. Abruptly the news is cut off and replaced by a hologram of Glynda Goodwitch.

She begins," Hello, and welcome to Beacon Academy!"

Yang leans over to Ruby," Who's that?"

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch."

"Oh."

"You are among the privileged few accepted into our prestigious school! The world we've built is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as the future huntsmen and huntresses of the world, the duty falls to you to uphold it. You've demonstrated the courage and merit to inherit the task, and now it's our turn to provide you with the knowledge and training to protect our world" Glynda continues her speech while Ruby runs to the window to gaze down at the town below, "Wow! I can see Signal from up here. I guess home won't be that far after all." Yang gives Ruby a noogie, "Beacons our home now dork." Ruby shoves Yang's hand away, and smiles at her. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

The airship slows as it reaches the docks of the high-up Beacon Academy. It settles finally, and opens a hatch in its side, extending a ramp down to the ground. Ruby and Yang, alongside the many other arriving students, walk down the ramp and towards the paved path leading to the school's main building. While looking out from the dock Yang comments, "The view from Vale is great, but has nothing on this." Her words are left unresponded to. Turning around, her expression turns blasé learning why. Ruby was excitedly moving back and forth on the path to gaze at the other students weapons, in sentences so fast she was almost difficult to comprehend, "Oh my gosh! That guy's got a segmented, collapsible staff! And that girl has a Heat Sword!" Before getting out of sight Yang grabs the back of Ruby's hood to hold her still, "Easy there little sis, they're only weapons."
"'Only Weapons'? They're a part of us! An extended part of our own bodies! They're gorgeous!"
"So why don't you swoon over your own weapon? Aren't you excited by it?"
Ruby pulls out her, currently compact, sniper scythe and begins rocking it like a child. "Of course I love Crescent Rose! It's just a real nice experience seeing other people's weapons. It's like a preview of who they are as a person! Like meeting them for real, but better…"
"Well how about meeting some of the people for real? Why don't you go try to make a friend or two of your own?"
With a sudden nervous tone in her voice Ruby responds, "But...Why would I need to make new friends if I have you?"

"Well. You can't follow big sis forever, she's gonna go her own way eventually, and so are you. Sooooo." With a wide grin, Yang pulls Ruby's hood down over her face, and runs off yelling, "Good luuuuck!" Ruby begins flailing trying to take her hood off, stumbling backwards until she falls into something, collapsing to the floor and finally being able to take off her hood. "Get off me you ruffian!" Ruby shocked and embarrassed realized she fell on top of another girl. She was an incredibly pale girl, with a side ponytail, and a frilled white dress on a petite frame. Quickly Ruby hopped off her, and extended a hand to help her up. With a Grimace the girl accepted her hand up, and began examining her belongings. Tentatively, Ruby attempted an apology, which was quickly cut off by the girl, "Do you have any idea how much damage you could have caused?" she pulls out a damaged jar of red dust, and begins wagging it at Ruby as she scolded her. "This is Dust! Mined and purified in a Schnee Quarry!"
"Uhm-"
"Do you have any self awareness at all!? You could have blown up my entire luggage alongside me!" As the girl had been wagging the jar in her face, particles of dust had peppered out of the cracked glass, and towards Ruby's face.
"I uh, I didn't me- *Cough *Cough"
"Are you even listening to me? Any clue at all? What do you have to say for yourself!"
As more dust collected around Ruby's head she eventually sneezed, the force of which activated the dust. Resulting in an explosive wave that rushed outward from the two girls. Covering both of them in soot. The girl immediately exploded, "This is exactly what I was referring to! It's the first day of the semester! Far too early to be acting like a complete dolt! Why are you here? Aren't you too young to be at Beacon?"
"Well, I-I uh-"
"This is a bit more than a standard combat school. It's far more than sparring and practice, we're here to fight monsters!"
"I tried to say I was sorry Princess!"
A passing student, barely looking up from her book as she walked chimed in. "It's heiress, actually." The two girls look at her; tall, long black, curly hair. And dressed pretty casually in shorts, leggings, and a black blouse with a large black bow tying her hair back. "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

Smugly, Weiss smiles, "Finally! Some recognition!" The new girl has a look of slight frustration, only visible in her eyes, before replying. "The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces, and questionable business partners." She continues to look at her book as she walks away. Now upset, Weiss yells after her as Ruby chuckles behind her.
"Um excuse me, I'm Jaune, you alright after that explosion?" Ruby looks over to the new voice, coming from a rather plain looking blonde guy with just a hoodie and jeans, with the only armor on him being a pair of small pauldrons on his arms, and a small chestplate.
"Um. Hey, I'm Ruby, and ya I'm fine. What about you? You look fit to throw up."
"Uh...ya… I get kinda motion sick on airships. And in cars. And boats…" They started walking down the path talking as they went. "Look all I'm saying is motion sickness is a far more common problem than people will have you believe!" Ruby stifles a laugh, "Maybe I should call you Barf boat then."
"Oh yeah? What if I called you Magma Mouth?"
"Hey, that explosion was an accident! And also that name is actually kinda cool."
"Well get my name right, its Jaune Arc! Short, sweet, Ladies love it!" Skeptically Ruby cocks an eyebrow, "Do they?"
"They will!" Well, kinda hoping they will. My mom always says that, ah-...Never mind."
Ruby giggled uncontrollably, "You want to see what ladies really love?" She pulls out Crescent Rose, unfolding it completely before posing with it.
"Whoa! Is that a scythe?"
"It's also a modular high-impact sniper rifle!"
"A-wha…?"
Ruby smiles, "It's also a large gun."
"Oh wow! That's cool!"
"So what've you got packin'?
"Oh! I uh…" He unsheathes a broadsword from his hilt. "I got this neat sword!" Ruby looks closely at the sword, admiring it. "Yeah, and I've got a shield too!" Pulling up his scabbard onto his arm, it expands into a shield. Ruby touches the shield tentatively, "So, what do they do?"
"Uh, I can put my sword into my shield, and collapse it down. And then put it away when I'm tired of holding it!"
"But...Wouldn't it weigh the same?" Jaune lets out a dejected sigh, "Yeah, it does…"
Ruby smiles sympathetically, "Well, I'm sort of a dork when it comes to weapons, I guess I did go a little overboard when designing it."
"Wait - you made that?!"
"Of course! All students at Signal forge their own weapons. Didn't you make yours?"
"It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it in The War."
"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me, but I like it. Not too many people have an appreciation for the classics."
"Yeah. Classics." Jaune stares at his sword for a moment before being interrupted by Ruby, "So why did you come up and talk to me anyways?"
"Well. Why not? My mom always says, 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.'"
"Huh. Fun sentiment." Ruby paused to look around. "Hey, where are we going?"
"Uh. I don't know, I was following you. Y-you think there might be a directory? Some kind of landmark?" And the two begin rushing off to find the orientation hall.

Ruby and Jaune rush to the main hall, clearly the last ones to arrive. The auditorium is filled with people, Ruby looks around until she hears Yang yelling for her. "Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot by me!" Ruby turns to Jaune, "Hey, I gotta go! I'll see you after the ceremony!"
"Cool-yeah! I'll uh. See you later."
Yang stands with her arms crossed as Ruby walks up to join her. "How's your first day going, Baby Sister?"
"You mean after you ditched me and I exploded?"
"Yikes, meltdown already?"
"No! I literally exploded in a burst of fire in front of the school." Yang gives a wide distrusting smile, "Are you being sarcastic?" Ruby's face turns sour recounting the event, "I wish! I tripped on top of some haughty girl, knocking over her luggage, and then she yelled at me, and I sneezed, and dust exploded, then she kept yelling, and I felt super duper bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!" Weiss stormed up behind Ruby noticing her in the crowd. "You!"
Ruby jumped into Yangs embrace, "Oh God, it's happening again!"
Shocked, Yang in a monotone voice, "Oh my God, you really exploded." Ruby turned to her accuser, "It was an accident! An accident!" Cutting her off, Weiss holds up one finger, and hands Ruby a small booklet that simply reads, "Beginner's Guide to Dust." "Uhm. What's this?"
With a blank expression Weiss stated, "You really wanna start making things up to me?"
"Absolutely!" Weiss points at the booklet. "Read this, and don't ever speak to me again." Yang interjected, "Look, sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot. Why not start over and try to be friends?" Ruby puts the booklet away. "Yeah! Great idea sis!" She extends her hand, "Hello Weiss! I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can shop for school supplies!"
Weiss puts on a facade of enthusiasm, "Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys we like!"
"Wow, Really?!"
Weiss' face immediately goes back to ice cold. "No."
Before Ruby could have any sort of retort, the lights in the hall dim, as the main lights turn attention to the main stage, where Professor Ozpin readies the microphone, with Glynda beside him.
"I'll...Keep this brief. You're all here for strength and knowledge. To hone your craft, acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of people, or whatever specialization you intend to pursue. However strength will not grant victory. Nor will knowledge. Not purely. The assumption power or knowledge will free you of a need for purpose or direction, will not get you far. Your time at this school will prove this, and that it's up to you all, to apply knowledge and power together, and appropriately."
As Ozpin leaves the stage abruptly, Glynda steps up to the mic. "You will gather in the ballroom to sleep tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins in earnest. Be ready. You are dismissed."
Yang leans over to Ruby, "He seemed kind of...off."
"Yeah, like he wasn't fully here right now."

With the first night at Beacon, the ballroom is active, with sleeping bags splayed out around the grounds, some students attempting to sleep, some fooling around, and others simply passing time until it quiets down.
Ruby writes in her journal about the day, all the experiences, and the people she met. Her concentration was immediately broken however by Yang crashing into the sleeping bag next to her. "Isn't this neat! It's like a big slumber party!" Without looking up Ruby dryly responds, "I don't know if Dad would approve of all the boys, though."
"I know I do! Plenty to look at it. Some nice looking girls too." Her eyes scanned around the room taking in the variety before continuing. "Whatcha writin'?"
"It's a journal to record my experiences going to Beacon. Next time I can meet up with my old friends from Signal, I want to be able to tell them everything."
"Aw, that's so cuuuute." At the tease Ruby throws her pillow into Yang's face. "Hey, I didn't get to take my friends with me to school! It's weird not really knowing anyone but you here."
"What about Jaune? He's...nice, I think. There you go! Another friend to the list, that's a one hundred percent increase!" Ruby turns away from Yang, "Pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend. Back to zero…"

"There's no such thing as negative friends! You just made one friend and one enemy!" Seeing no change in Ruby, Yang scooted closer to her, and changed to a softer tone while smiling. "It's only been one day. Trust your big sis; you've got friends all around you. You just haven't met them yet." While looking around, Ruby notices the black haired girl from earlier in the day, leaning against a wall with a single candle by her, reading a book. "Oh, it's that girl…"
"You know her?"
"Not really. She was just there this morning when I exploded. But she left before I could say anything." Grabbing Ruby's arm, Yang lifted her up and began to drag Ruby with her. "Well, now's your chance!"
"Wait! What are you doing?!"

The Girl tentatively looked up to see Ruby unsuccessfully struggling against her sisters grip, as she was being dragged towards her. Finally Yang stood in front of her and finally let Ruby go. "Hel-looooooo! I believe you two know each other?" Pausing to take it in, the girl responds, "Aren't you...the girl that exploded?"
"Uh, yeah! My name's Ruby! Ruby Rose!" The girl looks back to her book, "Okay." Yang whispered to Ruby, "What are you doing?"
"I don't know! Help me!"
"So! What's your name?" Sighing with slight annoyance, she responds, "Blake."
"Well, Blake, I'm Yang! Ruby's older sister. Dig the bow by the way, super cute!" Now with a more irritated tone, "Thanks!"
"It uh, looks great on you along with your um… pajamas!"
"Right…" With both Ruby and Yang now standing in a moment of awkward silence, Yang tries to break it. "Nice night, don't you think?"
"Yes-it's lovely! Almost as lovely as this book!...That I will continue to read… As soon as you leave." Yang to Ruby says, "Yeah, I don't think this is going great." And begins to leave, but Ruby continues to talk to Blake, "What's it about?" Surprised at the question Blake takes a pause. "Huh?"
"Your book. What's its name?"
"Well… I-It's about a man with two souls, both fighting for supremacy in his body."
"I love books. Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories about heroes and monsters… They're one of the reasons I want to be a huntress." Blake lets out an amused chuckle. "Why exactly? Hoping to find a happily ever after?"
"I sort of hope we all will. When I was little, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the stories… Someone who did what was right, and protected everyone who couldn't protect themselves."
"That's...Ambitious for a child." Blake's smile turned back to a slight frown. "Unfortunately for all of us, the real world isn't quite a fairy tale."
"Well, that's why we're all here! To make it better!" Yang smiles softly at Ruby, before turning to Blake, "We'll let you enjoy your book for the rest of the night, it was great meeting you." Blake smiles softly, "It was great to meet you two also." And she looks back to her book as Ruby and Yang return to their sleeping bags.

Chapter 2: Rough Landing

Morning shines through the tall windows of the ballroom, bathing the scene in a warm glow as students begin to get up and get ready for the trials of Beacon.
Lie Ren opens his eyes wearily, before his best friend Nora's face fills the entire view, "Wake up Lazy butt!" As Ren slowly gets up, Nora begins singing while prancing around him, "It's morning! It's morning! It's morning! It's morning!" Ren gets dressed, collects his things, and heads to the communal bathroom to get ready and brush his teeth, Nora gushing the whole way, "I can't believe we've been at Beacon for a full twenty-four hours! Not that I thought we'd get kicked out or anything, you're the ideal student, and I'm pretty darn swell myself. Just crazy right?" While she brushes her hair, and Ren takes care of his own appearance she continued talking about her amazement at being at Beacon. Ren simply smiled listening to her, satisfied she seemed happy and excited. After they were finished, Ren and Nora moved to the dining hall for breakfast. Nora never leaving a moment of silence, "I mean, we've been friends for soooooooooo long! What are the odds of the two of us still working well side by side together! You know? It's nuts!" Ren smiles and nods, and as they're eating, Nora still continues. "These pancakes are great! Not as great as yours of course, but hey, close 3rd! Bronze medal all the way! Speaking of winning and teams, I hope we end up on the same one together! Ohhhhh! We should come up with some kind of plan or scheme to ensure you and I are on the same team together! What if we bribe Ozpin? No, that won't work. He has a school."
After breakfast the two of them head to the locker room along with other students, to get ready for the team-assigning trial. "I know! We can have a signal of some kind! A secret to find each other in the woods! Can you imitate a hummingbird?" Ren finally speaks up, "Nora?"
"Yes, Ren?" Ren sheathes his weapons. "I don't think hummingbirds make a lot of noise." He begins walking to leave the locker room. Nora stops to think for a moment. "That's why it's perfect! No one will suspect we're working together!"
"Come on Nora, let's go!" Nora giggles and runs after him.

Ruby and Yang are getting their combat gear ready, seeing Nora and Ren leaving in such high spirits, Ruby comments, "Wonder what they're so chipper about?"
"Who knows, you seem awfully chipper yourself dont'cha think?"
"Yup! No more awkward small talk and trying to get along." She pulls out crescent rose, and began to stroke it like a pet, "Today, I get to let my sweetheart talk for me."
"Well, uh. Remember Ruby, you're not the only one going through initiation. If you wanna grow up, you're going to have to work with people." Ruby sighed in frustration, "Ugghhh you sound like Dad!"
"And what about when we have to form teams?"
"Um, I don't know… I kind of just figured I would. Be on your team or something…" Yang begins stroking her long, curly blonde hair. "Maybe you should uh, consider you might be on someone else's team?"
"My dear sister Yang! Are you implying that you don't want to be on the same team as me?"
"What? No! Of course I'd love to be on a team with you… I just kinda, thought it would help you. I don't know, break out of your shell and make more friends." Ruby begins her own protests as other students prepare themselves.

