When Ruby and Weiss arrived at the school, a professor stood with his arms crossed, waiting by the large door to Beacon proper. He was of a stout build, with big, burly muscles that would put Tai's to shame, and an intimidatingly tall physique. The man had short, naturally red hair, and no facial hair to speak of.

He smiled as the duo approached, and spoke with a soft, Vacuan accent, "hello, I am Professor Raedwulf. I handle the weight training here at Beacon. I know who you two are, I read the roster. Dust element?"

"Uhhh, what?" The young girl managed to say, staring up at his visage, clearly taken aback by just how strange it was for such an intimidating face to speak so normally. Ruby expected to be yelled at and told to give him 'twenty.'

"The Dust crystal, Ruby. We picked up Burn." Weiss interjected, pulling the crystal out of the pocket in her jacket, and handing it over to the professor.

"Oh, that."

Professor Raedwulf took it with an almost disbelieving stare that only stuck a moment. "Well, alright. Normally we have a full team decided by now, but not this time, I suppose. Enter the auditorium and wait. First years sit in the back left quarter." He pointed at a pair of double doors, with a sign next to each entrance saying 'Auditorium: First and Third' or 'Auditorium: Second and Fourth.'

"Thank you." The heiress took a curtsy before moving on ahead, not caring if Ruby stayed to stare. The reaper didn't though, really wanting to move away from that man's presence.

"Did you see that?" Ruby whispered to her partner as they entered the amphitheatre, not wanting Raedwulf to hear her. "He was huge! I have never seen that much muscle on one person!"

"Where are you going with this, Ruby." The heiress asked in exasperation. The duo passed the dividing tape between Third and First years. Now they just needed a seat.

"Where else? He's trained his body to be his weapon! He doesn't need a fancy transforming sword-shotgun, though that would be awesome… oh! What about…" the Reaper continued her weapons escapade without hesitation, and spoke animatedly. Over time, the auditorium filled, and despite her very one sided conversation, Ruby did notice a marked absence of a certain two heads of yellow hair. Yang and Jaune were nowhere to be seen.

"And… there could be a…" her tirade trailed off, bringing Weiss back to reality.

"Something wrong, Ruby?" the heiress turned around in her seat, and took advantage of her new position to look at her partner's slightly worried visage.

"Hmm? Oh… Well, it's probably nothing, but I don't see my sister, or Jaune," Ruby said, and cast another look around the room. "When does the assembly start, again?"

"In about three hours, or whenever the last initiate returns; whichever is sooner. That's what the Headmaster said on the cliffs."

"Why so late? It doesn't take that long to grab the relic. We got back at ten, didn't we? And it started at eight in the morning…" Ruby let her sentence trail off again, now more confused than worried. Despite her newfound confusion, she continued to rake her eyes through the crowd.

"I don't think he said why. Maybe there are more waves of students to run through initiation?" Weiss offered, after a few seconds of thought.

"Either way, I'm going to go stand by that professor who welcomed us. Maybe he knows if Yang has returned." The Reaper stood with an air of finality to that discussion, and sent a mental command to her Wolves to begin searching the forests, just in case. Even though they had only been talking—or in Weiss' case, listening—for thirty minutes, the amount of students in the area has grown exponentially. Ruby was forced to actually wade through the waves of hunters in training, and in one case, use her semblance to catapult herself over a group of older students. As she remembered, at a table closest to the east entrance to the hall, a large line of students had strung up. Now stood with Professor Raedwulf was another teacher. A portly, round man, with a large moustache bushy eyebrows.

"Excuse me," the crimson caped huntress began when she finally reached the table, "have you seen my sister yet, Professors?"

The voice to his left caused the largest of the two to look up from a packet of papers. His eyes widened in slight surprise, before he replied, "correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not remember seeing another Rose on the roster I was given."

"Oh, haha, yeah. That's because her name is Yang Xiao Long."

"Oh! The blondie! No, I have not seen her since this morning. She carries herself with a sense of strength I do not see often. Her and that Nora character…" the professor shook his head before returning to the next student in line. "You're welcome to hang about here, though, for when she shows up."

"Thank you."

The forests felt unending, and with good reason. The wildwood looked as if it stretched into the infinite unbound.

At least, that's how it felt to poor Yang. Her entourage wouldn't let her do anything while her aura is down, and it sucked.

Meanwhile, Blake wasn't particularly happy, either. In the span of a few seconds and one misjudgement, she went from having connections to one team, to two. When they found the ruins where the Dust were, only one Burn and one Wind crystals remained. She could only guess that matching crystals were what decided teams. Pyrrha and Nora found a way to keep that positive, but the catgirl certainly couldn't.

To add to her uneasiness, a new stench appeared on the winds. A very faint, vaguely canine smell that gave Blake a sense of distance, but not direction. The instinctual feeling of dog-based dread made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, and her ears to tense, in a feeble attempt to locate it.

