Disclaimer: I don't own anything.


Chapter 4: A Team Effort Part 2

Three of the four riders of the Death Stalker were in a panic. The energetic Nora's driving was far more erratic than anything Jaune had expected. Daring a peek, he saw the Death Stalker ram right through an unsuspecting tree. It was as through Nora had made it her personal mission to destroy any and all natural beauty of the landscape. Jaune idly wondered how long it would take the forest to recover from all the abuse that the students were doing.

With the exception of Nora, all on board had they eyes shut and were clinging to the plates covering the Grimm's back. Sadly, they were under the delusion that this was just one big nightmare and they weren't being held hostage atop of a Death Stalker.

"Yes Stingy! Go faster! FASTER!", the orange haired teen cheered loudly. She steered it through another barrel of trees. "Oh? What's that?" Nora pointed to the sky and the rest of the group followed the direction of her finger.

It was a giant bird Grimm. It was soaring ominously above the forest. The Grimm had a large wingspan, with a bonelike mask that went up to the base of the beak. Clawed fingers extended from the outer wing joints.

She sped the Death Stalker ahead in chase of the Grimm. To the growing annoyance of her passengers and the Death Stalker, she continued to make it her mission to overrun each and every tree in her path.

"Nora please, I know I'm asking for a lot, but please try to focus. If you don't steady the Death Stalker, somebody might get thrown off", her best friend attempted to reason. From the growing shine in her eyes, he was obviously failing.

Having regained some of her strength, Pyrrha attempted to warn the girl about upcoming danger. "Um, Nora, you might want to stop. We're going to the edge of a cliff, and the Nevermore may begin targeting us if we get too close."

To the sheer horror of the others, Nora actually took her eyes off the path and grinned at Pyrrha. "Don't you worry a bit. A little cliff won't stop us. We're almost to the ruins. I can make the jump!"

Ren decided to put his foot down. "Nora don't you do it!"

A dreamily smile made its way on her face. "Gonna do it."

"Don't you dare!"

"IIIIIISSSS that a challenge? I got to do it now~. Can't have you doubting me!"

As they got closer to the edge, Jaune noticed two figures clinging to the bird Grimm, one red and one white. Narrowing his eyes, he saw that it was Ruby and the supposed Weiss. They seemed to be in the middle of a discussion, or better yet an argument.

"Well, why don't we just jump?" Ruby questioned Weiss innocently.

Weiss looked beyond furious, obviously revealing her vile snow woman attitude. Ruby was merely attempting to provide a good suggestion, and she was being so rude too.

Before he knew it, Nora had forced the Death Stalker to leap from the cliff edge directly into the path of the unsuspecting Nevermore. At that very moment, the force of the jump had sent him on a one way path towards the cliff side.

Ren and Pyrrha watched in abject dismay as they saw Jaune racing straight to the stony surface.

With the composure expected of a trained warrior, Jaune shifted his bodyweight and rotated his feet towards the cliff face. A resounding crash resounding from his successful landing. His foot was embedded into the sides of the cliff. Noticing a shadow covering him, he craned his neck to look at the source. It was Ruby, who just leapt from the Nevermore. Seconds later, Jaune had Ruby comfortably in his arms.

"Thanks for catching me Jaune. That could've ended badly", the Sniper Scythe user admitted nervously. Looking past her savior, she whistled at the distance to the ground. A nervous chuckle escaped her lips.

The feminine swordsman had a look of utter disbelieve. He spoke to her slowly, "Did...Did you really just ride that Nevermore? It seems pretty reckless, I mean they can't be as evil as those vile airships. Dirty, good for nothing airships. One day, just you wait." The last part was whispered in a harsh tone.

Ruby puffed her cheeks in offence. "I don't want to hear that from you! Weren't you on a Death Stalker just now? Not only that, but a Death Stalker jumping off a cliff! I'm pretty sure that's on the tip of the crazy scale."

Only gaping sounds escaped his mouth from his friend's rebuttal. She made a very valid point. But she didn't have to know that, if he had any say. "I'll have you know that I wasn't so much riding as I was clinging for my life. The Death Stalker was all Nora's fault."

"Whatever you say. Did you get a partner? Mine is Weiss."

