Author's Note:

Hey guys, here's the third chapter of RWBY Ink. I wanted to thank Xera Stark for taking time out his life to take a look at my story and leave a wonderfully helpful review. I highly recommend reading his story, XSRA's Flame. Oh, another thing, if you're following the story, I just wanted to warn you that the frequent updating that I'm doing is only because of an initial spike of creativity. I probably won't update as often as I'm doing now. With that out of the way, enjoy!

Chapter 3

On the Fly

A beam of light shined through the windows, and directly onto Regulus' face. Groaning, he sat up rubbing his eyes. Regulus checked his watch. Five-thirty in the morning. He groaned again. Regulus hated sleeping bags with a passion. They were too constricting and too hot. His hip ached from prolonged contact with the hardwood floor. Looking over to the girls, Regulus saw that Ruby and Yang were still asleep. Ruby had curled up in her sleeping bag, and Yang laid sprawled out over her's. He chuckled at the contrast between the two siblings. Blake however, was nowhere to be seen. Sifting through his pack, Regulus grabbed his clothes and toiletries, and walked over to the bathroom to change.

"...been at Beacon for a full twenty-four hours! Not that I thought we'd get kicked out or anything, I mean, you're the perfect student and I'm... well, I'm me. But it's just crazy, you know?" A pink and white clad girl was energetically chatting away to her mellow looking companion.

Regulus gingerly tapped her on the shoulder. "Um… isn't this the guy's bathroom?"

"Hi, I'm Nora!" She spun around yelling, causing Regulus to flinch. He could swear that his heart stopped for a moment. She threw her arms up excitedly, also throwing her toothbrush and toothpaste in the air. "Whoopsie, I'm just sooo used to doing everything with Ren you know, eating pancakes, studying, eating pancakes, sleeping..."

"Nora…" The mellow boy said in a slightly tilting tone. He didn't even turn around to look at her.

"Okay," she chirped, grabbing her toothbrush and toothpaste of the air. Faster than lightning, she zoomed out of the room.

Regulus took the sink next to Ren. "Uh…hi, my name's Regulus."

The boy rinsed and spit. "Ren," he replied as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Ren was probably was used to the, in Regulus' opinion, slightly insane girl. Not that Regulus had anything against insanity. There's an extremely blurred line between insanity and genius. "Nice to meet you Regulus." Stowing away his toothbrush and toothpaste, Ren calmly walked out the door to wait for Nora.

Shrugging, Regulus took out his own toothbrush and toothpaste and began brushing his teeth. Today's initiation. I wonder what we'll have to do. Sparring matches? A written test? It probably wasn't those, that wouldn't cause the majority of initiates to drop out. What would we have to do?

Finished with brushing his teeth, Regulus changed into his combat attire. He donned black dress pants, a pristine white dress shirt, and a tuxedo vest with tailcoats. Similar to his cloak, the tuxedo vest was also embroidered with gold and silver. Looking in the mirror, Regulus flattened any stray tufts of black hair, and threw on his ever present black cloak. Perfect. If you were going to fight monsters, might as well look classy while doing it.

Making his way out of the bathroom, Regulus was met with an influx of students making their way to the bathrooms. Regulus checked his watch. Six fifteen. Looks like there is a lot of morning people here. Ugh, morning people. He weaved through the crowd of students, making his way to his sleeping bag.

When he got there, he was surprised to see that Ruby and Yang's sleeping bags were empty. He had pegged them as people who would sleep in. Oh well. Regulus packed his sleeping bag by his lonesome. At least he tried to. No matter how tightly he rolled it, it wouldn't fit in the bag. Just another reason why Regulus hated sleeping bags.

"Did you hear, apparently we're forming teams." Regulus looked up curious. All around, people were whispering to each other, the word "teams" being repeated over and over again. Teams… that would be pretty cool. It would be just like in adventure novels.

Finally successfully packing his sleeping bag, Regulus had breakfast and went to his locker.

"Hey Regulus." Ruby waved enthusiastically, beckoning him closer.

"Morning Ruby, Yang." He nodded towards the two girls, punching in the code to his locker.

Lilac eyes scanned across Regulus' attire. "Morning hot stuff," purred Yang, sending a shiver down Regulus' back, and freezing him to the spot.

