Chapter 10

The entire time they walked through the forest, Weiss bombarded Jaune with question after question. Each of them felt closer to accusations in an interrogation, but she insisted it wasn't the case and that he was just wrong.

"How many hours per day are you practicing with your sword and shield?"

"Uh, well I don't really keep track, it varies. Um… a few?"

She looked unimpressed yet wrote down 'a few' in her scroll where she'd been keeping all of her notes so far.

"Inspiration for being a Huntsman?"

"Um, that's kind of personal don't you think?"

"If you are going to be my partner then there is a level of capability you must achieve. Proven ability is only one aspect of this, but to truly succeed in your duties you must demonstrate an ability to improve, your motivation will assist me with gauging your willingness in this regard."

Jaune looked away to hide his frown, both at the rather clinical way she needled him and also the sign that she would not back down. And so begrudgingly, he answered. "Well, I come from a long line of Huntsman, some of my ancestors are even heroes. I knew I wanted to follow in their footsteps, even if my parents didn't think I could do it. So I'm here, proving that I can."

Weiss paused. "You… wanted to be a hero to live up to your legacy, even though others didn't think you could?"

"Yeah. Does that help?"

"It is…" Remarkably similar to her motivation. To restore the reputation of the SDC as something to be proud of like her grandfather had been, even if her father had argued against her and her mother hadn't cared to even notice. She'd known that many of the students would be following in the footsteps of other Huntsman and Huntresses, but Jaune's point of view was… "Sufficient." She finally said, closing her scroll and letting the questions idle for now.

"So, does that mean I can ask questions now?"

He looked rather eager, and Weiss felt a slight irritation pre-emptively bubbling inside of her. "I suppose that would be fair. But keep your questions appropriate, or I won't answer."

"Ok, um…" Jaune thought for a while, tossing his head non-committedly. "What is… your favourite colour?"

Weiss paused, fully stopping as she looked at him like he was an idiot. "Really?"

He looked her up and down, taking in her white dress, her white hair, and even her very pale skin, and concluded that he was indeed an idiot. "Okay, bad question, what about your favourite food?"

"Shouldn't you be asking me questions relating to being a Huntress? You know, our job?"

He shrugged bashfully. "Well, I mean, what is there I need to know? You're strong, you wanted to be a Huntress…"

"Ugh." She continued their walk with a huff, Jaune following behind her feeling like he'd messed up. A feeling he'd had rather frequently recently. "My training has been specialised towards fencing and am best suited towards fighting a single Grimm on my own. My rapier, Myrtenaster, has a dust cylinder which I can use in various ways depending on what I have prepared. With my semblance, I can create platforms or shields, speed or slow down a person, summon projectiles from my dust, perform dilation, and eventually I will be able to summon avatars. I'm… not quite ready for that yet."

Weiss paused when she realised Jaune had stopped following her, and he turned to see he had stopped, staring at her in complete shock. "That's so unfair!"

"W-what?"

"Your semblance can do all of that!?" She blushed slightly, not that Jaune noticed. "Oh man, I'm in way over my head…"

"Yes well, I am Weiss Schnee after all. My name and legacy are not just for show, and you are very fortunate to have me as a partner." He didn't look reassured, and Weiss paused to reconsider her words, remembering what Pyrrha had told her about the potential people had. "Well, I'm sure your semblance will be very valuable too. But even if not, there is more to being a Huntsman than just having a strong semblance. You will need to be very good with that sword and shield to be my partner, we'll need to discuss your training regime after we have finished the initiation."

If they managed to finish the initiation that was, since for all of their walking and talking, they had yet to really see anything. No Grimm had appeared, no other students had shown up. They had followed the general sounds of combat when they'd heard it, but that hadn't given them much guidance, and with the way the noise bounced from tree to tree in the woods it was hard to pinpoint anything.

"So uh… any more idea on where to go?"

It was the wrong thing for Jaune to say, and Weiss huffed. She had wanted to demand some kind of direction from him, but he'd beaten her to the punch by asking her instead. Now, she was left with the pressure of acting as if she knew what she was doing.

"Of course, we have to go… this way." She pointed randomly and pushed through yet another bunch of shrubs and was surprised to find herself apparently making progress. "See, I told you this is the right way."

Jaune followed to see what she was looking at, finding the pair stood outside of a cave entrance. It didn't look like something man made, and Weiss was clearly hiding her uncertainty. But Weiss was pretty, and Jaune had no idea where to go either. Swallowing his doubts, Jaune decided to turn on the Arc charm.

