Before this chapter begins, there are a few things that I have to say regarding the recent news of Monty Oum's passing. If you'd rather not read through what I have to say that is fine, the chapter is below as promised, but this something I have to say.

As you might have heard, Monty Oum, the creator of RWBY, passed away on February 1st, 2015. I can not remember him as a friend, nor can I say that I knew him well. But what I do know about him speaks volumes. He was dedicated, passionate, thoughtful, endearing. Who among us can say with confidence that we gave it a hundred percent? Who can say that they got their voice heard, their stories told, to millions around the world? Monty Oum was one such person who did so. Watching behind the scenes of RWBY and Red vs Blue gave you an idea of just how much effort he put into what he loves. Animation is no joke, it is hard, tremendous work that many have dabbled into but never mastered. Trust me, I have tried. And I can say without a doubt that Monty was one who mastered his craft. The fact that you are here right now, reading these exact words among the stories we made out of the love for what he did show what an impact he had. And this is just one corner. If you look, you can find other corners where he made people's lives better. Not just the lives of fans, but the lives of those dear to him, his friends and colleagues. You can find the day when all our minds were blown as he introduced his animation to Red vs Blue.

Although he passed away far too young at the age of 33, he has left a legacy behind. He became an inspiration to hundreds, thousands even. Through the fields of animation and creativity, Monty Oum will be remembered as one of the most down to Earth, charismatic and enthusiastic individuals to walk them. And although our hearts have grown heavier, we will remember. From now on, this story is dedicated in memory of Monty, and the lasting impact he has made and will continue to do so through his work. If you're reading this and haven't already, raise a glass, take a moment of silence, do whatever you do to remember someone that is the main reason you are here, reading these stories, listening to those tunes, watching those characters. For now it's time to say goodbye.

"Can you match my resolve? If so then you will succeed" - Monty Oum

Chapter 3:

Tock

There was something that sunk dread into the hearts of some students. It might come up in other academies or schools, but nowhere near the severity of the horror at Beacon. It was something – or rather, someone – that could always be seen coming with nothing to do about it. All the new students come in expecting everything to be fine, despite all the warnings from the seniors. And afterwards, it left some students minds in a twisted, lost state. The ones that liked to take notes, pay attention and do well.

In fact, it's caused some people to be on the brink of failure of some classes. While everyone survived, his sharp tongue was something that would ring in every ear at Beacon Academy.

His name was Bartholomew Oobleck. "Okay class," he bellowed, right before taking his first cup of coffee for the afternoon. "Today we're going to be going over semblance theory."

Yang, Weiss and Blake had the pleasure of taking his class that afternoon. They had their pens at the ready, prepared to take down notes as fast as he'd talk. Or at least try to.

Oobleck took another sip, and kept doing so for every slight pause between sentences. "Semblance has been around since the start of recorded history, as far back as the discovery of dust. The relation between dust and semblance has been a relatively recent discovery. For example, userswithcertainsemblancescanusedusttomanipulatetheirproperties, such as, such as this one fellow I knew who could change the fragrance of his shadows. In hindsight, it wasn't very useful, but I remember black being a particularly sweet smell. Now, whoherehassuchasemblance?"

Blake reluctantly raised her hand, thinking she understood what he said.

"Ah yes, miss Belladonna. How does your semblance smell when altered by dust?"

Her eyes turned white briefly, "They don't- that is I haven't used dust with my semblance."

"I have," said Weiss. "But they don't change the smell."

"Of course," said Oobleck. "I probably should have mentioned that smell's not the only way dust can affect someone's semblance. Miss Schnee, would you mind giving a demonstration."

Taking a deep breath, Weiss made her way down to the front of the class. The room was a sort of amphitheatre designed, leaving the teacher looking up to all their students. It made for good acoustics when a teacher had to give a lecture, but Weiss felt a certain nervousness walking down into the eyesight of her classmates. It wasn't anything overwhelming. It was just a tiny feeling of butterflies, like going on stage again.

"Break a leg," whispered Yang as Weiss passed by.

Oobleck sped over to his desk, grabbed his Thermos and refilled his cup in mere seconds as Weiss reached the bottom of the steps.

"Now then," Oobleck asked, "would you mind demonstrating your natural semblance for us?"

Weiss squinted ever so slightly as she raised her palm over the air. A white blur seemed to expand from nowhere, just an inch from Weiss' face. As quickly as it appeared, the blur grew to be almost twice as tall as its owner, taking the unique shape of a snowflake.

"Glyphs, most interesting. Now Weiss, what method do you use to alter it?"

Weiss drew her rapier, making sure to let the class see the multi-colored slits near the hilt. "This is Myrtenaster, my weapon. It's filled with dust cartridges, and I can easily switch between them."

"Ah, multi-action dust chambers based on revolvers," said Oobleck as he got a little too close to the blade. "Classic design, classic. So tell me, how does black dust affect your semblance?"

