Welcome Back, time to jump back into another chapter of Resolve. I hope you enjoy it.

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On to the story.


Chapter Two:

The Test

It had been some time since Jaune spent any time with someone outside his family. Actually, barring the brief stint spent with them before coming to Beacon, Jaune hadn't spent very much time with anyone. At most some conversation over dinner with some villagers on the frontier.

It was a nice change of pace to talk with someone that was pursuing a similar life and career to himself. It was also nice that he didn't have to do much of the talking. Ruby Rose was a bit of a nervous chatterbox.

He didn't really dislike that. The way her eyes roved around them and the air she carried herself with told him that despite her sweet and naive demeanor she was still prepared for anything. Even in a place as safe as Beacon Academy. He liked that. Plus she gushed over his armor and sword the moment she noticed their mechashift functions.

"Using it to adjust your armor to grow with you is genius. It would save so much money in the long run. It's not exactly cheap to make armor that can work well with Hunters. I can't imagine you are very mobile in all that though." She rambled on.

"Eh, I am more of a tank type honestly but I've trained pretty hard to move around without issue. Plus if I absolutely have to I'll dump my aura to push my muscles to the speed needed." Jaune replied.

"That can be kind of hard to properly control though. Using your aura to enhance your muscles like that can chew through your reserves pretty fast."

That was true, well for most people. Jaune's greatest asset was his reserve. It was massive, but that hadn't stopped his teacher from spending much of their time together grinding efficient use of his aura into his head.

"I've got it handled." He chuckled.

"Actually. If you use aura to enhance your muscles so you can use the armor, then the armor is to make up for that. Then why bother with the armor at all? Your aura would just shield you."

Jaune hummed in agreement. It was a common point made by anyone talking to him about his armor. There was a reason his family used such plate style sets though and not just because of tradition.

"You know the main reason a Huntsman is killed in the field?" He asked.

"They get overwhelmed by numbers…" Ruby replied instantly, a bit confused by his point.

"Yep, the second is because they get ambushed and don't even get a chance to fight back. You know our aura isn't always active. It snaps up instinctively the moment we feel threatened but it can't be active all the time or nothing could touch us."

"Yeah, so I guess that makes sense. Less likely to be ambushed. Still seems like overkill. Lots of weight to carry."

"Sure if you aren't trained in it. Trust me I have plenty of practice in fighting, moving, and living in my armor. Like a second layer of skin. That all said the main reason for the armor isn't the ambushes though. Simply put I can keep fighting when my aura is exhausted. Without even changing my style up."

Ruby fell quiet at that as she slowly nodded. He had told her he was a tank in a fight after all. Less of an exaggeration than some would use in describing their role in a fight. Jaune's armor coupled with his aura and semblance meant he could practically wade into a pack of Grimm and come out no worse for wear.

Not that the girl really comprehended that from what he was telling her. If what his father had told him was true though, in the morning she would probably get a better idea of what he was all about as a huntsman. The test for initiates at Beacon was going to be a live fire exercise and he was probably the most experienced in fighting Grimm among the other initiates.

Ruby was probably looking forward to showing off her skills as well.

"Wait a minute…" Ruby suddenly said bringing him up short as they both paused outside what Jaune imagined was the Beacon cafeteria.

"What is it?"

"We were supposed to go to the auditorium for orientation."

"Huh, I thought that was where we were going." He pointed out.

"Was that where you were leading to?"

"I was following you." He shrugged, chuckling a bit at the whining sound she made.

"Come on! We're probably late." She said before jogging back toward the central building where most of the larger rooms, such as the training arena, ballroom, and auditorium were all situated.

As they made their way into the orientation though they realized they had missed whatever speech the Headmaster was giving. Luckily making it just in time for the Deputy Headmistress to instruct them all to go to the ballroom for the night. The brief glare she shot toward them as they entered the room late had both flinching slightly though their teachers in the past had honestly been a bit more intimidating than the stern looking woman.

"Ruby!" A voice called out the moment they were all dismissed and Jaune immediately recognized it as belonging to Ruby's sister. The one that had commented on him trying to copy himself earlier.

"Yang. Come on Jaune, meet Yang." Ruby tugged him along and introduced him to the blonde.

"Oh, right. Hi." Yang greeted while giving him a weird look toward his helmet.

"Hold on." Jaune simply said before giving his helmet a slight twist and push releasing it from the connection to his armor and pulling it off.

Yang and Ruby were both a bit surprised by the face underneath. Jaune was honestly a bit of a baby face and his unkempt hair only added to such an appearance. Not exactly the face that most considered fitting with the tall broad body hidden under all that armor.

"Nice to meet you." He greeted Yang with an extended hand.

"Sure. Uh, how do you know Ruby?" She asked while blinking at the strength of Jaune's grip and his ease at ignoring the strength she was trying to use on him.

"Yang, stop right there. I just met Jaune. He's going to be a first year student like us." Ruby re-entered the conversation before Yang could start grilling the boy like an interrogator.

Yang shot her sister a look before eyeing up Jaune. She couldn't shake the impression she'd held earlier. That much was clear to Jaune as much as it was to Ruby. Kindly enough Ruby continued to try and bridge the gap caused by that impression as best as she could, though it came across mostly as inane ramblings about how cool Beacon was and how large the pool of initiates was going to be.

