Chapter 2: Initiation

Ruby sighed as she gazed out the window of the airship taking this year's batch of aspiring Huntsmen and Huntresses to Beacon. Everywhere she turned it seemed like someone was watching her. But was it because of her intervention in the Dust store robbery, or was it because of her eyes?

"Geez, Rubes. You look wound tighter than that old grandfather clock in the living room back at home." Ruby turned to see Yang settle in beside her. Instead of the scarf she usually wore around her neck, she wore a pendant of a yellow dragon.

Ruby's hands strayed to her hood, halting as she resisted the urge to pull it over her head. "It just feels like everyone's watching me, Yang."

"Duh, you're with me." Yang said, eliciting a laugh and playful slap from Ruby, "Seriously, though. Forget your eye color for a second. You're a badass Huntress in training who got into Beacon two years early, who also happens to be a prodigy in weapon engineering and Grimm killing. Of course people are going to stare."

"But they don't know any of that stuff yet." Ruby said, "They just-"

"The hell are you doing here, runt?"

Ruby groaned as she turned away from the window to face a blight upon all of Vale, in her opinion. Cardin Winchester. A person who could only be charitably described as unpleasant. With his father on Vale's Council and an uncle as one of the head clergy of the Church of the Silver Angel in Vale, Cardin believed himself to be untouchable, and it showed. Both in his attitude towards women and Faunus. Usually, Ruby would just ignore Cardin's bullying and retreat to one of Signal Academy's weapon labs.

That wasn't an option at the moment.

"Got in two years early." Ruby said. Cardin didn't need to know anything else, as she knew from experience that if you earned his ire, Cardin would twist anything he heard about you into the worst possible version and spread it like wildfire.

"Didn't realize that they let people skip two years of combat school 'cause of their eye color."

Ruby's eyes narrowed. Rumors or not, she had to learn how to stand her ground some time. Yang wouldn't always be there to protect her, plus it seemed like her sister was content to sit back and watch how she handled things. "Nope." Ruby admitted, "But they do let people in early for helping foil a Dust store robbery led by Roman Torchwick."

Yang snickered, "Check yourself before you wreck yourself, Winchester."

Cardin rounded on Yang, "If I wanted your opinion on something I'd ask for it, Xiao Long." He turned back to Ruby, pointedly ignoring Yang's comedic mimicking of what he was saying in a mocking caricature of a masculine voice, "Watch yourself, Rose. Your sister won't always be there forever, and when she ain't-"

Yang cracked her knuckles, "Watch it, dirtbag. Unless you think you can dance with me without winding up on your ass... wait, we all know the answer to that already!"

Cardin growled as he walked off, his attempts at intimidation a resounding failure. "What was that about, Yang?"

Yang shrugged, "In our second year at Signal, he stood up this poor girl -Ginger was her name- and proceeded to bully her so much about it that she dropped out. Nothing was done, not with daddy dearest and his holier than thou uncle protecting him."

"Wait, wasn't that around the time that you almost got nailed with that assault... oh."

Yang pantomimed wiping her nose, "Heh, got it in one, Rubes. Luckily for me, Dad and Uncle Qrow's connections in law enforcement actually like them, and got the charges quashed on a technicality. After all, I was shadowing Detective Steele with Vale PD's Organized Crime division. My whereabouts were one hundred percent accounted for."

Ruby raised an eyebrow, "Was Ginger..."

"Detective Steele's daughter? Yep. Last I heard, she got a job at the Guild hall in the Quartermaster division." Yang brushed a lock of her seemingly endless hair out of her eyes, "At least she's still involved, you know?"

Ruby nodded absent-mindedly as she stared out of the window, "Yeah. If it was me, and... I don't know, I got injured in a way Aura couldn't fix, I'd still want to help however I could."

"Oh, hey! You can see Signal from here!" Yang said.

Ruby sighed. It was about at this point that Yang would abandon her to the doom of social interaction with other people to go hang out with her own friends. "Isn't this the part where you run off to your friends?"

"First of all, it was for your own good."

"It was not!" Ruby protested, "I had to dance with Sky at the stupid graduation ball you forced me to go to, and you know what he has? Two left feet!"

Yang nudged her with her elbow, "Rubes, so do you."

"Only because you forced me into lady stilts! Not the point, the point is there were four left feet between us!" Ruby said with all the indignation available to her.

Yang laughed in the face of Ruby's wrath. "Sure. Whatever you say. My point is, that this time I'm not going to throw you to the wolves just yet. Once we get sorted into teams, all bets are off. Besides, most of my Signal friends were more like... orbiters. At least half of them gravitated towards me because I wasn't afraid to stand up to Cardin."

Over their totally real sister telepathy, Ruby understood exactly what Yang meant. She was tired of being everyone's older sister and just wanted to go back to being her older sister.

That fantasy was brutally shattered by a boy in piecemeal armor throwing up in the nearest trash can.

Yang groaned and shook a fist at an uncaring god. "Tomorrow. It starts tomorrow."

Ruby knew better.

It wouldn't have mattered how long Jaune had to train, even if he had a magical room that made a whole year be compressed into a single day. There was one aspect of the challenges he would be facing today that he never could have prepared for.

Air travel.

His nerves weren't helping either.

Of course, these thoughts were relegated to the small part of Jaune's mind that wasn't currently occupied with violently depositing the contents of his stomach into the trash can he had claimed.

Oh, he could hear people laughing. Wonderful. Really off to a great start. Absolutely perf-

Another wave of vomit derailed his train of thought.

"Hey, do you need some help?"

Jaune turned away from the trash can as much as dared to see two young women, one with black hair that ended in red tips and dressed in the same colors, and one with enough blonde hair to fit in at any Arc family gathering. "Yeah, that would be-"

What was the point of dry heaving? There was nothing left to throw up! Why did his body continue to betray him? What sin had he committed that doomed him to such cruel and unusual divine punishment?

"Here you go, buster." The blonde said, handing him a bottle of water, "Drink up, it'll help."

Jaune chanced a swallow, and was happy to find out that his stomach's rebellion had ended for the moment. "Thanks."

