Summer found herself sitting alone as Taiyang tried to pick up another girl, or at least that's what she guessed that he was doing. For the moment Summer had her eyes tightly shut trying not to think of how high in the air she was right now. You see, Summer and heights didn't get along. At all.

While Summer was dealing with her internal crisis Tai was, attempting to chat up a cute brunette girl. "You know my doctor said I was low in vitamin U. Do you think you could help me?" He said in an attempt to flirt.

Judging by the look on the girl's face, which can only be described as the perfect middle point between disgust and disinterest, his vitamin deficiency would continue for another day.

So, he made his way back to his seat and plopped down next to Summer. "Don't worry Tai," Summer said opening one eye to look at her friend, "tenth times the charm."

"Oh, haha," He said nudging Summer with his elbow, "At least I'm trying to talk to people. Instead of just hiding in the corner."

"I'm not hiding," She said with a pout, "I'm just trying to stay away from the windows."

"Really? So, you've got your hood up and you're curled in a ball, trying to make yourself as small as possible because you're scared of heights?"

"I'm not-" Summer said before pausing. Realizing that she was in fact curled up in the corner as Tai gave her a smug look. So, she quickly sat up in the most lady-like manner she could and took off the hood of her cloak. "I was not hiding."

"Riiiiight," Tai said clearly not believing her, "Doesn't matter, I guess. I think we're almost at Beacon." Tai pointed out the nearest window as the Academy was now very clearly in view.

The voice of the pilot came over the intercom "We're making our final approach to Beacon now. All passengers should be seated as we land." Confirming Tai's guess.

Initiates flooded out of the bullhead soon after it landed. Summer and Tai are some of the last to exit. Summer just stared up at the tower at the center of the academy. It was bigger than anything she'd seen in person.

"We're not on Patch anymore," Tai said next to her, staring up at the tower as well.

"No, we're not." She said quietly.

"Don't forget to grab your bags," Tai said holding his luggage and pointing towards the various bags and suitcases being unloaded from the bullhead.

"Oh, right." Summer said as the pair went over to the baggage area. Summer took a minute to find her bags. Eventually spotting her white rose symbol she pulled on the handle only for it not to budge. So, she pulled harder and harder until the bag dislodged itself and spilled its contents all over the ground.

"Oh great. Tai could you help…" Summer paused as she realized that Tai had ditched her again and was talking to some raven-haired girl across the courtyard. "I can't believe my luck today." She said to herself as she went about picking up her supplies. It wasn't long before a shadow covered Summer as someone stood above her.

Summer looked up at the person, who turned out to be a guy. Who was wearing a button-up shirt and pair of jeans and, if the patches were any indication, they were old. Must be from the frontier then.

"Need any help with that?" He said holding out Summer's spare scope.

"Yes, please." She said grabbing the scope and putting it back into her bag. Which was taking far less time to be packed up than she thought it would now that Summer had some actual help. Tai!

Summer looked at the man again. He looked to be her age, and he had black hair. Slicked back with enough oil for him to be a fire hazard. It kind of made his hair look like feathers. He also had red eyes. Which was interesting, though Summer was probably the last person who should comment on unique eye colors.

Soon Summer's bag was packed up again. "Thanks," She said a bit bashfully "but why did you help me?"

The man just shrugged "It was probably my fault anyways so I figured I should."

"What do you mean it was your fault?"

"Don't worry about it. The names Qrow by the way."

"Crow? Like the bird?" Summer said picking up her bag.

"Qrow with a Q."

"How could you tell if I said it with a Q or not?" Summer said cocking an eyebrow.

"Just can." He said shrugging again.

"Right, well I'm Summer Rose." She said with a polite smile. "I guess we're classmates."

"Guess we are," He looked back towards the courtyard. "Looks like I've got to stop my sister from killing someone already. See you" He said before walking off.

