Rainbow Connection

by NotMapleMable

Summary:

A new tradition at Beacon makes RWBY's first year anything but simple. With JNPR assigned as their sister team and CFVY as their mentors, they'll have to overcome themselves before they can face the hardships of Remnant. New enemies, old grudges, and once trusted allies fallen to the darkness. Can RWBY rise to the challenge, or will they shatter like STRQ before them?

Chapter 1: A More Simple Soul

Summary:

After team RWBY and JNPR are formed Professor Ozpin tell them about a new tradition at Beacon.

Professor Ozpin stood alone on a cliffside, watching the newest batch of students take the test of initiation.

Though his mind wandered to the past, and the voice of a woman whose voice was as warm as it was determined. "Stand tall, for not even the strength of the Grimm can defeat a united Remnant." The voice echoed in Ozpin's mind as he thumbed an old red and white rose petal that he always kept in his jacket pocket.

Yet, a dark voice of doubt filled his mind. "But even the most brilliant lights eventually flicker and die," Came the cold voice of a woman he once loved dearly. "And when they are gone darkness will return. You may prepare your guardians, build your monuments to a so-called "free world", but take heed... there will be no victory in strength."

Ozpin looked down at the students. Those who had just overcome considerable odds to not only survive initiation, but join Beacon to become the next generation of Huntsmen and Huntresses. He looked at young Ruby Rose, who was busy being congratulated by her older sister.

He let himself smile. A small smile. More of a grin than anything.

Perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten. Things that require a smaller, more honest soul.

---

Overall, initiation had been a success that year. Minimal casualties, even with attacks by a Nevermore and Deathstalker. Two Grimm that individually would normally be the task of a 2nd or 3rd year team to destroy.

Teams that had spent many hours training and bonding with each other. Who knew how to fight together. The idea that two teams of individuals who had, for the most part, only met each other that day or the day before would be able to defeat such Grimm normally unthinkable.

It seemed that teams RWBY and JNPR were far from normal teams.

They were two teams that were having very different reactions to being made a team at that moment.

"I can't believe they made you our team leader," Weiss said, her arms crossed as she sat next to Ruby. Their newly formed team sitting in the auditorium as the last few teams were announced. "Do they assign leaders by random chance as well?"

"Maybe," Ruby said, sitting to Weiss' left, as she picked at her cape. "I don't know why they picked me. Any of you would be better than me." Her wolf ears, which were red tipped like her hair, laid flat against her hair. Almost blending in.

"Exactly, the responsibilities of a team leader shouldn't be given to a child," Weiss said, "But to the most qualified individual. One who has spent countless hours being tutored by some of the finest minds in Atlas."

"All those hours of training, and who came up with the plan to kill that Nevermore?" Yang said, sitting to Weiss' right, while rubbing her chin in a faux moment of thought. "Oh yeah! It was Ruby. Not you, Princess."

"I am not a princess," Weiss huffed. "And one good idea does not a good leader make."

"It's one more good idea than you had," Blake said in a flat tone as she stared forward, sitting on the other side of Yang.

Ruby just sank further into her seat as her teammates argued. Team RWBY wasn't even 30 minutes old yet and it was already a complete disaster. Ruby wondered if Jaune was having as much trouble with his team.

"They really should have made you the leader, Pyrrha." Jaune said as the newly formed team JNPR sat back down in their seats.

"I think you'll make an excellent team leader, Jaune." Pyrrha said, sitting down to Jaune's right and giving Jaune a gentle smile. She had pulled her fluffy fox tail into her lap. It was apparently rather uncomfortable to sit in a regular chair with a tail. "Your plan to kill the Deathstalker with its own stinger was brilliant."

"Yeah!" Nora said, practically jumping onto Jaune's left shoulder from her seat. "That made it super easy for me to smash it!"

"Nora," Ren said, pulling Nora back down into her seat as he sat on her left.

"All I did was tell you to aim for the stinger," Jaune shrugged. "It was just pointing out the obvious.

"What's obvious to you isn't obvious to everyone," Ren said, having got Nora to calm down a little bit. Only a little bit. "Not everyone knows that a Deathstalker stinger can be easily cut off at the connecting joint."

"Really?" Jaune said, having no idea that was a thing before Ren said it was.

"I have one question for you, Jaune." Nora said, pointing a finger up at Jaune and interrupting whatever Ren was going to say next. "Will you let me have a stack of pancakes every morning?" She asked like it was the most important question in the world.

"Only if Ren gives you permission first," Jaune said, side stepping the question like a master. Growing up with seven sisters made one very good at these sorts of things.

Nora looked just a little disappointed for a moment before Ren placed a hand on her shoulder. "Good choice," he said to Jaune before the last team was formed and Professor Ozpin stepped back out onto the stage.

"I'm sure that all of you would rather get some rest than hear another speech from me. So, I will keep this short," Ozpin said with some words of approval from the more tired and sore of the first-year students. "As you can see on your scrolls, you have been assigned your team dorm rooms for the next year."

Ruby opened her scroll and looked at the Team View section. Which listed their dorm as Dorm I-13.

"Those of you who were assigned to Dormitory A and B are free to leave," Ozpin said and students started to get up to leave pretty much as soon as the words left his mouth. "Get plenty of rest, classes begin tomorrow morning. Tardiness will not be excused."

"Of course we have to stay behind," Yang complained as she propped up her feet on the now empty seat in front of her. "I just want to take a nice long bath and go to bed."

"At least we can agree on that," Weiss said with her arms crossed.

"Just don't let Yang get in the bath first," Ruby said, trying to befriend Weiss just a little bit. "She likes to use up all the hot water.

"Of course I plan to be the first to bathe," Weiss said with an eyeroll.

