A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

  Cowboy is sometimes used to describe a reddish rustic brown color. Why am I telling you this? No reason.

  -x-X-x-

  Burying her fist in the back of the Beowulf’s skull, Yang Xiao Long’s purple eyes glitter as she gives him a cheeky grin before delivering a payload of dust ammunition into the Grimm via her shotgun gauntlets. Her arm jerks from the muffled bst, but otherwise she seems completely chill, even as she rises from her slight crouch and gives him a cheery nod.

  “Hey! Looks like we’re partners unless you’re hiding someone else around here that I don’t know about!”

  For a moment, Cole considers lying. Or at least, trying to lie. Yang wasn’t his first choice for a partner. She’s a bit too outgoing and a bit too needy for his tastes, at least from what he’s seen so far. And yet… she’s not the worst option either. Certainly, she’s better than the spy Glynda had tried to saddle him with.

  More than that, there really is nobody else around and Cole figures his chances of successfully lying to Yang are next to none… to say nothing of lying to the instructors who are supposedly watching all of this right now from afar. In the end… he’ll just have to make the most of things.

  “Nope. Nobody else. I suppose that makes us partners, yes.”

  Yang’s eyes light up at that and Cole realizes he didn’t give her the time of day originally. Those clipped sentences were the most words he’d ever said to her in one time, as a matter of fact.

  “Awesome! We’re going to kick so much ass. Me with Ember Celica, and you with… err, that baton thingie?”

  Looking down at The Long Memory, still extended out to its full length, Cole snorts derisively.

  “It’s a cane, actually.”

  Yang peers at the weapon a bit more closely… before her eyes widen.

  “Wait… you’re not blind, are you?! Oh my god, I’m so sorry I didn’t notice before if you are!”

  Excuse him? Where would she get that sort of silly- oh. The sungsses combined with the cane painted an interesting picture for an otherwise young man didn’t they? Cole has to valiantly resist the urge to facepalm, even as he shakes his head.

  “I’m not blind. The weapon is a hand me down.”

  An ‘ohhhh’ sound of understanding comes from Yang, causing Cole to snort. Seriously, he was pretty sure he hadn’t given off the vibe of being blind. Not even remotely. This blonde loved jumping to weird conclusions, didn’t she? Either way…

  “Shall we start making our way to the end of the forest? We have temple ruins to get to after all.”

  Blinking, Yang rapidly nods.

  “Yeah! That sounds great, let’s get going!”

  Good lord, save him from this girl’s exuberance. Still… Amber did say he could stand to be a bit friendlier. Cole doesn’t smile, but he does nod to Yang before they start making their way further into the Emerald Forest. That would just have to be good enough.

  They didn’t have to get along after all. They just had to be capable of fighting alongside one another.

  -x-X-x-

  WHAM!

  As Yang delivers the final death blow to yet another Grimm, the blonde lets out a whoop and a ugh, cheering as she and he stand there at the bottom of the steps leading up to the temple ruins. They’d made really good time, actually, and together dealt with any Grimm who came their way. Ultimately, all in all, Yang was proving to be an… acceptable partner so far.

  “Let’s go and get our relic!”

  Cole grunts and follows after the excitable blonde, ascending the stairs right behind her. At the top, on an open ptform of sorts, they find a whole bunch of fist-sized chess pieces id out on podiums. Some of the podiums are already empty, meaning that they weren’t the first ones here.

  Without missing a beat, Yang all but skips over and snags the white knight, turning and giving Cole a grin.

  “I like this one. Always been a fan of horses!”

  Cole rolls his eyes but doesn’t have a strong opinion one way or another. There are even two of the white knight pieces, so taking one doesn’t mean they’ve taken the st. Not that he understands what it all means. Except for the simple fact that they’ve passed their initiation with this.

  “Come on… let’s get back to Beacon.”

  Yang hums and begins to nod as she tucks the chess piece away… in her cleavage of all pces. Needless to say, it doesn’t fit, leaving the white horse head at the top poking out like some demented pet. When Yang sees the look he’s giving her, she pouts.

