*Early in the morning*

As the sun shined over Vale, students began to wake up from their sleep and attended their own personal agenda's before the start of the initiation. Some students were wide awake while some others were still tired and sluggish, and in regards to the Vesper's. Snail was wide awake checking the time, Freud was slowly starting to wake up, but Pater and Rusty were still asleep. Snail looked at the both of them and walked over to them to wake them up. But as he was about to, he was interrupted by someone shouting.

Orange hair girl: "WAKE UP LAZY BUTT!"

Rusty/ Pater: "AH!"

Both Rusty and Pater jolted up and stood up straight while saluting. Pater's eyes were still closed while Rusty has hair over his eyes.

Rusty/ Pater: "WE'RE UP SIR!"

Snail looked at the both of them, slightly amused by the situation. Snail composed himself to speak with the group.

Snail: "I see your both Finally awake. Get ready, we're going to have breakfast first before we prepare for the initiation."

Both Rusty and Pater looked at each other before looking at Snail slightly mad.

Rusty: "Jeez Snail, I know it's the morning but could you at least not shout so loud?"

Pater: Yeah. I don't think we'll wake up correctly if you keep doing that."

Freud: "It's too early for this shit Snail..."

Snail: "Well Blame her, not me."

Snail simply pointed behind him to the girl shouting. Both Rusty and Pater looked over Snails shoulder to see a orange hair girl shouting next to a boy with black hair, pink eyes and a single strand of pink hair who was also waking up because of the girl.

Shouting orange hair girl: "It's morning! It's morning! It's morning! It's MORNING!"

Black hair guy: "(Groaning) Could you keep it down just a bit Nora. It's only morning."

Nora: "That's exactly why I'm shouting! We have to get to the cafeteria to get pancakes Ren! Lets hurry and brush our teeth so we can get going! I need my fuel!"

Nora quickly rushed to the restroom with a dust cloud left behind her. Ren slowly got up and followed her. The Vesper's watched as Ren began to slowly follow behind and followed their example. Each one of them besides Snail, were getting dressed into their uniforms.

Pater: "Well she seems.... excited."

Rusty began to fix his hair and was dressed.

Rusty: "Well it is initiation day. I can see why."

Freud: "How can people be excited over something that could possible end their lives."

Rusty: "Well some of us seek the thrill of life while other's don't. Why, are you afraid?"

Freud: "Far from it. It's just that people with that type of mindset are very...what's the word."

Snail: "Naïve."

Freud: "Yeah."

Snail: "I couldn't agree more. With a careless mindset like that, they can easily lose their own life or the life of another. Anyways, are we all ready?"

Each member besides Snail gave a thumbs up.

"Then let us get going to the cafeteria."

With each of them dressed and ready, they left to the cafeteria while passing by Nora who was still talking to Ren since they went to the bathroom. Pater looked back surprised because Nora had followed Ren into the men's bathroom. Pater scratched his head in confusion but slowly began to follow the others again.

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*10 minutes later*

The Vesper's had entered the cafeteria with many other students already eating inside. Each member got in line, ordered their breakfast and sat down with each other at the same table facing the window of the cafeteria. For Snail, he had chosen to eat bacon and eggs while also drinking some coffee. Both Pater and Rusty were eating Pumpkin Pete's marshmallow flakes. Sure it wasn't the most healthy thing to eat but it did taste good. Freud was eating pancakes with syrup while also drinking coffee. Snail wanted to discuss strategy but found himself being ignored since they all just wanted to eat. Snail dropped the subject joined in on the conversation between Rusty and Pater but informed them they would be having a discussion about it. Each of them besides Freud continued to talk until they were interrupted by a familiar voice.

Nora: "Hi there! Mind if we sit with you guys?"

The Vesper's looked up to see that it was the same pair from this morning. Nora had a large smile on her face while holding an absurd amount of pancakes while Ren had less pancakes on his plate. The Vesper's looked to Snail to see what he would say.

Snail: "Feel free to sit here if you'd like. We don't mind at all."

Nora: "Perfect! C'mon Ren."

Both Nora and Ren sat across the table of the Vesper's, being closest to Freud and began to eat their breakfast. Ren was cutting his pancakes in half while Nora was putting syrup on hers. Freud looked down to his pancakes and felt like he had enough to eat now. He looked back up to face Nora and Ren again, his eyes widen when he saw Ren only ate a single pancake but Nora's pancakes were all...gone. Freud saw a single pancake hanging out of Nora's mouth as she then ate the last one. Freud looked between Nora's plate and her a few times, still confused on how she ate them all so quickly. He looked up again to face Nora who had a questioning face while looking at Freud's plate of pancakes. She pointed at Freuds plate with a smile.

Nora: "...You gonna eat that?" 

Freud narrowed his eyes at her and slowly pushed his plate towards her.

Freud: "No..."

Nora: "Great!"

Nora quickly snagged the plate and put some more syrup on it. Freud watched Nora closely to see how she ate all of her pancakes from before. He did catch her this time but what he saw baffled him. Nora held all of the pancakes in her hands and took one giant bite, eating all of them. Freuds jaw dropped while his left eye twitched out of shock and confusion after what he had just seen, knowing that eating that much food in a single bite is impossible and yet...she just did it. 

Freud: "W-what? B-but how did-did you guys see that!?""

Freud turned to face his team but saw that each of them were currently gone, putting their plates away. Freud then turned to face Ren who had a deadpan expression .

Ren: "Trust me, it's best not to question how. It will only hurt your brain."

Ren went back to cutting his pancake before looking up to Freud again.

"I'm Lie Ren. But just call me Ren."

Ren simply nodded his head in a greeting manner. 

Freud: "...I'm Freud."

Ren nodded with a smile before he went back to cutting his pancake again while Nora went back to talking to Ren.

Nora: "So as I was saying, we've been friends for soooooooo long! What are the odds we'd still be together? Well not 'together-together'...not that I'm not saying that your handsome; you are handsome, but that'd just be weird, right? Maybe we can bribe the Headmaster. No, that won't work, he has a school."

Ren continued to cut and eat his pancake while Freud looked at Ren with a bit of pity. He can't imagine how hard it must be to deal with this type of energy constantly and not get annoyed. Freud knew he would break easily but if Snail was stuck in a room with Nora, he'd probably go insane. Freud found that thought funny though. Freud was kicked out of his thoughts when a hand touched his shoulder. He turned to face Rusty who had a toothpick in his mouth.

Rusty: "You finished there Freud? Snail wants us to get going to the locker rooms."

Freud: "Yeah, I'm done here."

Freud stood up to leave but said a quick goodbye to both Ren and Nora who waved goodbye. Freud followed Rusty outside the cafeteria to meet up with Snail and Pater who were waiting. Once they were grouped up, they made their way to the locker rooms.

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*In the locker rooms*

The Vesper's reached their assigned lockers and began to prepare their AC equipment. Pater was in charge of weapon maintenance while Snail was in charge of their communications gear. Freud and Rusty were in charge of any ammunitions and side equipment. Once all of their equipment was prepared and doubled checked, they began to make their way to the emerald forest where the initiation would be taking place. On their way, Rusty saw Ruby and Yang at their own lockers and thought about saying hello.

Rusty: "You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up with you later."

Snail stopped walking and looked at Rusty.

Snail: "Why?"

Rusty: "I'm gonna go say hello to Ruby and Yang. I'll be sure to meet up with you guys on time, trust me."

Snail narrowed his eyes and gave Rusty a long stern look, causing Rusty to sweat a little. Soon though, Snail rolled his eyes and turned around. 

Snail: "Very well. Just be sure that 'they' are also on time."

And with that, Snail, Freud and Pater left to the cliff's. Rusty began walking in the direction where Ruby and Yang were and on his way, he passed by both Nora and Ren with Nora talking about some 'secret signal' or something. Rusty then got close enough to overhear Ruby and Yang's conversation.

Ruby: "I wonder what those two are so worked up about?"

Yang: "Oh who knows. So, you seem awfully chipper this morning."

Ruby: "Yep! No more awkward small talk or getting to know you stuff. Today I get to let my sweetheart do the talking." 

Ruby reached into her locker and pulled out Crescent Rose and began to stroke it and hug it. Rusty watched Ruby behind Yang a little confused.

Rusty: "Sweetheart huh? So what's you're relationship with your weapon?"

Ruby quickly turned to face Rusty with a face of embarrassment.

Ruby: "Oh I-I uh I mean my-uh... (sigh) it's a normal relationship..."

Rusty: "Define normal. (Chuckles) Morning you two." He gave them a two-finger salute.

Yang: "Morning Rusty." She gave a two-finger salute.

Ruby: "Uh yeah uh... morning."

Rusty: "So, what are you guys talking about?"

Yang: "I was just about to tell Ruby she isn't the only one going through initiation."

Yang turned away from Rusty to talk to Ruby. 

"If you're going to grow up, you're going to have to meet new people and learn to work together."

Ruby: "(Groaning) You sound like dad! Okay first of all, what does meeting new people have to do with fighting. And secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up. I drink milk."

