Finally, Rowan thought as he readied his gear from his locker after having had a proper meal from the mess hall.

Now he'd finally show these wannabes what he was made of.

Few were even worth a glance, but some looked worth the time to stop and appraise them.

Pyrrha was the main one on his list, but he also noticed a bulky man who wielded a mace for a weapon.

Humph, he thought, maybe he'd be able to last more than a few seconds if it came down to a fight.

An all too bubbly female voice that rang with a hyperactive tone caught his attention, and he turned to see a girl welding a decent-sized hammer for her weapon.

Her style of weapon and dress marked her as likely someone from Fiskare, and he seemed intrigued.

He hoped that underneath that seemingly innocent exterior was a decent warrior.

He'd heard the Fiskare had their tales of great warriors, and he hoped it was more than just a legend.

Though he secretly felt a tiny bit of pity for the Mistralian boy, she was trying to have a conversation with.

He was making his way to officially declare to beat the "invincible girl" when who should appear but that punk with the robotic trash can alongside his freak show menagerie.

Then as if it seemed he couldn't get any more annoyed today, that little red brat had to go running into him.

"Watch where you're going, brat," he glared down at her seeing her shrink away slightly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," her voice was filled with so much timidity it made him sick; then an older blonde girl got between him and the red brat.

"You have a problem with my sister; you take it up with me," the girl said, putting a threat in her tone.

Rowan showed a disdainful look, "Just make sure she has better awareness," not giving them a passing glance; he approached Pyrrha.

At least he'd intended for this to be one of his steps toward becoming more recognized, but of course, that stuck up Schnee brat had to go starting a conversation about Pyrrha joining a team with her.

Teams, the word put a sour taste in his mouth.

He'd always preferred to fight alone, but now he thought he would have to fight with a team.

He might be more open to the idea if he felt that anyone was worth fighting alongside.

He adjusted his hair and wore his best "professional rival" look.

"Well, well, I can't believe I'm at Beacon with none other than the legendary Pyrrha Nikkos," he gave a surprisingly decent greeting.

Pyrrha turned to see him, "Oh, thank you," he grinned inwardly as he noticed she recognized him.

"You've been one of the leading fighters in the tournaments going from Vale to Mistral."

Ah, good, he thought, now to drive the point home.

"As it happens, I was in Mistral during your fight with Arslan Lionheart; very impressive," he was about to come to his point went that annoying Schnee girl butted in.

"Do you have any idea who I am!?" Her shrill voice was grading on his nerves.

He jabbed a finger at her, "Ask me if I care, ice queen," he said, his voice filled with undertones of intimidation.

"How dare you, you flea-bitten mutt!" She shouted, stomping her foot on the ground.

He supposed she expected him to act like every other kind of Faunus that got their usual verbal abuse from humans.

As it was, Rowan didn't think this little brat was worth his attention, so he continued his conversation with Pyrrha.

"Just so we have an understanding, I've been waiting for the day when I can fight you myself," he extended his hand, giving her perhaps one of his highest honors.

"Till then, I'll be looking forward to it Miss Nikkos, one warrior to another."

He saw Pyrrha taking his challenge in stride and shook his hand, "I hope you'll bring everything you have."

With that done, he prepared to leave, only for yet another annoyance to appear.

It's that damned robot thing again; he thought as it scooted beside him, which inevitably meant.

"So you do have a sense of honor," the voice of that punk rang in his ears.

He turned his head toward this annoying interloper.

"I see you have a death wish, punk," he said in his usual tone.

Jacen had gotten his stuff out of his locker and ensured Skipper was ready.

"Ready to show what we can do?" Jacen asked, earning an affirmative tone from his faithful companion.

He saw Rouge and Gray go for their weapons when he spotted Yang waving to him.

"So, how'd you enjoy your first day at Beacon?" Yang asked in her energetic way.

Jacen shrugged, "Still too early to say, but I feel like it hasn't been the worst experience I've had."

Yang patted him on the shoulder, "You managed to gather more friends than Ruby did," she pointed at Ruby, who'd just gotten her weapon out, and mentioned how she'd finally let her "baby" do the talking for her.

"She seemed fine when we first met," Jacen observed, to which Ruby looked in confusion.

"I'm just no good at, you know, people," Ruby said with apparent timidity.

