Weiss immediately stood up and walked to the center of the classroom. "Excuse me." she said walking past Port and out of the room.

"Wait, where is Weiss going?"

"She's most likely leaving to get her weapon from her locker." Ren informed me. "Students are strongly discouraged to carry their weapons around campus unless necessary. This leads to fewer accidents."

"Ah, so that's how it is." I yawned and leaned back in my chair, head tilting backward. As I opened my eyes I saw an upside-down Pyrrha and her team.

'Oh yeah, they're in this class too. Shoot, I've already forgotten the names of her team since I've hadn't seen them before.' still tilted backward, I briefly scanned their faces. 'What's going on? Those three didn't exist in the show.'

Well, actually it's possible they DID exist. The show RWBY tends to follow, well...RWBY, so it makes sense there are other huntsmen at this academy I don't know.

"Psst, Jaune." I lightly elbowed the teammate next to me to get his attention.

Jaune was happily grinning. "You excited to see Weiss fight too Aero?"

"Yeah yeah, whatever." I pointed to one of the shadow people. "The person over there, what do you see?"

Jaune looked at the person I was pointing to and then back at me. "That's just a girl." he said with a shrug.

"Describe her."

Jaune gave me an odd expression before glancing back at the girl to memorize her features. "She has sandy brown hair reaching just a little below her chin. Her eyes are a dark orange-red." he leaned against his hand. "Why'd you want me to describe her?"

I ignored Jaune's question, glancing at the one he was looking at. 'No matter how I look at it, all I can see is some weird black human-looking shadow...'

Soon after, Weiss came back no longer in her school uniform, but a frilly bluish-white 'battleskirt' as she would put it, and matching platform boots. She stood at the ready, her weapon held forward with a single hand, her expression cold and focused. Growls continued to come from the large metal container as it shook.

"Gooooo Weiss!" Yang cheered, her teammates following suit.

"Fight well!"

"Yeah! Show that thing not to mess with Team RWBY!" Ruby yelled, cupping her hands to her mouth like a megaphone.

Weiss glanced over with an annoyed expression at Ruby. "Be quiet Ruby! I'm concentrating!"

Ruby seemed to wither slightly. "Sorry."

Port raised his rifle/ax over his head. "And let the match...begin!" he announced, slicing the lock on the cage revealing a boar-like grimm. The Boarbatusk roared before barreling out of the crate at Weiss.

Weiss let out a snort, pushing with one of her legs, spinning herself to the side, and slashing at the grimm as it ran past her. Unfortunately, the weapon didn't seem to be able to do much as the grimm didn't even flinch. Circling back around, the boarbatusk stopped in front of Weiss readying for another charge.

"Haha." Port laughed merrily, still idly standing by the cage. "You must expect the unexpected!"

Ignoring Port, Weiss shot forward towards the charging grimm with a lunge, she almost seemed to be gliding with the way she moved.

"You got this Weiss!" Ruby shouted.

Weiss turned her head to say something, when the boarbatusk tossed its head, the tusks in front of it parrying Weiss's rapier and flinging the weapon out of the distracted girl's grasp. Weiss gasped in surprise and turned back to the grimm as it flailed its head once more, smacking the heiress back and causing her to slam into the desk in front of Ruby. Weiss's hairband seemed to have become undone and her hair splayed out in front of her face. Briefly pushing one of her locks aside, Weiss spotted the grimm charging at her and managed to roll to the side to avoid the attack as the boar grimm smacked into the desk and briefly lost balance. Taking this opportunity, Weiss ran out and retrieved her fallen weapon just as the boarbatusk recovered and turned its attention towards her.

"Weiss!" Ruby called. "Go for it's-"

I've seen Weiss mad before, but never like this. I can't think of a word fitting enough to describe just how furious she looked, as Ruby once more shouted advice to someone who obviously did not want it. Enraged, wrathful, livid, apoplectic, none of these words seemed to be able to do Weiss justice. With her face slightly pink, and her hair wild, you could no longer see the calm, proper princess from before.

