Meet Penny

It had been a couple weeks since Jaune had come to Beacon, and things had been progressing fairly slowly. Classes on Grimm had been easy, mostly because whenever the time came for Jaune to take on a Grimm, Darkness' enchantment had kicked in, and prevented them from hitting them. On top of that, with his magically enhanced blade, blessed by the Incarnate of Destruction himself, he could defeat any Grimm with a single hit. All the students were talking about him, and how good he was at these classes. It made him feel like total crap.

None of what Jaune was accomplishing was because of anything he did, or was able to do. It was all thanks to Darkness' own intervention, and if he wasn't here anymore, Jaune knew for a fact that he wouldn't have gotten anywhere in Beacon. None of this made him feel better about being here, it only made him feel worse.

There was the also matter of practice. Jaune was now forbidden from engaging in battle practice with other students without intense precaution and supervision. On top of that, sparring with his team had to be done with dummy swords, since the danger of Jaune losing control of Crocea Mors went without saying. Not to mention Ruby was predictably freaked out about the possibility Crescent Rose being destroyed in a spar.

As for Darkness, the god would mostly spend his time watching, while on occasion giving Jaune a slight hint on a question, or redirecting a Grimm if it was coming at someone Darkness happened to like. He also spent a large amount of time meditating, still searching for answers for the question; he made little progress regarding the silver eyes, but found out more about the Faunus.

From what he learned by gazing into the past, humans and Faunus had a hostile relationship, with the former enslaving and oppressing the latter. The Faunus response had been predictably violent, and something Darkness could not help but find rather amusing was the fact that they believed their pain justified inflicting pain on others. It seemed that Faunus had all the same flaws as humans, though that still made Darkness wonder about their origin; they were far more alike to humans than different.

At the moment, Team RYPJ was currently making through the city streets towards the docks. Apparently, Pyrrha's family was coming into town, and the teen wanted to introduce her team to them herself. As they walked through the town, they could see preparations for the Vytal Festival under way. Darkness floated over them, getting a better view of the area.

"You mortals always seem to be celebrating something," he commented, though he was ignored.

"I can't wait for you to meet them," Pyrrha said, "I bet they're going to love you guys."

"So why are they coming?" Ruby asked.

"Well, according to my mom, they booked their tickets early to avoid the crowds," Pyrrha answered, "she also said that they just wanted to see me early and meet my teammates."

"I've always wondered what's its like living in Mistral, with all those mountains and stuff," Ruby said.

"Actually, we live in Argus," Pyrrha corrected.

"Argus?" Yang said, "I thought you grew up in Mistral."

"I was born in Mistral, I grew up and trained in Argus."

"You know my sister lives in Argus too with her wife and son," Jaune said.

"Really?" Pyrrha asked, looking back, "What's her name? Maybe I've met her."

"Saphron Arc. Though I guess now its Saphron Cotta-Arc now." He remembered his parents weren't ecstatic when the "Arc" came after the "Cotta". Upon hearing that, Pyrrha looked back in surprise.

"Really?" she asked, "Saphon Cotta-Arc is your sister?"

"You know her?"

"Before I came to Beacon, I would babysit her son, Adrian."

"That's my nephew."

"I didn't know you had a nephew," Ruby said, "Or a sister."

"Actually, I have seven sisters," Jaune admitted, "All older than me."

"Wow, I can't imagine having that many big sisters," Ruby said, "Having one is hard enough."

"Careful there, baby sis," Yang said, as she yanked on Ruby's hood slightly.

"Sorry," Ruby answered.

"Team RYPJ!" a familiar peppy voice called out. The team turned to see Nora coming up to them, with the rest of Team BRWN not far behind her.

"Fancy meeting you here," Nora said with her normal huge grin.

"Hey guys!" Ruby said, "What're you doing here?"

"Weiss insisted we come down here," Ren answered, "She said we needed to observe the festival preparations."

"Neither I, nor my brother, could have engineered such a coincidence if we tried" Darkness commented.