"What do you mean you have to…" Summer turned towards what Qrow was looking at to find that raven-haired girl, who Summer guessed was Qrow's sister, had Tai in a choke hold on the ground.

Beacon was going to be interesting, to say the least.

Well, the good news was that Jaune wasn't a bloody puddle on the forest floor. A random spear had come from nowhere and pinned him to a tree. Somehow without breaking his neck. So, even better.

The bad news was that he had a very pissed-looking ghost staring at him. "Jaune, what the hell were you thinking?" Summer said, arms crossed and her foot tapping against the open air.

"That I wanted to be a huntsman," Jaune said with a nervous laugh.

Summer sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I meant why did you think it was a good idea to try to attend a huntsmen academy without having your aura unlocked?" She said looking back at Jaune. "How did you even get accepted into Beacon? Having your aura unlocked is a requirement to even apply."

"Dad wouldn't unlock my aura or let my mom do it. So, I figured I could find someone on the way over who could." He quickly answered.

"Well, at least you know what aura is but unlocking some random person's aura isn't just something people do, Jaune. Awakening the power of someone's soul is just a bit too personal."

"Oh, crap," Jaune said with the spear beginning to dislodge itself under his weight.

"Now, how did you get into this school? Did Ozpin make a special exception for you? Because if he did, I swear to the brothers I'm going to possess him and jump off a cliff."

"Umm well," Jaune started hoping that they were high enough off the ground that no one else would hear him. "I may have cheated just a little bit."

Summer was stunned. The look of anger before being replaced with wide-eyed shock at the many stupid decisions of her companion. "You what?"

"Well one of the admins at my school left their computer open and unattended so I just went in and changed a few things."

"That might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard anyone do, and I tried to fight Salem by myself."

"Salem?" Jaune said with a loud creaking sound behind him as the spear continued to dislodge.

"Seriously, do you know how many years you'll spend in prison if someone finds out about this? Decades Jaune. Decades. And I don't want to be in there with you. Not to mention what would happen if you died." Summer continued her tirade but was interrupted by the appearance of a certain redhead.

"Hey Jaune, why are pinned to a tree?" Ruby said looking up from the ground below.

"Dammit," Summer said to herself.

"Oh, you know. Just hanging around." Jaune said, laughing nervously at his bad joke.

"Please don't," Ruby groaned, "I have to deal with enough bad jokes from Yang. I don't need them from you too."

"Well, I'll make sure to work on my material after I get out of this treeeeeeee!" Jaune screamed as the spear finally decided to dislodge itself from the tree sending Jaune hurdling toward the hard ground.

Though the landing wasn't actually that bad. The ground was softer than Jaune was expecting. Warmer too… He didn't land on the ground, did he? Jaune opened his eyes and was met with a pair of silver.

Jaune blinked a few times before he realized that he was currently laying on Ruby. With a very angry-looking Summer looking down on them.

Jaune scrambled backward, hitting his head against the tree he was just trapped in.

"Sorry," He said rubbing the back of his head, "The spear kind of just fell out and I came with it. Luckily, I didn't land on it. Right, Ruby?"

"Yeah, lucky," Ruby said standing up with a healthy blush. "But I'm going to need you to promise something."

"What?"

"That you will never ever tell Yang that just happened." She said with a serious look on her face.

"Why not?"

"She'll never stop teasing me about it." She paused for a moment. "After she gets done killing you, and I don't really want to have to find a new partner." She dusted herself off.

"Oh right, we're partners now," Jaune said joining Ruby in the world of the standing. Wincing in pain a few times standing up. Though it seemed Ruby was completely unharmed.

Did that have something to do with aura? Summer did say it was like a forcefield.

Summer didn't seem to be too amused with this situation. Muttering something that Jaune would only catch a small bit of. Mostly "Why did it have to be Ruby?" So, no vote of confidence from the mom.

Fantastic.

"Yep. Partners."

"Well, that's… great," Jaune said rubbing a sore spot on his leg. "So, what are we supposed to do now?"

