Here I am! You know what, gotta stop these... No AN at the end it is...
Neptune had finally quieted down, at least for the time being. He was apparently satisfied with the extra-extra-extra-long eighth-grade system of inequalities, not that anyone there could really figure out what that thing meant.
Interestingly enough, he actually got the correct result, even though his methods were less than exact. However, no one really knew what those letters meant.
Thankfully, red fire erupted in the middle of the rocky balcony they were currently on before anyone had to put down the insane scientist. Sun sighed in relief at seeing Phoenix appear through the flames and stepped into the open. "Hello everyone. How is it going?"
"Phoenix! I did it!" Neptune screamed triumphantly, pointing at his blackboard, mad glint in his eyes. "I figured it out! I figured it out!"
Phoenix glanced at the blackboard, gave up in trying to understand what it was, and shrugged. "Yeah, for now. Just you wait until you find out more…"
Neptune's face fell into despair. "There's more?"
The Writer shrugged again. "Yes. But don't worry, I won't force you to see it. Trying to bring logic into things like Aura, Semblance and webseries usually leads to frustration or, in extreme cases, reactions like yours. Better be prepared." He waved his hand and orange flames engulfed the blue-haired boy. "Though congrats, I honestly wouldn't have known where to start, much less actually write a complete equation for it. Your reward is going back to Remnant."
"Wha-" Before he could even finish his words, Neptune disappeared, and the flames died down soon after.
"Oh thank the Gods," Sun breathed out in relief. "I was getting scared."
"Oh, I haven't healed him, I just sent him back, he's still like that," Phoenix replied off-handedly, earning a cry of outrage from Neptune's leader. "Moving on, is there anything you guys want to ask me?"
"Yes, why did you do that?!" Sun exclaimed, depressed at the thought of having to deal with Neptune once he got back.
"Because I said that if people behaved I wouldn't wipe their memories… I said that, right? Oh well, I'm saying it now. While Neptune and I had out disagreements, he did not misbehave enough to be forced to forget this. As such, cancelling the effects but not the cause would only result in a worse breakdown later on," Phoenix explained calmly. People usually didn't think too far ahead, but as a Writer, it was kind of his job. Not that he did that all the time, but still he liked to think he had a bit of a better insight than most of those students.
"On a completely different topic, did someone ask me to give the lovebirds here X-Ray vision?" he asked with a shit-eating grin.
"NO!" everyone shouted. Even Ozpin let down his usually calm facade to give him a piece of his mind.
Phoenix laughed. "Oh, my bad, must've been from some other alternative universe. I'm sorry." He didn't look sorry at all. "So? No questions? Nothing I have to explain to you?"
"Actually, I do," Ironwood spoke up. "Not to sound offensive, or to end up like Mr Vasilias, but I too have questions regarding Mr Arc's Semblance. Or at least the Swordsman's Semblance. Despite Semblances varying in power from individual to individual, they still always fall within a certain range. Teleport Semblances capable of moving several unwilling targets for hundreds of metres are unheard of. As are Healing Semblances that can cure deadly illnesses in their terminal stages. I can understand that such a complex Semblance is both hard to master and with high criteria to be met before use, but it's sheer potential is beyond anything I've ever seen."
Phoenix thought about it for a few seconds before nodding. "Since you've been more polite and overall you make a good point, I'll try to answer you the best I can. Now, the Swordsman's Semblance, at the beginning, was not this."
"What?" Jaune spoke up. "That's impossible. Semblances can't just change."
"Let me explain. At first, he could only use his Semblance to consume Dust at a much slower pace. For example, if a normal Fire crystal depleted after two uses, he could make it last for four by feeding his Aura into it. Basically, he turned his Aura into Dust Energy by using Dust as a catalyst and his Aura as fuel. This caused him to quickly tire out. Thus far, it doesn't sound so overkill, doesn't it?" Phoenix began what would be a long explanation.
"It is within the standards, yes. Maybe even on the lower half, since it needs a catalyst for it," Ironwood nodded. Dust was easy to find and purchase, so such a Semblance would be useful, but less than the more flashy, combat-oriented or simply more powerful ones Hunters used.
"Exactly. Now, just like how muscles grow stronger by use, Semblances do the same. However, it all depends on how you use them. Training your body for strength or for speed require two different workout regimes – you can choose one or both. Likewise, training one's Semblance can go different ways. He could've trained himself to use less Aura, or to create a stronger effect, or to tire himself out less. Which he did, all of those."
"But what about absorbing Dust?" Ruby spoke up.
Phoenix smiled. "I was getting to that. Now, one day he got curious – the Dust Energy he produced was still, deep down, his Aura, channelled through Dust. So he tried to re-absorb it into himself. At first, it didn't go so well… not well at all. His body identified it as a foreign substance, neither Aura nor Dust, and reacted pretty badly. Just like you can grow immune to poison by ingesting small quantities of it and increasing it over time as your resistance grows, he did the same, slowly getting his body acquainted with his new Aura. He had to do so for every type of Aura, which is the reason why he gets his Elemental Backlash, which is more extreme the less common the Dust he's using is."
"But what about merging Dust?" Weiss spoke up. "Aura normally can't do that."
"No, it can't, but please let me finish." Phoenix kept his cool. It was easy to forget that they hadn't watched that world from start to finish. "Now, once he got used to that Aura inside him, he just thought about merging it back with his natural Aura. Like, one single pool of Aura instead of a natural one and a Dust one, both inside his body. It worked… after a lot of trying and soaking himself in water or burning his clothes off… but the Dust Aura lost power the more it was mixed with Normal Aura. So he just chose to keep the two separated since they didn't do any damage… until he started to use two different Dust types and had the bright idea to fuse them together."
The Writer chuckled. "That's how the legend of the mythic Jaune of Ice was born. He encased himself in ice. Took Gin two hours to free him, thankfully they managed to free his head quickly enough. And yes, that's how he started using his Advance Elements, like Ice. So he's not actually merging Dust, he's merging Aura, his own Aura. Since you all have only Natural Aura, you can't understand, but it's possible." He smirked. "Now, onto 'Stage Two', this is pretty basic to explain. You do know how Aura improves your physical capabilities, right? Lets you move faster, hit stronger, tank more strikes, and the more Aura you push into your body, the more it will help you. Well, this is more or less the same. Only, instead of imbuing his body with concentrated Aura to increment his abilities, like for a sprint, or a heavy hit, or a quick defence, he concentrates his Dust Aura and then uses it. It's like using a distilled product, which is stronger than a non-distilled one."