  “What?! It’s not like I have pockets or anything to clip it onto my waist! We have to make our way back through the Emerald Forest, I need my hands free for fighting!”

  That was fair. Still dumb though.

  But before Cole can decide whether to say that or not, they’re interrupted… by screaming.

  “OH GOD, OH GOD, OH GOD! IT’S SO BIG! AHHHH!!!”

  And just as that screaming seems to be coming from below them, there’s also a shriek of joy from the sky.

  “WEEEEEEEEEE~”

  Several things happen at the same time. First and foremost, at least as far as Cole is concerned… he looks down the temple ruin stairs and sees Bke Beldonna and Weiss Schnee break out of the treeline together. Neither is the source of the screaming or the shrieking, but given Bke’s status as Glynda’s spy, Cole nevertheless notices them first. He can’t help but feel a sense of mild amusement at seeing Bke wind up partnered with Weiss too… she certainly hadn’t had anything nice to say about the Schnee Heiress yesterday.

  Before Bke or Weiss can even start to ascend the temple steps however… the staircase explodes upwards, a massive Death Stalker, aka a Scorpion Grimm, coming out from what must be a cave system under the temple. Fighting the thing are Joan Arc and Pyrrha Nikos. Well, Pyrrha is fighting the Death Stalker. Joan is screaming and filing about in one of the Death Stalker’s cws, her Aura seemingly holding for the moment but who knew how much longer.

  And finally, st but certainly not least… looking up reveals the biggest Nevermore that Cole has ever seen flying down at them. No, not flying… it’s falling. Falling from a great height with two women on its back. One with orange hair, the other with bck and a single pink lock through it.

  The orange haired woman has a massive Dust Hammer pushed into the back of the Nevermore’s skull and seems to be giving the Grimm massive cranial injuries while also using the thick handle of her weapon to steer their descent. Cole watches, thoroughly unimpressed as she ultimately chooses the Death Stalker for them to nd on.

  The resulting explosion is massive and causes dust to fly everywhere. But while Cole is completely nonplussed, the same can not be said for his partner.

  “See? What did I tell you? Woohoo!”

  Without missing a beat, Yang unches herself into the resulting dust cloud and therefore into the fray, cackling madly all the while. Cole, meanwhile, hears the sounds of fighting and can tell that the two massive Grimm are nowhere close to dead even after the impact. With a sigh, he steps forward off of the edge of the destroyed stairs and drops down into the melee below. Would probably look bad if he let his partner die THIS early, after all.

  -x-X-x-

  Weiss Schnee was NOT having a good day. Hell, she wasn’t having a good couple of days. First there was yesterday, where that… that woman had chased away the only person who seemed willing to give her some help with a few words about her family and their company. Then today, she’d tried to make some headway with THE Pyrrha Nikos in the hopes of partnering up with her, only to wind up partnered with that same woman instead!

  Bke, her name was. Weiss didn’t care. If she could have her way, she would switch partners with someone. Anyone. She didn’t know what problem Bke had with her, but obviously she had a problem and Weiss wasn’t interested in dealing with that for the next four years.

  Unfortunately, just as they found other people (as well as the temple ruins) that Weiss might be able to convince to switch with her, they were attacked by two massive Grimm, some of the biggest Weiss had ever seen. The ensuing battle, which had involved eight of them, had been rather messy and completely uncoordinated… Weiss got dirt all over her white dress, ugh!

  Finally though, it was over. And hey, they were even all still alive! Of course, Weiss knew she wasn’t going to die that easily… but she was slightly impressed that everyone else had survived too. Introductions had been had as well. Apparently, the crazy bitch who had decided to ride a giant Nevermore to the initiation finish line was Nora Valkyrie, and the quiet raven-haired woman who seemed to be her long-suffering best friend with Mun Ren.

  Meanwhile, Cole was back and his partner was apparently named Yang Xiao Long. She seemed… bubbly. A bit too bubble for Weiss’ tastes. Her preferred swap would either be for Cole or Pyrrha, she’d decided.