Weiss carefully nudged Ooobleck out of the way as she took aim at her glyph, still floating. "I suppose it's like a vacuum, I can use it to draw things closer or hold them in place."

With a simple swipe of her thumb, the rapier's chamber rotated to the black cartridge and shot the snowflake. With the rapier design, it looked more like she was injecting the glyph with a needle full of ink as darkness swallowed it whole.

A few pages from Oobleck's desk began to shift, then the ones the students were using. The class grabbed hold of their work before it could all jumble together into a mess.

Oobleck drank from his cup again, or at least tried to before he realised he reached the last drop of coffee. "I think that's-"

A bang swung the classroom doors open, like a bull had just broken through. What did burst through though was a red streak, heading straight for Weiss' glyph. The whole class gasped and a few stood up in shock. It became stuck, trying to escape the vacuum's grasp, until giving up and decelerating.

As it became clearer, Weiss realised it was Ruby, caught like a fly. Even after slowing down, Ruby still flayed her arms about, like she was trying to swim away through the air.

The gasps had given way to giggles from the students. Oobleck simply tutted and moved just as quickly as Ruby did over to the doors and closed them. "Ruby Rose, are you eager to show your semblance as well or did you just rush over here for the sake of embarrassment?"

"Would you excuse me if I said neither?" asked Ruby as she began to rotate with the glyph. Since she couldn't move, she could do nothing but be face to face with Weiss, frowning with her usual icy stare.

Oobleck set his cup down atop the pile of papers picked up from the floor. "In conclusion, semblances are a key part of who we are as people, even more so as huntsmen and huntresses. Class dismissed, no assignments to worry about."

With much relief, the students packed up for the last time of the day. With the tests on, many teachers didn't feel the need to give out homework, which was fine by everyone. Ruby finished copying her team's notes and stood up to leave.

"Wait," Oobleck bellowed, echoing up the rows of seats. The whole class froze and looked at him. "Could Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang stay?"

The other students got up and left, leaving team RWBY behind.

"Hold on a sec," said Yang, trying her best to hide her anger. "Blake and I didn't do anything!"

Oobleck filled another cup. "What? Oh no, this has nothing to do with that mess earlier. Although I do hope Miss Rose has learned her lesson."

Ruby bit her lip, turning to her team mates. The rest of the class had already ran off. "I was gonna mention after class," said Ruby. "About the end of term test, we're assigned a handler."

"Who is-" Blake began to ask but then looked over at their teacher. "Oh."

"Oohh," said Yang.

"Ooohh," groaned Weiss.

Oobleck clapped his hands, "Right then, girls. Come down here so your leader can present you with your mission. Ruby, I'll be taking notes on your performance. Consider this a side test of your public speaking skills."

"Okay then," said Ruby. She picked up her folder and the four of them walked down to in front of the Oobleck's desk. The teacher sat on his chair and leaned back with a notebook on his lap.

Once they reached the bottom of the steps, Ruby looked around. She spotted a whiteboard easel tucked away in the corner of the room. Thinking it perfect, she pulled it over and awkwardly set it up in front of the others.

Putting the folder on the rest where the marker was, Ruby cleared her throat. "Sisters, friends, Weiss."

"Why do you always single me out?" Weiss muttered.

"Today we have been assigned an important task. This mission has come straight from the top, and is one that is vital to securing the future of our dear nation." Ruby pulled out the photo of the flag from the folder and stuck it onto the whiteboard. "We gotta grab this thingy."

Yang and even Weiss giggled while Blake smirked, but Ruby paid more attention to Oobleck using that pencil of his that always rested on his ear. She couldn't tell what kind of notes he was writing down, but maybe it was time to dial back on the comedy.

"This flag is resting on top of Mount Reignall, a little around a hundred kilometres from where we're standing now." Ruby opened the folder slightly to find the map. "We'll be starting from. . . where is it?"

A few seconds past before Ruby gracelessly dropped all the contents of the folder at their feet. "No!"

Ruby got down on her knees and scrambled to pick everything up. "I didn't mean to- where is it?"

During the clumsiness, she didn't notice Blake bend over and pick up one of the pages until the fauna was already reading it. Ruby tried to reach up and grab the paper from her, but she slipped on the map that was just under her.

"What is this?" Blake asked, surprised. "We can't bring any weapons?"

"What?!" Yang and Weiss both shouted before the latter grabbed the page. "'Any unapproved items will result in immediate penalisation'?"

Yang yanked the list over, continuing to read. "'The route is surrounded on all sides by Grimm breeding grounds'?"

"'Three to four days'," Blake finished off. The three looked down at Ruby who remained on her knees, like she was begging for forgiveness. She might as well be.

