JNPR
Full Summary: We've gotten pretty far into the story of Ruby and Team RWBY, with them at the head of the war against Salem and her Grim that infest and have taken over Remnant, as well as the troubles that follow that war, but what if the story were to shift focus to Jaune and Team JNPR?
And what if that wasn't the only difference?
A/N: This first one will be super long because it's my first story and felt like talking directly to you guys. First of all "Hi, how are you guys?". So I decided I wanted to write a story about the RWBY universe, and now I am. Not being restricted by pacing, animation, or future information I thought I might be able to make something at least somewhat coherent. That being said[1], I will not be adhering to Canon, I'm taking the RWBY Universe, and playing with it. I probably won't change any lore except to clarify, if it's not been done yet. But Cinder, Salem all that will still be here, just different. Also been re watching the series as a reminder, holy crap did the quality get worlds better. Like I said before these A/Ns are conversations with whoever reads this, that being said[2], feel free to talk to me, PM me, leave suggestions in the Reviews, there something you wanna see? A pairing you want to get some love? A special Grim you think would be neat? Send it to me, or talk to me about it, and if we make it work it works. This is 100% for fun, and because I think there is a lot of potential for creativity in the World of Remnant. (cue the opening theme song)
Talking- "I don't need friends to help me grow, I drink milk!"
Thinking- 'Hah she's just drinking milk to try and catch up to these babies'
Scroll Messages- "What is the big deal with Ruby and milk anyway?"
Dedicated to Monty Oum, for whom we miss dearly.
Chapter I
The Same but Different
'Ugh, I really feel like I'm about to vom everywhere...' Even his thoughts sounded strain as he began closing his eyes as if to try and focus his being entirely on not losing his breakfast. 'Okay, that was a mistake, that just made me feel like I was floating...'
Reaching his hand out to both stabilize himself and looking for something to sturdy him, his hand met the wall and he sighed, 'Thank you wall, you never let me down.' That didn't ease his stomach however as he continued to groan in misery, hoping his torture would end.
No such luck however as the bullhead continued its slow and somewhat bumpy descent gliding hundreds of feet in the air, having already come down from its highest altitude, now that it was nearing Vale. On the other side of the ship as if on cue a hologram popped up, bringing up the visage of a familiar blonde that one passenger had met under a more hostile circumstance. Some of the passengers began to congregate near it in interest.
"Who's that?"
"My name is Glynda Goodwitch"
"Oh!"
The woman went on to give a gentle welcoming to the passengers aboard, which could have come across as condescending to some, but nonetheless seemed sincere enough for anyone who cared like whoever made her record that.
"Oh, I can see Patch from here, I wonder if...yep there's our house. Hi house! Bye house!" The adorable black and red haired teen giggled to herself as she waved out the window as they sailed past the island and began closing in on Vale, and much more specifically Beacon.
"Oh, I'm so proud of you Ruby! Who would have thought my own baby sister would be so awesome that she'd be able to skip two years of combat school to come straight to Beacon along with her, in my opinion just as awesome if not more, big sis!" As the busty blonde exposited at her younger sibling she crashed their cheeks together in a side hug rubbing them together just enough to be uncomfortable, which caused Ruby to push back.
"Shew stop it, Yang. I'm just Ruby, I don't need or want everyone to think I'm special or some kind of amazing prodigy, I just want to get on a team with you, train, study and kick some Grim butt!" Ruby executed some in her opinion very accurate and totally awesome looking karate chops and a mid-kick to exemplify what she was saying, causing Yang to chuckle at her antics.
Their attention was stolen however as they turned to hear groaning and stumbling of boots.
Interrupting the adorable sisterly moment was a scraggly haired blond barreling past looking particularly green as he made his way to the exit, which had begun to hiss open. Not that they could entirely blame him, it had been a long flight and bullhead's weren't famous for being smooth flights.
"Haha, I wonder who we'll run into next?" The blonde of the pair joked before shaking her head and looking back at Ruby.
"Hopefully they're better than vomit boy! Ugh speaking of which gross! You better move it's right next to your shoes!" Quickly backing away herself, Ruby pointed down towards the wrenching mish mash of colors of food debris that stained the floor near them.
"Gross, gross, gross, gross!"
The first one out of the bay hatch as it hissed open was that very same blond who quickly dunked his head down into a conveniently placed trash can right outside, 'Ugh it's almost like they knew this would happen to someone.'
