Jaune Arc: Weapon Whisperer
Chapter Ten: Stand and Deliver
Pyrrha felt a few things at this moment. One of them was excitement, another was nervousness, and finally the last one was sticky. Yeah, being covered in tree sap was not a high point of her day that she viewed as something to be proud of. But it was quite thrilling when she saw Jaune land that punch on Cardin. It was something that was hard to be believed. Even so, both she and Jaune were not out of the frying pan just yet, they still needed to deal with Cardin and his group.
As Pyrrha washed her eyes and face of the tree sap still on it with a water bottle, she kept trying to think of how this upcoming conversation with Professor Goodwitch would go. She was quite late into the action and so she only saw the aftermath. That was a scorched forest, Cardin holding his mouth in pain, and herself covered in sap. It would be a confusing mess for any random person to deal with, no less a teacher as Team CRDL immediately began blaming Jaune for everything that happened when they were forced to climb aboard the Bulkhead with her and Jaune as well as Ren and Nora who tagged along on their little adventure.
After Pyrrha finished washing her eyes out she walked over to where Team CRDL, JNR, and Goodwitch were. When Glynda saw Pyrrha join the group, she nodded in response. Then she turned her attention to the whole group of teens before her.
"Now, could one of you please explain what happened out there?" Glynda asked in a calm tone laced with barely hidden anger. Cardin was the first to step up with a smug smile plastered across his face.
"Well from what we saw, some rapier wasps were chasing after Jaune and Pyrrha and Weiss destroyed them, and then Jaune walked over and punched me in the mouth." Cardin replied before he stepped back to his team. Glynda nodded and looked at Team JNPR.
"Now, let's hear your side of the story. For instance, why Mr. Arc, did you punch Mr. Winchester?" Jaune walked forward and answered.
"It's Cardin's fault. I know that he attacked Pyrrha and sent the rapier wasps after us. And that is why I punched him." Jaune replied.
"And how do you know that Mr. Winchester was responsible? Do you have evidence for this?"
"I don't know how I know, but I know that it was him." Jaune said. The look on his face showed how much of a losing battle that he was fighting.
"An excuse is not the same as an answer. If you had anything to back up your claims then I might be able to look into this more. As of right now, you attacked Mr. Winchester completely unprovoked which means that we'll need to bring this to Ozpin." Glynda said.
Pyrrha saw the look on Cardin's face. It was one of triumph. It was one that Pyrrha hated with a passion. This boy was not worthy of being a huntsman. He and his group were nothing but thugs with powers. Just as Pyrrha was about step forward and speak, she was made happy when both Ren and Nora did so instead.
"Miss Goodwitch, we have some things to show you, they involve Cardin and his group." Ren said as a small ghost of a smile flitted across his features. Team CRDL on the other hand looked worried when they heard this news. Nora walked over to Glynda with a skip in her step and handed the older woman her Scroll with the pictures and videos loaded onto it.
Glynda swiped past each picture and her expression grew colder and colder. She didn't even bother looking at the videos before she closed the Scroll. "Miss Valkyrie, I will be borrowing this for a while." Glynda said in a tone that wouldn't accept 'no' as an answer. Nora nodded at this with a smile. "All of us will be going to Ozpin the minute we get back. None of you are to leave this Bulkhead. Is that understood?" Glynda asked.
"Yes ma'am," The teens all said together. Glynda nodded and walked away. The group of teens could hear her shouting from inside the Bulkhead for all the students to get ready to leave. This just left Teams CRDL and JNPR alone together. Cardin would normally have charged to the group but he remembered what Jaune did before so he instead ordered his team to the furthest side of the ship.
When Jaune saw this he sighed and leaned his back against the wall of the ship before sliding down into a sitting position. "So Jaune, what's with that cool gauntlet of yours?" Nora asked. Jaune looked down at his hand to realize that he was still clutching the gauntlet that he ripped off his hand earlier. He tossed it to Nora who caught it and began to inspect it.
"Don't know. It just appeared on my hand when I went to punch Cardin." Jaune replied. He then began to pull up his jeans and saw that on the sides of his legs, there was a trail of interlocking blades that went farther up his leg and all the way down to his feet. He tried to pick these blades off of his legs and he scrunched up his face when he pulled each blade off and dropped it into a pile next to him.
"Jaune, how long has that been happening?" Pyrrha asked. Jaune looked up at his partner before sighing.
"It's been happening ever since Cardin cornered me a few weeks ago." Jaune replied as he finished pulling off the last blade on his left leg. It hurt but he was halfway done. Just as he was about to begin the preening on his right leg, Pyrrha grabbed his hand which made Jaune look up at the redhead.