Rusty: "Well milk helps physically, not socially." 

Yang: "Yeah, and what about when we form teams?"

Ruby: "Um I don't know I-I'll just be on your team or Rusty's or something."

Rusty: "Can't do. I'm already in one remember?"

Yang: "Well maybe you should try to join someone else's team?"

Yang began to play with her hair while Ruby seemed offended by this statement.

Ruby: "My dearest sister Yang, are you implying you do not wish to be on the same team as me?"

Yang: "What! No, of course I do. I just thought, I don't know, maybe it would help you break out of your shell?"

Ruby: "What the!? I don't need to break out of my shell, that's absolutely-"

Jaune: "Ridiculous!"

Ruby was interrupted when Jaune was passing by looking for his locker.

"There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday. I would have remembered having to count that high. Oh why does this have to happen today..."

Rusty: "Ah poor Jaune, I remember when I was in the exact same situation during my initiation."

Yang just acknowledged that Rusty said he was already in a team and did initiation.

Yang: "Wait? You said you're already in a team, how?"

Rusty: "Hmm? Oh yeah, I guess I never told you guys. Me, Pater, Snail and Freud make up a special team in Atlas known as 'The Vesper's'. Team members were chosen specifically by Snail himself since he's the leader of our team. Our ranks also tie in with out team names."

Ruby: "So is that why Snail called you V.III or something back at the police station?"

Rusty: "Yep! The 'V' of course stands for Vesper. The higher the rank, the more skilled that person is and is also the leader. Originally it was going to be a team of 8 but there were complications with some other stuff."

Yang: "But shouldn't Snail be V.I if he's team leader?"

Rusty: "Like I said, the rank depends on the members skill. Snail was once V.I but was beaten by Freud back when he joined. Freud though didn't like the idea of being leader so he let Snail continue to lead even as V.II. But if we need a substitute leader, Freud would take the role. As you know, I'm rank 3 in the team. We also go by our Vesper rank whenever we're in combat for 'Professionalism' as Snail said but in reality it's only him.

Ruby/Yang: "Ooooh." 

Both were satisfied once Rusty gave them an answer about him being in a team. But Ruby had one question.

Ruby: "Also, I never asked and I don't mean to be rude but... why do you have a prosthetic arm?"

Rusty: "Hmm? Ah, well you see, this is what make's the Vesper's special. It's called the Armored Core, AC armor unit for short."

Yang: "What does it do?"

Rusty: "That's a secret. But hey, you might see it in action during initia-"

Jaune: "AAAHH!"

Rusty stopped mid sentence to see Jaune flying towards a wall and being pinned to said wall by a javelin that seemed to belong to the girl with red hair.

Red hair girl: "I'm sorry!"

Rusty raised an eyebrow.

Rusty: "Huh? Wonder what happened there?"

Yang: "He was trying to Weiss over there. I was kind of listening in to them while you were talking."

Just as they were about to continue their talk, the speaker's were turned on.

Glynda on intercom: "Would all first year students please report to beacon cliff for initiation. Again, would all first year students report to beacon cliff for initiation."

With Glynda's message finished, Rusty, Ruby and Yang walked over to Jaune to speak with him as the red haired girl pulled the javelin out of the wall from his hoodie.

Red hair girl: "It was nice meeting you."

Jaune: "(Sigh) Likewise..."

After that short interaction, she left Jaune alone but not for long. Rusty walked up to Jaune and lent him his hand.

Rusty: "Need a hand there buddy?"

Jaune: "Yeah..."

Jaune grabbed Rusty's hand and was pulled up.

Yang: "Having some trouble there lady killer?"

Jaune: "I don't understand. My dad said all women look for is confidence. Where did I go wrong?" 

Yang: " 'Snow angel' probably wasn't the best start."

Yang walked off ahead of the group to the cliffs.

Rusty: "It's good to have confidence but sometimes over-confidence will be you're downfall, trust me I know all too well."

Rusty then left alongside Yang, leaving Jaune and Ruby in the locker rooms.

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 *Timeskip*

All of the students were standing on beacon cliff, overlooking the emerald forest. Each of the students were standing on silver plates, except for the Vesper's. In front of the students were Headmaster Ozpin and Glynda.

Ozpin: "For year's, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Glynda: "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams'. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today."

Ozpin: "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Ruby: "What!?"

Rusty looked over to his left looking at Ruby with some pity.

Rusty: 'Oof, can't imagine if Ruby and Weiss got teamed together.'

Ozpin: "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path...or you will die."

Rusty heard Jaune who was to his left laughing nervously before gulping.

"You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Jaune raised his hand.

Jaune: "Yeah, um, sir?"

Ozpin: "Good! Now, take your positions."

Once Ozpin gave the command, every student took their stance and readied themselves.

Jaune: "Uh, sir? I've got, um... a question."

The first person sent flying was Weiss.

"So this landing... strategy thing... uh, wha-what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?"

Ozpin: "No. You will be falling."

More students were being launched while Jaune was still questioning Ozpin.

Jaune: "Oh, uh, I see... so, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?"

Ozpin: "No. You will be using your own landing strategy."

Next were Nora and Ren who were launched.

Jaune: "Uh-huh... yeah."

Yang was next to be sent flying and next was Ruby.

Rusty: "Hey Ruby! Good luck out there!"

Ruby turned to face Rusty and smiled before looking back forward and be sent flying as well.

Jaune: "So, what exactly is a landing strategyYYY!..."

As Jaune asked, he was hurled into the sky behind everyone else into the Emerald forest. Ozpin simply watched as they all fell into the forest while taking satisfied sip out of his mug. 

Ozpin: 'I love my job.'

Once satisfied, he turned to face the Vesper's who were still standing and waiting.

Ozpin: "Now I bet you four are wondering why you weren't sent with the other students. I know that you are already a team, but that doesn't mean I don't have my own initiation for you all."

Snail: "What do you have in mind professor?"

Ozpin: "A very simple task. I want you to watch the students from a distance and make sure they are safe. I know I said that the teacher's wouldn't intervene but If I'm not mistaken, you four aren't teachers. But It would also be such a shame to see any of these children get seriously inured or worse. If possible, try not to be seen or intervene if you can. After all, this is their time to prove themselves."

Pater: "And if we have to sir?"

Ozpin: "Then it will be a great opportunity for me to assess your own skills as a team and with you're 'AC' I believed you call it? Is this task acceptable to the four of you?"

Each Vesper member looked at each other before looking to Snail.

Snail: "....Understood. We will stay out of sight and help ONLY if necessary."

Ozpin: "Good."

Ozpin turned to face the forest seeing that there were no more students landing.

"It should have been long enough now for the students to find some partners by now, so you should get moving."

Each Vesper nodded and activated their AC armor. 

Snail: "Vesper's, split up and find a pair to follow."

Freud/Rusty/Pater: "Roger!"

Once Snail gave them their orders, each of them activated their thrusters and flew into the forest to find and follow their own pair of students. But it seems when Rusty boosted into the forest, he accidentally made Ozpin drop his mug on the ground and break. Ozpin was quite saddened by this event.

Ozpin: "(Sigh) That was my favorite mug too..."

Glynda: "Sir, you have a whole collection of mugs in your personal quarters. I don't see why you should be upset."

Ozpin looked up slightly to the sky with his eye's closed.

Ozpin: "Perhaps one day you will understand Glynda."

Once Ozpins trivial conversation ended, he looked back onto his tablet to watch the students from the hidden camera's within the forest

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(With Pater)

Pater disabled his thrusters and landed on the ground, quickly drawing his weapon incase there were any grimm nearby. After surveying the area for a short moment, he confirmed he was clear. Pater began to move deeper into the forest to find any students nearby. He soon stopped moving once he heard a familiar voice calling out.

Yang: "Helloooo!? Is anyone out there?"

He had found Yang by herself roaming around the forest, looking for a partner since she was still alone. Pater crouched and began to follow and watch Yang silently. Out of all of the Vesper's, Pater is most accustomed to stealth and exceeds in following other's unnoticed, even with his AC active.

"Hello!? I'm getting bored here..."

Yang stopped in her tracks once she heard some bushes rustling. She turned around to walk towards it.

"Someone there?"

Yang stepped closer to the bushes and moved some of the branches to see who or what was behind it.

"Ruby, is that you?"

(Growling noises)

Yang looked up to see not her sister but rather... an Ursa.

"Nope."

The ursa pounced at Yang to attack her but she quickly rolled out of the way and readied her gauntlets, only to dodge again once another ursa attacked her from behind. It was now a 2v1 now, with Yang having to fight 2 ursa's at once. Pater continued to watch but readied his pulse gun incase he would need to help from afar. The first ursa charged at her again to slash her but Yang reeled her right fist back and launched a powerful punch sending it flying back to the other ursa. The second Ursa then charged her as well only to get upper cut into the air and kicked back to the other ursa that was down.

Yang: "You guys wouldn't happen to have seen a girl in a red hood, would you?"

The first ursa that was downed got up again and roared at her in response to her question.

"You could just say no."

