Author's Note:

Here's chapter three, now ready after a week. Uh I don't have much to say other than to please review and enjoy. I don't own RWBY.

Chapter Three: First Day at Patch Elementary

God damn it do I really need to wear this shit!? For my first day outfit those little twerps had forced me to wear a skirt to see "how I liked it." It was a long(thank god) grey skirt paired with a black blouse with white outlines. I was also allowed to wear a white cloak I had with some difficulty made for myself for this. It was actually store bought in black, but I practiced my alchemy and after a few failed attempts, turned it white and made it tougher and more durable.

I kept the gloves, so I ended up being a mix of red, white, grey, and black. The school I had joined was a school known for having a high ratio of aura users per person. For classes I was taking History, a Marksmanship class, and Polearm Technique. Things like Aura Awareness and Weapon Smithing were getting taken care of by Gilda when she had the time, and Glynda would help me out too. They would also practice with my two Hunters electives at home.

For my courses I was taking I didn't have to bring in too many academic supplies, since I only had my History class to worry about. For everything else I ended up getting online college courses they apparently had. So I was learning early college level Math, and Chemistry through the alchemy books as well as my semblance. In the case of Chemistry I should figure it out in around a year or so, since quite a bit of acquired knowledge is leaking through. Math would take longer maybe two or three years. Where I would really need to be catching up was in various combat related courses. I didn't have more than a hint of training in this body. I was physically healthy…but well, it wasn't that much better than my old one.

As to how that would work…well it would be a lot of work to balance so many subjects but then again… I was already used to the relative vigor of college before so it wouldn't take long for me to adapt to an easier pace. But it's not like I had any friends to spend time with anyway. But that's besides the point, now I'll just sit here until class starts. Okay let me check the time on this mechanical watch…

7:46 AM

I still have about 24 minutes until class starts then…hmm is there someone talking? I glanced in the direction of the voice, and quirked an eyebrow as some boys of undiscript appearance urged on some blonde kid. The gaggle froze at my sight and I rolled my eyes at their antics. I decided to draw some alchemy circles to practice starting with the basics.

Okay…circle, add the triangle/any polygon with the vertices touching the circle…

Circle again, this time the shape reaches outside the circle.

Again…this time the triangle goes past one circle but stops at another…

"Hey…" I felt a twitch come on as a kid, a boy from the sound of it talked to me. I turned around to face him, my irritation likely showing on my face based on his expression. It was the blonde kid again and he seemed awfully familiar almost like I had met him before.

"What do you want?" He flinched and I felt that maybe I was being a little too harsh. Whoever the kid was he didn't have the same look in his eyes as his "friends" did, I felt like they were leering at me. I took a closer look at the kid as he stumbled on my question.

He was around the same height as me, about 5 foot two inches or 1.57 meters for metric users. He had messy blonde hair as I had previously mentioned but also a pair of kind and gentle blue, almost lilac eyes. The kid was wearing some brown cargo shorts with a tan dress shirt. Other than that he was almost plain, even then he seemed memorable.

"Um… what are you drawing?" The other kids groaned and started to leave and I moved my butt over giving him room to see. Since he wasn't being a total dick I suppose he could be friends with little old me. He sat down, glancing at me as if to ask permission. I nodded and he sat sat down rather close, he scooted over quickly though. So I doubt he meant anything by it.

"Just a hobby…from a book supposedly about Alchemy." His eyes lit up, and his grin widened as I talked to him. "It's fun a fun thing to think about, to learn about those symbols, to just make just stuff I guess. Kind of of hard for me to describe."

He nodded and pointed to the circles I had just drawn. "Uh what do they mean? Like how are they supposed to work?"

Well…someone's interested in the mystic science of Alchemy. My grin had widened some more at the interest he was displaying. I might not need people as much as others, but having at least one other person to talk to was nice.

"Well this is just about the construction of a transmutation circle…the way the circle is drawn changes the effect…outcome I suppose." He let out an affirmative "huh." and I smiled as I continued. "The circle is the first step, it represents the balance of power and the steady flow of power. When you add a shape that touches the circle it means the reaction takes place within the array and kept stable."