"ENOUGH!" Weiss almost screamed, stabbing Myrtenaster into the ground. A wave of icicles roared towards the boarbatusk, skewering its unprotected belly and causing it to let out a pitiful squeal. She stood up and turned around, no longer bothering with the dead grimm and leaving the classroom. With a small swish of her weapon, the icicles immediately shattered and disappeared.

"Oho! Now there's a huntress who knows how to take charge!" Port said proudly as Weiss stormed out.

Jaune looked at the retreating Weiss with a confused expression. "What's the deal with her?"

"Good question." I know this is where Weiss was supposed to be mad, but I don't remember her having this much venom.

"Alright then!" Port said, oblivious to the situation. "Be sure to study well, and I will see you next time."

"Weiss! Wait!" Ruby scrambled out of her chair and bolted after her. Hmm, maybe I'd better go too...

"Guys, I'm gonna take care of something for a second."

"Aero wait." Nora called enthusiastically. What team stuff are we gonna do for today?"

"This'll just take a sec, go ahead and meet me just outside the forested area and bring your weapons. I'll catch up." I said running down the hall to catch up with the upset Schnee.

"Hey! Hey princess, you alright?"

Weiss whirled around. "Ruby thought I told you to go awa-oh...it's you." she muttered.

"Heh, nice to see you too. You doing alright?"

Crossing her arms with a 'Hmph' Weiss gave me a bemused expression. "You're supposed to be psychic, you tell me."

"Okay, then no. You're not alright."

"How very perceptive you are..."

"I'm trying to help. You're mad because Ruby was picked to be the leader right?"

Weiss's eyes immediately widened, a little surprised I hit the nail on the head. As if throwing gasoline onto a dying fire, she immediately flared up.

"And why shouldn't I be?! How could Ozpin put her in charge? Ruby is the exact opposite of a leader! She's reckless, she's childish, she's impatient, she's a klutz, and she COMPLETELY unprofessional!"

"What, so you should have been put in charge?"

"Of course I should have!"

"Sure, because right now you're acting like the pinnacle of maturity, huh?"

The white-haired princess looked like she was about to say something, but she couldn't seem to think of a retort. She stood there silent for a moment before shaking her head. "It doesn't matter. Ruby's little stunts back there very nearly got us all killed in the Emerald Forest."

Ah, I think I understand now. In the exam, Ruby was with Yang this time instead of Weiss. Ruby and Weiss didn't get a chance to talk and get used to each other after the two bad first impressions they had. Not to mention that means Weiss hung around Blake during the exam. BLAKE. Ms. Calm, quiet and efficient. Of course Ruby would look far less competent when comparing the two of them. I can see why she'd be upset.

Weiss tapped her foot while wearing a thoughtful expression. "You wanted to help right?"

"Yes..." Why did she suddenly change her mind? I don't like this...

"Tell me a way to have Ruby removed as the team leader."

"W-wait, hold o-"

"You know how to fix this." Weiss interrupted, putting her hands on her hips, slightly leaning forward and facing me with an impatient look. "So do your psychic stuff and tell me how!"

'Crap, she doesn't look she's gonna take no for an answer. I gotta distract her.'

"So..." I said, putting my hands in my pockets and putting on a smile. "Are you SURE you want to know about the future?"

Weiss's expression faltered for a moment. "Why wouldn't I want to know?"

"Oh...no reason." I replied casually shrugging. "It's just that, well, I'm not sure you'd like what you find out and...oh dear, I've said too much."

"H-hold on!" Weiss looked visibly shaken. "Why wouldn't I like what's in my future? Tell me!"

'Hook, line, and sinker...'

"Well..." I said slowly, watching as Weiss hung on my every syllable. "You...end up getting married to Jaune."

The color drained from Weiss's already pale face and her pupils shrunk. She dropped to her knees and raised two fists into the air. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" A mournful cry echoed out through the empty halls. Weiss slumped forward with her head lowered in defeat. Silence overtook the two of us until...

"Ha...ha ha."

"Huh?" she looked up as I snickered, futilely trying to hold off the flood of laughter.

"Aha ha ha ha ha ha!" The dam eventually burst and I laughed and snorted, still holding my sides. The confusion on Weiss's face becoming ever more apparent.

"W-why are you laughing!?"

"Ha ha...I was just messing with you. You don't end up marrying Jaune." I said wiping away a tear.