"We're supposed to go find those relic things Professor Ozpin was talking about." Ruby said, "Oh! I think I got a mission update on my scroll after I landed. It might have some more information."

"Why didn't you check earlier?" Jaune asked pulling out his scroll, or well his new scroll. Since Beacon issued one of the more advanced scrolls on the market for each of its students.

"I kind of had to rush to find you." She said taking out her scroll and pulling it open.

"What do you mean you had to rush to find me? Were you worried I was in trouble?"

"Well umm, you see I…" She stuttered out with the blush from earlier returning. "Well honestly, I'm bad with people and terrible with new people. So, if I had to end up spending the next four years with someone my choices are Yang, you, and maybe Blake. I just happened to see your 'landing' and here we are."

"Yeah, I'm not that great with new people either," Jaune said opening his scroll.

It didn't appear to be damaged in any way. Say what you want about these little things, but they sure are durable. At least the nice ones were. Jaune couldn't count how many times he or one of his sisters had broken one of their scrolls growing up.

There was a notification for a message from Professor Ozpin.

Once you have located your partner, synchronize your scrolls to each other so you can track each other's aura levels. As well as being able to track each other in general in case you are separated.

Once you have done this proceed to the northern end of the forest as previously instructed to retrieve your relics. Once you have done this report to the top of the cliffside in which you started.

Well, that didn't seem too bad. Get some relics and find your way to the top of a cliff. Not exactly easy considering the man-eating grimm that stalked the forest, but not crazy hard or anything. Jaune was beginning to think initiation wouldn't be too bad. Until he read the next paragraph.

If you are not able to retrieve a relic by Twenty Hundred hours you will be failed, and thus will not be attending Beacon. All students who are not at the cliffs by the same time, with or without a relic, will be considered MIA until proven otherwise. No search parties will be sent for any missing initiates.

So, it was do or die. Yay.

"It says here we need to sync our scrolls." Jaune said looking back to Ruby, "Any idea how to do that?"

"Yep," Ruby said getting closer, "You just line up the sensors like this." She said lining up the tops of their scrolls. "And there you go."

The screen on Jaune's scroll changed to a different screen. One that showed his new partner and him on a map. Standing right next to each other of course. And displayed both of their aura levels.

Next to a picture of Ruby the bar was nearly full, with a reading of 99% and only a sliver of the bar being knocked out. Jaune guessed the missing bit was from Jaune falling on her.

Jaune's bar however wasn't even close to full. It was completely blank. With a reading of NaN.

"That's weird," Ruby said looking at her scroll and what Jaune would guess was the same screen he was looking at. "Your aura level isn't showing up for me. Is it for you?"

Welp here was a crossroad. How could Jaune handle this? Lie and say that his aura showed up on his scroll, a lie that could be easily disproven. Or he could say that he was having the same problem with his and hope that she didn't ask too many questions. It seemed like the latter was the better of the two options.

"It's not showing up on mine either," Jaune said trying to sound confused. "No idea why though. This has never happened to me before."

"I've never seen this before either. Wonder why it's not showing up." Ruby said staring at the screen contemplatively. "Maybe your fall broke something?"

"Yeah, that's probably it," Jaune said thankful that she'd come up with some way to explain it away. "Must have broke the sensor."

"That sucks. We'll have to get it fixed when we get back to Beacon."

"Assuming we pass initiation."

"Oh we'll pass initiation, or they don't call me the Red Reaper."

"And who calls you that?"

"Oh, you know. People. Cool people."

"Right," Jaune said not quite believing the Red R- Ruby. "Well, I guess we should start heading north. Which is…"

"That way," Ruby said pointing "I'll take the lead."

"Lead away"

And the pair was off. Jaune limped and Ruby practically skipped through the forest.

Jaune groaned and grumbled as he followed Ruby through the forest. Turns out that falling from the top of the tree leaves a few bruises. Even when you have a relatively soft thing to land on.