"Oh, do you now," Yang said, still leaning back in her chair. "I'm getting in their first even if I have to start stripping in the hallway."

"Even you wouldn't do something that crass, Xiao Long." Weiss said, and Yang just gave her a look that could only be properly translated as 'Try Me'. Weiss' face turned a little red from a mixture of scandal and anger. "Children and deviants, I am on a team filled with children and deviants!"

"Lighten up, Weiss-Cream."

"Don't call me that!" Weiss was at her wits end. It was bad enough that she was being led by a faunus, she didn't need yang undermining her authority even more.

"Maybe we can draw straws or something for who gets to take a bath first?" Ruby said trying her best to do the whole leadership thing.

"Drawing straws?" Weiss said, and Ruby flinched, like she thought it was the most absurd suggestion she had ever heard.

"There's an easier way," They looked over at Blake, who finally added herself to the conversation. "I call dibs."

"Dibs?" Weiss questioned.

"Well, that settles it." Yang shrugged.

"You can't be serious," Weiss said.

"Deadly serious," Yang said with full determination. "Nothing is more sacred than calling dibs." To which Weiss had no response.

"S-she isn't being serious, is she?" Weiss said, turning to Ruby, who just shrugged and gave an awkward smile.

"She's right you know," Jaune said as he walked up with his team. "Sometimes calling dibs was the only way to keep from getting mauled by my sisters." He sat down next to Ruby whose wolf tail started to gently wag in her seat and her ears perked up. Which Jaune couldn't help but find cute. "I'm guessing your team gets to wait around too?"

"Yep," Ruby said, looking back down at her scroll. "Why are we in Dorm I when everyone else is in A and B?"

"Maybe they needed to build more dorms?" Jaune shrugged. "Like sixty new teams just became a thing."

"Fifty-two new teams were formed," Weiss said from her seat.

"I hope our dorms are near the cafeteria!" Nora said, plopping down in her new seat.

"I hope it's close to the training rooms," Yang said.

"That would be nice," Pyrrha said.

"What dorm room did your team get," Ruby asked. "I hope they're close to each other." If they were going to have to live in a dorm with a bunch of random people for four years, Ruby hoped she would at least be near the one team she already sort of knew.

"Dorm I-13," Jaune said after pulling his scroll out to check.

"I-13?" Ruby said.

"Isn't that our dorm number?" Yang said, pulling out her own scroll and checking. "It is! They put us in the same dorm."

"It was probably an accident," Pyrrha said.

"It most likely is," Weiss said, crossing her arms and tapping her foot an annoyance. "Beacon is not particularly well known for its administrative abilities. I will have to look through my documents when we arrive at the dorm to determine if they made any more errors."

"Yeah, you gotta make sure they didn't get anything wrong," Yang rolled her eyes. "They might have accidentally added a few inches to your height and listed you as a whole five feet tall, and I don't mean with the heals on."

"Perhaps I should go over your documents as well," Weiss said, colder than before. Ruby wondered if Weiss' height might be a bit of a sore spot for her. "Maybe I can see why Beacon accepted a harlot like you into its halls."

"Harlot?" Yang said, sitting up in her chair. Caught between thinking it was funny that Weiss used the word 'harlot' like she was an eighty-year-old woman, and being pissed that Weiss had basically just called her a slut.

"W-Weiss!" Ruby stuttered, trying to stop her team from having a fist fight before they end of their first day, their first hour, of being a team. "Y-Yang!" And for some reason Blake wasn't helping and just sat there looking amused about the whole thing.

"Professor Ozpin is about to speak again," Ren said, diffusing the fight better than Ruby managed despite not even being on their team. Both of the teams looking back up at the stage again.

"For those of you who are still here. I'm sure you've noticed by now that you are in Dormitory I, and some of you may have also noticed that you share a dorm with another team," Ozpin said, as the members of team RWBY and JNPR looked to each other. "This is not an error. They are your sister team." Ozpin stood for a second as a murmur came from the crowd.

"Sister team?" Ruby whispered to herself.

"Dad never mentioned anything about a sister team," Yang said.

"The Sister Team program is one that was started just a few years ago," Ozpin said, as if directly responding to Yang. "In order to foster a spirit of cooperation between teams. You will be working closely with your sister team for the next four years. In classes, in training, and on missions."

Weiss glanced over at Pyrrha. They may not be partners, or even teammates, but this seemed to be the next best thing. RWBY and JNPR were going to be the best pair of teams at Beacon, if they could make Ozpin reconsider his blunder when selecting their current team leaders.

Weiss leading side by side with Pyrrha, one of the respectable faunus who hadn't demonized the Schnees, would prove those White Fang fanatics wrong.

"Just as you must learn to trust your partners and teammates with your lives, you must learn to trust your sister team." Ozpin said, "There will no contest of superiority. You will be equal teams. There will be no shame in stumbling. Only in refusing to help your brothers and sisters in arms back to their feet."

"You will struggle," Ozpin's gaze seemed to land of Jaune for only a moment. "You will question yourself, your team, and your path as a huntsman or huntress. I hope that when that time comes your team and sister team will be there to pick you up."

Ozpin paused for a moment and looks off to the side of the stage. Where a very impatient looking Glynda Goodwitch stares back at him. Her foot tapped in annoyance. "It seems I'm rambling," Ozpin said as a few chuckles came from the crowd. "I'll make the rest as short as I can."

"In addition to your sister team, you have also been assigned a mentor team," Ozpin continued. "Unlike your sister team, your mentor team will only be with you for your first year. They will guide you in ways that our staff may be unable to. Any questions that you have about the Sister Team system, should be directed at them for now."

"I hope that you are able to grow not only strong together, but wise." Ozpin said, before tapping his cane against the stage. "You are dismissed."