If it did anything it seemed to solidify Yang's apprehension toward her fellow blond. After all, people didn't usually get Ruby so flustered any more. At least not since dominating the seniors at Signal while she and Yang had been freshmen.

"Well, nice meeting you, come on Rubes. Time to find a patch of floor to crash on." Yang commanded hauling her smaller sister after her.

"What? Yang wait- Ah, it really was nice meeting you, Jaune!" Ruby called as she was dragged away.

Jaune simply stood awkwardly and offered a parting wave. That conversation wasn't really what he expected it to be.


Ruby scowled over toward Yang who only huffed and ignored her sister as they both sat on their pallets in the middle of the floor. It was very clear that the smaller of the two was displeased with how Yang had handled her newest acquaintance.

"You didn't have to be rude like that. Jaune was nice to talk to." Ruby said before opening her scroll to check over the itinerary all students had been sent for the next day.

The schedule had three blocks of initiations with Ruby and Yang in the first block together. She hoped that Jaune would be in it too since her Uncle had mentioned that teams were made during the initiation, not that he would give her much more information beyond that though.

"Ruby the guy looks like he is playing dress up. It's better to avoid him since he'll be going home tomorrow." Yang replied with an exasperated sigh.

"You're wrong. I could tell he's got experience fighting Grimm."

"Oh yeah? How's that?" Yang asked turning to look at her half sister.

"W-well it was just a feeling. Whatever, you are going to eat your words tomorrow." Ruby said before rolling over in her pallet and covering up for bed.

Yang frowned before shaking her head. Ruby was only a few months younger than she was but she could be so naive sometimes. She just wanted to look out for her. That included keeping her from palling around with people that would drag her down.

She stretched then looked around the room to try and catch anyone staring at her. It was fun to stare down a boy, or girl sometimes, that was blushing after seeing her perform a not so subtle show. As she scanned the room she was pleased to get a few trying their hardest not to lock eyes with her while a few more confident boys flexed whenever she looked their way like that would matter much to her.

Eventually however her eyes settled onto a set of armor on the opposite side of the room from where she was. Back against the wall, helmet back in place, Ruby's new friend sat in a corner still fully clad in his gear unlike every other person in the room.

Her first reaction was to scoff like everyone else that glanced his way. She stopped though as a few memories with her mom and uncle explaining their life in the wilds. Always sleeping in their gear. Never feeling comfortable without their weapons. Making sure they limited the chance of being ambushed by camping against cliffs or some other way to narrow the paths for approach.

"He is a new student like us…" She whispered to herself.

Turning her attention to her bedroll she was starting to think perhaps she had misread the boy that caught Ruby's eye. She needed to focus on the initiation and everything for now, but perhaps if he passed she would even say sorry for blowing him off earlier in the day.

Perhaps.


Jaune enjoyed the comfort of having his weapon in his hands once again. It made staring over a Grimm infested forest while standing atop a springboard set to launch him into said forest seem like much less of a suicide attempt and more like any other day as a huntsman.

His mother would never be allowed to know what this initiation entailed. He would never hear the end of it and his poor father would probably be skinned alive for not saying anything beforehand.

The briefing from Headmaster Ozpin and Glynda had been brief and to the point. He had to say the system they had in place for making partnerships and teams seemed…basic, but he supposed it had worked in the past and would continue to work now.

Ruby looked a bit green in the face when they explained that however.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the north end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die. Your performance will be monitored and graded but our staff will not intervene. There is 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?" Headmaster Ozpin drolled on as if bored.

No one asked any questions though Jaune could think of a few. What exactly was the relic supposed to be? How did they know if two students made eye contact or not? How were they being monitored and graded?

So many questions, so little willpower to ask them when everyone else looked more than happy to be launched right into the forest.

Probably best to just wing it and prepare for landing in the woods.

Especially as Ruby, who was the closest to him on the platforms, had just been hurled through the air, over the cliffside and above the sprawling forest below.

"Here we go." He let out with a soft breath before being flung over the forest as well.

The trip was short. He clamped his mouth closed so not to bite his tongue on impact and angled himself so that he could impact the ground using his aura to bleed off the damage and turn it into a roll to dissipate his momentum.

Not that he had practice in being slung over a cliffside in the past, it just seemed like the most sensible thing to do in this moment. He did briefly wonder how it was that the other initiates were going to handle things.

It was only a moment though. That ground was coming up fast.

The trees came first. Cracking and snapping against his armor. He barely felt anything, until he got lower and started crashing through the larger branches. It didn't hurt but definitely them break against his aura and armor as he smashed through them and finally into the ground.

The air in his lungs was forced out of him violently and the roll was a bit awkward with his sword still in hand but he came out of it in good order, even if it left him panting a bit as he stood back up to take in his surroundings.

Trees, trees, and more trees. Lots of rocks too. Not much to look at besides being a calm peaceful forest.

At least it was until he began to hear the fighting start in distant parts of the woods. Gunfire, a few shouts, and the screeches and roars of Grimm. He wanted to get stuck in as well. The faculty was supposedly monitoring them after all so he needed to give a good showing.