After a few minutes of purging his body of awfulness as well as going through almost all of the breath mints he had on him, he began to follow the path towards Beacon. He hadn't made it but just a couple of feet before feeling the ground quake beneath him. 'That's weird a tremor?' Squinting his eyes forward he saw some smoke and began to make his way up with a bit more urgency.
By the time he made it however, the only person there was a red and black dressed girl with a cape sprawled out on the ground. Unsure of what to do exactly he extended a hand down to her and leaned down slightly causing his shadow to cross her closed eyes. The blond made sure to put a small smile on to show he was trying to be helpful, which thankfully seemed to work as the small girl reached up taking his hand allowing herself to be helped up.
"... .. …." Ruby's mouth opened and closed a few times saying something to the blond before smiling awkwardly and almost seemingly like she was trying to hide into his hood and cape. Before looking back at the blond boys confused face.
The boy's mouth opened in a small o as he pointed towards his ears and shaking his head before pulling out his scroll and typing a short message, "Hi I'm Jaune :)"
Ruby seemed frozen for a moment as the information she had just absorbed began to work its way through her brain, while not necessarily common especially among hunters or huntresses, they did exist. Recognizing him as the same boy that she'd dubbed vomit boy not even a few minutes ago had been worse, even more so when he had been nice enough to check on her when everyone else had just left her. She finally unfroze as a gloved hand began waving in her face followed by a look of concern on Jaune's face.
Snapping herself out of it face now turning a light shade of red, she pulled out her own scroll quickly typing out, "Nice to meet you Jaune, I'm Ruby! :) and thank you."
Jaune simply blushed a little and waved it off, before they started walking off around the campus, though in each others eyes they were following the other one while occasionally messaging back and forth. Sure it may have looked a little funny, but all he knew was that he had already made a friend and honestly after how sick he was on the ride here, that was a win.
After a bit more walking around, Ruby, finally got her head back on straight and typed Jaune a message on her scroll before showing it to him, "Oh check this out!" As soon as he had time to read it her hand immediately went for the compacted scythe that was latched onto her belt from behind before whipping it forward and allowing it to reshape into it's normal form stabbing it into the concrete below.
A little shocked at first, Jaune couldn't help but give an audible, "Whooooaaa" a moment later she quickly showed him a new message, "And what have you got?"
Suddenly feeling very nervous and a little unprepared he unsheathed his Crocea Mors, and pulled the sheath up which quickly transformed into a shield bearing the Arc family crest. Swinging it about a little showing it's a normal sword he shrunk his shield back down into it's sheath form and sheathed the blade before looked back at Ruby who had begun typing a question.
"So does it weigh the same in shield and sheath form?"
Sighing and nodding, quickly answered that question but he felt like he had to defend his weapon as best he could at least, "It does have this bit of cool history though, my Great-Great-Grandfather used it in The Great War, and it's been passed down ever since."
"Ya know what that is cool, and there is something to be said about the classics, though you may want to considering getting something extra at least for range eventually." She may have conceded on the admittedly cool history of the blade, but she'd feel like a bad friend if she didn't try and help an obvious weakness when it was presented to her.
Jaune quickly nodded both in relief and in agreement that he would need to invest in range at some point, but now he had another thought, they'd been wandering around for a while now and hadn't seen anyone, "Uhm...do you know where we're supposed to go?"
"Uh no, I was just following you!" She spoke out loud first while waving her arms about slightly frantic.
Jaune simply pointed one hand to his ear as a reminder, which of course made Ruby face palm before she started to type a message on her scroll. As she was getting ready to show it, she nearly face palmed again before realizing an obviously better way to communicate. She pointed towards Jaune's scroll and did a give me motion with her hand. Jaune obliged slowly but with a confused look on his face, to which Ruby simply put a finger up, to show just a moment.
Quickly typing her information in the device and messaging herself she handed the scroll back with a proud look on her face, finishing the look with a "Ta-da!" Message that quickly buzzed to life in Jaunes hand.
"Oh, smart, Ruby!" After a moment of silence however, 'That would have been all the talk with weapons a lot easier though haha.' realizing she still hadn't clearly answered him he sent a reminder, "Soooo DO you know where to go?" A small awkward smile gracing his face again, as he scratched at the back of his head.
It took a moment to realize there was in fact a map directory especially since they meandered to the wrong side of campus somehow, but they finally found their way to what appeared to be a large circular building, with an open roof and some, in Jaune's opinion, very cool looking columns.
"Hey Ruby, over here!"
Ruby turned, causing Jaune to turn with her, to see a happy looking blonde with lilac eyes waving and looking towards the short hooded girl. Jaune recognized her as the girl whose shoes he nearly ruined, oh that wouldn't have been a good first impression, well it would have made his already bad one, worse.
