Introduction night

Team RWBY paused outside the doors to the arena. It was just before 8pm, when the invitation had specified to attend. Ruby gave a quick look to her teammates. When they nodded, Ruby pushed through the doors. All four of them held their weapons in their hands, in as lax of a stance as possible without holstering them. Their casual stance betrayed how wired they all were, especially Blake.

They expected to see a small gathering of people, but it seemed their expectations were wrong. The only figure in the room was one they recognized.

"Hello again!" Pyrrha greeted with a wave. She was seemingly just as alert as the four of them, maybe more so since she had been alone.

"Oh. I suppose you would be invited." Weiss said, surprised she didn't consider the possibility previously.

"Does that mean that you weren't the ones to send this?" Pyrrha asked, holding up the letter. Ruby shook her head and held up her own.

"Figures we'd be the first ones here, with how early we decided to leave. Thanks for that, Weiss." Yang took a jab at the heiress. Before Weiss could respond, they heard a commotion at the entrance. The girls turned towards the sound of a door opening, but were surprised to see the main entrance still closed.

"That was weird, I could've sworn I heard it open." Blake commented, her paranoia causing her muscles to get primed for action.

Yang opened her mouth to make a quip about their minds and hinges, when suddenly 3 figures appeared directly in front of them. All that came from Yang's mouth was a yelp as she quickly stepped back.

"What the fuck!" She yelled at the sudden appearance of three colorful women, who had seemingly hid their entrance into the room using a semblance.

"Is that really how you want to introduce yourselves to your new club sisters? My name is Cinder Fall. This is Neo, don't expect to hear her talk." Cinder introduced herself and her mute teammate. Emerald was left to say her own name, which she did quite cheekily, still amused at the reaction to their entrance.

"We're Team RWBY! I'm Ruby, Weiss is the pale one, Blake is the dark one, Yang is the one with the ridiculous hair; she's also my sister." Ruby introduced her team with a nod. Cinder nodded along with each introduction, but held a familiarity as if she'd already heard of them beforehand.

"Your team is named after you?" Cinder said, her voice taking on a teasing lilt towards her fellow leader.

"Hey! It wasn't my choice!" Ruby said. It was obvious she was still a touch embarrassed at the attention that being leader had brought her.

"I'm Pyrrha Nikos, I look forward to working with you!" Pyrrha saved Ruby with a polite introduction. If Cinder had seemed like she was aware of team RWBY and their reputations before, she definitely seemed aware of Pyrrha's. It wasn't in a malicious or obsessive way surely, but more in an admiring way, like she respected the Invincible Girl's strength. Pyrrha looked a touch disappointed at the recognition clearly displayed on Cinder's face.

Before anyone else could respond, a third party finally entered the arena, tearing away everyone's attention. The headmistress of Beacon made herself known, flanked by two individuals concealing their identities with hoods.

"Hello everyone! Welcome to this gathering of ours, I hope we can all make good first impressions on each other. While I'm sure you know of me already, I will introduce myself again. I am Glynda Goodwitch, headmistress of Beacon academy; but more importantly, the current head of the club you've found yourselves invited to tonight. If you would, please gather around the stage while I explain." Glynda spoke with different aura than she normally wielded. Her tone was much more welcoming, which frankly threw the students for a loop.

The group of students slowly formed an audience around the central stage. Glynda and her allies stood before them. Her unknown partners still hadn't removed their hoods. It seemed the garments would be here to stay for the time being. with their attention captured, Professor Goodwitch began her explanation.

"If at any point tonight you find yourselves uncomfortable, or decide that this club isn't for you, you may leave at any time. You do not know anything truly valuable about our ways yet, but we still ask you to maintain a bit of discretion. However, if you do leave tonight, just know that you will not receive another opportunity to join our ranks." Glynda spoke as a reassurance to calm their nerves. They absolutely still had a choice here. This was a voluntary club, not a cult.

When no one immediately left, Glynda took it as a sign to continue her speech.

"The most important question in your minds is surely 'What can this club offer me?'. There are many facets to that answer. Standing next to me are two of the most powerful women in Remnant, one politically and the other physically. I don't think I need to explain to you eight why they choose to remain disguised. Should you choose to stick with us, you'll gladly learn their identities, and maybe even spar with them. There is surely nowhere else where you can meet other women across the globe who you can consider to be your peers." Glynda paused a moment to take in their reactions. Cinder was practically salivating at the power she could gain from having so many connections. The business woman in Weiss could also see huge implications such a network would have. The other interesting reaction was from one Ruby Rose, who seemed more determined than ever to join.

"The second most important benefit we offer you is the most beneficial training resource on Remnant. I could show you the data from Beacon's combat classes that show that a member of our club has never graduated below 10th in her class. I could also explain why we are the reason that every Vytal Festival winning team has had at least one huntress as a member."

"What does your club offer that Beacon doesn't? How can you be sure that you're the reason behind those fighters being so good, and not that you haven't just recruited the best eight girls from each class?" Blake asked hesitantly. It was obvious to everyone that Glynda was practically talking like a marketing director would. It was a good speech, but the girls wanted proof.

"That is an excellent question, Ms. Belladonna. What do we offer that Beacon doesn't? Stakes."

"Stakes?" Ruby asked.

"When you fight in combat class, tell me, what happen to you should you lose?" Glynda asked, addressing the group as a whole.