"You know, Ruby, there are more people than just myself and Jacen here," Yang said, patting Jacen's shoulder again.

"You just need to be able to break out of your shell."

Ruby grunted, "You sound like dad!" She placed her weapon back in her locker, then, turning her attention to them, planted her hands on her hips.

"I don't need people to help me grow; I drink milk," she said, crossing her arms and sounding proud.

"You know, Yang isn't wrong," Jacen added to Yang's point.

"My father once told me it's through the shared experience of others that a person can grow."

Ruby seemed to brighten up a bit, then grabbed her weapon.

"So, hopefully, we end up on the same team," Jacen told Yang.

Yang showed a curious look on her face, "So, not to sound completely discourteous, but did those other scars you have come from your beowolf fight?"

Jacen flushed slightly, remembering she'd seen Jacen shirtless, and, really, what would he say?

Oh, I barely survived an encounter with a grumpy clanker with the worst case of bronchitis I've ever met; he winced inwardly.

Though part of him felt shame for only revealing part of the truth.

Inwardly, he hoped that the Force would give him that chance and that Yang wouldn't think he was utterly insane.

Though the Jedi often preached at lengths not to form attachments, such as friendship or love, Daro had shown that it wasn't a bad thing to have these emotions. Still, the problem lies in letting those emotions become twisted amalgamations that fester into hatred.

Just as he had with Tukson and Dusky, he wanted to trust people with who and what he was without the looming threat of the Empire showing up.

Switching gears, he returned Yang's gesture, "Remind me after today, and I'll tell you," he promised.

"Well, I guess we'll see what that Force power of yours can do," Yang said with anticipation.

He gave her a curt thumbs up and then sensed condemnation outside the group.

He turned his attention toward a rather tense conversation with that brutish Rowan character, and, ah, of course, Weiss had to be everywhere to cause a stir.

At the sound of "flea-bitten mutt," he winced; it wasn't so much because the little princess used a Faunus slur, but instead, he feared that the 7 feet of bad attitude and muscle would probably take that chance to break her like a porcelain doll.

Imagine Jacen's surprise when he brushed that aside and then continued his conversation with the armored girl with red hair, and, what's this, he shook her hand even though he promised that he couldn't wait to fight her.

At that instant, Jacen sensed that, despite Rowan's otherwise rude presentation, he had something of a sense of honor.

"So you do have a sense of honor," Jacen said with mock surprise.

It didn't take long for Rowan to return to his original disposition immediately.

"I see you have a death wish, punk," he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Jacen had seen warriors of all stripes throughout his travels with his master and during the Clone Wars; Rowan had that one warrior trait of constantly testing their strength against new opponents to prove themselves.

Moreover, it seemed like Rowan was also the kind of warrior to show at least some civility for a fellow warrior they respected.

Chaos take him if what he said next made Rowan more agitated.

"I rather hope we can work together if we end up-," he stopped when Rowan raised his hand, shooting him a threatening look.

"Before you even finish that," he said with warning.

"I would sooner toss myself into a pit of King Taijitu than be on the same team as you."

The analogy painted an unsettling image in Jacen's mind as that particular type of Grimm often manifested as two inverted twins, one wholly black and the other ghostly white.

Not to mention they reminded Jacen of the time he'd nearly fallen into a pit full of Blood Vipers in his early days of being Daro's padawan.

How many times had he nearly died because he was too reckless?

Rowan had gotten dangerously close to him enough to where he uttered a threatening whisper.

"If I see your face again, punk, you'd better be prepared for what comes next," with a huff, he stormed out of the locker room.

Once again, Rowan switched to his definitive personality.

"I'm hoping he didn't say anything too harsh," he noticed the red-haired girl from before looked somewhat concerned.

"Oh, it's nothing that I can't live with," Jacen said with a shrug and was preparing to introduce himself when Jaune, not reading the room apparently, got between Pyrrha and a still-livid Weiss.

"So, I've heard we'll be in teams; if you wanted, you could join my team," Jaune's voice was taking a rather odd tone indicating he was fascinated with the ice queen.

"Never in a million years," she said, brushing Jaune away.

Then Pyrrha said to him, "I'm open to joining," she said cheerily.

Jaune turned around as if just now noticing her, "I'm sorry, and you are?"

