A/N
I have seen the Adam character short and it is great. I've added it to my list of the RWBY canonical order, that you can now find on my profile bio.
Regarding possible retcons, other than the volume 2 post credit scene (that will be removed) I plan on solving the problem by simply not having the characters notice the contradictions. It will be as if my story is experiencing retcons. I will try to find ways around doing this if possible though. Please tell me what retcons can you think of, that way I may be able to think ahead.
The room is still tense after what had just happened.
Pyrrha's eyes are still a mess after having rubbed her tears away, Weiss seems unusually small as she is slouching, something none of the others have seen her do, and Ruby is uncharacteristically quiet, too busy berating herself.
Volume 1: Chapter 8: Forever Fall
"This means we'll be able to see the resolution of the previous video." Jaune explains, unaware that a few people already know this.
The opening ends to the view of the Beacon Academy student dorms, where Pyrrha looks out the window sadly as Ren loads StormFlower and Nora is jumping on her bed in the room for Team JNPR.
"How come Jaune gets home so late?" Nora asks.
"He's become rather scarce ever since he's been fraternising with Cardin." Ren admits.
"What was Cardin having you do?" Blake asks.
"Mostly written assignments." Jaune admits. "In a weird way… he stopped hurting me. Probably thought it would be a waste."
Pyrrha tenses up at this, feeling her previous anger return. But she eventually sighs, letting her anger dissipate. She doesn't want a repeat of what happened earlier.
"That's weird... Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our rest!" Nora proclaims this while twirling in mid-air so she lands, back against her bed.
Pyrrha continues looking out the window. "I'm sure our leader knows exactly what he's doing." She narrows her eyes.
'I was an idiot, I was an idiot, I was an idiot.' Jaune repeatedly thinks to himself.
Nora hums in suspicion as she and Ren exchange glances. "I guess so." Nora says.
The perspective shifts to show that Jaune himself is looking in through the crack of the door.
"You were there!" Nora yells in surprise.
"I was looking for some books I'd borrowed from the library. I needed them for one of Cardin's essays." Jaune reveals, deciding to face the problem head on. "I just thought it would be wrong to go in only to leave after hearing that conversation." His voice is brimming with confidence, as if he no longer considers his previous actions to be a blemish on who he is now.
Ever since their previous conversation, Jaune and Pyrrha have been holding hands. Pyrrha was the one refusing to let go, and Jaune didn't think it right to force her to do so. But after she hearing the conviction in his voice Pyrrha decides to let go, determined to be capable of handling her emotions.
Jaune hangs his head and closes the door, just as a voice interrupts his thoughts.
"Hey, Jaune!" Ruby greets the knight.
'I remember this.' Ruby thinks. 'I didn't realise this conversation happened at around that time.'
Startled, Jaune turns around to see Ruby in her pyjamas, and she giggles at his reaction. "Long time, no see! Did you lock yourself out again?"
"Oh, uh, nope!" Jaune raises his Scroll, attempting to laugh. "Got it!"
"How did you lose your Scroll before that anyway?" Yang asks. The tension finally starting to disappear.
"I honestly have no idea." Jaune answers. "It just disappeared every now and then, then later reappeared exactly where I left it."
Nora tries to hide a grin, but Ren notices and raises an eyebrow at her.
"So! Where have you been lately?" Ruby asks.
"I, uh..." Jaune tries to come up with something, but just sighs and lowers his head. "I messed up. I did something I shouldn't have, and now Cardin has me on a leash, and Pyrrha won't even talk to me." He sighs. "I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea." He presses his back to his team's door and slides down to sit on the floor in depression. "I'm a failure."
"Nope!" Ruby deadpans.
"Interesting response." Weiss says. "You could have probably said something more inspiring."
"I think I handled it great." Ruby responds pridefully, her mood finally picking up.
"It really helped a lot." Jaune agrees, making Ruby smile.
Jaune looks at Ruby in surprise. "Nope?"
"Nope!" Ruby repeats, taking a step forwards. "You're a leader now, Jaune. You're not allowed to be a failure."
'That's what I tell myself whenever I feel like giving up on a written assignment.' Ruby thinks.
"But... what if I'm a failure at being a leader?" Jaune asks.
