Punch Me Right in the Face Chapter 2: Initiation, a rwby fanfic

By working yourself to your absolute limits you have gained +1 CON

Jaune rolled his eyes at the game. They had only been walking for a couple minutes making their way through a denser part of the forest, and while he had broken a sweat that was due to the heat not how hopelessly out of shape he was. Although he already did feel stronger now with The Game giving him some buffer stats. Which led him to believe that he was in fact hopelessly out of shape.

Time unfroze as it said it would, but Jaune hadn't realized how heavily he had been leaning on Pyrrha as he read. So when he came back to reality he fell forward into Pyrrha's arms or more specifically her breast plate. His face had gone beet red as he shot an apology out quickly, thankfully Pyrrha took no offense and assured him that unlocking one's aura can cause things like that to happen, although Jaune noted a tint of red show on her cheeks.

After that they walked on filling each other in on little details about themselves like where they were from and why they came to Beacon. With Jaune using Observe on random objects as they went along leveling up the skill once as they walked and talked. Jaune naturally was forced to lie through his teeth as he explained how he ended up at Beacon. When he finished explaining he saw a pop-up in the corner of his vision, and when he opened it he saw he had gained a new skill.

New Passive Discovered!

Lying (Passive) (Level 1): You can tell lies, not very well, but you can tell them

Jaune thought of himself as an honest person, whole lying to get into Beacon aside he felt a little dirty at receiving that, and vowed to level it up as little as he could.

Jaune came back to their conversation and realised he had lost where the conversation had headed and Pyrrha was looking at him to answer. Jaune looked at his surroundings and saw Pyrrha gesturing slightly towards it.

"Yea lets go in there the relic could definitely be in there" Pyrrha showed some signs of hesitation which Jaune squashed by heading into the cave.

Lying has leveled to Level 2

Well so much for that idea. Not wanting to look week Jaune plowed on through the cave hoping to grab the relic and get out of there as quickly as possible.

"Jaune?" He kept going despite the lack of light in the cave.

"Jaune?" ignoring her calls he saw something bright and made a beeline for what could only be the relic.

"No need to worry Pyrrha, i got the relic!" Jaune said as he grabbed the golden object.

New Skill Unlocked:

Danger Sense (Level 1): You can sense dangerous intent in a 1 meter radius around you. This skill costs nothing and activates on reaction to more serious intent and can sense lesser danger if manually activated.

Danger Sense Triggered!

Before Jaune could make heads or tails of the new skill he was lifted into the air and a screech threatened to rupture his Jaune had eyes on the back of his head he would have been able to see the girl silently facepalm as she began running towards where they had entered the cave.

Jaune on the other hand exited the cave a different way, assuming Observe couldn't lie to him then Jaune was currently riding a Deathstalker, ignoring the level up dings Jaune read.

Observe (Level 4):

Name: Deathstalker

Title: Cave Dweller

Level: 20

New Passive Discovered!

Grimm Identification (Level 1): You know the names of some Grimm, possess little knowledge of what they can do, and can see obvious weaknesses

Tightening his grip on what he could now tell was a stinger Jaune felt panic bubble up inside of him only for the wave to be suppressed as fast as it threatened to come. Silently thanking Gamer's Mind Jaune assessed his options as the Deathstalker burst through the entrance of the cave.

He attempted to kick the tail seeing as it was the only thing in his range and he whiffed wildly as he swayed from side to side. Jaune considered his position, that of holding onto a Deathstalker stinger and decided at the best course of action was most likely being not on the stinger any longer. His hands sweat as he kept vying for purchase on the sleek stinger. In an effort to keep his grip Jaune felt his hands graze the actual tail and felt flesh. Something in his mind triggered and he remembered that the tail and the eyes were the weakest spots on its body.

"Pyrrha shoot the tail!" Jaune yelled at the girl who he was technically chasing, but not by choice.

Without breaking a sweat Pyrrha readied and aimed her rifle at the tail moving to the side to avoid peppering Jaune with bullets. Jaune couldn't help but gape at the fluidity and grace her movements showed as if she was born to fight, which she very well might have Jaune didn't know.

