*Author's Note* *Okay, time for teams! You all probably already guess what's gonna happen here, huh? Not surprising considering I'm sticking as close to the story as I can. But I digress. The teams formed here were decided from a combination of factors. Namely, how funny it would be to have these characters together. I hope you find them to be as entertaining as I did.*

*But as a quick recap of the last one, the current partnerships are Ruby and Jaune, Weiss and Nora, Blake and Pyrrha, and Yang and Ren. There's a little pattern there. See if you can find it. Might prove entertaining to see if anyone can figure it out. Anyhow, enjoy!*

*GGGGRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR*

*SSSSKKKKKRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEE*

Oh sh- fudge nuggets. Oh fudge nuggets. Ruby, her partner Jaune, and the other six assorted young women (and Ren) gathered around the ruins looked utterly freaked. And why wouldn't they? Two of the largest Grim any of them had ever seen just appeared in their faces, looking hostile and hungry.

The large scorpion-like Grim was a Deathstalker. But this one was much larger than the ones Ruby had seen and fought against growing up. At least twice the size. It's bony white-and-red armored shell looked weathered and worn. Cracks and fractures ran along back of the creature. Moss growing along the large pincers and legs of it's shell.

The large crow-like Grim was a Nevermore. But with it's size, this Nevermore was comparable to the Roc of legends. Known to have powerful feathers capable of deflecting all but the strongest of Dust and steel assaults, and being able to fire these feathers off.

As a pair, this was quite possibly the worst combination of Grim for any Hunters, new or experienced, to fight. And everyone here knew this. Everyone. Even the ever boisterous Yang and chipper Nora were starting to visibly become shaken.

"Uhh, g-guys? What do we do now?" The first to break the silence was Jaune. Unlike the others who maintained some semblance of courage or some sort of bravado, Jaune was visibly shaking. Knees wobbling and shield shaking like a leaf, Jaune was outwardly displaying the very fear and worry everyone there was feeling.

"What do you mean what do we do? Our orders were to simply retrieve the relics and return. There's no need for us to risk our lives here, Jaune," Ruby reasoned.

"So, run away and live? Now that is an idea I can get behind." With this little exchange, the tension lifted a little from the group. That was right! They had no reason to fight the Nevermore. No reason to risk the Deathstalker. They could simply leave. And nobody would blame them either. I mean, these things were huge!

"Okay, okay," Yang interjected. "Once you two are done with your little love comedy, we really should get going."

Ignoring her sister's teasing, Ruby grabbed her partner and started to run. The others, realizing what was happening, decided to follow suit. The group of eight huntsmen and huntresses quickly put some distance between them and the ruinous temple behind them. After several minutes of dodging tress and bushes, stumbling over roots and debris, and overall hardcore sprinting, the students found themselves coming up to what appeared to be a large, decrepit structure. Stone bridges and structures built over a large chasm, worn by weather and time, and lost to nature's grasp. Overgrown by vines and moss, the placed looked somewhat like the large and murderous Deathstalker that was currently living up to it's name.

"Oh come on! How did we get lost on our way back?!"

"Seriously Yang? I told you we should have taken a left and not a right! You made us go in the wrong direction!"

"Oh right, so let's blame me! And why didn't you just go the other way then?!"

"Because I have to follow you and keep you safe!"

"Hah! You keep me safe? That's so adorable Ru-"

"Will you two just shut up," roared Weiss. Apparently, their sisterly bickering was getting on some nerves besides their own. "If you two would put half the effort into running that you would into bickering, we'd already be out of here!"

"But Weiss, weren't you the one that got us lost as we were searching for the artifacts before? I mean, I wanted to go one way, but you were acting all bossy and trying to tell me what to do. I mean, we eventually got there after a buncha wrong turns because I finally just picked a direction and it turned out to be right."

"Nora, I am not bossy! Don't say things like that! And for your information, I knew exactly where I was go-"

*SSSSSSSSSKKKKKRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEE*

Not giving the bossy heiress a chance to finish her sentence, the Nevermore swooped down and destroyed the bridge they were running on, separating the group into two. On the side attached to the land was Weiss Schnee, Nora Valkyrie, Blake Belladona, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren. On the other side, running towards what appeared to be the central structure of these ruins were Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, and Yang Xiao Long.

With the Deathstalker crawling up on them, the five-man team took stock of their situation. Finding their retreat was cut off, the group quickly realized they were between a rock and a hard place. Readying themselves, they turned towards the approaching threat.

On the other side was the smaller group. Their opponent seemed to be simply taunting them. Allowing Crescent Rose to take her full scythe form, Ruby began to fire relentlessly at the bird. Yang, following her little sister's example, allowed her gauntlets to extend to their proper size and began unleash blast after blast. Jaune, not having any sort of gun mechanism in his weapon, just stood around looking like a fool.

