Disclaimer: I own nothing involved with RWBY, that belongs to Rooster Teeth.

While flying above a forest filled with Grimm was enjoyable, Ruby was having a bit of an issue. She had completely lost track of her sister, her sniper scythe was fine for slowing down to land or vaguely changing direction way up in the air but it was no match for Yang's own flying speed. As she fired down to slow herself before riding her scythe down a tree, Ruby couldn't help but let a little fear creep in. Without Yang the only people she knew to try and pair up with were the armored girl, the scary white haired banshee, and Jaune. None of those were particularly appealing options. Nevertheless, Ruby set off into the forest; Yang had been launched first and had to fly further to safely land, heading towards the temple was her best bet. All she had to do was avoid eye contact with the fifty other prospects until she got there. How hard could it be to go ten miles without interacting with another person?

Ancient tree trunks blurred past as Ruby rushed North towards the temple, Yang may have been the faster flyer but Ruby was unmatched on the ground. If nothing got in her way she supposed she could reach the temple within a half hour. A certain Schnee heiress had other plans.

One second Ruby was side stepping a tree, the next she was staring straight up. Verdant leaves and azure sky shone above her, the world spun slightly. My head, was all she could think; it felt like she had hit a stone wall. Glancing a bit behind her, Ruby found what she had in fact hit. Sapphire eyes blazed into hers, a purple splotch on the girl's forehead showing exactly where they had met. Then the girl paled, though she was already deathly white, and sneered at the ground. That was the banshee. She was partners with the banshee.

"You dolt," the girl's white hair whipped around her as she stood, "you couldn't watch where you were going, that was too much to ask?" Ruby couldn't help but think the banshee was cute when she was angry. Wait, what?

"Well?" Ruby shook her head to clear it. The same light, almost fluttering, feeling had settled in her chest as yesterday, thankfully there was no powdered dust for her to accidentally detonate this time.

"I-uh-Yang...I was looking for my sister, Yang. I'm Ruby by the way." The blued eyed girl glared at her again.

"Just perfect, a speed demon and a pyromaniac. Well, get up you idiot, we need to get to the temple." Ruby hurried to her feet as the girl began marching South.

"Uh, the temple's the other way." Ruby winced as the girl whirled around on her.

"And how do you know that?" If she didn't constantly yell, Ruby may have noticed her partner had a beautiful voice. As it was she struggled not to bolt, yelling and strangers and suddenly being stuck with a yelling stranger were all usually things that ended with Ruby sprinting to Yang. Well, sprinting to Yang or drawing Crescent Rose, though she doubted threatening the combat skirt clad girl with a scythe would help them work together.

"I could see it when Ozpin launched us, plus I know how to navigate. My uncle taught me." Ruby sighed as the girl's shoulders slumped a bit, she wasn't going to yell again. Maybe they could start over, attempt to get on good terms with each other. The girl just marched right past her and kept going, so much for that. Sullen and silent, Ruby followed her nameless partner deeper into the woods. At least they were headed the right way.

"So kit-cat, got a name?" Yang looked at the cat eared girl beside out of the corner of her eye, she was grinning. Blake mentally cursed herself for not securing her ribbon better, of course the thing would decide to fly off when all of her future classmates were prowling around. The only consolation was that her apparent partner hadn't said anything truly derogatory, kit-cat was annoying but harmless.

"Blake, you?" Yang bobbed her head, that was a Valish name. There weren't to many faunus native to Vale, the majority coming from Vacuo or Menagerie.

"Yang Xiao Long, brawler and champion bar fighter." Both of them grinned. A comfortable silence settled over them as they neared the Temple clearing. It had taken them less than an hour to find and it couldn't have been more than a three hour walk back to the cliffs. What was the catch, why had the headmaster given them two days? They hadn't even seen many Grimm, three young Ursas being the most resistance they had faced. Dread hovered over Yang, what was the game?

"You were looking for your sister right?" Blake snapped her out of her worries. Yang glanced at her partner, the cat faunus gaze was glued to the sky.

"Yeah, skinny kid, red cloak, huge scythe." Yang scanned the sky, only finding a giant Nevermore.

"I think I found her." Yang looked at the Nevermore again, a red and white spot could just be seen over its shoulder. Ruby and her partner had ridden a Nevermore into the clearing. Yang's eyebrows knit together as the colossal bird released a volley of knife like feathers. If Ruby was on its back, what was it trying to hit? Four black shapes burst from the tree line, blindly firing at the sky as statue sized feathers sank into the ground around them. Ah, the quartet of oddly armored prospects had arrived. Yang wondered by three of them had military style rifles rather than custom weapons. A quick glance back to her sister cleared her head.

