POV: Jaune Arc
Chapter Twenty One: The Mission
The early morning sun is just starting to rise and cast the first orange rays of sunlight over the school, Pyrrha and I sit by the left hand door of the bullhead with our legs hanging over the side while we wait for the rest of our team to arrive. I hold Pyrrha's hand in my own, tracing the outline of a heart in her palm. Pyrrha giggles and I smile as the two of us enjoy the last few moments of peace we have left to ourselves. Ren is the first to show up, accompanied by Nora as always who is happily following behind him. When the two of them get within earshot I can start to makeout Nora's ramblings, which I can only assume has already spiraled off topic. I jump down from the bullhead, landing on the ground with a muffled thud. "Ren, Nora, you guys ready to go?"
"Are we ever!" Nora replies in her usual exceedingly hyper tone, hefting her heavy hammer into the air as she shouts her reply. In contrast to Nora's loud and excited response Ren simply offers a nod of head as his response, I smile being sure to keep any worry or concern from my expression. "Ok then load up, we'll be leaving in about ten minutes. Maybe earlier if Jason gets here before then." Ren and Nora nod in acknowledgment and climb into the ship, Ren giving Nora a leg up before climbing up himself. I stay on the ground waiting for Jason to arrive. Thankfully the wait isn't a long one as a few minutes later I can see Jason jogging down the walkway towards us, already suited up in his armour with his weapon slung over his shoulder.
"Hey Jaune, I'm not late am I?" He questions when he gets close. "No you're right on time, were ready to leave now." I look him up and down examining his armour condition and appearance, curious to see how he looks after spending the night somewhere in the emerald forest. Surprisingly enough he looks pretty presentable all things considered, not that it really matters anyway considering the circumstances. As I continue to look him over I notice a few good sized red marks in the shape of a heart near the base of his neck, presumably from Yang last night during their camping trip. Considering Jason doesn't seem to know the mark is there I decide to have a little bit of fun with him.
"Looks like you had fun last night, what did you two do last night?" Jason looks confused at my question. "Yeah we had a lot of fun, and I just took Yang camping out in the forest. Set up a nice little campsite, a fire pit, made smores, all in all just had fun." He smiles as he thinks back to his night, but his confused expression quickly returns. "What did you mean 'looks' like I had a good night, do I have something on me." He looks down his arms and legs thinking he has something on his armour, which only causes me to laugh only worsening his confusion. I gesture to the base of his neck, pointing out the love marks Yang had left on him. Upon noticing the marks Jason's face goes a dark red color from embarrassment, he nervously clears his throat.
"Well that's rather embarrassing, yeah it was a fun night… Can I talk to you about something personal?" I smile and nod. "Yeah man what's up?" A nervous smile crosses Jason's lips as he starts to explain. "Well I set up the whole campsite and planned out this big night to impress Yang, and thankfully it went off without a hitch. Everything went amazing and well we started to go a little farther, I guess that when Yang gave me this." He chuckles to himself and continues. "Well we were sitting there I've got her wrapped in my arms and all and well, she said she 'I love you'." I nod and question. "Yeah and? Did you say it back." My question seems to annoy Jason slightly. "Of course I said it back, i'm crazy for her. I don't know I just wanted to talk about it, anyway let's get going." He smiles and climbs up into the bullhead, I suspect that he is holding back the details that he really wants to talk about and decide to talk to him again later when we have more time. With Jason on board I climb up as well.
When we are all inside and strapped in I give the signal to the pilot and the engines roar to life, the side doors of the ship sealing themselves, effectively closing us inside. The doors sealing causes the passenger bay to go completely dark. The darkness eventually being brightened slightly with illumination being provided by a dull red light on the roof. I can feel the inertia of the craft lifting itself off the ground and accelerate forward as we start to gain altitude. My stomach starts to settle as the ship levels out and I start my mental clock to keep track of how much time we have until we land.
Should be about fifteen minutes until we arrive, I guess this is a good time to brief them.
