I have to say it wasn't all that bad sleeping outside. Since I had gone on my own, sleeping outside became the norm for me since I needed to spare as much money as I can to make it last. I could have gone for some really cheap hotel rooms but I didn't bother with those conditions. Sleeping outside actually gave me some peace in my life since I didn't have anyone to really… hang out with. It was also a good call because some guys did snore occasionally and screw with people's sleep patterns.

A lot of grumpy people were walking around, using the restroom, eating breakfast and so on. I didn't really see my friends when I walked back in so chances are they all went ahead to get ready for the days events. If I remember correctly, today we are supposed to take the test that determines whether or not we stay and attend the academy. Without further ado, I went ahead and continued the simple daily rituals of getting myself ready for what was to come. Nothing major happened while I used the restroom and ate breakfast, except for maybe an orange-haired girl who talked… all… the… time.

Like seriously, when I went to brush my teeth, she was talking to some guy so much from then to who knows when. She was talking during breakfast with a pancake in her mouth… and somehow inhaled the whole thing in one bite, to some other guy in a green shirt who was just simply listening and going about his day. I don't know what it was but it kind of looked like he was… not angry or annoyed but tired I guess you could say.

Right now though, I am standing in the locker room along with my friends and some other people who are also grabbing their gear in preparation for the test. I see the same group of cocky guys from before behind me on the other side of the room with Ruby and Yang on my right getting their weapons and Weiss and what I'm pretty sure is Pyrrha Nikos here as well to my left. 'Wow this place is just getting all kinds of the prestigious people ain't it.'

"C'mon man! We got this!" A loud voice gets my attention. Glancing back, I see it's the three guys. Now that I'm closer, I get a better read of their appearances. The one talking has brown hair, a green long sleeved shirt with black pants and he seems very giddy about being here. One of the others looks a bit tense about his friend being how he is and he is slightly taller than both his friends, blonde hair, tough and beefy looking, and has some sort of brown armor on him with camo pants.

"James, do me a favor…" He closes his locker and looks at his friend with a slightly angry look. "Shut up." He then starts walking away with what looks like an axe.

"C'mon Jason, you know we got this in the bag!" James, apparently, boasts. "We've done everything we can to get here and there's no way we can fail now! Right Alex?" He walks after his friend with two knifes in his hands with the handles adding brass knuckles.

Alex meanwhile, wearing a white Jacket with tan pants, shrugs before grabbing a spear and walking after them. "I'm excited too man, but we just have to pass this test and we're golden. Although we need a fourth if I remember the rules about teams."

"Whatever, we got this." And with that, they make their way out of the locker rooms, much to my relief.

"Ehhh, I've been away from people for too long." I mutter. If that bit of conversation between them all put me somewhat on edge, I need to be more open.

"Ughhhh! You sound like Dad!" Ruby's frustrated and slightly angry tone gets my attention. "Okay, first of all: What does meeting new people have to do with fighting? And secondly: I don't need people to help me grow up! I drink milk!"

I smile at Ruby's antics and grab my weapons. 'Making progress Ethan.'

"But what about when we form teams?" Yang tells her sister.

"Um, I don't know, I... I'll just be on your team or something..." Ruby replies nervously and sheepishly.

"Maybe you should try being on someone else's team?" Yang says nervously as well while playing with her long hair.

"My dearest sister Yang, are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?" Ruby points an accusatory finger at her sister, making me smirk.

"What? No! Of course I do!" Yang tries to dismiss it but sort of fails at it. "I just thought... I don't know, maybe it would help you... break out of your shell!"

"What the-?! I don't need to 'break out of my shell'! That's absolutely—"

"Ridiculous!" Jaune interrupts Ruby's rant but also finishes as he walks past us, holding a map and looking lost as well. "There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday. I would've remembered having to count that high. Why does this have to happen today?" We stare as he moves past us and continues to try to look for the long lost locker of his.

"Huh, sucks for him." I mutter before closing the locker.

"Well, if you won't let me be a part of your team, then I'll be a part of Ethan's team!" Suddenly a red hooded girl is clutching my right arm.

"What?!"

"What happened now?" I say confused at how I'm suddenly now the center of attention.

"Yeah. If you sooooo want me to be on someone else's team, then I'll go ahead and join Ethan's team." She states firmly without my consent. "What do you say Ethan?" She asks me with a smile.