The newly formed sister teams got up and left for their new dorms.

"Sister team, huh?" Jaune nudged Ruby. "Looks like I'm stuck with you for the next four years, Crater Face."

Ruby snickered. "Nah, it's more like I'm stuck with you for the next four years, Vomit Boy."

"Hey, I already told you that I have motion sickness. It's serious!" Jaune said rubbing the back of his head. "And I'd kind of never been on a bullhead before, I didn't know they make me that sick."

"Wait, you're the guy who puked everywhere on the bullhead," Yang said, getting into Jaune's face with a scowl, before it turned into a grin. "You get to buy me a new pair of boots, Vomit Boy." She pointed down to her vomit-stained boots.

"Can that please not be my nickname?"

"No." The rest of RWBY and JNPR said in unison.

Ozpin watched as teams RWBY and JNPR disappeared down the hall, arguing about nicknames of all things. He sipped from his mug.

This was going to be an interesting year.

---

Team RWBY made their way to their dorm room with team JNPR in tow.

"So, who do you think is going to be our 'mentors'?" Yang said, clearly not quite happy with the idea of having another team over RWBY.

"Professor Ozpin didn't go over the qualification for which teams would become mentors, nor the parameters for which teams they choose for them to mentor," Weiss said, with one finger to her chin in a thinking position. "I would assume most of the candidate teams would be well performing third- and fourth-year teams. Perhaps team GLLD(Gold)? They made it to the finals in the most recent Vytal Tournament."

"Beacon would select mentor teams based on the needs of the sister team pairs," Ren said, everyone turning to look at him. "Or that's how I would do it."

"We're here," Ruby said, looking at a door with 'I-13' etched into a brass plate on the front. She was about to open the door, but stopped. A thought accruing to her. "Do we need to knock or…"

"It's our dorm," Yang said, a hand on her hip.

"We do share it with another team," Pyrrha said, Yang looking over to the only girl there taller than her. "Sorry, I just mean that they might not be expecting us and we don't want to scare them."

"Scare them?" Blake said, rolling her eyes. "Just open the door. I'm tired."

"Is there a doorbell?" Jaune asked.

"Why would there be a doorbell?" Weiss said, crossing her arms and looking up at Jaune. "This is a Huntsmen Academy, not an apartment block."

While RWBY and JNPR were arguing if it was rude to go into their own dorm unannounced, the door opened. The teams looking over to it as a man began to step out. A tall man. Taller than Yang. Taller than Pyrrha. Taller than Jaune. So tall that he had to bend down to step through the door and he was only a few inches from hitting the hallway ceiling.

"Are you RWBY and JNPR?" The tall man said, towering over the two first-year teams. Ruby being the only one to work up the courage to answer, even if it was only a nod. "Good. I have something to help you enjoy your last night," He began to pull something out from behind his back.

Last night?

Last night!?

The very conveniently unarmed students, first years weren't allowed to carry weapons in the dorms, waited in terror for the tall man to pull out whatever he was going to pull out.

"Your last night before officially joining Beacon," the tall man pulled out a tray of bunny shaped cookies. "My name is Yatsuhashi. Would any of you like a cookie?"

Nobody answered.

"I do!"

Except for Ruby, who quickly grabbed a cookie while the rest of the two teams tried to recover from their near heart attacks.

Notes:

Hello there, and welcome to my latest overambitious project. I promise this one will have a better upload schedule than one chapter a year. I've hired a team of people to yell at me when I don't write, so I should be able to be a bit more productive.

To be serious, I am in a much better place both financially and mentally to write now. So, I should be able to have chapters out somewhat consistently.

As for the story itself, RWBY is going to be the A team for the early parts of it. JNPR and CFVY will kind of share the B team spot, but eventually JNPR will join RWBY at the protagonist table. What do you think of the whole "sister team" system thing?

And wolf faunus Ruby and fox faunus Pyrrha for the win, and for the narrative too I guess.

These first two chapters are more in jokey, and in a more third person omniscient POV than I usually write in. I usually prefer 3rd person limited. Mostly because it's just easier that way when I'm basically introducing 12 different characters in the first two chapters. Or reintroducing I guess. Chapter 3 and onward should be closer to my normal style and little less ridiculous.

Thank you for reading. Thank you to my beta-readers. See you next time and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter.

 

Yes, the title is a reference to the Muppets song.

Chapter 2: Bonzai!

Summary:

Team CFVY observe the new arrivals before initiation, and then afterwards lay down the law for their new mentee teams.

Notes:

I forgot to mention it last chapter, but Jaune does have his aura unlocked before he get's to Beacon here. That's really the only difference in the stuff that happens before the start of last chapter.

It was hard to believe that it had already been a whole year since team CFVY was formed.

Velvet Scarlatina stood on a balcony overlooking the docking area of Beacon where the new group of first-year students would soon be dropped off by bullheads. Velvet’s rabbit ears twitched as she fiddled with her camera, carefully considering how she should capture the first moments these new students had at Beacon.

“Do you think more of them are going to faceplant or throw up this year?” Coco Adel, team CFVY’s ever fashionable team leader, said before taking a sip from her thermos. “I’m betting on face plants.”

“Coco!” Velvet said, mortified.
“I’ll put twenty Lien on team vomit,” Fox Alistair said, sitting at a nearby table.

“Fox!”

“Tripping seems more likely,” Yatsuhashi Daichi said, giving Velvet an apologetic smile and shoulder shrug when she looked up at him.

“Yatsu,” Velvet said, “Not you too.”

“Lighten up, Bun-Bun,” Coco said as she leaned on the railing. “I’m sure people were making the same bets when we stepped off those bullheads too. It’s tradition.”

