Chapter One: Initiation

Ozpin folded his hands together on his desk and raised one eyebrow. "I daresay that your proposal for the initiation is a little extreme, don't you think, Lightning?"

Lightning met his gaze evenly. Ozpin could seem laidback, even careless at times, but his grasp of tactics and strategy was virtually unmatched. "You want me to make them the best huntsmen and huntresses possible as quickly as I can. To do that, I need an accurate assessment of their abilities in as realistic a situation as possible."

"All of the students have already been evaluated," Ozpin replied. "You know that. Were those evaluation insufficient?"

"We both know that those evaluations took place under highly controlled conditions – conditions that do not accurately reflect the conditions in the field. Each year, we find ourselves under greater pressure. The Grimm are growing stronger and more numerous. I don't like sending children onto the battlefield any more than you do, but we don't have a choice. The least we can do is ensure that they are properly prepared."

Ozpin reached up to adjust his glasses. "And our standard initiation procedure would not have sufficed? It's been considered quite challenging for some time now."

"It is better than most tests," Lightning conceded. Her eyes narrowed. "But simply catapulting students into the forest after warning them what to expect is still highly artificial. The students will not feel the kind of pressure that I want them to feel." She paused. "Ozpin, you know better than anyone that the path to becoming a true huntsman or huntress is not easy. It calls for sacrifice and hardship. I can help them along that path – but it will not be without pain. It is better for them to realise what is required them now rather than later."

"And if they break?" Ozpin asked. "The catapults made it easier for us to rig the teams based on our psychological profiles and analyses. An ordeal of the kind you're suggesting is not something that first year students will be able to cope with alone. Any psychological damage they take now may have grave consequences in the future."

"I am well aware of that." Lightning handed him a scroll. "Here are the details of my proposed changes to the travel schedules of the incoming students, along with steps that could be taken to ensure the formation of suitable teams. It will be tough, Ozpin, but it should also encourage the formation of closer teams."

"I see." Ozpin skimmed over her suggestions. As usual, Lightning had left nothing to chance. "You've given this a great deal of thought."

"I have." Lightning gazed out the window of his office, tracking the flight of a distant transport through the sky. She looked back at him. "I know what the stakes are, Ozpin. You called me back because you need more soldiers, and you trust me to deliver them. So trust me when I say that this is for the best."

"Very well." Ozpin nodded. "I will leave it in your hands. Do what you must. But, Lightning, don't forget, they are still children even if they will one day be our soldiers."

Lightning stood and headed toward the door. "I will no forget that."

X X X

"This is a complete disgrace. I booked a private cabin. I have no idea why I have to share one with…"

"Go ahead." Yang smiled toothily at the white-haired young woman sitting on the other side of the cabin. "Finish that sentence. I dare you."

Honestly, Yang wasn't pleased about sharing a cabin either, but several transports at the interchange had suffered mechanical problems. Their passengers had been put on the remaining transports, which meant that everybody had to share a cabin with someone else. At least she had Ruby with her – but she also had to deal with a stuck up, rich girl and a silent brunette who seemed torn between reading her book and wanting to beat the aforementioned rich girl over the head with it.

The only person who didn't mind the situation was Ruby. The younger girl was pressed against the window, taking in every detail of the scenery below and babbling about how awesome it all was. It was adorable, really.

"Are you threatening me?" the rich girl replied. "Because if you are, I'll have you know that I'm Weiss Schnee, the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, and –"

Yang scowled. "Listen, I don't care if you're an heiress." She lifted her hands and activated Ember Celica. "I can still kick your ass, which is what I'm going to do if you don't stop complaining about everything."

The heiress's eyes narrowed. Yang smirked. What was she going to do? The answer came a moment later. There was a flash of movement, and then a rapier was at Yang's throat. The blonde stared down the length of the blade and frowned. She'd expected the other girl to have some skill with the blade – only an idiot would have walked around with a weapon they couldn't use – but this was a lot more than some skill. There had been no wasted motion in the draw and no hesitation either. The heiress wasn't just trained – she must be experienced too.

"The fact that I am an heiress is not the reason you shouldn't threaten me." Something hard shimmered in Weiss's eyes. "No, the reason you shouldn't threaten is because I don't respond well to threats, and I know exactly how to deal with people like you."

The brunette glanced up from her book, and Yang met her gaze for a split-second. The brunette was calm but ready, her amber eyes watching everything intently. Yang wasn't fooled by her relaxed posture either. When she'd walked into the cabin, Yang hadn't even heard her come in. No one was that quiet expect for an experienced warrior. The brunette looked away, but not before flicking her wrist out. A ribbon ending in a scythe-like weapon wrapped around Weiss's rapier.

