Knight of Remnant

The following morning came sooner than I expected. Of course, I had a habit of waking early, but the large windows of the ballroom served as a natural alarm clock; it was difficult to stay asleep when you have bright sunlight shining upon your face.

"Well, lets hope I can survive initiation," I mumbled, while stretch my arms. I then idly glanced to my side and found the most adorable sight I've ever seen. And I've seen my fair share. Ruby had somehow managed to liberate herself from her sleeping bag and crawl into Yang's. The end result was Ruby being cuddled by Yang, the latter of which positing herself in a protective cocoon.

Not having the heart to wake them, I instead opted to head towards the bathroom and freshen up. Hopefully, I might be able to catch the rest of JNPR, and Blake too. At least, I ought to make a somewhat decent first impression. Hopefully, whatever mystical powers the Elder Brother possessed would ensure that RWBY and JNPR would form as it did in canon. Which required me to impress Pyrrha with my general apathy towards fame. Not that it would prove difficult. The redhead was both likable and had a distinct aversion of her fame, which I found admirable.

Upon reaching the lunch hall, where breakfast was provided, I managed to spot Nora and Ren in the middle of eating pancakes. Deciding that it was as good an opportunity as any, I collected my own food, and made my way over to join then.

"This spot empty?" I asked, gesturing towards the open seat across the pair.

"Not at all. Please," Ren invited. Smiling gratefully, I sat down and cut myself a piece of watermelon.

"I'm Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you both," I introduced, offering a polite nod. I then took a bite of the watermelon. 'Hm, this is sweeter than I'm used too.'

"Lie Ren," the stoic teen replied. "Please call me Ren. This is my friend Nora Valkyie."

"Just friends, by the way! We've been friends for soooo long, it's actually surprising we're still together. Well...Not together together, y'know?," the orange-haired girl chimed. "Not that Ren isn't handsome, he is handsome, but that'd just be weird," she added, backtracking a little.

"Nice lung capacity," I joked, leaning back slightly. 'Cripes she didn't even pause to breathe in all that.'

"Thanks!" Nora chirped, nonplussed at my unease. "I practice a lot."

Deciding that heading down that line of thought would be fraught with madness, I opted to change the subject.

"So, I'm guessing you both will want to stay on the same team?" I hedged, trying to make conversation. I mean, I knew the truth, but if I didn't want to get caught out by referring to knowledge I shouldn't have known, then I had to ensure that it was told to me by the relevant people.

"It would expedite team cohesiveness," Ren responded. "Nora and I will not be unwelcoming to two new students upon forming a team. We would just prefer to stay together when meeting our future teammates."

I hummed thoughtfully before replying. "Makes sense. After all, we'll be rooming with our future teammates for the next three years. You'd want to at least be with people you're comfortable with," I said.

Ren nodded as Nora suddenly spoke. "Oh, oh! Ren, I've got an amazing idea for making sure we can find each other!" she burst out. "We can use a sloth's call!"

I blinked in surprise as Ren sighed in fond exasperation.

"Um...Nora?" I gently began. "Sloths are too lazy to generally make a noise. Maybe you want a bird's call instead?"

"But that's booooring," Nora complained, pouting ever so slightly.

Hm, I better think out of the box here. "Well, because it's so boring, no one will think to do it. So by doing a bird call, you're being unique," I offered. Hopefully the reverse psychology would pay off here, because Ren looked just about done, even if he indulged Nora more than most.

Said girl frowned in thought, evidently contemplating my suggestion. After a moment, she bobbed her head in agreement. "Jaune-Jaune's right! We should totally use a bird call!"

"Yes, Nora."

"Oh! Oh! And the cry can be 'Ka-Kaaaa, Ka-Kaaaaaaa'!" she continued, not even hearing Ren's acknowledgement.

"Yes, Nora."

"Good," Nora nodded, looking incredibly pleased with herself.

"Well...It's been a pleasure to meet you guys," I chuckled, clearing up my tray. "I'll see you at Initiation? I'm heading to the lockers after I go find some friends of mine."

"Sure thing! See ya later, Jaune-Jaune," Nora said, waving almost obnoxiously but grinning all the while.

Ren merely inclined his head, which for him was pretty expressive. Sidestepping Winchester, who was hardly paying attention to where he was going, I made my way over to where the locker rooms were.

