Beacon Cliff: Day…
Every prospective first year stood atop metal platforms along the cliff with Ozpin and Goodwitch in front of them. From right to left stood: Jaune, Link, Ruby, Yang, the guy with orange hair, Ren, Nora, a guy with a green mohawk, Pyrrha, Weiss, and other students.
"For years, you have trained to become warriors." Ozpin voiced. "Today, those abilities you have cultivated will be evaluated within the Emerald Forest."
"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams." Glynda stated. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today."
"What, hooh." Ruby muttered, not liking the added information.
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to pair with someone you work well with." Ozpin informed. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."
"WHAT!?" Ruby yelled, her hopes literally shattered in an instant.
"See, I told you." Nora declared to Ren, feeling vindicated.
"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest." Ozpin continued. "You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."
"Heh-heh." Jaune gulped.
"To be more concise, you will be looking for abandoned ruins, recovering a relic within, and getting to a predetermined extraction point. The location will be revealed on your scrolls once you've recovered a relic. You will be monitored and graded for the duration of initiation; however, your instructors will not intervene. Are there any questions?"
"Yeah, um, sir…" Jaune began.
"Good." Ozpin ignored Jaune. "Now, take your positions."
All but Jaune got into different stances, ready for what comes next.
"Uh, sir." Jaune tried to get his attention. "I've got a…a question." Weiss was suddenly launched. "So…this landing strategy thing, what is it? You're like, dropping us off somewhere?"
Link looked Jaune's way with a raised eyebrow as more students were launched into the air.
"No." Ozpin answered. "You will be falling."
The guy with the green mohawk was launched next.
"Oh, I see." Jaune stated. "Did you hand out parachutes?"
Link put his hands behind his back, calling forth his paraglider. While there was the pale blue light which accompanied it coming from his inventory, the fact everyone was focused on being launched kept them, except Ozpin, from noticing. Nora was now launched.
"No, you will be using your own landing strategy." Ozpin answered, the orange haired student getting launched now.
Link took his paraglider and passed it to Jaune, who accepted it clumsily without thinking. It was a minor lapse in thought, given the situation, though he had quickly recovered. The orange haired student was launched now as Ruby and Yang were looking at the exchange.
"Closest thing you can get to a parachute right there." Link voiced quickly, Ozpin looking on in interest as Yang was launched. "When you're up there, open it and hold on. Let it carry you down."
"You're just letting me…" Jaune began.
Ruby was now launched.
"No time." Link interrupted quickly, turning to focus on the task at hand. "Remember what I said and return it to me later."
With that, Link was launched.
"Wait, what will be your landing strateGGYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?" Jaune asked before getting launched into the air with the others, screaming.
While that paraglider obviously wasn't Arc's landing strategy, there were no rules stating one prospective student couldn't aid another.
As such, Ozpin merely looked on while sipping from his coffee mug. "Let's see what these prospective students are capable of…Especially, Link Sherwood and Ruby Rose."
"I wonder what kinds of teams we'll get this year?" Glynda smiled. "Always interesting."
"As well as what kinds of leaders will appear, right?" A familiar voice to the pair questioned.
The pair turned to see a young woman with long silver hair, lavender eyes, and light purple nail polish on her fingernails. She wore a loose, light purple shirt, baggy white trousers with a black sash holding three golden keys, black boots, and a lavender mage hat.
"Welcome." Ozpin greeted. "I was under the impression you were hunting game, Shion Zaden."
"That very hunt has brought me here, professor." Shino returned.
"Is that so?" Ozpin questioned.
"Yes." Shion replied. "This test might just become dangerous."
"There is no such thing as a safe initiation test, is there?" Ozpin questioned.
"How very Ozpin of you." Shion returned. "Future Hunters shoulder be able to overcome anything."
"Well, of course, with help." Ozpin sipped from his mug before smiling her way. "I do hope your hunt ends in success."
"You never change." Shion smiled before starting to walk off. "Until next time, professors."
Sky
A crow peacefully flew the air above the Emerald Forest, only for a blur of red to crash through it and seeing the animal exploding in a burst of feathers.
"Birdie, no!" Ruby cried.
Emerald Forest
Weiss utilized her glyphs to create platforms and step her way down from the sky. Pyrrha utilized her rounded shield to crash through several trees before coming to a stable stop atop a high branch. She then pulled out her javelin and transformed it into a rifle which she aimed up.
