Chapter Five.
[}}]
The snowy terrain crackled under the weight of fast-rolling threads.
With every sound out there being completely muffled from the inside of the rather claustrophobic tank-like vehicle, Jaune and his team sat quietly on their seats. Quietly.
Which the blonde found it very strange, since more than half of the noise complaints on their dorm wing always came from JNPR's room.
At that, Jaune inclined his head back against the metal interior to remind himself. They were no longer at Beacon. Things had changed.
Looking at the wall that separated the passengers from the soldiers on the front seats, he noticed a small hatch from which he could speak with them.
He knocked twice near it. "Excuse me, how long will it take until we get there?"
One of the soldiers reached for hatch just to shut it close on Jaune's face.
Oscar shuffled on his seat beside him. "…I take they don't get paid enough for small talk."
Jaune nodded in agreement. Turning back to his teammates, he saw Ren cross-legged on his seat meditating while Nora sat on a more laid back posture than usual. The two were sitting side by side across from him and Oscar.
"Feels like we've been traveling for almost an hour." Said Jaune. "Not that I'm complaining, but why aren't they transporting us via bullhead?"
"Maybe because they're trying to save on Dust?" Nora pointed out. "Since Atlas has cut ties with the rest of the world."
That much made sense to him. According to what Weiss had mentioned the night prior, General Ironwood forced the SDC and pretty much all of the kingdom to close any connections with every other nation. If that were to persist, there would be a shortage of Dust by the end of the year.
Another glance at his teammates later and nothing really had changed. Almost as if they were bored or something.
'Perhaps I should be the one to boost morale here. Being the leader and all.'
"So! This is our first mission as a team in a very long time. How are you all feeling?"
Ren opened a single eye.
"I think you mean our first official mission." He accentuated. "Based on the description alone, it shouldn't be any different from all the volunteer work we have provided on our trek across Anima."
"Just your run-of-the-mill 'go there and kill stuff'." Quoted Nora. "Still, it's better than just sitting back and going rusty. That, and maybe we'll get to face something new for an exchange. Oh! Remember when we had to fight a Geist possessing some huge boulder?"
She cheerfully looked back at Jaune, waiting for an answer.
"O-Oh yeah! Feels like it was yesterday." He improvised. "We sure did a number on that one, huh?"
Ren untangled his legs. "I still admire how you were willing to act as the diversion. Even without your shield at the time."
'…I did what now?'
"Well…" Spoke Oscar. "I never went to a Grimm hunt before. So, this will be a learning experience for me."
"Aww…" Nora sniffed, rubbing off a tear that didn't exist. "Little Ossie's first field-mission. They grow up so fast."
Nora's sudden motherly attachment aside, everything checked out. His team, along with Ruby, have been dealing with a large variety of Grimm for almost a year now. All in all, things were looking up to them.
Jaune cleared his throat.
"Either way, I think we got this one in the bag. We'll see this mission completed to the very end or else we aren't called Team…" He drew blanks. "Okay, I'm gonna sound dumb for a moment here, but what was our current name again?"
Fortunately for him, everyone else just seemed to exchange looks between themselves.
Ren was the only one to speak. "…We never actually settled on a new one. Ever since the incident at Haven, Team RNJR sort of disbanded. After Ruby returned to her original team, it was never brought up again."
"Maybe we could've kept it if we had named ourselves 'Junior' instead." Snarled Nora. "Just saying."
From what Jaune could understand, they were short on a team name. Although, on the grand scheme of things, a name wasn't really that important, since they were no longer at Beacon. Still…
"…Why don't we come up with a new name ourselves then?" He suggested. "With Oscar along for the ride, we got a full team here."
Suddenly, Nora's face lit up. With a wave of excitement shining through her eyes, she fished her scroll out of her jacket, pressed an icon on it, and tossed it at Jaune.
He carefully caught the device. "W-What is this?"
"Oh, nothing." She smugly shrugged off. "Just a list of team names I've been keeping in store in case Oscar ever decided to join our team!"
The farm boy blinked. "…How long have you been planning this?"
"It's been a while now…" Ren confessed, coming off as a surprise to no one.
