The (Mis)Adventures of Team JPTR

by GenericUsername3846

You know when you have a really bad idea that seems better the more you think about it? This is one of those. Jaune Arc, Peter Parker, Ben Tennyson, and Rex Salazar together in the RWBY universe to form team J.P.T.R. And they said Infinity War was the most ambitious crossover in history. Updates will come fairly regularly if my schedule allows for it.

7. False Start Part 2

I know some people find author's notes annoying, but I try to keep important stuff in mine, so I would advise reading them when they're here.

This one in particular is just a quick notice. I'll be putting this story on other sites. Just in case something ever happens, like my story or account getting shut down for some reason or another, both will still be available elsewhere. I'm planning on putting this story up on Wattpad pretty soon, and once I get to the front of the waitlist on Archive of Our Own, I'll put it there too.

That's all, just letting you all know, just in case this story ever gets taken down one day. It'll be up under the same name on both sites, so you'll be able to find it pretty easily.

On a less important note, now I remember why I stopped making "guarantees", because every single time I do, some type of bullshit comes along that keeps me from making good on my word. In this case, one of my coworkers hurt herself unloading a dresser from one of our trucks, so I've been taking over her shifts. This chapter was supposed to come out a few days ago, but then I ended up stuck in a warehouse, unloading furniture all day, so... That's why I try to avoid guaranteeing anything. I can make very strong claims, but I hate "guaranteeing" stuff.

Okay, author's note done, let's get the second half of this long ass chapter going.

I don't own RWBY, Spider-Man, any version of Ben 10, or Generator Rex.

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Initiation Day:

"Is it too late to run to the library and do some studying? If initiation is a test, I'm screwed! I don't know anything about our history, let alone Remnant's!"

Every student had been woken up at the crack of dawn to prepare themselves for the biggest test of their lives. Their bedrolls had been handed in, they were provided a wide selection of food for breakfast, and then they were guided into the locker rooms by Beacon staff. Rex and Ben had already begun to sweat nervously on the way there. If it really was a written test, they, along with Kevin, were royally screwed.

Maybe, just maybe, it would have been a good idea to spend just a little time in the library instead of fighting each other and playing video games all week.

"Doofus, why would they send us to the locker room for a written test? S'a combat school, ain't it? They'll prob'ly just have us do some basic drills. Shoot some targets, run some laps, no problem. I bet it'll be nothin' compared to Plumber Academy." Kevin bluntly shoved down the goggled boy's fears while managing his own discomfort. All his time in the library had been spent researching Dust technology, so he hadn't picked up a single word of Remnant's history. Even if written tests weren't all of initiation, they could very well end up being a secondary requirement.

There was no point in taking on a skilled fighter if they were too ignorant to understand the world around them. They would burn it down before they saved a single person.

Even still, it irked Kevin to no end that he was actually feeling nervous about potentially being rejected from a school of all places.

The squeaky-clean locker room had been prepped in advance for what was to come. All the student's weapons and armor had been claimed after mealtime was over the day before, after which they were given numbered slips of paper to let them know which locker their gear had been stored in. Why they couldn't just keep their equipment with them overnight, they didn't know. Maybe it was a safety issue, or something like that. In any case, it just felt like this was overcomplicating things.

While every other student in the locker room carefully checked and cleaned their gear one final time and flexed their auras to stay sharp, the small band of dimension hoppers reclined comfortably on some of the many benches in the large room. They had no equipment to check, leaving them with nothing to do but talk until it was time to go.

Rex, Ben, and Peter shared one bench, while Kevin stretched his entire body across another. He was still tired after being forcefully woken up so early. His right arm was slung over his eyes, blocking any intrusive light from destroying his hopes of getting a bit more sleep before he was forced to exercise.

"It can't be that bad. Remnant's history is actually pretty similar to ours in some ways. The Great War was a lot like World War ll, and the start of the Schnee Dust Corporation is kind of like when Rockefeller… wait, you guys do have that stuff in your worlds, right?" Peter leaned forward, quietly making sure his fellow off-worlders actually knew what he was talking about.

"Yup." Ben nodded his head.

"Sounds familiar." Rex gave a thumbs up.

"Mustache man bad, I know the drill." Kevin did not remove his arm from his face, tiredly muttering a half-hearted response.

Peter leaned back on his hands. The flat, wooden benches had no backs, forcing him to prop himself up on his arms. Between the lessons he had received from the Belladonnas and his own intense study sessions in the school library, he was fairly confident he could at least pass a Middle School level history test, along with any math or science test Beacon could throw at him. He might not get top marks, but a passing grade would definitely be possible.

Still, he had to admit, he was feeling rather… underdressed.

Everybody else in the room wore some kind of armor, the only exceptions being those in his immediate friend group. Feeling the cold air hit his skin through the dozens of holes in his dumpster-quality clothes, he couldn't help but feel self-conscious. Then, of course, there was the aura problem.

"It looks so easy for all of them." He eyed the students who were flexing their soul's energy, encasing their bodies in colored light. None of them looked like they had any problems covering their entire bodies, meanwhile he was still working his way through the finer points of aura control.

Even after reading several textbooks on elementary uses for aura, he just couldn't understand how he was supposed to do encase his entire body the way the diagrams showed. For what had to be the thousandth time, he lifted a hand in front of his face and easily encased it in that familiar, bright red light. The light extended all the way down his arm, but came to a complete stop at his shoulder. That was all he could do. He could do both arms at once, but that was the extent of his abilities. His aura control was still marked under work-in-progress.

"Hopefully, they won't grade us too harshly on aura techniques."

"Hey, Peter." Switching his aura off, the short boy glanced over at his bench neighbor, Rex. "What's the deal with Jaune? You said he needed some space, but how'd he take everything?"

The young man kept his voice low. There weren't that many people around him, but he still wanted to be careful. This conversation was most definitely not one he wanted anybody overhearing.

"O-oh, yeah, he, uh… he's not ready for this."

Rex and Ben both leaned forward, eyebrows raised. Even Kevin lifted his arm just enough for his eyes to barely be visible.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean he's not ready for all of this yet. He… he doesn't believe it's all real. No, I think he doesn't want to believe it's real, and honestly, I can't blame him. I really think we just need to give him some time. If we push him too hard-"

"Dude, seriously?" Ben cut Peter off, sighing exasperatedly. "Did you forget what I told you about that Salem lady? If we really do need Jaune to beat her, we can't just wait around. The sooner he starts working with us, the better."

Before the term began, the four boys had taken the time to share everything they knew with each other. Knowledge of Faunus and Dust, while interesting, wasn't very helpful. Only Ben and Kevin, who had personally seen their final enemy, had truly beneficial information. Recounting their battle with the seemingly immortal witch, both boys had looked unsure of themselves. Whatever method Paradox expected them to use to defeat her, it was probably the only method.

And that one method included Jaune.

"I get that we dropped a bomb on him, but we can't just wait forever. Sooner or later, we're gonna have to start making moves, and the longer he takes to work through everything, the harder it'll be to beat that bruja!" Rex nodded fervently, completely agreeing with his old friend. Peter groaned quietly at their pragmatic responses.

"I get it, okay? I know it's not ideal, but we can afford to wait just a little while. Paradox told us to join a school, not go on some big quest. If we have time to waste here, there's definitely time to let Jaune process everything. I promise, we're definitely not in any rush."

"And you know that, how?" Kevin had dropped his arm back over his eyes, asking the question without even sitting up on his bench.

"... Just a really good hunch?" Peter shrugged weakly, eliciting groans from the other boys.

"... Fine, whatever, but he has to work through everything eventually." Ben slumped down, running a hand through his hair tiredly. "By the way, where even is he?"

Jaune hadn't been with the group since they entered the locker room. He shouldn't have had to go anywhere like the other students did. Because he and Peter had dashed to the library part-way through meal-time, the teachers missed him when they were collecting gear from each student. When he awoke thirty minutes ago, both his armor and Crocea Mors were right there beside him.

There shouldn't have been any reason for him to disappear into the locker room in search of his gear, so where could he have gone?

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"Oooookay, let's just breathe, Jaune. Eeeeverything's fine. Nothing to worry about here, nothing at all."

Single-occupancy bathrooms were one of humanity's greatest creations. A single room all to yourself, even in a public space, where nobody could interrupt your private thoughts. They may not have been the cleanest spaces, but they provided a few minutes of peaceful solitude, free of any external stimuli.

It was in one such bathroom, separated from the locker room by a single, locked door, Jaune Arc was taking the final steps to calm his overclocked heart. He clasped both hands onto the sides of the porcelain sink, steadying himself while he gazed at his reflection in the polished mirror with eyes full of anxiety. To this place, the knight had disgracefully retreated before the battle even began, seeking shelter the moment he entered the final rest stop before the biggest challenge of his life.

"Let's just… let's just take stock of the situation. It's time for initiation. You knew it was coming, you knew you'd have to be ready for it, you know it's difficult. What was Krasnyy's advice again? Shut up and stop worrying? Right, just… stop worrying. Just… stop worrying…"

This was a lost cause. Saying it was one thing, that didn't mean it was actually possible. Any child could say they weren't afraid of monsters hiding in their closet, that didn't mean they would be able to sleep without the lights on. There had to be a better way out of this, a decent way to calm one's nerves and smoothly work out the best solution.

Deep breaths? Already attempted, the experiment was a failure.

Counting backwards from one-hundred? Jaune had repeated the process at least seventy times already and felt no less freaked out.

Imagining he was stronger than he actually was, like he was somebody who could breeze through this challenge with no effort?

"..."

No. He skipped that option.

The hopeless beginner had been testing his appearance ever since he set foot in the bathroom. It wouldn't do if he was the only one who looked like initiation was an outright death sentence. Confident grins were tried out one after another, his posture was checked over and over to ensure it looked natural, and he tried talking to himself multiple times to make sure his voice sounded even.

The results had been mixed.

"What… is everybody else doing? Even if they all graduated from combat school, they have to be a little nervous too, right? How are they all so calm still?" Jaune took a seat on the closed toilet, breathing deeply as he ran a hand through his hair.

In the first place, his initial plan was to watch his peers, learn from them, and gain enough information to get by. He had tried this strategy earlier, only to end up with a disappointing lack of results. It didn't look like any of his fellow students were doing anything in particular to calm down. Every one of them wore the same confident grin, kept the same rock-solid posture, and spoke so calmly. Any way you looked at it, every single one of them was totally sure of themselves.

That had to be unnatural. It had to be illogical. Dozens of young men and women applying to the most prestigious school in the world, and not one of them was even the slightest bit shaken up? They all looked exactly the same! Only Jaune was the odd one out, the lone nervous wreck in a sea of self-assured…

The hand that had previously been buried in his hair dropped limply, landing squarely on his knee with a dull, thunking noise. Bright blue eyes widened dramatically, an odd spark flashing through them.

"..."

Silently rising to his feet, Jaune walked over to the mirror and checked his appearance one last time.

His confident smile was being pulled down by the weight of anxiety.

His solid posture was crumbling by the second.

When he spoke to himself, his voice remained solid for just a second before it cracked.

"... Rouge always did say I was a bad actor."

Regardless of who you asked, it just didn't make sense. Even if a handful of prospective students truly did not feel anxious at all, the vast majority was bound to be feeling the pressure weighing down on their hearts. For every single one of his peers to be so calm, to have the exact same appearance…

"... Why… am I hiding here? Gods, I'm such an idiot. It makes sense now." Jaune's hand went to his face, dragging slowly downwards until his eyes were no longer blocked, allowing him to see himself in the mirror once again.

There was one thing almost all his peers had in common. Aside from a handful of exceptions, they were all in groups. All of them seemed like they had been formed for a long time, much farther back than the time they had all met yesterday. Like banded together with like, neighbors stuck with neighbors, sisters clung to sisters, boosting each other up whenever one of them started feeling nervous.

"... Jaune Arc… you complete idiot. You just ran off without saying anything. Your fr… they're probably wondering where you are."

The solution was imperfect. It was far too hopeful, to rely on the company of others to give yourself the strength to move on without even really trying to push on by yourself. Even still… even still…

Would they be bothered by it? Would the unspoken request put them out? Would any of those kind-hearted people be annoyed if he were to rejoin them?

Would those confident, well-prepared combat school graduates care at all if somebody from the same walk of life approached them once more?

It might have been troublesome if a random person with nothing in common with these incredible people acted familiar out of nowhere, but what about a newly-made friend, one who came from the same background?

A civilian would have difficulty properly mingling in a room full of Hunters…

But what could possibly go wrong if a bunch of properly-trained students were to converse?

"It's not like you're a regular guy, right, Jaune? You took the same steps as everybody else here, didn't you?"

The smile on his face slowly stopped trembling. Calling it confident would be a bold-faced lie, but it was undoubtedly a step up from the painted-on grin of a poorly-acted clown.
Was it perfect? Absolutely not.

Was it just a little bit nervous, just a little bit fearful, full of minute negative emotions blotted out by a bit of genuine boldness?

Well, that was the same as everybody else in the locker room, wasn't it?

He belonged here. Everybody else may have been better at hiding it, but Jaune knew the truth. To some degree, everybody else had to be freaking out, they just had an easier time following through on the demands they made of themselves to play it off.

"Shut up and stop worrying. The sooner you start getting ready instead of being afraid, the better your chances'll be."

Let them wear their perfectly drawn war paint. Jaune's may have been cracked and peeling, but it was still war paint nonetheless.

"I gotta go find the others. Maybe we'll have a little time to talk before initiation starts. I've just been thinking about myself this whole time, but they might need a little support too."

Jaune took one final deep breath. He wasn't totally prepared, he wasn't sure of what to expect, but the same was true for everybody else. Protected by his poorly painted, confident grin, he flipped the lock and grabbed hold of the bathroom door's handle. Everything was either going to end or begin today, and it would all be decided based on his own actions. Hiding in a bathroom and praying for his nerves to calm down wasn't going to accomplish anything.

Doing his best to push down his immense worries, Jaune tightened his hold on the handle and flung the door open.

"I'm ready! Bring it on, initiaaaaa…"

He wasn't able to take a single step outside. Just beyond the door, there was somebody waiting for him, arms crossed, foot tapping impatiently on the ground. Her beautiful face was marred by an unimpressed scowl.

"..."

"... Weiss? You need something?"

This was unfair. Somewhere, there had to be a rule book explaining exactly why this was blatant cheating. After he had just barely managed to wrangle his nerves under control just enough to put on a brave face, throwing a beautiful girl at him was just too unfair! He wasn't ready for a shock like this!

Still, his brave face held. Firmly latching onto the energy he had built up moments before, Jaune managed to keep his grin up and respond smoothly, looking every bit the slightly nervous, yet still prepared Huntsman-in-training he hoped to be. He couldn't see himself, but he had a feeling his facade was perfect.

Weiss' scowl turned to a confused glare. For what reason was the boy before her making such an odd face, pressing his lips together into the worst smile in history? They were mashed together so tightly, they were trembling, giving the already disturbingly large grin a cartoonish feel.

It irked her, somehow.

In spite of that, she smiled. Putting it bluntly, it was downright unbelievable how quickly her lips turned upwards into a crescent, how inexplicably the unprovoked expression formed.

If Jaune weren't so busy schooling his own features, even he might have noticed something was off.

"Hello there. Jaune, was it? We met yesterday, before the entrance ceremony." Even her voice was prim and polite, far more so than it had been during their brief interaction the day before.

"Oh yeah, I remember you. We didn't really get to talk that much."

"Unfortunately. Gods, are you throwing me a bone now? Thanks, but I would've preferred it yesterday!"

Hold on, the confidence didn't have to hold now, did it? Acting for initiation was one thing, but this was totally different. A little slip had to be acceptable, no?

"S-so, was there… something you needed?" As thankful as Jaune was to have another chance to talk to such a beautiful girl, nobody would go out of their way to talk to somebody as plain as him for no apparent reason. He totally wasn't getting his hopes up or anything, but he could think of a few possibilities already.

"Of course. I was wondering, have you given any thought to whose team you would like to be on?" Weiss carried right on without pause, oblivious to just how far off track her conversation partner was getting within the confines of his mind.

"Team? Did Ozpin say anything about… Oh! Duh, Jaune, Huntsman teams!"

"No-not really? I guess I didn't really think about it… at all." Jaune chuckled nervously. Right, she just wanted to know about teams, that was it, nothing more. It was a simple, honest inquiry as to who he hoped to team… up… with…

…

Wait.

Wait just a second now!

"I see. Well, I was deliberating on the matter during breakfast, and I was thinking the two of us would do great on the same team."

"The gods don't hate me!"

Forget caution, forget fear, forget being nervous, forget asking questions, everything was coming up Jaune. This one blessing made up for absolutely everything else. If she really was interested, he just had to seal the deal with a smooth line.

"Oh. Seriously?" Weiss nodded, still smiling. "C-cool. Well, uh, y-yeah, definitely. I'd really like to be on the same team."

"Damn it."

Why did he try anymore? Hadn't Junior taught him this lesson twice already? Suave, confident Jaune was just a figment of his imagination, never to cross over to the real world. Whatever, maybe it was still possible to salvage this.

"My team, huh? What about me made you want-"

"Great. Well then, it was nice speaking to you. I sincerely hope we'll have the opportunity to work together. Now, I do need to finish preparing." Curtsying, Weiss gave a quick, polite farewell, and turned around to leave. Everything Jaune had said after accepting her offer was clearly tuned out.

"... Cool. Nice to see you again. Uh, g-good luck!" The stunned knight just waved lamely to the girl whose back was already turned to him. "... I just had a conversation with the prettiest girl ever."

Technically correct, though it wasn't much of a conversation.

"She actually wants to be on my team? Did I impress her somehow? Is… is dad's 'Arc Charm' not just something he made up?"

It was most definitely made up.

"W-well, I can't really blame her. I totally look like a cool, tough guy, don't I?"

Incorrect.

"Oh man, could she actually... no, no, there's no way. But... what if? Maybe, just a little bit, she might be kind of interested?"

No.

"... Right, the others. Gotta find them before it's time to go."

Basking in his falsely-perceived victory, Jaune wandered off in search of his companions. He trudged alone in the opposite direction the friendly girl had gone, unaware of the evil grin she wore.

Weiss Schee was complicated in some ways, and painfully simple in others. Her long-term plans, while only half-complete, were mind-bogglingly complicated, yet her short-term plans could be explained in a matter of seconds.

Succeeding alone was impossible in a school whose programs were built to judge full teams, so, logically speaking, the better the team, the more success each individual would enjoy. If one were to form a very strong team, they would be at the top of the food chain. And, as far as the soon-to-be first years were concerned, Jaune Arc was one of the best, one of Beacon's Honors Students. The rumor had sounded ridiculous at first, nobody had ever heard of Beacon having an Honors program, but then the Headmaster himself confirmed it.

Surely the leader of the most well-regarded academy on Remnant would not take part in such childish jokes for his own amusement.