She was scanning for where any of the people she'd be fine partnering with would land. Ren deployed his pistol blades to spin around the trunk of a tree. Yang was propelling herself horizontally with her shotgun gauntlets, screaming happily all the while.
Due to pulling off some aerial tricks, she ended up fumbling through the trees as she made an acute descent. Ultimately, she managed to make a recovery and rolled out of the bushes and ended up running forward.
"Nailed it!" Yang called out.
Ruby deployed her scythe to catch the branch of a tree, swinging around it to curb her momentum and land safely. Link unsheathed his shield and got it under his feet as he managed to land on a branch, though it cracked under the sudden weight.
He managed to leap off it just as the branch fell to the ground before aiming his jump to then proceed through several more shielded branch jumps until he landed on the ground. From there, he rushed off in the direction he noted Jaune going in.
It was to get his paraglider back, but if it happened to end with them being partners, he'd take it. Speaking of Jaune, he tumbled through the air with a tight hold on the paraglider. Ultimately, he did end up opening it and was suddenly caught by the wind to give him a gradual descent.
"Oh man." Jaune looked down, seeing his hold tightening that much more on the paraglider. "Thank you, Link!"
With Pyrrha
Pyrrha had managed to track where Ruby, Jaune, and Link would be in relation to her present location. Only one of them ended up close enough to the point she'd feel assured of getting them as her partner, so that's the person she would find. The champion lept down and rushed off.
First Pair of Note
The jerk from the locker room had landed and took off, only to then come upon the green mohawked student who was somehow wedged inside a hole of a tree. The jerk ended up rolling his eyes before ultimately pulling him out, resulting in the pair making eye contact.
"Alright, what's your name?" The jerk asked.
The mohawked guy, despite having Aura, still felt disoriented as he rubbed his head. "Russel Thrush."
"Cardin Winchester." The jerk hefted his mace over his shoulder. "Now, come on. Don't slow me down because we're finding those ruins."
Russel reached out a hand and attempted to speak; however, Cardin didn't spare even a second as he started moving. This saw Russel hanging his head before getting up and following.
With Ruby
"Got to find Yang." Ruby landed on the ground before immediately taking off. "Got to find Yang. Got to find…" She eventually started calling out. "Yang! Yang!"
"Ruby!" A familiar voice called out.
It wasn't Yang, rather it was Pyrrha who ended up rushing into the younger girl's path as she cast her gaze around. This saw Ruby attempting to suddenly skid to halt and just managing it inches from the champion, their eye meeting as a result.
"Hello there." Pyrrha smiled sadly, sincerely apologetic. "I heard you calling for your sister. Forgive me, but you just happened to be the closest of the three people I'd want as my partner. Sorry."
Ruby felt bad for making Pyrrha think she was an unwanted person. While the younger girl had been hoping to find her sister, there were other people she wouldn't have minded partnering up with. One of them was the very girl standing before her.
"You have nothing to apologize for, Pyrrha." Ruby assured genuinely. "While I wanted Yang, you're still one of my new friends. If we can pair up with someone we like, why not?"
"I'm glad to know you harbor no ill will over my decision." Pyrrha's smile brightened. "Anyways, I suppose now it's time to find the relics?"
Ruby smiled now. "Yeah, let's go partner."
With Yang
As Yang walked through the forest, Blake trailed her by quickly moving along the brush. After last night's conversation with the sisters, she wanted to partner with either of them. Upon landing, she'd taken off with this goal in mind.
She'd actually found Ruby; however, the younger girl had already made eye contact with Pyrrha. This prompted Blake to search out the blond brawler. Having found her now, she was about to make eye contact to secure her.
"That actually went well." A familiar voice stated, surprised.
Yang had been planning on calling out for anyone, but she now looked up a tree upon hearing that voice. It belonged to a familiar blond standing atop a low hanging tree branch with Link's paraglider.
"Hey Jaune!" Yang called out.
Said fellow blond was walking to the trunk, about to climb down, when he heard Yang. This saw the pair making eye contact. With Yang no longer an option, Blake reluctantly dashed off in search of a new partner.
"If I want to actually attend Beacon, I need to partner with the next person I see." Blake thought, now worried her attempt at a new path would end before it even began.
With her having left, she missed Jaune misplacing his footing and falling out of the tree. The paraglider landed atop a smooth rock first, followed by Jaune landing atop it left arm first and seeing the rock indenting into his arm.
"GAAAAHHH!" Jaune cried out in pain.
Yang could recognize her partner had hurt himself, though she was confused. Even someone with only a little Aura shouldn't be hurt by a fall like this.
