(A/N)

So...where can I start? Well, I guess I can start with my appreciation to you all. I hope everyone doesn't get annoyed when I'm saying thank you a lot. I'm not that really familiar with a huge crowd, but thanks either way. For reading my story and reviewing it. The ideas you all come up with helps me think more easier too. I'm not saying everyone has to do it, but some would be definitely good. You all should basically know that I'm more influenced by some of your kind words than ideas too. Having more and more people come to read is really appreciated. Even though I suck at writing, you all have been helping me through this. And yes, even you people with those "other" kind words. Whether if you hate this story, you still came to read it. And for that, I thank you.

Now the other thing I have to say….

Experiencing loss for the first time has really screwed me up mentally. Especially when it was a family member that's been taking care of me ever since I was born. It's even sad when I don't even remember that much of how they took care of me. I just have to say this. While your brain might not remember the past, the feelings that's been burrowed deep within yourself will. It was a bit hard for me to think for some ideas and I was having trouble coming back to this again. But… I'm kind of back. Chapters will be a bit shorter until I get back into the hang of things. Thank you everyone for understanding. And better yet, thanks for reading this...

"Raphtalia, we have to keep running! We can't keep wasting our time on them!" We managed to get rid of some of them, but because there was an army of them, I didn't want to take any second chances and wait there any longer. Raphtalia could easily take down a whole lot of them, but more and more kept coming. Being swarmed wasn't a option. We had to run.

"But we can't lead them to the villages!" She said this while swiping her sword at the closest orange balloon. Crap, she has a point. The villages were dealing with Grimm, and we shouldn't bring them another problem to their area.

"Raphtalia, do you have anything to distract them!?" Seeing a balloon jump at me, I raised my shield for something that it could bite on. After it bit the shield, I grabbed the balloon and threw it on the floor, finishing it off with my foot. If I can't use my sword, then I might need some other ways to attack our enemies.

"Illusion!" Using another one of the magic abilities, to my surprise, there was another Raphtalia just standing where she was. Running towards me, she grabbed my arm, and we ran together.

"What was that?" Looking back, I watched the army of orange balloons trying to bite at the other Raphtalia, only for them to go through them. Was that some kind of hologram?

"It's just as it looks. I've sent an illusion of myself for them to target on. We should have some time to run now. Jaune-sama, where to next?"

"O-Oh, right. Raphtalia, you can let go of my arm now." Noticing her arm that was roughly grasped over mine, she quickly took her arm away.

"Sorry, Jaune-sama." After running for some time, we finally stopped. Okay, this looks like a perfect time to look at the map now. Hm, how far did we run? Looking back, I couldn't see the gate that leads into Vale anymore.

"Jaune-sama, is there something wrong? Do you know where we're going?" Raphtalia stood next to me as I looked at the map. We have three villages to travel to. Two of them, which are the closest here, are the ones that Headmaster Ozpin wanted us to check out first. The third one however, is a bit farther out. Getting to the closest one is our best option.

"N-No. I… think we have to continue going forward." Before I started walking, I felt Raphtalia pull on my shirt. Looking back at her, she looked at me with doubt.

"Are you sure we're going the right way, Jaune-sama?"

"To be honest, I don't really know where we're at right now. Did we keep running straight, or did we run left? Or did we run right? Raphtalia, I think we're-" I felt her finger touch my lips, stopping me from saying another world.

"Calm down, Jaune-sama. We're not lost. We were running straight the entire time. I can still see the gate from here." She finally moved her finger away from me and I was able to speak again. Oh yeah, I forgot. She has enhanced senses...

"So, we do have to keep going straight?"

"Why are you saying that as a question?"

"I thought you were going to make me go quiet again." She giggled before walking in front of me. So, time to follow the leader I guess? Before continuing to walk, I noticed something that was off about her.

"Raphtalia, wait." Before she had the chance to talk, I grabbed her arm, but not roughly. There was blood moving down her arm. Well, it wasn't that much, but it was enough for me to notice the blood trickle from her arm.