Ruby thinks about it for a moment, then gives her answer. "Nope!"
Jaune laughs as Ruby sits next to him on the floor. "You know, you're not the easiest person to talk to about this kind of stuff."
"Nope!" Ruby repeats one again, as Jaune leans into the door some more. "Jaune, maybe you were a failure when you were a kid..." Jaune groans at this and sinks lower to the ground.
"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" Yang says.
Ruby is about to reply when Jaune interrupts her. "She told me what I needed to hear." He says.
Ruby gleams at this.
"... and you might've even been a failure the first day we met!" Ruby continues, making Jaune groan and go lower still.
"But, you can't be one now. You know why?" Ruby asks.
"Uhh, because...?" Jaune struggles for an answer.
"Because it's not just about you anymore." Ruby points at him. "You've got a team now, Jaune. We both do! And if we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us."
'Does Ruby really feel like she has that much pressure on her?' Yang thinks. 'Now I feel bad about all those times I've messed around.'
Ruby gets up and places her hands on her hips as she speaks. "We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second. Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune. And I think that can be you." She walks over to her door and opens it as Jaune, now slightly inspired by her words, watches her wave. "Have a good night, Jaune!" She leaves to her room.
"Thanks Ruby." Jaune looks to the small girl. "I never did thank you for the advice. It really helped."
Ruby feels like she's ready to jump out of her seat. "It was nothing. What are friends for?" She responds. 'I did it… I helped him. I didn't overlook my friends feelings and was there for him when he needed me.' She's incredibly relieved by this and decides the videos might not be so bad. If they show her helping people, then it will be like watching a movie where they are the heroes. 'I've always wanted to be one of those heroes. This could be like living the dream.'
With new energy, Jaune pushes himself off the ground and faces the door, ready to turn the knob and face his team, but his Scroll beeps and he pulls it off of his side to open it, seeing Cardin's contact relaying a message.
"Him again." Pyrrha sighs, not letting herself get angry.
"Hey! It's your buddy Cardin!" The scroll gives Cardin's message. "I know you're probably busy with that Dust project I gave you… but I'm gonna need you to go out and get me a bag of Rapier Wasps." Jaune makes a terrified sound in response. "And make sure they've got some really big stingers! It's important, so don't screw this up!"
Jaune closes his Scroll one the message ends. Sighing, he wearily heads down the hallway and away from his room.
"What did he want Rapier Wasps for?" Ren asks.
"You'll see." Jaune explains. "That was the last time I did something for him."
The scene changes to an overhead shot of a forest bustling with red leaves and grey trunks is seen as the camera descends and shows Goodwitch leading teams RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL through the area.
"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful." Goodwitch says to the group. "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."
"That's a cheerful way of putting it." Weiss remarks. "I'm sure we could have dealt with anything ourselves."
"We could, but I'm not too sure about CRDL." Blake comments. "And you should never underestimate the Grimm. They have a habit of doing something unexpected right when you're at your most vulnerable."
Yang (and several others) nods her head. She remembers the time her and Ruby were training shortly before coming to Vale, and were attacked by an Ursa.
The group stops, and Jaune, grunting and carrying a large case with six empty glass jars on top, tries to catch up with them and ends up bumping into Cardin. The bully scowls at Jaune, who attempts to feign innocence by whistling tunelessly.
Goodwitch continues. "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap." She hold up a full jar of their objective as an example. "However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun!"
"Somethings wrong!" Nora shouts, startling everyone. "Goodwitch just told us to have fun. The worlds ending!"
Ren sighs after a short chuckle with everyone else. "I'm sure she didn't mean it."
While Yang and her sister smile at one another, Jaune attempts to (noisily) sneak away from Cardin to his team, but the blackmailer sees this and grabs Jaune by the back. "Come on, buddy. Let's go!" Cardin says.
Jaune miserably looks up at his team, where Nora and Ren are already walking into the forest's depths and Pyrrha is staring sadly at the scene. Dropping his gaze, Jaune turns and follows CRDL, to the disappointment of a sighing Pyrrha before she continues on.
'So much for sticking with teammates.' Jaune thinks, slightly dejected but he refuses to let it show on his face.