Weiss, opportunistic chance-taker she was, simply took action to secure a powerful ally.

There was a reason to single the dopey knight out, of course. For one thing, she already knew him. Sort of. They had only exchanged a few words with each other, but it was more than she had done with any of the other Honors Students. Additionally, he seemed far more nervous than they did, so securing a partnership was more likely to succeed if she went after the one who was unsure of himself.

Furthermore, there was a good chance he was the strongest of them all. Why hold onto such an insane belief? How could such an insane idea even form in the first place?

He still had his equipment. Ozpin had promised the Honors Students would not receive any special treatment or benefits, yet this boy alone had the privilege to hold onto his sword and armor through the night. No staff member even approached him. It seemed small, but a tiny show of favor was still a show of favor. Of course, nobody had approached his dirty friend either, but then where was his gear? Surely he couldn't have nothing, even the most foolhardy of Huntsman at least carried some type of bracer or gauntlet to avoid fighting with their bare hands.

There was only one logical conclusion that made sense to the cunning strategist known as Weiss Schnee. Jaune Arc, unassuming he might have been, had to be the best fighter in their year. Even Pyrrha Nikos - whom she had also spoken to - was not allowed to hold onto her gear through the night. In other words, the white-haired princess had secured herself a partnership with the best talents of their year.

"I could go all-in, see if I can't convince one of the others, but it would be best to not push my luck. With me, Pyrrha, and Jaune on the same team, we could end up with the worst fighter here and still be unstoppable."

The ambition of a driven princess truly was a frightening thing. Unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately - the sheep's wool hid the wolf well, and a certain encouraged knight received nothing from the exchange except a major confidence boost.

"Does she really think I'm that great?"

"Heh…heh heh." Those near Jaune sent him odd looks, unsure why the sound of disgustingly happy laughter was grating on their ears. He walked past all of them, making his way through the locker room until he managed to find a certain few people.

"Hey Jaune. Something good happen? You're smiling pretty big there." From a fellow blonde, he received a friendly wave and a brief inquiry.

"Nah, nothing too special. Just… got a little encouragement." Jaune waved right back, casually dismissing the major ego boost he had received as nothing special.

It seemed he wouldn't have to do too much searching. Everybody was already here. Three of his fellow "Honors Students" were occupying a single bench, with Kevin as the odd man out taking up an entire bench by himself. Yang and Ruby remained standing, chatting with the boys while they examined their weapons. It was Yang who had noticed and greeted him first.

"Sorry it took me so long to get back. Had to run to the bathroom before we got started."

"For fifteen minutes? Better now than during initiation, I guess." Rex disinterestedly looked away. With the mystery of his friend's disappearance solved, he felt satisfied enough to leave him alone. He had no further questions, anyway.

"And I thought these two took forever to get ready. Sorry ladies, looks like this doofus has you beat." Kevin commented snarkily while still laying on his back, not even deigning to remove his arm from over his eyes. When he was done, his lips sealed and he went back to trying to sleep.

"I had to make sure Crescent Rose was in perfect condition! I can't take her outside if she's not at her best! What if people think she's dirty!?" The genuine fear in Ruby's voice over such an insignificant issue was more than a little off-putting. Jaune noted there was a blocky, rectangular weapon strapped to her lower back. If he had to guess, it was the very same scythe she wielded that night in front of Junior's.

"I know it's a little late to be saying this, but I seriously can't believe you just walk around with a giant scythe." The stressed out young man took a seat next to Peter, filling out the wooden bench he shared with Ben and Rex. He paid no mind to the concerned look his probably homeless neighbor gave him.

"It's also a gun!" The hyperactive girl was way too excited to share that detail.

"... Right. The giant scythe that's also a gun."

""Meh, I've seen cooler."" Ben and Rex confidently stated this at the exact same time. Ruby's face turned an impressive shade of red to match her cloak.

"Blasphemy! Nothing is cooler than Crescent Rose!"

Yang couldn't stop herself from facepalming over her sister's unhealthy obsession with weapons. Laid out on his private bench, Kevin sighed deeply. The loud argument was cutting into his limited nap time.

It all felt… comfy, in a way. The minor argument made it hard to say their group was at peace, but even that felt nice. There was something agreeable about it, something comforting. Jaune found himself smiling for no reason while Ruby angrily lectured two smirking heroes on why giant "scythles" were the coolest things ever.

"Wait a second…" Pushing aside her indignant tirade, Ruby took notice of an incredibly disturbing fact. "Where are your weapons!? Don't you have any?"

Yang pulled her hand away from her face. She hadn't noticed until her sister said something, but every one of their friends was unarmed and unarmored, save for Jaune.

"No offense, but you guys don't really look like you're cut out for fighting with your bare hands. Maybe Kevin could, but you guys? Eeeeehh, I'm not seeing it." The crude brawler shook her head firmly, unwilling to believe the skinny boys before her would be fighting with nothing but their fists. Inwardly, Peter was grinning teasingly. If only she knew.

"First of all, ow. Second, don't worry about that, I've got everything I need right here." Ben pulled back his left sleeve, showing off the Omnitrix to all his friends. Ruby didn't really get it, but the high-tech device looked cool, and that was good enough for her.

"Ooh! What does it do!? Does it shoot Dust lasers!? Does it turn into a shield!? Do weapons come out!? I have to know, tell me!" The excited girl was all but shoving her face into Ben's, hungrily scanning his watch with her eyes. She had never seen something like it before and her rapidly beating heart would not calm down until it understood what the device was. She had yet to even notice Ben's uncomfortable expression, which was rather surprising, considering there was only about three inches between them.

"U-um, yeah, it's pretty awesome, but… have you seen what Rex has?"

"You-!"

The distraction ploy worked. Rex felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end when Ruby whipped her head in his direction so fast, he barely even comprehended her movement. In less than a second, she was upon him.

"You have something cool, too!? What is it!? Where is it!?"

"Ay, calmate! I don't want to freak anybody out by pulling something out in here! I'll show you when we get outside, I promise!"

Ruby pouted at the outright refusal. Twice in a row, she hadn't gotten to see her friends' cool weapons. Life was so unfair. Glumly, she padded down to the next bench over and plopped down by herself, waiting for the teachers to call them outside.

"... What about you, Kev-"

"Later." Again, he didn't even take his arm off his face as he tiredly shut down the hopeful girl.

"WHY!?"

It hurt to see the happy-go-lucky little reaper look so despondent. It stirred something in Jaune, something he hadn't felt since the last time Indigo cried in front of him.

He didn't like it. Not one bit.

"H-hey, Ruby, I can show you my weapon." As he hoped, Ruby's eyes snapped to him as soon as he was done speaking. He prepared himself for her to suddenly appear in front of him, and thus did not instinctively jump back in surprise when his vision was blocked out by a face showing up uncomfortably close to his.

"What is it? What is it!?" It was hard not to laugh at the short girl bouncing up and down, excited beyond measure to finally be able to see one of her friend's weapons.

"I got… this… sword." He had felt so confident as he began that sentence, but as Jaune pulled out the blade that served as his family's pride, he couldn't help but remember Ruby carried around a giant scythe that was also a gun.

Holding a plain sword in front of her face felt… lacking.

"Oh, cool, it's like a classic weapon. That's awesome, I usually only get to see weapons like this in museums." Shockingly, she didn't seem to care at all. Her eyes scanned the simplistic weapon with all the attention and excitement she showed when asking about Ben's cool-looking watch. It didn't seem fake, she genuinely felt excited to observe a "classic" as she had put it.

"... Ruby, don't ever change." Jaune smiled genuinely as he sheathed his family's sword.

It was still difficult to shake off his worries and fears. Still, taking a moment to just show off and surround himself with people who at least seemed to like him…

It was nice.

Their warm discussion was cut short by a harsh, buzzing sound. The black speakers positioned around the locker room hummed to life, filling the air with the faint sounds of feedback.

"Bzzzt. Attention all students, please make your way to Beacon Cliff for initiation. I repeat, all students, please make your way to Beacon Cliff for initiation."

The intercom abruptly shut off after the speaker was done. At the far end of the locker room, an electronic door buzzed to life, opening the way to the outside world.

"Figures. Right when I was fallin' asleep." Kevin grunted loudly as he threw himself off the bench. Rubbing his tired eyes, he was the first in their group to make his way outside. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he could go back to bed.

Ben followed right behind him, and Rex came after. They flashed the others supportive thumbs ups on their way out the door.

"Good luck guys. Don't freak out too much." Yang said her farewells, excitedly knocking her fists together in anticipation.

"See you at the end!" Ruby dashed after Yang, leaving Jaune behind with Peter.

"Well, guess that's it then. You ready?" Peter rose to his feet and bent over backwards, popping his spine to relieve some tension. Everything about him, from his posture to his attitude just screamed "relaxed".

"Yeah, I guess." Jaune stood up beside him, forcing yet another grin onto his face. "I'm still kind of nervous, but I'll be fine. I don't know how you guys are so calm. Aren't you even a little worried?"

It was a baseless hunch with no real evidence. Just like everybody else he knew to be pretending, most of his friends looked perfectly calm. The outward similarity was astounding, yet it felt different, more real.

Peter pressed a hand to his chin in thought, playfully humming and glancing up at the ceiling while he considered the question.

"Hmm… nah, not really." And just like that, the question was shrugged off. Much like Kevin, he assumed the entrance exam would be a slightly more difficult version of a PE test. A few dozen laps, some push-ups, maybe they'd shoot targets a few times, and that would be the end of it. It didn't seem like something to lose sleep over.

Beacon may have been a Huntsman Academy, but it wasn't really even the first day yet. Surely, the responsible, experienced teachers wouldn't make them do anything too dangerous.

"Seriously?" Jaune leaned his back against a locker and sighed through his smile. "You guys really are amazing. You got all those crazy endorsements and even impressed Ozpin, and you're not even nervous now. How do you do it?"

"Come on, it's not like I'm special or anything. You got accepted by Ozpin too, remember?" Peter humbly waved off the praise without a second thought. "I mean… it's not like I'm not nervous at all, I'm just trying to not let it control me. I'm nervous, like, ninety percent of the time. 'Should I have done this instead of that'? 'What's the best possible option here'? 'What should I say so they don't freak out'? I have this bad habit of overanalyzing everything, and I just end up getting stuck in my own head." The young hero paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts with a smile.

"So I just do my best to not really think if I don't have to. It's easier to just plan as you go. If I think too hard about what I might have done wrong before, I'll lose focus on what I have to do in the future. It's a lot easier to stay calm if you just live in the moment and do the best you can when something comes up. Instead of freaking out, just focus on something you know you can do now, and do it as best you can."

"..."

That was… weirdly good advice. Maybe not the best, but still pretty good. Jaune turned over Peter's words in his head, considering how best to apply them. There wasn't really anything he could do right now besides go to initiation, so what was he meant to do to take his mind off of that? Focus on walking outside in as straight a line as possible?

He wasn't really sure. For now, he only wanted to get back to the others.

"Thanks Peter, really. You just keep saving me." Jaune lighty knocked his fist against his friend's shoulder and straightened his posture.

"No worries, Jaune. I'm just happy to help."

"I'm more surprised you're even willing to talk to me already, and that you can move past everything so easily."

It took a second for Peter to realize he was grimacing uncomfortably. Luckily, Jaune's back was to him, so he was able to shake it off before getting caught.
He reminded himself quietly that now wasn't the time. Their big talk could come later. They had all the time they needed to work through the complicated issue.

Together.

Beacon Cliff:

"... It's cold."

Jaune suppressed the urge to wrap his arms around himself. Even though the temperature was the same as it had been yesterday, standing on the edge of Beacon Cliff, his fellow students lined up beside him, he felt an unusual chill running through him. He stood on a carved stone plate pressed into the grass, the uneven surface making him feel unbalanced and uncomfortable.

Ozpin and Glynda stood before him, explaining exactly how initiation would go to the gathered students. The basic gist was that they would trek through the Emerald Forest, which they would explore until they found some ruins, grab a relic, and then leave the forest. Oh, and there was also the minor detail of Grimm walking freely through said forest, not to mention the staff absolutely would not intervene no matter what.

Typical, perfectly safe, first-day-of-school stuff. There was absolutely nothing wrong with any of this, not one single thing.

"The best school in the world… of course the entrance exam would be this rough."

Jaune's stomach was twisting itself into a knot. For years, he had told himself the same thing, that Grimm couldn't be that bad, that if he ever saw one in person, he'd be fine as long as he had a weapon with him. Now, faced with the reality that today would be the day he would finally see a Grimm in person, he was feeling painfully anxious.

"It'll be okay. I just need to find somebody else. If I stick close to them, everything will be fine."

That was another kicker. What Weiss had said about teams was indeed true, along with two-person pairings within those teams. The planned method of teaming up was abhorrently simple. Whoever you made eye contact with first after landing in the forest would be your partner for the next four years, and you would then form a team with another pair who grabbed the same relic as you. It sounded like a very… flawed way of deciding something so important. Not that he had the heart to complain.

"I guess I won't get to just invite her to my team."

The students were lined up side-by-side along the edge of the cliff. Jaune was at the very end of the line while Ben stood at the exact opposite end, with Weiss situated squarely in the middle of the line. The odds of them coming across each other before anybody else did were painfully low.

Oh well. It was nice to dream about being partners with the beautiful girl. There were more important things to worry about than who he would be paired up with. Only slightly, though. This was still an incredibly important issue, only barely beaten out for the position of top priority by initiation preparation.

Somehow, looking off to the side and seeing that nobody else looked even remotely nervous did not make him feel worse at all. On the contrary, it was exactly what he expected. Directly to his left, Peter waited with his hands in his pockets. When he noticed Jaune looking at him, he offered a comforting smile, wordlessly encouraging him. For the first time, Jaune noticed something irregular about his appearance. For some reason, Peter was not wearing any shoes or socks, leaving his feet exposed to the world.

It seemed counterproductive, considering they were about to go into a forest. Regardless, everybody had their own process to work with. Peter could have his thing, and Jaune would keep trying to work out his.

"Calm down. You came this far. You told Vert you could do this, and you will. No matter what, you are passing this test, Jaune Arc."

Hope in his heart, Jaune went right on wearing his cracked and peeling war paint with pride. It wasn't perfect, and he was fine with that. The fact that traces of it still remained was more than enough for him.

On the other hand, he still had several concerns. This whole thing just sounded so… suspicious. The explanation of how initiation was to go had been brief and clear for the sake of simplicity, but it still managed to be confusing. There were just a few things that weren't quite clicking in Jaune's mind. Ozpin had run through his explanation so fast, he had barely put any emphasis on even the most important details.

Like that little bit about them needing "landing strategies".

"Now then, are there any questions?"

"""Yeah, I got-""" Three hands raised, and all were ignored.

"Excellent. Let us begin." Ozpin paid no mind to the three boys with their hands up and nodded to Glynda, who began typing on her scroll.

"When you say a landing strategy…" Jaune began.

"Is this really the best way to decide partners?" Peter spoke up at the same time.

"Are you really not going to intervene even if-" Ben only finished half his question when the pad he was standing on catapulted forward, launching him straight off the cliff and into the forest. Jaune and the four off-worlders stared, shocked, as his body ragdolled through the air. They were alone in this. Not a single other student looked phased at all by what had just happened.

Just before he hit the treeline, Ben's body disappeared in a flash of green light.

A new student was launched every second. With every launch, the off-worlders plus Jaune looked more and more concerned.

"H-hey, hang on a second…"

"You're really this insane?!"

"There's no way this is legAALLLLLLLLL!" Rex's complaint, too, was cut off when his pad launched him into the air. He was free-falling for about five seconds when two massive wings sprouted from his back, saving him from crashing into the ground. He safely flew back to solid earth, disappearing beneath the trees. Jaune was so shocked, he hardly even registered the impossible sight.

"Can't even give a guy a warning?" Kevin grumbled, annoyed. Realizing there were only a few more people to be launched before it was his turn, he quickly bent down and touched his plate, absorbing the stone and turning his body light grey. Just as the tips of his hair were covered by the protective shell, he was sent flying. Unlike the others, he did not pull any tricks to save himself, he merely crossed his arms in front of his face and crashed straight through a massive tree. The sight of chunks of bark exploding outward from the broken trunk brought to mind a firework going off.

More and more students were launched until the only three left were Jaune, Peter, and a red-haired girl neither of them recognized.

Two seconds later, it was only Jaune and Peter.

"Jaune, just relax, you've got this." With barely any time for his last bit of motivation, Peter was the next to be sent flying. Jaune watched him go, leaving him alone on the cliff with Ozpin and Glynda. He hopelessly turned to them, hoping there would be some sympathy in their eyes, even just a glint of apology for launching him off a frickin' cliff.

There was none.

"Oh gods, take me nOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!"

Jaune's body was sent ragdolling off the cliff, hopelessly flailing as Ozpin calmly sipped from his mug, uncaring towards the danger he had put his potential students in.

Getting his thoughts together was impossible. His body flipped up and over so many times, it was impossible to tell which way was up. The wind rushing into his ears left him feeling disoriented.

"This wasn't part of the plan!"

Was he screaming? Honestly, he wasn't sure. He might have been. In fact, he probably was. Jaune couldn't focus on anything other than the sick feeling in his stomach. He was mere seconds away from pathetically calling for help. He didn't know who would or even could help him, but it had to be worth a try. Anything was better than counting the seconds until his body splattered into the earth.

Just as he made the decision to bite the bullet and throw away his dignity for survival, Jaune heard something that sounded like a gunshot. A second later, he felt something pierce through his hood and drag him off in a straight line through the air. On the bright side, he wasn't flipping all over the place anymore. On the… less positive side, whatever hit him had added to his forward momentum and he was getting dangerously close to the treeline.

He didn't even have time to brace himself before his back collided with a tree, as well as his head, which violently snapped back once his spine made contact with tough bark. The impact knocked the wind out of him, making him cough violently for a few seconds, and the blow to his head left his vision blurry for a moment. For a brief moment, he was confused as to why he hadn't fallen down to the ground yet. When his coughing fit was over, a quick glance to his right answered that question.

The "thing" that had pierced his hood was a red and gold spear. It had penetrated straight through the thin fabric and pinned him to the tree. Well, he was alive. Winded, his back hurt, his skull felt cracked, and there was a hole in his hood, but at least he was alive.

That was an undeniable win.

"..."

Now…

"... Er…"

… About the matter of getting down…

"Who… even threw this?" Jaune pressed a hand to his head, which felt numb. It made it difficult to conduct his thought process properly, and his vision was still a little bit blurred. When he turned his head too quickly, the shapes and colors blended together into a confusing, cloudy mass before slowly morphing back to their correct positions.

That didn't mean brain damage, did it? Not that the amateur knight was a doctor or anything, but that felt like brain damage had to be involved.

"I'm sorry!"

"... Who said that?" Jaune looked all around. He definitely just heard a distinctly feminine voice call out to him. Wherever they were, they had to be far away, because he had barely even heard them. They likely would not see each other anytime soon.

