A/N: Hello everyone! So I have some bad news bears to let you all know of. I'm not one hundred percent caught up with RWBY. Yes, yes I know. I should be hung and beaten for attempting to write a fanfiction without being 100% caught up, BUT I ASSURE YOU that by the next chapter I should be caught up with the series. Without further ado, let the chapter begin.

"Attack!" – Normal Speech

"That was pleasant." – Thoughts

Chapter 2

Lost

Zelle awoke with a groan to the soft ground I was laying on. Birds were chirping, leaves were rustling. All was well with the world. It wasn't going to last though. With a jolt, Zelle sat up and opened his eyes to the view around him.

Ok, Zelle thought. I'm not dead, and am not surrounded by pitch blackness, so that's good. Already two positives in his book. He also had feeling back in his legs, so make that three. Glancing around he realized he was in a forest or at the very least, a wooded area of some kind. Also he was only wearing cargo shorts. Apparently being reborn doesn't allow shirts, socks, or undergarments to transfer. Second thing he noticed was he felt lighter more powerful than he had ever felt back in his previous life. Man, his new semblance was going to be so much fun. He already had a few ideas on how to utilize it and make it better, but that can wait until he can find civilization. He was giddy with all the things he can do with this new semblance.

*Flashback*

"I want a strength semblance," I tell the blue window in front of me.

[Processing Request…]

[Accepted, Semblance is Strength]

[By pouring your aura into your semblance you can augment your strength, this is the desired Semblance, correct?]

[Yes]

[No]

Quickly pressing yes, another series of blue window begins floating in front of me.

[All processes complete.]

[Enjoy your new life in Remnant.]

*End Flashback*

Now he was here, sitting here in this wooded area, pondering how to go about doing things. Probably heading in a random direction was not the ideal decision to make here, seeing as that would probably just end up with him being lost. Glancing around, Zelle began making his way towards a particularly tall tree. Reaching up he grabbed the nearest branch with one hand he easily pulled himself up. With a slight chuckle, he found it humorous just how easy it was. His semblance must be a passive thing, as he was one hundred percent certain that there was no way in hell he would've been able to do something like this previously. Collecting himself, Zelle continued up the tree till he could see the very top, making sure not to overstrain the smaller branches. Looking around, he was in fact in some sort of forest. If the miles and miles of tree tops were anything to go by. Searching around he thought he saw something move across the ground a few mile out, by his rough estimate. He was never a camper or Boy Scout. He'd much rather be inside playing video games or playing tabletops. Either that or programming something. So with his destination in mind Zelle began to climb down, only for the branch he stepped down on to snap causing him to crash through the trees below.

"Ugh. Shit. Fuck." Were some of the words Zelle yelled out as he slammed his back into the ground. Groaning, he picked himself back up. "Weird," he thought. "It appears that I've taken no actual physical damage and the short burst of pain from falling is already gone." Sure enough, his fall from the tree had not left a mark on him, only with his back now being dirty again from lying on the ground. Now standing, Zelle began his trek towards his destination.

Like God had a vendetta against him. Zelle realized only about an hour of walking that the person could've easily have been in a different direction. He growled slightly. Seriously, whoever invented the idea of forethought was going to get a Semblance enhanced backhand from him. Having nothing better to do Zelle continued his trek.

A few hours passed, and surprisingly or unsurprisingly Zelle was starting to wear down. "Man, I thought that this aura stuff would be able to increase my endurance much greater than what it was, though I am tired and thirsty. That could be the issue here."

All right that was his new goal, find water before he died from dehydration. Finding another suitable tree to climb, Zelle was about to go up it when all of a sudden he heard a feral growl from behind. Turning around very slowly, he saw this THING staring at him. Its body was black as night. It stood on all fours looking ready to pounce. Along its body, it had what appeared to be bone. Then there was its face. It had what almost reminded Zelle of a mask made of that bone material with red markings on it. Finally were the piercing glowing orange eyes as it peered at him from behind it's mask. Its body reminded him of a wolf, a really, really, large wolf.

Turning around slowly, Zelle said, "Hey there big guy. What are you doing out here all on your lonesome?" He took a cautious step forward, only for the wolf like thing to growl at him. Zelle put up his hands, "Hey now, I'm not gonna harm you, ya massive thing you. I'm just going to come over and pet you. Is that ok?" Zelle was keeping his voice light and soft. He was intimidated by this thing, sure. But he didn't see any others with it and it hadn't attacked him yet, so he was going to try and get out of this without this thing trying to maul him. Taking another cautious step forward, the thing didn't react this time. A few more steps and Zelle was now only 10 feet from this creature.

That's when Zelle noticed something. There were cuts in the bone as well as a crack in the mask this thing was wearing. Then he noticed that it was putting all its weight on its back left leg, as if its leg had been damaged. The thing had its teeth bared at him when Zelle finally realized something. This thing was not a threat, HE was. Now to be fair to Zelle, he did not know of the Grimm or the world he was in. He was not aware of the threat that these monstrosities posed to humanity and their very existence. In his eyes all he saw was a very intimidating wild animal that was injured and trying to intimidate a potential enemy. With his mind made up Zelle quickly dashed the last ten feet only for the thing to swipe at him with its bone like claws.

