RWBY and "DICE: the cube that changes everything" belong to their respective authors. Give credit to where they're due please.

I do not own either of these titles.

Except for this one.

Title: The Chatter Before the Test.

Jaune felt terrible as he leaned over a toilet. Why is Jaune even friends with X in the first place?

Maybe the fact that they've been friends for the last four years. Perhaps that's why. Nevertheless, Jaune went back to his upchucking.

"I wish I didn't eat breakfast today..." Jaune grimaced as he flushed. His scroll rang just after.

Ding! Quest Complete: Ride a dust plane to Beacon and relax. Reward: Dice x2 Claim?

Ding! Quest Complete: Vomit your breakfast. Reward: Dice x3 Claim?

Ding! Quest Complete: 'Accidentally' get a girl's shoe dirty. Reward: Dice x4 Claim?

'Good on ya' Jaune! Here you go! ;D '

Jaune winced his eyes as he stared at the sudden flash of pink pixels beside him. He reached in and received his nine dice reward. He sighed in relief when the plane stopped moving under his feet. He threw his gifts into his bag.

It's been quite some time since Jaune entered the restroom. For the entire trip, he's been 'busy' with his stomach. Jaune noticed that he even chucked out last night's dinner. Still, the results justified the means.

"You're enjoying this way too much..." Jaune stated as he stood up and stuffed his new dice into his bag.

'Oh come on, Jaune. I thought you would know me better. Of course I am! *\(OwO) '

Jaune merely tucks away his scroll in response and went out the bathroom and outside. He took in the sight of a grand academy building and its scenery.

"Whoa... I guess Beacon's not a prestigious school for nothing." Jaune looked around the courtyard and went along the flow where everyone else walked to. During his sightseeing, his scroll buzzed.

'~Vrrr! New Quest! Do you accept? Accept / Decline '

Jaune clicked "Accept" and his new quests posted.

Quest: Help a poor girl. Reward: Dice x2.

Quest: Have a friendly chat with her. Reward: Dice x3.

Quest: Get 'lost' along the way. ;D Reward: Dice x3.

"A girl? At a time like this?" Jaune looked up and saw that he was left behind the crowd. He slouched with grief.

"Figures..." Jaune groaned. Seeing there's no point crying over spilled milk, Jaune continued on, taking in his surroundings.

'Well, what did you expect with a Charisma of "1"? Are you sure you don't want to max it out? O_o? '

Jaune glared at his scroll.

"I don't think Charisma is going to help me in fighting Grimm. I mean, Sure. I have a ridiculous amount of points, but I'm just being cautious." Jaune lamented.

'Cautious about what? (o_o?) '

"You leaving out some big game mechanic that's obviously going to take up a lot of points. Do you really think I was born yesterday?" Jaune accused his 'friend' with disdain.

'Oh, you wound me so, good sir! I'm afraid you're right again~. Still, I'm not going to tell you just yet. So... Neener-neener! :-P '

"... Fine. Whatever you say... What the?" Jaune stopped in front of a depressed looking girl. Apparently, her favorite colors are red and black while she's fond with having a hooded cape over a gothic dress and combat boots. Even her hair was red.

"Is this your doing?" Jaune whispered into his scroll.

' ;-) ' was all he got back.

Jaune sighed and reached out his hand to the poor gal. Not because of the quest, but because he's a good person like that. The girl noticed his hand and looked at him.

"Um... Hi. I'm Jaune." Jaune so awkwardly introduced himself.

"Ruby." The girl named Ruby replied. She took Jaune's hand and pulled herself up. She giggled when she recognized him.

"Heh... Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"

Jaune had a grim feeling that X is laughing his lungs out.

"Sorry about your boots." Jaune tried to make amends with Ruby and her boots. He ignored the constant buzzing in his pocket. X can wait.

"It's no problem. I guess motion sickness is more than people say." Ruby supposed.

The two of them took the time to know each other better. They wandered the school in hopes in finding out where everyone else went after docking. They seemed to enjoy each other's company so far.

"Anyway, Full name's Jaune Arc. Short and simple. It's nothing to brag about." Jaune properly introduced himself with a smile. Ruby returned the gesture with a giggle, but didn't say anything after.

There was an awkward silence between the two. Jaune kept ignoring X's persistance. It wasn't until then Ruby found something to break the ice with.

"So... I got this thing," Ruby announced as she pulls out an elaborate scythe out of nowhere.

"Is that a scythe?" Jaune's eyes widened, flinching over the sheer size of the weapon compared to its wielder.

"It's also a customizable, high-impact sniper rifle." Ruby beamed as she hefted it over her shoulder. Jaune wonders how such a small girl could carry it.