I look at her confused. "Uhhhhh…" I draw out the moan confused at being put on the spot like that but Ruby goes ahead and gives me a puppy dog stare. "Uhhhh… I would love to Ruby," She breaks out into a wide grin, "But I'm not sure if we are allowed to PICK and choose who we become partners with." And I promptly crush her spirit unfortunately.

"Ohhhh." She lets me go and groans. I must be a lucky one to have met her so casually at the airship like this because she looks really tense and scared about joining a team of complete strangers.

"C'mon Ruby. Everything will work out. I promise." Yang tries to console her young sister in her depressed state. I can sympathize with her as well. I'm not really into meeting with strangers as well and I'm lucky to have met the people I have so far here. Ruby and Yang are people I would be relieved to be in a team with, even if the others in the team are strangers. Even Jaune—

"Whaaaaooooo!"

Who is promptly skewered against a wall by his hoodie with a spear. "I'm sorry!" The owner of the spear, our Spartan regalia wearing Pyrrha Nikos apologizes to the guy. Surprised at why she threw it at him, not surprised at the accuracy. Only a renowned fighter like her could have that level of accuracy and not kill him.

"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately." Our future instructor, Glynda Goodwitch, her voice is heard over the intercom.

"Arm up! Let's get going." I yell to everyone in the room and check Razor's Revolt one last time.

"It was nice meeting you." Pyrrha says as she and wise walk past the pinned boy, in which the Spartan grabs her spear as well allowing Jaune to slump to the ground against the locker.

"Likewise…" He moans depressingly.

"Having some trouble there, lady-killer?" Yang teases as the three of us walk up to him with Ruby offering a hand to pick him up.

"I don't understand. My dad said all women look for is confidence. Where did I go wrong?" He asks in general before accepting Ruby's offered hand and uses her to lift himself back up.

"'Snow Angel' probably wasn't the best start." Yang says.

"She's prestigious man." I tell him as I wrap his left arm around my shoulders, allowing me to help him walk. "She's not used, or care to, interacting with the 'common' folk. It's never that easy my friend."

"Come on, Jaune, let's go." Ruby pats his shoulder as we start walking to Beacon Cliff with me supporting him and his damaged self-esteem.


It didn't take us long to find the cliff that we were told to find. Since we are now in the actual school itself, it wasn't that hard to find directions leading us to where we needed to go. At the cliff we saw over a dozen of these white tile things lining the edge of the cliff with the instructors Professor Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch standing in front of them towards us. Seeing as how we saw every other student there on the tiles, we took our places on them as well. There were just enough that I was the last one to fill up the last tile with Yang, Ruby, and Jaune next to me, with them in the order towards me.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin begins to start us off.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams.' Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today." Glynda tells us firmly.

"What? Ohhh…" Ruby however groans at the idea of getting put into a team so soon. I'm not really any better either, but I'm sure I can handle whatever and whoever I get.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

"Oohhhhh…" Ruby continues to groan.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"Whaaaat?!" And like a glass breaking, Ruby's entire world is shattered at the information that our chances of getting the partner we desire have drastically decreased. I'm not too fond of it either but it just means I have to be a bit more cautious and hopefully listen to the persons voice before actually meeting them. 'Hope that doesn't count against me.'

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die." Our headmaster warns us grimly. Jaune meanwhile lets out a nervous laugh at the news and gulp loudly. "You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" He finishes explaining and asks.

"Yeah, um, sir?" Jaune begins to ask with a raised hand.

"Good! Now, take you positions." Our headmaster promptly ignores him and advises us to do.

Almost as one, everyone starts getting into ready poses and stances for whatever it is we are supposed to do. The only person I am worried about though is Jaune who still has his arm raised up.

"Uh, sir? I've got, um... a question." He begins to say and then further down the line, the tile under Weiss Schnee rises up into a springboard, rocketing her into the air and over the forest. More platforms activate down the line as Jaune continues to talk. "So, this landing... strategy thing... Uh, wha-what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?" He asks oblivious of the springboards activating.

"No. You will be falling." Ozpin tells answers.

"Oh, uh, I see... So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?" He asks and amazingly, still not noticing the rapidly disappearing and launching group of students.

"Uh, Jaune?" I try to get his attention.

"No. You will be using your own 'landing strategy.'" The professor interrupts me.

"Uh-huh… yeah." He understands nervously but still confused.

Shaking my head at him, I look past him to see Yang wink to Ruby and I, then puts on a pair of aviators, "Woo-hoooooooo!" And gets launched into the sky with a happy cry followed by Ruby.

"Jaune?" I try one last time.