"Are you messing with me?" Yang asked, perhaps slightly amused at such a prospect.
Jaune didn't think his arm was broken; however, it certainly hurt. "I must have landed on something, aside from the paraglider." He managed to scramble haphazardly into a sitting position, gripping his arm where the indent was visible. "No, my arm really hurts."
"Why don't you use your Aura?" Yang questioned.
"My what?" Jaune asked.
"You don't have Aura?" Yang questioned.
Despite the pain in his arm, Jaune looked perplexed. "No, can I buy one of those?"
"Aura is a manifestation of our soul." Yang informed. "An energy that protects a person from harm, strengthening them from within long after they can go on, and alerts them to danger."
Jaune gave a sheepish shrug with his right shoulder. Aura was one of the first things you learned about in a combat school, and in cases where you had a parent who was a Hunter, like her and Ruby, you learned about it sooner.
It was quite strange Jaune lacked one, though Yang was aware of just how highly her father seemed to view Ozpin. If said man let Jaune into Beacon, her fellow blond must be something else. Regardless of what that was, she would feel better with him having it.
"I'll unlock your Aura, and this pain will go away pretty much in an instant." Yang stated.
She knelt before Jaune with the intention of doing this right. Even with her own large reserves, she didn't feel like wasting Aura on potential failures to open his. Even now, she was attempting to recall what her dad said and did back when he activated her Aura.
"Close your eyes, slow your breathing, and relax." Yang ordered.
Yang placed one hand on Jaune's left cheek and the other above where his heart would be. Jaune recoiled slightly at the contact but took her advice to heart. Yang's yellow Aura then glowed as she forced it into Jaune, seeing a white Aura springing up over him.
Yang then began to repeat the words her father had once said. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."
It was done, leaving Yang to take a few, deep breathes.
"Yang." Jaune, glowing with his Aura, opened his eyes. "Are you okay?"
Yang now stood and grabbed Jaune by the arm, hoisting him to his feet. "Don't worry. Unlocking someone's Aura just takes a bit out of you, even for someone with a good well of it." She smiled with a wink. "Speaking of Auras, you got the luck of the draw with it like me."
"Wow." Jaune looked at himself before noting his arm was healed. "Hey, my arm is better."
"Like I said, the pain pretty much went away in an instant." Yang noted.
Suddenly, both of them stopped as something was moving around the nearby brush.
"What's that?" Jaune questioned.
"It's probably Ruby." Yang approached the brush, parting it. "Alright, come on…" Something growled and she saw it wasn't her sister. "Not Rubes!" She rolled out of the way as an Ursa ran through where she'd been before noticing another coming up behind Jaune. "Watch out!"
Jaune turned, his eyes first catching sight of Link's paraglider still on the ground before seeing the Ursa. In a snape decision, he picked up and tossed the paraglider to safety which saw the Ursa getting of a swipe off a swipe that sent him tumbling to Yang's side.
"Not exactly what I meant." Yang voiced.
"Sorry." Jaune replied, quickly drawing his weapons.
The Ursas charged the pair with Yang discharging a shot as she punched her Ursa in the stomach and knocked it back. Jaune managed to get his shield up, holding his Ursa back. Yang came in to assist, uppercutting the Grimm before then landing a kick to knock it back.
Suddenly, a familiar sword to Jaune was thrown out from the brush. It impaled the Ursa Yang had laid out through the chin, appearing to go all the way through its head. Link himself then lept from a branch of a tree, holding his shield angled down with both hands.
He came down upon the recovering Ursa, pushing his shield down its neck with a great deal of force. The momentum from the fall and his strength saw the shield tearing through the Grimm's neck. Both Ursa were now dissolving as Link collected his sword.
"Couldn't have at least let me take one of them out?" Yang asked.
"Sorry." Link responded genuinely, sheathing his weapons and shaking his head. "I reacted more on instinct in the moment, though I have no you would have been fine."
"Oh yeah." Hearing that did remind Jaune as he quickly collected the paraglider, which was thankfully fine from the fall and subsequent tossing out of the way. "Thanks for giving me this back up on the cliff."
Link accepted his paraglider back with a simple nod. "That aside, you two are clearly partners." He looked off into the distance. "Looks like I still need to find mine."
"Why don't you come with Jaune and I?" Yang offered.
"Yeah." Jaune nodded in agreement. "We can see about helping you find your partner on our way to finding the ruins."