Go figure, Zelle mentally face palmed himself. Seeing a potential enemy dashing at you while injured would of course cause provocation. Zelle quickly hit the deck and avoided the slashing claw. Out of the corner of the eye, he noted that its other claw was descending upon him. Rolling out of the way, his eyes widened at what he saw. Those claws which were just about eight inches in length had dug all the way through the dirt. While dirt wasn't the strongest substance, it was compact due to movement and the trees keeping the dirt in place around him. If those claws were to hit him he would most certainly be dead. Though he completely forgot that his aura would be able to protect him from incoming attacks, maybe.

Zelle dodged another swipe from the creature ducking under it. Then he tackled it. Knocking it to the ground with a hard thunk. The fur, if you could call it that was surprisingly very smooth. Unconsciously, he used his semblance to keep its arms pinned as its one good leg began to try and thrash him off. Zelle wasn't going to have any of that. Drawing his head back he head-butted the creatures throat. It made a sound that reminded Zelle of a deflating balloon before it slowly stopped moving. Zelle got off the creature before he realized something "Holy shit, I didn't just kill this injured creature did I?" He thought with alarm. He tried checking for a heartbeat, but didn't find anything.

"Shit, shit! Great job, now what do I do? I could try burying it, yeah. But I've never seen this beast before so maybe it has one of those super quiet heartbeats that are near impossible to detect or its hide is super thick. I'd be burying the thing alive!" Maybe I should take it with me and see if I can get it fixed up." With his mind made up, Zelle picked up the Beowulf and began awkwardly carrying the thing as he continued off in a random direction

As luck would have it after a couple hours, Zelle managed to find a river or stream. Also Ryo didn't wake up so that was a good thing. Yes, he named the thing. It was getting rather tiring to keep calling Ryo a thing and creature. But otherwise he'd rather not get shish kabobbed by those claws. After taking a drink, Zelle idly noted that the water tasted much cleaner than it did back home. Now to stave off any hunger. He'd have to out speed any creature. On his way here he had seen a herd of deer and the occasional rabbit or squirrel. He wasn't about to try and eat some unknown plant, although a lot of them looked similar.

Zelle has had experience in hunting despite being a shut in. He took a trip once or twice with his father to hunt some deer during hunting season. He also had to help cook it. However, he had a gun then. Now all he had was some rocks, his feet, and enhanced strength. Quickly finding the deer tracks, he began to stealthily make his way tracking the herd. After about thirty minutes he found them. Noticing one particularly big deer. He discreetly pulled out a rock from his pocket. Palming it, he chucked that son of a bitch as hard as he could. The deer quickly began to scatter but his aim was true. The rock struck the deer's head and it crumpled. Zelle quickly let out a triumphant whoop as he went to collect his prize. Grabbing the deer and hauling it on his shoulder, he began making his trek back toward the river and Ryo.

It was getting dark as Zelle was preparing the meat. Ryo still hadn't woken up yet and that was worrying him. He managed to get a fire going after about 20 minutes of striking different materials that he could find. The deer was coming along nicely. His mouth watered as he thought about eating this delectable piece of meat. When he heard something move around to his right. Glancing to his right, he noticed that Ryo was finally starting to wake up. Taking a piece of the grilled meat he waited for the glowing orange eyes to move towards him. Ryo growled, baring his teeth. It tried to stand but before it could do so, Zelle quickly kicked him down and threw the piece of meat into its open maw. Ryo stopped resisting and began to quickly devour the food in its mouth. After it finished and swallowed, it looked at Zelle and tilted its head at him. No growl, nothing hostile. This time as Ryo stood up, Zelle allowed it to do so. Ryo moved its face right in front of Zelle's face before taking a long sniff. Zelle was stiff. He was not afraid, but he was definitely cautious. While not strong or experienced with this stuff back home, he had enough base knowledge to try and let this thing acknowledge him as not a threat. Sniffing him again, Ryo got on his haunches, similar to that of a dog sitting and stared at him, that's when something peculiar happened.

The first change that happened were the markings. They changed from that blood red color to a deep forest green. Then the eyes themselves went from that bone chilling orange to a deep ocean blue. Then the biggest change was the fur. It lightened up slightly to that of a very dark grey, instead of the pitch black that it was before.

Now Zelle would be the first to admit that he was not an expert in animal physiology and mannerisms. But he was pretty sure that with the exception of maybe a chameleon, the changes Ryo just went through were not able to be reproduced by anything in his world. But typically animals have a reason for changes they undergo, so what changed now? Zelle sighed. He was too tired for this shit right now. It's late at night, he still hadn't eaten yet and he was starving. He would ponder this more in the morning. With that thought he guided himself back to the campfire, and enjoyed his stew. All the while as Ryo stared at him, head tilted as if he was a curious dog.