Weiss gave a sound of disbelief, "You've never heard of Pyrrha Nikkos?"

Jacen, at least, was surprised; he'd read about her feats during the tournaments she competed in.

The news referred to her as "The Invincible Girl."

However, Jaune didn't have the slightest clue as Weiss was explaining until, completely frustrated, she shouted, "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's marshmallow flakes box!"

The audible gasp of surprise Jaune let out indicated that he finally got the message.

Inwardly, Jacen wasn't surprised seeing how many times he'd gone out shopping and seen her face on said cereal boxes.

"It was pretty sweet," Pyrrha said in that cheery voice, which seemed to drop a bit when she added, "Although the cereal isn't good for you."

Good enough for anyone trying to make a Hutt of themselves, Jacen thought inwardly, recalling how many calories were in it.

To his side, he noticed Skipper had activated his holo-protector showing a 3D image of the cereal box with all three looking at it with confusion and curiosity.

"I didn't know Skipper could do that," Jaune said, his voice dripping with excitement.

Weiss seemed to be at least curious, "Where did you even get that thing?"

Ah, so she can be somewhat pleasant, Jacen thought.

"You'd probably never heard of it before; at least it's not from any manufacturer in Atlas," he said though Weiss was showing him a look of suspicion.

"I highly doubt you could even afford something this complex," her tone was beginning to imply something Jacen was all too familiar with.

"So you are a delinquent," Weiss said, folding her arms indignantly.

"I'll bet you stole that from someone."

He let out a sigh, ordinary people might crack under such an accusation, but fortunately, he had an alternative.

Reaching out through the Force, he moved his hand as though to cup his chin while breathing a suggestion, "I didn't steal him; I built him myself," he said calmly.

Weiss's mood seemed to soften as she repeated, "You didn't steal him; you built him yourself."

"You want to go get yourself ready," he added something he knew she wanted to do anyway.

"I want to go get myself ready," adjusting her hair, she went outside.

"Chaos take me for not doing that sooner," Jacen said more to himself after releasing an exaggerated sigh.

"What was that?" Jaune asked with wide-eyed fascination; even Pyrrha seemed curious.

"Oh, just one of my ways to end an argument in a way that doesn't get overly confrontational," Jacen replied.

"Sounds rather useful," Pyrrha stated with equal fascination.

Jacen nodded in agreement, then looked over to where Rowan had stormed off, "Still rather hoped he wouldn't be too confrontational."

"Dog boy is probably not the one to be making friends with," Yang's voice rang from behind him.

Jacen couldn't argue, but he felt he might be able to earn his respect, albeit begrudgingly.

Speaking of which, "So who was that girl you and Ruby were trying to talk to?"

Yang shrugged, "Oh, she was quite chatty," she said sarcastically.

"Seemed she wanted nothing more than to be left alone to read her book."

Jacen turned to her with a curious look, unsure why he was interested, "Did she at least tell you her name?"

"Blake, I think," Yang said, rubbing the back of her head nervously.

What was it about her, he thought to himself.

She seemed to shut people out deliberately, but it's clear there was some reasoning behind it.

His mind returned to when he'd caught a brief glimpse of her on the airship and her expression regarding a White Fang rally that turned deadly.

Inwardly he grimaced; it wouldn't be polite to go poking around where he shouldn't.

"Well, hopefully, she comes out of her shell," Jacen said doubtfully.

With a final nod, he made his way out of the locker rooms.

Weiss had nearly made her way toward the gathering areas when she seemed to snap back into awareness.

"What happened," she spoke as if she'd just awakened from a dream.

It dawned on her that she wasn't in the locker rooms speaking with Pyrrha.

It came back hazy at first, but eventually, she got it.

That delinquent, she thought angrily.

Somehow he'd tricked her into leaving, and she felt she forgot something.

She scolded herself for being unable to resist whatever that semblance of his was, mind control, memory alteration?

Her thoughts continued to reel, but eventually, she shook her head.

Now wasn't the time to have her head filled with those kinds of questions.

As a Schnee, she had to set the standard and show that she belonged here. However, she made a point of confronting the delinquent and possibly, though the thought made her wince, end up asking that dolt that nearly blew them up on their first day.

Regaining her composure, she prepared herself for her test of worth.

Everyone had gathered on a cliffside overlooking a vast green forest far below.