"Oh, I'm so sorry. It must be tough being that person's partner. My partner is Pyrrha. She really nice and helpful. "

"Weiss' not that bad. She's...committed?", she defended her partner with little enthusiasm.

"Fight on. We're not too far from the ruins. Hold on tight. We should reach the bottom of this cliff soon enough. Don't bite your tongue." With a burst of speed, the wayward Arc speed towards the bottom. Despite carrying a passenger, his movements were fluid and confident. The only evidence that there was a person running down the cliff was the displacement of stones.

All the while, Ruby was whooping and cheering her ride. Jaune responded with a smirk as they reached the bottom. Just as he reached the bottom, Jaune flipped onto a tree branch.

Ruby took the chance to jump out of his arms to the ground. Dusting off her outfit, she waved cheerfully at her newest friend. "Thanks for the lift. I can run from here, can't have you do all the heavy lifting for me."

"Race you Ruby."

"You're on!"

The two stared at each other intently, a burning fire of competitiveness burning, and then they were off. On the ground, petals of roses fell behind Ruby's trail, while only wind followed Jaune above her.

...

Pyrrha released a sigh of relief. When her partner had fallen, she had began to panic. Sword in hand, she had been prepared to pin him up to the cliff face. To be frank, she wasn't exactly sure how she would go about rescuing him from that situation. Fortunately, she didn't have to worry about her partner.

As she had figured out, he was very much capable to taking care of himself. Meeting him had been blessing, so much so that she had gotten a bit indulgent. Although a risk, the redhead was confident that the professionals wouldn't let a warrior like Jaune escape through their fingers. With luck, the punishment for intruding wouldn't be too great. As willing as he was, Pyrrha felt that she would have to treat him to something nice for dragging him into this initiation.

With a complex expression, Pyrrha turned around to see what madness the errant rider of Death Stalker. She turned just in time to see them seconds away from colliding from the Nevermore. Was it really necessary to force the Grimm to take this suicidal leap? If Grimms weren't genocidal plagues to sentient life on Remnant, she would have felt guilty about all the mistreatment it faced in the hands of Nora.

The subsequent collision was troublesome to say the least. She, Ren, and Nora all were flung from the scorpion Grimm. Stingy, as Nora called it, fell not too far from them. As luck would have it, the group of falling students collided into the numerous branches of an especially tall tree. Though painful, the branches softened their fall as they crashed to the hard, unforgiving ground.

The three of them were a mass of limbs. Just in front of them were two teenage girls. One blonde and one with raven hair.

The black haired girl spoke first, a look of astonishment plastered on, "Yang, did those three just fall off a Death Stalker that rammed into a Nevermore?"

In response Yang turned to her, "Yeah, Blake, I think..."

"That was so COOL!" The energetic Nora yelled out, interrupting Blake and Yang's conversation. She seemed completely unfazed by their near lethal fall from the Grimms. Jumping from the pile of limbs, she circled around the remaining pair on the ground, a smile never leaving her face.

Pyrrha was finally able to remove herself from atop of the fallen Ren. Exchanging apologizes, the two dusted themselves up. Eying her fellow victim up and down, she noted that he didn't look too upset from Nora's behavior, hinting his experience in such events.

Poor dear.

The black haired male looked at his friend with scolding eyes, "Never. Again. Nora."

If she had heard his command, she didn't respond. Pyrrha smiled fondly at the interaction between the pair. Despite the trouble, and danger, that Nora had put them through, there wasn't any heat in Ren's words. The chipper girl was skipping to the ruins not too far from their locations. In the center of the ruins were pedestals that held figures, which the Sanctum graduate believed were the relics.

Nora's eyes lighted up when she saw the golden rook piece. With an enthusiasm that Pyrrha was beginning to expect as the norm, she snatched the piece and danced joyously. After a few spins, she placed the relic atop of her head and began to sing, "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"

"Don't ignore me!", Ren yelled, almost childishly.

Pyrrha couldn't restrain her giggling. The duo were just too precious. If she was honest with herself, she was a tad jealous of their friendship. Speaking of friends, she wondered when Jaune would make it over here.

...

From an aerial viewpoint, two streaks of different elevations were speeding towards the ruins. The blonde streak was just behind the red one.

