Okay, this story is a special favor to DuskDragonDeltaxd. A Zoids/RWBY crossover that takes place in the Chaotic Century universe. The timeline where Van and Fiona fought to establish peace in their world all while trying to locate the Legendary Zoid Eve. I hope you guys enjoy this story, because I had a heck of a time writing this.
*I still don't own RWBY or Zoids! But if I did, Van would have had the Liger Zero in the anime as well as the manga.*
{For the prologue leading up to this story, please consult my story List of Crossovers Chapter 29.}
"See you on the battlefield!" = normal speech
'See you on the battlefield!' = thoughts
"See you on the battlefield!" = someone yelling
"See you on the battlefield!" = Ending Narration
An Arc Of The Imperial Army!
It's been a week since Jaune's initial meeting with Gunther Prozen and he's been recovering from his ordeal quite nicely. Thankfully, his Aura wasn't sealed or he'd be in some serious trouble. Still, things have actually been looking up for him since arriving at the Guylos Empire.
The nurses, with permission from Prince Rudolph, have been giving Jaune tours of the Guylos Army Military Base thus allowing him to see the many different Zoids that Guylos has to offer. So far, he's seen giant Gorilla Type Zoids called Iron Kong, packs of Velociraptor Type Zoids known as Rev Raptors and even these flying Zoids called Redlers. Of course, he was confined to a wheelchair during these tours, but it was still really cool seeing all of those Zoids.
The military officials whom Jaune met were nothing like the stuck up, holier than thou soldiers of Atlas. Contrary to popular belief, they are actually pretty laid back and kind. Jaune smiled as he remembered the Captain of the Royal Guard giving a family of civilians a ride home in his Saber Tiger when their van broke down. And he didn't even ask for anything in return! Something an Atlesian soldier would never do! Not even if he was offered payment!
In fact, Jaune noticed that everyone who was in the empire seemed to treat each other with kindness and respect. The homeless and sick were cared for by the military until they could get back on their feet, which normally happened quite quickly, and everyone always looked out for one another.
Truly, the imperial citizens were more of a close-knit family rather than just friends and neighbors. It really is a step up from places like Vale.
But now, Jaune was undergoing the final check-up from his doctor to see if he was fit to leave the hospital wing of the palace and go to his new home.
"Well, Jaune, it looks like aside from needing to put a little more weight on along with that nasty sunburn you got while stuck out at sea," the doctor handed Jaune a jar of medication. "Here's some herbal salve, apply twice daily for a month. I'm giving you a clean bill of health! So, how're ya feeling?"
"A lot better than I was before, thanks. But I noticed that you've got an eye patch now, Doc. What happened?" Jaune asked.
The doctor, who we'll call doctor Blitzkrieg, smiled ruefully as he gestured to the aforementioned patch.
"You mean this here shiner? Well, I used to also be a Field Medic along with my trusty Carrier Molga, but I accidentally ran over a Republican land mine when helping to get some wounded soldiers and their Zoids off the battlefield. I accomplished my mission, but lost my eye in the process. There ain't gonna be any more field work for this medic for a few months, at least." Blitzkrieg explained.
'Poor doctor Blitzkrieg…' Jaune thought on his way out.
As Jaune was walking down the halls of the palace, he couldn't help but remember the many times he's been through similar hallways back at Beacon when he was still a student. His heart began to ache a little bit and he knows that it's not from heartburn. It's from the feeling of loneliness and longing for what he once had.
Friends, family and a reason to continue living.
All of that was taken away because of something he did in his quest to become a huntsman. His quest to become a hero. His quest to be a protector.
"Ah, there you are, Jaune!"
The blonde turned around and saw Prozen walking up to him. The white haired man was smiling and holding up a clipboard that had a sheet of paper attached to it. Likely the address for Jaune's new place of living.
"I see you are doing much better than when you first arrived. How do you feel now?" Prozen asked.
"A lot better than I was before, thanks. But there's still one thing bothering me." Jaune replied.
Prozen raised an eyebrow a the words uttered by the young Arc boy. He could see that aside from being a little thinner than he should be, there's nothing wrong with him healthwise. What could possibly be bothering him?
"Oh? And what's that?" Prozen asked curiously.
Jaune sighed as he looked at the ground, the full weight of the events that befell him before leaving the continent of Remnant was returning ten-fold. He really didn't want to talk about it, but then again Prozen is a friend of his family, so he felt as though he could talk to him about his problems.