"Let me help with that." Pyrrha said as she put herself in front of Jaune's leg so that Team CRDL's vision would be obscured from what was about to happen next. With barely any concentration, Pyrrha used her Semblance to rip out the blades attached to Jaune's right leg which caused him to grunt in pain. She then used her polarity to drop the blades into a pile. "Better?" Pyrrha asked.
"Thanks." Jaune replied as Pyrrha helped him off the floor of the ship.
"What do you think those blades are from?" Nora asked as she poked at the pile of blades with her right hand which now was wearing the gauntlet.
"I don't know. And it scares me." Jaune replied.
"Here's an explanation that might work, it's your Semblance." Ren stated. Jaune gave a strange look at Ren when he said this. Wasn't his Semblance to be able to speak to weapons? How in the world could he have two Semblances? It just seemed impossible. Jaune eventually voiced his opinions and Ren shrugged in response. "It was just a guess. I really have no idea, but that seemed the most plausible out of everything."
"We'll figure this out together, Jaune. First though, we have to deal with Cardin." Pyrrha said. Eventually more student began to walk onto the Bulkhead as Glynda called them back. Eventually Glynda joined them on the ship and soon they were taking off. Jaune had been learning over the weeks on how to control his motion sickness and this helped him halfway through the journey until he vomited onto the ground.
Or stood in front of a wooden training dummy in the middle of the woods. His shirt was off which revealed the toned physic that he had kept over the years after he quit being a huntsman. Beatrice knew that he came out here once a week and had accepted that while he may have quit being a huntsman, he would always have the urge to do something physical.
In Or's right hand was a dulled metal sword which he used to practice his fighting. He struck at the dummy three more times before performing a spin which was quickly stopped when a hand grabbed his sword. Or looked at the gauntleted hand of a very familiar face.
"Hello, dad." Or said calmly. The older man gave his son a smirk before he let go of the training sword.
"Now isn't this just a surprise. I thought that you were done with this game." Acier stated. Or responded with a slice at his father which Acier blocked with the gauntlet which now extended itself so that Acier's arm was completely armored, the fingers had become foot long razors. "You are a lot slower than I remember."
"How did you find me?" Or asked as he continued his mock battle with his father.
"I'm your dad; of course I would know where you are." Acier replied as he ducked a slice.
"Beatrice told you." Or stated as he leaned to the side to avoid Acier's claw weapon.
"Beatried told me." Acier agreed. He then made a slice at Or's exposed chest but he blocked it with his robotic left arm. Acier smirked at this. "You have gotten used to your arm. How long did it take? A few decades?" Or revealed nothing with his expression and instead took hold of Acier's wrist and began to push back.
"It only took five years. Now why are you here?" Or asked. Acier smirk and kicked Or's legs from under him. This made the man fall to the ground and that was when Acier punched upon the younger man with his dagger-like fingers at Or's throat.
"You got sloppy." Acier stated. Before hopping off Or and helping the younger man up to his feet.
"I am just out of practice. Now why are you here?" Or asked once again as he walked over to the training dummy and placed the training sword next to it.
"Well, I need your help with something…" Acier began. Or shook his head.
"If it involves fighting then you can consider me a no show. I told you that I'm done. Even my fighting skills are sub par these days. Find another person who can waste their life on one of your damn quests." Or replied as he began to walk away.
"And what if I told you that Beacon might be involved?" Acier asked after the man. Or stopped in his tracks and turned to look at his father.
"What could you be possibly talking about? Hmm?" Or began to pace towards his father as anger began to fill his face. "I thought that you said that Beacon was safe. That Jaune would be completely fine. So what could you have possibly done that has endangered my son?!" Or asked as he stood a foot away from his father.
"There are things I have learned, son, things that I wished that Ozpin didn't tell me a few months ago." Acier said with some fear in his voice. Or was taken aback, his father was never afraid, he was always full of bravery. So what could he have possibly been told that would make him afraid? "There is something hidden at the school, something of great importance which is desired by people who will use it for terrible evil. I may need your help, Or."
"When did you know about this?" Or asked.
"A few months after Jaune went to Beacon." Or grabbed Acier by the collar of his shirt with his robotic arm.
"Did you knowingly send my son to what may end up being a powder keg? And for what? To get me off my ass?!"
"No, I sent Jaune to Beacon because it was the best place I knew of that could teach Jaune to be a true hero. I didn't even believe Ozpin at first when he told me of the danger. Recently though, he showed me something that put my doubts at rest." Acier replied.
