And Jaune is safe! New chapter time!
"I told you I'm fine! There's no need for all this!" complained Jaune as he tried get himself out of the bed, only for Miltia and Melanie to push him back down to the bed.
"Stop being so difficult!" hissed both Melanie and Miltia simultaneously together, "You were hurt to the point of Aura exhaustion! You're lucky you didn't have any serious injuries!"
Jaune pouted as he laid in the hospital bed. It was Wednesday, and he should've been in his office. Thanks to Glynda, his clinic was already repaired in just a few minutes. However, there was nothing he could do about the stolen Lien. Luckily, he had put most of the Lien into the bank, and most of the customers paid via credit card, and left a few Lien cards in the drawers in case the customer needed change. Still, him being in the hospital made him uncomfortable. Who knew how much this would cost him? He had health insurance, thankfully, but it was the cheapest HMO plan that he could afford.
"If you're worried about your bills, don't," shot down Melanie.
"Uncle's paying for it," continued Miltia, "Part of the protection deal. You got hurt on our turf, so we gotta take responsibility."
Which was true, but Junior had a soft spot for Jaune, and add the fact that Miltia and Melanie would stab him in the back if he didn't help out, Junior didn't have much of a choice. Not that he fought against it. It was a matter of pride now, hunting the people who hurt Jaune.
"Ren says the business is doing fine," hummed Melanie, looking through her Scroll, "Your other ex-employee Velvet is helping out, too."
"I should've just closed the shop down for safety," mumbled Jaune as he laid back onto the hospital bed, "Well hopefully I'll get out soon. I need to reschedule the Aura massages that were for today. I hope they're understanding about the situation."
Back at the clinic
"I am not understanding!" shouted Sun to the world as he laid down on his knees. It was his appointment today, and it had gotten canceled!
"Dude, don't be dramatic, be cool," whispered Neptune, who had come with Sun for the massage.
"But I was waiting for this," bemoaned Sun, "Do you know how popular it's been?"
"I'm sorry, but if you wouldn't mind, could you take your wailing away from here?" asked Ren, coming out of the clinic after hearing such wails.
"Isn't there another way to get Aura massage?" begged Sun, grabbing onto Ren's sleeve.
"Dude, stop begging, it's not cool," hissed Neptune.
Ren coughed as he removed Sun's grip from his sleeve, "I'm sorry, but Jaune's in the hospital to make sure he's alright. Though Jaune was not terribly injured, he was attacked by two people clearly with Aura unlocked and trained. Whether he was targeted with a purpose in mind or just chosen as an unlucky target remains to be seen. We're making sure that he doesn't have any sort of lingering effect on him."
"I know, but it's just…. I was so looking forward to this," pouted Sun, "I was going to even pay and everything."
Ren's eye twitched at that comment while Neptune gave a deadpan glance at Sun.
"You were going to make me pay for it, weren't you?" accused Neptune while Sun looked away.
'So this is the one,' thought Ren, remembering Jaune complaining about a Faunus who massaged and dashed. He also remembered that the irony was that Sun had come back to the scene of the crime without even knowing, as he had followed Blake there.
"You know, we could get that Aura massage today, though it'll be a rather different person doing it," commented Ren.
"Oh, who?" perked up Sun.
Ren snapped his fingers, a clear snap echoing into the air. A second later, Nora crashed down, wielding her hammer up high.
"Nora the masseuse is here!" shouted Nora to the high heavens, "I've been working on a new technique ever since I heard Jaune develop this!"
With that statement, she brandished her beloved war hammer, Magnhild, around, "And I plan to use this baby to pound in those really deep knots in the muscles. And maybe I'll replace my usual compounds of dust I use in my grenades with spices!"
"Please tell me you're joking," whimpered Neptune and Sun.
"As her lifelong friend who knows all her characteristics, her perks and among other things…. No, I am not," replied Ren stoically.
"Ooh, are these two going to be my first test subjects?" grinned Nora.
"Nope, we're good! We'll just reschedule!" shouted Sun as he began to flee.
"We'll put your name on the priority list!" shouted out Ren as Neptune began to walk away, "I'm sure Jaune will want to at least make it up to you for canceling your appointments at the last minute. Just call the office."