I unbuckle myself and stand up, using the hand grips on the roof to keep myself upright. "Ok guys, we've got about fifteen minutes until we get to the drop point. When we get there we will be moving through thick forest for about fifteen miles, it will be slow moving expect grimm encounters along the way. Jason the maps we have to work off of are old so we may need you to make a new one using your semblance." Jason nods in acknowledgement and I continue. "Now for communication…" I reach into my pocket and produce a small black box containing our earpieces. "These earpieces will sink up with our scrolls and let us communicate, as for our scrolls they will be set to combat comms mode with no exceptions. We don't want any distractions."
I hand everyone a earpiece before taking my own and pairing it to my scroll, I put it in my ear and set my scroll to combat mode and joining our teams private comm channel. I go around making sure that everyone else does the same without having an issue, after about five minutes everyone has their headsets sinked and have joined the combat comms channel. I do a quick comms check and everyone gives the thumbs up, things are starting to fall into place. I start to relax slightly but be sure to stay alert and focused, since i'm in charge I have to look after not only myself but the rest of my team as well. The rest of our trip goes in silence, everyone mentally and physically preparing themselves. I glance around looking at everyone and taking note of who is doing what, Ren has StormFlower in his hands and appears to be looking them over.
Nora is hugging her hammer Magnhild tightly, Jason and Pyrrha are both loading their weapons and getting ready for the drop. The red light on the roof blinks three times signaling we are nearing our drop point. "One minute guys, one minute." I say over the comm channel, everyone gives a thumbs up. I can feel myself starting to tense up with anticipation and I stare down at the floor, a hand is placed on my shoulder which causes me to look up. Pyrrha is looking at me with a reassuring smile on her face trying to put me at ease, I gain a smile of my own and we share a brief kiss. "Gross, get a room you two." Jason's voice crackles through my earpiece, his voice thick with sarcasm. Jason's comment earns a laugh, which is unfortunately interrupted when the door opens and a large rush of air catches everyone off guard. I look out of the door and see that we are about thirty feet over top of a large clearing, that is surrounded on all sides by thick vegetation and trees. Near the center of the clearing stands the ruins of what looks like an old stone tower.
That could be a good place to get setup.
The red light in the troop carrier compartment turns green as our signal to go. "Go, everybody out. Set up a perimeter and get ready to move." I shout over the comm before bailing out the door, I freefall for fifteen feet or so before I tuck and roll when I hit the ground to shift my momentum in a way that prevents me from slamming into the ground. I land upright drawing my sword and placing my shield in front of me as a wall. I scan the area in front of me being sure that it's clear before looking to my left and right to check on the rest of the team. Everyone else has also landed and formed a circle shaped area around the bullhead, seeing that the area is clear I give the signal to the pilot and the ship lifts higher into the air disappearing into the clouds.
I stand, keeping my shield leveled just in case and start to make my way towards the tower signaling the rest of the team to follow. We walk as a group up up the slight incline to the tower, though to call it a tower is rather inaccurate due to the state it's in. The top two sections have toppled over leaving only one standing, and even that one has taken a beating. The back wall has collapsed in and the door was ripped from its hinges long ago. "Looks like nobody's been here for a while." I here Jason comment from off to my left, I turn to face him. "Jason how long does it take for you to generate your semblance maps?" I question as I stand in the doorway of the tower. "I haven't really timed it but about ten minutes or so, I need to concentrate thought so I'll need to be left alone entirely. Otherwise it'll mess me up and I'll have to start over." I nod and reply. "Ok well I don't want to have to try and trust these old maps we've got so, get to it we'll give you all the time you need."
Jason nods and excuses himself, I watch as he walks down the hill away from the tower. When he's out of hearing distance he kneels down on the ground, I turn to face Ren and Nora. "Nora can you and Ren quietly keep an eye out around Jason while he uses his semblance, please be careful to not disturb him. We need those maps." Ren nods and Nora salutes and together the two of them exit, leaving only Pyrrha and myself alone at the tower. "Is there something you want me to do Jaune?" Pyrrha questions, I turn and step inside the tower itself with Pyrrha close behind. "I don't like this Pyrrha, something isn't right here. According to the information Ozpin gave me this area doesn't normally have a high concentration of grimm, then suddenly they start reporting increasing grimm populations and now... all the sudden they've gone dark. Something is definitely wrong here." A frown covers Pyrrha's face.
