"And to close out today's study on minuscule Grimm are the Rapier Wasps. They are considered one of the most dangerous species of Grimm in the recorded history of Remnant." said Professor Oobleck, a man whose appearance betrayed his status as a brilliant researcher in the field of Grimm study. His messy hair was dyed a leafy green ("Camouflage! This hair can allow me to hide among the many trees of the forests Grimm are known to reside in!" he'd exclaim if asked about it.) and he had brown eyes hidden behind round, opaque glasses. He was clad in a barely tucked in white shirt, a loose yellow tie, dark green pants and mismatched brown and black shoes. Every time students saw him in the halls, they would wonder how a slovenly, deranged individual got a position in such a prestigious combat academy.
...Until they entered his classroom which was lined with several cages of captured and dissected Grimm, skulls and bones on the wall with various notes on the time and place of the Grimm's capture, relative size to other Grimm and odd anecdotes such as what Professor Oobleck had ate that morning or how many trees the Grimm had taken down. "This is for three reasons. Reason one is due to its small size making it hard to kill with conventional Hunter's weaponry. In the event of a Rapier Wasp attack, specially trained Hunters known as Fireflies are sent out, armed with dust-powered flamethrowers. Dust-powered flamethrowers!" he repeated, taking a gulp of his thermos, wiping off his mouth on his sleeve. "Reason two is due to their sharp needles and quick-working venom. Curiously, their moniker of Rapier Wasps is more of a misnomer, as their stingers are more triangular. And Dagger Wasps would be a much more apt name for it, but the committee didn't listen to my appeal!" he said, hearing the frantic scratching of pencils crossing off notes on "Dagger Wasps"
"And the most important factor to their status as highly dangerous is that their humming has the ability to draw other, larger Grimm closer to them. It's best to take them out quickly before a pack of Ursi are drawn by their calls." the green-haired professor said with a somewhat grave tone in his voice. "Now then, are there any questions?" he asked, a few students raising their hands. "Mr. Lark!" he said, pointing to Sky.
"Is that box on your desk full of Rapier Wasps?" Sky asked, referring to a small, covered box on Oobleck's desk.
"Good eye, dear boy! Why yes, I have managed to procure a small group of them for dissection and study. This special fabric is designed to suppress sound, keeping the hum of the wasps trapped within. Yes, Mr. Arc?" he asked, Jaune putting his arm down.
"But wouldn't the Rapier Wasps just die in the box?" he asked, Professor Oobleck pushing his glasses up by the bridge of his nose.
"A good question, Mr. Arc! Yes, a concealed box would otherwise kill an insect, Rapier Wasps thrive in darkness so a dark living space such as this box could keep them in here for several years!" he exclaimed, the class bell sounding. "And that's all the time we have for today. Before you leave, only final piece of information regarding Rapier Wasps. Unlike many Grimm who are drawn by blood and panic, Rapier Wasps have a curious attraction to sweet smells!" Professor Oobleck declared as the students packed up their bags, Cardin turning to Sky and nodding his head, the two smiling as Cardin walked over to Professor Oobleck.
Jaune made his way to the gym. It had been a week since Team ANVL began training together and Jaune had already been taught footwork, physical conditioning and some of the basics of swordplay. He looked over the copy of the schedule Pyrrha had given him, seeing that today's lesson was going to be Meditation. "Meditation, huh? Well, at least Nora won't be trying to throw me across the gym today…" Jaune said as he stepped into the gym, seeing the rest of Team ANVL gathered around a collection of yoga mats.
"Jaune! Over here!" Nora called out, Jaune running to meet them.
"Ren's going to be teaching today since he's the best of us in meditation." Pyrrha explained as she took one of the mats for herself, Nora having claimed five of them as her own. Jaune sat down on one of the remaining mats, turning his attention to Ren.
"Meditation is the glue that holds together any sort of training, whether it be training to be a Hunter or training for a fighting tournament. It is the merging of mind and body in perfect synchronization and it allows a person to channel their Aura as they see fit. Now, find yourself in a comfortable sitting position and close your eyes." Ren instructed, Pyrrha putting herself in a cross-legged position, Nora quickly shifting to a kneel and Jaune remaining with his butt flat on the mat, all three shutting their eyes. As they sat, a soft, ambient music with what could be best described as "distant yodeling" from a woman played. "Dull your senses and focus only on your breathing, lose yourself in it and begin to find your center." Ren said, his monotonous voice sounding rather soothing as Jaune took slow, deliberate breaths to the the rhythm of the music. He slowly began to feel adrift in a sea of darkness but surrounding by a faint glow of white light when a loud call pierced through the darkness.
"Hey! Blondie!" the woman's voice called out, Jaune quickly opening his eyes to see a pair of dark brown eyes staring him down.
"Ahhh! Don't do that!" he shouted, moving himself away from the woman with shoulder length hair which was a matching brown to her eyes. She was clad in black training shorts with white lining, a cocoa-colored tank top with "CFVY" written across the chest in black letters, black grappling gloves and black ankle supports. She lifted the black sunglasses back up the bridge of her nose.
