The next morning Ruby woke up and saw that Ash was not in his sleeping bag and the little balls he had were gone too. She looked around but he wasn't in the room. Just then the door slowly opened reviling Ash shirtless with loose sweatpants and a towel round his neck.

"Sorry Ruby. I didn't mean to wake you." He said as he went for his clothes. Ruby was beet red and tried to look anywhere else than his tone body. "NO NO I was just getting up." She chuckled nervously. "So what were you doing?"

"Training."

Ash had his clothes in hand and went back to the door but stopped. "Hey Ruby.."

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry about last night." He muttered. Ruby's face fell as she looked at him.

"Hey it's alright. If you don't want to talk about it..." But Ash cut her off.

"You felt my emotions last night." he turned to look at her "How did it feel?"

She frowned and rubbed her wrist where he grabbed her. "It felt like heartbreak. I felt like everything had little meaning and all that was left was pain and sadness. Like I can never be truly happy again." She replied.

Ash gave her a halfhearted smile. "Then you are one of the few that truly understands what I'm feeling. And I wish you never had to feel that pain again. Maybe when I feel ready I will likely talked to you and the others about what happened but for the moment can you keep this to yourself."

His pleading eyes seem to melt her heart and she smiled and went to change into his outfit for combat. Ruby stared at the door for a while wondering how to make Ash feel better or at less make him feel more comfortable here. Later in the dining hall, the rest of Team RWBY-A were eating breakfast. As they ate Ash joined them with four trays of food bewildering the rest of them.

"You can eat that much Ash?!" Weiss asked staring at the mountain of eggs, bacon, pancakes, oranges, apples, and peppers.

"I am a growing boy." he snarky replied. She gave him a half glare and went back to her food. Then four more students sat down at their table. Two boys and two girls; One was a tall teenage boy with dark-blue eyes that are emphasized by his short blonde hair messily layered on his head with the right side of his hair nearing his right eye and the left side swept back. He is quite toned, having strong muscles in his arms, shoulders and upper chest. He wears a white diamond-shaped chestplate cut off above his lower abdomen and white spaulders with rerebraces set under them. Underneath the armor, he wears a black short-sleeved hoodie with detached reddish-orange sleeves and a dark brown image of the bunny rabbit Pumpkin Pete trimmed in white with cute black round eyes hidden underneath the chestplate. He also wears blue pants with a white patch on the left knee, as well as black sneakers with "left" and "right" written in black on the respective shoes' soles. He has elbow guards with cords strung through them and he wears black high tops. The next boy was a male teenager with long black hair tied into a ponytail that ends midway down his back. There is a magenta streak on the left side of his hair. His eyes match the streak in his hair, and his clothing appears to be influenced by Chinese culture. He wears a dark green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat that is red on the inside, with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. The trimming goes down the right side of his torso and forms a black collar.

This color scheme seems to be influenced to some degree by the lotus flower, which is his emblem. He wears a black, long-sleeved shirt beneath the suit, and light-tan pants with black shoes. One of the girl's has short orange hair and turquoise eyes. Her clothing is a mix and match of some sort, with different colors and themes. She wears a collared black vest that ends at her waist. She had an emblem, a hammer with a lightning bolt, can be found on the back. Under the vest are two layers of clothing, colored red and light-blue respectively. She also wears a white sleeveless top that forms a tiny heart shape between her cleavage and collarbone, with a white detached sleeve on each arm. She wears matching fingerless gloves on each hand. She sports a pink skirt that starts at the waist and ends mid-thigh. Her shoes are a mix of pink and white with pink laces, displaying her emblem on their soles.

She also wears armor that begins in the middle of the shoulder and neck and ends by the waist. The last girl Ash gapped at and dropped his fork. The girl had red hair in a waist-length ponytail, curled slightly into a loose ringlet. She also wore light-green eyeshadow around the far upper corners of her green eyes. She was tall and quite muscular compared to most of the other girls at Beacon he had seen. As a top she wore a brown overbust corset with a vertical strip of lighter brown in the centre. Additionally she wore an elastic, black, A-line miniskirt and brown opera-length gloves on both arms. As for accessories, there was a small circular bronze plate by her right hip opposite two pouches with both connected to a belt. The plate bore her "shield and spear" emblem. Underneath her hair, she always wore a brown circlet adorned with a pair of small, green, teardrop-shaped emeralds on thin chains. She also sported a large bronze gorget around her neck, and a bronze bracelet on the upper half of her left arm.