"And what was that?" Acier growled out.
"I can't tell you. But I want you to know that I need you. Your son may need you. And all of Remnant will need you." Acier felt the grip of Or's arm loosen before his collar was let go.
"I'll think about what you told me. Now don't come back here unless I call you. Do you understand, dad." Or said. Acier nodded and Or walked away.
"The world needs you more than you would think!" Acier shouted after the retreating figure of his son.
"The world already used me. All that it could take now is my life." Or calmly shouted back before he eventually disappeared down the well trodden path of the forest and soon Acier was left completely alone in the woods.
"No, there are much worse things that could be taken from you. You just haven't seen it all yet." Acier said to himself before he began to walk away. He knew that he was from an age long since passed. He was one of the few people in the world who didn't specialize in transforming weapons. And he was one of the few that never really had a team to back him up.
He had partners and companions over the years, but he didn't have much else. Instead it had always been just him and his trusty sword, now gauntlet, which had been together. After all of the danger had passed, Acier probably would retire and go on a long vacation. Things these days were getting too out of his league for him.
Didn't the saying go that old dogs can't learn new tricks?
Both Team JNPR and CRDL stood before Ozpin, Glynda, and the other teachers. All of them had expressions of solemn seriousness plastered over their faces as they looked over the evidence that had been presented to them. Ozpin held out Nora's Scroll to the girl and she took it with a slight smile on her face.
Ozpin sighed as he looked down at his desk in silent contemplation. "Mr. Winchester, Thrush, Bronzewing, and Lark…these are very serious allegations that have been brought up. There is a plethora of evidence showing this. Can you please tell me why that is so?" Ozpin asked in an eerily calm tone.
"Those images were obviously doctored. We did nothing like what has been shown." Cardin replied. All of Team CRDL were slightly fearful. Their actions had not been noticed at all over the past few months which made them very happy when they first started to pick on others at Beacon. Over the months they began to escalate and yet they still were not punished. Now they knew.
"Then if that is the case, what would you recommend that we do to the people who have apparently framed you for these charges with doctored photos?" Ozpin asked. Team CRDL began to whisper among themselves before Cardin replied.
"They should all be kicked out of Beacon for showing conduct unbecoming of future Huntsmen and Huntresses." Ozpin nodded and pressed a button on his desk.
"You may come up now." He said before releasing the button. He then sat back in his chair and sipped on his cup of coffee. After a minute, the elevator doors behind them opened and out stepped a girl with long brown hair wearing a suit consisting of orange and black. Her most noticeable feature was the pair of long brown bunny ears atop her head.
Team CRDL's faces turned a pale white at the girl. Her name was Velvet Scarlatina and just as she entered the room, she became slightly timid as she noticed Team CRDL staring at her.
"H-hello, professor." She said to Ozpin.
"Greetings Miss Scarlatina. Do you know why you are here?" Ozpin asked with a friendly smile to the girl.
"No, sir. Am I in trouble?" She asked. Ozpin shook his head.
"Not at all, Miss Scarlatina. No, I brought you here to clear a dispute that we were having. Would you be alright if I asked you a few questions?" Ozpin asked. Velvet nodded in response. "Good. Now, have you ever encountered Team CRDL before?"
Velvet was slightly hesitant but she eventually nodded. "And did they do anything that could be construed as harassment?" Once again the Faunus girl nodded and the pallid skin color of Team CRDL turned even paler. Ozpin then tapped onto his desk and a video appeared on it.
The video showed Cardin pulling on her ears while the rest of RDL laughed on at her discomfort. Ozpin quickly exited the clip and looked back up at Velvet. "Miss Scarlatina, could you please tell me if what happened on the video actually happened to you. Or is it a fake?"
"It is completely real. They did harass me that day and did exactly that." Velvet replied. Her ears slightly drooped as she said this due to remembering the pain that she felt when Cardin pulled on her ears.
"Thank you, Miss Scarlatina. You have been very brave today for doing this. You may leave." Velvet nodded and walked out of the room while averting her eyes from Team CRDL. Ozpin quickly looked up at the group of four as the smile he once had disappeared into that of a man planning something. "Now, would you care to tell me if the video that was played was fake or not?" Team CRDL had no response.
"Because this video has been proven to be real, then I would assume that the pictures that were taken are also real as well." Ozpin stated. "You four boys have committed numerous acts against other students with the intention to harm or humiliate. In a normal situation, you four would be in detention for the rest of the year." Ozpin's eyes flitted over to Pyrrha and Jaune before looking back at them.
