Hey Guys, this is a new story I'm trying out, I hope you like it. Also, I'll be postponing all my other stories except Alternate until further notice.Black Flames out!
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Chapter One:
The Fallen Leaf
"The monsters aren't always the creatures of Grimm. Sometimes you have to look past the masks of humanity to find the true monsters." ~Mingzhi Nanren, Ancient Vacou Philosopher
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If you looked at Jaune, he'd seem like a pretty upbeat person, a man who looked like he couldn't hate a thing in the world. He looked like he'd love to be best friends with everything. There was, however, a few things that Jaune disliked with a passion.
One was heights, something he never liked and turned into a hate/fear relationship after being thrown off of a cliff in a training exercise. Another was dust powered vehicles, he didn't trust those things for a second, knowing dust's deadly power, as well as his motion sickness. With those on his mind, there was one question on Jaune's mind.
'HOW DID OZPIN TRICK ME ONTO GETTING ONTO THIS DEATHTRAP!' thought Jaune as he tried to control his stomach as he flew on the one thing he truly hated, a Dust-Plane. He was even unlucky enough to somehow manage to find one with a beautiful aerial view of the ground, reminding him where he was.
'Alright Jaune, just control your stomach, you are an Arc! The latest descendent of Julius! You will not fall victim to a metal nevermore! I only have to-' and so Jaune inner speech was cut short as his stomach won it's rebellion against the plane and his body.
'Shoot shoot shoot, I'm gonna-' thought Jaune as his stomach finally reintroduced his breakfast to the world, and more specifically to a poor blondes shoes. He would have to apologize, but later as he didn't want more unnecessary casualties in the war against his stomach.
Fortunately for him, the trashcan was very close to the blonde that he puked on, the bright side was there would be no more casualties, the bad was that it was literally right next to the window, only worsening his stomach ailment.
'Ugh... when I get my hands on Ozpin for convincing me to get on this plane, I'm gonna-'
[WE ARE NEARING BEACON ACADEMY AND WE WILL BE LANDING IN 15 MINUTES] said the intercom as it sounded above him.
'At least it isn't all bad news...' thought Jaune as he waited out the longest 15 minutes of his life.
=O=
[WELCOME TO BEACON ACADEMY] announced the intercom, signalling the end of his quarter hour of hell.
'Oh thank Monty...' thought Jaune as he got off the flying deathtrap and back onto the sweet sweet earth, where you don't have to worry about falling to your death. He drank some water to clear his mouth of the vile contents it had just finished expelling, and took a look around.
"Wow..." It wasn't called Beacon for nothing, especially with the giant tower in the middle of it, and the place itself was incredible, it resembled a higher class of living, it certainly deserved the title of the highest and best Hunters Academy.
Jaune then decided that now was the time for a quick checklist, to make sure that he didn't forget something, as it would be quite embarrassing to go in for a fight and realize you forgot your sword somewhere.
Armor... Check
Jaune looked at it and was still proud of it's design and sleekness, how he was unrestricted in movement and was protected from most attacks, a good gift from his sister Verta.
Crocea Mors... Check
A quick pull and the longsword was in his hand, ready for all the basics, including and not limited to slashing, stabbing, cutting and skewering, and his 'sheath' ready to protect him in a moments notice with it's shield form. Indestructible, and his great great grandfathers gift to him, a worthy weapon for justice.
Luggage... Check?
As he looked through, he noticed that everything was in order, except he lacked something. His wonderful sisters that could do no wrong forgot to pack him any sleepwear except for his onesie, not that anything was wrong with it, as the onesie was the best, but it wasn't the best in terms of reputation with the bunnies all over it, along with the slippers... Ah well, his blessed cousin gave it to him, might as well use it.
And Reputation... Absolutely demolished
Jaune noticed that everyone was walking around and away from him as if he was the Grimm... Eh, he DID throw up on a poor girls shoes before making it to a trashcan as well as he was talking to himself... He really needs to stop doing that.
Now, there was only one thing left to do, and that was- *BANG* Jaune's inner thoughts were cut off as he heard, and felt an explosion come from nearby.
"What the-" said Jaune as he looked over just in time to see the wonders of ice, lightning and fire combine as well as a few other elements to perform an awe inspiring explosion. And in the middle as the smoke cleared, a small red haired girl clothed in red, as well as a small white haired girl clothed in white. Hopefully they're alright.
"This is exactly what I was talking about!" said White angrily, yep they were okay. Okay enough to argue after the explosion of the elements.
"I'm really really sorry!" said Red.