"Yang, could you not." The young reaper pouted, arms akimbo. "You're making this weird."

With her eyes still fixated on Regulus, Yang put a hand over her… ample chest in mock indignation, uttering an exaggerated gasp. "Ruby, what are you insinuating?"

"I'm insinuating that you're flirting with Regulus, and it's making me very uncomfortable." Ruby glared playfully at her older sister.

Undeterred, Yang sent another sultry wink towards Regulus before finally relenting. Quickly looking away, Regulus busied himself with taking out a few essentials from his locker.

"Someone's awfully chipper this morning," commented the blonde brawler.

"Yep, no more awkward small talk or "getting-to-know-you" stuff. Today, I get to let my sweetheart do the talking." Ruby lovingly stroked her sniper scythe, sighing happily.

"Remember Ruby, hunters out in the field usually work in teams." Regulus adopted a lecturing tone, placing his left hand on his hip, and pointing his right index finger at Ruby. "If you wanna grow up, you're gonna have to meet new people and learn to work together."

Ruby swatted his hand aside. "You sound like my dad," she said, placing her beloved weapon in her locker, and mimicking Regulus' stance. "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." She placed her arms on her hips triumphantly. It took every shred of self control Regulus had to not break down laughing.

"But what about when we form teams?" Yang asked, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder.

"Um, I don't know," said Ruby, shifting around nervously. "I-I'll just be on your team or something."

"Maybe you should try being on someone else's team?" It was Yang's turn to be nervous, as she brought her mass of golden hair around her shoulder, and started messing with it.

"Yang, are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as your dear little sister?" Regulus grinned, finally getting his revenge on Yang for embarrassing him.

"What? No, of course I do." Yang responded indignantly, "I just thought... I don't know, maybe it would help her... break out of her shell."

"What the- I don't need to break out of my shell," Ruby was every bit as indignant as Yang. "That's absolutely-"

"Ridiculous!" Jaune, holding a map, walked in between the sisters, oblivious to the fact that he had just interrupted them. "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?"

Regulus' attention was drawn towards Jaune, as he walked around the locker room. Poor gu- Wait, is that Pyrrha Nikos? There was no mistaking it. There was the mistralian champion, being hounded on by the Schnee.

"So, Pyrrha, have you given any thought to whose team you'd like to be on? I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual such as yourself." Weiss' demeanor oozed of haughtiness, like she was the only one worthy of even talking to Pyrrha.

"Hmm... I'm not quite sure," Pyrrha responded politely, clutching her left elbow. "I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

"Well, I was thinking maybe we could be on a team together," Weiss suggested. No, not suggested. Demanded was a more appropriate verb. This woman.

"Well, that sounds grand." Poor girl. This was exactly the reason why Regulus had chosen to keep his identity a secret when publishing his books.

"Great." An evil smile spread across Weiss' face. His dislike for the girl was mounting higher and higher by the moment.

"You know what else is great? Me. Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you." Regulus chuckled, leaving Jaune to his antics, and holstering a gold pistol sword, and a silver pistol sword.

"Where did those come from?" asked Ruby, poking at the gold pistol sword. "I thought you said that your book was your weapon."

"My book is my weapon," Regulus cryptically replied, a mysterious grin spreading across his face.

"Oh, so you store your pistols in your book." Ruby nodded knowingly.

"Not quite." Regulus' grin spread even further as Ruby's head tilted in confusion.

Suddenly, the speakers overhead crackled to life. "Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation?" The voice on the speakers belonged to Glynda. "Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

"Well, let's go." Double checking all of his gear, Regulus made his way over to the exit with the sisters. He was greeted by the sight of Jaune pinned to a locker by a red and gold spear.

"It was nice meeting you," called Pyrrha apologetically as she grabbed her spear, freeing Jaune.

He slumped against the locker. "Likewise."

"Having some trouble there, lady-killer?" Yang patted Jaune on the shoulder sympathetically.

"I don't understand. My dad said all women look for is confidence! Where did I go wrong?" He slumped against the locker even further.

"Maybe you were going for the wrong lady." Regulus extended his hand, helping Jaune up. Jaune only groaned in response. "Come on buddy, let's go."