Weiss intentionally positions herself by Pyrrha Nikos, a girl with Grenadine Red hair, and a Greek warrior look to her armor and weapons. "So Pyrrha, I don't suppose you've given much thought to whose team you'd like to be on? I'm sure every student must be desperate to unite with such a strong, well-known individual like yourself?" A bit absent mindedly, Pyrrha responds, "Hmm...I'm uncertain. I had intended on letting pieces fall as they may."
Well...I was thinking maybe we could try to be on a team together?" Pyrrha smiles, "Sure, that sounds grand!"
Weiss was already inside her own mind, fantasizing about a team up with one of the strongest prospective students from Sanctum. An ally as strong as her would be quite the valuable asset. During her fantasies of a social school take-over, her thoughts became interrupted by Jaune's voice, who had stepped between them. "You know what else is grand? Me. Jaune Arc, nice to meet you." Weiss in customarily upset tone, "Excuse me, who are you?"
Pyrrha stands straight, attentively noticing him, "Nice to meet you, Jaune!"
"What's going on ladies, heard you're looking for teammates, well got a strong team player right here!" With a cocked eyebrow and a half-appalled face, Weiss commented, "You're joking right?"
"No need to hide your shock, been hearing about teams, thinking I'd make a good one with either one of ya, what do you say?" Pyrrha leans into Jaune's vision to get his attention, "Actually the teams appear to be comprised of four students each, so-"
Jaune turns to her immediately, "Well warrior princess, roll the dice well and you could end up on the best team." He finger guns at her. Weiss, holding herself back, gets between them to confront Jaune, "Jaune, is it? Do you have a clue as to who you're addressing?"
"Not in the slightest."
"This is Pyrrha. Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum!" Pyrrha waves from behind Weiss, "Hello again!" Jaune flatly replies, "Never heard of it." Weiss' eye twitches slightly before she continues. "She's won the Mistral Region Tournaments four years in a row! She set the record!"
"The what?"
Now visibly angry Weiss yells, "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!"
Jaune gasps in surprise, "That's you?! I loved that cereal as a kid!" Sheepishly, Pyrrha responds, " Yes, it was pretty fun. It's a shame the cereal was actually quite bad for you however." Smugly, Weiss folds her arms, "So, after all that, do you really think you're in any sort of position to ask her to be on a team with you?"
"I guess not...Sorry…" Jaune hung his head low and began to walk away. Before he could leave, Pyrrha spoke up, "Actually, Jaune, I think you'd make a wonderful team member!"
"Really? You shouldn't flatter me so!" Weiss interjects, "Really you shouldn't. If you encourage him Pyrrha, he won't stop."
"Really, it's no bother." Pyrrha seems to summon, a shield to her arm, accidentally smacking into Jaune's head on its way, and flooring him. "Oh! I'm sorry!"

The intercom sounds a chime, then the voice of Glynda Goodwitch plays over it. "Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately.
Weiss and Pyrrha head to the door, as Pyrrha passes Jaune, she looks down, "It was nice to meet you!" Jaune, still on the ground, "Likewise…"
Ruby and Yang approach him, and as Ruby helps him up, Yang sarcastically, "Having some trouble there, lady-killer?"
"I don't understand. My dad said all women look for is confidence? Where did I go wrong?"
Yang in a somewhat miffed tone, "Well butting into the middle of them might not have been a great start. Girl's don't exactly have a nuclear, solve all, button." And she continues on. Ruby pats Jaune on the back and leads him out of the locker room, "Come on, Jaune, let's go."

The students gathered at the Beacon Cliff, which overlooks a forest that seems to go on for miles. In batches they are assigned to different positions on the length of the cliff, Ozpin with one hand on his cane, and the other holding a mug of coffee, giving instructions to each, until finally they came to Ruby's section. Ozpin assigns each student to a silver tile beside the cliff, then takes a position at the end of them with Glynda and her tablet beside him.
"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, we will evaluate the skills you've acquired, here in the Emerald Forest." Glynda continues the instruction, "I'm certain many of you have heard rumors of the assignment of 'teams.' Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates… today." Ozpin takes over the instruction once more.
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your education here at Beacon. So I would recommend you to pursue someone with whom you can work well."
Ruby lets out a soft groan.
"That being said, you will be paired with the first person you make eye contact with after landing."
At this, Ruby starts, "What?!"
"Once you have your initial partner, your next objective will be at the northern end of the forest. There will with certainty be Grimm in the woods between here and there. Do not hesitate to destroy them. Because they won't hesitate to do the same. You will be monitored and graded on your performance through the Emerald Forest, but we will not intervene. At the northern end you will find an abandoned temple with several 'relics.' Each pair will choose one and return here. The item will be regarded, along with your standing and grades. Any questions?"
Jaune raised his hand, "Uhm sir?"

Ozpin continues without acknowledging Jaune, "Good! Now, take your positions." The various students all ready themselves in various positions indicative of their fighting style, and preparedness for the first task of the trial. Besides Jaune who is still raising his hand, "Sir? A uhm. A question?" He continues, not noticing the students behind him, one by one being flung out into the woods by the tile. "So, this landing, strategy thing? So uh, wha-what is it? We getting dropped off or something?"
Ozpin looks at Jaune, and in an incredibly frank and plain tone, "No. You will be falling."
"Oh, I see. So uhm. Did I miss the parachute line."

"Not quite. 'Landing strategy' refers to your own."

As it gets to Yang's turn, she turns to her sister; gives a reaffirming wink, puts on a pair of aviator glasses, and is flung into the air, yelling in delight as she goes. Shortly after Ruby is sent off behind her.
Still not realizing the situation he's in, Jaune continues, "So how do we develop this landing strategy thing? Was there a class I misSSSS!..." He is immediately flung off the cliff. Ozpin watches the line of students plunging towards the earth, and takes a sip of his drink.

The students all fall downwards towards the earth, each with different methods to break their fall. Ruby fires several shots from her rifle, before transitioning to its scythe form, catching a tree branch to descend slower. Weiss, using her rapier as channeler, produces several glyphs to slow her descent, then produce platforms to gracefully reach the forest floor. Ren uses his bladed pistols to cut into the trunk of a tree, descending down in a spiral. Yang conversely, uses her shot gauntlets to actually propel her further, cheering as she flies before finally descending to the ground, rolling, and ending with a 3 point landing. Elsewhere, Pyrrha has a more forceful landing, positioning her shield in front of her, crashing through tree after tree before she's slowed enough to land on a branch. She surveyed around her before spotting Jaune flailing about as he fell. She converts her rifle into a javelin, aiming in Jaune's direction; she takes a moment to calculate her throw, takes a breath, and hurls it towards him. Jaune on the other hand, sees a spear hurtling towards him. For a moment he closes his eyes, accepting death, before he feels a tug on his hoodie, then a thunk. Opening his eyes, he realized he was pinned up to a tree by the weapon. Somewhat embarrassed for giving up, he yelled out, "Thank you!" In reply he heard the faint voice of Pyrrha, "I'm sorry!"

Ruby reached the forest floor, and began to run through it in the northern direction, repeating to herself as she went, "Gotta find Yang! Gotta find Yang! Oh but what if I don't find her? This is bad, real real bad. What if someone else partners with her first? Uhm… Who else do I know. There's Jaune. He's uh. Nice. I don't think he'd be that useful in a fight though… Uhm. What about Blake? She seems uh. Cultured? She might be a good partner. Who else do I know? Yang, Jaune, and Blake, who else. Oh there's!-" Ruby cuts herself off as she enters a small clearing, with Weiss standing at the end of it. Ruby digs her heels into the ground to stop herself just in time for Weiss to turn around and have their eyes meet. Both with a shocked expression, there is a pregnant pause before Weiss turns her back on Ruby and begins walking away from her. Ruby follows behind timidly as she's calling after her, "Wait! Weiss where are you going?! We're supposed to be teammates now!" Weiss continues ahead through bushes before she hears struggling ahead of her. Looking up she sees Jaune pinned to a tree struggling to free himself. With a pained sigh, she turns around. Passing Ruby and grabbing her by the hood and began dragging the girl with her. "By no means does this make us friends."
In a joyous tone Ruby exclaimed, "I'm so happy you came back for me!"
Eventually Weiss stopped dragging Ruby and walked briskly ahead of her. Ruby keeping up behind her asked, "What's the hurry Weiss? Not like we're going to fail for being a little slow."

Without looking back to Ruby, "I won't let our first mission be delayed because my teammate is too slow! And if I get a poor grade because of you, I wi-" In a flash of rose petals Ruby appears right next to her, "I'm nowhere near slow, see? You don't have to be concerned about me holding you back!" Shocked, and slightly amazed Weiss murmured, "When did you?"
"Weiss, I may not be able to talk to people well, and I might make poor first impressions. But I can deal with monsters!" Ruby puts an arm around Weiss. In response her face turns sour as Ruby continues, "You'll see what I'm capable of! And will have no choice but to be my bestest friend!"
Weiss shrugs off Ruby's arm and continues walking ahead, "We'll see just how well you do when we see some Grimm, then I'll tell you what I thi-." She cuts herself off upon seeing a pair of bright red eyes in the bushes ahead of her, followed by Growls surrounding the two girls as they ready themselves.

Yang walked through the woods at a very relaxed pace, yelling out, "Helloooooooo? Anyone around me? I'm getting bored! Seriously is anyone around at all?" She hears a rustling from behind her in the bushes. "Ruby? That you in there?" Trudging out of the bushes a pair of Grimm that looked similar to bears, called "Ursa", begun to stand off against Yang, rising up and roaring.
"Nope."
One quickly charged her, with a smug grin, Yang jumped up, tapping the passing Ursa as she lept over it. The other charged her before she landed. Her grin turned to full smile as she lands a punch to its face with her gauntlets. First a crack sounds under her fist, then she activates the shotgun in her weapons, sending the beast flying back, its face cracked open and groaning. The original Ursa, now recovered, charges at her once more. Yang charges right back at it, before she slides underneath the bear monster, shotgunning several more shots into its underside on her way, as it roared in pain. Getting up, Yang bounces on her feet, enjoying herself, "Say, you two studs wouldn't happen to have seen a little girl in a red hood would ya?" The ursai growl menacingly at her. "You coulda just said 'no', you know?" The scarred Ursa stands up on its hind legs to swipe at her violently. She dodges the attacks with relative ease, before laughing and beginning to taunt them. "Man you guys are no fun at all, you can't even hit a girl standing right in fro…" She stops as she sees a tuft of her hair fall to the ground. With a devastated expression, she inspects her hair to see a clear cut in it. "You…" She continues to mumble until finally she closes her violet eyes, only to open them and see they're now red. And screams, "You Bastards!"
Fire bursts out from her gauntlets, her eyes smoldering while her hair dances like flames. She rushes towards the scarred Ursa, delivering a flurry of punches into it, blasting off bits of flesh, and holes into it, before one final kick sends it flying into a tree, sending both to the ground. She turns to the other Ursa with wild, flaming eyes, and yells at it, "What! You want some too you punk-ass bitch?!" At the threat, the remaining Ursa whimpers and runs off into the woods.
In a tree watching the battle conclude, Blake marvels at Yang, seeing her trounce the monsters, "Oh my." She jumps down to meet with Yang, who is panting in exhaustion after her rage starts to subside. As their eyes meet, Yang's eyes immediately turn back to violet. The two partners smile at each other before Yang stands up confidently, "So! Come here often?"
Weiss and Ruby stand ready in the middle of a small clearing, surrounded by wolf like Grimm named Beowolves. Ruby immediately rushes into the trees in a burst of petals, one of which gets in Weiss' mouth. As she spits it out, she yells after Ruby, "H-hey! Where are you going? Ugh!" As the beasts edge closer, Weiss to herself thinks, Calm. Remember your training, Weiss. Everything you went through. Head up, shoulders back, right foot forward. Slightly back, too far. Steady your breath, wait for the opportune moment. And… She brings her rapier up, the dust revolver chamber spinning to red ...Now! She dashes forward with the help of one of her glyphs, towards what appears to be the lead beowolf. Before she could strike however, Ruby appeared in a cloud of rose petals, attacking the same one with her scythe and landing a hit on it. "Ha ha! Gotcha!" Weiss' eyes widen with shock, as she has to quickly dig her heels into the ground, swinging her sword off to the side as a needle of flame shoots out of it, immolating a tree, and quickly setting the surrounding brush ablaze. Ruby becoming distracted by the flames, barely managing to defend herself when the beowolf scratches at her, knocking Ruby backwards right into Weiss, sending them both to the floor, "Hey, watch it!" Weiss immediately loses her temper. "Excuse me! You attacked out of turn and I very nearly killed you!" Quieter Ruby replies, "You'd have to do a lot more than that…"
The beasts howl and whine around them, and the girls ready for more fighting, until a burning tree falls near them. Weiss grabs Ruby's hands and runs off with her, leading her out of the blaze as it consumes the brush and sends the grimm running. Weiss continues dragging Ruby a ways away until confident they're both safe. Weiss leans over panting from the panicked exertion. Ruby exclaims, "What was that?! That was an easy fight!"
"Well maybe if you had exercised even the most infinitesimal amount of caution, or god forbid, team coordination, maybe I wouldn't have set the woods on fire!"
Ruby scoffs, "What is that supposed to mean?"
"I'm just surprised someone who talks so much would communicate so little during a combat encounter!"
"Well, I'm sorry you need my help to win a fight. I'm just fine on my own!"
Weiss nearly erupts, before calming herself, and with a grimace, pivots away from Ruby, and began to walk off on her partner again. Ruby in agitation yells, and pulls out her scythe to cut a tree in two in frustration, before following behind.

Jaune hung from the tree for some time, shouting after everyone he could see that passed him. At one point, he saw Weiss, only for her to turn around immediately. From below Pyrrha calls up to him, "Jaune?" He looks down to her as she continues, "You wouldn't happen to have any spots left on your team?" Crossing his arms, "Very funny…" After a moment he looks down at her to give a smile, which she returns. She helped him down and retrieved her spear. Then after reaffirming they were both unharmed, continued on their path North. "I'll admit Pyrrha, I'm really glad I get to be your teammate for several years. I mean, you probably could have picked anyone you wanted right? I'm not really the best at any sort of thing."
Humble as ever, "Ha ha. Perhaps. But don't sell yourself short! There are plenty of attributes to a person besides combat." They continued for a ways before hearing the sounds of combat, and seeing smoke in the distance. Jaune comments, "What's going on there?"
"Gunfire. It seems likely a few of our comrades have made contact with the enemy."

Continuing onward, Jaune still faces the sound's direction following Pyrrha. She lifts a branch to let herself through, releasing it behind her right into Jaune's face. In an instant he's back on the floor. Pyrrha whirls around, "Jaune! I'm sorry!" Jaune laughs it off, checking his face to see a gash on his cheek. "It's okay. Just a scratch, nothing I haven't dealt with before!"
"Why didn't you activate your Aura to protect yourself?"
"My what?"
"Your Aura?"
"Oh, never eaten it."
'Jaune, do you… know what Aura is?
"Psch! Of course I do! Definitely! Uhm. Do you know what Aura is?" Pyrrha delights at the chance to teach him, and begins. "Aura is the manifestation of our soul. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts. Have you ever felt a presence watching you without knowing if someone was there?"
"Uh...yeah."
"Well, with practice, our Aura can be our shield. Everyone has it, even animals do."
"What about the monsters?" Pyrrha looks down with a serious expression, "No. The monsters we fight, The Grimm. They are anonymity, and darkness in their purest manifestation. We, conversely, are the light."
"Right! That's why we fight them, right?" Pyrrha gently closes Jaune's eyes with her fingertips.
"Why isn't necessary; It's about knowing. Understanding dark and light helps us to manifest our own Aura. Everyone has some of both inside of them. Baring your soul outward, it becomes a force. You can deflect harm. All of our tools and equipment serve as conduits for Aura, an extension of your will. In a way you protect yourself and your soul when fighting." Jaune opens his eyes with a realization, "It's like a force field!" Pyrrha giggles, "Yes, if you wish to look at it that way." She walks up to him and touches her hands to both sides of this head, her fingers gently pressing onto his temples. "Now, close your eyes again and concentrate." Somewhat nervously, Jaune complies. "Uhh...okay." Pyrrha smiles and closes her own eyes. Her skin glows a faint red, concentrating in her hands. To herself, For it is in passing we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory that rises above all, infinite in distance and no longer bound by death. She moves one of her hands to his chest, pressing her palm lightly into him. I release your soul, and through my life, by my own shoulder protect thee. Her red aura begins to fade, as now Jaune produces a white aura around himself. Pyrrha hunches over, slightly winded. Jaune opens his eyes, to see a field glowing around him, but immediately grew concerned seeing Pyrrha. "Pyrrha? You okay?" Pyrrha gets up, smiling reassuringly, "I'm quite alright. I used my Aura to unlock your own, but from here on, the energy that protects you is your own." The gash on Jaune's face begins to close and vanish quickly. She grins and gives a soft clap, "You have quite a lot of it." Jaune looks to his own hands, amazed as the glow begins to fade.