“You still shouldn’t jinx them like that,” Velvet said, before looking back into her camera lens and seeing the transport bullheads approaching the docks. Velvet started taking pictures as soon as the doors opened. Capturing many of the students wide eyed wonder at seeing Beacon in person for the first time… and one blond guy throwing up in a nearby trashcan.

“Called it,” Fox said without even having to look at the picture.

“Look at tall, blonde, and busty down there,” Coco said, leaning over a little further and pulling her sunglasses down just a bit to get a good look. She was looking right at a, well, tall blonde and busty girl who was wearing a brown jacket. She looked to be fairly muscular and seemed to walk with a confidence Velvet had only seen in Coco before. Which was maybe why she was so interested in her. “She looks exactly like my type.”

“Trying to date one of the new students as soon as they get off the bullhead?” Fox said, “Never thought you the type, Coco.”
“Who said anything about dating?” Coco said, not bothering to look away. “I just want to see if the carpets match the drapes.”

“What about the girl next to her?” Velvet asked, zooming in on the pair with her camera. The shorter of the two had black hair and was wearing a cape. Huntsmen fashion was known to be a little eccentric, but it wasn’t every day you saw one wearing a cape. Though it might have been just to hide the fluffy tail that occasionally showed itself from under the cape. “She’s a faunus,” She also just seemed a little young to be there. “Do you think the rumors are true about someone being let in two years early?”

“I wonder how skilled someone would have to be for Professor Ozpin to do that,” Yatsu said as he and Fox walked over to the railing.

“Do you think busty and little red are dating?” Coco said.

“I hope not,” Fox said, “Their aura signatures are similar. They’re related. Cousins at the very least.” Fox’s semblance allowed him to sense people’s aura to a greater level than most huntsmen were able to. With Velvet only really able to tell if someone had their aura unlocked or not, and that’s only if she focused on them and they weren’t too far away.

“The shorter one seems… excitable,” Yatsuhashi said as they watched the girl clearly nerd out about one of the other student’s weapon and then hold her own close to her body like she was hugging a favorite childhood stuffed animal.

The two seemed to have a small argument about something before the blonde one slipped away into the crowd, leaving the shorter girl by herself as the rest of the students made their way to the main hall. Though there were a few students remaining, including one white-haired girl with a cart full of luggage.

“Is that…” Velvet muttered as she watched the girl with a cape bump into the white-haired girl’s luggage and knock it over. Velvet was from Vale, specifically for Vytal in the northern islands, but she had spent some time in Atlas thanks to her father working there. Which is how Velvet knew who that girl was. Velvet had seen her sing at a grand opera hall once. “That’s Weiss Schnee.”

“A Schnee? That would explain the princess getup.” Coco said as they watched Weiss yell at the other girl. “And the attitude.”

Another girl with a bow would come over and join the conversation. Somehow making Weiss even angrier before suddenly they set off a Dust explosion. Everyone left in the courtyard now staring at them and Weiss rushed off with her luggage. The girl with a bow leaving soon after as the girl with the red cape fell dramatically into the crater they had left in the courtyard.

“Should we go help her?” Velvet said as it looked like Coco was about to jump over the railing.

“She’s fine,” Fox said, “Her aura absorbed most of the damage. Her clothes might be a little charred but that’s about it.” He paused for a moment. “There’s something strange about her aura.”

“Do you think it’s a faunus thing?” Yatsu asked.

“No, faunus aura isn’t usually that different from human auras,” Fox said, seeming to be deep in concentration. “Her aura is just different. Bright. Sharp.”

“Sharp,” Coco said, “Aura can be sharp?”

“Jeez,” Fox said as the rest of CFVY looked back down to little red below. The blond vomiting guy from earlier helped her up out of the crater. Then she seemed to laugh before the two started to walk off together, in the wrong direction. “His aura… he has a lot of it.”

“How much are we talking?” Coco said, “Around my level?” Coco had the highest aura level on the team by a good margin. And one of the higher aura levels of all the students and faculty members of Beacon. Of course, even the weakest aura level at Beacon dwarfs the potential aura level of most civilians.

“More. A lot more,” Fox said, as they watched the two walk off. “More than all of us combined.”

 

---

 

It was official, they were just as interesting up close as they were from a distance.

Ruby Rose, leader of team RWBY, was eating the last of Velvet’s welcome cookies as Coco watched her. Ruby of team RWBY, that wasn’t going to be confusing. Not at all.

RWBY and JNPR were sitting around the common area of the dorm. Having recovered a bit from their introduction to Yatsuhashi. The two new teams reacted just the way Coco thought they would. Velvet had wanted to greet them herself, but Coco felt that Yatsu scaring them just a little would be a better introduction to what the two junior teams could expect while being under CFVY.

The common area was the central room of their shared dorm. The one room was a good bigger than the whole of CFVY’s old dorm room, and even a good bit bigger into the 2^nd year dorm they were going to be placed in before they were made RWBY and JNPR’s mentors. That was only a few hours ago, so CFVY didn’t have the time to unpack or decorate much of anything. Which led the dorm to be plainer than they would have liked.

That would change in the coming days. It was their dorm; they just needed to make it be in spirit and style as well as in name. Beacon had long been known for letting their students personalize their living areas far more than any of the other academies did.

The front part of the common room was like a living room. With an entrance and small foyer area leading to the main room. Two plain couches and a few recliners were set up around a coffee table with a large screen on the wall in front of them. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to fit the three teams without too much trouble.

“Ruby Rose,” Coco said, standing at the front of the room with her team. The younger wolf faunus looking up to Coco with a cookie still in her mouth. “Everyone was already whispering about you when they found out you got in two years early. Killing a Nevermore that old during initiation? You’ll be the talk of the whole campus for the next month.”