On the Deathstalker's side, the five were not having an easy time. Weiss' magic could barely affect the Grim through it's thick exterior shell. Ren, Pyrrha, and Blake's bullets were just harmlessly being deflected. The only one doing any visible damage to the thing was Nora. Her Magnhilde's full form, a grenade launching war-hammer, was knocking the thing around like a ragdoll.

Narrowly avoiding being speared by the Deathstalker's golden tail, Ren took a hold of the thing and held on for dear life as he shot the creature below him him. But with the Deathstalker flailing it's tail around like a possessed King Taijitu, Ren's grasp began to lessen. With one final fling of it's tail, Ren was thrown clear of the bridge, landing beside the small group of Ruby, Jaune, and Yang.

"Ren!" Nora cried, expressing concern over her childhood friend.

Getting back up almost immediately, Ren took a stance beside his partner and the other two. Pulling his twin pistols out, Ren began to fire at the avian Grim as it made it's way back.

Back with the Deathstalker, the team seems to be having trouble. As they were being pushed closer and closer to the edge, their fighting got more and more desperate.

"Guys, I may have an idea." Pyrrha spoke out, probably with some last ditch attempt to steal victory. "Weiss, can you freeze the Deathstalker in place?"

"Sure." Doing as Pyrrha requested, Weiss stabbed her precious rapier into the ground. Switching the dust setting on the revolver, Weiss formed a wall of ice below the Deathstalker's legs and pincers. Firmly trapped on the stone bridge, the Grim struggled in vain to set itself free.

"Blake! Can you cut the tip of it's tail off?"

"Mmhmm."

Rushing forward and using the Deathstalker itself as a stepping stool, Blake used the sheath of her weapon to cleave the golden tip from the rest of the tail. Free from the rest of the Deathstalker, the tail dropped down onto the head of it's former owner.

"Nora, nail it!"

"Going up!" Hopping onto Pyrrha's shield, Nora used her weapons recoil along with Pyrrha's strength to fling herself high into the air. After reaching her maximum height, she aimed the gun portion of her hammer up, and fired. Using the recoil to speed her descent, she performed quite the forward summersault and smashed the Deathstalkers own tail into his head, shattering the skull portion of it's shell and likely turning it's brain to mush. With the bridge collapsing, the four rushed to get off and avoid falling to their deaths. After clearing the bridge mere seconds before it collapsed, the four turned to see their fellows as they dealt with the remaining threat.

Facing the Nevermore, Ruby, Jaune, Yang, and Ren were disorganized. Just firing off whatever they could, with Jaune throwing whatever rocks he could find, and doing no visible damage. Getting angry at the four hunters, the Nevermore came in for one more run, taking down the area where the four were. As the structure began to crumble, the four started to rush up to more stable ground, using the falling debris as stepping footholds. Ruby was using Crescent Roses recoil to jump from chunk to chunk, Yang utilizing Ember Celica's recoil to do the same, Ren using his aura to increase his legs strength and adhere to the rocks, and Jaune was desperately scraggling up the rocks using his poor aura control to jump from chunk to chunk.

Barely making it to the top, the four spread out and tried to catch their breaths. This isn't working Ruby. We need a plan. Come on, think. Think! Looking around, Ruby began to take stock of her little improvised team's different skills. Yang, and Jaune. And Ren. Hmm... That could work. Maybe.

"Guys, I have a plan!"

After the Nevermore came in for one more attempt, the four quickly rushed into a shoddy huddle. As the Nevermore was soaring around, waiting for some reason or another to try again, Ruby told the rest of her plan to defeat the bird.

"Uhh, Ruby? Are you insane?!"

"Rubes, that does sound kinda. . . crazy."

"Well, what do we have to lose? I say we try it."

Although after voicing their opinions, Jaune, Yang, and Ren looked a little doubtful, they still got to their respective positions, as per Ruby's instructions.

With the Nevermore coming around for another attempt, Ren surged forward and took a hold on the Nevermore. Doing his best to stay on the Raven-like Grim, Ren pulled one of his pistols out and began to fire relentlessly onto the birds head. Not doing any major damage, he still managed to get a reaction from the Grim. Disliking it's current rider, the Nevermore began to struggle vigorously to shake him off.

Meanwhile, Jaune and Yang were preparing the second step of Ruby's plan. Rushing to the edge of the steep cliff that was overlooking their battleground, Jaune took a hold of Yang's jacket.

"Take care not to mess my jacket up, or the birdie up there will be the least of your problems, got it?"

