Chapter Six.
[{{]
It hadn't taken them long to reach the depths of the Emerald Forest.
Looking away from the others, Jaune sighted in the distance the same ruins that once held the chess pieces from his team's initiation.
His attention was soon brought back to their group after one of them had killed a roaming Beowulf away from its pack.
Sun admired his work as the beast in front of him dissolved into mist.
"Make that nine!" He cheered, spinning his staff. "Still in the lead!"
"Not even close." Disagreed Mercury. "You're still short on those Ursas from earlier, remember?"
"Oh, you mean the ones you stole from me?"
"More like the ones you assisted me, bear in mind."
"Hey, hey!" Cardin, who was acting as the party leader, called them out. "You ladies gonna start bickering or can we get moving?"
"How about you start being a little more grateful?" Argued Mercury. "We're basically doing your homework for free."
"Fine. At least you're doing something." The armored student turned to Jaune. "Yo, Jauney. Wanna get in on the action? You've barely touched a single Grimm."
True to the guy's words, his sword had been kept in its sheath ever since they got there.
"I just don't feel like getting in the way, you know." Jaune meekly offered. "Say, I think we wiped enough Grimm for today. Maybe we should return to Beacon?"
"Already?" Scoffed Cardin. "What? You're suddenly afraid or something?"
"…If I say yes, can we head back?"
Everyone else just laughed as if he was making a joke. All except for his silent teammate, who was still very observant of Jaune. No doubt trying to unravel the truth behind his leader's intentions.
The blonde was carefully watching out for him. If Ren ever found out about the true extent from what was to come at the tournament, he would certainly do something to prevent it. And rightfully so.
As everyone began to follow Cardin for more creatures to hunt, Jaune decided to casually strike a conversation with Sun. Mainly to draw some of the attention away from him.
"Hey! Sun. I was wondering why you were by yourself today. How are things going with you and Neptune?"
The Faunus seemed to wince at that.
"Yeah… Less than great."
Ren turned to him. "And why is that?"
"He's not really talking to anyone from our team right now." Sun rubbed his own shoulder. "Nep's been accusing us of sneaking a red crystal in his back pocket or something. He keeps claiming that his pants suffered from a bad case of 'spontaneous combustion' right when he was passing by some pretty chick."
Out of everyone's sight, Mercury hid a smirk.
"Oh…" Spoke Jaune. "Well, I hope you guys can work that out."
"Don't sweat it, man." He waved off. "We haven't become Junior Detectives for nothing. We'll come to terms. Hopefully in time for Vytal."
"Better make it fast, then." Adverted Mercury. "You and your team have a lot of catching up to do. All the participants have been training like crazy lately. Just like their team here." He motioned his thumb at Jaune and Ren.
"…Thank you?" Ren attempted to take as a compliment.
Jaune grew more suspicious of Cinder's undercover assailant. Mercury would have never gone out of his way to hang out with a bunch of nerds like them. It was quite evident he had been tasked of spying on their group... Or at least only one of them.
Whether it was Jaune himself or not, he made a mental note to be more careful around him and Cinder in the future.
"By the way…" Spoke Sun, turning to the two boys from JNPR. "I heard you and the girls were sparring earlier today. How did that go?"
Blinked Jaune. "Hm? Oh, you know. Same as always. Well, except when Nora's in charge, then it's a whole other story." He sure did not miss being on a full-body cast.
"Can attest to that." Mercury rested both hands on the back of his head. "From what I have seen, she was definitely on a roll today. Especially with the help from that Semblance of yours."
Quite suddenly, Cardin lifted his mace sideways, effectively stopping a whole convoy of confused boys.
"Whoa, whoa! Hold on. Just hold it right there…" He said, smugly turning over to them. "Did I hear that right? Jauney-boy has a Semblance now?"
The blonde's spine went completely chill. All eyes were on him.
"Yeah, that's the first I hear too." Sun agreed.
Jaune pondered over his next choice of words. He wasn't aware Mercury had snooped on them for that long. For what it felt like an eternity for him to answer, he decided that denying it wasn't going to be a very productive choice.
"Tha-That's right!" Blurted Jaune. "I unlocked it mine just recently."
Out of everyone, Sun looked as if he was genuinely happy for him.
"Congrats, pal!" The Faunus patted him on the back. "Welcome to the club."
"That is some great news, alright." The mace-wielder concurred. "'Bout time you had one. Say, between us, what exactly can you do?"
And just like that, he felt cornered. Between being spied by both an ally and an enemy, Jaune felt himself forced to tell them the truth. Even if by a small extent.
"I… I can recharge other people's Auras…" They looked at him expecting for more. "And that's about it... As far as I know, anyway."
…
"I mean… It's alright, I guess." Mercury shrugged.
"…Huh." Murmured Cardin, quite unimpressed. "Well, that does sound more in line with you, Arc."