His master plan was to have the Deathstalker try and stab Pyrrha, and when it missed he would glide off the stinger land with a roll and run alongside her. What was supposed to happen did not match even in the slightest with what actually happened.

New Passive Discovered!

Battle Strategy (Level 3): You can come up with a plan of attack, sure you might have seen it in a movie, but movies have to be based off something right?

The discovery screen popped up and then was immediately cast aside as his plan went awry. Jaune felt the stinger start to move and prepared for his move by weakening his grasp a grave error as instead of directly stabbing at it's attacker, the Grimm decided to wind back, something that Jaune didn't account for in his master plan. This quick wind back mixed with the weak grip led to Jaune going flying through the air like he had just been not twenty minutes ago.

To his credit Jaune didn't scream as he ripped through the air, the only sound he let out was an 'oof' as he collided with a red blur. The first collison didn't hurt too much as it was flesh on flesh, but the second hit which was Jaune hitting the tree caused him to gasp as the wind was knocked out of him. Jaune rubbed the stars out of his eyes only to find Ruby doing the same thing across from him. In the corner of his vision he saw that he had lost 200 AP which he assumed was his Aura. As the two sat there for a moment dazed Jaune read through his new skills.

New Passive Discovered!

Pain Tolerance (Level 1): Pain still hurts a lot, but you are getting used to the life of a Huntsman. (1% Less Damage)

Pain tolerance then levelled up twice to level three, but the flavor text as it was called in normal video games didn't change. He figured they'd update as they got to certain milestones. He figured he would come to love that passive as even though aura prevents cuts and bruises it was obvious that the pain was still there when he hit the tree.

New Skill Discovered!

Aura Control (Level 1): You can use aura to heal yourself and prevent major damage. That's about it.

The Game didn't indicate if it was a passive skill or an active skill which was odd, but besides that it seemed like a vital skill to have and level up. Once he got through those screens he looked at Ruby.

"Hey Ruby?" Ruby scratched the back of her head and laughed nervously.

"Uh, the sky?" Jaune laughed,

"And uh why were you up there Ruby?" Ruby whispered something under her breath that Jaune couldn't quite catch. He cupped a hand around his ear to let her know that he hadn't heard her.

"Well Weiss and I were sort of riding a Nevermore." Before Jaune could even respond a screech assaulted his ears causing him to look up. Jaune cast observe as he watched the giant bird soar across the sky.

Name: Nevermore

Title: Taxi

Level: 20

Observe levelled up again to level five, he went into his abilities tab and opened up the skill.

Observe (Level 5): You can tell more about what you look at, now you can see which stat is it's strongest if it is a living being. No luck if it's an object though.

Jaune immediately used Observe again on the Nevermore.

Name: Nevermore

Title: Unenthused Shuttle

Level: 20

Greatest Stat: STR

That made sense to him as it was too big to be nimble so its blows have to be powerful when they do land. Ignoring the two levels he gained in Grimm Identification he focused back in on his conversation.

"So Weiss is up there?" Jaune looked at Ruby, or tried to as the girl was already off and down towards where he could now see more students gathered around. His vision went back up to the Nevermore and he saw a white figure now falling. It had to be Weiss, and she was falling too fast to be safe even for someone much more trained than him.

Jaune stood up and looked around, no one else was going to catch her. The branch under him stood sturdy under his full weight. So Jaune lined up his shot and leapt out of the tree to where he hoped Weiss would fall. Luckily he was correct and caught Weiss as she fell, unluckily gravity, momentum, and pain were still a thing Jaune remembered as he felt himself hit the ground, and Weiss hit him.

Wheezing Jaune let out,

"This is not what I had in mind when I wanted a beautiful girl to fall for me."

Your pathetic charm has helped you gain +1 CHA

You have Gained Affiliation with Weiss!

The Game refused to give Jaune a break as he laid on the ground watching his AP go down another fifty.

Weiss's only response was to cross her arms and head over to Ruby. Who was already apologizing as Weiss began yelling at her for leaving her up there.