"Well then." Jaune looked down at Nora's scroll. "Let's see… We got ALPN, JRON. Some good ones in here. ORNJ… Uhm, shouldn't my name technically come first since I'm the leader here?"
"Yeah, but I figured ORNJ would be more marketable." Nora responded.
The boys just shrugged at that remark.
"Anyway…" He continued. "We have JNOR, like you said before. Er… NORA?"
"Yes?"
"No, no. That's one of the names you wrote here." Jaune pointed at 'Team NORA' on her list. "Very clever, actually. What else… Is JLPN what I think it is?"
"'Jalapeño'. Yup!" Nodded Nora. "I was kinda hungry when I came up with that one."
"I can see that. These are all good options, really." He kept scrolling down on her list. "There's dozens of names here. Wait, what is this one? WJRP?"
"Oh! That's 'Whirlpool'!" She responded. "See, I initially made that list way far back when we were still at Beacon. In case we ended up switching partners with Team RWBY. This one is for when Ruby and Weiss would replace me and Renny for whatever reason."
"Interesting…" Hummed Jaune as he kept looking through Nora's list. "There's also RYBN as well. RNPR and JWBY… Heh, haven't seen those in a while. Hey, what does 'JOYR' stands for?"
"Oh, that's 'Joyride'! It's one of my newest ones." Answered Nora. "Should Yang ever temporarily replace me on our current team, we would have a name for it. And besides, it's much more appropriate than the alternative."
"Alternative?" He scrolled down. "…Oh."
"What? What does it say?" Oscar leaned closer to Jaune.
"Nothing!" He tossed the scroll back at their grenadier.
Ren coughed. "So, which name is it going to be, then?"
Jaune thought it over. Eventually, he realized something he had briefly forgotten about Oscar.
"Hey, your last name is 'Pine', right?" He asked.
"Uhm… Yeah?"
"Oh! Why don't we just stick with JNPR?" He suggested. "You know, for consistency's sake."
The expressions of the couple in front of him fell, even if a little.
"Are you… Sure about this?" Questioned Oscar. "I mean, I do not want anyone feeling like I'm replacing someone or anything like that."
Jaune comprehended where they were coming from. They also might have seen his idea as an attempt to reject the past, kind of like how he did it the previous day.
He took a long breath. "No one's replacing anyone. I… Look, I know things haven't exactly gone smooth ever since we got here. But I do really want to move on. And I was thinking, maybe we could do this together. Turn on a new leaf for our team and stuff."
Everyone else took on a pensative state.
"Well…" Sighed Nora, displaying a meek smile. "I kinda always liked our old name the most. Back when things were fun and made sense."
"But you understand this isn't just about the name." Said Ren. "Are you aware of that?"
"Yeah…" Jaune leaned back. Then he looked down at Crocea Mors at his belt. "But then again, it's not like she's really gone. Almost as if she's still out there by our side."
And she was. Back at his own time.
Jaune began to wonder. If he and Maria ever succeeded at getting him back, would things play out different from there on out? Could Pyrrha's sacrifice be avoided if he had the chance?
"Heh." Giggled Nora, distracting Jaune from his thoughts. "That's kinda the same thing you said when we were by her statue just the other night."
"Oh. Right." He bashfully scratched his hair as usual. "Ha. I should begin to follow my own advices more often."
"So…" Spoke Oscar. "JNPR it is?"
Jaune looked back at Ren, waiting for his confirmation.
"Always." He nodded.
With the four of them having set on their name, the metal hatch from before opened.
"We are almost at the assigned grounds!" Announced the soldier. "Estimated time of arrival in ten minutes! Stand by!"
That same Atlesian soldier closed the hatch once again.
After that brief announcement, Jaune adjusted himself on his seat.
"Well, we still have some time." He spoke. "So… About that Geist…"
[{{]
"Come on. Pick up already." Jaune stared at his scroll, waiting for the person on the other line to accept the call.
He was lying on his own bed at his team's dorm. After everyone was done with lunch, they all went to do their own thing. RWBY went to rest after morning's training, Nora was still at the cafeteria having second helpings and Pyrrha went to Vale for another one of her business meetings.
