Rewatched episode four. Turns out I basically copied the episode four "maybe you should make friends" talk onto episode one. I swear that was a complete accident I haven't watched episode one since quarantine started.

"Reeeen. Oh, Reeen."

Lie ren let out a groan as his eyes fluttered. To find Nora leaning over him with a wide smile on her face

"Wake up sleepy head" giggled Nora. Leaning back so that ren could sit up and rub his eyes.

"What is it, Nora?" Asked Ren. Each word being slightly clearer than the last as he accepted that he wasn't going back to sleep.

"can't sleep The Whole day away. We have initiation!"

Ren nodded as he let out a yawn. Stretched. And stood up.

Nora danced around the room in excitement "Oh I just can't believe this. We've known each other since we were kids and now we're attending beacon together. Not together together. Not that your not handsome I'm just saying."

"Ooh. who do you think we'll get on our team? Do you think they'll be nice? Maybe they'll be funny like me. Or cool and quiet like you. Oh no." Nora pauses for a second as she considered something and ren glances back at her as he brushed his teeth "What if there bullies? Eh, we can always break their legs and teach them a lesson. Do you think the headmaster would get mad? he doesn't seem like he gets mad at anything though. I'm sure he wouldn't mind as long as there bullies"

"Wait. We need a way to make sure we get on the same team. Maybe we could bribe the headmaster? No, he has the school. (there's a joke about teachers being underpaid somewhere in there) maybe something Like a secret signal or something. Like a crow! No that would be too obvious. Maybe something else. Like a sloth! Yeah, that would-"

"Nora" interrupted ren. His twin guns shrinking before fitting down his sleeve.

"Yes, ren?" Nora stopped mid-rant and gave him a curious look.

"I don't think sloths make much noise."

Nora paused as she considered this. Tilting her head back and letting out a loud "hmmm" And ren patiently waited for her to finish her thoughts.

"That's exactly why nobody would expect it!" Suggested Nora and Ren had to shake his head at that. He could always trust Nora to make her own logic.

"Come on. Nora" Ren turned and walked down the long line of lockers as Nora chased after him. trying to make a sloth noise and not doing particularly well at it.

...

"Locker 636? But I'm sure I didn't put it there. I would have remembered counting that high." Jaune let out a groan. If he lost Crocea Mors on the first-day dad would kill him. Not that he would hesitate to do so if he ever found Jaune after he had cheated his way into beacon.

He had to find the sword and shield before initiation or he would never hear the end of it.

He let out a sigh. Guess he would have to look in locker 636.

...

Weiss considered her plan of attack as she walked down the rows of lockers.

She had heard Pyrrha Nikos. The champion fighter from mistral. Was here, and she was determined to be on the same team as her.

She had dreamed about how good of a team they would be since she had heard rumors of the champion's decision to attend Beacon. She, the heir to the Schnee dust company, and Pyyhra. A prodigy when it came to combat. They would only become more famous. And the impression it would make on father too!

They would be the most well-known team in remnant. With her as team leader, there was no way that any could challenge them. And depending on their other two teammates they could rise even farther!

She was determined to make that dream real.

There was no way to find out exactly where Pyyhra was. They had no informants inside the academy and the lockers had only been assigned yesterday. But a couple of liens was all it took to get a vague map of where she was. Based on the word of students who had seen the mistralian yesterday when they had all put away their weapons.

Luckily she wasn't disappointed.

Pyrrha stood in front of her own locker. Not too far from Weiss's locker, but enough that she probably wouldn't have found her and been able to talk to her before initiation.

Weiss decided to wait until she was done. Politeness never hurts anyone. and waited until she closed her locker door to speak up.

"Ahem"

To Pyrrha's credit. She didn't react much to the sudden appearance of Weiss. Instead turning slightly and upon seeing her. Flashing a brilliant smile that caused Weiss to blink in surprise at how natural it looked and quickly it appeared.

"Hello. I'm Weiss Schnee." Began Weiss. Holding out a hand for Pyrrha to take.

"Yes, I've heard of you." Responded Pyrrha. Her voice was soft and gentle but her handshake was on the level of the professional's father always did business with. "I'm Pyrrha Nikos. Can I help you with anything?"

Weiss bit her lip. Crap. She knew that tone. It was the tone businessmen used when they weren't actually interested in what she said but were obligated to listen to avoid upsetting father, not that he would have cared much.

Alright. She would have to do her best to convince Pyrrha.

"I just wanted to know if you had a team planned or anything," Asked Weiss. Putting on her best "innocent little girl" voice. It came easily.