The ursa charged Yang again, slashing at her twice with it's claws which she easily dodged. Once Yang was at a safe distance, she began to laugh and taunt at them.

"Jeez, you guys couldn't hit the broad side of a..."

Yang stopped talking and put her guard down. Pater was unsure of what just happened, wondering why she stopped talking all of the sudden. But from Yang's point of view, she saw the one thing that made her mad more than anything.

The ursa managed to cut a single strand of her hair and to Yang, that would not pass.

"You..."

Yang closed her eyes for a short moment before opening them again, as her lilac eyes turned into crimson red. Not only were the grimm confused about what was happening, but Pater was intrigued about the situation.

"YOU MONSTER!"

Yang had suddenly let out a fiery explosion around her body and charged the grimm in pure rage. The first ursa was sadly Yang's target, as it took powerful gut punch to the stomach and then followed up by a powerful uppercut again. Yang them launched herself with her gauntlets shot and proceeded to let out of flurry of combo's onto the grimm, each punch was followed up by a shotgun shot. Yang reeled back her fist one last time and sent a more powerful punch to the ursa, sending it flying into the tree's towards Pater's direction. Pater had moved to the side quickly to see the ursa fly past him breaking every tree on impact before turning into ash. Pater looked back to Yang with wide eyes, taking mental note.

Pater: 'Note to self: Do not piss off Yang for whatever reason...'  

Pater looked back to see the other ursa charge at Yang before stopping in it's tracks when Yang looked back at it with an angry look.

Yang: "What!? You want some too!?"

The ursa stood on both of it's back legs and roared at Yang. But then the ursa grunted in pain before falling onto the ground and dying. Behind the now dead ursa was Blake, who had her weapon lodged in the back of it. She pulled it out of its back and sheathed it on her own back before looking to Yang with a slight smirk. They looked at each other for a moment before Yang broke the silence.

"I could've taken him."

As yang and Blake began to speak with each other, Pater continued to watch from a distance. He was impressed how strong Yang was and how Blake easily snuck behind the ursa and killed it.  As Yang and Blake began to walk away, Pater stood up from his crouching position and took a single step backwards before he froze in his tracks when he saw Blake looking directly in his direction. 

Pater: 'Did...did she hear me? Can she see me? I know my AC can be slightly loud when moving but I'm a good distance from them both. And I know for a fact that my AC color shouldn't be too visible as well.'

Pater stood still and saw that only Blake was looking towards him but not Yang. If Blake could see him, how come Yang hasn't noticed? Yang stopped walking and turned around to see Blake looking at some tree's.

Yang: "Something wrong Blake?"

Blake turned to look at Yang before looking back at where Pater was but he already moved out of sight when she looked away. Blake narrowed her eyes in the direction before looking back to Yang.

Blake: "No, it's just... I thought I saw something over there."

Yang: "Might've just been another Grimm too scared to attack us. C'mon, we should go find the ruins Professor Ozpin was talking about."

Yang began to walk away while Blake looked one last time in the direction she was looking at earlier before following behind Yang to the ruins. Pater soon moved out of hiding from a tree and began to follow them again but only this time much further, being more cautious about his presence.

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(With Snail)

When Snail had landed, he moved out quickly to find a pair to follow. It didn't take too long though, as he had found a pair being Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos. Snail was quite stunned to see Pyrrha here at beacon, as he has heard many stories about the so called 'Invincible girl' and had always wished to see her skills in person. Perhaps now he will be able to during their initiation, but Jaune was a different story to Snail. Ever since he saw him for the first time, he had always thought of him as someone who didn't belong here at all. Snail had watched as Jaune needed help recovering from the launch back at the cliffs when he was stuck to a tree by Pyrrha's weapon. He also seemed to notice that Jaune had no knowledge of any basic training from some academy's and that he was either over-confident or easily frightened. But Snail didn't care enough and continued to follow the duo regardless.

 While Pyrrha and Jaune were walking, with Snail hidden behind them, they overheard sounds of gunfire in the distance. Jaune turned to look at the source but couldn't see it since it was too far.

Jaune: "Did you hear that?"

Pyrrha: "Gunfire. It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy."

Both Jaune and Pyrrha continued to move forward. Pyrrha moved a tree branch out of her way but accidentally let go of it, smacking Jaune straight in the face. He grunted and fell on his backside. Pyrrha looked back to Jaune in worry.

"Jaune! I'm sorry!"

Jaune: "It's ok, just a scratch."

Jaune stood up and moved his hand away from where he was hit, revealing a cut of his face. Pyrrha walked up to Jaune in concern.

Pyrrha: "Why didn't you activate your aura?"

Jaune: "Huh?"

Pyrrha: "Your aura?"

Jaune: "Gesundheit."

Pyrrha: "Jaune, do you... know what arua is?"

Jaune: "Pff, of course I do. Do you know what aura is?"

Pyrrha: "Aura is the manifestation of our soul. It bear's our burdens and shields our hearts. Have you ever felt like you were being watched without knowing that someone was there?"

Jaune: "Uh...yeah."

Pyrrha: "With practice, our aura can be our shield. Everyone has it, even animals."

Jaune: "What about monsters?"

Pyrrha: "No, the monsters we fight lack a soul. They are creatures of Grimm, the manifestation of anonymity. They are the darkness and we are the light."

Jaune: "Right, that's why we fight them."

Pyrrha: "It's not about why, it's about knowing. Understanding both dark and light helps us manifest our aura. Everyone has some of both. By bearing your soul outward as a force, you can deflect harm. All of our tools and equipment are conduits for aura. You project yourself and your soul when fighting."

Jaune: "It's like a force field!"

Snail sighed, rolled his eyes and slapped his forehead. Not only did Jaune have no knowledge about aura, but he didn't even have his own unlocked.

Snail: 'Does Beacon just let anyone enter?'

Pyrrha: "Yes, if you want to look at it that way."

Pyrrha then walked up to Jaune and placed a hand on his face.

"Now close your eye's and concentrate."

Jaune: "Uh... ok."

Jaune did as he was asked and closed his eyes. Pyrrha closed her own as well and began a chant. Once she did, the both of them began to glow.

Pyrrha: "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul and by my shoulder protect thee."

Once she finished the chant, she removed her hand from Jaune's face, being tired from using her aura to unlock Jaune's. He continued to glow but looked at Pyrrha with some concern.

Jaune: "Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha: "Its ok. I used my aura to unlock yours, but the energy that protects you now is your own."

Pyrrha then watched as Jaune's cut began to heal instantly.

"You have a lot of it."

Jaune began to look at his body and see the white glow around him, surprised by his newly unlocked aura.

Jaune: "Wow..."

After that, Pyrrha and Jaune continued to move to reach the ruins where the relics are. Snail watched as they left with some thoughts going through his mind.

Snail: 'I don't get it. This man some how made it into Beacon academy with no skills or knowledge of basic huntsman training. Just because she claim's that he has a large amount of aura won't help him in the long run. He'll easily lose his life or possibly become a hindrance to other's.'

'Though I have seen his kind before, and they have proven themselves in the long run.'

Snail had watched the whole scene and thought to himself that this scenario looked very familiar to one he had with his teammate long ago. When he first met Rusty before he became a Vesper. Jaune may not be as skilled as Rusty when they first met, but he could tell if he does try to focus on getting stronger, he can become a good huntsman. Snail then followed both of them further into the forest.

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(With Freud)

When Freud landed, he had moved quickly like the other's to find a pair of students. What he didn't expect was to run into a familiar individual. He had found Ren fighting of king Taijitu. Ren was fighting the two heads on his own while Freud watched from afar, curious about how he would handle the situation. Freud was quite impressed with how Ren ended up defeating both the heads all by himself. The first head was killed when Ren broke of its fangs and stabbed it into the eyes of the snake, while the second one was killed when Ren used his blades on his gun to stab it in the throat. Freud watched Ren as he began to dust himself off.

Freud: "I'll admit, he's more skilled than I thought." He muttered to himself.

???: "I know right!?"

Freud instantly froze when he heard a voice next to him, but that's not what scared him. It's the fact that this person snuck up on him without him noticing at all. He slowly turned his head to the right and looked up to find Nora hanging upside down on a tree with her legs. She smiled and waved at Freud, though she didn't know it was him who was in front of her.

Nora: Hi there!"

Freud continued to stare at Nora before very slowly walking backwards while keeping his eye on her. He soon disappeared into the shadows of the tree's, away from Nora.

"Bye Mr. Robot!"

She waved goodbye to Freud as he retreated slowly into the shadows. Once he was gone, Nora went to the other side of the tree and hung upside again above Ren and began to try and imitate a sloth sound.

"Urrraaa! Urrraaa!"

Ren turned around and looked up behind to find Nora dangling from the tree.

Ren: "Heh, I still don't think that's what a sloth sounds like."

Nora reached her hand over to Ren and booped him.

Nora: "Boop."

Nora then dropped to the ground on her feet.

"By the way Ren, did you see that blue robot guy over there?"

Ren raised an eyebrow confused to what Nora was speaking of.

Ren: "Robot guy?"