"Seriously! What kind of ass decides to put numbers on lockers and not put them in numerical order!" I complained, aimlessly attempting to find where Crocea Mors was stored. "I mean, it's like they want us to use the rocket function every time..."

I wasn't even speaking in hyperbole. The place was organised in a mess. Sure, groups of fifty were organised together, but that's as far as it went. Where lockers 1-49 would be in one area, the adjacent area would be 550-599. It was maddening. So much so that in my rush to find my weapons I ended up colliding hard with someone and landed squarely on my arse.

'Please don't be Cardin,' I inwardly pleaded. The last thing I wanted was to earn his ire.

"Are you okay?" a soft, female voice asked.

Looking up, I found myself meeting a distinct set of yellow eyes. Eyes belonging to Blake Belladona. She had a look of slight irritation at being bumped into, but thankfully didn't seem to want to yell at me. Unlike what would have happened if I had bumped into Weiss.

"Yeah, I'm good," I replied, getting up and patting the dust off of myself. "Sorry about that, searching for my locker is proving...troublesome."

"Your locker should be tied to your Scroll," the faunus hiding in plain sight told me. "There is an app that will lead you to yours."

Huh. I'm guessing a Scroll number would have been on the application form for Beacon. Which woul explain why I didn't immediately know the particulars of what Jaune filled in. His memories were still a bit garbled in my mind. Which raised the issue of how memories were stored in the brain. But I was digressing.

"Thanks," I said, offering a hand. "I'm Jaune."

"Blake," she replied, shaking my hand.

With that, I had met the entire Team RWBY. All that was left was to meet Pyrrha and hope the Elder God is willing to keep her my partner. She had yet to enter the locker rooms, so I was left with Blake was a little while longer. Fortunately, Ruby and Yang had entered, and I had an opportunity to try and make their bond a bit stronger much earlier. Hopefully I could prevent Blake from running away when she inevitably outs herself as a faunus.

"Hey! Ruby, Yang! Over here!" I beckoned. Upon hearing my voice, both sisters turned towards where I was stood and came over. "Good morning."

"Mornin' Jauney," Yang said, grinning. "Did we scare you off?"

I snorted, "Hardly. Just didn't have the heart to break the cute scene. Pity I didn't take a picture..."

"If you had, I'd have had to kill ya. Anyway, who's this?" Yang gestured to the thus far silent Blake.

"Oh, this is Blake. Blake these are Yang and her sister Ruby," I introduced. Suddenly inspired, I grasped the blonde by the elbow, and led her away. "Actually, Yang I need your help with something. We'll be right back, you two," I added to the R and B of RWBY.

Without waiting for them to respond, I swiftly led Yang towards a section of the locker rooms I hadn't searched yet.

"What was that all about?" Yang asked. Or more like demanded, judging by the expression on her face.

"Hey, you wanted Ruby to make more friends!" I said, holding my hands up in surrender. Ruby and Blake both needed friends. And I was nothing if not a proponent for Ladybug. But I wasn't going to tell Yang that. I valued my life.

"Oh...Right. I guess that's cool," Yang admitted. "But why're we here?"

"My locker's here," I told her, before getting Crocea Mors and belting it. "C'mon, let's go see if anyone else is around?"

"Sure," Yang shrugged, have already put Ember Celica in its inactive form on.

The pair of us then walked towards where the exist was. The lockers were mostly empty, as it wasn't long before Initiation began. However, we did come across a rather amusing sight.

"So, Pyrrha. Have you given any thought about who you want to be on your team?" Weiss asked, trying not to sound interested. "I'm sure everyone must be eager to partner with such a strong, well known person such as yourself."

I really couldn't help it. My inner troll was rearing its head, and I hoped Yang would play along.

"Now observe the proud yet haughty Weiss Schnee attempt to integrate itself with the valourous Pyrrha Nikos," I narrated, affecting my best David Attenborough impression. "The subtle compliments seem to be the main technique of choice."

"However, Pyrrha appears to not be receptive to the advances from Weiss, but the former appears unsure as to how to delicately led down the latter," Yang immediately followed up.

I barely managed to suppress a snort. This woman was after my own heart! Unfortunately, our fun was at and end as both Pyrrha and Weiss overheard us.

"You again!" Weiss yelled, pointing at me. "Are you stalking me?"

