Small Issues

AN: Welcome back to Small Issues! Sorry for the longer wait than expected but for those of you who are reading the third segment of this series, Larger Issues, then you'll know that I had written up a chapter to focus on Pyrrha a lot more just for her birthday. This chapter... let's just say that I had expected it to be shorter at first before finding it was going to be longer. And for once it wasn't as long as I initially thought it would wind up being... but not by too much.

Anyway, on with the show!

Beacon

Taiyang rushed to Vale as fast as he could. The ferry was too slow and had a set schedule, not to mention the drive to the docks and through Vale. But being a Huntsman at Signal had its perks, including access to the airship stationed there that was used for quick emergency deployment and finding out that his daughters had been involved in incidents that led to them being held at the police station for questioning… That counted as an emergency enough for him.

He just hoped that his girls were safe… so he could berate them as needed.

—

At the police station…

Yang wasn't having a good time. Once her bike was parked outside, Glynda marched her and Ruby inside, requesting separate interrogation rooms while keeping very strong grips on their arms, and guided the two of them into each.

And the room wasn't anything to write about; dull cement grey walls and floor, no windows to the outside, a plain black table fixed to the floor and a chair for the one being questioned.

Sitting down, not surprised that the metal chair is cold, Yang went over her options since Glynda had gotten their names and quite possibly called her father… or at least had someone else call him.

Then there was the dilemma of how much of the truth she would have to give. She hated liars and when she would have to lie she'd prefer to omit details but in a case like this… maybe it was a good thing that she is so conflicted about lying.

The door opens to reveal Goodwitch and a man walking in. He walked with a cane but did not seem to need it. His dark suit looked almost black but as he came closer to the light it was revealed that only his coat and shoes were black, his vest being dark green to match his pants and the lighter green scarf around his neck was held closed by a silver and purple cross pin.

He is tall, nearly a foot taller than Yang herself who is rather tall compared to many girls she knows, though his silvery hair seemed a bit off given the rest of him appearing no older than her father. The shades on his face, as interesting as they were with the crinkled arms, seemed to be almost comical as the lenses were too small and sat too far down his nose to be of any real use.

"Yang Xiao Long… rather interesting for us to meet here rather than at Beacon with less than three weeks until the school year begins." The man greets her, a seat for him was slid into the room before the door closed.

"Hehe… funny story about that."

"Then you might want to know that I've already spoken to Junior on my way here." He hid his smile behind his mug of hot chocolate as her eyes went wide and tried to hide her panic.

"I… uhh…"

"It would seem that a rival gang tried attacking his club while you were visiting and you were caught in the crossfire. And as such, you had no idea which side to fight… so you went after both sides equally. After which, the rivals fled, leaving Junior and his men behind." He takes another sip of his preferred beverage, not needing eyes behind him to know that Goodwitch was rolling her eyes at the story, but also glad that his potential student had missed that act.

"Umm… yeah, there was a fight."

"Then I'm sure that you will have no problems in Combat Classes once you are at Beacon seeing as you were among the last ones standing from that brawl."

"I guess, it was my best class at Signal." As unsure as she was about how the conversation was going, she did take pride in her fighting abilities.

"Very well, then I expect that you'll keep your nose clean at least until you start at Beacon."

"I will." She nodded fervently.

The man stood up, taking his mug and chair with him to the door. "Then I hope to see you again in better circumstances. Oh, and I've called your father to pick you and your sister up."

Yang felt a chill go up her spine from those words and the door closing may as well have been a gunshot. And now she knew that she was being confined here until her dad arrived, left to wonder what matter of punishment he would give her for this, no doubt that Bumblebee being locked away as just part of it.

A minute later, she was pacing around the room.

—-

Like her sister, Ruby sat in an identical room, though she was nowhere close to being as worried. Not that she wasn't but she was also curious since this was the first time she had been in a police station… in Vale. Plus trying to satisfy her curiosity helped to mitigate her concerns about what would happen to her and Yang

But given the lack of distractions in the room, she found herself bored rather quickly. She was just about to start counting the cracks in the walls when the door opened to reveal a man in a green suit walking in followed by Glynda with a chair.

The man steps up to the table and leans in a bit closer to Ruby, his gaze unreadable beyond making her uncomfortable and her eyes flicked away and back to his.

"Ruby Rose. You… have silver eyes." It wasn't a question, just a statement of fact. But he did stand up after saying that.

"I, uh, ummm."

A plate of cookies was slid across the table to her, provided by the man who casually sipped from his mug.

But between her hunger brought about from the earlier fight, seeing no malice from the man, and recognizing the plate as the one from the break room they had passed to get to this room, Ruby took one and bit into it.

Chocolate chip… and quite good at that, more than likely homemade.