“It was a team effort,” Ruby said, her ears flattening and sinking further into the couch she was sitting on. “I was just doing what I was trained to do. Weiss was the one who used her cool semblance to help me do it.”

Coco glanced over at Velvet, her ears drooping a little bit. To Coco it seemed that Ruby and Velvet didn’t just have them both being faunus in common. Ruby was also the shy and quiet type. Coco was probably going to need a little help from Velvet to mentor Ruby into a strong leader and teach the younger girl a little confidence.

“Yep, that’s my little sister.” Yang said, pulling Ruby into a side hug while Ruby did her best to try to wiggle out of it. “She cuts the head off a big bad Grimm and gives everyone else the credit. Isn’t she just awesome?”

So, they were sisters. Why they had different last names and didn’t look like each other at all, Coco didn’t know. What she could easily see is that Yang was the Coco’s type of girl. Protective, bold, and fun. She’ll be easy to work with.

Velvet seemed to perk up a little bit and tried hard to suppress a laugh at the sister’s antics. While Yatsuhashi looked at them with a bit of a wistful look. He hadn’t seen his own younger sister in person since he arrived at Beacon. Travel from Mistral to Vale wasn’t always the easiest or safest, and he didn’t want his family to risk a trip anyway.

“Would you two stop it,” Weiss said as Ruby attempted to fight Yang off. She was sitting at the end of the couch, her arms crossed and tapping her foot on the carpet.

“Sorry, Weiss-Cream,” Yang said, finally releasing Ruby. “It must be hard for you seeing other people experiencing an emotion you never have. Fun.” To which Weiss simply rolled her eyes and turned up her nose at the sisters.

The Schnees were probably the most famous family in Remnant besides the royal families of the four kingdoms. For better and for worse. The Schnee Dust Company has been responsible for hundreds if not thousands of Dust related innovations, and for every innovation they caused some kind of tragedy. Particularly against the faunus. Though for Coco, Weiss crime against fashion was just insulting. Though she wasn’t above admitting the pop of red brought Weiss’ princess getup from ‘bleh’ to ‘meh’.

Weiss was going to be a problem, Coco could tell that easily, but she wasn’t the only one from a famous family.

“These cookies are really good, Velvet.” Jaune said, having been the only one who managed to grab a cookie before Ruby inhaled them. He was sitting on the other couch, with the rest of team JNPR crammed into it as well. “You’re a really good baker.”

“Oh, they’re nothing,” Velvet said as one of her ears twitched. “I just threw them together as a welcoming treat.” It was always nice to see Velvet smile like that, and her slight blush was good teasing material for later.

The Arcs were one of Vale’s old huntsmen families from a time before ‘huntsman’ was even a term. Most of those families had either gone extinct or stepped out of the spotlight after the Great War. Jaune seemed to be more of a golden retriever than a descendant of one Vale’s most respected families, but if he was kind to Velvet, that made his alright in Coco’s book.

On the topic of respected families.

Coco glanced over at Blake, who was sitting on one of the recliners instead of with her team. She seemed more than content to sit in silence by herself. She was human as far as Coco could tell, though that bow did look a little too much like cat ears. Coco had to wonder about Blake. Belladonna was a somewhat common name in Vale.

But was Blake Belladonna just another Belladonna, or related to those Belladonnas?

While RWBY was made up of loving sisters, arrogant heiresses, and brooding loners, JNPR was a little bit more down to Remnant.

Nora was practically vibrating as she sat next to Ren. The pair seemed to have been together long before they arrived at Beacon, and Coco was still trying to figure out if they were dating or not. Ren was kind of like Yatsu, just a good bit shorter and thinner. Though they and Jaune isn’t the first member of team JNPR most people would notice.

Pyrrha Nikos.

The Invincible Girl. Winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament for a record four years in a row. Anyone who was anyone in the huntsmen world had been speculating which academy she was going to for at least the last year, probably longer. Though the debate was mostly around whether she would stay in Mistral and go to Haven as the hometown girl and pride or her kingdom. Or whether Atlas would steal away more of Mistral’s bright youth and turn her into a nearly unbeatable weapon against the Grimm. Nobody seriously believed that she should would attend Shade in Vacuo.

Beacon was always a little bit of a wildcard though. Never really to be one of the top choices, but never thrown out like Shade usually was. Nikos’ decision to attend Beacon was only announced two weeks before initiation, which was as pretty last minute as it gets.

Coco had to wonder why she chose Beacon. If she was a betting girl, then she’d say that Professor Ozpin probably had a big hand in it. Not in the direct way that the headmasters of Atlas and Haven probably were, but in some way more… Ozpin.

Though as Pyrrha sat their on the couch, sandwiched between Nora and Jaune, it seemed that she didn’t mind the physical contact with her leader that much. There was one thing that stuck out about Pyrrha the most.

She was a faunus.

It was a commonly known fact about her, but if you only ever looked at official pictures of her, or advertisements featuring her, you would never tell. They always seemed to crop out, or simply cover, her tail.

Pyrrha didn’t seem arrogant of her abilities, but Coco didn’t know how much of that was just her public persona. She was going to be interesting to deal with.

But enough with scouting out the first years, it was time for CFVY to lay down the law.

“Okay, let’s get this over with.” Coco said, as she stepped up in front of the two first-year teams. “I’m going to keep this short. We’re going to be making sure that you all don’t get yourselves killed during your first year.” That got everyone’s attention.

“But don’t think we’re going to babysit you for the whole year. You’re going to act like what you are, huntresses and huntsmen in training.” Coco continued. “That means that you have to be responsible for yourselves. We’re not going to sit you down and make you do your homework like mommy and daddy at home. We’re here to help you, not do the work for you.”