"Whatever, I'll worry about it later. I need to get out of here before a Grimm shows up." Jaune grabbed hold of the red and gold weapon and tugged forcefully. It didn't budge an inch.

"... Please no."

Were there already Grimm nearby? Were they coming closer with every second he wasted? For the millionth time in two days, nervous sweat began cascading down the entrapped teen's forehead.

Try as he might, Jaune couldn't pull the spear free. Even when he gripped the shaft with both hands and pulled as hard as he could, nothing happened. It was buried too deep in the trunk. He just couldn't remove it by himself.

The very real possibility that he would have to cut his hood off brought an unreasonable sense of anxiety. He loved the Pumpkin Pete Hoodie. It took so many bowls of cereal to get it. To sacrifice it just like that…

"Jaune!? Are you okay!?" A young voice broke through the quiet forest, reaching Jaune's ears over the sound of his own exasperated grunts. Perking up, his hands fell away from the shaft of the long weapon.

"Peter?"

No sooner had the name left his lips when the man himself walked up to the tree and looked up at Jaune, relief coloring his features.

"Oh man, you're alright. I was about to catch you while you were coming down, but then that spear hit you. I was worried you'd break a leg or something. Wait, you… didn't break a leg, did you?"

In spite of his embarrassing predicament, Jaune found himself laughing. Now that somebody else was here, he suddenly felt much less afraid of any Grimm that may or may not have been nearby.

"Nah, the only thing broken right now is my pride." Peter, too, laughed at the spot of humor.

"You need some help getting down?"

"As much as I want to say I can get down myself… yes, please help me. I really don't like being up here."

Nodding, Peter pressed both hands onto the tree trunk and began crawling up to Jaune. The open act of defiance against the laws of physics shocked the human knight.

"How the-!? Oh, right, he's a Faunus. Those webs he shot yesterday… guess that confirms it. He really is a spider Faunus."

It was difficult to not marvel at the incredible sight of a person scaling a smooth surface. Only then did Jaune understand why Peter was not wearing any shoes. His bare feet clung to the tree just as easily as his hands.

It hadn't even taken ten seconds for Peter to complete the fifty-foot climb. Taking his hands away from the trunk and using only his feet to cling on, he grabbed the spear with one hand and Jaune's hood in the other. In one smooth motion, he yanked the spear free from the trunk with minimal effort and slung Jaune around onto his back. His charge secured, he walked straight down the tree and back to solid ground, where he let Jaune off his back. The spear was still clutched in his left hand.

Now safely back on the ground, the rescued boy shook his head a few times to clear the last of his dizziness. That was… an experience.

"That's so cool. You can just climb walls whenever you feel like it? I wish I could do that, too." Jaune couldn't help but marvel at his friend's incredible abilities. As usual, though, Peter brushed off the praise almost immediately.

"Come on, it's not that great. It took a pretty long time to get the hang of it. Even now, there's still some… problems… every now and then." The way Peter scratched the back of his head in embarrassment gave Jaune the feeling he shouldn't ask what those "problems" were.

"Hello? Are you… oh, thank goodness." Footsteps and a scared voice filled the boys' ears, both belonging to a vaguely familiar girl. From the trees a short distance away, the red-haired girl who stood beside Peter ran out. The frantic expression she had been wearing melted away in an instant, leaving only a delighted smile. Her golden armor and red sash complemented each other nicely, giving her the feel of a storybook hero. She came to a stop a short distance away from the two boys, holding a hand to her chest and releasing a hearty sigh of relief.

"Your voice…" Something about the smiling girl's voice sounded familiar to Jaune, even though he'd never even spoken with her before. It was remarkably similar to the one he had heard only a minute ago.

"I'm so sorry if I scared you. I heard you screaming and it didn't look like you had a landing strategy, so I… um…" The girl took a deep breath and put a stop to her rambling. "No, never mind. I'm very sorry if I bothered you, I just thought you needed some help."

"You're the one who did that? Oh, thank you. I had no idea how I was gonna land there." Instead of being offended or angry, Jaune really only felt thankful. The blow to the head hadn't felt particularly nice, but it was better than breaking his body on the forest floor.

Peter held up the spear, noticing its color scheme matched the Spartan girl's. Her gaze shifted over to it then, familiarity flashing in her green eyes.

"This is yours?" The response came as a nod. "Gotcha. Here you go, then."

The javelin was tossed over in an underhanded throw. The girl easily caught the slowly spinning weapon, twirling it in her grip a few times until she felt comfortable with the way it rested in her hand.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Initiation started off… a little rough, but it didn't look like there would be anything else to worry about. Jaune had Peter, and the two of them had this other girl… whoever she was. If she could use that spear well in battle, she would be a valuable asset.

"Well, thanks again for the save. I'm Jaune Arc. It's good to meet you." Jaune introduced himself politely to the unfamiliar warrior. Far be it from him to fail to show even the most basic of courtesy to somebody who saved his life. "What's your name?"

It was just a simple question. Neither he nor Peter understood why this girl looked so confused.

"M-me? I'm… Pyrrha Nikos." Why had she sounded almost scared to say her name? The boys exchanged a look and shrugged together. Neither of them had an answer to that question.

"Nice to meet you, Pyrrha. I'm Peter Parker." He, too, smiled and introduced himself politely. "Thanks a lot for helping Jaune."

Pyrrha looked confused. She carefully observed her new acquaintances, watching them both for… something. If she truly was looking for something, she didn't find it, based on the conflicted look on her face.

"... Of course. It was my pleasure."

"What's she so happy for?" It did not escape Jaune's notice how oddly pleased the Spartan girl looked. Had he or Peter said or done anything special?

Whatever, he'd worry about it later. For now, he took a look at their immediate surroundings. It was very… forest-y. There weren't really any obvious landmarks or anything that stood out at all, it was just trees, grass, and shrubs. The ruins they were meant to be looking for could have been in any direction. At least they weren't in danger of running out of time, and there weren't any Grimm nearby. Probably.

"Ozpin never mentioned a time limit, did he?" Just in case, it didn't hurt to check. Jaune wasn't the most attentive of individuals, so he very well could have missed something.

"I think he said we have until sundown to get back to Beacon. Not sure, I was kind of spacing out after he said we have to grab relics from a temple or something." Peter shrugged while shamelessly admitting he was also clueless. In spite of himself, Jaune laughed a little at the blatant admittance.

Okay, perfect. They really did have plenty of time until everything ended. Though, he was kind of hoping the test would just go on indefinitely until everybody returned, even if it took days. Rouge always did say her little brother was baselessly optimistic.

"I tried to get a good look at the area when we got launched off the cliff, but I didn't see anything. We should probably just pick a direction and go." Peter looked to Jaune as if he expected something. "Ready to go, partner?"

"Part-?"

Oh… right. Whoever they met up with first after landing would be their partner for the next four years.

"..."

That was fine. Peter might not have been as beautiful and... clean... as Weiss, but he was still somebody Jaune considered a friend. If they were meant to be together for four years, that was something he could live with.

"Of course, you can count on me. What about you, Pyrrha? If you want, you can stick with us until you find a partner of your own. It's better than wandering around by yourself, right?" Jaune turned to the redhead, kindly offering his and Peter's assistance to the lone warrior.

"Me? Thank you, but I can…" Pyrrha trailed off, looking unsure of herself. "... Actually, if you don't mind, I'd love to. Thank you for the offer."

Great, then they were all set. They had a team, they had a goal, and they had a plan. Sort of. Did "pick a random direction and start walking" count as a plan?

Yes. Yes it did.

"Alright then. Let me think." Jaune put a hand to his chin, trying to recall any relevant information. "When Ozpin talked about the ruins, he pointed straight ahead. The catapults launched us all straight forward, and Pyrrha's spear threw me a little to the right, so…"

A finger was confidently pointed just to the left of the tree Jaune had been pinned to a few minutes ago.

"That way. I think- no, it's definitely that way. The ruins are over there. Just follow me, I'll lead us straight to them!"

Pumping a fist into the air, Jaune excitedly turned his back on the others and began marching into the trees. Where was he going? Completely unclear, but for some reason, he felt way too good. In a strange turn of events, his worries were almost completely gone, perhaps worryingly so. He barely even gave any thought to the Grimm he knew to be wandering around the forest.

Not that it mattered. It was unknown to him exactly how strong Peter and this Pyrrha girl were, but with the three of them together, there was no way they would have any problems. It was just a feeling Jaune had, one that went hand-in-hand with the supreme confidence he was feeling.

From this moment forward, there wouldn't be any problems getting in the way of their objective.

"Jaune!"

"Oh my-!"

The overexcited knight stopped in his tracks, looking over his shoulder at his comrades. What had them so worked up? Peter wore an expression of seriousness and worry, and Pyrrha held a hand over her mouth, hiding everything but her wide eyes.

"What's up?"

Peter did not answer. Instead, he dashed straight over to Jaune while forming a clump of webs in one hand. He mashed it down into a flat, square shape and pressed it onto the back of Jaune's head.

"W-what're you-?"

"You're bleeding!"

"Huh!?"

He was? No, he couldn't be. Was he? Ever since his skull smashed against that tree, Jaune's whole head had felt numb. He barely even felt his mouth moving when he spoke.
Reaching a hand around, he could feel the clump of webs Peter pressed into his hair. Going lower, he ran his fingers along the back of his neck. There was something wet there, something warm. Drawing his hand back in front of his face, Jaune finally felt a bit of sensation in his head. He distinctly felt his entire face morph to reflect the fear he felt.

There was red liquid all over his hand.

"HUH!? Wait, wait, wait, what!? But, but I didn't-!"

It still didn't hurt. Being aware of his injury didn't suddenly make it possible to feel anything, though that wasn't exactly reassuring. Was it better or worse if he couldn't feel anything from a head wound? Peter was applying pressure - not that he could feel that either - so it couldn't have been that bad.

… Right?

"Jaune, that looks really bad. Why aren't you healing it?"

"Heal- WITH WHAT!?" He hadn't meant to snap so rudely at Pyrrha, who was only showing genuine concern, but what did she expect him to do? Whip out a wand and start casting cure?

"Use your aura, Jaune!" Pyrrha was beginning to raise her voice a little. She looked even more concerned than he felt.

"Oh, that's right! Ghira said something about that, how you can use aura to heal. Jaune, hurry up and do it. The cut's not that bad, but you shouldn't leave it open like this." Peter tossed aside the palm-sized clump of webbing and produced a new one to replace it with. The entire pure-white, impromptu gauze was stained red. Again, Jaune felt absolutely nothing. It was still tremendously concerning to see so much of your own blood be outside of your body.

"Use my what!? Dad never talked about aura, I've never even heard of that before!"

"I… I don't…" Jaune began slowly, unsure how to explain this. If they expected him to know about aura, it was probably standard fare for combat school graduates. Lying was the obvious choice, lest he out himself. At the same time, he couldn't just suddenly manifest whatever they were talking about, and the worst case scenario wasn't something he wanted to think about. He obviously couldn't see the back of his head, he only knew it wasn't pretty. His eyes naturally fell on the bloody web clump resting near his feet.

Screw it, being alive trumped maintaining a cover story.

"... I don't have an aura. I don't even know what that is." It felt shameful to admit the fact. The incredulous look Pyrrha gave him made it worse.

"Don't have… that's not possible, every living thing should have an aura." She looked away momentarily, coming to a conclusion quickly. "Oh! You mean you never had it unlocked? How could… no, never mind, that's not important right now. Unlocking aura is a simple matter, but… I-I don't think I should…" Pyrrha glanced over at Peter expectantly, like she wanted him to do something. She suddenly looked apprehensive for no apparent reason.

"Me? I mean, I did get my aura unlocked a little while ago, but there was, like, a whole incantation to go with it. I don't remember all the words." Peter did not look away from his task, carefully pressing down on the back of Jaune's head to keep the bleeding contained. The actual injury didn't look all that severe, he just didn't feel right treating a head wound like anything less than serious business. A small split about six inches long had opened up underneath his friend's golden locks, but it didn't look like the skull had been damaged. That aside, the sheer amount of blood coming from the wound was just... wrong.

The head didn't even have all that much blood in it. Where was all the crimson fluid coming from?

"Pyrrha, can you do it?" Jaune didn't waste a second turning to his next hope. If he really did have aura and Peter didn't know how to complete the unlocking process, she was his last shot.

"I-I can, but-"

"Do it, please! I'm really sorry, but please do it!" Jaune was tempted to clasp his hands together and beg. It would be shameful, but he was starting to freak out here. He'd barely ever even gotten hurt before, let alone gotten a head injury. This was all uncharted territory, and the expedition was not a joyous one.

Pyrrha nervously glanced down at her hands, then turned her eyes back to Jaune, taking in his panicked visage. Her face changed then, showing only determination.

"Of course. Please take a deep breath, and try to stay calm. Concentrate on my voice."

The redhead stepped closer and pressed a hand onto Jaune's cheek. She then closed her eyes and a red, translucent shell formed around her body. Jaune could think of a couple things he wanted to say and do right now, but settled for following Pyrrha's lead and closed his eyes as well. As if she sensed his action, she began to speak the moment his eyes were completely shut.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all."

Peter stared at their newest ally with more confusion than a toddler who had lost track of its favorite toy. Wasn't she supposed to be speaking? Her lips weren't moving, she wasn't even humming or anything! After a few seconds, she pressed her free hand onto Jaune's chest and moved it in a circle. The nonsensical action only confused him even further.

"What is she… hold on, is that…"

Nothing was being said, but there were definitely results born of whatever Pyrrha was doing. She remained cloaked in a red shell, while a gentle, white light began enveloping Jaune.

"Is that… what it looks like when you unlock aura? Come to think of it, my eyes were closed too. Is this what Kali saw when Ghira unlocked mine?"

For Jaune, he felt… warm. There was a comfy feeling surrounding his body, like he was being wrapped in a blanket. He focused only on Pyrrha's voice, feeling every one of her words echo through his body. It was an odd sort of feeling, the kind where you felt relaxed and safe, and at the same time, wary and shaken.

"Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee." Pyrrha's hands fell away from Jaune's hand and cheek, and she released a deep breath. The wounded knight took this as a sign that they were done and opened his eyes. He felt… better. Not in the sense that his injury was gone, he just felt… stronger.

The next thing he noticed was that the girl who helped him was slouching forward slightly and breathing heavily, as if exhausted.

"Pyrrha, are you okay?" Already forgetting about his own injury, he offered a hand to his slumped savior. She politely waved him away and straightened up on her own. He found himself receiving something else from her, a tired smile.

"It's alright, I'm just a little tired. I used my aura to release yours. You have quite a lot."

"Whoa. This is…" Hearing Peter's awed tone, Jaune realized he could feel his head at last. Rather than the pain he expected, it too felt warm and cozy, even more so than the rest of his body. The back of his head in particular felt almost hot before it gradually cooled down.

Peter watched with amazement as the cut on the back of Jaune's head sealed itself up, not even leaving a scar behind. The white light surrounding his body glowed brighter in that one spot, before dimming down and vanishing along with the rest of his aura.

"You're, uh… you're all better, Jaune." Peter tossed aside the second web clump, which was noticeably less red than its predecessor.

"Really?" Jaune's hand returned to the back of his head, checking carefully for any traces of his old injury. Aside from the bit of blood that had matted into his hair, there was nothing out of place. He couldn't feel any scratches, bumps, or blemishes.

He was all better.

"Whoa! That's awesome! Pyrrha, thank you so much!"

"It was nothing. I'm sorry." The Spartan girl shut her eyes pitifully, like she was afraid to look at him.

"Huh? Why?"

"I- I'm the one who hurt you, when I threw my spear. I'm so sorry, I was only trying to help, I swear!"

There had to be a certain point where a person's kindness stopped. In less than ten minutes, Jaune had been saved from falling to his death and recovered from a head injury, both because of the same person, who was now apologizing for both events.

It was kind of funny. He almost laughed at Pyrrha's insane good-heartedness.

"It's fine, seriously. If you didn't do that, I don't think I'd be here right now." Jaune had not forgotten what Peter said, about being on his way to catch him, but if he told Pyrrha that, she would probably feel worse. Peter seemed to bear the same knowledge and kept his mouth shut. Jaune didn't really care all that much, anyway. He was healed, the crisis was averted, so there was no problem. What point was there in holding a grudge, especially when Pyrrha herself had helped him recover?

"Come on, it's not that bad. I'm not mad, I promise."

"But…" Pyrrha remained unconvinced, guiltily avoiding looking the boy she helped in the eyes.

"How do I work with this situation? I don't want her to feel bad about me all day." This was yet another situation his sisters didn't prepare him for. Usually when his sisters apologized for something, it was a quick, casual apology. He wasn't sure how to deal with drawn-out, sincere guilt. It was time to fall back on the age-old Arc family technique, guaranteed to solve every problem no matter how complicated.

Improvise until something good happened.

"... Tell you what. If you really feel bad, you can make it up to me." Pyrrha perked up. She still looked overly guilty, but at least now she was looking him in the eyes. "From what Ozpin told us, this place is pret-ty dangerous, definitely not the kind of place you should be by yourself. So, if it's not too much trouble, you should probably stick with us until you find a partner of your own. Sound good, Peter?" Jaune cheekily side-eyed his own partner, already knowing exactly what sight awaited him.

"Oh yeah. It's always better to stick together in dangerous places." Peter, too, wore a cheeky grin. He smiled at Pyrrha with his arms crossed, awaiting her answer. There was no problem with the apologetic girl traveling with them for a time, he actually preferred it that way. Leaving her alone in a monster-infested forest felt wrong in every possible way.

"I…" Pyrrha still felt conflicted. It seemed improper to her to travel with somebody she had hurt. Not just in a sanctioned match where they were both protected with aura, she had actually injured him.

"But… if they're asking…"

Both boys gave her the same look. Kind smiles, topped with eyes filled with genuine care. Neither of them cared at all about what she did.

"Still… it's dangerous to go alone? Don't they know… who I am?"

"... Thank you both. If it really isn't any trouble, I would love to stay with you for now." Pyrrha stopped slouching and assumed her natural posture. In turn, she looked both Jaune and Peter in the eyes, wordlessly letting them know how relieved she felt that neither of them were angry.

"Awesome. If everything's settled, let's go. We've got plenty of time, but I don't want to be out here all day. Let's grab those relics so we can get out of here." Peter clapped a hand on Jaune's shoulder, then walked over and did the same to Pyrrha before leading the way into the forest. Now that he thought of it, it probably made more sense for him to lead the charge into the monster-infested woods instead of Jaune.

His allies followed close behind and soon caught up. The three of them walked side-by-side into the waiting forest, none of them having a single clue if they were actually going the right way.

"So, I've just… got aura now? It won't go away?" Jaune tilted his head to look around Peter, posing the question to the one who unlocked his strange power.