"Ugh! You complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?" said White angrily, signaling Jaune with his 'hero' instincts to solve the problem before it escalated. He's seen two angry woman fighting before, it did not end well for anyone. Last he checked, they were still cleaning up the mess in the castle.
"Easy there, let's not get too worked up over this, let's all calm down and think about this. Do you really want to argue over this or do you want to act like an adult and forgive each other?" asked Jaune, trying to die down the situation. Unfortunately, it didn't work.
"Do you know who your talking to?" asked White, directing her fury at Jaune. This was definitely not the course Jaune thought that this conversation. And as Jaune drew a blank on the name, a black haired angel decided to save him, holding a dust vial that seemed to survive the explosion.
"She's the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, Weiss Schnee, which is the world's biggest dust supplier." said the black haired lady.
"Finally, some recognition!" said Weiss smugly.
"The same company infamous for its controversial labor force and questionable business partners." said the Black bluntly.
"How dare- The nerve of- Ugh!" said Weiss as she stormed off, but not before snatching the vial out of Black's hands. Jaune then turned to Black, only to see her glare at him for a couple seconds, before leaving as well. A groan alerted him of the small red girl in the center of a crater.
"...Welcome to Beacon..." said Red, who looked depressed over the last five minutes. As she looked, she saw that at least one of the people that defended her stayed nearby.
"That could've ended better..." said Jaune more or less to himself as he helped Red out of the crater.
"Thanks, I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose." said Ruby as they started to walk around, in no real direction. Now was the time for new friends!
"I'm Jaune Arc. Short Sweet and the ladies love it." said Jaune.
"Weren't you the one who threw up on the ship?" asked Ruby, to which he retorted.
"Didn't you just explode five minutes ago?"
=O=
They two had been walking for a while, and they had discussed various topics, such as their 'wonderful' older sisters, their favorite foods, and now they were approaching a new one, weaponry.
"So... I got this!" said Ruby as she pulled out her weapon, and it transformed from a small box into a scythe that looked bigger than she was, in a combination of red, black and silver. One thing that confused Jaune was how a small girl could wield such a big heavy scythe.
"Woah... Nice!" said Jaune, this was his first experience with a transforming weapon, and this definitely was more impressive than a plain old mace or bow.
"It's also a customizable high velocity impact sniper rifle!" said Ruby.
"I didn't know you were such a weapons fanatic Crater-Face! Where did you get that?" said Jaune.
"If you must know Vomit-Boy, I created it myself, all students at Signal make their own weapons! Didn't you make yours?" asked Ruby, curious. He hadn't pulled out his weapon yet, and she was definitely curious.
"Nope, it's a family heirloom, my great great grandfather used this in the Great War 125 years ago. But do you want to know what it can do?" asked Jaune, baiting her in.
"Yes!" said Ruby, and Jaune prepared to wow her.
"This sword, this amazing sword can do the most impressive thing ever! It can cut, stab and slash!" said Jaune, and smiled as he saw Ruby's eagerness disappear into disappointment.
"You could've said it was a normal sword..." said Ruby as she pouted.
"Eh, that would've been boring, but I do have something special. My sheave can turn into a shield, and if my G.G. Grandfather can be believed, my shield will never be broken through, or be even scratched by that manner, and my sword can never be dulled, as well as it's ability to cut through anything. The Absolute Sword and the Absolute Shield." said Jaune.
"Really!? What's it made out of?" asked Ruby, eager to know of the seemingly invincible metal.
"If I knew, I'd tell you Ruby. No one alive in my family knows what it's made out of. Last time we checked, not even a diamond drill could even scratch it." said Jaune.
"Well then, I-" Ruby was cut off as a intercom above her head went off.
[ATTENTION FIRST YEARS, HEADMASTER OZPIN'S SPEECH WILL BEGIN IN 20 MINUTES AT THE AUDITORIUM]
There was silence as Jaune and Ruby took in the message. Finally, Jaune had the guts to ask the question that neither of them knew the answer to.
"Where's the Auditorium?"
=O=
Finally, after 15 minutes and 3 teachers, they managed to find the auditorium. Just in time as well, as almost immediately after getting inside the auditorium, Professor Ozpin began his speech, but not before Ruby managed to find her sister, whom after the speech he will apologize to for vomiting all over her shoes.
"Ahem... I'll keep this brief. You have travel here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look among you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of a purpose, direction. You will assume that knowledge will free you off this, but your time here at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." and so the Headmaster departed, leaving the students with his rather odd message, and so Professor Goodwitch stepped up.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight, tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready, you are dismissed." said the Professor Goodwitch, before following the Headmaster. The students then started to depart, and explore the school, or as far as they could go. Jaune then took this time to do what he should've done a long time ago.
