He hit the first branch right arm bent at a 90 degree angle. He hooked around the first branch pulling all of the muscles in that arm to near snapping points while at the same time sending him tumbling into a trunk to the left, angling both legs towards it he pushed against the trunk spraining both ankles in the process.
Once off he brought his left arm up to grasp at a branch to slide off skimming skin off of his forearm before landing onto a trunk at an awkward angle peeling off the back of his 'armor' on contact. With a pained grunt jaune slid to the base of the tree a pained rasp leaving his throat.
He looked like a fallen warrior his hair laid over his eyes in a messy blond mop. What was left of his clothes were shredded leaving him in denim shorts. His hoodie was now a mix of black and red just as his jeans were a mix of blue and red. Neither were very fashion appropriate with giant pointy objects sticking out of them.
Jaune addressed the situation he was in a forest that despite being next to a fucking hunter school was teeming with grimm. He had a giant fucking arrow sticking out of his thigh which hurt like hell.
Taking a deep breath he gripped the arrow...before very quickly letting it go because holy fuck that hurt.
He took another breath "COME ON ARC" he shouted to himself gripping the arrow and with a roar he pulled it out of his leg. A bit of drool escaped his lips as the pain ebbed at his mind making the world fuzz up a bit.
His breath came out in short uncontrolled pants his world was fogging up quickly the blood loss was getting to him. He grit his teeth and moved an arm up to pull out the javelin in his shoulder.
He was too weak.
He was unable to move the javelin lodged deeply into his shoulder. It was quickly becoming more and more of a nuisance with every breath it scraped against the insides of his arm.
The clearing was quiet.
Way way too quiet it seemed offly fake. The trees around him formed the clearing in a broad circle stopping most light that came in only the hole that he had made allowed for him to see the sky above. The shadows between those trees were...moving just slightly just barely just enough to catch the barest hint of something unnatural.
Red.
There were glowing red dots appearing between the trees now leaving small barely visible streaks that allowed him to track their movements.
Grimm.
"Fuck" it was a simple sentence enhancer but it lacked his usual enthusiasm it was hollow and raspy.
From the trees beowolves began to lumber forth 8 in total that he could see. Not that it mattered he couldn't take one.
The alpha the largest of the pack was at the forefront approaching him like he approached a bag of hot chips.
Food.
Was that his destiny? To be food? To be some things midday snack!
'No!' A beowolf lunged at him with the intent of tearing his jugular clean off. With all of his strength he roared pulling the javelin and slamming it into the side of the beasts bone plated skull. At the same time pinning its evaporating corpse to the floor.
"Huff...Huff there's my gift to your pack ugly fuck!" the beowolves as though understanding him snarled angrily at his downed form.
Jaune grinned flipping off the whole pack "i hope i taste like shit assholes" he breathed letting his head fall to the trunk of the tree he was leaning on. The sound of the beowolves lunging for him hit his ears and he closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable.
It never came.
Instead jaunes ears were greeted with the lovely sound of "ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!ORA!"
Along with the aforementioned sound came the sound of seven heavy thuds accompanied by seven whines that sounded a whole lot like a beowolf getting fucked up.
Jaune's eyes snapped up standing in front of him was a beast of a man or could it even be called a man? The majority of its skin was purple with inlaid shades of blue and orange in a wave like pattern. On its shoulders were two thick pads of armor gold in color. Around its waist was a loincloth and its hair was black as a grimm it extended down to its ankles probably longer than that considering how it slightly curled and arched. On its hands were gloves plated with small golden circles. Its knees and elbows had golden pads in a nearly identical style to a roman warrior he had seen once in a text book pantheon was it?
He didn't care.
It turned around to gaze upon him looking closer now jaune could see two stab wounds on him as well as many scratches that littered his body.
"You look like hell" jaune had the nerve to say to the statue like entity.
"I don't wanna hear that from you bitch boy"
"Ooh i felt that"
"Jaune"
"Star Platinum"
"It must hurt"
"Less than you'd think"
The man grinned at him and jaune did his best to match the grin. A trail of blood leaving his lips. "You get hit by the same redheaded amazonnes and bug arrow?" he said before breaking off into a fit of coughs.
Star platinum seemed to mimic this until both of them at once settled down "y-you could say that" he returned.
Just then the sound of twigs snapping followed by the sound of rushed footsteps hearing this star platinum stepped to the side allowing jaune to see none other than the witch pyrrha herself.
"Come to finish off the job?" he asked with a frown.