"That's right. I used my aura to release yours, but your light is your own. As long as you live, it will always be a part of you." Pyrrha nodded positively. Jaune felt no small degree of relief now that he was sure this cool healing ability wasn't just going to disappear on him. Just like that, he found another reason to be a little less nervous.

"Cool, coolcoolcool, just one more question."

Both Peter and Pyrrha turned to Jaune as they walked, unsure why he had stopped speaking so abruptly. Why did he look so nervous, like he didn't actually want to ask this new question?

"Uh… what is aura?"

Glynda:

"Ozpin."

A gentle breeze was blowing past Beacon Cliff, making the ankle-height grass sway from side-to-side. Riding crop in hand, Glynda glared pointedly at the back of her boss' head.

"..." The man remained silent, his eyes fixed on the camera feed displayed on his scroll. He was taking care to pay special attention to what had just taken place between Mr. Arc, Mr. Parker, and Ms. Nikos.

"Ozpin." Glynda repeated herself, more forcefully this time. "I feel the need to ask once more, why did you accept Mr. Arc? One look is all it takes to see he is clearly not ready for Beacon. The boy's aura wasn't even unlocked!" A heavy sight spilled from the strict woman's lips. She suddenly felt very tired. "... I'll need to put in a call to Signal later. Something about this isn't right."

"Perhaps you are right, Glynda. Though, I find myself wondering what the problem might be." At last Ozpin spoke. As expected, his words only made his Vice-Headmistress even more upset.

"What is the problem? Surely you don't mean to tell me there are no risks involved in this game you are playing."

"Game? Whatever do you mean? I'm being very serious, I assure you."

Her hand tightened around her riding crop. The odd pair had worked together for decades, and Glynda trusted Ozpin more than she trusted herself. The problem was that he knew this, and believed it gave him a pass to never fully explain himself. Whether he found it troublesome, tiring, or entertaining, he rarely filled his closest ally in on every detail of his inane schemes.

"We have a duty as educators to gauge the abilities of our students and assist them as necessary, and I can confidently say the best way to assist Mr. Arc would be to remove him from Beacon immediately." She was blunt and to the point, as she always was. Perhaps that was the greatest difference between them. Glynda Goodwitch was always brutally honest, no matter how harsh the truth was.

"And you may very well be right about that. It's true, Mr. Arc seems to be several steps behind his peers, so much so that simply being a student here could be dangerous for him." Ozpin's eyes were still glued to his scroll, taking in every last detail. Ms. Nikos was wrapping up her explanation on the nature of aura and its capabilities, a lecture that garnered the full attention of both Mr. Arc and Mr. Parker.

Glynda's eye twitched at how easily her concerns were brushed off. "Then-"

"Furthermore, it is also true that we have a duty as educators to guide our students to the best of our abilities." Ozpin rudely cut his companion off. "However, the entrance exam has yet to reach its end, so they aren't really our students. Not yet, anyway. Therefore, guidance falls outside of our responsibilities." At last, the man turned around to look his trusted ally in the eyes. His own brown orbs were filled with humor. "So, then, is it not only fair to hold off on our 'assistance' until initiation has concluded?"

"... Yes sir." Glynda ruefully stepped down. This discussion was a lost cause. Regardless of what she said, her warnings would be ignored.

As she lifted her own scroll up, ready to resume monitoring the entrants' progress, she sent up a quick prayer for the weak boy stumbling through dangerous territory.

Ben/Rex:

"Oye, Ozpin… you could at least give a guy a warning before you fire him off a cliff! Seriously not cool dude."

Rex dusted off his jacket as his huge propeller wings collapsed into his back. His landing had been safe, but all the leaves dragging across him while he coasted through the treeline to the ground left dusty smears on his favorite jacket.

"It's definitely not how I thought this day would go. At least it's interesting."

"Oh yeah, real interesting, amigo. What about all the guys who can't fly, or do… that?" Rex pointed a finger at the amorphous black and green blob talking to him. The creature slapped a goopy hand onto the green hourglass symbol on its chest. From the ensuing green flash, Ben emerged.

"I don't think any of them even looked all that worried. I'm not sure what kind of training they do here, but this is probably pretty normal for them." Ben rubbed his stiff neck with one hand and pressed on his lower back with the other. When he was launched off the cliff, he tried to choose Big Chill, but he couldn't clearly make out any of the icons with gale winds rushing into his streaming eyes.

The end result was a transformation, not into the frigid mothman, but rather into Upgrade. While the blobby alien did make it possible to land safely, splattering into a puddle on the ground wasn't exactly comfortable, no matter what species you were.

The two boys had been standing fairly close to each other, and thus were among the first to be launched off the cliff. After Rex noticed the guy to his right was some douchey-looking beefcake with a mace slung over one shoulder, he decided he wasn't taking any chances on Ozpin's rule for deciding partners. As soon as he pulled out the Boogie Pack, he looked for the green flash and followed it to Ben's location.

"What now? We just go straight to the ruins?" Despite the rough start, Rex was feeling kind of excited. Supposedly, these Grimm he had heard so much about were stalking the forest. After so much time spent in boredom, he'd finally get to see one of the shadow monsters for himself. Hopefully, he wouldn't be rusty. After all, it had been three months since his last battle against an EVO.

"Yeah, that sounds right. I guess we're supposed to show off our skills on the way there so they'll see what we can do."

"Guess flying's out, then."

"Ye-p." Ben popped the p exasperatedly. Raising his left arm, he pulled up the Omnitrix's scroll wheel, deciding which alien he wanted to use. XLR8 was certainly tempting, but he didn't want to leave Rex behind. That said, nobody else was really speaking to him. Water Hazard was never one of his favorites, Jury Rigg and Lodestar were useless in a forest, and Pesky Dust was… Pesky Dust. Rex peered over his shoulder, wanting to see which alien he was going to choose.

Scrolling past all his options, Ben thought for a moment, then pulled up his incomplete secondary playlist. Six icons displaying demonic animals greeted him, each looking more disturbing than the last.

"... Nah, better not. Not yet, anyway." Ben abandoned the playlist, returning to his initial ten.

"What are those?"

"Kevin and I got some scans of a few Grimm, but the Omnitrix gave me this weird warning about using them. It's probably better to hold off until we're not on school grounds. Let's see… no, no, no… ah, forget it."

Giving up on deciding, Ben closed his eyes, spun the wheel with his finger and tapped a random icon. He slammed down the code cylinder, treating Rex's eyes to another blinding green flash.

His skeleton collapsed in on itself until it was less than half of its original size. His skin, muscles, and organs hardened into a white metal, and an apparatus reminiscent of a battery pack grew from his back. His face stretched out until it was almost frog-like, and his vocal cords melded together. The green flash died down, revealing his glorious new self to the world.

"... Dude, you are so adorable." Rex squatted down and flashed a shit-eating grin at the diminutive little robot that barely came up to his waist. Its body was almost entirely white, save for the green circles on the backs of its hands and the black cable ports on the sides of its ankles. Two white mounds covered its ears like headphones, with cables leading to the battery pack on its back. Its green eyes bulged slightly out from its head, making it look like it had eye bags.

"Shut up! I look awesome!" In this form, Ben's voice was tinny and robotic, like it was played through an electronic filter. Ignoring his protests, Rex scooped his hands underneath the robot's arms, holding him in front of his face by the armpits like he was a baby.

"Aw, but you're so cute. I bet the kids would love you." The smug grin grew wider. Rex was having way too much fun with this.

"..."

Ben's response was to fire a tiny soundwave into Rex's face. The volume output was far from the worst he could do. It probably was about as loud as an annoying baby crying in the seat next to you on an airplane. The burst of sound was more than enough for Rex to drop him, rubbing his ears with a grimace.

"Ay, never mind! You're like a bebé! Tan ruidoso!"

"... I'm not cute. Echo Echo is cool." Ben adorably crossed his arms and pouted. He truly was playing the part of a petulant child perfectly.

"... So adorable." A certain mechanical hero never wanted a camera more than he did now. Unfortunately, he, along with everyone else undergoing the entrance exam, had been forced to leave their communication devices behind in their lockers.

"Fine, fine, whatever. You're the coolest guy alive, just don't do that again." Rex massaged his ears one final time before looking around. There weren't any Grimm nearby at the moment, nor was there anything to indicate their presence. What was there was trees. A lot of them.

Rex was pretty sure that he had just barely caught a glimpse of a huge, stone structure just before he flew below the tree line. He knew the direction, they only had to get there. As tempting as flying there was, he didn't want to fail initiation because he didn't show his combat skills at all. The Rex Rider wasn't an option either, not with all these huge trees. Unless…

"You think they'll mind if I cut down some of these trees? It's kind of hard to breathe here."

Ben knew exactly what he was thinking just from that one, innocently asked question. The cute little robot was not impressed.

"Dude, even I'm not that lazy, and my legs are half the size of yours. It won't kill you to take a walk every now and-"

"Espera un segundo!" Rex slapped a hand over Ben's oversized mouth, shushing him hurriedly. "... You hear that?"

Ben waited, straining his covered ears to detect whatever it was Rex had heard. A strong breeze blew past the two of them, blowing the tree branches overhead around. That was the only thing he could hear, that and the few random birds chirping at each other.

"... What-?"

"Listen!"

"..."

"..."

"...ssssss."

Rex's head shot up. Pressing his hand onto Ben's chest, he shoved the tiny robot away and threw his own body backwards, rolling over when he landed. In the next moment, a black mass smashed into the exact spot they had been standing, spraying grassy chunks of dirt and rocks everywhere. Rex held an arm in front of his face to avoid taking a rock to the eye. He peered into the thick cloud of dust in the hopes of catching a glimpse of what had attacked them. A glowing red orb peered right back at him.

"...hiiisss."

That same, chilling hissing sound. It made the hairs on his neck stand on end. Climbing to his feet, Rex morphed his right arm into a huge sword, ready to take on the monster hiding in the dust cloud.

Slowly, it emerged. A huge black head rose out of the cloud like a cobra from its pot. White bones decorated with red markings protruded from the top of its skull, complementing its evil red eyes. It was a massive snake, easily thirty feet long from what he could see. In the face of such an intimidating creature, Rex did nothing but smile.

"So you're the Grimm I've heard so much about. Hi there, my name's Rex. Now thrill me." He gripped the bars attached to his sword's crossguard, ready to throw down with the snake creature.

"Don't forget about me." From the corner of his eye, the cocky hero noticed a small, white robot running up beside him. "I can help-"

*BEEEEEP*

A flash of green light hid the robot from view. When the glow faded, Ben was left in its place.

"... too? Wait, huh!? Omnitrix, why now!?"

"UNKNOWN DNA SAMPLE LOCATED. SAMPLE NOT PRESENT WITHIN-"

"NOT NOW!" Like he was arguing with an actual person, Ben angrily jerked a finger at the huge snake, pointedly glaring at his poorly designed watch. Rex's smile grew as he watched the entertaining spectacle.

"Don't worry about it, I got this. You can just sit back and watch me work my magic."

The time for waiting was over, Rex dashed forward, eager to begin the fight. The snake lazily waved its head from side to side, like it was dancing. Slowly, it opened its mouth to reveal multiple rows of sharp fangs and a pitch-black tongue. It hissed once more right before lunging forward so fast, Rex almost didn't have time to react.

Just before the creature could close its mouth around his small body, he angled his sword arm sideways and smashed the flat side of the blade into the pointy ends of its front fangs. The tools of death cracked, but they did not break. If the creature felt pain, it didn't show it. While its opponent's arm was still raised in defense, it whipped around his back and coiled around his body.

Rex was lifted into the air, struggling against his prison. He tried stabbing the B.F.S. into the snake's black scales, but it was such an awkward angle, he could barely put any strength into the attack. The blade merely bounced off the slimy scales, not even leaving a scratch on them.

"Ay, ay, ay, you're a tough one, aren't you?" The captured boy's ribs were beginning to make a cracking noise. He would have taken another one of Penny's hugs over this death trap. The pressure was so intense, his vision was already starting to darken, though he could still clearly see the open mouth surging forward to devour him.

In a sudden flash of inspiration, he deactivated the B.F.S. and shoved both arms into the coils holding him hostage. Right as the snake's fangs were about to pierce his skull, a blue dome of light surrounded him, pushing the snake's coiled body away from him and successfully shattering the already cracked front fangs. Dropping the shield, he fell down to the ground and quickly retreated before he was scooped up again.

"Ugh, that sucked. Alright, fine, no more playing around."

Rex's left arm morphed into a rectangular cannon twice the size of his body. A feeder tray shot out of the back and carved a chunk out of the tree directly behind him.

"Hope you're hungry!" The cannon launched a ball of compressed wood straight into the snake's left eye. A wet crunching sound, like a piece of fruit being smashed, gave the boy a small sense of satisfaction. The snake still showed no sign of pain, but that didn't mean it wasn't hurt. The viscous black liquid pouring out of its crushed eye socket proved that the attack had worked.

"Hey, Ben! You sure you don't want in on this?"

"I'm trying, the stupid watch won't scan it!" Ben slapped the Omnitrix a few times, desperately trying to get it to function properly. "Come on! Just scan it so I can transform already!"

Ben was a few steps away from outright begging with the Omnitrix to function properly. It wasn't that he had no faith in Rex's ability to win on his own, he was just tired of being left out. It was bad enough when he was forced to watch Kevin have all the fun in the Grimmlands, the fact that history was repeating itself was just infuriating. Ever since he came to this world, the professional universe-rescuer had only been in one proper fight.

"Please. Just this once. Just. Give. Me. What. I. Need." He went back to rapidly tapping the faceplate, like a child spamming the call elevator button. The watch stubbornly remained unresponsive.

"God, this blows. Can this day please not get any worse?"

"Hiiisss."

Ben stiffened. Up till now, the dust cloud had still hung thickly in the air. It had slowly begun to dissipate, until there was only a light cloud of dirt remaining, thin enough you could just barely peer through it. However, where there should have been nothing but trees and grass on the other side, there was clearly a moving white shape hidden within the cloud.

Peering to his left, Ben could see Rex was still fighting with the black snake twenty feet away from where he was standing. The black snake whose body led right back into…

"... Give me a break."

"HIIISSS!"

"Oh man, so it's gonna be that kind of day!?" Whipping around, Ben saw two glowing, red orbs peering at him through the dirt hanging in the air. Faced with such a problem, he did the only thing he could do.

He turned right around and retreated. There was absolutely no shame in doing so. He had no weapon, no Omnitrix, no anything. He may have saved the universe like, a million times, but he still didn't feel like taking his chances in a bare-knuckle brawl with a giant monster snake.

As he turned tail and ran in the opposite direction, the snake lunged after him, hissing all the while. Ben jumped into the air before it could hit him, not leaving it time to redirect before its head smashed into the ground where his feet had been moments before. The violent impact taking place barely six inches behind him provided an unexpected push, sending him flying forward a few feet. He was forced to roll to his feet so he wouldn't lose any momentum, lest the massive snake catch up to him.

"Any day now, Omnitrix! If you could just scan this thing already, that'd be great!" Sweat poured from the desperate hero's face as he screamed pointedly at the unresponsive device.

"SCAN CANNOT COMMENCE UNTIL USER REMAINS STILL. SUDDEN MOVEMENTS MAY DISRUPT SCAN QUALITY."

"I don't care about the quality, I'm a C student! Just let me transform!" Ben threw his body to the side, narrowly avoiding being smashed into pulp by the white snake. Instead, it slammed right through a thick tree, which fell over soon after its entire trunk was destroyed. Loose, leafy branches rained down and fell over Ben, hiding him from sight.

"Omnitrix, look, I don't care about the scan, alright?" The insanity of hissing at a watch was irrelevant in the face of crisis. "We can scan it later, okay? I promise, you can do all the scans you want after we beat this thing, just restore the transformation function, already!"

The Omnitrix remained unresponsive.

Ben took a deep breath in a vain attempt to cool his temper. Losing his mind would do him no good, he needed to calm down before he did something irrational. A few deep breaths later, and he had calmed himself enough to take a good look at the situation. If the Omnitrix wasn't going to scan the monster snake unless he stopped moving so much, then he had to restrain it somehow.

Taking his chances, Ben gripped the leafy branch covering his body and lifted it just enough to peer out from underneath it. His breathing was slow and quiet so as not to alert the white snake, which was jerking its head all around trying to locate him. It flicked its tongue out, tasting the air, and still found nothing. Ben almost had a heart attack when the beast looked directly at him, thinking he had been caught. And yet, as if it had seen nothing, the giant snake ignored him completely. Dissatisfied, it hissed in what he was sure was annoyance before turning around and going straight for Rex.

His battle with the black snake had yet to end. The two blue and silver axes his arms had morphed into were only barely cutting through its tough, slippery scales, succeeding only in creating small cuts on the Grimm creature's body. Adding another opponent to the mix would only make things worse.

"Wait, what the…"

From his low-down position, Ben noticed something peculiar. These Grimm snakes… they were one organism. Rather than two different-colored snakes, it was a single being, the two bodies conjoined together instead of coming to ends. Rex had yet to notice. He was too busy coming up with a plan to hurt the near-invincible monster. Everything he threw at it just bounced off the creature's tough scales, the slimy residue coating them keeping any of his attacks from connecting with their full force.

As the black head surged forward, attempting to swallow him whole, Rex leaped into the air and twisted his body sideways, easily spinning out of the way. As the giant snake brushed at his side, he lashed out with one axe, slashing directly into the snake's inner fangs. The glowing blade cut straight through them like butter and went on to slash a chunk out of the roof of its mouth. After landing on his feet, Rex backflipped over the white head, which had tried to strike him from behind. Again, he struck, this time attacking the snake's head as he flipped away. Only this time, the axes bounced off the tough scales, leaving only a small scratch on the natural armor. At the rate he was going, he wouldn't get any chances to inflict a meaningful amount of damage.

The Omnitrix was useless. If he wanted to help, Ben needed a new plan.

"Why couldn't it see me? Does it just not care about me anymore?"

Glancing at the spot directly in front of him, he could see there were dozens of wood shards from the trunk the white half had destroyed. The largest of the wood fragments were nearly a foot long, their jagged, broken edges ending in sharp points.

"... I'm definitely spending way too much time with Kevin. Gwen would kill me if she found out about this." The adventurous hero was all for insane(ly fun) plans, but this… this was just stupid.

Shaking his head and groaning at his own insanity, Ben threw the leafy branch off himself and grabbed the two largest trunk fragments. Armed and ready, he sprinted straight for the huge Grimm as fast as his legs would carry him. With both heads focused on Rex, they had no way of noticing the dead calm teen running up on them from behind.
Taking a flying leap, he landed on top of its scaly body right where the black and white halves met. Not stopping, he ran up the white half, keeping his body low to avoid losing his balance. His feet slid around on the smooth, slimy scales. It took everything he had to not lose his footing and fall right over the side. He didn't waste time attacking its body, Rex had already proved that would be a pointless effort, especially with his brittle excuses for weapons. No, he had only one target in mind.