"Well… before your men found me in that boat, something happened to me that pretty much left me a broken shell of my former self." Jaune said.
He sighed as he remembered what had happened to him.
"I was expelled from my former school, Beacon Academy… and I was exiled from the four kingdoms." Jaune said.
Prozen actually didn't look all that surprised to hear that. If anything, he had a feeling that something like that might've happened to Jaune due to how the kingdoms were now letting themselves be run by easily corrupted councils. So in response to hearing this, Prozen placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder prompting the boy to look at him.
"You better tell me the whole story." he said. "Come along, and we'll talk on the way to your new home."
The two began walking and Jaune sighed as he collected his thoughts. This was going to be very hard for him to talk about due to the pain that was always present in his heart due to the sheer trauma of those events.
"Well, to start us off then… I used to dream about becoming a huntsman like my father and mother before me. I wanted to become one so I could protect as many people as I could from the foul creatures of Grimm. So I started training when I was seven years old. But that's when my problems started to really begin. You see, I seemed to have absolutely zero skill as a Huntsman and kept on just hurting myself rather than making any actual progress in my training. Even my seven sisters seem to have more talent than I do when it comes to being a huntsman!" Jaune began.
"Wait, wait, wait wait wait wait! Back up there, blondie! SEVEN sisters?!" Prozen asked incredulously.
"Well, yeah. It's not that strange to me, considering I grew up with them, but there are twin groups there. I myself am the oldest amongst triplets." Jaune replied.
For a few minutes, Prozen just stared with wide eyes and jaw dropped to the ground. Eventually, he picked up his jaw and shook off much of his shock.
"Dayum! I know your parents love each other, but for them to decide to have eight children with you being the only son they had… I honestly pity you for being surrounded by THAT much estrogen all in one place while you were growing up." Prozen said.
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Jaune said. "As I was saying, my lack of success continued to make its way for ten long years of running myself through the grinder. But no matter how much I trained or how intensely, I just made no progress! I couldn't get strong enough to join a huntsman school! I was rejected from Signal Academy at least three times before I took drastic measures! I talked to this information broker and got my hands on some forged documents that would allow me to get accepted into one of the more prestigious academies known as Beacon. I had hoped that by learning at a professional academy, I'd actually make some progress in my dream to become a huntsman."
Jaune sighed. Remembering and recounting all of this was just becoming far too painful for him, so he began to focus his Aura into his left index and middle fingers.
"You know what? I can't keep talking about this, so I'll just show you what happened." Jaune said. "Before I left Remnant, my father taught me an Aura technique that would allow me to transfer certain memories that I possess to others, allowing them to see what I saw in the memories from my point of view."
Not waiting for Prozen to reply, Jaune pressed his fingers to the older man's forehead and began the transfer. In mere seconds, dozens upon dozens of memories flashed before Prozen's eyes. And he knew that they weren't his. He saw and heard everything that happened to Jaune through the boy's own point of view.
Initiation into Beacon, becoming leader of a team, all of the good times he's had with JNPR and their sister team RWBY… and all of the bad stuff that happened not long after that. Cardin Winchester revealing Jaune's forged transcripts, his former friends turning on him, his expulsion from Beacon, the four councils exiling Jaune from the four kingdoms upon penalty of death with only his family standing up for him, and him leaving the continent in hopes of dying to end his own suffering.
Prozen's fist clenched in anger at those fools.
'THOSE BUNCH OF INGRATES! HOW DARE THEY DO THAT TO SUCH A GOOD LAD?!' Prozen thought in anger.
He immediately calmed down, knowing that becoming angry at this time would do far more harm than good. Prozen looked at Jaune and his eyes softened as he saw the boy with his eyes closed and his head down awaiting any insults he might have.
As he waited for the insults and anger to be thrown at him, Jaune felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Prozen looking at him with nothing more than a mixture of kindness and sympathy.
"Those people were fools to do those things to you, Jaune. Rest assured, if and when you join the Imperial Army, you will be treated as an equal. You shall not be discriminated for something as trivial as forged documentation. Rather, you will be treated as a friend and comrade by your fellow imperials!" Prozen said.
Jaune actually smiled a true smile for the first time in a long while, feeling a great weight being lifted from his shoulders. It was clear what his decision would be now.