Ruby fidgeted a bit in her seat, but didn’t look away from Coco. She knew what she was signing up for when she came to Beacon early, but it didn’t mean it wasn’t a little daunting to actually be facing it.

“You got a problem? Come talk to us,” Coco continued. “We’ll offer whatever advice we can. We can talk you though the problem. But you, your partner, and your teammates are the one’s who are going to have to actually face and overcome it.”

“That goes for you two new leaders doubly,” Coco said, looking over to Ruby and then to Jaune. “Being a leader isn’t easy. There’s a reason most people aren’t leaders. You were picked for a reason, even if you don’t know what that reason is, there was still a reason behind it.”

Jaune would like to know what that reason was, because he sure couldn’t think of one at that moment.

“You’re responsible for yourselves and your teams. You have to set your own training schedules, decide when you’re going to study, and make sure you get to class on time.” Coco continued as she looked around the room. “We’ll talk about how we’re going to divide dorm chores, but everyone is going to have something to do around here, and you won’t be getting out of it.” She looked directly at Weiss as she said that.

While the front half of the common area was a living room area, the back half was a kitchen and dining room area. Which also had a washer and dryer setup. So, unlike the regular first-year dorms, they could actually do their laundry in the dorm. The half-bath that connected to the dining room area was also a nice bonus.

That back wall was also mostly windows that led out to a balcony. Which happened to look out over the gardens of Beacon and looked out towards the city in the background and over the older dormitories.

“Your bedrooms are in that hallway,” Coco pointed towards the doorway on the right wall, if you were looking at it from the entrance. “You’ll be sharing a room with your partners. No funny business. There aren’t any doors to hang a sock on anyways, so don’t even think about it.”

“Why would one hang a sock from their door?” Weiss asked, not really understanding to social implications. “Is that some sort of Valean social practice?”

“I don’t think so,” Ruby added, “I’ve never heard of someone doing that either. So, it can’t be a Vale thing.” There was an awkward silence that filled the room for what felt like an eternity, but in reality, was about thirty seconds.

“Good to know you two wouldn’t have needed it anyways,” Coco said, getting back to her speech. “Our bedrooms are in the opposite hallway. We have doors, which you can knock on if you need help with anything. Just not before ten in the morning, or I will hurt you.”

“Any questions before we all finally get to sleep?” Coco asked, with Weiss immediately cutting in.

“Excuse me,” Weiss said, and then pointed towards Fox. “Is he blind?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Fox said, putting his hand on Yatsuhashi’s shoulder. “Yatsu is blind and very sensitive about it.”

“Very sensitive,” Yatsuhashi repeated with a nod.

“We’re lucky he didn’t go into a murderous rage this time,” Coco added.

“We’re all very lucky for that,” Fox added in a completely serious tone. Weiss looked between the members of team CFVY, Velvet just looked unamused, and then back to Fox. “Yes, I’m blind. Yes, I can be a huntsman without seeing. Yes, I’m probably better than you at most things. I’m glad we had this talk.”

“Okay,” Coco added, “Take a shower. Go to bed.” The members of RWBY and JNPR started top make their way to their bedrooms.

Morning would come early, and the needed their rest.

 

---

 

Morning came fast.

RWBY and JNPR managed to drag themselves out of bed, and get themselves showered, fed, and dressed.

Yang stood in the doorway of her and Blake’s sleeping area. The doorway didn’t actually have a door attached. Who needed privacy anyways?

The sleeping areas themselves weren’t too bad. Smaller than Ruby and Yang’s bedroom back on Patch, but bigger than the guest bedroom. Bigger than Yang would’ve guessed for a dorm room. It was kind of cozy feeling.

The room had two twin sized beds which had old itchy red comforters and pillows which had a few too many previous owners to be comfortable anymore. Yang had to sleep with her sleeping bag on the bed the night before. Heck, she would say sleeping on the floor in the Beacon auditorium was more comfortable than trying to sleep with those blankets and sad little pillows.

A single window, in the middle of the two beds, let sunlight into the room. A nightstand placed underneath the windowsill. Two small desks sat at the foot of each bed. The one under Yang’s bed surprisingly didn’t have any old hum stuck to the bottom of it. She hadn’t checked Blake’s yet. On the left side of the room, Yang’s side, there was a large dresser with a mirror on the top. On Blake’s side was a short bookcase. Which Yang and Blake had piled their luggage in front of the night before.

“We should probably unpack some of this stuff,” Yang said, as the bathroom door opened and Blake stepped out in her uniform. Still wearing her bow. “Do you always wear the bow?”

“Yes,” Blake said, as she walked past Yang, not even looking towards her. “We should have time to unpack before class.” Blake opened one of her bags, an old leather one that looked like Blake had fished it out of a dumpster, and quickly shut it. Not before Yang saw the book cover with the hunky shirtless guy on the front.

“You didn’t really bring much,” Yang said as she grabbed one of her bags. She’d brought four, Blake had brought two.

“Didn’t have much to bring,” Blake opened her other bag, which was an old military style rucksack and pulled a few pairs of clothes out of them.

The two unpacked. Blake filling up the bookshelf with her… literature. Yang filling up her half of the dresser with clothes. Blake only needed a drawer to put away all hers. They still had a decent bit of time before they needed to head to class.

“So, I was thinking.” Yang said as she looked at her and Blake’s bed. Blake sitting at her desk and looking at Yang like she already hated whatever idea Yang had just come up with. “It would be nice if we had a little more room.” Yang stretched her arms out. “How about we ditch the beds and go for bunk beds instead?”

Blake looked up at her for a long moment, then glanced to the beds, and back to Yang. “Having some more room would be nice.”