"I saved you a spot!"
Feeling conflicted she quickly turned to Jaune with a sad look, quickly typing a message on her scroll before Jaune stopped her and just nodded for her to go on.
She couldn't help but give him a thankful smile before quickly taking off towards her sister. Said Sister who once Ruby got to appeared to be looking in Jaune's direction while asking her something and wiggling her eyebrows, making Ruby blush wildly before waving her arms wildly looking like she was trying to explain.
At that point Jaune looked away thinking to himself, 'Awh, was really hoping to have a nice awkward girl to talk to!' Looking down at his feet for a moment he nearly bumped into a girl with beautiful long red hair before making his way closer to the stage but still keeping Ruby in sight, in case he needed help, since she was literally the only person he knew here.
At this point he was now just standing around awkwardly shuffling his weight from one foot to the other and occasionally looking around the room, engaging in a round of his favorite game to play alone, People Watching. This version however appeared to be the awkward teen version where everyone around him was some form or another of excited, bored, or nervous. There was a particularly bouncing orange haired girl with what he almost thought was an actual ninja. 'They look like a fun pair. Wonder if we'll have classes together, I wouldn't mind, I do need to make more friends after all. Heh.'
Continuing to look around he made his way back over to Ruby, the busty blonde, and what looked like an irate white-haired girl as prim and proper as a princess but appeared to have the commanding presence of a Queen if Ruby's reactions were anything to go by. Though it confused him when she suddenly pointed a thumb back at him, though he couldn't tell if it was for a good reason or bad. He was about to make his way over to ask before everyone suddenly shifted their attention up at the stage.
A gray-haired man, which he believed was Headmaster Ozpin himself, stuttered his way up to the microphone with a cane, before he began to speak. Jaune suddenly felt even more like an idiot than usual and hoped he wasn't going over anything important, 'Am I really making a mistake being here? I know I want to be a Hunter and help others, to be a hero! But at the same time...maybe my family was right, and someone like me, just can't do it.'
Before he could continue to dwell on his thoughts it appeared that the mass of hormones was beginning to flow into another direction. Pretending like he belonged he simply strode forth with everyone else, as they made their way into what appeared to be a large open room with two curved stair cases going into what he assumed were West and East wings.
The large room itself seemed to have a ton of beds all perfectly spaced evenly, with a large divider, the rug, between the two halves of the room, and judging by the movements of the rest of the potential students it appeared, girls on one side, and boys on the other.
Once he finished looking around Jaune realized he would need a place to change and put his gear up, and thankfully noticed a group of guys and girls all heading together down a hallway. Hoping they were going to either a set of bathrooms or locker rooms, Jaune thanked Oum as they pushed open a large door to reveal what seemed like a coed locker room which made Jaune a bit nervous but imagined it was likely a test of dedicated and respect. He did however make sure to keep the mantra, 'Keep your eyes to yourself' on repeat in his head.
Once he had finished changing into his PJs, a simple set of blue flannel pants and a white muscle shirt which only served to show his lack thereof, he made sure to double check his scroll for his locker number as he made his way back into the ballroom. 'This definitely hasn't been what I thought it would be like so far.' After a few moments of searching the ballroom for a bed he finally managed to find an unoccupied mattress and allowed himself to flop down on it.
'Now for the most anxious part of my life, setting an alarm and back up alarms on full vibrate hoping I don't miss them... Normally I'd have the light flash too, but something tells me in a room of like a hundred sleeping teens, over half of which girls, is probably not a good idea.' Despite those worries the moment Jaune put his head down, and not having to deal with hearing the exchange between four girls all arguing across the room he was out.
'Alright, got my gear, got my scroll, am I forg...' Jaune's thought process was interrupted as he side stepped to avoid a bouncy orange haired girl and a green garbed ninja. The side step however resulted in him tripping over a white hard-shell suit case exclaiming, "Whaaaaa!" as his face and body quickly found the floor. Sighing at his clumsiness and embarrassment he quickly hopped up to his feet and on reflex like when he would apology to his sisters at home immediately began to sign, "Sorry."
The white haired girl who had been yelling out in frustration, not that he knew, didn't look any less annoyed, but did add confusion to her facial appearance as she openly stared at the boy eyes narrowing as she did.
Realizing what he was doing, Jaune quickly pointed towards his ear and shook his head, though if that wasn't enough thankfully, he'd already had his scroll in hand quickly typed, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to trip over your stuff!" After typing he quickly flipped his scroll over to show what he had typed with an awkward smile and a hand behind his head.