"You should be more careful before telling people who you are," the brunette said, going back to her book. "The Schnee family is not popular everywhere."

"And what would you know about that?" Weiss lifted her chin. "Who are you?"

The brunette flicked her wrist and called her weapon back to her. "Blake – Blake Belladonna. And it isn't exactly a secret that the Schnee family does not treat its Faunus workers well."

"Those Faunus should feel lucky that we employ them after how many Faunus have tried to kill member of my family –"

"Yay! We're finally talking to each other!" Ruby cried. Then, to Yang's utter disbelief, she whipped out her scythe and waved it around, smiling from ear-to-ear. "And we even showed each other our weapons. Here is mine. Her name is Crescent Rose." Weiss and Blake were both staring at Ruby now. "Oh, and I'm Ruby Rose. That's my older sister, Yang Xiao Long."

"Are you serious?" Weiss and Blake said at the same time before scowling at each other.

"Yeah." Ruby laughed. "Come on. We've got hours until we reach Beacon, so wouldn't it be better if we at least tried to get to know each other? I mean we're all first years. We might even end up on the same team. We'll almost definitely share some classes. Beacon is supposed to be really tough. Having some friends should help."

Blake was the first person to recover. "You are… very naïve." She smiled faintly. "But I suppose it's to be expected. You're younger than all of us – too young, I would think, to get into Beacon. How did you admitted?"

Ruby scratched the back of her head and gave a nervous laugh. Weiss pursed her lips, and Yang could practically hear the gears turning in her head. People didn't get into Beacon by accident. To be admitted at such a young age, Ruby was either extremely well connected or extremely talented. Given that Weiss didn't know her, the heiress would probably conclude that it was the latter.

"Yes," Weiss said, sheathing her weapon. Yang noted the calluses on her hands. The heiress was clearly not afraid of hard work despite how she dressed and acted – then again Ruby wore a dress into battle too. "There are three main ways to get into Beacon: graduate from one of the feeder academies and pass the admission test, take a special exam administered by one of Beacon's representatives, or receive a personal recommendation from a huntsman or huntress of sufficiently high standing. There aren't a lot of huntsmen or huntresses with that kind of influence, Ruby."

"Well… I kind of…" Ruby blurted the next words out. "Got involved in this super big fight against some really bad people with Professor Goodwitch and Professor Farron and –" The rest of the story came out in a hurry that left Weiss and Blake shaking their heads. Yang chuckled. Ruby often had that effect on people.

"You got recommendations from both Professor Goodwitch and Professor Farron?" Weiss leaned back in her chair. "That's just… I don't even…"

"Actually, I think it was just Professor Farron. Professor Goodwitch seemed pretty mad at me." Ruby shuddered. "She's really scary."

"I see." Weiss took a deep breath. "Then you must be quite capable. My tutor knew Professor Farron very well. Her standards are said to be extremely high." Her eyes locked onto Ruby's scythe. "That scythe of yours is not an easy weapon to wield. I can think of only one other person who uses a weapon like that." She glanced at Yang and Blake. "How about you two? How did you get into Beacon? I received a recommendation from my tutor."

"I received a personal recommendation." Blake paused, and Yang caught a flicker of indecision in her eyes. What didn't she want them to know? "From Oerba Yun Fang and Lightning Farron."

"Wow." Yang grinned. "That's pretty cool. It makes me sound kind of normal too. I went through Signal and took one of the admission tests. I mean it was a little weird – I got graded by a guy with an Afro, his kid, and a chocobo chick."

Weiss gaped. "Could you repeat that?"

"Yeah. A guy with an Afro, his kid, and a chocobo chick." Yang shrugged. "The actual guy I had to fight was Snow Villiers. Man, he was tough."

"Odd," Blake murmured. "Doesn't it seem a bit unusual that all of us to have some kind of connection to Professor Farron? She's going to be the head of Advanced Combat and Tactics."

"You're well informed," Weiss replied. "But how is Yang connected to Professor Farron?"

"Snow Villiers is with her younger sister, Serah," Ruby said. She blushed as Weiss stared at her. "What? It was in some of the magazines I read."

"In any case," Blake said. "Don't you find it unusual that all four of us were assigned the same cabin and that so many transports suffered mechanical failure at the same time? Every passenger on this transport is a new student at Beacon. That can't be a coincidence."

"It does sound strange when you put it like that." Yang frowned. "What do you think is going on?"

"I'm not sure," Blake said. "But I'd keep my guard up if I were you."

"Yes," Weiss agreed. "But the initiation isn't scheduled until the day after we arrive at Beacon. What could they be doing?"

"Maybe it's a bonding exercise." Ruby shrugged. "Maybe they want all of to be friends, and they're seeing if we can get along or not. I know that we haven't been put on teams or anything yet, so they could be seeing who might fit together and –"

BOOM.