"Pfft, get over yourself Snowflake," I replied. "You don't mean that much to me."

"Tch...And where is that clumsy friend of yours," Weiss snootily demanded. "I need to be able to avoid her."

"You won't have to worry about that," I dryly responded. "I think you've scarred her for life."

"...Well good," the heiress huffed.

"Who's this?" Yang asked, a little put out. I wasn't really sure why.

"Ah...This is Weiss Schnee, the crabby girl Ruby bumped into after you ditched her," I told her. "Snowflake this is...the sister of 'dolt'."

Yang's eyes narrowed. "'Dolt'?" she repeated, in a dangerous tone. "Excuse me?"

'Yeah, I don't think I'll touch that argument,' I mused. Instead, I opted to introduce myself to Pyrrha. "Hi there! I'm Jaune Arc!" I said, grinning.

"Um, hi? Nice to you meet you," Pyrrha replied, sounding a little unsure. Probably because I didn't seem starstruck. "You already know who I am, I guess."

I paused in slight bemusement. It wasn't quite arrogance, but rather resignation. "Well yeah. You're the girl on the cereal boxes," I said, deciding to throw a curve ball. "It's still good manners to introduce yourself."

"Oh, of course! How rude of me," the redhead said, blushing slightly. "Pyrrha Nikos, a pleasure to make your acquaintance. But...Do you really only know me from the cereal boxes?"

"Well...Yeah, I do know about the tournament wins and stuff," I admitted, shrugging slightly. "I just figured you'd be uncomfortable if I brought it up. Like before."

"Oh...You saw that..." Pyrrha tailed off.

"Yeah...I'll try not to be annoying," I offered.

"You're not!" she blurted, before blushing so hard that her face matched the colour of her hair.

Crap, I think I might of just caused Pyrrha to have a crush on me. Not that it was bad in itself as I was attracted to redheads. But compared to Yang, Pyrrha didn't really match up. In my mind, anyway.

'Oh well. I guess I'll just have to play it by the ear,' I thought. Before I could really respond. Goodwitch's voice came from the public announcement system.

"Would all first year students please make their way to Beacon Cliffs for Initiation," the Deputy Headmistress said, "Again, will all first year students make their way to Beacon Cliffs, immediately."

"That's our cue," I said.

"Alright, that's it! You're dead!" Yang yelled from across the way.

"And that's my cue to prevent my friend from committing murder," I sighed.

"It was nice meeting you!" Pyrrha said, as I strode over to where Yang and Weiss were nearly coming to blows.

"Likewise!" I called out, over my shoulder. Upon reaching Yang, I once more grabbed her by the shoulder, preventing her from potentially harming Weiss.

As we all stood facing Ozpin and Goodwitch by the cliffs overlooking Emerald Forest, I studiously avoided Yang's red-eyed glare. She hadn't appreciated my efforts to spare Weiss, though I had a feeling it wasn't all that serious. Or at least, I hope it wasn't. My guess was based entirely around the fact that she didn't punch me when she could have. Before I could really go into whether or not Yang would actively seek retribution, Remnant's Wonderful Wizard of Oz started to address us all.

"For years, you have all trained to become warriors," Ozpin began, holding his ever present cup of coffee all the while. "Today, you're abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

"Now I'm sure all of you have heard rumours of the assigning of teams," Goodwitch took over. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today."

Next to me, I heard Ruby groan. Not that I didn't really blame her. Unlike the show, I didn't have plot armour...Or maybe I did, if this is all just another of my alternate self's fanfictions. I should probably put an end to that line of thought. Quantum physics give me a headache. Anyway, without that plot armour, I had doubts that RWBY and JNPR would form as they should. I could only hope for the best.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time as students of Beacon," Ozpin continued. "So it is well within your own interests to find a partner whom you would work well with.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with, after landing, is to become your partner for the next four years," the Immortal Headmaster added.

I could have been wrong, but it looked as if Ruby's mind had just broke. The vacant stare she wore didn't really help to change my opinion.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the temple in the northern end of the forest, where you shall collect a relic between the two of you," Ozpin went on. "There will be opposition, so do not hesitate to destroy whatever ends up in your path. Or you will die."

Inwardly, I had to sigh. While I understood that to become a huntsman was trial by fire, the air of nonchalance that Ozpin affect was extremely grating. And though I knew that he genuinely cared for the lives of his students, it was difficult to accept that in face of his aloofness.