"It cannot be understated how important it is that we observe this festival," Weiss declared, "Its a symbol of unity, and cooperation amongst kingdoms. All the academies will be coming to participate in a competition of strength and ability."

"It appears that she greatly enjoys the sound of herself speaking," Darkness said.

That's pretty funny coming from you Jaune responded.

"Leave it to you to make something sound boring," Yang said, rolling her eyes slightly.

"Oi," Weiss quipped, "Quiet you."

"So, what're you here for?" Blake asked.

"My family's coming into town," Pyrrha answered, "I was hoping to introduce them."

"Meeting the Nikos family," Weiss mused, "I suppose one of them is your agent?"

"Uh… yeah," Pyrrha said after a moment's hesitation, "My Mom is. Why…."

"Then I wish to meet her as well," Weiss declared, "Don't worry Pyrrha, we'll be giving you new show business jobs in no time."

"There's really no need for that," Pyrrha said with a slight sweat drop. During this talk, Ruby's eyes had wandered, as she noticed what looked like a police area at one of the shops.

"Hey, look at that," Ruby said, pointing.

"I wonder what's going on over there," Jaune said, as he stood next to Ruby.

"It reminds me of what first got me here to Beacon," she said, "I helped top this thug named Roman."

"How'd that get you into Beacon?" Blake asked.

"It got the attention of Professor Ozpin," Ruby answered, "Next thing I know I'm on the airship, getting crushed by Yang."

"From here it looks like more than just a thug operation," Jaune said.

"I'd bet my bottom lien that it was the White Fang," Weiss said, folding her arms.

"Ah yes, the White Fang."

You know about them?

"I learned about them in my meditations on your world's history," Darkness explained, "They are not a group I particularly approve of."

Really, why? Jaune asked. He wasn't especially fond of the White Fang himself, but he could definitely understand some of the problems they probably had.

"There is no goal to their acts of destruction, it is merely concerned with burning down human institutions that they believe are wronging Faunus is some way, with no regard as to what the consequences might be; nothing more than wanton destruction."

I thought you were the god of destruction.

"What I represent is balanced destruction, destruction with an end; the wildfire that burns down the old forest so a new one may grow in its place. Destruction with no goal other than destruction, is merely chaos," Darkness responded, "Something I have observed about mortals in the eons I have existed, was that they have a tendency to assume that because of the pain they suffered, that they have an inherent right to inflict similar suffering on others." As Jaune listened to the god, he tried to find fault in what Darkness was saying, but found it rather hard.

"What makes you so sure?" Blake said, shooting Weiss a look.

"Looking around, that's what," Weiss retorted, "What other group has such tactics? The White Fang is insane, plain and simple."

"They aren't psychopaths," Blake said, "They're misguided."

"They want to wipe out the human race!" Weiss protested.

"Okay, so they're very misguided," Blake responded.

"This seems a little small for them," Pyrrha said, "Besides, wouldn't they want to make some kind of show about it?"

"Exactly."

"Come on Weiss," Nora said, "chill out."

"You're my partner," Weiss said, "You're supposed to be on my side. The White Fang are just liars and thieves!"

"While I don't support the White Fang," Yang said, "Not all Faunus are like that."

"Hey, someone stop that lying, thieving Faunus!" someone yelled. Everyone turned to see a blonde with a yellow monkey tail running down the road.

Did you manipulate that? Jaune asked Darkness.

"While it was indeed amusing, I did not."

"After him!" Weiss declared, as she started chasing the Faunus.

"Wait!" Blake said as she chased after her.

"Well, that's half of our team," Nora said as she followed.

"Make that three quarters," Ren grumbled as he followed as well, leaving Team RYPJ.

"Should we follow them?" Jaune asked them.

"I just got a text from my mom that their airship was delayed," Pyrrha said, looking up from her scroll.

"Eh, why not?" Ruby answered to Jaune, as they all went after Team BRWN. Darkness just calmly walked after them. The teams did their best to get after the Faunus boy, but in the density of the crowd, they soon lost sight of them.