Team CRDL is making themselves as comfortable as possible by leaning on stones, trees, and the ground while Jaune returns to the group with six full jars, setting them down just as he collapses face-down. The surrounding team gets up in response.
"Hey, great work, Jauney boy! Now that wasn't too hard, was it?" Cardin says.
"I thought you said the Rapier Wasps were the last thing you did for him?" Ruby asks, confused.
"I may have forgotten about that one thing." Jaune admits. "But it was at Forever Fall that I stood up for myself."
Jaune is still on the ground, cross-eyed and sounding dizzy. "I think I'm allergic to this stuff..."
"Did you do it while dealing with allergies?" Yang jokes.
"My aura helped me recover from that quickly enough." Jaune quickly defends himself.
'Jaune's aura can heal allergies in such a small amount of time?' Weiss thinks. 'He must truly have a lot of it.'
"Great, great, great." Cardin ignores Jaune's pain. "So, Jaune, I bet you're asking yourself, 'Why did my buddy Cardin ask me to collect six jars of tree sap when there's only five of us?'"
Jaune, still exhausted replies. "That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes."
'I'm surprised he didn't ask for four, then leave Jaune without anything.' Blake thinks.
"Well, come with me, and you'll find out." Cardin reveals as Jaune sits up.
Jaune moans and gulps in worry.
The scene changes. Now perched on a hilltop overlooking the other students, team CRDL - plus Jaune, squeezed between Cardin and Russel - peak their heads over the crest and watch as everyone is retrieving their samples of sap. Ren, kneeling to collect it from a tree, passes a full jar to Nora, he goes to gain another one but by the time he gives the new jar to Nora, the girl can be seen with red sap over her mouth and an empty jar in her hands.
"Is that safe?" Pyrrha asks Nora.
"It is." Ren is the one to reply. "I checked in with one of the medical staff."
"You didn't have to do that." Nora says. "I can eat just about anything."
"And yet you refuse to drink my nutrient blend." Ren accuses.
"Anything but that." Nora says.
Jaune turns to his left. "Cardin, wh-what's going on?"
"Payback." Cardin answers sharply, still staring at the unsuspecting group.
Jaune's eyes widen in understanding. "Pyrrha...?" He looks down to see her gather more sap from a tree.
"He was aiming to hurt me?" Pyrrha is shocked by the reveal.
Jaune sighs. "Yeah. That's when I stopped letting him blackmail me."
'He stood up to Cardin, for me?' Pyrrha tries to hide her blush.
Jaune then tries to question Cardin. "Wh-what are you-?"
"That's the girl." Cardin interrupts, pounding his fist on the ground. "Red-haired know-it-all, thinks she's so smart. Alright, boys..." He pulls out a buzzing cardboard box with a large 'W' written on its sides. "Last night, old Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps, and now, we're gonna put him to work."
'That bastard.' Weiss realises what Cardin must have been planning.
Russel grabs Jaune by the shoulder, who barely laughs in nervousness.
Cardin continues. "Now, according to one of the essays you wrote for me last week, these nasty things love sweets. I'm thinking it's time we teach her a thing or two." He indicates to Pyrrha who is seen finishing her sap collecting.
"He can't honestly think he would get away with it?" Yang questions. "Goodwitch wouldn't even have a chance to punish them by the time Pyrrha's done with them."
Pyrrha nods at this. "Though I admit I would have trouble dealing with the Rapier Wasps." Even she has to admit that by the time she'd have killed them all, they would have seriously wounded her.
The members of CRDL get up. Cardin offers his hand to Jaune, only to painfully yank him up on his feet and shove a jar into his grasp.
"And you're gonna do it." Cardin demands.
"What!?" Ruby yells. "He didn't honestly think you would do it, did he?"
"Do what?" Jaune asks.
"Hit her with the sap! Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon." Cardin threatens.
"That's low!" Nora yells.
"Pretty sure he would get expelled once everything is revealed." Weiss comments.
'He should still be expelled.' Pyrrha thinks. 'When this is over they'll be lucky if Ozpin doesn't send them to the police.'
Jaune looks down at the jar of sap in his hands and then up at the four grinning teammates waiting to see what happens. Jaune turns towards the group and aims his throw at an oblivious and smiling Pyrrha, trying to steel his nerves and shaking hand to do the deed, but ultimately steels himself for another purpose.