"Weather I wander off alone in search of a partner or stick with them, I suppose it doesn't matter." Link nodded. "Alright, let's go."
With Ren
Ren had traversed through the forest before coming upon a massive, twin headed snake Grimm known as a King Taijitu. Half of it was black while the other half was white. Both heads had piercings red eyes common with Grimm.
They immediately noticed the human which had wandered across them until Ren utilized his Semblance. While this visually greyed him out, it made him absolutely invisible to the Grimm with the exception of sound.
Keeping this in mind, Ren slid around the monster and made it half way until he had the misfortune of hitting a rough patch of underbrush. This saw the Grimm flail violently outward before the black head opened wide and came for him.
Ren brought his hands forward to block the attack, a visible field of cherry blossom pink energy coated his palms as he blocked the head. Taking a different approach, the black half of the snake backed off only to begin coiling around him.
The prospective student lept into the air, deploying his bladed machine pistols from his sleeves and firing. The black head surged at him, barley deflected, resulting in Ren throwing a strong kick which saw the black head crashing into the ground.
As he landed, the white head surged after him, but he deftly evaded while slashing into it. This saw the white head moving back before once again surging in. Ren lept above it before coming down hard and burying his blades inside its head.
This only saw the white snake flail to the left suddenly, throwing Ren's body to its side and smashing him up against a tree. His Aura flared over his body as the head moved back, and he crashed to the ground. The black head now moved in to devour him whole.
Just then, a strange animal call rang out from the brush followed closely by the sound of something large moving through the underbrush and a guttural growl. Bursting from the trees was Nora riding on the back of a bear with her hammer raised high.
She lept off the animal's back heading straight for the snake head threatening Ren before bringing the hammer smashing down atop it. The black head of the snake was destroyed before she drifted over to where Ren was staggering to his feet and brushing off his sleeves.
Ren gave her a small smile. "I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like."
Nora tapped his nose with a smug smile in response. "Boop."
She then saw fit to take Ren and get him on the bear's back with her as the remaining half of the King Taijitu stopped withering in pain from losing its other half. The bear carried the pair, bounding off into the forest with the remaining half of the Grimm in hot pursuit.
With Weiss
Weiss was not having a wonderful time, and it wasn't because this forest was becoming hard to traverse. She was growing increasingly frustrated by the fact she just could not find a partner. Everyone she's come upon have already partnered up.
"I refuse to fail out of Beacon just because I cannot find even a single person without a partner." Weiss thought firmly.
At this point, she was willing to partner with anyone. She'd even take that brute of a Faunus, young girl who detonated her Dust, or rude black-haired girl. She just needed someone, anyone who could enable her to stay in Beacon.
Little did she know, one of those three people she was thinking about was observing her from the brush. Unknown to either, she shared a need for a partner. Blake knew she shouldn't hesitate to head out, but this was Weiss Schnee of all people.
A voice in the back of her head nagged at her. "Adam would never dream of collaborating with her. In fact, he'd take this opportunity, observed by the faculty or not, to strike her down."
Blake growled at herself, knowing she could not and would not be the same monster Adam was. Weiss was the first person she'd seen without a partner, or at least without someone closer to her than Blake presently was who could become her partner.
Just before she headed out there, the black-haired girl noticed a large feather falling in the space between where she was now, and Weiss was currently standing. It was followed by a shriek which sounded like it was coming from a large bird.
In actuality, it came from a massive Grimm like bird, called a Nevermore, as it descended upon the only visible prey that was Weiss. Before she could even draw her rapier, Blake stepped out, throwing out her weapon at Weiss and wrapping her in the ribbon.
"I got you!" Blake called out.
Weiss managed to look her way, the pair locking eyes and becoming partners. Of course, this wasn't the thing immediately on their minds given the large Grimm. Blake pulled Weiss to her, out of the Grimm's path, as it flew by. Of course, the Grimm wasn't about to give up.
Emerald Forest
Ruby and Pyrrha, on their search for the ruins, spotted Cardin and Russel standing just outside the mouth of a cave. Remembering what Cardin did to Link, even if it was just a simple shove, the pair approached wearily.
The guy pair were clearly speaking, though it wasn't loud enough for the girls to pick up on. What's more, they ended up seeing them approach and stopped before anything really could have been gleamed. Seeing an opportunity, Cardin put on a smile.
"Hey there." He approached the pair casually while noting their weariness around him. "My partner and I have run into a bit of a problem."
"What would that be?" Ruby asked.
