Jaune Arc: Weapon Whisperer

Chapter Nine: Reigns Fall, Everyone Dies


Pyrrha felt quite good about herself. She had a good sleep, good breakfast, and now she was having quite a good time with showing up Cardin Winchester in class. It was when Oobleck asked as to why the Faunus had an advantage during the war. Cardin in all of his limited clarity responded that "animals were easier to train than soldiers." Which Pyrrha decided to shoot down with the proper answer.

Cardin needed to learn to be more accepting of others other than himself. With his mentality it would only be a matter of time before that would get him killed when working out in the field. There was only enough abuse a person could take before they would just leave Cardin behind to die.

Pyrrha had given her answer, "I have the answer! It's night vision." She said with emphasis as she wished to shove the information at the prick that was Cardin Winchester. "Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark." She continued. She noticed how Cardin looked angry and insulted at being showed up which was a perfectly suitable to her.

Pyrrha decided to tune out the rest of what the class was saying as she worked on her plan to make Cardin suffer. Ren and Nora had been very helpful in this matter as Ren would find evidence of Cardin's misdemeanors while Nora would take pictures and videos of whatever Cardin was doing so that they could gain enough evidence to get the boy expelled from the school.

"You can see me after class for additional readings." Oobleck ordered. Now that was uplifting to Pyrrha. Cardin gets punished for his idiocy while everyone else walks away scot free. Thankfully Jaune had Crocea with him to help. Pyrrha knew that in any normal situation, getting help from an outside source was cheating but since Jaune's Semblance allowed him to talk to weapons then technically with Semblances originating from the soul, Jaune wasn't cheating. Just…bending the rules.

So after the class, the group of four walked out and to their other classes. Ren and Nora would meet with Pyrrha after Jaune went to bed in order to discuss any evidence that they had found. At least Jaune was doing slightly better at any rate. The three of them had decided that they would try to accompany Jaune whenever they could so that Cardin didn't pull any stunt on their team leader.

It was an interesting day at any rate. Sadly Cardin decided to make an ass of himself during lunch by bullying the timid second year student who Pyrrha thought was named Velvet. Luckily for them, Nora managed to capture that act on her Scroll which would be quite useful in their case on Cardin.

A few hours passed before it was nighttime and Jaune was asleep in his bed. Crocea was put into a corner like usual and the three of them were whispering about how their plan was going. "I think that with the evidence that we have now we can get Cardin kicked out." Nora whispered. Pyrrha still found it surprising that Nora could even be quiet due to her personality.

Ren shook his head in response. "That won't work. The things that we have caught Cardin doing are only small things. None of it would get him kicked out of the school; the best we could hope for would be a long string of detentions. We need to catch him doing something that would definitely get him kicked out of the school." Ren reasoned with a hint of annoyance.

Pyrrha sighed at this answer. She knew that what they had was small but she didn't expect that it would be so…disappointing. "Then what would you suggest? That we just let Cardin do something that could hurt another student?" Pyrrha asked. The look that Ren gave her told everything. "Are you serious, Ren? I can't condone just letting Cardin hurt another student just so that he could possibly get kicked out of Beacon."

"Pyrrha, you need to understand that while the combat academies accept the best, they also don't wish to let go of any student that could possibly be used to fight back the Grimm. Huntsmen and Huntresses die everyday which means that they need to be replaced quickly to fill the number that's lost."

Pyrrha could understand this reasoning but she still found it to be something belonging to a flawed system. If people like Cardin needed to be used in order to replace the Hunters of the world, then what kind of world was this?

"So what would you recommend?" Pyrrha asked.

"Just keep collecting evidence on Cardin. It all will add up in the end." Ren finished before walking towards his bed. The discussion for him was officially over at this point. Nora and Pyrrha looked at each other and then at their clocks.