"You..." Weiss rose to her feet, storming up to me and pounding on my chest.

"Ow! Hey! Quit it!"

"YOU! ARE! THE! WORST!" she growled, battering me harder with each word.

"O-okay! I get it! I give up!"

Thankfully, Weiss eventually ended her assault, panting as she stood there still glaring at me. Good grief. I know I planned for her to get upset, but I'm still surprised...

"Feel a little better after venting all that anger of yours?"

"What are you tal-" Weiss stopped as she realized what she had just done and how completely undignified she was as she pummeled me. She gripped the hem of her battle skirt, shame appearing on her face. "I-I can't believe I just did that..."

"I know right? This whole Ruby thing must've really been bothering you."

A look of realization hit her. "You WANTED me to vent my anger?"

"Guilty as charged. You feeling any better?" Weiss bit her lip and looked down, this time embarrassed. 'Heh heh, she's feeling better but she's too prideful to want to admit it.' "Well." she snapped out of her embarrassment as I spoke up. "If you want some advice, I think you should go talk to professor Port."

"Professor Port?"

"Yeah. Tell him how you feel about Ruby being the team leader, and how you think it should have gone. That'll solve the real problem."

Weiss stopped for a while taking a moment to study me, her sapphire-colored eyes passing up and down over me as if looking for something. She cocked an eyebrow before letting out a sigh. "You're not just messing with me again are you?"

"Weiss! Why I am hurt you would even suggest such a thing." I chuckled a moment, deciding to stop since Weiss glared at me once more. "But no, I'm not messing with you, promise."

Weiss took a deep breath to compose herself, taking her long silver hair into her hands, she tied it, returning it to her signature ponytail. "Fine, I'll go talk to him." she turned around jabbing a finger in my direction. "And you...you better not tell anyone about my little outburst just now."

"Don't worry princess, your secret's safe with me."

"Alright everyone." The other three members of Team ARJN straightened up and turned towards me. "Sorry I kept you waiting, I needed to make some minor preparations before we got started."

"I'm so excited!" Nora said, lightly shaking and letting out a girlish hum. "Our first little activity as an official team! I gotta take a photo! If only I had a camera..." She pondered for a brief moment before her face lit up again. "I know! I'll take a mental photo." She put her hands in front of her face imitating a camera, squinted her right eye and looked at Ren. "Click." she giggled, winking her left eye.

"So what are we doing way out here by the forest?" Jaune asked.

"Click." Nora said winking at Jaune.

"This is what we're doing." I held out four small sticks clenched in my hand."

"Click. Click." this time she winked at my closed fist and then a close up of my face.

"Twigs?"

"For now, I'd ask that everyone take one of the sticks in my hand."

Without a word, the three of them took their own sticks, leaving one behind for me.

"Hey, mine's blue! So is yours Aero."

"Me and Ren got red." Nora announced, holding her twig up high.

"I colored the bottoms of the sticks. When you've got your color, then you go with the other person who matches you. That means you're paired with Ren first."

Ren made a pondering expression. "So this is a team exercise."

"Yep. In this little exercise, we're going to be fighting each other."

"Fighting each other?!"

"YES!" Nora happily pumped her fist.

"Let me explain. To work as a team, we need to know everyone's strengths and weaknesses. And what better way to do this than real combat? Finding out a weakness in your enemy will allow you to exploit it. However, finding the weaknesses of your allies will better allow you to cover for their shortcomings later. For now, we'll just have one battle with the people we drew the same color as."

To be honest, I'm the one who needs this exercise the most. I'm not a stranger to combat, but I'm pretty sure most students here far outclass me.

"That...actually makes sense..." Jaune said mulling it over. "Aside from giving us more experience working with each other. This will also come in handy practicing to find weak points in our enemies too. It's like killing three birds with one stone."

Hmm, not bad Jaune I'm starting to see why you were a team leader in the previous timeline. "Alright! Pair up with your partner and get started."

As the four of us trudged off in different directions, I couldn't help but feel nervous, remembering my last fight and the feeling of danger. I took a deep breath, calming myself down. 'It's cool man, you got this. Unlike last time, if this battle gets out of hand then you can stop it at any time.'