“Great!” Yang said, pulling Blake to her feet. “Let’s start operation Bunk Bed Builder right now!” Yang put her arm in the air. “Bonzai!”

Blake looked at Yang with little expression before sighing and putting her own arm in the air. “Bonzai.” She said, with the faintest smile.

And so, Blake and Yang got to building their bunk beds, while Ruby and Weiss started on their own decorations.

 

---

 

Ruby and Weiss’ sleeping area was a disaster.

Weiss’ bags covered half the room. Ruby had managed to cut the curtains in half. Books were everywhere. And there was just so much gum stuck under their desks.

And this disaster all started the moment that Ruby decided to wake Weiss up with a whistle.

“Ruby Rose, what do your think you’re doing!?” Weiss said, as Ruby turned to look at her as she stood on her bed. The poster she was trying to hang up coming untaped and covering half of Ruby’s face as they looked at each other.

“Hanging a poster?” Ruby said, not bothering to move the darn thing.

“You will not put up a poster of some prissy little boy band on our wall,” Weiss said, with her arms crossed and tapping her foot. “This is a huntsmen academy, not a little girl’s bedroom.” And what a pathetic bedroom it would make. Weiss’ closet back in Atlas was larger than this supposed sleeping area. And the beds, the beds! Pathetic.

“But you got to hang up your Dust posters?” Ruby said, finally removing the offending poster from her head.

“My ‘poster’ is a chart displaying the various purities of different Dust varieties,” Weiss said. “You could hardly compare the two.”

Ruby sort of tilted her head like a confused puppy. It would have been cute if she wasn’t so infuriating. “Okay?” Ruby said, sounding a little confused.

Weiss closed her eyes, pinched the bridge of her nose, and let out a long sigh. “This is a disaster.”

“It’s not that bad,” Weiss heard Ruby say, then she heard Ruby gasp. “I have an idea!” Ruby jumped down from her bed and ran up to Weiss before she even had time to say ‘oh no’. “We should have bunk beds!” Ruby stood in from of Weiss, her tail was wagging like mad.

“That would be childish,” Weiss said.

It was at that moment that Ruby realized she was going to use all of her skills gained over fifteen years as a younger sister. And over that time she had learned two things. One, being annoying was a great, but risky, way to get what you want.

“Let’s put it to a vote!” Ruby said, “I vote yes.”

“I vote no.”

And two, that playing dumb could be really annoying.

“Great,” Ruby said, “Who won?”

“Who won?” Weiss repeated. “It’s a deadlock, neither of us won.”

Weiss flinched as Ruby pointed her finger at Weiss’ face. “I demand a recount!”

Dear sweet Weiss just stared at Ruby like a cow stares at an oncoming train.

“A recount?” Weiss said, the sheer absurdity of recounting two votes washing over Weiss like snow from an avalanche. And a headache quickly started to form. “Fine,” Weiss said, rubbing her temples. “You can have your bunk beds. Just never say anything that imbecilic ever again.”

“I don’t know what the word means so I make no promises!” Ruby said, as she stuck her arm up into the air. “Bonzai!” and then looked at Weiss like Ruby was waiting for her to join.

“No,” Weiss said as a thought came to her mind.

Nobody else could possibly be having a harder time with their partner than she was having.

 

---

 

Jaune and Pyrrha looked at their shared sleeping area.

They’d unpacked all their things. Decorated a little. Jaune showed off his excellent space sharing skills. Guess having seven sisters does have some benefits.

Still, it looked just a little… small.

“I wish we had just a little more space,” Pyrrha said, standing next to Jaune. “Not that you did a bad job dividing everything. It’s very fair.”

“We could definitely use a little more space,” Jaune said, pulling his scroll out and opening it to the team view. Jaune and Pyrrha were the tallest two members of RWBY and JNPR, and they had to share this area. Maybe something to add a little space wouldn’t be too bad. “We can order some bunk beds and have them installed by the end of the week.”

“That would be nice,” Pyrrha nodded her head, clearly agreeing with the idea.

“I’ll order them then,” Jaune said and did so. “We’ll have so much more room for activities now.”

“Activities?”

“Activities.” Jaune said, putting his scroll away. “Do you want to see if Ren and Nora want bunk beds too? I think you need to be the leader to order them.”

“That’s an excellent idea, Jaune.” Pyrrha said and both of them walked over to Ren and Nora’s sleeping area. Which was right next to theirs.

And they both looked wide eyes at Ren and Nora’s sleeping area.

Jaune and Pyrrha had decorated their areas a little, but things were still pretty bare. Like they had just moved into the dorm, which they had. But Ren and Nora’s area looked like they’d been living there for a year.

It was fully decorated. With curtains and a throw rug. Pictures of them put up on a cork board they had hung on the wall. Some incense burning on the nightstand, which now had a bunch of stickers on it. The dresser was painted bright pink. With various knickknacks spread around the room. Including an autographed bottle of maple syrup.

And Ren was just sitting there, at one of the desks, reading a book as Nora was spread out on the bed. Fast asleep and snoring away in her uniform.

The bed.

Because Ren and Nora had pushed their beds together to make one larger bed, with a sloth themed blanket on the top.

“We moved around a lot,” Ren said, not looking up from his book, like that answered any of the questions Jaune and Pyrrha had. The two sharing a look.

“Is it time for class yet!?” Nora said, making Jaune jump, as she went from being fast asleep to right in front of him in the blink of an eye.

“Almost,” Ren said, shutting his book and standing up.

“I love the way you decorated,” Pyrrha said, patting Jaune on the back. “It kind of reminds me of home.”

“Yeah, it’s very… homey.” Jaune said, finally catching his breath. “When did you two have enough time to set all this up?”

“It only took us twenty minutes,” Ren said.

“We still need to unpack my collection of weird looking rocks!” Nora said.