"I think that I'll follow after, Renny. Night, Pyrrha." Nora said as she went towards her bed. This left Pyrrha alone and yet she still felt slightly awake. She looked around the room before she eyed Crocea sitting alone, leaned up against the corner. She looked at her teammates who were all asleep and walked over to the blade. She tentatively reached out and picked the sword up.

"Hello?" Pyrrha asked. She felt a little ridiculous talking to a sword since that was more of Jaune's forte. "I feel a little crazy talking to a sword and I guess that is how Jaune sometimes feels when he speaks to a weapon. Still, I hope you have been listening to us talk about our plans because I want you to know that we will do everything we can to stop Cardin. And I'll do everything I can to protect Jaune, I-I mean that we'll do everything we can. Umm, I guess that is all and I really hope that what I have said will alleviate some of the distress that you've been feeling."

Pyrrha set Crocea down and walked away.


It was a few days that Pyrrha began to notice Cardin and his cronies stalking Jaune. It was unnoticeable since the group was trying their hardest to catch Jaune unaware. Sadly for them, Pyrrha was onto them and had alerted Nora and Ren about it. Right now, Pyrrha was coming out of the bathroom. Ren and Nora took their turn in watching Jaune. What Pyrrha did not expect to see was Cardin and his teammates waiting in front of the door.

"How can I help you?" Pyrrha asked in a straight tone that left no room for anything less than a serious conversation. She could see that the group of four was all slightly tense. Probably getting ready for a beating as she couldn't imagine anything less than that if she had to fight the group. Cardin was the first to step forward with a smirk donned on his face.

"We just want to talk to you, Pyrrha. After all, we're all friends here, aren't we?" Cardin asked as he gestured to his teammates. Pyrrha looked around the hallway they were in so that she could get a layout as to what she would do if she had to fight. Behind Cardin was a metal trashcan which would be handy as a weapon. The hallway had one more trashcan except that it was too far for Pyrrha to hide what her Semblance could do so that can would have to be ignored.

"And what do you wish to talk about, Cardin?" She hissed out at the end.

"We just want to talk to you about how you and your team have been doing. Jaune seems pretty shaken up and we have been unable to have a chat privately with him and so we were wondering if you could tell him to meet with us." Cardin asked with a tone of hidden malice.

"Yes, Jaune has been off no thanks to your four. So what is it that you really want I wonder?" Pyrrha asked. She noticed that Cardin's teammate, Dove, was trying to slink behind her. He seemed to be the most edgy at the moment and she could use that. She activated her Semblance slightly to see if there was any metal in the area that she could use. Luckily for her the metal buttons on all of their uniform jackets was able to be magnetized.

"Leave Jauney boy alone. He's a big boy and I don't think that he would appreciate you and the others coddling him." Cardin ordered. Pyrrha took this opportunity take a step back near the bathroom door.

"And what if I say no?" Pyrrha asked while tensing her body up.

"Then we'll need to change your mind." Cardin replied. He made a slight nodding motion which Pyrrha took as a signal for his cronies to attack. She was correct when Dove rushed at her from behind. She used her Semblance on the buttons on Dove's abdominal area and cuffs to tell where Dove was trying to hit her.

Pyrrha smirked at this.

Dove was caught off guard when Pyrrha moved her head to the right to dodge his punch. Pyrrha then spun around Dove and used her momentum to catch the back of Dove's head with her right hand before spinning his head directly into the wall next to the bathroom door. She heard a smack and a groan before letting Dove's head go.

Russell and Sky were the next to rush her. She ducked under their fist as they rushed to punch her and threw her fist into Russell solar plexus. She expected Russell to grab his stomach in pain, what she didn't expect was for Cardin to tackle her.

Pyrrha while slightly surprised by this new element was able to roll with it, quite literally in fact as she rolled backwards with Cardin's tackle so that he was on his back and Pyrrha was straddling his stomach. Then she began to repeatedly punch Cardin in the face until she felt that Cardin wouldn't be getting off the ground.