"You know something, Prozen? I think I'll take you up on that offer to join the imperial army." Jaune said.
"Wonderful!" Prozen said with a smile. "While you may not have been the best huntsman around, I can safely say that I know you will become one of the greatest Zoid Warriors to ever walk the planet!"
He clapped Jaune on the back and led him to the outside of the palace where a truck was awaiting them. Standing next to the truck was someone that Jaune has yet to meet. But already he had to fight back a blush upon seeing her beauty.
It was a slender young woman who looked to be around his age. She has green eyes, short dark blue hair and a red dot in the center of her forehead. Her outfit is a blue coat that covers her body from her shoulders which splits around her legs, revealing her dark undercoat. Her coat also contains four straps across her, the third appearing to be connected to a belt. Her boots are a dark brownish color with what appears to be fur lining around the heel area.
Next to her is a strange blue creature that looks like a miniature Zoid. It looks like a sleek and slender bipedal dragon with dark blue armor covering a black body and has light blue lenses for eyes. The snout of this creature is more reminiscent of an alligator or a crocodile, and it has a single horn on top of its head that curves backwards. There are also two curved silver tusks on the sides of the creature's mouth. It has two long arms that have three blunt 'claws' for fingers.
"Ah, Rease! Good to see that you and Specular have returned from your mission unharmed! I trust that it was successful?" greeted Prozen.
"Yes sir! The perimeter is secure once again, Prozen! Target has been defeated, no troops lost!" the now named Rease replied with Specular growling in agreement.
"Excellent. But now, I'd like you to meet your new roommate. Rease, this is Jaune Arc. He's the only son of my old friend Jonathan Arc." Prozen introduced. "Jaune, this is Rease and her Organoid Specular. They've been working in the Imperial Army for a year now, so I guess you can consider her to be your senior officer."
Jaune walked up to Rease and began to use some of the Arc charm on her. And it seems to be working this time.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Rease." Jaune said as he gently took her hand and kissed her knuckles.
These actions drew a slightly embarrassed smile from the girl as a light dusting of pink made its way to her cheeks. Something that Specular seemed to notice.
"I am Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, easy to remember and I do hope that we can get along." Jaune said.
"The pleasure is all mine, mister Arc." Rease said in return.
Jaune chuckled a bit at that line. While he couldn't convince his old teachers not to call him that, he was certain that he could get Rease to not call him by such formalities.
"Please, just call me Jaune. Mister Arc is my grandpa. Even my dad hates the whole 'mister' schtick!" Jaune said.
And he's right about that. His dad always grumbled whenever someone called him 'mister', and it was actually pretty funny. At least until Jaune himself was on the receiving end of it. And it drove him up the wall so many times!
"Alright then, Jaune. Before I bring you to our humble abode, I think you should take the Zoid piloting test to see where you'll place amongst the army." Rease said.
And Prozen nodded in agreement.
"Capitol idea, Rease! Come along, everyone. The hangar is this way."
With that said, Prozen began to walk off with Jaune following close behind. Rease, however, just stood there and stared at Jaune's back with a goofy smile on her face. She usually tried to ignore things like boys so she could focus on her career, but she couldn't deny that Jaune is quite handsome. And his chivalrous ways certainly gave him a lot of good points in her book.
She was broken from her thoughts of the young Arc man when she caught a glance of Specular's face. The blue Organoid was looking at her with a sly grin on her crocodilian muzzle as if to say 'looks like someone's in love'. Rease quickly lost her grin and was now blushing red with embarrassment.
"OH, GROW UP!" she said to her Organoid before walking after Jaune and Prozen.
Specular followed her while making these growling noises that sounded very similar to laughter. Rease ended up with an anime vein throbbing on her temple as she tried to resist the temptation to strangle her closest friend.
'Smartass Organoid…' Rease thought to herself.
*To Be Continued…*
Ending Narration (Jaune): "Hey, Jaune here. So I've joined up with the Guylos Empire and am getting ready to take my Zoid Piloting Test, but things might not go as planned. Just as we're getting ready to begin the test, Republican soldiers have begun to attack the city with these Zoids called Cannon Tortoises and several green versions of the Red Horn Zoids! I've gotta get out there and help them!"
"Next time on Zoids Arc Century; Republic Invasion - The Menacing Green Horns! See you on the battlefield!"
