Original Post Date: 3/10/18

Chapter Eight: Jaunedice

"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus Wars, Humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing the Faunus population in Menagerie." Said the quick talking and clearly had ten cups of coffee too many, Professor Bartholomew Oobleck.

The Professor was a rather skinny man with dark green, spiky hair and large circular glasses. He was wearing a white, button-down dress shirt that was currently buttoned incorrectly and was only half tucked into his black dress pants, with a banana yellow tie.

"Now! While this must seem like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events!" The professor continued, zipping back and forth across the front of the lecture hall at great speeds, all while taking a sips out of what Ben counted to be his sixth cup of coffee that period.

'This guy has to be part Fasttrack.' Ben thought. It really was amazing how fast this man was moving and talking. Since class had started they had already gone over three chapters in their history books.

'At least this guy can keep my attention.'

"Why the repercussions of the uprisings can still be seen to this day!" explained Oobleck, pausing to take another long sip of coffee. "Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?" Oobleck asked.

Ben looked around the room to see that a few of the Faunus students had raised their hands, including Velvet who was sitting in the front row. He then shot a glare over to Cardin who was sitting in the rear if the class on the opposite side of the room. To Ben's knowledge, Cardin had been backing off of his bullying, as you would expect of someone who recently got their teeth kicked in would be lacking motivation out of fear of a repeat performance. And being given a solid three weeks of detention also meant he lacked the time. But he was still frustrated at himself for not stepping in sooner. And even then he knew Cardin was just biding his time.

"Dreadful! Simply dreadful! Remember students it is exactly this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" Oobleck commented, taking another long sip.

"I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to the white fang! Now which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the war?" Oobleck asked. In the time it took Ben to just glance down the open history book in front of him to start skimming for clues to the answer, Weiss' hand shot into the air.

"The battle at Fort Castle." She stated confidently.

"Precisely!" Oobleck confirmed. "And who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

Ben once again looked down to scan his book for the answer. However in doing so he missed seeing Cardin flick a folded piece of paper at the back of a currently sleeping Jaune's head, jolting him awake.

"Mr. Arc!" Oobleck called out "Finally contributing to class. This is Excellent. Excellent! What is the answer?"

"Uh..." Jaune's eyes darted around the room. "The answer... The advantage... of the Faunus... had over that guy's stuff..." His eyes landed on Pyrrha who was pointing to her own. She then made a gesture by making her hands look like glasses.

"Um... binoculars?" He asked.

The laughter that came from around the classroom was the only answer he got. Cardin was particularly unapologetic with his mockery. Pyrrha simply face palmed.

"Very funny, Mr. Arc!" Oobleck said, sounding slightly disappointed. "Cardin! Perhaps you would like to share your thoughts on the subject!"

"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier." Cardin said.

"Oh I don't know about that Cardin." Ben said turning in his chair to face him. "After all mice can be trained to AVOID actions that cause them pain, but you seem dead set on repeating yours."

Cardin glared at him. "Next time we fight freak, it'll be different."

"Animals are also smart enough to know not to go antagonizing their predators." Pyrrha added.

"What you got a problem too?" Cardin asked.

"No, I've got the answer." Pyrrha responded. "It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly perfect eyesight in the dark."

Cardin's only response was a low growl.

"General Lagune was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep." Explained Blake, who was sitting next to Pyrrha. "His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured. Perhaps if he had paid attention in class he wouldn't have be remembered as such a failure."

"And even untrained animals know not to go poking at a bear while it's sleeping. That kind of says something about how those soldiers were trained." Ben added. Cardin angrily stood out of his seat, slamming both hands on his desk and shot them both a glare, trying his best to look intimidating.

"Mr. Winchester! Please take your seat." Oobleck huffed. All while Jaune was trying, and failing, to hide his snickering.

"You and Mr. Arc can see me after class for additional reading." Oobleck added. Jaune groaned quietly. Ben gave Jaune a sympathetic glance before turning back to listen to Oobleck talk faster than any human should be physically able to.

...

"I just don't understand."