The boy mentally reprimanded himself over that last one. He got so distracted by the situation that he had forgotten to spend more time with Pyrrha, who was the sole reason why he wanted to go back so much.
'Then again, maybe that was for the best?' Jaune speculated, which was why he was making that call for more clarification on the matter.
Coincidentally, the call went through.
"Who are you?! How did you get this number?!" Came from his scroll.
"Maria? It's me, Jaune."
"Oh, right. I gave it to you. Totally forgot it." The old-lady recalled.
"Uhm… Did I call at a bad time?"
"No, no. Sorry for being jumpy. I had to ditch my last number because I suspected it was being traced."
"W-Why is that?"
A discontent sigh was heard from the device. "No reason. It's just one of those woes you have to deal in life when you're being chased by the vilest entity in the whole wide world."
"Wow, uhm… Never knew she was that ruthless."
"She? Wha-?! No! I was talking about the 'IRS'." The woman scowled. "I swear, they'll put you under suspicion for fraud over anything nowadays. Just because I spent ten-times the minimum wage on cashews in a single day, ONE TIME!"
…
"I'm... Not exactly sure how that's like."
"And if you're lucky, you never will." Maria harumphed. "What about you? Are you behaving yourself? Have you been eating properly? Are there any girlfriends I should know about?"
'Huh? What is she now? My grandma?' He thought.
"No…? I called you because of our… 'Problem'?" Jaune made a quotation mark gesture with his free hand, even if Maria couldn't see.
"Well, duh! What other reason would you even have to contact me?" She scolded. "Now spit it already. I'm on a tight schedule today."
"Oh, right. So…" Jaune wondered where he could begin. "Remember when you told me I shouldn't do anything to draw attention to myself?"
He could hear the groaning coming from the other side.
"Oh, for Pete's sake, kid. It's been ONE DAY! Did you seriously got yourself exposed already?"
"No! No. It's nothing like that." At least not entirely, he hoped. "I mean, how do I explain this? Right, so there's this guy from… Well, the enemy team. And today he just came to me and to my friends for some reason. And the weird thing is… That it had never happened before, like, last time. You know?"
"Hmm… So what? Do you think he knows about you?"
"Actually, I really doubt he does. Still, he was acting very sketchy. I even sent him away so he couldn't spy on us or anything like that."
"Kid, kid…"
"What? Did I make the wrong choice?"
"No, but I can tell you did it wrong anyway." She paused. "Word of advice, son: Keep your feelings in check. It doesn't matter if you're suppressing them or letting it all out, if you let your emotions get the better of you, you're gonna make the wrong move. Next time you see him or anyone from Cinder's gang, just play it cool."
"Wow… It's almost scary how you know me so well." He relaxed his head against his pillow. "While we're on the subject, I was also wondering… Should I take that same advice when it comes to my friends?"
"Look, if you're planning to elope with that Pyrrha girl, my best advice on the matter would be: Don't."
"Wha- What? No! I-I didn't mean like that. I…" Jaune felt like slapping himself for falling for such an obvious tease. "Anyway, I was asking if there's any danger involving just being around my friends. Getting to know them better, maybe."
"Well, I'm afraid I don't have an exact answer for that." She confessed. "In case you're concerned, I just checked with my Semblance just this morning. Nothing substantial has changed, for better or for worse."
He sighed. "That's a relief, I guess."
"You should be relieved. Please understand that if things go too far into any direction, I might not be able to help you. This is all for your safety."
Safety. That had been kind of a loose concept in his mind for practically years now. Putting himself at risk has been his go-to method in innumerous occasions. If that wasn't the case, he probably would never have left his home to become a Huntsman.
Then again, he was not the only one bearing the stakes this time.
Maria took his sudden silence as an answer. "In any case, I should get back to my own stuff. I can send you my apartment's address if you ever need someone to talk to in person. But not now, since I'm kinda busy at the moment."
"That would be nice." He thanked. "So… Bye?"
"Bye-bye, sweetheart." CLICK.
Cringing at that little exchange, Jaune fully relaxed on his bed. He still wasn't sure what he could make of Maria in general, but at least he knew to be more careful from now on.
"Was that about Mercury this morning?" His partner asked.
The blonde looked to the side only to see Ren sitting on another bed while staring at him from across the room.