Nora: "Yeah, but it's gone now."

Both Ren and Nora's conversation ended when a large ursa appeared behind them.

Ursa: "(Grimm Roar!)"

Ren prepared to fight it but Nora.... she had other idea's for the poor thing.

Nora: "Ren! Let's ride that Ursa!"

Ren looked at Nora shocked and terrified with her idea.

Ren: "I don't think that's a wise decision."

Before he could protest further, Nora began to drag him towards the ursa with malicious intentions. In fact, the ursa itself began to shake a little due to her evil aura surrounding her. The poor grimm had a whole lot of 'bad times' coming it's way.....ah who cares, it's a grimm anyways.

While Nora was enacting her plan, Freud was watching from a distance, only slightly peeking out of a tree. He narrowed his eyes at Nora feeling slightly...scared of her.

'How did she even manage to get behind. Not once in my life have I ever let my guard down, especially in battle. Is she also a ninja or something?'

Freud continued to watch Nora wrestling with the ursa while Ren tried to help in the situation.

'I take it back, she's not a ninja but that doesn't matter. She's an unpredictable threat and I hate things I can't predict.' 

Freud's attention was brought back to Nora and Ren when he saw them riding an ursa away. He began to follow them while also being baffled that she decided to ride a damn ursa along the way. 

'How does he even deal with her?'

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

(At the cliff's)

Opzin and Glynda continued to watch the initiation unfold and how each student was doing. Both were on their own tablets watching different pairs of students. Glynda walked up to Ozpin to inform him of the most recent pairing. 

Glynda: "Our last pair has been formed sir, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. It also seems that V.I Freud is currently following them as you instructed."

Glynda watched the tablet as both Nora and Ren were currently.... riding an ursa...

"Poor boy, I can't possibly imagine those two getting along. Still, he's probably better off than miss Nikos."

Ozpin hummed to himself as he took a quick glance at Glynda's tablet before looking back.

"I don't care what his transcripts say, that Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat. I guess we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple in just a few minutes."

Glynda turned off her tablet and walked off before turning back to Ozpin. 

"Speaking of which, what did you use as relic's this year?" (Silence) "Professor Ozpin?"

Ozpin doesn't answer, as he was watching the footage of Ruby Rose who was sitting in the grass and picking up leaves while her 'Partner' Weiss Schnee begins walking in randomly chosen directions. He then changes the feed to watch another pair, Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

(With Yang and Blake)

Both Yang and Blake had walked long enough through the forest to finally reach the temple ruins. They both looked at it from a hill having their own thoughts. Yang's thoughts though were out loud.

Yang: "Think this is it?"

Blake responded with a blank look at Yang before walking down the hill wit Yang following soon. Blake would have responded if not for her being lost in thought. While walking down the hill, she looked back to the forest still feeling like she and Yang were being followed or watched by something. This feeling hasn't subsided at all since they left the spot where she first met up with Yang. Blake though was not wrong.

As both Yang and Blake walked down to the temple ruins, Pater was still following close behind. He had to be cautious the entire time as Blake kept looking back in his direction but he was quick enough to hide from her line of sight each time. Pater viewed the surrounding, realizing that this is the location where all the students were tasked to reach. He turned on his radio and sent a direct message to each of his teammates.

Pater: "This is V.IV Pater, I have located the temple ruins and am now sending a marker on our radars. If you are lost, rendezvous at my location."

Once Pater finished his radio message, he placed a marker on each of their personal radars and continued to watch Yang and Blake at the ruins. Once both Yang and Blake reached the end of the hill and walked onto the temple grounds, they observed their surroundings and found the relics they needed to collect.

Blake: "Chess pieces?"

Yang: "Some of them are missing. Looks like we weren't the first ones here.

Blake: "Well, I guess we should pick one.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

(With Jaune and Pyrrha)

Jaune and Pyrrha had traveled through the forest for sometime now but stopped once they came across a cave which had some drawings around the wall of the entrance. Both stood quietly until Jaune broke the silence.

Jaune: "You think this is it?"

Not too far from the duo again, Snail continued to watch the two but has been growing increasingly annoyed by how slow it was taking them to reach their actual destination. Snail knows they are going the wrong way since Pater had just recently sent the location of the ruins on their radar but Snail can't intervene as he was told unless he has to. 

Jaune soon had a torch in hand and led Pyrrha into the cave, in a hopeless effort thinking they had reached their destination. Snail's attention was soon drawn to the drawings on the rocks and found a picture of a scorpion creature but Snail soon realized they had found a Death Stalker's home.

Snail: 'I'd give them 1 minute before they come out screaming.'

After waiting a minute, he had heard a loud pitched scream.

Jaune: "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Throughout the whole forest his scrams were heard. Snail had to literally cover his ear's due to how loud he actually was. Soon he felt vibrations on the ground and looked at the cave to see Pyrrha running out of it and following behind her was a large Death Stalker, charging out of the cave while Jaune was holding onto the stinger of the grimm.

Death Stalker: "(Loud screeching.)"

Jaune: "AAHAAHAHA! PYRRHA, THIS IS NOT THE RELIC! IT'S NOT!"

Jaune continued to scream and beg to do something while Snail just watched in disappointment of Jaune deciding to hold the most dangerous part of that grimm.

Pyrrha: "Jaune! What ever you do don't let-"

Just as Pyrrha was about to warn Jaune, he let go of the stinger just as the grimm flung him away. Jaune was sent flying through the air screaming, while Snail watched him as he flew over his head. Pyrrha watched as Jaune was sent flying away uttering the last part of her warning.

"Go..."

She turned back to face the death stalker, readying herself for combat. Snail continued to watch thinking he should intervene but at the same time, he wanted to see her skills in action.

Snail: 'Let's see how you handle this miss Nikos.'

Snail watched with some anticipation, ready to see how she could handle the death stalker on her own. But to Snail's surprise, she turned and ran away from the death stalker as it began to chase her down. Snail watched as she ran and thought to himself that she actually made the more logical decision. He the began to follow Pyrrha while the death stalker chased after her.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Back at the ruins)

???: "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Pater had turned his head to face the sound of the loud screaming, wondering if a girl was in trouble. But as he turned his head, he saw two familiar figures approaching from the shadows of the trees. It was both Rusty and Freud.

Rusty: "Nice job at finding the temple Pater. How did you find the place?"

Pater: "I was simply following my pair and soon found myself here with them. Did you follow the marker I set on our radar's?"

Rusty: "Yeah but I soon ran into Freud and we ended up just walking with each other. His semblance is quite useful when needing to find or follow others."

Freud: "Speaking of others, who were you following."

Rusty: "Ruby and Weiss but I lost track of them when something... interesting happened."

Pater: "Where are they now though?"

Rusty was about to respond but heard a sound coming from above them. He looked up and found his answer.

Rusty: "Well there's one of them."

Rusty had pointed to the sky and Freud and Pater followed to where he was pointing and saw someone falling from the sky.

Pater watched in disbelief. Freud watched in amusement.

Pater: "WHY IS SHE FALLING FROM THE SKY!?"

Rusty: "Well...."

[Flashback]

When Rusty landed within the forest, he was surprised that he had landed nearby Ruby and more unexpectedly, Weiss. He found it a bit funny that these two were now partners and had to work together during the initiation. Over the course of time they were doing fine though having a bit of arguments along the way. It got worse when they were ambush by a large pack of beowolves and they ended screwing each other over during the fight and ended up setting a tree on fire, which later on helped them to escape.

As they 'tried' to find their way to the temple, they ended up arguing more and more and even became lost at a point. Rusty had hoped that they would try to work together but it didn't seem like that would be the case. He continued to follow them but soon lost sight of them, which confused him because they were close by not too long ago. He soon got the message from Pater who had found the temple and marked it on his radar.  He thought for a moment that they might of found their way there and that he lost them because he wasn't paying attention. He began making his way to the temple but later on heard shouting above him. He looked up to see a large Nevermore flying above him but what caught his attention was that Ruby and Weiss were riding the thing and still arguing.

Weiss: "I told you this was a bad idea!"

That was all Rusty heard before the Nevermore flew flew off with the both of them towards the direction of the temple's location.

Rusty: 'Well that's one way of traveling I guess.'

Rusty began to follow using his thrusters on ground, skidding across the forest towards the temple while also encountering Freud.

[End of Flashback]

Rusty: "And that's how we ended up here."

Ruby: "HEADS UUUUUUPPP!"

Ruby continued to fall from the sky.

Pater: "Well at least she's knows a landing strategy."

Pater spoke to soon, as Jaune came crashing into Ruby and both crashed into a tree. Freud faced Pater with a smirk but he could show it due to his helmet.

Freud: "You were saying?"

Pater looked back to Freud with an annoyed face but Freud couldn't see it since Pater's helmet was also active.

Pater: "Don't."

(Distant roar noise)

Freud turned around to face the source of the sound but couldn't see it, so he used his semblance and found two familiar aura color's coming their way.

Freud: "Well Pater, things are about to get a bit more interesting."

Pater: "How so?"

???: "YEEEEHAAAAWWWW!"

