...A field trip...
To a place called "The forest of forever fall".
He had to admit this place wasn't ugly at all.
"Yes, students, the Forest of Forever fall is indeed beautiful, but we are not here to sightsee, professor Peaches asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside the forest. And I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." - Witch Bitch.
"Whatever, I guess." - He thought to himself as they all stopped.
Except Jaune, that is, who bumped right into Jay's back.
He just looked at the kinght boy angrily, which was enough to scare him away.
"Each of you has to gather one jar's worth of red sap, however, this forest is full of creatures of grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will randezvous back here at four o'clock. Have fun!"
"Oh, girl, I surely intend to..."
"Cmon, Jay, let's go!" - It was Ruby who called him to join her and the rest of team.
*/*/*/*/*/*/*
Jay collected his jar within like 5 mins.
How you may ask?
Turns out shooting at a tree's root with a shotgun is all you need to collect tons of sap, but watch out - people will call you crazy for that! I know, right!?
Anyway, he was now laying while leaning on some other tree, watching as many different girls collected sap in front of him...
...nah, he was looking out for grimm to slaughter...
So he was watching until he saw that Nora girl drink this stuff...
"It's edible?"- He asked himself as he tasted a bit of his own one.
It was very sweet, kinda like honey.
...
He proceeded to collect a few jars more for... personal use.
...
Suddenly someone approached him.
"H-hey..." - Jaune's voice.
That's a surprise... Jay turned around to him and raised one eyebrow.
"What?"
"Can I ask you something..." - He obviously had something bothering him.
"You just did..." - Jay pointed out.
"Well ..hehe.. yeah.. but... umm..can I?"
Jay rolled his eyes. Whatever...
"Just say it."
"About that canteen incident with Cardin...-"
"Aw shit, here we go again..."
"-...weren't you afraid?"
...
Jay snorted
"Of what? That idiot Cardin? HAH!"
"...well, you didn't even know that girl yet you decided to take action without any hesitation."
"Bruh, how many times can we say that we are not a hero?"
"Yeah, I did,... which brings the question: Why didn't YOU do anything?"
"Well,..." - Jaune paused, but then took a deep breath and said - "I was afraid."
Jay laughed. Jaune got sad.
"Bro, how do you expect to fight grimm when you are afraid of such a whimp as Cardin? Haha!"
"Hey! You see, I'm not as strong as you!" - Jaune complained
"And you think that is an excuse? You think I was always such a badass? There was time when i was even more pathetic than you! So you know what i did!?"
"..what?" - that cought Jaune's interest.
"I became stronger, simple."
Judging by Jaune's dumbfounded face he didn't get it.
*Sigh
"Occasional word of encouragement and I will get paid, right?"- Jay thought to himself
"Listen, you say you are afraid? Good, means you care. But being too afraid to do anything will only get you killed... or your loved ones..." - damn, now he got sad because of this idiot.
"You think you are too weak? So train everyday until you become strong! You think you don't have the courage? Just grit your teeth and do it against your own senses!"
"...I don't know if I can-..."
"Well, certainly not with that attitude! I swear to God you are such a pussy."
"Hey!"
"What? Am I wrong? You wear this armor, a sword, a shield, you have more than you need and you are still afraid? You are supposed to be a knight! A symbol of hope! How do you expect to save others when you are too afraid to fight for yourself!?"
With that, Jay left him.
Jaune started thinking.
The only thing he knew about Jacob was that he was both strong and smart, and after the canteen incident he started to look up to him like to some sort of a god amongst men.
He drew his sword and looked at his own reflection in the blade.
"I became stronger, simple."
Jaune thought if he could also do that.
Truth is, his swordmanship skills were rather... questionable, he had rather weak muscles, and he was a coward...
...
...but it didn't mean he had to stay like that...
That's right!
He will simply become stronger!
Noone was born strong, everyone gained their skills because they trained hard everyday!
Jacob, Pyrrha, Weiss, Ruby, even Cardin!
What made him worse than them!?
...
"I mean, better skills, more courage, and much better weapons for example..." - he said to himself.
...
"Wait a minute! Jacob, just like me, fights with a sword and shield, and he is really good at it! Maybe If I'll ask he will teach me how to be better!" - he got his hopes up.
"That's right! If you want to become the best, you have to learn from the best!"