"Didn't I tell you to put the headphones on?" Jaune questioned.
"Yes, because that worked so well with Nora in the past." Ren retorted.
Jaune resisted the urge to groan. He already had blown it with Ren out of everyone. And it was quite obvious the boy in green didn't trust him. Even though he sorta still did? It was confusing.
"I told you already. I can't say anything about it." He offered. "And I don't know if you noticed, but I'm not plotting anything evil, per say."
"I know you're not." His teammate responded. "If I had the sinking feeling you were, I would have forced an answer from you by now."
"…How considerate." Jaune averted his eyes away from him, looking up to the ceiling.
"Listen, 'whoever Jaune you might happen to be'. If it is so important that I should not know, then fine. I just wanted to let you know that if you ever wish to speak with someone, beside your other friend, I'm here for you."
'Huh.' He briefly glanced at his forever stoic unity of a partner.
"Wow, that was… Strangely comforting?" Said Jaune. "Thanks, but I guess I'll opt for keeping this to myself for now. I've been needing some time alone, anyway."
Ren watched as his leader's counterpart got off the bed and walked towards the door.
"Are you leaving?" He asked.
"I'm just going for a stroll on the campus. Clean my mind for a bit." Jaune opened the door and turned back to his friend. "Oh, and…"
"…What is it?"
"Never mind, I was about to ask for you to not stalk me out there, but I'm under the impression you're gonna do it anyway."
"A fair assessment." Ren concurred.
"Yeah." With one step into the hallway, Jaune closed the door.
[}}]
One by one, they stepped out of the Atlesian armored vehicle.
After crossing the border between the snowy tundra and a grassy terrain, Jaune and his team were welcomed by a large clearing leading to an ominous grove in the distance.
"There's nothing here." Oscar pointed out.
"I mean, yeah?" Said Jaune. "Transport usually doesn't drop us off this close to the creatures."
"Oh. I suppose that makes sense." The younger boy complied.
Upon explaining that to Oscar, Jaune felt very optimistic. Future or not, leading a field operation with his team was still his turf. The leader was confident he could guide them on this mission, despite his own skill level.
Some static came from an intercom on their transport.
"Attention. We have records of concentrated Grimm activity on the forest up ahead." A radioed voice spoke. Probably one of the two soldiers inside. "Exterminate as many creatures you find, then come back for extraction. You four have until sunset. Over."
After being given their orders, they all looked between themselves.
"Shall we?" Ren asked.
"Yeah!" Jaune immediately answered. "Let's get this done."
"Onward!" Nora shouted.
JNPR calmly walked towards the edge of the unnamed forest. Within a minute after the first set of trees, Jaune noticed how dense it became, as he began to have a hard time seeing through the greenery.
"Hold on." He signaled everyone to stop. "I think we're gonna need some direction. Could anyone go higher up and see if you can find anything in the distance?"
"You got it!" Nora saluted.
The ginger then went to the closest tree and casually jumped seven meters in the air, disappearing amongst the leaves.
"…Huh." Oscar observed, slightly taken aback over that feat.
"Yep." Jaune sympathized with his reaction.
"I should probably go up there as well." Spoke Ren. "Make sure she doesn't chase after a squirrel... Again."
And with that, Ren hopped on the side of a tree trunk, and continued to jump from branch to branch upwards.
With both teammates out of sight, the blonde turned to his remaining companion. This was his chance to know more about Oscar.
"Sooo…" Said Jaune, thinking of a way to start a conversation. "Nora seems to really like you. What do you think of that?"
"Hm?" The boy shifted his attention to his current leader. "I mean, I guess it's nice. Having friends in general, that is. Even if she frightens me a little sometimes."
"Well, yeah. That sure sounds like her."
"…I'm not so sure about it, really." Oscar rubbed his arm. "Yang told me that the other day she saw Nora entering the house with a file filled with adoption papers. And I wasn't brave enough to ask if she was kidding."
"Oh…" He blinked. "Well, in that case, I guess there isn't much helping. Hehe."
Both boys weakly laughed from their small talk. With nothing else going on, Jaune decided to continue.
