With Jaune's loud exclamation, it was no coincidence that the rest of Team RWBY who were nearby immediately rushed to the source of the noise, only to have a similar reaction to Weiss.

Within seconds, Jaune was dogpiled by Team RWBY. But despite the combined weight of four girls on him, he did not even move from his position, indicating his strength.

While the onlookers looked weirdly at the group, they had an initiation to worry about so they did not care much and proceeded out of the locker room, leaving behind an amused Jaune, a very happy Team RWBY, and a thoroughly confused Pyrrha.

"..So, I take it that you know them Jaune?"

At Pyrrha's words, the girls finally remembered that there was someone else there along with them. They immediately let go of Jaune but stayed close to him.

"Yes, you could say we go way back"

At Jaune's vague description, Pyrrha looked skeptically at the girls before shrugging.

Soon, Goodwitch's voice rang out from the speakers and informed the prospective students to arrive at the cliff for Initiation.

While Pyrrha just gave a genuine smile to Jaune and left, the rest of the group proceeded to the cliffs in relative silence which was only broken by Weiss.

"..Jaune, why were you not there on the Airship yesterday?"

If the girls had not gone through the experiences that they did, they would not have caught how his body tensed for a split second before relaxing again.

"I had a few things to take care of, that's why I was not there. Besides, we will have plenty of time to talk after initiation. Oh, and before I forget"

Jaune suddenly reached out his hand into the air, much to the confusion of the girls, before a familiar yet different-looking rapier appeared in his hand.

Ruby had wide eyes at his display while Yang just raised an eyebrow at his action, much more used to storing things in a pocket dimension than her sister. While Blake was surprised at his actions, she did not care much since she was also used to using Storage scrolls.

In the end, the only people who were truly shocked by his ability to materialize things from thin air were Ruby and Weiss. Weiss in particular because she recognised the weapon from the blueprints that she had given the Traveller's Home.

"Here you go, Weiss. Sorry about the delay. I was supposed to give you that weapon yesterday but a few things happened so I was held up"

Weiss took the weapon and swung it a little to get a feel for it. Once she was satisfied with it, she placed it in the holster at her hip before retrieving the plain sword from her back and tossing it to Yang who stored it away.

"…I want answers Arc, and you better have them once Initiation is over"

Jaune caught the hidden promise of pain in her words and simply shrugged with a smile. He really missed these casual conversations with his friends.

It did not take long before the group reached the nostalgic location where they met their family for the first time, the cliffs of Beacon.

Although, things seemed a little different from last time.

Instead of being at the last place to be launched like before, Jaune was placed between the four girls, much to his dismay since he did not appreciate how the chances of the team placement being different went up significantly.

Ozpin's little speech about partners was ignored completely by the five dimensionally and time-displaced teenagers who started preparing their landing strategy.

Watching the children being launched from the platforms one by one, the group prepared, until finally, it was their turn.

Yang used a subtle use of her magika to push herself towards a part of the forest that seemed extremely overgrown, showing that not many people went there.

Catching onto Yang's plan, the rest of the future team RWBY made their own adjustments.

When Weiss was launched, she made use of her Semblance in addition to a little elemental magecraft to follow Yang. Making sure to keep enough distance that she would not end up as Yang's partner but close enough that the chances of anyone aside from their group catching up to them were out of the question.

Blade wasted no time in using a subtle wind release jutsu to shoot through the air like a bullet, shooting past Weiss and right next to Yang where they kept their eye contact until they landed.

Ruby's plan was much simpler than her teammates. The very second her pad activated, She pushed with all her strength, including the Oracle energy and Aura alongside her Semblance. This resulted in the Cliffs experiencing a sonic boom as she shot past everyone and crashed into Weiss, causing the both of them to fall to the ground.

She was definitely getting a scolding from her partner for that stunt.

(POV Jaune)

Watching the antics of the girls, I felt nostalgic and depressed. I could not help but imagine what would have happened if we had not fallen off that bridge and had the chance to live out our lives.

But my mood did not remain for long as I saw the rest of team JNPR launch off the platform, Pyrrha giving him a smile before she was launched.

Yeah, she was definitely going to pull that stunt by impaling me on the tree like the first time around.

Might as well make it easy for her.

I could use Strand to just swing over the forest and directly reach Pyrrha, but that would expose my abilities to Ozpin. That is not something that I want to do right now, not until I am certain that he would not take the most extreme measure when he finds out the oddity that is team RWBY and I.

Yeah, it did not escape my attention how RWBY was using powers that felt completely different from Aura. And if a brute of a Titan like myself felt it, there is no doubt that an old wizard like Ozpin felt it as well. Looking at his gaze, I can already see his mind working a mile a minute.

I'll need to inform the girls to be more subtle the next time they use their powers. I don't want them to turn into pawns in Ozpin's palm, I've had enough of that as a former UEG militia member before The Black Fleet brought an end to the Golden Age. It was only when I served as a Ranger under Ayane Takanome that I realized how much the UEG was using me and the rest of the militia as sacrifices during the Collapse.

I do not want Ozpin or anyone else to control my family like paws in their own agenda, and as long as I am still here, I will not allow it.

However, if the girls decided to expose their powers to Ozpin on purpose and come clean, I would not intervene. It is their choice on what to do with their information.

I did nothing abnormal when the platform launched me over the forest, right in the direction of the girls and away from Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora.

Shit!

'Ghost. Mark the locations of Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, and Nora Valkyrie on the HUD. Highlight the humans and Faunus as friendly units and everything else as hostile. Also designate Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang as allies.'

'Understood and done.'

Immediately, the tracker displayed several blue dots, depicting the humans and faunus, proportionally more red dots, depicting Grimm, and four green dots depicting team RWBY.

Then, I saw three-way points, depicting the rest of my future team in the forest.

It only took me a few seconds to organize all of this, during which I was still sailing over the forest and just started to descend.

I pulled on my Aura, encasing my entire body in a white glow. But this show of Aura was just that, a show. The real action I was taking was using the power of the Light to reinforce my entire body, keeping its usage just underneath the layer of Aura encasing my body so that no one would sense what I was doing.

Paranoia was a required trait for a Guardian and it stand true even in this world.

Using the trees to change direction, I landed heavily on the ground and immediately took off running, shooting through the forest in the direction of my team.