Spitting some dirt out of his mouth Jaune stood up. His pants were ripped slightly, but his pride was intact as he made his way over to the girls. He noticed now that his aura was regenerating slowly as he had gained about 15 AP since he ran into Ruby. Also he had gained another two levels in pain tolerance as well as another one in aura control.

Drawing his attention back to the scene in front of him Jaune saw a Grimm break through the treeline. Jaune observed it.

Name: Ursa

Title: Deceased

Level: 10

Jaune's confusion lasted about as long as the Ursa's life did as it fell to the ground with a girl dressed in pink he recognized from last night atop its back. Behind the Ursa was an exhausted boy who had his hands on his knees understandably from trying to follow the Ursa.

Next Pyrrha burst through the treeline followed closely by the Deathstalker from before.

In the wake of this chaos Ruby's sister, who Jaune remembered her name as Yang literally ignited in rage.

"Could everyone just chill out for two seconds!" As it turned out, that was impossible as after a second of standing still awkwardly Pyrrha was thrown into the rest of the group gathered at the relic by the Deathstalker.

Instantly Ruby dashed forward faster than he'd ever seen someone move before towards the scorpion like monster, only to be batted away like a ragdoll as she tried to hit it.

Jaune's knees buckled as then the Nevermore circled around and the Deathstalker charged towards the group while Ruby tried to make her retreat. He could do nothing but stare as Ruby heroically ran away. Jaune watched horrified as the Nevermore threw a volley of feathers at the girl who looked tiny in comparison to the giant bird as giant feathers rained down from above. The volley missed her body thankfully, but one caught her cape and pinned it to the ground. Jaune felt sick to his stomach as Ruby pulled frantically on her cape as the Deathstalker reached her and jabbed its stinger towards her small frame.

Jaune felt his soul radiate through his body, and his breath caught in his throat as energy pulsated through his entire being. This feeling he felt inside was completely foreign to him even when his aura was unlocked he never felt such pure energy build up all across his body. The energy brought along with it a sense of purpose, he knew that no matter how far behind he was he had to get strong enough to protect his friends. He envisioned a giant shield carried by him with Ruby behind it safely. He felt another wave of energy come over him, and for a moment he was worried time was going to freeze again, but something else happened.

A giant shield plated entirely in gold appeared out of thin air in front of Ruby. The stinger bounced off the shield with a thud, bending the tip of the stinger so that it now pointed more inwards than outwards. and as it reeled back in pain Weiss was already on Ruby and froze the Deathstalker in place.

Main Class Discovered!

Tank: While they might not do the most damage, that isn't why Tanks are on the battlefield. Their purpose is to draw the attention of as many enemies as possible in order for the more damage oriented fighters to thin the battlefield.

Title Unlocked: The Shield

The Shield: When active you gain 20% Constitution when you are fighting with one or more people.

(Subclasses Unlock at Player Level 10)

New Class Active Unlocked!

The People's Shield: You're desire to protect others can generate a giant shield that can protect someone blocking any attack under the sun. Free to Use (Cooldown: 1 day). This ability does not need to be thought of to be used instinct alone can activate it. Blocks attacks for a short duration, and can protect multiple others as long as they are in close proximity. Can't use on self

New Class Active Unlocked!

Alarming Shout (Level 1): You can yell, and draw the attention of weaker enemies (No Cost).

New Class Passive Discovered!

Heroic Tolerance (Level 1): You might not look like a hero, but you can act like one! You take a little less damage when taking hits for others. (5% Less Damage)

You have Gained Affiliation with Yang!

You have Gained Affiliation with Ruby!

You have Gained Affiliation with Weiss!

You have Gained Affiliation with Pyrrha!

You have Gained Affiliation with Blake!

You have Gained Affiliation with Ren!

You have Gained Affiliation with Nora!

Tank, while not his first choice when playing video games back home. The word as it slowly disappeared from his vision felt like something he had been missing ever since his aura was unlocked. He equipped the title and looked at his tutorial stats.