An explosion rocked the transport and the air was split by dozens of alarms. Red lights flashed overhead. All four of them were on their feet in an instant, weapons in hand.

"What the hell was that?" Yang growled. She moved to stand next to Ruby. "Was that an explosion?"

"It sounded like one." Weiss peeked outside the door. Alarms were ringing and red lights were flashing there too. Some of the other students had also left their cabins to look around. They appeared to be as confused as she was. "Are we under attack? It's been years since the Grimm brought down a transport in this area."

"Something's wrong." Blake sniffed the air. "I smell smoke."

"What are you talking about? I don't smell anything…" Yang trailed off as the scent of smoke finally reached her. "You're right. And where there's smoke…"

"There's fire." Blake's amber eyes narrowed. "This is bad."

"Attention, passengers," the pilot said over the intercom. "We have suffered critical damage to our engines. We will not be able to maintain flight. I repeat: we will not be able to maintain flight. All passengers are urged to evacuate the transport via the evacuation pods nearest their cabins."

"This is crazy." Yang put one arm around Ruby. "Come on. We need to get out of here before this thing crashes."

Their evacuation pods were in the corridor right outside their cabin. But there was a problem: each pod only had room for one passenger.

"This isn't right." Blake studied the open pod in front of her. "Standard-issue pods sit at least four people."

"Does it matter?" Yang's fists clenched as more smoke filled the corridor. "We can't stay here. If this thing goes down with us in it…"

"Agreed." Weiss opened the other pods. "Our first priority should be getting off this transport in one piece. The pilots should have sent a distress call out, and it is standard protocol to track transports. When we don't show up on time, they'll send a search party out for us."

"Right." Ruby pulled Yang into a hug. "I'll take that pod. You can take the one next to me, and we'll meet up on the ground."

"Okay." Yang took a deep breath. She hated the thought of being separated from Ruby in a situation like this, but the pods were only big enough to fit one person each. "But you be careful. Don't do anything crazy. I'll find you no matter what." She kissed Ruby's forehead. "Pull the release lever in ten seconds. We should land pretty close together."

Yang climbed into her pod, locked herself into the safety harness, and waited ten seconds before pulling the release lever. The pod dropped out of the transport, and she cursed as it jerked back and forth, throwing her around like a ragdoll. The world spun crazily, and her blood pounded in her ears.

The last thing she saw through the reinforced window of the pod before she blacked out was the transport levelling out as more escape pods launched. She couldn't see any damage on the outside of the vessel, and there didn't seem to be any smoke or fire.

Was it… was it all a trick?"

X X X

Weiss clutched at her arm and bit back a curse. She'd gotten careless back there. At least the blow wasn't too deep, and it wasn't to her sword arm either. Even so, Jihl would have had her hide for allowing a blow like that to land. Yet perhaps she was being too hard on herself. It wasn't just carelessness. She was exhausted too.

For the past three hours, she'd been chased through the forest by a pack of Beowolves. It was well after dusk, so their superior night vision gave them a considerable advantage, as did their knowledge of the terrain. Weiss's jaw clenched. She still didn't know where she was.

This whole thing was a set up – it had to be. She'd blacked out during her escape pod's descent and regained consciousness shortly before dusk. She'd forced the pod open, only to find herself in the middle of the forest. She'd been fortunate that she'd brought her weapon and some Dust with her into the pod – she'd hardly stepped out of it before she was set upon by a small group of Grimm.

She'd handled them easily enough although it had taken her longer than she expected. The Grimm here seemed tougher than the ones she'd faced during her training. Once she'd dealt with the Grimm, she'd scoured the pod for anything she could use. There was a small backpack containing a day's worth of supplies and a key. But there was nothing in the backpack that the key fit.

Weiss had been tempted to stay put, but the arrival of more Grimm had forced her to abandon the pod. The Beowolves had attacked her as a group, forcing her into the woods and using their superior numbers to constantly flank her. She'd killed a few of them, but they'd changed their tactics to compensate: attacking from her blind spots and then retreating before she could retaliate.

It was almost admirable. These Grimm were very cunning. She'd been on the move for hours now, running and fighting, and she wasn't stupid enough to miss how this was going to end. The Beowolves had realised that she was too dangerous to attack head on, so they were harrying her, whittling her down, and waiting for her to falter. She was going to tire eventually, and she couldn't avoid sleeping forever. And each time she tried to turn the tables, they simply fell back, vanishing into the forest for a few moments. Oh, she'd gotten some of them, but there had to be at least a dozen more remaining.