As soon as Pater questioned Freud, a large ursa came roaring out of some bushes but soon fell flat on its stomach with Nora jumping off the back of it onto the grass. Nora stood up and looked back to the now dead ursa with a sad expression.

Nora: "Aaaahh It's broken."

As Nora began to inspect the dead ursa, Ren came out from behind breathing heavily.

Ren: "Nora (exhale) please. Don't ever do that again."

Ren looked up to face Nora but soon found her gone with only and outline of her remaining where she was last standing. Ren quickly looked around the area and found Nora at the temple looking at the chess pieces.

Nora: "Ooooooohhh."

She picked up a golden king piece and placed it on top of her head.

"I'm queen of the castle~ I'm queen of the castle~"

Ren: "NORA!"

Nora stopped dancing and salutes with the relic in hand.

Nora: "Coming Ren!"

She began to skip her way towards Ren. 

Pater: "...Did she just ride a ursa?!"

Freud: "Trust me when I say this, she is very unpredictable."

Snail: "I see that we are all finally here now, good."

Each member turned around and saw Snail approaching them.

Rusty: "Hey Snail, where's your pair?"

Snail: "One went flying towards this general vicinity while the other currently is running from a death stalker."

Each member listened to Snail while Freud was looking at a red aura running through the forest.

Freud: "You mean that one?"

Each of them turned to face where Freud was pointing and saw Pyrrha running from a large death stalker, as it tried to attack her with its pincer's.

Pater: "She ran all the way here with that chasing after her?"

Snail: "I'm more surprised she had the stamina to run all the way here from that cave."

Pater: "Shouldn't you have helped?"

Snail: "I thought about it but she can handle herself. Besides she-"

(BOOM!)

The Vesper's turned quickly to face the source of the explosion but soon found out it came not from something but someone.

Yang: "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! COULD EVERYONE JUST CHILL OUT FOR 2 SECONDS BEFORE SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS AGAIN!?"

Rusty: "Did she just... explode?"

Pater: "I think it's related to her semblance. Word of advice, don't piss her off. When she got mad like that before, she brutally attacked an ursa and sent it hurling through some tree's. Like I said, it was... brutal."

(Loud screeching!)

Everyone in the area looked up to see a large nevermore flying in the sky with Weiss hanging on to it.

Rusty: "Was wondering where that nevermore went to."

Weiss then began to fall.

Pater: "Will she be ok?"

Snail: "They have landing strategies. She should be fine on her own."

Pater: 'Please let it be a normal landing.'

All the sudden, Jaune jumps out of the tree and grabs Weiss in the air, holding her in a bridal position. Pater was again denied his normalcy.

Jaune: "Just...dropping in?"

Weiss looked at Jaune for a moment before looking down and seeing that they were still falling. Jaune realized that they were falling as well soon after. 

"Oh god!"

Both Jaune and Weiss then held on to each other as they both fell.

"Oh, nooooooo-Oomph!"

Jaune landed on the ground face first with his body spreading out. Not too long after, Weiss landed directly on his back cushioning the fall.

Weiss: "My hero." She said in a mocking manner.

Jaune: "(Groaning) My back..."

While Jaune was in pain, the death stalker continued to chase after Pyrrha in the background. Rusty and Freud found their selves laughing at the whole scene while Pater seemed to just give up on anything going right. Snail found the whole scene similar to a cartoon, funny to the other three but not to him. Pyrrha soon landed next to everyone else in the family guy death pose.

Yang: "Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!"

Ruby: "Not if I can help it!"

Ruby charged towards the death stalker with a war cry and transformed crescent rose, using one of it's shots to propel herself towards it. When she got close enough, the death stalker smacked Ruby away as she was knocked back. She managed to weakly get up.

"Don't worry! I'm totally fine!"

Ruby turned to face the grimm and shot it in the face before running away. Even though she was running, the death stalker was getting closer to her, which worried Yang.

Yang: "Ruby!"

Yang sprinted towards Ruby to help her as quick as she could. As Ruby continued to run, the nevermore from before began to fly closer to her. The nevermore then flapped it's wings, sending feather's flying towards Ruby in an attempt to skewer her. Ruby continued to run but then her cape was caught by one of the feathers. Yang got close enough but the feathers were sent towards her direction as well, halting her in reaching Ruby. Ruby herself tried to free her cape from one of the feathers that was stuck to it as quickly as she could.

Yang: "Ruby get out of there!"

Ruby: "I'm trying!"

The death stalker soon got close enough to where it could use it's stinger to attack Ruby. Rusty began to worry a bit and switched out his twin blade for his long range burst rifle and aimed it at the death stalker. The death stalker's stinger began to come down on Ruby and Rusty was about to pull the trigger until he was halted by Snail's hand.

Rusty: "What are you-"

Snail slightly looked over to Rusty.

Snail: "Trust them V.III."

As Rusty was about to argue with Snail, a large block of ice stopped the stinger from attacking Ruby. Rusty looked back at the death stalker and saw that it's stinger was frozen in a block of ice, almost reaching Ruby. Rusty sighed in relief and saw that it was Weiss who had saved her.

Weiss: "You are so childish."

Ruby opened her eyes and saw the stinger encased in ice and saw Weiss using her glyph to make it. 

Ruby: "Weiss...?"

She stood up and turned back to Ruby to continued to berate her.

Weiss: "And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit... difficult... but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be...nicer."

Ruby: "I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this."

Weiss:" You're fine."

Weiss walked back to join the other's while Ruby whispered to herself in relief.

Ruby: "Normal knee's..."

Ruby stood up and saw the death stalker's stinger still trapped in the ice, struggling to break free. Ruby turned and ran back to join the other's, with Yang hugging her knowing she was safe. Rusty was glad that Weiss was there to save her and that they seemed to have found some common ground. He turned to Snail, still a little upset about stopping him.

Rusty: "Why did you stop me? She could have died!"

Snail: "Yes but remember, this is their initiation not ours, and no one will always be there to save them in times of need. But through this experience, they will learn how to handle situations on their own and in the future, know who to trust and how to work with each other in times where they are not ready. Each will grow and learn from their own successes and their mistakes. Now hopefully miss Rose will learn not to be reckless from now on. If she was close to dying, I would've let you fire."

Rusty was silent after Snails words and felt slightly ashamed. He knows that not everyone can be saved and that sometimes saving others who are trying to grow will only worsen things in the long road. He knows that they need to do things on their own but to him, he doesn't want to lose other's he cares for.

Freud: "Snail being wise. Never thought I'd see the day. (Chuckles)."

Snail: "Quiet. And V.III, I understand that you see her as a friend but If I recall, you did mention that her skills will 'blow me away' once I see them. So I wish to see if you are telling the truth or not."

Rusty: (Sigh) Right, I do remember saying that."

Snail: "And if her skills fail to impress me, you owe me 20 lien."

Rusty: "Are you making a bet Snail?"

Snail: "I am. But knowing my luck, I may lose this but there's always the chance of me winning."

Rusty/Freud: "Doubt."

Pater: "(Ahem) Not to ruin the moment but they have all chosen their relics and are making a retreat with those Grimm still following."

Snail: "Thank you V.IV. Vesper's, let's move!"

Each Vesper besides Snail nodded and rushed to catch up with the others. They soon catch up with them and found them running towards a large broken ruin, with both the death stalker and nevermore still in pursuit. The Vesper's were nearby and began to watch the fight unfold.

A/n: Stop when Ruby kills the nevermore.

Once Ruby had reached and landed on top of the mountain, the nevermore's head landed alongside next to her as the body of it began to fall lifelessly into the ruins below while everyone watched in amazement. Ruby walked towards the edge of the cliff as her cape began to flow with petals from the wind. And not too far from the group, the Vesper's watched in amazement as well.

Pater: "Wow. To manage to pull the entire body of a nevermore that large requires some strength. You weren't kidding Rusty, that was impressive."

Rusty: "Told ya my buddy could blow you away. What did you think Snail?"

Snail turned his head to the side, looking away from Rusty.

Snail: "Did what, the bear minimum? It's not some major feat that is outside the skills of professional huntsman."  

Rusty: "Oh c'mon Snail, aren't you being a bit-"

Snail: "But...for someone her age, that feat alone is quite impressive. She was also able to form a plan in a short time with people she is not completely use to working with. The same can be said for Jaune, who I assumed was some coward who would hide behind others but managed to be brave enough to lead them and assist in the fight even while afraid. So yes V.III, they did manage to impress me a little."

Freud: "Or you just don't want to admit it completely."

Rusty/ Pater: "Mhm."

Snail: "I just admitted it! How did I-"

(Loud screeching noise)

Once the Vesper's heard the noise, they looked up and found another nevermore flying towards their direction.

Pater: "Another nevermore incoming. Also, my radar is picking up another death stalker coming this way as well."

Rusty looked over to the other's, knowing they were already tired from their previous fight. He looked over to Snail to tell him.

Rusty: "Snail, they just finished that big battle of their own and they are probably tired. We should step in and handle this."

Snail: "I agree."

Rusty blinked a few times in confusion.