"It's not that hard of a concept to grasp." Yang stated

"It just doesn't make any sense." Ben reiterated.

"What about it doesn't make sense?" Ruby asked. Ben took a deep breath.

"Fort... Castle..."

"Yes Fort Castle, what about it?" Weiss demanded.

"Could they have picked a more redundant name?" Ben asked. Weiss rolled her eyes.

"Does it really matter what they called it." She asked.

The five friends were currently in team RWBY's dorm room, unwinding after a long day of classes. Oobleck's happened to be the last for that day. It was currently dark outside.

"It totally matters!" Ben exclaimed. "Because I just sat through a lecture on one of the key points in a major war in this planets history and I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from laughing, because apparently the General who named his home base has the creative naming skill of a six year old."

"This coming from the guy who name one of his transformations 'Diamondhead'." Yang replied.

"And I really don't think the name is that funny." Ruby added.

"Ok, but at least my names aren't redundant." Ben said. "I mean what other titles do you think they phoned in?"

"Well if they are any, pretty sure Jaune is going to be the person to ask." Yang said. And that was most likely. They had all stayed behind after class to wait for him, and judging by the way Jaune half heartedly staggered out of the lecture hall after being kept after class, he had been given extra work. Any follow up questions Ben had were put on hold as Pyrrha hurriedly spirited Jaune away somewhere.

"Yeah, how much extra work do you think he's in for?" Ben asked.

"At least a good 20 pages worth of reading." Weiss estimated.

"Think he'll be too busy for our trip to forever falls next week?" Ruby asked. Ben shrugged.

"I'm sure Pyrrha will help him if he is." Ben assured. "But even if he can't make it, I really don't think he'll be missing out on much. I mean, aren't we just going to collect tree sap?"

One of the other professors they had, Professor Peach, who was the schools herbalist had scheduled their class to go on a quick trip to a forest who's trees had red foliage. Apparently said trees produced a type of valuable sap.

"Are you kidding, Crimson Sap is one of the best things you will ever taste in your life. A couple jars of that stuff alone is worth more than most people spend on groceries in a month!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly.

"Not to mention that entire forest is full of grim." Yang added. "Which I am just fine with. I haven't had a good fight in a few weeks. I think my joints are starting to lock up from lack of excitement."

"And Crescent Rose is starting to collect dust." Ruby added.

"I really don't think going into a monster infested woods is something most people look forward to." Ben brought up. Ruby shrugged.

"For fresh Crimson Sap, I'd go march into the center of that forest by myself if I had to." She stated proudly. Ben rolled his eyes.

"Just promises me you won't try to 1v1 a Nevermore again."

...

"Pleeeease." Ruby begged.

"No Ruby, I'm not going to use my transformations to help you bring home extra sap." Ben dismissed.

"But why?" she asked, straining her eyes to make them look as big, innocent, and teary as she could muster.

"You mean aside from the fact that that's a gross misuse of my powers."

"...Yes."

"Because I'm sure Glynda won't appreciate you desire for condiments, because my shape shifting tends to draw a lot of unwanted attention, and because I just don't want to." Ben explained. For the last five days Ruby had been begging him for this particular favor. She had offered to split half the take, to allowing him to practice with Crescent Rose, to even doing all of his school work for the remainder of the year.

At first Ben had politely declined her offers, but her persistence had quickly worn down his patience. All he was trying to do was eat with his friends, but every breakfast, lunch, and dinner Ruby would take the time to list off all the things that Crimson Sap went great with. It didn't help that Nora was just as fanatic about the stuff and was even more vocal about it.

"I'm fairly certain the ship has sailed for that second reason." Yang pointed out.

"And it's not like you haven't butted heads with Professor Goodwitch since you got her." Ruby added. Ben sighed.

"I'm not doing it." He stated firmly. Ruby's response was to give him the saddest, big eyed puppy dog look he had ever seen in his life.

"Yang, little help?" Ben asked finding it hard to look away from Ruby.

"Don't look at me jolly green, even I'm weak to that stare." She explained.