Flicking some of the black Grimm blood off her blade, she pressed on, ripping off part of her skirt to make a rough bandage. She could remember the first time that Jihl had brought a Grimm to one of their training sessions. Weiss had frozen for a second before recovering in time to kill the beast. Then she'd thrown up, its black blood splattered all over her. Jihl hadn't made a move to help her. Instead, the older woman had watched, waiting for Weiss to finish emptying her stomach before making her fight another Grimm.

Weiss had not been pleased about that lesson then, but she was happy for it now.

If she wanted to live through this – and she had to believe there was a way for her to survive – she needed to do several things. First of all, she needed to either find shelter or get help. If she could find an ally, then they could take turns resting and sleeping. The Beowolves might even back off in the face of the added threat. Second, she needed to find out where she was. That might be impossible until daylight, but there had to be a hill or tall tree she could use as a vantage point. And third, she had to either find a way out of this forest or find a way to tell the outside world where she was. She'd tried using her Scroll, but she couldn't get a signal.

Weiss stopped as a chorus of howls broke out around her. She'd misjudged the size of the pack. There were a lot more Beowolves than she'd thought. And now they finally had the confidence to go in for the kill.

She raised her rapier. "Come on then. What are you waiting for?"

The first Beowolf leapt straight at her from the front. She dismissed it almost at once. Its attack was too loud, too obvious. It was a distraction. She pivoted out of the way and thrust her blade into her blind spot. The strike caught another Beowolf in the throat mid-leap, and she wrenched her blade free as it crashed to the ground. A third Bewolf lunged, and she darted back before melting its skull with a blast of flame.

Her lips firmed into a thin line. She needed to be careful. Without all of her luggage, her supply of Dust was far more limited than she would have liked. The same applied to her aura. Until she found a safe place to rest, she had to be very careful about how much she used.

More Beowolves peeled out of the darkness around her. She took a second to assess the situation and then decided to run. There were too many of them. If she stood her ground, they would box her in. Eventually, one of them would land a lucky shot. But even as she ran, using the occasional Glpyh to speed her along, Weiss formed a plan.

She let the quickest of the Beowolves catch up to her before turning and dispatching it with a few precise blows of her weapon. Then she continued her retreat, repeating the process several more times as she darted between the trees. It was tempting to use her Semblance more extravagantly, but she didn't want to draw even more attention to herself, nor did she want to risk running out of aura in a place like this.

Her retreat came to an abrupt halt as she came across a swiftly flowing river. She paused, considering what to do next, and was tackled by one of the Grimm. They tumbled into the river, and Weiss struggled to get her head above water. The beast lashed out with one claw, and she parried the blow. But the sheer force of the attack shoved her back underwater. Fighting off a surge of panic, she kicked her legs and propelled herself forward. Her rapier struck the Beowolf in the chest. It gave a howl of pain, and she stabbed it again.

Black blood filled the water around her, and she fought her way back to the surface, coughing and spitting. The Beowolf slashed at her again, but its strength was gone. It sank under the water, and Weiss relaxed and waited for the river to slow down. Some time later, the river widened, and she dragged herself up a sandy riverbank. Hopefully, she'd lost the Beowolf pack.

She made her way to a small clearing and searched the area for any Grimm. When she was certain that the area was safe, she stripped her wet clothes off and used some Dust to light a fire. The fire might expose her position, but she needed to get warm and dry.

"What would you do in my position, Jihl?" Weiss murmured. She laughed softly. "You'd probably kill everything before finding your way out and killing the people responsible, which sounds like a good idea, now that I think about it."

Most of her clothes had dried out when Weiss heard a noise. She paused. Fighting in her underwear was less than ideal, but she couldn't afford to get caught putting her dress on. That would take both hands and leave her virtually helpless. She tightened her hold on her rapier and listened. Whatever was coming this way didn't sound like one of the Grimm. No, it sounded more like a person –

"Stop where you are!" Weiss shouted as someone stumbled into the clearing. There was a blur of motion, and she was tackled to the ground. Whoever it was had their face pressed against her shoulder. "What?"

Slowly, she relaxed as she realised that the person holding her was small, trembling, and quite possibly even more exhausted than she was. It took her a moment to push them back enough for her to get a closer look at them. It was Ruby – the girl from the transport – and she was holding onto Weiss for dear life.

"Ruby, was it?" Weiss winced. "Would you mind letting go and getting off me?"

The other girl pulled away. She scrubbed at her cheeks. Had she been crying? Weiss felt a pang of sympathy. Ruby looked so young, her silver eyes large and slightly red. Grimm blood was splattered on her hair and face.

"Ruby?"

"I finally found someone else." Ruby wrapped her arms around Weiss again. "I was scared I was the only one."

Weiss took a deep breath and patted the girl on the back. "Ruby, do you know what's going on?"