Lie Ren continued his solo walk through the woods, coming into a section of tall grass. Halfway through the vegetation, he stopped, and began to look for something he couldn't see. Turning cautiously from side to side, only to see the grass shift, but no sign of his stalkers. Finally Ren realizes he's being surrounded not by a group, but the single large body of a snake Grimm. It's large head, the size of a dresser, at last revealing itself as it lunges out to attack Ren. He jumps up to avoid its initial strike, only for it to recover instantaneously, to lunge again. Ren lands on its snout, using it as a platform to launch away from the coil. He landed in a crouch, and the snake began to encircle him once more. Ren pulled out his weapons to begin firing a hail of shots at the creature as jumping onto its body, running up the length of it towards the head. Where he made a slash towards its eye. The snake recoiled to dodge the first attack, as it countered Ren hooked into its snout, to swing around and stab into its left eye. Ren landed, not noticing the other half of the serpent, a white headed variant, behind him. It launched its head toward him, finally making noise for Ren to notice. Jumping out of the way as the Black head slithered towards him now, the white head trying to flank. Thinking quickly, Ren leapt onto the body, firing at the white head, causing it to recoil to protect its eyes. Suddenly, the black head of the snake blindsided Ren, knocking his weapons away, and him to the ground. As it lunged to strike, Ren concentrated Aura into his arms and hands, gripping the fangs of the black head. Struggling and being pushed back as he does. Ren grunts as he grips the fangs. Gritting his teeth he cracks the fangs out of the reptile grimm's mouth. With a horrid shriek, the creature began to flail to the ground, Ren ran up, jabbing the fangs into its eye. He gathered aura into his hand, and palms the back of the fangs, propelling them further into its head, and rupturing its other side, the left side of the head bursting out in a shower of black fluid. The black half-headed side flails about, spewing the liquid all about before falling on top of its white half. Ren wastes no time rushing down the pinned white head, grabbing his weapons as he goes. Jabbing the pistols into its eye and firing the rest of his clip into it. It began to writhe a bit before finally settling, the "blood" oozing out of it.
Ren puts away his weapons, breathing heavily after the encounter. Above him he hears a strange guttural tweeting. He looks up to see Nora hanging upside down by her legs from a tree branch. Ren gives a chuckle, "I'm still pretty sure that's not how a hummingbird would sound." Nora laughs back before tapping his nose, "Boop!" He laughs again.

Ozpin and Glynda stand at the cliff, watching from their tablets, several perspectives showing all the students. After seeing Ren and Nora be paired up, Glynda comments, "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. That poor boy… I can't imagine them working well together, it seems like she'd drive him wild. *sigh. Still, they're probably better off than poor Miss Nikos." Ozpin gives a dispassionate, "Mmmm…"
"I don't care what his transcripts say. That Jaune boy is not ready for this level of combat. I suppose we'll find out soon enough, with their current pace, they should reach the temple in a few minutes. Speaking of which, what did you use as 'relics' this year?" He gives no response. "Professor Ozpin?" He doesn't answer, silently watching the tablet with interest, as Ruby is sitting in the grass picking at stray leaves, while Weiss seems to walk in random directions, before convincing herself otherwise.

Weiss walks towards one direction. "It's definitely this way." Before she stops to reconsider, then goes the opposite direction, "I mean. This way! It's definitely this way!" A moment passes before she walks up to Ruby stopping in front of her. "It's official: We passed it."
"Weiss, why can't you just admit you have no idea where we're supposed to go?"
"I know exactly where we're going! To the...Forest… Temple." Ruby sighs in frustration, before going back to what she was doing.
"Oh stop it! You have no idea where to go either!"
"At least I don't pretend like I know everything."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
Ruby stands up to face Weiss, "It means you're a haughty, high on yourself, self assured princess!" Weiss' gaze turns harsh as Ruby continues. "You act like you're perfect! Like you can't mess up. Like you're somehow better than me…"
"For the last time, I'm an heiress. Not princess. I'm not perfect...yet." Weiss turns around to continue walking away, assured of her new direction. "And I know I'm leagues ahead of you."
Ruby looks down dejectedly before following Weiss to not be alone, "You don't even know me…"

They walked together in silence for a time, until Ruby spoke up, "Oh I had a thought!"
Quietly Weiss commented, "Well that's a new sentiment…"
"What if we tried getting high up to see where we need to go?" Weiss gave a sigh, "That's actually a decent plan, why don't yo…" as Weiss turned, she saw Ruby had already disappeared up a tree. "Of course, I don't why I expected anything else."
From the top of the tree, Ruby surveyed the area, nearly heading back down after not spotting the temple. But gasping in excitement after spotting a large Grimm on the ground in a clearing not too far. She recognized it as a Nevermore. A large corvid like Grimm, that acted the part. She had always been a fan of Grimm, even knowing they were monsters bent on destruction who killed people, something about their appearance and mannerisms attracted her to them. Even encouraging her to collect and build figures based on her favorites. In excitement she rushed down to Weiss who stood straight, with her arms crossed waiting. "So? Did you see anything to tell us where we should go?"
"Not quite! But I did see a way for us to get even higher up!"
"Well, can't be any worse than walking lost through the woods."

Yang and Blake exit the forest to a clearing, in the center of which is a large circular stone temple. They walk up to the old decrepit structure looking around to see on pedestals, gold and black chess pieces. Some of which already missing. Yang looks quizzically at one of them, "Chess pieces? Doesn't that feel a little cliche?" Blake looks closer at the black king. "I suppose we're meant to pick one."
"Do you think it matters which?"
"I don't think so. At least I can't imagine a grading reason for any of them." While Blake looked at the Black pawn, Yang called for her, "Hey Blake!" She turns to look at Yang. "I thought you were the missing piece of my life, buuuut turns out I'm more of a horse girl!" She holds up the golden Knight piece. Blake chuckles smiling, "Sure, looks great."
"That wasn't too hard a trial!"
"You're right, this place wasn't that difficult to find."

Jaune and Pyrrha stand at the mouth of a dark cavern, where old drawings line the walls, of men fighting against Grimm. Jaune chimes in, "This has gotta be it!" He manages to create a torch using some spare cloth and a stick. Walking in the dark for a while Pyrrha began to have doubts. "Jaune, I don't know if this is the place." Jaune sighs, "Pyrrha, I made the torch. Could you humor me for like, five more feet?" Jaune continues for 5 more feet before tripping, his torch falling into a puddle of water and extinguishing. Pyrrha walks up to help him. "Jaune, do you...feel that?"
"The soul crushing regret? That's usual for me."

"No, it's...like a humming in the air."
Feeling their way through the dark, they come across a glowing object. Golden and round, with a pointed tip on the end. Jaune in excitement, "That has to be it! That has to be one of the relics!" He reaches for it as it moves away from his grasp. He tries again, and again, edging further away from Pyrrha, who was growing more worried, "Jaune…? I'm unsure if that's the relic." Jaune finally catches the lure, as its lowered to the large, mandible filled, arachnid mouth of a Deathstalker Grimm.

Pyrrha frantically rushes out of the cave, with the deathstalker crashing out of the cave behind her, Jaune still dangling from its stinger, yelling for help. Pyrrha, hearing Jaune's plees, turns to fight. Readying her shield and spear, and yelling to him, "Jaune! Whatever you do, don't let-" Before she could finish, Jaune is flung by the tail, off into the distance.

Jaune's screams echo all the way to the temple, Yang turns towards the source. And nudges Blake with her elbow, "Sounds like some girl's having a good time, eh Blake? Did you hear the scream?" Blake was staring up at the sky, trying to decipher what it was. A black mass with a red and white dot flailing on it.

Weiss and Ruby were clinging desperately to the nevermore as it was flying through the sky, the wind blowing so harsh and loud the girls need to shout to hear each other. "Ruby! I admit I was wrong! This is far worse than walking lost through the woods!"
"This is fine! There's no need to be worried!"
"I am beyond worried!"

"Well, why don't we just jump off then?
The wind gets harsher, forcing Weiss to close her eyes, "Are you stupid, and insane?" There's no response as the wind calms enough for her to open her eyes. Seeing Ruby is no longer on the nevermore with her, and currently plummeting towards the ground. "Oh, you insufferable little red-hooded child!"

On the ground Yang is still attempting to get a response from Blake, "Didn't you hear those screams? Should we go try and help?" Blake finally points towards the shape she's been watching, now being able to see clearly Ruby falling towards them screaming. Yang, in a panicked state, readies herself to catch her sister. Only for Jaune to impact Ruby from the side, sending her at an angle into the ground, and him flailing into a tree above her. Groaning as she gets up in a daze.
Blake turns to Yang, "Why did your sister just fall from the sky?"
"I…"

Yang is cut off by crashing and explosions coming from the woods, as an Ursa flails out of the woods with Nora riding on it, blasting its back to pieces with her weapon in its grenade launcher form, "You've yee'd your last haw!" With one last pink burst, the grimm groans, and falls to the ground dead. "Aww… I broke it." Ren runs up behind her out breath, "Nora! Please never rush off like that again!" As he looks up, he sees Nora has already moved off to the temple ahead of him. Nora stares at the golden rook, marveling at it. Before snatching it up, "Finally the queen gets a castle!" Ren continuing an attempt to catch up to her, "Nora!" She giggles before skipping down to meet him.
Yang still attempting to process the previous happenings turns to Blake. Blake, matter of factly wondering, "Was she riding that Ursa the whole way here?"
"I… I don't"
Yang is interrupted once more by a screech emanating from the woods as Pyrrha runs out of them, followed by the deathstalker bursting out, uprooting trees as it went. Turning around to face it finally.
Again Blake bluntly comments, "Did she run all the way here while being chased by a Deathstalker?" Yang ponders for a moment still attempting to sort through the now two previous instances. Her thinking is interrupted by Ruby running up and hugging her, "Yang!"
"Ruby!" She hops down out of her sisters hug, "Blake!" She smiles, "Hello Ruby."
"Nora is also here!" Chimed in Nora. Ren finally runs over leaning onto Nora's shoulder still panting.
Ruby finally remembers her situation and looks up, scanning for Weiss. Blake and Yang follow suit looking up.

Weiss lost her grip on the feathers, falling shortly before gripping onto the nervermore's talons. Shouting, "How could she leave me?!"
On the ground looking up, Blake comments, "She's gonna fall." Ruby tries to reassure, "She'll be fine." Ren corrects her, "She's falling."
After gathering himself, Jaune notices Weiss falling from the sky screaming. He readies himself, waiting for the correct time before leaping out of the tree to catch her, not accounting for the laws of physics. He attempts a pick up line, "Just, dro-" being cut off as her momentum drags them both down faster. Jaune lands first, breaking Weiss' fall and taking the brunt of the force. In a somewhat mocking tone, Weiss thanks him, "My hero." Before getting up and dusting herself off. Jaune groans getting up.
Nora claps at the rescue cheering. Before their attention is drawn to Pyrrha, who is flung to the feet of Nora and Ren. Sarcastically, Yang comments, "Gang's back together! Now we can all die as a group!" Ruby smirks, "Not if I can do anything about it!" And she rushes towards the Deathstalker. Yang calling after her, "Ruby wait! Not alone!"
She ignores her sister, rushing towards the scorpion monster, firing off her rifle to build speed, she readies her scythe to cut it in half, only for it to knock her away with one of its claws. She falls to the ground with a thud. Getting up, she turns to face the Deathstalker, firing several rounds into its face-plate only for them to harmlessly bounce off its hardened exterior. Yang begins running towards her sister, "Ruby! Get out of there!" She's interrupted by giant feathers falling into her path and towards her, along with the rest of the group. The Nevermore caws, clearly intent on keeping them separated. One of the feathers, plunged into Ruby's cloak, leaving her pinned. She tried to tear at the cloak to no avail, beginning to panic as the Deathstalker got closer. Yang still trying to reach her, calling out. The Deathstalker reached Ruby, and launched its stinger towards her, Ruby held her arms out and closed her eyes.

A few seconds pass as Ruby realizes she's in fact, not dead, and opens her eyes to see Weiss in front of her, and the Deathstalker's tail stinger encased in ice. "Weiss?"
Weiss lowers her weapon, "You are so childish. And dim-witted at times, and hyperactive. And your fighting style is vulgar. And I am at times...difficult… but if we're going to do this, we'll do it together." She cuts the feather Ruby was stuck on to free her. "So if you stop trying to show off, I'll be… nicer."
"I've never been trying to show off Weiss. I want you to know that I'm not useless. That I can work with you." Weiss begins walking away, before turning back to Ruby, "You're fine Ruby." The two girls rush back to the group, as Yang runs to Ruby, hugging Ruby so tight, and lifting her, Ruby begins having trouble talking. "I'm so happy you're okay Ruby!"
Jaune in the back calls out, "Guys? That bird looks like its circling back! What are we gonna do?" Ruby quickly yells out, "Our mission is just to grab the relics and head to the cliffs over the hill! They're right here, let's grab them together and go! We don't have to fight these things unless they're blocking us." Weiss smiles at her seeing she seems to have her head straight again.

The students all run over and grab relics that catch their eye. And begin running in the direction of the end of the trial. With Ruby at the head of the pack leading the others away. Bringing up the rear, Yang stops for a moment admiring her sister. Blake comes up behind her, "What is it?" Yang smiles at Blake before tapping her on the shoulder, "Nothing, let's go!"

They exit another section of woods, to be met by a series of abandoned old structures, precariously over a misty abyss between the Forested land and their destination. The Nevermore landing on one of the buildings between them and the cliffs. Yang exemplifying the groups feelings shouting out, "Well, that's annoying!" Taking in their first threat, as the Nevermore shoots out feathers striking all around them.

They're surprised when the Deathstalker bursts out of the trees behind them. Thinking quick, Ren yells for Nora to distract the Nevermore.

Obliging the request, she jumps through the feathers, skidding to a halt and firing a volley of grenades in a heart shape. They explode into pink bursts of electricity, rippling throughout its body as it screeches, taking off. Unable to notice the Deathstalker behind her, Blake and Ren run to stop it. In unison stabbing out one of its eyes on each side, before being forced back by its claws. Giving a shrill insect like hiss, it continues to chase after Blake and Ren.
"Go, go!" Pyrrha shouts for everyone to get across the bridge to the cliff as she pulls out her spear, converting it to its rifle form, and firing several shots at the scorpion, to join with Ren's shots as he's retreating. With the eight of them together, they continued to run across the bridge, Not able to perceive the Nevermore flying up from the abyss, shattering the bridge through the middle, separating them with Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora, and Jaune at the central columns. And Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha left on the side with the Deathstalker. Ruby immediately begins firing at the Nervoremore to no effect.
Jaune runs to the side of the broken bridge calling back, "We gotta get over there! They need help!" Nora runs up next to him switching , "You got it!" He looks down the abyss, "But, uh… I can't make the jump, how do we get across?"
Nora smiled mischievously before knocking Jaune behind her on the platform they're standing on, and rearing up her hammer. Jaune voices a light protest, too late as Nora slams her hammer into the end of the platform, catapulting Jaune to the other side, and her halfway. Propelling herself the rest of the way standing on her hammer, and firing out its energy. With the residual force she flew over her comrades, and brought her hammer down onto the faceplate of the Deathstalker, cracks forming along the edges where she hit. As the stinger comes down to strike her, she pulls the trigger on her hammer, firing the blast from it again propelling her back into Blake, knocking her off the edge.
Thinking quick Blake launches her whip blade up, catching on the bridge and allowing her to swing upwards, onto the back of the Nevermore. Using her sword, she runs down its length, slashing as she goes, jumping at the end to land on the central platform with Ruby, Yang and Weiss.
"Dang those feathers can take some punishment." Yang comically, "So we just gotta hit it harder right?"
The Nevermore begins approaching them head on, as the girls switch their weapons to fire ranged, and unleash a volley of elemental bursts at the bird. In a spiral it dodges the brunt of them while shaking off the few that hit, and crashes into the central platform, shattering it and sending the girls leaping from falling stone to stone, Weiss shouts over the destruction, "That won't work, we need some kind of concentrated attack to do damage!" Ruby finds a stable column to stand on, watching the other girls attacking the large grimm to no avail. Thinking for a moment. She shouts, "I have a plan! I need you all to cover me!" Weiss nods at her.

On the platform connected to the forest, the other four continued fighting against the Deathstalker. Pyrrha rushed at it, deflecting its first swiping claw, only to see its other coming at her. Jaune blocks it with his shield, managing to knock it back to create an opening for Pyrrha to leap up off of him, to attack its face. Ren jumps off of a piece of rubble to grab onto the Deathstalker's tail. Jamming his bladed pistol into its base and firing into it as his teammates occupy its claws. Pyrrha hurls her javelin into one of the scorpion's eyes, causing it flail about in pain, flinging Ren off in the process. "Ren!" Nora calls after Ren as he's flung into the side of a stone block, and falling to the ground with a thud, not getting up. Jaune takes in the situation, noticing the stinger loosely hanging onto the rest of its tail. "Pyrrha!" in an instant she understood his intention, and shouted, "Done!" Hurling her shield like a discus, slicing through the base of the stinger, causing it to fall into the already cracked section of the Death Stalker's head, as Pyrrha retrieves the rebounding shield. Jaune turns to Nora, "Nora, do what hammers do best!" Nora nods, running up to Pyrrha, who holds her shield up, crouching like a platform, launching Nora as she fires into Pyrrha's shield, propelling her further into the air. Nora rides her hammer for a few seconds, smiling as she does, before readying her hammer, falling and slamming her hammer into the stinger, crunching it into the Deathstalker's head as she yells out, "Nailed it!" The residual force crushing the platform beneath them. Jaune and Pyrrha leap over the creature, using its mass as a step, and Nora launching herself once more to avoid falling into the abyss. Each with varying levels of success, Jaune landing on his back, Nora on her butt, and Pyrrha landing in a crouched position. Ren walks over to them all, before collapsing.