Ruby was a few feet in front of Jaune as she had taken the lead. She seemed to be the more comfortable of the pair in the wilderness. Moving through the underbrush with relative ease and speed as Jaune seemed to almost trip over every branch and bush.

Summer was floating a few feet above in what Jaune could only guess was an attempt to see over the underbrush and give Jaune a little extra warning if something was coming.

Thank the gods for anti-upskirt technology.

It was quite surprising to Jaune just how much Ruby and Summer looked alike. Both in appearance and dress. Though they did differ in a few areas. Ruby's hair was a few shades darker and a good bit shorter than her mom's. Though they both transitioned to red.

"Just a bit longer, Jaune," Ruby said looking back at Jaune for a moment. "I think there's a clearing just up ahead."

"Don't see any grimm," Summer said from her position of spectral overwatch.

"Alright," Jaune said trying to catch his breath, "Don't think anything is following us."

"Great!" Ruby said looking back ahead as her red cloak fluttered slightly in the wind. That was another area of contrast. Ruby was wearing a cloak while her mother wasn't. Maybe that was something she got from her father or uncle?

Jaune stepped over a low branch into a clearing. It was a fairly wide-open space. With a few small boulders scattered about and a small stream running through the center.

At least they would be able to see anything coming at them. Maybe they could even find some other people out here? But any grimm in the surrounding forests would be able to see them pretty easily. It's a good thing they weren't fighting any of the other students. They'd be sitting ducks.

Though maybe the same could be said for grimm with ranged attacks?

Jaune sat himself down on one of the boulders. Regretting wearing sneakers instead of something more suited to the wilderness. While Ruby walked over to the stream.

"Keep your eyes on the tree line Jaune." Summer said scanning the surrounding area herself. "Assume any movement you see is grimm unless you can confirm otherwise."

"What kind of grimm are out here?" He asked trying to keep his voice low so Ruby didn't hear him.

"In this section of the forest, mostly beowolves, and some smaller ursa. Maybe a boarbatusk or two."

"So, nothing that Ruby wouldn't be able to handle?"

"You both could handle one or two of them." Summer chided "A pack might be a problem though. We just have to hope nothing nasty wandered in from deeper into the forest."

"Something nasty? Like what?"

"A king taijitu, ursa major, or nevermore would be most likely."

"What do we do if we come up against one of them?"

"If you had aura and training, I'd say," Summer paused, "Hope you can outrun them."

"Oh, that's… great," Jaune said leaning further back on the boulder. He wouldn't even stand a chance if he was trained.

"What's great?" Ruby said coming back from the stream holding a canteen.

"Nothing just," He paused to think. Quickly scanning the tree line. "It's good that we haven't seen any grimm yet."

"I killed a few beowolves before I found you." She said before offering the canteen to Jaune. "Want some water?"

"Yeah," He said taking the canteen. "Is this okay to drink?"

"Yep," Ruby said pulling out a little metal container from her belt. "I made sure to put iodine in it. So, it should be safe."

"Well, it's good you carry some then," Jaune said looking back towards the tree line.

"You can thank my uncle Qrow for that," Ruby said as Summer once again scoffed and muttered something at the mention of Ruby's uncle. Did they have a falling out or something? "He was the one who taught me most of what I know about being a huntress."

"Your Uncle? Not your par- not your dad?" Jaune said catching himself before he put his foot in his mouth and ask a question, he already knew the answer to.

"Well dad taught me stuff too, but it just always stuck better when it was Uncle Qrow who taught me," Ruby said taking a closer look at Jaune and noticing the scratches and bruises on his arms and face that should have healed by now. "Jaune, why isn't your aura healing you?"

"Ummmm, well you see…" He said trying to come up with some reasonable answer.

"Yeah, why isn't it, Jaune?" Summer added in with a healthy bit of snark. Not helping the situation at all.