"How does Ruby manage to make everything...Alright, let's get-" A girlish wail cut off the blonde. Across the clearing a different, male, blonde and Pyrrha Nikos, four time champion of the Sanctum Academy tournament, darted out of the trees. A Deathstalker hard on their heels. "How? What is-"

"Woohoo!" Yang and Blake whipped around, weapons drawn on the Ursa that loomed over them, ready to bring its paws down and crush them. Thunk, pink smoke poured from the poor creature's mask, masking the black sludge that flowed from its mouth and eyes. It toppled over, revealing a manically grinning Valkyrie and a panting Vacan boy. Nora and Ren, Yang hadn't known they had come from Signal too. Really, she had expected Ren to go back to Vacou and attend Shade, yet here they both were.

"Nora...lets never...do that again." The orange haired psycho just laughed and clapped him on the back. The thin boy was almost thrown to the ground by the tap, Yang knew just how strong Nora was. She was the only girl at Signal who could bench more than her. She was also the only person at Signal who was more hyperactive than her sister, a fact that became apparent as she noticed Yang and immediately began chattering. Neither the blonde or her partner could understand more than a dozen of the rapid words, there was something about a King Taiju and the Ursa and sloths.

"Hey, Yang." Ren silenced his partner with a tap. "I thought you would pair up with Ruby." At that, Yang whipped around again and scoured the sky for the Nevermore. Blake pointed out where it was, still following and firing on the four black clad prospects. Ruby was still clinging to its back.

"Is your sister riding a-" Ren had finally looked up, having caught his breathe from the insane ride.

"Yep." Yang was exasperated, Ruby really needed to stop getting herself in these situations.

"Is the dot sliding down her part-" Even Nora was entranced at the sight. Really, she wished she had come up with that idea, Ursa were so boring. They could only go on the ground afterall.

"Yep." Yang shook her head.

"She's going to fall." Blake said matter of factly.

"Yep."

"I told you this was terrible idea," the girl's words were nearly lost to the wind. Ruby scrabbled down, closer to her partner.

"Just take my hand, we need to jump." The girl paled again, how she managed to get lighter Ruby didn't know. Maybe it was her semblance, like winter camouflage.

"What?!" while her volume, and how much bigger her eyes got, was impressive it did not change the fact the Nevermore was beginning to notice its passengers; Ruby would take jumping and controlling her descent over being dumped off of the Grimm.

"Grab my hand and jump, the temple is below us." Ruby moved closer again, maintaining her grip on the thick feathers. Her partner on the other hand, shrank away from her intent not to hop off a giant bird hundreds of feet in the air. The Nevermore decided that was the opportune moment to launch a few feathers at the squad trying to hide in the ruins, which bucked the Schnee girl right off its back and into the open air. Ruby didn't hesitate to launch herself off and into the panicking girl. "Hold on."

Deploying Crescent Rose, Ruby fired half a dozen shots to slow them to a reasonable speed. The ground was still rushing up far faster than she would like but she had a limited amount of ammunition. They were falling below terminal velocity at least, well below Ruby's terminal velocity; her semblance let her take a little more blunt force trauma than most. Petals rained as she activated said semblance and rolled over the ground to the tree line. Her enhanced speed and reaction time allowed her to properly time the rolls to dissipate her momentum enough that her body could take the force. Ruby was perfectly fine, if a bit windswept, as she popped up in a half circle of faces. Her partner did not fare as well, she had failed to regain any of her meager coloring and the edges of her face had gone a bit green. Ruby grinned guiltily down at her, she may have forgotten how nauseating being dragged along by her semblance was for most people. There was no time for rest or proper greetings as a razor sharp feather embedded itself in the ground in front of Ruby. The Nevermore had finally noticed the easier targets. They scattered as a dozen more projectiles shredded the trees behind them.

In her haste however, Ruby did not notice there was also a Deathstalker skittering around the clearing. This misstep led to Jaune bowling over her, knocking both of them down as a pincer swiped where they had been. A second swipe sent the knight into Pyhrra, leaving Ruby alone on the ground. She couldn't block the golden stinger, it was already halfway to her heart. She closed her eyes. A burst of cold air made her shiver.

"You, saved me?" The heiress stood above her, rapier raised to the ice encased stinger.

"You're an annoying, hyperactive dolt who doesn't seem to plan anything you do at all, but you got us here and kept me from falling to my death." The white haired girl offered her hand. "If you can start thinking before throwing yourself in a random direction, I suppose I could be a bit nicer."