"No." Jaune refuses.
'This is it.' Jaune thinks. 'The moment I stood up for myself.'
"What did you say?" Cardin sounds annoyed.
Jaune's hand shakes as he grips the jar tightly. "I said... NO!" He turns and throws the jar at Cardin, instantly recoiling his hands to himself as he looks at Cardin's breastplate covered in sap. The other team leader, however, just looks at himself and laughs darkly.
"Quick! Open the Wasp box!" Ruby yells at the screen.
"I actually never thought of that." Jaune realises. "But in the end, I reached a much better solution."
Blake, Yang. Ren and Nora are all intrigued by Jaune's words. They never saw what happened, and it was never explained to them.
"Oh, you've done it now..." Cardin laughs.
Jaune humorously laughs to himself once more with his hands still raised in an attempt for defence as Dove and Lark grab Jaune's shoulders and hold him in place.
The scene cuts to later, where Jaune is getting pushed to the ground, covered in injuries and groaning as he looks up and sees a sap-covered Cardin looming over him. The bigger warrior picks Jaune up by his front and grins while punching him back to the ground.
'Stay calm.' Pyrrha repeats to herself. 'Jaune's fine, and everything is better now. I don't need to feel angry, so I won't.' Despite these thoughts, Pyrrha finds that she can't look at Cardin without wanting to hurt him. But she is in control of herself, and refuses to let her feelings cause unnecessary harm.
"You know that wasn't very smart, Jauney boy." Cardin remarks, as he picks up a bruised Jaune again while the rest of Team CRDL watches. "I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny tiny pieces."
"I'm gonna break him." Nora says what most of the others are thinking. "When we get back I'm gonna break both of his legs, and an arm for good measure."
"Please don't." Jaune pleads. "I don't want any of us to get in trouble."
'Guess we'll have to settle for not holding back in sparring matches.' Pyrrha thinks. Last time she fought them all at once and left them bruised. Next time they'll wish it was just bruises.
"I don't care what you do to me..." Jaune replies, face bruised by the earlier beatings. He then looks at Cardin with fury in his eyes. "... but you are not messing with my team."
'Wow.' Ruby thinks. 'Jaune really is a knight in shining armour.'
'I didn't know he was so serious about protecting his team.' Weiss thinks. 'Perhaps he does deserve to be in Beacon. His hearts in the right place at least.'
"Why didn't you protect yourself with aura?" Yang asks.
"There wouldn't be a point." Jaune explains. "He would just hit me until I was out. By not using it I would be able to slowly heal my injuries sooner."
Cardin is momentarily shocked by Jaune's comeback. "What? You think talk like that makes you tough?" He lifts Jaune of the ground by his chest plate. "You think you're a big strong man now?"
"More a man than he is." Blake comments. "Jaune doesn't blackmail others then throw a tantrum when it doesn't work."
Jaune smiles in defiance. An enraged Cardin roars and raises his fist again, but just as the hit connects, a bright light shines from Jaune, and when the white fades from the screen, Cardin is crying out in pain as he holds his hand.
"What!?" Ruby yells in shock.
"…was that?" Pyrrha finishes the sentence. "What did you just do."
"I err…" Jaune tries to recall. 'I completely forgot about that. What happened?'
"…Semblance." They overhear Weiss muttering.
"What was that?" Yang asks, not having heard clearly.
"Could that have been Jaune's Semblance?" Weiss repeats, this time more clearly.
"My Semblance!" Jaune is shocked by the revelation. "What does it do?" He's very excited about finally finding out about his special power. He can finally stand alongside the others as a capable fighter.
"We'll have to keep watching." Ren suggests. 'It might not be his Semblance, but I can't tell him that. Better to let him hope.'
Jaune, now back on the ground but completely healed, looks confusedly at his hands as they faintly glow white.
"Those bruises healed surprisingly fast given the amount of them." Weiss points out.
"Healing possibly?" Pyrrha suggests, wanting to help her partner find his Semblance.
"Then how do you explain what happened to Cardin?" Blake says. "His attack seemed to be deflected."