"Pyrrha!" Ben called, feeling his conviction draining out of him the longer ruby looked at him that way, hoping the redhead would talk Ruby down.

After a few moments of silence however, Ben looked over to see Pyrrha simply staring down at her lunch tray with a slightly depressed look on her face. Everyone else at the table noticed this as well.

"Uh, Pyrrha?" Nora asked, elbowing her teammate.

"Huh?" Pyrrha snapped out of her daze, "Sorry, what were you saying?"

Everyone shared worried glances.

"Are you ok Pyrrha? The last few days you been acting a little down." Ruby asked.

"Oh, don't worry about me. I'm just... feeling a little homesick." She tried to reassure with a force smile that was only marginally better than Jaune's. Who, now that Ben thought of it, had been conspicuously absent for the last five days. While he was sure Oobleck's extra work was most likely keeping Jaune busy, he couldn't have been THAT busy.

"You don't strike me as the type who gets homesick." Ben said. Pyrrha looked away while fidgeting slightly.

"Well... I suppose there's a first time for everything." She said with a nerves chuckle. Everyone at the table gave her an incredulous look. "Seriously guys I'm fine."

"No, you're not!" Nora retorted. "You've been like this ever since your talk with Jaune."

At the mention of Jaune's name, Pyrrha's fake smile withered away.

"What happened between you two?" Nora asked.

"Nothing." Pyrrha stated coldly.

"Don't lie to me, what happened?" Nora demanded.

"Nothing!" Pyrrha snapped angrily, causing Nora to flinch.

"...Sorry. But nothing happened." Pyrrha said sadly. With that, she quickly and quietly left the table.

"She's a terrible liar." Ben said.

"What do you think happened?" Ruby asked.

"Whatever it was, Pyrrha won't be the one to crack." Yang stated.

"Anyone know where Jaune is." Ben asked.

...

Jaune let out a loud groan as he flopped down on his bed. He had actually managed to finish Oobleck's essay, both of them. But instead of relieve, all he could feel was regret and dread. He had really blown it with Pyrrha, and thank to his big mouth it could very well be that the rest of his tenure at Beacon would either be very short or very miserable. Either way the only thing he wanted right now was to take a nap. He closed his eyes and let the weariness take him.

*Tap* *Tap* *Tap*

Jaune's eyes snapped open as sat bolt upright in bed. He began looking all over for where that sound was coming from. Eventually his eyes settled on his dorm room's window. Very tiny pebbles were bouncing off the clear glass plane.

"Now what?" Jaune huffed. He begrudgingly got out of bed and opened the window. He looked out onto the schools grounds, but couldn't see anyone within throwing distance. Deciding that whoever it was must have run off, he shut the window and walked back to bed. But he only made it halfway before he heard more stones tapping against the window.

Jaune groaned and bitterly opened the window again, this time leaning out to see if perp was trying to hide by hugging the building. As he was hanging halfway out of the window, he suddenly felt something...splat all over his back. Then he felt himself getting pulled upward out his window. Jaune let out a cry if distress as he was hoisted up the side of the building by whatever had him by is back. When he reached the top of the building, he was grabbed by something and pulled up over the edge of the roof.

"Hey Jaune."

Jaune finally got a good look at what had been abducting him. To his shock it was some kind of blue-furred, six-limbed, four-eyed monkey. Jaune recoiled at the creature and tried to crawl away.

"Whoa, whoa Jaune, take it easy. It's me, Ben." The ape said, using its four front arms to point to its chest, where a familiar green hourglass symbol was attached.

"Oh." Jaune said, sounding relieved. "Y-you know, you could have just knocked."

"Yeah, but I needed to make sure you weren't just going to close the door in my face when I asked." Ben explained.

"Asked what?" Jaune questioned.

"What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?"

"...Really?"

"No! What happened between you and Pyrrha?" Ben demanded. Jaune's eyes fell.

"Oh. That."

"Yes that, and don't try to tell me nothing happened. Pyrrha already used that old lie and sounded just as fake coming from her." Ben explained. Jaune sighed.