"Yes, something definitely seems strange about this. Though I'm not sure that we have much of a choice." I find two old crates in the corner and throw one over to Pyrrha to use them as makeshift chairs, I seat myself on the crate and Pyrrha does the same. "We don't have any choice and that's the problem. I think we may be walking into a trap and if we are, I'm worried someone might get hurt. You especially." I drop my gaze to the stone floor beneath me to avoid meeting her eyes, I can hear Pyrrha stand and she makes her way over to me. "Jaune look at me." Reluctantly I look up into her eyes. "The only thing you can do is what you always do, your best"
Well that's a conforming thought considering my record this far.
"Thanks Pyrrha, I can't say I'm not still uneasy but it helps to know you have faith in me." Pyrrha smiles which brings a smile to my face as well. "Always Jaune, now come here." Pyrrha says as she grabs me by my chest piece and pulls me in for a long kiss, we stay locked together for a few moments before we are interrupted by a shout from outside. "Jaune, Pyrrha, get out here Jason's done with the map." I roll my eyes but can't help but smile as the two of us head outside together, where we are greeted by Ren, Nora, and Jason. "The maps done?" I question Jason. "Yeah it's done, it's all up here." He replies and points to his forehead. "Ok good, do you see a good way to go?" Jason closes his eyes for a moment before opening them again. "I got a good path in mind it'll take us right to the town."
"Let's get going then, Jason you'll take the lead. The rest of us will follow, keep your eyes open for grimm. We never know what could be out here waiting for us." Jason takes point and starts to lead the rest of us on our way down the hill to the forest the lines the clearing, as we clear the initial bushes and trees that block our path we come through to a dried creek bed that cuts a path through the trees. "From what I can see this creek bed is the best way to get to the village, it's the only relatively clear path that I can see." Jason comments as we follow the creek bed, I pull out the maps that ozpin supplied me to cross check our path. "It's a good thing we had you make a map Jason, the ones I have still show this as an active river." Jason simply nods before replying. "Well we keep this pace we should be there by late afternoon."
Jason's estimate of arriving at mid afternoon appears to be on target as we reach the outskirts of the village walls, the sun starting to set over the horizon. Our fifteen mile trip to the village being slowed by the terrane and several attacks from large packs of grimm, beowolves mostly being the problem along our way. Though even with our progress being slowed we finally made it to the village in one piece. "How's everyone doing, are we ok on ammo and everything before we go in? There more than likely will be more grimm here." Everyone does a quick check, Jason and Ren look unhappy. "I have four extra magazines, not as many as I'd like." Ren comments. "Yeah i'm pretty low myself, I only got about twenty rounds left. All those damn grimm we ran into along the way." Jason adds, I think for a moment before responding.
"Do you think that's enough to get this done?" The two of them nod. "Ok let's get this done then, follow me to the gate. Remember we don't know what were walking into, so take it slow and we'll be fine." With everyone in agreement, we follow the walls of the village to the entrance gate. As we walk along the walls I examine them, for a town that is assumed to be overrun the walls seem intact. We reach the open main gate and enter through it, as we make our way down the main street everything seems eerily quiet. No sounds or movement come from anywhere, we move up the main street towards a small building labeled as the town hall. "Is it just me, or does something seem really wrong here?" Nora questions while we walk. "Yes something seems off here." Pyrrha replies. We continue through the grid like layout of houses until we reach the other side of town, clearing the buildings and side streets along our way.
As we come up on the T shaped junction in front of the town hall building I hear a growl from off to the right of me, on instinct I immediately turn to see what made the sound. Down the street about twenty feet from us is a large pack of beowolves, standing in front of a massive hole in the towns protective walls. The beowolves have already noticed us and started to charge. "Contact right, get ready." I hear Jason yell from behind me, I take up a defensive position with the rest of the team as we prepare to combat the charging grimm. When they are within range Ren, Pyrrha, and Jason open fire. Between a fire charge from Jason, a quick barrage from Ren and a few well placed shots from Pyrrha, a good amount of the grimm drop. Leaving them to be dealt with in close quarters.