"No problem..." Yang trailed off, leaving an opening for him to introduce himself.

"The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it."

"Meh, Jury's still out." Yang quipped, "I'm Yang, this is my little sister Ruby."

Ruby cheerfully waved hello, "Hi, what's your weapon?"

"Ruby! We've talked about this! You can't just ask people you've just met about their weapon!" Yang said.

"There's a method to my madness, Yang!" Ruby protested, "You can tell a lot about a person by their weapon."

"It's fine, I don't mind." He pointed to the sword hanging on his hip, "This is Crocea Mors. It's an arming sword. The sheath can expand to become a shield." Under Ruby and Yang's unimpressed stares he began to fidget, "That's... that's it."

"Well, I'm just glad that some people appreciate the classics, Jaune." Ruby said.

Yang frowned, "Wait, if you just have a sword and shield, what's your landing strategy?"

"Aura and a prayer."

"That's crazy!" Yang said, feigning shock, "You'll fit right in."

Regardless of what the media reported on her, Pyrrha Nikos did have hobbies. Knitting for example.

"I wasn't going to attack you."

"You're a member of the White Fang, and I'm a Schnee. Attacking me is what you do!"

Apparently watching train wrecks was another one of her hobbies. Said train wreck was an argument between Weiss Schnee and a Faunus who... looked familiar to her but she couldn't quite place who she was. The only reason Pyrrha wasn't stepping in to stop their argument was because that would doom her to a conversation with Weiss who had been making a beeline towards her beforehand.

Pyrrha sighed. She had hoped that Beacon would've been a fresh start, but it was just more of the same.

The Faunus raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because I've been to my fair share of White Fang chapter meetings, and I'm fairly certain attack Weiss Schnee wasn't on the minutes. Would you like a copy so you can check for yourself?"

Weiss smirked triumphantly, clearly believing that her opponent wouldn't put her Lien where her mouth was. "Yes, I would."

Without breaking eye contact with Weiss, the Faunus reached into her bag and produced the agenda from the last meeting she had been to. "Here you go."

A giggle escaped Pyrrha, which quickly drew the attention of both the Faunus and Weiss. "Do you think this is funny?" Weiss hissed.

"Well, yes." Pyrrha admitted, "It's fairly obvious that... um..."

"Blake." The Faunus provided.

"Thank you." Pyrrha continued, "It's fairly obvious that Blake isn't a member of the faction of the White Fang that perpetrate terrorist attacks on your family and the SDC. And-"

"Don't make me laugh! Different factions of the White Fang?" Weiss said, "That's a myth. Propaganda. All to try to salvage their public image."

"Only to the willfully ignorant." Blake said.

Weiss whirled around to face Blake, "What did you say to me?"

"I called you ignorant." Blake said. "Because you are, standing there spouting off Atlesian propaganda. Have you ever talked to any Faunus that aren't afraid that saying the wrong thing to you will get them fired? Other than this delightful conversation, of course."

Weiss raised her finger and opened her mouth to deliver a scathing rebuttal, only for the words to die in her throat, "Well there's..."

Blake nodded. "So, I was right. You're ignorant. That's not necessarily a bad thing, Weiss. It means you still have room to grow. Now-"

"If there's multiple factions of the White Fang, why does no one in Atlas know about it?" Weiss said.

Blake allowed herself an internal cheer. She had finally broken through the first layer of denial. Pyrrha seemed to still be listening intently as well. Interesting, considering she was Mistral's golden child. "Sorry, Weiss. This doesn't work if I give you all the answers. You need to do some of the legwork yourself."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"There is no shame in admitting ignorance," Pyrrha recited, "Only in failure to correct it."

Blake blinked, she certainly hadn't expected Pyrrha Nikos of all people to have read her father's writings. "I'm surprised, Pyrrha. Not many Mistralians in your... position have read We Are One."

Weiss's eyes narrowed. No doubt Blake had dropped the title of that book for her benefit.

Pyrrha hoped that Blake hadn't caught the flash of annoyance that had crossed her face. Just what she needed, another person who thought the version of her that the media displayed was the real her. "I'm from Argus, we're a bit more free thinking there than the rest of the Kingdom."

That much was true, despite the irony. Argus was a coastal city that facilitated trade between the kingdoms of Mistral and Atlas. In fact, Atlas was largely responsible for its defense. Oddly enough, Argus was also a hotbed for free speech and free exchange of ideas, thanks to the Veritas Forum. As long as you were open minded, you were welcome to learn from the views of others and vice versa.

Weiss hesitated. This might be a good time for her to make a graceful exit. "I see. Well, we should probably make our way to the auditorium. It wouldn't do to be late." She turned on her heel and began to walk away. She was fairly certain that she was going the right way, but even if she wasn't, she couldn't afford to show weakness. Blake had caught her flat-footed enough as it was, so she had-"

"The auditorium's the other way, Weiss." Blake said,

When caught in a moment of weakness, never let them see you sweat, Weiss.

Weiss turned around and gave a rueful smile. "So it is."

Pyrrha had unashamedly stuck close to Blake on the way to the auditorium, relying on her assumption that Weiss would rather be anywhere the cat Faunus wasn't. Whether it was to save face or just plain racism was an open question at the moment, but she didn't much care. It wasn't that she couldn't match wits with Weiss, she had extensive training on how to deal with the media and people of the heiress's caliber, after all. It was more that Weiss would attempt to use Pyrrha to gain whatever leverage she could, and that would be utterly tiring, not to mention a distraction from-

Wait, where did Blake go?

Pyrrha looked around, completely bewildered. Was she a stealth specialist of some kind? Why would she just duck out like that? Maybe she didn't quite trust her yet?

"Hey, are you lost?"

Pyrrha turned to find a red headed girl nearly a foot shorter than her, dressed in pink, alongside a slender boy dressed in green, his garb clearly taking inspiration from classical Mistralian combat gear.

Pyrrha forced a smile onto her face. Once these two recognized her, it would just be more of the same. "No, just a little turned around, thank you though."

The girl pantomimed wiping her brow with her hand, "Phew! That's good, because uh..."