The Nevermore continued circling the girls, occasionally striking out to attack as its peppered with their dwindling ammunition. Yang manages a blow to its face, drawing its aggression. Rushing at her, the creature opened its mouth wide seeming to try and swallow her. Yang jumps up onto its open maw, holding its mouth open with her arms and legs, as she fires several burning shots into its throat, shouting, "I! Hope! You're! Hungry!" Looking back in time she sees it flying towards one of the ruins, she jumps off to safety, the Grimm crashing into the building, collapsing it around them.
Yang smiles as she looks back to see Ruby and Blake on the broken center path, she runs back to them, passing Weiss who is running towards the Nevermore.
Not taking too long to recover, the grimm begins to lift off, attempting to take flight again, as Weiss ran up readying her rapier, spinning the chamber to white dust. Before it could fly up, she shot a needle of ice into its tail, keeping it frozen to the base of the cliff, then producing a glyph allowing her to backflip back onto the platform, regrouping with the other girls.
Blake fires the pistol part of her bladed gun-whip, propelling it around the column beside them as Yang catches it, both of them now tightening the ribbon like whip of it into a rope between the columns. Ruby then jumped onto the center of the ribbon with Crescent Rose, bending it back to where Weiss produced a back glyph to hold Ruby next to her. "Of course you would come up with this kind of thing for a plan Ruby."
"Think you can make the shot?
"Hm! Can I!"
She changes the glyph from black to red, shooting Ruby forward at a speed causing the ground beneath her launch to crack and splinter, firing as she goes to build even more speed until she closes in on the flapping Nevermore, catching its neck with her scythe's blade, landing them both against the cliff's wall. Weiss races forward, producing a series of white glyphs up the length of the cliff as a path for Ruby. In the next instant she charges up the wall, firing as she goes building up more and more speed, dragging the beast up the cragged surface, both beast and girl screaming as they went. Rose petals flying off Ruby as she keeps going faster, finally reaching the top of the cliff, and with one final shout, slamming its head into a rock jutting out from the cliff, her scythe blade cutting into the flesh of the bird's neck and finally rending the Nevermore's head from its shoulders in a shower of rose petals. She lands next to the severed head on the cliff, as the girls, and farther away, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren watch the Nevermore's gargantuan corpse fall down the cliff into the abyss, dissipating as it went.
Yang cheers, hugging Blake, lifting her off the ground and spinning as she cheers. Blake accepting it, and Weiss glad she isn't being crushed. And Ruby walks to the side of the cliff looking to them all and smiling.

Chapter 3: But For Real This Time

All the first year students were gathered in the auditorium once more. With Ozpin calling up students in fours, with the screen showing each one's ID picture, and receiving their team name. "Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day to graduation, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by… Cardin Winchester.
The audience claps as the next four students are summoned to the stage, their faces being projected onto the screen. "Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From here to graduation, you will work together as Team JNPR. The audience claps as Nora gives Ren a hug while beaming. Jaune looks over to Pyrrha, thinking he was happy to get to be on a team led by her. As Ozpin continued, "Led by...Jaune Arc!" He looks over to Ozpin with a shocked expression blanketing his face, "Huh? L-Led by?"
"Congratulations, young man."
Pyrrha walks over with a huge grin, and delivers a friendly shoulder bump to Jaune. The boy, still in shock, falls over at the push, much to the chagrin of the audience.
As he was being carried off by Pyrrha, the next four stepped up.
"And finally: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From here to graduation, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by...Ruby Rose!
Ruby's expression turns to a mixture of shock and joy at the words, as Yang runs over to her, hugging and lifting her up, "I'm so proud of you baby sister!" Blake smiles while clapping for Ruby, Weiss conversely stares at Ruby, shocked, and somewhat dismayed. Among the cheering Ozpin observed all of his students, musing to himself, "Things seem to be shaping up to be an...interesting year."

Elsewhere in the city, Roman Torchwick stood hunched over a map of Vale. Marking potential places to rob and avoid. He gets a call on his scroll. "Hello, you've reached the office of Torchwick Inc. how can I help you?... Okay I get it, lovely." The conversation ends, and he slams his fist down before marking on a path leading south of Vale with steps along the way, and several converging on Beacon. Standing up straight, he takes out a cigar and lights it, as a masked man with a white hood pushes a cart up to him. Roman takes out a collection of Lien cards as payment, which he places on the table. "Open it."
The man takes the money, and opens the case, revealing several tiers of dust crystals, varying in color. Roman picks up a blue gem, and examines it closer. "We're gonna need more men for this…"

It's peaceful and serene in the bedroom dorm of Team RWBY. The curtains are drawn with little light coming through. Completely quiet as Weiss opens her eyes slowly, she gets up to stretch and yawn. Finally getting out of bed to begin getting dressed, as Ruby dressed completely in her uniform, interrupts the scene, blaring a whistle right beside Weiss, causing her to fall back into bed with a pained, shocked expression from the sudden and shrill noise.
Ruby exclaims proudly, "Good morning Team RWBY!"
Weiss, still on her bed holding one of her ears, "What is wrong with you?!" Ruby continued, "Now that you're awake Weiss, we can officially begin our first order of business!" Weiss stands up, patting her nightgown down to smooth it out, "Excuse me?" She looks over to Blake and Yang's side of the room, as the two girls, also already fully dressed in their uniforms, are standing next to each other, Blake observing while Yang was digging through several boxes that Weiss was sure weren't there the night before. Yang pulls out several rolled up posters, "We still have to decorate!"
"What?"
Blake continues, now helping Yang pull things out, "We still have to unpack completely." The side of one of the box bursts, spilling out all its contents on the floor. Blake looks at all the items strewn about, embarrassed, "Aaaand clean…"
Weiss stands, her face still blase. Before being sent to her bed by another blow of the whistle from Ruby. "Alright! Weiss, Blake, Yang, and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their first mission here at Beacon!" She raises her fist into the air, shouting, "Bonzai!"
Yang more enthusiastically joins in, as Blake follows a bit more restrained, "Bonzai!"
Weiss lays on the bed, "I despise you all…"
The girls begin setting up their belongings on their respective sides of the room. Yang hung up her posters and set up a small station in the corner of equipment to maintain her clothes and gear, as well as her various brushes and hair products. Blake carefully placed her large collection of books on the shelf located at the center of the room under the window, occasionally finding some of her more private collection and hiding them. Ruby in a summarily chaotic fashion, haphazardly set up her belongings, her weapon maintenance on her desk, as well as some of her grimm figures on top of the bookshelf, with her own comics placed on the shelf. Weiss spent 20 minutes setting up all of her paintings, taking into account that they were all perfectly level, she went over to her desk to set it up, before pausing looking above it to see a mirror. Frowning at her reflection she took it down, and placed it above Ruby's desk instead.
After it was done, the girls looked around admiring, most of their handiwork and decorating. The one issue being all of their beds were pushed side by side to the center of the room. Weiss is the first to address it, "Well this isn't going to work for a moment." Blake agreed, "It is a bit cramped." Yang attempting a solution, "Maybe we have to ditch some of our stuff…" The girls ponder for a moment before Ruby shouts out a suggestion, "Or we could ditch the normal beds… and combine them into bunk beds!" Weiss gives a cold stare to Ruby, "That sounds incredibly dangerous, especially to do it ourselves." Yang ecstatic as ever, "But, it also sounds super-awesome!" Blake leans in to talk directly to Weiss, "It does also seem efficient."
She sighs before relenting, insisting she help so it goes correctly. Yang and Blake stacked their beds on top of each other, using books as platforms on top of the bed's posts, to hold Yang's up above Blake's bed. Weiss and Ruby's took significantly longer, with Weiss insisting on a pulley system holding Ruby's bed up with rope, hanging precariously above Weiss' bed which was on the ground where it had originally been, next to her luggage and art. Ruby added a canopy to her top bunk made of spare sheets.
They all take a moment to relax, satisfied with their work, as Ruby pulls out a binder with their class schedules in it. "Alright! Time for the second order of business! … Classes…" She pulls out a pencil to mark where she is for herself, "Now, we have several classes together today. At 9 we've got to be-" Weiss cuts her off.
"What? Did you say 9 o'clock?"
"Uuum. Yes?"
"It's 8:55, you dunce!" Weiss bursts out of the room and down the hall, with her bag flailing behind her. The rest of team RWBY runs after her with panicked expressions.

The girls sat in the front row of their first class, combat and grimm studies. The walls are covered with illustrations and photographs of different types of Grimm, and weapon schematics. At the front of the class stands a portly man, with thick eyebrows, parted gray hair, and a fine waxed mustache. He wore a crimson button up uniform that felt antiquated amongst the variety of students in the class.
"Monsters! Deeeemons… Prowlers of the night and dark places of the world! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have a great many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Ha-ha!" He pauses for a laugh, but no one does.
"Uhhhh… And you shall too, upon your graduation from this prestigious academy! But as I was saying: Vale, along with the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would desire nothing more than to tear you limb from limb. As well as any other human unfortunate enough to come across them. Which is where we all come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses! Individuals sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what you may ask? Why, the very world bent on their destruction!"
The girls all watch with varying levels of enthusiasm; Blake and Yang are sat up, paying attention, Weiss is taking notes while listening, and Ruby is currently taking a nap, with one arm supporting her head. Before she wakes up with a start, to go back to listening in a drowsy state.
"That is the goal you all are training to achieve! But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome man...Me! When I was a boy…"
Weiss looks back over to Ruby who is clearly just doodling on her paper. Weiss zones back into Port's story, "...Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter', he told me…" Ruby pokes Weiss, attempting to get her and the rest of her team's attention, as she reveals what her attention has been focused on. A stick figure of Professor Port, drawn as a ball with legs, and the words "Blah blah blah blah blah" written all around him. Blake and Yang give a chuckle before returning to listening, but Weiss' face remains ice cold staring at Ruby.
"Ah-hem!" Port stares directly at the girls, waiting until he has everyone's attention once more. "In the end, I bested the Beowolf with my sheer tenacity, returning to my village with the beast in a cage, and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!" He takes a bow to no applause.
"The moral of the story? A true Huntsman must be honorable!"
Weiss goes back to observing Ruby, becoming more frustrated with her as she is looking off into space with a silly expression.
"A true Huntsman must be dependable!"
Ruby folds her arms to go back to sleep
"A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!"
Weiss continues to fume staring at her team's leader asleep for the second time in the first class of the year.
"Who among you believes themselves to be an embodiment of these traits?"
Weiss angrily raises her hand, "I do, sir!" Port exclaims, "Ah good! A volunteer! Ms. Schnee, if you'd please come down to the front of the class! Step forward and face your opponent!" He gestures to a covered container, that he removes the cloth top off to reveal a grimm, reminiscent of a wild hog, snarling and ramming itself against its container.
Port continues, "Ms. Schnee, please get your weapon ready." Then to the class, "This is a Boarbatusk! It superficially looks similar to a wild pig, and has a temperament to match it I might add. Though I will admit, they don't taste quite as good! Ha-Ha!" Again he pauses for a laugh, but none arrives.
Weiss readies her weapon after loading the revolver chambers with dust cartridges. "Professor Port, I'm ready." Her teammates cheer her on from their seats, Yang pumping her fists, "Go Weiss go!" Blake waving a small flag she made of paper with "RWBY" written on it, "Fight well Weiss!" And Ruby chiming in, "Yeah, represent Team RWBY!"
Weiss snaps back, "Ruby! I am trying to focus!" Ruby shrinks back into her seat sheepishly, "Oh, um...sorry…"
Port readies his axe blunderbuss, aiming at the lock on the cage to the Boarbatusk, "Let the match begin!" He swings his axe into the lock, shattering it, and allowing the cage's door to fall to the ground. Wasting no time, the Boar grimm charges at Weiss, who rolls to the side evading its initial assault, and readying herself for the next move. The grimm stops a distance away from her, seeming to study what she might do next.
Port, now leaning against the cage, "Ho! Good to see you were expecting that, let's hope you can keep up the pace!" Ruby cheers from the side, "Hang in there, Weiss! You got this!"
Weiss raises her rapier, and producing a white glyph at her feet, charges towards the beast at a breakneck speed, ready to stick it straight into the beast's skull. In an instant, the Boarbatusk read the attack, shifting its head to catch Weiss' sword in its tusks, flinging her to the side.
"Bold new approach. I like it!" Ruby continues cheering, "Beat him up Weiss!" Weiss glares at her for a second before running at the Boarbatusk, grabbing her weapon as it violently shakes its head, hurling Weiss and her weapon in opposite directions, Port comments from the side, "Oh-ho! Now what will you do without your weapon?"
From the floor, Weiss looks up in time to see the beast charging her again, she rolls out of the way just in time, and rushes to her sword, sliding as she grasps it back in her hand. Ruby continued to yell out, "Weiss! Go for its belly! There's no armor underneath-"
Weiss turns to Ruby with eyes that could melt ice, "Stop telling me what to do!" Ruby again shrinks back, hurt at Weiss' rebuttal. She looks back to the grimm, the Boarbatusk readying itself to charge, as Weiss raises her sword once more.
The beast charges at her with a blinding speed as Weiss channels a blue and white glyph to stop the Boartusk, and hurl into the air, she then produces the same at her feet to fling herself towards the grimm, driving her sword through the underbelly of the creature as the black blood like substance spurts out over her and the ground. They both come to the ground as the fluid and the beast's corpse begin to dissipate. Weiss leans over for a second catching her breath as Port congratulates her. "Bravo! Bra-vo! Truly, you are indeed a Huntress-in-the making!", She stands up straight as he continues, "I'm afraid that's all we have time for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and...Be vigilant! Class dismissed."

Weiss grabs her things and leaves the classroom ahead of her teammates as they look to each other with concern.
Ruby runs after her to catch up, "Weiss!" She aggressively turns to face Ruby, "What?"
"What's wrong? Why are you being-?"
"What's wrong? You're supposed to be a leader! But even at just the beginning of the year, you've done nothing but goof off and be a nuisance!"
Ruby scoffs, "What did I do?"
"That's just it! - you've done nothing to earn your position! You routinely acted like a child in the forest, and have only continued to do so!"
"Weiss, where is this coming from? Didn't you say we'd do this together? I thought you believed in us acting as a team?"
"Not a team led by you. I've studied and trained. And quite frankly, I deserve better." She continues to walk away from Ruby as she muttered just loud enough for her to hear, "Ozpin made a mistake."
Ruby's arms fall to her side as she looks to the ground dejected. From behind her she hears a voice, "Hmm...Now that didn't seem to go very well." Ozpin stands behind her, as he comes around to her side to see if she's alright.
Ruby continues looking down, beginning to cry, "Is she right? Did you make a mistake?"
Ozpin laughs slightly, "Well that remains to be seen."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, it's merely the beginning of the first day. Ruby… I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet. But at this moment, I wouldn't consider your appointment as a leader to be one of them." He leans down to be able to meet Ruby's eyes, "Do you?"
Ruby wipes away her tears, and stands up straight to return the gesture, and he continued, "Being a team leader isn't merely a title you carry into battle, it's a badge you wear at all times. If you aren't always performing at your absolute best, then what reason do others have to offer you theirs and follow you?" She ponders the information as Ozpin begins walking away, "You've been burdened with a daunting responsibility, Ruby. I advise you take some time to consider how you will uphold it." Ruby considered the information, before continuing to her next class with a new look of determination on her.

The rest of the school day passed without resolution. Weiss intentionally sitting away from Ruby, sometimes even her whole team, with each and every one of the day's classes. After the final class, once again Weiss sped out ahead of her teammates.
Weiss walked through the halls for several minutes until she saw Professor Port on a balcony, watching the sunset over Beacon's rooftops and Vale. Weiss approaches him, "Professor Port!" He turns to face her, "Ah, Miss Schnee! And to what do I owe this fine pleasure?" Weiss attempts to swerve around what she actually wants to discuss, "I… I enjoyed your lecture!"
"Of course you did child; you have the blood of a true Huntress in you!" She smiles, "You really think so?"
"Most surely!" Weiss avoids eye contact with Port, looking down. Noticing this he asks her, "Hmm...Something's troubling you."
"Yes, sir…"
"Dear girl, confess to me your strife! Though I'll admit I am not quite as academically minded to suit you as Barty would be."
"Well...I-I think I should have been the leader of Team RWBY!" A moment of silence passes between the two before Port responds, "That's preposterous!"
Weiss, taking offense to the statement, "Excuse me?!"
"I've believed in Ozpin for many years, and the man's never once led me astray. I don't believe his decision was a mistake."
"So you would just blindly accept his decision even after seeing my exceptional combat prowess?"
"With all due respect, your exceptional skill in combat, is matched equally by your poor attitude."
Weiss erupts at the statement, "How dare you!"
Port leans back with his hands to his waist, "My point exactly. I see a girl before me who never had to struggle to live, getting entirely what she wanted." At that she folds her arms, putting on a defiant attitude. "That's not even remotely true!" Port raises an eyebrow, sternly watching her. Reluctantly she relents, "Well...not entirely true."
Port puts his teacher attitude back on to lecture her, "So the outcome did not fall in your favor. Did you really believe acting in this manner would cause those in power to reconsider their decision?" Weiss calms down, and looks to him embarrassed. "So instead of fretting about what you don't have, savor that which you do. Hone your skills, perfect every aspect of yourself you can, and be not the best leader, but the best person you can be." Weiss smiles. "Thank you professor." He smiles back at her, as she turns to walk to her dorm.