X X X

Ruby tried to calm down as Weiss sat opposite her by the fire. Under normal circumstances, the fact that the other girl was only in her underwear would have had her blushing, but she couldn't bring herself to care right now. Too much had happened in the last several hours.

The moment she'd stepped outside of her pod, she'd been attack by Grimm. She swallowed thickly. She'd fought Grimm before. But these Grimm were different – they were stronger, faster, and far more cunning. She was also still disoriented from blacking out in the pod. She'd killed the Grimm and then gone back into the pod to get her Scroll. She had to call for help – but she hadn't been able to get a signal at all.

Inside the pod, she'd also found a locked box and a few supplies. Yet as night had fallen, it had dawned on her that maybe help wouldn't be coming. They weren't far from Beacon. Someone should already have come looking for them. And then more of the Grimm had arrived. She'd fought and run, wondering if Yang was also under attack. It would explain why Yang hadn't found her, and she refused to believe that something bad had happened to her sister.

But as fast as she was, Ruby hadn't been able to get away from the Grimm without a fight. They'd attacked her in waves, whittling her down and fighting with a single-minded viciousness that far exceeded anything she'd seen while at Signal. The Grimm here were truly monsters.

Despite her firm belief in her sister – Yang was tough – Ruby was already quite tired and increasingly worried when she finally spotted a faint glow amongst the trees. That had to be a fire! Maybe it was Yang. She ran as quickly as she could. It wasn't Yang – it was Weiss. But after a whole night of running and fighting, Ruby was just glad to see someone else.

It was pretty embarrassing, in retrospect, but she couldn't help it. She'd finally found another survivor from the crash. If Weiss had made it, then surely Yang had too.

"So," Weiss said. "What were you doing before you decided to tackle me to the ground? You're lucky I didn't stab you."

Now, Ruby did blush. "Uh, sorry about that. I was just so glad to see someone else and…"

Weiss frowned. "I can understand that, but you need to be more careful. What if I wasn't someone safe, Ruby? There's no one else out here. If I had been the wrong sort of person, who knows what could have happened? There are people out there who would murder you for the supplies in your backpack in a situation like this."

"But –"

"Hard times can bring out the worst in people." Weiss's voice turned hard. "Some of my family's bodyguards ran the last time the White Fang tried to assassinate my father. Treachery and cowardice are real things, Ruby, and you need to be careful. You were fortunate that it was me."

Ruby winced. She knew that Weiss was right, but she didn't have to be so blunt about it. "Look, I've been fighting Grimm all night, and I hadn't seen anyone else. Besides," she said, smiling. "I had a good feeling about you when I met you on the transport. You seem… nice."

"Nice?" Weiss raised one eyebrow. "I can't say that very many people have called me that before." She sighed. "Still, I understand your relief. I must admit that I have also spent most of tonight fighting and running. It is… nice to have someone else around. But we have to take stock of what's going on. Do you have a plan?"

Ruby had a feeling that Weiss already had a plan, but it couldn't hurt to offer up her thoughts. And there was something about Weiss that made Ruby want to impress her. Maybe it was because of how elegant the older girl was, or maybe it was because of how calm and collected Weiss was. Whatever it was, Ruby wanted to make a good impression.

"Well, we've got to see who else we can find," Ruby said, mind moving quickly. "The more people we have, the safer we should be. These Grimm are much more dangerous than the ones I'm used to."

"Indeed they are." Weiss nodded. "Can you sense your sister at all? You two seem quite close, so you should be able to pick up her aura if she's nearby."

"We are very close." Ruby frowned. "But I can't sense her at all. Our pods must have landed pretty far apart. I guess we can always keep an eye out for explosions and fire – that's usually the easiest way to find her."

"Right…" Weiss shook her head in what Ruby assumed was a mixture of disbelief and disapproval. "She didn't strike me as a particularly subtle person when she threatened to beat me up."

"Oh, she does that to lots of people." Ruby shrugged. "But anyway, once we find more people, we need to find a way out of here. A transport should be looking for us, so if we can find a way to signal our position…"

"A transport should be looking for us, but I'm not sure if one will be."

"What do you mean?" Ruby pursed her lips. Someone had to be looking for them.

"Doesn't all of this seem a bit convenient?" Weiss asked. "We know that Beacon is getting a new Professor of Advanced Combat and Tactics – a professor with a reputation for being somewhat extreme in her methods. Then you have the fact that our transport was full of first year students because all of the other transports supposedly suffered mechanical problems. And then the transport just happens to suffer engine failure? I don't know what you saw on the way down, but before I passed out, I caught a glimpse of the plane. It didn't look damaged, Ruby. "

"But…" Ruby bit her lip. "Then this was a set up? Why?"