"So, what exactly is a landing strategYYYYYYYYY!..." My oblivious friend gets launched high into the sky, screaming all the way.

I look down at the headmaster, who promptly sips his coffee, and gives me a smile. "Good luck."

"Oh boy." I bend my knees, cross my arms across my chest and prepare myself for my journey.

Barely a second later when I get into my pose, the full weight of gravity and air hits me as I am launched high into the sky.


For most civilians and those who live normal lives, seeing a bunch of students flying through the air would come off as somewhat odd and horrifying.

But a huntsman and huntress of Beacon Academy, those thoughts aren't apparent. The new freshman of Beacon Academy are sent through the air as part of their initiation test and need to do a specific objective in order to pass.

Firstly though, they all need to make sure they don't end up as a red smear on the grass floor, or impaled on a random tree. Most of the students use their weapons explosive gun force capabilities to soften their landing and lessen their speed of descent, such as Ruby Crescent Rose, Yang's Ember Celica, and Nora's Magnhild. Others such as Ren, Weiss and Blake have to use a more agile and flexible way of landing since their weapons don't have as much concussive force.

For Ethan though and his Razor's Revolt, his means of landing isn't explosive, flashy, agile or quickly thought up on the spot. It's relatively in some regard.

As he is launched high into the air and quickly follows the rest of the students through the sky, he watches as all the other students begin descending to the ground and tries to keep track of where his friends have fallen. So far he's got three people to keep track of but unfortunately they move pretty fast. Jaune is lost pretty quickly with his somewhat dark clothing, Ruby's red hood stands out pretty well but is lost past the tree line, and Yang's freakishy large, long and yellow as the sun hair stands out as well but she moves very very fast before he can keep track of her. Grunting in annoyance, Ethan decides to go ahead and enact his own landing strategy.

Uncurling his arms outward, his chakram blades roll into his hands and with a flourish, they unfold into the giant four bladed weapons and start spinning at intense speeds. With the new force of air being pushed, his descent to the ground and in the air gradually begins to slow down. As he slows himself down, he just hangs in the air for a bit before he starts to drift downwards to the ground. At that point it's just waiting for the ground to touch his feet.

Not even a minute passes before his impromptu helicopter formation cuts through some small tree branches before he flicks the switch and lands into a crouch. "Guah!" He grunts as he hits the forest floor roughly. With a sigh he stands up, pops his neck and holsters his blades. "Well, that could have gone better."

"Thank you!"

"I'm sorry!"

Off in the distance, Jaune thanks someone and what sounds like Pyrrha apologizing. "Better for some than others." He mutters before starting to walk. "Alright then, I need to be careful and try to NOT get partnered with someone I do not want to be with. Dang it, I was so focused on looking for my friends I didn't see where everyone else landed." He crouches under a low hanging branch before pushing past some thick bushes. "I just have to keep an eye out for others first before they see me. If I can do that, I should be able to get the partner I want without having to actually lock eyesight with them. Technically that won't be against the rul—"

"Hey!"

Ethan freezes and looks around for the source of the voice. Strange thing is, it sounds like from all around him.

"Hey!"

"Hm?" Ethan grumbles as he looks around for the guy that apparently sees him but he can't see them.

"Up here!" Ethan flinches at the new info before looking up instinctively. Standing right next to a really large tree, high above it theirs a guy hanging upside from one of the branches. To Ethan's annoyance and slight horror, it's one of the guys from the locker room. More specifically, the guy called James. "Soooooo happy to see you man! Actually at this point I'm happy to see anyone. So, you think you can help me out here so we can get to know each other my future partner?" He tells Ethan with a smile.

Ethan however just stares at the helpless guy hanging from the tree. His… future partner. His head droops downward before pressing the side of his head with one of his hands. "Crap."

I am so sorry for those you who like this story. I've put this off for too long and with such a short chapter, I have no excuse and I apologize to you guys. In any case, I'm finished with my college classes for now so I don't have to worry about anything getting in the way of all my stories.

I'm sorry for delaying this for you all and hopefully I can make it up to you for future chapters and the continued development of this story. I think the reason why I'm sort of a little delaying myself in this stories development is probably because their haven't been any new episodes for RWBY but I'm gonna push myself out of that. Plus the new RWBY chibi series will be out soon and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't anticipating those new episodes. They may not be canon but man are they awesome and funny to see.

With that done, I'm still gonna get to work on the rest of my stories but hopefully I should be able to get more out for this story especially without any school classes to keep my busy.

As always everyone, have a great day, and have fun reading.