Chapter 2: Second Move

"This is such a waste of time… I need to see them in the field," Yang grumbled, flicking another pebble into the throng of students. There were well over a hundred of them. Just like the one before it, it hit her target lightly on the shoulder, making him look around in confusion. "Annnnnd, you're dead. Lucky for you Grimm are mainly short ranged."

She was currently sitting on a ledge outside a third story window, just outside the view of the main walkway to the entrance of the school. This way no one could see her unless they looked directly up as they passed through the gates. One or two students saw her, but were quickly back to looking around at the campus. She remembered being just as wide eyed when she first got here too. Signal didn't have a dime on this place.

One student however suddenly caught her eye as she came into view. Clad in black and white with what looked like a bow on her head, the girl below had something the others around her simply didn't. It wasn't obvious, like a massive weapon or anything equally out there, but simply in the way she moved. After two years of being in the field, Yang could see it instantly.

This girl had been in a real fight for her life. Many of them.

Oh sure, there were definitely other students that gave the impression of being more experienced than the others, but none of them quite moved with her fluidity. Snatching up another pebble from her pile, Yang launched it at the girl, far faster than she had the other two. The girl suddenly leaned back, letting the pebble pass harmlessly by her face, and looking in the direction it came from to only find an open window.

Yang was sitting on the floor beneath the window, grinning as she scrolled through the large list of files she had on all the incoming freshmen. She found her target pretty quickly.

"Blake Belladonna," she read to herself. "No mistaking that bow. No previous battle school either, but above average scores on the practical entrance exam." She closed her scroll, tucking it away with a smile. "Well, why not?"

x~x

Who threw that rock?

Blake had been constantly asking herself this over the past few minutes, eyes wandering about at the students around her. It couldn't have been any of the new ones, as it had come from a school building. Had one of the students of the school already discovered her secret? But that was impossible. Adam had told her time and time again that her bow perfectly concealed her nature as a Faunus, and while he was many things, a liar he was not.

There was nothing for it. Perhaps she'd eventually find out, but there were more important things to concern herself with now. Like her future.

The clearing of a throat brought sudden silence to the crowd of students. Glynda Goodwitch was standing at the side of who was likely Headmaster Ozpin. He stared at them all in silence for a moment before speaking.

"I'll… keep this brief. You have traveled here today in the search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." He paused, frowning. "But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy. A need of purpose. Direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this... but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far." And now he smiled. A thin, but encouraging one. "It is up to you, to take the first step."

With that he turned, favoring his cane as he walked off the stage and out of the room. Professor Goodwitch remained, taking her position behind the mic.

"Following the conclusion of this assembly, you will be guided to the ballroom. Dinner will be provided there, as well as sleeping bags. No student is allowed within Beacon's main facilities without completing their initiation, which will begin tomorrow morning. Be ready." She let her gaze sweep over them all once. "You are dismissed."

Blake let the crowd around her thin before moving. A nice book wouldn't be so bad right about now.

Xx~~xX

"Well, at least some of the students here aren't totally hopeless."

"I don't know if I'd quite put it like that…"

"Please, Pyrrah, there's no need to defend someone who's beneath your skill."

"Ah, I suppose but…" Pyrrah drifted off with a fond look at the hapless Jaune Arc, self proclaimed man of the century. Weiss just rolled her eyes. Dust save her from weirdos, even extremely talented ones. The entire locker room was absolutely filled with them. At least Pyrrah was polite about everything.

"Attention all first year students. Please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation. Once again, first year students report to Beacon Cliff for initiation. Second year and higher are restricted to local activities only."

"Guess this is it," said Jaune, giving both herself and Pyrrah a winning smile. Oh who was she kidding, he was looking right at her, white teeth glinting. "I'll see you in the forest, Partner."

Weiss just groaned. "Someone make it end…"

And quite suddenly there was an immense red scythe in between her and Jaune. They both jumped back slightly, the latter falling onto his behind with a yelp.

"You're bothering her."

The voice, and scythe, belonged to a short girl wearing black and red. Her silver eyes were rather intense, giving her an intimidating look. The scythe retracted, folding into a more manageable shape before being holstered on her lower back.