Everyone nodded. That made sense. "But, just how much has he trained to do that?" Nora spoke up. "Pyrrha here trained her whole life yet she isn't half of the Swordsman."
"Ah, well, without any offence whatsoever, Pyrrha, but you've been trained to be a champion only after you unlocked your Semblance. Before, you trained hard, but not that hard. So while you are indeed stronger than most, you effectively received less training than then Swordsman. Also we must take into consideration another thing – for the first part of your training, before you could afford skilled private tutors, you were being taught in a class. At Sanctum, with more than twenty other students." Phoenix gave Pyrrha an apologetic look. He wasn't trying to offend her or undermine her achievements, he was just stating a fact. "Jaune was taught alone, or alongside Ren and Nora at the most, who didn't train as often as he did because they didn't see any point in overdoing it. So where Jaune always received training specifically tailored for him, Pyrrha only did so in the last three to four years, since she won her first Mistral Regional Tournament. Again, no offence meant. So it's logical for the Swordsman to have ended up being stronger – even though Pyrrha actually has more talent than him. He gained that combat skill by working hard, she took to it like a fish to water. In return he's better with his Semblance. More natural, so to speak. Does this answer your question?"
"It does, thank you," Ironwood nodded, immediately thinking of upping his soldiers' training to improve their Semblances as well. Maybe they would never get even close to the Swordsman's level, but it would still be an interesting and useful experiment.
"Perfect!" Phoenix clapped his hands and sat down on one of the pillows strewn across the ground. "I'm gonna watch this with you, mostly because I need to meet with Khor about something later. Anyway, shall we start?"
"Sure."
The rest of the week flew by for Jaune and RWBY. They were sitting in their last class, which was Grimm Studies, and were listening to Port going on with another of his stories. Time seemed to be going in slow motion and Jaune was losing his mind. His nerves were already on edge and this boredom was not helping him in the slightest. Luckily, the bell sounded and the class was dismissed. RWBY made their way to their dorm while Jaune went with his team to the library. He had already told them that he was going to spend a night in town by himself to blow off some steam. They didn't ask questions, mostly because by now they all knew if Jaune didn't want to talk about something, he wouldn't. They told him to have a good time before he left them to their fun at the library. Jaune stopped by the locker rooms to grab his swords, armor and Kuroibarra.
He made his way to the dorms and knocked on RWBY's door and soon Ruby opened it. Jaune just stared at the girls. They were all wearing new outfits and they looked gorgeous in his opinion. Eventually Ruby waved her hand in front of his face and he snapped out of it. "You okay, Jaune?" She asked him.
Everyone looked at Jaune, who stared right back at them. "No idea why he froze like that. Besides, a woman's beauty isn't based on her clothes."
"Fair point," everyone nodded, accepting the answer.
Phoenix chuckled. Jaune must've been growing desensitised to being embarrassed due to constant exposure to it. Just a dozen viewings ago, he would've at the very least blushed. Or said something suave while not meaning to be suave. Or embarrass himself. Or all of the above.
"Yeah. Sorry about that." He said slightly embarrassed.
Yang gave him a teasing smile before she spoke, "See something you like, Hero?"
Jaune blushed slightly, "Uh, yeah. Sorry but I'm not used to seeing you girls in anything besides your battle attire and uniforms. You all look great by the way." He smiled.
"Hey, we do have casual clothes!" Yang protested, then wilted when everyone stared flatly at her.
"Even your casual clothes are just slightly modified versions of your normal combat outfits," Jaune replied. "Not that I'm the one to talk, my casual outfit is literally the same clothes, but without armour…"
"Hunters do prefer to stay in their combat attires as they are always ready to fight in case of emergencies," Goodwitch commented, defending her students. "However, you are students. You are allowed a bit of diversity in your wardrobe."
The girls all blushed at that and Blake had to resist from kissing him in front of her team. "Thank you, Jaune. That means a lot." She said when she got her senses back.
This time the stares went to Blake, who shrugged.
"Why is it so easy to fluster Blake in that world?" Sun complained to himself.
Cinder patted his shoulder. "There there. This is what happens when you rely on your 'fluff'."
"…you're evil."
"I know."
Phoenix shook his head. What the hell was going on with Cinder and Sun?
"Well, since you all are dressing for the occasion, I might as well too." He smirked and walked to his dorm. "Give me five minutes." He said as he entered his dorm. He placed his swords on his desk and his armor on his bed he went to his closet to grab the clothes he got from Velvet and Coco. He put his black jeans on and attached his greaves to them before he put his belt on that he got from Weiss. He attached Kuroibarra to the back, in between his fire and wind clips, along with his scroll, between his fire and water clips. He put on the skin tight long sleeve black shirt that extended up his neck. He then wore his vambracers, rerebrace and chest plate over his shirt before he grabbed the silver hoodie to put over it all. He had it zipped only half way up so you could see the white armor on his chest along with the black shirt. He finally attached his swords to his back and made sure his gloves were on comfortably before he made his way back over to RWBY's. He knocked and Ruby opened it again and the four girls just stared at him.
Jaune smirked at them, "See something you like?" He said, imitating Yang.
"Don't even look at me, because I have no idea why he would do such a thing," Jaune spoke up before anyone could turn to him. Phoenix hid a chuckle at the pre-emptive security measure. "I'd never say something like that."
The girls shook themselves from their stupors and blushed. Jaune chuckled at them before Ruby clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention. "Right! Everyone remember their roles?"
Weiss started, "You and I will head to the CCT and check the Schnee records for any other Dust robberies or inconsistencies. Seeing as I'm in the family, it shouldn't be a problem."
Blake spoke next, "The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members. If I can get in, I can hopefully find out what they're planning."
Yang followed up, "I have an old friend on the shady side of town that typically knows everything going on in Vale. Getting information out of him shouldn't be too hard."
"Ms Xiao Long, are you saying you are in contact with one of Vale's best info brokers, and you have told exactly no one?!" Ironwood growled before turning to Ozpin and hissing, "These are your warriors, Ozpin? Children with no respect for authority, and whose desire to do good leads them to breaking the law over and over just because they feel like they're above the law?!"