Well, technically two. Rex didn't realize it, but he had already showed his partner the most reliable way to hurt the gargantuan creatures

The white head had taken notice of the annoying little human running up its back and twisted its head around to get a good look at whoever dared to climb atop its magnificent scales. The boy clad in green, armed with wood fragments and a mocking grin, waved nonchalantly at it.

"Hey there. You miss me?"

Hissing, the white head lunged for the boy, not caring if it inadvertently sunk its teeth into its own body. Ben was waiting for this. When only a distance of five feet separated them, he jumped forward and landed right on its head. The white snake's fangs pierced its own scales, sinking deep into its flesh. Before it had the chance to pull back, Ben straddled the back of its skull and clamped his legs around its neck. The ooze coating its scales smeared onto his clothes, making him feel sticky and wet.

"Thanks for the idea, Rex!"

Spinning the two trunk fragments around in his hands, Ben stabbed the pointy ends directly into the creature's eyes. He shoved the spiky wood shards as deep as they could go, so deep a few of his fingers sunk into the creature's eyes along with them.

Finally, the creature showed a pained reaction. It ripped its fangs out of its body so quickly, they tore even more scales out as they went. The hissing sound it produced as it wildly flailed around sounded like the closest a snake could possibly get to screaming.

Ben had to tighten his grip on the wood shards and clamp his legs even tighter around the snake's neck to keep himself from being sent flying off by the monster's erratic movements. Warm, black liquid from its popped eyeballs was pouring into his sleeves, which felt about as disgusting as it sounded. The green sleeves were beginning to discolor, the excess liquid pooling at the elbows and seeping through the fabric.

"WELL, OMNITRIX! IS THIS STILL ENOUGH FOR YOU!?" Ben screamed at his watch one final time, hoping against hope he wouldn't lose his grip and go flying. The blinded snake had not given up on trying to shake him off. Its movements were only growing wilder all the while, its head jerking around so fast Ben couldn't even hear anything except rough winds assaulting his ears. Some of the disgusting liquid seeping from its eyes flew into his face, spattering his light skin with black droplets.

Ignoring how gross he felt, he made sure to keep the Omnitrix's faceplate pressed firmly onto its white scales.

The sight of yellow light peeking out from the gap between the faceplate and the slimy scales was so beautiful, Ben wanted to cry. It was so beautiful, he almost failed to notice that the white snake had suddenly halted its movements, and that one-eyed black snake was now looking directly at him, enraged by his assault of its partner.

Boy and snake locked eyes. One glowing red orb was filled with rage, while two green orbs reflected a faint sense of fear.

"... H-hey there. This… isn't what it looks like, it's all just a funny coincidence."

The black head was not amused. For what felt like the thirtieth time that day, Ben found himself staring down a giant snake's throat.

"REX!"

A thick, black cord shot into the air and wrapped itself around the black snake's mouth, wrapping it shut. Despite its struggles, the Grimm was unable to snap the tough cord.

"About time you started helping, hermano. I was getting tired of doing everything myself." Rex grinned cruelly at the restrained head as the huge canister strapped to his back began to glow with blue light. The black whip growing out of his arm also began to glow a mere moment before it sparked with electricity, frying the bound snake's head with blue lightning.

"And interrupt your first big fight with a Grimm?" Ben jokingly called back, calming his own fried nerves with a bit of banter.

"SAMPLE HAS BEEN ANALYZED. NEW TRANSFORMATION UNLOCKED."

At long last, the Omnitrix was finally ready. The yellow lines highlighted against the black faceplate changed back to the warm shade of green Ben knew and loved.

The snakes were beaten, that much was clear. They might still have been capable of a few, last-ditch movements, but that was about it. To the black snake's credit, it was still flailing weakly within the electrified cage that was Rex's Blast Caster, the light in its remaining eye refusing to go out.

"Gee, thanks for being so considerate. If you see me getting ganged up on by a bunch of giant monsters, feel free to intervene!"

As if on cue, the loud sound of wood being smashed alerted both boys to the presence of more creatures. They didn't have to look around to find where the noise came from, because they were already surrounded. Countless blood-curdling howls filled their ears.

Drawn in by the loud sounds of battle and feelings of desperation from both boys, dozens of Grimm were approaching the clearing the giant snake had created as it flailed around fighting the two boys. The situation was dire. Ben recognized them as weaker versions of the werewolves and bears he had encountered in the Grimm lands. Worst of all, there was another huge snake Grimm slithering up in the middle of the pack.

Rex couldn't very well release the black head when it was still kicking. With sweat pouring down his face, he morphed his left arm into the B.F.S. and switched to its chainsaw configuration, tearing apart any Grimm who got too close to him. Thankfully, they weren't anywhere near as armored as the twin snakes, and were far easier to kill. As if seeing their reinforcements breathed new life into them, the weakened snakes began fighting back once more. The black continued to thrash at its bindings, throwing Rex off balance when he tried to beat back the approaching wolves and bears. The white snake resumed its wild, jerking motions, hoping to throw Ben off and into the ravenous horde waiting below. Their battle must have attracted half the Grimm in the forest.

"Hey, Ben! You know how I said you can feel free to jump in if you see me getting ganged up on!? THIS IS WHAT I MEANT! HURRY UP AND TRANSFORM!"

Ben tried to take stock of the situation, only to give up after he counted out twenty Grimm circling down below, closing in on his otherworldly friend with every passing second. A few sawn-apart Grimm corpses were dissipating into ash around him, creating an uneven surface for him to fight on. Between the rough terrain, the massive horde, and the black snake's continued efforts to free itself, staying balanced was practically impossible.

Even still, he fought on. If it got really bad, he would make a risky gamble and try to escape on the Boogie Pack. With any luck, he'd be able to grab Ben and they'd both get away together, assuming any one of the four different snake heads didn't grab them out of the sky. The only mercy was that the other set of conjoined snakes had yet to arrive, but they were running out of time.

"Screw it, now's as good a time as any." If there was ever a time to throw caution to the wind, it was now. None of Ben's available transformations were well-suited to this situation, which left only one viable option. There was a 100% chance it would be risky, but hey, "risky" was what the verdant hero lived for.

"Well, if you insist. Time for the star player to take the field!"

At last, Ben released his grip on the wood shards jammed into the white snake's eyes. His legs alone weren't strong enough to keep him from being flung off. With a victorious hiss, the blind snake whipped its head upwards one final time, finally dislodging the boy responsible for its critical state.

"BEN!" Rex tore his eyes away from the swarming Grimm for only a split-second to chance a look at his friend.

Ben flew straight up into the air, his body only rotating a few times before it held firm horizontally. Just when he soared high enough to be level with the top of Beacon Cliff, all his upward momentum paused. For a single second, he hung in the air, then began to fall back down.

He could see all the waiting Grimm glaring hungrily up at him, eagerly anticipating the meal they would soon enjoy. The werewolves drooled greedily, the bears gnashed their teeth, and the uninjured snakes hissed in a way that almost seemed like laughter.

Ben just smirked down at them. As his body continued to fall, he pulled up the scroll wheel, swiping right past the ten aliens he had come to this world with. If none of them were the best choice, then it was time to try something new. Regardless of the risks involved, he couldn't keep his smile from growing larger. There was something special about assuming a brand new transformation for the first time, something he hadn't experienced in so long.

And that terrifying icon of the furious, demonic wolf was just calling his name.

"Get ready Rex, cause it's Hero Time!"

Selecting the first icon he saw, Ben slammed his hand down on the code cylinder. For the second time that day, a terribly bright flash of green light lit up the early morning sky, piercing through the tree canopy and bathing Rex and the small army of Grimm in its valiant glow.

Briefly, an unnatural silence hung over the forest.

One that was soon broken.

.

.

"... Oh? How interesting. I certainly did not expect this from you. Hm, what else will you show me?"

Jaune/Peter:

"... Do you guys feel the ground shaking?"

Peter stopped walking, staring intensely at his feet. He was sure the ground had just trembled for a brief moment and kicked up a few small pebbles.

"I didn't feel anything."

"You sure you didn't just imagine it?"

Pyrrha and Jaune both shook their heads negatively. They hadn't noticed anything wrong.

"I thought I might have noticed a small tremor, but I wasn't sure. I'm glad I'm not the only one who sensed something was off."

"Dude, you really gotta stop talkin' like that. It's gettin' on my nerves."

The small group had only stopped their trek through the forest a minute or two ago. They had not paused because Jaune's directions seemed to be incorrect. Their journey was put on hold because the sound of explosions and gunfire had reached their ears. Believing they had stumbled upon other students, their ragtag team rushed in to see if they could offer support, only to find…

"Yeah, Renny, you're always so mysterious. Just use small words. Small! Words!"

It was a group of three, all of which were familiar faces to Peter Jaune. A fair-skinned young man dressed in chinese-style robes with short, black hair that had a single pink streak running through it was taking on three medium-sized Beowolves by himself while his companion, an orange-haired girl wielding a giant silver hammer, effortlessly swatted away whatever Grimm he wasn't currently focused on.

That left only one more person, who Peter knew very well.

Kevin's stoic visage was the same as ever, if not a little more aggressive. He had gone from a man who looked eternally annoyed to flat-out angry. While the other two members of his group - who seemed to already know each other - worked together to clear out the smaller Grimm, he had taken it upon himself to brawl with the two large Ursa that crept up from behind.

It was like he was a mouse being toyed with by two cats. Fighting two large opponents at the same time was hard enough, being armored somehow made it worse. Neither of the monsters were strong enough to break his stone shell, which brought about the somewhat humorous scene of two giant bears swatting Kevin between the two of them in an attempt to crack his shell, like two cats sharing a ball of yarn.

It wasn't until a solid minute had passed that he finally was able to dig his feet in and stand his ground against one of the Ursa's huge paw strikes. He was so angry by that point, his entire body was trembling. Through the sheer power of righteous fury, he grabbed hold of the bear monster's paw and violently tore it off before using it to break every bone in both Grimms' bodies.

Ren was wise enough to hold his companion back from interacting with the huffing berserker. Interacting with him so soon after he was inadvertently treated like a toy seemed… ill-advised.

Jaune and the others had arrived at the battle site just in time to witness Kevin crush the last bear's skull with his bare hands while wearing a terrifyingly angry expression. Jaune barely held back the instinctual squeak after witnessing the terrifying sight. Pulling himself together, he called out to the three students in the most confident voice he could manage.

While Kevin took deep breaths to calm himself down, Jaune had a quick talk with the others. He was happy to meet up with Ren and Nora if only because they were more familiar faces. Ren had given him a courteous wave while Nora had, of course, tried to tear his arm off again, then quickly moved on to do the same to Peter and Pyrrha.

"We met up soon after landing. After walking for a short while, we happened upon your friend and offered him a place among us until he found a partner of his own." Ren carefully explained the situation while Nora bounced excitedly behind him. Midway through his explanation, he robotically raised a hand and placed it on her shoulder to stop the erratic movements, like he had done it a hundred times before.

"For real? Well, that's great then, we did the same thing." Peter pointed between himself and Jaune, with Pyrrha being the odd one out.

The lone Spartan carefully looked over the stone-coated thug. He had finished calming himself down and had returned to his neutral state. Of course, for Kevin, the "neutral state" meant crossing his arms and wearing a permanent frown. For somebody who didn't really know him all that well, it was hard to tell whether or not he was still angry. His literal stony expression only made it harder.

"..."

She wasn't exactly excited.

"Mmmm, rules are rules, and I wouldn't want to be rude."

Against her better judgment, the overly kind girl decided she would extend an offer to her fellow student. If he chose to reject her, well… that was too bad.

"It's very nice to meet you. Kevin, was it? My name is Pyrrha." Her brilliant smile was as perfect as ever. She even extended a hand in an effort to appear as friendly as possible.

"... S'a pleasure." To her surprise, Kevin actually took her hand and shook it once. "Nice to meet you and all that, Pyra."

"It's… Pyrrha."

"So, it's not just Jaune and Peter. He also doesn't seem to…"

The redhead pulled back her hand, thinking carefully on the repeated oddity she had experienced in the past hour. Three times. Three different people didn't look like they had the slightest clue as to who she really was. Nora and Ren looked like they had a vague idea, but they said nothing about it. As for the others, they really didn't know who she was.

"... I'm sorry."

"For what?" Kevin tilted his head, not sure what the weird girl was apologizing for.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm sorry."

"You apologize way too much, you know that?"

"... I'm sorry."

Jaune and Peter coughed into their hands to hide their laughter. The efforts were in vain, for Pyrrha noticed anyway and turned red with embarrassment.

"Awesome! Everybody has a partner! Now, let us go! The relics await!" Nora jumped right into the center of the group, startling Peter enough to make him jump back. Not minding what she had just done, Nora turned straight around and marched off in a random direction.

Incidentally, it was the same direction Jaune's group had already been going, so nobody corrected her course. Even if they did, it seemed unlikely that she would listen. The energetic girl pretty clearly marched to the beat of her own drum, uncaring of what others thought of her. She had almost cried when Kevin killed the last Ursa, saying she had wanted to ride it.

Jaune felt bad for whoever got saddled with the tremendous task of leading the excitable berserker. They were surely in for an exhausting time. If she ended up on his team, he didn't know how he would manage with her.

"...gggggmn"

Peter paused. He definitely felt it that time. The ground one-hundred percent just shook, so very slightly it barely even disturbed the twigs laying around. And, like last time, nobody commented on it. Ren and Pyrrha paused momentarily to observe their surroundings, but they said nothing. He thought about saying something, but he already knew nobody aside from them had detected the faint tremor. Shaking his head, he hoped it wasn't anything serious.

"We're so close now, we have to be. Just a little bit longer and we'll have our relics. Then we can finally get out of here."

Jaune had been freakishly lucky. If you didn't count the ones Kevin's group wiped out, he hadn't even seen a single Grimm since arriving in the Emerald Forest. It wasn't exactly a smooth ride because of the odd terrain, but it surely could have been worse. On top of that, the decoys Ozpin prepared were honestly genius.

A short while before encountering Kevin and the others, they happened upon a cave with ancient-looking markings carved into the cliff it was built into. For a short while, Jaune was sure it was the place they were looking for, but Peter stopped him from going inside, saying he was completely sure there was something bad inside. He didn't know why, but the unaware blonde had a hunch Peter's "feelings" were to be abided by.

Honestly, the attention to detail was incredible. Somebody had actually ventured outside to set up a decoy location to trick the entrants into believing they had found the correct place. Who knew what devilish trap awaited any unfortunate soul who wandered inside, hoping to find the key to passing initation.

Maybe he was giving too much credit to the Headmaster of Beacon, and too little credit to the ancient tribes of Remnant.

The untrained knight felt a tremendous sense of relief once more for having ended up as Peter's partner. He didn't know exactly what the younger boy was capable of, he only knew he was almost definitely stronger and better suited to this life than he was, and for that, he was invaluable.

Jaune felt his body grow warm. The trees were thinning out, allowing more sunlight to hit his body. The grass shortened and went from bright green to dull brown and the bushes disappeared completely. A small clearing in the trees allowed room for a barn-sized, circle-shaped stone structure lined with pillars. Another cliff lay just beyond it, where even more trees were growing all the way to the horizon.

They had done it. The ruins were right there, and inside, oversized black and gold chess pieces were visible.

"I… was right?" Jaune muttered under his breath, utterly amazed that his half-baked idea was right on the money. For all he knew, Ozpin had just pointed in a random direction. That he actually did point directly to the ruins was just pure luck. Not that he was going to admit that if anybody asked.=

Nobody seemed to hear what he had said. Nora had already sprinted off to the ruins while dragging Ren by the arm and Kevin absently followed behind them, leaving Jaune alone with his original group.

"Nice work, Jaune. This could have taken way longer without you." Peter clapped his friend's back playfully. "I didn't have a clue where we should have gone back there."

"Yes, it was quite impressive, Jaune. Thank you for helping us to save time." Pyrrha dipped her head respectfully, joining Peter in praising the blonde knight.

"... Y-yeah, of course. It wasn't a problem for me, I just needed some time to think." Jaune crossed his arms coolly, playing the part of a confident man.

"I was only, like, 40% sure I was actually right!"

Judging by the position of the sun, they had probably been traveling for just under two hours. If initiation really didn't end until sundown, they still had almost eight hours before they had to be back at Beacon with their relics in hand.

Jaune cleared his throat.

"Right, well, we probably shouldn't spend too much time here. What do you say we grab our relics and get out of here before any more Grimm show up?" He received two nods in response.

"Gggggggmmm!"

There it was again, yet another tremor. Peter could see Pyrrha stop dead in her tracks and cautiously glance down at her feet. Jaune had yet to notice anything and went right on striding over to the forest temple.

"You too?" He mumbled over to Pyrrha.

"Yes, they're growing stronger. Could it be an earthquake?"

"No idea. Let's just stay on guard. The sooner we get back to Beacon, the better."

The trio walked over to the ruins, easily catching up with Kevin. He was walking far slower than Nora and Ren, looking around suspiciously as he moved. Jaune paid him little mind. He was having a hard time keeping his excitement on lock as the relic site drew ever closer. He was so close. Just a little farther, and he would be a student of Beacon.

"How about a cute little pony?" A bright voice cheerfully shouted.

"Sure." Whoever responded was far more subdued, one might even say bored, yet faintly amused.

"Yang?"

Peter began walking a little faster, leaving the group behind. Now that they were right in front of the ruins, they could clearly see that, within the confines of the stone pillars, there were two girls in the middle of collecting their own relic. The bright, golden hair of Yang was easy to pick out, and her partner's large, black bow was just as easy to recognize.

"Hey! About time you guys got here. What took you so long?" Yang waved her relic, a golden knight piece, at the group instead of waving her hand.

"We only just got here ourselves. Now that you're here, we can go back to the cliffs together. Only if you'd like to, of course." Blake's offer was most likely made out of obligatory kindness than any actual desire to travel together. Not that Jaune had any intention of complaining. More people meant a stronger fighting force. A stronger fighting force meant less risk, and he was always happy with less risk.

Stepping onto the stone plate, Jaune glanced at the waist-height podiums the chess pieces rested on. Based on the empty podiums, it was safe to assume they weren't the first ones there. Once again, he didn't really care. The goal was to pass, not to stand out. It didn't matter to him if he was the first back or the last back as long as he made it back at all.

"... Which one do you want?" Peter stood beside his partner, eyeing each piece curiously.

"I don't know, it probably doesn't even matter. Uh… this one, I guess?"

Stepping forward, Jaune grabbed hold of one of the two black king pieces. He held it up for Peter to see and got a thumbs up in response. Behind him, Kevin picked up a golden rook, unknowingly sealing his fate by selecting the same piece as the self-proclaimed "queen of the castle," Nora.

That was it. After hiking through the forest without encountering a single Grimm, all it took was picking up a chess piece. Their positions as students of Beacon had been secured so easily.

"Huh. That's it? I… kind of expected more."

"I'd rather just be happy knowing we'll be able to pass."