"Today though, I have heard tales of how you assaulted Miss Nikos and then, you sent a swarm of rapier wasps after them. Do you understand that you could have caused serious harm to Miss Nikos?"
"It was just a simple prank!" Cardin shouted.
"A simple prank does not risk the lives of fellow students. Especially with how you blinded Miss Nikos so that she wouldn't have even been able to defend herself, much less get away from the rapier wasps." Ozpin took another sip from his coffee before he set it down on the desk and folded his hands under his chin. "Being a Huntsman or a Huntress involves being a role model for others to follow. You are meant to be protecting lives, so how could you be trusted with that responsibility if you so carelessly endanger your fellow classmates."
Ozpin breathed in deeply before he talked once more, "I will be alerting your parents tonight. You four will also be packing. Tomorrow you will receive a ride back to your homes."
"What!" Russel shouted, "Why are we going down with Cardin? It was his idea in the first place!" The teen shouted. Soon enough, the two other members of Cardin's team also blamed their leader as well. Eventually the group fell into bickering among themselves.
"Quiet!" Ozpin said in a calm loud tone. The group of four was quickly silenced. "You three may not have planned out the ideas, but you still followed after your leader's example. You may all leave now." Ozpin said as he reached for his coffee and took a sip. "Team JNPR, I need to speak with you privately." Ozpin said. The other teachers understood what Ozpin wanted and headed to the elevator with Team CRDL. When they had left the room, Ozpin looked at the four; each one he gave a long stare.
"It is always a terrible thing, expelling a student from the school. I hate to do it as it's such a waste of potential. But sometimes there are just no other options. My question for you four is, how long have all of you been documenting Team CRDL's actions?" Ozpin asked in a tired voice.
"We have been doing it ever since CRDL attacked Jaune." Ozpin looked at Jaune.
"They attacked you, Mr. Arc?"
"Yes." Jaune took a moment to swallow the lump in his throat before continuing, "You know how I can speak to weapons, sir?" Ozpin nodded. "They ambushed me during one of my morning jogs and then they held me down while they melted a dagger in my face. I-I can still hear the screams in my head." Jaune finished while Pyrrha just patted her partner on the back.
"I'm sorry for what happened to you Mr. Arc. But why didn't you say anything of this to me before?"
"I felt weak and I just didn't want anyone to know about it. It was a problem that I thought that I could deal with on my own." Jaune replied.
"Sometimes even the best of us need help. Look at your team and what you accomplished when they wished to help you. You managed to expose a problem in the school and I have to thank you for it." Ozpin smiled at the four. "You have all done good work so I would think that the best option right now is to take a break. And Pyrrha,"
"Yes, sir?"
"You may want to get into the showers quickly, once that sap hardens then it is quite difficult to remove." The four then left the room and left Ozpin alone.
When they entered the elevator, the group finally stopped being tense and displayed their mood in multiple different ways. Nora showed this by grabbing the group into a bear hug and lifted them off the ground. "We finally did it! We stopped CRDL!" Nora shouted which while being true to form, eventually it devolved into her calling herself queen of the castle. The weapons on the other hand talked excitedly among themselves.
"Thank whoever is up there watching, that those bastards finally got what they deserved." Crocea announced in happiness.
"That's something that we can both agree on, old man." Miló agreed.
"Young shit."
"Old fart."
"Can you both-"
"Please stop-"
"Arguing!" StormFlower shouted. "We have finally-"
"Managed to deal-"
"With a big issue." Miló and Crocea remained silent after this as both knew that if one said something, the other was sure to argue. Both had begun to learn about one another after they had spent so much time together.
"YES! NOW WE HAVE BROKEN THE CRDL SPIRIT! I WISH WE COULD HAVE BROKEN THEIR BODIES!" Magnhild announced with glee in his voice. Eventually Nora let her teammates down and Jaune and Pyrrha smiled at their teammate's enthusiasm. Ren just let a ghost of a smile appear on his face.
"So, what do we do now?" Pyrrha asked.
"Survive the rest of the year, win the Vytal tournament, and deal with vacation." Ren summed up as simply as he could. Jaune looked at Ren with confusion.
"What Vytal tournament?" Jaune asked with confusion.
After making it back to their dorm room, all the while Pyrrha and Ren explained the tournament to him, they entered the room where Pyrrha quickly went into the shower. She eventually came out wearing only a towel while her hair was let down. In her hand were her clothes that had been covered in sap.
"I'll drop these off in the wash. See you guys later." Before she could leave, Jaune grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around.
"Don't leave just yet. I need to tell you guys something that has been nagging me for a while," Jaune said.