"Hey!" said Jaune, gathering Yang's attention.
"Yes?" asked Yang, turning from Ruby, whom she was speaking with.
"I nearly forgot, I'm sorry for puking onto your shoes, I get motion sickness easy, and that metal deathtrap definitely didn't help." said Jaune.
"It's alright, I'll be fine... ugh, what's your name?" asked Yang, to which Ruby answered.
"Yang, this is my new friend Jaune. Jaune, this is my older sister Yang." said Ruby, introducing the two.
"Nice to meet you Jaune." said Yang, shaking Jaune's hand with a very strong grip. This was someone he shouldn't mess with.
"Likewise, now I'm gonna attempt to find the ballroom now, as the sooner I go, the better. I have a terrible sense of direction, and Ruby can confirm this." said Jaune.
"Alright then, I guess I'll see you later." said Yang as Jaune walked off. Before Jaune left though, he felt at unease, as if someone was watching him, like a tiger hunting for it's next meal. Jaune shook it off and prepared his next great journey to the ballroom.
=O=
Jaune had managed to set a new record for himself, as within an hour, he was in the ballroom and was unpacking his things, before he saw two things of interest. One: His wonderful Sisters packed him no sleepware, except his onesie. It MAY be a tad bit embarrassing, but it's too comfy to get mad about. And two, the black haired lady from before had set up nearby and was reading a book. Might as well introduce himself.
"Hey, I'm Jaune. I noticed that you helped my friend out earlier when she was attacked by the Ice Queen, and I got to thank you, I'm not sure I could've handled that well alone. So thanks!" said Jaune.
"It's no problem, I'm Blake." said Blake as she looked at him, and after a couple seconds she looked a little surprise, but managed to hide it and Jaune didn't notice.
"So... what are you reading?" asked Jaune.
"It's a book about a man with two souls, each fighting over control of his body. I'll let you guess what the name is." said Blake, to which Jaune laughed at his luck.
"Is it 'The Twin King' by Jekiru Haido?" asked Jaune, knowing the answer already.
"How did you know?" asked Blake.
"You can say that I had a fairly boring childhood, so I decided that I might as well as read a few books to pass the time, turns out I loved reading. They could transport you to a new world of new ideals and new truths. This was one of my fathers favorite books, and it's one of mine as well. But I do have a question for you." said Jaune.
"I agree completely, I read books as they could give a new set of rules, and a more ideal world, and what's your question?" asked Blake.
"Quel est le secret da la seconde?" asked Jaune as his voice hardened from his previous happy, go lucky attitude to one of complete seriousness.
"La connaissance de la troisième." said Blake unwavering, to which Jaune laughed.
"You'll be a good friend Blake for the upcoming year." said Jaune as he walked off back to his area.
"Likewise Jaune."
=O=
The night had gone rather quiet, as other than the Ice Queen attacking Ruby again, there was really nothing note worthy. Jaune woke up, and proceeded to the breakfast hall, following the crowd that left early. Ten minutes later, and he was eating pancakes, the food of the heavens. Nothing could ruin this, not a thing in the world...
"Hey! Do you mind if we sit here? Ooh you're eating pancakes as well! I love pancakes and-" said an overactive orange haired girl before her friend cut her off. Again, not even this could ruin the happiness that sweets brought him.
"Sure, I don't mind, especially if you have the king of breakfasts with you as well." said Jaune.
"Okay! I'm Nora, and this is my bestest friend ever, Ren. I love pancakes! Ren, we're gonna be partners with this person, right? I can't allow a lowly cereal team to have a true pancake lover!" said Nora excitedly.
"If you can figure out how to determine how the teams are going to be formed, then sure." said Jaune as he ate another pancake.
"Ooh Ren, do you think that they'll..." Jaune stopped paying attention, as he felt the predatory grin from earlier again, this was causing Jaune unease. He needed to figure out who was giving him that glare and why. After pancakes of course, nothing goes before pancakes.
"...so we can do sloth sounds, and we can team up that way, or maybe we can bribe the headmaster... no that won't work, he owns the school. Oh wait, we can-" said Nora before Jaune cut her off.
"I'm going to be taking my leave for the locker rooms, good luck on the team Nora! And some good advice, everybody loves coffee if your on the bribing idea." said Jaune as he cleaned his mess and left for the locker rooms.
"Okay Pancake-Buddy! So Ren, maybe we can..."
=O=
As Jaune prepared his gear, he noticed laughing. Of the evil variety. Not dissimilar to the laugh of the Mad King of his favorite show, X-Ray and Vav. He looked over and saw that Weiss and a redhead were conversing and Weiss was giving off an evil aura, as if her master plans were coming together, likely she was trying to team with the woman. There was only one thing to do at a time like this.