"I think he went this way!" Weiss declared as she elbowed her way through the people.

"Slow down!" Blake said as she tried to do the same.

"This is a really bad idea!" Yang said as she tried to hack her way through the crowds. After what felt like a lot of that, the crowd spat out four people: Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Jaune.

"Where's everyone else?" Ruby asked.

"Who cares?" Weiss said, "Look there's the thug!" She then kept chasing the Faunus as Blake chased her, and the remaining two just groaned at did the same.

"I think he went this way!" Weiss said as she rounded a corner, "Fol…"

*WHAM

Weiss slammed face first into what felt like a metal pole as she fell to the ground like a bag of cement.

"Weiss!" Jaune said as the other's came up, "Are you alright?"

"Yes," Weiss answered, rubbing her head, "If not for this pole I would've caught him."

"Uh, Weiss…," Ruby said.

"What?" Ruby just pointed, as Weiss looked down and saw the "pole" was a girl with short orange hair with a pink bow. She wore a whitish-gray blouse with short gray overalls with a black and green collar and stockings of the same collar.

"Salutations!" the girl said, grinning from ear to ear.

"What is this thing?" Darkness said, as he recoiled slightly from the sight of girl.]

"Um, hi," Ruby said.

"Are you okay?" Jaune asked.

"I'm wonderful. Thank you for asking."

"So," Jaune said, "Are you going to get up or something?" The girl seemed to process that for a moment, before nodding.

"Yes!" She then leapt to her feet as everyone took a step back.

"My name is Penny, it is a pleasure to meet you all."

"Hi Penny, I'm Ruby."

"I'm Weiss."

"Blake."

"I'm Jaune."

"Its a pleasure to meet you all," Penny said.

"Didn't you just say that?" Weiss said. Penny paused again, as if again processing that information.

"Yes I did." Jaune tried not to chuckle at her.

"Abomination." Jaune looked over to see that Darkness seemed to be looking straight at Penny. Despite him not having actual facial features, the base contours of his face were contorted in what could best be described as pure rage.

What was that?

"This… thing is an abomination," Darkness said, "Nothing more than a pale imitation of the creations my brother and I forged together with our own hands; it is an insult to all our work and efforts."

What are you talking about? As far as Jaune could tell, Penny was just any other girl. But Darkness clearly didn't see it that way, as he held up his hand, which became cloaked in what looked like dark fire.

"Step aside, so that I may smite it from existence," Darkness coldly instructed. Jaune wasn't sure what to do without looking very weird to all those assembled in front of her.

You promised that you couldn't do anything directly in this world! He wasn't bothering to wonder what the god had against Penny.

"No, I said would not."

Isn't that the same thing?

"It does not mean I was ever forbidden from doing anything. What am I doing now is cleansing this world of anathema, a necessary act."

Well, then think of how it might look if Penny were to suddenly disintegrate in front of everyone.

"Why should I concern myself with such a thing?"

Because… Because… Because what would be the point of it? Didn't you say that you didn't approve of wanton destruction. Penny's not doing anything wrong, she's just existing. Besides, you said your brother gave humanity the gift of creation; aren't we using it to the fullest extent by creating someone like Penny? Again, Jaune had no idea what Darkness had been talking about, as there didn't seem to be anything at all strange about the girl. But Darkness was silent for a time, before he slowly lowered his hand.

"The abomination will continue, for now." Jaune let out a soft sigh of relief.

"Well, sorry for running into you," Weiss said, as she and the others turned to leave.

"Take care, friend," Ruby said with a wave, as they left Penny behind.

"Great, and now we lost half of our team," Weiss grumbled.

"Well maybe if you hadn't gone chasing after the Faunus…," Blake said.

"What did you say?" Penny said as she somehow appeared right in front of them to everyone's shock. The girl then advanced on Ruby and got in her face.

"Am I really your friend?" she asked.