Out of the original number thirty or so beowolves, only about fifteen or so make it past the initial ranged fire. With my sword raised and my shield leveled I charge, hacking and slashing at the closest grimm in my vicinity. Three more beowolves drop to my attacks before I get tackled by a fourth. Thankfully my shield protects me from its razor sharp claws, but the creature is still on top of me. With my arms pinned I do my best to struggle against the weight of the creature, with little success. I stare into the eyes of the beowolf as it snaps at my face, suddenly the weight is removed from my chest and the wolf is nowhere to be seen. I climb to my feet and see Nora standing beside me, her hammer raised proudly over her head. "Thanks Nora, I owe you one."
"You should have seen how far that one flew, that was awesome." Nora says with a whistle, I look around and see that the original batch of beowolves have been killed. Leaving dead grimm scattered in the street. "Is everyone ok?" I say over the comm channel in an attempt to save my voice, considering the rest of the team is quite spread out. Everyone replies with an affirmative response leading me to turn back to the source of the original group of grimm. Massive hordes of beowolves, accompanied by Ursas, Boarbatusks, and a few Deathstalkers. Thankfully it seems that the vast majority of them haven't noticed us yet so I decide to change our tactics. "Everybody get to the town hall building, we can't fight them in the open like this." Everyone acknowledges and I sheath my sword before turning away from the large mass of grimm, running to the building.
When I reach it the front steps of the small stone building i'm relieved to see that my entire team is already there and from the looks at least, ok. "We have to get off of this street, there's too many grimm here for us to be able to take them on." I say when I reach the rest of the team. "Maybe we should just get out of here, I mean i'm not seeing anyone here to save. It looks like the grimm wiped the whole damn town out." Jason says while watching the street behind us. "As much as I hate to think about it, Jason may be right. It doesn't appear that anyone is left here." Pyrrha adds, I weigh the options trying to decide if it's better to pull out now, or stay and put my team at risk to save a few civilians that may or may not still be here.
My thought process is cut short by a sudden loud thumping that seems to be getting louder by the second until the ground begins to shake from the heavy impacts growing closer. "What is that?" Nora questions as she steps out into the street to be able to see. I follow her and can't quite believe what is in front of me, the large grimm pack that was pouring through the hole in the wall has grown ten times in size. On top of that the large group is now accompanied by an even larger threat, a goliath. I look on with awe as the massive creature moves forward past the wall, smashing buildings as well as other grimm that stand in its path. "Holy shit well I think that settles it, we need to get out of here...now." Jason says, his voice cracking slightly out of what I presume to be fear.
"There's no way, the bullhead can't pick us up with that thing around." Ren's voice seems to echo in my ears as I continue to stare at the massive grimm. "Then what the hell are we supposed to do exactly?" Jason yells, but before I can answer Pyrrha interjects. "We do what we have to do, trust our leader." As she says this Pyrrha turns to me, her eyes meeting mine in an act of positive reinforcement. With everyone's eyes now fixated on me, I try my best to clear my head and consider the options eventually finding my answer. "We have to fight it." My answer gains me looks of surprise as well as those of confusion. "We don't have many options with that thing less than two blocks away, we either fight it or we run and risk getting caught in the open. I don't know, I noticed something about that goliath when I first saw it. The mask on its face is… broken, maybe that means its weakened. Maybe thats whats causing all these grimm problems in the first place, it's just a thought but I think we can beat it."