Name: Jaune Arc

Level: 0

Title: The Shield

Exp:0%

AP: 265/500

HP: 100/100

Stats:

STR: 15

CON:15 + 20% (18)

DEX: 15

INT: 15

WIS: 15

CHA: 15

LUCK: 5

POINTS: 0

Jaune knew these were tutorial stats, but he still liked the thought of Constitution being his strongest stat. As his dad always said, 'Endurance is everything my boy' then his dad would usually wink at his mother for some reason and she would get all red in the face. Probably an inside joke between them or something. Nonetheless the advice was relevant now more than ever, and paired with his Heroic Tolerance he would need to be able to take a beating. Jaune would also need to figure out which stat helps his AP go up, since he assumed that CON would definitely raise his HP.

It was Pyrrha who spoke up and got his attention.

"Well it looks like you've found your semblance already Jaune, that's amazing!"

He just nodded his head blushing slightly at the praise from his partner, making a mental note to read up on aura and all things related to it if he survived initiation. Jaune's attention quickly focused back onto the Deathstalker which was attempting to break out of the ice, and it looked absolutely pissed.

"We should get out of here while we have the chance, everybody grab a relic and lets get out of here, there's no point in fighting if we don't have to"

No one argued as the Nevermore screeched again as if to confirm Jaune's worry. Jaune ignored the pop-up that flashed in front of him and took off in a sprint once Pyrrha grabbed their relic.

While his plan to run and live another day worked well initially, Grimm apparently didn't give up that easily, especially after you piss them off. Ignoring the extra level in Grimm knowledge and the two in Constitution, Jaune saw the Nevermore cut off their path forward, and the Deathstalker approaching from behind.

The eight of them made their way towards a set of ruins linked together by a bridge as the Nevermore circled overhead. No one needed to point out that they had to fight, as their path was blocked by a giant cliff on the other side of the ruins. They would have to fight in order to pass initiation. Jaune shuddered at the thought for a moment, before his mind cleared for the battle.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang had taken the lead as they crossed over the bridge and began firing at the Nevermore as it flew by taking the bridge behind Jaune and who he had just met Nora. With Pyrrha and Ren being trapped on the side with the Deathstalker.

"Nora! These four can handle the Nevermore, we gotta get over to the other side" Nora's face lit up in a grin that did not make Jaune feel good. She screamed with glee as she swung her giant hammer down and launched him across the gap falling on his face in the process.

New Active Unlocked!

Featherfalling (Level 1): Upon activating you fall a lot slower than normal. (Cost 40 AP per second)

Ignoring the irony that falling on his face unlocked that skill Jaune pushed himself up and drew his sword and shield as Nora made her way over behind him. No more running away from the fight, time to earn his place in Beacon.

The beast was fast for its size as it finally reached the four of them. Like clockwork the other three began firing and moving to meet the creature. Jaune raised his shield and charged. Pyrrha fired with ease at the face while Ren peppered bullets wherever he could, followed by Nora launching grenades onto its thick armor. While it looked cool Jaune noticed that it didn't seem to be taking too much damage from this assault. The others noticed as well as the shifted their weapons from ranged to melee. Ren didn't want to get into melee range as he was already being pressured enough by the stinger. Which while not pointed at them anymore after his shield warped it, the speed it could attack at made it more of a deadly blunt object instead of a stinger.

Jaune approached alongside Pyrrha towards the claws of the beast, Pyrrha jumped out of the way of an armored claw while Jaune was too slow and was forced to block. The weight behind the blow was unlike anything he'd ever felt before, and while it wasn't perfect he managed to keep from being knocked off his feet. Another notification flashed in his vision. Jaune cursed at the game wondering why it didn't have some sort of battle mode.

Combat Mode Enabled

Notifications will be paused until combat has ended.

Sighing at The Game he focused back onto combat. Jaune took a swing at the claw he just deflected only for it to bounce off giving his entire arm a shock as its momentum was halted. His Grimm Identification knowledge told him that Deathstalkers armor is nigh impenetrable, but it has a few exposed areas that are susceptible to damage. He felt a plan coming together in his head as he dodged a claw and gave up some ground not wanting to block another hit like that as his AP had gone down about 50 from the block and then trying to hit the armor.

Jaune called out to Ren as he pointed at the stinger, the man understood what he meant and moved his fire up towards where the stinger meets the tail. His fire loosened the stinger and Pyrrha threw her shield at the stinger freeing it from the tail, the stinger bounced harmlessly off the armor of the Deathstalker and rolled to the side.