"I think this is our initiation," Weiss replied. "It would explain why no one has come looking for us and why I can't get a signal on my scroll. They must be jamming all outgoing communications."

It sounded crazy, but Ruby had learned that life was often crazy. "Did you find something in your pod?" she asked. "I found a locked box. I tried opening it, but short of blowing it open with Crescent Rose, I don't think I can."

"I found a key in my pod," Weiss replied.

"Really? Let's try it." Ruby dug through her backpack for the box. If Weiss was right and this whole thing was the initiation, then maybe they'd been put in the same cabin because they were going to be on the same team. It made sense, and if Weiss's key opened the box that Ruby had, that would definitely suggest that they were supposed to be on the same team.

The key fit the lock perfectly.

"It's a scroll." Ruby tilted her head to one side. "Let's turn it on."

Lightning's face appeared on the scroll, and she began to speak. Her voice was cool, almost cold. "If you are listening to this, then you have managed to locate one of your team members."

"I was right. This whole thing was a set up." Weiss growled.

"As you may have guessed, this was not an accident, and your transport was not actually damaged. This is your initiation. Your task is simple. You have three days to make it out of this forest. There will be no help or outside assistance. You may even be seriously harmed or killed if you fail to treat this situation seriously.

"In order to leave the forest, you must locate all four members of your group. Each of you carries something essential. One of you had the box this scroll came in. Another one of you had the key to open this box. The two remaining items are a map that will only activate in conjunction with this scroll and a transport beacon that will only activate when brought to the correct location in the presence of the other three items. Failure to complete this exercise in the allotted time may result in your expulsion from Beacon. Good luck."

The message ended there.

"Wow." Ruby scratched the back of their head. "They must really think highly of us to put us through something like this."

"That's one way to think about it." Weiss sighed. "But you're taking this awfully well."

"Being on my own was the toughest part. I wasn't sure if anyone else had made it out of what I thought was the crash. Now that I've found someone else and I know what to do, I can focus on finding my sister and Blake and getting out of here."

"You seem confident that your sister and Blake are the other members of our team."

"Who else would be?" Ruby smiled. "You said yourself that this was all a bit convenient. If this is the initiation test, I doubt they had us put in the same cabin by accident."

"We didn't exactly get along in the cabin," Weiss replied.

"But you and I are getting along right now, aren't we?" Ruby giggled at Weiss's expression. She'd managed to surprise her. "Right?"

"I suppose we are." Weiss glanced at the scroll. "Who carries that?"

"My Semblance is speed," Ruby said. "I'm not easy to hit. I think I should carry it."

"Speed?" Weiss nodded slowly. "I can make Glyphs, which do different things. If you are as fast as you think, then maybe…"

Ruby smirked and then vanished in a swirl of rose petals. She reappeared on the opposite side of the clearing an instant later. "I am that fast."

"I see. Then I suppose you can carry it." Weiss yawned. "Now that we've settled that, why don't you get some sleep? I can take first watch."

"Sure." Ruby looked for a cosy spot to sleep. "Don't wait too long before waking me up. You look pretty tired."

"You're very trusting," Weiss said.

"Well, we've got to start trusting each other at some point if we're going to be a team. Why not start now?"

"That is such a naïve thing to say." Weiss's lips twitched up into a smile. It was a very nice smile, Ruby thought. "Get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

X X X

Blake hid in the trees. This whole thing was a set up. She'd realised that the moment she woke up to find a data projector beside her in the pod that required a password to activate. She should have expected something like this. Beacon was for the best, and this test would give them a chance to prove that they deserved to be there.

So, she'd done what she had to do. She'd fought when necessary, but she'd done a lot of hiding too. There were far too many Grimm in this forest to fight off alone, but she'd spent years working on her stealth. She could blend into the shadows, climb a tree, and hide while she waited for dawn to come. In the morning, the Grimm would be less active, and she'd be able to look for the others. If this was a test, they couldn't be that far away.

She dozed off after setting a few tripwires and snares, and then awakened in the middle of the night. Her keen hearing could pick out the sounds of fighting, and she didn't even need her excellent night vision to see the flashes of light from the forest nearby. She set off through the forest, leaping from tree to tree. As she neared the fighting, she created a clone and sent it ahead. If there were Grimm involved, it would draw their attention.

Blake had tried to get a read on the others on the transport. Yang and Ruby had been easy enough to understand. Ruby seemed to be a genuinely nice person who wanted to be a huntress to help people. It was almost painfully naïve, yet Blake couldn't help but envy her. If only everyone in the world was like Ruby. Yang had come across as a thrill seeker – someone who would relish the thrill of battle. But the way she'd instinctively moved to protect Ruby when the alarms had sounded suggested there was more to her than that.