"Wow whoever made this book you're talking about. They're really committed." He paused and pointed to another drawing.

"Oh the extending shape is when the reaction will be taking place outside the array, like to build a wall. And when the polygon extends past one circle but stops at another, the transmutation will extend to the next object."

I tilted my head to look at him in the eye and was taken back by his enthusiasm. He grinned showing off his straight well cleaned teeth, he looked rather happy to talk to me.

"My names Taiyang Xiao Long…But you can call me Tai." He lifted his hand as to shake my hand, though I think he was only trying to greet me. And oh dammit I already met one of the members of team STRQ after being here for only a few weeks(well technically 11 years but still…)

But…he seems nice.

"My name is Summer."

Our nice chat ended up taking the entirety of the 20 something minutes we had left, but good for me that Taiyang knew where my first class was. Now what was it? Not History that's third period, is it…? Oh right it was the Marksmanship class. I was trailing him since he ultimately knew the way, and I heard very quiet whispers from my classmates. Apparently Gilda was a well known Huntress around these parts, so her adopting someone was a bit of a big deal.

Hopefully it wouldn't be too much of a problem or else it was going to get really annoying. I curled my hands in a little bit of worry as we approached the door of the room. Tai courteously opened the door for me and I quirked my eyebrow at him. He ushered me in with an innocent look, and sighed. I think he was just being a nice guy then. Ultimately I had no issues with that so I hesitantly walked in with him at my back.

I froze as 24 heads jolted up, and my nose started twitching as about a sixth of them had an extra appendage that swiveled in my direction as their owners faced me. Now that didn't account for other students who had other extra things added on, whether a tail or odd skin markings. I found an almost empty table, with only a bunny faunus on the left seat of the three person table. I ended up trapped between her and Taiyang.

The teacher was a really old guy, he looked kind of like what a stereotypical Viking was considered to look like. He was gigantic too, probably Yatsuhashi sized or bigger even. He was definitely heavier by a wide margin… His hair was a wild red, and there was a small glint in his electric blue eyes I couldn't really identify. The beefy man coughed and the children all turned to face him. I glanced at the girl who quivered at my look.

Way to get rid of certain stereotypes kiddo…Anyway the girl was a tiny thing, maybe about 4'7 and really lanky. Her face was round shaped, and she had lips that were pursed into worry. Her eyes were almond shaped with light blue eyes and long eyelashes. Her hair was a dark brown, and she was fidgeting just the slightest. There was something about the way she looked that felt oddly familiar…

Maybe I should talk to her? I think I might be scaring her, and I don't want her to worry over nothing. I reached for her slightly to reassure her until…a pulse of aura left my fingertips.

"65% Oxygen, 20% Carbon…" I covered my mouth as a spiel of elements poured from my mouth. Thankfully it had gone unnoticed by everyone other than the bunny girl and Taiyang and I doubt either would say anything. The moment I had gotten within half a foot, my aura had latched on to the girl. It didn't do anything other…than tell me the entire makeup of her body, the healed crack on her left uppermost rib, that her left ear had been broken about six months ago, and a flicker of vague emotion.

I flushed at the suspicious look she was giving me. I hadn't meant to do that! I didn't even know I could do that so easily. I have no idea why I hadn't wondered just what my semblance really is then…some form of Aura manipulation semblance maybe. But it seemed able to pick up some…only some of the trace emotions left behind, so it could be a mind semblance?

Wait focus! The teacher just started talking!

"Ahem students! Welcome to Marksmanship class!" His deep voice boomed, almost shaking the room with its power. The other students faced the…possible retired Huntsmen with curiosity. "Here is where you will all be learning about the intricacies of using a gun…as well as how to use strategy and tactics during a fight." The students all nodded following along with surprising eagerness.

"Now I believe…"

I almost…but thankfully not quite glazed over his introduction, which was mainly introducing himself as Borr Svell. He was a recently retired Huntsmen after tangling with a powerful ancient Grimm finally pushed him past the edge. While he wasn't going to die any soon, he was no longer in the condition to hunt much Grimm anymore.