"Yeah, you wouldn't believe that, would you?" Jaune asked sadly. Ben sighed.

"What's going on man?" Jaune sat quietly for a few seconds before answering.

"Have you ever screwed up so badly, that your mistakes started to hurt the people around you?" Jaune ask.

"Oh yeah, I know what that feels like." Ben confirmed, not even needing to think very hard to recall an occasion where he messed up royal. "So, what did you do?"

"... I lied."

"About what?"

"About who I am!" Jaune exclaimed.

"...Is your name really Steve ?" Ben asked, confused.

"No, I... I lied on my entrance papers." Jaune clarified. "I managed to get my hands on some acceptance papers for Beacon and faked my way into this school."

"Oooooh." Ben said. "Yeah, I can kind of see that. No offence."

"Don't apologize, you're right. Oobleck told me that they only accept the best of the best, and I'm not even close to that. I can't fight, I have no leadership skills, and I don't know what my Semblance is. Heck, up into the initiation I didn't even know what Semblance was." Jaune explained.

Ben remembered what Ruby had told him. Apparently Semblance was the name given to the special abilities that the Hunters and Huntress possess. It was Semblance that gave Ruby her incredible speed and what Weiss used to make those magic glyphs.

"My family history has a long line of Huntsman, and I thought that by coming here I could improve myself. Make myself... better." Jaune stated sadly. "But who was I kidding, I don't think that there's a school in the whole world capable of making me into a Huntsman. And to make things worse I've been lying to the people who as supposed to look to me for guidance." He lamented.

Jaune leaned back until he was laying flat against the tiles of the roof and looked up at the clear blue sky.

"I wish I could be like you, Ben." He stated.

"How do you mean?" Ben asked him.

"How do you think? You're talented, coordinated, and most of all strong." Jaune listed off. "I'm none of those things."

"...Jaune, can I ask you something?"

"Uh... Sure?"

"What do you think I was like before I found this?" Ben asked, pointing to the Omnitrix. Jaune was slightly taken aback by the question.

"I was only ten years old when I first found the Omnitrix. Before that I was... well, not all that different from you. I was the scrawny, weak little kid who was always trying to play the hero. I even had a couple of bullies like Cardin who seemed to exist just to make things difficult for me." Ben explained, Jaune listening as intently as he could.

"And even after I got the Omnitrix I made more than my fair share of mistakes. After all, I was a ten year old who had just got super powers. Of course I was going to mess up. Sometime it was because I was selfish, other times it was because I got cocky, a lot of times it was because I wasn't skilled or strong enough, and sometime I was just unlucky. But do you want to know what I always had?"

"What?" Jaune asked.

"Bravery." Ben stated firmly. "And that's not something that can be taught in a classroom, that's something you either have or you don't."

Jaune let out a sigh. "Then I guess I'm just a coward."

"Oh I wouldn't say that." Ben reassured.

"What are you talking, of course I'm a coward! I'm scared of the Grimm, I'm scared of the faculty, I'm scared of the other students, and most of all I'm scared of letting my family and friends down!" Jaune rattled off. Ben just smiled.

"Jaune, do you know what Bravery is?" Ben asked.

"What?"

"Do you know what Bravery is?" Ben repeated. Jaune was completely baffled.

"Not being afraid of anything?" Jaune asked. Ben shook his head.

"Nope, that's wisdom. Bravery is acting despite being afraid. And the fact that your here proves that." Ben explained.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that if you really were a coward, you wouldn't have stuck it out for this long. As soon as the schools initiation was over you would have run away. But you stayed, because you wanted to prove to yourself that you were as good as the rest of your family."

Jaune was too stunned to say anything.

"And don't sell yourself short. Sure maybe you're not as strong as Cardin, but I would bet an arm and a leg that you're ten times smarter than him. I saw you work when you fought that Deathstalker. You're a strategist, and a pretty good one." Ben complemented. "And I'm not the only one who thinks so."

Jaune's eyes widened as he realized what Ben was getting at.

"Do you really think Pyrrha would be so ok with following you if she didn't see something in you worth following?" Ben asked. "Or Ren, or even Nora? You deserve to be here Jaune."