"Uh, thanks, but aren't you a little young to be here?" asked Weiss. Indeed, with her round face and cute appearance the girl looked closer to fourteen than seventeen.

"It's bad manners to be late," the girl replied, walking past them. Silence followed her as she left until the sound of Weiss palming her face filled the room.

"I am seriously completely surrounded by weirdos."

Xx~~xX

There's a steady wind coming up from the forest.

The moment Ruby arrived at the cliff she saw Yang standing near the Headmaster and his assistant, waving her to come over.

Smells like blood.

"Ruby! It's awesome to have you here!" Yang sang, clearly thrilled. She wrapped her sister up in a crushing hug, lifting her a good foot off the ground. "How's Dad?"

"He still gives me advice all the time," she replied, a certain amount of tiredness seeping into her voice.

"Ah, that bad huh?" said Yang with a feeble chuckle. "Well, whatever keeps him happy I guess. Qrow?"

"Uncle Qrow is well. He wants us to get along."

"And promised to whip us into shape if we don't right?" Ruby nodded making Yang chuckle again. Suddenly she knocked her knuckles against her forehead. "Totally forgot. Professor Ozpin, this is Ruby."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Rose," he said holding out his hand for her to shake. She took it for a moment before releasing, eyes moving from his face to his cane. It was an interesting weapon of choice.

Bladed whip cane. No secondary functions.

"You look pretty strong," she said. "Have you always used that?"

Ozpin actually looked surprised out of his usual calm, evident by his raised eyebrows. "You can tell what this is?" he asked, clearly interested.

Ruby just nodded.

"Interesting. To answer your question, no, but it can be useful from time to time. It is rather unassuming to most, after all."

"I see…"

"Ruby's always been a bit weapon crazy," said Yang with a laugh. "She helped me fine tune Ember Celica before I left Signal."

"It needs it again," she added, examining the gold polished metal around Yang's wrists. A highly stylized pair of bracelets to anyone who didn't know any better.

"Sure. You know it about as well as I do."

"I'm sure you both have a lot of catching up to do," Glynda interjected before the conversation could go and farther, "but the initiation is going to start shortly. Please take a plate and stand ready."

"Ah, but before you go…"

Ruby turned in time to catch the object that the Headmaster had tossed to her. The cane.

"I'd like for you to use it during the test. Please show us what you can do."

"Understood." And with that she began to make her way to an open plate that the other students were clearly standing on.

"Uhh, she doesn't need to stand somewhere in particular?" Yang said after a second, her voice hushed. To Ruby's sharp ears though her words were clear.

"Not necessary, it's all controlled from here," said Ozpin.

"Well then in that case…"

At this point Ruby stopped listening, instead focusing on the students that were passing her by on their way to empty plates. They continued on for quite a ways. Pretty soon she'd be in the forest. Back in a place where she belonged. A place to track. A place to hunt.

Xx~~xX

"WAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

"Man, I really hope someone catches him," grimaced Yang as she relaxedly proceeded to freefall to her apparent death. "Whatever, I've got a bow girl to find."

With the ease of long practice, the blonde channeled her Aura through her body, reinforcing it to such a point that when she finally hit the ground it cratered the immediate area, causing the ground to shake slightly. If there was one thing Yang loved, it was making an entrance.

It only took a minute of wandering for her to hear sounds of fighting. If Ozpin had done as she asked, Blake would have been launched into this area as well, which was quite a bit more dangerous than the majority of the starting areas for the students, and peeking out of the brush told Yang everything that she needed to know.

Firstly, it was Blake who was fighting a number of large Beowolves. Secondly, she was almost done with the small pack. And thirdly, she could seriously move. The girl flowed around her enemies like a leaf on a breeze, frequently spinning as she slashed at them with her bladed weapon. From here it looked like a boxy shortsword.

Just as she killed the last one, Yang flicked a pebble at her, smirking when this time the girl actually caught it, turning to her hiding place with a scowl, weapon forwards.

"Show yourself!"

Shrugging, Yang stood, giving the girl a wave and a greeting. "Yo."

Blake regarded her with a frown, weapon only half lowered from her fighting earlier. "You aren't a first year. I'd remember that hair. Who are you and what do you want with me?"

"Uh," Yang stalled out for a bit at the hostile way she was being spoken to. Maybe the whole testing bit wasn't the best idea. "Well, I'm a third year actually. And I'm here because I'm going through initiation again. Anything else?"

"You're a third year?"

Blake suddenly flinched as Yang dashed directly in front of her, her fist laying the smallest of taps on the girl's bit of exposed belly.

"Trust me, I'm not here because I'm weak," said Yang with a grin, now taking a step back. She didn't want to intimidate the girl, just show her she could beat the crap out of her without trying.

Wait, that didn't really make sense either.

"Anyway, this led to that and here I am. Here's to a good four years." And with that she turned in the direction she knew the relic location was. "You coming?"

"Um, yes…"

"Oh, it's Yang."

"...Blake. Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

"Sure, fire away."

Xx~~xX

"Ugh, I can't believe I ended up with the child…"

Weiss was currently having a pretty bad day. Well, subjectively so, but that was all that mattered to her at any rate. She'd been very cautious the moment she landed, taking extra care to look into a clearing in case someone was there, and hiding whenever she heard someone approach. It had saved her from becoming partners with some… less than desirable people, not to mention that Jaune character, stuck in a tree. But when she'd heard the unmistakable sounds of slaughter coming from a clearing, she was sure that it was Pyrrah, carving out her future into some Grimm.

Well, she'd at least been half right. The girl was carving into some Grimm. What she hadn't expected was that person to actually be the young looking girl from earlier with the scythe… said girl fighting upwards of twenty Grimm, fluidly dancing about them and swinging… a whip?

A glint of light caught on the whip. In the rare moment the whip wasn't moving too fast to see, Weiss could make out that the whip was actually comprised of a great number of blades. Clearly deadly, from what she was seeing.

Of course, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that before she could retreat, the girl suddenly appeared out of air directly behind her, poised to attack, their eyes locking. She hadn't however, merely returning to the fight in the clearing, taking care of the last few Grimm and leaving behind nothing but a handful of what looked like… rose petals?

So they'd become partners, but at least she was alive. Again, a subjectively bad day.

"Well, at least she's clearly capable," Weiss muttered, now pushing through the brush into the clearing. She almost immediately came up short, shocked by the sight before her.

It wasn't the dead Grimm, whose dismembered corpses covered the ground like a dark carpet, but more the young girl herself who stood in the middle of it all, covered in blood. Even against all the red her silver eyes stood out, watching the girl in white steadily.

"There's no need to be afraid."

The simple statement actually caught Weiss off guard. Enough so that it snapped her out of her shock.

"Who's afraid?" she snapped defiantly. Unnerved? Yes. Disgusted? More than a little. But afraid?

Never.

Fear had no place in her heart. Not while she ruled it.

At this the girl actually smiled. Stepping over the remains of her victims she moved so that she was directly in front of Weiss and held out her hand.

"Ruby Rose."

Weiss just stared at the hand unblinkingly until Ruby looked down as well. It was practically pure red.

"Oh, sorry. It'll go away after a little while, they were pretty young." Indeed, already some of the red splotches on her face had vanished with the Grimm it had come from.

"It's... " Weiss just let out a sigh. "Whatever. My name is Weiss Schnee." She saw a flash of recognition cross Ruby's expression. "Yes, that Schnee."

"Nice to meet you," Ruby replied. "Ah!" The blood on her hand had disappeared. At once she held the hand out once more.

Repressing the urge to roll her eyes, Weiss took it and pumped it up and down twice.

"Now, listen up," she began, using the miniscule height she had over the scythe wielder to try and give her a more imposing look. Considering what had just happened to the Grimm she doubted it really did much. "While it may not be perfect, we're partners now. For the next four years we'll become two people who can rely on one another for support, on and off the battlefield. Sisters in everything but blood!" Weiss paused for a second, hands on her hips, and locked eyes with her new partner. "To that end, there are some things that need to be said first. Ground rules, if you would."