Weiss walked back in the decreasing light, thinking deeper on Port's words. It felt somehow freeing to be told to be her best self. To be herself. She wondered how she would improve upon that and her interactions as she entered her dorm room, seeing Blake sleeping soundly under her covers, Yang splayed out on her bed above the covers snoring. Ruby was behind her canopy with a lamp on underneath it. Weiss lifted the canopy to see her asleep on top of notes, a pencil still in her hand and open books surrounding her. She smiles, observing the work Ruby seems to be putting in, and clears her throat, before gently shaking Ruby awake, who begins flailing in surprise, stopping as she notices Weiss. "Weiss! I-I was studying, and then fell asleep! I'm sorry-"
Weiss puts a hand over Ruby's mouth, holding a single finger above her lips, and pointing to the other two girls sleeping. Ruby nods her head as Weiss removes her hand, and notices an empty mug by her. "How do you take your coffee?"
"I uh. Um."
"Answer the question!"
Uhh, cream and five sugars!"
Weiss sighs at the answer, "Don't move." She lowers herself from Ruby's bed along with her mug, and heads out of the room down the hall to the floor's communal kitchen. And starting a fresh pot of coffee. Weiss smiled thinking to herself. She was a part of a team now with 3 other girls. She wouldn't be alone for years of learning. She prepared the hot coffee for herself, and Ruby's incredibly sweet approximation of a coffee drink, and returned to the room to a confused Ruby.
"Here." She hands Ruby's mug to her.
"Um… Thanks, Weiss." She smiles but still as a look of confusion on her face after the events of the day. Weiss returns the smile, and with a remorseful expression, "Ruby, I think you have what it takes to be a good leader." Ruby's face turns appreciative, smiling wider as Weiss continues, "But just know. I am going to be the best teammate you'll ever have! Good luck studying." She begins to lower the canopy, stopping for a few seconds before turning back, "Hey Ruby? I always wanted bunk beds when I was a kid." Weiss gets down, grabbing her notes and supplies to study in the common area, closing the door gently behind her. Ruby grins wide, ecstatic with the progression of their relationship, and goes back to studying.

The rest of the week passes much smoother than the first day. Each day bringing new academic challenges. As well as tests of endurance with the sheer longevity of the first week. Cycling through each subject every day, combat and grimm study, history, weapon maintenance, botany, and budgeting/economics. Mostly introductions, beginning of the semester set up, as well as assignment of the first week's homework and semester long projects. The week's last class ended with the eccentric Professor Oobleck's incredibly quick closing remarks, "A reminder class before you all go about gallivanting on your weekends! We will be requiring everyone to join an extracurricular club by the end of the next week! While you must learn to hone your skills as Hunters and Huntresses, you must also round out who you are as a person in the world. Class dismissed."
The girls went back to their dorm, Ruby and Yang both groaning for different reasons. Ruby began first, "Ughhh. I don't want to join a club. Don't we have enough to do?" Yang interjected, "Oh that's what you were complaining about? I thought we were both just hungry and worn-out after this week." Blake patted Yang on the back, "They do say the first 2 weeks of a new position are the longest, it'll start going by fast soon."
Weiss, pointed as ever, "You two have so little drive. The school is to make us better hunters, and the extracurricular activities help us develop as people to be in the real world."
Ruby looks up to her, "Weiss, have you thought of what club you want to join?"
She scoffs, "Of course I have! I'm going to join the art club run by Professor Aegis. I'm already gifted musically, and would like to work on my painting skills further." Blake adds in, "I've already decided on joining the reading/writing club run by her as well. What about you Yang?"
"I'm not sure, I had it narrowed to three, though if I think I have the time, I might join more than just the one. What about you, baby sis?" Ruby nervously looks to the other three realizing she's the only one who hadn't put any thought into it, "I uhm. Thought I'd just see what would happen?"
Yang stands up looking at her, "Ruby, you can't just avoid it. They're required. Besides, it's fun! And a great chance to meet and get to know other people."
"Ugh again with this! I thought I'd be done when I got my teammates."
They enter their dorm and begin changing into their casual clothes, the comfortable afternoon sun leaking through the drawn crimson curtains, blanketing their room in a soft red glow as Blake talks to Ruby, "It's good to have a friend group that's more than just those in your immediate vicinity. The clubs also help you with finding or developing an interest you might have found or not." Yang calls over to Ruby, "What about that Jaune guy?" Weiss rolls her eyes at the mention of his name as Yang continues, "Isn't he nice? Why not see what club he's planning on joining?"
"That's not a bad idea, they are our neighbors across the hall after all."
Weiss was the first to get dressed and began heading out of the room, with Yang calling after her, "Oh Weiss! Before you go, let's all do something this weekend! We can go into Vale and hang out with each other. Call it a team building exercise!" Weiss stares back at her silently for a few seconds before responding half sarcastically, "Sure, sounds grand." She begins to leave again, only to be interrupted, this time by Ruby, "Wait Weiss! Where are you headed?"
She sighs, "I'm going to speak with Professor Aegis to inform her I'm joining the art club and also get a chance to meet her. Why?"
"Well, since it was Friday, I was just hoping we could do something."
"Next time Ruby, why don't you try meeting the neighbors or something." She leaves, closing the door quickly before she can be stopped again. Ruby looks to Yang and Blake, "What about you guys? Wanna hang out and do something?"
They look at each other for a second, then Yang with a look of guilt, "We uh. Actually we were going to go sign up for our clubs as well, then head into Vale to look around the place. But Weiss was right, why don't you see Jaune and his team to ask what they plan to do?"
Yang and Blake leave the room together as a dejected Ruby looks to the closing door, "Yeah...I uh. Guess I can do that." She finishes changing, putting her red cloak back on, and exits her room, locking it behind her, and moves to the door of team JNPR. She stands frozen for a moment before finally knocking on the door. A few second pass until Lie Ren opens the door, he looks down in surprise at Ruby for a second before smiling, "Hello Ruby, did you need something?"
"I uhm. Wanted to just check in on you guys, and say hello! With us being-uh neighbors and all-" A crash sounds behind Ren as he looks back panicked, Nora is seen running to another side of the room as Pyrrha calls out, "I'm sorry!"
"Uh, what's happening there?"
"We're still setting up our room now that the week is over and we have a free moment." Nora rushes over to the door, "Oh my gosh! Ruby! You should have told us you were visiting, I would have gotten some tea ready! Come in come in!" Nora gently pushes Ren out the way, shepherding Ruby into their room, "Uh- no really I shouldn't intrude!"
"It's fine! We weren't doing anything important!"
Ruby enters the room, seeing it looked very similar to how their room began, mostly blank with boxes and luggage beside beds. However some of the boxes appeared to be burying Jaune with Pyrrha attempting to dig him out. Pyrrha looks over to Ruby as she sits on one of the beds, "Hello! How has Team RWBY's first week been?"
"It's-uhm. A lot happened, I got into a fight with Weiss on the first day- but it turned out okay!"
Nora chimes in, listening intently, "Well the fight part with her doesn't surprise me. She seemed pretty miffed that first day, I'm honestly surprised you can work with her."
"She's more than just a hothead. I'm certain there's a lot to her, I just have to get her to talk about it with her best friend."
Nora looks to her in confusion, "Who's her best friend?"
"Me of course!"
Pyrrha manages to dig Jaune out who gasps for air coming up from the boxes. Nora, calm as ever, "Hey Jaune, glad you're back. You have fun?"
"Not really…" Pyrrha helps him up off the floor, "Oh, hey Ruby. What's up?"
"I was actually here to see you all, and ask if you had an idea of what club you wanted to join?"
Nora immediately stands up excited, "Pyrrha and I are going to join the fitness club! You should totally join too! By the looks of you, you could use a bit more muscle." Ruby crosses her arms, blushing. Ren from his bed speaks up, "I was going to join the art club. I've always had an affinity for visual mediums."
Ruby looks a little disappointed seeing how prepared they were, "What about you Jaune?"
"Oh! Uh. I uh, haven't quite decided on the club. I'm not really good at anything, so I'm unsure what I would uh, pursue." Ruby looks sympathetically to him, "Well uh. Why not check all of them out then? I don't know what I'm going to join either, and we have this next week to decide. We could see which one suits us best."
Jaune perks up at the invitation, "Ya! That's not a bad idea, getting a taste of all of them sounds great."
Ruby and JNPR talked about their respective weeks as Ruby helped them set up their room. She found talking to be easier as they were working on something, and her anxieties eased with every step of her conversations. Learning more about each of her neighbors by both how they talked about each other, what they enjoyed, and what they decorated their parts and desks with. She was happy she had come over to talk with them, yet still a little bitter that Yang was correct about making friends.

Weiss stood in front of the office door of Professor Aegis. Looking at the office hours and her name printed on the door. It was quiet in the teacher office building, with the occasional staff or student walking by, and the slight humming of the bright hall lights. She wanted to make a better impression than her conversation with Professor Port. Forming connections with people in an industry you intend to enter was one thing she reluctantly agreed with her father on. She takes a deep breath, and knocks on the door.
"Come in."
She enters the modest office to see the professor working on her scroll, marking papers as she goes. The professor looked rather young compared to some of the other teachers, and was a ram faunus, based on her horns and fluff around her neck. As she continued without addressing Weiss, the girl began observing the rest of her office. A small metal engraved name tag on her desk that read, "Far Aegis." Not many decorations or personalizations, aside from perhaps the white and silver color scheme she had on her chair and bookshelf. She set her scroll down, "Apologies for that, beginning of the year work and such. Please take a seat."
Weiss accepts the offer, "It's alright, I understand completely. I'm Weiss Schnee, I intend to join your art club, and wanted to meet you directly before."
"Oh yes! I had heard we'd have a member of the Schnee Family attending Beacon this year. It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm quite familiar with your family, as I graduated from Atlas myself. I'm aware you're quite gifted musically, especially with your voice. Did you have a visual medium you were interested in specifically?"
"Yes, I actually also have experience painting and would like to pursue that."
"Oh! Wonderful, I love paintings." Far pulls out a pamphlet for the art club. "This sheet has all the information about the club, as well as what days and times we meet each week, in case you didn't have one already." Weiss thanks her and begins to leave, pausing as she's half way through the door. "Professor Aegis?"
She looks up from her papers, "Yes Ms. Schnee?"
Weiss pauses, with a hesitant voice, "Why did you leave Atlas? If you don't mind me asking. Since you graduated from there, surely you could have had a more lucrative position than working for Beacon?"

Far smiles and leans into her chair, "Didn't you leave Atlas also? I'm sure you have your reasons just as I do. But the easiest answer I can give is separation. Atlas has a lot of problems with how it views not only the other kingdoms, but the people in its own border as well. I couldn't exactly relate to the people up in Atlas due to my upbringing." Weiss wondered about this, but decided to just ask, "Weren't you born in Atlas?" The professor chuckles before answering,
"No, I was born in Mantle, brought up to the shiny city at the behest of recruiting scouts belonging to Ironwood. You could say I came to Beacon because I relate to the more casual man." Far smiled at her, " Although, I do look forward to getting to know you more as well Ms. Schnee"
Weiss, returning, "I look forward to it also. Thank you for answering my question." She stepped out of the office and walked back down the hall. More thoughts swirling through her head than when she entered.

Blake and Yang signed up for the clubs they were interested in, and then caught a shuttle going into Vale. It was mostly quiet with Blake seeming nervous going into town. Yang leaned over to ask her, "You been to Vale much?"
"Um. Not really. I came here shortly before the orientation day at Beacon, so I don't know the kingdom too well." Yang smiles, "Well lucky for you Miss Belladonna, I happen to be from around here! So I can be your personal guide through Vale. You won't have to go around alone here." Blake's eyes widened, surprised at Yang's words and expression. She was so direct and bright. Her smile seemed so warm and comforting, like an afternoon sun in the middle of summer. Returning the smile, "Yeah, that sounds great. I'd certainly be more comfortable exploring with someone I know than alone." Yang leaned back in her seat of the shuttle, "So if you came here recently, where are you from?" Blake looked uncomfortable at the question, "Uhm. That's a question that needs a bit of a structured answer. My family lives on an island, but I haven't been there for some time. Kind of being from all over as I kept moving."
Yang began beaming again, "No way! Me and Ruby are from an island too! That's where our dad still lives. So if your family is back on that island who were you living with as you moved from place to place?" Blake avoids the question, "You said just your dad lives on the island still. What about you and Ruby's mom?" Yang's smile fades. "Ruby and I actually had different moms. Hers is gone, and mine uh, Left." She looks out the window thoughtfully, "I've been looking for her for a while. Though as of my last lead, I'm a little stuck."
Blake, looking quizzically to her, "You sound like a detective, what was your last bit of info?"
The question brung a smile to Yang's face, recounting the memory, "I was told to ask some guy who ran a shady club in town, his name is 'Jr.' He seems to be the type that knows anyone coming in and out of the kingdom that doesn't want to be noticed. I uh, calmly walked in, and politely asked him."
Blake looks deep into her distrustfully, "That doesn't seem like your approach." Yang chuckles seeming to enjoy being asked, "Okay, you caught me! I asked politely, he wouldn't budge, so I tried 'persuading' him. Giving him a good grip down below, and demand he call me 'sir' or he'd lose what little made him a man." Blake's surprised expression came back, this time blushing and not sure what to do with the information she was just given as Yang continued. "Turns out he didn't know anything, but didn't care for my way of trying to make up."
"What did you do?"
"I decked him in the face. Then his goons all started trying to attack me. Obviously I trounced all of them, even his ballerina bouncers."
"Ballerina bouncers?"
"I don't actually know if that's what they were, but it's what they looked like. Finally he came out to fight me himself, and I was taking everything he could dish out. But then…" She clenches her fist from the memory, "He managed to damage my hair...Something I can never forgive… So I sent him flying out of his own club, as I blasted my way out."
"Are you? Making these things up?"
Yang laughs, before giving another wide, happy grin, "Nope!"

Their shuttle arrived in the Commercial District of Vale. As soon as they got off Yang began impersonating a tour guide, "We'll be beginning our tour of the Vale Commercial district now, with our destination being 'Paradise Isle', a cafe loved by Beacon's own star, Yang Xiao Long!" Blake laughed softly, "Seeing yourself as a celebrity already?"
"Well I'm gonna be by the time I'm done here. I mean, look at me?"
"Believe me, I am." There's a brief pause of silence before they look away from each other while walking, Blake blushing, and Yang grinning. They walk awhile in the cooler afternoon air, the sun approaching the roofs of Vale. Yang points to various buildings in the commercial district, addressing and explaining them. The girls arrive at Paradise Isle, and walk inside. The cafe has a chic art deco style, feeling more appropriate for a nightclub than a cafe. Observing the decor, Blake asks, "This is a cafe? It seems a bit uh, much."
"That's why I like it! Real swanky kinda joint don't ya think?"
They go up to the counter to take their order, Yang taking the lead, "I'd like an affogato please. And also I'm paying for her drink." She points to Blake, who was about to protest before Yang winked at her, and she relented. Blake looked up at the menu, a little disappointed at the tea selection, and going with a simple Earl Grey pot. They take their seats by a window with a view of the street. Lots of people going in either direction, walking and driving to get home as the sunlight began to crest over the buildings. "You didn't have to get my drink you know?"
"I know, I wanted to. A welcome to Vale, and a welcome as my partner"
Their drinks arrive, and Blake pours her cup of tea as Yang begins spooning the ice cream into her mouth. As She takes a sip of her tea, she watches Yang grinning and seeming quite happy, she smiles to herself thinking about Yang's words and their afternoon together. Unaware of her own grin, she's surprised when Yang comments on it, "You really like tea don't you?" Blake slips another gentle laugh and looks to her, "Yeah, something like that."