"So, you're the one Velvet told us about, eh? Not much of my type, but there's no accounting for taste!" the woman said, letting out a hearty laugh as Velvet ran up to her, wearing matching gear with a dark brown tank top..
"Coco! I told you to wait for us!" she said, exasperated. "I'm sorry, you guys. I had told my team about you guys helping me and Coco wanted to thank you in person." Velvet explained as two more had joined the group, two young men who looked to be complete opposites. The boy on the left was of average height with messy, fringed copper orange hair, green eyes and dark tan skin, wearing an orange tank top. He had a skinny frame but well-defined muscle mass. To the right was a man who overshadowed the other seven around him. He had lightly tanned skin, shaved black hair, beady black eyes and abs that threatened to tear through his pale green "CFVY" tank top, Jaune grimacing at the sight of this.
"Damn it, why does everybody have abs?" he muttered, Velvet turning a turning a slight red. "Oh! Uh… I mean, er…" Jaune stuttered out, trying to salvage the meeting when Velvet waved him off.
"N-nevermind! I'm good! J-Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, Ren. I'd like you all to m-meet my teammates in-" Velvet began before Coco pushed her along between the other two.
"This right here is Daichi Yatsuhashi. He's seven foot tall and you can't. Teach! That!" Coco said, waving her finger from side to side in the rhythm of her speech, Yatsuhashi quickly bowing to Team ANVL. "Then of course, you've already met the Cross-Hare, Velvet Scarlatina!" Coco said, pointing to Velvet with a collective of groans.
"You've been hanging around Yang, haven't you?" Jaune asked, Coco ignoring his comment.
"Next is the brains of the team. Sly as a fox and just as stylin', Fox Alistair!" she exclaimed, Fox rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, she's been hanging out with Yang too long." he said, answering Jaune's question.
"And finally! You have their fearless leader! The Head of Beacon Academy's Boxing Club and the Baddest Babe in the Building! Coco Adel!" she said, striking a pose and holding it for a minute. "...Velvet…" she said through gritted teeth, Velvet quickly scrambling into her bag to grab a camera out and run in front of her team leader, snapping a quick shot and handing the camera to Ren and running to stand next to Coco.
"And we are…" Coco said as the rest of her team shuffled around her, Yatsuhashi standing behind Coco and placing his hands in the traditional kung-fu gesture of palm-over-fist. Fox quickly bent down with one leg stretched back and, his left arm outstretched and his right pulled in, the elbow jutting out slightly. Velvet crouched down with her arms outstretched, hands clasped and forming a gun with her index, middle fingers and thumbs, one eye shut and tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth. Coco spread out her arms, holding her hands turned upright as if she were holding something in them. "TEAM CFVY!" the quartet declared. Jaune and Pyrrha stared at them in silence, mouths agape as Ren calmly took pictures.
"...That was AWESOME!" Nora exclaimed, running up to Team CFVY.
"Nora, you're blocking the shot." Ren said calmly, Nora chuckling and moving away while he continued his shots.
"Make sure you got my good side! I mean, I only have good sides, but…" Coco said, Velvet moving out of frame and over to Jaune.
"A-Anyway… We wanted to thank you all for helping me. So… uh…" Velvet began, reaching around in her bag, repeatedly muttering "please tell me I have it" repeatedly until she pulled out a small blue ticket, handing it to Jaune. He looked it over, seeing in bold lettering the words Vytal Festival Tournament.
"Vytal Festival Tournament?" he asked, Velvet about to speak when Coco stepped forward.
"It's the biennial intercontinental held in Vytal. Only established teams of Hunters are allowed to compete so this is our first year. And since we're in our first year, we each get two complimentary tickets!" Coco explained, Jaune nodding as he looked over his ticket.
"Mhm. I've already given one to Blake and I'd like you to come as well, Jaune… I mean, if that's alright with you, y-you don't have to go…" Velvet said, fumbling for the hood she didn't have on this shirt.
"Er… w-well, I mean…" Jaune said stumbling over his words when Pyrrha spoke up.
"Jaune would love to go, Velvet." she said, Jaune's eyes widening as he turned red.
"N-no! It's fine, Pyrrha! I mean, I'd rather you guys get a chance to-" he said as Pyrrha rifled through her training bag, pulling out two small blue tickets. "Where did you get those?" he asked, Pyrrha chuckling a bit.
"Well, I'm a special guest of the event, so I got a few tickets as well. I was actually trying to figure who to bring with me, but since you've got your own, Jaune, it makes it easier to pick. Ren? Nora?" she asked, nodding to her friends.
"Of course we'll go! This is gonna be huge!" Nora shouted, Ren calmly nodding.
"It will certainly be nice to watch a tournament rather than fight in one." he said, Coco letting out her usual hearty laugh.
"Excellent! A chance to showcase Team CFVY's skills in front of some of the best fighters in all of Remnant! Lie Ren, high-ranking martial artists and the winner of this year's entrance exam! Nora Valkyrie, winner of the Iron Woman Weightlifting competition for four years! Pyrrha Nikos, top ranked at Sanctum Academy and five-time Mistral Regional Champion! And… Jaune… he's an Arc!" Coco said, attempting to hold her smile as her sunglasses dropped to the bridge of her nose. Jaune's face faltered and he shrugged his shoulders slightly.