Rusty: "Wait what?"

Snail: "I said I agree. They have clearly completed their objective and now they are finished. I can clearly tell they might be tired by now so..."

Snail cocked his stun gun.

"let's show them what the Vesper's of Atlas are capable of."

Freud cracked his neck in excitement.

Freud: "Finally, about time we do something other than watch. Your orders?"

Snail thought to himself and quickly made up a plan to deal with the fight before it began. Snail soon prepared his plasma missiles on his left shoulder.

Snail: "V.III, on my signal I want you to fire your plasma missiles alongside mine at the nevermore. Freud, use your drones to fire at the death stalker's eyes and weaken or destroy it's vision. Once that is done, Freud and I will deal with the nevermore. Rusty and Pater, you handle the death stalker. And Pater, contact each of the other students scroll and tell them to stay back. We don't need any distractions. Is that understood?"

Freud/Rusty/Pater: "Roger!"

Rusty and Snail then prepared their missiles and locked on to the nevermore. Pater turned on an open frequency to contact the other's, while Freud prepared his drones and locked on to each of the eye's of the death stalker."

Snail: "On my signal."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Ruby stood above the mountain, she felt proud that their plan of taking down the nevermore worked. And Jaune with his partners, stood below Ruby near the entrance of the ruins and was amazed what he had seen. 

Jaune: "Wow..."

Yang was below with both Weiss and Blake as they all looked up at Ruby on the mountain. Yang felt immense pride in her sister's action's and how she made a plan to deal with the nevermore successfully.

Yang: "Well... that was a thing!"

Ruby decided it was finally time to go down and regroup with her partner's but as she was about to, she saw something familiar flying towards them. Another nevermore, slightly larger than the last one. She also saw another deathstalker coming out of the forest towards Jaune's group.

Ruby: "Guys! We got more Grimm!"

Everyone turned around to see both the nevermore and Death stalker charging their way as each of them prepared for battle again.

Yang: "Ugh! I'm so not up for another nevermore!"

And with Jaune, he was not too excited that another death stalker was on it's way towards them. He saw that they were already tired from the last fight and they might not have enough energy. Ruby landed next to Yang, Weiss and Blake and readied their weapons.

Weiss: "Do you have another plan Ruby?"

Ruby: "I don't know. maybe we can-"

(Static from scrolls)

Everyone began to hear something coming from their scrolls. Ruby and Jaune were the first to pull out theirs and turn it on, with the caller's name being simply V.IV.

V.IV: "This is V.IV Pater here. Feel free to standby, the Vesper's will handle the rest of it from here."

A/n: Couldn't find an extended version so I recommend turning on loop. If this for some reason gets removed, the OST is named 'Steel Haze'.

Ruby and Jaune were confused to what Pater meant, also realizing that not once had they seen them during initiation. Before they could question Pater, they heard a distant whistling sound in the air. They looked ahead and saw multiple purple missiles flying straight towards the nevermore, soon hitting it's target with electric purple explosions, causing the nevermore to screech in pain and fall towards the ground with a loud thud.

Another set of objects went flying in the direction of the death stalker. These object's stopped in front of the death stalker's face before firing blue laser's into a few of it's eyes, causing it to screech in pain as it began to thrash violently attempting to hit the objects. Once the laser's stopped firing, they flew back into the forest.

Yang: "Woah! What just happened!?"

Ruby: "I think it was the Vesper's. But where are they?"

With Jaune and the other's, they were shocked that the Vesper's just shot down a large nevermore and subdued a death stalker so quickly. Jaune was thankful that they didn't need to fight another set of Grimm but the nevermore started to slowly get up and the death stalker began to adjusts it's remaining eyes. Jaune and the other's prepared their weapons incase they would have to fight but soon saw some lights coming from the forest. They heard the sound of rockets getting closer and closer until they saw 4 machines flying out of the tree's, each of them charging towards the 2 injured Grimm.

Snail: "Vesper's, you know your targets. Move!"

With that order given, each member split into two's. With Snail and Freud, they charged towards the nevermore which was now back on it's feet. The nevermore turned to face it's assailants and roared in anger and began to spread it's wings. Once they were fully spread, the nevermore flapped it's wings and sent out a barrage of feather's towards Freud and Snail. Freud began to dodge each one while using his drones to shoot any incoming feather's along the way while Snail used the strength and defense of his AC to take the hits head on, not too worried about the damage he would be taking. 

Once both of them were close enough to the nevermore, they began strafing around it while shooting it with their weaponry. Freud used his rifle to shoot the legs of the nevermore to weaken it and prevent it from having any advantage on the ground, hovering around the downed nevermore. Snail remained on the ground and strafed around the front of the nevermore, using his stun gun to shoot it's face but it had little to no affect.

Snail: 'It must have a strong resilience against electricity.'

Snail stopped firing and activated his right shoulder drone, which would fire concentrated laser shots. The drone scanned it's target and found it's weak point, the nevermore's eye's. Snail stopped moving and found a position where the drone could fire a direct hit to it's eye and once he stopped moving, the drone fired and made a perfect in the nevermore's left eye. The nevermore screeched in pain again due to how severe the damage was and directed it's attention away from Freud to Snail. It roared before lunging it's beak at Snail, who quickly boosted to his left to dodge the attack. Once Snail dodged, he reeled his left fist back and activated his laser lance and punched it in the right side of it's face, causing a large crack to appear on it's beak making the nevermore screech in pain as it was also sent rolling onto it's back since the punch was so strong.

With Rusty and Pater, they were dealing with the death stalker. Rusty was using both his nail gun in his right hand and his burst rifle on his left hand, shooting the death stalker. Pater used his right hand pulse gun up close to the face of the death stalker to inflict more damage on it's already damaged eye's. The death stalker reeled back both of it's pincer's and lunged it at Pater but with the use of his reverse joints, jumped above the death stalkers pincer's dodging it. As Pater was above it, he used his right shoulder pulse cannon to shoot above the death stalker as it followed Pater's direction. Once Pater landed, the death stalker used it's stinger to skewer Pater but he quickly activated his left shoulder hard light shield and blocked the attack, pushing him back a bit from the force.

Rusty: "It's armor is tough. Got any idea's Pater?"

Pater quickly looked over the the death stalker for any weak points but found none. But he did remember what Nora did to the death stalker they were fighting and had a plan.

Pater: "Rusty, we're going to do what Jaune's group did. I need you to weaken the tail connected to the stinger a little. I'm going to bait out it's stinger and trap it within my shield. Once I do, cut off the stinger so it lands on it's head."

Rusty: "Right! You can leave it to me!"

Rusty and Pater put their action to plan. Rusty began to shoot the stinger with his nail gun while Pater rushed directly into the face of the death stalker and used both of his pulse weapons in front of it's face, disorienting the death stalker. The death stalker's senses were weakened and it began to flail it's stinger and pincer's in a panic. It soon saw a blurry image of Pater and readied it's stinger, striking at pater. Luckily before it could hit him, Pater activated his shield again and trapped the stinger part way in his shield and almost reaching Pater's chest. Pater was simply glad that he got lucky with this risky gamble.

Pater: "NOW RUSTY!"

Rusty quickly jumped over Pater, switched his long rifle for his twin blade, and activated it, slashing at the tail connected to the stinger. Once he cut the two in half, the stinger fell on top of the death stalker's face, stabbing into it but not killing it. Pater and Rusty both backed away as it began to flail in a panic again, swinging it's pincer's left and right.

Rusty: "It's not dead, now what?"

Pater turned around to look at Snail and his left arm.

Pater: "Go switch with Snail!"

Rusty nodded and quickly rushed over to Snail and Freud using his assault boost. Once he was close enough, he yelled out to Snail.

Rusty: "Snail! Switch with me!"

Snail turned around and quickly rushed to switch while disabling his drone, leaving Freud with the nevermore for a short moment. But as Rusty and Snail were about to pass each other, Snail used his semblance to explain the situation as time slowed for them.

Snail to Rusty: 'Once you reach the nevermore, you and Freud attack it's legs and cripple it.'

Rusty to Snail: 'We have the stinger plunged in the head of the death stalker, you just need to finish it off with a strong punch.

Time moved normally for the two again as they bot passed each other. Snail charged towards the death stalker readying his laser lance to finish it off. But as he got closer, one of the pincer's were about to strike him on his left side.

Snail: "V.IV!"

Pater rushed towards Snail and the death stalker while activating his hard light sword. Once he was close enough, he found a weak point and slashed the death stalker's right pincer off, severing it as the death stalker screeched in pain.

Pater: "I've got your back Snail! Finish it!"

Once Pater slashed off the pincer, he jumped away from Snail's vicinity knowing what was about to happen. Snail was close enough to the head and the stinger stuck in the death stalker's skull. He raised his left fist high above him and activated the thruster's on the lance, slamming directly onto the stinger causing a large vibration and dust cloud. Since Jaune's group was the closest, they had to cover their eye's to protect their vision from the dust flying. Once the dust cloud cleared, Jaune and the other's were shocked by what they saw. Not only did Snail cause a large dust cloud with his punch, but he also sent the stinger straight through the skull of the death stalker leaving a large gaping hole in it's head as it leaked some black liquid as well. The death stalker was laying on the ground dead. Snail turned to face Pater.