The scent wafted in place, then moved forward, and then wafted some more. Whatever it was, was moving ever closer, before it stopped, and moved in another nondescript direction. At long last, it caught up with the group's measly pace, finally reaching the edge of Blake's faunus hearing, with scuffles in the underbrush that betrayed the offending canine's location. Behind her.

Blake spun on her heel and drew her Gambol Shroud in one fluid motion, where she stopped moving, to squint at the forest surrounding. The rest of the party also stopped.

"You alright Blake?" Yang asked, but the cat in disguise quickly shushed her.

The movement must have become audible for human ears too, as soon after, everyone in the group drew their weapons. It sped up, and grew ever nearer with an unprecedented resolve.

A blob of black fur burst from the false darkness with claws outstretched and mouth wide open, clearly gunning for the reckless blonde. Blake swung at it, and Pyrrha must have fired a round, judging from the gunshot, but while both attacks connected, neither did any damage.

A… black wolf… popped out if its blurred movement, landed on top of Yang, and began… playing.

It licked and lapped at every inch of the brawler's face, which evidently tickled. She squirmed beneath the weight of her attacker, and guffawed seemingly unending.

"Ah! Hahah! F-Fen-rir st-o-o-op! Ahahahaha!"

The scene had everyone in the surrounding area slackjawed. Pyrrha, Blake, and Jaune couldn't comprehend the first thing about the scene presented to them. One moment they feared for their friends life, and the next they were staring at that same friend under tickle by that same attacker.

Yet despite their confusion, the duo on the floor continued. The positive vibes coming from the brawler and the dog probably pushed every creature of Grimm in the opposite direction.

When the wolf stopped, it looked around at the surrounding party, clearly driven by their smells. When it registered in its doggy mind what it had done in the presence of witnesses, it appeared ashamed.

"Yeah. Hi Fenrir. I see that you're doing good." Yang reached her hand out to pat the wolf on the head, only met with minimal resistance. "Is Ruby nearby?" The dog escaped its prison of pets and started to merely stroll off in a seemingly random direction, probably in the direction of this Ruby.

"Eh, what just happened?" Jaune bursted out, his shield collapsed and set on his belt. Yang turned on her heel to see three very confused friends.

"Oh. Sorry, that's my sister's wolf. She probably sent him to look for me," the brawler was clearly set to continue her explanation, but she was cut off mid sentence.

"That dog jumped at you with its claws outstretched. How are you not hurt?" Blake blurted out her own interruption, the confusion breaking through her own quiet facade.

"Huh… well I'll be damned, they do have their own semblances. I don't know what it was. Let's go ask Ruby."

The wolf brought the quartet to the base of Beacon's steep hill, which they spent the last thirty minutes walking up. Somewhere along the way the ebony canine decided to disappear, as far as Blake could tell, back into the woods. None of the group were able to understand how it—he, according to Yang—knew the way to Beacon, when they were evidently walking in the wrong direction originally. Beacon's gothic architecture finally stood over the crest of the incline, both intimidating and welcoming in its design, which created a longing to be inside its doors once again.

A flash of rose petals filled the vision of four unsuspecting mid-teens, accompanied by a shrill yell of, "YANG!" A red caped hug crusader enveloped the blond in question in a tight squeeze, that the ostensibly older female was quick to return, as if by instinct. To all who witnessed the incident, it appeared as if the red figure were clinging on tightly and just beginning to relax.

Internally was a different matter for the reaper however. Thanks to Fenrir, she wasn't that worried for her sister, but until now she was a ball of stressed nerves. Yang could hear the deep exhale and feel the tight hug release as Ruby eased up enough to look at her sister. "Took you long enough, ya lazy ass."

"Awww, were you worried?" Yang questioned facetiously, which only got a quick eye roll, before the much shorter girl backed off, and looked towards the observers.

"So what kept you so long? I've been up here with my partner for at least two... three hours now." She took a measured glance at each of the three people Fenrir had warned were with her big sis. Jaune, who she obviously knew, looked a bit tired and worn, but not too badly scratched. The two girls, who had stood their mildly awkwardly before she asked her question, were intriguing in their own rights.

The bronze plated woman practically towered over Ruby's own height, likely six foot even if she wasn't wearing heels. Her stance was noticeably lenient and relaxed, with a swayed preference to her right. The shield and sword-spear sheathed on her back caught the Reaper's attention, but she resolved to ask later about it.

That left the one in black. Fenrir did mention something about 'the smell of cat,' which originally made the cloaked girl think that someone was a cat person, which wouldn't have been horrible… but then she noticed the girl's bow, adorned on the top of her head. It wiggled, almost imperceptibly, but due to the fact she was looking, it was quite clear. This news meant to Ruby that her wolves most certainly were not going to be allowed in the dorm buildings. How sad.