And then she momentarily lapsed her control, scarfing down half a dozen more in a matter of seconds before she remembered that she wasn't alone.

"Uh, sorry." The teen apologized after using her sleeve to brush away lingering crumbs from her mouth.

"Teenagers." Glynda muttered, barely loud enough to be heard.

"Do you know who I am?" The man asks in a tone that suggests that he knew that she knew.

"You're Professor Ozpin, the Headmaster of Beacon." Ruby responded quickly.

"Hmmm…" Ozpin smiled before Glynda handed him a digital tablet that played her fight against the thugs from multiple angles on a loop. "And where did you learn to do this?" He points at the screen.

"S-Signal Academy."

"So you want to be a Huntress?"

"Weelll…" Ruby drew out the word as she tried to find the words, and then they came out in a rush. "My sister and I have been training at Signal to be Huntresses for years and she's going to Beacon this year. Our parents have always taught us to help people and the police are good and all but being a Huntress is just so much cooler and and romantic and just… aaahhh! You know!?"

Ozpin and Glynda shared a look, silently communicating that Ruby is easily excited but also rather honest. Not exactly the best combination, especially since her restraint is extremely limited.

"You want to go to my school?"

"Yeah! Why wouldn't I? My sister is going this year. Our parents went there. I just have two more years at Signal to go before I can apply."

Ozpin looks back to the tablet and studies it once again, noting that during the fight she avoided causing most of the unnecessary damage to her surroundings, her attacks were to disable and not to maim or kill, and she got the job done quickly. Not to mention the skill it takes for a weapon like hers and he knew quite well that Signal prided itself for nearly all of the potential Huntsmen and Huntresses designing and building their own weapons- something like her scythe must have taken quite the talent to create.

"And who taught you to use such a weapon? A scythe is rather dangerous and difficult to use." Ozpin asks, though he had to wait a few seconds for the answer since Ruby had just shoved a cookie in her mouth, whole. "The only other Huntsman I know who uses one is a dusty old crow."

"Tha's me un-le!" She realized that she should have spoken AFTER swallowing and quickly did so, wiping crumbs off with her sleeve again. "That's my uncle Qrow! He taught me everything I know about using it!"

"Interesting." Ozpin steepled his hands in front of him as he locked eyes with the girl. "And how much do you want to attend Beacon?"

"More than anything."

Ozpin smirked and looked back to Glynda who was leaning against the wall, the woman immediately rolling her eyes and let out a huff that blew a few strands of hair out of her face. Then he looked back to Ruby with a small smile. "Okay then, you're in."

The grin on the teen's face threatened to split her face ear to ear, both adults were simply glad her vocal chords seemed to be frozen since her voice was already on the higher side due to her age.

—-

"Ah, if it isn't Taiyang Xiao Long!"

"Hey, Frank."

"Don't worry about your girls too much, things are alright for the most part." The cop explained before a smirk came to his face. "Though this does seem rather familiar… two other young women who look a lot like them being picked up by you… right in this station."

"Oh, come on Frank." Tai recalled that evening well. "That was twenty four years ago!"

"I'm just saying, a bit of a coincidence that it's happened twice." Frank waves his hand dismissively. "But hey, at least nobody was sent to the hospital this time."

"Really reassuring, Frank."

"Haha, well… I'm just hoping that I don't get to see round three of this."

"Wouldn't you be retired by the time the next generation comes around?"

"Eh, I could be a desk jockey." Frank shrugs.

"Whatever. Are they done yet?"

"Well… your oldest was talked to first. Last I heard, she was wearing a hole in the floor with her pacing."

"Hmm… so she knows she did something wrong and is beating herself up over what I might do to her."

"Seems that way."

"And Ruby?"

"Still talking to Ozpin, last I heard. Too bad the cookies made by my daughter in the breakroom disappeared, plate and all."

"You're not insinuating that my girls took them, are you?"

"Of course not. Besides, I got one after they were marched past so I know they didn't take them…" Frank trailed off as Ruby and Yang were escorted to the desk by Ozpin and Goodwitch, the youngest of the group carrying a plate with two cookies left on it.

"Taiyang, good to see you again. I do wish it was under better circumstances." Ozpin shakes Tai's hand.

"Yeah Oz, same here." The father glanced at his daughters and found that his eldest wouldn't meet his eyes while his youngest seemed to be barely controlled. "So, what's the verdict with these two? What trouble did they get into this time?"

"Oh, nothing too bad, seeing as law enforcement isn't punishing them." Ozpin says casually before gesturing to the girls in turn. "Miss Xiao Long here happened to arrive at Junior's club at the wrong time with a fight breaking out in the short time she was there. And Miss Rose happened to be at a Dust shop during a robbery."