"Raphtalia, what happened?" Rolling her sleeve up, I noticed that there was a bite mark on her shoulder. It wasn't deep enough for it to be severe… that's good.

"I'm… sorry, you're not hurt are you?" Did she think that I wasn't going to see this? C'mon Raphtalia, you have to be better than this...

"Raphtalia, you don't have to always worry about me. I'll be fine. What's more important, is your health. If you're not in good condition, then what would I do without you in the field? Just be more careful okay?" Raphtalia nodded her head with a tint of red on her cheeks. Using a medkit that Raphtalia had in her pouch, I was able to stop the bleeding. I rolled her sleeve down after wrapping a bandage around her shoulder.

"This wouldn't be that much of a problem if you had aura. That way, you don't have to worry that much about using bandages." She cocked her head to the side again. This time, her ears twitched in interest.

"Aura? Is that magic that you're used to?" I shook my head slowly.

"Not… exactly. I can't explain it well, but it's like a defense and offense mechanic that works in your body. It heals you, defend you, and you can use to boost some of your powers. My teachers said something like "it's the manifestation of one's own soul", or something like that. With enough training, you could unlock your aura."

"Jaune-sama, how did you unlock your aura?" I had a feeling she was going to ask me that. This was something I didn't want to bring up to her because of the fact that it will only make me remember the person who awakened my aura…

"Mine was… awakened by someone else."

"So someone else can awaken your aura?" I nodded my head. I'm glad that she's able to understand this so easily.

"Yes, but I don't really want to talk about it. Are you ready to move yet?"

"I have one more question: can you show me a demonstration?" I looked at her, confused as to what she meant by a demonstration.

"A demonstration?"

"Yes, a demonstration." How am I going to demonstrate aura to her? Well, I have something in mind, but I don't think she's going to like it. She could've seen my aura a bit when that orange balloon bit me earlier, but I guess she wasn't paying attention that much. Hm, did my aura get a bit stronger because of the shield? I didn't feel Cardin's punch yesterday, and I couldn't even feel something that bit me. Maybe it did then. Either way, I'm happy with it.

"Raphtalia, can you… cut my hand?" When I said that, she dropped her sword on the ground, and stared at me with her mouth agape. I knew she wouldn't like the idea. She wants to protect me, and here I am asking for her to cut me. I'm an idiot…

"Raphtalia, are you… alright?"

"Jaune-sama. Please, tell me why you want me to do that?" Picking up her sword again, she started to slowly walk towards me with a smile. Was she… angry?

"B-Because you asked me for a demonstration…?" She stopped right in front of me, still keeping that strange unnerving smile.

She's mad at me...

"I did. And why does this demonstration involve me cutting you?" Her face had instantly changed. From one that shows kindness to everyone, to one that looks like she was going to kill someone because someone stole her bike.

"...Nevermind, Raphtalia. Let's just keep going."

"I think we should do just that then." Maybe I shouldn't ask something as stupid like that. She cares about me, and I care about her. With what she did for me yesterday, I doubt that she would allow me to be harmed again.

"Jaune-sama, I can see the village from here!" I guess we were right after all. All we had to do was go straight. Now then, it's time that we figure out what's going around here. If there's Grimm around, then we're going to have to deal with them quickly.

"We should hurry. I don't want to waste another minute with those stupid orange balloons." Raphtalia began to giggle after I said this.

"What's so funny?"

"It's just that you find those things dangerous. They weren't even able to penetrate through your hoodie." Yeah, they weren't. Because of my defense, they aren't able to hurt me. But Raphtalia doesn't have the same defense as me.

"Raphtalia, I'm only worried about you." Hearing me, she instantly stopped laughing, replacing her face, was a surprised look that was covered in red embarrassment.

"W-Worried about me!? J-Jaune-sama, you don't have to-" Not allowing her to finish her sentence, I rolled up her sleeve again.

