Pyrrha stared blankly at her CORTECHS readout as the white haired girl, Weiss Shnee, the display identified, continued to talk about teams and assignments. Despite the occasional polite response, Pyrrha had stopped listening about half a segment ago. One of the best parts of being the only person in the world with implants was the ability to pretend you were listening to someone while on the Mesh, and no-one would even suspect you. All she needed was a running script in the bottom corner of her vision, and… whoops, time for her to talk now.
"...A strong, well known individual, as yourself." Weiss finished. "I'm not sure, I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may" Pyrrha said. Well, no more ignoring this conversation. "Well, I was thinking maybe we could be on a team together" "That would be grand!" Pyrrha responded. As Weiss turned away, clearly going on some kind of rant in her head, Pyrrha returned to her CORTECHS weapons and status readouts. She wanted to make sure that she was in the best possible shape to, and we're talking again. Pyrrha sighed internally as a blond-haired boy slid his way into the conversation. Hopefully he would be a better source of conversation than Weiss.
"You know what else is great? Me, Jaune Arc, nice to meet you." Pyrrha couldn't help but smile at the boy's attempts at flirtation. "Ugh, you again?" OK, so Weiss clearly wasn't a fan of Jaune's. Still, her greeting came off as awful… Cold. She should try to make up for that. "Nice to meet you Jaune." Her greeting was met with an unenthusiastic "Yah Yah" from Jaune, followed by his immediately continuing flirtation with a rather uninterested Weiss. "I was hearing rumors about teams, and was thinking you and I would make a good one, whaddaya say?" As Weiss bemoaned their acquaintances' apparent ignorance, Pyrrha decided that now would be a good time to cut in again. "Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each, so.." The response was immediate. "You don't say. Well, Hot stuff, play your cards right, and maybe you could join up with the winning team."
Just as Pyrrha began processing exactly what was happening, Weiss interposed herself between the other two. "Jaune, is it? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" 'Do You have any idea who you're talking about?' Pyrrha thought, with no small amount of amusement. "Not in the slightest, snow angel" 'You got that right' Wiess immediately jumped at the chance to introduce the "Invincible Girl" "This is Pyrrha." "Hello again!" 'Well, you have my name right at least' "Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum" "Never heard of it" replied Jaune. Neither had I, until a few cycles ago' While she had indeed graduated top of her class, the Military University on Mythos was most definitely not called Sanctum. "She's won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row, a new record!" "...The what?" 'Well, that makes my life easier, at least' The "Mistral Regional Tournament" had been a huge gamble by the infiltration team, especially considering the particular regional tournament Pyrrha competed in didn't actually exist. Still, between her history of OmReAthletics, and some clever media manipulation, her victories stationside had become an integral part of her cover on the ground. Now it was clear that Weiss was getting aggravated. "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes Box!" "Wow, that's you?" 'Unfortunately.' "They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!" The sponsorship was considered necessary for her mission, both to cement her identity, and to ensure that she had some funds planetside, since Credits and Bonds didn't exactly spend down here. But the choice of sponsor… Before that damned cereal, Pyrrha didn't think that anything could possibly be more unappetizing than government food rations, and yet here she was.
"Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you." 'understatement of the hypercycle.' Seeing a connection had finally been made, Weiss pounced on her best chance. "So, after hearing all of this, do you really think that you're in a position to ask her to be on your team?" At this Jaune seemed to wilt a little. "I guess not… Sorry…" It was at that moment that Pyrrha decided that she had found her partner. She wasn't sure whether it was out of sympathy, or interest, or maybe even spite, but this boy was going to be her partner. Besides, someone like weiss would get in the way of her assignment, far too high profile. Having made her decision, she walked up, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Actually, Jaune, I think you'd make a great leader." Jaume immediately perked back up "Oh, stop" Weiss, on the other hand, was not pleased with her decision. "Seriously, please stop it. This kind of behavior should not be encouraged!" The wind back in his sails, Jaune turned back into the incredible flirt that they had encountered at the beginning of their conversation. As he continued to attempt to "Work his magic" on Weiss, Pyrrha began to slowly slip back into the mesh… only to be pulled out again by a request for "a little help please?" from Weiss. Startled, she quickly assessed the situation and did the only thing that came to mind:pinned Jaune to the wall with her Javelin. Wincing, she quickly apologised before the call to Beacon Cliff was sent out. As she headed for the cliff, and the next stage of her assignment, Pyrrha couldn't help but feel excited for what lay ahead of her.
Standing at the top of Beacon cliff, Pyrrha was treated to the incredible view of the Emerald Forest (a real, living forest!) spread out before them. As the headmaster and headmistress gave the students their assignments, Pyrrha prepared herself for the test before her. One thing that Ozpin said stood out to her, "The first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." That added an unwelcome variable to her missions, both personal and official. Refocusing on the forest in front of her, Pyrrha sent a thought-command to her CORTECHS, activating her combat interface. To the left of her vision, a readout of her injuries, currently nothing, and a discrete ammunition counter made an appearance. To the right, a status readout of her weapons and armor came into view. Last, but certainly not least, her targeting matrix appeared in the center of her vision, currently showing nothing but friendly contacts. She had a feeling that was about to change.
As the platforms to her left began to launch their passengers one by one into the challenge set before them, Pyrrha made ready for her first encounter with the grimm. Despite all her preparation and the expectation of what was coming, she was still slightly startled as the platform beneath her launched her forward, towards the next stage in her mission.
And there's chapter 2! Hope you enjoy it. Criticism is always welcome.
Maledevinine: Why, thank you for your interest! I hope that this explanation makes sense, even if it did sound better in my head.
Also, to the people who complain about AUs that are mostly just copy/paste form canon, you are absolutely, positively, 100% correct. Unfortunately, this story won't really get AU until Pyrrha meets Penny (which will happen early), so just hang in there!