"We were lost." The boy said before extending his hand, "I'm Ren. This is Nora."

Pyrrha accepted the handshake with an internal sigh. Time for the usual. "I'm Pyrrha. Pyrrha Nikos."

Ren blinked. Nora blinked, and silence reigned. Jsut as it became oppressive, Nora started jabbering away, "See, this is really awkward, Pyrrha. Cause you said that like we should recognize who you are based on your name alone, and we have no idea who you are?"

Pyrrha blinked. "Do you... really not know who I am?"

"Nope!" Nora said, popping the p.

Now this was confusing. People her age from Mistral who hadn't heard of her? "The Grand Tournament?" She prodded.

Ren chuckled, "Apologies, but we aren't exactly... informed about popular culture or media. We were privately tutored."

Pyrrha nodded, "Your parents must have been really strict then."

As soon as she finished speaking, Pyrrha knew that she had made a mistake. Ren swayed in place for a moment before steadying. Nora winced. "Uh, yeah... about that..."

"I'm sorry." Pyrrha said, "I understand what... half of that Is like, if you catch my meaning."

Ren placed his hand on her shoulder for a brief moment, "I do."

Pyrrha frowned, "But if not your parents, who trained you?"

Ren laughed lightly, "A fair question. Officially, we're both Guild Foundlings, so instead of going to a normal Combat School, we received equivalent training straight from Mistral's Huntsman Guild. I am largely self-trained, from my father's writings on the Ardent Lotus martial art."

Pyrrha drew a sharp breath in. "The Ardent- I thought there were no practitioners of the Ardent Lotus fighting style left, much less Masters!"

"My father was the last."

Nora cackled, "I might not use any super Aura manipulation martial art, but I can still kick butt! I've got a warhammer and grenade launcher combination weapon!"

Pyrrha busted up laughing, and it just wouldn't stop. Finally! Finally, she had found people who didn't care about all of the fame and trophies and titles thrust on her!

"Pyrrha?" Ren asked, "Are you okay?"

Finally regaining her composure, Pyrrha flashed her new friends a winning smile, the one she saved for friends and family, not the cameras. "I'm more than okay, Ren. I'm more okay than I've been in a long time."

Nora regarded her, "How do you feel about pancakes?"

"I'm more of a fan of waffles, myself." Pyrrha foolishly said.

"Blasphemer!"

Professor Ozpin was often told that he looked perpetually tired. He would deflect with a joke, that the inquirer would be perpetually tired if they had to devote most of their time to the education and well-being of aspiring Huntsmen and Huntresses.

The truth was no laughing matter.

The truth was that while he was Ozpin, the youngest to ever be named headmaster of a Huntsman Academy, he was also Oswald, the inventor who had drawn up the plans for the floating city of Atlas, and Ozymandias, the Last King of Vale, and so many others. And the burdens of the memories, triumphs, and failures of his past lives weighed on him every day of his life.

He cast his gaze around the auditorium at the gathering crowd. Sixty-four prospective new students this year, that was less than years past. That was understandable, it was a time of peace, by Remnant's standards. By the end of the day, that number would be whittled down to twenty-four.

As always, Beacon seemed to be a magnet for the most promising students. Pyrrha Nikos, the peerless tournament fighter. Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. Blake Belladonna, child of the White Fang. Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose, children of Team STRQ.

And it couldn't have happened at a better time. Normally, he would've never been so bold as to allow a student to skip two years of their education, silver eyes or not. But the Fall Maiden had been attacked by her agents. No, attacked wasn't the right word.

Violated. Desecrated. Half of her soul sucked from her by some new Grimm implanted in one of her assailant's arms, according to Qrow. As for their identities, their faces had been masked by some sort of illusion. Whether it was magic or not was impossible to tell, although Qrow had recovered a burnt out holographic projector from the scene of the crime,

Regardless, she was beginning to rouse her forces and make the opening moves of her gambit. Which meant Ruby Rose was no longer safe outside the walls of Beacon Academy. While Amber languished in the bowels of the Academy, kept alive by bleeding edge Atlesian tech, Ozpin had to begin her training in earnest.

The next chapter of the Forever War was about to be written, and there was no doubt in Ozpin's mind that Ruby Rose, along with what friends she would make at Beacon, would be the deciding factor in the coming battles.

Now that all of the prospective students had arrived, it was time to begin. The coming storm meant that this was not the time for the same speech he gave every year. He stepped up to the microphone, his presence immediately caused the chattering across the room to cease. After pushing his glasses up his nose, he began.

"Welcome to Beacon Academy. all of you are here because you are seeking something. Be it knowledge, strength, or some other motivation. When I look out at you, I see potential. Potential to be a balm for the darkness that threatens to destroy us every day. Or you could waste that potential. Chase money, glory, and fame. If you are here for those reasons, then leave." He paused for a moment or let his ultimatum sink in, "Most of you will likely die young, in some forgotten corner of Remnant, your name whispered in gratitude by the people you gave your life to save. There is no glory to be had in that, and riches? Well, you can't take the Lien with you."

Weak laughter echoed around the auditorium, "Were General Ironwood here, he would claim that over the course of your time here, he would forge you into weapons for the defense of Remnant. That is not how we do things at Beacon. Here, we are in the business of turning teenagers who think they know how to fight into men and women with the capacity to do great good, even become heroes."

Ozpin allowed himself a brief smile, by now they had all realized that this was not the usual speech. "Many of the people of our world would say that hard times create heroes. I must wholeheartedly disagree. I believe that hard times reveal in us the capacity to become heroes. Should you pass initiation, that is what we will work together to cultivate."

Without another word, he stepped back from the microphone so Glynda could take his place and explain the particulars of initiation. As she was speaking, he took out his Scroll and made some adjustments to the roster for today's exam.

Salem had made her opening move. Now, it was time to see what pieces he could field against her.

As it turned out, initiation was relatively simple. There were some ruins in a portion of the Emerald Forest that Beacon used for training exercises. One had to go there and get a relic from those ruins, the return. There was just one catch..

"Uh, how are we getting down there?"

They were up on a cliff, and would be launched from platforms down into the forest.