*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
"Bruh I think we just got ourselves into some deep shit..."
"Whatever..."
He was now carrying all of his team's jars, because, picture this, Ruby ordered him to.
...
Jacob Rook, vault hunter, angel of apocalypse, slayer of the elemental beast getting orders from a 15 year old girl...
Life is hard...
...
Suddenly, a roar could be heard in the distance.
Jay looked there to notice how Cardin's teammates (Fucker was still in hospital, heh) were running towards them.
"Ursa! Ursa!" - one of them started yelling while still running.
Jay smiled. - "Aww yeahh!" - he thought to himself.
"Yang, you and Blake, go get professor Goodwitch!" - Ruby.
"You two, go with them, there could be more!" - Pyrrha.
Ruby, Pyrrha and Weiss pulled out their weapons.
"Jay, come with us!" - Ruby.
"...Wait, Ursa was that gorilla, right? Or that bear?" - he asked
"Bear!"
"OHHH..."- he exclaimed as he digistructed his Quad shotgun.
*/*/*/*/*
After a bit of running they finally saw it.
OK, excluding the bird and dragon this had to be the biggest Grimm he had seen so far.
Oh well...
"Oh no!" - Pyrrha said as they all noticed that the monster was about to strike another colleague of Cardin.
"Rest in pieces..."
When suddenly...
*CLANK!
Beast's attack was blocked by Jaune's shield.
They grappled for a moment, but quite unsurprisingly Jaune got hit and sent flying.
He then got back up, charged at it,... aaaand got hit once again, wow...
Ok, this is mildly amusing... In fact, part of him wanted to just watch...
But there is no way he will let that knight boy steal his precious EXP!
So he charged at the distracted monster while using his Oz kit for some speed boost, while materialising his Xiphos in his right hand, with the Quad in his left, metallic one, and jumped at the beast, thrusted the sword deep into its neck, aimed his shotgun at its face, and pulled the trigger.
Aaaand level up!
Anyway, the bear's head got completely obliberated, with red mist being all that's left.
"AAAAAAARGH!" - Jaune's war cry from behind
Jay turned around to notice that Jaune had litteraly saved his life by beheading yet another grimm, this time a lone beowolf, who menaged to sneak up on them.
Jaune was panting heavily, in fact, he was barely standing.
...
"Good job." - Jay said to him.
"T-Thanks... heh..."
"See, turns out you aren't such a weakling after all, eh?"
"Yeah,... thanks"
"...Well, let's get going I guess." - Jay said as they started to go towards the girls.
Jay smiled.
This reminded him of the days when he was just a vault hunter in training, when he was a constant burden towards his mentors, but occasionally pulling off some sick stuff.
"Oh, right!" - Jaune said- "Can I become your disciple!?" - He said while bowing his head and grabbing him by his shoulders.
...
"What the fuck!?"
"I want to be as strong as you!"
"Ummm... no?"
"What!? But why?"
"Because... I don't want to?"
"I've just saved your life, you owe me one!"
Jay looked at him angily.
Jaune swallowed his spit - was this too far?
Jay thought about it - I mean, he was getting quite bored lately, lessons are boring, talking with girls is awkward, and he didn't have any friends to spend time with. Sure, Jaune wasn't on the list of people Jacob respected, but at least he was aware of Jacob's superiority, which automatically gave him a few points.
Eh, fuck it, what's the worst that could happen?
"We'll see..."
"YES!" - Jaune jumped from Joy.
"This is gonna be fun!"
"That's an unnecessary responsibility, but whatever, I guess..."
...
Jaune then run of to Pyrrha and started talking with her.
"I ship them..."
Jay looked at the knight boy once again.
He got sad when he realised that there was time when he was just like him - young, stupid, truly believing that he could save everyone...
"He will get himself killed..."
"...Not if I will train him well enough..."
*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*
So I realised It may look like I was a bit hasty with relationship development, so here are current girls' opinions about Jay:
-Ruby likes him, but that's it.
-Yang is completely neutral towards him, and is only trying to get him to do her homework for her.
-Weiss actually dislikes him, but tries to tolerate him for the good of team.
-Blake does find him handsome, but that's really it.
Current poll results unchanged.
Sorry If this chapter feels a bit short, I think the next one will be longer.
As always hope you enjoyed anyways.
Cya.