In the end the class was at least for the first day rather simple…just learning the basics of well…using a gun. You know just learning the right stance, not to put the barrel to someone's face like a brain dead idiot, maintenance of a weapon that sort of thing. He also asked what type of gun we would like to learn to use. Since a great percentage of people who took these classes became either Huntsmen, militia or in the rarer cases military, it was good to know what we wanted to specialize in. We tested it out with Pistols first…but they felt too…small, nothing about it felt right. Besides the fact that Pistols are usually kind of shit against Grimm, and have a rather short range. If I'm going to fight Grimm it's going to be from a mile away if I can.

Instead I was holding a .22 caliber rifle equivalent and placing the butt of the gun against my shoulder. I was in what he called the prone position and was staring through the scope of the basal gun. Which was honestly kind of easy to use, at least for keeping it steady. Now we weren't actually shooting, only learning/practicing the various positions, after a long talk about everything else. Heck this thing wasn't even an actual gun…it was built to feel and look like one, but…

Well Structural Analysis kind of tells me the truth just by touching the "gun". Honestly Dust weapons are quite interesting in how similar they really are to modern firearms if you ignore the elemental effects. They propel a metal bullet through a powerful explosion, usually Fire or sometimes Wind Dust at over the speed of sound. The bullets are usually made of lead, thought there are special rounds almost entirely made of Dust, something like an explosive round perhaps…

The propellant itself was triggered through a tiny amount of high purity electric Dust. Basically it's what they have as a primer in this world, very interesting but I wonder if I could cut out the middle man.

I put the rifle down as the teacher coughed twice and passed it another student behind me. Yeah for me the rifle was what felt right, and I think it was what I going to for for when…

"Hey! You have History next right? Can you see if we have the same teacher next period?" A brief glance at my schedule sheet told me that I did not have a History class next period. I shook my head and his face sank into an innocent puppy like look. I glanced away, scratching the back of my neck as I felt my cheeks turn red.

"S-Sorry But my next class is Polearm technique." He looked mildly dejected and I scrambled to fix my mistake. "But we could talk uhh later…if you want." He flashed me a bright grin, and I felt another rush of heat reach my ears. This kid(even if I am a kid) was going to be the death of me.

"Okay! We could hang out after school, I'm taking an Open Handed course, maybe we can share some tips?" I nodded and he looked even happier. At the least I was making some new friends. The bell rung and out teacher dismissed us, though he told me to wait for a moment.

"Uh why?" I asked the tall teacher with a smidge of confusion. The former Huntsmen gave a small smile and I took another step forward.

"You're new here aren't you? And I overheard that you're next class is Polearm Technique."

"Uh yeah?" I had an idea of why he was asking me but I wanted him to tell me just to be sure.

"Well I'm the teacher for that class!" Borr(seriously) sounded proud of himself and I had to give him some props. He had to know his stuff or else humanity was in a much more precarious position than I once thought. He gestured with his meaty hands to follow and I did with some misgivings. We left the practice range and I could just make out, another building that looked vaguely like a gym of some sort. I could hear some more some excited chattering and pursed my lips. I wasn't sure how the children here would act, whether or not they would be nice or not.

I didn't necessarily want to make many friends, but I think I would have a better time if they weren't a bunch of dicks. Or else it would be a long couple of years.

Someone would probably ask why I decided to get a Polearm class rather than anything else. Well the main reason for me was that polearms near the beginning are much easier to learn than other weapons like swords, and have a greater amount of reach too. I have no idea how well this would work against Huntsmen. But I would like to keep a Grimm from ripping my face off thank you very much. It would also be a fairly simple modification to a gun, just add two same shaped blades above and below the barrel and telescope the butt to form the pole. This place must really be getting to me if I'm saying that making a gun spear is simple.

There was a third reason though…but it felt hard to describe. But a feeling inside of me, within my soul you could say. Compelled me to such weapons, and it was only exacerbated the one time I made a metallic pole using the earth alchemy array. When I held it in my hand, it just seemed natural like something I always had. My hands even shifted into the correct position. Almost like I had used a Polearm my entire life.