"Can do." Ruby took her hand and hopped to her feet. The girl actually smiled at her. The fluttering returned.

"My names Weiss by the way, Weiss Schnee."

"Nice to meet you," The ice wall creaked as the Deathstalker yanked on its tail, "grab an idol and run?"

"See, there's a plan." The duo sprinted for the temple as the Death stalker yanked back its tail, the ice fractured. They dove into the half circle of relic pedestals just as the Deathstalker freed itself, Ruby snatched up the nearest one. Shotgun shells and bright pink grenades knocked the creature back as Yang and Nora joined them. Ren and Blake joined seconds later, vaulting around the stunned Grimm to collect their idols. The rest of the prospects in the clearing were driven into the ruin by the now diving Nevermore, its claws dug foot deep furrows in the dirt.

All twelve of the students were trapped in the half circle as the Nevermore dipped to make another pass and the Deathstalker skittered around the edge of the ruin, looking for an opening.

"Schnee, glyph." the tallest armored boy called suddenly, a blue bladed katana glowed in his hand. Despite glaring over her shoulder at the stranger, Weiss drove her rapier into the ground and channeled as much energy as she dared into it. A teal snowflake glyph spread under foot, the boy stabbed his dust blade into the stone. A shimmering dome of ice groaned into existence. All eyes were on the quartet as the temperature dropped several dozen degrees.

"That'll keep them out for a few a bit." the boy seemed to mutter more to himself than the assembled prospects. Ruby shivered as she reloaded, the ice shrieked as the Nevermore's feathers split against it. They had a few minutes tops.

"Great, just wonderful. The gang's all here to die together." Yang's smile did not change in the slightest.

"You are entirely too open to that possibility." The shorter armored boy sighed as the entire shelter shook. The Deathstalker had joined in the assault.

"We could run." Ren grimaced at his remaining ammunition. Running was about all they could do. Ruby wasn't much better off, she had expended too many rounds getting down from the Nevermore. A dozen rounds were all she had for the rest of the initiation.

"I could get behind that." Jaune panted, still recovering from his sprint.

"The Nevermore would ride us down within the hour." All eyes briefly went to the second armored girl, Ruby hadn't known she could talk.

"We can't fight both of them, not in an open field." The modern samurai sheathed his sword. "Nevermore'll rain hell if we focus on the Deathstalker. Deathstalker'll overrun us if we focus on the Nevermore." His gloves scratched against his helmet as if he could run his fingers through his hair. The ice sphere cracked, a shining seam down the far was running short. Think Rose, there are twelve of you. Ruby bounced as she realized the solution.

"I have an idea," Yang, Blake, Weiss, Pyhrra, Jaune, Ren, and Nora all nodded in advance, they were up for anything as long as it meant not dying in an ice bubble. "Will you all help?" Four visors met each other before they all nodded at the red caped girl. They didn't have much choice but to listen to the petite scythe wielder. "Alright, you all distract the Nevermore. Everybody else, get the Deathstalker."

The wall was reduced to glittering shards as eight huntsmen-in-training fired their assorted weapons. Ruby launched herself in the air and fired twice at the Deathstalker, the rounds ricocheting off the thick plating of the overgrown scorpion. To her surprise she did not begin falling back to the ground, a white glyph glowed beneath her braced feet. She gave Weiss a thumbs up before firing again, Yang and Blake joining in the distraction as Jaune rallied the others to rush the Grimm.

Stormflower hummed as Nora launched Ren above the rushing Grimm, his rounds drew its attention as Nora fired off a grenade to weaken its stinger. Jaune and Pyrrha kept the claws back with their shields, easily weaving in and out of the pincers' jabs. Flames rolled over the Deathstalker's carapace with each of Yang's punches, Blake kept the tail away from their closer allies by batting it with her cleaver. A small crack was weathered into the face of the Grimm as the combined assault overwhelmed it. The Deathstalker hissed and tried to back away, a jut of ice kept it from escaping. Yang slammed both fists down on the scorpion, several of its eyes popped from the heat.

"Move," Jaune and the others immediately fell back from the dazed Grimm at Ruby's call, "Blake, swing me." The cat faunus did not hesitate to launch her kama towards the elevated girl, the elastic ribbon connecting it to her wrist stretched taut.