"Hey Snow Angel, I couldn't help but notice that you want to team with the best of the best. No worries, he's right here." said Jaune. Normally, he'd never get so narcissistic, but when it came to messing with people, the gloves came off.
"Oh great, it's you..." said Weiss.
"It is great, isn't it. Now, I'm thinking that you and me should team, I think that we would be a great team." said Jaune, smiling at the sight of a very upset Weiss.
"Teams are composed of four people." said the Redhead behind Weiss. He nearly hit himself for being as rude to not introduce himself.
"Really, that's good to here... Uh, what's your name?" asked Jaune.
"Do you really not know who this is?" asked Weiss, seemingly getting more upset by the second, and this time he wasn't even trying. It couldn't be any easier, and he loved it.
"Nope. Not a single clue. No bells ringing up here." said Jaune.
"This is Pyrrha Nikos!" said Weiss.
"No idea who that is." said Jaune.
"She graduated at the top of her class" said Weiss.
"Still not ringing and bells and congrats Pyrrha." said Jaune.
"Four time winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament, a new record might I add." said Weiss, confident that the block head would know who she was.
"I can't say I know what that is, but congrats again Pyrrha!" said Jaune.
"She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's box!" said Weiss angrily, to which Jaune had to hold himself back from laughing in her face.
"Not. A. Clue. But I'll assume that that's important, so congrats a third time Pyrrha."
"Ugh, your so infuriating you simpleton! Anyway, do you think your worthy of teaming up with either of us?" asked Weiss, which pushed a few of Jaune's buttons.
"You know, I'm a bit tired of the 'I'm too good for everyone attitude.' Let me tell you two things Weiss. One: I couldn't care less about Weiss Schnee of the Schnee Dust Company, or Pyrrha Nikos the champion. What I care about is the Weiss Schnee of Beacon Academy, and the Pyrrha Nikos of Beacon Academy. Two: Can names and titles save you from a Deathstalker? They are only good for bragging. It was nice meeting you Pyrrha, and I hope you take my words to heart Weiss." said Jaune as he walked off towards the cliff.
=O=
Jaune arrived early to the cliff and saw that Professor Goodwitch and Headmaster Ozpin were already there, to which Jaune smiled.
"Hello Headmaster Ozpin, how are you?" asked Jaune.
"I'm fine Jaune, I didn't think that you would make an appearance this year, how did you escape your sisters?" asked Ozpin.
"I had to sneak out and catch the first dust-plane to Vale a few nights ago, and let me tell you, I've found something I can actually hate." said Jaune.
"Motion Sickness?" asked Ozpin.
"120%, we were not born to fly, and definitely not on a giant metal Nevermore." said Jaune, to which the Headmaster laughed.
"Ah Jaune, you never cease to amuse me. You should get on the metal plates now, as the other students are coming, you don't want to give them the wrong idea, right?" said Ozpin.
"Okay then..." said Jaune. Soon, all the students of Group A* had arrived.
"For years, you have trained to become warriors and today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." said Ozpin.
"Now I'm sure that many of you have heard of the rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates today." said Professor Goodwitch.
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone whom you can work well with. That being said, the first person you make eye-contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." said Ozpin, and next to him, he could hear Ruby freaking out. It shouldn't be too bad, as long as she isn't paired up with Weiss, that would just be a combo he wouldn't see working out, at least for a while.
"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way, so not hesitate to destroy everything in your path or you will die. You will be monitored and 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 guard that item and as well as your standing and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" said Ozpin, and Jaune had a horrible feeling in the pit of his gut.
"Yes I have a-" said Jaune.
"Good, now take up your positions." said Ozpin, cutting off Jaune.
"I have a question, how will we be going down?" asked Jaune hopefully as he heard the students near him be launched.
"You will fall, after we fling you via the launch pad you are on." said Ozpin bluntly.
"I'm assuming that there was no parachutes." said Jaune, already knowing the answer.
"You would assume correctly Mr. Arc." said Ozpin with a barely noticeable smile on his face, the psychopath...
"One more question. Do you hold grudges?" asked Jaune as the launchings got near.
"Yes I do Mr. Arc." was the last thing that Jaune heard before he flew, ungracefully and uncoordinated. There was only one thing on his mind.
"WHY ME?!"
=O=
Hey guys, RWBYBlackFlames here and I hope you enjoyed Chapter One of this story, I'll try to make this once a week minimum so I hope you like it! Black Flames out!