Yang rolled her eyes at Jaune. He was a nice enough guy, but damn, the man was dense. Her trained Social Butterfly eye picked up Pyrrha glancing over at him with worry on her face. "Well, that's why the application said a landing strategy is required."

Pyrrha frowned, "What is your landing strategy?"

Jaune gulped. "Aura and a prayer."

"Yang, tell me he's joking." Pyrrha said, the barest note of alarm creeping into her voice.

Yang shrugged. While she didn't know Pyrrha personally, they knew each other by reputation, as Yang had placed third in the most recent Grand Tournament. "I mean, he's only got a sword and shield, so... what else is there?"

Professor Goodwitch pressed a button on her Scroll. "There is one more thing before we begin. While you are down there, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years."

Pyrrha glanced over to her other side, where Weiss was... looking at her very excitedly. She looked back to the boy who had no plan but to trust in his Aura. Honestly, I'd rather be stuck with him than have to fend off Weiss every day for the next four years...

"Prepare yourselves. Destroy all in your path, or you will die. Your initiation begins..." Goodwitch paused for dramatic effect as she hit the button. All sixteen of the teenagers were launched sky high. "Now."

"Well, I'm happy to see that my flair for the dramatic is rubbing off on you, Glynda." Ozpin remarked.

She sighed.

Lie Ren allowed himself a moment of amusement as he heard someone scream as they were all launched into the air, it had been s surprise to him too. That was tricky to pull off. The moment passed, and it was time for action. Ren focused his Aura, and the Wind Dust weaved into his combat uniform began to light up. He began to unleash rapid-fire palm strikes against an imaginary opponent, each strike unleashing a blast of wind that began to arrest his momentum. If he had the time, he would've breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that he had been heading for a hole in the treeline.

He reached out and grabbed a tree branch, his momentum causing him to spin around it twice before he released it and landed safely on the forest floor. He glanced at the bracelet Aura monitor that Nora had made for him. Still in the green. Good, he thought that he had used quite a bit to get down to the ground. Well, there was no point in hanging around, he needed to-

He needed to destroy the King Taijitu that was trying to encircle him. Sure enough, now that he had noticed the giant snake Grimm, it gave up on subtlety, its black head lashing out at him. It caught nothing but empty air. He stepped back, taking him just outside of the monster's range. Waste no movement. He retaliated with a snap kick causing the King Taijitu to recoil. Seizing the initiative, Ren continued his attack with a palm strike packing an absurd amount of Aura. As the strike hit, the entire length of the Grimm spasmed as it was assaulted by Ren's Aura.

This was the signature technique of the Ardent Lotus fighting style, the Quivering Palm. It took the Aura that was used for the strike and projected it into the target. Depending on how much Aura was released, this could mean anything from muscle spasms to heart stoppage. Masters had been said to even be capable of temporarily sealing a human target's Aura.

If you have the advantage, do not relent. Ren began to fire off rapid punches, each one causing the Grimm to release a puff of the oily black smoke the Grimm gave off when they died. The white head of the King Taijitu hissed and tried to lunge at him. Ren backflipped and swung his arm through the air, causing a blast of wind to knock the white head off course...

And make it bite into its counterpart instead of him.

Ren landed and reassumed his stance, only to find the King Taijitu was beginning to dissolve.

"Your control's getting better. Just a couple months ago, you'd get tuckered out after a few Grimm."

Ren didn't have to turn around, he would recognize that voice anywhere. "Thank you, Nora."

"You know, that Glynda chick said we have to make eye contact for us to be partners." Nora teased.

"You mean Professor Goodwitch." Ren said, futilely dodging the question.

"Please, you like looking at me." Nora said.

Ren rolled his eyes, "I am not currently looking at you, Nora."

Nora grinned as she lightly punched Ren on the arm. "Because if you do, you'll crack! Like an egg!"

Ren looked at his lifelong partner, and broke into one of his rare smiles, his smiles that made it seem like the world could never have any darkness when it had such light. "Yes."

"Hah! I knew it!" Nora crowed in victory, she reached up and booped him on the nose. "Boop!"

Even if her life was fraught with mysteries, -why Raven had left, how did Summer die, what the absolute hell is up with Ruby's eyes- Yang Xiao Long was a badass Huntress in training who ate Grimm for breakfast. Having the ear for gossip that she had to develop to stay a step ahead of Cardin's nonsense, she had heard the rumors that they were being launched off a cliff, and loaded Ember Celica with Gravity Dust rounds ahead of time.

She let off successive shots from her gauntlets, more to control her trajectory than to slow it. That was what the Gravity Dust was for. She barreled through the treeline, letting the impacts charge her Semblance. When she hit the ground, she went into a somersault, and came up on her feet. "Hah, nailed it!" She said to herself.

Without further ado. She ejected the spent Gravity Dust shells from Ember Celica and loaded it with her explosive shells. She took a brief look around to see no one. "Eh, guess I'll head for the ruins. Bound to find someone the closer I get."

She would've done that, if it hadn't been for the growling behind her. She spun around for find two Ursas. "Perfect!" She said, "I needed a workout!" She cleared the distance between her and the nearest Grimm with a single leap and delivered an earth-shattering blow that sent the Ursa flying back, the felling of several trees testament to the force of her attack.

She turned to face the other Ursa, but moved just an instant too late. As she faced it, all she saw was its paw coming down on her. Her Aura sparked bright yellow as she hit the ground and carved a furrow in the dirt and-

Wait. That thing had got mud in her hair.

Yang leapt to her feet, her hair aflame and a battle cry torn from her throat. The Ursa swung at her again, but this time Yang was ready for it. She caught the paw on her arm, and proceeded to unload Ember Celica's payload into the bear Grimm. "That- won't- work- twice- dumbass!" She screamed, each word punctuated by a blast from her gauntlet. After that Ursa began to dissolve, she heard a roar. The other Ursa wasn't dead yet.

With reckless abandon she launched herself at the returning Grimm...

Only to watch as three daggers materialized in the Ursa's skull.

Yang landed gracefully -at least, that's what she told herself- and looked around, trying to find the owner of the daggers. "Huh, who-"

"You're too reckless."