"So, a gun? That's cool." Jaune bluntly said.

"Yeah. It's a gun. What do you got?" Ruby looked at Jaune in anticipation.

"Oh! Uh... I got this sword," Jaune rummaged through his bag to pull out a sword, being careful not to let the dice inside to shine through, "And this shield too." Jaune fumbled with his gear until he got a good grip on both. The sword looked normal, but he also pulled out a scabbard instead of the shield he mentioned. "It unfolds into a simple shield." Nevermind...

"Ooo..." Ruby awed at Jaune's equipment. Jaune couldn't tell if it was sincere or sarcasm. He puts them away in his bag.

"They're hand me downs. My great-great-grandfather used Crocea Mors to fight in the war. They're not much, but I feel comfortable with them." Jaune explained everything he knew about his weapon history to Ruby.

"Sounds like a family heirloom to me! But I like it. Not a lot of people have an appreciation for the classics anymore." Ruby remarked. Jaune only scowled.

"So why did you help me back there? You could've just walked past me." Ruby confined in her 'savior'.

"Why wouldn't I? Mom always said, 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet." Jaune replied with a warm smile. 'There's also the fact that you're part of the quest. But I'm doing this because I'm a nice guy. You don't need to know about all about that, of course.' Jaune's thoughts were more rational than what's coming out of his mouth. Jaune recalled a time when he asked X a rather 'different' topic.

A few months back, Jaune had asked X if anyone else could be a Dicer. He acknowledged the concept, but quickly told Jaune to forget about it because it's too... 'stupid' to talk about. X still bothered to explain why.

'Okay, let me put it to you straight. More Dicers equal more trouble. Take that into consideration. What I'm saying is that Dice would become a very... 'touchy' subject when people start to know about it. It's that bad. :/ '

Jaune only scratched his head, still in the dark.

'*Sigh* How about this? Take a REAL good look at yourself. You're seriously 'OP' with all those points of yours. That means 'overpowered' for that 50 Intelligence brain of yours. (-w-)/* '

"Hey!" Jaune snapped.

'Cool your jets and use your head. Think about what the Dice can do and what would happen when some random guy got their hands on one. (-_o) '

"Well, that's easy. He would use it to make himself better like I do. And?" Jaune said innocently enough.

'Now imagine what might happen when tens or hundreds or thousands of people became Dicers.'

"Err, people would make themselves better too?" Jaune took a guess.

'Ehhhh! Wrong! Remember that YOU are OP. Now imagine if thousands of people had super strength or super speed or super intelligence. It doesn't sound that serious, right? Again, WRONG. What do you use to get Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger? DICE. In the hands of idiots, the power of Dice will be abused and eventually the whole world will catch wind of this and EVERYONE will want their hands on Dice. I should probably tell you this one rule:

When a Dicer dies, his [Activated] Dice becomes innate and is allowed to be rerolled by someone else.

Essentially, if even one Dicer dies with tons of red dice on him, it sparks a sudden influx of Dicers. If left out of control, EVERYONE will drop what they are doing to get Dice and then the world gets taken over by some guy with enough power to rule with literally an iron fist. **\(O_o")/** '

Jaune looked at his scroll with confusion.

'My point is Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely. Take this for example: Some guy would ignore my warnings of going over the 'level one - 50 point' limit just to drop all of his points into Strength and is willing to live with the constant strain. The reason? 'Just Because.' Honestly... (u_u') '

"So... the world becomes drunk with power and I'm standing here staying my limits?" Jaune once more took a leap in guessing.

'Yep on the first part. As for the second... There's this little known fact that any wimp would be afraid of a bit of pain every day. XD '

Jaune irked, getting what X was implying, but shrugged. In a sense, he was right. It's better safe than sorry.

'Besides, making more Dicers would only make more trouble for the both of us. It just means more work for the GM i.e. me and I'm perfectly fine with only one player, meaning you. It's better to just forget about this conversation. (-_-) '

The two merely agreed to never speak of it again.

"Hmm." Ruby merely looked at Jaune with a sense of acceptance. That is until she realized that they're lost.

"Hey. Where are we going?" Ruby noticed where they are. They were practically lost.

"Um... I don't know? I thought you knew where everyone went?" Jaune walked ahead to get a good look around. There was no sign of a... well... sign.

"Maybe there's some kind of landmark. Or a directory. Ruby, got any ideas?" Jaune looked back at Ruby who snickers at Jaune's sense of directions.

"Is, uh... that a no?" Jaune grimaced, still ignoring X's buzzing.