"James-"
"Don't you 'James' me, Ozpin! Out of all your students, who are your best? A team whose leader is a faker, and a team who willingly breaks oh-so-many laws just because they think they're the smartest on Remnant and thus whatever they do will be the right thing." Ironwood was close to pulling his hair out. "Phoenix, help me out on this – you're the only one who can convince him!"
Phoenix sighed at being called in like that. "Unfortunately, I must agree with Ironwood. Team RWBY has shown several times that they do not think their plans through, do not care for authority or laws, and try to do good even when it means committing crimes, minor as they are."
"However."
That froze Ironwood's smile and RWBY's downcast expression.
"It is also true that this is also their strength. I normally don't condone it, but if the Hunters and the authority show to be so incompetent students can do better, then I see why they did it. They did more at fighting Torchwick and the White Fang than anyone else. As I said, I do not condone what they did, but would it be better to leave idiots in charge? Because as far as I see, authority has no idea how to handle things. Torchwick and the White Fang could've easily been stopped had the authority wanted to do so. All that was needed was some Faunus Hunters to infiltrate the Fang. But instead, no one did anything. Even after Team RWBY took action, they were the only ones." He snorted. "Not to mention that authority is also very slow to take action when needed. When Team RWBY crashed the train from Mt Glenn, it took less time for Team JNPR, who were at Beacon, to arrive, rather than the almighty Atlasian military with the top-of-the-line robots and warships. So in the end, I think it's whether the laws mean more than human lives. As long as the authority doesn't its job, I see no reason to respect it when it comes to saving lives."
Ironwood was left speechless, as were the students.
Phoenix suddenly frowned, though. "However… this does not make your plans any less risky and ill-thought-out. Some of them worked out for sheer luck. You were lucky that at the docks you had an overpowered Huntress to help you, and you were lucky Torchwick was in a hurry at Mt Glenn… also, without Dr Oobleck, those Paladins would've crushed you. You really need to work on your planning. You may be a good tactician, Ruby, but if you can't form a decent plan beforehand, then one day you will get in a situation you won't be able to get out of."
And on that final note, the viewing continued.
"And I will be tagging along with Yang to make sure she doesn't get arrested or cause too much damage to the city. So, I'm babysitting." He said with a smile and Yang punched him on his arm and pouted. Everyone laughed at that.
"Great!" Ruby said with enthusiasm. "We'll meet up tonight near Yang and Jaune to go over what we found. Let's do this!"
"Yeah!" they all heard a voice coming from the window and on reflex Jaune grabbed Kuroibarra and threw it at the voice. Luckily for the person, Jaune was out of practice and it got lodged into the windowsill. They all looked to see Sun hanging upside down by his tail outside the window looking shocked.
"Nice reaction time."
"You do know you're telling that to the wrong version of me, right?"
"Are we just gonna ignore the guy was spying on an all-girl dorm room?" Qrow growled. If there was one thing he hated, it was perverts. And boys around his little girls. And being sober. And Grimm. And Salem. And Winter. Scratch that and put Winter in first place.
"I was just passing by and noted they were talking about Torchwick," Sun explained with a shrug. "No need to get angry about it."
Team RWBY all shot him glares, which went ignored.
"Damn it, Sun." Jaune said as he walked over to the window and pulled out his dagger. "You're so lucky I'm rusty." he said as he put his dagger away.
"Yeah, right," Sun chuckled before freaking out as a knife landed not two inches from his leg. "What the hell?!"
To everyone surprise, it had been not Jaune, but…
"Not everyone is 'rusty'," Ren said, arm still outstretched. He didn't like to act out like that, but Sun needed to understand that hanging around some girls' window 'just because' was not something he should ever do again.
Aaaaand now Sun is scared of Ren.
"Sorry, jeez!" he said as he flipped into the room. "Didn't think you'd react like that. So, are we finally getting back at that Torchwick prick?"
"Sorry, Sun, we don't want to get friends involved if we don't have to." Ruby said.
Sun looked at Jaune with a raised eyebrow before Jaune answered the unasked question, "I found out from the get-go and refused to not be included."
Sun nodded, "Well, I'm agreeing with my blonde brother and so does Neptune." He said as he pointed his thumb out the window.
The five leant out to see Neptune standing on the ledge by the window, acting cool. "Sup?" is all he says.
"How'd you even get up here? Ruby asked.
"I have my ways. But seriously, can I come in? We're like really high up." He said nervously.
"He either climbed up the water pipe, or was brought up by Sun," Jaune commented. "No way he got there in any other way – there are no other ways."
"Maybe he can fly?"
"Doubt it."
Sun laughed. "I brought him up. Piggyback-style. He wasn't too happy about that, but that's Neptune for you. He's cool, but he doesn't know when to stop being cool."
Jaune just sighed, "Don't be a baby. I jumped out of this window before and I was fine." He said this as he helped Neptune inside. They stood in a circle and Ruby decided on the new plan.
"Way to rub it in everyone's face that you have a lot of Aura," Yang snickered, causing him to pout. "Oh, come on, I was just teasing, you big baby."
Jaune's very mature response was a raspberry.
"Alright, Sun, you'll go with Blake. Since you're also a Faunus, you can back her up if things hit the fan." Sun stepped beside her and Blake didn't look happy. She gave Jaune a sideways look and Jaune just smiled with a small nod, meaning 'It's fine.' She gave her own nod and accepted the team up. "And, Neptune can go with Yang and Jaune."
"Uh, Rubes, my bike sits two." Yang said raising two fingers.
"And even though I could keep up on foot, I don't wanna burn through my supply of lightning dust just yet, Rosebud." Jaune added.
"Your bike sits as many people as you want, remember when you brought home six people, all on your bike?" Ruby grumbled. "You just don't want him with you and Jaune."
Yang shrugged. As long as her other self wasn't called out on that, she didn't care.
Ruby thought about that and sighed, "Guess that means Neptune can tag along with us." Weiss looked happy at this and looked at Jaune who put a fake smile on for her. "Alright, let's head out!" Ruby declared.
They all started to leave and Jaune whispered, just barely audibly, "Be careful." Blake heard him and just nodded to him.