"Nice job Weiss. You know, if you get scared in there, you can always hold my hand. Don't worry, I won't tell."

Weiss cringed from head to toe and marched into the cave with a gag. Even if this cave didn't lead to part of the initiation, it would be better than staying outside to listen to Jaune flirt with her.

_/\_TIG_/\_

Pyrrha pulled the branch out of the way for Ruby to follow her, leading the way into the open clearing where the chess pieces stood waiting on their podiums. Some of them anyway. Two remaining pairs sat on small pillars. A black and white Rook, and a black and white castle. Pyrrha hadn't had much chance to look at the area the first time around, too busy being chased by a Deathstalker, but she remembered what she'd been told after.

"At least this is still the same."

"Hm?" Ruby asked, having been too distracted to hear Pyrrha's mutterings.

"Nothing, let's take a closer look."

Approaching the clearing only confirmed how identical everything was to her memories. She could have sketched the layout to the headmaster had her art skills been anything better than stick figure level, a talent she had not exactly honed during all her years of Huntress training.

"So do we just take one of these I guess?" Ruby pointed to the knight. "I guess we could take the horse? Horses are cute."

Pyrrha considered the options. Ren and Nora had taken the castle piece, forming the JNPR, except now she was without Jaune. No Jaune meant her, Ruby, Nora, and Ren… She and Nora had become firm friends, Nora being ever bubbly and the only other girl on her team, and she and Ren had found a quiet comradery with each other. But joining with Ren and Nore would mean no Jaune. No Jaune on her team would mean that it would be harder for her to find time to be with him, except was she really willing to abandon two friends and the remains of her team for a chance with her crush? She groaned and put her head in her hands, wishing that she didn't have to make so many damned decisions.

A crashing through the trees provided a possible solution.

"Wheeeee!" Nora came barrelling through the brush on the back of a Boarbatusk, one hand holding on whilst the other flapped merrily in the air. The Grimm collapsed to the ground dead a few moments later, sending Nore flying off and into the ground. "Aw, it's broken."

"Nora, I'm gonna need you to show me how you did that, because that looked so fun." Laughing from behind her, another figure broke out through the brush, a mane of yellow hair trailing in the wind.

"Yang!"

Ruby immediately raced towards her sister, both embracing each other in a hug. Pyrrha walked towards the pair, waving politely but on the inside becoming a further swirling ball of confusion.

"Good to see you sis, how's initiation treating you? Kill any Grimm yet?" Yang patted her sister on the head as she checked her up and down, making sure there were no signs of damage. There was a small smudge of dirt of her cheek, to which Yang licked her thumb and wiped it off, in spite of Ruby's protests.

"Yang! No, I haven't killed any Grimm yet. I saw some, I was about to, but Pyrrha got them first. Oh! This is my partner, Pyrrha!"

Pyrrha stepped forwards and held out her hand, which Yang took with a friendly smile. "Pyrrha Nikos right? I've heard of you, supposed to be the strongest in the year. We should put that to the test sometime, have a fight, you and I."

"I'm sure that would be a wonderful experience." Pyrrha had sparred against Yang one on one many times in her past life, and won every time, but with her newer fighting style this would be a good opportunity. But the offer didn't distract her from the strangeness of the situation. "So you came here with N- her? I thought she'd be with the quiet boy?"

"Oh Ren?" Nora piped up, inserting herself between the two of them. "He's around. I tried to find him when I landed but ran into Yang instead."

"Wait, so that means…?"

"You're Yang's partner? I'm her sister Ruby, it's nice to meet you." Ruby's offer of handshake was ignored as Nora pulled her in for a hug, squealing about how adorable she was. Ruby gagged under the force of the hug, Yang laughed, and Pyrrha had yet another internal crisis.

"So wait, you haven't seen Ren at all?"

"Hm?" Nora dropped Ruby to the ground as she turned to Pyrrha. "Oh no, like I said, he's around. We were following him when we came here."

"Following him?"

Nora pointed a finger upwards and Pyrrha followed the finger straight up to the sky where a Nevermore was struggling against two figures. It had been trying to hold them, whilst the two were slippery enough to break free and hack away at the creature. It jerked, and the two figures fell through the air, landing through their own strategies in the clearing.

It was the next pair of partners, Blake and Ren.

"That Nevermore will be back." Ren intoned, his voice calm and level.

"Our weapons are too low calibre for ranged attacks." Blake agreed, her own voice just as steady.