"…I ummm, I prefer to, I mean I, so you see…" Jaune stuttered out in some attempt to hide his lack of ability from his new partner. While Ruby just looked at him confused, and Summer was more than a little amused with a Cheshire grin on her face.

But Jaune's stuttered rambling came to an end when noticed several black figures step out of the forest. "Grimm," he said.

"Grimm?" Ruby said looking toward where Jaune was. "Just a few beowolves, nothing we shouldn't be able to handle." She said with a confident grin and a look in her eyes that Jaune couldn't quite place. Standing and readying Crescent Rose.

"Good catch." Summer said to Jaune.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Jaune said pulling out his sword and fixing his shield to his arm.

"I'll go in first and break them up into smaller groups. You go in a take out a few of 'em and then we'll take out the rest together. Got it?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Great!" Ruby said as she shot off in a flurry of rose petals and death. Cutting through a few of the beowolves as she passed through.

"Got any advice, Summer?"

"Well, I don't see any alphas. Most of these seem to be about five to seven years old give or take." Summer said rubbing the bottom of her chin in thought. "Circle until you find a lone one. Keep your shield up and wait for them to attack. Take it with your shield and retaliate."

"Right," Jaune said moving closer to the pack Ruby is slowly chipping away at.

"Just listen to what I tell you and make sure you only try to fight one at a time. You'll be overwhelmed if you have to deal with more. So, keep your eyes open because they will try to flank you if you leave an opening."

Jaune circled the pack. Looking for stragglers to pick off as Ruby cut off chunks of the pack from each other. Slowly separating them until Jaune noticed one charging at him.

"Shield up. Swipe from left." Summer called as Jaune moved his shield to absorb the blow. The grimm's craws make a horrible scratching noise on Jaune's shield as the strength nearly caused Jaune to fall backward. "Now. Attack!" Summer called again.

Jaune readied his sword and slashed at the beast with all his might. Completely overextending himself. The ancient steel cut into and through the grimm's flesh. Leaving a large cut on its left arm and chest. Causing the grimm to release a pained cry as it jumped back and began to circle Jaune.

Jaune kept his shield raised and facing his enemy. Like he'd always seen his father do when he would train. Though Jaune's movements were much less refined than the Arc patriarch.

Though Jaune had been left unwounded from the grimm's attack he was not unharmed. As his left arm ached from the impact.

But he kept his focus on the enemy. He could win this. He would win this.

"Nine o'clock! Overtop swipe!" Summer called again. So Jaune brought his shield up high just in time to block his second attacker's attempt. Just barely. As the grimm brought its full weight down on Jaune his left arm burned with pain. With his right, he stabbed into the stomach of the beast. Burying his sword into the black flesh.

Leaving him defenseless if another attacked. Which the first grimm decided to take advantage of.

"Three o'clock. Charging!" Summer called again. The second grimm was still holding onto his shield so he couldn't block. He could slash at his first attacker again, but that wouldn't negate its attack. Which would leave him on the ground completely defenseless and even Jaune knew that would be game over for him if the second grimm was left to attack him.

So, he just wouldn't let it be.

Jaune angled his body and pushed the second grimm on its left while pulling his sword out of the grimm's stomach. Causing it to fall toward his right side. As the first grimm rammed into both Jaune and its pack mate. Sending both to the ground in a pile as Jaune stumbled back and scrambled to his feet.

"Clever," Summer said as Jaune moved backward to give himself some distance from the grimm. "Maybe we can make a huntsman out of you yet."

"Thanks," He said between ragged breaths as the two grimm stood up and snarled at him. Black goo oozed from where Jaune had cut into them.

The pair separated and circled Jaune from each side. Jaune continued to move back from the main pack. Until he felt a large boulder against his leg. He's managed to backtrack to where Jaune and Ruby had been sitting before. Ruby.