"READY!"

Ren and Jaune tensed, the two of them waiting for the signal. Similarly, Nora seemed like she could barely hold herself back out of excitement.

"GO!"

The moment those words came out of my mouth, there was an explosion to the right of me.

"WOO HOO!"

Nora immediately rocketed forward towards Ren, propelled by the explosion of her weapon.

'Well...at least she's eager.'

Pushing off of the ground, I bolted towards Jaune, lashing out with my spear in a left sweep. He raised his sword, awkwardly stopping the weapon and throwing him off balance. I tried to follow up by jabbing at him, but Jaune immediately hunkered down with his shield and then immediately went on the offensive.

Seeing the blade coming too quickly to block in time, I gave up on the idea of defending and jumped back for all I was worth to weaken the blow.

"GUHA!"

The sword still slashed my stomach, nearly knocking the wind out of me and adding an extra oomph to my jump. Landing on my back, I used the momentum to flip back onto my feet and checked for any injuries.

'Wow.' But...there wasn't any. My shirt wasn't cut, there wasn't any blood, hell, it didn't even hurt anymore. 'This aura is gonna take some getting used to, I wonder if I could-'

"HAAAAA!"

'Oh. Right. Fighting...'

Holding the spear horizontally, I caught Jaune's attack as it fell like a hammering blow. The two of us struggled with our weapons locked, both of us looking to gain an edge. Taking a step and shoving my weapon forward, Jaune's sword arm was sent back leaving a small gap. I lashed out with my foot, planting it on his chest and sending him sprawling back.

'Now!'

Capitalizing on the moment, I brought down my weapon onto my fallen opponent slashing his shoulder in a clean strike. But once more, Jaune raised his stark white shield, deflecting my second attack into the ground, and getting rid of my opportunity.

"Gotcha!"

He quickly scrambled to his feet, closing the distance between us. I pulled my spear from the ground and swung at him, but Jaune didn't even bother to stop it. Instead, he moved forward even faster. Jaune smirked as he passed by my spear's blade radius, the pole part of the spear smacking his chestplate but not doing a lot of damage.

"Spears aren't so good at close range Aero!"

"You cocky little- URGH!"

Jaune's running charge mercilessly slammed his sword into my chest and staggering me. Another swipe cut down my shoulder sending an additional wave of pain through me. Right now my spear wasn't much use to me at this range.

'Dang it, I need to get some distance, my entire body is shielded with aura right? Let's try this!'

Continuing his attack, Jaune's sword flashed towards me. Shifting to a one-handed grip on my spear, I reached out with my arm and smacked his weapon, parrying it to the side.

"You-wha...with your hand?!" The surprise and confusion on Jaune's face was absolutely priceless. I wish I could've enjoyed it a bit longer but...

'SWEET MOTHER OF GOD!'

My arm felt like it was just about ready to fall off. As if it were cut open by the dullest possible butter knife that'd been left out for years to rust. Immediately jumping back while Jaune was still surprised, I surveyed the damage. On my left forearm, there was a long red cut running down its length. Despite its size, the cut wasn't actually that deep. While the skin was broken but barely so.

'Son of a motherfu-'

Thankfully, the pain disappeared as quickly as it came, leaving a slight stinging sensation. But suffice it to say, it still hurt like hell. Aura is durable, but not invincible it seems. I'll have to remember this the next time I think about swinging my arm at a blade.

"HAAAH!"

I looked up in surprise as Jaune's battle-cry shook me out of my thoughts.

Thrusting my weapon forward, I narrowly missed my opponent as Jaune panicked, raising that annoying shield of his and stopping his advance. 'Okay, I need to keep my distance. Since I'm not very experienced, my range is the only thing I've got going for me. Hate to admit it, but Jaune's more skilled than me. It's going to take more than this to win the match.'

The two of us stared each other down, neither one of us wanting to make the first move. Jaune cautiously took a step forward, prompting me to immediately take a step back.

All of the sudden, I sprang forward, just barely entering the range of my weapon. Taking a deep breath and holding it, firmly planting my feet. Jaune moved to take a step forward but...

'Oh no you don't!'

