When he exited the room, the first person he saw was a White Fang member, clearly concerned by whatever noises they were hearing from his former location. She looked confused- even though he couldn't see her eyes- and Jaune shrugged in response. He had just talked his way out of an encounter with someone he could only assume was the final boss. This singular White Fang grunt did not intimidate him in the slightest. At her questioning look, though, he gave a response.

"I don't know, take it up with her." This clearly did not answer whatever silent question the faunus extremist had in mind, but Jaune pushed passed her anyway and opened the neighboring door to Pyrrha's hideout. "Pyrrha, we got to go!" He called, not immediately spotting her. This room contained a plethora of foodstuffs, and the champion jumped out of a pile of potatoes to reveal herself. Still not quite used to the new outfit, the leader of Team PBNY awkwardly removed a potato from her sweatshirt pocket before regaining herself.

"What's wrong?" She asked, now in full fight mode. Pyrrha made a move for the White Fang grunt, but Jaune stopped her. Already, Cinder's room steamed out copious amounts of smoke.

"The plans have changed. This place is a lost cause- it's about to burn down- but we have bigger problems to worry about. Come on." The briskly walked back to where they had entered the compound, leaving the utterly confused faunus and the flaming criminal mastermind behind.

Jaune explained the situation to Pyrrha- sans the specific mentioning of Cinder- as they made their way to the police blockade that had since been set up around the facility by Sun. While he talked, he also messaged the rest of their compatriots on his scroll, giving them the same general rundown of Pyrrha. Time was of the essence. Any questions could be held until later.

"Jaune, I've had most of the force go on ahead to secure the area. Beacon has also been contacted to provide reinforcements. Do you know exactly where the train will hit the city?" Sun questioned once they met up.

"Unfortunately, no."

"Very well. There are still a few cars left to escort you and your friends. We'll need all the aura we can get if what you're saying is accurate." Pyrrha and Jaune entered the police car dutifully, and were driving in the general direction Cinder had given him in no time.

Sun's words caused him to think, however. Was the location Cinder provided him accurate? And in that same case, was the threat even real? She could have made the threat simply to give herself a chance of escape, not realizing just how pathetic in battle Jaune really was. Or, the train could be hitting the city in the exact opposite location of where they were heading, just so she could cause a little more chaos with her foiled plan. The little Jaune knew of this menace, oddly enough, made him think otherwise. She just didn't seem like the type to make empty threats… Though she might be the type to send him in the wrong direction. Any doubts of an eminent Grimm attack in his mind were eradicated when-

BOOM!

Yes, that. An explosion was heard across the city, in the very direction the police were heading.

Cinder hadn't lied. Though that thought made him more nervous than relieved. The Grimm were coming, and anyone who died would die for his miscalculations. This wasn't like the date- Something fishy went on that night. No, every choice he made leading up to this moment was deliberate. But there was no more time for self pity, there were Grimm to slay.

Being the first hunters on the scene, Pyrrha and Jaune were thrust into the thick of the fight. True to Cinder's word, a sizable portion of Grimm poured from the gaping wreckage caused by a dust filled train. The police aided them the best they could, but most were focused on setting up barriers and escorting civilians to safety. Only Sun entered the fray alongside the Beacon students. Most likely, he was the only officer with aura there.

At this point in his journey, Beowulves were nothing to Jaune- though, seven all at once still gave him problems. If he wanted to stay on top of the impending hoard, he'd have to get creative. So that's exactly what he did.

Two charging Beowulves crashed into each other when he dodged out of the way. Each was given a quick slice to the neck and rendered to dust. Another approached from the side, but was blocked by his shield. He jammed the pointed end into the wolf's skull as he cut another's stomach open when it leaped at him through the air. Two more Grimm were taken out without much problem, and the final Beowulf… Well, he was used to get a headstart on the next wave.

When this wolf charged, Jaune dropped his sword and shield. He delivered an uppercut with an open hand to the Grimm, using the momentum and upward force to get another hand under its stomach. Heaving the creature above his head, Jaune took only a single breath before his hands erupted into flames. The Beowulf was then thrown into the next tide of enemies, dying just as it made contacted with the face of an Ursa. And the hunter knew it died then too, because at that moment, it exploded into flaming dust particles, which themselves landed on the surrounding Grimm, causing many of them to catch on fire next.

In all honesty, Jaune was proud of this moment. Perhaps a little too proud, as next up a Deathstalker scuttled into his multi kill zone, smothering the flames with its massive body.

"Crap." The leader of Team JWLR spoke his first word since the start of the scuffle. He couldn't kill a Deathstalker on his own!

"Duck!" A beautiful voice cried just behind him. Jaune moved without thinking, watching as a bolt of ice sailed over his head and into the face of the giant Grimm. He turned around to get an inspiring and- honestly- sexy view. There Weiss stood, atop some rubble, her hair flying in the wind and a determined smirk on her face. As Gamer's Mind nullified lust, Ren and Ruby flanked the heiress, each as determined as she was.