Ozpin could see the anticipation from the new students who'd be attending Beacon this year; many of them showed determination, though one of them seemed like he didn't know where he was.

He adjusted his glasses and focused on where Jacen and Ruby had positioned themselves on opposite ends.

Time to see what our Jedi Knight can do, he thought, sipping his coffee.

He'd already witnessed his fighting capabilities which marked him as having great instinct, and despite his relatively young age, he has the air of someone who's undergone a lot of real-world training, which a school simply didn't prepare one for.

That alone counted for a lot in the world of huntsmen and huntresses.

He grinned inwardly, it had been a few years since he became the headmaster of Beacon, and this part at least never ceased to amuse him.

What better way for teams to be forged, especially if they comprised people who were opposites?

The sight of Ruby Rose briefly reminded him of when the members of the future team STRQ were gathering for their "toss-up."

He laughed inwardly as he recalled Qrow Branwen wearing a skirt because Tai had convinced him it was a kilt.

How things had changed since then, a pang of guilt tugged at the back of his mind.

Summer Rose was gone, and Raven Branwen was no longer within his circle, another in an already long list of things he'd come to regret.

Though perhaps the appearance of the young Jedi will bring about a different outcome in ensuring that events don't repeat themselves.

Putting on his best professional face, he addressed the gathered students.

"For today's mission, you'll be going through the Emerald Forest till you reach a ruined temple in the center," he began.

"Once there, you'll find a collection of relics, and your objective is to return to the top of the cliff once you've acquired your relic."

He stopped and let an amused smile cross his face.

"I'm sure you've all been curious about how teams are assorted," he said, getting everyone's attention.

"Allow me to put those rumors to rest."

He aimed his cane at the panels the students were standing on.

"After completing your landing strategy, the first person you meet will be part of your team for the rest of your time at Beacon."

Ah, the mixture of emotions from that statement.

Rest of your time at Beacon, Jacen repeated inwardly.

As if sensing ire rising, he looked to see that Rowan was giving him a hard stare.

"Better hope you don't see me," Jacen read in that face, then refocused.

The mention of the panels and landing strategies didn't make sense until he noticed the level between the cliff and the bottom reaching into the forest.

Sudden realization hit him, and he cracked his knuckles with a bit of confidence.

He'd done several high jumps with his troopers during the war, sometimes into cities owned by the Separatists or in hostile forested worlds where the Separatists were preparing a move.

A slight twinge made him ask, "We aren't going to encounter any Grimm, are we?"

Ozpin turned to regard him, "We have defensive capabilities that keep the Grimm out of our training grounds, so the only encounters you're likely to have is with the native wildlife."

Ozpin wasn't kidding; Jacen could sense the assortment of wildlife that lived in the forest; nice to know not everything was dark and eager to kill you in ways too unimaginable.

Though he knew the wildlife was the least of his concern.

If he encountered Rowan in the forest, there was no doubt going to be a confrontation, and if he encountered Weiss, he'd have to put up with her stuck-up attitude, not to mention she was already suspicious after his mind trick wore off.

Regardless he made himself ready for the jump, showing a two-fingered salute to Yang, then motioned for Skipper to get prepared.

Dammit, Rowan thought regarding Ozpin's words.

He turned his gaze on the punk, noticing that he'd gone from nervous to suddenly calm as if he'd done something like this before.

He wanted to see if that punk really belonged here, and of course, he wanted to make that morbid-looking corpse from last night that knocked him out pay.

Once again, demonstrating how green he was, that blonde idiot didn't seem to understand the meaning of "landing strategy."

"Um, this landing strategy," he said in his annoying voice.

"Are you going to drop us off?"

"No," Ozpin said, "You will be falling and using your landing strategy."

Cracking his neck, Rowan readied himself to launch with a grin as he let about 5 percent of his semblance run loose and when his platform went up, he shot forward with the force of a bullet leaving a gun.

With a quick nod to his faithful droid, Jacen made himself ready, diving deep into the Force to help him find that perfect spot to ensure he landed on the ground without being heavily damaged.

His platform lifted, and he leaped into the air, followed by Skipper, who screamed at first but immediately activated his side booster rockets to propel him forward.

With all the students now launched, the die was being cased, and where ever it landed would be how things would be.

END