Hey everyone, it's acw28 here with another chapter of A Grimm Arc!
So, yeah, I know I should probably be doing something else, researching for a few papers or writing for a couple of my different stories, but what can I say, I'm on the hype train for Volume 4 (even though I'm probably not going to finish typing this update or even posting it before the 22nd, oh well).
With nothing else to say, let's get this party started!
Disclaimer: I may be a fanfic writer, but I don't have nearly enough vision to come up with something like RWBY, but just to be clear I do not own it.
As the Bullhead made its last pit stop on the island of Patch, Jaune's hatred of flying only increased. In an attempt to stop the queasy feeling, Jaune rubbed his stomach and wondered why he'd been cursed like this. The odd thing was that despite how common airsickness was, Jaune was the only one in his family to suffer from the disability. It wasn't even the fact that the height got to him, in fact the teen enjoyed looking at the beauty the land could offer at such heights, it was just that whenever the Bullhead moved forward he felt he should be physically moving as well.
As the dust-powered machine started to slowly ascend into the clouds, Jaune tried to focus on something else, hoping that he'd be able to make the trip without losing his breakfast. After hearing someone yell out, "This is going to be the best day ever!" he turned to see a girl with long blond hair and purple eyes hugging a much smaller girl with black hair, the fringes of which were dyed a deep red, and a long red cape. After releasing a brief chuckle, he turned back to the window, hoping the trick about looking at the horizon would work.
Miraculously, it seemed to do the trick. As he continued to star ahead, Jaune found himself focusing on the wild blue yonder before him, wondering what it would be like to fly without the assistance of machinery, to feel the wind in his face.
Those questions would go unanswered as a smaller Bullhead, a privately owned one judging by the Schnee symbol on the tail wing, rocketed across his view. Jaune was only further disjared when the holographic projectors of the ship activated, showing the image of a woman with her blond hair in a bun, green eyes behind a set of glasses, and a purple cap with her white blouse, although the teen questioned why she'd buttoned the clothing in such a unique way. As he once more tried to keep his food from escaping his stomach, he heard the projection say, "Hello, and welcome to Beacon, my name is Glynda Goodwitch." Anything said after that was lost on the boy as he tried unsuccessfully to refocus on the horizon. After about half a minute, Jaune heard silence, but it was already too late. Feeling a bit of bile coming up his throat, the blond stepped away from the window and started rushing off to find a trash can. As he shoved past the girls from earlier, a small bit of barf escaped his hands and he heard one of the two yelling out, "gross, gross, gross, gross, gross."
'Well so much for first impressions.' Jaune thought as he hoped and prayed that the airship would land soon.
It seemed whatever higher power existed had decided to take pity on Jaune today. Although his search for a trash can ended in failure, the Bullhead soon docked at one of the school's landing strips. Already by the exit, the Arc was the first one out, rushing in a flat out sprint to a grove of nearby trees and hunching over to empty the contents of his stomach. Once he was sure he would be fine, the teen straighten up and walked against the tide of new students back to the Bullhead. After a few minutes of searching for his luggage one of the crewmembers informed him that it was being delivered to the campus and that he should head to the main hall. After a quick thank you, Jaune once more left the ship, wondering where the main hall was.
The teen was brought out of his musing when he heard a large explosion. Looking in the direction of the blast, he saw the dark haired girl from earlier being berated be a slightly taller girl with white hair in an off-center ponytail and an entirely white coat and short dress. Brotherly instincts kicking in, Jaune was about to go help the shorter girl out, only to see another person, a teenage girl with long black hair with a black boy, amber eyes, and a white shirt under a black vest with white shorts and black and purple leggings. As he observed the newcomer seemingly defend the shortest of the bunch, Jaune decided to just hang back and observe. After a few minutes of conversation the white haired girl left in a huff, the black haired girl leaving while the third had her back turned. When the sole remaining girl dropped to her knees, Jaune decided it was time for him to lend a hand.
Walking over to the girl, Jaune offered his hand and said, "Looks like you could use some help, I'm Jaune."
The girl looked up with a smile before accepting the outstretched limb and replying, "Ruby," once back on her feet the girl snorted before asking, "Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"
Jaune almost fell over as he said, "Of course that would be the thing you remember."
Although still laughing, Ruby tried to apologize, "Sorry, it's the first thing that popped into my head."
Jaune only shook his head before he started walking on the path, Ruby following after him.
"All I'm saying is that air sickness is a much more common issue than people like to believe." Jaune said, carrying on the argument as the pair past by the same fountain for the eleventh time.
"How many times do I have to say that I'm sorry, vomit boy was just the first thing to pop into my head!" Ruby almost yelled.
"Well what if I started calling you crater face?" Jaune teased.
"That explosion wasn't my fault!"
"Fine, I'll believe you," Jaune said, "if you just remember I'm not vomit boy, I'm Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue and the ladies love it."
Raising an eyebrow, Ruby challenged, "Do they?"
"Well they will," Jaune hastily said, "after all, my dad says all you need is confidence and the ladies will come."
"Right…" Ruby deadpanned before trying to think of a way out of this conversation. Reaching behind her, the girl grabbed her collapsed weapon as she said, "…so I've got this," and unfurled her custom scythe, the weapon being taller than its wielder.
"Wow," Jaune said as he jumped back in surprise, "is that a scythe?"
"It's also a high impact, customizable, sniper rifle." Ruby declared as she pulled back the bolt and cleared the barrel.
"So it's also a gun?" Jaune asked.
"Well yeah, but it doesn't sound as impressive when you say it like that." Ruby replied before eyeing the sheath on her new friend's hip, "So what do you have?"