Ash stared up at her wide eyed and mouth agape. She looked down at him a little puzzled but also some what annoyed. Ash blinked a few time and closed his mouth. "I'm sorry for staring, but you remind me of my sister." He said and went back to eating. The red head stared back at Ash and blushed a little. 'So he not a fanboy then.' She gave a smile and sat across from his as the rest of the team joined her.

"Ash this is Team JNPR. Pyrrha Nikos, Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie." Ruby said. "Everyone this is Ash Ketchum our newest member of our team." They all stared at Ash who seem to shuffle uncomfortably mostly from Pyrrha stare. Nora smiled widely. "Welcome Ash."

"Greetings." Lie gave a nod to him.

"Hoody." Jaune smiled to him.

"It is a pleasure Ash." Pyrrha smiled warmly. Ash smiled and nodded to each of them. Yang snickered but kept an eye on Ash if Pyrrha was more his type. As they ate Ash note that these eight people seem to be close friends with each other. Pyrrha also had her eye on Ash just the react he had was something she never seen in someone who seem both happy and sad for being mistaken for someone else. As they finished up Miss Goodwitch walked over to them.

"Mr. Ketchum will you please follow me to the testing plate form." She ordered. Ash nodded and followed suit.

"Hey Miss Goodwitch." She turned to see the rest of Team Ruby with Ruby standing up front. "My we watch Ash's test as he his a part of our team."

Ash gazed at them. They each had supporting smiled and nodded at Ruby's remark. He could feel himself smile at them. "You don't have to girls it will be fine."

But Ruby walked up to him and poked his chest. "No way mister. As leader of this team it I my job to make sure all of my team mates are A-Okay! You are my responsibility so there." She said proudly. Then Yang walked over and caught her half sister into a headlock. "OHHHH so you are going to take care of him huh?" she teased. Ruby blushed and proceeded to try get out of the armlock. "Yang I didn't mean it like that you perv!" While they argued Weiss and Blake walked over to Ash.

"Ruby is right though." Blake said giving Ash a smile. "You are part of our team we we always look out for each other."

Weiss nodded "Also we need how you battle so we can fight together as a team."

"But more importantly we're friends." Ruby beamed finally getting away from Yang's grip. Yang stood next to her "And we want to cheer you on." She added giving him a proud smile. Ash stared at all of them as a memory filled his thoughts. "Ash I want you to promise me that if you every have a low point in your travels or something happens that makes you sad; you don't push your friends away..."

Ash gave a heavy sigh. He looked over at Miss Goodwitch. "Will it be alight if they watch?" he asked.

Miss Goodwitch stared hard at the four girls but sighed. "Alright but you four are responsible for making up any work you may miss in class."

"Yes Miss Goodwitch." They replied.

They all walked out to the edge of the Emerald Forest an there standing overlooking the trees was Ozpin sipping his coffee.

"Greetings Ash." He smiled warmly at him. Ash just gave a nodded back to him but he did give a small smile back. "So as part of our initiation for our new students they would have to find a partner and a relic to bring it to the ruins on the other end of the forest. But since it just going to be by yourself, we are going to have to change that." He walked over the ledge of the cliff where they were standing. "This time around Ash you will have to get a item that I left for you somewhere in the forest and bring it back here. You understand Ash?"

"Yes sir." he nodded with a serious look.

Ozpin smiled widely. "Very good. Now stand here." He gestured to a metal pad next to him. Ash went over to the pad and stood on it. "So does this thing teleport me into the forest or take me there?" Ash asked looking down at the pad.

Goodwitch turned to the girls with a glare. "You didn't tell him?" The rest of Team RWBY-A rubbed the back of their head's and laughed nervously. Ash looked over at the women. "Tell me what?"

Ozpin smiled and held up a remote "You'll be flying in."

Ash gave a blank stare. "Huh?" Ozpin pushed the button and the pad lunched Ash through the air towards the forest. "OZPIN!" he screamed soaring across the air as the spectators watched on some worried, some panicked stricken, and one every amused uncle.