**CHING!**

I drove the spear forward, meeting his shield and forcing him back. Taking a step to the side, Jaune opted to press forward again, but was met with a series of stabs from my spear. My plan, if it could even be called that, was simple. Attack him from a distance where he couldn't reach me and don't let him get close.

I lashed out with as many thrusts as I could to keep him back. Unable to retaliate, Jaune was forced entirely on the defensive, only able to slowly make his way forward. One of the thrusts stabbed into his exposed thigh, slowing him down. However, he kept moving. All manner of sounds and sparks coming from his shield but still he advanced.

"HI-YAH!"

'Shit!' Jaune finally stopped one of my thrusts with a side sweep of his blade after getting in range. The weapon sailed out of my grip and lodged itself into the ground. The very next moment, I found a sword pointed at my face.

"Alright, alright..." I muttered, irritably raising both of my hands. "I give."

"Phew." Jaune made a relieved expression and sheathed his sword before wiping his face. "You really made me work for that win huh Aero?" He smiled and held out his hand. "Good battle."

For a moment, I just stared at the outstretched glove. 'I really don't want to shake his hand but...' Jaune raised one of his brows in confusion, still waiting with his arm out. I sighed, taking his hand and giving it a shake. "Yeah, it was." 'Like it or not, he's my teammate. I suppose I should at least try to be a LITTLE polite even if I don't like losing.'

"Oh look." Jaune said pointing to the right. "Ren and Nora are done too."

A fair distance away, we could see Nora helping Ren up. He was a bit shaky for a moment before dusting himself off. 'Yikes, guess I'm lucky Jaune was my opponent instead of Nora, she would have crushed me.' Come to think of it, Ren would probably beat me pretty easily too huh?'

My eyes shifted to Jaune. 'Maybe having Jaune on my team is actually a blessing in disguise.'

Right now I desperately need to get better. The best kind of opponents to improve from are ones that are around your skill level. While Jaune is better than me, he's not HUGELY better than me like most of the other students.

"Alright!" Nora gave Ren a rough slap on the back that made him stumble forward. "Good job!" The two of them made their way over to us. "On our very first day we got to meet our new teammates AND fight them. Talk about a meet and beat!"

"Okay everyone," I began "Good job. We're gonna be doing this again tomorrow, but we'll be switching up partners each time."

"How often are we gonna do this?"

"Hmm, about once a day. In addition Jaune, you and I are going to be fighting THREE times a day."

"What?! Me? Why just me!?"

"Because..." I paused for a moment. 'Because I'm too weak to improve against anyone else right now.' No way I'm saying that... "Because. That's why."

Jaune groaned and hung his head. "Guess I've really got a long road ahead, huh?"

After that exercise, I and the rest of team ARJN went to our room to go work on our homework. It's here where I ran into yet ANOTHER problem.

'The battle of Briggsford? What the hell's that?'

Past wars, current technology, the development and uses of dust, the beginning of artificial intelligence. I was seriously lacking in knowledge from Remnant's past, or even knowledge on it's present. Forget studying, I couldn't even understand half of what I was being taught.

"Well that's just great, not only am I the weakest student at Beacon, but I'm also the dumbest..."

"Oh come on Aero, you're exaggerating." Nora laughed, making a flippant gesture with her hand. "What'd you get on the mock test we made?"

I grimly held up my paper, causing Jaune to wince and Nora to burst out laughing.

"Thirteen percent?! Hah! That's pretty low huh?"

"Nora you're not helping."

"Oh lighten up! I got 44%!" Nora slung an arm around me and pulled me close to her.

"We're failure friends!"

"Please stop..."

"I mean...I don't think I should be saying this Aero, but..." Jaune paused for a moment. "Couldn't you just use your psychic stuff to figure out the answers? Then none of us would need to study right?"

Nora let out a loud gasp, shaking me back and forth.

"Can you?! Can you do it?!"

"Stop-st-stop sh-shaking m-me!"

"Oh, sorry."

"Anyway no, I'm psychic, not omniscient. I don't know everything."

"Even if you somehow did, you still shouldn't cheat." I felt a hand from behind on my shoulder. Looking behind me, I saw Ren wearing a serious expression. "Even if you were given the answers on a test, that would only help you on that specific question. If you're going to memorize the answers, you might as well memorize your lesson instead."