Jaune took a few minutes to absorb what Ben had told him. He let out a small, relieved sigh and smiled.

"Thanks Ben."

"Don't mention it. Now do you think you could make up with Pyrrha?" Ben asked. Jaune's face fell.

"Well, actually..."

Ben rolled all four of his eyes. "What now?"

"The thing is, this isn't the only problem I've been having."

"So, spit it out." Ben demanded.

"Well... when I told Pyrrha about my situation, Cardin overheard us."

"What?" Ben said coldly, his eyes narrowing.

"Yeah, and he's been blackmailing me into doing his assignments." Jaune explained. A ruckus coming from the courtyard below caught both Ben and Jaune's attention. They both looked down at the school grounds to see the source of both their problems trying to pick a fight with another student.

'He really doesn't learn, does he' Ben thought, glairing down at Cardin.

"Uh, Ben. You ok?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah." Ben answered, not looking away from Cardin. "Listen Jaune, why don't you go apologize to Pyrrha, and let me take care of Cardin."

"But what are you going to do, if he tells anyone..." Ben placed his upper left hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"Do you trust me?" He asked.

"Yes."

"Then let me worry about that." Ben reassured.

"Thanks. Now... do you think you could help me down?" Jaune asked, peering over the edge of the roof.

"Oh, right. No problem." Ben grabbed Jaune by the back of his shirt... and proceeded to throw him off the roof. After Jaune fell a few feet (screaming all the while), Ben sprayed spider webbing out of the tip of his tail, and caught Jaune mid air. The blond swung into his open window, landing on the floor of his room with a thud.

"Thank you." Ben heard him call.

Ben snicker slightly before turning his gaze back to Cardin, who was stunting across the grounds like he owned the place. So Cardin was determined to keep acting like a bully, eh.

'Well I guess that means I've got to really drive the nail home'

...

"Thank you for coming, Mr. Winchester." Ozpin greeted. Cardin shrugged as he entered the headmasters office.

"No problem at all teach." Cardin said, sounding uncharacteristically agreeable.

"You're probably wondering why I've called you here." Ozpin said.

"Pretty much." Cardin confirmed, sitting down in the open seat in front of Ozpin's desk. Although he did have an inkling.

"Well, I make it a priority to gain a vested interest in prominent students." Ozpin explained.

"Oh really." Cardin was a little surprised. He was sure that wimp Jaune had worked up the courage to tattle on him.

"Quite. You see, I was just going through your profile and found out that your something of a legacy." Ozpin said.

"Fourth generation Winchester since the founding of this school." Cardin boasted proudly.

"Impressive. Does the weight of your family name ever burden you?" Ozpin asked.

"Nah, with skills as good as mine, you don't really worry about failing." Cardin dismissed.

"And I must admit you did rather well in your entrance exams. Your physical exam in particular." Cardin nodded his head smugly.

"Which is why it concerns me so much to know that you're getting into so much trouble." Ozpin said. Cardin faltered.

"Belittling the Faunus students, picking fights, do you really think that your recent actions are the most constructive use of your time?" The headmaster asked.

"What is this?" Cardin demanded, suddenly sounding a lot less agreeable. "Did that freak Tennyson tell you about that to try to get rid of me? Cause if he did I've got something to tell you about his friend, Jaune."

"Ah, I'm actually glad you brought up Mr. Arc." Ozpin interrupted politely. "From what I heard, you and him were recently chastised by professor Oobleck? Something about not taking his class seriously?"

Cardin's only response was a grunt.

"You know Cardin, Oobleck told me that he had informed you that we only accept the best of the best here at Beacon. We have a number of professors that poor through the hundreds of applications to... pick the cream of the crop, as it were." Ozpin explained.

"Fortunately, I am the one who has the final word on accepted applicants. Of which I am very thankful. For you see Mr. Winchester, it is my belief that an application can only tell you so much. Oh certainly they can accurately tell someone's level of skill and intelligence. But there are things that a standard application is incapable of telling."