Jaune began jogging northward at a relatively brisk pace. Years of living on the road in his armor made keeping a steady yet fast pace even in such heavy gear easy so he made good time as he moved through the woods.

It didn't take long before he encountered his first obstacle. A relatively small pack of Beowolves. Seven in total. Terrifying for the average person. Nothing for the average Huntsman.

He fell upon them before they could even properly make for their own attack against him. His first sword swipe cleaved a path through the largest of the group. Given a few more years it might have developed into an Alpha, but it wasn't there yet and now it never would be.

As the two parts of its corpse fell to either side of Jaune, he advanced on the rest just as they made their own charge against him. Teeth and claws flashing in the light in contrast to their deep black hides.

The first to make it to him was force fed the length of Jaune's blade before the sword was ripped through its side in a wide arc that cut across the face of another of the attacking monsters. Unfortunately it fell back rather than continue its charge into certain death.

That was fine with Jaune. He didn't immediately pursue it. Instead turning his attention to one of the pack flanking him to the side. Driving an armored elbow into its eyes he created space to bring his sword up and around before lopping the beast's head off.

Weight landed against his back as another of the creatures leapt onto him. With a twist and well practiced shoulder throw the creature was slammed into the ground at his feet and he drove his sword down through its breast bone and into whatever amounted to a heart for a creature composed of darkness.

He tensed his muscles in preparation to remove the blade and stand while turning his motion into an upward swing to kill the next creature charging him. Just as he began though he had to stop himself.

A red and black blur flashed between himself and the beowolf with an elongated scythe trailing in it's wake.

Ruby Rose evidently thought he could use a hand. She didn't so much as swing her scythe as hook it around the beowulf's head while rushing past. The blade carved through the monster's neck and only afterward did she swing it as she turned her run into a spin the caught the beast Jaune had previously injured in the face. It was mincemeat in the time it took Ruby to stop her momentum.

Normal people would have been a bit shaken by a cute girl grinning at them after beheading and eviscerating two monstrous creatures. Huntsmen weren't exactly normal though, and Jaune was a huntsman to the core. He couldn't help but grin back at her even if she couldn't see it.

Almost casually he swiped his sword to the side with one hand and killed the last of the pack with ease as his sword passed through its chest and out the other side.

"Having fun?" He asked her with a chuckle as he could practically see the excitable energy flowing off of her.

"Of course! I mean, I am in my element, and you just won a bet for me." She replied with a growing smirk and a bit of a blush as she admitted to having a bet regarding him.

"A bet?" He asked.

"Pshh, nevermind that. Partner!" She grinned excitedly.

Jaune nodded to that. They were, weren't they.

"Ready to see my baby in action?" She asked, still grinning at him.

"Your baby? You call your scythe that?" He asked as he motioned for them to continue northward.

"Well yeah…that's not its name though. Crescent Rose." She chirped.

"Rose, like Ruby Rose?" He asked with a chuckle.

Ruby blushed at that. "What did you name yours if you want to tease me about my naming skills."

"Hey no harm meant or anything. Crescent Rose is something else. I can already tell from just two beowolf kills. Her name is pretty cool too." He said, getting her to roll her eyes.

"Stalling? Are you embarrassed of the name you gave your sword? Call it head chopper or vengeance or something?" She asked with a teasing smirk as she circled around him and walked backwards while facing him.

"Resolve. That's the name. Simple and pointed." He shrugged.

Ruby snorted in laughter causing him to narrow his eyes a bit at her behind the visor of his helmet.

"Simple and pointed…like a sword. If Yang gave you a chance she'd love you." She giggled at his unintentional pun.

Jaune snorted at the girl's reaction before brushing past her to take the lead again. He was rather happy to have Ruby for a partner, she was talking quite a lot, but it was already a nice change from what he was used to in this sort of environment.

The pair of them continued on. Occasionally encountering a small pack of beowolves or even a few ursa. It was tame compared to the real wilds. Jaune and Ruby both were even becoming a bit bored from it despite the distant sounds of their comrades engaging more of the enemy.

"Ugh, how big is this forest anyway?" Ruby whined, causing Jaune to shoot her a look before tearing some vines out of his way to clear them both an easy path between old trees.

"It's decently sized. A small valley really. There's more grimm here than you usually find out in the wilds though. Nothing really all that strong so far though." Jaune responded, causing Ruby to blink before humming in thought.

"Wait, so have you been in the wilds before? Like really out there, not just passing through between cities or something?" She asked a bit excitedly.

Jaune was quiet for a moment as he pushed another branch out of their path and let Ruby slip beneath it. Pushing it up a bit more he followed after her.

"Well?" She pressed on.

"Ah, I spent a while in the wilds yeah. It's where I got most of my training. My teacher took me out into the wilds with her for a while before I got the hang of things and she cut me loose for about a year."

"A year. All alone? But you're my age. That's crazy!" Ruby replied. Not even her Aunt Raven had tossed her and Yang out into the woods to try and rough it against Grimm all alone. She might take them out there for a while but even she preferred having her company of mercenaries on hand while wandering the world.

"Not that crazy. I could tell by looking at them, some of our fellow initiates are definitely people who have lived out on their own. That excitable girl and quiet guy that were in our initiation group definitely can handle themselves and I think you and your sister would do fine out there for the most part. At least against the grimm."