"Heh, that's a no." Ruby just laughed at Jaune, who gave a light-hearted sigh.

It took quite a bit of time for the duo to find where the main auditorium, much to both freshmen's relief. Before Jaune could get a word in edgewise, Ruby thanked him for his time and took off into the massive crowd inside. Jaune sighed and walked out of the auditorium. He took out his scroll to stop all the buzzing X was doing.

'Hey! Hey! Pick up! Don't you ignore me! DX Dude, come on! Jaune? Hey! You finished your quests! Seriously man, when are you picking up!? *SIGH!* Fine, I'll wait... ('')( :)(..)(: )('')( :)(..)(: ) '

Jaune couldn't help but chuckle at his pen pal's past messages. Just to ease his feelings, Jaune took a friendly tone.

"X? I'm sorry. I was kinda busy with Ruby, you know. Can you ever forgive me?" Jaune joked as he sat at a nearby bench. No one was around so he can talk all he want without having people think that he's insane.

'(-_-) (o_o) (-_-) (o_o) Well... okay. Dude, you gotta answer me when I'm calling you. It's not cool when you leave a friend hanging. (o_o') '

"Heh... I guess so." Jaune scratched his head. He honestly felt sorry for his buddy.

'Anyway, you finished your quests, remember? (o_-') '

Ding! Quest Complete: Help a poor girl. Reward: Dice x2. Claim?

Ding! Quest Complete: Have a friendly chat with her. Reward: Dice x3. Claim?

Ding! Quest Complete: Get 'lost' along the way. ';D' Reward: Dice x3. Claim?

"Right. You can just send them now. Along with the other ones. The ones with mom and dad and the Beacon thing?" Jaune sighed. He was glad he diffused that situation quick enough. Jaune didn't really want to piss off a person who can make his life a living nightmare.

'You got it! ;D '

A bright pink light once more appeared by Jaune and he reached over to pull out thirty-two blue dice in handfuls. His bag had gotten a bit heavier, but that's nothing with 50 strength.

'So what now? Everyone else is in the auditorium. =/ '

"Got any quests?" Jaune had a bit of time to spare. He managed to catch one of the freshmen saying that everyone's sleeping in the ballroom tonight, so he's virtually free for the next few hours.

'Hmm... Give me a minute. -_-" ' Jaune's scroll blinked into a picture of an hourglass. Jaune shrugged and stood up. He could take another walk or go to the library. Jaune can roll his new dice there if it's empty and maybe brush up on some knowledge. X came back not much later.

'Got it! What'd you think? :D '

Quest: Get to the library in four minutes. Reward: Dice x2.

Quest: Read four books at the same time. Reward: Dice x4.

Quest: Read an entire shelf of library books in six hours. Reward: Dice x6.

Jaune doesn't really know what to say. So he just said,

"I just thought of this. Don't tell me you can read minds too." Jaune grieved as he went for the library in a blur.

'Um... no? I'm a GM. Not an esper. Although, I think you can be one if you spend your points right. But that's not the point now, is it? (n_n) '

Jaune stopped abruptly in front of the library. He went inside without a second thought.

Ding! Quest Complete: Get to the library in four minutes. Reward: Dice x2. Claim?

"I guess not. No one's here. Hmm... I'll take this. And this. Ooo... I never got the chance to read this." Jaune breezed through the silent library, looking for books he might like. He'll do the last quest later after the second. He got situated and tried reading four books at the same time as the mission requested. His efforts proved fruitless.

"Ah... This is tough... Why did I get this quest? X?" Jaune leaned back on his seat with a sigh.

'Well... you did decide to increase Intelligence first thing. Then again, if you don't like the quest. I can always change it. (-_-') '

"No, it's fine..." Jaune pondered for a moment. He took his bag and dumped out his forty-three dice. "Can you help me keep track?"

'Eh. Why not? You should probably add the other two. =) '

Pink pixels flashed above Jaune's pile of dice and two more blue dice from his recent quest dropped in.

"Okay. I just roll and brace my eyes." Jaune took a deep breath.

"One." *Shing!*

"Two." *Shing!*

"Three." *Shing!*

"Four." *Shing!*

"Twelve." *Shing!*

"Twenty." *Shing!*

"Twenty-eight." *Shing!*

"Thirty-four." *Shing!*

"Forty-three-! Gah! My eyes!" *Shing!*

Jaune rubbed his eyes from the sudden shine from the last die. The table before him was cluttered with red dice and books.

'152. Good rolls. What now? =D '

Jaune composed himself and funneled the dice back into his shoulder bag.

"You think you can... I don't know... improve my sheet? It's kinda unintuitive." Jaune shrugged.