  However, before she can broach the subject of maybe changing up some of the partnerships, Bke suddenly steps forward and points at Yang while looking at Cole.

  “Is she your partner?”

  Weiss blinks, even as Cole hesitates to answer long enough for Yang to step in.

  “Damn straight I am! Got a problem with that, huh?”

  Her attempt at intimidation is somewhat undercut by the big white horse head sticking out of her cleavage. Ugh, some women were blessed with all the luck in the world. Weiss wasn’t jealous… really, she wasn’t. But she did sometimes wish she had taken more after her mother… like Winter had. It wasn’t a big deal though. She knew it wasn’t…

  Far from being cowed or even rising to the provocation however, Bke just wordlessly walks over to the ptform where the remaining chess pieces sit and grabs the remaining white knight piece. What was she doing?!

  Turning back, Bke makes eye contact with Weiss.

  “They told us they were watching, and made it clear that our partners are the first people we make eye contact with. They’re not going to let us get away with swapping partners. So we’ll just have to make the best of it. Besides, I doubt anyone here wants to swap anyways.”

  Weiss sputters as Bke ys it out so bluntly. S-She wasn’t wrong about Weiss’ intentions, but she didn’t have to spell them out in public like that! Did she have no s-sense of decorum?! Also why was she making it sound like she was just as upset by their inability to change partners as Weiss was?! Weiss was a goddamn catch, thank you very much!

  The worst part though is that st bit. Weiss can’t help but gnce around for a second to judge the veracity of Bke’s statement… and she quickly realizes that Bke is right. Ren and Nora seem tied at the hip. Joan obviously realizes how lucky she is to have Pyrrha as a teammate and Pyrrha is currently averting her gaze, making it clear she also doesn’t want to switch.

  Finally, even Cole, the one male in the entire group of eight, looks downright disgruntled by the thought. Is it the blonde’s tits that have him captured so easily? Curse her and her buxom bosom!

  “… F-Fine! Whatever!”

  Perhaps it’s not the best reaction she could have had to this whole situation, but Weiss isn’t feeling very charitable at the moment. So she just pouts and simmers in her own feelings with a frown on her face as Nora grabs a white rook off of one podium and Pyrrha grabs the other white rook off of a second.

  Then, all eight of them begin making their way back through the Emerald Forest because… well, obviously there was safety in numbers. Weiss would have preferred to be alone, but she couldn’t even escape her own partner, let alone this group of miscreants and ungrateful reprobates!

  Well, at least Weiss could be certain of her own superiority over this disorganized rabble. None of them, save for maybe Pyrrha Nikos, were leadership material. That was kind of why Weiss wanted to be Pyrrha’s partner in the first pce, because she just knew that if they weren’t partners, the two of them would be chosen as team leaders in charge of separate teams.

  Dreams of leading her own team with Pyrrha as her right hand woman… or even visa versa, slowly but surely vanish from her head as Weiss sighs. Oh well, at least she would still inevitable become team leader. She would just have to whip whoever she got saddled with into shape… Bke included.

  -x-X-x-

  “Well done all of you on making it through Initiation. You are now official members of Beacon. That said, I will now read out teams. First is Team CRDL, otherwise known as Cardinal. Team Cardinal will be made up of Cardin Winchester, Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark. It will be led by Cardin Winchester.”

  Glynda pauses to let the polite appuse die down for a moment before continuing.

  “Next, going in alphabetical order, will be Team CWBY otherwise known as Cowboy. Team Cowboy will be made up of Cole Cobalt, Weiss Schnee, Bke Beldonna, and Yang Xiao Long. It will be led by Cole Cobalt.”

  Standing there amidst the crowd, Weiss Schnee stares up at the Headmistress with her mouth agape in shock. She doesn’t hear any of the other teams that Glynda Goodwitch reads out however. Instead, she’s too busy hearing the rush of blood in her ears as a single thought passes through her mind.

  GODDAMN IT!

  -x-X-x- The Vote: [X] Stick with Weiss' POV - 55%[ ] Switch back to Cole's POV - 26%[ ] Switch to Bke's POV - 19%

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