Jaune was currently in a bus and heading towards his next destination; Emerald Forest.
There were about 24 bus that were currently being used and all of them were packed with people aspired to be Huntsmen. All of them were ready to face their challenges.
Professor Ozpin and the rest of the faculty were already waiting there. Right now, none of them knew what the examination was or how it will be conducted.
Jaune was currently sitting in one of the seats. He was currently wearing a light, short-sleeved, black hoodie. He also wore chest plate on top of it, shoulder plates and gauntlets for protection. He wore a pair of lightweight denim jeans for mobility and a pair of running shoes. He wanted to wear greaves, but the armor already weighted him down, so he sacrificed that.
He was nervous. This exam, which he would be taking, will solidify his worthiness to enter Beacon. An opportunity that he didn't want to miss.
Beside him was the girl he saw on the airship, her short black hair with red tips was a dead giveaway. She wore a long-sleeved, black dress with a high collar and red trim on its sleeves. She had a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front and around her skirt had a red trim. She also wore a pair of thick black stockings and black combat boots.
The most prominent aspect of her outfit was her red hooded cloak that was fastened to her shoulders.
He knew he shouldn't be observing her so thoroughly, but he couldn't help it. His father always said his eyes would latch onto something and observed it from top to bottom and analyzed it. He said that it was one of the best attributes to have as a Huntsman.
Jaune would be fine if it was on a Grimm but not when it was on a person. It felt like he was violating them in some way with his observation.
He looked over to her again and saw that the girl was sweating buckets, clearly nervous. She was frowning with her eyes wide open and was muttering something- Stop observing!
He looked back to the front. He felt bad for the girl and wanted to do something to make her felt better. He thought that maybe talking to her would stop her from being too nervous. He took a deep breath and looked over to her again.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, and the girl was shaken for a moment. Maybe she was surprised that he was talking to her considering they had been silent the whole trip.
"Y-yeah… Kinda," she looked away, embarrassed.
"Hey, look. I'm nervous too," he tried to reassure her. He wasn't that great at holding a conversation, but he could try, damnit!
"Really?" she looked back to him and he saw her eyes for the first time. It was silver and the way she was looking at him made her eyes shone so bright it hurt. As if her eyes were that of a puppy. Too pure!
"Y-yeah, of course!" Keep it together, man! "I'm nervous as well and I'm pretty sure everyone here is too."
"Really?" Again… too pure!
"Think about it, this exam that we're gonna take is a chance to get into Beacon, one of the hardest Huntsman academies to get into. It's actually natural to be nervous," he said. Even if some of them were confident, he knew they were a bit nervous just like he was.
"Okay, that makes me feel a bit better" she said, and her smile seemed to come back to her. "Thank you. My name's Ruby."
He chuckled, "You're welcome. I'm Jaune."
The bus stopped and both Jaune and Ruby were silent. Have we arrived already?
Jaune and Ruby looked through the windows and they had indeed arrived at the gate of Emerald Forest with Professor Ozpin and the other teachers.
They got out from the bus and bid farewell. She said she was going to find her sister and Jaune guessed it was the girl with the long blonde hair. Are they twins or something? Questions for later.
All 1319 applicants stood in front of a huge gate, waiting for Ozpin to set the rules. The Emerald Forest was enormous. One could not even saw the end of the gate.
"Welcome, young aspiring Huntsmen and Huntresses. Today, all of you had gathered here in hope to enter Beacon Academy. This exam will put your abilities and skills to become a Huntsman to the test. To see if you are worthy to be the next protector of Remnant."
Everyone was hyped up to enter the forest. To showcase that they belonged in Beacon. That they were worthy to be a Huntsman.
"The test you will be taking will be a simple one. You will enter the Emerald Forest and fight Grimm that you will be encountering in there for an hour. Each Grimm has specific points to them, but we will not tell you how much. Each student would be monitored, all 1319 of you. We will base your mark by how well you performed and how many Grimm you managed to slay. After an hour, all of you must come back to the gate."
The gate started to open up. This was it. The opportunity to prove oneself their values. This exam will determine Jaune's path.
"Good luck."