Gilda had explained it to me once when I rushed to her overwhelmed and confused. She said it had to do with aura. Aura, the soul offered so much potential and power, but it did have its…little quirks here and there. She said that the soul, that aura had some sentience of its own, and certain methods, certain weapons would just click. Heck the next time I tried another pole I managed to throw it like an experienced spear thrower. Of course it was only a familiarity with the weapon, to hone that impulse you would still need intensive training to actually use it well.

Fortunately for me that my aura and my mind seem to be pretty aligned, because during Before I had become greatly interested in all the various Polearms as well their old teachers, like Meyers, Liechtenauer…

"We're here!" I hummed absently and and stepped away from the man and approached a gaggle of children. They seemed to shrink back, and I had a sick feeling in my stomach. For whatever reason no one wanted to approach me, and it was annoying the hell out of me that I didn't know why. I was getting some bad vibes, but there was nothing I could do. Only the one faunus girl and Taiyang were willing to approach me. But that bunny girl was also terrified of me if for different reasons. She wouldn't be any help against whatever this is.

Our teacher had a dark look on his face but schooled his expression, stopping anyone but me from noticing. I'm sure my eyes lit up when I noticed the bunny girl out of the corner of my eye. She stammered as I got within a few steps of her, but I heard her quietly admonish herself.

"H-Hi I'm Umber." She muttered cutely, and I felt a grin grow on my face. She was completely adorable in every way imaginable.

"Well I'm Summer Rose." Well technically Summer Flamel Rose but I didn't want to chance someone knowing him. From what I could scrounge up he and my birth mother were natives to a heavily Grimm infested area on the Dragon continent, what had once been the last bastion of Alchemy. Other than Ozpin and I, Alchemy in every sense of the word is a dead and forgotten art.

Kind of sad really…but maybe one day I could help revive it. It could be just what Remnant needs to push back the Grimm even further. The bunny girl tilted her head and I refocused on making "friends."

"It's nice to meet you." Her face lit up at my friendly greeting and I wondered what I had done to make her so happy. "So, you want to learn how to use a Polearm?"

"Yep," her upper ears twitched and I felt the strange urge to touch them. But that would be incredibly rude. "It's just a weapon that's really clicked with me you know?"

I perked up in an instant at her reply. "Yep…definitely!" I felt an odd dance in my step as my excitement flowed down from my stomach and into my legs and feet. Which was not that different from back Before whenever I was in a particularly good mood, heck any chance I got in private I would use to listen to music and…um dance around. That was pretty much the only manner I had of expressing myself, my excitement and energy tended to drop among large crowds.

But honestly I felt pretty good right now. I made two friends, and I was on my way to…

Something…

"Are you okay?" My bouncing stopped and I calmed myself not wanting to weird her out. I had the odd habit of bouncing in this body whenever I got happy, some of my old habits seemed to have returned more fiercely. I've even found myself skipping when I'm excited enough. But it's not like I haven't done it before.

"Yeah," My eyes glanced over to the tall redhead teacher as he coughed. Umber straightened up. "We can talk more later, our teacher is talking." She gave an emphatic thumbs up, and I held my hands together waiting patiently.

"Hello my tiny friends!" I had the urge the roll my eyes but held myself back. No need to be rude, to someone who didn't seem afraid of me. The Norse looking fella spread out his arms, gesturing to the massive room around us. It was rather like a grin but with mats, as well as sizable supplies of various poles, and diagrams of various techniques. "Welcome to my Polearm Technique class, where we will learn the fundamentals of pole based combat!" I nodded along but was suddenly startled as he pointed right in my face.

"Uh…"

"Now my student what do you know about polearms?" The entire class were squinting their tiny eyes at me, and I took a deep breath. I shouldn't be so nervous, they're all just a bunch of kids. But still I guess I should show off a bit of what I know. I straightened my back and cleared my throat to speak.

"A Polearm is a close combat weapon in which the fighting weapon is placed on the end of a long shaft. Polearms can have a variety of different heads depending on the use of the weapon. Examples being spears, quarterstaffs, halberds, war scythes, poleaxes, and pikes. Polearms have a wider reach than weapons like swords, and are often more versatile as well."