Jaune looked over to the main pack to see that Ruby was still tearing through them. Faster than he could track, but the trail of rose petals and dead grimm was a good sign.

'Well, if she can handle all of them. Then I can take out two.' He thought as he readied himself to finish this fight.

"Two o'clock. Swipe from right." Jaune moved his shield into place despite his now numb left arm's protest. Blocking the fist grimm as he thrust his blade through its neck. Killing it.

Jaune had killed his first grimm, but now was not the time for celebrations.

"8 o'clock. Swipe from left." But this time Jaune wasn't quick enough as he's just managed to pull his blade from his first kill when the grimm's claws buried themselves into his side. Sending him crashing down. Hitting his head against a boulder.

The last thing he saw before he passed out was the grimm being decapitated by a scythe and rose petals raining down around him.

There was always a certain sense of satisfaction that Ruby got when fighting grimm that she never really got when sparring with someone. Or fighting someone for real. Though she'd only done that one time.

Ruby hooked the neck of a beowolf with the blade of her scythe. Firing her weapon, cutting through the grimm, and using the recoil to spin around cutting through several of its pack mates. Petal bursting away when one of the few remaining attempted a swipe at her.

She couldn't explain why she felt that way. Maybe it was because grimm only existed to destroy.

Ruby moved on to the next group of grimm. Cutting and blowing through their numbers with ease. Normally Ruby would have taken it slower with a pack of beowolves. Unless you were dealing with alphas, they weren't all that dangerous. At least not for her. For her partner, well he seemed to be doing okay but didn't seem like he could handle more than maybe half a dozen at a time. Which was why she was taking it a bit more seriously this time.

Ruby cut through the last of the grimm in this group and scanned for more. But all she saw was the dissolving corpses of fallen grimm. Looks like she took out all of the main pack.

Hey, they don't call her the red reaper for nothing! Well, maybe she was the only one who called herself that, but it was a cool nickname and people definitely should call her the red reaper! Maybe Jaune would? Oh right, Jaune.

She looked over to where she saw him a minute ago and soon found him. Burying his sword into the neck of a beowolf. Good job partner! He did seem a bit tired though, but he probably killed a bunch of them so that would make sense.

Ruby didn't see the second grimm until it had already dug its claws into Jaune. As he fell to the ground she quickly ran over and finished what he started. If the deep gash in its body, now separated from its head, was any indication.

"Jaune are you alright?" Ruby asked as she ran up to her partner. There was blood coming from his side where the grimm's attack had landed, and he was unconscious. "Jaune." She attempted to shake him awake.

Why wasn't his aura healing him? Why wasn't it before? Maybe he kept his aura down until he got into a fight? That would be weird, but she guessed maybe there was a good reason to do it. Maybe he just had his aura shattered? But it looked like he only took one hit. His aura can't be that small or they wouldn't let him into Signal let alone Beacon. Maybe he just didn't have his aura unlocked? No, no that would be dumb.

Wait, he's unconscious. Maybe he doesn't have it trained up enough for it to work when he's not awake? Yeah, that makes sense, but how was she going to help him? Oh, that's a lot of blood.

Maybe she could wake him up that would start up his aura? Yeah, that sounds like it would work.

"Jaune, Jaune, can you hear me?" Ruby said patting Juane's face and trying to wake him, but he just muttered something about ghosts and nothing happened.

Ghosts? He must watch scary movies. He might be cooler than Ruby originally thought.

Ah, no time for that. He was still bleeding so his aura still wasn't working. "Why didn't I take first aid." She said still trying to rouse her partner. The blood from his wound staining part of his previously white armor red.

Red ruins white.

"Okay, think, think, think, Ruby. There's got to be something I can do." She said looking down at him wringing her hands in panic. "I need to calm down. Panicking won't help me," she said taking a deep breath. "Am I forgetting something about aura? Probably." She racked her brain trying to come up with something to help. Before an idea hit her.