"What!?"

"We're fine Dad." Yang finally looked up at him but she was still worried and irritated. On the way here to the station, Ruby had told her what happened at the shop and it wasn't hard to connect the dots- the man who led the robbery had been the same one Junior had been talking to before she got to him and it was Junior's men who were helping him.

And to be quite honest, she was pissed off at herself… this wasn't the first time something like this had happened but at least this time they weren't defenseless when they were attacked.

"Junior's?" The father questioned, to which Ozpin and Yang nodded. His eyes narrowed at his daughter, who was ashamed of herself, something that gave him some measure of comfort. "We'll talk about this when we get home.

Those words made Yang feel like she was dropped into the lake near home, it still isn't ice free despite the rising temperatures as the season moved towards Spring.

Then he looked at Ruby. "And what are you so excited about?"

"I-I-I…. Aaaahhh…. Ozpin…. You know?" Her words left everyone confused as she really didn't say anything, her excitement making her brain run much faster than the rest of her and the signals were lost and jumbled in the process.

Thankfully, Ozpin stepped in as the translator. "What I believe she means is that she was accepted into Beacon." To which the girl nodded frantically as her sister's eyes bugged out at the news.

"You're joking, right?"

"Unfortunately not, Taiyang." Glynda lets out a sigh as she walks by. "Just send me her records from Signal in the morning, I've already had a long day even before this."

"Cookie?" Ruby offers the treats to the blonde woman before she gets too far, holding out the plate.

Glynda blinked in surprise but took one with a smile before leaving through the door.

"Dad?" Ruby holds out the last one.

Tai rolls his eyes as he takes it. "Hmm… pretty good."

—

It turned out to be correct for Yang when it came to part of her punishment. Not only did she get chewed out for going to Junior's but she also lost her bike, Bumblebee being locked in the shed along with her father taking her key for it. On top of that, she had extra grueling training given to her… and she had to do her best to tutor Ruby in more advanced subjects that the younger sibling would have learned if she had the two years of education as per the norm. That didn't include that she couldn't hang out with her friends before Beacon.

Aside from doing her best to convey two years worth of knowledge in the span of two weeks, Ruby would at least join in with the training sessions. Granted, the girl also never could beat her sister in a spar but she'd at least make Yang work for it, though her strength, durability, and experience dwarfed Ruby's even if the younger sister had greater speed and range.

Then there was the conversation alone with her father…

"So… you went to Junior's?"

"Yeah."

"And why were you there?

"I… heard it was a good club to dance at."

"And it had nothing to do with Junior being an information broker?"

"..."

"Look, just because Junior and his gang are technically criminals, that doesn't give you the right to go in there and beat the crap out of them."

"I… just wanted… one last shot of finding anything."

Tai let out a deep sigh. "Yang, it's things like this that show that you aren't ready for us to have a more open discussion about that subject."

"It's not like you and Uncle Qrow have given me much to work with. You know how much it bothers me not knowing the answers."

"Yeah, we do. But do you know how hard it is on us too? Seeing how much of her is in you?"

"Then… let's just rip off the bandage."

Another sigh. "Maybe someday soon."

"What!?"

"Yang, just promise me something."

"What's that?"

"Promise me that you'll look out for your sister at school. You are the only reason I'm allowing her to skip two grades."

"You don't think she can handle herself?"

"Yang… it's a school where she's going to stand out. Everyone else there will be much like you, more experience, more training, know more about how the world works. You aren't likely to be on the same team together but she'll still need you to get through it all where her teammates won't be able to."

Yang needed a few moments to process that. "Okay, I've already promised Ruby that I'll always be there for her, no matter what."

"Good, then don't let anything or anyone come between you."

It had been a stark reminder of how much her sister, as capable as she is, still needed all of the help that she could get. The pledges to be there for her sister when help is needed. The need to take care of family above all because of their love for each other.

And as Yang lay down in bed in the room she shared with Ruby after a long night of studying, those points were driven even harder into her soul as she watched her sister sleep. It's been over a decade since Yang effectively became the woman of the house and had to do so much to help keep their family going, but with her father doing better since that time of hardship and her sister now old enough to have greater independence, sometimes Yang needed these reminders after the times that she would go out and 'live for herself' for a short time, that her obligations to family should come before simple pleasures such as a party. It may have been a bit harsh for one so young and not the best time to have a defiant streak but she had gotten used to the latter and still needed to work out some of the balances with the former.

—-

Many of the Beacon hopefuls had gathered in Vale for the ride up to the academy. It had become something of a tradition for the first day of school to get the grand view of it with a few dozen of one's peers and potential peers.