Ruby looked over at Oobleck. The only part of him that she could see was his glasses, masking whatever look of disapproval he had. I wish I was back at Signal.

Ruby got up on her feet, salvaging what little dignity she had left. "It's true," said Ruby. "We can't bring our weapons or our scrolls with us. We're given some backpacks, some necessities, you know. And we're going to have to avoid Grimm for at least three days, maybe more. I'm sorry."

"Did you pick this mission," asked Yang. "What were you thinking?"

Ruby began to panic, "I didn't- At the bottom it says-"

"My glyphs are useless without my weapon," said Weiss. "How are we supposed to complete this mission?"

"I was- that is, I don't-"

"How are we supposed to survive this mission?"

"I. . . I. . ." Ruby looked over at Oobleck, taking notes and shaking his head. I wish I was back with uncle Qrow.

"Guys," Blake piped up. "Ruby didn't have a choice, we were assigned this test by Professor Ozpin. She didn't have a say in the matter, so we can't go blaming her for this mess."

Ruby smiled at Blake.

Yang sighed and pinched her nose, "Do we have any contact or a way to get help?"

"That's where Mister Oobleck comes in," said Ruby. "He'll be keeping an eye on us from afar. And we have flares, so we can signal for help should we need it."

"We will need it," said Weiss.

"Once we get the flag, we make the return trip and that's us finished. That's all we have to do, at least. We don't have to fight the Grimm and we have enough supplies to last us for a few days and nights. We can do this, as a team."

"I hope so," said Yang.

"How about strategies?" asked Weiss.

Ruby was taken aback, "Huh?"

"What's the best course of action? The best route? What's our plan B?"

"I. . . don't have any of that stuff yet."

The team all looked at each other, worried.

I wish I was home, Ruby sighed. "You can go, team dismissed."

"But Ruby," said Blake, trying to extend an olive branch.

"I said you're dismissed."

Ruby began to pick up the rest of the folder contents while the others reluctantly left. It was just her and Oobleck in the room. She looked over at her handler, who was still jotting down what was likely the harshest criticisms anyone could spit out.

"I was gonna tell them," said Ruby.

A hint of pupils popped up from behind Oobleck's glasses. Otherwise he didn't respond.

Ruby sighed and put the folder back onto the easel, accidentally scraping the edge of the flag photo and causing it to fall to the ground. She watched as it descended like a feather, back to where the rest of the mess was.

At the point that it touched her feet, Ruby punched the easel, causing it to crash on the ground.

Oobleck stood up, "Ruby Rose!"

Ruby fell to her knees once again, just staring vacantly at the mess she made.

"Ruby, that is no way to behave!"

Ruby muttered under her breath, too hard for the teacher to hear.

Oobleck knelt down beside her, coming at least a little closer to her level. "Ruby?"

She looked up at him, her eyes welling up. "I'm behaving like a child, aren't I?"

The teacher's eyebrows settled as he listened.

"I'm sorry, all right? I'm sorry I'm too young and stupid to do this. I shouldn't even be here. I was at Signal, with my uncle! At least there I could be me. Here, I'm not a huntress, I'm not a leader. I'm not even old enough to apply here yet, but I just had to go and be clever. I just had to be big. Now my sister and my friends are gonna die because of me."

Oobleck waited a moment, watching the tears fall off of Ruby's cheek. "I'm sorry."

Ruby sniffed, "What?"

"I picked the mission, not Ozpin."

Ruby stopped crying for a moment. She wasn't sure whether or not she should be angry.

Oobleck got on his feet and picked up the easel. He wasn't his usual hyper state. "The way it works is that Ozpin gives each of the teachers a team, and we select the mission based around what we feel could use improving. I thought leadership, that's usually a good place to start. But I see now that this was a mistake."

Ruby was confused, the whole day had left her in an upside-down daze. Either way, she thought she knew what the professor was getting at.

Once the easel was back where it belongs, Oobleck picked up the folder and set it on his desk. "Ozpin didn't tell me about your exception. I don't even know if he's told the rest of the staff."

"You couldn't even tell that I was too young?"

Oobleck shrugged, "I just thought you were short. Go to your teammates. Tell them they don't have to worry about the test, I'll take care of it."

Ruby didn't know what to say, her jaw was left dangling as no words came out.

"Just try not to break any other academic property."

"I won't, sir. Thank you, really."

"Go on," Oobleck gestured towards the doors Ruby burst through earlier. He took out several folders from his drawers and began reading, too pre-occupied to even notice that Ruby hadn't left yet.

Ruby dried her cheeks with her sleeves, and decided to go back to the dorms. On her first step, however, she noticed the photograph under her feet. She picked it up, looking at the distant dot of Beacon Academy, past the flag. After putting it in her pocket, Ruby left the room and closed the door. Oobleck didn't notice the sudden silence that filled the classroom.

"Why, Ozpin?" he asked aloud.