"You will be monitored, and your progress graded for the duration of your Initiation. But you will receive no assistance from the instructors" the wizard warned, pausing to sip from his mug. "Once you have obtained your relic, you and your partner will return to the cliffs where you shall receive your grade. Now, are there any questions?"

There were none. Instead, my fellow students and I were simply stewing in apprehension. The landing strategy worried me, or rather my lack of one. Yang had her gauntlets, Ruby and Weiss their respective Semblances, and Blake was a ninja-cat. And for the life of me, I couldn't remember what Ren did. I could only really hope that I had left enough of an impression of Pyrrha to bail my arse.

"None? Good, now take your positions," Ozpin ordered, to which we all complied.

'Oh, this is not a good day,' I grumbled. I was tense. I had already taken Crocea Mors out, though I really had no clue what I was going to do with it. It was fast approaching my turn, and every fibre of my being was being focused on stopping myself from running away. Yang went. Then Ruby. And finally...

"I REGRET EVERYTHIIIIING!" I yelled, upon being catapulted into the air.

I barely had any chance to register Weiss use her Glyphs, Ruby gain leverage with Crescent Rose, and Yang soar in the air with Ember Celica. Without so much as a warning, my hood was snagged, and my trajectory changed. Before long, my back smacked against the trunk of a tree, as I hung from Pyrrha's rocket-spear-rifle-thing. I never could pronounce the name. It seemed that I had Fate to thank for my landing strategy. Or maybe Other Me, who knew?

It must have been a several minutes before the Invincible Girl came to reclaim her spear. Strangely, Weiss didn't show up to ignore me. Which may have consequences, particularly if she met Pyrrha first. Fortunately, I worried for nought, as the beautiful redhead made her appearance.

"Nice aim," I deadpanned, smiling a little to take the sting from my words.

"Thanks, and um...Sorry?" Pyrrha had a look that mixed shyness and apologetic in one. Not I blamed her. Her interpersonal skills need a bit of work.

"Why are you apologising?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Far as I see it, you saved me a fair bit of pain from the landing. All I really lost was a bit of pride. But...Could you let me down?"

"Oh! Sorry!" Pyrrha once again apologised as she jumped up to remove her weapon.

'Not using her Semblance?' I noted, filing that piece of information for later.

"So...Partners?" I prompted, holding out a hand.

"Partners!" the redhead agreed, offering her own. We shook before I realised something. I had no clue which way was north, and the Scrolls didn't have a compass app. Weird. Or maybe they did, and Beacon sent some wide-area signal to deactivate that particular function. Who knew?

"So, which way?" I asked, patting the dust from my trousers.

"This way," Pyrrha pointed. While she tried to hide it, I did manage to catch sight of a slight glow around her hand.

'Ah. Her Semblance,' I realised. It was basically an innate compass, if I thought about it. 'I wonder if she's capable of the crap Magneto could pull? Talk about OP?'

As we headed in the direction that Pyrrha led us, I heard signs of battle throughout the forest.

"Gunfire," the redhead noted, catching my eye. "It would seem some of our comrades have encountered the enemy."

I blinked at the slight formalness of Pyrrha's voice, but decided against commenting on it. There wasn't any need to bring up her lack of social skills. Not that I held that against her. It must have been difficult being placed on a pedestal she had no wish to be on. Not to mention lonely.

"Should we go help?" I asked.

"I don't think that it would be necessary. They should have it well in hand," Pyrrha replied.

I shrugged and continued to follow the redhead deeper into the forest. Eventually, we came across a cave, with some cave paintings next to the entrance. Said painting depicted several men fighting what appeared to be a giant scorpion.

"I think we should avoid this," I suggested. "It doesn't really look like a temple."

"But what if we have to go through the cave to get to the temple?" Pyrrha reasoned. "There's no other way we can go."

"Um..." I didn't really have a reply to that logic. Had I not known the truth, that argument would have been enough to sway me. "I dunno, Pyrrha. That cave painting worries me," I said. "Could that be a type of Grimm?"

Pyrrha took a closer look at the painting and hummed. "It could be," she admitted. "I think it might depict a Death Stalker," she added, to which I sighed quietly in relief. However, her next words soured my nascent good mood. "But why would there be a Death Stalker this close to Beacon?" she asked, rhetorically. "The Emerald Woods are only known for having Beowolves and Ursai. And maybe the occasional King Taijitu. And besides, this cave is too small to fit a Death Stalker."