Ozpin stood in front of the remaining initiates on the Beacon Cliff holding a mug of coffee in one hand, and his other hand rested on his back. His perceptive brown eyes flitted from initiate to initiate. A total of thirty two young men and women stood on the launch pads. Thirty two out of the initial two hundred twenty students accepted. He could only hope that the quality of the students made up for their quantity.

Ozpin took a sip of his beloved coffee before addressing the students. "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Regulus shifted atop his silver tile excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Clutching a tablet to her chest, Glynda stepped in to speak. "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…" She stopped for dramatic effect, flawlessly drawing the attention of every teen today. "Today."

Ruby stood petrified, each and every muscle in her body tensed up. "What? No…"

Ozpin continued speaking. "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." Ozpin paused to take a sip of coffee. Regulus swore he could see a small smirk on the enigmatic professor's lips. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"What?" screamed Ruby, adopting a indignant stance.

Regulus on the other hand crossed his hands and nodded slowly, smiling. The was a beauty to Ozpin's chaos. Like he was letting the threads of destiny tie the teams together. It was rather poetic really.

Ignoring Ruby, Ozpin continued his speech. "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. 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. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Jaune nervously raised his hand, trembling slightly. "Yeah, um, sir?"

Ozpin had a faraway look in his eyes, as if he wasn't really there. He glazed over Jaune's raised hand. "Good, now, take your positions." Each initiate, except for Jaune and Regulus crouched, taking a low stance.

"Oh Monty…" Regulus laughed nervously.

"Do you not have a landing strategy?" From her stance, Ruby turned her head to look at Regulus, surprise in her eyes.

"I do, it's called 'not getting dropped from large heights.'" Regulus mimicked Ruby's stance. "I'll just come up with something on the fly."

The first of the initiates was flung into the air from the springboard. He screamed, flailing through the air, before landing with a sickening crunch. His screams were cut short. Everyone else was too focused on preparing their landing strategy to see the unfortunate teen. What the… his aura should have protected him. The second initiate immediately stepped off the springboard before turning violently sick. The edge of the springboard tore a small gash in his calf. His aura should have absorbed that hit. What is going on? Regulus took a second look at their gear. At least half of them carried a simple weapon without a transformation like Jaune's. Did they sneak their way into Beacon?

The line of springboards advanced, launching the initiates into the air. Weiss was launched, then a boy with a fohawk, then Nora, then Ren, then an armored brute. Yang put on a pair of aviators, before being launched with a loud whoop, before Ruby was launched. Regulus heard the shifting of gears under his own launch pad, and braced himself.

Suddenly, he was flying through the air. Ten seconds. He watched the others' landing strategies, hoping to find one that would work. Weiss' involved using her semblance, which was out of the question for Regulus. Eight seconds. Nora used her massive hammer, slamming it into trees to slow her down. Also out of the question for Regulus. He didn't have a heavy weapon. Six seconds. The brute simply crashed into the forest, letting his aura absorb the impact. Viable, but not ideal. Four seconds. Ruby used the recoil from her sniper scythe to slow her down. Regulus' pistol swords didn't have too much recoil. That strategy wouldn't work. Two seconds. Ren dug his weapons into the trunk of a tree, letting him safely corkscrew around the tree, and land on the forest floor. Yes, that's it, that strategy would work.

Unholstering his weapons, Regulus transformed them into sword form, and switched to a backhand grip. Like Ren, he dug his swords into the trunk of the tree. Regulus' arms screamed in agony as he corkscrewed around the trunk, nearly popping out of their sockets. Branch, branch, BRANCH! By the time Regulus saw it, it was too late. He slammed belly first into a thick branch jutting out from the side of the trunk. Regulus groaned. What a start to initiation.

Honestly, in the show, I was a bit disappointed with how there were hundreds of people before initiation, and they just seemed to magically disappear at initiation. Also, if Jaune was able to sneak into Beacon with fake transcripts, why couldn't others do the same? Jaune also got incredibly lucky that Pyrrha decided to pin him to a tree. Ugh, continuity errors and logic, the bane of my existence. Oh, can you guys guess what Regulus' book does and the connection it has with his pistol swords before I upload the next chapter? I'll actually be really impressed if someone does, but enough with my ramblings. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!