Ruby and Yang were no different as they rode in one of several airships bound for Beacon on the mountain overlooking Vale with a cliff between the school and city, necessitating the airships rather than buses or a train.

"Oh wow! You can see Signal from up here!" Ruby nearly shouted from her place by the window with her sister. They were lucky to have such a clear day to see the iconic lighthouse tower that served as its central feature. Then again, it was a military base originally, serving as both an outpost and flanking position for Vale during the wars. Being able to send coded messages from one base to another thanks to the towers helped to inspire the island school's name of Signal and the mainland one being named Beacon.

"You see, we're not that far from home after all." Yang smiles as she pats her sister's shoulder. "Still… any last minute thoughts about jumping two years?"

Ruby gave the blonde a side eyed glare. "You mean besides leaving my friends behind and people here thinking that I might be special?"

That just made Yang grin widely as she pulled Ruby in for a side hug, causing the smaller girl to flail in a vain attempt to escape the embarrassment. "Oh! But you are special to me!"

"Yang!"

Any further conflict between the sisters was halted when a hologram appeared in the center of each of the large windows of the ship where the students were. Glynda Goodwitch herself, and life size to boot, though she spoke much more gently than either sister heard her before.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon!"

"Oh… it's her again." Yang grumbles.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch."

"Yeah, noted." The comment made Ruby giggle a little.

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world." With that said, the hologram vanished and allowed for the potential students to focus on the sight of Beacon from their vantage point.

Their airship descended from their flight path towards the docks at the edge of the cliff, the blue water of the small bay between Beacon and Vale lapping at the nearly nonexistent shoreline at the bottom.

"Oh wow!" Ruby pressed herself against the glass for a better look as Yang was content to look over her shoulder as the school grew larger in the window.

"Looks like Beacon is our home now." The blonde pats her siblings shoulder.

"Urg! Ook!"

The odd noises made the sisters turn to find a tall blonde boy in odd white armor, jeans, and a black hoodie stumbling with a hand over his mouth and eyes wide as they looked around frantically.

"I guess the view isn't for everyone." Ruby shrugs.

"Yeah." Yang made sure to give him room to pass.

Unfortunately, one of the other student hopefuls hadn't noticed and was talking animatedly, accidentally elbowing the blonde boy, with predictable results. He should consider himself lucky that he wasn't hit directly but was still in the immediate splash zone.

"Ew…" Ruby mutters before something caught her eye. "Yang! You have puke on your shoe!"

"Oh gross, gross, gross, gross!"

—

Weiss Schnee disembarked from her private transport with a pair of servants pushing a small trolley holding her luggage. She had refused to mingle with the common student hopefuls taking the airships from Vale, thus the need for her own ship to get her to Beacon. At the same time, she also ensured that there wasn't any extra fanfare beyond being the lone student arriving off that ship.

She paused to look around at the school, taking note of the large courtyard with a long walkway leading from the air pads to the main entrance with several circular areas lined with benches equally spread down the length. On either side, the grounds held a wide variety of vegetation from trees to tall bushes, short hedges and manicured grassy expanses, to colorful flower beds and marble statues, to seemingly oddly placed benches and covered stone pavilions.

Encircling a large portion of the grounds are a pair of what looked like they were old aqueducts made of white stone or concrete with many arches to hold them up. While also clear that they were completely decorative as they didn't connect at either end of the main walkway, they did help to add a bit of extra flair and even mild privacy to the grounds without being obtrusive or gaudy.

And the school itself, from her vantage point, consisted of many tall buildings with high spired roofs. One could say that it looked like some fantastic castle with a flair for the dramatic.

But she had seen the maps with the layout of the school, and she knew that the first thing she'd enter was the main entrance hall with basic administration. Just beyond that is the large hall for meetings with the students with the Beacon CCT Tower just beyond that which also holds the Headmaster's office and main communication room.

On her left side of the campus were several buildings that include the library, staff housing, student council meeting rooms, small courtyards, classrooms,and observatory, and supply buildings. On the right are the dorms for students, the cafeteria and kitchen, a small supply store, more supply buildings, an open amphitheater, and a pool house with a gym.

In all, it made for a grand sight, slightly gothic in design but that seemed toned down due to brighter colors and lush landscapes all around.

And it was the place where she was to consider home for the next four years.

And she decided to take a more scenic route towards the entrance, her servants following diligently.

—

Pyrrha had somehow managed to go relatively unnoticed, though that had probably more to do that she kept herself secluded from the others on the transport and making herself scarce without producing a scene as soon as it docked.

Still, she made her way towards the hall where she was supposed to gather with the other potential students for what should be a warm greeting by Professor Ozpin as Headmaster of this school. She just took a slightly less traveled path to get there.