Ruby grabbed onto the bladed pistol, her aura keeping it from splitting her palm. Blake swung her down from the platform, allowing her to gain even more momentum as she activated her semblance and neared Yang. Blake released her and the brawler took her sister's hand. A spin and Yang was throwing her to Weiss. Ruby flipped in midair, aligning her feet with the black glyph at the end of her partner's rapier. Her body tingled with pent up energy as Weiss focused to shift the enhanced time dilation glyph to a repulsion glyph.

"Don't miss," was her only advice before releasing Ruby.

With a cry she switched Crescent Rose to its alternate bladed form, the blade curving up like a halberd, and drove it into the cracked face of the Deathstalker. In its overheated and beaten down state it had no chance to move or plunge its stinger through the student. The beast jerked twice before going still, viscous black sludge seeping from the seams of its armor. One down, one to go. Ruby stayed back a bit as the others rushed to help the armored four, the lunge had taken a lot of of her. Still, she turned to watch the fight.

To most it would have looked like the soldiers were struggling and if she had still been fighting the Deathstalker, Ruby would have thought the same. Watching the others rush to the quartet's aid however, she could see they were holding back. Sure, they were fighting hard but seemed too slow. It was like they were exhausted or overthinking all their moves. Looking closely she saw only the sword wielder had a custom weapon, the others held mass produced rifles with halberd heads welded to the ends. There was something wrong with the way they fought to, their moves fit a bit too well together; they moved in well worn patterns unlike the impromptu formations Ruby and her new friends had fallen into.

Can you trust them? Wait, where did that come from? Ruby shook away the odd thoughts, maybe she was more tired than she thought. That had to be it she decided, that was why she was thinking like that. Really it was funny, why would the armored students hold back? She jogged to the other side of the field to help, the sooner they took down the Nevermore the sooner she could rest.

"Three prospects have died, it isn't even dark yet." Ozpin slowly nodded to his subordinate. Goodwitch frowned. "Are you still watching the transfers? Why did you even make them go through the initiation?"

"All students must go through initiation. Whether they are meant to attended class or not, they must complete the initiation." Ozpin watched the transferred soldiers work with their eight allies to dismantle the Nevermore.

"You still haven't told me where they are from." Goodwitch tapped the edge of his desk, he glanced away as Rose and the lead specialist, Carmine Slate, flew towards the beast together, sword and scythe curving through the bird's feathers to its thin hide. He did not plan to tell her where the soldiers were from and she could tell. He met her eyes then returned to watching the fight. It was rather entertaining. He hadn't seen such so many skilled groups in one year since teams STRQ, BLNK, and WTRR nearly two decades before. He supposed only CFVY had shown as much raw talent as the three proto teams their first year. CFVY had grown into a fine team too if Ozpin said so himself, as second years they were capable of taking on third and some fourth year assignments. Though, he supposed the specialists' team was cheating a bit; what were a couple old Grimm when they had assassinated rogue huntsmen?

As the Nevermore fell from the sky, decapitated by the dual strike, Ozpin allowed a grin to play at his lips. It grew as he switched cameras and saw Jaune leading the others to establish a perimeter around their panting allies. Yes, those three would make fine leaders. Finer tools.

As night settled over the Emerald Forest the dozen prospects settled into a cave, a meager three miles from the cliff face. Personally, Carmine felt they could make it over before the morning but it wasn't his decision. Command had very clear on what behavior was and was not appropriate, outsing themselves as elite operatives in the first twenty four hours was not a serious violation but one Carmine hoped to avoid. The more like the students he and his squad appeared, the easier it would be to observe them; that was working off the worst case, being forced to go to class with the huntsmen in training. Ozpin wasn't likely to do that though, it would interfere with the operation. At least he hoped that was the case, this exercise was quite annoying. His hand hovered over the hilt of his dust katana nonetheless, they were still in Grimm territory and Carmine had first watch. He settled a few dozen feet from the mouth of the cave, tucked between a few overgrown bushes.

His hands briefly pressed into the jawline of his helmet before he withdrew them. Why allow the students to see his face when he did not plan to be a part of their classes? Instead he curled his legs under himself and drew his sword, leaving the dust carved blades in the sheathe. Red, violet, blue, and yellow light splayed from the wide steel case, each representing a different blade for the sword. Three empty sections stood out in the bright display. In the dark of the forest they were the only lights for him to see by, the thick canopy absorbing whatever moonlight filtered through the clouds. He took a sharpening block from his belt and began cleaning the base blade of his sword. Spark danced along the black iron as Carmine reflected on the day.