"For example, while strength, skill, and intelligence are all very important aspect that are vital for any good Huntsmen or Huntress, I believe that there is one aspect that is even more important than any of those. Resolve. And that is something that cannot be faked. And Mr. Arc demonstrated more than enough resolve for me not to regret my decision."

"And I hope that I will not come to regret your admittance, Mr. Winchester." Ozpin said, his voice sounded the same as before, yet somehow... colder. "The last thing I would want to do is spoil your family's legacy because of some misinformation regarding the other students."

Ozpin let that statement hang in the air for a moment.

"Now then, I feel I've taken up enough of your time." Ozpin said, his warm demeanor returning.

Cardin said nothing as he got out of his chair. He quietly headed for the elevator while mulling over Ozpin's words. His face filled with frustration. Tennyson had to have been behind this. Which means that coward Jaune had ratted him out. But what could he do now? With Ozpin aware of Jaune's situation all Cardin's leverage over him was gone. And if he tried to deal with Jaune himself, either that freak or the red head would defend him.

With fists clenched in anger, Cardin decided he was going to have to get creative to deal with the others. As he rode the elevator out of the headmaster's office, he thought of something. Tomorrow was the class trip to Forever Falls. And that place was supposedly filled with Grimm. And with a place as dangerous as that... accidents are bound to happen.

...

"Yes students, the forest of Forever Falls is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peaches has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep in this forest. And I am here to make sure you all don't die." Glynda explained to the three dozen or so students tailing close behind her.

Ben couldn't actually disagree with the first part of that statement. The forest they were currently walking through was beautiful. The trees, the bushes, even the grass all were colored in a very alluring shade of crimson. The trunks of all the trees were colored obsidian black and shaped in a peculiar way. They all looked as though they were originally vines that grew upward and wrapped around each other for support.

"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However this forest is full of creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stick by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at four o clock, have fun." Glynda dismissed.

"'Have fun' Wow, I'm actually surprised she even knows that expression." Ben whispered to Ruby, who started giggling.

The teams broke off to go find a tree to start collecting sap. Ruby was very picky about which tree they started with.

"This one looks great." She announced running up to one of the bigger and older looking trees in the area.

"Aren't they all the same?" Ben asked.

"Nope, when harvesting Crimson Sap, the older the tree the better the taste. The tricky part is these tree's actually starting shrinking after a certain point, meaning there's less sap to be collected. So the best tasting sap is usually the rarest." She explained. Ben sighed and turned to Yang.

"I feel like she should be teaching this particular class." He said. Yang shrugged.

"What can I say, my sister lover her sweets."

"What about you?" Ben asked.

"I'm more into spicy food." Yang said.

"Of course you are." Ben joked, earning him a playful elbow in the side.

After cutting a slit into the bark of the tree, Ruby jammed the spring tap into the trunk. With that the sap started to flow. A lot faster than normal sap. As it dropped into Ruby's awaiting jar, she stick her fingers into the stream and brought the red substance to her mouth. She tasted the freshly drained sap and smiled widely.

"Perfect!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Are you sure it's ok to eat it fresh from the tap like that?" Ben asked.

"Sure, here try some." Ruby held up her half filled jar.

"Uh, thanks but I'll pass." Ben declined.

"Aww, come on." Ruby insisted, practically shoving the jar into his face.

As Ben tried to push the jar away he noticed something over with team JNPR. While Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora were all busy collecting their sap, ( or at least Ren and Pyrrha, Nora was currently drinking her jar dry), Jaune was standing off by himself away from the others.

"Uh, I'll be right back."

...

"Hey Cardin, are you sure this is a good idea." Russel asked, as he and the rest of team CRDL fallowed their leader deeper into the woods.

"If it means getting back at those losers, yes." Cardin dismissed angrily.

"Remind me, what we are doing again?" Sky asked.

"We're going to catch some Rapier Wasps and release them onto Jaune and his little friends." Cardin explained.

"I really don't think that this is a good idea." Dove stated.

"Well I was going to have Jaune get the wasps for us, but Tennyson just had to intervene."

