"Well, this takes me back. How long has it been since we last had that sleepover at uncle Ivan's?"

"About… wow, thirteen years now. We were celebrating me learning how to use 'Bolt' and uncle Felix and aunt Sheba had just come back from a trip to Naribwe. Uncle Garet and Sheba got into a cooking competition and wound up burning dinner to cinders."

"Oh yeeaahhh… Mom and uncle Felix wound up having to make something quick while your dad laid into the two for almost burning the table to ash too. My dad and grandma were just laughing at the whole thing."

"Man, you two are sounding like old fogeys, you know that?"

"Oh shut up, Tyrell."

After Headmaster Ozpin's bizarrely lackluster welcoming speech, Professor Goodwitch had instructed all the prospective students to gather in the ballroom, which had been arranged as a temporary sleeping quarter. The mish-mashed family changed into their sleeping clothes and immediately closed in on each other in one large group to watch the low chaos of exhausted wannabe Huntsman claiming their spaces.

"So, what do you guys think of them?"

The group turns towards Rief upon hearing his question. "Who, the other hopeful students? Well, a fair amount of them do have promise, but given Beacon's reputation I feel most of them simply won't make the cut."

"Oooh, that's a bit harsh, don't you think Amiti?"

"Well you asked for my thoughts."

Before the two blue-haired cousins could continue bantering, Karis interjects, "Speaking of thoughts, what should we do about teams? Most huntsman teams have four people, and since Eoleo chose to work as a blacksmith instead we're just seven here."

"Hmmm, that is an issue. Best-case scenario only one of us has to partner with someone outside our 'family', but that's not a guarantee depending on how they form teams here. Nor is it certain we can trust whoever else we might end up with."

"Well, hopefully whoever we wind up with is someone like Ruby. Speaking of, anybody seen her or Yang anywhere?"

Rief points over to one of the pillars by the eastern walls. "They're over there, Tyrell. It looks like they're trying to make friends with those two ladies."

"Oh! I recognize them! They walked up and told off that Weiss brat the first time we met her. I think the one with freckles is named Ilia. Not sure what the other one's name is and what in the flying fuck is Jaune wearing?"

"…Something far more suited to kids a third his age. Although I have to admit it takes some serious chutzpah to wear that here."

"Or a serious lack of fashion and self-awareness, at least."

The rest of the night passes in a similar vein, with the adoptive family making idle observations and banter until they could no longer keep their eyes open.

The morning after sees the newest huntsman trainees in a collection of locker rooms around the campus, with one half of a particular pair causing a ruckus with a never-ending stream of babble.

Said babbler is a young and somewhat short fair-skinned woman with short, wavy orange hair and jade-green eyes. Her choice of outfit is a white sleeveless t-shirt with a heart-shaped cutout over her breasts under a black collared vest accented with blue and red, and pair of white detached sleeves ending in rose-pink fingerless gloves with a matching pink skirt. A pair of white ankle boots with pink soles and inner lining, a silver armor piece wrapping around her waist, lower torso and the back of her neck and an emblem of a hammer pierced by a lightning bolt on the back of her vest finishes her ensemble.

Serenely tolerating her motormouthing is a pale young man with long black hair done in a low ponytail with a magenta streak along the left side, matching his eyes. His fashion sense consists of a black shirt underneath a dark lily-pad green tailcoat with black-and-gold trim, pink cuffs and red lining on the inside, light-sand pants and onyx shoes. Attached to his waste is a large sickle-bladed dagger in a green sheath. His current focus is on cleaning his main choice of weapons, a pair of grass-green automatic pistols with sickle blades underneath the barrels.

"…-ow do you think we can rig the teams to match us up? Can we bribe the headmaster? No, he's got a school already, we can't beat that. A signal? What kind, a distress, a warning, an animal cry? Ooh, yes, animal cry! And oh! I know the perfect one too! A Sloth! Sloths always live in forests, but nobody ever expects to hear them, it'll be perfect! Ren, can you imitate a sloth!?"

With the patience of deified saints, the-now-named Ren turns a calm gaze to his hypercharged partner, opens his mouth, and goes "mwaa-aaan."

"…I'm not sure that's the right sound, Ren."

"I'm not sure sloths make a lot of noise either, Nora."

"…Touché…"

On the other side of the locker room, Ruby and Yang are having their own vigorous discussion on team formation.

"…but whyyyy~?"

"Seriously, Rubes. You can't just cling to me, Dad and uncle Qrow forever. Himi and Tyrell are a good start, but you're really gonna need to have friends of your own to grow up."

"Wha-that's dumb! I don't need help growing up! I. Drink. Milk!"

"And Uncle Qrow drinks booze and he still gets grounded by Dad."

"W-well… that-that's different!"

Yang at this point sighs, bends down and lays her hands on her sister's shoulders. "Listen, Ruby. I am not abandoning you here. I will always, always have your back no matter what Hell may come. But if you want to grow strong and be the most bad-ass huntress like Mom, you can't rely on me for everything. I don't have the answers to everything, the way I approach things won't always work for you, and we both already know there are things that you and I can do that the other just can't. Besides, Dad and Qrow did say how even they have to work with someone they don't know at all sometimes, and if you don't learn to build at least some trust with a stranger while you're here, it's going to be much, much harder than it needs to be when it's your turn."

