19

As soon as Yang was launched in the air she had to fire off a shot to avoid colliding with another person. She most likely hit someone else by doing so but that was Ozpin's problem, he shouldn't have launched them all at the same time.

When she was about to land, there wasn't anybody near her except a red cloud that kept doing lazy circles around her. Shooting a wind bullet she killed most of her momentum and landed legs first. After coming to a full stop and leaving two trenches behind she just stood there with closed eyes. Can't make eye contact if I don't open them. A second later she felt someone settle on her shoulders and a familiar scent of roses filled her nose.

"Eh, I suppose you will do fine as a partner… although I could do better." Yang said with a smirk and upon opening her eyes and craning upward she saw Ruby sitting on her shoulders.

"Very funny." She deadpanned. "Anyway, I saw those ruins but there are a lot of grimm in the forest and I'm not sure if others can handle it. Let's kill some andthengotothe-"

"Calm down." Yang stopped her sister's outburst. "If they can't handle the small fries, then they have no place here. Besides, you wouldn't want to steal their warm up?"

Ruby pouted a bit at the denial but their bickering was interrupted by a low growl from the surrounding woods.

"Fine… let's deal with this and I'll fly us to the ruins." Ruby was once more full of cheer and as Yang lunged for the nearest monster, she did a backflip and started blasting away.

-BBW-

After gracefully landing on a tree, Blake spent the next five minutes getting the rose petals out of her hair. The little red girl that was falling near her apparently could fly and at some point became a red cloud of petals and made a beeline towards the blonda Ilia was eyeing. They pretty much expected to be partners, but just to make sure, she would hide and wait for Ilia to track her down with her semblance.

It's not like she would mind having someone else as a partner, on the contrary, her and Ilia could probably use some new friends, and aside from the Schnee, the people here seemed fine. Except for the ginger and the blonde, if she ended up with the two of them on the same team she probably wouldn't ever get a proper sleep.

Pyrrha would make a good teammate, after they separated she did a quick search and found out why the name sounded familiar. Although, being on a team with somebody so famous would make it harder to blend in.

Ilia showed up after a few minutes, just in time for two ursas to wander under Blake's tree. They were graded for their performance, so might as well start getting some points.

-BBW-

Dammit! Where did she go? Weiss was doing her hardest to stay in the air, while she searched for Pyrrha. After they were launched she almost immediately went straight down and disappeared from her field of vision. She blamed whatever moron shot her for this blunder in awareness.

"She is over there, on that rock near the cliff." She ignored the nagging in her head. It wasn't the time to second guess her own decisions. "In that case I apologize."

Before she could ponder what it meant, a large snowwhite snowflake appeared to her side. That's a summoning glyph! A large paw burst out from the glyph and smacked her to the ground. She swore she heard someone giggle at her.

When she picked herself up from a rough landing and looked around, she decided that all of this was a part of the plan. Only a few meters away stood Pyrrha in all her glory.

"Well, hello partner."

Just as planned!

-BBW-

"It seems the last pair had formed." Ozpin commented, watching Nora Valkyrie hang down from the tree and partner up with Lie Ren. Winchester, Thrush, Bronzewing and Lark had already reached the ruins and were currently on their way back. He made sure that… less promising candidates wouldn't interfere with those of greater potential.

"You seem dissatisfied." Glynda said to him as she brought a new drink both for him and herself.

"Just that some pairs didn't end up how I would imagine. Nothing else."

Glynda slightly frowned. "Will any be problematic?" A pair where both members hated each other could destroy the entire team unless handled carefully.

"I doubt it, my problem is that except one, everyone seemed to pick their desired partner. How will they grow if they aren't challenged?" He sipped his new steaming coffee. "No matter, we will intervene later during the year if anything becomes too bad."

-BBW-

Blake and Ilia reached the ruins first. It was a large clearing with old stone structures in the middle. Upon some of the stone pedestals stood chess pieces, a pair of rooks and knights.

"Which one are we taking?" Ilia asked after taking a look through the broken temple and not finding any other 'relic'.

Blake picked one rook. Considering their previous occupation and even their current predicament picking a knight felt wrong. Besides, rooks were worth more points.

"Should we head ba-..." Blake trailed off when she saw an intertwined red-yellow blur joust with a giant nevermore in the sky above the ruins. After another charge, the yellow blur separated and turned into Ilia's favorite blonde.