"Yang here shattered her aura."

"Jaune shut the fuck up." Jaune started speaking first, but the brawler really, really tried to cut him off. Ruby spun on her heel and delivered a weak punch to Yang's shoulder.

"YANG YOU DUMBASS!" Her shriek certainly wasn't anywhere near as weak as that punch. Many heads throughout the hallway, including those of a few professors turned to the source of the wail.

"Oh like it really matters to you. Or have you forgotten what you didn't do the last year and a half?!" Yang retaliated. The bystanders returned to their business, wanting nothing to do with another damn hunter feud. Jaune and Pyrrha decided now was a good time to whistle and walk away. Blake would have followed if not for the fact her partner was being chewed out. In the back of her mind, she was able to make the loose connection between this event and Yang's tantrum in the forest. The catgirl watched for longer than she let on.

Ruby, for her part, looked affronted, and a bit downtrodden all of a sudden. That bit of information immediately made the Reaper regretful, that it was her fault that her sister was in this state, most likely because of herself. With head cast suddenly to the ground, the mother of three stepped forward and wrapped Yang in a much gentler hug.

"I'm upset because I wanted to fix things… if you had… I wouldn't have gotten the chance." The Reaper muttered that into the brawler's shoulder, quiet enough that only the hug-victim and a certain catgirl could hear it—not that she would ever let anyone know that.

However, said bow-wearing girl did feel the need to mention all the many eyes staring at the two girls hugging, and maybe near tears, in the middle of the hall. Hoping to relieve attention from her partner, and in tandem, herself, Blake spoke up. "Ummm, could we maybe take this to the auditorium, and some seats. People are watching."

Ruby's cheeks lit up in embarrassment as she extricated herself from her sister and led the group back to Weiss, and some open seats. Professor Raedwulf apparently was taking a peek inside the auditorium, so he caught Yang and Blake before they walked in and didn't get assigned. After short greetings between Weiss and the bumblebee-colored duo came to an end, the auditorium speakers boomed. Headmaster Ozpin tapped the mic.

"Welcome, and some of you, welcome back to Beacon Academy. As many of you know, I am the headmaster of this school. I have a few things to say before the rest of this assembly can begin.

"So that there are no surprises, I must remind you that Beacon is more than just a hunter training school. As of last year, we have begun pulling in other trades and professors to teach them. When you have so much space, why waste it all on a diminishing Hunter population? There were only forty new applicants to our program at the beginning of last year, and only thirty-two this year.

"As I said, this is a reminder, and news flash for the freshmen, that this year will be different. The schedule has been altered to accommodate this, which is reflected in the updating calendar on your scrolls. If you have further questions, Professor Goodwitch and I will be hanging by the doors after the assembly, to hopefully provide answers." The headmaster stopped, and scanned the audience. "Now that that's out of the way, shall we begin?"

The headmaster and Professor Goodwitch began calling out names, passing back and forth the list. The names were a blur to the bored sisters who, only in passing, took note of and clapped for every named team. As Ruby raked her eyes along the crowd, she noticed that Ozpin told the truth. Many of the attendees to the ceremony were not Hunters at all! Not only did they not have the build for it, but many had civilian clothes. Sure, Ozpin noted as much in his speech, but it took seeing them gathered in a cluster near the middle of the auditorium to truly understand.

On the other hand, the sister's partners took the assembly quite differently. Weiss looked at each team with a deliberate scrutiny, noting each and every year-mate's stance; the way they held themselves and each twitch. To an outside observer, the heiress looked absolutely raptured by this opportunity to observe the 'competition.'

Blake had found a similar way of keeping busy, her attention divided between the assembly and the red caped girl who had been—more or less—introduced as the reckless blonde's sister. She carried the scent of dog, to be sure, but it wasn't quite the same as the black wolf. Two other, similar scents winded towards the catgirl.

Before she could continue, her name was called, which broke her from the spell she was caught in, and she realized with a light blush that she was essentially smelling up the young girl. The catgirl reeled in her wherewithal and looked at the television over the stage. She realized that not only were she and Yang called, but Ruby and Weiss as well, with their first initials spelling out what resembled a child's attempt in writing the word, "ruby," but with a W for Weiss's name.

The newly formed team walked up to the stage.

"Our last team, dubbed RWBY. Welcome to Beacon."

AN: This Chapter I Learned: cats have better senses of hearing, sight, and smell than domestic dogs. Just another reason why I'm a cat person.

Which is awkward, considering the concept of this story…

Also, my headcanons came out of the woodworks in that speech.

Blac- Nothing awkward about it at all. Cat's are awesome and the story already had a cat girl.

Archer- Resumes glaring