"Leave Jaune alone or else the next beating will be worse." Pyrrha warned. She looked up at Sky who slowly looked at the beatdown that Pyrrha had just performed before making up his mind and running away.

As she got off Cardin she walked over to the trashcan and grabbed the handle of it before throwing it at Sky while using her Semblance to give the can some extra speed. Her aim was true as the trashcan took Sky off his feet and onto his back.

After brushing her skirt down she walked away from the four bullies. "Good talk." Pyrrha said offhandedly.


Pyrrha didn't speak about her activities to Jaune as she didn't believe it to be of any real importance. The group of bullies only really picked on those who didn't fight back and after getting severely beaten they wouldn't be coming near her anytime soon.

While Pyrrha didn't condone solving all problems with violence, she could for certain say that it felt really good to beat all three of the bullies. It was even funnier when she told Nora of what she had done to the group as she acted like a giddy child on a birthday.

"Pyrrha, please tell me that you broke their legs!?" Nora begged. Pyrrha smiled at this before shaking her head.

"I didn't break their legs but I did hurt their pride." Pyrrha replied. The group was the library as they spoke which meant that Ren was growing quite annoyed as he wished to study and not have to listen to his partner shout. Nora never did have an inside voice, sadly enough.

"Oh. But at least you got to hit them. I wish I could go and do that but Renny keeps preventing me from doing so." Nora stated. Jaune walked behind her as she said this and sat at the table.

"And what does Ren keep preventing from doing?" Jaune asked. Nora, the chatterbox that she was, was about to spill everything when Pyrrha put her hand over the hyper girl's mouth and answered for her.

"He's preventing her from bringing pancakes into the library. She has tried to repeatedly do so but Ren figures it out really quickly." Pyrrha lied. She thought it was quite convincing but she really wished that she didn't need to lie to the blond.

"Well, that's good. So, have you heard about Forever Fall? Apparently we are going to collect some sap or something." Jaune sat down next to Pyrrha.

"We heard about it as well. Are you prepared for it, Jaune? It is a little dangerous there since it's teaming with Grimm." Pyrrha asked. While she knew that Jaune could take on a few Grimm due to the training that he had received, she still felt a little worried for the blonde. Se did not want to lose her friend due to some random accident in the woods.

"Yeah, I'm sure. So did you do anything exciting today, Pyrrha?"

"No, not really. It was just a normal boring day."


Two Weeks Later


In a forest a gray trees with Red leaves, the students of Beacon were following after their teacher, Glynda Goodwitch. Jaune noticed how the forest looked quite beautiful though he knew that it hid monsters that would like to tear him apart if they were able.

Glynda stopped and turned to look at the students which caused all of the students to halt their march. Sergeant Slaughter had been oddly quiet today which Jaune greatly appreciated. That riding crop really had it out for him. Though he was slightly confused as to why Miss Goodwitch would even use a riding crop as a weapon. Unless…nah! He probably shouldn't think of his teacher being a dominatrix who had a secret sex dungeon hidden in Beacon somewhere that probably was visited by the other faculty aaaaannnd he should probably stop thinking about his teacher's personal life.

"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." Glynda commanded.

Jaune and his team all carried separate jars for this endeavor. Glynda pulled out a jar filled with sap and held it before her. Now when did get the time to fill that? And where did she pull that jar from? Jaune decided to stop thinking about the older woman. "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates."

Well wasn't that just wonderful. Everything in this world just wanted to kill him. Oddly enough he had noticed how Cardin and his group had been avoiding him for some reason. At least it seemed like Cardin would no longer bother him so that was one improvement that he could agree with.

"Let's split up into groups of two so that we can get spread out to get more sap." Jaune reasoned.

"Sure! Me and Renny will go together!" Nora shouted as she grabbed Ren in a hug.

"WE WILL COLLECT ALL THE SAP!" Magnhild said.