Drawing out his family's sword, Jaune said, "Well I've got a sword," he then placed the sheath on his wrist and expanded it as he said, "and a shield."
"Oh," Ruby asked, "what else to they do?"
"They're my great-great-grandfather's, he used them during the war," Jaune explained, "but while they don't shift to other weapons he forged them with some special metal that doesn't rust or dull."
At hearing of a metal that never rusted, Ruby started drooling a little, "Any chance of letting me have a bit to put in a spectrometer? As much as I love Crescent Rose replacing her blade can be a bit of a hassle."
"Sorry Ruby, but I don't want to risk damaging the sword." Jaune said before explaining his choice. "As selfish as it sounds, Crocea Mors has been in my family for generations, past down from first born to first born."
"It's fine Jaune," Ruby said. Although a little disappointed she understood what it felt like to treasure a weapon. Once more changing subjects, the girl asked, "So which way to the main hall?"
"I don't know, I was following you." Jaune replied.
At the sound of bells chiming, the pair stood silent for a moment before rushing off, Ruby muttering an "oh boy" under her breath.
Good fortune continued to smile on Jaune as he and Ruby managed to find the main hall before the headmaster gave his speech. In the crowded space the pair head someone call out, "Ruby! Over here! I saved you a space!"
When Jaune caught sight of the speaker, he saw it was the other girl from the Bullhead, now he could see that she wore a yellow top under a brown jacket that seemed two sizes too small if her bare midriff was any indication. The other blond also had a pair of black bicycle shorts under an asymmetrical white back-skirt along with cowboy boots and orange socks, the left one pulled up higher, as well as some sort of yellow bracelet on each hand.
"That's my sister Yang, I'll see you later." Ruby quickly said before rushing off.
'Sister?' Jaune wondered, quickly putting together both that Ruby must of skipped a few years and that the pair probably had at least one different parent. 'Then again, it could just be genetics, my family's a perfect example of how screwy those can be.' Shaking those thoughts from his head, the teen wondered around until her found an empty spot relatively close to the two sisters. If there was any doubt the blond, Yang, was the older of the two it was erased when she started teasing Ruby about "blowing up." Jaune had to chuckle at the pair's antics, until the white haired girl from earlier made an appearance.
Although he was ready to help defend his new friend, it wasn't needed as the girl didn't yell, instead presented Ruby with some pamphlet before ordering her never to talk to her again. By now Jaune could guess by the girl's attitude that she was a Schnee if any of his father's stories about them were true. Still halfway paying attention to the group of girls, Jaune saw Yang try to mend the situation and Ruby's offer of friendship (along with overhearing the other girl's name was Wiess), and Wiess' sarcastic remark of "doing their nails, and talking about cute boys." When the girl pointed at Jaune, and called him "tall, blond, and straggly," a single though ran through his head, 'I don't know who you are, and we maybe friends one day, but you shall feel the wrath of the prank master!'
Before he could put his masterplan into motion, Jaune's attention turned towards the stage as the microphone came to life. Standing onstage was a man with white hair, glasses, a cane, and a green scarf and three-piece suit. As the crowd quieted down, the man began to speak, "I'll keep this brief. You have traveled her today in search of knowledge…"after that Jaune zoned out as he looked around the rest of the room at his future classmates. Aside from the dark haired beauty from before, not too many people stood out. He saw a few other guys standing around in armor, although theirs looked more ornamental and one looked a little like Marcus from back home. There was also a boy that looked to be asleep on his feet next to a ginger girl that kept bouncing on her heels. However the most eye catching person Jaune saw had long red hair in a high pony tail and shining green eyes. Unfortunately that was the only glimpse he had of the person before the crowd started moving. Figuring it was time for the tour, Jaune followed along, but not before stopping behind Wiess and beginning his revenge.
"I'm a natural blond you know." Jaune informed the girl, and had to hide his grin as she looked down and pinched her brow in annoyance.
After a quick tour of the academy, which consisted of Miss Goodwitch showing the prospective students where the mess hall, the dorms, classrooms, and combat arena were, everyone was lead back to the locker room where everyone was given back their luggage and assigned a rocket locker. Although the tedious process was made even longer when some students had an excessive amount of baggage, such as a certain Schnee, Jaune waited patiently for his suitcase an backpack to be returned to him before setting out to find locker 636. After quickly finding the locker in the seemingly endless maze, the teen put his suitcase inside the storage, he'd just unpack once he was assigned a room, and then unclipped Crocea Mors and hung the sheathed blade on the back of the locker. Once that was done, he unzipped his backpack to grab his pajamas only to have his heart stop when he saw a familiar powder blue fabric with a note taped to it.
'Sorry big bro, but this is what you get when you're a meanie and don't say goodbye before you leave.' Jaune read in his head before looking at the end of the page, where his sister Amanda had drawn a cartoon of herself sticking out her tongue and giving the peace sign. After making a mental note to ask his parents to send his pajamas in the next care package, Jaune sighed before accepting his fate, it was better than the entire ballroom seeing his scars.
'Okay, you can do this.' Jaune psyched himself up as he got ready to enter the ballroom. 'This wasn't your first choice, but you can own this.' And with that final thought the teen strutted into the open space while humming a tune, seemingly not bothered by the onesie-footie pajamas (complete with rabbit feet) he was wearing. As he passed by a few guys showing off by wrestling without shirts, he happened to catch a glimpse of Yang. Stopping in his tracks, the teen couldn't help but admire how she looked in her black shots and orange tank top with an emblem in the center. While Jaune might have appreciated what he saw, Yang obviously wasn't impressed judging by how her wide smile turned into a grimace. Seeing a lost cause, and cursing his sister, Jaune started walking again, choosing a spot in the corner of the room. As he settled in for the night, the blond gave one last look around the room, seeing Yang drag Ruby over to the mystery girl from earlier and actually have a nice conversation, before Wiess showed up complaining about wanting to get to sleep, and proceeded to argue with the sisters again. Jaune only rolled his eyes as the mystery girl blow out her candles, the last remaining source of light in the room, and closed his eyes. However, he still had one regret, he hadn't been able to find the owner of the emerald eyes.