"We're not getting anywhere!" Jaune yells, annoyed. He finally gets a clue to his Semblance and it's impossible to figure out what it is.
"Do you remember the feeling of using it?" Ruby asks. "That's how most Semblances work. You just have to remember the feeling."
"It was a long time ago and I wasn't paying attention." Jaune answers dishearteningly.
While he stares though, Lark kicks Jaune in the back and gets him on his stomach, but he looks up and glares at the approaching Cardin.
Cardin grins. "Let's see how much of a man you really are..."
Just as he says this, a low growl is heard, and a surprised Team CRDL turns around and sees a large paw crash onto the scene, belonging to a huge Ursa Major with dozens of jagged spikes sticking out from its wide back. It leaps forward and stands over the terrified students, lifting its head in the air to smell the sap on Cardin's breastplate. It lands back on its forelegs and roars at Cardin while his teammates flee in terror.
"That's a big Ursa!" One of them yells.
'An Ursa major? No wonder they were running in fear.' Yang thinks, recalling what she remembers.
Cardin, in shock, is rooted to the spot when the Grimm swings its claws and knocks him sideways, revealing Jaune cowering behind him. The Ursa continues to sniff, uninterested in Jaune and following its nose to Cardin. Jaune watches at it towers over Cardin, who gets his wits and pulls out his mace weapon only for the monster to swipe it away to Jaune's feet.
"Why is it going after Cardin?" Nora asks. "Does it like the smell of the sap on his armour?"
"Grimm aren't usually affected by such things." Weiss answers. "More likely it targets Cardin because he's feeling more fear than Jaune."
"So Cardin's a coward." Blake mutters.
"That or Jaune is particularly brave." Weiss says. 'He does seem to deal with desperate situations surprisingly well.'
Jaune smiles at Weiss's comments. He may not know his Semblance but at least he's still good enough to support his friends.
Jaune looks conflicted, wondering whether to fight or run away.
Meanwhile, the roar of the giant Ursa is heard by the members of Teams RWBY and JNPR, still collecting sap on the other side of the forest.
"Did you guys hear that?" Ruby gets up from a crouch, concerned.
Suddenly, the remaining members of Team CRDL are seen running the other way from the roar through the other students.
"Ursa! Ursa!" Russel cries before running into Yang accidentally.
'He must be very scared to accidentally run into Yang.' Ruby thinks. 'Last time someone accidentally groped her, the guy almost ended up with a broken wrist.'
"What?!" Yang asks, completely unfazed by the collision. She picks up the fleeing man by the front of his shirt. "Where?"
Russel struggles, still trying to run in mid-air, but points back from where they came. "Back there! It's got Cardin!"
Pyrrha drops her jar of sap. "Jaune!" She says in realisation.
"Yang!" Ruby calls to her sister. "You and Blake, go get Professor Goodwitch!"
Dropping Russel, Yang and Blake nod before following the orders.
Pyrrha turns to Ren and Nora as she and Ruby activate their weapons. "You two, go with them! There could be more!"
'That's weird.' Jaune thinks. 'Ruby and Pyrrha should have easily gotten to us before I beat the Ursa. Did they get lost on the way?'
Cut back to Cardin, who is attempting to run from the following Ursa, but it leaps over its prey and claws him away. He tries to get up and crawl away. "Crap! Crap, crap!" He yells in desperation.
"Oh, no!" Pyrrha says as she, Weiss and Blake arrive in the distance.
'They were there!' Jaune thinks. 'They saw everything. Why didn't they help?'
They watch as the Ursa leans over the helpless victim, raising its paw and swiping it down... only for the attack to be blocked by Jaune's shield, Crocea Mors.
"Someone's trying to be a hero." Yang comments. "You would help him even after everything he did to you?"
"Cardin may be a bully but that's all he is." Jaune explains. "At the end of the day he hasn't done anything bad enough to deserve death."
'If only everyone thought the way you do.' Blake thinks, recalling her previous partner and his descent into revenge.
Jaune struggles to defend a stunned Cardin from its attempts to lean on him, but Weiss lifts Myrtenaster as she prepares to go help.
"Wait!" Pyrrha says to Weiss, not wanting to interfere with Jaune's big moment.
"You chose to let me fight alone?" Jaune asks.