Jaune was amazed by the speed that the girl was putting out. When she had been in his arms, her leg muscles hadn't felt very firm or tough enough to carry out this speed. Even if some mystical means was allowing her to go this fast, her body needed to be able to contain that speed. By now, her bones should have shattered, or worse her legs would have blown off.

As a matter of fact she was a bit too petite for the strength she had. Now, Jaune understood that he was being a bit hypocritical. In a glance, no one would give him any bodybuilder awards, but his muscles were just very wry and thin. Could Aura be taking the place for Ki reinforcement for most of the resident's here? Well their land, their rules, he supposed.

With these thoughts in mind, Jaune continued his trek through the branches. Soon, the forest ended and they came to the ruins. He flipped to the ground, just behind Ruby.

She had a cheeky smile and struck a victory pose, "Who's the best? Ruby Rose, that's who."

"Yeah, yeah. You won this time. I was just getting a feel for you. Next time, victory will be mine."

"Sure, I believe you", Ruby teased her feminine friend. She gasped as she saw Yang, "Yang!"

Jaune looked over to Yang. It was the blonde sister of Ruby he had saw yesterday. She had a tan vest with gold piping over a yellow, low-cut crop top with a black crest that had a shape of a burning heart. Her vest had cap sleeves that came with black cuffs. Each of the cuffs had two small gold buttons.

Around her waist was a brown belt and buckle combination. On the belt was a pouch and a banner. Said banner also had a burning heart emblem. Yang wore black shorts that had the appearance of a pleated skirt from the back. Just over the shorts was a white uneven black skirt.

Draped around her neck was an orange scarf. As for shoes, she wore brown knee-high platform leather boots, along with orange socks of unequal length. Black fingerless gloves covered her hands and were underneath her two yellow gauntlets.

In response to Ruby's call, Yang turned to her sister and smiled as she ran to her to embrace her in a hug, "Ruby!"

"Nora!", Nora yelled as she appeared between the reuniting sisters. Both sisters were knocked off balance in their surprise. Seeing the reprimanding look of her friend Ren, Nora chuckled nervously. "Be happy! I got the cool castle. They make everything better." She skipped towards him and bobbed him in the noise with the rook piece.

Unable to keep his stern demeanor, Ren shook his head and laughed lightly. Causing Nora to cheer even louder.

Seeing Nora with her relic, Jaune and Ruby were quick to leave everyone else in the dust as they ran to the pedestals. Both warriors poked and prodded all the different relics. Jaune finally selected the rook piece, and Ruby the knight piece.

Bubbling with excitement, the two gave each other a jumping high five.

"We came", Ruby yelled with her arms crossed.

"We saw", Nora yelled with her hand to her forehead, as she appeared out of nowhere.

"We conquered", Jaune yelled with his fist to the sky.

"We all win!", Nora cheered energetically.

The blonde swordsman puffed his chest proudly, "Off course. A real man finishes what he starts. It was inevitable. Every man is the king of his castle."

"Well they're pretty and shiny. But they don't really do much", the sniper scythe swinger pointed out.

"Duh! They're relics. If they did cool things people wouldn't have left them behind. You're thinking treasures", the hammer user lectured with authority. Ruby nodded in agreement to her assessment.

Jaune dismissed the lesson easily enough, "Who cares, we got them." Jaune then proceeded to grab an arm of each girl and begun to spin them rapidly in the air.

All three of them broke into laughter and cheers, congratulating each other on a job well done.

...

Ren had a contemplative expression. It wasn't everyday he would see someone be right up there with Nora's manic behavior. It was like watching three grown children parading around. But he wouldn't have Nora any other way.

Hearing movement, he turned around and saw Pyrrha and Yang walking towards him. Both were looking at the scene with fond amusement. No doubt the same expression he was now wearing. He thought it was akin to parents watching their rowdy troublesome children getting along.

The blonde placed her hands on her hips as she smirked. "Well isn't this just grand. The gang's all here. So which one's yours? I got Rubes there", she asked jokingly, pointing towards her still cheering sister.

Ren brushed a strain of his hair off his face as he answered her calmly, "Nora's mine. I apologize if she's a bit in your face. It's great she found people that could keep up with her, if only for a few moments."

Having finished, the pair looked towards the tournament champion in expectation.

"Well, Jaune's my partner, but I've only met him recently. Though he has him moments. A pleasure to meet you."