"Anyway, since this is your first mission, you wouldn't mind if I asked what exactly can you do in a fight?" He suggested. "You know, in case we stumble against any Grimm early on."
Oscar looked at him as if he was the most forgetful man in the continent. At least that was the impression Jaune had after asking something like that.
"Now that I think about it, I guess I never did explain it to you guys." Confessed Oscar. "I always had Ozpin do all the work up until a few days ago. Yeah, I guess I could go over what I know."
Jaune mentally sighed in relief, even if he didn't quite understand what Ozpin had to do with this. Wasn't he dead?
Coincidentally, Oscar pulled out a very familiar handle.
"So, I have this." He pressed its lever, extending the rest of the cane. "The name's 'The Long Memory'."
"That's… Ozpin's cane?" Jaune noticed.
"I mean, I guess you could call it that." Said Oscar. "From what we have trained so far, he explained how it works. Basically, this cane by itself stores an immense amount of kinetic energy, which he has been building up for centuries, apparently. I can use bits of that power whenever I lunge at my targets. There's magic involved in it, so I wouldn't think too hard about it."
Unbeknownst to Oscar, Jaune's brain had to take several stops just from that paragraph alone.
'Trained with Ozpin? Centuries? Magic? What?'
Somehow, he had a feeling Maria forgot to mention that part to him.
With one hand already on the back of his head, Jaune spoke.
"And… What was exactly your relation to Ozpin again?"
The blonde could tell he had made yet another stupid question, judging by the quizzical look on Oscar's face.
"Uh… None?" He answered. "I have never actually met with him before. Not until some time ago at my aunt's farm, when he suddenly showed up inside… Well, you know. My head."
Jaune stared blankly at the boy. He was really glad that his mind wasn't an actual vehicle, or else he would have crashed into a ditch by now.
Weirdly enough, that hadn't been the first time he heard those exact same words. From the day he had awoken at Saphron's house, Jaune recalled a few mentions about Ozpin being stuck in Oscar's head from both his family and friends.
He somehow had made it this far thinking it was just a figure of speech or something, to Jaune's ever-lasting shame.
Before any of them could get a word out, the team's dedicated ninja dropped from one of the trees above into a lower branch.
Jaune quickly recovered and looked up to him. "H-Hey, Ren! You two found anything?"
"Nora sighted some strange movement down south." Announced Ren. "She went there to investigate."
"And you let her go alone?!"
The guy with the magenta streak on his hair just shrugged. "She called dibs."
"…Fair enough." He accepted. "Go after her. Me and Oscar will catch up later."
Ren simply nodded and began to jump from tree to tree after Nora.
"…Are we in trouble already?" Oscar asked in a worried manner.
"No, no, it's fine. This used to happen a lot, back when we were at Beacon. If anything, those two will be the ones carrying us out today." He unsheathed his sword and prepped up his shield. "Come on. Remember to watch your six."
With the farm boy gripping his cane with both hands, the two carefully went deep inside the forest.
By the time they were done, Jaune hoped he could make some sense out of this.
[{{]
Today's walk on the campus felt dull. Especially if he was comparing to the whimsical feeling he pretty much had yesterday while walking around with his friends.
Now alone and anxious about doing anything of worth, Jaune wandered across the stone path leading to wherever his legs could take him.
He was practically on a tight rope when it came to his presence in there. Not only he had to watch for anything he said or did, but he also had to make sure Cinder didn't had him killed before the tournament by attracting too much attention from her and her subordinates.
At that thought, he promptly stopped in his tracks.
"This is stupid!" Jaune spoke to himself. "I don't even know why am I bothering with this so much. All I have to do is Nothing!"
He suddenly came to the obvious conclusion that if he minded his own business, then everything would fall into place. The Fall would happen and everyone would die. Mission accomplished. Yay!
Pushing that morbid thought aside, he breathed deeply.
'I shouldn't even be out here. I would probably be better off if I just went back to my room… And never leave again.'
But before he could turn around, Jaune noticed a fairly big shadow looming over him. His body tensioning at who might be.
"Hey there, Jauney…"
The tension was all gone.
"Cardin…"
"What a coincidence!" Said Winchester. "I was just looking for you, my guy."