Weiss grumbled. Neptune might've been cool, and she could believe Sun when he said that he was a good friend, but he wasn't exactly boyfriend material. He would've been okay… hadn't it been for his skirt-chasing ways.
Pyrrha patted her shoulder comfortingly, seeing as the rest of her team wasn't close by.
Jaune eventually found himself on Yang's bike, seated behind her and holding onto her as she drove in and out of traffic at high speeds. He was shocked by this at first but eventually came to the conclusion that this was Yang and shouldn't be surprised at this point. He also realized this was the closest he's been to her in a while. He could smell her shampoo because of their close proximity and he could only smile. Unlike Blake, Yang had a way to just energize him when she was near. He was taken out of his thoughts when she spoke over the wind. "Going too fast for you, Hero?"
"Knowing you, it should've been obvious you wouldn't have gone slow," Jaune sighed. His motion sickness might've been helped by his Aura, but he still didn't like going so fast, for safety measure. He wasn't a thrillseeker.
"Hey, we needed to be fast, I delivered fast," Yang grinned like crazy, loving to go so fast on her bike.
"Why didn't you dad buy you a bicycle? At least then you wouldn't have been able to go too fast without breaking it…"
"Shut it Angel Boy!"
Jaune just rolled his eyes, "Yang, I literally move as fast as lightning. If anything you are too slow."
She turned slightly to look at him. "That a challenge?" she asked seriously.
Jaune just smirked, "It is."
She turned back to the road, "Better hold on tight then."
Jaune just smiled, "Yes, ma'am." Was all he said as he wrapped his arms around her stomach a bit tighter and scooted closer to leaned against her back. She smiled and blushed before she kicked it into high gear and drove even more erratic if that was even possible.
"Yang blushing out of mere contact? I'll believe it when it'll actually happen," Jaune snorted, wrapping an arm around the girl to prove his point. "If anything, if something does this, she's more likely to punch their lights out…. Preceded by their teeth."
Silence was all the answer he got. Blinking at that, he looked around to see everyone's shocked faces, Qrow's and Goodwitch's outraged ones, Phoenix turning red to try and contain his laughters, and Yang also glowing red like a stoplight.
Wait a second, why was Yang bl-
He was touching something very soft.
He flexed his fingers.
Yang eeped.
Jaune fainted in shock and embarrassment, and finally Phoenix's roaring laugh rang out, unlikely to stop anytime soon.
Waking Jaune up proved to be impossible, and all they could do was to turn back to the screen, with Yang still bright red.
They soon made it into a ruined part of Vale and they arrived at their destination. The two got off the bike and Yang removed her helmet. "That fast enough for you?" she smirked at him.
He returned it, "Close but I'm sure you just did that so I would hold you."
She just smiled and teasingly said, "I'll never tell." She started to walk away with a noticeable sway in her hips, "Come on, my friend is in here."
Jaune shook his head slightly with a smile before following her, "And where is here?" Jaune saw two people dressed in identical black suits and hats with red sunglasses but as soon as they saw Yang they ran into the building. Jaune just raised an eyebrow. "Yang, what did you do the last time you were here?"
Yang shrugged, "Asked for information and when they were being rude, I kicked their asses." She said before she added sheepishly, "And maybe destroyed the club."
Ironwood looked at Phoenix, who shrugged. As he said, he didn't condone their actions. That particular tantrum of Yang's had really looked useless and needlessly violent.
Jaune just sighed and ran a hand down his face, "I really shouldn't be surprised by your antics anymore, Sun Fire." She just smiled at him. They made it in time to see the henchmen close the doors behind them. Yang cracked her knuckles but Jaune placed his hand on her shoulder, "Allow me to get the door for you, Milady." She smiled and nodded. He grabbed Kakiri's handle with his right hand and his eyes shifted to red before he kicked the door in. He saw a number of henchmen holding guns at him and all he did was raise an eyebrow before Yang stepped forward.
"Guess who's back!" is all she shouted but no one lowered their weapons.
"Mind defining friend for me? Because if they're your friends than I must be your husband by this point." Jaune said casually and missed Yang's blush.
"Or brother," Ruby added.
"Or father," Weiss grinned, joining in.
Yang grinned mischievously. "Or bike. So that I can mount him properly."
A ton of booing and footwear soon buried the poor girl. Though to be honest, she asked for that.
Soon a big guy in a suit stepped forward. "Stop, stop! Nobody shoot! Blondie, you're here. Why?"
Yang just walked forward, "You still owe me a drink." She said as she started to drag him away. Jaune just chuckled and followed her, missing the stares he got from the twins standing at the door.
The big guy was now behind the bar and Yang was in front of the bar and was handed a Strawberry Sunrise. She was sipping it and he looked to Jaune. "You want something?" he said somewhat rude.
Jaune shrugged. "Might as well. Rum and coke." He said as he put some Lien on the table. The big guy took the money and handed Jaune his drink. He took a sip and found it perfect. He soon noticed Yang looking at him with a smile as her finger traces the top of her glass. "What?"
"Didn't know you drink." she said teasingly.
"I didn't but your uncle is a bad influence. Besides, with my aura levels one drink doesn't do much." Jaune said as he took another sip.
"Jaune can drink a pro drunkard under the table," Ren said with a straight face. Everyone looked at him, and he cracked a smile. "Just kidding. He hates alcohol. It makes him light-headed and slightly murderous."
"Fits with the family he's got," Blake commented, and many shuddered at the thought of the Arc family.
"I don't think Russel is ever going to look at Jaune again without shitting his pants," Nora grinned cheerfully.
"So, is this your boyfriend, Blondie?" The big guy asked while crossing his arms over his chest.
Yang just turned to him, "That's not any of your business. What you need to know is that if you don't tell me what I want to know, I may make an even bigger mess than last time, Junior."
Junior gulped before turning to Jaune, "Don't look at me. I'm just here to make sure she doesn't kill anyone." He looked at her, "But maiming and serious injuries are still allowed."
"MAIMING AND SERIOUS INJURIES ARE NOT ALLOWED!" No secret who that was.
Yang smiled evilly and turned back to Junior, who was now sweating bullets. Jaune turned away and leaned against the bar sipping his drink. He was fine with letting Yang handling this, the old bad cop and not caring cop always works. Soon he heard a conversation from two of the henchmen further down the bar from them.