Saturday passes without incident, Weiss studies and continues her homework, Blake reads most of the day, and Yang forced Ruby to explore Beacon's campus with her. Saturday's were meant to be capstones to the week according to the message sent out that morning by Glynda. From next week on the only class each Saturday would be sparring, and end of week meetups for clubs. Team JNPR continued settling into their room, and many students took to exploring or spending time at the campus' pool, seeing as they had no class that day. The teachers all prepared for the coming week's agendas or were still getting caught up to the beginning of their year.

Sunday morning all the girls but Yang slept in a bit. She quietly got up, went off to shower and wash and dry her hair, then came back and began her daily routine. First was getting dressed in her casual clothing, an orange tank top and some cargo shorts. Then she started her makeup, she enjoyed wearing a light amount of makeup, enough to notice the difference, but not so much it took out too much of her day, she was plenty confident in her base look. Yang carefully and quietly took out all her various hair care products, and one by one applied them to her long, golden, curly locks. Satisfied with her efforts, she smiled into the mirror, and began to work on some of her class work while waiting for the other girls to wake up.
Blake was the next to get up. Grabbing a clean set of clothes and heading off to the restroom. While she was gone Weiss woke up, and also began to get ready. Seeing everyone but her little sister had woken up, Yang turned on the radio she kept on her desk, it was mid broadcast with the host, Gideon Howler going over his own reports and opinions before music, as per his usual shtick, "-nd how about that? In the midst of this so called 'peace' we still have Roman Torchwick running around, robbing dust shops and storages all over Vale! And the cops still can't find him? Where are they looking? The sky?" At the mention of Torchwick, Ruby jolts awake, sitting up gasping, Yang whips around in her seat, "Ruby! You okay?" Ruby took a few seconds before seeing Yang and calming down, "I'm fine. I'm fine. It's just, he's still out there you know? I fought him and took down his goons, even stopped them from making off with all that store's dust. But they could go back at any time without me there… I couldn't touch him…"
Yang gets up out of her desk, walking over to Ruby's bunk and clambering up to sit next to her, and put an arm around her shoulder, "But it won't go that way next time. That's why you're here, to get better. And now you'll have teammates by your side, with big sis backing you up too." The radio host switches to music, playing a popular road artist, "Sturge Singer". Yang jumps down from Ruby's bed, rocking it as she does, then looking up at her, "For now focus on school and being our team's, 'fearless leader'. I have something fun planned for today." Ruby obliges, giving her sister a big hug before running off to get ready for the day.
Once the girls were all dressed for the day, they went about leisuring. Weiss taking an exceptionally long time to brush her long side ponytail, Blake working on her own school work, and Ruby polishing Crescent Rose, despite the fact she hasn't used her weapon yet since getting to the school.
Yang lowered the volume to the radio before announcing, "Alright girls! We're going on a team-building exercise today!" They all look to her, Weiss commening, "Oh god, I thought you were being sarcastic about that Friday."
Blake leaned out from her bed, "What did you have in mind?" While Ruby simply groaned, "Ugh, but it's hot todaaayyyy…" Yang gives Ruby a stare before continuing, "It's a great summer day! And we're not super busy for now. So I decided, on Ruby's part, that we'd all go into Vale and have a good time somewhere." Weiss sighs, "Well I was hoping to work on our first project from Grimm Studies, but you aren't going to give up until you get what you want, will you?" Yang shakes her head smiling, then walks over to a pouting Ruby physically picking her up to carry her out of the room as she desperately attempts to free herself from her sister's grasp. Blake gets up heading for the door, noticing Weiss hasn't moved, and holds her hand, guiding her out, as Weiss looks away to not reveal her smile,and locks the door behind them.
It wasn't an insignificant trip into Vale, waiting a while for the next shuttle in the hot midday sun, as Ruby continued to complain about just the heat, holding her cloak above herself like an umbrella. The sun didn't bother Weiss or Yang who sat at the station bench, Weiss leaning over holding her chin in her hands bored, and Yang sitting back with her arms and legs crossed. Blake merely had her eyes closed the whole time. Once they got onto the air conditioned shuttle, Ruby immediately perked back up, leaning over the back of her seat to talk to Weiss behind her. "Weiss! So what's Atlas like? Is it cold all the time? Or just some of the time? What kinda food do they have there? OH! Also wha-" She's cut off by Weiss holding a finger up to Ruby's lips. "One question at a time. Atlas is a marvel, both socially and technologically. If you're from Atlas, odds are you have influence somewhere. It's cold most of the time, especially because of Atlas' altitude, but very nice in the spring and summer. And the food I can only comment on our own household's dinners, which were quite lovely. The food at least. Are you happy?" Ruby immediately opened her mouth for more questions before Weiss repeated her previous gesture, "Why don't you talk about your home for a bit, or maybe Yang could explain where we're actually headed?"
Ruby bounces at the question, "Oh we're from an island off the coast of Vale called Patch! Our dad still lives there and teaches at Signal! We have a little dog, and our dad tends to this large garden around the house. Patch is great! It's so temperate most of the year, and our neighbors are nice, there's this old lady who runs a farm by us, and a few others on the other parts of the island!"
"Hmm. He runs a garden, sounds like a calm gentle person. So what happened to you two?"
Yang laughs at the comment, "He's actually the one who taught me to fight! He was always protective of us, so maybe we just got a little confident to spite him." Ruby shrunk a bit, "Well, he taught you to fight since you like punching things, he couldn't do much with me so Qrow had to teach me to use a scythe." Yang putting on her best big sister voice, "Ruby, you can't just have one way to fight, you really should learn to punch."
Ruby turns to her sister with a pouting face, "Oh but it's fine for you to have one fighting style where you punch things."
"Of course! I'm the big sis, so I know what's best. Plus I haven't lost with my way yet, why change."

Both Blake and Weiss laugh at this. The rest of the trip is occupied by small talk about each of their homes. Though the girls noticed Blake was a little vague on details and location. They got to Vale and the girls all started following Yang, still being coy about their destination. The sun was warm, and the streets were busy with people walking to and fro; shopping, eating at restaurants and cafes, and working. After 30 minutes of walking, Yang finally stops at their destination, a large green park with a small playground in the center of it. Weiss, unimpressed, "A park? You dragged us into town to go to a park?" Yang, losing no confidence, "What better way to bond than by just playing around? Besides Weiss, it might help you chill out a bit."
Ruby bursts out laughing, "Ha ha! It's cause she's an ice queen!" Blake chuckles while Weiss stands with her face still mute. She begins to turn around and walk back until Yang grabs her hand and pulls her towards the park. "Come on Weiss, haven't you ever played at a park before?"
"No."
"Even more reason to do so now! Come on I'll push you on the swing!"

Weiss carefully sits on the swing nervous with Yang standing behind her, "So uhm. I just. Sit here?"
"Yup! Oh, and hold onto the chains on the side."
"Okay, but why do I ne-!" She's cut off by Yang gripping the chains, pulling Weiss back, and then flinging the swing ahead, as Weiss yells in fear at the sudden movement. "What are you doing?! Stop me right now!" Yang continues pushing her hard, until Ruby runs up to move her and slow Weiss down, "Sorry, Weiss! Not everyone is built for Yang speed!, I'll push you softer if you uhm. Weiss?" She had a vice grip on the chains, staring ahead. "Okay...Just. Never Yang speed. Never Yang speed again." Ruby begins pushing Weiss on the swing more gently. Her grip loosens and she starts to relax. This was a new experience for her. It was...enjoyable. She liked Ruby gently pushing her and as she relaxed she began to think what to talk about. Finally deciding, "Ruby, you mentioned that someone named Qrow taught you to fight?"
"Oh yeah! That's my uncle Qrow! He teaches at Signal on occasion, and stays with us when he's in town. He's great! I mean, he smells like whiskey most of the time, but it adds to his charm. He's been there for us a lot. Almost always when we needed him, but we don't get to talk to him much cause he's out on missions so much. He taught me everything I know about fighting with a scythe."
"He seems like he means a lot to you."
"Oh he does! Even though he has a lot of problems, I look up to him."
Yang smiles at her sister and Weiss talking. Then turns her attention to Blake, who was sitting off to the side reading a book she had brought. "Yo partner! Let's do something!"
"Um. Like what?"
"Hmm. How about something that plays to your strengths?" Yang runs over to a shed with rent equipment and gets a ball, then runs back. "Let's play kick ball!"
"With just the two of us?"
"Yeah! We kick the ball back and forth to each other, and if one of us hits the other with the ball, we get a point! I played this game with Ruby all the time when we were kids."
"That's not kick ball, but we can." They stand on opposing sides of the field. Yang kicks it first, not full force, but enough to get it to Blake easily. She didn't want to hurt her after all. In response Blake launched the ball up, then wound up ready to kick it, and as it reached her midsection, swung her leg around to launch it into Yang who just barely put up her hands to catch it. Her hands stung, but it wasn't bad. Blake called over, "So is catching a point for you or me, we didn't establish?"
"We'll say just no point." Yang started getting excited seeing she didn't have to hold back. Well, much anyways. Yang placed the ball on the ground, and getting a running start, sent it flying at Blake at a blinding speed, she in response uses her semblance to produce an afterimage to take the balls hit, and give her a chance to kick back. But Yang was ready this time, and returned the ball. Their exchanges lasted for only 20 seconds, but to the girls it felt so much longer. Ruby stopped pushing Weiss as they watched their teammates flinging the ball back and forth at a speed that they were certain would kill a normal person not expecting it.
Finally Blake managed to break the momentum of the ball, causing it to go up into the air with her leg. A split second later she jumped up after the ball, Yang tried to watch her to anticipate the coming attack, but Blake's image was washed out by the sun behind her, and Yang couldn't see. Blake delivered an axe kick, mid-air to send the ball flying back towards the earth, colliding with an unprepared Yang as it did so. She was sent to the floor with the wind knocked out of her, as the ball bounced for a few seconds beside her. Seeing this after she landed, Blake immediately became concerned, running up to Yang, "Oh my god Yang! Are you okay? I didn't mean to get you that hard! Please say something!" Yang slowly lifts her arm, grabbing the ball, and tossing it at Blake, as it harmlessly bounces off her. "There...Now we're even...You're pretty good." She gets up with a wide grin, and a red spot on her forehead. Blake gives a sigh of relief, and begins realizing just how hot it was after all their movement.
From over by the playground, Ruby calls over, "Yang! Spin me on the carousel!"
"Oh heck yeah!" Yang immediately jumps up seeming fine and runs over to her sister, as Blake looks bewildered at how quickly she's up and running again.
Noticing Weiss still on the swing, Ruby calls over, "Weiss! You wanna spin on the carousel with me?"
"Oh no! I'm not falling for that again. Leaving Yang in charge of your speed is clearly hazardous to your health." Ruby positions herself at the center of the carousel bracing, "Okay Yang let's go!" Yang laughs, "You sure you're ready for Yang speed baby sis? You didn't fare well last time."
"I'm older and stronger now, just do it!"
"Okay!" Yang grabs one of the bars to the carousel and winds up ready to get spinning. And with one strong push, sends off the initial spin. Adding to the spin over and over until she can't stick her hand on the thing anymore. Ruby is just a red blur inside the spinning bars, managing to stay set in the center for 30 seconds before she is sent flying out of the bars, crashing into the rent shed, denting the storage doors, she gets up dizzy, and stumbling, with her aura clearly activated. Yang puts on her sunglasses and stands confidently, "Out with a Yang. He he." No one else laughs, but it doesn't bother her. Yang helped Ruby to a shady spot and they all got water and sat together in the shade talking for another 20 minutes before Ruby was ready to walk. And they all made their way back to the shuttle station, returning to Beacon to enjoy the rest of their Sunday afternoon.

Chapter 4: Club Soda, and Training Roulette

Monday morning was rough, as all the girls woke up in varying degrees of soreness and exhaustion. Except for Weiss who was fine. She was very adamant about them not nearly being late for school this week.
Monday's classes came and went, with more long lectures, more homework, and more introductions to subjects. This was when the curriculum began in earnest. And Ruby couldn't be more spiritless on the first day. While she loved Grimm Studies and combat, it was her first class of the day, and the rest of her classes were technical and academic. She found it pretty unengaging for the most part, information she barely saw a reason for in her field like History or Botany. She was elated after her final class, running off to join Jaune for their club roulette. Today's club was Literature, run by Professor Aegis. They got lost on the way to the classroom and arrived after most of the other students who were interested in it, or joined it, Blake being among them. Ruby and Jaune sat in a corner as the professor began her introductions, "Hello students, I am Professor Aegis. The goals of this Literature Club is to appreciate, understand, and create works of literature or writing of any kind. Each day we meet in the club, every Monday and Friday, each student will be expected to have brought a piece or section of writing in to discuss. We'll read it, talk about its contents. Then discuss its merits and faults, if any. I invite anyone who has one in their mind or with them already to begin."
One student immediately raised her hand, and was invited to the front of the classroom and began discussing a poem by a well known writer from Vale, "Grace Hygrin". Ruby wasn't really familiar with the author, but the poem seemed easy enough to understand, the acceptance of life being out of your control and living. Pretty standard stuff she thought. Even Blake looked passive and uninterested. She looked over to Jaune to get a feel for what he might be thinking. And he seemed. Awfully contemplative, like he was thinking hard, trying to process the words of the speaker and class' responses. Maybe he's a bit more of a thinker than he looks. She thought. A few more students followed suit with their own small scriptures, and at the end of the club's session she asked Jaune, "So what did you think of our first one?" He was still looking contemplative, "I uh don't think it's really for me. Not much of a book nut."
"I feel the same. But why did you look like you were thinking so hard about it?"
"Oh, uhm. Just the words of the poem hitting a bit I guess. Bit of a sad mind set to just accept you can't make a difference." Ruby thought on the perspective before shoving the idea aside, "Well, I'm gonna walk back to my dorm with Blake, see ya tomorrow!"
"Ah! But we live-" She was already rushing off to catch up to Blake. "Next to each other…"
He sighed and began walking, only to notice that Pyrrha was waiting by the door, "Hi Jaune! How did the Literature Club go?"
He sighs again, "Depressing."
"Oh...That bad huh?"
"No, it was more just what one of the the girls had for her piece of writing to look at. It was about how life is out of your control, and you just have to accept it and live."
She gives a sympathetic smile, "Not the type to just accept things are you?
"I uh. I try not to if I can help it. I can understand certain obstacles being a lot to overcome...Well uh...A lot of obstacles are a bit much for me to overcome. But I don't think we should just accept things in life if we know it's not right, you know?"
"I do, yes. But I at the same time believe certain events are meant to happen. Meetings or decisions, and the like."
Jaune smiles and, half heartedly, "Well I guess if I was meant to meet you and the rest of our team, I can accept that."

Tuesday was disappointingly similar in Ruby's mind. She couldn't wait until what Blake said came true, that the days would start going faster. But eventually the school day did end, and Ruby, along with Jaune, excitedly headed towards their Tuesday club scouting.
They arrived at the meeting classroom, but to their confusion, along with other first year students with them, there was a note on the door informing them all to go to a specific part of the campus instead. After several minutes of students following each other, attempting to find the correct spot. They all finally arrived at a garden house, with Professor Peach standing in front of the door speaking with other students who had arrived.
After waiting several minutes for any more stragglers to show up the professor began, "Alright students, as you might be able to tell, The Gardening Club, is about gardening. But we'll be beginning the process from the ground up, literally. If everyone could come into the garden house and get supplied and geared up! We're going to clear a plot of land, till it! Make the very bricks to border it! We will be seeing plants throughout their lives for the whole year! From seed to mulch!" She walked into the building with other students as Ruby and Jaune looked at each other, and without speaking; nodded their heads, turned around, and promptly decided not to join the Gardening Club.
As they were walking back Ruby started first, "I can enjoy a garden as much as anyone else, my dad even tends to one around our house. But that just seems a bit uh, much for me."
"Agreed. Well we have some time to kill, what should we do now?" Ruby ponders for a moment. "Wanna go prank Yang?"
"Uhm. Sure?"
Ruby was certain it was a genius and poetic plot. She had stolen a pie from the Bake Club, and intended to make an appropriate joke before smashing it into Yang's face when she least expected it. Jaune went back and paid for the pie she took.
She waited, rather conspicuously in the hall for Yang to come back once she saw her leave the dorm room, as Jaune kept watch down the second hall if she came that way.
Eventually Yang did come back, and noticing Ruby by the door, "Hey baby sis, what are you doing outside? You lose your keys again?"
"H-Hey! That was back at home, not Beacon. I know just where my keys are!" She rocked on her heels with her hands behind her back.
Yang, looking around confused for a second, "Okay? So why are you standing outside our room then?"
"I just wanted to talk, you eaten today?"
"Of course? Blake and I got back from the cafeteria hall like thirty minutes ago."
Now with a wide grin, "Did you have any dessert?"
Yang began trying to recall her own memory, "Do they serve dessert in the cafeteria?"
Ruby immediately yells, "They do now!" Bringing the pie around, as Yang looks back to her sister ready, grabbing her hand, and shoving the pie back into Ruby's face.
She falls to her knees, defeated, Blueberry filling dripping from her face, the pie tin clinked to the floor. "How...How did you know?"
She points to Jaune who was peeking around the corner, "I could see him looking and knew something was up from the start." Yang pats Ruby on the head as she enters the room, "Big sis is too smart for your pranks." She tosses a towel to Ruby, "Also make sure to clean up the floor, don't want us to get yelled at."
Their evening ended with Ruby having to clean herself up, and Jaune helping her clean the remaining pie from the floor.