"Raphtalia if you can get hurt by those things, then it's concerning to me. After we're done with the mission, we're getting armor for the both of us." She looked in my eyes for a couple of seconds before nodding. Instead of waiting for the mission to be over, I'm hoping that we can find a blacksmith in one of these villages. That way, it'll be better to not waste our time.

*Growl!*

Hearing the menacing growls, I noticed that there was a bunch of Grimm in front of us. And it appears that we have some more Ursa and Beowolves to deal with. Here I thought we would be able to fight some stronger Grimm. Well, I think I should settle down a bit. I don't want to fight something that could easily kill us. We're going to have to take our time.

"Jaune-sama!" Getting into her usual sword stance, she prepared herself to fight.

"Let's go, Raphtalia!" Getting in front of her with my shield up, I was ready to protect her from anything. Looking at them, I've noticed that there's two Beowolves and one Ursa. An odd couple to see with one another, but we can't risk to have our backs turned so easily. We might need to separate them, so they won't be so coordinated in their attacks.

"Here I go, Jaune-sama!" Rushing in with her sword, she charged straight towards the Beowolves. Smart move. Because Ursa are so slow, taking out the Beowolves would be the first priority.

Seeing her movements, the Beowolves had separated from each other. Going after the closest one to her, Raphtalia swung her sword at it's head, killing it instantly. I knew these Beowolves wouldn't be that much of a challenge.

Jaune:

Level: 17

Exp Gained: 45

Exp Until Next Level: 300

Wait, forty-five Exp!? They didn't give us that much before! Before, they were only giving us like 10-20 Exp for every Beowolf! Why was it suddenly giving us something higher!? Wait, I shouldn't be distracted right now!

"Air Strike Shield!"

"What?" Not paying attention, she turned around to see the other Beowolf behind my green projected shield. I was lucky enough to stop the Beowolf from pouncing on her.

"Raphtalia, pay attention to your enemies!" She looked at me after I said this. First, she looked at me with gratitude, but then, it was quickly replaced with fear…

"Jaune-sama, look out!" Noticing a shadow casting over me, I quickly raised my shield up to block the incoming attack from the Ursa. The Ursa had punched the shield hard enough for me to be pushed back into a tree. Looks like I underestimated these things. I forgot that Ursa packs more of a punch than Beowolves.

"Are you alright, Jaune-sama!?" Raphtalia, who had quickly killed the Beowolf, had took off the arm of the Ursa in a single swing. This had made the Ursa wince out in pain. It wasn't enough to kill it, but having her do some damage was enough.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I felt some pain in my back, but it's nothing that my aura can't heal. While the Ursa was still screaming in pain, I heard loud footsteps coming towards us. And whatever it is, it was knocking down trees out of its way with no problem. Great, what is it this time!?

As the footsteps got closer to us, we were able to see a much bigger Ursa. It looked to be about almost bigger than the one that I faced when I was protecting Cardin! Was the one that we're fighting right now its mother or something!?

"Raphtalia, I hope you have some tricks up your sleeve! If you do, then we're going to focus on the smaller one, alright!?" Getting in front of her again, I raised my shield again. She didn't reply, as I heard her chant something.

"Hide Mirage!" She disappeared again. Hopefully, this would give us an advantage. They can't attack what they can't see, after all. I looked at the Ursa that was hiding behind the "mother" Ursa. I was confident that Raphtalia would be able to take them out from behind. All she had to do was…

Wait, what are they looking at? And why are they ready to strike at any moment? No, wait a second…!

"Raphtalia, dodge!" As the smaller Ursa swung its arm at the invisible Raphtalia, she was quick enough on her feet to dodge it. After rolling on the floor, Raphtalia looked up to see-

"Air Strike Shield!" Placing a green holographic shield in front of her, I was able to stop the "mother" Ursa from slamming her claws on her. But the holographic shield looked a bit dented. Crap, this thing looks stronger than it looks!

"Illusion!" Leaving a fake Raphtalia to stand there, she quickly rushed to my side. She didn't have any wounds, that's great. While they're distracted by the fake Raphtalia, we need to think of some kind of plan for this thing.