After Blake blew out her candles, Yang tossed and turned while trying to find the sweet spot of her bedroll, yet no matter what she did she couldn't get comfortable. Laying on her back, the brawler blew a stray hair out of her face while she contemplated what to do.
'Maybe a glass of water will help.'
With that thought Yang carefully got out of her sleeping space and began navigating between the other sleeping teens, quickly passing by her sister cuddling with her corgi pillow, a loudly snoring ginger, and a guy she swore was dead if not for the slight movement of his chest. Once at the door, she carefully opened it, all the while hoping the hinges wouldn't squeak and lead to a repeat of the Schnee incident.
Once in the hallway, Yang started walking in the direction she thought the bathroom was. Thankfully she was right and she arrived only a few minutes later. Upon entering the room, Yang saw a small table by the sinks with a few plastic cups and a note saying, "Please dispose of after use." As the blonde reached out for a cup, she heard someone muttering to themselves.
"Come on you stupid nightgown…why won't you cooperate?" Turning around, the brawler saw that there was still one shower stall occupied. Deciding to take pity on this poor girl, Yang walked over and knocked on the door before asking, "You alright in there?"
For a brief moment the room was silent before a small voice said, "Yes."
"Do you need any help?" Yang questioned.
"…yes."
"Alright I'm coming in." Yang said as she opened the door, greeted by the other teen's back. Aside from the long red hair, the brawler didn't see much else of the person as she focused on the problem in front of her. The girl was wearing a form fitting, scarlet night gown stretching from her knees to just below her shoulder blades. The difficulty the red head had was trying to tie the stings that held the front up, not having a good enough handle on the small bit of material to tie the knot behind her head. As Yang took the strings from the mystery girl, the brawler couldn't stop herself as she said, "Most girls don't have a problem with this, first time wearing a nightgown?"
"Actually yes," the other teen said, "nights are so much hotter in Mistral I never bothered with sleepwear." With the teens red hair and nationality, Yang quickly figured out who the girl was, her suspicions were confirmed when the girl turned to reveal the face of four time champion Pyrrha Nikos. "I'm Pyrrha, and you are?"
"Yang Xiao Long, pleasure to meet ya Pyrrha. Just a bit of advice, don't go around telling people you sleep in the buff, you never know who will sell the story to a tabloid."
"It's not like it's some big secret." Pyrrha replied, "Most everyone in Mistral does it, the paparazzi just have enough respect not to try and publish anything about it, or go to certain beaches."
"Oh ho!" Yang cheered, "Miss champion going to the big girl beaches? See anything good?" Yang smirked as she teased the girl.
Pyrrha blushed before quickly saying, "Well I haven't personally but there are plenty of celebrities that have and you haven't seen any of their photos now have you?"
"Oh relax girl, I'm just having some fun." Yang said, trying to calm the champion down before leaving the bathroom. "Well see you around P-Money, I hope we can be friends."
"Really?" the champion asked with hope in her voice.
"Of course, despite your skill you don't seem stuck up like a certain heiress, and I could see having some good spars with you," Yang's smirk returned as she said, "plus you're going to take me to some of those special beaches during the break."
Pyrrha only smiled and shook her head as she watched Yang walk away. The brief conversation had only reinforced her belief that she'd been right to attend Beacon instead of Haven. 'Seems like I'll actually be able to make some friends here after all.'
To survive living with seven sisters, Jaune had to discover some rules, such as if you want any hot water you have to get up early. These rules were bound to stick with the blond for the rest of his life, which was why he'd awoken to the rest of the ballroom still alseep, save for the ginger girl from earlier who was already fully dressed and kneeling beside a sleeping boy. Paying no mind to the girl's eccentric behavior, Jaune quickly managed to get a shower and get dressed in his hoodie and armor without anyone seeing his scars. Afterwards it was a quick breakfast (Pumpkin Pete's cereal, his favorite), it was back to the locker room to get Corcea Mors and then off to initiation.
As the knight wondered around he passed by Ruby and Yang beginning to argue about something but choose not to intervene there, another rule that he'd picked up from his home life. He also passed by Wiess and some other girl talking about team placement. As Jaune finally found his locker and retrieved his sword he heard the new girl, Pyrrha if he heard Wiess right, say it'd be "grand" to team up with the Schnee, although Jaune had spent enough time around his father's office to know the girl was just being nice. When Jaune turned around and saw Wiess with her back to the girl plotting something he couldn't resist the opportunity.
"You know what else is grand?" the teen asked as he stepped between the girls, "Me, Jaune Arc. How are you doing Snow Angle?"
Wiess, however, remained unimpressed as she glared and said, "You again?"
Before Jaune could respond, Pyrrha stepped in front of him. Jaune didn't know which he was more surprised about, that this girl was the owner of the captivating emerald eyes he'd seen yesterday or that she was Pyrrha freaking Nikos. Of course the boy knew who she was, but based on her previous conversation with Wiess, the champion probably just wanted to be treated like everyone else. So when the beauty said hello, it took every ounce of self-control not to start talking to her, instead he dismissively said, "Yeah that's nice," and pushed her out of the way as he turned his attention to Wiess and said, "so Snow Angel, I couldn't help but hear about your fondness of me." As he spoke Jaune flexed his bicep, the muscle hidden by his hoodie.