—-

Ren and Nora had stuck together during their flight from Mistral to Vale, shared a room with separate beds for the three days they had to wait and adjust to the new time zone… though it seemed as though Ren was rather slow to do that part. But they spent their time in the new Kingdom exploring the streets, taking in the sights of Vale, trying the cuisine, and in general having a good time in the early spring weather.

But now that they were on the campus of Beacon Academy they had so much more to see… while hoping not to get lost as Ren followed Nora as she darted around in an effort to explore everything even before the entrance ceremony.

"THEY HAVE A POOL!"

Ren really should not have been surprised that she had gotten around to the back of the campus by now, if his mental map was correct.

"Oh! Will we be staying there?!"

"Nora! We need to go to the main entrance hall."

"You got it! Let's go slowpoke!"

And as she dashed off ahead in a full sprint, Ren followed at a jog still trying to figure out where she gets so much energy.

—-

Blake sat in the main courtyard in front of the main entrance hall reading a book. She was in no hurry but the early afternoon sun felt nice combined with the slight cool breeze, so she was killing some time until the opening was to begin.

—-

"Oh wow." Ruby gasps as she looks up at Beacon from one of the courtyards on the main walkway, echoed by Yang next to her. Neither of them had been here before but they had heard plenty of stories from their parents and Uncle, as well as from teachers and other Huntsmen on their home island of Patch.

"Pretty impressive, almost makes you think we'd be living in some fairy tale castle, huh?"

"Yang! You know this isn't a castle from our books, this… this is Beacon Academy!"

"Riiiiight." The blonde wraps an arm over her sister's shoulders. "And you've been dreaming of coming here for the last ten years, kinda like living your own fairy tale now, isn't it?"

"Oh come on sis! Don't start with that thing."

"Relax, try to have some fun."

"What do you mean?" Her silver eyes narrowed at Yang, who began to play with her hair, a clear nervous tic.

"Well… I kinda promised that I'd hang out with my friends before things with school kicked off." Referring to the time that she had originally planned before coming to Beacon but with what happened in Vale just over two weeks prior, she hadn't been able to meet up with her friends from Signal for more than a few minutes.

"You're going to be with your friends when I had to leave mine back at Signal?" Ruby pokes her sister in the chest.

"We made this promise before you got in!" The blonde spoke fast, hoping Ruby would remember that. "Besides, now's your time to make some new friends."

"You know I'd rather look at weapons than people." Ruby huffs as she crosses her arms. "Oh, that girl has a sword… looks like a wakizashi… and there's Fire Dust on the sheath." Another person caught her eye. "Wow, big axe for a big guy. Looks like he adds some Earth Dust to his attacks based on that crystal on the blade. Might even have a shotgun built into it."

"Well… looks like my friends are here!" Yang raised her voice to cut through her sisters muttering about weapons as a group of five ran towards them. "Hey guys!" She waves at them even though they clearly saw her. But as they got closer they didn't seem to be slowing down at all, making her worry about them a little. "Guys?"

"Got her! Hi Ruby! Bye Ruby!" The group of teens shouted together as they ran by, grabbing Yang by the arms and legs and hoisting her above them as they kept going.

"H-hey! What are you guys doing? This better not be a prank!"

"Yang? Yang!" Ruby reached out in vain to stop her sister from being carried off. She moved to give chase but found a stone under her boot that made her slip just as a cart with several white suitcases crossed in front of her. The resulting crash scattered the cases and sent the girl to the stone tiles in a confused daze from so much happening at once.

"What are you doing?!"

Ruby looked up from her place on the ground to see a girl with white hair in a ponytail, blue eyes with a scar over the left one, and wearing a white skirt and top with a flare of red inner lining. "Ugh, what?" She holds her head after having momentarily blacked out. "Sorry."

"Sorry? Do you have any idea of the damage you could have done?"

Ruby reacted by quickly trying to pick up the nearest case, not really noticing that the two men behind her were already restacking the cases on their cart. But the girl yelling at her grabbed the case roughly from her hands and identified which case she was holding.

"Do you know what this is?" White shouts as she opens the case and pulls out a glass vial, one of many within, from the cushion insert meant to keep it safe. Unfortunately, in her anger she failed to notice that her rough handling meant that her thumb cracked open the stopper lid as she shook it in front of the red cloaked girl.

"Uhh?" There was still too much going on around her to truly get her bearings, let alone form a coherent response.

"This is Dust. Mined, refined, and purified from a Schnee quarry. What are you, braindead?" Her irritation at Ruby only grew as she continued to be given an answer. And as her irritation grew, she shook the Dust vial harder, agitating the volatile mineral and forcing some of the powder to leak out into the air in front of Ruby's face.