"I mean, is it really worth it to keep provoking them like this?" Dove rephrased.

"Of course it is! Do you really think we can just let them get away with mocking us like that!" Cardin demanded.

"'Us'? I think you mean you." Cardin rounded on his own teammate.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean everything they've done, they've done to you. You're the one who picked a fight with Tennyson, you're the one tried to blackmail Jaune. It's always you."

"What are you trying to say Dove?" Cardin growled.

"I'm saying, that I'm not willing to jeopardize my attendance here because you have a vendetta." Cardin suddenly grabbed Dove by the collar and held him off the ground.

"I think you're forgetting something Dove. I'm the leader of this team, which means you WILL do as I say!" He then shoved Dove into the rest of his team. "And that goes for the both of you too! I give the orders, you fallow." Cardin pulled out his mace.

"Understand?" His team just gave him a angry looks. But whatever any of the them was about to say was interrupted... by growling.

...

"What do you mean you haven't talked to her?" Ben asked.

"I mean I was going to, but I wanted to for you to deal with Cardin, and then I don't know what I was going to say, and time just kind of got away from me." Jaune explained. Ben sighed.

"Well you could start by telling her you're sorry." Ben suggested.

"Yeah but, what if she doesn't accept my apology?" Ben rolled his eyes.

"Something tells me she will." He reassured.

*RRROOOAAARRR*

The ear bursting roar shook the trees it was so loud. A flock of birds flew away from out of the trees.

"You heard that too right?" Jaune asked.

"I'm pretty sure people on my world heard that." Ben responded.

"Anyone know which direction that came from?" Ruby asked, pulling out Crescent Rose. As if on cue three fourths of team CRDL came running from out between the trees.

"Ursas! Ursas!" cried Russel.

"Which way?!" Yang demanded grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Back that way! They got Cardin!" he cried pointing from the direction they came from. Ben, without any hesitation, immediately took off running in that direction. Jaune waited for a moment, but soon fallowed close behind him.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha called after him.

"Yang! You and Blake go find Professor Goodwitch." Ruby ordered

"You two! Go with them!" Pyrrha told Ren and Nora. "There could be others."

...

Cardin panted heavily as he gripped his weapon tightly. The three massive Ursas were slowly circling around him. The creatures resembled black bears the size of short busses, with bone plate skulls and massive spikes jutting out from their backs.

With a snarl, the Ursa to Cardin's right leapt forward, claws out stretched. Cardin swung his mace and managed to slam it into the side of its face. While that was enough to throw off its aim enough to miss him, that also left him open to an attack from the other two. The Ursa on his left swiped at him and caught him on the back, knocking him into the air. The remaining Ursa leapt up and swiped at him, catching Cardin in the air with its own claws, slamming him into the ground.

On impact, Cardin lost the grip on his weapon. It bounced away from him, leaving him defenseless. He tried to get to his feet, but stumbled and just fell over again. He looked over his shoulder to see one of the Ursas standing over him. The massive creature reared back on its hind legs, and drew back its right claw. Cardin closed his eyes.

*CRASH*

Something big slammed into the Ursas side, knocking it away. Cardin opened his eyes to see what had saved him. The thing in question was a humanoid creature standing around twelve feet tall. His skin appeared to be very thick and a deep shade of red. It was wearing black trousers and a white sleeveless shirt with a single black stripe going vertically down the center of its chest. However its most distinguished feature was its four massive arms.

"Aren't the three of you supposed to be different sizes?" Ben joked. As the Ursa he knocked away stood up, the second charged at him on all fours. Ben likewise charged at the Ursa. Once close enough, the Ursa pounced. Ben caught its claws with his top two arms. The first Ursa circled around and tried to attack him from the side. Ben however, was ready and grabbed a hold of the second Ursas arms with his own lower arms. Using his immense strength, Ben swung the second Ursa around and threw it into the first.

"Nice try, but no porridge for you." Ben then brought all four of his arms back, and clapped them together with all his might. The result was a shockwave of force that blew the two bears away, into the woods. He then charged off after them, determined to make sure the job was finished.