The blonde couldn't tell if he was disappointed or… Nope. Just disappointed.
"…What do you want?" He was already running out of patience.
"Well, for starters, I wanted to tell you that thanks to your little stunt on our exam yesterday, me and my team got disqualified from Vytal. All 'cuz we were 'under-graded'." He quoted.
Jaune rolled his eyes at that. Fortunately for him, that made little difference in time. Last time he checked, Team CRDL had never made past the first line of brackets at the tournament, so he was still safe in that regard.
"Well, sorry for doing well in a fight for once. I really didn't mean to." He sarcastically offered.
His former bully gestured. "You know what, man? That one was on me. I lost fair and square. I just came searching for you because I wanted to ask for a favor."
"Really…?"
"Yeah. You see, after that fight, I noticed how my grades were falling… A little behind, so I went to Goodwitch for some extra credit." He explained. "And she just had to give me this one assignment where I have to kill a lot of Grimm at the Emerald Forest."
"…Is this another one of your schemes to get back at me or something?"
"Pfft. Nah… Where did you get that idea? Ha!" He laughed it off. "For real though, this is actually a thing. Every couple of months or so, the teachers get some poor sap to clear out some of the monsters in that forest just so the place isn't downright swarming by the time the next initiation comes around."
"…Okay?" Jaune tilted his head. "And why would you need my help with that?"
"Now, usually I would have my team helping me deal with this, but they all decided to bail on the last second. With some pretty lame excuses, may I add. Like Russel saying he was busy making a 'Mohawk Appreciation Club'."
"Wait, so I'm the only one left in the entire Academy who you can resort to now?"
"…That's the gist of it, yeah." The taller guy shrugged. "And unlike at the beginning of the year, you seem to have actually grown quite competent at fighting. That, and I was kinda hoping you would know someone else who could join us. Make this less of a chore. So, you in?"
Before Jaune could answer (and most likely refuse), the sound of rustling leaves came from a nearby small tree right beside them.
With a yellow tail tied around on one of the branches, a well-known Faunus with crossed legs suddenly hanged upside-down.
"Heyo!" An upside-down Sun greeted with a peace sign.
"…Sun?" Jaune took the time to process the sudden appearance of the newcomer. "How long… What were you doing in there?"
"Oh. I just found this tree, and decided chill in here for a while." He responded. "I honestly don't see the appeal about sleeping on a chunk of wood all day, but it is great for eavesdropping."
"Hey, you're the…" Cardin snapped his fingers twice. "You're that monkey guy from Haven, right?"
Sun turned to regard him.
"Hey! Only my friends get to call me monkey. For you, it's simian, my good sir." Then he turned back to his blonde pal. "So! I heard you guys were going on a hunt. Mind if I join?"
Jaune looked back and forth between Sun and Cardin. The latter nodded at him, insisting that he would accept the guy's help.
Again, before he could even dare to open his mouth…
"Room for one more?" Approached Mercury of all people. Within a second, he noticed Jaune's pale face. "Oh, hey again, little guy."
'What is he even doing in here?! Where are all these people coming from?!' The distressed Arc yelled in his head. He could have sworn there wasn't a single living soul in a kilometer radius.
"Hey, what's up!" Cardin turned to the silver-haired man. "You know Arc too?"
"Can't say that I do." Responded Mercury. "He actually barred me out from training with his friends just this morning."
"Really?" Asked Sun as he hopped out of the tree. "Doesn't sound like something he would do."
"We'll see about that." Mercury turned back to Jaune. "As you can see, I'm still not allowed to return to my room. So, what is it gonna be? Gonna turn me down from this one too?"
Jaune stared between the three guys in front of him. He could easily just run away and lock himself in his dorm in hopes of avoiding any unnecessary divergence of events.
However, not only would that increase Mercury's suspicion on him, but so would everyone's. And if all of his friends started to get wind of his sudden change of behavior, then things might turn out worse.
'Just play it cool.' Maria's advice came to mind. With a concealed breath, he put on his best act.
"Sure! You guys can come along!" Jaune responded with a plastic smile on his face. "I don't see why not."
"Great!" Expressed Cardin. "The more the merrier! You can even bring along your ninja buddy as well."
