AN: Yeah, was originally going to give it another update or two before I did this one again, but I had an idea for this one's end chapter Omake that insisted on being written XD

AN2: The team I'm having Jaune fight are all reference characters. For those who don't recognize them it's Lucius Malfoy from Harry Potter, Basque Grand from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Suguru Kamoshida from Persona 5, and Sister Patrice from Dragon Age 2.

AN3: The armor change was because original was chosen before political shit started creeping into the story and the barbarian demon lord theme doesn't work with what Jaune will be becoming so yeah, new armor introducing this chapter. Image on Facebook page for stories.

True Potential

Chapter 15

-Jaune-

"I already miss my mom's cooking." Jaune sighed as he walked with his team towards the cafeteria for lunch, having just finished the morning classes from his first day back after visiting his family with Blake.

"That good?" Nora raised an eyebrow at him, walking backwards for some reason that probably made perfect sense to her and only her.

"Better." Jaune promised with a grin, "We have a week off before the Vytal festival starts in full so I could take everyone to Ansel then."

"Field trip! Field trip! Field trip!" Nora cheered, alternating between pumping her fists in the air and shaking Ren excitedly, the monk silently accepting his fate while Pyrrah giggled. Stepping into the Cafeteria and looking around, he saw that the place was still mostly empty, the majority of those there being the teams that tended to keep to themselves no matter the situation.

"Jaune, why don't you find us a table and we'll go grab food." Pyrrah suggested with a smile as Ren worked to contain Nora, or at least mitigate any collateral damage that would ensue from her existence.

"Sounds good guys." He nodded with a smile as they walked off, leaving him to look for a good spot, quickly spotting Blake, Velvet, and Sun sitting together and chatting over their own meals. He would have let them have time to talk about whatever they were, when he noticed a team from Atlas approaching them. Team GSPL, or Gospel if one wished to be phenetic, was already forming a reputation of being extremely bigoted racists, far worse than even team Cardinal had been in the beginning, so he knew them approaching that particular group of his friends was in no way a good thing. Approaching the table, he was able to easily enough hear what was being said.

"I can't believe you Faunus Fucks are still here." The overly muscled thug Suguru shook his head disdainfully, "I mean really, you all should have figured out by now that there's no place for you here."

"Hey, back of dude." Sun glared at the Atlas team even as Velvet shrunk into herself, as nonconfrontational as always. As Sun started getting up out of his chair though, Basque smirked and shoved Sun down hard, "WHAT THE HELL!?" Sun seethed, his tail bristling angrily.

"Well we have to defend ourselves when you clearly attacked us just now." Patrice, the sole female member of newly renamed team bigot, smirked coldly.

"But you attacked Sun." Blake glared, her golden eyes shining coldly.

"And who are the teachers gonna believe?" Lucius smirked, casually riffling through a large stack of Lien for no other discernable reason than to show off, "Us, a team of respectable huntsmen in training? Or a group of Faunus filth, one of whom was being hunted by the Vale police not to long ago if I'm not mistaken."

"Go to hell." Jaune's voice was a cold growl as the Atlas team quickly turned around, having not heard him approach, "And stay the fuck away from my friends."

"Oh? Are you worried we'll break your little pets?" Suguru laughed smugly, "I didn't realize Beacon accepted animal fuckers."

"And I didn't realize Atlas accepted toddlers." Jaune shoved them out of his way as he checked on his friends, "Your jokes are as weak as you idiots are, so do everyone a favor and fuck off." Turning his back on the idiots he looked to his friends, "Sun, you alright man?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Sun grunted, "They caught me off guard more than anything."

"Good," Jaune smirked, feeling the indignant shock from being ignored emanating from the assholes behind him "I'd be worried if you let cowardly little assholes like them manage to beat you."

"How dare you call me a coward?!" Basque growled, the man's iron gauntlets clanging as he punched a fist into the other palm.

"You're bullying a smaller group in the school cafeteria like this is elementary school." Jaune deadpanned at them, "Meaning you know any one of us could beat you in the actual combat arena."

"Care to put your lien where your mouth is?" Suguru growled along with Basque, the less hot-headed members of the team watching with silent glares.

"Gladly. This afternoon in Miss Goodwitch's class work for you? Or do you need more time to change your diapers?" Jaune snorted, having no respect for scum like these four.

"Your pets can visit you in the hospital after we're done with you." Lucius sneered before the four walked away, likely to get their weapons ready for the upcoming fight.

"Jaune, you sure you're gonna be okay?" Sun looked at him concerned, "I know you're good and you have that pistol, but they aren't as slow as Sage and you still don't have armor."

"Oh, that's not exactly the case anymore." Jaune smirked knowingly as his team approached with food, noticing the tense atmosphere with confusion, "Now I feel like eating, I'm going to need my energy later after all."