"When you unlock someone's aura you give them a little of your own to help them. Maybe I can do the same thing to boost him a little bit?" She said. It didn't seem like a bad idea, and she'd never been told that it didn't work like that so maybe it did. Well, it was better than doing nothing.

So, Ruby put her hand on Jaune's forehead and said the words that Uncle Qrow has said when he unlocked her aura. Soon a white glow surrounded Jaune. Wow, he had a lot of aura. Ruby stumbled as the ritual had taken more out of her than she expected.

Then she heard it

"Ruby…"

But it wasn't Jaune's voice. It was a woman's voice. Soft as silk. Warm as a summer's day. Beautiful as a rose in bloom. Distant as a bird flying over the horizon. Wonderfully familiar, but painfully missed.

Ruby turned towards the voice but found nothing but the wind, a few dancing rose petals, and a decade-old heartache.

"Ruby?" Jaune said opening his eyes. "When did you get here?" He asked blinking slowly and rubbing the side of his head.

"About five seconds after you almost got yourself killed you dummy," Ruby said in a teasing tone.

"Almost got myself…" He trailed off before feeling where his wounds were mere seconds ago. Now they were little more than angry red streaks on his side. "What the hell" he muttered.

"Swear jar!" Ruby said wiggling her finger in a disciplinary fashion, "Almost dying is no excuse to be rude, Jaune."

"Sorry, I just wasn't expecting my wounds to be healed so fast." He said staring at the spot under the rips in his hoodie. Which was now completely healed with no signs of the previous cuts.

"Well, you have a huge aura," Ruby said holding her hands out as wide as possible like her dad did when he caught a big fish, "So that probably helps a lot."

"I have a huge aura? I have…" He paused for a moment. As if listening to someone speak. "She unlocked my…" He paused again. Wide-eyed and staring at Ruby.

"What?" She said with a growing blush, "Do I have something on my face?"

"No, it's just… What did you do?"

"Oh, I just gave your aura a little boost to get you up!" She said puffing out her chest a bit, proud of her quick thinking and expecting some praise from her new partner.

"That's… Thanks, Ruby. You probably saved my life." He said standing up. He felt the rips in his hoodie. "Didn't save my hoodie though." He said with a grin.

"I'll make sure to keep that in mind the next time I'm saving your butt," Ruby said with a grin of her own.

"And I'll make sure to keep your cloak nice and protected when I'm saving you." He said picking up his shield.

"Nope," Ruby said popping the P as one does.

"Nope?" He said sheeting his sword and returning his scabbard to his belt.

"Nope. I'm the one who's going to be saving you. Not the other way around."

Jaune chucked, "That doesn't seem like a very equal partnership."

"Oh, don't worry. For you to make up for me saving you all the time. You can…" She said rubbing the bottom of her chin in thought. "Help me with my homework!"

"You might end up with a worse grade then." The pair laughed. "Now, we should probably get moving."

"Right! Follow me." Ruby said taking her spot at the front of the pair and starting to head north again.

Jaune may not be a great fighter, but she thought that he would be a great partner. Maybe he just needed a push in the right direction. Maybe she should take him out to the range when they were done with initiation?

After they find the relics of course.

SCENE END

Pyrrha examined Milo. She was sure she hit Jaune's hood as he was coming down, and if the black cloth dangling from the tip was any indication, her aim was true.

She looked up at the tree under which she found Milo. About 2/3 of the way up the tree was the indentation of where Milo had punctured.

Maybe Jaune had managed to dislodge the javelin? Or perhaps its hold wasn't enough to hold up Jaune's weight. Either way, there would be quite the fall afterward.

"Hopefully he's not hurt," Pyrrha said to herself. Standing and preparing the head north. Hoping to run into Jaune along the way. "Maybe he doesn't have a partner yet."

"You mean that blond guy?" Someone said from behind Pyrrha, who snapped into a defensive position. Before realizing it was another student and relaxing. "He's partners with Ruby. They left about twenty minutes ago."

