(While you wait for more chapters, there is another RWBY story with a character very opposite of Asher. It's Called A Flaming Dragon. Then there's an alternate story line that deals with Grimm version of the RWBY cast including Asher, called A GRIMM Story. So do go check those out.)

Morning light shines through the windows of the ballroom and onto a sleeping Asher's face. His messy hair slightly covers his right eye, he has one arm above his head and the other on his chest. He has a dumb smile on his face as a drools a little.

Ruby is heard snickering. "Take a picture."

Yang snickers. "I am, I am!"

The clicking of a camera is heard, causing Asher to wake up.

"Huh, wa, where am I?" Asher sits up in a daze. "Where's Lopez? Where's my cookie..."

Asher hears a click and he looks to the side in confusion, till he sees Ruby and Yang standing a few feet away. Yang is holding up her scroll and she takes another picture.

He stares at them for a few seconds, until he realizes what's going on. He quickly wipes the drool off his face and grabs his shirt off the floor beside him, and puts it on.

"Not cool guys." Asher frowns in slight anger.

Ruby and Yang giggle as they run off to the bathroom to change.

Asher groans as he rubs his silver eyes, then fixes his black hair with golden tips. He then grabs his scroll and looks at several notifications, before getting up and getting his stuff together.

Asher then grabs his combat clothes and heads towards the bathroom, seeing that everybody is already awake. Except one person in an orange sleeping bag, who is still asleep.

Grif is snoring away peacefully, until our hero walks over and stands over him. Asher frowns and glares down at Grif.

"What a poor excuse for a soldier!" Asher grumbles and he lightly kicks Grif on the side."Hey, it's time to get up! Initiation starts in a little over an hour."

Grif rolls onto his side as his yellow dog ears droop. "Five more minutes..." He starts to snore again.

Asher growls and kicks Grif harder this time. "Do you want to fail before the first real day of school! You've come all the way to the best school, so don't ruin your chance!"

Grif groans in annoyance. "Fine."

Grif sits up and rubs his tired eyes and looks at Asher.

"Names Asher 'Sarge' Rose." Asher informs.

Grif yawns. "Dexter Grif." He looks Asher up and down. "Aren't you a little young to be here."

"N-No!" Asher's stutters a little. "Maybe a little, but that doesn't matter! What matters is that you need to get your ass up and in gear, before breakfast ends."

"Breakfast?" Grif dog ears shoot up.

"Yes, they said they'd be severing breakfast until thirty minutes before the start-" Asher notices Grif has disappeared. "What in the Sam Hell?"

Asher looks around in confusion, only to not spot Grif. He then shrugs his shoulders and heads into the bathroom.

.

.

Asher adjusts his red finger-less gloves as he walks towards the cafeteria. He's missing his jacket and scarf.

Asher then pulls out his scroll and calls someone. After a few seconds someone picks up.

"Hey, dad!" Asher smiles.

"Asher!" Taiyang's voice is heard over the phone. "I was wondering when you were going to call. How is everything so far?"

"Well, I'm fine. I made a friend. Ruby exploded, and we all had a good dinner. Slept great, didn't think those floors would be that comfortable."

"...Ruby exploded?"

Asher waves a hand. "Eh, not important."

"That seems important." Tai states in worry.

"Ahh, me and Ruby are tough as nails. Nothing will ever hurt us!"

Tai sighs. "If you say so. So, have you got any cute girls in your year?"

"Um... W-Well there is one. She has really nice blue eyes. Though she seems kinda mean."

"Heh, the meaner they are to you, the more they like you. You should have seen Raven when we first got into a team, nearly choked me out. Man, what a woman.

Asher blinks in uncomfortable silence. "I really didn't want to hear that."

Tai laughs. "Hey, maybe you'll get lucky with this girl and become her boyfriend by the end of the year."

Asher blushes slightly. "Maybe, but she doesn't seem to like me... Or Ruby... Or really anyone for that matter."

"My boy, if you work hard enough, you can get her. You just gotta believe."

"If you say so, dad."

"Oh, I know so. Hey, look I got class in a few minutes. So you stay safe and tell the girls I said 'hi'. Oh, I did drop off Lopez at your school, you'll have to ask Ozpin about where he is."

"Okay, love you dad."

"Love you too."

The call ends and Asher puts his scroll away. A smile forms on his face as he enters the cafeteria.

"Today's gonna be a good day."

.

.

Inside the locker room Ruby and Asher's are right next to each other. Yang, having already gotten her stuff, stands behind the twins.

Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie pass by, with Nora being very nervous.

"Wounder what those two were so worked up about." Ruby questions.

"Oh, who knows..." Yang turns to Ruby. "So! You seem awfully chipper this morning."

Asher pulls out his jacket and yellow scarf from his locker and puts them on. The yellow scarf has Asher's red emblem on the end of it.