"Ren, I need that!" Ren sprinted towards the discarded stinger and threw it quickly towards Jaune. Throwing left him wide open and a swipe of its claws sent Ren out of the fight with a loud crack as he became acquainted with the side of the ruins.

As it flew through the air Jaune dropped his weapons and caught the stinger, careful not to stab himself on the pointy end, which was pointed perpendicular to the base of the stinger, useless for the Deathstalker, but useful for someone with an insane idea. Jaune picked up his shield and tucked the stinger under his arm.

"Pyrrha keep it busy! Nora, I need you to send me up, and I need you to capitalize right after I roll away, got it?" Jaune yelled as he jumped straight up and put the shield under his body.

"With pleasure! Coming right up." As Nora spoke she swung and sent Jaune a solid fifty feet in the air. Way too high, but thanks to his featherfalling ability Jaune activated it for two seconds draining 80 AP, but coming down twenty feet and allowing himself to position his body over center mass of the Deathstalker. Jaune let go of his shield and deactivated featherfalling hoping his AP and HP were high enough to survive this fall.

Jaune fell faster and faster as he fell ten feet, then twenty feet, then as he approached he readied himself and held the stinger out. The stinger pierced the armor easily going all the way until the sharp part ended. However gravity existed, and Jaune was quickly reminded after a moment of relief that his plan was working as his chest hit the part he had been holding onto for dear life not twenty minutes before. All the air in his lungs was expelled as he heard a crack from somewhere inside his body. His top and bottom half folded around the stinger and he spit some blood out onto the white armor under him, Jaune wanted nothing more than to let himself hang there another moment, but he wasn't going to let this opportunity go to waste and we weakly rolled to the side and slid off the side of the beast.

Not a moment too soon as the instant he rolled aside Nora delivered an overhead strike using her hammer as, well a hammer, and nailed the stinger through the beast killing it immediately. Beaten and bruised Jaune slowly made his way to a stand clutching his abdomen as he did so, in time to see Ruby beheading the Nevermore in one go.

With the battle over, Nora rushed over to Ren, and Pyrrha rushed over to check on him. Wiping the blood from his lips Jaune gave Pyrrha a little smile and a thumbs up to show he was okay. Laughing for a moment at the craziness of the whole situation before groaning in pain as his chest burned at the action. Pyrrha let the concern show on her face as she put an arm around Jaune stabilizing him. He smiled through the pain, he had done it, Jaune Arc certified weakling until today had helped kill a Deathstalker and passed initiation.

You have Gained Affiliation with Pyrrha!

With how much affiliation they were gaining Pyrrha and him were definitely on the way to becoming great friends. He'd have to see what their relationship status was when he got back to Beacon.

Feeling a shot of pain with every step Jaune looked at his HP and noticed it was down to thirty, way too close for comfort. While in hindsight the plan worked, it was reckless to say the least and could have ended worse if he never unlocked feather fall.

By reflecting on your poor choices you have gained +1 WIS

The crack he heard was definitely a broken rib if that wasn't enough the burning in his lungs confirmed it. Jaune did his best to hide the pain, and although he didn't know much about aura Jaune had faith it would fix him right up given a little bit of time. So he bit down on his hoodie and kept walking in line with Pyrrha.

With the memory of initiation still fresh in his mind Jaune found himself sat in the cafeteria, his ribs had healed after a good night's sleep feeling like the injury had never happened. Jaune rubbed his chest remembering the impact he took less than a day ago. It wasn't until he got back to the dorm after being made team leader that Jaune saw the status screen that indicated that he had two broken ribs actually, not that it mattered anymore, but it taught him a valuable lesson to look at his stats screen to track his AP and HP during combat.

Upon disengaging combat mode what felt like a million notifications flooded his screen mostly level ups and new skills, the most important being the quest complete screen which hovered somewhere a little in front of his eyes.

He now had a Lien tab that unlocked under his stats contained a nice amount of lien that he did not have before. As it turns out 'Combat Mode' turned on auto-looting he got a lot of lien and what he guessed was a special item after they killed the Deathstalker.