"Coco, I think we'd better get going." Fox said, sensing the growing tension in the air.
"Right! They've got their tickets and we've got training to do! Team CFVY, move out!" Coco declared and walked off, the rest of the team joining her. Velvet gave a sheepish wave goodbye, which Jaune returned, sighing. Pyrrha put a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry about it, Jaune. You're doing great so far in your training." she said with a smile, Jaune looking at her before shrugging off her hand.
"But I should be past this point by now…" he said glumly, walking away from the rest of Team ANVL and leaving the gym.
He walked down the halls, heading for his locker. "What am I doing here? All these other people here are so much better than me… I'm just wasting my time…" he said, making it to his locker and punching in his password, opening it up and stuffing his backpack, looking at the picture on his locker door of a large group of people, mostly young women, a mix of blonde and black hair with Jaune in the middle. Jaune pulled the picture off, putting in his pocket and shutting the locker door. "Maybe I can do a little work somewhere to buy a ticket back to Patch…" he muttered, turning to see Russell behind him.
"Hey Jaune, spotted you leaving the gym. What's up, man?" he asked, Jaune blinking a bit and turning to check for Cardin or Sky around the corner.
"What do you want? Cardin wanna get in one last beating before I leave Beacon?" Jaune shot back, Russell making a quick step back.
"Whoa, whoa! Jaune, I'm not here to cause trouble, man. You're leaving Beacon? How come?" Russell said, looking concerned.
"Why do you care? Thought you'd be happy to be rid of me." Jaune countered, still suspicious of Russell's sympathy.
"Jaune, calm down. I've been talking with Dove and he's been saying we're probably gonna get expelled if we don't shape up our act and he's right. So, I wanted to apologize for how we've roughhoused you. It was meant to be a bit of harmless fun between dudes, ya know?" the buzz-cut young man said, patting Jaune on the shoulder, Jaune quickly pulling his shoulder away.
"Look, if you really want to know, I'm leaving because I don't belong here. I'm a failure. I may as well go home and stop wasting everyone's time." he explained, putting on his backpack and making a move for the door.
"Maybe it's not you, Jaune. Maybe it's your training buddies." Russell said, Jaune stopping and turning to face Cardin's lackey.
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" he asked, Russell smiling and leaning against a locker.
"The way I see it is this; you got one of the strongest women in Remnant, a once in a century martial artist and a five-time fighting champion and you're not learning anything. Why do you think that is, Jaune?" Russell asked, Jaune sighing and looking down.
"It's because I'm a failure, right?" Jaune said, feeling no better than he would if Russell had started attacking him.
"Or maybe the others are threatened by you…" Russell suggested, the blonde rookie looking up in confusion.
"Threatened by me? Why would they be threatened by a guy who can't even use his Semblance?" he asked, Russell chuckling a bit.
"Because you're an Arc. You got, what, five, six generations of Hunters in your family?" he said, Jaune mentally counting how far back his family tree went.
"Seven generations, starting back with my great-great-great… uh...how many greats between the first one and me?" Jaune asked, Russell giving a wave of his hand.
"Doesn't matter, you're not the first of your family and you could be the next great Huntsman in your family and they don't like that. They're insulted that they've gotten all this acclaim and yet you're probably gonna be one of the best Huntsmen out of all of them." the buzz-cut troublemaker said, putting an arm around Jaune's shoulder.
"But you see, Cardin isn't threatened by others. He's a Winchester and he knows talent when he sees it. That's why he gives you a hard time. He wants to toughen you up and make you work harder. It's proven by drill sergeants and it was even how Cardin was trained back at home. Those ANVL guys just want to keep you soft so you don't outpace them and stay their punching bag, having someone they can pity will probably bolster their confidence." he said, Jaune thinking it over. Was he just a punching bag to them? He thought of his lessons, which required him to take a beating and stay standing, then take suplexes for several minutes from Nora…maybe Russell had the right idea, but the idea of Cardin being a better option didn't click with him.
"What about what you guys did to Velvet? Or the time Cardin broke Blake's nose?" he asked, Russell laughing.
"That first one was just a joke, man. You keep yourself that tightly wound about everything and you're gonna have a heart attack. As for Blake's nose, that was an accident. Cardin apologized for that weeks ago." Russell said with a grin, pulling Jaune in closer as the blonde started pulling away. "Look, give him a chance. We're going to the Golden Apple tonight, Cardin's treat. It's a great place, serves some of the best barbecue. Spend the night with us and see if you like it. All I gotta say is hope ya like ribs!" he offered, Jaune thinking it over. He and Cardin had never really gotten along, but Russell had raised some good questions about his friends, or at least what he saw as his friends.
"Well… I am a bit hungry for something other than school food." Jaune said, Russell grinning wide and giving Jaune a pat on the back.
"That's the spirit! See ya in five, gotta tell Cardin you're joining the fun!" Russell said as he ran off, Jaune waving him off and hoping he had made the right decision.