The Grimm had been a nuisance, though the fact that a fifteen year old had come up with the solution annoyed him more. Divide and conquer, a tactic older than dirt. In hindsight it was obvious to all of them, still Carmine was willing to argue that sprinting several miles with a massive Grimm on his tail was reason enough to forgo commonsense. That and his entire squad struggling to keep their skill hidden. None of them had slept for a minimum of twenty hours or eaten that day, that was the best way to put on their performance. It was also why the other three had mass produced rifles rather than their custom tools, if they had been properly equipped the Nevermore wouldn't have lasted ten minutes. The Atlesian also had to give Little Red props for getting them through it, without her he doubted his team would have survived the day. They had overcompensated in hiding their skills, there had been more near misses than planned and they had taken too many glancing blows. The students really had helped them out. On the other hand it had been two of the students that led his squad to the Nevermore in the first place. Teenage girls or not, who marched through a Grimm infested forest squealing and yelling? That fiasco didn't even compare the adventure landing after being launched off a cliff had been, how had he forgotten his parachute the one time he really needed it? What kind of headmaster, or employer, launched students, or assassins, off a cliff for a little bauble?

It all worked out in the end. Sparks jumped as he ran the block down his blade again.

Carmine grinned to himself as his thoughts drifted to Little Red and all their fire-forged allies. They were certainly more interesting than the people at the compound. They were also far more annoying, he didn't have a file to learn every little detail on them, besides Champion Nikos of course. Without any intel they would be very hard to manipulate. No, Carmine and his squad would have to get to know them the old fashioned way. Talking, and careful study which most outside of his profession would label stalking. Carmine shook his head, this would not be an easy assignment. It would still be easier than the last, it was less likely all of his subordinates would die at any rate. At least if anything happens, Command can't demote me anymore. Carmine chuckled to himself; if he failed this operation, getting another squad would be the least of his worries.

Snap. A twig had the soldier levelling his sword with the disruptor's throat.

"Ah...I-I just wanted to check up on you" Little Red had raised both of her hands, which twitched in a way most would assume meant fear. Carmine knew she was looking for a way to get her scythe. He smiled behind his helmet.

"Force of habit." He sheathed the sword and returned the block to his bandolier. It seemed it was time to learn who his allies were. If Tera's report was true, they always were, Red was as good a choice as any to start with. If she proved to be a threat, it would be simple enough to embarrass her into leaving him alone. For now he would let her stay. Red didn't take her eyes off the sheathed sword as she sat a few feet behind him. Carmine couldn't tell if it was apprehension or curiosity that glittered in her eyes.

"So...do you have a name? Everyone else told us theirs, well everyone but your masked friends." Small hands twisted black and red hair into a loose braid as their owner attempted to ask for Carmine's name. He cocked his head slightly to the side, smiling behind the mask. How had such a sheepish little girl fought so fiercely? Was she playing him?

"Yes Red, we all have names. I'm Carmine. Carmine Slate." the odd girl smiled wide and extended her hand. No, her smile was genuine. The specialist smiled too, the naive and innocent were so much fun.

"Ruby Rose, nice to meet you." Carmine stared at her hand for a moment.

He took it into his own, dwarfing the delicate hand with his steel weave glove.

"It'll be an interesting few years with our little groups won't it?" Ruby nodded frantically.

This'll be easier than I thought.

"As the first six pairs to return from the Emerald Forest, you twelve will be sorted first." Ozpin motioned for them all to come up to the stage together. They stood shoulder to shoulder, backs ramrod straight. The armor clads on the far left, followed by Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora, with Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and Blake taking up the right end of the stage. The collected students and teachers on the audience waited with bated breath as Ozpin began to read off the teams.

"For collecting the pair of white knights: Yang Xiao Long, Blake Belldonna, Weiss Schnee, and leader Ruby Rose, are hereby known as Team RWBY." They shuffled off of the stage, Yang ruffling Ruby's hair as Weiss attempted to hide a sneer. Ozpin waited for the crowd to call before moving onto the next team.

"For collecting the black rook pair: Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Nora Valkeryie, and leader Jaune Arc, will hereby be known as Team JNPR." Jaune was white as a ghost as Pyrrha practically carried him off the stage, Ren and Nora both stifled their giggles until they were safely in the crowd.

"Finally, for collecting the grey king pair: Esme Evergreen, Tera Toupe, Eurig Leone, and Specialist Carmine Slate will hereby be known as Team SLTE." There was some confusion in the crowd over the odd change in Carmine's title and single grey pair of chess pieces, but they clapped nonetheless. None of the newly grouped students really noticed either, or at least acted like they didn't. They were all officially Beacon students. They had passed the first step. Would the second be as simple?