Weiss had been the hardest to read. Oh, she'd come across as a spoiled brat, and some of that was probably even her real self. But no one got calluses like Weiss had without years of hard work and practice. And the look in her eyes when Yang had threatened her… there was steel, real steel, in Weiss's eyes. The heiress was wearing a mask – Blake was sure of it. She'd certainly spent enough years wearing a mask of her own to recognise when someone else was wearing one.

Yang stood at the centre of a clearing with gauntlets on her arms as she fought off a horde of Grimm. The blonde was bleeding in several places, but there was a maniacal smile on her face as she pummelled Grimm after Grimm with an impressive combination of strength, speed, and brutality. Blake took a few more seconds to take stock of the situation – Yang's gauntlets appeared to be capable of shooting some kind of projectile and Blake would bet money that the blonde's Semblance had something to do with the fire that dotted the clearing – before entering the fray.

She would strike from the shadows.

As Yang continued to draw the Grimm's attention, Blake slipped in behind them, a swift, deadly shadow. Most of them died without even realising she was there. A few expertly placed strikes from Gambol Shroud were enough to deal with all but the toughest of them. Yang was clearly more of a brawler. Blake was an assassin.

Only after the Grimm were either dead or in full retreat did Blake step out into the open. She jumped out of the trees and made enough noise for Yang to hear her coming.

"Hey." Yang waved and put one hand on her hip. "Thanks for the assist there. I'm guessing you were the one thinning them out."

"You noticed me?" Blake hadn't been trying too hard to evade Yang's notice, but it was still impressive that the blonde had noticed her during the battle. "You fight well."

"Thanks."

"You do realise that this is a set up, right? I mean the crash and everything." Blake shivered as Yang's aura flared. The blonde was powerful.

"I know." Yang hissed. "I saw the transport before I passed out. It wasn't damaged at all, from what I could see." She brought her fists together. "I've been looking for my sister all day, but I still haven't found her."

"You will. I have a feeling that the four of us – you, Ruby, Weiss, and I – are all supposed to be on the same team."

"Wonderful. I get my sister, a stuck up heiress and a book-loving ninja." Yang winced. "Just so you know, I totally meant that in a nice way."

Blake's lips twitched. "I see. About your sister… you're worried about her, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. She's my little sister." Yang scowled. "I know that she can take care of herself, but these Grimm are tough. If something happens to her…" Yang moved toward the edge of the clearing. "I'm going to keep looking for her."

"Wait." Blake caught her by the arm and had to fight to keep from flinching when Yang glared at her. Her eyes, Blake noted, had changed colour.

"I am not going to just sit here while sister is out there fighting and –"

"Yang, you can't see in the dark, and the Grimm will have a much easier time getting you if you exhaust yourself." Blake tightened her hold a fraction. "You should get some rest. I promise that I'll help you look in the morning."

"You will?" Yang pursed her lips. "Why are you being so nice?"

"You and your sister seem like good people." Blake let go of Yang's arm. "And if we are supposed to be teammates, we should help each other."

"Is that all?"

Blake shivered as Yang's gaze caught and held hers. "No," she said softly. "I… I used to have someone who always looked after me, someone who was like a brother. If he was lost in a place like this, I know he'd come looking for me, and I know I'd go looking for him."

"Fine." Yang sighed. "But you better not be lying about helping me look for her."

"I'm not." Blake leapt up into one of the nearby trees and gestured for Yang to join her. "And if I'm right, we'll need to find both her and Weiss if we want to get out of here."

X X X

Yang woke up the next morning a little sore but refreshed. She wasn't sure how Blake did it, but the other girl seemed perfectly comfortable sleeping in a tree. There was something almost cat-like about the way the brunette slunk out of her tree and landed on the ground without a sound. Yang followed Blake out of the tree, but her landing was far noisier.

"We're going to look for Ruby." Blake seemed nice, but Yang wasn't going to take any chances. "Remember what you said."

"I know, and we will. But do you have any idea of how you're going to find her?"

"Well…" Yang trailed off. She couldn't sense Ruby at all, so she had to be reasonably far away. "I was thinking… you found some supplies in your pod too, right?" Blake nodded. "But only enough for one day?" Another nod. Blake was quiet, wasn't she? "Then Ruby probably only got enough supplies for one day too. If that were true, then she'd need to find water. If we can find a river or something, maybe we'll find her there too."

Blake tilted her head to one side and then nodded again. "That seems reasonable enough. Let's go."

Yang set a quick pace, and she wasn't all that surprised to find Blake keeping up with her. The other girl seemed at home leaping from tree to tree. At some point, Yang relinquished the lead. Blake seemed to know where they were going, and it wasn't long before they reached a river.