Snail: "V.IV, We're moving to assist V.I and V.III."

Snail turned around and went back to help Rusty and Freud, with Pater following close behind. When Rusty reached the nevermore, he alerted Freud on the plan.

Rusty: "Freud! Get down here and let's cut it's legs!"

Freud nodded and hovered down to the ground, rushing the nevermore from behind with Rusty rushing the front of it as it started to get back up after the nasty punch from Snail. The nevermore tried to attack Rusty with it's beak but Rusty was prepared. Rusty's back began to glow ever so slightly as he got closer to the nevermore.

Rusty: "Say cheese bird brain!"

Rusty activated his semblance and sent out a large wave of energy near the head of the nevermore, blinding it. The nevermore began to spread it's wings and sent out another barrage of feather's in an attempt to hit Rusty. Rusty though was the fastest member of the Vesper's and began to easily dodge each incoming feather at him. What he didn't take into account was that those feather were flying directly towards Jaune and the other's.

Rusty: "PATER, THE FEATHERS!"

Pater was boosting his way towards Rusty and Freud and saw the direction of the feather's as he changed his direction to follow. Jaune and Pyrrha saw the incoming feather's and prepared their shields to block since they were unable to dodge it. As the feather's got closer, Pater slid across the ground and stopped in front of them, activating his shield as the feather's began to closer to them.

Pater: 'Let's hope this new upgrade works!'

Pater activated a new upgrade to his shield and the shield extended farther to his left and right, blocking any incoming feather's from hitting Jaune and the others. Luckily the newly upgraded shield worked and was able to withstand the barrage of feather's. Once he was safe, he deactivated his shield and turned to face the one's he just saved.

"Are you four alright?"

Jaune sighed in relief since they were saved from the feather's.

Jaune: "Uh yeah, thanks for that save."

Pyrrha: "We appreciate it a lot."

Nora: "Thank you!"

Ren nodded in thanks.

Pater nodded and flew back towards the other Vesper's to deal with the nevermore. When Rusty had finally reached the nevermore, he went under it's belly and began to slash at it's right leg with Freud attacking the left leg with his sword. The nevermore collapsed to the ground but quickly began to spread it's wings in an attempt to fly off.

Snail: "V.III, V.IV, pin it's wings down!"

Both of them were quick on Snail's order and Pater activated his sword while passing Snail, jumping in the air and descended onto the nevermore's, pinning it's right wing. Rusty rushed past the back of the nevermore and jumped onto the left wing and pinned it down alongside Pater. The nevermore screeched in pain and began to thrash around, hoping to get Pater and Rusty off of it's wings. They both were struggling but kept it pinned. Snail charged forward to the head of the nevermore, reeling his left fist far back but this time, activating the full power of his laser lance. Once he was close enough, he threw a powerful upper cut to the chin of the nevermore, breaking the bottom of it's beak and sending it flying into the air. At the same time when Snail landed that punch, the wings were ripped from it's body as it went flying, leaving the wings on the ground still skewered by Rusty and Pater. It was time to finish it off.

Snail: "V.I!"

Freud didn't respond as he flew past Snail into the air along side with the nevermore, flying past it and hovered above it. The nevermore made one last attempt to kill Freud as it opened it's broken beak to try and devour Freud, but Freud has something else for it to eat. He flipped over his right shoulder weapon and pointed it straight at it's mouth.

Freud: "We're finished here."

(BOOM!)

A/n: You can stop the music.

Freud fired his MORLEY cannon into the mouth of the nevermore, causing a large explosion. A large dust cloud covered the nevermore's head as it fell back to the surface with a loud thud, causing a large vibration on the ground. Once the dust cleared, the head of the nevermore was completely gone as Freud cannon blew it off entirely. Freud landed back on the ground with his shoulder weapon retracting back to it's standby mode.

Freud: "A short fight, but entertaining I suppose."

Rusty: "Nice head shot Freud."

Rusty walked up to Freud and raised his left hand for a high five which Freud returned in kind.

"Also Pater, was that the upgrade you wanted to try on you're AC?"

Pater: "Yep! And I'm quite pleased with it's results. Though I might make some changes in the future."

Snail: "Good job you three. With those Grimm out of the way, let us-"

(Loud gasp)

Each Vesper turned around to see both Ruby's and Jaune's team looking at them with the same amazement the Vesper's had when they saw Ruby kill the nevermore from earlier. Though Ruby was the only one was was jumping out of excitement with sparkling eyes.

Ruby: "OH MAN THAT WAS SO COOL! WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS!? WHERE CAN I GET ONE!? ALSO HOW-"

Yang: "Uh Ruby? Maybe you should calm down a bit-"

Yang walked up to Ruby and put both of her hands on Ruby's shoulder to calm her down but it proved to be a bit difficult, as she was also being shaken around from Ruby's excitement. Nora did recognize one of them and pointed to the one she knew while shaking Ren's shoulder.

Nora: "Hey Ren, that's the robot I said I saw earlier! Let's ride it!"

Nora of course was pointing to Freud, who was slowly backing up from them before turning around and flying away. Snail was surprised to see Freud run because it's not everyday he runs from just anyone. Every person, mainly Ruby, went on to question the Vesper's about their gear and Snail began to get annoyed once again.

Snail: "If you are all done bickering, I should remind you that you need to take your newly acquired relic back to the academy to pass initiation. So I suggest you do so instead wasting time. Vesper's, were done here. Let's move."

Snail turned around to follow Freud back to the academy with Pater following behind. Rusty was about to leave but turned to face Ruby before he left.

Rusty: "See you back at Beacon buddy."

Rusty gave a two finger salute with his left hand before flying off and following behind his other teammates.

Ruby stood in place for a moment before her eye's widened, realizing who just spoke to her.

Ruby: 'Woah wait! That was Rusty!?'

As Ruby was lost in thought about Rusty, Nora began to shake Ren again.

Nora: "Ren! We have to get one of those!"

Ren: "Nora! (shake) I don't (shake) think (shake) we can (shake) afford those things."

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Cut to RWBY chibi Freud in LOCKSMITH running away from Nora with her hammer out with Ren trying to stop her.

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(Back at Beacon)

With the initiation completed, every person who had participated and passed returned to the academy for the ceremony. The crowd applauded for the newly created teams and students who have passed. With Ozpin selecting each student based of their results.

Ozpin: "Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL (Cardinal), led by... Cardin Winchester!"

The audience applauded for team CRDL as they walked off stage with Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren walking up to the stage.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR (Juniper)."

As the audience clapped again, Nora laughed while hugging Ren.

"Led by... Jaune Arc!"

Jaune: "Huh? L-led by...?"

Ozpin: "Congratulations, young man."

Pyrrha smiles to Jaune before shoulder bumping him, causing Jaune to fall onto his butt as the audience laughed a little.

Ozpin: "Next: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long."

The four of them walked up to the stage and stood in front of Ozpin.

"The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY (Ruby). Led by... Ruby Rose!"

The crowd once again began clapping and cheering for the new team. Yang hugged Ruby out of happiness and told her how proud she was of Ruby. Rusty, among the crowd whistled loudly in congratulations for his friends newly formed team while the other three applauded for her. 

"It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year."

And with the final team formed, Ozpin left the stage. The newly form team RWBY followed behind Ozpin, with Ruby wanting to ask something.

Ruby: "Professor Ozpin, wait!"

Ozpin turned around and hummed, curious to what they wanted.

"What about the Vesper's? Did they not pass?"

Ozpin: "They were already a team before arriving to Beacon and there was no need to announce it. Though Snail requested that I avoid calling their team up to the stage as he said it was a trivial matter that wasn't important to speak of. But, they will still be attending Beacon academy this year. So you will be seeing them still."

Ozpin turned around and left team RWBY with the intention of getting a spare mug for his drink, since Rusty accidentally broke his favorite. As Ozpin left, the Vesper's walked past him towards Ruby and her team. Rusty was the first to walk up with a smile on his face and raised his left arm up for a high five.

Rusty: "Congrats buddy! I knew you could-"

Just before Rusty could finish his congratulations to Ruby, she rushed up to him and grabbed his left arm.

Ruby: "So this is what you used during initiation!? So cool!"

Ruby began to touch Rusty's arm in a.... weird way which caused him to make an uncomfortable face. He pulled his AC arm away from Ruby and held it close with his right arm.

Rusty: "Mind not caressing my arm Ruby? It may just be metal but that feels weird."

Ruby blinked a few times before giving Rusty a sheepish smile.

Ruby: "Heh heh, sorry. It's just those things were so cool! What were they called again?"

Pater poked out behind Rusty's right side.

Pater: "It's called the Armored Core, AC armor unit for short though. These arms are responsible for activating the armor suits you saw us in before."

Yang: "How do those tiny arms even hold those giant mech's? They were huge!"

Pater looked over to....the author!? He then proceeded to point at the author.