"Heh, well Yang and I are pretty strong. Our family trained us well, you know." Ruby boasted.

"There's more to roughing it in the wilds than fighting Grimm though Ruby, and I don't mean just the camping and basic survival stuff." Jaune pointed out before stopping and drawing out his sword and rounding on a boarbatusk that had just noticed them and was gearing up to launch a strike.

The little beast was young, only tall enough to reach Jaune's waist but by nature of the type of creature it was, it was bigger than Ruby was in regard to mass. Still Jaune was a bit disappointed with it as a challenge though. He brought Resolve up and around, ready to simply overpower the monster and split it in half.

As his blade began to swing down however he was forced to stop himself mid strike, like earlier. Ruby charged into action, passing directly where his sword would have cut down. Her scythe caught the Boarbatusk under it's chin and while it did some damage it didn't carve all the way through due to it's tusks getting in the way.

It did however flip the creature up into the air before crashing back down onto it's back and letting her place the barrel of her rifle directly against it's soft underbelly letting her blast it into pieces at point blank range with a single shot.

"Heh, like I said, pretty strong, right?" She said, shooting a grin back at her partner who had barely stopped his weapon from hitting her a moment ago.

He blew out a breath at the close call before answering her. "I never doubted you, Ruby. Remember? Just we need to be more careful."

"Against little guys like this? Pssh, nah. We could handle a hundred just like it without a problem."

"That's not what I meant." He said before a loud thump followed by an explosion sounded up ahead.

"Oh, there's others not far from here, we're probably all closing in on the relics we have to get." Ruby said before slashing some branches out of her path with her scythe to clear the way for herself and Jaune.

He watched after her as she moved forward for a bit before slowly following after her. They would need to work hard to work smoothly together, but he couldn't expect it to be easy just yet.


"Interesting combinations so far with this batch." Glynda commented.

"More so than usual?" Ozpin asked as he sipped from his mug. Unlike Glynda who was staring at the monitor in her hand and flipping through different camera views throughout the forest, he stared out over the woods and enjoyed the view, disturbed only by the occasionally overzealous student confronting the Grimm.

"I don't like what that implies but…yes. You stacked this year a bit. Managing to get your hands on the likes of Miss Schnee, Miss Nikos, and Miss Belladonna are impressive enough but the hidden gems of Valkyrie and Lie are showing just why it was you extended invitations to them as well." She replied while watching the excitable Valkyrie girl manhandle an Ursa like it was an unruly child while Lie Ren watched on with an almost bored expression.

"Perhaps. Though I only truly extended the offer to Miss Schnee and Miss Nikos. The others all applied of their own volition. I believe Miss Belladonna even believes we are unaware of her former allegiance to the White Fang."

Glynda frowned at that.

"Then is she a threat?"

"Hardly. James' people were nearly able to apprehend Adam Taurus thanks to her betrayal of her former comrade. Sadly Taurus is as skilled as he is violent. He killed nearly the entire team of soldiers attempting to apprehend him. James still believes that his forces can match up to a hunter with technology and numbers alone." Ozpin grumbled a bit. He had belief in humans, even those not trained in the use of Aura, but sending men and women without the skill set of a hunter against one as advanced as Taurus was throwing lives away.

"I see." Glynda said.

She turned her attention back to the screen before seeing several groups approaching the relic site.

"Some of the pairs are formed and are about to link up with one another. So far Miss Rose and Mister Arc, Miss Xiao-Long and Miss Belladonna, Miss Schnee and Miss Nikos, and Mister Lie and Miss Valkyrie. Some of them are not the most complementary partnerships."

"The partnerships won't matter much. I think the teams are more important after all. Sadly we haven't gotten to see much of their abilities so far. All of them are quite capable and while the numbers of smaller grimm might trouble some of our other initiates, something more dangerous is needed for these students." Ozpin hummed in thought.

"What are you thinking?" Glynda asked a bit worriedly.

"It is not a proper test if it doesn't push them. There are more than a few larger grimm sealed away in the valley below, but most are out of the way of the students. Occasionally they may stumble onto them but it doesn't look like they will be this time around." The Headmaster sounded a bit disappointed.

"The Giant Nevermore from the western cliffs is headed their way." She pointed out to him.

"These students will make quick work of that I believe. I need more of a showing. This class has too much put into it's preparation to simply coast into classes. We'll be putting them into situations to push them all year, so we may as well start early." He withdrew a tablet of his own and selected a few options before humming to himself.

Glynda looked uncomfortable with this. The larger grim that were kept imprisoned in the valley were usually secured in ways that kept them uninterested in the students taking their initiation. However a few strategically placed explosive charges could drive the larger grimm toward the testing region all but ensuring they would become involved.

With a couple of taps several detonations of explosives echoed out from the farthest reaches of the valley making Glynda grimace further.

From the location alone she knew which creature the Headmaster had pushed into the path of his prospective students.

This was the side of her superior that struck fear into her. The cold, calculating, inhuman, immortal commander that wanted to ensure he had access to the most powerful and efficient subordinates at his disposal.

He wasn't heartless, but he could be incredibly callous and reckless when the whim struck him.