"Ugh...fiiiiiiiiiiine." Nora grumbled. "Hmm? Hey Aero, where are you going?"

"I'm just gonna go on a walk for a bit..."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah...I just need to clear my head. Ren, you're in charge, work 'em to the bone."

"W-wait!" Nora cried, starting to look nervous all of the sudden. "Ren takes things literally! You have to-"

"By your orders then." Ren said, a faint smile touching his lips.

"Bye Nora." I interrupted, closing the door.

"Phew."

'All that studying was giving me a headache. Looks like catching up on present knowledge is one more chore added to the big list of things I need to do to save Vale.' I casually strolled through the big grassy field around Beacon, feeling a cool breeze, and dead leaves crunching under my feet. Lazily kicking a pinecone between two adjacent trees.

"GOAL! Heh heh."

It'll be fall kinda soon huh? I don't have a lot of time to work with, do I? How exactly AM I going to save Vale anyway? I suppose I could just tell Ozpin but...actually, that might work! If I just tell Ozpin about the attack on Vale, then I can get HIM to deal with it. I mean sure he'll be reluctant to believe me, but I could just tell him that I know he's a body snatcher. That ought to get his attention.

"It's perfect! Ozpin will prevent the attack from happening in the first place, and Salem will..."

Shit. Salem won't be any worse off will she? She'd still be out there, with her forces completely unharmed. She'll just hide in the shadows till she makes a new plan and strikes again. And the second time Salem makes her move, I won't know what it is since I changed the timeline and she'd do things differently...

"I can't tell Ozpin..." In order to get the best possible outcome, Salem's forces need to be beaten during the attack so she can suffer losses. I could tell Ironwood to set a trap but...no...he'd definitely tell Ozpin, and then they'd have an argument and-

"Aero?"

"Hmm?"

I looked up and saw a familiar red-haired student approaching. Pyrrha waved before matching my pace and walking alongside me.

"No team ARJN with you right now?"

"Nah, just going on a walk at the moment. I'd often go on trips like these to take the edge off and relax."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I interrupting you during your stress relief?"

"No it's fine, I could use the distraction. Wanna tag along?"

"That sounds nice." Pyrrha said giving a small smile. "Might be just what the doctor ordered. How are things with your team?"

"Things are going well enough..." My right hand moved and lightly stroked the injury on my left forearm. "Maybe a little shaky, but...progress nonetheless." My actions did not go unnoticed by Pyrrha. She cast a worried glance at my arm and then back at me.

"Where did you get that?"

"What, this? Nah it's just a scratch. I just got a little careless during a practice session." She still looked a little concerned so, I opted to change the topic. "So. How are things with your team?"

Pyrrha blinked in surprise "Things are...going...well." she said, her eyes suddenly avoiding mine. "About as well as I should have expected anyway..."

"About as well as you should have expected? What's that mean?"

"It's nothing...I didn't mean anything by it."

"Now hold on." I know how soft-spoken Pyrrha tends to be about these sorts of things. If something is bothering her she'll usually keep it to herself and pretend everything is fine. "It doesn't sound like nothing. Come on Pyrrha, you can tell me."

Pyrrha paused for a moment, her emerald eyes wandering around, before she closed them and let out another sigh. "Very well. Truth be told, I am worried me and my teammates do not see eye to eye on some matters."

"Matters like what?"

"Matters like, working together, who should be in charge, or even just acknowledging me."

"That bad?"

"I'm afraid so."

I grimaced before taking a deep breath and sitting down under the shade of a tree. "Well...we're not going anywhere, why not start at the beginning?"

"I suppose..." Pyrrha sat down a comfortable distance away from me, carefully adjusting her sash. "It all started soon after entering the Emerald Forest.

.
.

Pyrrha fell from the sky, her sash dancing behind her like the tail of a comet. She ignored the roaring winds, focusing her attention on an up and coming tree. Readying her shield, she took the brunt of the impact on a large branch, smashing through it and several others before rolling to control her remaining momentum. She immediately snapped to her feet, her spear turning into a rifle to scope out her location.