"Uh…" Ruby glanced over at her friends, and noticed Blake waving her arms "no", Weiss making a "cut it out" gesture, and Jaune giving two thumbs down. Darkness briefly considered making Ruby say "no", but figured he'd tampered with the minds of these mortals enough.

"Sure," Ruby decided, "Why not?" While her friends collapsed in exasperation, Darkness just shook his head slightly.

"Sensational!" Penny declared, pumping her fists, "We can…." As she started listing various "girl" things, Jaune looked up at Darkness.

What was so weird about her? he asked.

"This girl is not human or Faunus," Darkness answered, "She is… artificial."

What do you… Darkness waved his hand, allowing Jaune to see Penny for what she was. Instead of a organs, blood, or even a skeleton, inside of her were twisting wires and metal pieces. It didn't take long for Jaune to realize what she was.

She's… an android?

"Like I said, she is a pale imitation of humanity," Darkness said, "An abomination." Fortunately, though, the god didn't try to and wipe Penny out again.

"Look," Weiss said, as she imposed herself between Ruby and Penny, "If you're here you might as well help us. Did you see a Faunus thug going about here?"

"Faunus thug?" Penny echoed.

"Will you stop calling him that!" Blake snapped before anyone could say anything.

"Pardon?"

"Calling him names and demeaning him like that," Blake said.

"Is it so wrong for me to call him what he is?" Weiss responded.

"He's a person!"

"He's a criminal!" As the two girls continued arguing, Jaune and Ruby were left very awkwardly standing beside them, both suddenly very thankful that the girls weren't on their team. Fortunately saving came in the form of a peppy orange haired girl.

"Hey guys!" Nora's voiced suddenly called, waving. Behind here were the remaining members of RYPJ and BRWN.

"Where were you?" Jaune asked.

"Looking for you," Yang answered, "Thanks for sticking together."

"Sorry 'bout that," Ruby said, "Just glad you're here now."

"We should probably head back," Jaune said.

"Where are we going?" Penny asked cheerfully.

"Yes, let us return, what little patience I have left for this thing is quickly fading."

RYPJ Chibi: Humanity's Greatest Creation

Jaune was all to happy for the day be over as he opened the door to the room, and noticed Darkness sitting in the air, reading a book.

"I didn't know you read," he said. Darkness ignored him, and when the blonde took a closer look, he noticed what the book was.

"Is that smut you're reading?" Jaune asked. This time Darkness stopped, as he snapped it shot.

"This is the greatest contribution humanity has ever made to existence!" he then suddenly declared, holding up the book, "This is the reason my brother gave you the gift of creation! This is why he brought you back after I destroyed you!"

"What was that?" Jaune asked, blinking in surprise. Darkness passed as he seemed to realize what he just said.

"About your great contribution?"

"No, the other thing." There was a period of very awkward silence as Darkness stared at Jaune.

"One moment," Darkness said, as he snapped his fingers briefly. Jaune blinked for a moment.

"What was I doing?" he asked.

"Leaving," Darkness answered, as he turned his attention back to the book. Jaune, figuring Darkness was probably right as well always, did exactly that.

Note: I imagine like a deity would feel quite slighted by mortals creating a being like Penny (sort of a mimic of life), and I feel Darkness and Light would be no exceptions to that.

In Chapter 9 of Vol 6, we see a person who is obviously related to Pyrrha. Guesses include that she's Pyrrha's mom, aunt, sister, with some people are going so far as to say that she's actually Pyrrha herself. Now I'm hesitant to commit to anything with that (I know Jen Brown said that Pyrrha's dead, but I would be completely unsurprised if she just outright lied about it), so I'm probably going to avoid that character for the time being.

I figured this was implicit, but while the blessings Darkness is giving him may help him out, its not helping Jaune's confidence. I've got an inferiority complex myself, as well as confidence issues, so I can understand how it can feel to be surrounded by people who may be doing significantly better than you in something. It feels like a consistent punches to the crotch.

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