"I'm sorry." Pyrrha apologises.
"No, no, no, no." Jaune tries to clear the misunderstanding. "I needed this fight. I'm glad you understood. This helped me gain my confidence."
This doesn't make Pyrrha feel better, knowing what she does next.
Jaune takes the shield out from the Ursa's paw and slashes at its stomach, causing it to stumble back, before lashing out and try to crush him. Jaune rolls out of the way and jumps over its swipe at his feet, but he is unprepared for when it launches a claw at him in mid-air.
'Ouch.' Jaune thinks. 'But still, I was a better fighter that I thought I was before the extra training.'
Jaune lands far away, yet immediately recovers, passing Cardin as he charges again. The Ursa knocks Jaune behind when he tries for a leaping attack, and he looks at the Scroll in his shield to find out that his Aura level is in the red. He grows angry again and starts to run at the Ursa as it also begins to dash towards him.
'This is it.' Jaune thinks. 'My time to shine.'
As they are just about to clash time slows down, Pyrrha sees that Jaune has left himself completely open to the Ursa's attack, and lifts her hand out to him, a dark aura surrounding her arm. Just as the Ursa is about to hit Jaune, a similar aura surrounds Jaune's shield and makes it lift up to block the swipe. Jaune uses the surprise defensive move to lean on the ground, push his shield back up, and swing his blade right through the Ursa's neck, decapitating it. The head falls to the ground as the body slams onto the ground.
Realisation crashes down on Jaune like a pack of Griffon. "What…?" He mumbles.
"I'm sorry." Pyrrha apologises, looking down to her lap, sorrowful.
"But I thought that I…" Jaune murmurs, lost in thought.
"You still did great." Ruby tries to uplift the mood. "Not many people would charge an Ursa Major."
'That was meant to be my big moment. The time I truly became a Beacon student.' Jaune bemoans.
'No.' Jaune internally refuses. 'I won't let these videos create any more negative emotions. We were already divided enough by the last one and I won't let this do the same.' He turns to Pyrrha with a smile. "Thanks for the save Pyrrha. You really helped me back then."
"You're… not mad?" Pyrrha asks, confused by the sudden change.
"You did what you did to help me." Jaune replies cheerfully. "Why would I be mad?"
'Thank you.' Pyrrha thinks, realising what he's trying to do.
Still a far distance from the fight, Ruby turns to Pyrrha as the girl in questions hand stops glowing "Uhh... What?"
Weiss is equally amazed by this development. "How did you...?"
As Weiss trails of, Pyrrha answers the question. "Well, Ruby has her speed, you have your Glyphs. My Semblance is polarity."
'Not long. It's not long until I figure out my semblance. I'm sure the videos will help me.' Jaune thinks hopefully.
"Whoa, you can control poles..." Ruby comments.
"No, you dunce! It means she has control over magnetism!" Weiss explains.
Ruby, still impressed, whispers. "Magnets are cool, too..."
"Ruby's not necessarily wrong." Ren says. "Pyrrha might be controlling the magnetic poles of objects."
"Sorry but that's wrong." Pyrrha admits. "It's actually more like a telekinesis that only works on metals."
"How do you know this?" Weiss asks, curious.
"I can also move non-magnetic metals such as copper." Pyrrha explains. "It's just easier to define as polarity."
Weiss notices as Pyrrha start to leave. "Wait, where are you going?"
"Yeah!" Ruby agrees. "We gotta tell them what happened!"
"We could... Or perhaps we could keep it our little secret?" Pyrrha asserted. She walks away again as Ruby and Weiss smile to each other in understanding and a bruised Jaune sheathes his weapon, the picture of confidence, before going over to Cardin.
"Thanks. I really needed the confidence boost." Jaune says cheerfully. Pyrrha smiles in response.
"You're not annoyed?" Yang asks the question on several peoples mind. "You're taking this surprisingly well."
"We've no reason to get angry over the past like this." Jaune says. "We should just move on and be glad about the outcome."
Cardin, still covered in sap, looks up at Jaune as his saviour offers a hand. Cardin smiles as he takes it and is lifted back up on his feet.
"Holy crap, Jaune!" Cardin can't hide the impressed tone in his voice.
