Issei's group walked through the forest as Issei told the others about what he had been up to for the past few days. Between running into Ruby and stopping a robbery, to meeting Ozpin and the deal they made. "So, the reason you're going through this "initiation" is because it's a part of this school's curriculum?" asked Rossweisse.

"Yeah, from the state of this world, the people have to work together and train to survive the Grimm. They're basically a plague on this world that forces the humans and faunus to unite," said Issei.

"Faunus?" asked Asia.

"Ah, right. They're this world's demi-humans. They're a normal occurrence in this world so we don't have to worry about hiding our wings or in Kuroka's case, ears and tails."

"Nya, that's convenient," said Kuroka lazily.

"Well, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. There's a little friction between humans and faunus. It's kinda similar to how things were in America after they freed the slaves," said Issei somberly.

Rossweisse narrowed her eyes, being familiar with world history. "Conflict based on discrimination."

"Yeah, seems that way, though I haven't been here long enough to see anything yet, but it's in the history books and on the news sometimes."

"My, how troubling. I guess it can't be helped. Though you would think that a threat such as the Grimm would be enough to dissuade such conflicts," said Roygun.

As the group continued on, they started to hear gunfire. The group prepared themselves, those with weapons readying them, and moved in close. They saw a boy with dual bladed-smgs fighting two giant snake grimm. Xenovia and Ruruko were ready to jump in, but Issei signaled them to wait. The group watched as the boy maneuvered and wore down the grimm, eventually leading to him ripping the teeth out of one and stabbing it with it, then followed up by a palm strike that blew up its head. Then he charged at the other, grabbing his weapons that he had dropped at one point and completely slicing through the second snake's head. Once both were confirmed dead he stopped to catch his breath, only to be met with a weird noise and a girl appearing from above to boop his nose. The boy let out a tired smile as he talked to the girl. The group was impressed with the boy's skill and prowess and Issei gestured to everyone to move on. "We shouldn't jump in unless it's dire. Remember the whole point of this is to test their ability to survive in their own world," said Issei.

"While I understand, it seems a bit extreme," said Rossweisse.

"But it's a necessity for the people here," said Bova, who was perched on Asia's shoulder.

"Yeah, although I can't shake the feeling there's more going on," said Issei.

"What do you mean, Boss Oppai Dragon?" asked Bennia.

"I dunno. Something about Ozpin tells me he knows more than he's letting on. Also, don't call me that here. Nobody is going to understand that and I don't want to have to try and make up something to explain it," said Issei, a bit exasperated.

"Ok, Boss."

Roygun was quietly observing Issei during this interaction and finally decided to ask what was on her mind. "What happened to you Issei?"

Issei stopped and looked at her confused. "What do you mean?"

"While you have been getting better as a leader and king, you seem more calm and collected than usual. What changed?"

Issei made a look of realization before it turned into an embarrassed blush, confusing the others. "Me and Ddraig noticed that too. Despite the ridiculousness of this situation, I had been calm the entire time."

"Really?" asked Roygun, interested.

"Yeah. Ddraig had a theory as to why…" Issei said, his embarrassed expression returning.

The others were curious why he wasn't saying anything, but Ddraig decided to answer for him. [It's because he finally had sex with his mates.] The group stopped in their tracks, with the girls that did sleep with him blushing a bit. Ddraig continued. [Since partner is part dragon, he naturally has some of a dragon's natural instincts. Since he finally marked you as his mates it fulfilled his need to "mark his territory". To put it how he said it before, it's a form of post-nut clarity.]

There was a moment of silence before it was broken by laughter. Both Kuroka and Roygun couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous it was. Issei refused to meet anyone's gaze due to embarrassment. Xenovia didn't seem bothered. Bennia looked at Issei with awe, now curious about his night with the others. Ruruko was blushing at finding out that the girls and Issei finally did it. The other girls were still blushing and hiding their embarrassment. Bova was nodding his head in approval, as if it was the most sensible answer in the world. Issei, trying to make this less embarrassing, decided to continue. "It wasn't just the sex itself. I guess it had been in the back of my mind for a while, probably ever since I started dating Rias. I've wanted to be more intimate with all of you for a long time, but whenever one of you got close to me, we would always get interrupted, either because of work or because of the others." The girls looked away, a bit ashamed once they realized they had apparently been not only getting in each other's way all this time, but in Issei's. "I wasn't really aware of it, but I guess it was similar to how Raynare affected me, and I simply didn't notice it was bothering me until after the fact."

Issei was suddenly hugged from behind. When he looked it was Asia, nearly on the verge of tears. "Issei-san, we're sorry. We didn't mean to hurt you. We just–"

Issei put a hand on her head, rubbing it to calm her. "I know, Asia. You guys would never try to hurt me. I'm not blaming you or anyone, it was just something I didn't think about, that had apparently been subconsciously affecting me."