O - O - O - O - O
Jaune was walking silently through the forest for the last 5 minutes and yet no Grimm had made their presences known. For a forest filled with the creatures of darkness, it was hard to find one.
He had already drawn out his weapon; Crocea Mors. A combination of a sword and a shield that could turn into a sheath.
This was the weapon that had been passed on from generation to generation of Arc lineage; a family heirloom. This sword had seen more than both Jaune and his father combined. A weapon that had served since The Great War.
Jaune, at first, didn't want to wield the weapon. His reasoning to his father was his lack of Semblance. He would wield the sword if his Semblance manifested. Now that his Semblance had been discovered, he intended to stay true to his words for once and took up the sword. His father was glad.
Remembering his father, he was reminded his father advice to him during their time training.
"Remember, Jaune. Your Semblance is a powerful one, but its side effect is too severe, and you could only heal it for about 30 minutes minimum. I suggest you only use it when you really need to," his father said as Jaune screamed in agony in the background.
Jaune sighed. The one time he used it during training, he felt an agonizing pain on his arm before it went numb. He realized why he didn't feel any pain when he first used his Semblance was because he passed out right after. Now he started to doubt his Semblance.
Grrr…
He turned around and took his battle stance. He was confronted by 3 Beowolves, all glaring him down like a piece of meat waiting to be devoured from behind the bushes. One was in front of him with the other 2 were beside it.
Beowolves, huh?
Beowolves were large, dark, werewolf-like Grimm; befitting of its name. They were fast and agile creatures, putting slow opponents at a disadvantage. They also fought in packs, this inflicted doubt on their opponents and making it easier to defeat their prey.
They started to creep slowly towards Jaune, and he started to move backwards ever so slightly. Keeping them at range could give Jaune an advantage since he had a bigger view of them. They growled but none dare to attack, clearly waiting for him to make the first move.
The one on the right decided it had enough and launched itself towards him. Jaune easily dodge by taking a step back. The Beowolf landed on its feet but it was further away from him than before.
The middle one suddenly launched itself at him with a claw attack. Jaune didn't had any time to move, so he blocked the attack with his shield. The beast was trying to pry away his shield with its claws but Jaune was very persistent.
The last one launched itself, mouth wide open to bite his head off. He blocked the attack with his sword, the blade between its teeth. Due to the attacks, Jaune was on one of his knees.
Shit!
He pushed back the one trying to pry off his shield and kicked away the other one that tried to eat him. At the corner of his eye, he could see the other one was sprinting towards him.
It launched itself with a claw attack but Jaune managed to dodge it. While dodging, Jaune used his sword to decapitate the Beowolf's head from its body. The headless Grimm soon met itself to the ground and its head was rolling away from its body. The Grimm started evaporating, clear sign of its death.
Grrrr…!
The other Beowolves regained their composure and started growling back at him, glaring him down. The death of a member of their pack didn't slow them down whatsoever.
The middle one launched itself first and with the use of his shield, he slammed the beast to his side where the decapitated Grimm rested. That gave him and the Beowolf some distance.
His eyes went back to the other one just in time to see itself launched towards him. Jaune slid underneath the attack and used his sword to cut the belly of the beast. Once he was done cutting the inside of the Grimm, Jaune rolled back into his battle stance against his last opponent.
They circled one another, waiting for one to strike and the other to exploit it.
The Beowolf struck first with another claw attack. Jaune then again blocked the attack with his shield. The Beowolf tried to, once again, pried the shield off of him. It was a battle of dominance between the Grimm and the human.
Stab!
While the Beowolf busied itself with Jaune's shield, he took the opening the Grimm had given him and stabbed the belly of the Grimm with the point of his sword. Jaune made sure he penetrated it all the way through.
With the last enemy down, Jaune took a few seconds to catch his breath. To think he had killed those Grimm in a minute really opened his eyes to his current skill. He was glad he took the initiative to go Grimm hunting with his father during training.
Once he fully regained his stamina and composure, he started to jog further into the Forest. That was 3 already, I wonder how many points that'll make.
He was jogging his way around the forest and still no Grimm in sight. Then, a sight made him stopped dead in his track. He sweated nervously upon it.
"DIE! YOU FILTH!"