"Ah… ah…"

"Dust powers the world and can be extremely dangerous if handled incorrectly!" She quickly puts the vial back in the case and closes it, one of the men takes it from her just before Ruby sneezed.

"ACChOOO!" And that sneeze was what was needed to push the Dust in the air past its limits to remain stable, resulting in an explosion that engulfed the two girls, though it only left them slightly singed.

"Unbelievable! This is exactly what I was talking about!" White screeches as she stomps her foot, unaware that her tantrum combined with the explosion had garnered the attention of those around them, including that of a girl who was reading a book.

"I'm really, really sorry!" Ruby apologizes as she pokes her fingers together looking like a sad puppy.

"Ugh! You complete dolt!" White yells with her hands on her hips before leaning in to be more intimidating despite needing wedge heels to stand eye to eye with Ruby. "Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon? What are you even doing here?"

"Well… I, I, uh.." Ruby tries to avoid her scathing eyes and not wanting to stare at the other girls' scar over her eye.

And White kept going on, now standing to her full height and crossing her arms, raising her head to look down her nose. "This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparing and practice, you know? We're here to fight monsters, so watch where you're going!"

That struck a nerve in Ruby, instantly switching her from deeply apologetic and remorseful to anger as her abilities were doubted and the other girl's attitude grated against her pride. "Look, I said I was sorry, Princess!"

"It's 'Heiress', actually." A new voice came about as most of the other student hopefuls began to disperse. Said voice belonged to a girl taller than either Ruby or White wearing mostly black and white with a few touches of purple to break the monotone color scheme. Her long black hair was topped by a black bow which added to her height a little. Her tone had sounded a bit flat, as though she didn't like to talk but when she continued, her mood seemed to cheer up her tone. "Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. The largest producer of energy propellant in the world."

With what the new girl had said, Weiss stood up taller and smiled, puffing up her rather flat chest in pride. "Finally, some recognition." She boasts as she levels a small glare directly at Ruby.

But Black continued but now there was more than a touch of bitterness in her words. "The same company infamous for its questionable business partners and controversial labor practices."

THAT made Weiss deflate quite quickly, becoming indignant in response. "What?! How… How dare you! The nerve of-!" The girl couldn't seem to get her words straight anymore as she glared at Black.

Ruby stood to the side, giggling at the complete role reversal, reminding her of what her father and uncle would do at times, even her sister when she could manage it but she was often a victim of the practice.

Weiss made one last attempt to make Black back down, stepping close as she glared right into the taller girl's amber eyes. But when Black didn't even seem surprised by the act, Weiss let out a loud huff of frustration before turning on her heel and walking away with all of the dignity she could muster.

Even then, Ruby tried to leave things off on a good note. "I promise I'll make this up to you!" She shouts at the retreating heiress' back, who gives no indication that she even heard Ruby.

The lack of reaction disappointed Ruby a little but she wanted to thank the girl who had come to her aid. "I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day, huh?" She tries to joke but that apparently fell flat when she saw Black walking away in the opposite direction.

The sudden changes of the mood both for herself and around her took its toll and she dropped to her knees as she tried to process it all, settling with some sarcasm. "Welcome to Beacon."

—

"Really? You couldn't have brought Ruby along?" Yang leaned against a wall as her friends had her surrounded.

To their credit, they did look regretful about that…. Most of them.

"To be fair, you are heavier than you look and we needed everyone to hold you in case you started struggling."

Yang dropped her face into her hands. Doris was never the sharpest tool in the shed but she was a friend. Unfortunately, for some reason or another, the others tended to follow her lead on occasion, leading to situations like this.

"And what made you think that you couldn't have at least invited Ruby along?"

The blank stares were enough of an answer for the buxom blonde.

—-

"Need a hand?"

Ruby looked up to find a gloved hand held out to her. Thankful for the support on this odd and exciting day, she took the hand and was pulled to her feet quite easily.

He proved to be fairly tall, easily about her father's height, though his lanky frame made him seem taller in comparison. Messy blonde hair, blue eyes, a slight tan wearing jeans, sneakers, a black hoodie with short sleeves, and armor that looked like it wasn't quite meant for him, almost as though he had outgrown the armor and had yet to replace it.

"Thanks." She looked around to find most everyone else had gone back to whatever they had been doing previous to her 'meeting' with Weiss and Black. "I'm…I'm Ruby."

"Well, I'm Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue… the ladies love it." The young man puffs up his chest in pride, nearly striking what could be called a heroic pose.

Ruby looked at him unsure of what he was doing. "Do they?"

And with those two words, Jaune deflated. He let out a large huff of air as he slumped, the confidence and bravado he had leaving with it. "No, not really."