"Oh boy. Does this mean that we have to work with waste-of-skin?" Akoúo asked in an annoyed tone. That weapon really had it out for him. Pyrrha smiled at Jaune which he returned in kind. Soon the group of four split into two groups of two which walked to different areas of the forest, not far enough from each other so that they wouldn't be able to call out or see one another, but far enough that they had their space.

"So, how about I get the sap while you watch out for Grimm?" Jaune asked.

"Sounds perfect. Let's go find a tree with a tap in it." Pyrrha replied. Jaune nodded and the two walked together until they noticed a tree that had a tap in it. Pyrrha pointed to it and the two walked over.

"Seems like you are doing a lot better this week, Jaune. Pyrrha really is a good fit for you." Crocea remarked.

"As if old man. Pyrrha may be good for Jaune but Jaune is not good enough for my Pyrrha." Akoúo replied.

"Stop calling me old you shit! I am really getting tired of your damn disrespect!" Crocea screamed in frustration. Jaune kneeled before the tree and put his jar under the tap. He turned the handle on it and sap began to pour out and into the jar. Soon the jar filled up to the brim which Jaune put the cap on and set aside. He pulled Pyrrha's jar and placed it under the tap and started filling it.

"Jaune, turn around!" Crocea screamed out. Jaune quickly followed his partner's instructions and yet he was too late as he heard the sound of glass shattering and Pyrrha scream of pain.

What he saw was Pyrrha slightly dazed yet her head was covered in sticky red sap with some pieces of glass in her hair.. "Pyrrha! Are you okay!?" Jaune asked in concern as he quickly stood up from where he was crouching.

"There's sap in my eyes!" Pyrrha said in pain as she tried to wipe the sap from her eyes. Sadly her efforts were wasted as it just spread the sap on her face. Jaune moved over quickly to Pyrrha grabbed her hands to stop Pyrrha from rubbing her eyes.

"Let me get that off." Jaune said as he used his sleeve to start wiping the sap from her eyes. "Can you open your eyes or does it still hurt?" Jaune asked. Pyrrha tried to open her green eyes and from Jaune could see they were red and irritated. Pyrrha quickly shut her eyes afterwards.

"I can't, it stings too much." Pyrrha said. Her eyes were slightly tearing up due to how irritated her eyes were.

"Don't worry, we can just sit down and take a break. Would that be alright?" Jaune asked. There was some weird buzzing in the background that he could hear but Jaune ignored it for the problem at hand.

"Yes. That would be great, Jaune." Pyrrha replied. Jaune put Pyrrha's arm over his shoulder and slowly led her to a tree in order to set her down. That buzzing was getting even louder which was slightly worrying Jaune. He turned around and saw a black cloud that was moving towards both Pyrrha and him. "I-is something wrong, Jaune?"

When the black cloud got closer to their position he noticed that they looked like large black wasps except that they had massive stingers like syringes. Jaune's eyes widened as he moved Pyrrha away from the trees while the black cloud still followed them. "Pyrrha, there are a bunch of bugs coming towards us and they have massive stingers. If you can see then I would suggest that we run!" Jaune stated.

"Sounds like Rapier Wasps. That's weird though, they shouldn't be in this area." Pyrrha tried to wipe her eyes with her hand yet it still hurt too much to open them. "I can't. I'm sorry, Jaune. They are probably coming after me due to the sap that's on me. Just leave me behind, Jaune."

"Not going to happen, Pyrrha. If anything happens, then we will deal with it together. Now please don't get mad at me for this." Jaune said.

"Get mad at-" Pyrrha was interrupted as Jaune picked up Pyrrha in a bridal carry and took off running. Behind him the buzzing continued. Jaune tried to pick up speed in order to outrun the wasps. He ran past Ren and Nora which confused them.

"Why are you running?!" Nora called after him.