The girl was in obvious distress with tears streaking down her face and a vary troubled look in her eyes.
Star platinum was tensed up ready to strike at the smallest sign of malice or ill will. He received none. She dropped to her knees in front of him sputtering out apologies half of which he could barely hear over the sound of his own slowing heartbeat.
"Doesn't look like i have much time so let's hurry this up partner" he said the word with very little emotion and any he showed wasn't forgiving in the least.
"Jaune! I-i im so sorry! I-i thought i w-would get your jacket i-i was trying to h-help!" she exclaimed in a frenzy.
"Well i landed though not in the way i had hoped" he said finally giving her a good look. She had fair skin and beautiful red hair the most vibrant green eyes he had ever seen and the most troubled expression on her face.
"W-why? Why didn't your aura heal you up?Or better protect you? You'll bleed out at this rate! " she asked seemingly to herself, her voice changing volumes as she expressed varying shades of emotion.
It took everything jaune had not to throw a sarcastic no shit sherlock joke at her or something dispassionate like i wonder why... he couldn't bring himself too however she looked to be in enough pain as it was. "I don't have any" he managed to get out.
"What?! How did you kill any of these beowolves"
"Well it's quite simple it wa-" he was stopped by the look star platinum was giving him it just sorta screamed 'super secret thingy' he decided to hold off and said instead "i'm just that good" he said with a sly grin.
She giggled softly at that before seemingly snapping back to the task at hand. "If i unlock it now you won't die." she said placing both hands on his chest.
"My someone's handsy" jaune said with a sly grin.
"S-shut up!" she began her face turning the color of her hair.
It took a few seconds but she seemed to have calmed down before a light permeated from her hands and she began to speak "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee."when she had finished wisps of red light shrouded by a black cloak colored the clearing.
"Well this is new" he was referring to the warm bubbling feeling coursing through his entire body in bursts repeatedly they flowed through his whole being before bubbling over to the top of his skin in the form of a visible barrier of see through black light with small wisps of red coming to the surface from just under his skin. It lingered above him for a while before fading.
"Your aura manifested visibly! That means you have a ton...odd colors though" she exclaimed clapping her hands together, she faltered slightly before catching herself she obviously must have been tired but he didn't speak on it.
"Hey jaune"
"Yea?"
"What happened to your eyes?"
"What do you mean?"
"They look kinda weird…"
"Is that a joke or are you just being rude?"
"Just take a look" she said picking her shield up in front of him holding it so that the reflective surface showed her meaning.
His eyes were no longer the azure they were before instead they were replaced with deep pools of blood red in the pool rested two dots resembling commas spinning around his onyx pupil.
"What the fuck"
"Language!" she said lightly punching his shoulder.
"Hey hey injured!" he complained rubbing his shoulder.
Despite that the cuts and stabs were slowly sealing up.
Jaune then looked over to the elephant in the clearing star platinum whose wounds were doing the same jaune opened his mouth to question before star platinum raised a hand to shush him. Jaune closed his mouth and looked away.
Pyrrha mumbled out a small 'sorry' and then helped him up. While he wasn't able to get up himself star platinum was helping him along the way "thanks star platinum"
"Who?" pyrrha asked turning around to look at him
"The guy helping me up what do you mean who" jaune looked back and forth between pyrrha and star platinum in confusion only to see star platinum shaking his head fervently.
"I don't see anyone"pyrrha said tilting her head in confusion had the fall hit him harder than she thought?
Jaune bit back the flurry of questions he wanted to sling at star platinum and put on his best joking face he could manage a goofy grin plastered itself on his face "kidding kidding" he tried.
Pyrrha frowned worriedly at him "are you sure?" she pleaded looking again for this 'star platinum'
"Yes i'm sure just a joke pyr" he returned unknowingly making pyrrha blush heavily at the affectionate nickname.
"A-alright" she said snapping around and marching off at a much faster pace than before.
Jaune merely held a hand up to his chin in speculation. Meanwhile star platinum was face palming.
XxXxX
Jaune and pyrrha eventually arrived upon sight of two other hunters in training fighting off waves and waves of beowolves,ursa , and many other unsightly beasts. Jaune gulped at the sight. He had never truly seen a grimm in person until just a few minutes ago and the sight was making him a bit queasy. They didn't even seem organic like black masses of darkness with white masks.
Oh but they were certainly physically there.
They had proved that.
Jaune muttered obscenities under his breath first he had to blame any bad performance was due to his injury. "Hey pyr-" he looked over to see pyrrha no longer there and stead throwing herself into the fray to help the other two hunters.