Pyrrha shrugged "no I can't say I have. I intended to just let fate decide."

"Oh cool" responded Weiss. While grinning in her mind, not cool. Perfect. "Well, I was wondering if maybe we could be teammates like during initiation we could try to meet each other."

Pyrrha looked hesitant and for a second Weiss worried that she was going to lose her. Had she gone too far with the "innocent little girl" Look. Maybe she looked inexperienced.

But then Pyrrha flashed a kind smile "we can always try"

"Amazing!" Said Weiss. And this time she wasn't underexaggerating. She and Pyrrha Nikos. What kind of team name would they be given. As long as it was professional and began with a W she didn't care. She was on Pyrrha's team and that was all that mattered.

No bumbling idiot was going to ruin that.

...

Ruby closed her door and groaned as she put crescent rose on her back.

"What's the problem sis? Was hoping she had disappeared?" Asked yang as she slid her shotgun gauntlets onto her fist and flexed her hand

Ruby shook her head and rubbed her eyes at the same time. Resisting the urge to yawn "no. It was hard to sleep with so many people snoring though"

Yang cocked her head "Really? I didn't hear anything."

"That's because you were one of them."

Yang winced and shook her head. Trying to give off a disappointing look even as she congratulated herself. Finally ruby had learned how to make comebacks "low blow ruby. Low blow."

Ruby rolled her eyes and looked up and down the hallway. "Did see Blake today?"

Yang shook her head and ruby sagged. She had hoped to talk with her one more time before initiation. Maybe come up with a plan to get together.

"Oh don't worry sis. I'm sure she hasn't abandoned you. Besides. You don't even have a fourth team member yet. Shouldn't you be looking for a new friend instead of worrying about your old one."

"How come I have to find all of our teammates?"

"Because you need the practice" explained yang and ruby rolled her eyes.

"I already found one. You should find the other. It's fair."

"Do you really want to leave the decision of our fourth member up to me?"

Ruby hesitated. She didn't want to imagine who yang would pick. Someone crazy like her probably. Another person to harass her. Maybe even a guy.

The thought caused a blush to creep up to Ruby's cheeks and yang leaned in with a playful smile "whatcha thinking about?"

The light blush turned bright red in an instant.

"Nothing like that yang." Ruby screeched as she shoved yang away.

"Oh come on rubes don't be like that. Know a boy you want me to bring back to our dorm?" Teased yang. Moving closer to ruby despite her little sister's best efforts to stop her.

"No!" Shouted ruby and yang backed off slightly as other students glanced their way.

"Fine, fine, you're never going to get a boyfriend with that attitude though." Okay so maybe she didn't back off but teasing ruby was just too much fun.

If looks could kill Ruby's glare would have left nothing to bury*.

"Fine. I'll stop." Yang let out a sigh, "Come on, we don't want to be late." Yang gestured for ruby to followed and could practically feel ruby glaring daggers into her back.

Her sister could be very childish at times.

...

Cardin closed his locker with a slam. Causing several nearby students to jump. Pathetic. They were training to become huntsmen yet jumped as soon they heard a loud noise.

Russel looked up at him with a confused look and Cardin shook his head.

"You didn't do anything Russel. Just a little pissed at was the headmaster said, not exactly excited about being called a waste of potential you know?"

Russel nodded in agreement "doubt he's ever even fought a Grimm, just gave us a teacher who could talk like he has."

Cardin snorted "he looks like he hasn't fought a day in his life. Probably doesn't even have a weapon and expects that cane to be intimidating somehow" the headmaster wasn't a toothpick or fat. But he looked like the kind of person who relied on others to defend him while he ran away.

"probably wants to intimidate us into respecting us by making us feel weak" Suggested Russel and Cardin paused at that. Make yourself seem stronger by making everyone else feel weaker. Made sense, and probably would work on some students.

Not him though.

"Well too bad for him that it didn't work."

"Yeah. Not much scares you, does it cardin?" Russel tried to sound honest but there was a sneer on his face.

Cardin slugged the much smaller boy in the arm and grinned. Russel was the only person who could get away with something like that.

"Correct. Remember that the next time you try and steal my pillow"

"Well not all of us are blessed with skulls so thick that sleeping on a very thin pillow won't work"

"I take offense in that."

"No you don't, if you did I wouldn't be talking right now and they probably wouldn't find the body"

"Right you are" agreed Cardin as he grabbed Russel by the shoulder and steered him towards the exit "come on. If we're the last to initiation I'm going to let the first Grimm I see eat you."

"I'd like to see you try" countered Russel, and the other students moved out of the way as the pair argued their way out of the locker room.