Who was immediately swallowed by the nevermore.

Blake was so horrified, she could only stand and watch when the nevermore was tied up in red vines and brought down to the ground. The other girl forcefully opened its beak and started screaming down its throat.

"Yang! Are you okay?! I'm going to get you out!"

In response nevermores stomach(?) swelled. The giant black bird gave out a horrific screech as its main body burst open and Yang jumped out. Hair on fire and red eyes with slits blazed angrily. The grimm remains on her body slowly evaporated but her friend didn't even care about it as she rushed to her and clung to her neck while overemontionally crying.

"Dammin Rubes, calm down already. Did you really think I would be done in by a little birdie?" She pried ruby away from her neck and tried to make her hair somewhat presentable. Who knew that grimm insides were just a skeleton and surrounded by black oily sludge. "Go find our relic or something."

Blake and Ilia just watched on with wide eyes. They heard stories that some hunters could be a little extra but brushing off being eaten and referring to a bullhead-sized nevermore as a birdie was a bit too much.

"Hey Yang, are you okay with the horsey?"

"Sure."

-BBW-

Where the hell are those damned ruins?!

Weiss and Pyrrha were walking through the thick forest for quite some time already. They did encounter some grimm, but the two of them made quick work of them. Unfortunately, because Pyrrha landed so close to the cliffs and Weiss was more focused on looking for her than on searching for their objective, neither of them knew where to go.

"I think we are there!" Weiss called out as she found an entrance into a cave with some strange marks painted on the side. Pyrrha only gave her a smile and a note. She was okay with that, they were the professionals.

Weiss used a bit of dust to create some light as they went down into the cave. Now that the only thing left was to find the relic she could focus on her future team. She would obviously be the leader, Pyrrha was her partner and would be their team's number one fighter. But she still would get two other people. Sadly, she didn't socialize much and didn't know any other people. Pyrrha apparently knew some people from their group but considering how much one of them was glaring at her, she didn't want to deal with them. Then there were those two that caused all that ruckus in the morning… she would be able to deal with them. The boy was calm and quiet but his girlfriend would be a headache to keep stable. And the two she bumped into on the first day… whatever caused the voice inside her head to actually get freaked out was probably even worse so she better stay away.

They saw something large and glowing in the darkness. That was their relic, right?

-BBW-

"So… are you going back to the cliff?" Ilia was ready to leave, Blake didn't mind either but she wanted the other girls to go as well. Maybe if they came together they would become a team without any other fanfare. But it would seem they didn't share her sentiment. The smaller one was sitting on top of the structure and was scanning the forest through the scope of her rifle while Yang was leaning on a stone and playing on her scroll. Didn't Glynda forbid them to take their scrolls to the forest?

"There are still people inside. I want to make sure everybody's alright." The sniper spoke down from her perch. "You can go if you want, I can cover you if anything happens."

"I think it's okay to stay a little bit. We are training to be huntresses, making sure people are safe is kinda our job." Blake sat down as well. They weren't in a race and she doubted they would get their grades lowered for staying behind an assisting.

"I guess…" Ilia just wanted to get out of the forest before the Schnee showed up. Maybe Blake was able to tolerate her but she grew up in Mistral and didn't have to deal with their special kind of bigotry. Ilia grew up in Mantle and she got the full treatment when it came to racism and hatred. "Might as well get to know each other while we wait… I'm Ilia."

"Blake"

Yang gave them a disinterested look but decided to at least try to be polite. "Yang, the one on top is Ruby, my little sister."

"Huntress extraordinaire!" She shouted from her spot. Yang just rolled her eyes with a small smile on her lips while Blake let out a soft chuckle.

Suddenly, an ursa major ran out of the forest and was quickly put down, courtesy of a bullet to the head. It immediately collapsed to the surprise of its passengers.

"Hey! You killed my teddy!" A ginger with a large warhammer pointed her finger at Ruby.

"Sorry! Force of habit!"

Accepting the apology she switched her focus to the chess pieces and rushed to the last rook.

And started singing. "I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the ca-"

"Nora!"

"Coming Renny!"

"Sup, legbreaker." Yang greeted her and gave a small nod.

"Oh, the bathroom menace! How's the hunt?" Nora cheerfully greeted her. Her words confused everyone present. They knew there was some commotion in the morning but not the details. All of a sudden Yang was the center of attention.