A red-haired girl, holding a huge hammer, knocking an Ursa straight into the air with just one hit. A blacked hair boy fending off a pack of Beowolves with his pair of what seemed to be fully automatic pistols. The girl with Ruby was punching her way through multiple Grimm while Ruby herself was running at a superhuman speed around an Ursa with a huge scythe. Is that her Semblance? Cool!
There were also other people around them as well that were holding themselves well. Jaune was dumbfounded by how well everyone was doing. He also realized how many Grimm there were here. No wonder I only met 3.
"Argh!"
A voice captured his ear and he turned his head towards his right and there he was; Cardin Winchester
He was wearing a black, tight sport's tank top, a pair of army cargo pants and black combat boots. The only protection he had was his pair of armored vambraces. His mace sat nicely on his shoulder as he panted after killing about 4 Beowolves.
Cardin's eyes met Jaune's, and for a moment, they were silent. His eyes turned to glare at him, as if provoking him. As if dared him to fight.
Jaune's glare matched his and without any verbal exchanges, both fighters went to fight the creature of Grimm. They had silently declared challenge against one another, and both fighters refused to back down from it.
O - O - O - O - O
Professor Ozpin had deployed various drones across the sky of Emerald Forest and on his hands, was the scroll that will help him monitored his future-students.
The rest of the faculty were participating in analyzing and marking the future-students' performance in the forest. It would be difficult for Ozpin to do it by himself. Thank God, one of them had clone Semblance.
He was monitoring various future-students of his but only a few of them actually caught his eyes.
The couple consisted of young Lie Ren and young Nora Valkyrie. They had been inseparable the moment they went into the forest. They had also shown quite the synergy between each other. While young Lie Ren was calm and collective, always prepared for the worst, his partner, young Nora Valkyrie was hyperactive and had quite insane methods on destroying her enemies.
Young Yang Xiao Long was faring nicely in the exam. While her destructive nature was evident, she would take a moment to carefully read her opponents' movement. Her younger sister was doing quite good for herself as well. Her Semblance made her an impossible target to land any attacks. Unfortunately, her Semblance stained a lot of her stamina making her lost focus during a fight.
Currently, however, he was more interested in young Jaune Arc and young Cardin Winchester. Before those two decided to join the fight with the rest of their peers, they had this moment of psychological showdown between them with the way they were glaring towards one another.
Now what do we have here?
Ozpin looked at the way they were fighting. It was as if one was trying to one-up each other. Both fighters seemed to drive themselves from one another. Clearly those two had a past.
"Ozpin?"
He looked back to see his assistance, Professor Glynda Goodwitch. She was currently had a panic expression on her face while looking at her scroll. He walked over to her and saw what was troubling her, his eyes slightly widened.
"Oh my."
O - O - O - O - O
Stump
Jaune stopped stabbing through a Boarbatusk's belly and pulled out his sword. He tried to focus on the sound he just heard and… Was the ground shaking?
STUMP
He felt the vibration on the ground again, but it wasn't an earthquake. It sounded more like footsteps. Footsteps that was heading towards the direction of the students. He looked over to the direction of the sound and his eyes widened.
STUMP
Arrived with an earth rumbling steps and trumpeting, the Goliath had come to challenge the future Beacon students. Its size tripled the size of the robot that Jaune encountered during his visit to Vale 2 months ago. What's with me ending up in a situation with giant sized monster?!
"Fall back!" Jaune yelled as they all knew; they were no match for such Grimm with their current skills. Everyone ran away from the direction of the Grimm. He noticed Ruby was panting quite heavily.
Did her Semblance exhausted her?
Jaune watched over her as she struggled to run away from the Grimm. Her sister already was ahead, probably didn't notice Ruby's struggle. The boy with the black hair, who also clad in green and the girl with the hammer passed over him but stopped just behind him to look back at the Grimm. All of them were covered in sweat, dirt and few scrapes on their bodies.
The Goliath suddenly pulled out one of the trees, all the way to the roots, with its trunk. The canopy in Emerald Forest was no mere trees. They had been known to be one of the most durable and one of the heaviest trees. For the Goliath to just pulled it out instantly, it showcased its enormous strength compared to the other Grimm.