"Wait… aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"

"Ugh…"

Given that they were both socially awkward, they began to walk together around the courtyard as they waited for the time to go to the meeting hall. Yet despite their introduction to each other, they haven't been able to say much. Bringing up the puking scene hadn't really helped either.

But walking aimlessly in silence with increasing nerves bothered Ruby. 'Try to make some new friends while you're at Beacon. Find something that you are passionate about and see if you can bond through that.' Her fathers advice from when he saw his daughters off at the Vale airpads was a bit more eloquent than Yang's 'Just find someone to talk to, if it doesn't work, move on to another.'

"Well… I got this thing." Ruby reached back and withdrew Crescent Rose, the weapon unfurling right in front of Jaune, making the young man jump back as the large blade unfolded and the tip stabbed into the dirt just in front of where his foot had been.

"I-is that a scythe?" Jaune stuttered as he had never thought that such a small girl would have such a large weapon. The entire business end was nearly as tall as she is… with a few inches underground.

Ruby casually hefted the scythe up to hold it in both hands. "It's also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle." She declares proudly, not just because it is HER weapon but the fact that she was actually being proactively social and Jaune at least didn't mind her being around to talk to.

Jaune… was still trying to process how she lifted it so easily, but then he looked at her arms and while the black material obscured the details, she was rocking some decent guns under those sleeves. "Uh… what?"

"It's also a gun."

"Oh, okay."

BZZZ! BZZZ! Ruby took out her scroll to see the alert notification.

"Oh! It's time to get to the meeting hall!"

Jaune quickly checked his own scroll and saw the time. "We better get going."

—

The pair made it into the auditorium just in time, the doors closing a few seconds later, much to the protest of a few left outside.

Immediately, Ruby scanned the crowd for a mane of golden hair and found her target quickly. "Oh! There's my sister!" And she dashed ahead. Jaune tried to follow but a large group of boys walked in front of him and by the time they passed, he had lost sight of Ruby.

With a small huff of mild annoyance, he settled for leaning against the nearest wall to wait for any announcement. Though he initially missed her, he did notice that there was a tall girl in bronze armor with long red hair next to him. "Hi."

"Hello."

Over with the sisters…

"Hey! You made it!" Yang was happy to see her sister again… but the other girl was less so.

"What was that back there? You ditched me!" Ruby gave Yang a punch to the shoulder.

"No I didn't, I was dragged away." Even though that was true, she still got another punch.

"And where are your friends now?"

The blonde shrugged as she looked around. "Dunno, gave them the slip for pulling that stunt. Haven't seen them since."

"Think they are outside? I thought I heard the doors lock."

"I guess we'll see." Just as she said that, the lights dimmed to nearly nothing. "Or not see."

A spotlight came on and illuminated the stage to reveal Professor Ozpin standing in the middle leaning on his cane with a microphone in front of him.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

Almost immediately, whispered discussions broke out over what the Headmaster had said.

Yang leans over towards Ruby. "Did he seem a bit… off? He wasn't like this when we met him."

"Think he might have had a late night?"

"Maybe."

The whispers died down as Glynda took Ozpin's place at the microphone while he walked off the stage.

"Now, I'm hoping you all have come prepared because we will be getting straight into your initiation. Please exit through the doors on either side of the stage and you'll be escorted to the testing areas."

Said doors opened, letting in the bright light of day and everyone in the crowd began to shuffle themselves to the exits. Ruby and Yang stuck together, heading towards the door on the right since it was the closest. Yet before they could leave, they heard a loud voice from the other door. "Hoho! Right this way! Look at all of these strapping young men and women ready to fight for the world!"

—-

Outside, the groups of students didn't meet up, apparently it helped to randomize the make up by splitting the deck, so to speak. And the sisters' group wound up following Ozpin and Glynda through the campus, giving the potential students a tour of sorts of the grounds.

"Hehe, look around Ruby."

"Look at what? The library on the other side of campus?" She had seen a directory kiosk on their way and at least saw where the library, forms, and cafeteria were.

"No, the guys around us!"

"What about them?"

"Did you see the pecs on that guy over there? Makes me wonder how much he benches. Or that one with the really tight pants. Damn, talk about form fitting."

"I don't think Dad would approve."

"Hehe, I know I do! Grrrrroooowwwlll." Yang says with a wide grin as she ogles the eye candy.

"So… we're supposed to put on teams today?" A familiar voice reached Ruby's ears as a small group shifted to reveal Jaune not too far away.

"I believe so."

"Oh, hey Jaune!"

"Huh? Ruby?" The blonde was rather surprised at her sudden appearance but he wasn't going to turn down the chance to talk to a friend.