Jaune and Ruby broke through the tree line only a few moments after Yang and her apparent partner had stepped up to the platform where several chess pieces lay on plinths. The clearing was peaceful enough.

At least until the excitable girl both Jaune and Ruby had noticed early that morning crashed through the treeline a short ways away while riding on the shoulders of an Ursa. Jaune and Ruby both readied to attack the creature but before they could move the beast collapsed leaving the girl to pout about it breaking down.

Her partner entered a bit later gasping for breath after trying to catch up to them.

"Oh, Ruby…and Jaune. This is my partner Blake, she's pretty solid. Glad you two made it through the forest. Run into any trouble?" Yang grinned as she tossed a knight piece to her partner and approached her sister and her partner.

"Nothing we couldn't handle. Jaune grew up in the wilds after all, Yang." Ruby puffed out her chest.

"Oh really?" The blonde asked shooting her sister then the knight a look.

"Ye-" Ruby began to say confidently.

"Nope. That's not what I said at all." Jaune replied while staring down at his partner who shrugged as if to say that it was more or less the same thing.

"Heh. Anyway these look like the relics to me, make sure you all grab one, we got dibs on the cute horsey." Yang replied.

Jaune glanced toward Blake who looked as put off from the sisters being flippant as he was. Someone to suffer with him would be nice.

"Oh, we get the castle!" The former Ursa rider cheered as she practically somersaulted over Jaune toward the relic area.

"Nora, calm down!" Her partner commanded or more like pleaded.

"Relax, Ren. We got our piece now, we just have to get back to the cliffs." Nora replied with enough energy that it made the rest of those gathered feel tired in comparison.

"Which one do you want?" Jaune asked Ruby as they both approached the collected pieces themselves.

Ruby hummed for a moment before eyeing up her partner with a small cheeky smile.

"Better be the knight." She chuckled, getting her taller half to nod his head in appreciation for the choice.

"Like…Nora? Said. We have what we came for, let's head back toward the cliffs and pass already." Blake said as she sidled up next to her partner. She was clearly not as comfortable with the strangers she was interacting with as Yang was, but she didn't come off as mean spirited in Jaune's opinion. Just a bit blunt.

Before they could do that however, a thunderous set of explosions rocked the entire valley. Jaune stabilized Ruby who nearly tripped as she walked down the eroded steps of the platform holding the relics. Nora happily allowed herself and by extension Ren be flung to the ground from the sudden shake while Yang and Blake more properly balanced themselves for the sudden tremor.

"What the hell was that?" Yang asked in shock.

"No Grimm I've heard of." Blake added in.

"Explosives. More than I ever thought I would see used at one time." Jaune pointed off toward the distant pillars of smoke slowly rising above the canopy of trees.

"I bet it was beautiful. Wish we could have been closer to see it in person." Nor said dreamily, not even bothering to attempt climbing up off of Ren as he struggled to heft both of them back to their feet.

"I really don't want to wait around and see what needs that much explosives to handle. Let's move toward the cliffs." Blake again suggested.

Just as before though when the group made to leave for the safety of the cliffs something interrupted as the shrill screech of a Giant Nevermore called over them and the unmistakable appearance of the creature following closely the odd sight of a pair of huntresses sprinting across white floating glyphs.

"Why are they running in the sky?" Nora asked.

"How are they running in the sky?" Jaune countered.

"What are they ru-" Nora began with a cheeky grin only to pause as Ren pressed a finger to her lips and shook his head with an exhausted sigh.

"I think they could use a hand, running in the sky or not." Ruby mentioned.

"Right, do you have a clear shot?" Jaune asked immediately slipping into a more serious mindset than a moment ago.

"It's decent but if I had something to brace-" Ruby began to say as she sized the shot up, before Jaune stepped in front of her and casually placed the barrel of her rifle on his shoulder.

"How's that?" He asked. The angle would be better braced like this than on Crescent Rose's blade.

"The sound though." Ruby muttered worriedly.

"Trust me it's fine. Can you hit it?"

"Pssh. Of course I can watch me." She scolded him lightly before aiming and taking a shot would have decimated anything less than the giant monster flying through the sky.

As it was the massive round's high powered impact was still enough to jerk the oversized bird's head to the side and force it into a turn that changed into a less than graceful barrel roll that the nevermore used to regain control of it's motion and bank away from the surprise shot to the head.

Ruby clicked her teeth in annoyance as the monster shrugged off her shot, but Jaune was plenty impressed at her accuracy. Even with how big it was, at the distance and speed the grimm was moving at hitting such a bullseye was excellent marksmanship. Not to mention he already knew her semblance had nothing to do with accuracy having seen her flit back and forth through the woods leaving trails of red petals in her wake.

Ruby Rose was simply a great shot. Which was comforting to know. After all guns weren't really his thing. Hence the giant sword.

As the Nevermore circled away from it's escaping prey, those that it had been chasing began to descend before they stumbled and were forced to tuck and roll the last few feet so as not to impact the ground too harshly.

They looked a bit roughed up though. Disheveled hair. The occasional small scrape or bruise, and the smaller of the two, the unmistakable Weiss Schnee had clearly overused her semblance and was feeling the effects of doing so.

Still now they were surrounded by allies and in the right place to pick up their relic and get out of the valley.