As Cardin watched the display of monstrous strength unfold before him, he failed to notice the third Ursa come up behind him. The massive beast readied a swipe. It brought its claws down on the young man.

*CLANK*

Cardin turned to see the massive Ursa bearing down on him. And standing between him and the Grimm... was Jaune. The Blond had his sword drawn and was using his shield to block the Ursas claw. The massive beast tried to overpower Jaune with force, but he managed to deflect its claw and swipe at its head with his sword, clipping the side of its face.

The Grimm staggered backwards, but quickly regained its footing and tried to bring its claw down on top of his head. Jaune dodge rolled out of the way and then jumped over the Ursas follow up swipe. However he was caught by a third and was knocked away. Jaune wasted no time standing up and charged at the Grimm.

He leapt at the Ursa, but was cloth lined by the monster. As Jaune got up he began breathing heavily. He checked his scroll attached to the back of his shield to see his aura reading was in the red. He most likely couldn't take another hit like that. The Ursa got on all four and roared at him. With a battle cry Jaune charged at it.

As the two were about to clash, time seemed to slow. Jaune readied his sword as the Ursa pounced. Just as the Grimms claws swiped at him, Jaune thought for a second that his shield seemed to move on its own. However the point was made moot as he blocked the Ursas claw, and with one swing Jaune managed to sever the Grimms head from its body.

Jaune huffed as he stared at the body of the Grimm as it began to disappear. For the first time in his life, he actually felt accomplished. He quietly folded his shield and sheathed his sword on top. He then walked over to Cardin. He look down at him for a moment before offering him a hand up.

Cardin took Jaune's hand, who pulled him to his feet.

"Don't ever mess with my team... my friends, ever again." Jaune stated, sounding the most confident he ever had. Cardin didn't say anything. With that said, Jaune walked away. Ben, still transformed, walked past Cardin. He stopped for a moment and cast a cold gaze over his shoulder at Cardin. He said nothing, and after a moment he continued to walk away.

...

"So let me see I understand this correctly." Yang said. "You gave us an earful about a historical landmark because you think it had a redundant name. And yet, you named one of your transformations that has four arms... Fourarms."

"...At least it's not redundant." Ben snapped. Yang rolled her eyes. He and team RWBY were lounging in their dorm room.

"Well aside from the name, THAT FORM IS AWSOME!" she exclaimed. "You and I need to spar again."

"If we have to, could at least pull all your hair back so I don't damage it again?"

"Nope, that's the dice you roll when you fight against me."

"Alright you two, no arguing while I'm trying to enjoy my sap." Ruby said. Ben grimaced slightly.

"Are you sure it's ok for you to be drinking it straight out of the jar like that?" Ben asked her. Ruby shrugged.

"Just try not to overindulge, eating too much of that stuff ruins the taste of it after a while." Blake said calmly as she was reading her book.

"What? No way! No one could ever get sick of this glorious substance." Ruby dismissed.

"Well I'm still upset that I couldn't get to see you fight using Fourarms." Yang said.

"It really wasn't a fight. Fourarms is one of my heavy hitters, and I've had a lot of practice with him. A couple of overgrown bears really weren't a challenge for me." Ben said. "Although you really should have seen Jaune go at one of them."

"He still made plenty of mistakes." Weiss pointed out.

"But at least he's getting better." Ben countered.

"You think him and Pyrrha are doing any better?" Ruby asked.

Ben glanced out the window. On a another building's rooftop, Jaune and Pyrrha could be seen having a conversation. And it appeared to be a pleasant one.

"Yeah I think they doing pretty good."

Well at least this one didn't take me a whole year to complete. Just eight months... Yeah I promise guys I am going to try harder in the future to get these out more frequently. Up next, I'm going to try my hand at writing an original chapter, hopefully you will all find it to be at least be entertaining. And I do apologize to any of you who might have been looking forward to the volume's climax.

Oh and if any of you feel like I'm kind of pushing Weiss and Blake off to the side, don't worry they'll be taking center stage soon enough.