"You have got to be kidding me." Wiess muttered under her breath.
"Now no need to be embarrassed." Jaune said as he internally smirked, "Now I know you hear talk of teams, and I think we'd make a good one," going for broke he placed his arm around Wiess' shoulders as he finished, "I'm not suppose to do this, but I could pull some strings and…"
"Actually," Pyrrha spoke up, and Jaune once more had to stop his jaw from dropping once he got a good look at her armored corset, neck guard, and short skirt, "I believe teams are composed of four people." the red head finished.
"You don't say?" Jaune asked as he slid over to Pyrrha, "Well how about we join a team together?"
Before Pyrrha could respond, Wiess placed herself between the two and asked, "Jaune is it? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"
'Yes I do, she's Pyrrha freaking Nikos!' Jaune mentally yelled, but instead said, "Can't say I do."
Wiess actually seemed angry as she said, "This is Pyrrha."
Said Spartan waved and said, "Hello again."
Wiess continued by saying, "She graduated from Sanctum with top honors."
"Congratulations." Jaune told Pyrrha, who smiled at the blond.
"She's the four time Mistral Regional Tournament champion." Wiess continued.
"You must have had some good fights, sorry I missed them, we don't get that good a scroll reception at my house." Jaune told Pyrrha, whose grin only grew.
Getting fed up, Wiess shouted, "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes cereal box!"
'I know, I have to fight my sisters for the box tops!' Jaune thought before gasping and asking the teen, "That's you! But they only do that for star athletes. Well, them and cartoons."
"Yeah," Pyrrha admitted as she looked at her feet, "it is pretty cool, even if the cereal isn't that good for you." Truthfully the Spartan couldn't stand the taste of the over sugared breakfast food, you really do need a iron stomach to digest the stuff.
"So," Wiess began as she stepped in front of Pyrrha, "after hearing all of that do you think you are in a position to ask her to be on your team?"
"I guess not," Jaune admitted as he deflated, but added in his mind, 'but it's her choice if she wants to join up or not.' As he wallowed in self-misery, Jaune was surprised to feel a hand on his shoulder, even more so when he saw a smiling Pyrrha comforting him.
"Actually Jaune, I think you'd make a fine leader."
Jaune actually blushed a bit as he stood straight, "Oh stop, you're going to embarrass me."
"Yes please stop," Wiess said from behind the duo, "this behavior shouldn't be encourage."
'Wow, ice queen really needs to thaw out.' Jaune thought before remembering his original goal. "Well Wiess, Pyrrha seems onboard for Team Jaune. What do you say spots are filling up fast."
"Okay, that's too close," Wiess stated as she started walking backwards before calling out, "can I get some help here?"
Jaune heard something mechashifting and had enough time to turn around to investigate the noise before he felt something slide between the shoulder strap of his chest plate and his hoodie. The teen was unprepared as he was flung backwards until he hit one of the lockers. Once the world stopped spinning, he saw that he was pinned to the locker with a familiar red and gold javelin, and Pyrrha's angelic voice saying, "I'm sorry!"
Jaune would have responded, if Miss Goodwitch didn't come over the PA announcing it was time for initiation. As Wiess walked by she held her nose high in the air, Pyrrha had to stop momentarily to reclaim her spear, telling Jaune it was nice to meet him, with the boy sharing the sentiment. Shortly after Ruby and Yang walked up to Jaune and helped him to his feet as Yang teased, "Having some trouble there lady killer?"
"Not really," Jaune said as he dusted himself off and followed the two sisters to Beacon Cliff, "I'm just getting some revenge on Ice Queen for calling me lanky, I wouldn't mind talking a bit more to Pyrrha though."
"Well maybe you'll get lucky and she'll be your partner." Ruby suggested, causing Jaune to smile.
Seeing this, Yang told her sister, "Hey Rubes, you go on ahead while me and vomit boy have a quick chat." Seeing Yang slip into her overprotective sister mode, Ruby rolled her eyes but none the less did as she was told. When Ruby was out of sight, Yang turned to Jaune with her eyes glowing red. "Let's get one thing straight Arc, I don't care if you're Ruby's first friend, if you…"
However before she could finish her threat, Jaune interrupted his fellow blond, "hurt her you'll bend my spine like a pretzel, then put salt and butter on me and throw me to the Grimm." When Yang blinked in shock, her eyes returning to their lilac color, the knight explained, "I've got seven younger sisters, I've had to give that speech a few times. And don't worry, as nice as Ruby is she's too much like my sisters for me to consider her anything other than a friend." Although the girl had calmed down significantly, Jaune could still see some traces of anger in Yang's eyes. Sighing, he asked, "There's something else, isn't there?"
Pointing down to her feet, Yang stated, "These are my favorite boots, and you've practically ruined them." It was true, although small there were several distinctive dark stains around the toes of the boots.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Air travel doesn't really agree with my stomach." Jaune said as he scratched the back of his head. "Let me make it up to you, I'll pay to get the cleaned."
"Alright then," Yang said as a smile began to from on her lips, "the first free time we get you're taking me into Vale to get my boots fixed."
"It's a date." Jaune said out of pure instinct, having to do similar errands for his sisters and that's what they always called it.
Yang was once more shocked but recovered quickly and regained her grin as she said, "You're the one that said it, not me." When she failed to gain a reaction, the brawler added, "Well if all goes well my shoes aren't that only thing that'll be coming off." Yang didn't look back as she heard Jaune's armored form collapse on the floor, her grin growing even more as she walked away.