Whether it was Russels spiky green Mohawk or Cardin's bulk. Or the fact that earlier that day Cardin had run over a person and barely noticed. Call it judging a book by its cover or self-preservation but nobody wanted to get in the two's way.

...

Velvet sighed as she gently closed her locker. Leaving her camera inside. It would have been useful in the Grimm-infested forest, but no Beowolf or Ursa was worth a picture. So instead she only brought the two knives she hadn't even bothered to name. They held no sentimental value to her and she only used them because she couldn't exactly punch or kick a Grimm to death and the dust needed to use her camera was too expensive to use in every combat situation.

Coco had tried to fit her out with something else but nothing had really appealed to velvet. Everything else her team leader had tried and picked out for her was too clumsy and heavy for her. And eventually, the two had just given up on any effective solution and let velvet use a pair of knives which she had only used a couple of times.

Maybe she should have put more effort into finding a better second weapon. The short blade that didn't even have a gun included with it hadn't made her the most useful of the group. She had usually been kept in reserve while the others cut their way through hordes of Grimm. Leaving her supposedly to deal with the stronger Grimm Once they had them distracted. she had occasionally. But she it had mostly been meant to keep her out of danger.

Coco had insisted that Velvet was a key part of the team but when she had killed only a quarter as many Grimm as anyone else on team CFVY she sure didn't feel needed.

that was probably a part of why she had been held back from graduating.

She looked at one of the two knives. It's bronze-colored hilt with red swirls colored in an attempt to make it more unique and recognizable. But it did nothing to endear them to her.

She ran her finger along the edge of the blade. Dull. She would need to resharpen them after beacon. A time-consuming exercise for something she didn't care about but it was cheaper than getting a new one.

"Careful. Might cut yourself."

Velvet glanced up to find someone. Some human. Watching her slide her fingers across the edge of her blade.

Velvet's rabbit ear twitched slightly at the sudden interruption but she only shrugged "it's dull. I'll have to sharpen it later."

"Shouldn't you be hurrying then? Don't have much time before initiation?"

Velvet looked the other person in the eye and let out sighed internally. Fine. Someone wanted to talk? She could talk.

"I'll do it after initiation. They'll do the job for now."

"Pretty confident eh?" The boy put his weight on one foot and gave her an odd look. Like a mix of confusion, amusement, and curiosity.

"Maybe." Was all Velvet said in answer and the boy shrugged.

"Just saying. Grimm probably won't wait for you to dig through their skin with a dull blade."

"It's enough to deal with an Ursa or beowolf. I don't expect to be dealing with anything else."

" if you say so. Good luck." And with that, the human turned around and walked towards one of the exits. Leaving velvet to roll her eyes. During her first year at Beacon, she had dealt with people like that often. Either people who wanted to humiliate the rabbit-eared Faunus. Or guys who saw a pretty girl and instantly tried to make a good impression.

She was just glad this one had given up so soon.

She checked a clock hanging against the wall. Not long until initiation. She didn't know what happened to people who missed initiation and she didn't want to find out.

She sheath the two blades on her hip and headed on a direct path to the closest door.

She was not going to mess up her second initiation.

...

"Welcome students," said headmaster ozpin as the last of the students got in place "Welcome to the emerald forest. Your objective. Meet up with four other students and find a relic, once you find a relic you will be fully accepted into beacon. If you fail to find one. You are, unfortunately, out of the academy"

Ruby flinched at the words. She couldn't imagine getting so close only to fail because she didn't get a relic.

She hadn't come here two years early only to be kicked out because of someone else being faster. She, yang, Blake, and someone else would become one of the greatest teams in remnant. And no one was going to stop that.

Besides. Her semblance would make getting to the relic first easy!

"You will be partnered with someone upon eye contact. Unless agreed by both sides to separate before they find a relic. You may rejoin one another if you regret this decision but you cannot form teams of more than four. Now. Any questions?" Asked the headmaster.

No one spoke up.

"Good. Now, Survive." Said the headmaster. And that was the last thing ruby heard before she was launched into the air

...

Pyrrha Looked at the trees below her as they passed by in a blur As she flew above.

It was surprisingly peaceful. Being flung through the sky probably had the unintended side effect of leaving you by yourself for an extended period of time

But there was little time to admire the lush green forest as her arc reached its peak and she plummeted down towards the tree line.

She steadied herself and held out her hands. Intending to grab onto a limb and use it to stop her descent.

Of course. That would only work if the tree branch was strong enough to hold the sudden weight. A dead tree might also be the death of her.