"Russel and I concluded the temple might just be through this tunnel." Cardin voiced, truthfully. "We haven't entered it given this could very well just be a cave, can't exactly tell if it does have another end you see.
If it's not a tunnel, we wouldn't want to be caught from behind by Grimm. Russel and I were debating splitting up to tackle this just as you two arrived. Now that there's another pair here, it's perfect. One pair can explore the cave while the other protects the entrance."
Pyrrha took in what they were told wearily while Ruby was genuinely thinking on it. That's not to say she trusted Cardin. Sure, Ruby lacked in her understanding of anything social, but something about how Cardin was acting had her attention.
"I don't know about this." Pyrrha voiced.
"I actually think it wouldn't hurt to check this out." Ruby voiced, catching her partner's attention. "For all we know, the ruins could be just through this potential tunnel. If it doesn't pan out, we've really only spent time looking for the ruins which we've been doing anyway."
Pyrrha stared at her partner, taking in what she had to say before nodding. "I suppose taking a look could be worthwhile." She stared firmly at Cardin. "That is if you two don't mind keeping watch over the entrance."
"No skin off our backs." Cardin grinned. "We'll be right here."
With it decided, Ruby walked into the cave with Pyrrha following.
Once they were gone, Russel turned worriedly to his partner. "What happens if they end up dying in there?"
Cardin shrugged. "We'll wait half an hour before moving on."
They would not get a chance to wait that long as they heard a ruckus from the foliage. The pair turned, only to run in fear as Ren and Nora, laughing maniacally all the while, came bursting out of the woods atop their bear. They were still pursued by the remaining half of the King Taijitu.
The four students, and bear, began fleeing between the trees in a bid to gain some distance. What helped them in this regard was blowing past a pack of wolves, with the Grimm ending up smashing into one of the beasts and prompting a fight.
Cave
Thanks to Dad, Ruby knew how to make fire and utilized that to actually create a torch…on her third attempt. Still, all that mattered now was that she and her partner had light to see by. Eventually, the dim lighting turned brighter as there was some glowing orb in the shadows.
"Think that's the relic?" Ruby asked, unsure as this cave didn't look like ruins.
The fact they could make out multiple red eyes cinched this wasn't it.
"I don't think so." Pyrrha managed.
Ruby had to agree now, backing up to her partner. "Run!"
They both turned and beat a hasty retreat as the sole Grim within this cave now broke out to give chase. While the younger girl could speed well ahead, she worked to keep peace with Pyrrha since she was her partner and friend after all.
Emerald Forest
Pyrrha and Ruby managed to get outside the cave, followed by a Deathstalker, which was a large, scorpion like Grimm. The pair kept running, breaking into the forest with the Grimm hot on their heels.
Weiss doesn't run into Beowolves because Ruby isn't around to insight negative emotions within the heiress. Additionally, without running into Ruby or Jaune, she'd have just continued on her initial course. If you recall to the episode, she first does try pressing on with the intention of ignoring Ruby. She then sees Jaune and goes back for Ruby, dragging her in a different direction.
Conversely, Weiss and Blake do still come across the Nevermore because both girls are rather negative in this instance and in close proximity with one another. Both had no luck finding a partner, with the compounded negativity from Blake over essentially having to take on a Schnee as her partner. When it comes to Ruby trusting or not trusting Cardin, she is quite the optimist.
newmangekyo0154(Ch. 1): Thank you. I want to make it clear that right now I haven't pinned down who Link would get into a relationship with...if anyone. I do certainly have characters in mind, but it's not something I'm going to rush into. That said, the fact I avoided the common trope of making Ruby the reincarnation of Hylia/Zelda, depending on the story you read, makes more open to the common trope of Link x Ruby.
Again, nothing is confirmed in terms of romance. As for Weiss, she's a flawed character in Volume 1. I won't say it justifies how she acts, but the explanation of what exactly the Schnee family is life certainly gives reason. After all, just as a micro chasm, her father would only let Weiss attend Beacon if she bested an Arma Gigas. I'd say there's certainly reason to how she acts.
Monster King: There is a fairy I could utilize in the form of Proxy from Hyrule Warriors. Given that game isn't canon to the Zelda timeline, those characters are relatively free use without too much explanation on how they are here. Maybe I could end up using that.
hdzalex084: I honestly would have chosen Ruby, but she tends to be the option many have chosen as the Zelda in the RWBY x Legend of Zelda stories. With that bein gthe case, I didn't want to follow that commonality, so I shifted the reincarnation to another.