The class had imperceptibly moved an inch back, now I wouldn't say they were impressed but who cares. Borr nodded with his hand on his chin and gestured for me to sit.

"Well informed, but how far will your knowledge carry you?" I shrugged, I would just go with the flow. I either figured it out or I didn't and I suppose I would have to take a different path. But hopefully destiny would let me…

"Now I believe it's time to start the class." He clasped his hands together and I removed my cloak, folding it into a neat little pile. We followed him out to the matted floor. Out of nowhere he pulled out a staff from somewhere. It was enormous made proportionally to the six and a half foot tall man.

"Now for your first lesson. I will teach you the parts of a stuff for you beginners." He grasped the staff and lifted one hand to the uppermost section of the staff. "This is the furthermost quarter, used for partying and striking." He returned his hand to the lower area. "This is the quarter near the hand, used for binding and controlling the opponent's weapon." I already knew this after reading some article somewhere.

He spoke about the two quarters between the hands used for parrying and shoving the opponent or staff around. There was also a bit that could be used to wrench an opponent's staff away from him. Some stuff about how you need to grip the staff Again I already knew a fair amount of this… but then knowledge is different from applying it in the real world. His spiel didn't end yet as we finally started on how to use a staff.

"Now this is one basic stance for Polearm users." He was standing narrowly in a broad, low stance with his left foot leading, an the left knee hanging above. His right foot was angled to at about 90 degrees to the right. I followed the movement, and a slight wave followed as I unintentionally jolted the students into action.

I tended to randomly practice stances just to test them out back when I had dance classes. This wasn't any different from then. Borr looked on approvingly at our initiative. The other students didn't have a bad time at it, able to pick up the stands rather quickly. But I'm sure there a lot of tiny imperfections that our teach would eventually correct. Teach went from student to student, tapping them with his Quarterstaff and making small corrections. With one student a short wolf faunus pushing his knee back to meet evenly with his right foot.

When he came to me, he pushed my back to make me straighten up and angled my shoulder slightly to the right. He nodded and I held still, until I jogged my memory. I tried…with some mild difficulty to shift my balance between forwards, center, and backwards though I had a hard time of it.

Borr started to demonstrate how to twist our hips in the right way and I incidentally learned about degrees and that weird clock thing. It didn't take me more than a minute or two to figure it out.

Now twist the ball of my leading foot from 12 o'clock to 10 o'clock… and raise my rear foot. There's really a lot of twisting motions in martial arts isn't there? Fortunately despite being the same height as in my previous life, everything feels a little more proportional here.

Stupid stubby legs…

Any who…afterward he taught us the various methods of footwork common to polearm combat. Though he did mention that aura users could make some changes, due to well…aura. Soul magic tends to make the usual strategies not work as well, or maybe even work better in some of them.

Either way…for now at least this would be how we would learn until the time was right. He eventually taught us several of the needed stances and even a few simple strikes(without the practice staffs).

It was a good day…too bad it was coming to a close. I felt a little sore, but nothing I wasn't used to. Borr told us to stop, and I relaxed getting tired of just practicing. Physically I mean, and while isn't the most exciting thing to be doing, getting into it right away is not a good idea. I would rather not get hurt or hurt someone else for stupid reasons.

"Class dismissed!"

I really need to pay attention to my surroundings more…

"Hey!" Taiyang rushed over just as I was leaving, stopping me in my tracks. I closed my notebook and placed it inside my backpack. He skidded across the concrete until he stopped just short of my face. One step back was all I needed and Tai gave me a small wave.

I felt my lips raise into an easy smile, and I sat down on the grass for a moment. He followed suit, and I waited for him to say anything.

"Are you leaving?" I nodded and he looked mildly distraught. I didn't know to feel about how quickly the kid patches onto me. But I don't think I minded as long as I had someone to talk to.

"Hey we can still hang out when you get out of class in…about three hours?" He beamed and I jittered as he grabbed my hand shaking it up and down in excitement.

I left him with a goodbye and a smile on my face. I walked over to our home, because while we do live pretty far out from everyone else. Running at say 30 miles and hour makes that time feel much less.