'Don't use big words! That's for 'serious' conversations. But... yeah. I think I can. It's been a while since I 'updated' the darn thing. Who knows? Maybe I'll revamp it later when I feel like it. Eh. Anyway... give me a minute. Thinking of a new points system is hard you know! (O_o") '

Jaune's scroll had the hourglass symbol again. Jaune sighed and laid his head down on his crossed arms and took a nap.

'~Vrrr!' '~Vrrr!' '~Vrrr!'

Jaune groaned and opened one eye to spy that X was texting back. Not wanting to keep him waiting again, he yawned and tapped the screen.

'Took you long enough. Anyway, I got the new system up and running. Kinda easier seeing that you're the only person playing. =D'

The screen scrolled over to Jaune's new status sheet. It definitely looked new while still having that sense of nostalgia.

[Name: Jaune Arc]

[Strength: 50]

[Perception: 50]

[Endurance: 50]

[Charisma: 1]

[Intelligence: 50]

[Agility: 50]

[Luck: 50]

'You like? Since you're so 'special', I thought it was a good idea to arrange it so the initials would spell it. :D But anyway, enough of that. Let me explain. It's the same system like last time, but with some simple rule changes and renames. You know, Speed and Flexibility combined to Agility and I added in Perception. Now since it's against the rules to 'refund' points, I just flushed in all the points you used before in their rightful place except Charisma for some odd reason you never really told me. \(-_-')/ '

"I did-"

'Yeah, Yeah. It's because of 'It's not being useful in fighting Grimm' and 'I'm being cautious because my childhood 'friend' might be screwing me over by not spilling the beans about some huge mechanic'. Honestly, Jaune. I don't know whether to feel offended or complemented. (0w0) '

"Well, it's true. So 152 points... Intelligence is still free game, right?" Jaune raised a brow over his scroll.

'Ah... gotcha. Checking... Authorizing... Done! 202 Intelligence. Maybe now you can finish that quest. ;D '

Jaune had at it after having a ditzy episode from the sudden influx of points and wasn't really that surprised when he finished four books at the same time in thirty or so minutes.

Ding! Quest Complete: Read four books at the same time. Reward: Dice x4. Claim?

Jaune held out his hand for four blue dice to fall from bright pixels.

Jaune quickly went to work on the last quest. Reading about 23 books in the span of six hours was an easy task. He managed to finished them with two hours to spare. Having 202 Intelligence and 50 Perception may have had a hand in this.

Ding! Quest Complete: Read an entire shelf of library books in six hours. Reward: Dice x6. Claim?

'Hmph. Well, aren't you a show off? X/ '

Jaune noticed that it was dark out. Time for curfew. After putting away his books and grabbing his six dice, he left for the ballroom.

By the time Jaune 'snuck' into the ballroom, everyone was already asleep. Thank goodness for 50 Agility. Jaune wasn't feeling like getting kicked out of Beacon on Orientation Day. Just before Jaune went to sleep however, he made sure X wouldn't alarm anyone.

'Okay... I promise I won't message you in the middle of the night. *fingers crossed* (-w-) '

"What was that?" Jaune whispered with contempt.

'Nothing. (OwO)/~* '

Jaune sighed and decided to not change into his pajamas. Instead he just sat down to lean against a wall. Maybe he'll walk up before anyone else. Who know? Maybe X will be his alarm for him. Whatever it may be, maybe this 'Initiation' won't be so bad tomorrow...

'Vrrr~! New Quest! Do you accept? Accept / Decline '

Quest: Get to Beacon Cliffs. Reward: Dice x1.

Quest: Fly and 'land'. Reward: Dice x3.

Quest: Finish Initiation. Reward: Dice x10.

'Just a bit of heads up. ;3 Good night, Jaune.'

Jaune groans. He really need to stop jinxing himself. Maybe he'll flush his luck with his next twenty-four rolls. Jaune got comfortable and tried to sleep the best as he could. He's got a feeling that he'll need it.

Author's Note: Okay. Looks like I'm using the Author's Note to help readers where Jaune is at right now. Besides that piece of news, there's nothing else to talk about except that the story's a bit slow, but at least I've made some exposition, right?. =)

[Name: Jaune Arc ]

[Unspent Dice points: 3603 ]

[Strength: 50 ]

[Perception: 50 ]

[Endurance: 50 ]

[Charisma: 1 ]

[Intelligence: 202 ]

[Agility: 50 ]

[Luck: 50 ]

Edit: Forgotten the Quests with Jaune's Motion Sickness. Should be fixed.

So until next time, this is destinyTail0 signing off!