I look at each of my teammates individually, each of their expressions different. Some of anger, more of uncertainty and even one of what i'm hoping is confidence from Pyrrha. "So is everyone ready?" A silence hangs in the air after my question before anyone answers, Pyrrha being the first to speak. "I'm always with you Jaune." Jason nods. "Me too buddy, but if I die i'm haunting you. Just want you to know that." I chuckle and smile. "Sounds fair enough Ren, Nora?" Nora looks rather indignant for a moment and replies. "You should NOT even have to ask that question." Ren adds. "Yes you should know were always with you Jaune, no matter what." I nod and smile. "Here we go then, Jason you and Nora stay back and pelt it from a distance try to aim for its face. Ren, Pyrrha, and myself will go and attack it at close range hopefully we can take out a leg and bring it down."
I pause, taking in a shaky breath and drawing my sword once more. "On three, One, Two, Three. GO!" Pyrrha, Ren, and I charge out from the cover of the building heading straight towards the goliath. As we close the distance I can see Nora and Jason's shots arcing overhead before impacting with the Goliath's head, causing only a small reaction from the creature. I wind my sword arm back and swing with all my strength, the blade of my sword connecting with its leg. I'm shocked to see my strike bounce off the thick armour, harmless. I swing again and again, only one in every three of my attacks having any effect. I roll out of the way just in time as the beast's massive trunk smashes the ground where I was just standing.
Well I got its attention…
I look over to Pyrrha and Ren and see them mimicking my tactic of wailing away at the beasts others front leg. Ren unloads two full magazines into the leg, causing a wale of pain that echoes so loudly my ears are ringing. More shots arc overhead and impact on the goliath's head, the beast wales once more but stay on its feet.
This isn't working we need to hit it harder.
Thinking quickly I try to come up with a way to take the beast out for good, in between attacking and avoiding the goliath I come up with my plan. I step away to a safe distance and key my comm to communicate with Jason. "Jason, do you have any electric dust rounds left?" The comm is silent for a minute before I hear a response. "Yeah I got two here… why?" Relieved I explain my plan. "I need you to shoot Nora with it, trust me on this." Again the comm goes silent before Jason replies again, this time much louder. "Are you insane, i'm not shooting one of my teammates." Annoyed, I shout back. "Just listen to me, Nora uses electricity for her semblance. She may just be able to take this thing down, so just do it!." There is no reply over the comm but I hear a shot go off behind me and I can hear Nora start laughing excitedly.
A few moments later a bombardment of missiles in the shape of a heart impacts on the goliath, followed immediately by Nora flying in and slamming her hammer into the goliath's head. The creature staggers and starts to tip as Nora lands in front of the three of us, I can hear Jason's voice come in over the team comm. "Well that was awesome, good job Nora." Nora takes a bow before replying. "Thaaaaaank you." Her tone playful and full of energy as usual, almost as if she is totally unaffected by everything that's happened. The goliath goes down with an earth shaking thud, destroying a few more buildings on its impact. I sheath my sword and flex my right shoulder, just now noticing how sore I am after our long day.
"Everybody meet up over here, i'm calling in the bullhead now. Should be here in a few minutes, get ready to get out of here." I switch my comm frequency from our private team channel to the channel I was given to communicate with our pilot. After a short conversation our pickup is on its way to our location, and all that's left to do is wait. The five of us stand around the corpse of the goliath while we wait examining it and thinking over our victory. Ren and I are standing over by the head of the creature, while everyone else is scattered around the area. Suddenly I hear a random sound off to our left, down an alleyway. Ren hears it too and the two of us once again draw our weapons. "I better go check that out." I say as I start to walk toward the alley with my sword at the ready.
There is another strange sound, one that I can't quite place. I dive out of the way as a boarbatusk charges out from the alley at me full speed, I get out of the way just in time landing hard on the pavement. My sword clatters away from me across the pavement, I turn shield raised ready to defend but the grimm has another target. I can only watch as the boarbatusk charges Ren, with no time to react there is little he can do but brace for the impact. Time seems to slow as the boarbatusk grows closer and closer to impact with Ren, but just before it can Nora jumps in front of Ren effectively taking the hit for him. The momentum of the grimm's charge coupled with Nora's causes her to fly backward into the wall, impacting hard before sliding to the floor.