-Blake-

Sitting with her friends, Blake watched the arena intently, team GSPL already down there and waiting cockily, "Why aren't you letting me cave their faces in again?" Yang demanded angrily, the blonde's eyes having been a constant red since everyone else learned of what happened at lunch.

"Because Jaune already called them out." Blake told her, eyes locked and waiting for where her friend would exit the locker room to fight, not wanting to miss this debut of his newfound semblance.

"Is nobody concerned about him fighting an entire team without any armor?!" Sun exclaimed, still frazzled from the thought of someone they all considered a friend potentially getting hurt defending them.

"Oh, he has armor now." Weiss smirked with cold amusement at the upcoming fight, "Turns out my grandfather and his were old friends. When Grandfather Nicholas learned of what Jaune's sperm donor tried he sent down a suit of his old armor as a replacement gift. Its really quite nice, Ruby even made him a shield that matched it more than his barbarian style one did."

"At…at least there's that." Velvet nodded, biting her nails nervously whenever her teammates weren't looking, the second years having a similar mindset as Yang.

"Weiss, do you know what these four have for semblances by any chance?" Pyrrah asked, she and Ren holding Nora back from trying to charge down into the arena to start breaking knees.

"I do actually." Weiss nodded, pleased as always with a chance to show off her knowledge, "I did my research into as many people graduating from the main prep schools the same year I would have to know my potential classmates and I remembered them as they were already getting a reputation even back then. Team Gospel is led by Basque Gran who has a semblance that lets him manipulate the iron particles in things he touches to make weapons and barriers. Suguru Kamoshida has a semblance that lets him increase the lust in those around him should he choose," Weiss winces at that one "there are rumors about various ways and times he's used it, but nothing proven. Then there's Patrice Choir, her semblance lets her enforce her will and control whoever she points at, she can only do it to one target at a time though and if they have a strong enough willpower they can resist or even outright ignore it. Finally, there's Lucius Malfoy, he has no known semblance but with his family's money he was able to afford the best extra tutoring and equipment making him a dangerous dust mage."

"And Jaune is fighting them all at once." Monika frowned, "Think he'll win?"

"Positive." Blake gave a confident grin before anyone else could reply, "And here he comes now." True to her word, she could hear him coming up the stairs from his changing room. Stepping out onto the ring, Blake got to see him in his new armor for the first time and she had to admit, it looked amazing on him. A mixture of white, black, and gold that shined under the light, the gleaming metal clearly high quality and well cared for, the filigree and detailing matching the lineage that only she was aware of at the moment. To top it all off was a cape complete with fur collar of all things. On his back she saw his new sword, something that she knew Ruby was going to freak out over later, and his freshly completed chain weapon with hammer attachment was on his right wrist. Gripped in his left hand was his new shield, the design shaped around and prominently displaying the Vytal festival crest that contained the emblems of all four kingdoms.

"Whoa." Monika blinked at Jaune's new appearance, "Damn, he cleaned up nicely." Blake wasn't sure why that made her feel a twinge of annoyance.

"Are all parties ready?" Professor Goodwitch called out, able to mostly hide her concern for Jaune about the upcoming fight.

"I'm ready Professor." Jaune nodded, face set in stone while team Gospel sneered condescendingly as they made their own affirmations.

"Then begin." The professor commanded, stepping back as the team from Atlas began to spread out and circle Jaune, chuckling coldly as they clearly intended to toy with him.

Jaune, however, seemed to be at least taking this seriously as she saw his aura begin to shine, "Oh Adolmaea, Shining Sovereign, supreme light of the ancient skies. Grant me your power!" As Jaune began the incantation, something she'd come to understand he'd have to do every time he wished to summon the full Ark form until he had a better mastery of it, a golden horned crown had appeared on his brow, the appearance of it sending confused whispers rippling throughout the audience and bringing his opponents to a flummoxed halt "Verto!" with the final word of the summoning, Jaune exploded into light, tongues of flaming aura shooting off and dancing around him as wind howled in the enclosed room.

"What is this?!" Coco shouted, holding onto her hat to keep it from blowing away as the wind howled louder, Jaune's shining form growing.

"That chant sounded like the stories of the Warrior King!" Ren shouted back, "But I don't get it! How would Jaune have a semblance so similar!"

"Because they're related." Blake declared smugly, arms crossed as she smirked down at the arena, feeling the gaze of their friends stare at her "While visiting his family over the weekend, Jaune unlocked his family semblance just like his Ancestor, Ozmium the Dragon." As she spoke, the flaming light died away to reveal the Ark of the Sun King. It was massive, easily the size of one of the elder Grimm they'd fought during initiation, gleaming of gold and ivory as it carried scaled up copies of Jaune's weapons and armor.