Wednesday had Ruby in a sour mood from her previous day's failure. But she endured yet another school day's trials. Again she joined up with Jaune, though she was uncertain how enthralled she would be with today's club. They showed up to the gym for the first day of the Fitness Club run by Professor Archibald, along with his TA. He was a terribly imposing man, with a very serious expression on his face, Ruby could swear he was a giant to her. It was a strange juxtaposition seeing him next to his TA, who seemed half his size. After being instructed to change into athletic attire in the locker room, all the students sat in the bleachers, Pyrrha and Nora happily sitting with Ruby and Jaune. To no surprise from Ruby, Professor Archibald's voice was also imposing, "Students! This is the fitness club! While you are all encouraged to keep in fighting shape on your own, and with the standard classes, this is where you go if you intend to get stronger!" He kept going on that path for a while. Ruby thought he was being a little overly intense for just a club, it's not like this was a military boot club. She began to zone back into his introduction, "To that point, what matters here is not how strong you were, or are. But your determination to get better! We'll be meeting every Wednesday and Friday for your particular training. Whether you like lifting, running, or any other kind of exercise, we got it. And every Saturday, our capstone will be a miniature tournament in each category for you to prove yourselves!"
Ruby perked up at being able to choose whatever exercise she wanted. They were instructed to line up, inform the teacher what they wanted to do, one at a time, as the TA wrote down the information and instructed them where to go, and what to begin doing. The line became held up with Pyrrha who listed all the activities she was proficient at, but didn't know what to focus on. They discussed for a few minutes, back and forth what Pyrrha could work on or improve, finding no answer before the small TA finally spoke up in a quiet voice, "Miss Nikos, if you can't decide on one task or a selected cycle, why not try something you aren't proficient in to improve at it? Such as Gymnastics?" She pondered it, "That sounds like it could be a unique experience, I'll do it." Later it came to Nora's turn, "Name, and what would you like to focus on?"
She bursts, " Nora Valkyrie! LIFTING!"
Professor Archibald took a pause after the unexpected booming voice, before having her talk to the TA and addressing the next person.
Once it got to Ruby, she was a little intimidated, "Alright, name, and what would you like to focus on?"
Nervously she spoke up, "Uhm. Ruby Rose, and I'd like to do running?"
He looked up from his clipboard, "You sound unsure."
"I'm just uh, not sure if that's an option and I'm checking out the club, not sure if I'm joining yet. I'm not really that strong, but I am fast!"
"Wonderful! Of course we have running. I look forward to seeing what you can do."
Finally it came to Jaune's turn, "Name and what would you like to focus on?"
"Uhm. Jaune Arc, and I'm also just checking out the club, and am not really good at any uh, particular physical activity."

Again now he pauses, looking up from his board, "So what would you like to focus on or try? Any particular strength or passion?"
"Uh, not really?"
Archibald had a very contemplative face for a while, as his TA speaks in his place for a moment, "Do you have any friends here? You could pretty easily try some of their activities to see if they're for you." Archibald gasps, "Genius! Why didn't I think of that, it was so simple!"
"You're too blunt in your approaches Professor."
Jaune sheepishly interrupting, "Uh yeah, I could do that. And I'll um. Get back to you, at the end."

Jaune didn't even attempt to try gymnastics with Pyrrha, he knew his limits in that regard. First he went to the weight room to meetup with Nora, who was already stacking weights on a bench press before warming up. Noticing him, "Oh! So you decided to join the big leagues with me huh?"
"Uh, actually Nora I'm just checking out what you and Ruby are doing, I'm still not sure if I want to join the fitness club."
"Well then while you're here." She sets up a bench with weights almost equal to her own, "Let's see what you can do team leader!" Nervously, Jaune got on the bench, and with Nora behind him as a spotter, he gripped the bar. And struggled being unable to lift it. "Huh. I guess you can't quite do Nora strength huh?" He stops struggling, and gets up panting, "Ya, I don't think I'm quite to your level Nora… I'm gonna go try what Ruby is doing."
"Okay! Have fun!" Jaune doesn't respond, taking it as either a rude lack of response, or that he didn't hear her, Nora continued, "Have FUN! Have FUN!"

Jaune then went out to the funning field, where several people were stretching, Jaune spotted Ruby, and went to her, "Hey Ruby so uhm. What are you guys doing here?"
"We're stretching, getting ready to run, and waiting for either the professor or the TA. If you want to run with us, you should probably do the same." Nervously, he starts attempting to mimic the other students stretching, though he had no idea what he was doing. After a minute, the TA came to the field with their clipboard. "If you're all done stretching, today we'll be focusing on endurance, and then speed Friday when we have more time to observe each activity. So just run laps around the field, counting how many as you go, and go for as long as you feel you can. While it's good to push yourself, you should also know your limits. Inform me of your number at the end of the club period." They begin walking away, as Ruby moves to the field with Jaune. They started running together, and after several laps, Ruby began a conversation, "So what did you think of the TA? They seem young enough to be a student, but I haven't seen them around much at all."

Already having erratic breathing routines as he ran, Jaune responded, "I uh, don't know. Maybe they're a second year or something?" Ruby continued running with no issue, still keeping up the conversation, "Maybe, I wonder what's up with them though, they look cute, but their way of speaking is just so plain you know? They're so direct and different than Professor Archibald."
Jaune continued huffing as he ran, steadily falling behind Ruby as she slowed her pace to let him stay with her, "I uh. Get what. You mean. Oh geez, this is a lot." They kept running for a few more laps before Jaune, reluctantly had to drop out of the formation to sit in the shade. By the end of the hour, everyone had stopped running, satisfied with their number, and giving it to the TA before they left to shower and get changed back into their normal clothes.

Thursday's classes seemed to go by quicker for Ruby. Or at the very least she wasn't as bored by the routine this time. She had a lot of fun the other day getting to just run.
Once more, by the end of the day Ruby joined up with Jaune on their way to today's club, "So what did you think of the fitness club?"
Jaune looked haggard still, "I uh. I think I'm gonna skip the Fitness Club. Not really my forte as you saw." She looks a little disappointed, "Darn, I think I might actually join it. It was a lot of fun to get to just run, and I was enjoying having someone to talk to."
They arrived at the club room for the art club, where Professor Aigis was sitting in her desk at the front of the room, and Lie Ren and Weiss were already there in their own seats. Noticing her Ruby exclaims, "Weiss!" She looks over to see Ruby, surprised, then her eyes meet Jaune's and her neutral face turns to a frown as she looks back to the front waiting. Dejectedly Jaune suggests, "Maybe we should uh, sit away from her or something." Grabbing Jaune by the arm Ruby marches forward, "Why? She's my roommate and my BFF! We'll sit right by her."
Ruby sat next to Weiss as she continued to avoid looking at them. Ruby leans over to be in front of her, "Hey Weiss. We're checking out The Art Club today."

She looks to Ruby, not moving her head, "So I've gathered. You aren't going to be a pest while I'm working will you?" Ruby smiles, "I promise I won't." Before leaning back. Weiss smirks, "Okay then."
After another moment waiting for the top of the hour, Professor Aigis stands up from her desk, "Alright students, I'll give a brief summary since I see some students who weren't here on Tuesday, then we'll get started. The Art Club is focused on creating, critiquing, and appreciating visual mediums. Each week you'll be expected to complete a piece of some kind, and for the capstone Saturday, you all will present your art, and we'll begin practicing constructive criticism and learning how to properly critique art. As for today's announcements, we will be doing a free paint today, as you can tell by your canvases. The point of it is to get into a creative mindset and just paint whatever you feel drawn to. Whether it's exact or abstract doesn't matter." Then addressing two girls in the back, "Coco, Velvet, you're excused." Two girls got up from the back of the class, one a rabbit faunus girl with long, straight, brown hair. And the other with shorter dark brown hair, sunglasses and a beret. And while she was wearing her uniform, she still wore her heeled boots, that clacked with every step as they walked out after thanking the teacher. Ruby looking as they left, "What art do they do?"
Professor Aigis explained, "They take photos together. But because of their status as a high ranking second year team, they also might be put on a mission at any moment."

Satisfied with the answer Ruby sat quietly as the professor further explained where all the supplies for the paints were. Then all the students began their free paint of whatever they wanted as the professor walked around observing to see what they were doing, and offering advice if needed. Lie Ren was painting flowers on a still pond, Weiss was painting a garden of white roses in a courtyard, seeming to focus detail in the thorns especially. Aigis wasn't sure what exactly Ruby was painting, it seemed like a mess of red and black with some white. Maybe it was an interpretive piece of a beowolf? And she was getting paint on herself, but she seemed to be having fun. As she walked over to Jaune, she noticed his canvas has only a few marks on it, and he seemed to be deeply pondering it. She approached him from the side, "Jaune, how's your painting going?"

"I uhm. I'm really not sure what I'm meant to be doing here. I don't think painting is cut out for me."
The professor smiled reassuringly, "It's not about what you're meant to be doing. It's what you want to be doing. Something you like, feelings you want to get out, maybe even something as simple as two colors put in a way you enjoy. There is no correct answer here, Jaune." She continued to other students as he thought on the words. Jaune then forced himself to put brush to canvas, creating random shapes with whatever color's he thought would be good. He seemed drawn to yellow, red, black, and blue. At the end of the club time, each student briefly presented their art, and what they intended it to be, though Jaune had no answer what his was aside from a series of strokes he simply felt like he wanted to do.
After the club, they were instructed to take their paintings with them. Ruby and Jaune walked back to their dorms, with Ren staying behind to work on something, and Weiss insisting she had something to do at the library.
Excitedly, and still with paint on her hands and a bit on her face, Ruby asked, "Soooo, what did you think of that one? I thought it was pretty fun for that first one for checking it out."
Jaune was actually smiling, "Yeah, I had fun with it too. Though I also don't know if I'll join that club. Doing an actual art piece each week seems a bit much for my level."
"Well we still have one more tomorrow!"

Friday had finally arrived. Jaune was tired after this week of musical clubs, and classes. He was nervous about this last day's club as Ruby hadn't told him what it was. So he was surprised when they arrived at a club room with the sign, "Board Game Club" written on it. They walked in together to see only a few students were here for now, already setting up games to play with each other. And at the desk in front was Ozpin who, noticing them, "Ms. Rose, Mr. Arc please come in and make yourselves comfortable, I'll be doing the introductions shortly once I'm certain everyone who is coming has arrived." They obliged, sitting at one table as Jaune scanned the board games on the shelf. There were so many, even ones he hadn't heard of.
More students arrived, the last of which was Yang, who excitedly ran over to sit by Ruby at their table. At the top of the hour, Ozpin stood up, "To make a long point short, because of my position, I am unable to stay here for very long. It will be up to you all to maintain this room and ensure everything goes back to its rightful place. As you might imagine, The Board Game club is one where you will all play board games, strengthening your strategic and tactical minds.

While we don't have much in the way of a weekly capstone, it will still be another club day excluding tomorrow. If you so choose you can organize tournaments amongst yourselves however. Have fun." At that, Ozpin turned and left out of the room rather suddenly.
Yang was the first to speak up, "So you guys wanna play something simple we all know like Risk of Remnant?" They all collectively agreed and began their game. Jaune was familiar with the game, but he hadn't played it in several months, so he became nervous at how aggressively Ruby played. Confidently fighting Jaune's forces, while poking at Yang's as well. They kept this stalemate up for several minutes before Yang, who had been mostly silent up to this point, began mobilizing her own forces, completely destroying Ruby, and allowing Jaune a chance to gain some of her territory before she lost. Ruby dejectedly put her head down on the table, "Come on Yang! I hardly ever get to win…"
"Play better and you will baby sis. Now, Jaune I hope you're ready for what's coming."
Jaune was concerned for a second, she looked so calm and sure of herself. But he calmed down, and to the surprise of both him, and the girls, he held his own, the game going all the way to the end of the club's meeting with Yang finally beating him out. He sat back, disappointed at the loss. But still smiling from the experience, as he began putting the game away. Yang, who was also in high spirits after the encounter, "You're tougher than you look huh? I mean, not as tough as I am, but I'm impressed Jaune."
"Thanks, I had a couple friends who played it with me, so I ended up learning quite a bit." This was an unusual feeling. Praise for something he had been proficient at.

Saturday arrived, and with it, the weekly sparring course. Glynda Goodwitch gathered the first batch of students in the auditorium. At the moment it looked like an arena with lecture hall seats around it. RWBY and JNPR among them, as they took their seats, and Glynda began. "Hello students, and welcome to the first Saturday sparring course. As you should be able to infer, we will be having sparring matches as I instruct you on concepts viewed in the combat. Now, our first two combatants will be, Jaune Arc, and Cardin Winchester." Jaune gulps as Pyrrha gives him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
The two students got their combat gear ready, Jaune with his sword and shield, and Cardin with his mace, and they stood at opposite sides of the raised platform. With a smug grin, Cardin boasted, "Get ready to lose, loser." Glynda counted them down, and started their sparring timer. Immediately Cardin rushed at Jaune with his mace to the ground, swinging it up as he got to Jaune. Panicking at the sudden start, Jaune raised his shield to block it, but was knocked back from the impact. Attempting to counter, he recovered and ran from Cardin's off hand side to slash with his sword. Only for Cardin to twist, and raise his mace to block the strike. Cardin went back to his one hand position, and in between, Jaune charged his shield into Cardin, striking him, to seemingly no avail. Effortlessly Cardin slammed his mace into Jaune's side, knocking him back. He was already winded from this encounter. Cardin stood confidently waiting and chuckling at Jaune's state.
Aggravated, Jaune charged at Cardin, who sidestepped, and swung his mace into Jaune's shield again, this time knocking it completely out of his grasp. Jaune charges again with his sword, swinging at Cardin, who raises his mace, locking the weapons together. Cardin used the opportunity to use his own imposing figure to tower over Jaune, "This is the part you lose."
"Oh yeah, over my dea-"
Jaune is cut off as Cardin stood up straight suddenly, fully extending his right leg into a kick in Jaune's gut. Leaving him on the ground. Cardin raises his mace, seemingly to finish Jaune off before the buzzer ends, and Glynda begins speaking, "Cardin, that's enough!" With a disappointed huff, he stops and walks off the platform. Glynda continues, "Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit to continue battling. And is the official end of a match." She turns to Jaune who is struggling to get up, "Mr. Arc, while it is only the second week, please try to refer to your scroll during combat. Gauging your Aura, and that of your teammates will help you decide when is an appropriate time to attack, or when it might be more prudent to employ a more...defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a beowolf, now, would we?"
Putting his equipment back into a case, Cardin mumbles, "Speak for yourself…" He immediately shrinks back to his task as Glynda stares daggers into him.
Glynda then continues, "Now, the next two students are: Yang Xiao Long, and Kai Dawner. Please come down to the stage."
Jaune struggles back to his seat, still feeling the impact of the kick that floored him, as his team attempted to comfort him. He watched the remaining sparring matches, disappointed by his own performance in the face of the others fighting. The hour waned on, with Jaune becoming further dejected at the performance of all his classmates, until Glynda began with her final announcement. "Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is next summer. Students will be arriving after this semester as exchange students from the other kingdoms, so keep practicing. Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!"
The bell rings and the students begin shuffling out of the auditorium, while some others who were waiting outside enter. Pyrrha helps Jaune out.
Jaune's mood didn't improve the remainder of the week, but on Thursday others finally addressed it.
Both team JNPR and RWBY were sitting at a long table in the dining hall eating their lunch, as Nora was in the middle of a story. "So! There we were, in the middle of the night…"
Ren corrects, "It was day." Nora shoots him a look, and continues to an audience of Blake who was looking at her book, and Yang who was listening intently to every word.
"We were surrounded by Ursai…"

'They were Beowolves." Ren corrected again.
"Dozens of them!"
"Two of them."
Again she looks to him with a pouting expression, and continues. "But they were no match… And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a ton of money selling the Ursa skins as rugs!"
Ren chimes in once more, "She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now."