'Ah crap!' I thought. 'I have no argument to that!'

"Alright then, "I relented. "Lay on."

"What?"

"Lead on!" I hastily corrected. MacBeth wasn't a thing here.

Pyrrha had a slight nonplussed look, but entered the cave nevertheless. I sighed and followed. Hopefully we wouldn't die. Hell, maybe the Death Stalker wasn't home! Using a fallen branch, I had managed to light a fire to make a torch, giving us some light.

"Are you sure this is the way?" I tried again, hoping that Pyrrha would be open to reason.

"This way is north, Jaune," Pyrrha replied, keeping her rifle up. "Unless we circle around, this is the fastest way."

"Alright..."

The further we delved into the cave, the warmer it got. From what I could remember this preluded the moment Jaune had found the glowing stinger. Realising that I was about to experience my first moment of combat, I steeled myself.

"Do you feel that?" Pyrrha asked.

"The warmth?" I asked back.

"Yes...Maybe we're close."

'To near-certain death, perhaps,' I thought, rather morbidly.

As much as I tried to keep composed, I couldn't help but shiver ever so slightly. Where Jaune was brought up in the crapsack world that was Remnant, I came from a relatively more peaceful place. What if I couldn't stop the Death Stalker? What if the rest of JNPR died with me? What if RWBY died because they had to fight both the Death Stalker and the Nevermore? What if without Ruby's silver eyes, Beacon was destroyed by the Grimm Dragon?! What if-

CLINK CLINK CLICK

The sound of a clicking noise distracted me from my internal panic. It was the sort of noise that could only be made by two sharp items contacting each other. Like a pincer. Shakily, I held up the torch to the source of the sound. Only to find myself staring at a white mask...With six red eyes.

I swallowed. "I think we should run," I said, my voice strangely calm.

"Yes," Pyrrha agreed, also speaking in a remarkably serene tone. "That sounds like an excellent idea."

Needing no further encouragement, though the terrifying screech from the Grimm did aid in that, we ran. Upon exiting the cave, I pulled Pyrrha east. At least, where I thought east was. Behind us, the Death Stalker smashed through the rocks and screeched once more, this time even louder.

"Bad day, bad day, bad day, bad day!" I yelled, not even pausing to look back. "This is a very bad day!"

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha apologised.

I prayed to whatever luck deity existed, because it became quite apparent that the Death Stalker was more than capable of keeping up with us. Hell, it even had the distinct advantage of not needing to avoid any obstacles like we did, as it could just bulldoze its way through.

Unfortunately, the deities weren't answering my prayers, as the Death Stalker leapt forward and sent us both flying hard and far. Straight towards the temple. And where Pyrrha landed with the grace of an Amazonian, I, however, ended up straight into a broken pillar.

"Ow..." I groaned, picking myself up from the floor.

"Jaune!" the voice of Ruby cried out. "Are you okay!"

Not really registering why Ruby was here and not where I recalled she was supposed to be, I replied, "Yeah...My pride is just a little bruised."

Taking the hand that Ruby offered, I got up. It was only then that I registered who Ruby was with.

"Blake?" I spluttered. This wasn't supposed to happen. Blake was meant to be Yang's partner. 'Crap, what else has changed?'

The answer soon came in the form of a loud yell from above.

"HEADS UP!" Yang shouted.

Barely registering the warning, I held out my arms and caught her, almost dislocating my arms in the process.

"Nice of you to drop in," I remarked, lopsidedly smirking.

"Oh, shut up," Yang said, rolling her eyes and getting to her feet. "Only I can make puns like that."

"Uh huh? What were you doing up there, anyway?" I asked.

"Oh...Me and Weissicle got tangled with a Nevermore," Yang explained.

'That just raised more questions,' I inwardly deadpanned. Then again, it sort of made sense. Because of my intervention, Ruby and Weiss didn't nearly have as bad a first start as they did in canon. If anything, my actions had made Yang and Weiss have a bad start. And with Blake and Ruby here, it stood to reason that Yang had met Weiss instead. Assuming, of course, that Ren and Nora became partners as in canon.

"Hey! Ruby!" the blonde called out, spotting her

"Yang!" Ruby responded, opening her arms for a hug.