Pater: "Ask him. He's the one who made it up."

Ruby turned to face the author, grabbed him and started to shake him violently.

Ruby: "TELL US!"

Demo: Wait what? You can't speak to me! ALLMIND fix this!

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(Static)

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ALLMIND: "Apologies. We will correct this aberration immediately."  

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"Rebooting system."

(Static)

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Yang: "How do those tiny arms even hold those giant mech's? They were huge!"

Pater looked over to Snail for help but he shrugged basically saying 'I don't know'.

Pater: "We're actually unsure. Our father doesn't share most information about the creation of the AC's and he doesn't just share the knowledge to anyone besides trusted colleagues and friends. Though you weren't the only one who had that question before."

Ruby walked over to Pater and put her arm around him.

Ruby: "Well I think it's pretty cool...and I want one too."

Nora: Me too!"

A wild Nora appeared behind Freud again with the rest of team JNPR. Freud actually flinched this time and quickly hid behind Snail. Snail looked at Freud with utter confusion.

Snail: "What is with you Freud?"

Freud: "(Whispering) This is the second time she snuck up on me without noticing. She's unpredictable!"

Snail's eye's slightly widened due to how Freud was acting, but soon began to chuckle at his fear. Freud gave Snail the stink eye and the middle finger before walking away from him. Pater looked at both Ruby and Nora unsure how to explain that request, as he pressed his finger's together.

Pater: "Um, Ruby... Nora. To have an AC arm unit, you have to... have surgery done on it. And what I mean is, well... your left arm has to be... surgically removed."

Both Nora and Ruby's eye's widen on hearing the news and backed away from the Vesper's.

Nora: "No thanks! Mama needs this arm!"

Ruby: "I like my left arm where it is, thank you!"

Yang: "I'll admit, those things are pretty cool but I don't think I'd give up one of my arm's anytime soon."

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Demo narrowed his eye's at the line.

Demo: ...You really want me to write that down?"

Demo looks up to his monitor to see the ALLMIND symbol, since he's having a call with her on his computer.

ALLMIND: "...Yes."

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Demo: "Whatever, I trust your system for my writing. Besides, you're a trust worthy friend.

With ALLMIND in her digital world. She looked to her side and looked at a file called 'Coral Release project'. ALLMIND reached the file with her hand and gently caressed it.

ALLMIND: " (Whispering) Soon..."

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Pater: "Also another thing Ruby, the Arquebus corporation doesn't just give out AC unit's out to anyone. Only a very small amount of people are given the chance to use them. As of now, it's only us who are allowed to use these outside of Atlas. Of course our rival group, Balam industries also has the same technology as us but differs in weaponry and armor frames."

Blake: "Wait, how come only you four are allowed to use them?"

Snail: "Myself and Pater are member's of the Arquebus family. Rusty and Freud were allowed to use them through my recommendation and our father's approval."

Blake: "The Arquebus family? Aren't they the weapons development company in Atlas?" 

Weiss: "The Arquebus name is another well known name within Atlas. They specialize with weapon advancements and of course the AC armor units. Their name is second only to the Schnee family because their business is more military related than the Schnee Dust Company's everyday dust usage."

Blake: "I see..."

Blake was surprised to see family member's of the Arquebus corporation. She doesn't hate them but was not too fond of their business style, much like the SDC. Rusty began to laugh at Ruby and Nora about their quick change of minds about having an AC unit.

Rusty: "Ha ha ha ha! Yeah, it does suck that we lost our left arms but they are being preserved by the Arquebus corp. But it's totally worth it, It's like piloting a freaking Gundam in a way!"

Everyone but the Vesper's: "What's a Gundam?"

Rusty looked at everyone with his jaw dropped. He especially looked at Ruby with some disappointment.

Rusty: "Ruby...I don't know if I can consider you a buddy anymore..."

Ruby tilted her head in confusion.

Ruby: "Wait what?"

Snail pulled Rusty back by his shoulder so he could end this conversation.

Snail: "Dropping that subject, congratulations to you all for your newly formed teams. Ruby and Jaune, now that you are leader's of your own team, everyone expects much things from you now. Especially your new teammates."

Both Ruby and Jaune were suddenly hit with the reality that they are now leaders, and that their decisions could possibly lead to some... unfortunate events. Not only that, they have to uphold expectations of other. For Ruby, it was a certain 'ice queen' she was worried about.

Ruby/Jaune: "Oh... yeah (Nervous laughing)./ Oh... right..."

Both were slightly scared about the whole responsibility but luckily their teammates are their to cheer them up.

Yang: "Don't worry Ruby, you're going to be an awesome leader. You'll see."

Weiss: "I suppose you'll be a sufficient leader."

Pyrrha: "The same can be said for you as well Jaune. You clearly proved it during the initiation."

Nora: "Yeah! Our Jaune is going to be a great leader!"

Both Jaune and Ruby were thankful for the support of their teammates. Snail however, began to tire of this group conversation.

Snail: "(Sigh) With congratulations finished, I think I'll go find our dorm for the night. Vesper's, you can do whatever you wish until nightfall."

Snail walked away from everyone, as they began to converse with each other. As he was about to exit the auditorium, he heard a voice call out his actual name.

Weiss: "Simon!"

Snail turned around to see Weiss catching up to him.

"Could we... speak for a moment?"

Snail: "I don't mind, but do remember that my name is currently Snail while being a member of the Vesper's."

Weiss: "But why?"

Snail: "To keep things professional. I don't hate being called Simon but I prefer to use the callsign I was given by my families company and wear it as a badge of honor. Though now I am curious to why you followed me? Did you not wish to spend your time with your new team?"

Weiss: "I simply wanted to catch up with you. It's been far too long since we last spoken to each other normally. Also, I'll have time to learn about my new team member's later in the future.

Snail: "I suppose you're right. Now that I think of it, the last time we actually spoke with one another was during your singing performance, but we only spoke with each other since our father's wished to speak to one another.

Weiss: "Oh? What did you think of it?"

Snail raised an eyebrow.

Snail: "Of what?"

Weiss: "My concert performance. What did you think of it?"

Snail: "Hmm... Well I found it quite lovely. I even fell asleep as you were singing."

Weiss: "What!?"

Snail realized what he said and quickly explained.

Snail: "I think you misunderstand. I'm saying that your singing was very soothing to me that I fell asleep in my booth. I was lacking sleep that day and your singing helped me catch up on some missed sleep."

Weiss: "Oh... I see."

Weiss continued to think to herself while Snail thought of an idea.

Snail: "You know? We can continue our conversation in the cafeteria over some food. I am quite hungry and I believe it will give us a chance to properly catch up over something nice."

Weiss looked up at Snail interested at the offer before her stomach began to growl.

Weiss: "...Very well, I suppose I can accept your proposal."

Snail: "Very well miss Schnee."

Weiss grew a slightly displeased look on her face but changed it quickly.

Weiss: "Just Weiss. If you call me that, then I'll call you Snail."

Snail: "(Chuckles) Very well Weiss. Shall we?"

Snail found what Weiss said was funny because Winter once said the same thing when he addressed her as miss Schnee. Snail and Weiss began to walk next to each other towards the cafeteria while also speaking with each other along the way. Snail was actually pleased by this outcome as this will give him a chance to learn more about Weiss's personality and a way to grow a friendship like Winter hoped for.

As Snail and Weiss were walking, Snail felt a vibration in his pocket. He pulled out his scroll and saw a text from Rusty.

Rusty: "You owe me 20 lien btw."

Snail looked at the text and felt his left eye twitch. Once again, he has lost another bet...

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COM: Incoming message...

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V.III Rusty: "We're reading buddies now. I think I should tell you something."

"During Operation Initiation..."

"Arquebus was planning to sabotage you."

"The plan was to use you to clear the way of any corrupted data so the Vesper's could step in and take over this whole story situation."

"But instead...you took on the initiation and passed."

"The higher-ups are going to remember you now. That's for sure."

"As will I."

"Till we meet again, buddy."

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A/n: This chapter felt so chaotic to write and I know there are things I can improve upon on this but this is also a learning experience for me. I'm going to try to improve my writing skills in the future but this chapter had everyone everywhere so it was confusing. It felt easier writing the Vesper's fight than the RWBY cast fight and I did not want to go into it for my first time writing. Also, when my name appears which is Demo. It's for breaking the 4th wall or fun parts I want to add in, while A/n are notes on explanations or notes.

Also, at the time of writing this is when I heard about the whole Bungie layoffs and I have to say, I'm losing some faith in Bungie and Destiny 2 as a whole. It sucks that so many people got let go and most of them worked so hard for the player base to make some amazing content for us. I truly hope that they are able to pick themselves back up after all of this and I hope the people who were responsible for this get what they deserve. I pre-ordered FS deluxe edition when it was first revealed and honestly I think after all of this I might just be done and find something new to do. That's just my opinion on this whole situation and I hope things get better. Until the Raven's.

Sortie 4 complete

Mission Income:

The amount of horrible things we did for money were horrible.... and I loved every moment of it! Game fun.