"Huh, you made a friend?" Yang asks, looking the taller blonde over. Nothing too much to take note of with him but he does have a good face… though seems a bit like her fathers younger days, though she was pretty sure that he had never been quite so lanky.

"Jaune, this is my sister Yang."

"Hiya!"

"Nice to meet you."

"Wait, aren't you the guy who threw up on my boots?"

"Oooooohhhh…. Not again!"

"And who's your friend?" Ruby asks about the tall redhead walking next to Jaune.

"Oh, Ruby, Yang, this is Pyrrha."

"Hello!" Pyrrha gave them a cheery greeting, complete with a slime and wave.

"So…" Yang drew out the word as they kept following the crowd of several dozen people. "How have you guys been doing so far since we got here?"

"It has been as expected so far." Pyrrha offers up casually.

"Ran into some crabby girl with her luggage and exploded."

"Wait, what?" Yang hadn't expected that in the slightest.

Ruby explained in rapid fire speech, getting more worked up as she went. "There was some Dust, she kept yelling at me, I tried to apologize, she kept yelling, then I sneezed and exploded!"

Unbeknownst to the four, the subject of Ruby's rant had caught up to them. "You!"

"Ah! Not her again!" Ruby shouts as she jumps up and Yang catches her sister easily.

"You're lucky we didn't get blown off the cliff!" Weiss shouts as she points accusingly at Ruby.

"You really did explode." Yang mutters as she could smell the light singe on her sister with her so close. Plus having the new girl around kind of settled any doubts. And that made her raise her voice. "What's your problem with my sister?"

"She's a hazard to my health!" Weiss emphasizes with a stomp.

"H-h-hey, let's not fight." Jaune put himself between the three girls. "This is our first day, right?"

With a huff… and seeing as the procession was coming to a stop, Weiss relented but not without giving the sisters a scathing look. Meanwhile, a pair of amber eyes watched in interest.

Goodwitch turned around to address the assembled teens by the cliffside. "Now, many of you have heard about the formation of teams. I'll put your fears to rest by saying that it will be done today during your initiation."

Ozpin stepped up for his turn. "Deep into the Emerald Forest lies an ancient temple. Inside you will find several relics, choose one and bring it back to pass this test. As for your teammate… the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years." He paused to take a breath… and heard a few whines. "Along the way, you WILL encounter fierce resistance… DO NOT hesitate to kill anything in your path or you WILL die."

There were more than a few nerves touched at that point, if the worried moans and agitated shifting was anything to go by.

Glynda took control again. "Now one person per platform, please wait your turn as there aren't enough to go all at once."

Not far from the edge of the cliff overlooking the brilliantly green forest below, ten square tiles were set into the grass, each bearing the crossed axes of Beacon's emblem.

The closest ten stepped onto them and Glynda lifted her black tablet that is easily three times larger than the average scroll. A few presses of the screen and soon there were a series of clicks coming from under the platforms. One by one with a second between them, the platforms lifted up rapidly and hurled the students off the cliff and into the forest.

As soon as the platforms lowered and reset, the next group moved to stand on them and launched.

"Uh-oh."

"I'm sure you'll be fine, Jaune." Pyrrha assured him as they walked over to stand on a platform along with Ruby and Yang for this round. "Just make sure that your landing strategy has been well practiced."

"Landing strategy… right." The young man began muttering sarcastically to himself. "Definitely well practiced. Pyrrha?" Unfortunately, he had missed that she had been launched a second ago… and realized that he was next just as he was thrown through the air with a scream. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

Weiss shook her head at the lack of decorum by the blonde boy as she moved onto her launch pad. But what she couldn't place was why she felt that a pair of eyes were boring into her head. It wasn't either of the teachers, who looked almost bored and every student she could see was focused on the task ahead.

As the students were launched, a black streak that looked like the girl who had insulted her earlier flew ahead by a few seconds. And as much as Weiss wanted to get back at her for the slights against her and her family, she would settle for beating her to the temple and getting the best teammate possible- Pyrrha Nikos. She had seen where the girl had gone into the forest and was ready to follow her, hopefully the thirty seconds delay wouldn't be enough for someone else to team up with her.

And she was sent flying through the air.

And on the cliff, Ozpin sipped from his mug of hot chocolate. "I think that this year could prove to be quite interesting."

AN: So... what do you all think of how this turned out? Most of the young Huntsmen and Huntresses we know and love have met, though quite differently from how RT had done. Actually it was closer to how Ice Queendom had done it while still adding my own spin on things. Keeps things interesting for you all.

Next chapter will obviously be focusing on the test and how they deal with the dangers there among other challenges.

Oh, and I've been having some trouble with notifications from the site again for a while. Hopefully I can get that resolved soon. Still, reviews are welcome! See you all next time in either Small or Larger Issues!