Shaking her head, the white-haired girl simply scoffed in annoyance and walked past, leaving Jaune embarrassed and a little down, however once he raised his head, he noticed a very beautiful red hair girl who liked like a Spartan ready for war. She gave a very kind and genuine smile while giving him a wave, which Jaune couldn't help but reciprocate, as he went for his scroll to type something, he felt a hand on his shoulder, looking up he saw it was the red head who appeared to have an apologetic look on her face as she mouthed the word, "Sorry."
He turned to watch her run off to catch up to the white-haired girl who he assumed had called for her. Sighing his head drooped down, seems he couldn't make a single good impression, aside from Ruby speaking of, saw a pair of black and red combat boots enter his view and looked up to see both her and the taller blonde he saw her with before.
Feeling his scroll buzz he quickly gave it a look, "Rough day, Lady Killer?" It wasn't Ruby who sent the message so he looked up in confusion at the two before the blonde quickly waved getting his attention, before he could reply back, there was already a follow up.
"Name's Yang, Ruby's meaner, beautiful, and more awesome in all ways older sister, so you better behave yourself around her!" He looked up just in time to see her give him a smug smile before lightly punching him on the shoulder nearly knocking him over, like he was nothing.
Ruby simply smiled innocently at him innocently, before another message buzzed on his phone, "I hope you don't mind I gave her your scroll info. She's my sister and I trust her, besides more friends never hurts right?"
Jaune couldn't help but agree with that last part, and he understood trusting siblings so he simply nodded, and followed along as they informed him, that it was time and that they were called to come outside to meet on Beacon Cliff.
As they all made their way to Cliff, with Jaune, Ruby, and Yang bringing up the rear they took the final platform spots, similar to that, which everyone else was already standing on. It didn't make a lot of sense to Jaune, but as usual he just wanted to make sure he didn't draw too much attention to the fact that he was definitely not supposed to be there. So, he simply stood on the platform and focused on Headmaster Ozpin trying his best to read his lips. Unfortunately, he kept that cup of coffee so close to his mouth almost like he knew and was taunting him.
There was a moment when he stopped talking that Jaune thought he felt something spring from the ground around him, but he didn't want to look away from Ozpin in case he said something else he could try and glean. When he didn't say anything, he felt another spring from the ground and turned to the direction he felt it coming from and as he did he watched a student sail through the air.
Confused and alarmed he immediately looked to Ruby who was apparently quickly tapping away at her scroll while the others were one at a time being launched, this time the nice red head he spoke to before was sent off into the air. Finally, she seemed to have finished what she was typing put her scroll away just in time to turn and see her sister Yang don a cool set of aviators before being shot into the air like everyone else.
Jaune felt his scroll buzz but couldn't force himself to check it yet as he was still terrified over the idea of being, "Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!"
Unable to control his lift off without the proper strength and conditioning traditional combat school training gives or the added bonus of Aura Jaune was simply flailing through the air, now beginning to seriously think he'd made a mistake. That thought didn't last long however as he suddenly felt his momentum pulled by his hoodie and felt himself jabbed into a tree and hung there by what apparently was a spear.
He tried to give it a tug or two but when it didn't even think about budging, he remembered Ruby had sent him one last message, pulling his scroll out to eagerly check what she'd sent him, and his fingers slipped dropping it down to the ground below. Sighing defeatedly Jaune couldn't help but face palm, completely missing out on the fact a white-haired girl and appeared and slowly backed away from him before he noticed.
Before he pulled his hand away from his face, he suddenly felt movement from his hoodie, 'Wha...oh crap!' The spear had been pulled from the tree dropping him unceremoniously on the ground below, thankfully not hurting him much more than a sore butt.
After rising to his feet swiping his scroll off the ground as he did so, he was once again face to face with the girl who his meeting with earlier got cut short. Like before she gave him a kind smile that he couldn't help but return as she said something to him, which he unfortunately couldn't hear. Bringing his scroll up he opened it to quickly read what Ruby had sent, 'First person you see... find relic...gaurd it...graded on performance. Simple enough.' After quickly reading her message he began to type one for the red head in front of him which he quickly showed.
"Hello again! I'm Jaune, guess we're partners now!" Jaune gave a big smile at this point as well as a thumbs up.