The two boys shared a smile over their success. Jaune shoved the piece into his back pocket, the crown of the piece sticking out a bit.

"You guys ready to get out of here? Forests aren't really my thing, stuff always gets in my hair." Yang didn't wait for a response. She was already leaving the ruins with Blake and Nora in tow, leaving the rest of them to play catch-up. Jaune wasn't sure why he smiled at the sight of his companions retreating from the ruins. It was an automatic response.

"I did it, Vert. I'm gonna pass. You'll all be so proud of me when you find out I pulled it off. All that's left is to get out here before-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHH!"

Jaune threw his hands over his ears to protect them from the shrill sound of screaming.

"Where is that coming from!?"

"Is that… Ruby!?"

Eight heads whipped all around, their owners trying to track down the source of the high-pitched scream. On a whim, Peter glanced straight up. In an instant, his whole body tensed.

"What the-!?" Everybody turned to look at Peter after his sudden exclamation. Without warning, he dropped into a crouch, tensed his muscles, and leaped straight up. The explosive force of his jump created a small breeze that ruffled the grass and blew Pyrrha's red sash around.

All eyes followed his ascent, until he made contact with-

"Ruby!?" Yang's scream was colored with utter confusion. Indeed, it was quite an interesting phenomenon. Through some strange assortment of unexplained circumstances, the red reaper was falling headfirst out of the sky. Even from their position on the ground, everybody present could hear the small girl's "oof" when Peter grabbed her in midair.

Together, they fell straight down, Peter holding Ruby in his arms to safeguard her from the impact. Jaune was pretty sure he could hear him say "brace yourself" just before his legs slammed into the ground. He shielded his eyes from the shockwave of air created, almost losing his balance momentarily from the sudden air gust.

"You okay?" After making a clearly impossible jump, all the young man had to say was that.

"Uuuugh… yeah, I'm good." Ruby, still cradled like a baby in Peter's arms, held her stomach and groaned. Her savior may have taken the impact, but he couldn't protect her organs from the sudden stop. She would live, she just had to deal with the pain for a little while.

The Faunus boy's legs had cracked straight through the rocky soil and were buried up to the knees. Calmly, he stepped out of the holes one leg at a time, freeing himself from the itchy soil prison. Ruby was carefully set down beside him so he could dust off his legs. Much to his dismay, his already torn-up pants were even more shredded around the ankles than they were before, and there were a few tears in his shoes.

"Did your sister just fall out of the sky?" Blake's brain must have needed time to process the unnatural event. To speed up the snail's-pace process, she sought answers from somebody else.

"I-" Yang began.

"Oh, that's right! WEEIIIISSS! DID YOU JUMP YET!?" Ruby suddenly cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled straight into the sky. "WEEIIIISSS!?"

"What're you-?" Yang followed her sister's gaze up and very nearly yelped in surprise.

"What. Is. That!?"

Overhead, the biggest Nevermore she - or anyone in the large group - had ever seen was soaring through the sky, and, outlined perfectly against its black feathers was the stark white dress and hair of a certain familiar heiress.

"HOW COULD YOU LEAVE ME!?" The frantic demand was understandable in Jaune's opinion. If it was him dangling from an unbelievably large Grimm a thousand feet in the air, he would have lost his cool too. Hell, he probably would have passed out.

"I said 'jump'." Noticing everybody was looking at her, Ruby threw up her arms as if to say "not my fault."

"Um, what if she falls down?" Pyrrha nervously glanced between the little reaper and Weiss.

"She'll be alright."

"Aaand, she's falling." Kevin's helpful input made Peter pause at his task of wiping the soil off his pants. The Faunus boy sighed and straightened up.

"Hang on, I got this."

Another gust of air, another faint "oof," and another hard landing. Weiss was laid out in Peter's arms, just like Ruby had been, though she looked far less thankful to be saved.

"U-unhand me! I didn't need your help!"

"You're welcome." Peter respected her request, setting her down and pulling his legs out of the ground once more, reluctantly getting to work on brushing the soil off once again.

"Great, the gang's all here, now we can die together." Yang's cheery smile did not match the sarcastic tone. Her eyes were fixed on the huge Nevermore circling back around to their location. Now that they had been spotted, a fight was inevitable.

Jaune was more aware of this than anybody. He was incredibly mindful of dangerous situations that would involve him sooner or later, and this certainly fit the criteria. He had no plan in mind as the Nevermore glided towards them. He just watched helplessly, desperately praying somebody else would know what to do.

Somebody… else… would solve the problem for him.

"... What the heck? A Huntsman wouldn't wait for somebody else to have an idea."

Pyrrha jumped in fright when Jaune suddenly slapped himself in the face so hard, it left a red mark on his cheek.

"J-Jaune!?"

"... I… think I know what to do." The wounded young man forced his own brain into overdrive. He actually only had part of a plan. He was forcing his neurons to fire, to string thoughts together until they formed coherent ideas that could be stitched into a tapestry with detailed instructions on how to kill the giant raven monster.

He would have to make use of the little he had regarding his allies' talents, and learn about others on the fly in order to utilize them properly. It was… doable, just incredibly difficult. This plan, if it could even be called that, could work.

"... If we-"

"GGGGRRRRAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"

Not a single person was able to leave their ears uncovered. The horrible, blood-curdling roar was so oppressively loud, so uncomfortably vile, it hurt to even hear it. It was so loud, the numerous pebbles laying around bounced up and down on the ground, producing a dull clattering noise.

After seven long seconds, the terrible roar ended at last.

"... I'm guessin' that thing didn't make that noise?" Kevin pointed a slightly shaky finger up at the Nevermore. Even the freakishly large bird monster paused for a second, instinctually curling its wings into its body out of fear and dropping a few hundred feet before remembering it was still in midair. Its flight path became erratic, the twitching of its wings visible even from so far away.

Whatever it was, even the Grimm was shaken up.

The ragtag group watched in amazement as the Nevermore turned around and flew away, desperately flapping its wings as fast as it possibly could. The embodiment of fear itself... was terrified.

"No… no Nevermore makes a sound like that." Blake removed her hands not from her ears, but from her bow. With fear-filled eyes, she stared without blinking at the thick network of trees they had all trekked through not even ten minutes ago. The ruins were set on a hill, giving her a look over the canopy of green. The distant trees were shaking, like they were struck with a huge object. Some of them broke completely, tipping over and pulling other trees down with them. The ground began shaking once again, rapidly and at regular intervals. Something big was coming, and it was coming fast.

Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose and pointed the barrel at the treeline. Pyrrha shifted her javelin into its rifle form and brought up her shield, crouching in a shooter's position beside her ally. Everyone else followed suit, lining up and pulling out their weapons. Even Jaune took up a position between Peter and Kevin, shakily drawing Crocea Mors and unfurling its companion shield. They were all feeling an immense pressure that grew with every second weighing down on them so much it almost hurt.

It was far beyond bouncing pebbles at this point, even the ruins housing the relics were affected. Some of the stone pillars fell over and tumbled off the cliff directly behind them. The ornate relics fell from the podiums and rolled all over place, bouncing along with the loose stones laying around.

Jaune clenched Crocea Mors as tightly as his sweaty palm would allow, shield at the ready. He had not a single ounce of belief that he could take whatever was coming, it just made him feel better to have something between him and the unknown creature in the forest.

Then all logic went out the window, right along with the entire tree that was flung out of the forest. It soared right over their heads and followed the collapsing ruins off the cliff's edge. Several more followed suit, indiscriminately being tossed all over the place. Some also went over the cliff, some went in the complete opposite direction, and some crash landed uncomfortably close to the steadfast line of students. Dirt clinging to each tree's roots rained down on their heads while the terrain around them was torn up by the leafy missiles slamming into the soil.

Perhaps the worst thing about all of this was that it wasn't just trees anymore. There was something else, something so small Jaune couldn't clearly make out what they were. They were pitch black, maybe a little bit white if his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. They flailed around as they arced through the air, flying around just as indiscriminately as the trees, which were still being launched. It wasn't until one dark shape crashed directly in front of their group and sprayed black liquid all over them that they finally realized the truth.

A giant Ursa covered in bony armor had slammed into the ground so forcefully, it quite literally exploded. Half its body was blown away, the strange Grimm fluids within staining the soil. It was quick to dissipate, along with the black blood it had sprayed on the gathered Beacon entrants, but it still left a mark in all of their minds.

"Wh-what's going on?" Ruby was beyond her years in many ways, but even she couldn't stop herself from shaking. Almost every single person in the group was the same. Even Kevin was starting to sweat a little.

"... -eft! … -id left! You-... off the cliff! Listen to me! Alto Ben, alto!"

"Do you guys hear that, too?" Yang wasn't crazy. she definitely heard somebody yelling in the same direction the footsteps were coming from. A voice that… sounded weirdly familiar. It became clearer and louder with every second, like it was constantly getting closer.

"Look! Up there!" Ren pointed one of his green pistols at yet another peculiar sight. There was something flying above the trees, something with… orange wings?

"Oye! Listen, go left! You're gonna run straight off the cliff if you keep going this way!" The voice was unmistakably human, and it sounded incredibly panicked. For a select few in the entrant alliance, it was very familiar.

"R-REX!?" Jaune screamed as loud as he possibly could at the flying man. For just a second, he stopped. That was definitely him. He was way too far to make out specific details, but the familiar red jacket was easy to pick out.

Rex's panic grew exponentially when he heard Jaune's voice. This whole situation just went from extraordinarily bad to unfathomably horrible. It was too late for him to do anything anymore. Disaster could no longer be averted.

Two seconds later, the final barrier broke. The last few trees separating the clearing from the main forest were blown away, launched straight forward by a massive creature slamming directly into them.

Jaune and the others hit the dirt just in time to avoid the barrage of trees. They crashed directly into what remained of the ruins, blowing apart the ancient stone structure and scattering the last few relics all over the place. Most of the rubble tumbled straight off the cliff, as did the majority of the ornate chess pieces.

That hardly mattered right now. They all had a much bigger problem at the moment. The examinees hurriedly pushed themselves to their feet. All of their faces were ghost-white, even Pyrrha's, and their legs were shaking at the mere sight of… of…

"H-how…!?"

"What even…!?"

"Wha-WHAT IS THAAAAT!?" Weiss' scream was by far the loudest. Her grip on her rapier loosened until the tip sank into the soil. The handle of her weapon threatened to slip right out of her hand.

Ruby's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets, Yang's arms dropped down to her sides, Blake's bow unnaturally fluttered up and down at breakneck speeds, and Jaune dropped his sword entirely as he fell to his knees, despair written all over his face.

Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha barely managed to keep a tight grip on their weapons. This was so far beyond what they were expecting. This went beyond anything they even could be prepared for. What was that monster!? It didn't exist in any textbook they knew of.

Peter and Kevin didn't drop their fists or their eyes for a single second. Even they were slightly afraid of the Grimm right in front of…

No.

No, that… Demon… could not be compared to a mere Grimm.

If you were to massively oversimplify the beast, it was a very large Beowolf, but it was so incredibly malformed, it was difficult for even Weiss to say that with confidence.

This… "Beowolf"... was easily more than twice the size of a dump truck. The heiress recalled that the largest Beowolf ever put on record wasn't even the size of a two-story home. Its bone armor went beyond the level of an alpha. Rather than crude bone plates growing from specific sections of its fur, the refined, objectively beautiful armor covering every inch of the Beowolf's body looked like it was a proper set of smith-forged protectives, the red markings decorating the plates intricate and tastefully designed. It was like it was a regal war horse outfitted with only the most ornate, finely crafted armor fit to satisfy a king, with all the smooth, meticulous details of a royal knight's armor. Countless huge spikes jutted out from its armor, the largest of them growing from its spine and elbows. Some were even jagged and serrated, and others split at the ends into multiple points. They started out white, and gradually turned a darker shade of red near the tips.

More than that, even under the thick layers of armor, it was plain to see how muscular the creature was. Its legs were so meaty, they made the trees around them look like pencils. Its claws were so large, a grown man wouldn't have measured up in size. Even the fundamental biological traits of a Beowolf were… wrong. Its snout was abnormally thick, and every other jagged fang on the upper jaw was too large to be contained within the creature's mouth. They protruded from its maw and were long enough to stretch at least two feet past its lower jaw, around which a "second jaw" of sorts was created by its bone helmet, spiking up around the mouth like a second set of fangs. That was to say nothing of its minivan-sized paws, each one possessing seven oversized, blood-red claws. [1]

The creature was downright nightmarish. No, everyone present would have gladly accepted a lifetime of nightmares if they never had to see this Demon again for as long as they lived.

"W-...wh-wha… w-wh-what d-d-do we d-do?"

Nobody was sure who asked the question.

"... Wait…" Kevin relaxed his shoulders and took a closer look at the abomination of nature.

The others who were familiar with Grimm were also beginning to take notice of an odd detail. There was very clearly something wrong here. What kind of Grimm had venom-green eyes? And why was there a green hourglass on its chest?

"... Ben!?"

""""WHAT!?"""" Four different sets of eyes whipped around to Kevin, their owners barely able to comprehend what they had just heard.

"THAT'S BEN!?" Jaune couldn't stop himself from screaming in Kevin's ear. While everybody else freaked out, Kevin heaved the deepest sigh of relief in history and finally dropped his fists. An annoyed smile was forcibly growing on his face.

"What the hell, Tennyson? You can't just scare a guy like that." Cracking his closed eyes open, Kevin locked eyes with the beast. "So that's what that thing looks like when you copy it. Can't even rip-off a werewolf properly, you gotta be all fancy with it. I don't ever wanna hear you say I do too much work on my car again."

""""""WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?""""""

"INCOMING!" Dirt was kicked up in all their faces when yet another heavy object crashed barely two feet in front of them. Two metal, orange wings collapsed in on themselves as Rex stepped out of the dirt cloud he had created with his rough landing.

"Gracias a dio, it is so good to see you guys! I've been trying to keep Ben under control for the past ten minutes. He's not listening to anything I say! I don't know what to do!"

Rex pointed a finger behind him at the Demonic Beowolf. There was something else none of them had noticed yet. They had been too busy freaking out over the frickin' sixty foot-tall Beowolf to notice there were dozens of smaller Grimm clinging to it. Ursa, smaller Beowolves, there was even a Taijitu wrapped around its neck, trying pointlessly to suffocate the horrific mutant.

"The Grimm… are fighting?" Against her better judgement, Blake lowered her sword by only a few centimeters. Too many impossible things had happened in the last five minutes. Her brain was truly beginning to fry itself trying to comprehend it all.

"Those… are all young Grimm." Pyrrha noted a strange commonality between the smaller monsters. Every one of them was completely unarmored, not a single scrap of bone armor to color their black fur and scales, and they were all relatively small. The Beowolves were lithe and vulnerable, the Ursa were barely half the size of shipping crates, and the Taijitu wrapped around the demon's neck had no red markings adorning its scales.

The massive Beowolf finally took notice of the bothersome Grimm clinging to it and set to work tearing them apart. Ursa were plucked up by its claws and crushed into pulp with barely any exertion. The smaller Beowolves were mashed into the soil when their larger counterpart rolled its body along the ground, and the King Taijitu never stood a chance. With a single flick of its claws, the snake Grimm was cut in half where its two bodies met. The mutant Beowolf clutched both halves in its massive claws and flung them straight back into the forest, breaking their bodies even further as they smashed through countless trunks. The sound of muscles being torn and bones being broken filled everyone's ears.

"... I… I don't even know what to say…" In all her time fighting, Pyrrha had never seen a single thing that could have prepared her for this.

Growling angrily, Rex morphed his right arm into the Slam Cannon and loaded it with one of the few remaining chunks of the stone ruins. Under any other circumstances, everybody would have questioned his body's transformation. Now, though, there was something else to occupy their attention, something a little more interesting than somebody turning their arm into a projectile launcher.

"Ben! Listen to me, cabrón! You need to change back!"

Rex fired the compressed ball of stone directly into the back of the Beowolf's head. It bounced right off the bone helmet harmlessly. The monstrous Grimm probably didn't even feel anything. Rex could do nothing but groan once more.

Like a light switch was flipped, the sounds of carnage finally stopped. All the Grimm were dead, their bodies strewn about and slowly dissipating into ash. The humongous Beowolf's back was turned to the group, chest heaving as it took deep breaths.

"... Is it… over?" Yang eyed the monster with skepticism and fear.

While everybody was stuck in place, unsure of what to do, Kevin alone stepped forward, scowling in annoyance.

"Oi, Tennyson! Weren't you yelling at me for being too violent with these things before? Hurry up and change back, I've gotta slug your stupid face for freaking me out."

"Ben's" dagger-shaped ears perked up, his head swiveling around to face the source of the noise. Kevin was only ten feet away now, stony arms crossed over his chest and tapping his foot impatiently on the ground. In the face of this new arrival, he only growled hatefully.

"What, this one can't talk either? What is it with your dog aliens and not having a language to speak? Whatever, just change back so I can deck you, already." Kevin crossly made his intentions known, not even trying to lure his friend out with false promises of a warm hug.

"K-Keviiiiinnn…" Ruby nervously called out to the older boy. She didn't like the way "Ben" was looking at him.

"Yeah, what?" The stone-coated student threw his head back, turning his annoyance on the little reaper. Behind him, the giant Beowolf began growling even louder, pulling its lips back in a snarl. Its emerald eyes flashed dangerously.

"Kevin, I really think you should move!" Peter, too, called out. The Spider Sense was so intense, his brain was throbbing. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been on the receiving end of such an intense warning.

"What're you talkin' about? It's just Ben. He might be stupid, but he's not gonna-" Kevin turned around just in time to see a massive, black paw swiping directly at him.
He felt something stick to his back a moment before he was violently jerked away. The scarlet claws missed him by a hair and slashed deep ruts into the soil, spraying small stones out like buckshot.

Kevin landed hard on his back, shocked beyond measure by what just happened. When Peter tried to check on him, he pushed the other boy away, climbed to his feet, and began angrily shouting at the massive Beowolf.

"That's how we're doin' it now, Tennyson!? You want me to beat you up that bad!?"

The impossible huge werewolf still said nothing. It ripped its claws from the earth and slammed its paw down, glaring hungrily at the crowd of students.

"Are you sure that's your friend!?" Blake hissed at the boys who knew this "Ben" character. She wanted to believe this was a familiar face pulling some kind of trick, but that was getting harder by the second.

Jaune's spirits dropped into his feet when he saw the wolf monster tense the muscles in its hind legs. That alone told him what was coming.

"S-SCATTER!" He screamed just in the nick of time. None of the gathered students needed to be told twice. No sooner than they started to throw themselves to the side, the green-eyed Grimm launched its body forwards at breakneck speeds, swiping both sideways in a scissor-like motion.

Jaune was sure his heart would fail when he just barely managed to roll underneath a giant, red claw slashing vertically just above his body. If it were an inch lower, it would have torn straight through his body from his stomach to his head. By some miracle, he finished his escape roll without passing out and sprinted as fast as he could the second he was back on his feet.