He didn't know why he was even thinking this hard about his decision, The Game enabled him to turn into the hero he grew up aspiring to be, and besides it already had saved his life, looking a gift horse in the mouth was definitely something he was not going to do.

Despite the fact that he felt he should've been a little more worried about turning his life permanently into a video game Jaune couldn't find it in him to fight the smile that grew on his face as he finally accepted the power of The Gamer into his life.

Just a little housekeeping, I will be doing numbers for skills that need it, but I'm trying to change skills flavor texts as they level up to show progress more than numbers as I feel like that makes the world feel more real as opposed to being focused on the numbers side of The Game (although if its a really unpopular decision I could probably change that, but I don't think I will). Relationships won't have a number and that's final as I feel like that puts a restriction on the number of positive interactions Jaune can have until a girl has to fall head over heels for him. Love it? Hate it? Let me know by dropping a review or Fav/Following it means a lot to me as I was definitely more proud of this chapter than the last one.

Here is the updated stats sheet right before he completes the tutorial, from now on only new skills titles will be displayed after stats as well as relationship status' that change just to prevent the end of chapters being ridiculously long. (Also I haven't forgotten about stat upgrades they will be noted at the beginning of the next chapter)

P.S If I forgot anything I apologize I had a crazy week so I was writing this whenever I could get the chance so sometimes I had to go into my other doc and update stuff later so there we go there's my excuse. See you next time!

Name: Jaune Arc

Level: 0

Title: The Shield

Class: Tank

Exp:0%

AP: 500/500

HP: 100/100

Stats:

STR: 15

CON:15 +20% (18)

DEX: 15

INT: 15

WIS: 15

CHA: 15

LUCK: 5

POINTS: 0

Lien: 5,000

Skills:

Gamer's Mind (Passive) Level (Max): The power of The Game allows you to think logically, keep a peaceful state of mind, as well as immunity to psychological effects.

Gamer's Body (Passive) Level (Max): The power of The Game prevents dismemberment or disembowelment. As long as HP does not equal zero fatal moves will not kill you.

Observe (Level 5): You can tell more about what you look at, now you can see which stat is it's strongest if it is a living being. No luck if it's an object though. No Cost to Activate.

Lying (Passive) (Level 2): You can tell lies, not very well, but you can tell them.

Grimm Identification (Level 1): You know the names of some Grimm, possess little knowledge of what they can do, and can see obvious weaknesses

Battle Strategy (Level 7): You can come up with a plan of attack, studying and experience on the battlefield has taught you a few tricks, but you still have a lot to learn

Pain Tolerance (Level 13): Pain still hurts a lot, but you are getting used to the life of a Huntsman. (13% Less Damage)

Aura Control (Level 4): You can use aura to heal yourself and prevent major damage. That's about it.

Leadership (Level 10): You're a natural born leader, people tend to listen to you when you are making a plan.

Featherfalling (Level 2): Upon activating you fall a lot slower than normal. (Cost 35 AP per second)

Shield Proficiency (Level 3): You are getting better at blocking things with the item designed specifically to do that, good job.

Sword Proficiency (Level 1): Pointy end goes toward evil monsters.

Class Skills:

Alarming Shout (Level 1): You can yell, and draw the attention of weaker enemies (No Cost).

Heroic Tolerance (Level 1): You might not look like a hero, but you can act like one! You take a little less damage when taking hits for others. (5% Less Damage)

Relationships:

Pyrrha (Partner): Thinks you're a great friend and good partner

Ruby (Friend): Thinks you're a great friend and a nice guy.

Weiss (Acquaintance): Thinks you are annoying, but doesn't hate you.

Yang (Sister's Friend): Thinks you are a respectable guy for saving her sister

Blake (Acquaintance): Thinks you aren't a bad guy

Ren (Teammate): Thinks you are his teammate

Nora (Teammate): Thinks you are her teammate

Titles:

Newbie: lol Noob

Forger: When active items you create seem 20% more legitimate

The Shield: When active you gain 20% Constitution when you are fighting with one or more people.

Fearless Leader: When active your team is more likely to listen to you.