Jaune and Pyrrha shared another look. “Are you ready for our first day?” Pyrrha asked, changing the subject.

“Ready as Freddy and Eddie at the levee!” Nora said, jumping up and down, before stopping and looking at Jaune. “You have to give a speech, Jaune-Jaune! All cool leaders give awesome speeches!”

“I don’t—” Jaune tried to say.

“A speech would be nice,” Pyrrha said, betraying her partner.

“What words of encouragement do you have for your loyal subordinates as we start the long journey to become huntsmen and huntresses?” Ren said.

He had none. No words. Not a single one. Let alone any encouraging ones… Well, now that he was thinking about it, he did have one.

Jaune raised his arm in the air. “Bonzai!” he said.

“Bonzai!” Each of his teammates returned in unison as they raised their own arms. Which sent Pyrrha into a giggling fit and hyped up Nora even more. And Jaune could have swore he saw Ren smile for just a second there.

“Wise words,” Ren said.

“Let’s get going,” Jaune said, “We don’t want to be late on our first day.”

“Should we get team RWBY too?” Pyrrha said.

“Nah, I’m sure they’re already about to leave too,” Jaune said. “They have Weiss on their team, and I bet she won’t let them be late. She’s too smart for that.”

And Jaune did truly think that. With how smart and level-headed Weiss was, how could anything go wrong for team RWBY?

 

---

 

Blake and Yang now had a bunk bed; the only question now was how long they were going to have it before it collapsed.

Yang’s bunk, she called dibs on the top one, wasn’t being held up by anything that was supposed to hold up a top bunk. But by a bunch of old books. The whole thing swayed slightly as Yang hopped up on the top bunk and Blake stood and wondered how the whole thing didn’t collapse under Yang’s weight.

Yang sighed contentedly as she laid on her bunk. “This is so much better,” Yang said, her arms behind her head as a makeshift pillow. “I could sleep up here like a cat in a sunny spot.” She looked down at Blake, who was still looking at the structural support books. “Wanna get a quick cat nap in before we head to class?”

“As much as I’d like to,” Blake said as the beds creaked with every slight movement from Yang. “I think it’s—” Blake tried to continue before being interrupted by the screaming of a certain heiress.

“Don’t you dare! That thing in completely unsafe!” Blake and Yang turned as they heard Weiss shriek through the surprisingly well soundproofed walls of their bedroom. “I will not sleep under that—Stop climbing on it!”

“Sounds like Weiss is up,” Blake said, her face scrunching a bit as Weiss’ yelling hurt her ears.

“She’s probably getting the full Ruby treatment right now,” Yang said as she jumped down from her bunk, the bed still creaking and swaying for a few seconds after she dismounted. “We better see what’s going on before the princess has a meltdown.”

Yang led the way out of their bedroom and into the hallway. Ruby and Weiss’ room was right next to theirs. Though Yang had managed to get the one closest to their shared bathroom. They both poked their heads into the room to see what Weiss was yellow about.

“Get down right now,” Weiss pointed dramatically at Ruby, who was mostly just ignoring her while sitting in her bunk.

Which was hanging with a few ropes from the ceiling.

“Guess I wasn’t the only one to want bunk beds,” Yang said as she walked into the room. Ruby smiled down as her.

“Isn’t it cool!?” Ruby yelled, her tail wagging so fast it was practically a blur, and her bed twisting a little as she leaned to one side of it.

“Cool? It’s not cool, it’s a death trap!” Weiss said, before crossing her arms and turning to Yang. “Please order your sister to get down and dismantle that thing. She won’t listen to me or reason, but maybe she’ll listen to you.”

Yang shrugged. “Ruby’s the team leader. I can’t just order her around,” Yang said putting her hand on her hip as Weiss started tapping her foot in indignation. “Besides, if it works; it works.”

“You can’t be serious,” Weiss said like Yang just said that Remnant was flat.

“How does it work?” Blake said, staring up at the ropes and where they connected to the ceiling. “Those are foam tiles.”

“I’m really good at tying knots,” Ruby said, gesturing to said knots like they somehow made the wooden bed and her light enough to be held up by some foam tiles. “Uncle Qrow taught me.”

“Uncle Crow?” Weiss questioned.

“Uncle Qrow,” The sisters said in unison. “With a Q.”

Weiss only stared dumbfounded at the sisters for a long moment.

“What do we have for our first class?” Blake asked, having decided that this was too much chaos for even her to handle. Ruby used her semblance to hop down and grab her binder before using it again to hop back onto her bunk. Which was still stubbornly hanging in the air. “Our 9’oclock class is—”

“Did you say nine?” Weiss said, having finally overcome the lingering chaos in the room. “It’s 8:55.” Weiss pointed to her watch before starting to run out of the room. “We’re going to be late you dunce!”

Ruby, Blake, and Yang simply stared at the doorway Weiss just ran out of for a moment before they realized. They were going to be late! They were dunces! Before running after Weiss.

Team RWBY’s first official day had started off just perfectly.

Notes:

That's chapter 2 in the books. We'll be getting into actual classes next time, and maybe introducing an antagonist. You can probably guess who.

What do you think of the partner interactions so far? I promise Weiss will start getting character development... eventually. The focus of this opening is largely going to be focused on the team partners, with RWBY getting more of the spotlight as the main team. I'm not really sure how much I'm going to show of the 2nd year classes.

Also, despite reading both of the CFVY focused books, am not entirely sure I got Fox's semblance down 100% right.

Also, I feel like Ruby, Velvet, and Jaune would be a good trio as kind of a sub-friend group.

7/9/25: Fixed "Bonsai" spelling mistakes.

Thank you for reading. Thank you to my beta-readers. See you next time and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter.