In this chapter, Ruby's going to get ready for the exam along with everyone else. In the process, we're going to see more of Team CFVY...and yes, technically they're not going to be participating in the Emerald Forest test since they're not freshmen...but yes, they'll be in this fanfic too.

Chapter 4: Preparation

Fortunately for the students that were going to take the Emerald Forest test (which admittedly shouldn't be really dangerous to them considering that they graduated from Signal Academy), the teachers at Beacon Academy had given them time to prepare for the test.

Of course, not all the students were going to prepare for the exam. Since Cardin and his friends thought that they were "perfect", they were not going to prepare for the exam.

"What a bunch of babies. They're training for the exams while we're sitting here relaxing." stated Cardin. Personally he thought that they were wasting their time. They should simply sponge off their partner, he thought.

Currently, he was drinking some soda he found in the cafeteria.

"Yeah, what a bunch of losers." said Russell. They were going to be best students in the academy, that was for certain. The rest of the Beacon students wouldn't know what would hit them...especially once they got to bullying again.

Meanwhile, Yang was punching a punching bag. It was a good thing that it couldn't punch back...despite the fact that it was, you know, a "punching bag".

Of course, considering her semblance boosted her power every time she got hit, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if it really WAS a punching bag.

"How's your training doing, sis?" asked Ruby. She got the feeling that Yang had been at it for quite some time. And yet, she didn't appear to be breaking a sweat. That was her older sister, alright.

Still, she didn't want her sister to strain herself. When they went to look for their mother all by themselves it didn't end up too well for them. Apparently they forgot all about the dangerous Grimm that lurked in the woods. Let's just say that there were forest rangers for a reason.

Yang decided to answer her sister's question.

"Pretty good. I think I'm going to ace the exam." stated Yang. Maybe if she was lucky she would end up becoming the leader of the team...though she did admit that she was more of a fighter than a leader.

Maybe being a leader wasn't her thing.

"Good...I bet you'll ace it too." said the black-haired girl.

"Mm-hmm. So how are you training?" questioned the blonde.

"I'm cutting down chaff with my scythe! It's surprisingly handy for it!" bellowed Ruby.

Curious, Yang noticed that Ruby was wearing a farmer hat.

"That's what a scythe is for..." pointed out Yang. Personally she wondered when scythes went from being used by farmers to manage their crops to being used to hunt down Grimm. Maybe the Grimms decided to take a visit to their farm one day? It could get rather frustrating working on the crops sometimes...and Grimms were attracted to emotions like that.

"Oh..." acknowledged the teenage girl. Maybe she should become a farmer one day...after she had graduated from Beacon Academy.

"So...are any of your friends training too?" questioned the blonde.

"Well, all Blake seems to be doing is reading a book...oh wait, she's reading about a book about how to kill Grimm. Go figure." stated Ruby.

Sure enough, Blake was reading a book detailing how to do just that.

"Go for the jugular...alright, just because I'm a Faunus doesn't mean that I bite my victims to death..." stated Blake.

Meanwhile, Weiss was experimenting with dust to see if she could make it more lethal to Grimm. Though the label on the dust said that mixing it wasn't such a good idea, Weiss wasn't the one to leave it to the professionals.

However, most of them exploded in her face.

"Sheesh, no wonder Ruby was sent flying..." stated Weiss. At least her aura was still intact.

Elsewhere Juane was trying to slash the training dummy...but he couldn't hit it.

"Darn it! Why won't it stay still!" exclaimed Juane. This was getting rather frustrating.

Oddly enough, the dummy in question actually WAS staying still. Apparently, Juane simply was poor at using a sword...despite his weapon of choice.

On the other hand, Pyrrha was doing rather good at it. If she kept it up, she actually might end up breaking the training dummy. Of course Miss Goodwitch could repair them...but still.

Nora currently was hitting the dummy with a hammer. Eagerly.

"If only it had legs...I would love to break them." thought Nora.

Naturally, Lie Ren was attacking the dummy carefully. He didn't want to end up accidentally hurting himself.

Speaking of which, Jaune just did.

"Ow!" exclaimed Jaune. He cut his finger. Now he had a booboo.

It was too bad his mother wasn't there at the academy to kiss it for him. That would be awesome.

Speaking of which, sometimes he felt homesick...even if he was outnumbered when it came to gender by his family four to one. Why did his father and mother have so many daughters and only one son, anyway? He wondered if perhaps they wanted a different family name.

Still, at least he was making progress. The last time he was here he had to be medivacked to the Beacon Academy hospital. It wasn't exactly fun for him...though admittedly the nurses there were rather attractive.

Speaking of training, as it turned out, some of the second years had decided to train as well, even though they did not have an upcoming test. They just liked to test out their skills even when the Grimm weren't around.

In this case, it was Team CFVY.

Currently, Coco was shooting her minigun at a wooden target, riddling it with bullet holes. For some strange reason her minigun never seemed to run out of bullets regardless of how much she fired...though she didn't really mind it. Bullets could be rather expensive.