It was that one girl who Weiss had been complaining about most of that morning. The one with the bow. When she wasn't trying to form an alliance with Pyrrha that was.

"Sorry, I didn't hear you coming," Pyrrha said making eye contact with the girl. "I guess we're partners now?"

"It would seem so."

"Pyrrha," Another voice came from the forest. Weiss Schnee came walking out of some underbrush with a surprising amount of grace for someone wearing high heels in a forest. "It's good that I found you. Now we just need to find our relic and we can be done with initiation." Weiss walked up to Pyrrha and looked her in the eye. "Now that we're partners."

"Umm" Pyrrha started but was soon interrupted by her actual partner.

"I'm her partner," she said grinning like she was the cat that caught the canary, "We've already made eye contact."

"Well, I'm sure that they have no way of tracking who makes contact with another first." Weiss said, "You simply need to synchronize your scroll to mine, and it will be as if you never met her." Weiss said sending a glare to the girl with a bow.

"And you think I won't tell any of the staff about you cheating to get the partner you want?"

"All you'll have is your word. We'll have our scrolls as proof." Weiss said turning back to Pyrrha, "So, do we have a deal, partner?"

"Well, you see," Pyrrha started, "I would rather not risk getting in trouble with the staff, and it just wouldn't be fair to flaunt the rules liken that when everyone else got their partners the way they were supposed to."

"Well then," Weiss said taken aback by Pyrrha's refusal, "I'll take my leave then. Enjoy your new partner." Weiss turned and left head held high. Maybe hoping Pyrrha would change her mind and stop her, but that wouldn't happen.

She'd had enough of people who only saw her as a name. Hopefully, her new partner would be different.

"I guess we should get everything set up…" Pyrrha said. "Apologies, but I don't know your name."

"Blake." She simply responded presenting her scroll. Soon they were synced up and officially partners.

Of course, Pyrrha would have preferred to be partners with Jaune, but as long as he was unharmed she was fine.

Hopefully Ruby and him and making good progress.

Jaune and Ruby stared at the entrance of a cave. "Think the relics are in there?" Ruby asked. "Because if I had a bunch of relics I wanted to hide I would put them in a cave."

"Well, maybe they're in there then," Jaune said glancing at Summer.

"Nope. They're on a set of ruins in the middle of a clearing. Not in a cave, but not bad thinking."

"But I think my dad mentioned some ruins in a clearing. So probably not."

"Now that I think about it," Ruby said, "Dad mentioned something similar too. Good catch Jaune."

"No problem. Looks like we'll have to save our spelunking for another day."

"I prefer to call it dungeon crawling, but sure," Ruby said as they continued on their way.

Weiss walked through the forest alone.

"I may not be Pyrrha's partner, but hopefully we can still be on the same team." She said stepping over a fallen branch. "Then again that would mean being on the same team as that girl with the bow."

She ducked under a low-hanging branch. "That doesn't matter at the moment though. I need to focus on finding a good partner, but who?"

"Certainly not that Ruby girl." She huffed, "I don't think I'd survive being her partner. The same would apply to Arc."

"Maybe that quiet boy with the pink streak in his hair, but it seems that he's attached at the hip to that energetic ginger girl."

Weiss had just pushed aside some foliage when she came face to face with her new partner. As she swung down upside down from a tree branch. "Hello!" the girl said.

Weiss' scream could be heard for miles around.

Author's Note:

A bit longer of a chapter this time. As long as the previous two combined in fact.

We should be finishing up initiation next chapter, and we'll start seeing some more heavy divergence from canon after that point.

What kind of misadventures would you want to see Jaune and Summer get up to? Maybe we'll get an early appearance from a certain bird themed maiden.

Feedback and comments are always appreciated. This story will be updating every Monday, for now.

I probably need to find someone to beta-read for this story at some point, but anyways

Thanks for reading!