"O-obey me!" Patrice panicked at the sight of the massive shining form Jaune had taken, pointing her finger at him in an attempt to use her semblance.

"Pathetic." Jaune's voice echoed from the armor as he swung his hammer down, striking the ground before his opponent as it cracked, shards impacting her in the gut hard, "But I should expect nothing less from worms like you."

"You arrogant bastard!" Basque got over his surprise as the racist pig snarled, slamming his fists onto the ground, manipulating the iron in the arena to form massive spike tipped chains that were shooting at Jaune's new form to bind it. Not giving it a chance, Jaune dropped his hammer and drew the shining new sword that was left to him by his grandfather, swinging the blade as it cleaved through the iron chains, shards flying in every direction.

"You brought this upon yourselves." Jaune lashed out, striking Basque with the weapon as the man's aura took a major hit shielding that directly, "How you treat my friends, how you treated others, I will not stand for it!" as Jaune yelled, veins of shining white power, much as what happened against the King Taijitu, began to appear on his body "Suffer their retribution!" it was a one sided beat down as Jaune displayed the power of his semblance and the skill that had been rapidly honed here at Beacon. Watching him though, and knowing what his semblance did, Blake was sure she felt that connection, the links that gave him his strength, links she was positive were letting her sense his feelings in turn.

"Thank you, Jaune." Blake smiled softly as she watched the fight be declared in her friend's favor, his shining armor fading away as he shrunk down to his regular size. As he looked up at their group of friends, she felt somehow that the smile on his face was still just for her.

-Omake-

-Cinder-

"I still don't see why you're degrading yourself like this." Emerald frowned as they walked towards the Beacon cafeteria, the hallway thankfully empty as most students were already in there eating.

"Oh Emerald," Cinder shook her head, amused at the girl's rather bad attempts at hiding her jealousy and obsession "it's simple. This Jaune Arc is part of a group consisting of several of the stronger teams here for the festival. By seducing him away from that little alley cat he's started dating then it would throw a wrench into the coordination of those teams. They would be split, having to choose sides, tensions would rise, and it will make them less effective. In the long term as well, he's been confirmed as the last male descendant of the Warrior King of Vale, should the plan get delayed, or go smoother than expected by letting me get what is rightfully mine without getting caught, having such a pawn at my beck and call will be…useful."

"I still don't like it." Emerald huffed petulantly.

"Would you rather do it yourself?" Cinder raised an eyebrow at her illusionist making Mercury snort derisively.

"Boss, I doubt she could that skirt chaser Branwen on her best night, let alone someone who isn't a washed up drunk." Tuning out their ensuing argument, Cinder entered the cafeteria and began to sashay over to where her target was sitting with his little friends.

"Why hello there," Cinder purred, making her voice as sensual as she could, "it's Jaune right, Jaune Arc?"

"Yes, and you are?" he turned towards her, curious and polite but also not falling over her, well, not yet at any rate.

"I'm Cinder, Cinder Fall." She purred, leaning over to shake his hand, making sure that plenty of cleavage was exposed in doing so, "I was wondering if you'd be willing to show me around Vale sometime. I'm still new to the area and would hate to risk getting lost. I promise to make it all worthwhile."

"Sorry but no thanks," Jaune shook his head, seemingly unphased even as his friends all around him looked ready to try and fight her, and might have done so if they weren't scared of their professors, "I just had seafood last night."

"…What does that have to do with anything?" Cinder blinked in confusion, trying to figure out the strange logic behind the out of nowhere rejection, Jaune's friends seeming just as confused by his comment.

"It means I'm not in the mood for getting Crabs." Jaune smiled pleasantly even as his eyes showed he knew damn well what he was saying. By his side, that blonde bimbo Yang let out a noise like a trumpet as she spat out the water she was drinking all over Emerald who let out an indignant shriek of rage. Mercury meanwhile struggled not to laugh at the illusionist, rightfully, thinking Cinder wasn't in the mood for it.

"Oh my, that looks uncomfortable." Blake Belladonna looked over at Emerald in mock concern, "I guess you all should go take care of your teammate before classes resume, I'd hate to know you had to go through the rest of the day like that." Knowing making a scene would be counterproductive to her overall goals, Cinder left the cafeteria with her peons in tow. They were halfway back to the room when Mercury gulped loudly.

"Um…boss…you aren't going to like this." The assassin shook his head before showing her his scroll. Social media, something that had already been following Arc since the reveal of his father's murder attempt and the connection he had to Valentian Royalty, now showed footage of him rejecting her as well as meme's centered around what he'd said.

"…I swear, if that mustached fool calls me to gloat about this, I'm going to kill him." She seethed, the ends of her hair flickering with flame.