The others had also managed to escape without injury, ducking the swiping claws and avoiding being crushed by the hulking weight of the huge monster. There were a few, hopeful seconds where it looked like the Grimm was going to throw itself straight off the cliff. Those hopes were dashed when it threw out an arm and dug its claws into the ground, slowing its momentum until it came to a stop just before it pitched itself over the side.

A quick scan of the area told the Beowolf it had missed all of its targets. Its lips pulled back even further, revealing more of its serrated, blood-red teeth. Like a child throwing a temper tantrum, it pounded the ground violently, forming small craters in the dirt with every hit.

"We're not fighting that thing, are we!?" Beside Jaune, Weiss and Rex were picking themselves off the ground. The frosty heiress was understandably terrified at the notion of doing battle with the Demon before them. The rest of the group was scattered around them, raising their weapons once more.

"No choice, chica. We don't need to beat him, we just have to hit that hourglass on his chest. It'll change him back to normal." Rex pointed at the symbol adorning the Beowolf's chest. Sweat rolled down his face. He clearly wasn't any more excited than she was. If anything, he was more terrified than any of them.

The poor boy looked traumatized. Ever since he showed up, his legs had been visibly shaking, sweat poured down his face endlessly, and his pupils were so constricted, they were little more than pinpricks in the centers of his brown eyes. Nobody, not even anybody back home had ever seen him this terrified. He had seen something before meeting up with the others, and it gave him a valid reason to be afraid of the demon his friend had become.

"Wait, wait, wait! Rex, what happened!? How is that Ben!?" Jaune thrust a finger at the hulking beast that in no way resembled the very normal, very human Ben that he knew.

"I don't know what happened! I've seen him transform before, but never into something like this! He-!"

"SCREEEEEEE!"

Jaune's gaze was torn away from the sole witness to "Ben's" change. High in the sky, beyond the edge of the cliff, a familiar figure was moving closer. The Nevermore that had frantically retreated not five minutes ago was gliding back, seemingly prepared to jump back into battle. But, there was something else there. The distance between them was immense. Even for somebody with perfect vision, picking out minute details from so far away should have been impossible, and yet, every one of the examinees had this powerful feeling, a sense that the Nevermore was shaking, like it didn't even want to be within a mile of the Demon Beowolf.

Then, for what reason had it returned? Anger? Humiliation? Was nothing but instinct driving it?

No. There was something more there. Beside Jaune, Peter narrowed his eyes, doing his best to make sure his mind wasn't playing tricks on him and he was actually seeing the world as it was. The Nevermore had not stopped screeching for a second, its head constantly jerking to the side like it was trying to turn around.

Like something was forcing it to return against its will.

The Nevermore stopped in midair right in front of the cliff and thrust its wings behind its back. A second later, it forcefully tossed them forward. The violent motion launched dozens of huge, razor-sharp feathers from its wings. They were fired not at the students, but at the Beowolf.

In the face of such a powerful attack, the green-eyed Grimm did not move a single inch. It faced the storm of feathers dead on like it didn't even care about what was happening. The feathers that collided with its beautiful armor bounced off harmlessly, cracking and splitting like cheap toys. Broken fragments of feathers were strewn about the earth around the growling Beowolf, whose hateful glare was now pointed at the Nevermore.

Realizing its attack had failed, the Nevermore turned around and flew in the opposite direction, only to loop around shortly after. Peter was sure of it this time. The way the massive raven monster had turned back to the Beowolf in such an unnatural way, like a puppet being tugged by the strings, was not something you would ever see in a creature returning to battle all on its own. Something, somehow, was manipulating the beast that wasn't willing to be anywhere near its fellow monster.

Again, a storm of feathers was fired at the gargantuan Beowolf, and again, every single one snapped harmlessly. The mutant Grimm's growling grew louder by the second, its lips peeling back further and further until all of its teeth were revealed. When the Nevermore made a third pass, it evidently had enough.

The Beowolf did not move even then, in the face of a third feather storm. As before, it glared calmly into the shotgun blast of unconventional projectiles. At first, its eyes swept all around, like they were taking in as much information as possible. Then, they stopped, locking onto a fixed point without twitching in the slightest.

When the next wave of feathers broke against its armor, a paw was slowly raised, claws wiggling experimentally. Then, like a snake lashing out, the Beowolf's paw flashed straight up in front of its face, firmly grasping a feather whose point was only a few inches away from its forehead.

"Wh-wha-?" Weiss muttered, utterly lost. She could feel a chunk of her remaining confidence dissolve in the face of such an impressive display of physical ability.

The Beowolf sniffed at the feather, turning it over in its paw playfully. As if satisfied, those black lips pulled back into an expression that almost looked like a smile. An evil, sadistic smile.

Its emerald eyes snapped back to the Nevermore, still jerking around unnaturally as it flew back around for a fourth attack. With an angry huff, the feather was gripped tightly in its claws and slung over its armored shoulder. The posture, the position, both were exactly like those a human would assume before throwing a javelin.

With no hesitation, the Beowolf's arm snappped forward, launching the impromptu spear out of its grasp like a missile. The force exerted by its powerful muscles was so great, a small shockwave exploded out from its body and tore up every blade of grass in a five-foot radius. The feather flew so quickly, it was little more than a black blur.

The Nevermore had no chance whatsoever of escaping. Before it could flap its wings just one more time, the feather pierced straight through its head, cracked through the bone helmet like it wasn't even there, and went right on sailing off into the sky until it disappeared beyond the horizon. The Nevermore flipped head-over-heels backwards and dropped limply out of the sky, no strength left in its already-dissipating body.

So easily, so simply, so casually, the Beowolf had killed a monster the size of an airplane.

"... WHAT HAPPENED!?" Jaune turned once more to Rex, knotting his fingers into claws to emphasize his sense of urgency. "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!?"

"I-I'm not sure. We got surrounded by, like, a hundred Grimm, so he hit his watch and turned into that thing. The ones that had armor got scared and ran away, so he killed a bunch of the unarmored ones then took off! I didn't know where he was going, so I followed him. All the unarmored ones we passed on the way started chasing after us, and all the armored ones just kept running away. I-I don't know what's wrong with him, he won't listen to anything I say!"

"Are you saying the Grimm were scared!?" Weiss inserted herself into the conversation, disbelief written all over her face. How could the living embodiments of fear and negative emotions possibly feel fear themselves?

"I don't know, okay!? I seriously don't know! I kept trying to hit the hourglass on his chest, but I never got a clear shot."

"Wait, why? You keep mentioning that hourglass. What's so special about it?" Jaune was suddenly very interested in what Rex was saying. He couldn't do anything about their immediate situation with the information up to this point, but that sounded like it could be useful.

"The hourglass? It's how he changes back. You have to hit it to reverse his transformations." Rex explained carefully, enunciating his words slowly so nobody misunderstood.

"Uh, guys?" Ruby nervously pointed at the peculiar Grimm. "Why isn't it moving?"

"..."

It was as she said. The gargantuan Beowolf was rooted in place at the edge of the cliff, surrounded by broken quills. It had turned around by now and was well aware the group of students was watching it, but still it did nothing. Like a curious puppy, all it did was stare at them with its ears perked straight up.

"... Why is it just staring at us?" Yang was starting to get creeped out by those emerald eyes locking with hers.

"Perhaps it wants us to make the first move." Ren suggested carefully, not taking his eyes off the immobile Grimm.

"I say we break its legs!" Nora shouted this with way too much excitement. Her two-handed hammer was raised above her head as she happily prepared to charge in, only for Blake to grab the back of her shirt.

"Hold on. Maybe it isn't aggressive towards us. I'd rather not fight that thing if we don't have to."

"Ugh, so boring!"

Jaune and Peter both carefully observed the abnormal Grimm. It still did nothing but stare at them. With the strange bit of reprieve, everybody seemed to be slightly less afraid and allowed curiosity to fill their minds.

"Think maybe you're forgetting something?" Kevin stared pointedly at Blake as he gestured to himself.

"This cretin is right, it tried to attack us only a minute ago." Weiss' kept her guard up, ready to move if they were attacked again.

"... We're not doing anything." Realization dawned over Jaune. He had the beginnings of an idea, one that was totally unfounded, but it was all he had.

Hurriedly, he swept his eyes over everybody, carefully observing the way they held themselves. Everybody, including himself, was still holding onto their weapon. However, none of those weapons were raised and were instead held at their sides. Nobody pointed a blade or a gun barrel at the huge beast, nobody tried to attack, and nobody so much as glared threateningly in its direction.

"That's right. Kevin, until you started yelling at it, it just stood there. It didn't even start to attack until you threatened it." Peter realized the same thing Jaune had, recalling the recent events that led to them suddenly being attacked.

A loud, crunching noise drew eleven sets of eyes over to the Beowolf. It had taken a step in their direction, then another. The sheer size of the beast was so incredible, even just walking produced loud noises as the earth was crushed under its massive paws. None of them would ever dream of saying the beast looked friendly, but calling it hostile was almost definitely inaccurate.

It was like a curious attack dog. Wary, paranoid, ready to strike if anything set it off, but calm for the moment. It continued walking over to the group one step at a time, leaving paw-shaped divots in the ground.

On Jaune's right, he could see Weiss raising her rapier from the corner of his eye. He didn't know why he did it, but, purely on reflex, he threw out a hand and swatted the blade down, its tip striking the dirt.

"What're you-!"

"Just hold on, I have a hunch. None of you point a weapon at it." Jaune began sweating profusely immediately after giving the order. He had no idea why he'd said it, it was just a feeling he had.

"'Feeling' my ass! Why are you stopping them!? Just let these guys take care of this before it gets any closer!"

He tried his absolute hardest to ignore the completely rational inner thoughts. He couldn't explain it, he truly couldn't. Somehow, someway, he just had this feeling, this instinct that angering the green-eyed Grimm would only end in disaster.

By some kind of miracle, the others listened. Nobody put their weapons away entirely, but merely held them on standby, blades and barrels pointed at their feet as the curious Grimm came closer, step by step, sniffing the air cautiously. There were less than twenty feet separating them now. The distance was short enough to pick out details that weren't visible before.

The colored images Jaune had always seen of Grimm depicted the insides of their bodies, including their mouths and throats, as bright red. In this case, past the two sets of oversized teeth, that red was replaced with green, just like the eyes were. Black drool pooled in the creature's mouth and spilled out onto the ground, making it bubble and steam as though acid had been dripped into the soil. The tail dragging behind it was much longer than a normal Beowolf's stubby tail, and several curved, bony spikes sprouted from it.

"Jaune…" Pyrrha couldn't keep the concern from her voice, her grip tightening on her faithful spear.

"You'd better have a plan, lady-killer." Yang hissed while side-eyeing the suicidal knight, not taking her eyes away from the approaching monster.

"Just trust me." Jaune still had no idea what he was talking about. He had no clue why he was convinced this was the right course of action, or why he was sticking so vehemently with it.

It was then, when the beast was only ten feet away, he noticed something else. It was hard to see underneath the fancy bone helmet, but it almost looked like the muscles around the Grimm's eyes were… twitching. Not just them, he could clearly see its claws jerking around slightly with every movement. It was like the Grimm was… holding back from something.

Eight feet away, it stopped moving. Right where it was, the hulking beast ceased all movement and sat down on its hind legs, its entire lower body twitching in the process, as if it was forcing itself to do so. There it waited, calmly staring the group down. The only sound were the heavy breaths being drawn in and released by the assembled examinees.

"... Rex, you said we just have to hit the hourglass, right?"

"Y-yeah, that should bring Ben back."

The beast did not move. They did not appear hostile, so it did nothing but watch. If they wanted to bring Ben back, now was their best chance. But who would be willing to step forward and press the button? Or, perhaps the more appropriate question was who would be the best choice to press it?

Jaune checked both sides. On his right, Ruby, Yang, Blake, Ren, and Rex were all shaking. On his right, Kevin and Peter looked more on guard than any of them, Pyrrha's hand clenched around her javelin so tightly it was bone-white, Nora was eagerly licking her lips in anticipation, and Weiss was scowling like she was angry. The majority of them did not seem capable of doing the job, either because they would be unwilling to move, or because they would be too willing.

… This was such a bad plan.

"Guys… I have an idea."

"Same here. I'll hit the hourglass, you guys just wait here." With no hesitation at all, Peter dropped his fists and began to inch toward the giant monster.

"Wait, hang on, Peter!" Jaune grabbed hold of his partner's elbow, keeping him from going any further.

"Jaune, it's fine. I can do it, I promise." Peter did not try to free himself. Instead, he fixed his friend with a calming smile, urging him to let go.

"That's not it. It's just... just..." The trembling knight breathed deeply, gathering his thoughts. "... How... old did you say you were?"

"What? Fifteen, why?"

"... Fifteen, huh?"

Why had he asked that question? What did Peter's age matter? How did it apply in the slightest in this particular situation?

Nobody had the answers to these questions. In fact, they were the ones asking them, silently wondering if the foolish knight had lost it. Only the man himself understood why he'd asked such a pointless question.

"... Sorry, but I can't let you do it. Don't worry. I'll handle this." Jaune released Peter's arm and gently pushed him back. In the same motion, he took a miniscule step forward, putting him closer to the immobile Beowolf than any of the others.

"""Jaune!?""" Three voices came from behind, sounding incredibly confused. Fair enough, Peter was too caring to say nothing as he marched to his potential death, Ruby was almost definitely the same, and Pyrrha… he wasn't sure about Pyrrha. Maybe she just had a big enough heart to not want somebody to die right in front of her.

Whatever the case was, Jaune didn't stop and took one more step. He moved purposefully, not allowing Peter too overtake him. He didn't even hesitate until the giant monster began pulling its lips back into a snarl. For a brief moment, the courageous fool nearly had a heart attack. He barely managed to stay on his feet when he realized those emerald orbs weren't looking at him, but at his sword and shield.

No sane man would even consider what seemed like the most obvious solution to this problem. But, no sane man would try to go to a Huntsman academy with no training either, so, then, at least nothing was out of character.

"... Jaune, you are the dumbest man in the history of Remnant." The foolish knight did something that, if it ever got out, would surely be taught for generations to come as the stupidest thing any human had ever done in all of history.

In the face of a sixty-foot tall monster with claws bigger than his entire body, Jaune reluctantly collapsed his shield and sheathed his sword inside. He even took it two steps further by hanging the scabbard on his belt and holding his hands up beside his sweat-soaked face. The beast did not stop snarling, but he didn't care. At this point, only four feet separated them. Nothing but sheer adrenaline was keeping his legs from buckling underneath him, and he knew that if he took a single step back, it would be impossible to take any more steps forward.

"Just get it over with Jaune. Those guys… they're all amazing. They're not showing it, but they're definitely scared too. There's not a single Huntsman out there that wouldn't be afraid of this thing. Forget how you feel, think about them. Fix this problem and make sure they don't have to be afraid anymore."

Peter watched carefully, complicated emotions flashing on his face. For as long as the beast remained calm, it was probably best to not gang up on their approach, lest it be set off. If two foreign beings were to approach, most wild animals would likely turn aggressive. In respect of Jaune's wishes, he did not try to stop him from being the one to step forward. However, he kept his muscles tensed, ready to spring forward if the monstrous Beowolf so much as twitched threateningly.

"Jaune, why does my age matter to you? I could've still..."

"I've got this… I've got this… I've got this…"

The adrenaline was wearing off. Jaune's body was starting to feel numb, his breath quickening. His steps became smaller, covering only a few inches at a time, and his heart was beating fast enough for his chest to hurt. The crushing reality that he was only a few feet away from a building-sized monster was seriously starting to hit him like a truck. But, fear would do him no good. If there was a time for natural instinct to take over and force flight over fight, it had long since passed. The only thing left to do was to keep going. He was so close, just a little more and he could reach up and touch that hourglass. So close, so close, so-

"... Why am I not moving?"

Jaune's legs had frozen in place. They refused to budge an inch, locking firmly as they were. His brain simply would not send them signals anymore. Logically, the time for natural instinct and self-preservation had passed. Regardless of this obvious fact, only inches away from the beast that could very well end his life, Jaune's brain had decided it could no longer allow him to approach such a clear threat. At a certain point, one's body had to intervene when every natural warning sign was being completely ignored.

"Move. Move! You can't just stop now! Pick up your feet! Keep going!

Jaune tried jerking his feet off the ground, but couldn't. They simply would not move, no matter how desperately he tried to force them to.

"You can't just stop when you're this close, you stupid coward! Come on! You're right there! Just a little more and-!"

"... up."

Jaune froze completely, ceasing his attempts to carry on. Had… he just heard what he thought he heard?

"... ry up." It was a heavy voice, a deep voice, an echoing voice that sounded like two people talking at the same time, like a normal person and a growling animal sharing vocal cords. It was grating and offensive, bone-chilling and scary to even listen to. The horrible voice sent a shiver up the spines of all those who heard it. Most importantly, it had come from straight ahead.

Slowly, Jaune tilted his head back to look the giant Grimm in the face. Its eyes were undeniably twitching now, as was its mouth. He hadn't noticed before, but its claws were driven deep into the ground, holding its twitching paws in place…

Like it was trying to forcibly root itself in that spot.

"Hurry… up." He had seen it. That glowing, green mouth filled with massive teeth had just moved. The lips had curled, the tongue had flicked around, and those words that sounded like they were being said by multiple people simultaneously clearly came from the Grimm's mouth.

"Wh-wha…!?"

"How can this…!?"

He paid no mind to the voices behind him. Hearing this for himself was shocking enough, he couldn't shift his focus to something else, not right now.

"You… just talked." His own tone was incredulous and shockingly devoid of fear.

"Hurry… UP!" The Grimm snarled at him again, sounding much more urgent, more desperate. It was like it was pleading. "Press… it. No… more!"

The claws were being pulled from the ground, dirt staining the brilliant red. Jaune felt his neurons fire. His legs just barely twitched. His ability to move had been returned to him. Energy surged through him as his brain sent the exact same signal to every single cell in his body.

"Move right now or you're going to die."

Forcing down any sense of self-preservation he had left and abandoning all subtlety, Jaune dug a foot into the ground and jumped straight for the hourglass. In that same instant, both the Grimm's claws were ripped completely out of the earth, spraying soil everywhere. As Jaune threw both hands towards the green symbol on its chest, both the Beowolf's massive paws swiped directly at them.

He was just barely faster. His hands slammed into the center of the green hourglass a split-second before he was cut in half. There was no proof, only another inexplicably strong feeling the amateur knight had. If those huge claws so much as grazed his body, even the aura Pyrrha had unlocked would not protect him.

A blinding green flash blasted in his face without any warning. He scrunched them shut, but the painful burning sensation refused to go away. The solid material he had been pressing against only a moment ago was gone, his hands left to grasp nothing but empty air until something new was pressed into his hands. Something soft and warm, like cotton.