"How did you know it would be here?" Yang asked as they followed the river downstream.

"A hunch," Blake replied.

There were only a few Grimm active in the open, sunny area beside the river, so they upped their pace. The few Grimm they did encounter were dispatched quickly and with a minimum of fuss, which gave them – or rather Yang – time to talk.

"So, what exactly did you do before all this?" Yang asked. "You got two great recommendations, so you must have been doing something interesting."

Blake paused a fraction too long for Yang's liking. "I was in private security."

If that weren't a euphemism for something else, then Yang would eat her scarf. "Right." She shrugged. "I don't mean to pry, but if I'm going to work with someone, I like to get to know them. You're quiet and all, but you seem okay. I just… I can't get a good read on you."

"I've… lived an interesting life." Something that could have been sadness flickered through Blake's amber eyes so quickly that Yang couldn't be sure if she'd really seen it. "That's all."

"I guess most of us have. I mean nobody gets into Beacon without having a few skeletons in their closet." Yang turned to look at Blake. "The thing is… can I trust you, Blake? I'm not going to beat around the bush or anything like that. I just want to know. Can I trust you?"

Blake's eyes widened. Slowly, she nodded. "Yes. You can trust me."

"Good." Yang was about to continue on when Blake called out.

"Stop!"

"What?"

The brunette darted over to a spot by the riverbank. "Weiss was here."

"How can you tell?" Yang frowned. She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary here except for some old Grimm tracks, but there were Grimm tracks all along the river.

"I can smell it." Blake closed her eyes for a second. "She went into the river."

"How can you know that? I can't smell a thing."

"My Semblance."

Blake had spoken quickly – too quickly for Yang's liking.

"Last night, you fought so well in the dark. I should know – that's why I went into the clearing so I could see the Grimm better. Was that your Semblance too?"

"Yes." Again, Blake spoke so quickly.

"Well, I guess we're going to keep following the river then." Yang made a face. "Knowing Ruby's talent for finding trouble, she's probably already spent the night being lectured by Weiss."

Blake smiled. "That wouldn't surprise me."

They continued down the river until Blake picked up Weiss's trail again. From there, they headed away from the river until they reached a small clearing. Even Yang could see the remains of an old campfire there.

"What is it?" Yang asked. "Did something else happen here?"

"Ruby was here too. I can smell it." Blake pointed off into the forest. "They went that way together."

"Then let's go." Yang grinned. "I can't believe I was right though. Do you think Weiss really spent all night lecturing her?"

Yang upped the pace until they stumbled across the ruined entrance to a large cave. Something big had broken through all the rock and stone. Her fists clenched. There was only one Grimm she could think of that was large enough to do that and lived in caves.

Her gaze drifted to the trail of destruction that led deeper into the forest. "Come on!"

She ran as fast as she could, Blake keeping pace before swinging off to the side, most likely to flank whatever they were about to run into. Yang activated her gauntlets and charged forward. A few seconds later, she came to the top of a small hill. Below her, fighting side-by-side, were Ruby and Weiss. Their opponent was a fully-grown death stalker.

"Hey, you!" Yang roared as she leapt off the hill, her Semblance searing the air around her. "Get the hell away from my sister!"

X X X

Author's Notes

As always, I do not own RWBY. I'm not making any money off of this either.

So, yeah, it's been a while. I won't bother going into all the horrible details of why this update has been so long in coming, I'll just say that this story isn't dead.

Anyway, I decided to switch things around for their initiation. It should be clear from the previous chapters that Lightning is intent on doing things her way. Ozpin has asked her to make them the best huntsmen and huntresses possible, and she doesn't believe that can be done by coddling them. Instead, she plans to forge them into teams in the fire of battle.

The whole transport crash was staged, and the people in each cabin were the groups that Beacon planned. The pods were likewise programmed to land away from each other, forcing each team member to not only survive on their own for a while but also find and cooperate with the others. Naturally, I decided to have Ruby run into Weiss while Yang ran into Blake. As for Ruby's reaction to seeing Weiss – as skilled as she is, Ruby is still younger than the others, and this is the first time she's really been thrown into this sort of situation: alone, disoriented, and completely unprepared. As you can see, however, once she meets Weiss, she gets her wits about her pretty quickly.

So that's the state of affairs so far. What's happening to Team JNPR? How is Team RWBY going to get along? Which Final Fantasy (not just XIII) character will appear next? Stay tuned and find out! Sorry, I've always wanted to write that.

I also write original fiction, mostly fantasy. You can find links to it in my profile. If you're looking for something fun to read, try Two Necromancers, a Bureaucrat, and an Elf, or, if you want something more serious, try The Last Huntress.

As always, I appreciate feedback. Reviews and comments are welcome.