After his little conversation with Yang, Jaune had managed to arrive at Beacon Cliff just barely in time. As he took the last open spot, the knight caught the tail end of Ozpin's speech about finding partners and making his way to the Northern end of the Emerald Forest. When the headmaster asked if there were any questions, Jaune tried to get his attention several times only to be ignored. Finally losing his patience, Jaune called out, "Sir, how exactly are we getting into the forest? Are you dropping us off or something?"
"No," Ozpin calmly responded, pausing to sip his ever present coffee mug, "you will be falling."
"Falling? Did you hand out parachutes before I got here?" Jaune asked.
"No, you'll be relying on your own landing strategy."
'Landing strategy?' Jaune questioned in his head, before he heard gears move underneath him. A quick glance down was enough to make the teen finally realize he was standing on a launch pad, a look to his left revealed he was the last to be launched. Jaune just had enough time to send Ozpin a small glare, which the headmaster easily shook off before saying, "Safe travels Mr. Arc."
After the initial fright of being launched in the air, Jaune quickly found himself oddly at peace with everything. He couldn't explain it, but hearing the wind rushing past him, seeing the trees moving underneath him, it just felt natural to the Arc, as if he belonged in the air since the beginning of time. Yet now he had a new problem, the rapidly approaching ground. As the teen tried to think of something, he heard a loud "Bang" and managed to angle himself towards the noise's origin, revealing a familiar red and gold javelin. Able to judge the trajectory of the blade, Jaune acted quickly, rolling his shoulder out of the way and grabbing the weapon's shaft as it speed off. By sheet luck the blond held onto the weapon until the blade sunk deeply into a tree. After recovering from the impact, Jaune swung his feet forward and planted them against the tree as he tried to free the javelin. Despite his best efforts, the teen couldn't get the blade to budge, but soon he heard the bushes rustling. When he managed to turn his head, Jaune saw Wiess standing in the clearing with an unreadable expression, however she soon turned around and walked back into the woods, a loud cry of "You came back!" was heard soon after.
Jaune only shook his head, not being able to plan a better prank if he tried. Going back to trying to get the javelin freed, Jaune once more heard the bushes rustle, this time Pyrrha stepped into the clearing. "Jaune?" the champion asked, "Is there still room on your team?"
Seeing the girl smile, Jaune grinned himself as he replied, "You're just loving this aren't you?" As Pyrrha continued to smile, Jaune asked, "A little help here?" With a flick of her wrist, Pyrrha used her semblance of polarity to pull her weapon out of the tree, Jaune going along with the ride. "Thanks, so North is it?"
The newly formed duo began their quest to find the relics. Growing up in the woods around Arcadia, Jaune had no difficulty keeping up with Pyrrha as she forged ahead in the thick terrain, however the girl had a nasty habit of bending smaller tree branches out of her way, only for the branches to snap back and smack Jaune in the face. After one particularly painful branch knocked him off his feet, Jaune couldn't stop himself from yelling, "Ow! Son of a…!"
"I'm sorry." Pyrrha quickly said as she helped her partner onto his feet.
"Don't worry about it, it's just a scratch." Jaune said, pulling his hand away from his bloody cheek.
While she was concerned before, Pyrrha was now confused. "Why didn't you activate your aura?"
"My aura?" Jaune questioned, before quickly remembering his lessons from school. "Well I didn't exactly go to combat school, I was tutored by my dad and he never got around to unlocking it." Jaune quickly said, giving a partial truth.
"Oh," Pyrrha quietly said before asking, "would you like me to unlock it for you?" Not seeing any harm in the act, Jaune nodded. "Okay, now close your eyes and concentrate." Pyrrha ordered, with Jaune following her commands. Moving closer to her partner, Pyrrha placed a hand on Jaune's cheek and concentrated as she said, "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." Finishing the chant, Pyrrha opened her eyes and smiled as she saw her partner glowing white, his cut healing quickly.
After releasing the breath he'd been holding, Jaune opened his eyes to see his partner slumped over and quickly asked, "Pyrrha?"
"It's alright, I'm just a little tired unlocking your aura," the amazon explained as she straightened up, "but now it's your own energy protecting you, and you've got quite a lot of it." Pyrrha couldn't help but grin even more as she saw Jaune look in wonder at his still glowing hands. When the newly unlocked aura finally calmed down, Pyrrha turned around to begin the walk to the ruins once more, only to trip on a stray root. As she fell forward, the champion prepared to use her momentum in a combat roll to right herself, only to be surprised when Jaune grabbed her from behind and in once fluid motion placed her on his back. Although thankful for her partner's concern, Pyrrha said, "I'm alright Jaune, you can put me down now."
"I think unlocking my aura drained you more than you thought." Jaune disagreed before stating, "You kept me from becoming a stain on some unfortunate tree, this is the least I can do for you so just rest."
Seeing that her partner wasn't about to let up, Pyrrha resigned herself to the piggyback ride and just leaned forward to get a more comfortable position.
After a few minutes of walking, the pair came to a cave. As Jaune let Pyrrha off his back, the champion asked, "Do you think this is it?"
Jaune's initial answer would have been to investigate the cave, but something in his gut was telling him something ancient was hiding in the darkness, ancient and angry. That and the primitive painting of a giant scorpion was enough to make the Arc reconsider making a torch. Quickly fining an excuse to get away from the ominous cave, Jaune said, "Ozpin didn't say anything about a cave, we should probably keep moving." Thankfully his partner nodded, seeing the logic Jaune's statement.
As the pair began walking away, they felt the ground tremble before hearing something crash. Turning around, the duo saw a Deathstalker, a giant scorpion-like Grimm, exploding out of the cave, releasing a terrifying screech as it began stalking forward. Acting immediately, Pyrrha dropped to a knee and mechshifted her javelin into its rifle mode, quickly firing off three rounds, one of which hit one of the Grimm's eyes. Although one of its ten eyes was blinded, this only served to make the monster angrier. Recognizing this, Jaune quickly pulled his partner up while saying, "I like the effort, but right now we need to run!"