There was a weird feeling of serendipity, as soon as Pyrrha read the message, a verbal tic often accredited to her and this boy she just met greeted her the same way. She wasn't quite sure yet whether he was deaf or just couldn't speak she assumed the former but needed to be sure, though she heard him make sounds, either case what she did know was that him as her partner felt right. Not having her scroll on her she reached for his to which he gladly handed over.
Jaune thought that she was going to do like Ruby and just put her info in but had been surprised when she did the same as him and flipped it around with a message typed away on it.
"Hello again, Jaune! I'm Pyrrha, it's a pleasure. So, I take it you are hearing impaired, yes?" Jaune simply nodded at the end question and she quickly began typing again.
"I know very little sign language you'll have to teach me more later, so stick close and we'll do what we can with pointing and when we make it out of here, we'll go over other ways to quickly communicate!" What little she had learned was mainly due to her fame and meeting with fans, which on the rare occasion included the deaf or hearing impaired, being a celebrity sometimes you ran into odd situations and learned odd skills.
Jaune simply nodded as she handed his scroll back and signaled to follow, and they began to trudge forward, carefully and testing little hand motions and signs to quickly signal when to turn, hold, or move again.
After a few minutes of travel a high impact shot echoed through the forest, followed by a couple of rapid fire small arms echoes as well. Holding her fist up to halt movement, she turned to look at Jaune and pointed towards their new destination. With the change in direction she pushed a branch out of her way, letting it slide off her hand though much quicker than she expected knocking Jaune down, she quickly mouthed, "Sorry" and went to help him up before noticing blood dripping from a scratch just below his eye.
Motioning for his Scroll she quickly typed a message, "Jaune why didn't your Aura come up and block that? And why isn't it healing you now?"
Looking at the message, he couldn't help but be confused pointing at the word Aura, and giving her a confused look. Pyrrha looked at Jaune and thought for a moment before typing a message to him, "Close your eyes and relax I'll have to explain this in more detail when we get out of here, but for now this is more important."
Obeying, Jaune immediately closed his eyes and took a deep breath allowing himself to relax as much as he could in a forest filled with Grim. Though he was more focused on the hand that soon was caressing his cheek and the strange feeling that was beginning to bubble within him.
A few seconds in and he felt another hand gently laid against his chest as the feeling in him began to swell, and his eyes immediately shot open to see Pyrrha out of breath and hunched over slightly, "Pyrrha! Are you okay!" He called out in his mind as he leaned down to her and reached out to balance her.
"I'm fine Ja..." Pyrrha was about to explain what happened when she was suddenly shocked from hearing his voice, "Jaune did you just speak?" She looked him dead in the eye waiting for a response, and noticed as the scratch below his eye healed immediately. "Wow you have a lot of aura, no wonder that took so much out of me."
Jaune was worried about Pyrrha and was about to brace her when she suddenly shot up to look at him with a serious expression on her face that held some curiosity. He wasn't quite sure what to do, until he suddenly heard in his head, 'Wow you have a lot of aura, no wonder that took so much out of me.'
'Did I just hear Pyrrha talk in my head?! If so she has a beautiful voice but how!? Wait! Can she hear me too, is that why she gave me that look'. "Uh Pyrrha think something at me!" Jaune was having a near panic attack slash moment of elation, at this sudden possibility, especially when the doubts of what he was doing were weighing so heavily on him earlier.
"Jaune, can...you hear me?" Pyrrha looked up at Jaune a gentle but hopeful look in her green eyes peering into his blue ones.
There was a moment of silence before Jaune suddenly gave a short gasping laugh, before he quickly nodded, the edges of his eyes watering up slightly as he did so.
"Yes! I can!" He almost felt like he yelled the thoughts back to her, but he couldn't help it. Jaune Arc at this moment might have been the happiest he'd ever been in his life, he was going to be a Hero, he was going to be a Hunter.
A/N:
Jaune's Telepathy- "Holy Crap I can hear, sorta...well really just voices in my head...but not in a crazy way!"
Well I hope that was unique and different enough to entice some people. My writing will get tighter as we go, and with that twist at the end, it'll make dialogue hell of a lot easier. That was by far the hardest part of writing this. How do I get this to go along, in a realistic manner etc. So, let me know what you thought, also a question for everyone. Do you like it being mainly Jaune's POV or did you prefer like the beginning where I do a mix of Jaune and others? Still trying to find my footing with this, so figured now is the best time to ask haha.
Oh, and to belay any potential concerns, it won't be a direct retelling, the divergence will be made clearer next chapter. I just needed to get the story started as it were and felt this was the best way. Also there are some rules regarding Jaune's new ability think you can figure out what they are?