"I don't understand why the boss puts up with that bimbo." The first one said.
"Maybe because she can kick everyone's asses to Hell and back?" Nora grinned scarily.
"It shouldn't be allowed," Winter stated sternly. "She should be expelled from Beacon for a crime against a civilian. Against several civilians. Criminals or not, they are still human beings and you injured several of them."
Yang shrugged, not seeing her point.
"He's probably getting some on the side. I mean, look at her. There's no way she hasn't been around the block once or twice." The second said in a sneer.
"Fuckers." Everyone was shocked to hear Pyrrha say such a thing, but the champion didn't care. "I hate when people think that a pretty girl can't be worth of respect and that if she has contacts in high places, she must've gotten there by whoring herself out."
Still shocked by her foul mouth, Weiss nodded shakily in agreement.
"True. Maybe if we pay her enough she'll give us a go." The first said and they both started laughing. That was until Jaune grabbed them by their throats before he threw them across the club and into the far wall. They fell and saw Jaune walking over, clearly angry.
"Wanna say that again? Because I'm all ears!" he shouted while cracking his knuckles. He soon saw all the other henchmen pull their guns and aim at him. "Wrong choice." Was all he said before the air around him burst into flames, making him look like some kind of demon. "Who's got the balls?" was all he asked with a sadistic smile on his face. They were all shaking now. "Thought so. Now, let me make this clear. Any of you so much as look at Sun Fire wrong and I'll have to show you what happens when I'm pissed." He said with a commanding tone as the henchmen were still shaking in their boots. He stared them down for a little while before he extinguished the flames. He walked back over to the bar. Junior was terrified and Yang was just shocked. "Has he talked yet?"
"Our Jaune could look like a literal Angel of Vengeance with a little practice in intimidation," Nora grinned, thinking of the possibilities. "Or a little bit of alcohol~"
"Nora, we are not drugging Jaune just so you can have a partner in wrecking havoc."
"Aww…"
"Not unless I can have some too."
Nora froze and shivered. "Renny, no. No alcohol." Ren grumbled and turned away. In response to the questioning stares, Nora shivered again. "A drunk Ren is terrifying. The last time we fought a Grimm when he was drunk, he took thirty minutes to kill it…"
"That's a lot, I'm guessing he's not very coordinated?" Yang guessed, fairly familiar with the symptoms of drunkenness.
"No, he defeated it in a bit over thirty seconds. The rest was torture."
A shocked silence fell on the room.
"Ren, are you sure your last name is Lie and not Arc?" Blake asked, starting to get scared of the seemingly normal people in their group.
"Actually, my last name is Ren, not Lie. From where I come from, we call each other by last names," the stoic boy replied… well, stoically. "But I can assure you I am not related to Jaune as far as I know."
Yang just shook her head, "No. He's being difficult." She turned back to Junior with her eyes red now.
Junior was terrified of the two red eyed blondes staring him down. "I already told you everything! Torchwick hired my boys, and I guess he wasn't happy with them, which is something I can relate to!" He shouted the last part to the henchmen.
Yang just sighed and finished her drink, "Come on, Jaune." She started walking away from the bar. Jaune finished his drink before following her.
"We get everything we needed?" He asked.
"Everything we can. Hopefully the rest of the team is having better luck." The two of them were now outside and it was on the colder side. Jaune used his Semblance to create a small fireball in his hand to keep them warm. They were waiting to hear from the rest of the team. "You didn't need to do that, Jaune. I can handle myself."
"I know. But they pissed me off. They have no right to talk about you like that." He got slightly angry and the fireball got hotter and bigger before he calmed down and it returned to normal.
"Honestly, I think I would've probably wrecked the whole local a second time," Yang commented. "So he saved them more than me…"
"Aww, why are you allowed to wreck people while I am not?!" Nora pouted, deeply hurt that she, the Harbinger of Chaos, was not allowed to destroy things while the destroyer-wannabe across the hall could and was barely told off for it!
Ozpin chose not to answer that one. Call him a chicken, but he knew when he needed to shut his mouth.
"Let them talk. Not like it matters what they think about me, as long as the people who matter know the truth."
"Maybe but they shouldn't talk about you when they don't know just how amazing you really are." Jaune said honestly.
Yang just smiled, "Keep this up and I'll think you've fallen for me."
Jaune didn't say anything before he took a deep breath and looked at her in the eyes. "I have." He said with as much honesty as he could.
Aaaaand everyone deadpanned at that. "Seriously?" asked Weiss, a tick mark on her forehead. "Just like that, out in the open without even explaining?"
Phoenix grinned. It seemed they didn't like the romantic parts as much as he did.
"It's getting old," Ozpin told him, as if he could read his thoughts. "As much as I wish all the happiness I can on the Swordsman, these kinds of situations are honestly getting… normal. And as normal they are starting to be… boring, if I may use that word without offence."
Phoenix just shrugged. "Everyone's got opinions. Honestly, I think we're lucky to be watching this instead of some horror universe where people get raped and tortured to death every two minutes just for the fun of it."
Yang's eyes went wide and she hugged him tightly. "You, you idiot! Why haven't you told me sooner?" Jaune lost his concentration and the fireball faded out of existence.
Jaune just sighed, "Because it's complicated." Yang just looked at him confused. Jaune closed his eyes and steeled himself. He looked back to her. "Yang, you aren't the only one I've fallen in love with." Her eyes showed shock but Jaune had to continue or he'd lose his nerve. "I've fallen for you, Blake, Pyrrha and most recently, Weiss and Ruby. I didn't know what to do. I want to make you all happy but I knew that wasn't possible and eventually I'd hurt all of you. My mother found out and told me to just listen to my heart and do what it says. And it's telling me that I love you all." He turned away slightly. "And that just makes me sound so conceited."
Weiss's tick mark got even bigger. 'He's not so unlike Neptune,' she seethed silently, glancing at their own Jaune. 'At least he realizes what kind of mess this is, and is not only confused, but reluctant. The reason why he's been going along with this is not to hurt any of their feelings. He is actually aware of it means to have a harem. And how unlikely it is to work no matter what.'