"Raphtalia, are you okay?" She nodded her head, as she looked back the two Ursa attacking her illusion.

"Yes, thank you, Jaune-sama. It seems that I have to be a bit quicker on my feet…"

"Don't worry about that now. We need to think of some kind of plan so we can take this thing down!"

"Jaune-sama, how about I try this?" Before I was able to get the chance to ask what she was planning, she swung her sword, not hitting anything. ...What exactly was her plan here?

"Um, Raphtalia? Did you… do something? Swinging the air won't-" All of sudden, the "mother" Ursa had started screaming out in pain. Okay, I'm glad that I have Raphtalia with me…

"It's called "Illusion Blade." While it hurt them physically, it hurts them mentally." Okay, if I was using my sword again, I was going to be using that so many times. Instead, I have to use a shield…

But who said you couldn't be creative with shields?

"Okay, if we're just using them as our test dummies, then could I try something out?" As the illusion Raphtalia disappeared, the smaller Ursa had started to charge at us.

"Now will be the best chance, Jaune-sama!" Alright then, how about I use both of my new shield skills more efficiently?

"Rope Shield!" As my shield changed its shape, I launched the rope at the smaller Ursa's foot, so I could wrap the rope around it. As the rope fully wrapped around the smaller Ursa's foot, it tripped on itself, causing it to fall over. Looks like this is turning out better than I thought.

"Air Strike Shield!" I called out the holographic shield in front of me, much to Raphtalia's surprise.

"Jaune-sama, what are you going to do with that?" Walking up towards the shield, I grabbed it with both of my hands. It's surprisingly light too.

"Everything is under control, Raphtalia." Walking up to the downed Ursa, I raised the shield above my head, and attacked its neck. Sadly, it didn't cut off its neck. Well, I guess that was worth a shot then.

"Raphtalia, you can take it down now. I'm going to have to look for other ways to attack with this shield then." Looking back at Raphtalia, I could see the visible sweat going down her face. Alright, alright, I guess what I did there was stupid.

"Understood." Not giving the smaller Ursa a chance to move, she sliced its head off with one swing.

Jaune: Level 17

Exp Gained: 50

Exp Until Next Level: 205

"Now all that's left is the "mother" Ursa." Huh, it looked like it was still under the influence of Raphtalia's attack. Well, then it's time we finish it off then.

"Raphtalia."

"Understood, Jaune-sama." Who knew that the illusion sword was capable of doing this much mental damage to Grimm? If that's the case, then using that would be more beneficial than it looks.

"Here, some leverage." Using Air Strike Shield again, I made a platform for Raphtalia so she can jump high enough to kill it.

"Hiya!" As she jumped off of the shield, she went through the Grimm in a clean swipe. Man, Raphtalia's strong. What she doesn't make in defense, she makes in offense. I'm going to have to find some materials so I could upgrade my shield again. Hm, I wonder...

"Raphtalia, can you cut off one of the Ursa's claws? When we get to the village, I want to see if I can use that as material for my shield." Her ears perked at my idea.

"Sure, Jaune-sama!" Bringing up her sword toone of the "mother's" nails she cut off a small piece of it for me to carry.

"Here you go, Jaune-sama." Handing me the small piece, I thanked her and put it in my pocket.

"Alright, Raphtalia, it's about time we greet the local villagers." I was in a happy mood today. With Raphtalia by my side, we'll be able to take on nearly everything. I don't think there's nothing that could ruin my mood.

Jaune:

Level: 17

Exp Gained: 200

Exp Until Next Level: 5

…

…

…

Nevermind, I think this whole leveling system was going to get on my nerves…

504:29:40

The clock's ticking even faster...

(A/N)

Another Note:

And before someone asks, yes, I'll change some of the Grimm around so they won't be easily killed. Having the Grimm's looks is another thing I'm thinking about. I'm going to have to think of their looks and weaknesses. Great… some more stress on my hands...

But hey, that doesn't mean that I'm open to suggestions! (Just don't overboard, okay?)