Pyrrha and Ruby look to Jaune, who had just been staring at his food the whole time, not eating. Pyrrha in a concerned tone, "Jaune? Are you okay?"
Immediately he deflects, "Huh? Oh yeah! Why?"
Ruby starts, "It's just that you seem a little. Not okay…"
Pyrrha adds, "Is it because of Cardin? Because he's been bullying you?"
"Oh it's not that, I'm just uh. It's nothing."
"Well clearly it is something. You've been despondent since Saturday. Was it the time he locked you in one of the rocket lockers and sent you flying?"
"No…"
Ruby chimes in, "What about the time he tripped you in the hall?"
"Guys! I told you, it's not Cardin… Well. Not entirely."
Their attention is drawn away to another table from sounds of pleading, as they see Cardin holding Velvet, the rabbit faunus girl, by her ears teasing her as she's trying to get out of the grasp. The rest of his team berating her for her physical appearance. At this Yang begins standing up with red in her eyes, but Pyrrha beats her, swiftly getting up, walking to Cardin, and in the most stern voice any of her friends had heard from her, "Cardin. Release her." He scoffs, "Or what, warrior princess?" Pyrrha grips his arm that's holding Velvet, channeling her aura into her arm and crushing his with an audible sound. He yells out and lets go of her. "Gah! Damnit, you'll pay for that w-" He's cut off by the image of all of teams RWBY and JNPR behind Pyrrha. Cardin shrinks back, beginning to leave with his team, "W-well this wouldn't happen alone! You'll be sorry."
Both teams returned to their seats, as Pyrrha was behind ensuring Velvet was okay, who thanked her. When she returned, Nora commented on the situation, "Wow Pyrrha, you're sure scary when you want to be." Still upset, but calming down, Pyrrha responded, "It's atrocious. I can't stand people like him."

Blake continued staring daggers in the direction they left, "There's sadly so many more than just him…"
Yang leaned her head against her hand, sadly, "It must be hard to be a faunus in a society that's predominantly human."
Jaune takes the moment to pick up his tray and leave alone.

It was the beginning of the second month of school near the middle of the week. And Jaune was asleep in history class, as professor Oobleck hastily paced from side to side of the room explaining the lecture to the rest of his class, "Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution-more popularly known as the Faunus War-humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing the Faunus population in Menagerie." He points to a section of the map with his stick, pointing to a fish shaped continental island in the South Eastern part of the map of Remnant. "Now while this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!" He continues sipping coffee from his thermos. "Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated against because of your Faunus heritage?"
Several students raise their hands, as Velvet hesitantly follows.

Oobleck shakes his head sadly before continuing, "Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this ignorance that breeds violence!" He returns to the front of the class again, drinking from his thermos as he goes. "I mean, I mean I mean just look at what happened with the White Fang. Now which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the war?" Weiss raises her hand, and Oobleck points to her, "Yes?"
Weiss confidently, "The battle at Fort Castle."
"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"
Cardin flicks a paper ball down to Jaune, waking him up with a start, "Huh!"
Oobleck points his yard stick in Jaune's face, "Mr. Arc! Finally contributing! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?"
Jaune, dazed and confused, "Uhhh… The advantage...The Faunus… had… over that guy's stuff was uhm... " He looks over to Pyrrha who begins motioning to her eyes.
"They uhhhh… Had Binoculars!" The class has a light laughter come up, as Oobleck returns to the front of the class, and Pyrrha slaps her forehead.

As Oobleck returned to his desk, "Very funny, Mr. Arc! Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your idea on what advantage the Faunus had?"

Cardin scoffs, "Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier." Pyrrha and Blake glare at him as Pyrrha comments, "You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?"
"What? you got a problem?" He begins to get out of his seat as Pyrrha turns around ignoring him, "No, I have the answer, unlike you. It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark."
Blake continues her point, "General Lagune was inexperienced, making the mistake of attempting a night ambush of the Faunus. Not realizing they had nocturnal Faunus. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured." She turns to Cardin, "Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure." Cardin stands up fully with his fist clenched as Oobleck puts a stop to it. "Mr. Winchester! Please take your seat. You and Mr. Arc can see me after class for additional readings… Moving on!"

After the lesson, the class leaves besides Jaune and Cardin. Pyrrha stops at the door. "You all go ahead. I'll wait for Jaune."

Pyrrha peaked in to hear Oobleck's ending talk, "You two have been struggling in my class since day one! I don't know if it's a lack of interest, caring, or simply your own stubborn nature. But whatever the reason, it ends now! You've worked to gain entrance into the school, and we only accept the best, so I expect you to act like it. History is important, gentlemen! If you can't learn from it...you're destined to repeat it. Now. Pages fifty-one to ninety-one! I want an essay on my desk by next class tomorrow! Now! Run along."
He briskly walks out, in a flash past Pyrrha, Cardin leaving first and Jaune coming out behind him. She tries to reassure him, "You know, I really will break Cardin's legs." Jaune sighs, and seemingly struck by inspiration, she exclaims, "I have an idea! Come with me!"

Pyrrha led Jaune up to the roof of the student housing building. It was near sundown as they looked over several of the buildings. Jaune looked to the ground, "Uhm. Pyrrha, I know I'm having a hard time right now, but I don't think I'm that depressed. I could always be a farmer or something."
With a realization of horror, Pyrrha corrects herself, "N-n-no!" She dashes and pulls Jaune away from the edge. "That's not why I brought you up here! Jaune. I know you're having a difficult time in class and with fighting. And I want to help you!"
Confused he starts, "Wh-what?"
"We can train up here after class where no one can bother us!"
"You uh. Think I need help?"
She looks sympathetically to him, "Jaune, everybody needs help from time to time. It doesn't make you any different from all of us. You made it to Beacon! That speaks volumes of what you're capable of!"
He turns away from her, with his head to the ground and his voice shaking, "You're wrong. I don't belong here."
"That's a terrible thing to say! Of course you do!"
Now his voice was frustrated, "No I don't! I wasn't really accepted into Beacon…" He continues avoiding her eye contact as she attempts to reassure him, "What do you mean?"
"I mean I didn't go to a combat school, I didn't pass any tests. I didn't earn my spot here! I lied … I got my hands on fake transcripts...and lied…"
Pyrrha, now in disbelief, "What? But… why?"
He sits dejectedly on the side of the roof, "Cause this is what I've wanted to be! My dad, my grandad, and his dad before him were all warriors! Heroes! And I… wanted to be one too… But I was never good enough."
She walks up, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "Then let me help you!"
He gets up and turns away from her again in frustration, "I don't want help! I don't want to be someone to be rescued. I want to be able to do things on my own… I'm tired of being the loveable idiot… Stuck in a tree while his friends fight for their lives. If I can't do this on my own, then what good am I?"
Pyrrha reaches her hand out to put on his shoulder, before deciding against it. He turns to her, "Pyrrha, I'm sorry. Could I just. Be alone for a bit?'
She lowers her head sadly, "If that's what you think is best…" she walks away as Jaune remains alone on the roof. Looking out at Beacon and Vale as the twilight overtakes them both. Dejectedly he softly mumbles to himself, "Damnit…"

Near the end of the second month of school, Pyrrha sat at her desk by the window, looking forlorn out the window, as Ren worked on his weapons, and Nora bounced on the bed. She decided now would be as good a time as any to ask, "How come Jaune gets home so late?"
Ren continued working on his weapon not looking up, "He's become rather scarce since two weeks ago."
"That's weird… After all, doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our rest as a team!" She falls into her bed. Pyrrha, almost absent mindedly, and frustrated, "I'm sure our leader knows what he's doing."
Nora and Ren exchange glances and Nora continues, "Mmmm… I guess so. It's just that you two haven't been talking much."
Unbeknownst to them, Jaune was looking in through a crack in the door, before dejectedly moving down the hall with his head hung low as he's interrupted by a voice, "Hey, Jaune!" He's startled, taking a stance only to see her in her pajamas, giggling at his reaction. "Long time, no see. Did you lose your keys? I get that."
He attempts to make up an excuse, "I uh…" After a few seconds of silence as they walked, he gave up, "I messed up. I did something I shouldn't have. And now Pyrrha won't talk to me, and...I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea on my part. I'm a failure." he slumps to the ground against a wall.
Continuing her grin, Ruby booped him on the nose, "Nope!"
He looks up at her in surprise, "Nope?"
"Nope! You're a leader now, Jaune. You aren't allowed to be a failure"
"But… what if I'm just a failure at being a leader?
Ruby feigns thinking about it for a few seconds, "Nope!" She sits on the floor by him.
"You know, you aren't really the easiest person to talk to about this kind of stuff."
She smiles again, "Nope! Jaune, maybe you saw yourself as a failure when you were a kid, and maybe even the first day we met. But you can't be one now. Know why?"
"Uhhh. Because…?"
"Because it's not just about you anymore. You're a part of a team now, Jaune. You and I both. And if we fail, then it's them we're bringing down with us." She stands up again, "We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second. And in turn, they'll support you with their best. Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune." She extends a hand to help him up, which he accepts, "It's up to you to become that great leader."
Ruby walks back to her dorm room, and as she enters, softly waves to him, while whispering, "Have a good night, Jaune!"
Jaune smiles, and moves to his own door. And taking a breath with some new found inspiration, enters his team's room.

The next day, teams; RWBY, JNPR, CRDL, and RDWD were gathered in the Forever Fall forest, North of Vale. Currently being guided by Glynda Goodwitch who was mid lecture on the forest, "And while the Forever Fall forest indeed beautiful due to its constantly falling red leaves, we aren't here to sight-see. Professor Peach has tasked each of you to collect samples of tree sap from some of the older trees further into the woods. And I'm here to ensure none of you die while doing so." They all stop further down a path as Glynda turns to them all and continues, holding up a large glass jar, "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is inhabited by grimm, so be sure you stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at four. Have fun!"
All the students proceeded to split into their teams and gather from any tree they found to be of quality. Though some shenanigans occurred with Yang constantly attempting to drip sap onto her sister, to the amusement of both their team and JNPR, whom Jaune was attempting to catch up to before he was pulled away by Cardin, "Hey Jaune, buddy. Let's go a bit deeper into the woods. You know, get that real quality stuff for Professor Peach." Reluctant, but unable to stop them, Jaune was forced to go further into Forever Fall with CRDL as his team began to look around for him. Nora asks Pyrrha, "Wasn't Jaune a little ways behind us? Where did he go?"
Pyrrha was looking around, growing concerned she couldn't see Jaune, or team CRDL. "I'm going to check around."
As Pyrrha looked around the woods off the path, she could hear voices, and followed them to find team CRDL with Jaune, heading out into a clear patch. She was about to jump in and help him, before thinking about what Jaune said to her. Pyrrha moved to the edge of the woods, and decided to simply watch and wait to see if Jaune needed her.

Cardin pushes Jaune into a clearing, and gets his weapon ready. "Alright, Jauney boy. You ready for a rematch with no girls to save you this time?" Jaune looked around nervously, as the rest of Cardin's team formed a semi-circle, blocking the path to the rest of the groups. "I figured I'd start with you since you're the smallest and well uh. Weakest. Easiest to deal with? I'd really like to get my hands around that warrior princess' throat. But maybe she'll be shaken enough to reach that point after I send you back bruised and beaten." At this Jaune froze, clenching his fists in anger, "I don't care what you try to do to me Cardin. But you aren't going to touch my team." Cardin punches Jaune in the face, sending him to the ground and continuing his taunting, "I don't think you really get a choice in the matter, Jaune."
At this Jaune kicks into Cardin's leg, stunning him, as he scrambles up and gets his weapon ready.
"You really think this is going to go any different than last time?" Jaune smiled with defiance, "I'll make it go differently." Cardin, now enraged at his newfound confidence, charges at Jaune, striking into his shield. But Jaune stood firm, only for Cardin to hook his fist into Jaune's gut, and then knock him away with the mace. Cardin walks up to him, and picks Jaune up by the collar, lifting him up to meet his eyes. "Let's see how much of a man you really are." At this Jaune bashes his skull into Cardin's, forcing the man to drop him as Jaune stumbles up again, getting ready to fight. Cardin was fuming, and in a fitting fashion, charged at Jaune like a bull, his mace ready. But as he struck down into Jaune's shield, there was a flash of white light, and his weapon rebounded away. To the shock of everyone, Jaune included, he was glowing with a bright white Aura, and his wounds were healing completely. After the shock, Jaune smiles, now with confidence, and readied his weapons to fight, once more.

Pyrrha silently cheered and softly clapped her hands from the side. But it was because of this lapse in focus she didn't notice the dark presence approaching her from behind. She heard an imposing growl, and turned; but as soon as she did a large claw swept at her, knocking her out into the clearing, tumbling as she went from the sheer force. When she finally landed, she was in pain. She tried getting up, only to realize she had sprained her ankle.
Jaune and CRDL looked in surprise, first to Pyrrha who had flown out of the woods, tumbling as she went, and then what followed behind her. An Ursa Major, twice the size of his minor counterparts, and covered in jagged spikes jutting out of every part of its back. It roared, shaking all of Team CRDL but Cardin, who ran up to it swinging his mace. Only for the Ursa to swipe him away without a second thought. Jaune runs to Pyrrha as fast as he could, "Pyrrha! Are you okay? Can you walk?"
She smiles through it, "I'm fine. I. I don't know if I can run though."
The Ursa Major roars once more, this time it sends all of team CRDL running, abandoning Jaune and Pyrrha as the Grimm turns its gaze to them. Thinking for a few seconds, Jaune makes up his mind, and stands between Pyrrha and the Grimm. The Grimm slashes at Jaune, but he blocks it, slashing at the monster's stomach. Now angry, the Ursa lunges, attempting to crush Jaune as he rolls out of the way, swiping at its heels as he does, making the Grimm stumble. He turns to face his opponent again, only to be met by a claw smashing into him, knocking him away. Jaune jumps up to his feet, and charges it again, lunging to attack the monster as it swipes him away. The Ursa turns back to him, as he pulls his scroll out to check his aura, which is in the red. Jaune grits his teeth in frustration, but starts to run at the Ursa, as the creature in turn runs to him. As they're about to clash, Pyrrha sees Jaune has left himself completely open to attack. She lifts her arm towards him, gathering aura into it, and just as the Ursa is about to hit Jaune, his shield raises, as if on its own, and blocks the swipe. Using the opportunity, Jaune pushes his shield up to open up the Ursa's underside, as he makes a wide slash at the beast's neck. Black inky fluid spurting out of it as the creature topples over, and slowly begins to dissipate. Jaune smiles, catching his breath, before remembering Pyrrha, and runs back to her. "Did you see that?!"
She giggles, "I did. You were amazing, team leader."

"I'm sorry uhm. Hold on, I can carry you back to the others."
Pyrrha knew that others would come to help them, but didn't protest and instead smiled as Jaune lifted her up, and began carrying her back. As they walked jaune asked, "What were you doing there by the way?" Forgetting their rooftop discussion until now, Pyrrha responded, "I was worried when I didn't see you or team CRDL with us all. So I uh. Went to find you. And when I did, I remembered what you said on the rooftop. And decided to wait until you really needed me." She giggles again, "Though you did amazing on your own, and I actually needed you it seems." He smiles at her, "Well I uh. I don't know about that, I'm sure he just got the drop on you, is all."
"Something like that."
After a moment of silence Jaune finally asks, "In that last part of the fight. It felt like my arm was pulled up to block his attack. Even though I didn't see it coming."
Now nervously, Pyrrha responds, "Well, maybe your fighting instincts knew."
"We both know I don't have that Pyrrha."
She quietly sat in his arms as he continued walking for a minute before answering, "My semblance is Polarity. I saw you were completely open. So I gave you a nudge. But that doesn't discount everything else you did Jaune. You won that fight. We support each other as partners." She laughs to herself, "Literally in our current case." They both laugh softly at the joke.

The two of them returned to the worried group. After ensuring they were alright, Glynda called the field trip concluded early, with everyone quickly gathering their sap and heading back.
Later that night, Jaune stood on the top of the dorm building, looking out at the green lights of Beacon. Pyrrha comes up behind him with her bandaged leg and crutches, "No hiding from us tonight?"

He turns to her at first excited, and then looking down sadly, "Pyrrha...I'm sorry. I was a jerk. You only tried to be nice, and I was… delusional and out of line, and I-" She cuts him off, "Jaune! It's alright!" Their eyes meet and the smile to each other, "Your team misses their leader." She begins moving to the door inside, "You should come down. Ren made pancakes, no syrup though. You can thank Nora for that."
Jaune smiles, but then holds his hand out, "Wait!" Pyrrha turns to face him, as Jaune fidgets, "I know I don't deserve it after all that I said. But...would you still be willing to help me… To help me fight better. For my team, and for you."
Pyrrha turns around for a moment so Jaune can't see her sudden smile. Then she goes over to Jaune, and pushes one of her crutches into his stomach, pushing him to the ground.
"Hey!"
She leans over him, "Your stance is all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground." She smiles down at him, "Now let's try it again."