"Nora!"

'What the fuck?!' I jumped in surprise. 'How the hell did she sneak up on us? She's way to loud to go unnoticed?'

My patience had snapped. "Alright! Everyone shut the hell up!" I yelled, much to the surprise of everyone, including Ren who had just arrived. Not that I blamed them. This was pretty uncharacteristic of me. "Ruby and Blake stand over there and take one of the golden knight pieces. Ren and Nora, a golden castle piece, if you please. Pyrrha and I will take the other golden castle. And Yang! Where is your partner? Where? Is? Weiss?"

"Um..." Yang pointed up, and I followed her finger.

'Of course...I don't know why I expected anything else.'

Way up in the sky above us was Weiss, hanging from the talons of a Nevermore. Evidently, it was simply a case of swapping the sisters. Which wasn't as bad as I thought. I would have to play the crap Team RWBY got into by the ear, in case the swapping of partners changed things far past my ability to control. Beyond Jaune's growth, JNPR didn't have much to do in Volumes 1 and 2. Something which I planned to change. But that was all in the future. For now, though. I had to survive Initiation.

"I told you to jump!" Yang called out.

"She's gonna fall," Blake commented, not really sounding bothered.

"Pfft, her Semblance will save her," I said, instead keeping an eye out for the Death Stalker.

"She's falling," Ren pointed out. Only for Weiss to gracefully land via her Glyphs.

"Like I said. Semblance."

CRASH

'And now the Death Stalker is here,' I lamented.

"Great, the gang's all here, and we have two giant Grimm with us," Yang faux cheerfully commented. "Now we can all die together."

"Not if I ca-GRK!

"Ruby, please don't run after the Grimm by yourself," I said. Once I saw what the youngest of us was about to do, I hastily grabbed her hood. Though I immediately let go, lest I accidentally choked her. "Our objective is to get the relics and book it back to the cliffs."

Ruby blinked owlishly up at me, while massaging her throat a bit. She nodded in understanding though.

"Right...Sorry," she said, looking contrite. "Yang, grab a relic and lets go."

"Sure thing, little sister," Yang nodded, and swiftly grabbed a knight piece.

By this point, the Nevermore was circling back towards us, as the Death Stalker quickly homed in on us. Quickly calculating the distance between us and the bridge across the ravine to the cliffs, I had to curse.

"Okay, I was wrong!" I yelled to the rest of the group. "We may have to kill the Grimm to get to safety!"

Nobody responded, not that I was really expecting an answer, as we all reached the bridge. However, the Nevermore had taken roost on a ruined tower on the other side, loudly cawing in challenging manner. Behind them, the Death Stalker had torn through the forest and was bearing down on them. They were trapped. While Nora, Ren, Pyrrha and eye took cover to the left, RWBY hid over to the right.

"Ruby! Yang! Take Blake and Weiss, and deal with the Nevermore!" I called out. "We'll take care of the Death Stalker!"

"Right!" the sisters both nodded, and exchanged glances with their respective partners.

"Do you have a plan?" Ren asked.

"...I have part of a plan," I admitted, still a bit unsure.

"Oh? What percentage do you have, Jaune-Jaune?" Nora asked, looking more than a bit eager at the prospect of a fight.

"Um...Twelve percent?" I hesitantly replied.

"That is not a plan," Ren deadpanned.

"It's not even a concept," Pyrrha added.

"Wait...You're supposed to be my partner! Not Ren's!" I objected, put out.

"Yeah! Ren's my partner!" Nora added, looking outraged.

"Um...Sorry?"

"Good!" Nora nodded, folding her. "Anyway, twelve is better than eleven, so there."

"Nora...Never mind."

I wasn't really sure what that had to do with anything, but I suppose anything was possible in the mind of Nora Valkyrie. Anyway, I did have a plan. I just wasn't sure of own part in it.

"Alright, look! Here's the plan," I said, putting on what I hoped was my game face. "The area around the stinger is unprotected by the Death Stalker's armour plating. Ren, while me and Pyrrha keep the claws occupied, you try to loosen it up. Once you've done that, Pyrrha, try to knock the stinger off in a way that it will land on the Grimm's head. I'll then boost Nora, who can use her hammer to smash the stinger deep into its skull. Got that?"