As long as the Nevermore took it's sweet time making an attack run.

No introductions were needed. Well, for the most part. Jaune wasn't exactly up to date on most things but he recognized the likes of Pyrrha Nikos and Weiss Schnee when he saw them. THe latter especially. Though not for anything she herself had accomplished.

It didn't matter right now though.

"We should stick together when heading for the cliffs. We can handle any threats easier that way and make sure we all get out together, no matter how much of our reserve we've had to use so far." Jaune said before making his way past the others and back toward the path out of the valley.

"Heh, Mister Knight has a plan. Let's go Ren." Nora chirped.

The Schnee heiress looked unhappy about following another's lead. However she was also quite exhausted and more than happy to follow after Pyrrha as she moved into step with the small unit that had formed from the other students.

The eight students kept a steady and somewhat cautious pace on their way back through the forest, not that there wasn't plenty of complaining from some of the group. Ruby wasn't used to slow and steady, Yang felt like she was missing out on pulverizing anymore grimm, and Nora just wanted to hit something with her hammer.

The more levelheaded of the group kept them all on task though. Jaune had to admit he was thankful for Pyrrha and Ren especially though. Pyrrha kept Weiss largely compliant and made it easy for him to avoid interacting with the Schnee woman. Something he knew was clearly noticed by the others, though he wasn't the only one trying to avoid direct interaction with her.

He could feel Blake's eyes on him from time to time. Though he did appreciate her not broaching the subject. He intended to extend the same courtesy to her.

"Jaune can't we hurry it up? I mean the worst thing we have to worry about are some packs of beowolves…why are we acting so cautious."

While Ren might have Nora in hand, Pyrrha may have controlled Weiss, and surprisingly Blake kept Yang properly distracted with biting disapproval of her jokes, Ruby fell to Jaune. He couldn't complain. She was most manageable in his opinion.

"Already forget the explosions from earlier? Something else is going on in the valley that we don't know about. I can't help but think it has something to do with the grimm." Jaune said.

"Alright, but that still doesn't explain why we are being so cautious here." Ruby complained.

Jaune sighed a bit. "We could walk into an ambush if we aren't careful. Grimm aren't mindless."

"I know that, but we would better break through any grimm we run into if we are moving quickly right?"

"I don't think it's just because of the ambushes in the forest that we might run into is it, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked as she and Weiss stepped closer to Jaune and Ruby.

He shook his head.

"There was a massive clearing and ruin up ahead. That Nevermore didn't go down when you shot it Ruby, so it's probably perched there. I saw some sort of ruins while airborne at the start of the test. High up, perfect hunting ground for the Nevermore with the big open areas around it." Jaune explained.

"Okay, that's fair. But that still doesn't explain why we are being so cautious here in the forest or what that has to do with the explosions from earlier." Ruby pointed out.

"He's taking longer for my benefit." Weiss bit out with a sour expression on her face.

"What?" Ruby asked, turning to the girl and flinching a bit at the glare shot toward her.

"I overused my semblance earlier escaping the giant nevermore so now he and Pyrrha chose this pace to allow me time to refill my aura reserves a bit." She seemed unhappy to have to admit that.

"If we have to fight the Nevermore, we already know long range will only deter it a bit. We need to be able to engage it with our weapons in closer combat if we want to put it down." Pyrrha explained.

"So we need the famous Schnee family semblance to get up into its face." Jaune replied, causing Ruby to blush a bit as she realized that Jaune and Pyrrha had both identified a plan to take out the monster after a single shot.

She rarely felt out of place in regards to the Huntress lifestyle anymore. Not since she and Yang had dominated Signal academy for the last four years anyway. However she was used to just engaging the grimm without much further thought than shooting and slicing them up.

"It's all very efficient of you both." Weiss said with a sour tone to her voice.

"It's necessary. That bird will be between us and Beacon. I'm sure of it." Pyrrha said simply.

"And whatever those explosions may have driven out of that corner of the forest. The layout of the valley makes only two paths forward from that direction feasible thanks to the river on one side of the valley, and beyond the cliffs of this side is Beacon and the outskirts of Vale." Jaune explained.

"So whatever exploded will probably send some grimm right into our path. Great. At least then I can do something." Ruby bemoaned.

Jaune glanced her way. She looked unhappy but he didn't know what to really say to her. So he turned his mind back to what he could tackle right now.

"The clearing is coming up. Who are our fastest two people besides Ruby and Weiss. Weiss needs more time to rest and Ruby is clearly the fastest with her semblance." Jaune said.

Pyrrha looked at him in thought before turning her head to look at Ren and Blake. "You two probably are it. We need scouts. People who can go check the clearing for an ambush and retreat to the tree line or another safe place while the rest of us catch up."

"Sounds dangerous. What if I went instead?" Yang grinned viciously.

"You would have to run away from the ambush to draw the grimm into us so we have the advantage. You want to run away from a fight?" Blake asked as she brushed past her partner.

Yang just pouted but understood her role well enough now.

"You three know what to do." Jaune said to his fellow students.

They didn't respond, instead taking off in three different paths. Blake moved to the right, gracefully bounding over any and all pieces of the ruined stonework from whatever settlement or structure had once dominated this space. Ren took the opposite side to her weaving between the broken pillars and overgrown walls with casual agility most others in their group could never hope to possess.