"Yep!" Ruby smiles. "No more awkward small talk or 'getting to know you' stuff." She takes out Crescent Rose and hugs it. "Today, I get to let my sweetheart do the talking."

Asher stops putting an extra shell on his belt, and glances at his twin weirdly. "Ruby, that's kinda weird."

Ruby pouts as points at Asher. "Hey, it is perfectly normal to love your weapons. I see you fawning over your car all the time."

Asher gasps. "Hey, I worked very hard on my car and it deserves all the love I and Lopez give it! I worked so many years on it..." He then whispers. "So much money."

Asher takes Cataclysmic Edge out of his locker and puts it on his back.

"Where is Lopez anyway?" Ruby asks.

Asher shrugs his shoulders. "Dad dropped him off, but only mentioned that Ozpin has him."

"He's such a cool robot."

Yang then speaks up. "Now, Remember Ruby, you're not the only one going through initiation. If you want to grow up, you're going to have to meet new people and learn to work together."

"Ugh, you sound like dad!" Ruby complains and puts her weapon back in her locker. "Okay, first of all what does meeting people have to do with fighting? And secondly, I don't need people to help me grow up. I drink milk!"

"I drink milk too!" Asher states. "It helps us grow strong bones to crush the Grimm!"

"But what about when we form teams?" Yang asks.

"Uhm, I don't know, I-I'll just be on your team or something..." Ruby nervously says.

"Yeah, me and Ruby planned to be on the same team since kids." Asher smiles, then chuckles nervously. "I hope we get on the same team."

"Maybe you two should try being on someone else's team?" Yang asks as she brushes a hand through her long hair.

The twins walk up to Yang and poke her. "Our dearest sister Yang, are you implying that you do no wish to be on the same team as us?!"

Yang takes a step back. "Please don't do the twin thing, and W-What?! No! Of course I do, I just thought... I don't know, maybe it would help you both break out of your shells!

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

Asher tunes out the conversion as Ruby continues to rant. And he notices Simmons struggling with his locker.

Asher walks over to Simmons.

Simmons pulls on the locker's handle. "Come on, come on work!" He sighs in defeat.

"Need some help there?" Asher asks.

Simmons looks at Asher with hopefulness. "Yes please."

Asher steps up to the locker and pulls on the handle. It doesn't budge and he grunts as he yanks on it a few times, still nothing happens.

"Give me a second." Asher walks away.

"What?" Simmons questions.

Suddenly a burning red blur crashes into the locker and it opens. Asher cancels his semblance and shakes his right hand and rubs it a few times.

"Nothing like a little brute force won't do." Asher waves his right hand again.

Simmons glances at Asher and back to the open locker. "Thank you?" He reaches in and pulls out a DMR. "My name is Dick Simmons..." He holds a hand out. "But people call me Simmons."

Asher grabs Simmons hand and shakes it. "The name is Asher 'Sarge' Rose."

Simmons lets go of Asher's hand and turns back to his locker and reaches into it.

Suddenly Glynda speaks over the PA. "Would all first year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation?"

"Well, I'll see you at the cliff, Simmons." Asher walks off.

"Ah, see you later, sir!" Simmons calls out.

.

.

All first year students stand at a cliff overlooking the Emerald Forest. They all also stand on some large pad, Asher stands next to Ruby.

Ozpin begins speaking to his students. "For years you have trained to become warriors. And today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Glynda continues. "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."

"What? Aw..." Ruby makes scared noises.

"Sweeeet." Asher is excited.

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

Ruby makes more scared noises.

'Okay, now that's a little worrying.' Asher says in thought. 'Oh, I hope I get a good team.'

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

The Twins world shatters. "What?!"

Nora turns to Ren. "See? I told you!"

Ozpin continues. "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."

Asher chuckles. "Destroying stuff is my specialty!"

"You will be monitored an graded for 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 raises his hand. "Yeah, um, sir-"

"Good!" Ozpin interrupts Jaune. "Now, take your positions."

Everyone gets ready for what comes next. Asher adjusts his scarf and loosens it up a little.

Jaune keeps his hand raises. "Uh, sir? I've got, um, a question." Weiss gets catapulted towards the forest, and so do other students. "So, this landing strategy thing, uh, w-what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?"

"No." Ozpin says. "You will be falling."

More students get catapulted.

"Oh, I see." Jaune scratches his head. "So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?"

Nora gets catapulted.

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

"Uhhhuh... Yeah."

Yang looks at the twins and gives them a wink, before putting on some aviators.

Asher then looks at Ruby and brings up his fist. Ruby smiles and gives Asher a fist bump, before he gets catapulted. Then Ruby gets catapulted.

"So, um, what exactly is a landing strateGYYYYYYY!" Jaune gets launched.

Ozpin turns around and watches the students fly in the distance, then he takes a sip from his mug.

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12-08-2023

1932 words