My plan was met with various responses in affirmation. I would need to work on my tactical skills. Relying on knowledge from the show would only take me so far. And there was a good chance I'd forget the specifics.

"Alright, the Death Stalker is here," I said, as the scorpion-shaped Grimm fast approached. I had no time to see if RWBY were ready, as we made our move. All we needed now was for Red Like Roses Part II to play as background music and we'd be set. Steeling myself, I drew Crocea Mors. "Break!" I shouted, as I led Pyrrha towards our target.

When the Death Stalker swiped at us, Pyrrha brought her shield to bare and pushed back with enough force to make the Grimm stumble. With a degree of teamwork I hadn't anticipated, Pyrrha and I would interchange between blocking with our shields, and striking it with our swords. Meanwhile, Ren ran at the Death Stalker while we had it distracted, and managed to jump onto the Grimm's tail after neatly dodging an errant strike from its stinger. As planned, Ren fired his guns at the root of the stinger, causing the Death Stalker to screech in pain.

"Wo-Ah!" Ren yelled, and was thrown off the tail before colliding with a nearby pillar and landing on the ground in a heap.

"Ren!" Nora cried out, but I didn't have time to see if he was alright. Instead, I turned to Pyrrha.

"Now!" I ordered.

"Done," she said, complying. Masterfully throwing her shield, with aid from her Semblance, the redhead managed to knock the stinger off, which then landed on the Death Stalker's head as planned.

"Nora, now!" I yelled, bringing my shield up. The girl nodded, and fired herself into the air. I wasn't quite prepared for the force, and ended up flat on my arse. Much to my embarrassment. Fortunately, I didn't miss Nora's majestic hammer strike, which slammed the stinger, and by extension the Grimm, into the ground. And thanks to my forward thinking, the fight did not take place on the bridge, which meant that I didn't have to suffer the ignominy of being thrown into the air by way of lever physics.

"CAAAAAW!" the cry of the Nevermore caught my attention as I turned around. It was just in time too, as I was treated to the glorious sight of Ruby soaring through the air and subsequently running up the cliff and decapitating the Nevermore.

"So cool," I uttered under my breath. The adrenaline in my body wore out, and I sat down, exhausted. I had survived. We had survived. And while it was only the beginning, it was still a good start.

Initiation was over. The majority of the students had made it through, though some hadn't. Fortunately, no one had died, so there was something of a silver-lining. Anyway, once we were picked up by Beacon's VTOLs and after we freshened up somewhat, the students were all gathered back in the ballroom, where Ozpin was allocating teams.

"Russel Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark," the headmaster listed. "The four of your retrieved the black bishop pieces. You shall henceforth work together as Team CRDL, lead by Cardin Winchester."

Polite applause echoed through the hall, as it was JNPR's turn to approach the stage. At least, I hoped it was still JNPR. I couldn't really think of any other colour combination that our team could have made.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie," Ozpin began. "The four of you retrieved the while rook pieces. From this day forward, you shall work together as Team JNPR." Nora immediately hugged Ren, as I blinked at the clearly golden pieces being referred to as white. "Led by Jaune Arc," the headmaster added, which earned me a beaming grin from my partner.

We then headed off the stage to allow Ruby and company to replace us. Ruby offered my a congratulatory grin as we passed.

"And finally; Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long," Ozpin said. "With your retrival of the white knight pieces, you shall work together as Team RWBY. Led by Ruby Rose."

Ruby looked surprised by that announcement, but Weiss' reaction forced me to stifle a snort of laughter. The only word that could suitably describe her was poleaxed. And while I had some plans to try and fix her of her snootiness, I put them to the back of my mind, as I simply enjoyed the moment. Though, my good mood dimmed somewhat upon making eye-contact with Ozpin. Evidently, he wanted to meet with me. And soon.

Author Note: So, I'll try for weekly updates, and keep chapters relatively short, but it might not necessarily be that regular.

Well, this is Initiation. As you can see, nothing changed for JNPR. Considering that SI!Me is still a noob at combat, I didn't really want to have him/me try anything fancy when the plan in canon worked to a tee. Things will be changing now, though. Especially events at Forever Fall and at the docks with the White Fang.

As for the new partners among Team RWBY, well...That's just my Shipping bias showing. Sort off. Anyway, I'm done here, so I hope you enjoyed! Follow, favourite, and review as always!