As the two began running for their lives, the Deathstalker gave chase. As Jaune and Pyrrha entered the woods, the blonde hazard a glance backwards, only to see the monster gaining on them. Quickly coming up with a plan, Jaune drew his sword and started hacking down large branches as he passed underneath, hoping the round surface would give the Grimm trouble. Seeing what her partner was doing, Pyrrha quickly caught onto the plan and used her own sword to cut down the obstacles. To his mild surprise, Jaune's plan actually worked to a degree. While the Deathstalker was still chasing the teens, it was no longer gaining on them due to the round branches not offering a good terrain for the beasts multiple legs. However they soon ran into a problem when the tree branches grew too high up to cut down.
As the Grimm once more began to gain on the two hunters, Jaune began trying to think of a new plan, yet nothing was coming to him. Catching movement out of the corner of his eye, Jaune saw the Deathstalker pulling its claws inward. Having a decent idea of what was going to happen, the knight fell behind his partner and turned to face the beast as he deployed his shield, the metal taking the impact as the Deathstalker swung outward, causing the teen to go airborne. Both Pyrrha and the Grimm stopped as they watched Jaune fly into the sky. The Deathstalker seemed to be the first to remember they were enemies and with a series of low clicks began to advance on Pyrrha. The red head moved turned around and held her javelin defensively, but instead of charging, scratched the back of her head and ran off in the direction her partner flew, the Grimm giving chase soon after.
For the second time today Jaune found himself hurtling through the air, and didn't find the experience all to discomforting. As much as he enjoyed the impromptu flights, he really needed to figure out a landing strategy that did not involve himself hitting a tree. Once more fate was smiling on the blond, or playing a joke on him, as he soon collided with something solid that slowed down his descent and redirected his trajectory, so although he did hit a tree, he wasn't injured, even if he got his foot stuck in one of the upper branches and was currently hanging upside down. Thankfully from his vantage point he could see the ruins just below him, and watch as Pyrrha continued to ran from the Deathstalker, jumping through its claw as it tried to swipe at the champion.
"Ugh, what was that?" Hearing a voice, Jaune looked down to see Ruby leaning up against the tree's trunk. Although looking confused, the girl soon shook her head and looked Jaune's way. Not having anything better to say, the knight just said hi before the pair heard Yang's voice call for her sister to get out of the tree. "Well, see ya Jaune!"
"Yeah, see ya later Ruby." Jaune said as he peered upward to where his foot was stuck. Thankfully Crocea Mors had managed to stay in its sheath during Jaune's air travel. Drawing the blade out, Jaune made quick work of the upper branch and managed to land gracefully on a thicker lower limb. The blond was about to jump down and join everyone else at the ruins and prepare to fight the Deathstalker, only to hear someone screaming. Looking up, Jaune saw a giant Nevermore, a bird-like Grimm, and Wiess falling off of it.
Although the girl had been rather rude, Jaune wasn't just going to sit by and watch her go splat. Collapsing his shield and sheathing his blade, Jaune timed it right and launched himself out of the tree, catching Wiess mid-fall. Not able to resist the opportunity, Jaune asked, "Just dropping by?"
Wiess would have responded, if the two didn't suddenly remember the laws of physics and start following to the ground once more. As the two braced for impact, Jaune rolled forward, ending up with Wiess sitting heavily on his stomach and a large clump of rocks digging into his back. As the heiress ideally sat on Jaune's gut, she dryly said, "My hero."
Jaune was about to respond, only to see Pyrrha still being chased by the Deathsalker, and using her shield to block a heavy hit, although she was still launched into the heart of the ruins. Seeing his partner possibly hurt, Jaune unceremoniously shoved Wiess off of him and rushed over to help his partner stand up.
"Well good, gang's all here to die together." Yang commented. Although Jaune wanted to make a snappy comeback, he quickly took stalk of the situation. It was him, Pyrrha, Ruby, Wiess, Yang, Blake, the hyperactive ginger, and the zombie ninja against the Deathstalker and the giant Nevermore. The knight was about to suggest everyone a relic, which looked to be chess pieces, and run for the cliff, only for Ruby to rush forward and try to fight the Deathstalker herself!
Predictably, that didn't go very well. After being pushed back a few times and taking some pot shots at the beast, Ruby started running back to the group, only for the Nevermore to start launching its bladed feathers at the girl, piercing her cloak and trapping her as the Deathstalker readied its giant stinger. Yang tried to rush forward to save her little sister, only to be stopped by another barrage of deadly feathers. Jaune would have been concerned for the girls, if he didn't see Wiess using the Schnee family glyphs to charge forward and block the stinger with a wall of ice dust.
As Wiess and Ruby were having a heart-to-heart, Jaune turned to the last to mystery teens. "Okay, names and what weapons you've got. We're probably going to have to fight those Grimm at least part of the way back to Beacon and I'd like to know what we have before I start forming a strategy."
"Well I'm Nora" the girl said, only now did she stand still long enough for Jaune to see she had blue eyes and wore a white shirt with a heart cut out in the center, a black sleeveless jacket, and a pink skirt, "and I have a warhammer, grenade launcher." She then zoomed next to the boy, who Jaune realized had magenta colored eyes that matched the streak in his otherwise long black hair, and he also wore a traditional dark green rob, "and this is Ren!"
