So, we've had roles of goodies and baddies swapped around before, but what about teams themselves?
JNPR
Basic premise: Team JNPR are the lead characters, and not Team RWBY, meaning that they are the ones that get up to all of the important stuff.
The composition of Team JNPR remains the same, and so do their basic personalities.
Except for Pyrrha. Her personality is changed to a more realistic version of a 4 time championship winner and extremely successful gladiator fighter: She's prideful, egotistical and arrogant, but has the power to back it up in control spars and tournament fights, where she naturally excels, but does not mess well with actual fighting, and is resentful of the constant celebration of her fame around her, and as such, moves to Beacon to try and escape it all. All of this inevitably hiding a fragile ego and superiority/inferiority complex, that doesn't do well for her psyche.
Thanks to all of these factors, at the start, Team JNPR doesn't mess well, and the revelation of Jaune's transcripts being faked does not help that situation at all, but it is only when the Forever Falls incident comes and goes, does JNPR finally come together as a team, and a mutual agreement comes across to better themselves, and finally become a team that they can be proud of.
Because of this shift of focus onto Team JNPR instead of RWBY, their backstories are given more depth, and their personalities are explored more, eventually leading to the revelation that Nora was once a bird Faunus, but had her wings cut off at a young age, leaving her flightless and incredibly depressed, which she hides under a goofy exterior.
It is this revelation that eventually brings them into the main plot of the story, as instead of Team RWBY running into Sun and having their big fight, it's a White Fang recruiter trying to single out Nora and bring her into the fold. However, before this, Team JNPR has had a big fight (Ad beforehand, they were the ones that encountered Penny), And the team splits off for a short while, and it is in this vulnerable state that Nora decides to join the White Fang.
However, instead of just joining, Nora begins to act as a double agent within the White Fang, immediately sending the rest of her Team a message, detailing Roman and the Fang's plans to raid an SDC warehouse down at the docks, and the team immediately bands together once again, alerting Ozpin and the authorities to what was happening, and going down to the docks to intercept the White Fang and stop Roman. However, before the rest of the team gets down to the docks, Penny greets them again, and she decides to tag along with them.
It is in this fight that Team JNPR is able to work together and heal their bonds, and it is in this fight that Penny eventually cements her own role as an unofficial part of Team JNPR herself, as she brings down the Bullheads above them (By targeting their engines instead of just lasering them in half), And helps to arrest the White Fang members present.
The biggest change in the fight? Roman Torchwick is captured.
The authorities arrive, and so does Ozpin, as well as Team RWBY. There is a hint of disappointment to Ozpin, but overall, he is pleased with the results, and Roman and the Fang are escorted away.
Team JNPR senses a hint of animosity from Team RWBY, but they disregard it and return to Beacon, now properly cemented as a team.
As the weeks go by, Nora's hidden role within the White Fang allows her to gain the trust of several members, including Perry and Deery, and soon, she is able to observe Adam Taurus himself, as well as learn the fact that Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black were working with him as well, leading to the 2 of them getting arrested beforehand, and a lot of White Fang busts on behalf of Team JNPR, who themselves becoming enemies to the White Fang, and, unbeknownst to them, Cinder Fall.
However, back home, more problems arise, in the form of Team RWBY themselves.
RWBY is clearly Ozpin's favoured team in this story, as they are his chosen champions. Being led by a silver-eyed warrior, and formed by the daughter of an infamous bandit clan, the heiress to the biggest corporation on Remnant, and a former member of the White Fang, it is clear that they are the best team that he has, and the one that he expects to be solving all of these mysteries, and the ones that he expects to be getting involved with everything. He is pleased by the work that Team JNPR is doing, but can't help but feel disappointment in the lack of initiative that Team RWBY is showing.
This is more evident with Team RWBY themselves as well, as they begin a one-sided rivalry with Team JNPR (Plus Penny) In Beacon, though this isn't acknowledged by JNPR, and is treated more as a nuisance than anything else.
Team RWBY is really put under the microscope in this fic, and is ruthlessly deconstructed, as since they're not the ones getting involved with the canon plot anymore, a lot of their character development is gone, and they begin to grow more and more dysfunctional as the time goes on.
Yang tries to strike up a friendship with Nora, but her reasoning to be a Huntress comes across as shallow to the girl, and so does her temper.
Weiss tries to create a partnership, but Pyrrha can tell that it's just an obsession on the part of a clingy fan with a perfectionist complex, and she tries to ignore him.
Blake continuously tries to interrogate Ren about the White Fang, but over the course of the story, since she's not getting involved with them, her persecutory delusions and paranoia begin to grow, and become more and more unstable.
And finally, Ruby tries to strike up a rivalry with Jaune, but is turned down, since he doesn't like competition in a place like this where cooperation is more important, and the former comes across as a persistently annoying child more than anything else.
It is eventually revealed that Ruby has a lot of deep issues, like depression and a hero and saviour complex to boot, and tries to use Team JNPR as a way to satisfy them, only to be rebuked continuously. It is only when, after being convinced by Jaune, to confront her issues and try to solve them, does she begin to grow out of her shell and into a healthier person in general, though at the cost of abandoning her old team and their issues in favour of hanging out with JNPR and Penny all of the time.
Soon, the White Fang rally begins, and Team JNPR bust it and lead to the arrest of everyone present, with the team even capturing the Paladin that they stole and using it for themselves, and this gets them in the good graces of Winter Schnee and James Ironwood, and the team, with the help of Nora and her connections within the White Fang, begin to work closely with the Ace-Ops and the Atlesian military in confronting and combating Cinder's forces and other extremist factions, though this earns them the slight ire of Ozpin and his staff, whom were not fans of the Atlesian military at all.
In particular, Blake grows suspicious of Team JNPR and their growing net of allies- Now extending to Team SSSN, Neon Katt, May Zedong, the Malachite twins, Junior, Team ARBN, and so on- And begins to suspect them of racism, and slowly begins to transform into an antagonist of sorts against them, though not a villain by any means.
Soon, the Beacon dance comes and goes, and Team JNPR and their allies learn through Nora of the Breach plot, and their location within Mount Glenn. Going against Ozpin's wishes to send Team RWBY in, Ironwood and Team JNPR move in, and a fierce battle between the White Fang and JNPR's circle ensues.
And against all odds, Team JNPR is able to win the day, and stop the breach just at the last moment.
With all of her plans derailed, Cinder flies off into a rage, and in an act of anger, does something that eventually works against her:
She targets the families of Team JNPR.
The Nikos' family are all killed, and so are the Arcs, down to the little baby Adrian.
It doesn't help that, after seeing her former brothers and sisters being arrested by Atlas, Blake flies into a rage of her own, and outs Jaune's fake transcripts, as well as Nora's hidden role within the White Fang.
This is the last straw for Team JNPR, and they defect from Beacon, taking their entire inner circle, including Ruby and Penny, with them, as they leave Vale and go on the hunt for Cinder, who has since then gone on the run. From the shadows, Ironwood, Winter, and the Ace-Ops act as their benefactors, and with the support of the Atlesian military behind them, they travel off across Remnant, seeking out Cinder and her constantly dwindling circle, and find out the truth of everything that has been going on.
The Vytal festival comes and goes, and the canon plot is completely changed into something new.
What happens next, is up to you...
As always, if you want to use this idea, then please just PM me, and let me know that you're using it, and with that, I shall see you all next time.
Titanmaster117 out!