There went plan one.
Plan two stick it out on the sidelines.
Star platinum gave him a look that said 'fuck no' .
"Whats up with that look"
"Were not just sitting here"
"Wh- how did you know what i was thinking?!" jaune exclaimed with an eyebrow raised.
"becau-
XrensxpovX
Ren turned his head sharply to the sound of a yell avoiding a razor sharp feather from a nevermore straying from its attack group. Looking over his magenta eye landed to the source: a blond haired guy that looked worse for wear.
He hummed in thought as he shot down another nevermore before flipping vertically over a ursas charge at the same time hooking one of his blades in its mouth forcing its head to split in two under its own charging force.
"He looks" he paused looking for the right words.
"Out of place"
XjaunesxpovX
"That makes no sense"
"Doesn't change the truth"
"So no one can see you"
"That's right"
"And i've been talking to you publicly"
"That's right"
"And you didn't say anything"
"That's right"
"And you came from me?"
"That's right"
"SAY SOMETHING ASIDE FROM THAT'S RIGHT"
"..."
"Let's just...go kill the grimm"
"That's right"
Jaune held in the curse that he was going to throw at star platinum and instead he used that breath towards leaping into the fray of moving black masses star platinum reacted faster than a bullet aligning his arms with jaune's own giving him much more range and power. Jaune having discarded Crocea Mors during the flight was left with his fists...which weren't much to begin with. BUT with star platinum aiding him were a force to be reckoned with. In front of him lay 2 ursa leading a pack of 14 beowolves quite an intimidating sight for a man who had just slain his first grimm.
Jaune threw 80 thousand punches each carrying the power of 10 kermit memes and 40 ORA's each punch landed square in the jaw of each pouncing beowulf, the pack seemed to think he was weak enough for an insta pack kill.
Of course that was a very very bad idea when you have a stand like star platinum covering you.
Each of the beowolves bodies looked as though they exploded from the inside, holes tearing into their body from the force of each punch following that whatever was left was sent outward from the shockwave that ensued.
The ursa were a different matter however. They were of the older variety of grimm at least three century class ursa with large white bone plates and deep red tribal markings that seemed to glow with the same intensity of their eyes. Of course jaune's eyes only perked up in challenge Adding a third tomoe to the mix they span quickly giving jaune a set of points to attack.
Their weak joints were covered with small plates of bone that had protruding spikes to stop any illwill. The only bare spot was their under belly which over centuries of fighting for their lives they had learned to protect.
Of course jaune knew none of this. And neither did star platinum but with eyes like a hawk that quickly changed.
"These ones are different jaune be careful they won't go down so easy"
"Got it." he Responded loosening his joints and then unknowingly shifting into a stance similar to that of a boxer.
The grimm snarled at him each ursa giving the other a knowing look . the tension lasted only a moment longer before the two ursa shot off within three meters they had their opposing paws up to swipe at jaune with a force even ozpin would have trouble holding off.
So he took the obvious route and dodged underneath the strike. Star Platinum appeared beside jaune slammed his hand into the ground allowing him to pivot and face the creatures before pulling and sending him shooting at their heavily armored backs. He landed on the ursa to the right star platinum acting through him he grabbed a hold of a bone plate and started pulling with their combined might.
It came off like a bottle cap sending him rushing back. Star platinum acted quickly planting his feet in the ground from behind jaune to slow his descent and momentum. It worked of course as he knew it would allowing him to stumble onto his feet with star platinum's assistance.
"Well there's one armor plate only...hold on 1, 2,3...a lot a lot of plates to go" jaune said in exasperation.
"Or...orrrrr just saying, we could punch them in the gut...where there's no armor...Just saying" Star Platinum added glancing back and forth suggestively between himself and the ursa's exposed underside.
"That's an option too" jaune said a tint of red shading his cheeks embarrassment obvious on his features.
They both shot off Star Platinum pushing jaunes body beyond its human limits, he looked as though he was going to punch them square in the face and they immediately raised up going to swipe at him.
But they were wrong.
Beasts were beasts after all.
Jaune broke into slide underneath draining his aura due to his already exposed skin coming in contact with the harsh ground at high was slowed for him however he could see every particle of dust that broke up around him in a cloud and he quickly reached underneath the two ursa. With the combined shout of him and star platinum he swung.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
Welp there's chapter one i do hope you all enjoyed part 2 of the entrance exam will be coming as soon as possible.