"I thought Ren, the guy over there, tried to take the peak into the bathroom." She answered the unasked question.

"And tried to set Renny on fire!" Nora added a little bit of information.

There was a growl at the distant part of the clearing as a large gorilla-like grimm walked out of the woods. After noticing its prey gathering around the middle it let out a deafening roar.

"Oh! What's that?" Nora exclaimed, excited at the prospect of pulverizing an unknown to her grimm. Ilia also would like to know, but didn't share Nora's enthusiasm.

"A beringrel, a giant grimm monkey." Blake huffed out and got ready for a fight.

Ruby also got ready to open fire until Yang interrupted her. "Let them have their fun, Rubes, they can't get better if you keep killing everything on your own."

"But what if they get hurt?"

"Then we will help, otherwise they should be able to deal with it on their own."

Ruby huffed and kept beringrel's head in the crosshairs but held her fire. Then a white blur flew out of the forest and landed in Yang's arms.

-BBW-

Everything went completely wrong. It wasn't a temple that they found, but a lair of a giant deathstalker, an enormous, heavily armored scorpion-like abomination.

But it was also an opportunity to prove themselves, so while Pyrrha kept in occupied from the front, Weiss jumped on top of it and started looking for any sort of weakpoint where she could stab her rapier.

The grimm was clearly against someone running on its back. It tried to shake her down at first but after that had no result it tried to use its stinger. While Weiss was able to avoid any direct hit, a part of her skirt got stuck on it and she was left helplessly hanging from the thing upside down.

Seeing her partner in danger, Pyrrha decided to retreat into a more open area than a thick forest. She was able to keep ahead easily, the trees were slowing it down considerably and she saw that Weiss would soon free herself.

And she did.

Pyrrha saw her fly above her into the clearing ahead, her skirt slightly torn and her weapon falling out of her hand.

-BBW-

"Yang! Focus on the grimm! You can hug it out later!" Ruby shouted from above and started shooting ice dust bullets at the deathstalkers legs to make sure the other person got away safely.

Soft and warm… Weiss was quite happy with a short reprieve. Call her soft but she was used to living in the lap of luxury, something Beacon failed to deliver so far. She let herself enjoy the feeling until she was unceremoniously dropped on the ground.

"Hey!" She looked up and saw the tall blonde she bumped into yesterday. She paid Weiss no mind, already fully focused on the grimm.

"Weiss!" Pyrrha called out to her and threw her Myrtenaster. She awkwardly caught it and was getting ready to reengage their enemy, just to see Yang stop it dead in its tracks by holding both of it pincers.

"Above!" The little sniper called out in a warning as the grimm tried to attack Yang with its stinger. She was ready to take it head on but a round shield hit it mid-attack and changed its course.

"Mind if I help? WE have some unfinished business." Pyrrha stood next to Yang, her shield back in her hand.

"Uh… you with a ponytail!" Ruby tried to call out to the new girl.

"Pyrrha!" She called back. Internally she cheered. She found another person who wouldn't fangirl over her!

"Right, Pyrrha, take care of the stinger. Yang, try to flip it over! I can't get past the armor!"

The girls tried to follow the plan only to be stopped when Weiss dropped a glacier on top of it. It definitely made it imobile but as it was frozen to the ground there was no way to flip it over for the kill.

Ugh, should have brought the rockets… Ruby thought. Seeing that her help as a sniper would be useless she jumped down and went up close. She got a new idea but for that she needed Yang and Pyrrha away from the impact zone. She jumped high into the air and called out to them "Take cover!" before activating her semblance and dropping directly in front of the grimm with a lot of added momentum. She still would need a tiny bit of more firepower though. She spoke quietly.

O fable come to life

-BBW-

"Take cover!" The girl shouted from above. The grimm was immobilized so it wasn't hard for Pyrrha and Yang to move away and regroup around Weiss. Shortly before she would divebomb the grimm, the cloud of petals swelled and as soon as she landed, the petals cut through the ground below the deathstalker and impaled it on dozens of red stakes made out of interlocked petals.

Weiss was gawking.

Pyrrha was quite impressed and there was a competitive glint in her eyes.

Yang was used to this so she just gave a mock applaus. "You done, sis?"

While Ruby descended into a lighthearted rant about Yang not appreciating her work, Pyrrha picked up the last remaining piece.