Imagine that, the mistralian champion killed not by Grimm or a rogue huntsman, But by a dead tree.

Luckily for her. Fate had decided to be kind to her. And her hands found a strong tree limb to grab onto for dear life.

She swung from the tree branch as the momentum kept her going and she felt a little sick until it finally stopped and she could climb up on top of the branch.

She took out her rifle and scanned the surrounding area for any nevermore or other students.

What she found was quite surprising. The blonde boy she had seen talking to himself in the locker room was flying through the air with no sense of control or calm. She could hear his pitched screams of panic as he plummeted to the ground.

Perhaps he hadn't known about this part of initiation, or maybe he had intended to use a parachute. Maybe he was simply unprepared.

All of those thoughts passed through Pyrrha mind as she turned her rifle into a spear. Spending a few precious moments preparing her throw. And with a mighty thrust that nearly sent her tumbling the rest of the way down the forest, she threw her weapon in hopes of catching the poor boy.

She waited a couple of seconds as she considered the horrifying idea that she had missed and been unable to save him. But then came the sound of her spear colliding with a tree.

She thought she somehow heard a thank you come from the forest. How she could possibly hear that was a mystery. But it didn't stop her from responding with a "your welcome!"

...

Ren's Landing plan was similar to Pyrrha's if a bit more difficult to pull off.

He put himself into the most streamlined shape he could make. With his daggers in hand as he did his best to angle towards a tree trunk in a clearing in the forest.

A couple of hundred feet from the tree he twisted and moved so that the daggers caught the tree trunk.

He was glad that it was dead but not fully decayed. As one of those probably would have ended up ripping his arms from the rest of his body and the other his body going splat.

Instead of either of those possibilities happening. The daggers dug into the wood and his momentum dragged him down the tree before he ended up, at the bottom and had to roll to stop himself from breaking a couple of bones

He dusted himself off and was about to run to the other clearing he had seen during his flight when she heard a soft "churr churr"

He froze. What on remnant made that kind of noise. And he brought up the barrel of his gun preparing for an attack by some Grimm he had never even heard of before.

And instead, he got a Boop on the nose from a very none unthreatening Nora.

Ren sighed and put away his weapons.

"I'm pretty sure that's not was a sloth sounds like"

Nora only grinned in response.

...

Jaune groaned as he hung from his hoodie. The spear embedded at the top is the only thing preventing him from hitting the ground in a very quick, painful, and life-ending way.

He had no idea who threw it. He only knew that it had been powerful enough to not only pin him to the tree. Saving his life. But also was too deep in the tree for him to swing himself out of. And he was beginning to worry that a Grimm would find and eat him before anybody could help him.

One didn't. But he soon wished one had.

two boys. One a giant with light brown hair in grey armor, and another small wiry one, with a green Mohawk and a black shirt.

His dad would have told him to avoid them. His mom would have told him to let her deal with him.

It was moments like these where Jaune wished he had his parents with me. Based on the taller one's smirk alone he knew he was in trouble.

"Well hello," he spoke in a surprisingly honest voice. Though the grin on his face didn't help make him look any less threatening. "Do you need any help?"

Jaune shook his head frantically, he was not going to be stuck with some psycho during his time at beacon. He could have stayed home if he wanted to be harassed every day "no-no. Someone else is going to get me down " he hoped.

"Nonsense. Russell?"

The smaller one nodded and despite Jaunes's protest, scrambled up the tree with incredible agility and with one fluid motion. Pulled the spear out of the tree. Sending both of them to the ground. Although Russel landed on his feet while Jaune landed on his stomach.

Before Jaune could even recover from his fall the bigger of the two picked him up and pulled him into a very strong side hug.

"Glad to see your okay. teammate." He put emphasis on the last word and it sent a shiver down Jaune's spine.

"T-teammate?" Asked Jaune. Desperate for the boy to tell him he was joking but he only grinned down at Jaune.

"Yeah. We made eye contact. Making you on my team." He explained it as if it wasn't a terrifying idea. And Jaune considered telling him that they could split up but he doubted The boy would take that as anything other than an insult, and when Jaune's head could fit inside his fist he definitely didn't want to insult him.

"Welcome to the team buddy. I'm Cardin. He's Russel" the green-haired boy gave him a crazed grin "and you are."

Jaune gulped "j-Jaune. Jaune arc"

Cardin grin widened as if he just found dirt on someone and began to force Jaune to follow him "Well Jaune. Welcome to the team. I'm sure we'll have plenty of fun together.

Jaune highly doubted that for some reason.

...