"Will do," replied Neptune as he went to chase after Sun.
"Aww, and I was looking forward to trying it out! You think Jaune would let me experiment with this technique, or try it himself?" asked Nora.
"I doubt he has the same amount of power that you were planning," replied Ren as he made his way back into the clinic, "But I'll let Jaune know about your ideas. Now head back to your post."
"Ok!" saluted Nora before jumping back to where she should've been.
"Well, it looks like you'll be alright, Mr. Arc," reported a specialized doctor that dealt with Aura as he scanned through Jaune's chart that a male nurse had passed on to him, "Vitals seem to be normal. Aura levels have stabilized, though I still think there's a problem with the reading."
The reason why the doctor had mentioned this was that the amount of Aura the machine read was high for a civilian with no real training, though no exact estimate. Aura was still a mystery to them. Still, it wasn't something that he was concerned about.
"Does that mean I'm free to go?" asked Jaune, eagerly to get out.
"Yes, I'll have the front office finish up the final discharge papers," waived off the doctor, "As for your insurance policy, we'll be billing it to-"
"We'll take care of the payments," interrupted Miltia.
"Well alright," shrugged the doctor, "Have a nice day."
Jaune eagerly stripped himself out of the hospital gown and into his normal clothes in the bathroom, much to Miltia and Melanie's displeasure. Soon, he was at the front desk, checking himself out of the hospital.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay for another day?" asked Miltia, "Just to make sure you're alright? Like we said, Junior's funding it."
"I'd prefer to not stay in the hospital longer than necessary," replied Jaune, "If I'm well, there's no need for me to take up a room that could be used for somebody else."
Miltia and Melanie hummed as they thought about that statement while the front desk nurse and a few others could only smile in thanks for such a thought.
Jaune was humming, thinking of heading to his shop when a hand latched onto his shoulder. Before he could even react, he felt himself being lifted up into the air.
"Grandpa! Put me down!" shouted Jaune as he noticed his grandfather's face when he looked down.
"Nope, we've got business at Beacon to settle first! We'll get that settled, and then we'll head back, but not before we get the nurse matron of Beacon to double-check on you! Not that I don't trust the doctors here, but having someone who's way more experienced to day-to-day Aura stuff is more comforting to me," snorted Aurivelle, "Ladies, thank you for keeping Jaune safe and with good company."
With that, Aurivelle dragged Jaune to the nearest Bullhead that he had reserved. Miltia and Melanie blinked for a good ten seconds before sighing and heading back to the bar.
"Grandpa, could you please put me down now?" begged Jaune as they made it into the Bullhead.
"Are you sure? You get motion sickness in these rides, don't you?" asked Aurivelle.
"That was before Professor Goodwitch taught me how to use Aura to stop that," replied Jaune, "Now could you please, for the last time, put me down!"
Aurivelle huffed about ungrateful grandkids, but did so, placing Jaune on a seat. As the Bullhead took off, Aurivelle never took his experienced eyes off Jaune. He saw Jaune's cheeks bulge slightly before his Aura began to kick in, pushing away the motion sickness.
'He's using a little too much for that, but considering the amount of Aura in his reserves, it's negligible,' thought Aurivelle, 'Still, he has a lot more control than I thought, considering it's only been a few months since he had Pyrrha unlock his Aura.'
At this thought, he let out a big sigh at his own failures. If only he could've unlocked his grandson's Aura, then he could've helped Jaune with his dream, to become a strong Huntsman. 'Hell, I should've tried harder to help Jaune,' thought Aurivelle to himself pitifully, 'Even without Aura, I could've taught him the basics. I'm technically retired, too! I should've just put through a full retirement, not a semi-retirement.'
Still, with Jaune's Aura unlocked, he could help prod Jaune in the right direction. Ozpin had told him that Jaune was still interested in becoming a Huntsman despite being a successful masseur, and from what Bartholomew told him, Jaune's aspirations for becoming a Huntsman were quite inspiring. Aurivelle spent a good ten minutes boasting how proud he was of Jaune before spending another ten minutes in misery that he couldn't help Jaune.