"Renny!" Nora's voice was far more energised, throwing herself into the man, who caught her with the practice of a man who had done so a thousand times. "Oh, my poor Renny, I thought that mean old bird had taken you away forever! I'll never let you leave me again!"

"Hey, I thought I was your partner?" Yang complained with faux hurt, complete with a hand over her heart. "I'm wounded!"

"Indeed, we've both been left behind." Blake put a hand to her head, affecting a fake swoon. "Betrayed so soon, our partnership had barely just begun."

A laugh was shared amongst the group, quieter amongst the newer and more subdued members, but shared by all save for Pyrrha, who couldn't even manage a faux smile.

I messed this all up.

Thoughts swirled in her mind about what other changes she had inadvertently made. Like a falling stack of dominos, what had she done to make such drastic changes? And what would these changes lead to now? Key events would be different now, Blake and Weiss would not be sharing a team to lead to such a big fight with one another, and team RWBY didn't exist to be sent to Mountain Glenn.

Focus! She ordered herself, eyes looking to the sky. Not everything is different. The Nevermore was still there, and it had grabbed at people like before. There were no new people she'd seen trying for initiation, things weren't that different. Besides, making changes was her plan.

Loud cracking from the woods pre-empted two figures breaking into the clearing to join them. Jaune ran screaming whilst Weiss chased after him with more outward poise, though her beratements were a clear sign of panic. Coming from behind and knocking down several trees was a Deathstalker.

Right on cue.

It was the closest to a comforting thought as she could have, watching as Weiss threw dust attacks at the Deathstalker on their tail to no effect. They were wild, blind attacks, but one of them landed enough to freeze one of the Grimm's feet to the ground. It jerked to a halt, pulling at the ground to rip itself free.

"What do we do!?"

Jaune screamed in panic as they drew closer to the rest of the group, several noticing how the Nevermore had begun circling to dive. Pyrrha smiled, knowing what came next would at least allow her some stress relief.

"Grab a chess piece and run!"

She gave the order though the others were way ahead of her. Ruby, Yang, Ren, and Jaune all grabbing a piece at random as the eight of them ran from the clearing.

The Nevermore came in first, firing a barrage of feathers that dug in around them, scattering them apart as they dodged the projectiles. It swooped in, trying to grab at them once again and carving a deep gouge in the dirt.

"Clip its wings!" Yang shouted to the closest two. Arguments that the Grimm were mindless had been contentious, but Pyrrha was certain this was proof that they at least held grudges, as the closest two were Blake and Ren. Both leapt onto the avian Grimm, grabbing a wing each as it took off skyward. Nora ran in pursuit of her friend, and Yang followed in pursuit of her partner.

The party of eight now halved, the Deathstalker veered towards its original targets and the remaining others. Pyrrha, Weiss, Jaune, and Ruby. The Grimm came towards them, and Pyrrha waited. This was the part where Jaune took command, showed his worth.

"Jaune?" She prompted him to speak, he looked to her, back at the Grimm. He hesitated, then finally opened his mouth to speak.

"Well!? What do we do!?" Weiss cut him off before the words could come free, and Jaune clammed up. Pyrrha felt the panic rise inside of her as the situation deviated further and further. The Deathstalker was on them, and before Pyrrha could say anything one of its massive pincers snapped onto her shield. It pulled, trying to throw her around. Pyrrha didn't have the mass to resist, but she threw her semblance into the shield, forcing it to remain in place.

The second pincer came towards her, trying to snap her in two. Ruby's scythe slashed against the bony attack. It hadn't done any damage, only scratching the white armour, but it had deflected it at least as Weiss continued to berate Jaune behind them.

"Anyone with an idea? If you can't fight then at least you should have a brain? No, what am I thinking, nobody with a brain would come to a Huntsman academy WITHOUT ANY AURA!"

Any hope of Jaune showing his genius seemed decisively squashed, as was Pyrrha's patience. It wasn't enough that she'd screwed up her plans at the very outset, it wasn't enough that her team as she knew it couldn't exist, now she had to listen to Weiss acting like a bitch to her man!

Her anger burned as she wrenched the shield out of the pincers grasp. In one smooth movement, she spun and hurled her shield like a discus, propelling it with all the force her muscles and semblance could muster, and embedding the shield into the deathstalkers face with a sickening crack.

The bone was sliced through, the front half of her shield cutting into the Grimm's body before it was halted. Wails of anger or pain from the creature were all they could hear as it pulled back, snapping at its own head as it tried to pull the metal free. It wasn't dead, but it was partially blinded, and completely distracted.