"What's the plan, leader?" Ruby asked as Team Jeweler came together on the battlefield for the first time since initiation. Jaune smiled at the thought.

"Now, we kick their asses."

The battle lasted for a while longer. The Grimm just kept coming and coming in seemingly endless waves. Though Jaune himself couldn't tire out due to Gamer's Body, the rest of his team was feeling the effects of fatigue.

Finally, their salvation arrived in the form of multiple Bullheads from Beacon, dropping off numerous Hunter groups to relieve the first year fighters.

"Don't worry, Jaune. We got this." A familiar voice approached from behind as he helped Ruby kill yet another Ursa. Looking over revealed Coco, along with Velvet and presumably the rest of her team, strutting to the scene. He hadn't seen those two in a while, but, oh boy, was he glad to see them now. "Take your team and get back to the police line. Your fight is over now. Good job." Without any more talk, the second year team jumped into action, finally giving Team JWLR a chance to retreat.

Ren and Ruby limped, but could walk on their own. Weiss, however, leaned on him for support, resting her head on his shoulder. Jaune hadn't thought she was that worn out, but he couldn't possibly rebuff her, even if he'd wanted to. Ren just smirked- very unusual for him. Ruby held two pieces of Crescent Rose, finding it easier to fight with the smaller double blades as their battle waged on. When she tried to put them together, though, disaster struck.

"Damn. It's broken." The reaper cursed, doing her best to restore her weapon. They sat on some benches near the police barricade, idly watching the men of the law scramble around.

"I'm sorry, Ruby. I know how much that weapon meant to you." Jaune apologized. It was his fault she was even fighting here to begin with.

"No, it's alright. I always knew the double blade mode wasn't up to scratch, but I've been holding off on upgrading to '5.0' since the start of school. I should have worked on it over the break." The youngest huntress scolded herself.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Her leader offered his services.

"You could help me in the forge someday once we get back to Beacon."

"Sure. How are you doing, Weiss? Weiss…?" Jaune tried to address Ruby's partner, but received no response.

"She's sleeping." Ren advised him, still smirking. Really, that amount of emotion from his partner was starting to get weird.

"Oh." Jaune said. "She carried me onto the bullhead when we took that trip to Forever Falls. I suppose it's only fair that I carry her back to Beacon."

"Jaune!" The team's chat was interrupted by Sun, who seemed even worse for wear than they did. "I wanted to talk with you."

"Yeah?" He urged the detective to continue.

"Alone." The monkey faunus urged, giving a glance to his teammates.

"Right. Uh, guys? It'll be just a minute." Ruby and Ren nodded to him, getting up to leave. "You don't have to worry about Weiss. She's sleeping." Jaune assured.

"I just came here to say, 'Don't blame yourself.'" Sun immediately confused him.

"What?"

"Don't blame yourself." He repeated. "You were caught by the White Fang, which caused them to activate the train, causing the breach into the city. But don't blame yourself." Oh right, how could Jaune forget? This destruction, it was entirely his fault. Sun clearly noticed his expression, because he immediately jumped in before the team leader could reply. "I've been on the force for a few years now, and I've made my fair share of mistakes. You got to believe me when I say that you didn't make a mistake here."

"How did I not? Every Grimm that entered the city today was because of me."

"No. The White Fang brought the Grimm into the city. They would have done it with or without your interference. You saved the city." Sun insisted.

"What do you mean?"

"Without the information you provided us, the city would have been blindsided by this attack. Deaths could have mounted into the hundreds, maybe thousands if things really went wrong. Your raid on that White Fang base had nearly every precinct at the ready- At any other time, that amount of cops would be spread all over the city instead. Because of you, deaths haven't even reached double digits."

"Huh." Jaune replied. He definitely needed to hear that. This event would have hung on his conscience like a plague otherwise. And while he would regret every death that occured today, he could rest easy knowing how many he'd saved. "Thanks. I really needed that, Sun."

"Yeah, I thought as much." Sun smiled. "I wish I'd been given that speech when I was first in your position. But anyway, I still have work to do. You did good today." With that, the faunus walked off.

+5 Bond with:
Sun Wukong
Bond LV: 7/200

[OK]

Right, the game. Jaune had nearly forgotten about that life altering detail during his deadliest hour. It hadn't made any appearance at all. Why hadn't this entire event become a quest?

+2 Levels for Heroic Action

[OK]

Heroic action? Hmm…

He rubbed Weiss' shoulder as she unconsciously cuddled closer to him.

Maybe. Just maybe…

And that's a wrap on the first half of Volume Breach came a little earlier this time around, but I suppose that means that Jaune and the gang won't have anything to worry about until Volume Three, right?

Until next time,

-RMV