Ruby grunted as she hit the ground and only spent the time it took to put crescent rose back in transport form before running into the forest at top speed.

"Gotta find Yang, gotta find Yang," she told herself. After she found Yang. That was one out of two down then they could find Blake together. And then they would just need one more person and then all they would need is the relic.

"Yang! Blake!" Shouted ruby.

Ohh. They should have come up with a better plan. What if they didn't find each other, what if they ended up on someone else's team. No problem. Then they could just request to change teams. Easy right? So that meant nothing to worry about.

"Yang. Blake!" Where could they be? They were all in the same forest right. They couldn't be that far apart so where could they be. Maybe they had landed further away. Maybe Ruby had gone in a different direction? That would just mean it would be a matter of time.

Ruby's thoughts continued to bring up reasons why she couldn't find anyone else. Maybe the forest was just too big for her to hear them? Maybe the two had already found each other and were now looking for her and she was the one who had gotten herself lost.

Ruby's mind wandered as she continued to speed through the forest. Jumping over pits and ducking under tree branches. Determined to not let anything get in her way.

She passed a couple of Grimm on her way through the forest but didn't stop to fight them. Every second she wasted killing some beowolf who would never harm anyone else was a second more that someone else got closer to a relic that she and her team could use. So she left the Grimm to watch her run past in a blur with confusion as to what had just happened.

"Oh, what if I can't find them? What will happen then?" Worried Ruby , the thought of being stuck on a team with complete strangers terrified her "what if I'm stuck with a bunch of mean people like Weiss, what if they're already friends and I'm the only stranger, what if-"

Ruby's wondering were cut off as she ran through a bush and almost collided with someone on the other side of it. Only barely stopping in time, showering the other person's shoes with pebbles and dirt as she dug her feet into the ground.

After several deep breaths as she realized that she had almost run someone over for the second time during her two days of beacon. She slowly looked up to catch the other person's eye.

It wasn't Blake or yang.

Darn it.

Dun dun daaaah. Drama! Let's see. Perhaps not everything will go to plan. Who could possibly be standing in front of ruby? And who is now a part of her team?

And poor Jaune. Imagine being bullied by Cardin while not on his team. Now he has to be with them. And he probably won't escape. What does this spell for JNPR?

Now you might be wondering why I cut to velvet and cardins pov. Your probably confused as to why velvet is here in the first place. Well. As you might have guessed she didn't pass onto the second year and instead has to do initiation for a second time to pair her up with a new team since the rest of CFVY graduated without her. And as for Cardin and Russel? Well...

I'm going to tell you right now that I intend to add a third team as a side team like JNPR, (Not an OC team. The new team will be filled out with canon characters) and they will have some parts devoted to them, same as how Jaune and Pyyhra had the whole "I cheated my way into beacon" thing. And considering that at the moment my chapters are all between 4000 and 3000 words. And I hope to get about 300,000 words in this book (a large number, I know) I'm hopefully going to have plenty of time to give the new people their time to shine with their own plot relevance.

I also intend to have major team shifts. Just so you know only six characters will be on the same team with a canon teammate and the rest will be put on completely new teams with new members and relationships with each other.

Although... here's one thing I argued with myself over and one of the reasons this chapter was delayed. There is one oc who's going to be on one of the side teams.

I know that OC's don't have the best reputation when it comes to fan fiction. Especially when in the presence of the main characters. But I promise you that he will not become the center of the story and he's here to serve the plot, not the plot serve him.

At first, I considered just moving dove or sky (the D and L in CRDL) onto a different team to fill in the space that would be left as one of the characters switches to a different team. But then I realized that they really don't have a character? All they are are cardins thugs and nothing else so whatever personality I gave them would just be an oc hidden beneath the disguise of a canon character. And I decided in the end "frick it, this isn't a life or death situation. This is supposed to be fun and I have a plan that will make it so this character is just a side character. Let's do this."

So yeah. There's an oc in this. Not a self-insert or anything but an oc nonetheless, he will have character development and a couple of scenes with him but he's probably going to be like Nora and ren.

Also yeah he was the person to approach velvet about her knife. So he got introduced along with everyone else.

Now with that out of the way you might have noticed that Jaune didn't speak up. That was the deliberate reason is that Jaune is no longer completely clueless. He has a decent understanding of huntsmen and he has unlocked his aura by now (you'll find out how later on in the story) though he still has almost no training with Crocea moors and is still the weakest link by far.

One last thing. I consider this the weakest chapter so far. Don't know why but it felt like I stumbled to end each part. Hopefully, I can fix that.

Anyways, thanks for reading. Hope you have an amazing day!