"So, I heard a girl named Pyrrha Nikos helped you unlock your Aura?" asked Aurivelle as soon as he saw Jaune open his eyes.
"Yea, she's been helping me and teaching me stuff about being a Huntsman," nodded Jaune, "Though I haven't seen her for almost two weeks. Ren told me she had to head back home for some stuff. Though she's a harsh teacher sometimes, she's really patient and kind. She's always willing to help me despite her schedule. I haven't slacked off on my training, but I do kind of miss seeing her."
'My grandson is growing up so fast,' teared Aurivelle inside his mind, 'In just a few short months after leaving home for Vale, not only did he grow a successful massage clinic, but he has at least four girls interested in him!'
Aurivelle assumed that Yang, Pyrrha, Melanie, and Miltia were interested in him, and who knows how many more! There were reasons for these assumptions. For Yang, he saw her half-naked, straddling Jaune in his bed. What else could that mean?
For Pyrrha, whom he had a nice conversation with beforehand, he could see Pyrrha had an interest, if not a crush, on Jaune. Why else would she so eagerly volunteer to protect Jaune? Speaking of which, he needed to find some way to thank her. Perhaps taking her team on a Huntsman-approved mission for the first years with him as the supervisor? Despite his age, he was still a powerful Huntsman.
As for Melanie and Miltia, Aurivelle could sense that though the girls were mainly teasing Jaune, there was a tone of interest towards Jaune that he could see. Whether it would lead to somewhere or not remained to be seen. He was not ignorant or naive and knew the girls were part of Junior's gang, but considering the girls risked their lives to protect Jaune, he was willing to give them a bit of leeway. That, and they were the ones shouldering the hospital bill.
'Speaking of underground gangs, I guess I should return the favor to Junior,' hummed Aurivelle, 'Maybe I'll protect one of his precious cargos that he orders, as long as it's not something highly illegal.'
The two made it to Beacon, where Aurivelle's first stop was to the nurse's office to have Nurse Matron Ivy take a look at Jaune. Not that he didn't trust the doctor at the hospital, but an active Huntress who had a Doctorate in medicine and constantly treated up and coming Huntsmen and Huntresses would have more experience. Only after Jaune was given the all-clear, Aurivelle then proceeded to steer Jaune into Ozipin's office, where Ozpin and Glynda were waiting, along with Pyrrha, Sky, and Dove.
"Mr. Arc. It's good to see you unharmed," greeted Ozpin with a smile as soon as the two exited the elevator, "I have a report from Nurse Ivy declaring a clean bill of health. I'm sure you're confused why you're here, though."
"A bit, yes," nodded Jaune, "I mean, I guess I understand why grandpa wanted me to be seen by someone on the Beacon staff in regards to injuries, but that's about it."
At this point, Jaune turned towards Glynda, giving her a polite bow.
"Thank you for repairing my clinic. I was surprised when Ren told me everything was fixed thanks to your Semblance. Saves me from having to close the clinic down for repairs and dealing with the insurance company," thanked Jaune.
"It really wasn't a big deal," waived off Glynda, as she had reconstructed bigger messes before, being the primary combat instructor for the students.
"Anyways, the reason why you're here today, as well as the others," started Ozpin, pointing to Pyrrha and the others, "Is that your grandfather requested a team to protect you."
"I don't need that much security detail!" exclaimed Jaune frantically, only for Ozpin to shake his head in disagreement.
"We don't know why these robbers targeted you, and worse, they had their Aura unlocked. If you could, can you describe to us more in detail of the situation?"
Jaune nodded as he began to describe what happened. He was cleaning in the back when he heard something in the front, which raised his suspicion. He had locked the door, so nobody should've been able to get in unless they had a key, to which he only knew of three people that had copies, and they usually yelled out his name when they entered. So he decided to investigate to see two people wearing masks.
It was here that the story turned for the worst, with each Huntsman/Huntress frowning when Jaune described how he began to see things, such as a person dashing towards him from the hallway that should've been empty, to his world seemingly flipping upside down and around, losing his sense of direction.
"I was lucky that Pyrrha taught me how to find the rhythm of my attack and exploit it," said Jaune, sending his compliments to Pyrrha, who turned red in embarrassment, but also happy that Jaune got out of the predicament through her teachings.