Jaune had confirmed that he had indeed received Yang's warning. Satisfied with this, Yang began to scale the massive cliff with surprising speed and agility. Jaune helping where he could by using his legs to keep himself up and avoid putting too much weight on Yang. But with how fast she was scaling, it felt more like he was running up the wall. After a couple of minutes, the two had finally reached the peak of the cliff. Not even seeming exhausted, Yang prepared for the second step of the plan. Meanwhile, Jaune was still catching his breath.

"Come on Jauney boy! We need you for the next part!"

"Just lemme. . . catch my. . . breath."

"Ugh, hurry up!"

Finally catching himself, Jaune readied himself beside Yang. Seeing his compatriots having finished their preparations, Ren hopped off the Nevermore and, using his gun's under-mounted blades, slowed his descent by gripping a standing column and sliding around.

After Ren was out of the way, Yang began to fire. And fire, and fire, and fire. With most of her shots hitting their mark, the Nevermore changed its direction and began to fly towards Yang. Stepping back, Yang allowed Jaune to step forward and brace himself. With the Nevermore coming in fast, Jaune was panicking. Knees wobbling, hands sweating. But he had to do this. Ruby asked him. He could do it. He would do it. Raising his shield, Jaune prepared for the impact. Okay, so the plan hinges on him raising his aura output. Concentrating as best as he could, Jaune began a rapid increase of his aura. Bracing himself, the Nevermore came in fast. Swinging his arm back, Jaune ran to the edge of the cliff and, with all of the force he could muster, smashed the Nevermore down towards the ground.

Watching Jaune and Yang from the bottom of the cliff, Ruby watched the Nevermore as it swooped in towards her partner and sister. Ren landing beside her, looked on with her. As the Nevermore reached the two, the saw a sudden jerk, and the Nevermore began falling towards the ground.

"Go Ruby!"

"Right!" With this, Ruby utilized her semblance to it's fullest. Rushing at speeds no human or faunus could trace, she jumped onto the cliff and began to climb. And by climb, I mean run up a completely vertical wall, entirely unaffected by gravity. Firing off Crescent Rose below her, and using the recoil to propel herself up the wall faster, Ruby rapidly approached the falling Nevermore. Reaching the Grim, Ruby gripped it's neck with her precious scythe, and with one final, aura and Crescent Rose enhanced pull, decapitated the large fiend. Continuing with her run, Ruby reached the peak just as the Nevermore's corpse hit the ground with a resounding thud.

"Holy-"

"Wow!"

"Amazing!"

". . . !"

The four onlookers, after having dealt with their own problem, could only look on with amazement at the scene that had just unfolded in front of them.

After all was said and done, the eight students made their way back to Beacon.

Fast forward, all of the students have gathered into the main hall, where teams are being made, and students are beaming with pride. Having just formed a team of four rather large freshmen, CRDL, the next team was being called up.

"Blake Belladonna, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, and Weiss Schee." After all of them had gathered on the stage, Ozpin continued. "You four retrieved the white rook piece. From now on, you will be Team NNWB (pronounced "Noob", it's (N)ikos, (N)ora, (W)eiss, and (B)lake), led by Pyrrha Nikos. And up next, Jaune Arc, Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, and Lie Ren." As the newly formed team NNWB left the stage, the four who were just called began to walk up. "You four retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will be Team RAYR (pronounced "Rare", it's (R)uby, (A)rc, (Y)ang, (R)en), led by Ruby Rose!"

"Ooooh, I'm so proud of my baby sister," said Yang, as she pulled Ruby into a major bear hug, with the rest of the newly formed Team RAYR laughing.

With this, the teams are formed, and everything is looking up. And I can't believe I'm the leader too of my own team. This is so cool! So, me, Jaune, Yang, and Ren have to work together from now on, huh? Well, this is gonna be fun!

*Afterword* *Well, that's it for the Emerald Forest part. Things will start to pick up from here with the interactions between Ruby and Jaune. I may throw some curveballs, and I may throw in a few extra things here and there for you guys. Bear in mind, I'm doing half of this based off of planning, and the other half is being made up as I go along. But again, suggestions and critique are welcome at any time.*

*So, I thank you for reading this far. I sincerely hope you enjoyed the chapter. Coming up with actual words with the groups I'd thought of caused me a slight headache, but I eventually settled on Noob and Rare. Noob was chosen simply to make fun of Weiss, and because Nora has the kind of energy you normally only find in a fresh face. Plus, I like the irony of it for Pyrrha. As for Rare, well. . . That's nothing special. It's the only word I could think of at the time that didn't sound weird. Anyhow, again, I hope you enjoyed. See you for the next chapter!*