Roygun managed to gather herself after her little laughing fit and examined the faces of Issei and his girls. Aside from Ingvild, who was relatively new to Issei and the others, they all had somber expressions. "This might be just me guessing, but have you all had an issue previously with neglecting Issei's feelings?" The silent guilty looks from them answered the question.

Before they could continue the conversation, the ground began to shake. Everyone readied for whatever it could be as Issei cursed under his breath. "Crap, we should have saved this talk for when we get back. Grimm are attracted to negative emotions," he said.

"They are?!" asked Ravel, surprised.

"Yeah. So our talk made us all depressed and basically broadcasted our position to nearby grimm."

"Then we'll save it for later. Let's deal with whatever this is first," said Roygun.

As the shaking got more intense the group saw their opponent as a tree was toppled. It was a giant golem with a mask with a singular eye on it. "A golem?! Is this a grimm too?" asked Xenovia.

Issei was racking his brain. "I don't remember seeing a golem in the book of grimm I read before. Maybe I missed a page, but that can wait for later. Let's take care of it!"

The golem moved to slam its arm on the group, but everyone spread out and surrounded it. Issei moved in, going to punch the body, but the golem threw a punch of its own, clashing with Issei. Issei was stronger than it anticipated though as its rock hand crumbled from the clash. It stepped back, reeling in surprise, but before it could get its bearings, Xenovia came in and slashed through the other arm and it fell like a puppet with its strings cut. Ruruko and Roygun went for the legs, with Roygun using Crack to shatter one leg and Ruruko using Procellarum Phantom to smash the other. The golem fell to the ground and was now motionless. The group examined it from a safe distance and determined that it was down for the count. "That was surprising, but not that big a deal in the end," said Rossweisse.

"I barely had to do anything. It was down in four attacks," said Xenovia.

"I think it's safe to say that we outmatch anything in this world in terms of pure strength. We should be careful if we end up fighting other people," said Roygun.

"We don't have to hold back too much. The people of this world have Aura, like what you saw with the other guy and the snake earlier. It basically acts as a barrier that protects and heals them, so if you hold back too much the enemy may get a lucky shot in when you don't expect it," said Issei.

"Right!" Everyone acknowledged. The group began to walk away, not noticing the slight movement of the fallen golem.

The group moved further into the forest, encountering more types of grimm. They fought a trio of Ursas, with Kuroka, Ravel, Ingvild, and Rossweisse testing out how effective their magic was against them. They all tried basic spells, and it tore through the three instantly. "These things have no magic resistance at all," said Ravel, a mix of surprise and boredom.

"Well, it's to be expected in a world without magic," reasoned Rossweisse.

"It seems these monsters are all muscle and no brains," said Kuroka.

"That's probably a good thing considering how numerous they are. If what Issei said is true and they've been pushing the people of this world to the brink, then having them be any smarter would be a catastrophe," said Roygun.

Everyone nodded as they continued forward. Next the group came across another pack of Beowolves, with Bennia, Xenovia, and Ruruko leading the charge. Xenovia and Bennia outpaced the wolves with their speed, slicing through them with ease, although they were surprised by some of them not being slowed down when they lost a limb that was cut off. Only when the head or torso was sliced through did the grimm fall. It wasn't only that. Ruruko was also punching and kicking the wolves and strong enough blows were able to incapacitate them. "What's up with these things? It's like they're resilient if you try to take them apart, but they go down really easily if you hit them hard enough," said Ruruko.

"Strong, yet weak. What strange creatures," said Bova. A couple of wolves headed towards them and Bova let out a large breath of flame for his currently small body. Not only did the grimm get incinerated, but some of the trees behind them too.

Once the grimm were taken care of, Issei noticed the forest still burning from Bova's attack and went to put it out. Ingvild stopped him though. "Let me handle this Issei-san." Ingvild used her water magic to put out the fire.

Issei smiled at her. "Thanks, Ingvild. That makes things easier." Ingvild smiled back, happy at Issei's praise and getting pouts from the other girls.

Ozpin continued to watch as Issei's group progressed through the forest, while Glynda focused on the other students, although she would peek over the headmaster's shoulder from time to time. Ozpin watched as Issei and the others continued to tear through the grimm. He watched them test their abilities against them and how they fought together. He also took interest in the small dragon-like creature that was with them and was incredibly powerful. Ozpin's mind was racing with the possibilities of what their encounter might be like. He believed that Issei was a good person, so his allies should be as well, although he knew that wasn't a guarantee. But if he could align with them, he felt like a way to defeat Salem might be within reach. Before, the only people with magic besides the maidens were himself and Salem, and his power had dwindled with time. But now there were ten more people with magic in play. Magic, he had never seen before, and hopefully, neither had Salem. Perhaps they could share their power and knowledge with them to bolster their own forces. But he was getting ahead of himself. There were other issues to think about as well, like how the General will react when he learns about this. While he trusted his friend, he knew he could be a little rash when it comes to potential security risks or boosts to their forces. Ozpin felt a small headache coming on just thinking about how to handle him. He looked down at the pad and watched as the group progressed to the ruins. "How are the other teams progressing?" he asked.