"And what does Ren have?" Jaune asked. In response Ren flung his arms down, two dark green machine pistols with a blade attached under the handle. Nodding, Jaune said, "Those will work." By now Ruby, Wiess, and Yang and made their way back to the ruins, the Deathstalker still trapped but the Nevermore circling around. "Okay, we can't beat the Grimm…"Jaune began.
"So we take a relic and get back to Beacon." Ruby finished. The two stepped into the ruins and looked at what chess pieces were left. Both quickly made their selections, Ruby choosing the white knight while Jaune opted for the white rook. Nodding to each other, the Jaune and Ruby rejoined the group.
"Everyone ready?" Jaune asked. After a collective yell of yes, she continued. "It's a straight shot to Beacon cliff, stay together and we should all make it through this. Now let's kick this initiation's butt!" After another cry of yes the group began charging forward, Ruby leading the way.
As Jaune got ready to move up towards Pyrrha, he noticed Blake and Yang hanging towards the back of the group, the blond with a smile on her face. Dropping back a little, Jaune asked, "Proud of your sister growing up?" Yang looked shocked for half a second before Jaune said, "Seven sisters, remember? And quite a few of them have better talents than me." Seeing Pyrrha beginning to pull away, Jaune knew he needed to end the one-sided conversation. "Well, see ya later Yang, don't forget that you've got to live through this if you want to go on our date."
As Jaune raced ahead, he didn't see Yang's grin grow, or her cheeks turn a light shade of pink. Her partner however did, and couldn't stop a snigger from escaping her lips. "What?" Yang questioned Blake.
"Nothing," the girls said as she looked forward and saw how close Jaune and Pyrrha were running together, "just that this should be an interesting year if the entrance exam is anything to go off of."
With a little bit of luck, and aura to the legs, the group of eight had managed to almost make it to Beacon cliff, yet the two Grimm were still on their tail. Taking shelter in the ruins of a massive aqueduct, Jaune watched as the Nevermore landed on the ruins of a giant spire. Really it wouldn't be so bad as the group could maneuver around the beast, except for the fact there was a giant chasm separating the cliff from the forest with a narrow bridge to the spire the only way to get across. As Jaune tried to think of a new battle plan, the Deathstalker reappeared behind the group. "Everyone, Plan A"
As Jaune, Pyrrha, Yang, and Ruby rushed forward, the Nevermore took flight and launched a volley of feathers. Leaping to the front, Jaune expanded his shield and managed to deflect the majority of the projectiles until Nora was able to launch her grenades. Confident the rest of the group could destract the Deathstalker to allow Nora to escape, Jaune kept running to the bridge, only stopping when Pyrrha turned around to fire at the beast with her rifle, Ren soon joining her to fire a few shots before the entire group once more had to run forward.
Once everyone was regrouped, the eight began running towards Beacon cliff, only for the Nevermore to fly low and take out several of the support columns. Thankfully no one fell to the chasm below, but Pyrrha and Ren were left stranded to deal with the Deathstalker. Speaking his mind, Jaune said, "We've got to get over there."
Nora evidently had an idea and said, "Hang on fearless leader." The girl's grenade launcher shifted into a warhammer. Having an idea what was about to happen, Jaune deployed his shield and braced for impact, his body rocketing towards the Grimm. Thankfully he had enough sense to use the opportunity presented to him holding his sword out straight and letting the blade sink down to the hilt in one of the beast's eyes, although he had to let go of it or else get skewered by the stinger. When Pyrrha and Ren provided him an opportunity, Jaune quickly looked back to check on Nora, only to see that she had used her hammer to destroy part of the walkway, then fired one of her grenades on the now uneven surface to travel across the gap. He also briefly noted the others fighting the Nevermore, but he had to focus on the Deathstalker.
As Nora rejoined Jaune's group, the beast tried to attack with one of its claws, only for Jaune to block it with his shield. Pyrrha used the opportunity to shift her sword into a javelin and launch it into another one of its eyes while Ren climbed onto the Grimm, shimmed up its tail, and began firing at the stinger at close range. However, the boy didn't have that good a grip on the tail and was soon flung forward into Nora's waiting arms.
"Ren!" The girl cried as she got ready to unleash her wrath.
"Wait!" Jaune yelled. "We can't use explosives, we're already on unstable ground!"
"Then what's the plan?" Ren asked as he stood back up with Nora's help.
As he and Pyrrha blocked another one of the Grimm's double clawed strikes, Jaune noticed the beast's stinger and slowly a plan formed in his mind. As the teens battled against the beast's strength, Jaune asked his partner, "Your semblance has something to do with magnetism, doesn't it?" Pyrrha was about to ask how Jaune knew that, but the Arc didn't give her time, "When we move back I need you to get our weapons." When Pyrrha nodded, he turned his attention to Ren, "When I say so, aim for its eyes." When the boy nodded, Jaune yelled the last order to Nora, "Nora, you'll know what to do, have the hammer ready."
With everyone ready, Jaune yelled, "On my go! 3…2…1…GO!" Like a well-oiled machine, Pyrrha and Jaune gave one last shove before the girl used her semblance to retrieve the pair's blades. "Ren!" Acting immediately, the quite boy fired at the Grimm's remaining eyes, only for the beast to bring its claws forward and shield itself, however, this was just what Jaune wanted. Rushing forward alongside his partner, Jaune took one side of the Deathstalker and stabbed his sword into its exposed flank, dragging the blade with him as he ran down the length of the Grimm's body, Pyrrha mirroring his actions on the other side. When the pair meet behind the Grimm, Jaune pointed to the damaged stinger. Immediately knowing the plan, Pyrrha threw her shield at the weakened joint, completely severing the stinger. As the deadly weapon began falling through the air, Jaune called out, "Nora!" The hammer wielder grinned as she leaped forward. Ordinarily the Deathstalker would have attacked the girl, but it was already exhausted from the drawn out battle. As the stinger made contact with the Deathstalker's head, Nora brought her hammer down on it, firing a grenade for an extra push. The result? The stinger went completely through the Grimm, killing it.