Blissfully unaware of the heiress's thoughts, Pyrrha's were instead going in a different direction. 'Do I really want to share him? Sure, if he were to pursue other girls, I would support him but… once we start dating, will I be okay seeing him being with others? I supported him with Weiss yet it hurt… would this hurt as well? Would it work? And why am I imagining myself and Jaune and the others in a sevensome?! Is that even a word?! And no human being has that much stamina!'
Yang was just staring in shock but eventually she found her voice, "Do any of the others know?"
Jaune nodded, "Blake does. She knows everything and she's the one that is trying to convince me to go along with... 'it'."
"It?" Yang asked.
Jaune took another deep breath, "My mother said that even if I fell in love with and even dated multiple girls, that my family would accept it. Blake heard this and agreed to it, as crazy as that sounds." He looked back to her. "She thinks that as long as I love you all equally and treat you with respect, we could make it work."
Yang was going through a mental overload at this point, "You want a harem?" She said in disbelief.
"We were bound to find out sooner or later, but still, being told that the guy you have a crush on is in love with four other girls… man, that must be quite the psychological bombshell," Yang commented, wincing in sympathy for her other self. 'Is that how Jaune feels? Or does Jaune feel even worse?'
Jaune just shrugged, "I don't know. I want you all to be happy, if I can do that and if you all are okay with that then I would agree. But, if not." He sighed, "I would let you all go and let you find someone else to be happy with."
Weiss was not completely impressed. That sounded nice, but honestly, in the end it was simply being a normal person and not a yandere or something.
Yang was just taking all of this in. She didn't know what to say. Jaune was always so honest, even now she could hear the sincerity in his words. He truly cared for all of them and he wanted them to be happy. But, could this actually work? Could she be okay with this? The train of thought was broken when both of their scrolls started to go off. Blake's voice came through, "Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-" She was interrupted by Sun. "HELP! Big robot! And it's big! Really big! That Torchwick prick is in it! But not, like, it didn't eat him; he's, like, controlling it or something!"
Yang spoke up, "Where are you guys?"
Both of them turned to see Blake and Sun running through the street behind them with a Paladin in hot pursuit and Sun was shouting, "HURRY!"
Jaune just turned to Yang, "That was convenient." Yang quickly jumped on her bike and Jaune grabbed Raikiri's handle and his eyes shifted to yellow. "I'll go on ahead."
Before she could argue, Jaune took off in a bolt of lightning. Yang just muttered out, "You better be safe. We have things to discuss."
"Damn yes we do," Yang nodded in agreement with her alternate self.
Phoenix just shrugged. "Well, then why didn't you discuss them with your Jaune?"
"Huh…"
"Just as I thought. You didn't think of it," Phoenix sighed in faux disappointment. "My advice is that after the viewing, you, Ruby, Blake and Jaune have a talk. I mean, I'm all for you guys being together but… I'm not forcing you or anything. You gotta be happy to make it work and right now none of you is happy. Jaune's under pressure… well, actually he's down for the count right now, but you know what I mean. And you three are worried and tense and nervous because of what could be the outcome of his thinking break time. You fear he might reject one or more of you, and even worse you feel guilty because you hope it's the other two and not you. You may be teenagers but you're training to become Hunters. Act like adults, and talk about it."
"Most adults-"
"Most adults aren't adults in the head but only in body," Phoenix cut Ruby off. "Also, missy, the old excuse of 'most people don't' doesn't work against me. I am excuse-proof."
A beat of silence.
"Yes, I just invented that word. Deal with it."
Jaune followed behind them but only caught up when they were running down the highway. Jaune went full speed past the Paladin and landed on a car in front of Sun and Blake. "I thought Yang was the one that started trouble? Not you, Kitten."
"HEY!" Yang was then cowed by everyone's glares. "I… don't… cause trouble…"
"Should we start listing off?" Goodwitch scowled at her, remembering all the property damage Ozpin conveniently waved off and told her to repair.
"N-No! Let's continue!"
"Can we talk about this later?" Blake asked. Jaune nodded before he raised his hand into the air. He channeled all of his electricity between them before he shot a giant arc of lightning at it. The Paladin got hit and stopped for a few seconds before it started to run at them again.
Jaune was breathing hard as his eyes shifted back to normal, "Well, that didn't work." Soon the Paladin was taking blasts from above and all three of them saw Neptune jump off of an overpass and impale it with a trident. Sun quickly created two clones and sent them at the Paladin. They shattered against it and Sun jumped towards it with his bo staff, but it just spun and knocked Neptune into him. Which sent those two off the highway. Jaune just sighed. Soon Weiss jumped down from another overpass and impaled Myrtenaster into the road to create a sheet of ice. It lost its footing and slid directly at Weiss. Jaune drew Kakiri with his right and Dokiri with his left. As his eyes shifted to the respective colors, he used his aura and jumped towards it. He intercepted the Paladin before it could reach Weiss and the force pushed the two off the ramp and landed below. Jaune jumped and rolled to land beside Ruby.
"That didn't happen," Weiss stated flatly. She might not like Neptune, doubting every single one of the Swordsman's actions, but she still didn't like being belittled. She had calculated perfectly well how the mech would've slid down and fallen off the street.
Everyone just shrugged. Alternative universe dynamics were weird. Even Phoenix didn't fully understand how the hell some things happened.
'Jaune being Salem's son? Okay. Jaune being Ozpin's son? Okay. Jaune being Salem's and Ozpin's grand-grand-grand-grand-times-million-grands-grandson? Okay. But Jaune being Salem's and current-Ozpin's son because they decided to take a break from the war and screw each other's brains out? No, that, I will never understand.'
Soon the rest of RWBY joined them and the Paladin moved towards them, ready to fight. "Freezer Burn!" Ruby shouted as she, Blake and Jaune jumped backwards as Weiss and Yang created a mist. Jaune was so glad Ruby told him about their team moves. The Paladin starts to fire but Ruby and Jaune jump forward to cut into it causing it to falter. "Checkmate!" Ruby shouted another command. Weiss and Blake ran forward and started attacking the sensors and weak points. Jaune decided to attack its blind spot, using both his sword with his enhanced strength. The Paladin fired off some missiles, Weiss and Blake were able to dodge them but Jaune took one due to his lessened speed but it only dazed him because of his improved endurance.