"Seriously, did you three really get here on a Death Stalker?", the Blake girl asked as she walked up on them.

That was interesting, Blake had walked up to them without grabbing that much attention. Her stance gave her away as a stealth expert, or he was getting rusty. His best friend wasn't much of a master of subtlety. As a matter of fact, she was as subtle as an airship crash.

Both he and Pyrrha nodded in confirmation. Now that he thought about, where was the so called 'Stingy' anyway? Looking around, he saw the unconscious Grimm sprawled out on the ground. That Grimm was being such a drama queen. Nora had put him through worse and he brushed it off. Amateur.

Taking his sight away from the pitiful scene, he saw the three happy campers returning to the group. Good, this test was coming to a close.

...

Today was turning out to be a good day. He reunited with new friends, fought an evil gorilla, and now had a golden relic. The day couldn't get better. As he and his fellow cheerers were returning to the group, a shadow was cast over them.

Peering above them, they saw the Nevermore that Nora had collided into earlier. In one of its talons was Weiss. Upon seeing Ruby safe and sound on the ground, she began yelling.

"How could you leave me?!"

"I said to jump!", Ruby shouted in her defense.

Honestly he didn't see what the problem was. That Nevermore was doing the world a favor. Snow women had no business mingling with the innocent. Maybe these Grimms weren't all bad, or they were just the lesser of two evils. Regardless, he owed that Grimm a drink, or birdseed, whatever it preferred.

Then Ruby would get a nice partner. Nobody losses. He sat back and enjoyed the show.

Blake looked up and noted clinically, "She's gonna fall."

Ruby waved off her comment, "She'll be fine."

Ren chimed in, "She's falling."

It was nice to see that he wasn't the only one not too upset. The Nevermore, most likely tired of the poor company a snow woman could give, released Weiss from its talons. She began falling down, while screaming. It surprised Jaune that she had such lung capacity. By now she should be out of breathe.

As she came closer to the ground, Ruby actually began to panic. Frantically running around the group, she made waving motion in an attempt to be prepared for a drop.

Idly, Jaune wondered if a Weiss would break into a million ice shards once she hit the ground. If not, this could get pretty messy.

Weiss' course had her in route for a collision with Jaune. On instinct alone he reached out to catch her, thus preventing her from colliding into him. For good measure, he parted his legs and bended his knees to withstand her momentum. It was not a pleasant sensation.

Not noticing the annoyance within her blonde friend, Ruby began clapping her in praise for the capture.

Weiss finally opened her eyes to see who had caught her. Once seeing Jaune, she sighed in frustration, "Oh it's you.", one could almost hear the acid in her voice.

Making an oh so innocent face, Jaune dropped her to the ground. He began to dust his hands as he whistled.

"You, you, YOU low brow thug! You just dropped me!" Weiss snapped as she got up from the ground. Her glare never left him. She marched up and began poking him in the chest. "How dare you drop a lady like that!"

"Sorry I lost hold of you. Could've happened to anyone."

She gave an unladylike snort and gave him a condescending reply, "I shouldn't have expected much from you, with those noodle arms of yours."

"WHAT?! Noodles. I'll have you know that I'm just lithe. I'm all muscle. Maybe my arms weren't the problem Ms. Weiss. Ever thought of that." Jaune returned the barb in equal force.

Ruby looked nervously between the two. Yang for her part was cracking up, the hands clutching her stomach. Blake just smirked at Jaune's comeback.

Weiss looked outraged. Frosty eyes glared at their targets. "What are you implying, Arc?! You better not be saying what I think you're saying."

"Truth burns doesn't it, little Miss Snow Angel. I mean I've lifted Pyrrha during a flip and I carried Ruby in my 'noodle arms' down a cliff. And I was fresh as a breeze. All of sudden you pop up and my arms can't take it. Something seems wrong with this picture doesn't it? Don't worry not everyone can have figures as nice of them. Don't feel too bad. This academy should whip you right in shape.", by the end of his tirade, Jaune had a sneer.

By this time, Yang was rolling on the ground in amusement. "You just got burned, Weiss. You going to just stand there and take it?" This earned her a glare from her partner.

"Don't instigate these two Yang. They're volatile as is", Blake admonished half heartedly.