"I almost escaped, but the other one managed to hook my leg with some sort of… chain sickle? I think it was a girl from the sound of her voice when she called out that she wouldn't let me escape. I tripped and threw the door open. After that… it becomes a little hazy. I remember something slamming onto my shoulder hard, but after that, it's a blur. I think I remember seeing a blur of white and red, which I assume was Miltia and Melanie. After that, nothing much."
"I see," nodded Ozpin, "From what the others tell me, you were close to depleting your Aura reserves to the fact that one more hit would've shattered the cloak of protection. It is quite common to become unconscious when you suffer your first break, though in time, one does get used to it. Still, based on this, I can only assume the assailants might try to come back to finish the job. If the assailants did not have Aura, then it would've been the Vale police department to help, but in this case, this falls into our territory."
Ozpin took a quick sip of his coffee before continuing, "Pyrrha has volunteered her team to help guard you. Of course, we cannot neglect her and her team's education, so we decided to turn to the student body to see if there was anyone interested in helping out so we could have teams take turns. You have quite a fan base here. In addition to Mr. Lark and Mr. Bronzewing volunteering, a few other teams were eager to help, team RWBY included."
Jaune could only blush as he scratched the back of his head at that compliment.
"Team RWBY will be taking the first shift, as they have a full team. After that, team PLN and team DS will be switching afterward. We will be having a full team looking after your clinic and patrolling the general area. An apartment has already been rented out for the team to watch over the area," stated Ozpin.
"Surely you don't need to go that far," said Jaune weakly.
"On the contrary, this is the minimum," denied Ozpin, "The fact we assigned two teams that have just finished their first semester at Beacon is rather underwhelming. Usually, after an attack like this, we would've assigned a second or third-year team to guard you as your assailants were capable of wielding Aura, and from the sounds of it, one of them had a hallucination sort of Semblance."
"I can confirm that. The twins that helped protect Jaune told me that when one of them had fought, they began to see duplicates," nodded Aurivelle.
"Indeed, but most of our upper students are currently busy with other missions or training for the Vytal Festival that is to come. Though team RWBY will be taking the first shift, team PLN and DS will be taking on the majority of the shift until we are sure you are safe," finished Ozpin.
"Well, if you're sure about that," hummed Jaune, "I guess I gladly accept the help. Is there anything I should do to help accommodate that?"
"All expenses have already been paid," smiled Ozpin, "Though I wouldn't mind another Aura massage soon."
Glynda coughed and glared at Ozpin, to which he quickly corrected himself, "Of course, after Professor Goodwitch here gets her first."
"I'll see what I can squeeze in," nodded Jaune, "Now, I really should get back to the clinic."
"We've held you long enough," agreed Ozpin, "Team RWBY will be arriving tomorrow. Now then, please don't use your Aura for now. I have a note from Nurse Ivy that you should wait until at least another day just to be safe. Even with your large Aura reserves, it'll be safer for your Aura to stabilize itself."
Jaune nodded as he left with his grandfather, who would be staying with Jaune for a few days just to make sure he was safe. Pyrrha and the others followed them, hoping to talk to Jaune for a bit more.
Soon, only Glynda and Ozpin were left in the office. As Ozpin turned around to stare out the window, he pondered if the attack really was just a coincidence, or something deeper.
"Glynda, have a word with the Vale police department to be extra vigilant," ordered Ozpin as he opened his eyes, "And have a few more teams patrolling the city, just in case."
Glynda nodded before asking, "What about the underground? Should we have someone investigate?"
Ozpin smiled as he shook his head, "I have a feeling someone has that covered. After all, the attacks did happen on Hei Xiong's territory, and he won't be too happy about that."
It was easy to tell that Jaune had a connection to Junior's gang, but to what extent was the question. But he had a feeling it wasn't anything too serious, as Junior's nieces protected him, and add the fact that Junior was paying for the hospital bills, Jaune was probably someone that he liked. Which was lucky for Jaune, to gain favor with possibly the king of underground Vale without even knowing.
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Reminder, I have a pat reon, look up azndrgn making fanfic. Donators get perks!
Next chapter... is gonna be fun!