With his stew finished, Zelle quickly climbed a tree for some sleep. As much he liked Ryo and was willing to feed him and save him, he wasn't sure if there more things out there like him, and he wasn't about to chance it. Ryo continued to watch him as he made his way up the tree he decided to sleep in. "Hey, Ryo. If you get hungry during the night, there is more deer over there," Zelle called out pointing toward the deer carcass. Ryo looked to where he was pointing, back at Zelle once more before going over to the carcass and munching on it. "Good, he appears to eat raw meat. That'll save me time from trying to make more food during the night." Zelle thought as sleep slowly began to overtake his body. He fell asleep to the sound of meat tearing and the branches pushing into his back.

"What an interesting first day of being reborn."

*The Next Day*

Zelle awoke to his back aching, birds happily singing, and the sun rising in the horizon. He stretched to try and remove the kinks in his back from sleeping in a tree, only to forget that he was in fact, sleeping in a tree. Which promptly led to his sound of terrors as he made a short trip to the ground below.

"Great," He thought. "It's almost as if trees are trying to tell me to get the hell off of them." Seriously falling out of two trees in two days, what were the odds? Considering Zelle had never climbed many trees before to begin with, quite likely. Grunting as he stood up Zelle looked at his surroundings. The campfire had died sometime during the night, and Ryo was nowhere to be seen. Zelle sighed. "I treat the stupid thing, feed it, and it leaves me during the night." With nothing better to do at the moment, he went to the river and grabbed a drink. He splashed some water in his face and looked down at the water and he wondered where the kid had come from. Turning around, he looked behind him seeing no one. Turning back he continued to stare at the water with the young face staring back. Perhaps it was the morning grogginess that made him process his own reflection so slow, or maybe it was due to the more youthful appearance he now held, but it slowly dawned on Zelle who he was staring at.

His face was rounded, with some fat, giving him the look of a child. His eyes were a forest green and his hair was white. It reminded him of his child days, where his hair was so blonde it was basically white. It got darker till it turned brown later on when he hit his teens. He had a small nose, he was pretty sure they called it a button nose? Then he checked his body. He stood about 5' 3" and his arms and legs were decently thin, with almost no noticeable muscle. He didn't have any of his fat that he had in his days before his death it appears. Then he noticed his poor, sad, small hands.

How did he not notice this sooner? It makes sense, when he stopped to think about it. The box told him he would be reborn between the ages of 0-18. So him being what appeared to be about 13-14 wasn't too uncommon. In all honesty, he should count his blessings. At least he wasn't in the body of a toddler. That would've been so awkward. Though downside of this entire thing was he now had a new body he had to learn to maneuver again and the raging hormones. Never forget a teenagers raging hormones. Luckily, he didn't have zits on his face this time around. With those thoughts forcefully removed from his head, Zelle began to decide the next course of action.

He needed to find other people. His survival skills were subpar at best. He gave himself another week at most to survive, before succumbing to hunger or other elements such as creatures like Ryo. However, he wasn't sure of any other water sources around and he NEEDED water. No if, ands, or buts about that. So with that in mind he would head downstream. If he needed too, he could attempt to build a raft. He had built a prototype that held his brother before (no way was he actually going to do that himself. Also Zelle paid him in the end, so no harm done right?). This time, he didn't have the tools necessarily get the materials he needed. There wasn't exactly a Home Depot or Lowes to answer his call for need of supplies.

Making up his mind, Zelle began casually walking downstream. He noted that there were fish down there. Though some of them were black in color. Kind of like how Ryo was before he did his whole metamorphosis thing. Finding nothing better to do he began whistling songs that came to mind, such as Ring of Fire and Radioactive.

This continued on for a few hours, before the need to rest kicked in. Everything was perfectly the same it felt like. Trees stretching on with the river stretching on even further. Seriously, at this rate, he was just going to be vulture food. The thought of food made his stomach growl. Shit, wrong thought to have right now. After resting up for another half an hour, Zelle decided that some more food would be necessarily, but after searching for game unsuccessfully for the next hour, he decided to call it quits. So with a growling stomach, he ventured on.

Night was finally approaching. His legs hurt. His feet hurt worse. His stomach was growling reminding him of his hunger. He had finally run out of songs to go through and had resorted to continually humming the melodies of songs he barely knew. He knew if he were to get quiet, he would start to slowly lose his sanity. Well, whatever was left after being reborn that is. Humans were not meant to be alone. They were social creatures. Perhaps that's why he saved Ryo. He had wanted a companion. Right now, he had no time to dwell on that now. He needed to make camp for the night. He needed to rest and continue on tomorrow. He was too exhausted to look for food. With that in mind, he headed to a tree to climb up and get some sleep. Only to be met with a low growl. With Déjà vu kicking in, Zelle slowly turned around. However instead of there being one pair of glowing orange eyes, there were at least half a dozen.

A/N: How was that? Just like I promised this chapter is almost twice as long as the previous one. I think I will try to get the next chapter to around 5000 words. So, just to quell any questions, Zelle will be 17 when he enters Beacon academy, along with the rest of team RWBY, JNPR, etc. I am starting him off early to show him getting introduced to the world of Remnant. Also, he is not aware of the events that occur in RWBY so he isn't going to try and actively "alter the timeline" per say. I will try to have the next chapter out in the next couple weeks. Look forward to that!