A figure dressed in black and violet dropped out of the trees, sheathing a katana as she did so. With a purple glow from her left hand, the daggers returned to her. Yang whistled. "Gravity Dust? That's one way to make throwing knives work, I suppose."

The stranger hummed noncommittally. "So, you're going to be my partner."

"Yep!" Yang said cheerfully, "Name's Yang Xiao Long."

"Blake Belladonna." Blake rolled her eyes at Yang's eyebrow raise, "Yes, that Belladonna."

Yang shrugged, "I wasn't judging. That's not how I roll."

Blake's cat ears swiveled forward as she smiled slightly, "Well, I'm glad that I'll have one teammate that isn't offended by my pre-Beacon activities."

Yang laughed, "We should probably come up with some sort of battle plan."

Blake rolled her eyes, "Well, you crashing in and me saving your hide has worked pretty well so far."

Yang grinned. "Protecting each other. Got it."

They began to walk toward the ruins. "You're going to be a pain in the rear, aren't you?" Blake asked.

Yang grinned, "That depends, how do you feel about puns?"

"They're the lowest form of humor."

"So would you say that you're not feline it?"

Blake groaned.

Ruby landed perfectly, thanks to a few well-placed shots from Crescent Rose. She then proceeded to dash around looking for Yang. Maybe she'd get lucky and she wouldn't have a partner yet! That would make her and Yang the dream team! It was perfect!

It all fell to pieces as she burst through a bush and screeched to a halt approximately three feet in front of a girl with white hair and... ooh! That was a Multi-Action Dust Rapier! The girl crinkled her nose at her. "So, you're to be my partner?"

"Yep!" Ruby said cheerfully. Even if it wasn't her original plan, she figured that she might as well make the most of it and... try to talk to new people, maybe. "I'm Ruby Rose."

"Weiss Schnee." The girl with the rapier said coldly, "Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"

Ruby shrugged, "Professor Ozpin let me skip two years because-"

"Because of your eye color." Weiss snapped, "Making a mockery of those of us who had to earn the right to be here."

"I did that too!" Ruby protested, "I foiled a Dust robbery masterminded by Roman Torchwick!"

"You mean you allowed him to escape because you blundered into a fight that you thought you were ready for because literally no one in your life has ever told you no." Weiss said, closing in on Ruby as she continued.

"Oh, that's rich coming from the heiress of the SDC!" Ruby hissed as she met Weiss halfway, "You've literally had everything handed to you, while I had to give blood, sweat, and tears for every ounce of skill I have!" With a single motion, She deployed Crescent Rose, holding it off to the side. "See this? This is Crescent Rose. It's a scythe and high impact sniper rifle combination. Every last part of it, down to the pins that hold the barrel and receiver together was custom made by me. So-" She gasped, there were Grimm closing in on them. She activated her Semblance and leapt over Weiss, to find a Beowolf sneaking up on the heiress. With unerring accuracy, she sighted in and fired. The wolf Grimm fell over and dissolved due to its newfound lack of a head.

Weiss drew her rapier, "How did you know that there was a Grimm?"

"Silver Eye stuff, I think. Sometimes I can sense when there's Grimm around." Ruby explained, "That was a Beowolf, there's bound to be more."

Weiss's retort that of course she knew that died in her throat as more Beowolves emerged from the treeline, This was no time for bickering. She took her stance, blade held parallel to the ground up by her head. Weiss then switched to Fire Dust and lunged, perfectly executing the Beowolf in front of her with a single thrust. She spun and pulled the trigger on the handle of Myrtenaster, laying waste to the next Beowolf with a wave of fire. She moved to assist Ruby, because she probably needed help.

Only for that assumption to vanish from existence. Weiss was forced to admit that Ruby had been allowed to enter Beacon two years early for reasons other than her eye color. She watched in awe as Ruby... reaped the remaining Grimm as if they were wheat. For the first time, Weiss took in how Ruby was dressed as a statement, rather than just assuming it was immature. With the hood, cape, and scythe, it was almost like she was making herself into a personification of death.

Why?

Ruby switched Crescent Rose back into storage mode and placed it back in its magnetic holster. "Whoa! You were incredible!"

Weiss blinked. That was not what she was expecting. It was like their prior argument didn't happen. "Pardon?"

"Yeah!" Ruby said excitedly as she dashed up to Weiss, "The way you were so perfectly precise! Killing a Beowolf with a single stab from a rapier is no easy feat!"

"Thank you, Ruby. As for you, you're much more skilled than I gave you credit for, especially for someone who only has one year of Combat School under their belt."

Ruby started to walk towards the temple where the relics were located. "Oh, I was hopeless at first. In fact most of the combat instructors at Signal wrote me off as unteachable because I refused to use a weapon that wasn't Crescent Rose. That's when my Uncle Qrow stepped in and taught me everything there is to know about fighting with a scythe."

Weiss did a double take, "Wait, your uncle is Qrow Branwen? The legendary bandit turned Huntsman?"

"Yep!" Ruby said.

Weiss smiled. "Well, It seems that we have more in common than I thought."

"Huh?" Ruby asked, "What do you mean?"

"We're both prodigies, trained by elite Hunters from our respective Kingdoms." Weiss explained, "Ruby, I do believe that we will make perfect partners."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "No pressure or anything."

Weiss huffed, "Don't worry, if you stumble, I'm there to help you. That's what partners are for, yes?"

Ruby grinned and flashed a thumbs up, "Yep! Same goes for you too, y'know."

Weiss scoffed, "As If I... why did it just get dark?"

They both looked up to see the biggest Nevermore that they had ever laid eyes on, and it was headed straight for them.

Ruby grabbed Weiss by the wrist. "Come with me if you want to live." Then she tapped into her Semblance and ran.

In hindsight, maybe he should've brought a parachute.

Jaune had abruptly learned that Aura didn't stop every single injury upon landing. As it turned out, a landing strategy of Aura and a prayer didn't prevent a sprained ankle. Luckily, part of the rushed training Jaune had received from his father had been what injuries Aura could quickly heal in the field, and a sprain was the upper limit of that. He warily glanced around as he focused his Aura on healing, the last thing he needed was to get blindsided by a Grimm.