When the flash disappeared and his eyes stopped feeling like they were on fire, Jaune opened his eyes at last.

He was on his knees, a few tears rolling down his cheeks from the bright flash. Laying on his back directly in front of him was Ben. Both his eyes were open, staring straight up at the sky overhead.

"... That… sucked-Hulp! Blrrrgh!" Ben hurriedly rolled over and propped himself up with his hands. His throat bulged unnaturally, like something was forcing its way out. His mouth cracked open and black vomit spilled from his lips, a small amount of red liquid mixed in. It persisted for a little under ten seconds, after which Jaune could see blood beginning to leak from his nose. If he noticed, the jacketed boy did nothing to wipe it away. He was too busy holding his stomach and groaning loudly, the last few drops of black and red liquid clinging to his mouth falling to the ground with every body-shaking cough.

"Ben!" Kevin shoved Jaune aside and power slid beside his best friend, staining his dark blue jeans green. Carefully, he turned Ben over and got a good look at his face. His skin was slightly pale and the amount of blood dripping out of his nose was concerning at best. He could see the sick teen's throat convulse again and backed away in time to avoid the second round of black vomit.

"Ben? You okay?" Rex joined Kevin beside his coughing ally. His entire body shook with every violent exhale. Without looking at them, Ben raised a shaky hand and gave them both a thumbs up.

"Just… give me a minute. I'm really… not feeling great right now." Ben took deep, long breaths. He was pretty sure he was done vomiting, but he still felt like crap. His organs felt stretched out, his skin felt too big for him, and his bones hurt every time he moved.

"Rex…" Still propping himself up with his arms, Ben turned his head to face his fellow hero. "Never… and I mean NEVER… let me turn into that thing again."

Rex smiled at his friend.

"Relax, hermano. I don't know what was going through your head, but I don't want to see that thing again any more than you do. Seriously, why'd you even use it in the first place?" Ben chuckled weakly in response.

"It's not like I knew what was gonna happen, that was the first time I used it. I promise, never again. Running around as an angry, ugly monster isn't as fun as it looks. I don't know how Kevin does it every day." At the random and undeserved jab, Kevin narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, you got jokes now, Tennyson? You know, I still owe you a few hits for attackin' me earlier." Kevin cracked his knuckles threateningly, but did nothing. For the time being.

"Not… me." Ben began coughing again. Thankfully, he didn't vomit a third time. All traces of his joking tone vanished, replaced by absolute seriousness. "She… did it."

Jaune was about to ask what he was talking about, but the next person to speak was somebody else.

"Excuse me, do you mind explaining WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?" Yang stomped in front of Ben, carefully avoiding the large black and red puddle, and bent down to look him in the eye. She didn't look... mad, per se... but saying her current emotions were anything positive was surely a mistake.

"I've never seen anybody transform themselves like that. Is your Semblance really that powerful?" Blake was the next one to trot over, curiosity drawn all over her face.

"Is that what you meant in the locker room, about your watch being all you needed?" Ruby zipped over to Ben, showing far more concern for him than the other girls. Of course, she still wanted to know about his crazy transformation, but at least she offered a hand in support, which Ben gratefully took so he could climb to his feet.

"What's a Semblance supposed to be? If she thinks it's how I transform, is it like a superpower? This universe just keeps getting weirder."

"Um, y-yeah, that's right. My, uh, Semblance is really strong. Problem is, it's too strong, so I use the watch to keep it under control. Or, I guess I should say it's to keep myself under control." Ben pulled back his left sleeve, no longer stained with King Taijitu blood now that the creature had long since dissipated, and showed off the Omnitrix. "I… guess it's malfunctioning right now, I'll have to fix it later. I... look, I'm really sorry for attacking you guys, I promise it won't ever happen again."

Blake, seeing the Omnitrix for the first time, stared fixedly at the obviously high-tech watch. She didn't know enough about technology to have a single clue how it worked, but it looked like something that should have been far outside the budget of a normal teenager. Was Ben rich? Did he maybe build it himself?

"Do you have any idea how much damage you could have caused!? Honors Student or not, you're lucky nobody was hurt, or I would ruin you!" It didn't really surprise anybody that Weiss wasn't exactly the picture of kindness. Ruby, in particular, sighed deeply.

"Weiss…" The red-haired girl sounded like a disappointed parent tired of lecturing their child. Strangely, it actually seemed to trigger a response in Weiss. The heiress' eyes lost some of their edge and her face softened just a bit.

"... I suppose there were no injuries, so I'll let you off. But don't ever do something like this again!" Weiss pointed a finger in Ben's face. He closed both eyes and smiled weakly at her.

"Sure, I promise.

"And wipe your face!"

She was, of course, referring to the copious amount of blood pouring from Ben's nose and flowing over his lips. To his tremendous relief, none of it spilled onto his green jacket, and the red didn't show very well on his black t-shirt. Weiss generously offered a pure white handkerchief, telling Ben to not bother returning it when he was done.

Ruby's happy smile irked the heiress, but she said nothing.

"Seriously, if there's anything I can do to make all this up to you guys, I will. I really didn't mean to scare you, I just... wasn't feeling like myself." Ben turned and shot a look at Kevin, one the stone-shelled man could read perfectly.

"We need to talk later. All of us."

"Ooh! I want to fight you! That big monster looks like so much fun to fight!" Nora excitedly charged right at Ben, not hesitating in the slightest to make her request.

"Um… anything besides that. Sorry, but I'd really rather not turn back into that thing." To emphasize his point, Ben held up the blood-stained handkerchief for Nora to see. The hammer-wielding girl pouted, but still nodded in understanding.

Jaune and Peter watched as Ben made the rounds apologizing to everybody for the scare he had given them. Neither of them were too broken up about what happened, so they didn't really need an apology. Peter had seen the look Ben gave Kevin, and assumed they would have a talk about whatever made him so aggressive later. Jaune, on the other hand, completely believed the story about Ben having some kind of power that his watch kept under control.

Semblances were something he actually did know about, but the way his father explained them, it sounded like something you couldn't learn, you just had to get lucky and be born with them. Somehow, he'd informed his son countless times about the awesome abilities known as Semblances, but had never once mentioned aura.

"So that's what the watch is for."

"You know, that was good work, Jaune." Peter's sudden praise brought a surprised look to Jaune's face.

"H-huh? All I did was press a button. It wasn't that big a deal, was it?"

"Well, sure, if you say it like that, it doesn't sound like a big deal. Most people would run away instead of walking right at a giant monster, you know." Peter smiled warmly at his new partner. "... Let me guess, you wanted to help."

Jaune physically couldn't stop his eyes from springing all the way open.

"How did you-!?"

"Let's just say I've been doing this for a long time. I… recognize the signs. This might not be what you want to hear right now, but there's a reason Paradox said you were one of us. You just need some time. Great job, Jaune." Peter clapped his partner on the shoulder and padded over to the temple. Ben and Rex, as well as Ruby and Weiss still needed to collect their relics. If there were none left after the total destruction of the ruins, he would jump off the cliff and grab some for them. It was the least he could do.

"... Again with that? Why doesn't he get that it's all in our heads yet? Nobody else has even mentioned it, it's just him."

Peter was more correct than he realized. More time really was necessary.

"U-um, Jaune?" The blonde knight flipped around and saw Pyrrha standing beside him. She looked apologetic, as if she had done something wrong. "I-I'd like to thank you for stepping forward, and, I'm sorry. You wouldn't have had to be the one to put yourself at risk if I had moved instead. I'm sorry."

Getting a thank you from Peter was one thing, but a thank you and an apology from Pyrrha? He got the feeling something was very wrong here.

Without warning, Jaune began to laugh. Of all the reactions, that wasn't the one Pyrrha was expecting.

"Wh-what's so funny?" Jaune needed a moment to finish his laughing fit before he could respond.

"He-he, ah, nothing, just… Kevin was right, you really do apologize way too much." The blonde teen grinned teasingly at the Spartan girl.

"Oh! I see. I'm sor… ry…" She seemed to realize what she was saying halfway through, but didn't know how to stop herself. The poor girl's voice trailed off until she simply stopped talking, leaving the pair to stand in silence.

"... Look, don't worry about it. I stepped forward because I wanted to, not so anybody would thank me. I just… didn't think it'd be fair to tell someone else to do it when I was the guy who said not to attack Ben. I had to take responsibility, didn't I?" This conversation was starting to make Jaune nervous. He never was good at prolonged conversations with people who weren't family members, least of all pretty girls. He was beginning to default to what sounded good to him so he could talk without losing face. Not that what he was saying wasn't true, only that the truth wasn't why he was saying it.

"Responsibility…" Pyrrha turned the word over a few times, then smiled once more. "I see. Well then, thank you for taking responsibility Jaune. I look forward to our time at Beacon together."

The Spartan girl stuck out a hand, which Jaune kindly accepted. The two shook politely, capping off their short conversation.

"I got the relics!"

The entire group looked over to the cliffs. Peter was making his way back with two chess pieces tucked under his arms.

"These were the only two left up here. I think all the others fell down the cliff when the ruins got destroyed." Clutched in Peter's hands were a Gold Knight piece and a Black King piece.

"Ooh, I want the horse!" Ruby zipped over in a flurry of rose petals and snatched up the ornate relic, hugging it close to her body once it was in her hands.

"Guess I'll take this one then." Rex plucked the king from Peter's outstretched hand, securing his and Ben's status as students of Beacon.

"Now what? We just walk back to the school?" Kevin peered down the trail Ben had created during his rampage through the forest.

Pretty much every tree between their current location and the site of his original transformation was knocked down, creating a straight path back to the cliff they had been fired off of. It would be a pain walking that far, but there was no need to worry about being too late to pass initiation. The only real concern was Ben himself. His skin was still uncomfortably pale, and one hand was still pressing Weiss' handkerchief to his bleeding nose. Kevin was offering a shoulder to support him, not trusting his unsteady friend to walk on his own.

"Ugh, as long as we get out of here soon. I seriously need a shower." Yang flipped her hair a few times with her hands, giving herself a much needed breeze. The longer they stayed in the forest, the muggier it seemed to get.

"I agree. It would be best if we returned before any more Grimm appear." Ren was the first to begin walking back down the trail. The others followed soon after, eager to leave the destroyed forest behind.

There were obviously still Grimm lurking in the shadows, climbing out of their holes now that the nightmarish creature that had done the impossible and instilled fear in them was gone. Notably, all of them had armor. It seemed that all the weakest Grimm had been eradicated when they foolishly tried to attack a foe many times their size, leaving only their older, more experienced brethren behind.

A few Ursa were pacing the newly-formed trail at that very moment, sniffing around for any remaining entrants. The sight made a certain, pale-skinned teen perk up and smile deviously.

Blake was about to pull her sword from its sheath, but stopped in the middle of drawing her weapon when Ben shakily walked in front of her.

"Perfect, now I can make this up to you guys. You can all just sit back and relax, I'll take care of anything that tries to stop us on our way back." He tossed aside the bloody handkerchief he'd been pressing against his face and brought up the scroll wheel on the Omnitrix. He knew that Ruby and Nora were staring excitedly at the alien technology while everybody else, even Kevin, took a cautious step back. The wary gazes drilling holes into his back did nothing but make him laugh a little.

Selecting an alien took less than five seconds. With a teasing smile formed by bloody lips, he looked over his shoulder at a certain, goggle-wearing hero just as the Ursa sniffing around the fallen trees noticed him and growling furiously as they charged in.

"Hey Rex, you wanna see that adorable little robot again?"

Beacon Cliff:

"I don't like this, Ozpin. Even if it is a Semblance, that kind of ability is just…"

Glynda glared at her scroll. She had been monitoring the cameras arranged throughout the Emerald Forest ever since initiation had begun. She had already thought it strange enough when the boy called Ben Tennyson suddenly turned into a deformed nightmare of a Beowolf, but his out-of-control rampage through the forest and subsequent destruction of five very expensive cameras had almost pushed her over the edge.

She had asked Ozpin for permission to intervene no less than seven times, but the Headmaster had waved her off every time, insisting everything would work out for the better.

As usual, he was right. Even though that was a good thing, it still annoyed her.

"You and I both know something isn't right here. That kind of ability… it simply isn't normal."

"Come now, Glynda. Humanity is a fascinating, diverse race, and our Semblances are no different. They are colorful, unique, and everyone has the opportunity to make their light special in its own way. One's soul swallowing them in a moment of passion isn't unheard of. There's no need to jump to conclusions just yet."

"Why are you so insistent on protecting these boys?" The experienced teacher could not find the logic in her boss' irksome desire to shield the troublesome boys from her.

The blonde woman hated that comforting smile of his. It was a look the man wore when he knew much more than he cared to admit. For whatever reason Ozpin carried his secrets, there was always a plausible cause for it. She knew in her heart that he shared her concerns. That was good enough. For now.

"Besides, we have more pressing concerns at the moment." Ozpin glanced down at his own scroll. Fresh from his transformation into the small, white robot from earlier, Ben had given him a good surprise when his new form impossibly split itself into dozens of clones, each one firing a condensed sound wave from its mouth at the approaching Ursas. The unconventional firing line reduced them to pulp in a matter of seconds, the powerful sound waves rending muscles from their bones until nothing was left but a mess of Grimm parts, all of which quickly dissipated into nothingness. Each of the clones stood side by side around their dumbfounded allies, forming a wall of tiny robots that utterly annihilated any Grimm that got too close.

With the impenetrable, frighteningly powerful defensive line keeping the students safe from any and all harm, it was only a matter of time until they all returned safely. If anything, what slowed them down most wasn't the Grimm, but Miss Valkyrie and Miss Rose trying to pick up and hug as many of the adorable robots as possible.

It was quite the impressive display, one that left even Ozpin reeling a bit. It wasn't every day you saw somebody with a Semblance that allowed them to make such drastic changes to their own bodies, especially not for a sustained amount of time. But that wasn't his biggest focus. The safety of his students all but guaranteed, Ozpin's attention was centered solely on only one thing.

Glynda felt a disgusted shiver run up her spine when her boss gave her that look.

"Oh no, you're not making me do this with you again, are you?"

"Glynda, please, this is the most fun part. I only need your help with a small problem."

The Headmaster of Beacon was respected by millions of people who had never even met him. The general public believed he was a serious man, all about making calculated decisions and coldly determining the best possible course of action for absolutely everything. A genius hero whose wisdom was nothing short of awe-inspiring…

If only the general public knew just how childish he could be, especially during the naming portion of initiation. It was one of his favorite things to do, so much so he even considered doing two initiations every year so he wouldn't have to wait a year to challenge his mind with new word puzzles.

At first, he was disappointed. It was all so easy this year. Every single name came to him in a flash before he even had a chance to think about it. Cardin Winchester, Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark? Please, was the world itself insulting his intelligence? It hadn't even taken him three seconds to come up with Team C.R.D.L. But then, one particular assortment of students came up out of nowhere and caught him off guard.

"And what exactly is this 'small problem' that requires my assistance?"

Even Ozpin's mind had its limits. He loved challenging puzzles that forced him to change his way of thinking to find the answer. However, there was a limit to how long he could struggle with something before even he began to grow tired of it. It didn't help that there was a time limit on this particular matter. There would be trouble if he hadn't chosen a name for the final team before the closing ceremony began.

"Pyrrha Nikos, Kevin Levin, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie…" The Headmaster read off each name to his Deputy Headmistress. She nodded, urging him to continue. "For the life of me, I simply can't find a name that works, even when I switch the order of their names around. How about Team…N.L.R.N.? No, that doesn't work. Hm… Team… P.L.V.R.? No, that's not it either. Glynda, have you come up with anything?"

The green-eyed woman sighed deeply, turned around, and walked away. Her boss paid her well to deal with plenty of annoying little problems, but no amount of money could convince her to assist him with coming up with team names.

She ignored the grey-haired man's nonsense as he continued listing off terrible names, intent on walking back to Beacon by herself.

"Hrm… Ah! Glynda, I've got it! I've finally managed to come up with the perfect name! It's Pe-!" Ozpin turned around, excited to share his legendary wordplay abilities with his Headmistress.

He couldn't help the bit of sadness he felt when he turned around and saw she was already gone.

"... Oh well, she'll hear it during the closing ceremony."

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This… er, "half" is kind of improperly named. You see, after splitting the original document, the chapter before this one was 73 pages long. This "half" is 103 pages long after editing. Well, i double-space my documents, so it's actually way less than that, but still, 33,617 words don't lie.

That aside, this "half" also gave me trouble. Not really because I thought it was bad like the previous chapter, but because I had no idea how I wanted to do the final part, where they all met up at the temple. The bulk of my rewrites focused on that one little section. Some versions had them actually fighting Ben and restraining him so they could press the button, but I decided that would all but guarantee a really bad start to their relationship and backed out, the same reason I didn't have them all fight each other in chapter 5. In other versions, I had Rex change Ben back by himself and join the others while carrying an unconscious, injured Ben, with a million Grimm on his tail that they would have to defeat. I had a whole segment planned for that idea where Jaune would get scooped up by the Nevermore and he'd jam his sword into its neck to fly it around for a bit before eventually killing it by forcing it to crash into a cliffside. The problem was that every time I did something like that, it added like 60 pages to the document and if I made it any shorter, it just sucked.

Eventually, I settled on this. I figured this was the best possible choice overall. Jaune gets to do something important, one of Ben's Grimm forms is actually shown, and I got to throw in like, seven hints as to what the deal is with those transformations. Oh, that's not an exaggeration, by the way. The most obvious hint to the nature of his Grimm forms and what can be expected from them is him saying "she did it," but, other than that, I threw in exactly 6 little clues. Have fun figuring them all out.

[1]: Ben's Grimm are a little complicated. When you have creatures that get bigger, stronger, and smarter the older they are, and mix it with a watch that turns you into the prime specimen of a given species, theoretically, your size should be infinite, and your IQ should be limitless. So, for the sake of not breaking the verse, I had to sit down and say "You know what? They probably stop evolving at some point." I didn't really have a basis for a "Prime" Beowolf, so I just threw stuff together. Make it huge, make it strong and fast as hell, give it a full set of actual armor and not just a few thrown-together plates, and change its actual body a little to reflect how old it really is. And, maybe give it a little difference in coloration from other Grimm, hence the red-tipped spikes. Why? I don't know, why not? It would probably look cool from a design standpoint. I think the end result is decent enough. Not too broken, but definitely still the "Prime" Beowolf. I've got some ideas for how the others would look, but this is the basic premise of each of their designs. Big, regal, and terrifying.

Overall, this was a fun chapter. It feels weirdly dialogue-heavy and action-light for an Initiation chapter, at least to me, but I think it works. There's a little bit of everything, and that was the goal. Hopefully, you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Next chapter is one I've been looking forward to for a while. I'm not done setting up for future events, and chapter 8 is gonna be a pretty big springboard for three of the biggest plot threads in this entire story, in more ways than one. I'm so excited to get working on it.

Thank you for reading, and remember to leave a review.