The red-clad sister just looks down at this with tears in her eyes. "…I know. I know you're right. It's just… it's scary to talk to strangers sometimes, and you just make it look so easy."

"Trust me Rubes, it's not quite as easy as you think. Sometimes you just don't 'click' with someone for whatever reason, or they're just not worth the effort. But on the flip-side, the harder you try to be friends with someone who is worth it, the better your friendship will be if you make it work. And both you and your friend will be all the better for it."

"That was beautifully said!"

"EEEP!"

Caught off guard by the intrusion on their heart-to-heart, the sisters whirl to the right to see a beautiful stranger. Said stranger being a tall fair-skinned and toned woman with vivid green eyes and vibrant red hair held in a waist-long ponytail. Her choice of clothing consists of a brown leather and bronze overbust corset with a tan strip down the middle, an elastic black a-line skirt, chocolate opera gloves, leather-and-bronze high-heeled boots reaching up to her calves, elaborate bronze greaves and cuisses and a bronze bracer on her left arm. For accessories she wears a light-brown circlet adorned with a pair of small teardrop emeralds, a bronze gorget around her neck and matching bracelet along her upper-left arm, a leather belt with a pair of pouches on the left hip under red sash over a bronze plate adorned with an emblem of a spear over a circular shield. Behind her is Jaune inspecting the number plates on the lockers, presumably looking for his assigned one.

Seeing the two's reaction causes the spartan amazon to gasp and clasp her hands in apology. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry! I was trying to help Jaune here find his locker and couldn't help but overhear. I didn't mean to intrude!"

Yang simply waves it off. "Ehh, no harm done, so don't worry about it. The name's Yang Xiao Long, and this is my sister Ruby Rose. What's yours?"

"Oh, my name is Pyrrha Nikos. It's a pleasure to meet you both!"

"Wait… I know you! You're on the cover of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes!"

Pyrrha couldn't help but momentarily cringe upon hearing Ruby's recognition, only to blink owlishly at why. "O-oh… well, yes, I was given an offer to model as a mascot for them, and the funding was a nice bonus. Although the cereal itself isn't all that, good, sadly."

"Awww, really?!"

"You just run way too much for the obnoxious sugar content to really settle, Rubes."

"Found it! Six-twenty-five! Thanks, Pyrrha! Oh, hi Ruby!"

Just as the blonde wannabe-knight expresses his thanks, a crackle from the intercom catches everyone's ears. "Attention all first year students: please head towards the cliffside overlooking the Emerald Forest, where initiation is set to begin in 30 minutes."

"Oh, crap! We gotta hurry!"

Following a mad scramble from the locker rooms, the first-year hopefuls assemble alongside the cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest, each standing on a large metal plate on the ground. Headmaster Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch walk down the line, a steaming mug of chocolate and an open scroll in their respective hands as they take stock. Stopping at the end, the headmaster addresses their audience, "For years you have trained to become warriors, and today we will be evaluating your abilities here in the Emerald Forest."

As he pauses to take a sip with everyone's attention on him, Glynda continues the address, "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about team assignments before now. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given a team today."

"Your partner, and by extension your team, will be an important facet of your time here, as you will spend the next four years fostering bonds of trust as you all learn, fight and live together. With that said, the first person you make eye-contact with will be your assigned partner."

"What!?"

Ignoring Ruby's, Tyrell's and Karis's outbursts, the two head faculty continue on, "Now, located within the forest is a temple with a collection of 'relics'. Your mission is to find and retrieve a relic and return here before the end of the day."

"Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path… or you will die."

A beat after that dire proclamation, Jaune raises a hand. "Um… how will we be getting down to the forest? Are we going in by dropship?"

"No. You will be falling."

Only three seconds pass for the students to ponder that sentence before the launch pad at the far end of the cliff activated, launching a young brown-haired man in a mix of plate mail and leather over the cliff. Another three seconds pass for everyone to comprehend the situation before another launchpad in a random part of the line activates, sending Rief airborne with a yelp.

"OH. Ooohhh… oh boy. Um, would, you have happened to pass out any parachutes before this?"

"No. You will be using your own landing strategy."

Yang puts on a set of goggles and gives Ruby a wink before her pad triggers, while Sveta and Matthew give each other a quick hand squeeze before the wife of the duo flies.

"Ah. Right. Ha, haha… haaa. Would you have any tips for a landing strategyyYEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeee-….!"

A few beats after the last student is launched, Glynda turns to her superior.

"You take entirely far too much pleasure from this sort of thing."

"I am well aware of that, Glynda."

Other than college and life being wacky and tiring at times, part of why it takes me so long to write for this is that I've also been working on drawing and writing up a collection of original characters and a world setting for them. If you're curious, (and 18 or older), look up 'Ascertabus' on Newgrounds and F-Affinity.

Also, this story now has more chapters than one half of the crossover has in entries! |:,-D