"What is it, Jauney? Are you secretly a superhero that goes out into Vale to stop crime?" Nora asked. Jaune smiled at Nora and shook his head.
"No, it's something that I didn't know that I could trust you with until now."
"Then what is it, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked. Ren and Nora sat down on their beds and looked at Jaune as he slowly pushed himself to tell his secret.
"You can do it, Jaune. If these people were willing to help you after all this, then they'll be willing to accept that you faked your way into here." Crocea said in an effort to help the boy get over his fear of being rejected by his friends.
"I never actually passed the entrance exams into Beacon. I faked my transcripts." Jaune blurted out.
And look at that. A problem has been taken care of and soon enough, another problem will emerge given Jaune's luck. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and to see you guys next time.
Also to update you all, I am finally getting a new computer tomorrow in order to replace this one (I call it Big Bertha) which will mean that I will probably be even faster in updating.
And in order to answer two of your questions, the chapters come to me as I type, I have no plan. And I literally type most chapters up in a day. The reason: college. It's coming up which means that my free time will be taken up. Until then, I'll be pumping out as many chapters as I can in the following weeks. Along with that, I have made a new fic which I may begin work on with the reception that it received. (Hint: It involves Iron Man and the Avengers)
Now, because you have managed to give this over nine hundred follows on the way to being OVER ONE THOUSAND!
Omake!
Glynda walked through the hallways of the school with a mind full of questions. Over the last few days, her associates had started to become quite…strange. They always were quite eccentric but this was pushing it. Over the last few days, all of them had developed even larger addictions to coffee than before. They also had formed this sort of clique which she had apparently been excluded from.
For instance, Glynda saw Ozpin in the office drinking from the coffee pot. Addiction aside, Ozpin always drank from his cup. He never in all their years of working together had drank it from the pot.
Then there was Oobleck. It was scary with how calm he had become over the past few days. Whatever pills that the man was taking, they were definitely working.
As Glynda opened the door to the staffroom, she saw her associates crowing around a table together. "Hello? What are all of you doing over there?" Glynda asked. They all ignored her. This annoyed Glynda as the behavior that they were showing had been happening all this week.
Glynda's heels clicked against the floor as she grabbed the nearest person, who happened to be Ozpin. "Alright, this behavior is becoming both an annoyance and a-" When she turned the man around, her mouth dropped open as she looked at the man before her.
A brown sludge was frothing out of Ozpin's mouth while the whites of his eyes had become brown. "Ozpin, what's happened to you?!" Glynda asked. She looked at her other associates who turned towards her with the same physical features that Ozpin had. "All of you wait here, I'll go get some help." Glynda said before turning around to leave. She was unable to as someone grabbed her arm quite roughly.
Glynda turned and looked at Ozpin. Around them the others moved closer. "Ozpin, let me go get help."
"But we don't need help. We just need coffee. Nice, rejuvenating coffee." Glynda tried to pull her hand away from Ozpin but his grip was like a vice.
"Yes, Glynda, you must know what the coffee can show you. Join us." Oobleck said from behind her as he grabbed her into a headlock.
"All of you are very sick. Just let me get some help for all of you and we can fix this together." Glynda said with fear in her voice.
"There is nothing to fix, Glynda. But, we wish to fix you." Port said as he walked over and grabbed Glynda's legs.
"I don't need to be fixed! Just let me go!" The three teachers lifted Glynda off the floor and onto the table. She tried to struggle but she was unable.
"Soon you'll be one of us Glynda!" Ozpin stated with a smile as sludge dripped from his mouth and onto her blouse, staining it brown.
"One of us!" Port and Oobleck chanted. Glynda felt Ozpin try to pry her jaw open but she fought against it. Eventually after her jaw muscles burned with pain, Ozpin pulled her mouth open and began to vomit sludge into her mouth.
It was strange, Glynda thought, that she even wanted to fight against her friends. All of them wanted to just help to fix her which she realized was desperately needed. She wiped some of the excess sludge off of her lips as she rose up into a sitting position on the table. Her colleagues smiled at her as they walked away.
Glynda smiled in return before removing her glasses. The coffee really did fix her. It gave her such knowledge, such power, such connectedness to her colleagues. But with all this power surging inside of her, why did they wish to keep this feeling from anyone?
No, they must give everyone the truth, the truth of the coffee.
All must be one under the coffee.
One of us. One of us! ONE OF US!
Omake end!
Hoped you all enjoyed, thanks for supporting me in all of my ventures as of now. I will try to update even faster for you guys so that we can get into the really good parts. Stay frosty my friends.