"RAPIER WASPS!" Jaune screamed back while running. Jaune thought of what to do. He couldn't just keep running as he would eventually get too tired since he was also carrying Pyrrha and the Spartan was quite heavy. Actually if the situation wasn't so dire then he would probably be absolutely embarrassed that he was holding an extremely attractive girl in his arms.

Now how could he deal with the problem at hand? There weren't any ponds or lakes nearby that he could just jump into with Pyrrha. Maybe if all these bugs could be set on fire, but who could do that? There was Yang who usually could set herself on fire, Weiss who could use her rapier to set the bugs alight, or he could just run to Miss Goodwitch.

Yang probably would be that enthusiastic about jumping into a cloud of wasps though, Goodwitch was too scary, so that just left Weiss. Now there was only one thing left to do. "WEISS! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Jaune shouted out.

"Wasps are still behind you and it seems like they are catching up." Crocea stated.

"Better not drop my partner or I will kill you." Akoúo said in a slightly worried tone compared to how he usually was. Jaune ignored the weapon and called out for Weiss again. He called for Weiss a few more times and finally when he felt like he would just need to keep running his hopes were answered.

"What!" Weiss shouted to his right. Jaune turned to run in that direction and saw the white clothed form of Weiss standing thirty feet ahead of him.

"USE YOUR FIRE DUST AND SET THESE WASPS ON FIRE!" Jaune commanded. He noticed that Weiss was slightly hesitant until she noticed the cloud of wasps trailing after him.

"Kill the bugs, Weiss!" Ruby shouted. Weiss nodded and pulled out her rapier.

"Run faster!" Weiss shouted at Jaune. Jaune's legs burned from all this running but he needed to continue on. Just fifteen feet to go and Weiss could set these bugs on fire. He was going as fast as he could but he needed to go faster. Faster. Faster

FASTER!

Jaune heard the clanking of metal resounding from his legs but he ignored this as he felt himself going even faster than before. He quickly made it passed Weiss and heard the sound of her rapier as it fired off an inferno at the bugs. Jaune noticed that he needed to slow down as there was a tree ahead of him and Pyrrha. He realized that he couldn't slow down fast enough without tripping and hurting Pyrrha so he decided to take a different option.

He jumped and twisted in the air and felt his back smack against the tree. He slid down onto his butt and let out a breath that he didn't even realize that he was holding. He looked down at Pyrrha and smiled.

"So have all the wasps been taken care of?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah. Are you going to be alright?" Pyrrha nodded and rubbed her eyes. She opened her eyes once more and while they still looked irritated, they weren't as bad as earlier. Pyrrha struggled to keep her eyes open under the burning pain but she smiled at Jaune in order to calm him.

"Thank you for helping me, Jaune. I don't know what I would've done without you." Pyrrha said. Jaune started picking the pieces of glass that was still stuck in Pyrrha's hair.

"You don't need to thank me, you are my friend and I would do anything to help you if it was needed." Jaune replied with certainty. Pyrrha began to blush at this. She never knew how dedicated Jaune was at being a good person but right now, she could feel her heart rate quicken and a blush reach her cheeks.

"Jaune, thank you for helping Pyrrha. You're still a jackass." Akoúo said with a tone of annoyance. Jaune was surprised at how he was actually being treated with something possibly amounting to what could be considered respect from the sword, spear, gun, whatever. He ignored this in favor of Pyrrha though.

Slowly Jaune picked Pyrrha up and stood up before placing her back onto the tree that he was sitting on. Weiss and Ruby ran over to the two of them with looks of concern.

"So how did you guys end up getting chased by Rapier Wasps? And Pyrrha, why are you covered in sap?" Ruby asked.

"Someone threw a jar of sap at my head and then the Rapier Wasps began chasing us. Jaune helped me escape from the Wasps when they chased after me." Pyrrha replied.

"Well at least you're not hurt, Pyrrha." Weiss said.

"Hey what about me?" Jaune asked.

"You're still alive so you're fine. Quit whining, Jaune." Weiss said. Behind Ruby and Weiss, Ren and Nora ran up.