"Ah, really?" Ruby was looking at her in a mixture of confusion and curiosity, though if you studied hard enough you could probably see the enthusiasm under it all.

"Yes! Rule number one: Don't cover yourself in blood!"

"But-"

"No buts! We are ladies and-" she paused for a second, coming down from her high energy rant. "How old are you anyway?"

"Fifteen."

"Fifteen?" So she actually wasn't her age. "How are you even here?"

"I graduated from Signal early."

"Really?" Weiss was surprised. Though she'd never attended a battle school before this one, she was more than informed on what they were like and how they operated. Students rarely, if ever, left the schools until they were the right age. Simply having advanced skills would just end up getting more personalized attention for the duration. Sometimes they even stayed an extra year.

Point being, people didn't graduate battle schools early, regardless of the level.

"Anyway," Weiss continued, energy back up to full, "it's important to keep up appearances at all times, even in the field, and getting covered in blood, disappearing as it is, is unacceptable."

"Um… okay."

Did this girl actually look put out by what she'd just said?

"I- look, just don't give off the impression you're psychotic and it'll be fine, all right? Civilians look to Hunters and Huntresses for support and hope, not terror."

Ruby's shoulders just slumped more as she stared dejectedly at the ground. "Sorry."

Weiss watched the scene before her for only a few seconds before closing her eyes with a silent groan. She was so awful at this support thing, really. Winter always said that she had about as much comfort value as a tire.

Xx~~xX

"What do you mean it's a trick?"

Blake was frowning at her new partner's back, golden hair bouncing about lightly with her movements.

"Well, I guess it's not a trick," Yang corrected. "Getting a relic isn't just about passing the test, it'll also determine who ends up on your team. Two groups who pick the same relic pair end up on a team at the entrance ceremony."

"Really? That's… pretty random."

"Any more random than having your partner for the next four years be the first person you make eye contact with in this forest? They've got surveillance everywhere just to make sure no one trys to cheat their way out of that one, let alone the Professors that hide all over to make sure no one dies from something they can't handle. It could still happen though. Oh, don't bother," she added, as Blake looked around quickly. "You'd never see one. They are our teachers after all."

"Ah, good point."

Yang, for all her oddness, was a wealth of information about Beacon. Surprisingly, she hadn't been hesitant about sharing any of it. Considering the girl had been around for a couple years already, Blake had thought she'd be unwilling to share. Certainly nothing like the kind of upper year students Adam had warned her about.

She was also terrifyingly strong.

The only other person she knew that gave off that feeling was Adam, and she knew the kind of stuff he could do. Yang here didn't even look like she had a weapon on her and two miles back she'd nearly decapitated an Ursa by simply kicking it in the neck. Only after tossing the others around like toys.

"I'm curious though," Blake continued, speeding up slightly so that she was level with her partner. "They must know that you remember how this works. Couldn't you influence the test then? You know," she added as Yang gave her a curious look, "pick whoever you wanted for your team."

Yang grinned at her. "See, I knew it was a good idea to pick you," she said in satisfaction. "You're sharp. And before you tell me it was an easy conclusion, I already know that. I'm just saying you wouldn't believe the number of students who are just less than bright at first when they get started. They're all fancy weapons and no brain. It's a pain to work with them."

"Glad you don't think I'm stupid," Blake smirked. "So it's really not just a matter of you being held back for one reason or another?"

"Nope," Yang confirmed. "Professor Ozpin wanted me to look after two new students who have also been set up to land in the same area. I'm sure they'll get pushed together somehow. In any case I got to pick who the last member of the team would be so they gave me a list of all the incoming students and their transcripts. What?"

Blake was staring at the girl with her mouth forming a small O.

"It's really that planned out? You got our transcripts?" she repeated in surprise, now distinctly worried. If Yang had seen her transcript then she would know all about-

Yang rubbed her temples slightly. "You don't have any idea how boring all that stuff is, barely read any of it." Blake let out a small breath of relief. "Besides, I knew they wouldn't really tell me anything important in the end so that's why-"

"You started throwing rocks at the first years?" Blake guessed, rather amused now. So that had been the reason? It was actually rather appropriate, given what she'd learned about the older girl in the past few hours.

"Well it worked, didn't it?" Yang replied with a cheeky grin. "You were the only one who dodged it. Though I have to say..."

Blake pulled up short as Yang stopped walking, eyeing her in curiosity.

"It does make me wonder why you were so on guard earlier. It's just a school, you know?"

"New places make me edgy," Blake returned easily, picking up the pace once more. The trees were getting thinner now, bits of sky poking in around gaps in the leaves. "Speaking of new places, how much farther do we have to go? Any ideas?"

"Uhh..."

Yang frowned for a moment before bending her knees and launching herself up into the nearest tree, cracking the ground beneath her feet slightly. Seconds later she had returned deepening the footprints she'd just created.

"Pretty close actually. We've made really good time, I remember it taking ages to find this place in my first year. It was nearly dark when I got back."

"Good," Blake said, letting out a small breath. They'd only been walking for a few hours so it couldn't be any later than noon. They'd started fairly early after all. "The sooner this ends the better. I'm getting a bad feeling-"

"AHHHHHH!"

"Jaune don't stop! Keep running!"

...

"You were saying?"

"Ugh, let's go."

XxxxX

Jaune was currently having a bad day. Objectively of course. If you'd asked him how things were going he'd likely have said something about 'heroics' and 'the fate of an Arc'. Now though-

"AHHHHH! Pyrrah, kill it! Kill it!"

Yes, an objectively bad day.

"It's a Death Stalker, how am I supposed to do that?!" Pyrrah shouted back, only a few feet behind him as they ran for their lives from the giant scorpion Grimm that was out for their blood.

Suddenly the trees ended, bringing them into a wide clearing whose only remarkable landmark was a small stone monument, easily visible in the open space. What really stood out to them however was the small cluster of students that were standing there as well.

"Jaune keep going!"

Pyrrah suddenly spun, throwing her round shield forcefully before dodging to the side. The sudden change in its quarry's actions caused the Death Stalker to pull up short, digging into the ground with its legs as it slid past the girl, tail lashing out. Pyrrah dropped to the ground and rolled, narrowly dodging the glistening point of the golden stinger easily three times the size of her head. She pulled her rifle and began firing repeatedly, backpedaling all the while.

"Pyrrah!"

Jaune had also ground to a stop when he heard the commotion of the fight begin. Yes, safety was with the numbers at the monument, but he couldn't just leave her. Not when she'd already done so much for him.

Besides he had that Aura… thing.

"Damn I know I'm going to regret this…" he whined, unsheathing his sword. "All right you overgrown bug, come and-!"

BOOM!

"Woo hoo!"

Jaune's battle cry was unfortunately interrupted by a great deal of pink, coupled with an equal amount of concussive force. His eyes suddenly caught two large projectiles hurtling at the Death Stalker from the tree line. Were those grenades?

BOOM! BOOM!

"Yeah, how do you like that?!" A girly voice rang out.

"NORA!"

"Come on, Ren, let's get it!"

"No!"

"Jaune, while it's distracted!" Pyrrah said quietly, making the boy jump. He hadn't noticed her approach, too focused on the arguing pair that was now the Death Stalker's new focus.

"But your shield," he said automatically, pointing to the thing that was at the Death Stalker's angrily stomping feet. "It's…"

His words faded away as the shield rather abruptly got up and flew directly back to its owner, fastening itself on her arm.

"Are you ready to run now, Jaune?" Pyrrah asked, smiling fondly at him once more.

"Uh, yeah…" As they made good time he asked slowly. "So that was an Aura thing… right?"

"Yes, it was."

"Can you teach me how to do that?"

Pyrrah shook her head. "No, that is an ability of my own. My Semblance."

"Gazuntite."

XXXXXXX

Author's Note: Thought I'd cut it there because I'm honestly trying to keep these chapters smaller. Jumped around a lot, like I figure I'll be doing, but for the record the main focus is on RWBY. I'll probably do little jaunts like I did at the end here to the other characters, but don't expect anything long winded from any of them. Simply too many characters to juggle otherwise. And again, no idea where I'm going with this. If there's anything that you'd particularly like to be seeing let me know and I'll think about it.