The white knight.

There weren't any more pieces left so they might as well go.

-BBW-

The fight against a bringrel was a complete slugfest. It was too tough to be downed by a grenade, it only seemed to make the thing angrier. Blake and Ren's small caliber guns were useless and it would shrug off Ilia's dust attacks.

But there was still something Blake could do. For all of his faults Adam was strong and he did teach her a few tricks. It mostly worked in conjunction with his semblance but that didn't mean it wouldn't work on its own.

Aura usually took the form of a protective bubble around the person, if pushed onto an object it would cover it as well, Making it duller but more durable. But what if she pushed her aura inside something?

She pushed her aura into her katana until the blade started to emit a dull purple light.

"Ilia! Go for the right arm! Nora! Break its legs!"

After an excited squeal Nora one of its knees with all of her strength, almost making the beringrel fall over while Ilia froze one of its arms. Her target weakened and without footing, she charged in. She stabbed her katana into its left shoulder, the blade sunk in effortlessly.

And release. She let go of the aura inside of the blade and in a burst of purple light she severed the entire arm. Ren, seeing the opportunity, did the same thing and with one punch and a burst of pink light the grimm lost its head.

"Nice punch." Blake commented with a small satisfied smile on her face.

Ren nodded at her, accepting the compliment before speaking. "It's not often to see a fellow practitioner."

Blake turned away and much more quietly answered. "I just know a few things, nothing more."

-BBW-

The track back was rather uneventful. Except for a few unfortunate beowolves that tried their luck against eight hunters in training nothing happened. Nora and Ruby kept chatting about the countless uses of dust fueled explosions but otherwise the most of them stayed quiet, Yang and Ren because they didn't feel like it and the rest because they were quite tired.

When they got back, they were told to go to cafetaria to grab some refreshments before returning back to the main hall, where teams would be announced.

When they arrived, four boys were on the stage with Ozpin. They brought the black bishop pieces and were made into team CRDL. All of them started thinking about what pieces they had and who had the other one. Sadly for Weiss and Pyrrha, they came last so they didn't have a slightest idea about what pieces others got.

"Blake Belladonna, Ilia Amitola, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie." Ozpin called out the four names. As soon as they lined up on the stage he continued. "You have retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day onward you shall be team BLAN(bland), led by Blake Belladonna."

The polite applause filled the room while the newly formed team looked quite unimpressed with their name. Except Nora, who tried to crush Ren in a hug and cheering. After sharing a look Blake and Ilia internally swore vengeance for this terrible joke.

"Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee and Pyrrha Nikos." The room grew quiet. Two of the biggest names among the first years were on the same team. It was even more terrifying for the Signal graduates who remembered Yang wiping the floor with any competition and now she was on the team with the Invincible Girl. That little tidbit was also quickly spreading through the crowd. In conclusion, the combat class would be agonizing.

"You have retrieved the white knight pieces. From now on, you will be team RWPY(ruby), led by Ruby Rose." The room was silent for a second. While the other three were ranging from being known and respected by their peers to being worldwide famous, the little girl chosen as their leader was an absolute unknown. Was that another joke from the headmaster? In the end they cheered and applauded anyway, if only for the fun of seeing the mightiest be led around by a nobody.

Ruby hid into her cape and wished for all of this to end.

Yang hoisted her up on her shoulder and cheered on some more.

Pyrrha was okay with the decision, they may have only interacted briefly, but the girl clearly knew how to deal with the grimm.

Weiss was slowly watching her perfect stay at Beacon fall apart in disbelief.

/

/

/

Infodump

Yang's semblance: In canon it works by absorbing the impact, doubling it up and then releasing it upon the next attack. Meaning it operates somewhat like this.

Y=X*2 , where Y is the power Yang gets and X is the initial attack. In this fic I;ve changed it up a bit.

Y=X*(2^A), where A is the amount of aura Yang feeds to her semblance. Her semblance consumes a set amount of aura to work normally, say (A=1), but should she give it twice more, (A=2) then the released power won't be double of the received but quadruple.

Downsides being that

The Human Body can't handle the strain and while she can hold her power in for several minutes when (A=1) it shortens with the amount she is holding in.

Her temperature keeps rising in response to the power she is holding in, meaning that she can set everything on fire by accident.

A small poke or a flick on the forehead can change into a building destroying punch in a second.