"I would be pleased to assist." Ren bowed beside his leader.
Jaune turned to him. "…You know, I'm not even gonna question how or when you got here."
"A wise decision." The boy in green nodded.
Out of nowhere, Jaune let out a "Gah!" after being caught by a headlock from Cardin.
"Alright, boys. Forward!" Proudly shouted Cardin. "Adventure awaits us! What do you say, Jauney?"
"I'm starting to regret this already!"
"That's the spirit!"
[OMAKE] "Crowbar Effect."
On a day like any other, Jaune (The older one) got a text message from Maria. It stated that she may had found an alternate solution for their current ordeal. Once again, the two met by the campus at Beacon.
"So… What did you have in mind?"
"Glad you asked." Said the old-lady as she guided the boy across the field. "Tell me, Jaune. What do you know about the Butterfly Effect?"
"Oh! Uhm… I think I saw it in a cartoon once?" He answered. "Basically, whenever you change anything in the past, it causes a chain reaction that drastically changes history as we know. Did I get it right?"
She snorted.
"'Course not! There's nothing to know about it because it's all fake! For you see, hack writers have been using the 'BuTtErFlY eFfEcT' to justify time-travel in media for decades now." She paused for flair. "When in actuality, it's all about the Crowbar Effect."
"…The what now?"
"The Crowbar Effect!" She emphasized. "It states that if anything, anything at all, is changed, the very fabric of reality will collapse and snap in half. Like a crowbar!"
She curiously pulled out an actual crowbar from under her cloak.
"…Do crowbars do that?"
"I dunno." Shrugged Maria. "But that's not why I brought you here. Follow me!"
She grabbed Jaune by the wrist and dragged him to a couple of tall bushes. Glimpsing over it, he noticed Cinder, Emerald and Mercury sitting at a round table on a small food court in the middle of the campus. They were all chatting while eating soup, which he guessed it tasted like evil.
Maria began to whisper.
"Okay, here's the plan: I want you to take this crowbar…" She gave him the metallic tool.
"Yeah…?" He nodded while taking it.
"And throw it right at that woman's head."
"Okay, I'll- Wait, WHAT?!"
"Shh! Not so loud! Now hurry up already!"
"I-I can't! Wh-What about the Crowbar Effect?!"
"What, that nonsense? I made that up. I was drunk."
"It was ten seconds ago!"
"Listen, it'll be fine. Now come on! We're running out of time!"
"B-But! What if-"
"Do it or else everyone you know will die a slow and painful death!"
"AAHH!" In an act of confused rage, Jaune chucked the crowbar as hard as he could.
It hit dead-center on the back of Cinder's head, making her faceplant on top of her plate, splashing evil soup all around.
Mercury poked her shoulder. "I think she's dead."
"That's unfortunate." Emerald said.
Back at the bushes, the boy stood paralyzed over the account of his action.
"…Did …Did it work?"
Maria raised a finger. "Wait for it…"
In what felt like a pop, Jaune and Maria were suddenly at the recreational room on the dorm building.
Coincidentally, most of his friends were in there. Ruby and her teammates, Nora, Ren, Pyrrha and even Oscar for some ungodly reason.
"It… Worked?" He muttered. "It worked! Maria, it work-" He interrupted himself upon seeing how everyone was looking at him weird.
"What?"
Ren lend him a hand-mirror. "I think you might want to see this."
Jaune picked the mirror, and saw that he had the haircut from Volume Seven.
"…I mean, it doesn't look thaaat bad."
"Speak for yourself!" Shouted Maria as she pointed to the window. "Look!"
Jaune and some of the others rushed to the window only to see an immense vortex completely taking over the horizon.
Above the already scary void, there was a gargantuan object hovering above the surface of Remnant. It turned out to be a giant crowbar, one that everyone witnessed being split in two in a blink of an eye.
"THE CROWBAR EFFECT!" Yelled Maria. "WHAT DID I TELL YOU, SON?! I WARNED YA! THE CROWBAR EFFECT!" And it was the last they could hear before they all were engulfed by blinding light, effectively erasing this story from existence.
[/O]
Bonus points if you know where I stole that from.
Also, hunting season next chapter.