However, she was rather disappointed that they weren't any hunters or huntresses that were interested in challenging her to a duel. Of course, she could go outside and look for Grimm...but Glynda Goodwitch preferred that she didn't do such a thing alone.

"I want a challenge..." complained Coco.

Likewise, Velvet was eating carrots. She heard that eating carrots would make her strong. That, and she thought carrots were absolutely delicious.

She wondered if she was living up to a stereotype while she was eating them...but she decided not to dwell on it.

Yatsuhashi ended up cutting down a training dummy with a single slice.

"Whoops." said Yatsuhashi. Someone was going to have to repair it later. Where did they put the glue?

Fox was...well, trying to be cunning like a fox. But he didn't feel like deceiving his friends. That would really tear their team apart.

At that very moment, Yang came in. She was looking for her sister so that she could talk to her about the upcoming initiation test.

"I wonder where my sister is..." stated Yang, looking around the room.

"Excuse me, do you know where my sister i-"

Suddenly, she noticed Coco.

"There you are!" exclaimed the blonde, feeling rather excited.

"Huh?" asked Coco, confused.

"Hmm...I didn't know that you liked to wear sunglasses indoors. And since when do you wield a minigun? Oh well." stated Yang. Maybe her sister had decided that wielding a scythe was something that was not for her.

On the other hand, her scythe was already a gun...

"Since when do I wield a minigun? I've had this thing ever since I went to Beacon Academy...and even before then!" exclaimed Coco.

"Really? You never told me about it before...and I thought you wielded a scythe." said the blonde.

"What are you talking about? And I don't wield a scythe. I'm not the Grim Reaper...though admittedly I do cut down lots of Grimm..." answered the fashionista.

"You've been carrying a scythe ever since you were at Signal Aca-"

"There you are, sis!" exclaimed Ruby.

Curious, Yang looked behind her and noticed Ruby.

"What? But you were just-"

"Wait, how did I beat myself here?" asked the huntress that was a little young to be at Beacon Academy.

Coco raised an eyebrow.

"You never told me there was a mirror here, Yatsuhashi..." stated Coco.

"There...isn't." answered Yatsuhashi. He was feeling creeped out all of a sudden.

Curious, Ruby and Coco began to examine each other.

"Are you some sort of emissary sent from the future to warn your past self not to do something stupid?" asked Ruby. That seemed like something that Weiss would do.

"I've never heard of those. Has my past self been playing with a time machine?" inquired Coco.

"Well, time would fly while I was making it." noted the brunette.

"This has become a WEIRD day." stated Yang.

"Maybe Coco found a way to make a copy of herself?" asked Yatsuhashi.

"Maybe she did...I suppose two are better than one." answered Velvet. She was worried that the clone would turn on the original though. Perhaps they wanted to be the only one of themselves.

"So...are you ready for the Emerald Forest test? I already took mine a long time ago..." stated Coco.

"I think so. Who did you get partnered with?" asked Ruby.

"I got partnered with Yatsuhashi. We've been the best of friends ever since." answered the fashionista.

"Oh. Maybe whoever I get partnered with will become the best of friends too." said Ruby.

"You sure you're not MORE than friends?" asked Yang.

"Very funny..." stated Coco, her cheeks turning red as Yang mentioned that. That was not the first time that people has asked about the relationship between the duo...and now that she thought of it it probably wasn't going to be the last.

"See you later, other me!" exclaimed Ruby as she left along with Yang.

"See you later, other...me?" questioned Coco as Ruby and Yang left.

"Whew, that was rather strange." noted the scythe wielder.

"It certainly was, sis." nodded Yang. How many students were there at the academy that looked just like her sister? She might have a hard time looking for her if there were more of them.

Now that she thought of it, she wondered if she had a double at the academy as well. It was a possibility...though she was going to take pride in her hair regardless of whether others had the same hairstyle and hair color or not. It was kind of precious to her. Maybe it reminded her of her mother?

Curious, Ruby decided to check how Jaune was doing. She was worried that somebody was bullying him again. Her sister had even kicked him through the wall after somebody put that Kick Me note on his back. It was rather frightening.

Fortunately, he was alright.

"Yes! I hit the dummy!" exclaimed Jaune. His work had paid off...even if he had several cuts and bruises for his trouble. Maybe if he got really lucky he could hit it again.

"Congratulations!" cheered Ruby. She was so proud of Juane.

"Thanks..." stated the blonde. It was a difficult accomplishment.

"Want to see me attack the dummy?" asked the brunette.

"Um, sure..." nodded Jaune.

Immediately, Ruby began to attack the dummy with her scythe.

Jaune was rather impressed with how fast she swung, to say the very least.

Of course, since he heard a rumor that her uncle was the legendary Qrow, maybe that wasn't such a big surprise. Qrow could take down thousands of Grimm without breaking a sweat. Even the elder Grimm seemed rather frightened of him. Perhaps that was part of the reason why they didn't actively attack humans.

He could probably say the exact same thing about his family name too...now nowadays his family appeared to be made of heroines instead of heroes...not that their father minded. As long as there were heroes in their family name, it didn't matter what gender they were.

"So, are you ready for the exam? I think it's going to be tomorrow..." stated Ruby.

"It's tomorrow?" asked Jaune, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Yeah...the headmaster said that he didn't want to keep us waiting for too long. Besides, it's important for us to all get teams...they really minimize the casualties in our line of work." pointed out the niece of the legendary Qrow.

"Yeah...they do..." nodded the blonde. Of course, he was starting to wonder if his potential teammates would want to keep him around. He was having trouble fighting...and he didn't want to handicap his team.

"I hope that whoever you end up being teammates with, you can get along with them well enough to work together properly..." stated Ruby.

"Yeah, me too..." nodded Jaune. Personally he was worried that he might end up being partnered with the bullies that tossed him in the dumpster. Something told him that if he shared the same room with them there was going to be...problems.

But he would cross that bridge if he came to it.

Suddenly, Ruby noticed Cardin entering the room.

"Can I help you?" asked Ruby.

"I'm here to watch Jaune train..." answered Cardin.

"It's good to see that you're enthusiastic about it..." stated the brunette.

"Actually, I think I'll have my partner do most of the actual work..." said the slacker.

"You sure about that?" questioned Ruby.

"Of course I'm sure. It will be easy." stated the bully.

"I'm not sure if your partner will appreciate that..." stated the brunette.

"Who cares?" questioned Cardin.

"Well, you're going to be working for them for the next four years..." said Ruby.

"Then I'll sponge off them for four years." answered the mace wielder.

"Um..." stated the fifteen-year-old. That seemed REALLY lazy.

Curious, she noticed that Cardin appeared to be laughing at Jaune's expense. He had injured himself with his sword again.

"Hey, that's not nice!" bellowed Ruby.

"So what?" asked Cardin.

"You should treat him with respect!" exclaimed the brunette.

"Now what fun would that be?" asked the bully.

"It would be fun for him!" bellowed Ruby.

Eventually, Cardin decided to leave. As much fun as it would be to watch Juane hurt himself, he figured that he should try bullying other students. The Faunus always seemed to be acceptable targets at the academy...even if the teachers didn't see things that way. Why did they have eyes like a hawk?

Well, technically THEY were hunters.

Suddenly, Ruby decided to ask Jaune a question.

"Why aren't you using your aura?" asked Ruby. He would have a lot easier time with the training dummy if he simply used it like everyone else. But oddly enough, he was not.

"My...aura?" questioned Jaune.

"Didn't they cover that at Signal Academy?" questioned the brunette. It was in her first day of school, in fact.

"Y-yes, of course!" exclaimed the blonde.

"If you want I could try unlocking it for you..." stated Ruby.

"Sure, why not." said Jaune. Of course, he was starting to worry if Ruby was going to figure out about his little secret.

Immediately, Ruby began to unlock Juane's aura.

It only took a few minutes.

"Done!" exclaimed Ruby.

"Already?" asked Jaune.

"Well, I am super fast..." pointed out the brunette.

"Oh yeah..." acknowledged the blonde. She could probably run through Beacon Academy in its entirety in about five minutes...though Miss Goodwitch would probably scold her for running in the halls.

Meanwhile in the Emerald Forest...

Inside the forest construction workers were setting up signs that pointed to the shrine so that none of the students got lost. If they were in the forest for too long, they would have to pull them out. Grimm did get more aggressive at night than they were in the daytime.

"You think that the students will pass the intiation test?" asked Glynda Goodwitch.

"I'm confident than they can succeed...nobody's ever failed this exam before..." answered Professor Ozpin.

"I suppose." nodded the female teacher. Perhaps she was underestimating her students.

"I just hope that they listen to the rules. I wouldn't want any trouble now!" exclaimed Professor Port.

"Neither would I. I think I'll watch the TV to see if anything happens!" bellowed Dr. Oobleck. You never know what type of Grimm would show up...though fortunately most of the Grimm in the forest were not particularly threatening to novice Hunters and Huntresses at all. It was kind of a place for newbies.

Of course, there was the rare Grimm that had lived much longer than those around it, but he was sure that they could handle them too. What was the point of life if you know, you didn't live a little?

"I just wonder whose going to be on which team..." thought Professor Ozpin.

As I said, Coco and the rest of Team CFVY would be featured in this chapter. Of course, I decided to make a joke about her appearance. Not that I don't like Coco though. Her skills at cutting down herds of Grimm are rather impressive...she even managed to take down some Nevermores and a Death Stalker without breaking a sweat. Of course, Nora managed to take down a giant King Taijutu by herself, even though technically she's a first year. It's weird.

In the next chapter, well, you probably know what's going to happen next. But in case you're not aware of what's going to happen in the next chapter...it's going to be the Emerald Forest initiation test. Isn't it awesome!

Of course, the partners probably aren't going to be what you're expecting. Heh heh.