"Now he's impressed!" Yang is insulted by the change in character. "Is he really so morally weak that he jumps on whatever benefits him most?"
"It's sad but most people are motivated by personal desires and self-preservation." Blake agrees. "Not many people are willing to stand up for something that doesn't benefit them."
"Don't ever mess with my team - my friends - ever again." Jaune threatens as he stares Cardin dead in the eyes. "Got it?"
Cardin looks intimidated, possibly even apologetic. With his order spoken, Jaune turns and walks away from a frozen Cardin.
"Wow Jaune." Ruby comments. "Never knew you could be so bad-ass."
"It was nothing." Jaune tries to wave it off. "I just wanted to make him understand that he's not allowed to hurt us."
"You were very brave." Pyrrha compliments. "Not many people are willing to stand up to bullies like that, and even fewer can make them stop without resorting to the language of violence."
'Too many people think violence is the only way to be heard.' Blake thinks. 'And though they are heard, the only thing people hear is that they are criminals and savages.' Her mood drops, thinking of the terrible reputation the White Fang has earned.
The scene changes to later that night, on top of the dorm building, a uniformed Jaune stands on the edge and looks into the distance at the green lights of Beacon.
"No Cardin tonight?" Pyrrha appears and walks to Jaune's side. "I thought you two were best buds?"
'She knew I'd resolved everything.' Jaune realises. 'That's why she chose to see me that night.'
Jaune turns to face her. "Pyrrha... I'm sorry. I was a jerk! You were only trying to be nice, and... I had all this stupid macho stuff in my head…"
"Jaune!" Pyrrha interrupts. "It's okay!" As they smile at one another, she adds. "Your team really misses their leader, you know." She begins to walk to the exit. "You should come down! Ren made pancakes! No syrup, though - you can thank Nora for that!"
"I'm still surprised I was able to get one." Jaune says, then turns to Ren. "How did you keep them from Nora?"
"I know the capacity of Nora's appetite." Ren explains. "I merely made the amount to match."
'This system has forced me to surrender my wallet more than once.' Pyrrha thinks. 'Thankfully I have money to spare, so as long as they aren't extorting me everything should be fine.'
Jaune smiles, but holds out his hand and calls out. "Wait!" Hearing this Pyrrha turns around, and Jaune looks sheepish. "I know I don't deserve it after all that happened, but... would you still be willing to help me... to help me become a better fighter?"
Pyrrha turns around so a worried Jaune won't see her satisfied smile. She goes up to Jaune and suddenly pushes her leader to the ground.
"Hey!" Jaune whines.
"I suppose that's one way of teaching." Weiss comments.
"I just wanted to make it clear." Pyrrha explains. "Understanding the weaknesses of your current stance helps immensely in changing it."
Pyrrha stands over him with her arms on her hips and an evaluating tone. "Your stance is all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground." She offers him her hand, which he graciously accepts, and they continue to hold on to and grin at each other. "Let's try that again."
The camera moves above the two and on the night sky over the school before the scene cuts to black.
"That was nice." Yang comments. "I hope we get more videos like this.
"How many more videos can we expect before we get to the future?" Blake wonders.
"It's hard to say." Jaune admits. "The menu said it was divided into volumes, so I expect it will start a new volume. Not sure if it will be the next one though."
"How many more videos do you think we can expect in this volume?" Pyrrha asks.
"Not sure." Jaune says. "Probably between two and twelve more. With a good chance of four."
"Enough about that, what about your Semblance?" Ruby asks. "How can we figure out what it really is?"
"Normally the best method would be repeating the original scenario…" Weiss points out. Pyrrha narrows her eyes at this. "…but that's clearly not an option." She quickly finishes her sentence.
"We should simply watch more." Ren gives an answer. "That should solve most of our problems. Or at least help us find a way to make an informed strategy."
With this they decide to watch the next video.
A/N
I just realised that I've basically gotten rid of Ren's Notes. Do you think it should make a return when important knowledge is learnt? It won't be in most of the volume 2 chapters anyway, but for volume 3 it will be much easier to justify (all events will be worthy of note since it's the future)
The bit about aura healing allergies just came to me in a moment of inspiration. If later info contradicts this than I will change/remove it.