"Our grades drop." Weiss responded.

"I guess its a bit embarrassing." Yang admitted.

"In other words, when you fight in my class, you have absolutely nothing on the line. A touch of pride at most. When you graduate and become full-fledged huntresses, will you ever have such low-risk fights again?" Glynda asked them. They all shook their heads. Weiss was a bit appalled to see her professor poke holes in her own curriculum.

"To be frank then, combat class cannot prepare you for the real world without stakes. That is how we differ from Beacon. And no, before you all freak out, I am not talking about your lives. All of our fights follow the same safety rules as Beacon's, but with one major addition: All club fights must come with risk. The risk must be decided beforehand, proportional, and fair to each side. That's a bit hard to explain with words though. How about my partners _show _you what we have to offer?" Glynda said, stepping off the stage and gesturing at the women behind her.

"Thank you for the introduction, Glynda. The forfeit for this fight has already been decided. However, if you'd like to see it, you'll have to return to tomorrow's real initiation night." The taller figure said confidently. She pulled a staff off of her back and gave a brief twirl.

"Will you be wearing the mask tomorrow too?" Weiss asked, curious at the identities of the two figures in front of her.

"Maybe. Believe me, you'll be seeing a lot of the loser tomorrow. If you're serious about joining after watching us fight, come join us. It'll be fun." The second figure said with a purr to her voice. The feline aspect of this woman increased further as she drew out a pair of lethal looking knives in the shape of large claws.

Ruby was a bit nervous on why she had spoken 'a lot' with so much emphasis. That might've just been the pre-fight nerves flowing through her talking though.

"Any other questions?" The first figure asked. No one said a word. Content with the silence, two figures paced a few steps back from each other. Both held their weapons at the draw.

"3. 2. 1. Begin!" Goodwitch called.

In an instant, the two fighters were on top of each other. The staff wielder had thrown a blast of lightning from her bare hand towards her opponent, who had dodged and continued her approach. Now the two women were engaged in a whirlwind of melee blows. Even Ruby could barely follow the action as the two women traded blow after blow at lightning pace.

Speaking of lightning, the woman with the staff was combining her blows with raw power that none of their audience had ever felt before. Whether it was a semblance or dust was unclear, but Weiss was seriously impressed with the magnitude of elements she was throwing out effortlessly.

Neither woman seemed to be giving an inch as the fight continued all across the arena. Blow after blow they traded. Every single retreat was instantly followed by an advancement and then a counterattack. These opponents were choreographing a dance at a pace even the fastest hunters they'd ever seen would be pressed to match.

The faces on their audience told the full story of exactly how impressed they each were. Team RWBY all had their eyes wide open at the fight in front of them. They were a skilled team no doubt, but the women fighting made them look like amateurs. Pyrrha and Cinder were looking at the fight with more desire than awe. Pyrrha desperately wanted to fight opponents that would challenge her so strongly. Cinder wanted to learn everything they could teach her. Neo and Emerald looked impressed, but direct fighting wasn't their main skill anyway. Still, they were impressed at the misdirection each women was seemingly employing. They were fighting dirty, which both street rats greatly respected.

Such a fast paced melee would normally only last a few seconds at most, but the women in front of them showed that stamina was not a weakness they had. The aura sensors showed that they were each draining aura slowly. The fact that they'd both managed to reduce the impact of the whirlwind of blows was impressive in itself.

All it took was a single mistake to bring the fight to a close. It had been seemingly like the victor would be decided through attrition, but that changed in a single moment. The staff wielder overextended by the slightest of measures and her opponent instantly seized on it. The entire fight the woman had been favoring dodging of blocking, but she had just been conditioning her opponent. Now, instead of dodging, the clawed warrior took the blow at an angle. It looked like it hurt, but it made sure she didn't lose any ground.

She pushed through the blow directly into the Staff woman's guard and brought the fight to the closest melee, where she held the absolute advantage. With the smaller woman grappling her, the long reach of the other woman's staff was made useless. A few hits later and her aura dropped lower and lower.

"Cease!" Glynda yelled. The smaller woman immediately stopped her **** and stepped back with the knowledge that her gambit had paid off. Although they couldn't see her face, it wasn't hard to imagine the smirk she was surely wearing.

"Damnit!" The woman on the ground yelled with a slam of her hand onto the arena floor. Blake could hear something unusual in her tone. Was that embarrassment? Just what kind of forfeit had these two agreed on?

"As you can see, we have our winner! Does anyone have an questions?" Goodwitch asked. She didn't really expect any after the fight that she knew the new girls would find shocking. No one said a word.

"Are any of you no longer interested in joining, after seeing what we can do for you?" Goodwitch spoke. No one moved a muscle. "If you're all ready to take the next step, then return here tomorrow at the same time with your combat gear. It will be used. Oh, and if I do recall correctly, you have Amber's forfeit to look forward too. Remember to keep what you saw here a secret. I will see you all tomorrow for the real introduction to Valoress. Make sure you're well rested and ready for a fight." Goodwitch ended the night by finally revealing the name of the club the girls were about to join. It raised more questions than it answered.

There was one question that had surely been answered in every girl's head though, they would _all _be joining the club they'd been invited to, no matter what it took.

AN: I promise, the slow introduction of this story is finally over. Come next chapter, the real "plot" will start happening, and it won't stop anytime soon ;)