Jaune stood up and saw Weiss block an energy blast before sending a Glyph at Blake. Ruby called for another command, "Ladybug!" Ruby and Blake used their increased speed, Blake's due to the Time Dilation Glyph, to start attacking the Paladin's legs. They both jumped up and cut off its left arm. Jaune grabbed it before spinning and smashing it into it, sending the whole thing off balance. Yang jumped onto the back of it and started to unload shots into it. The Paladin ran backwards and smashed her through two pillars before embedding her in the third and punches her through it. Jaune lost it and threw the arm at it before slamming his fist onto the ground. The Paladin took the hit before it was impaled by four earth spikes through the legs.
"Ohh, so that's why you were moving so fast!" Yang exclaimed, looking at Blake, who just stared blankly at her.
"Seriously?"
"What? I wasn't looking when Weiss cast her Glyph! I thought you were keeping up with my baby sister's speed on your own!"
Yang rose up with her Semblance in full effect. The Paladin threw a punch and Yang countered it with her own. The remaining arm is shattered from the force. "Bumblebee! Ice flower!" Ruby shouted. Weiss and Ruby managed to freeze the Paladin with a combo of Ice Glyphs and Crescent Rose's bullets, and along with the earth spikes, completely immobilized it. Blake, meanwhile, was spinning Yang around with Gambol Shroud. Yang gave Jaune a look and he held his hand out. She grabbed it and the two continued to gain momentum. As they were closing in, Yang let go of Gambol Shroud and the two hit it with all their strength, one with Ember Celica and the other with a fist of fire. The Paladin was sent flying and it shattered on impact with Roman falling out.
As he was getting up, dazed, he was saying, "Just go this cleaned..." he looked to see Yang fire a shot and Jaune throw a fireball. But he was saved by an ice cream colored girl, who dropped in front of them and deflected it with an umbrella. "Always a pleasure! Neo, if you would…" She curtsied with a bow and Yang charged forward to punch them, only for them to shatter and for her to get hit by the fist of another Paladin.
"There's two of them now?!" All of Team RWBY exclaimed.
"I'm getting sick of these changes too," Ironwood murmured. Next what? There were two Generals of Atlas so that the Swordsman could defeat his evil twin that threatened to destroy the whole known world?
Out of the corner of his eyes, he spied Phoenix writing something down in his notebook.
Jaune managed to catch her and slow them down. He could tell that her aura was low. He looked up to see this new Paladin running towards them. Quickly handing Yang to Blake before he shot forward and caught the fist it threw. He then stomped the ground and formed two stone pillars that sent it backwards. Jaune had enough at this point. He impaled his swords into the ground before he removed his sheathes from his back and used his strength to throw them. They landed in the ground about thirty feet away. He then removed his hoodie and handed it to Blake, "Get to my sheathes. That should be far enough for you girls to not get caught up in it." She looked at him confused until she understood what he meant. Blake and Weiss helped Yang to her feet and started moving away with Ruby as quickly as possible.
As soon as they were by the sheathes, Jaune focused and used what he learned from practicing Particle; he started to weave the burning fire in his aura with the crushing earth that also resided in him. The new energy formed quicker and more powerful than ever before. As the fusion was completing, he picked up his swords and combined them. A wave of scarlet energy erupted from his body, turning all the ground within twenty feet of him into molten rock. The Paladin sank slightly into it and the girls could feel the intense heat from it, even from ten feet away. Jaune stood in the middle of the molten rock, on the only patch of solid ground left. He was wielding a longsword that was a few inches longer than Hyokiri and Mokukiri but was still shorter than Jinkiri, due to Kakiri's new broadsword form. The circuits and edges were glowing scarlet and so were his eyes. "Erupt, Yogankiri!"
"Shouldn't it be as long as Jinkiri, since Kakiri's a greatsword either way?" Weiss questioned.
"Maybe he made it so that the length adjusts and the more swords he adds, the longer it gets," Ruby explained, or tried to. "So Kakiri would lose a bit of length with a single other sword, but retain it when used with two. Does this make sense?"
"Only barely, and only in theory."
The Paladin regained its footing but then they all heard a masculine voice come from the robot, "Impressive, human scum. But this won't stop me! We will make you kneel to the White Fang!" It shot a volley of missiles towards him and Jaune just raised his hand, a wave of lava came up and absorbed the missiles before it solidified and exploded. Before the White Fang member could react, Jaune swung his sword upwards and sent a wave of molten rock towards it. It was hit and sent backwards and as it slowed down, Jaune stomped his foot to send up five molten rocks from the ground and sent them at the Paladin. It got bombarded before opening fire on Jaune with all of its guns. Jaune brought up another wave of lava to solidify it into a wall and shot off to the side with his aura. He started to surf on the lava by solidifying the lava below him and turning it into an impromptu surfboard. He made a series of slashes and sent crescent shaped molten rock from the ground at the White Fang member. The rock started to heat up the metal of the Paladin, warping it before the rock solidified again.
"That's way too overpowered," Winter deadpanned.
Phoenix shrugged. "I explain how once, I'm not gonna do it again. Besides, be glad he's not on the level where he can manipulate matter and energy with his mind, without Dust."
Everyone looked at him flatly.
He just shrugged once more. "What? If you train your Semblance enough, anyone can reach that. I knew one guy who reached the point where he manipulated time… then he got lost in time and I've never seen him since. Too bad, he made some wicked dishes."
Jaune winced in pain and noticed that his sleeves were burnt up to his elbows from the intense heat and he had severe burns on his arms. 'Better wrap this up, now.' Jaune thought before he jumped with his aura and landed in front of the Paladin, he impaled Yogankiri into the ground and liquefied the ground below the Paladin and it sank up to its waist. Jaune started to slash into it, the heat of the blade melting into the metal with each slash. It punched him in the chest to try to get him away from it. But he tanked the hit but slid back a few feet. The Paladin went for a last ditch effort and tried to fire its energy blast at close range. Jaune swung Yogankiri with two hands into the ground and the lava it was stuck in erupted. The Paladin was thrown up by the force of the eruption and slammed into the ground shortly after. It was barely recognizable now, from the impact and the intense heat warping the entire thing.
Jaune tore open the cockpit and the beaten White Fang member fell out of it. He was still in uniform but he could see his wolf tail. In a ragged voice he started to speak, "Do it, human. I don't need your pity. Finish what you started!"