He gingerly got to his feet, and after verifying that his ankle was healed, headed in the direction of the temple. He barely took two steps before Creeps started breaking through the ground. With no other option, he drew Crocea Mors. "Of course I land right on a Creep nest. Just my luck." He took a step back to assume his stance and lost his balance as his foot plunged into one of the tunnels the subterranean Grimm dug.

Okay. Jaune was panicking now.

He stabbed at the lead Creep as it lunged at him, letting the Grimm's momentum do most of the work. He flung the dissolving remains at the next one, knocking it onto its back. In that instant, a bronze and crimson Javelin materialized in the shoulder of the third Creep. "Huh? Who?"

He looked behind him, and spied a woman clad in leather and bronze, her red hair gathered into a ponytail that blew as if it was the flames of war. Without a word, she called her javelin back to her, and ran over to him. "Are you okay?" She grabbed him by the armpit and hauled him up and out of the Creep burrow.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just found a Creep nest the hard way." Jaune said. He turned around to face his savior, and noticed that she had sparkling green eyes.

"I'm Pyrrha." She said, "Pyrrha Nikos."

"Thanks for the help, Pyrrha." Jaune said, "I'm Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it."

Pyrrha canted her head to the side, "Do they?"

Jaune shrugged as he replaced Crocea Mors in its sheath, "Jury's still out."

Pyrrha let out a snort of laughter as they began walking. "Well, at least you're managing expectations, Jaune."

"This is going to sound really weird, but uh... have you ever been on a cereal box?" Jaune asked.

Pyrrha looked at him quizzically until she saw the hoodie he wore under his armor. The red inner lining and gray bunny ears peeking over the top were unmistakable. "I'm on the Pumpkin Pete's cereal box."

"I don't really like it, I just wanted the hoodie." Jaune admitted, "I barely paid attention to the front, I just remembered that there was someone who kinda looked like you on it. Small world, huh?"

Pyrrha shook her head. Did he really not care, or was it an act? "Aren't you curious about why I'm on a cereal box?"

"I mean... why would that matter?" Jaune asked, "It's like Mom always made sure to teach us, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence for a time, before Pyrrha had realized that she hadn't been paying attention to the direction they were going. "Jaune, I think we're going the wrong way."

"Nah."

Pyrrha did a double take. "Are you sure?"

"Yep, it's mid morning, so that means the sun's still in an east-ish direction. The Temple was to the west, so we should be good as long as we don't run into-"

An Ursa picked that exact moment to charge at them.

"-Trouble." Jaune finished. Without another word, he drew his sword and charged. It's just an Ursa. I know that I can handle those. "Don't worry, I've got this!" I have to prove that I can handle myself. I can't slow Pyrrha down.

Pyrrha's worst memory came surging to the fore, delaying her response time by a fraction of a second, and she knew all too well the difference a fraction of a second could make. "Jaune, wait!" But it was too late. Jaune was already in striking distance of the Ursa. Which meant that it was also within striking distance of him. Why didn't he have a gun?

The Ursa swiped at him with a paw packing enough power to ragdoll any untrained civilian with a single hit. Fortunately, Jaune just barely rose above that status. He caught the blow on his shield, the impact forcing him to take a knee. With a mighty yell, he slashed upwards, severing the offending paw at the forearm. He followed up with a cut that would've left any human enemy trying to hold their guts in, but thanks to the bone armor of the Ursa, it was unharmed.

Jaune grimaced. This was the worst time for a reminder that his offensive Aura control was still spotty. Luckily he wasn't alone. Pyrrha switched Milo to rifle mode and fired three times. The Ursa roared as it tried to swat the bullets away with its remaining arm...

... leaving its armpit wide open for Jaune to stab it with Crocea Mors. The blade sunk hilt-deep before he ripped it out, causing the Grimm to begin to die in a burst of Grimmsmoke.

"Jaune, is there a reason you didn't try to shoot the Ursa?" Pyrrha said in a measured voice.

Jaune scratched the back of his neck after he put his sword away. "Uh... I don't have a gun?"

Okay. There had to be a rational explanation for that. Right? "Why?" Pyrrha asked.

Jaune held up his hands in a gesture meant to ward her off. "Well, that's... okay, full disclosure time. I only have about two months of training. There wasn't time for firearm training with everything else I had to learn."

Pyrrha's jaw dropped. Two months ago, Jaune had been a civilian, and he had just ran in at a fully grown Ursa like it was routine. Either Jaune was the stupidest man that she had ever met... or the most courageous man she had ever met. She could work with that. "Are there any other deficiencies in your abilities I need to know about?"

Jaune's shoulders slumped, "My offensive Aura abilities aren't where they need to be. I have trouble focusing my Aura in my weapon."

Pyrrha bit the inside of her cheek. On the one hand, it was incredibly irresponsible of Professor Ozpin to allow Jaune to attempt Initiation with so little training. On the other hand, he had still allowed it. Why? Questions for later. "We can work around that. We're partners, after all."

"Thanks, I-" Jaune was interrupted by an unholy, earsplitting screech from the direction of the temple. "Oh, crapbaskets. We need to hurry. That was a Nevermore. If it's old enough, it's screech can call other Grimm to it." While he was sure that Pyrrha knew that, he felt that he needed to prove that he deserved the spot he was vying for.

"Jaune!"

Jaune whirled around and discovered that the Nevermore they had heard was old enough to summon other Grimm with its call. Not just any Grimm either. It was a Deathstalker. And judging by the size, it was just as old -and therefore just as dangerous- as the Nevermore.

Well, his father had taught him that sometimes discretion was the better part of valor. This was one of those times, by a long shot.

"Run!"

Chess pieces. The relics were chess pieces. Yang shook her head. Her father had told her and Ruby that Ozpin was eccentric before they had left, but experiencing it was a whole other thing. "Do you think it matters which one we take?" She asked.

"Probably." Blake said.