The Goliath threw the tree at an unsuspected Ruby and half of her body buried under the trunk of the tree.
"Argh!" she screamed in agony.
"Ruby!" her sister looked back and started to run towards Ruby. Before she could, however, Jaune grabbed hold of her wrist.
"Wait!"
"Let me go! My sister is in danger!" the blonde tried to pry his grip from her. Unfortunately, Jaune was a lot more stubborn than he probably should had been and his grip was stronger due to him focusing his Aura on his hand. She's stronger than she looks!
"We can't just attack without any sort of plan!" Jaune argued. Trying to reason with someone that had her emotions took over her decision was difficult. "Look!"
He pointed and she stopped for a while, saw where he was pointing at.
"The Grimm looked as if it was avoiding Ruby, it probably thinks that she was already dead!" true to his words, the Goliath seemed to be walking past Ruby, but its movement stopped near her. "Or its provoking us to rush in to save her…"
"… Then what are we supposed to do?" she asked, clearly worried sick for her sister. He could only imagine what that would feel like. To know your sibling was in danger but the situation made you useless to act. He looked over to the hammer girl and the green-clad boy, they nodded. They agreed to help. Great.
He analyzed the Goliath's size, strength, speed and durability. He looked over to some of the other people with him currently and their weaponry.
The hammer girl turned her hammer into a grenade launcher. That could be used to distract the Grimm. The black-haired boy's pistols were useless against the Goliath. He looked over to Ruby's sister weapon on her wrists. Are those shotgun chambers?
He looked around to search for Cardin. He could help lifting the trunk from the girl, but Cardin and a few other people were already in a battle with… Another Goliath?! How did we miss that?!
He returned his focus to his current opponent. They need to find a way to rescue Ruby and a way to run far away from the Grimm. Those 3 still waiting for Jaune's plan.
"Okay… You," he pointed at the hammer girl. Wish I asked their names first. "You got a grenade launcher. That Grimm's skin is hard to penetrate but your weapon can do some damage and it can distract it for a moment. Use the trees around it for cover."
"You got it, Fearless Leader!" she saluted, earned a chuckle from him.
"Now… You. Does your weapon have shotgun rounds?" he looked over to Ruby's sister and she nodded. "Okay, you will do the same. But since shotgun rounds are not really strong to damage the Goliath, don't try to overdo it. You shoot, then run for cover."
"Got it," she readied her rounds at that.
"Okay… Now, you," the green-clad boy gave Jaune his full attention. "You and I are gonna save Ruby from that tree. I will lift the tree and you will pull Ruby out. Don't worry, I'm strong enough," he nodded.
They scrambled from their position. The hammer girl and Ruby's sister went to each side of the Goliath while Jaune and the boy ran towards Ruby.
The hammer girl shot her first grenade round, exploding on impact. That caught the Grimm's attention and pried its eyes from Jaune. The hammer girl shot 2 more rounds before went into cover. That aggravated the Grimm farther. It started strode towards her before getting shot by Ruby's sister.
Prying his eyes from them, Jaune finally reached to Ruby and she was out cold. Jaune sheathed back his weapon, focused his Aura on his arms and started lifting it up. Shit! This is heavier than I thought!
Despite his struggle, he did manage to lift up the tree from Ruby. The green-clad boy carefully pulled out Ruby from underneath it. Once he did, he carried her, running to their previous spot.
"Pull back!" he shouted to the 2 girls. They both heard him and started to run away from the Goliath. Jaune followed suit. The faster they got away from the Grimm, the better. Why is it not an hour yet?! Get me out of here!
Then, the Goliath started to do something unexpected. It gave chase to them, faster than they imagined.
The speed of it was too surprising, Jaune and co was dumbfounded for a while. Realizing their mistake, they continued back their run with the Goliath hot on their tails. With the speed it was using coupled with its legs' reach, it was nearing them.
If this continues, it'll reach us! Jaune thought. He looked around and saw both Ruby's sister and the hammer girl were panting heavily. The green-clad boy was not faring so good as well. The Goliath were nearing them and Jaune could see them starting to panic. Dad said use it when you need to, and I guess this is it!