Ruby however rocketed straight down the middle. She hurdled over any obstacles in her way like she was running along a track. Unsurprisingly, Ruby made it much further out than the rest of the 'scouts' that the group had sent. Undoubtedly making her the prime target for any attack.

Just as Jaune had predicted, The Grimm attempted an ambush. As Ruby twisted over an especially high wall, she suddenly used her semblance to change direction. Unfortunately the sudden change slammed her into the ground and sent her sprawling as a gigantic Snake head clamped closed in the space she had just previously possessed.

All of the hunters in training stood stock still a moment as they took in the size of the King Taijutu's head slowly rising up from behind the ruins. It was large enough that half of them could probably fit inside it's mouth at once.

"I've never seen one so big." Jaune muttered before he snapped back to his senses and burst from cover, charging toward the still stunned Ruby.

Even running at full speed though, he was nowhere close to Ruby's speed and he had no hope of reaching her before the monster turned it's attention down toward it's prey. He had to try though, so he pushed himself harder. He used his semblance and pushed it to the limit bolstering his muscles and sending him forward at speeds no ordinary human could dream to match.

It was still nothing compared to Ruby when she really got going, and it still wouldn't be enough to close the gap in time.

Thankfully, Jaune wasn't the only one out there.

Blake had reacted quicker than all but Jaune to the new threat. She had moved without even thinking, racing toward the still frozen girl while peppering the eyes of the massive snake with her handguns. The tiny projectiles at best annoyed the creature, but it also forced it's eyes closed and caused it to rear back giving her enough time to reach Ruby and start pulling her to her feet.

"Come on!" She shouted trying to pull the other girl with her.

"Right." Ruby managed to get out as she regained her senses and began to run with Blake.

Unfortunately the massive snake wasn't the only grimm here.

Just as Jaune and Pyrrha had predicted, the Nevermore from earlier had taken to perching atop the ruins and was joining in the attack now that it saw prey running in fear. It launched razor sharp, spear length quills at the fleeing teens, managing to bring them up short and cut off their retreat.

It would have continued its attack if Ren hadn't joined the fray and begun unloading his weapons into its face.

Unfortunately, even with the attention of the Nevermore taken away from them, the added obstacles had slowed both Ruby and Blake enough that the King Taijutu had moved into a position to strike them.

Rearing up and hinting at how massive it could be, the snake grimm was big enough to cover both girls in the shadow of its head as it lined up to devour them. It moved faster than any of them could expect for a creature of its massive size.

Thankfully Jaune had already been on the way.

As the snake rushed toward its prey, Jaune's sword connected with the side of its head and carved a groove through the boneplate present around its eye, nearly snagging the eye itself and partially blinding it. While it's eye remained undamaged, the fleshy portion of it's head was not so lucky and a bloody swipe was ripped through causing it to snap back in pain and surprise from the sudden attack.

"You two alright?" He asked as he twisted around to bring his sword up into a ready position.

"Yeah. Thanks for the save." Ruby said happily as she and Blake regained their footing.

"Good, now-" He began to suggest a plan before Yang's panicked shout caught their attention.

Repositioning so he could see what she was facing as well as keep the suspiciously patient taijutu in sight, Jaune watched as Yang made a fighting retreat from a far set of the ruins. Another Taijutu crashed through the overgrown stone pursuing her.

"Two of them." He realized before having to move as the grimm he was engaged with tried to take advantage of his distraction.

"It's smart. This thing must be incredibly old." Blake called out as she fired into its face keeping it a bit off balance as Jaune lined up a slash that peeled away another chunk of the beasts bone like armor covering.

"At least as old as the Great War." Jaune replied. "We need to regroup with Yang, Ruby fire and run."

She simply nodded in response before shifting her weapon into rifle mode once more and backpedaling at superhuman speeds on a collision course with her sister. Her speed was only increased with every shot fired from her rifle. Unfortunately she was trading accuracy for speed and frequency of shots so beyond a couple of lucky blows tearing fist sized holes through the snake's skin, it was unfazed.

Blake and Jaune followed afterward. The cover provided by Ruby gave the knight a chance to better take in his surroundings as they fled. The four pairs of students seemed to have naturally fallen into two teams.

Pyrrha had taken charge with Weiss's support and had joined Nora and Ren in handling the Nevermore. Between Pyrrha's skill, Nora's power, Ren's adaptability, and Weiss' semblance they were making short work of the giant bird.

Pulling his attention to his own opponent, Jaune took in all that he could about it. The one he, Blake, and Ruby had encountered was bloodied but more than ready to keep up the fight, and the one that Yang had been ambushed by was untouched beyond a light dusting of soot from Yang trying to blast it at point blank range with her gauntlets.

"Usually they reveal their other head by now…" Jaune muttered before noticing the way the ruins shook and crumbled between the two snake's.

"It already has. I've never heard of one this big before." He said in shock.

"What, Jaune?" Ruby asked as she dropped the massive magazine for her rifle and loaded in a fresh one.