"You uncouth imbecile. I don't have to take this! It's no wonder you get along with Ruby. You're both pains in my sides."

"Come on you two, can't we all just get along? I mean, we're almost done with the test. Soon we'll all be students at Beacon. Isn't that exciting", Ruby said anxiously. She was now trying futilely to separate the two from each other.

"I don't want to hear anything from you. You left me up there with a Grimm that had talons the size of my body. Saying jump is not an adequate strategy meeting." At this point Weiss was seething at Ruby.

Said girl flinched at the tone coming from her partner. "S-Sorry I thought it was a good plan."

Weiss snorted at the feeble defense. With a despondent sigh, Ruby backed away from the furious girl.

Just behind Ruby, the previously knocked out Death Stalker rose and made its march towards her. Spinning around, she changed her scythe into sniper mode and took aim. Before the first shot could be taken, the Grimm knocked her away and she landed flat on her back.

Alarmed, her sister called out, "Ruby! Look out!"

"D-Do-Don't worry! I'm totally fine! I got this!", she boasted as she aimed and began to fire at the Grimm. It shook off her shots and picked up speed towards her.

From above the Nevermore cawed menacingly as it flew by. With a flap of its might wings, a line of sharp and deadly feathers are released upon Ruby. Yang attempts to reach her sister are blocked by the barrage. Said feathers narrowly missed Ruby, but they managed to pierce her cape and trap her to the spot.

Frightened at the turn of events, Ruby struggled to yank her cape free of the feathers, but they held tightly.

The Death Stalker made its way towards Ruby, seeing easy prey. Its pincer rose high to deliver the finishing blow. Ruby pulled up her Crescent Rose for a meager defense. The pincer fell and Ruby closed her eyes.

Before the final blow was struck, a wave of lighting surged through the pincer, making the Grimm retreat from its attack. Weiss hovered over her partner, having come to her defense.

Not feeling any pain, Ruby opened her eyes and saw Weiss covering for her.

"You are far too childish! And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and the less said of your fighting style, the better. And I suppose I can be a bit... difficult... but if we're going to pair up, teamwork is paramount. So if you cut down on the showmanship, I'll be... nicer", Weiss finished tiredly.

With a grateful, but sheepish expression Ruby replied, "I wasn't showing off. I just wanted to prove that I could do this."

"You're fine."

As they were reconciling, the Nevermore swept in with its claws ready to strike. Its plans never made it to fruition, because Jaune had leapt in and gave it a swift high kick just beneath its beak that had it reeling backwards. Looking back on Weiss, he gave a smug expression, "Keep eyes on the battlefield Weiss. Wouldn't want you dirtying your dress or something."

"I will hurt you, Arc! I had everything under control."

Jaune snorted in response. Frankly, he was skeptical of Weiss' compromise. He was all but sure that this was just a ploy for her to worm her way into everyone's heart. Nicer indeed.

Yang raced to her sister and gave her a big hug. To which Ruby grunted in return.

Looking to the sky, the Nevermore was returning from its painful trip. As for the Stalker, it was shaking its tail and seemed prepared for a fresh charge. "Guys the Grimms look ready to go. But we can take them."

"There's no need for such action. We only need the relic to be brought to the cliffs", Weiss shot down Jaune's plan for a fight. He grumbled at her interference. It did not help that she was the one now wearing a smug smile.

Blake broke in, "She is correct. Fighting now would only slow and/or injury us."

"It seems to be a wise decision", Pyrrha called out.

"It's time we left. Let's go!" Ren called as he began his run. Soon the rest followed, two Grimms hot on their tail.

Jaune still believed it would have been better to make a stand. "Annoying snow woman."


Author's Note

Hey readers, I was able to write this chapter not long after the last one. A lot of my motivation came from the reviews I got. Consider this my Christmas gift to your guys. Chapter is a little shorter than usual, but I'm happy with it. Please give me feedback on what you like, dislike, or are unclear about.

How did you guys like the interaction between Weiss and Jaune? In RWBY, I find that she doesn't care too much for Jaune, despite, or maybe because, of his romantic interests. Here she still doesn't like him, but now the feelings are mutual.

If I'm motivated enough, I might be able to pull another chapter this week, maybe.

Merry Christmas everyone!