"What happened?" Nora asked. As she said this, Jaune noticed Team CRDL walking away laughing as they looked at both Pyrrha. Jaune's mind quickly pieced together what happened. Or more specifically, who started this whole problem in the first place. A burning rage began to fill Jaune as he looked at Cardin. He looked down at Pyrrha and patted her on the shoulder.

"I'll be right back Pyrrha." Jaune said as he stood up from where he was crouched and walked over to Cardin. He knew that he needed to control his anger but after seeing Pyrrha almost get seriously injured because of stupid prank or revenge scheme, that crossed the line. He heard a clicking coming from his right fist but he ignored it in favor of facing against Cardin.

"In any other situation I would say no, but this, you have free reign to do whatever you wish." Crocea growled out. "Keep your head though and make sure that you know what you're doing." Crocea advised. Jaune nodded and eventually he stood face to face with the taller teen.

"Hey Jauney-boy! How was your-" Jaune used all of his anger that filled him and put it all into a single punch aimed directly at Cardin's mouth which made the teen scream in pain. Cardin's teammates were absolutely speechless as they watched the weak teen from before deck Cardin in the face.

"Never talk to, touch, or even look at my friends again or I will do everything in my power to destroy you. Got it!?" Jaune shouted. He didn't even bother looking at Cardin as he walked away from the teen and back to his friends.

"You did good, laddie, you did good." Crocea said. Jaune walked up to the others with a grin on his face while his heart hammered in his chest. When he walked up to the others he felt elated at dealing with one his issues personally. What Jaune noticed upon walking up to the others was how their jaws were dropped.

"Hey guys, how are you doing? I feel pretty good right now." Jaune stated. Their jaws were still dropped for some reason. "What? Is something wrong?" Ruby was the first to come out of her stupor and pointed to Jaune's hand.

"W-what with your hand?" Ruby asked. This confused Jaune. He looked down at his right hand and saw to his shock that his hand was, well, it looked like blades were covering his hand in a gauntlet.

"What is this?!" Jaune asked himself as he looked at his hand. He bent his fingers and the bladed claws that could be considered his fingers, bent with them. He looked everyone with a look of confusion. "I don't know?" Jaune replied. He gripped parts of the bladed gauntlet and tugged at it. The pain that felt like he was ripping something off his skin returned like last time this happened. Eventually he managed to tug it off with some effort on his part along with pained grunts. He held the gauntlet in his hand with confusion.

"What is going on here?!" A voice commanded. Everyone in the area stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the origin of the voice.

Miss Goodwitch had entered the fray.

"Well? Why was there screaming and fire coming from this area?" Glynda asked. Jaune gathered some courage that still surged from within himself and answered.

"Cardin Winchester and his group threw a jar of sap at Pyrrha and then set a whole hive of Rapier Wasps after us." Jaune replied. Glynda looked past Jaune to where Pyrrha was sitting covered in sap while rubbing her eyes.

"Miss Nikos, there is some water back at Bulkhead that you can use to wash out your eyes. Mr. Arc, Team CRDL, you'll both be coming with me as well." Glynda commanded. Jaune nodded and walked over to Pyrrha before he helped her onto her feet.

"Can you still see or do you need some help?" Jaune asked.

"I can see but it still hurts. Would you mind walking with me?" Pyrrha replied.

"Not a problem."

"Thanks." Pyrrha appeared to gain a look of realization as she turned to look at Nora and Ren. "Come on you guys, I think that you are needed." She told the two. Both of them understood why Pyrrha wanted them quite easily but Jaune was still confused.

"So why are they coming as well, Miss Goodwitch only wanted us and CRDL."

"Do you trust me?" Pyrrha asked.

"Absolutely."

"Then you'll see."


Now after investigating, fighting, and running, things will finally be coming together. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as we are slowly approaching the end of Volume One. See you guys next time. Stay frosty my friends.