Yang glanced at her partner, "Not much of a talker, are ya?" Without waiting for a response, she grabbed one of the chess pieces. "Well, the white pony will be fine, right?"

"You mean the knight?" Blake asked.

Yang grinned, "Yeah, like I said."

Blake shook her head, this was going to be a long four years. A crash from the forest caught her attention, and she was treated to the sight of a pint sized girl dressed in pink riding an Ursa. Said girl drew a honest to goodness warhammer and smacked her unorthodox transportation upside the head, thereby separating said head from said Ursa.

"Woohoo! Let's go again!"

A boy dressed in green appeared, almost like a ghost. "Later, Nora. We need to focus."

"Right, we need to snag a relic. Be right back!" She zipped over to the pedestals that held the other chess pieces and snatched up a white rook. "I'm queen of the caste! I'm queen of the castle! I'm-"

Nora was interrupted by approximately twelve percent of hell breaking loose. The signature screech of a Nevermore split the relative silence. The four aspiring Hunters turned towards the source to see a positively humongous Nevermore flying towards them, and two people trying to flee from it.

One of whom was very familiar to Yang. "Ruby!" She immediately launched herself into a mad dash towards her sister. "Blake, grab the other pony!"

Blake almost didn't. Then she recognized Ruby's partner, or rather, the Glyphs she was creating to protect her and Ruby from the Nevermore's razor feathers. If the final decisions for which partnerships became which teams worked like she thought they did -and Yang had clearly come to the same conclusion- then this was going to be... interesting. She grabbed the matching knight and sprinted off towards the angry giant bird Grimm.

Her eyes went wide as Yang just dove into the shower of feathers. With every projectile that hit her Aura, her hair glowed until it caught fire. She ran up a collapsed pillar and leapt, twin blasts of Gravity Dust infused buckshot sending her careening to her doom.

That is, if she were anyone but Yang Xiao Long.

Yang landed perfectly in the Nevermore's mouth, one hand holding the giant bird's mouth open, and the other free to unleash her specific brand of ballistic hell. "I hope you're hungry, you oversized chicken dinner!"

"This isn't good enough!" Weiss said, "We need a plan!"

Ruby noticed Blake standing off to the side. "Are you Yang's partner? What are you packing, and what's your Semblance?"

She nodded. "Katana and Kusarigama combination weapon, plus throwing knives with a Gravity Dust return mechanism. My Semblance lets me make a double of myself."

Ruby turned to Weiss, "What kind of Dust do you have on you?"

Weiss raised an eyebrow, did Ruby actually have a plan? "Fire, Ice, Lightning, Gravity, Hard Light."

"Alright. I have a plan."

Jaune had hoped that he'd make it past the first day at Beacon without having to run for his life. Well, at least he was at Beacon. It was important to stay positive when a giant Deathstalker wanted to turn you into a pincushion.

They burst through the tree line into a clearing, and booked it towards the temple. "Keep going, Jaune!" He looked back to see Pyrrha spin around and start taking potshots at the scorpion Grimm. Her bullets may as well have been marshmallows for all the good they were doing. What did Dad say about Deathstalkers? Either use their own stinger against them or...

"Think fast!"

When Jaune looked forward again, he certainly did not expect to get smacked in the face with a chess piece. "Uh... thanks?"

"Don't worry about it!" A girl in pink shouted before diving in at the Deathstalker, followed closely by a boy in green.

Jaune knew he couldn't just stand here being useless. What could he do? How could he contribute?

Pyrrha protected the girl from getting smacked into a stone wall by blocking one of the pincers.

The boy's clothes lit up in pale green patterns as he channeled Wind Dust.

The other girl danced out of the way of the Deathstalker's stinker, parrying the blow with the handle of her warhammer.

That's it!

Jaune drew Crocea Mors and ran in, blocking the left hand pincer as Pyrrha took the right. "We need to flip it! Green guy, use your Dust to create an updraft underneath it!"

Said green guy's mouth quirked upwards in a bemused smile. "It's Ren." He lunged forward and hit the Deathstalker with a palm strike that caused the entire Grimm to spasm. Then he slapped his open palm on the ground and did just as Jaune had instructed, A sudden upheaval of wind from beneath the Deathstalker caused it to keel over onto its side, its legs scrambling for purchase on ground that wasn't there.

"Pyrrha!"

"Done!" Pyrrha mechashifted Milo to javelin mode and sent it flying. It impacted at the perfect dead center of the Deathstalker's body.

"Hammer girl, NAIL IT!"

"The name's Nora!" Nora launched herself at the Grimm, spinning to gain momentum for the final swing. With a mighty yell, she hit the end of Pyrrha's javelin, forcing it to burst through the Grimm's carapace. The Deathstalker gave off a pitiful wail as it expired.

"Not bad, Sword Boy." Ren said, eliciting a chuckle from Pyrrha and Nora.

Jaune smiled. Yeah, I deserve that. "The name's Jaune Arc."

This plan was insane. There were so many things that could go wrong. The ribbon on Blake's weapon could snap, Yang's Aura could fail, Ruby could run out of ammo, her Glyphs might not be able to hold them in place...

So how was it that Ruby had been able to inspire such confidence in this insanity? Was it a Silver Eyed Warrior thing? Weiss didn't know, but the only way she could find out was to not die here, and to not die here she had to do her part of this insanity.

Which meant working together... with Blake Belladonna.

Desperate times, desperate measures.

Blake threw her weapon, in chain sickle mode and Weiss propelled it with a Velocity Glyph. It struck home on the joint where the Nevermore's left wing met its body. With a wave of her free hand, Weiss switched to a Gravity Glyph underneath Blake, anchoring her to the ground, in theory.

In practice, the Nevermore was just too big to ground this way. "I can't..." Blake grunted, "Ribbon's going to break."

Weiss ground her teeth in frustration. If they couldn't bring the Nevermore to ground, then the plan wouldn't work. Her Glyphs wouldn't be of any help here, Time Dilation would be worse than useless, and Summoning... Weiss scoffed internally at the thought. Taking a bathroom break in the middle of a battle would be more productive. She glanced at Myrtenaster, then at Gambol Shroud. Wait... the ribbon that was part of its chain sickle mode...