He turned around and faced his opponent. The image of the robot in Vale returned to his mind in full force.
Like before, he pulled back his arm. All of his Aura focused on it, and it only.
The Goliath saw him, trumpeting and stomping its legs furiously. Clearly it saw him as a target. Good.
Focused, he amplified his Aura using his Semblance. He felt it became more powerful than before. Is it because of my training?
Jaune launched himself to the Goliath.
"Arghhhhh!" with a roar, he punched the underbelly of the creature of darkness.
BOOM!!!
He could visually saw how the underbelly of the Goliath rippled from the impact of the punch. The air from the force burst and making everything nearby the area blew away from it. Leaves rustling extremely and trees nearest to them ripped off from the ground.
The Goliath slowly evaporated and fell backwards from the punch.
The agonizing pain was still present, but he could endure it. In just a millisecond, Jaune's arm was bruised and his bones broken. Still hurts!
He walked back to the unconscious Ruby and his temporary teammates, a bit winded due to his broken arm. When he got near them, he could see the shock on their faces with the exception of the hammer girl's, hers was that of pure awe. He also noticed the other Goliath had met its doom as well.
A bell rung so loud, the sound surrounded the entire of forest. They looked up and saw a purple glyph, signaling the location of the forest's gate.
"I guess the exam's over," he chuckled and looked to them. "Let's go."
O - O - O - O - O
The examination had ended and Jaune was currently stood at the Amphitheater with the rest of future-peers.
Jaune's arm was already healed, regardless how long the process was.
"I congratulate all of you, for completing the examination successfully," Professor Ozpin spoke, catching every single one of their attentions. "While some had completed it better than others and some may not, I want all of you to know that none of you here are failures. All of you at least managed to score higher than 50. That, in itself, is an accomplishment."
Damage control. His father used that all the time before telling him a bad news. Like when he accidently burned down their car.
"Unfortunately, only 100 people will be entering Beacon," There it is! "But don't be displease if you don't manage to enter. You can still train yourself to be a better fighter and try again next year. We will always welcome people that are willing to take a second chance at becoming a future protector of Remnant."
That gave the people some hope, at least to those that took this career seriously.
A holographic screen was shown to them and there were multiple names on it. Their name.
"Those that manage to enter the academy, your name will be present on the screen. Disclaimer: None of it are in alphabetic order," he smiled at them, that sweet sadistic smile. "Happy hunting."
Everybody was groaning, including Jaune himself. He searched for it but the fact that 100 people got in and the names were presented with very small font made it hard for him. He squinted his eyes so hard, his vision was basically non-existence.
Jaune! Jaune! Jaune! JAUNE! FOUND IT!
There it was, the name Jaune Arc plastered on the screen. His name was on it. His name.
I made it… I made it, Dad. He looked towards the ceiling of the Amphitheater, but his eyes went through it and he saw the clear blue sky. He smiled solemnly and he could feel his eyes watering. I made it, Mom.
O - O - O - O - O
Hello!
Chapter 3 had ended and now we can finally go into Beacon which I can't wait to write more. While I like action, I like writing characters interaction more. That's why I go for a more school-oriented story cause school is a very social place, even for an introvert.
So, our boy finally made it into Beacon. Woohoo! It took 3 chapters for that but at least he made it. I actually wanted to make Jaune enter Beacon in Chapter 2, but I thought that was too much. I'm not a very good writer, so longer chapter meant more mistakes. Minimum 3k words per chapter is a comfortable length for me. Sorry to those that want more. Again… I'm sorry.
Our MC also interacted with his future friends as well. From the get-go, I want to mention his observant nature which is my headcanon for Jaune in RWBY proper; Dense in social interaction but observant in analyzing battle. At least this way, I had reason as to why he kept described his peers' outfit in detail during his POV.
I also changed Cardin's outfit. This is because Cardin is someone important to Jaune in this story and I wanted him to at least stand out. Although when I think about it, that probably won't do much unless it was presented visually. Still, I want to change his outfit since two of his teammates in canon already wore something similar to his.
I'm not going into much detail on that last line. Do what you will with it.
Had any criticism? Please by all means, leave a review. Criticism is always welcome.
Thank you for reading.