"All students have found their partners and are steadily making progress towards the ruins. How is Mr. Hyoudou's progress with his group?" asked Glynda.

"They are progressing with little issue, although their lack of knowledge of the grimm may be an issue."

"Are they having trouble?"

"Less trouble and more a case of being unaware of what grimm are capable of. While they took down various and large groups of grimm, they failed to finish off a Geist grimm. A rare and dangerous grimm to be in the forest."

"Failed? Were they unable to beat it?" asked Glynda with a mix of worry and curiosity.

"No, they were able to immobilize it. But the grimm played dead and no harm came to its actual body, so they assumed it was dead. No doubt the Geist is probably repairing its body right now so that it can go on the hunt again," said Ozpin sternly.

Glynda nodded in understanding. "I see. In that case it would be wise to teach them about the true dangers of grimm when they get here," she said out of her usual teaching habit.

"Hmmm… Perhaps you are right. In that case, we should enroll them here as well," Ozpin said casually.

Glynda's eyes went wide in shock. She was about to retort but realized that she brought it up first and this was partially her own fault, even if she knew Ozpin would have suggested it anyways. "Very well…" she reluctantly approved. Ozpin nodded in satisfaction and returned to watching Issei's group as they took care of another group of grimm.

The group moved on, heading forward until they reached a large clearing. Issei looked around and saw some ruins up ahead, as well as a familiar blonde and black-haired girl looking around there. Issei took a breath before nodding at the others and entering the clearing. The others followed him and eventually they all reached the pair. Yang and Blake noticed the group's approach and were confused. Once they saw Issei at the head of the group, they calmed down a bit but couldn't help but ask the obvious question. "Hey Issei! Who're your friends?" asked Yang.

Issei showed a helpless smile. Even if he knew the question was coming, he still felt nervous. "It's a long story, but they're friends of mine. Well, more than that for most of them."

Yang seemed to get it. "Ohhhhhh… Are these those girls you were talking about before?" she asked with a smile.

The girls blushed but smiled at the fact that Issei was apparently thinking about them while he was here. Issei also smiled. "Yeah, some of them anyways."

"Some of them?!" repeated Blake, surprised.

"Well, it's nice to meet you all. I'm Yang, and this is my partner Blake," Yang introduced, with Blake giving the group a wave. Kuroka looked at Blake and immediately felt some familiarity. She reminded her of a younger version of herself with a bit of Koneko in there. Blake also noticed Kuroka and was mesmerized by her. Her eyes were wide when she saw that she had both ears and a tail. Not just one but two tails. Faunus usually only had one animal attribute but here she was showing two. She began to question whether or not she was really a faunus, but she saw the ears twitch and tails move so she assumed they were real. Blake also noticed how cozy she was to Issei and based on what was said earlier, she assumed it was a safe bet that this was one of the girls Issei was with. While Blake blushed slightly at the thought, she was also filled with relief that Issei not only didn't hate faunus, but he was also dating one, or whatever it was that his relationship was with her.

The others were about to introduce themselves when they thought they heard yelling. They started looking around and Blake, who also heard the noise, did the same. Eventually both Kuroka and Blake noticed the noise was coming from above and looked up, only to see Ruby falling from the sky. "HEADS UUAAAAAAAAAAAAP!"

"Ruby?!" exclaimed Issei when he saw and heard the falling girl. This was the last thing he was expecting.

Time for a new perspective. Since we have our new cast for the time being the perspective will mostly be from Issei and his group's perspective, only going to the others for context or if the plot I'm writing requires it. I've seen some people complain about the story being too close to the original but there are going to be drastic changes the later we get into the story, not just because of Issei's interference but because of something else I'm leaving as a surprise. Anyways this chapter was about how the DxD group compare in terms of power to the grimm and by some extension the other characters. But I think there is something interesting about how the two series do fights. While the DxD characters definitely have plenty of skill, all their fights ultimately boil down to who is stronger. While RWBY is more of a technique and skill type of fighting show. Sure having power is good and all, but people like Yang and Nora who are stronger than most other characters can be beaten by someone who can outsmart and out skill them. So this story isn't going to simply be the DxD crew curb stomp the plot, although there will definitely be times where a display of power will be the solution. How things progress will be determined by how I feel the characters will change based on their interactions and choices. I look forward to the comments as always. : )