Seeing their victory, almost all of the teens collapsed as the Grimm started to dissolve, no one noticing some of the Grimm's remains had floated towards Jaune, whose body absorbed the black smoke-like substance. Feeling a second wind, Jaune hopped back to his feet and said, "Alright, that's one down so let's go help the girls with the Nevermore."
"Jaune." Ren said as he pointed towards Beacon cliff, where Ruby was currently running up the rock face, dragging the Nevermore behind her and once she reached the top, decapitated the Grimm.
Although impressed by the younger girl's feat, Jaune soon started groaning.
"What's the matter Jaune-Jaune?" Nora asked, "Upset Ruby took out a Grimm in a more bad ass way than you did?"
"No," Jaune replied, "I just realized we have to somehow get across the chasm, and then climb the cliff."
"Oh, I can help with that silly!" Nora declared as she got her hammer ready.
Realization hit the three other teens instantly, and all cried out in a collective, "NORA NO!"
"NORA YES!" The girl cried as she hit the group with a full force. Thankfully the teen's aura took most of the damage, but all three would be bruised for a few days. That was the least of their concerns as the rapidly approached Beacon cliff. Thinking quickly, all three got their weapons out and sunk the blades into the rock face, sliding down a bit.
Once they stopped, Jaune looked back to see Nora smashing the edge of the cliff to give herself some air and a platform to launch off of. As he watched the girl sail overhead, Jaune turned to Ren and said, "Please tell me she isn't always like this."
"She isn't always like this." Ren quickly replied.
"Really?" Jaune asked hopefully.
"No," Jaune could feel his good mood disappear, "I was just telling you what you wanted to hear. Now let's climb out of here." Ren finished.
After a long climb, Jaune wasn't too upset about having to take a Bullhead back to Beacon. Once back on the ground, he and the other teens were rushed to the ballroom where the team placement had already started. As the teens found an empty space large enough for all of them, they saw Ozpin talking to four boys on stage. "Russel Thrush," Jaune guessed he was boy with the pale green Mohawk, dark green sleeveless shirt, and spiked shoulder pad, "Cardin Winchester," he was the tallest of the boys, with an orange flattop and wearing heavy armor over a black shirt, "Dove Bronzewing," this was the light brown haired boy with the perminant squint and the tan armor, "and Sky Lark," this was the boy with the straight, combed back blue hair and blue eyes, his armor a dark gery, "the four of you retrived the black bishop pieces." Ozpin continued. "From this day forward you four shall be Team CRDL (Cardinal), led by Cardin Winchester." The crowd clapped politely as boys left the stage.
After a brief moment, Ozpin called out, "Jaune Arc, Li Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie," as the four stepped onto the stage, Ozpin said, "the four of you retrieved the white rook pieces, from this day forward you shall be Team JNPR (Juniper), led by Jaune Arc." As everyone clapped, Jaune stood still, shocked that Pyrrha had been passed over to lead. He was soon brought back to his senses as his partner gave him a good natured punch on the shoulder, with Jaune barely able to stay on his feet. Seeing he once more had his attention, Ozpin smiled as he said, "Congratulations young man." The head master then made a small shooing motion with his hand, Team JNPR taking it as their cue to get off the stage.
Once the stage was clear again, Ozpin called out the final four names, "Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long," when the four girls were on stage, the man continued, "you four retrieved the white knight pieces, therefore you shall be Team RWBY (Ruby), led by Ruby Rose." While both Ruby and Wiess looked shocked at the announcement, Yang didn't waste anytime in tackling her little sister in a hug and telling her how proud she was.
Smiling at the behavior, Ozpin cleared his throat, signaling the girls to leave the stage before he finished his duties. "And that concludes the welcoming ceremony to all new students of Beacon. On behalf of all the faculty of this academy, I wish you luck for the next four years. Now get to bed, you have certainly earned it."
After being guided to their dorm room, Team JNPR elected to unpack tomorrow after class and just head straight to bed. So exhausted were the teens that they didn't even bother with sleepwear, and Jaune and Pyrrha barely managed to get out of their armor. As Jaune's head hit the pillow, he immediately feel asleep.
Opening his eyes, Jaune found himself in what appeared to be some woods. Noticing a familiar rock formation, the boy spoke aloud, "Weird, these look like the woods back home."
Before the boy could register what was happening, he saw a black blur heading towards him. When the object collided with him, the knight was knocked backwards, and then pinned to the ground by something. Looking to his chest, the Arc saw a familiar set of talons, one of them bent upwards. Although fearful, Jaune turned his gaze upward to see a familiar Griffon glaring at him. As if the dream wasn't already an nightmare, the Grimm spoke in a deep, menacing voice, "Hello you little shit, you and I have got a lot to talk about."
Even though this was only a dream, Jaune did the most rational thing. He screamed.
Wow, 18 pages and chapter two is done. Not my longest work, but I'm happy with it.
So we breezed through the first few episodes of RWBY, and now we can begin the schooling. I have a few ideas of lessons not featured in the show, but they are still very early in the idea process so we'll see how they evolve and fit into the story.
Aside from making new friends, Jaune also has a visit from something from his past. I wonder how this will affect his time at Beacon? That is just one question among many, such as…
How is the Grimm in Jaune's head?
What is the Arc's semblance?
Which girl will win his heart?
All these questions and more will be answered in future chapters of A Grimm Arc!
But while we wait, here's acw28 saying, "until next update."