"It's just one Taijutu. This thing has to be older than the great war. How the hell is it even alive after the Vale bombing campaigns during the war? The only things still alive on the continent from that point are the Goliath herds…right?" Jaune asked more of himself than the others.

"I don't really think that matters right now!" Ruby said as she fired a more precise shot at the massive grimm's head that her sister had been fighting. The beast angled its head slightly and the round cracked loudly across its bone plating but did little in the way of actual damage.

Jaune grimaced as he realized his mind was losing focus in shock at the sheer size of the grimm before him. He needed to focus. The Nevermore was handled by four of their comrades which left himself, Ruby, Yang, and Blake to deal with the much larger but honestly less mobile grimm.

Easier said than done. Still he had to come up with something.

"Ruby, if I can keep it steady you think you can put a kill shot on one of it's heads?" He asked his partner.

"Definitely. It keeps twisting so my shots are all absorbed by the armor." She growled, clearly annoyed that the grimm was defying her custom made rifle.

"What about the other one?" Blake asked as she slipped some more ammunition into her own weapon.

"Heh, I was thinking you and Yang could handle it. The eyes and under it's chin are unprotected. If one of you can open it up…" Jaune began.

"The other can kill it. Let's slay this thing already." Yang boisterously cried as she hurled herself toward the head she had previously been engaged with. Blake blew a lock of her hair out of her face before taking off after her partner to back her up.

"Ruby, stay back here and line up a shot. I'm going to hit him in the face." Jaune called out as he charged back toward the monster.

The King Taijutu hadn't remained idle while all of this passed by. It closed with its prey only for the ruins to actually hamper its advance. Jaune could be thankful for that at least. It provided him and his fellow hunters in training a brief chance to turn the fight to their control.

That wasn't a chance he was passing up.

Closing the space between himself and the head he was meant to face, Jaune changed his trajectory ever so slightly to use a collapsed set of pillars like an impromptu staircase bringing him up just above the grimm's head as it continued to push forward. As it turned to swipe at the charging knight, Jaune narrowly managed to avoid its attack by leaping up onto its head just as it crashed through the broken pillars he had been on a moment ago.

As he mentally berated himself for somehow getting into a position where he was standing on top of the largest King Taijutu he had ever heard of, Jaune brought Resolve down between two bone plates on the top of the grimm's head. As he did so the creature screeched in a deafening sound of pain and tried to fling him off of its back with little success.

He kept a solid grip on his sword as the snake shook its head back and forth trying to throw him off, all the while Ruby stood by growing more and more nervous as the shaking was making it impossible for her to take a shot that didn't risk hitting Jaune as well.

The knight had a plan though, even if he had only fully finished planning it out as he slammed the blade into the top of the snake's head. Sliding his thumb along a mechanism built into the hilt opened a small cylinder in the guard of the weapon perfectly sized for a dust crystal. The black crystal clicked into place and a moment later not only was Jaune's sword driven deeper into the monster's body the snake itself was pinned to the ground by the sudden powerful force of gravity created by the dust charge.

"Now Ruby!" Jaune shouted knowing the energy produced by the dust crystal would be short lived, the Grimm was too strong for such a small amount to work for long.

"Way ahead of you." She grinned as she pulled the trigger to Crescent Rose sending a large explosive dust tipped round tearing straight through the slitted pupil of the Grimm's eye. The blast inside it's skull blew the opposite eye out with a shower of gore as well.

Where Yang and Blake squared off with their own half of the creature, the Grimm's head reared back and roared in pain giving the girls jut the opportunity they had been trying to create for themselves.

Using the ribbons on Blake's Gambol Shroud, Yang built up momentum rapidly traveling in a circle with Blake acting as the central point before angling Yang up into the air straight at the snake's now exposed soft spot beneath it's head.

Coated in flame-like energy and armed with an explosive round, Yang blew a hole through the base of the Grimm's skull that shattered bone and splattered blood across her entire form. At least until that blood boiled away into the black particles all creatures of grimm break down into once defeated.

She began to fall back to the earth only for Blake to toss her weapon between two old ruined buildings letting Yang grab hold and gracefully spin down to the ground.

Slowly the four of them gathered together as they watched the others clip the wings of the Nevermore before Nora pulverized it once and for all.

"That was…pretty cool." Blake awkwardly praised her fellows.

"Heh, yeah. We killed it." Jaune agreed between some gasps of breath. As much as he was in shape to run and fight in his armor. Jumping around like he had taken more out of him than he liked to admit. Which meant he needed to work on that some more.

"Literally." Yang said with a grin, before holding a fist out for Jaune to bump.

Ruby smiled as she saw her partner bumping fists with her sister. It was a great start to her time at Beacon so far.

She was pretty sure none of her or Yang's mentors had faced something like the giant Taijutu that they had just torn to pieces.


Ozpin sipped casually from his mug as Glynda did her best to mask the intense relief she felt seeing the new students strike down the massive grimm. The Headmaster hummed thoughtfully as the two new teams formed.

Now to simply name them.


I feel like this one took forever. Here it is though.

As you can tell obviously the teams are a bit different.

PRWN- Prydwen led by Pyrrha with her partner Weiss, and Ren and Nora.

JYBR- Jaybird led by Jaune with his partner Ruby, Yang and Blake.

Lots more to come of course.

Till Next Time.