Jaune raised his sword with the intent to bring it down through his chest but stopped. He was beaten and his death would just be one more he'd have to live with. He lowered his arm and pointed his other hand at the molten rock, solidifying it. "No. Your life isn't worth more of my soul." Jaune stated as he was walking away. Jaune looked to see that his shirt sleeves were burnt off completely now and the burns went almost up to his shoulders. His armor was also red hot at this point and his chest plate had a huge dent in it. If not for his aura, his chest would've been crushed, going by how the armor looked. He was making his way over to RWBY and they were all shocked by his display.
"So I guess extreme heat is the Elemental Backlash for that," Weiss noted, slightly worried.
"Well, thus far it's the most dangerous," Yang replied. "Nothing's ever compared to this. Well, not exactly but still…"
But something inside of him told him to turn around and as he did he saw the White Fang member holding a rifle and aiming it at the girls behind him. The world seemed to go in slow motion. Not even hesitating, he quickly jumped to his right and swung his sword towards him. A wave of molten rock surged towards the White Fang member as he heard the shot. Jaune felt his aura shatter and the bullet tear into the left side of his chest before it exploded out of his back. Jaune landed on the ground and dropped his sword as he heard someone screaming in intense pain.
Jaune was also in a world of pain, now that his aura was completely gone. He felt something wet and warm underneath him as he rolled to his back. His vision started to go black when he heard people screaming. He turned his head to see RWBY running towards him. Whatever they were saying, he couldn't understand. But he had content smile as his world continued to grow darker, 'At least they're safe.' Was the last thing he thought as his vision went completely black.
"No!" all the students screamed, worried sick for their friend.
"Ugh…" Jaune slowly came to again, holding his hurting head. "What happened? Did I get drunk? And why's everybody screaming, I got a bloody headache here…"
As Goodwitch explained to him what happened, everyone else continued to act on their worry in their own way. Ironwood, Qrow, Ozpin and Winter looked unaffected, though they surely hadn't liked seeing the Swordsman lose consciousness and likely die.
Cinder looked, and actually was, bored.
Sun was panicking, Yang was about to use her Semblance, Ruby was zipping all around in worry. Blake seemed in slight shock. Pyrrha had fainted. Ren was using his Semblance on both himself and Nora, cancelling the girl's emotions for the first time in years. And Weiss felt guilty for all the bad thoughts she'd had about the Swordsman… even though he deserved those.
And then everyone froze.
Phoenix hummed contentedly as small blue crystals began to appear in the air in front of them.
"Is it the other guy?"
"Key or whatever his name was?"
"Yeah, him, do you think he's here to send us back?"
"Wait, but… wouldn't that mean…"
"T-That the Swordsman…?"
Phoenix shook his head, slightly amused. Of course the story wasn't over. That'd be so very disappointing. He was better than that. Even had the Swordsman died, he would've still at least written an epilogue to tie things up, not leave such an open mess as end of the story.
"Not feeling like talking with them?" he asked idly.
"Aaargh! Phoenix's impossible to get!"
A young man walked up to him from behind and stood with his arms crossed.
He was an odd man to say the least, with deep violent dragon wings adorning his back, small horns poking out of his hair on his forehead, draconic eyes and amethyst crystals embedded into the skin of his hands and face. Other than that, he had long brown hair tied in a ponytail that went down his back and greenish-brown eyes, and a Van Dyke goatee. The crystals appeared on his forehead, three in a line, on his cheeks, looking like large freckles, on the back of his neck, on the back of his hands and on his wings. The skin of his hands and around his eyes had delicate purple scales covering it, though he had no claws.
He also wore some sort of scale-made armour that covered his entire torso, legs and arms up to the hands, though a pair of gauntlets were hanging from his belt, sign he had simply taken them off. Over the armour he wore a black vest with his symbol, a rose with dragon wings, the Dragon Rose, emblazoned on front and back.
"I'm far from 'impossible to get'," Phoenix snorted.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." For a few seconds, the two just watched as the Watchers continued to stare at the falling crystals and fire out guesses as to why he was coming. "Did they seriously not notice me?"
"Seems so."
"And did they forget that you are the one who wrote that, and thus could answer their questions as to whether Big J's dead or not?"
"I may or may not have used my magic to make them forget… I'd like not to spoil the surprise."
"Huh…" Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh, for obviously it was him, just shrugged and then shook his head. "Anyway! Wanted to see me, huh? I'm guessing it's for your 'secret project'."
"It's not a secret."
"Of course it's not, there are only two people in existence who know about it, but it's not a secret."
"…You're annoying."
"I try my best. So!" Khor produced a large chunk of metal from somewhere on his person. He had been practising his Dimensional Anime Store/Inventory. "Auruthystus, the best I got. But you might want to use it's draconic name when you're forging it, makes magic flow better. It's Viennkhor. Or Khorvienn, either is fine actually."
The metal looked… interesting to say the least. One second one might say it looked like any normal chunk of gold, but soon a purplish tint would spread, and in a few second, the metal would look like a piece of amethyst. Yet, gold would soon return, and again and again in a never-ending circle.
There was a reason why the Joak-Khazerak, or Gem-Metals, were kept away from people's eyes. They could give anyone a headache by looking at them for too long.
"Ah, I will keep that in mind," Phoenix thanked him with a smile as he took the metal. "But… shouldn't you be with the guys… huh… the Vikings… at the moment?"
"Froze time over there. I didn't want to excuse myself and show them that there is a way outta there yet," Khor replied with a shrug. "That, and H is far too smart. I'd rather not have him figure out a way to open the door and get lost in my fortress."
"That'd be a sight to see."
"That'd be a nightmare for me."
The two shared a chuckle before Khor yawned and decided he'd stayed enough. "Well, I guess I'm going back in there. Good luck with your secret project."
"It's… really, not a secret."
"Eh, details." Khor walked away.
As soon as he disappeared from view, the crystals stopped appearing.
"Wait, where is the guy?" Yang wondered, having forgotten the houseowner's actual name. "I thought he was coming here. Phoenix, do you know wh-"
She barely managed to catch the final embers of a fire before even those disappeared, and no Writer could be seen on the rock balcony they were housed on.
"-ere did he go?"