Was that a SDC Dust Conductive Tether?

"Hang on, this might get a little frosty!" Weiss said. She pumped the hammer on Myrtenaster, cycling to Ice Dust. She pressed the blade against the ribbon and triggered the Dust.

"Weiss, what are you-" Blake's protests died in her throat as she saw the ice travel up Gambol Shroud's ribbon and freeze the Nevermore's wing solid. With half of its ability to stay aloft negated, it began to fall to the ground.

"RUBY, NOW!" Weiss screamed.

Ruby blew by them at super speed, and launched off a new Velocity Glyph, she kicked off of it and launched herself directly at the Nevermore's throat. "Yang, Drop and Chop!"

Being sisters whose fondest dream was to become professional monster hunters. Ruby and Yang had come up with a number of team attacks for themselves, ranging from realistic to absurd. Upon hearing Ruby make the attack callout, Yang acted immediately. She grabbed the sides of the Nevermore's beak and vaulted out, using the last two shells in Ember Celica to maneuver into place for a world-shattering blow packing all of the power that Yang had absorbed using her Semblance.

The punch connected, and the Nevermore's downward velocity was increased tenfold, on mere moments it would impact... and probably die.

It was a shame it wouldn't get there.

Ruby pulled the trigger on Crescent Rose, sending the blade of the scythe carving through the neck of the Grimm, neatly beheading the Nevermore. With a few more gunshots, she arrested her own downward momentum to the point where she could land safely.

"Think fast, Rubes!"

Ruby would have turned fast enough to catch the offending chess piece, if it hadn't been for the fact that her Aura picked that exact moment to fail. As a result, the white knight smacked her right in the face. "Oh, crapbaskets. I overdid it again, didn't I?"

Yang grabbed her sister and put her in a friendly headlock, "Yeah, you did. You've got to-"

"Watch my Aura, I know! Let go! This is super uncool! Just..." Ruby cocked her head in confusion as she looked at the chess piece. "What's this pony for?"

Despite their differences, Weiss and Blake managed to facepalm in unison, in solidarity with all chess players everywhere who were undoubtedly cringing at that moment.

Things could not have worked out more perfectly. Ozpin could scarcely believe it himself. Not only had Miss Rose forged a team of the best fighters the incoming class had to offer, but she had done it without involving Pyrrha Nikos. This was critical to the future operations that he planned to involve them in. Ozpin was not a fan of putting his eggs in one basket. That had lead to the premature end of a few too many of his lifetimes.

He could plot later. Now he had a duty to perform.

"Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie. You retrieved the white rook pieces." Ozpin said into the microphone for all present in the auditorium to hear, "From this day forward, you will be known as Team JNPR, led by Jaune Arc."

Jaune's eyes practically bugged out of his head. "Huh? Me? Why?"

Ozpin pushed his glasses up his nose, "Your improvisation-based tactical ability is what led to your team's takedown of the Elder Deathstalker. There could not possibly be a better leader for this team. I imagine your father will be very proud."

Jaune scratched the back of his head as he left the stage. "Yeah... maybe."

Ozpin powered on. "Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long. You have retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will be known as Team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose."

"Ha!" Yang crowed, "I knew you could do it, Ruby!"

Weiss frowned. Why not her? She had been perfect! She had done everything right! So, why? Why Ruby and not her?

After RWBY had left the stage, Ozpin stepped back and let Glynda handle the rest. For now, he needed to plan. While... she.had begun to make her moves, unlike when it had just been Team STRQ, Ozpin had double the number of pieces to array against her.

Now all he had to do was prepare them to become heroes before it was too late.

A/N: Writer's Block is hell.

Also, there were a lot of moving parts I needed to plan out before I could begin writing this fic in earnest. You'll understand more as we go along. So, from the top.

Well, look at that. Turns out Cardin is the worst. And Yang didn't assault a club owner and staff. She just assaulted Cardin instead. Look, as funny as "Yang does an assault" can be sometimes, she's gotta learn that she needs probable cause before dishing out free knuckle sandwiches.

And we jump right into things with Jaune meeting Ruby and Yang. And earning his infamous nickname. Fear not, Ruby will still have "Crater Face" but... well, you'll see. I can't spoil everything in my A/Ns.

You know what's more awkward than being s third wheel for someone's date? Being the third wheel for an argument between Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna. Poor Pyrrha. That being said, Weiss's racism will not magically disappear. That's not how overcoming one's own prejudices works. It happens slowly, and you're gonna say stupid crap in the meantime.

Allow me to reiterate something: I am not bashing Weiss here. There is no character bashing in this house. If you want that to happen, go find a fic that does it, cause this ain't it, chief.

Speaking of Pyrrha. There's some little hints of her backstory throughout this chapter. Have fun tracking them down.

Ozpin is Ozpin. He may call Russell Thrush a scrublord later. Jury's still out.

So, now for the elephant in the room. The weapon changes. Ren is strictly martial arts only. He does not have Stormflower. Why? Because I hated how we only saw his martial arts once in canon then never again. Blake's weapon changes are a result of Sienna continuing her training after Adam bounced out.

Oh, right. The other elephant. Jaune's skill level. Due to his training with his father (which was intensive, but that will be detailed later, not going to Word of God that) he's at around the skill level he showcases in the Grimm Eclipse video game. So post V2-pre V3.

Different Nevermore and Deathstalker takedowns here. Mainly because, well... early RWBY played fast and loose with power scaling in the name of cool factor. I'm not.. until RWBY and JNPR have the skill to back it up. (This goes for their ability with their Aura as well) Are the vast majority of them prodigies? Yes. Are they still learning? Also yes. Fear not, they will still get the insane moments you expect from RWBY. It'll just take a bit longer to get there.

Ruby and Weiss's conflict is going to be a little different, as Weiss has already vowed to be a good partner and teammate. More of an honest discussion after the schism boils over rather than Weiss going full spoiled rich girl.

Phew. Think that's the longest A/N I've ever written. That's what you get when I go on an unannounced hiatus lol

I'll do my best to get the next chapter out quicker.