"Nora!" Ren and I both shout, I jump up from the ground and grab my sword running over to my injured teammate. When Ren and I reach her the two of us try to help her the best we can, I lay her down on her back and examine her for injuries while Ren talks to her. "Nora are you ok, why did you take that hit for me?" I look up to Nora's face, there is a look on her face that I haven't seen before. Nora looks weak but manages a reply. "Boop." Is all she says before fading into unconsciousness. "We got a lot more grimm incoming." I hear Jason's voice over the comm channel before he and Pyrrha run around the goliaths body. "Is Nora ok?" Pyrrha asks when she sees her on the ground.
"I don't know right now, we gotta get her out of here. Buy us as much time as you can." Jason and Pyrrha both nod and turn to face the oncoming grimm attack. Thankfully the bullhead is already overhead, the landing craft does a one-eighty before quickly touching down next to us. The doors to the passenger compartment open as it touches down. "Ren, help me get Nora up." I say loud enough to be heard over the engines, Ren nods and together we lift Nora up into the bullhead before I shout for Jason and Pyrrha. "Jason, Pyrrha, get in were getting out of here!" Pyrrha rips her spear out of a beowulf's head and turns to run towards the bullhead, Jason fires one last fire round on the ground in front of him before doing the same. With everyone loaded up and ready to leave, the doors close and I can feel the ship starting to gain altitude.
After our flight back to Beacon Pyrrha, Jason, and myself report to professor Ozpin. While Nora is rushed to the infirmary with Ren accompanying her. "With Nora onboard the rest of us loaded up and got out of there." After completing the full explanation of the events that took place on our mission professor Ozpin simply nods. "Curious." Being his only response, confused I questions him further. "Professor, what do we do now. That village is still overrun with grimm and we never did find any survivors." Ozpin's expression doesn't change he just simply gestures towards the door with his hand.
"I suggest that you go check on your teammate, Mrs. Valkyrie should have her whole team with her while she recovers. As for your mission, there isn't much else we can do. As unfortunate as it may be, you did complete your mission. We now know the fate of the town and its people, now if you'll excuse me I have a lot of work to get done. The three of us exit Ozpin's office and walk in silence over to the infirmary, when we arrive the nurse directs us to the room Nora is in and updates us on her condition. "She'll be fine in a few days she's just going to be weak right now obviously, her aura helped a fair amount but the impact of that boarbatusk cracked three of her ribs as well as a broken leg. I presume that happened when she landed." I nod and read her nametag to be able to properly thank her. "Thanks Pearl, we appreciate it."
Pearl nods and smiles at Jason who returns the smile and waves before we turn and head down the hall toward Nora's room, out of curiosity I questions Jason on how he knows the nurse to try and get everyone mind off of everything. "Jason how do you know the nurse?" Jason chuckles before he replies. "Funny story, she's the nurse that was on duty the night Yang snuck me out of here. She actually signed me out a little early so Yang and I could spend the night together." We reach the room just as Jason finishes his explanation, I poke my head in first to make sure we won't wake anyone up by entering. I can hear what sounds like Ren and Nora in the middle of a conversation. "-So what does boop mean anyway Nora?" I can distinguish Ren's voice from the other side of the room, the room is silent except for the sound of someone shifting on the bed before I can hear Nora reply. Sounding very nervous. "Well… It means I love you, silly."
Well thats interesting…
I stand and turn away from the door, starting to head down the hall back towards the entrance of the infirmary. "Aren't we going inside?" Pyrrha questions as I walk past. "No I don't think we should, the two of them are having a… moment. Probably best to leave them alone." I offer my hand out to Pyrrha, which she takes and the two of us walk hand in hand down the hall. "Hey you guys know i'm here too right?" I hear Jason complain from behind us. "Yeah but you're not Pyrrha." I offer in return, there are some rapid footsteps and suddenly Jason is at my other side. Taking my hand in his own. "Fixed it." He says as he walks with us, I shake off his hand and reply. "No Jason, just no. You're not nearly as pretty as Pyrrha, no competition." Pyrrha giggles and Jason fakes being hurt by my comment, placing his hand over his heart. "So rude man, so rude."