I still ended up running for about 20 minutes out into the outer reaches of town, edging in on the great forest nearby. I let my gaze wander deep into the dark forest wondering if there were any Grimm hiding within its borders. What kind of tales did the people of Remnant fell to keep their children safe? I heard some rustling and took a dozen steps back. My stance lowered and I lifted up my hands, a ripple of aura surged and my barrier stabilized.

The rustling grew louder and closer, and my thoughts were on whether or not I should run. I know how these things go, you hear a scary sound panic and it turns out it was a random person. But being on Remnant what if I'm wrong? It could be the difference between life and death if I don't flee.

"Oh sod it all!" I felt my breath leave me, as a dirty and messy Gilda emerged from the forest, pulling out stray leaves and branches. Her face was contorted into an expression of frustration and anger. I leaped in her direction, and smacked straight into her chest. I felt my face flush with anger and I ended up berating her for the next few minutes.

Seriously…who does that?! Is it necessary to make as much noise as possible?!

My caretaker gave me an apologetic look, and picked me up carrying me in one arm. She opened the door with her other hand, and there was a brief golden shine of something. My brows furrowed, now I needed to know what the heel her semblance was. I knew Glynda had a bullshit level of Telekinesis but her mother on the other hand…I hadn't seen her semblance even once. Only flashes of gold and yellow over the last month or so.

I slid down from my perch and ran up to my room. I left my backpack on my bed, and sat down. It had been a rather interesting day today, I was learning what I would someday end up needing to defend myself. Class was simple for now, and I still had time to have a somewhat normal life…

But…it wouldn't last forever. I had been thinking about what to do next for a long time. I'm not sure whether or not I should become a Huntress, but if I didn't I think I would quickly become paranoid. As a Huntsmen I would become much stronger, able to defend myself from possible enemies. As a civilian I may or not not get even more attention on me. No matter what I did I wouldn't just stand still. I wanted to become a scientist back home, and even now that hasn't completely changed.

But…my ideas from home could bring unwanted protection from a number of unsavory groups. One of them being the Schnee Dust Company. From what I had read up, Weiss's father had already become the head of the company and married she mother. I listened to the whispers and rumors of of their unfair business practices, their growing monopoly, and the various subsidiaries that outcompeted local companies. About the possible ties to more…unsavory business, the mysterious accidents that would lead to a company's bankruptcy. Only to later be bought up by the largest corporation in the world.

If I made an independent group I'm not sure how long I would last, even if Ozpin could protect me. He doesn't exactly have the best track record on the whole…keeping his students alive. But admittedly that's just the nature of being a Huntsmen anyway. You can only do so much to protect your pupils from an endless horde of evil monsters after all. Maybe if I worked with them, but I was still worried on what would end up happening if I did.

And as a civilian I would be easier to take out by people like Salem… Having magic eye powers is great and all, but it's not very conducive to a long life. But then again if I was some random researcher maybe she wouldn't find me…

I don't think I have that kind of luck… the first moment I got here(woke up?) I found several dead bodies and almost got mauled to death by Beowolves. But it could be lucky to get saved by the Headmaster of Beacon and adopted by his future Deputy's mom. Meeting a future teammate in another timeline… and getting to build a rocket.

But even that luck is no guarantee of my safety. I've been doing okay but soon enough some other disaster would almost kill me, or actually kill me.

"Dammit…" I muttered under my breath, as I smelled a delicious meal from downstairs. I rolled my shoulders, wincing at a low crack, as well as opening the door to my room. As I stepped out for lunch, I hoped that this peace would last much longer…

In the days that followed it didn't take too long for my hopes to get shattered.

Deep in a house long since abandoned an ancient being of hatred and rage was searching for the familiar feeling of silver. It's car sized paws carved through the soil as it sniffed around, its wolf like snout twitching as it picked up a strong scent.

"AWOOOO!" It howled into the night sky, and hundreds of others followed suit. The wolf like Grimm breathed in the deep scent and its snout formed into a twisted inhuman grin. It's legs sprung with raw power and it leaped dozens of feet in the air.

It had the scent of a Silver Eyes Warrior