"Ruby! Shoot out its eyes! Jaune! Shield from the stinger! Weiss! Stop bitching and freeze that thing in place!"

The group snapped into action, but not before Weiss flinched under the sudden aggression from who she considered her closest friend.

Ruby hit first, her sniper rifle firing in a rapid but steady attack throwing the creature off balance. Jaune moved next, throwing himself closer to the creature and drawing its attention from Ruby. The pincers were focused on the shield and he was out of reach of them, but the pincer stabbed towards him. With one hand, she pulled Jaunes shield into place, making sure he was able to knock away each attack. The strength in his arm was enough, and Jaune held against the attack.

Glyphs appeared around the creature in the air, and shards of ice shot out at the Deathstalkers leg. They smashed against the ground, breaking and then reforming around the feet to freeze them in place. Then, it was Pyrrha's turn.

She stabbed her spear into the ground, deep enough that it would not move. Then, she used like a springboard. Leaping from the spear with tremendous force, she pushed herself harder and faster with her semblance, pulling on the metal that encased her body. Spinning around in the air, she hit her shield with a kick, transferring her energy and her semblance onto the metal disk.

It cut through the Deathstalker, gutting it from head to tail and flying free on the far side. The creature jerked and twisted in its death throws; the stinger raised overhead to stab weakly at Pyrrha's prone form. It buried itself into the dirt next to her head and began to disintegrate.

"Woohoo! Great work Pyrrha!" Ruby raced up to her side, helping Pyrrha up to her feet. "Wow, sure is great to have such a wonderful and kind partner. Sure would be terrible if my partner was a sucky person!" She sent a glare to Weiss, not happy that someone she called friend had been berated so much by the heiress.

"She's right Jaune, I'm going to have a lot of work to do with you." Weiss completely missed her point as she crossed her arms at her blonde partner, and Ruby's glare grew venomous. Embarrassed under Weiss' glare at him, Jaune cleared his throat and pointed to the other fight happening a short distance from them.

"Should uh, should we help them?"

"Nah, Yang's got it handled." Ruby's utter confidence with her sister was as adorable as it was accurate.

From their current position, they could see as Ren and Blake worked together to shred the Nervermore's wings, sending the bird crashing straight to the ground. It squawked and snapped at them, the two attackers leapt away as Yang shouted out an order.

"Nora! Batter up!" Nora laughed, hammer raising up and buzzing at the ready. Yang leapt into the air and Nora swung. The explosion shimmered against Yang's aura as she flew, and her semblance exploded into life, blonde hair glowing and a fiery aura ripping around her. The angry red eyes were the last thing that the Nevermore saw.

Yang hit the Nevermore and exploded, her gauntlets firing as the final crescendo to the incredible amount of force that slammed into the Nevermore. Its body shattering as it died.

"Yeah… Yang's got it."

_/\_TIG_/\_

"Yang Xiaolong. Nora Valkyrie. Lie Ren. Blake Belladonna. You are now Team Lover, LVBR, led by Miss Yang Xiaolong."

Ruby cheered and whooped for her sister as Miss Goodwitch finished speaking. Yang took a theatrical bow that hid her uncertainty about being leader, as the rest of her team smiled and waved. Pyrrha wasn't sure what to think, she'd never imagined Yang to be the team leader type, but she supposed she didn't know Yang very well at all. Ruby seemed confident in her at least.

"Pyrrha Nikos. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Jaune Arc. You are now Team Power, PWJR, led by Miss Pyrrha Nikos."

Pyrrha was so numb to her failed plans that she almost didn't register the words, looking at the rest of her team in confusion. Both Ruby and Jaune were more qualified than her, they had leadership material, not her. But they cheered, clapping politely without objection.

When Pyrrha and the others left the stage, it still hadn't set in for her how different things were.

"Not quite what I expected."

Pyrrha startled as she recognised the voice, turning to see a noticeably exhausted headmaster waiting for them.

"Oh! Headmaster Ozpin, it's good to see you."

"And you too Miss Schnee, congratulations on passing initiation." The heiress preened. "May I have a moment to speak with Miss Nikos please?"

Her team politely left with a few farewell words, but she didn't even notice as she moved closer to the headmaster.

"This wasn't supposed to happen!" She hissed under her breath. "This isn't my team."

"Clearly. But we have more important things to discuss." He gestured for her to follow him. "Let's go to my office, I've looked into what you have told me so far. Needless to say that what I have found is… troubling."