"Wait, what is that supposed to mean?" Jaune questioned.
Cardin simply ignored him and produced a scroll.
"There's signs of a big one up ahead. Come on, boys. Let's kill at least a couple of Alphas and call it a day." He pocketed the device and went back on his track, laughing all by himself. "Man, can't wait to tell the other guys."
'Juuust great.' Jaune thought as their party was on the move again. If Beacon's gossip-spread rate was anything to go by, pretty much his entire dorm wing would know he had a Semblance until dusk.
"Hey, cheer up." Sun went by his side. "I think your Semblance is pretty cool. Any chance we'll get a demo of it later?"
"…I'll see what I can do?" He answered. "Thanks, Sun."
Mercury then approached. "Don't stress yourself over it, kid. Semblances are overrated anyway. Take it from someone who never had one."
The blonde responded by faking a smile, taking effort to show some grain of sympathy. It was all an act, after all. If Mercury could do it, so could Jaune.
Still, it boggled him how everyone seemed to take an interest on the fact that he had a Semblance now.
Then again, if he was just a year younger, he would probably be ecstatic to know he had one.
Speaking of which…
[}}]
"Are you sure we're going the right way?!" Oscar questioned as he ran behind his new leader in the midst of the dense forest.
Both Jaune and him suddenly stopped at a 'makeshift clearing', which consisted of a terrain filled with slash marks and at least few toppled trees.
"…I might have a clue." He answered. "This way. Quick!"
The two soon sprinted at the newfound direction. Jaune had severely underestimated how much faster his teammates have gotten over the time he missed.
A few minutes ago, they heard a loud roar coming from the direction Ren and Nora were last sighted.
And since then, the Arc-Pine duo were met with a path filled with destruction and the fading remains of what Jaune assumed to be the corpses of small Manticores. A 'forest variant' of them, it seemed.
'Those were Ren's work.' He recognized the cuts around their path. 'Which means Nora is facing whatever made that sound earlier.'
"Just to clarify, are we still not in trouble?" Oscar asked in-between breaths.
"No! No. This is all perfectly fine." He lied. "We call this, er… Four-one-three bait and switch! Yeah! All according to plan."
"What plan? Did you just make that name up-!"
His words were cut short by a lurking Manticore which so happened to land in front of them.
As soon as the creature stomped in place, Jaune threw himself in front of Oscar, shield first. Again, muscle-memory doing all of the work. It was so fast he was almost afraid to think future-him had rehearsed it at some point.
The lion-shaped creature slowly circled around the pair, waiting for its opportunity to pounce.
"What's the plan now?" Oscar whispered.
"We hope the others can hold on for a little longer..."
He sure wished the two of them could hold out at all.
[{{]
With his shield propped up, Jaune watched from a safe distance as their group had immobilized an Ursa Major. Mainly with the help of Sun's Semblance, as his clones latched on their target. It was the fourth time they had encountered a "Larger Grimm".
Typically, Cardin took all of the glory by caving its skull with his mace. It must have felt really cathartic. Especially after almost getting killed last semester by one.
Jaune then felt someone tapping on his shoulder. Which turned out to be Mercury.
"Hey, tell the other guys I'm going off-track for a bit." He said in his usual pretentious manner. "We've been dealing with small-fries all day and I feel like giving myself some challenge."
"Eh… Sure? Suit yourself."
"Thanks, bro. Oh, and sorry for spilling your little secret back there. No hard feelings, right?"
"None whatsoever." Jaune shook his head. "Sorry for dismissing you this morning."
Mercury responded with a mere peace sign before leaving on his own.
'Sorry…' He thought. 'What a load.'
"I'm going to follow him." Ren spoke, slightly startling the blonde.
"What?" It's all he could ask.
"It seems apparent to me that Mercury is causing you some distress." The stoic boy explained his reasoning. "I will make sure to report you of my findings. That is, assuming you don't already know what he is up to."
"I… Have no idea what you're talking about?"
Ren offered an unconvinced "Hm" and went to follow the supposed Haven student.
With his teammate also out of sight, he heard the sound of Cardin clapping, trying to rally everyone.
"Alright, I think we're almost done here! Just one more of these should be enough to convince Missus G to raise my grade- Hey, where is everyone?" Cardin questioned as he could only find Jaune standing right there in the middle of the clearing while Sun was busy taking a selfie along with the disappearing Ursa.
"Oh! Uhm…" Jaune attempted to come up with an explanation. "Mercury just told me he and Ren were gonna explore for a bit. They should be back in a few."
Sun looked up from the picture he took on his scroll. "Those two are hanging out now?"
"Whatever!" Shouted Cardin. "We can take care of the next one with just the three of us. So long you actually help this time, Arc."
Jaune sighed. "Fine. Fine." 'Anything so we can get this done already.'
As long as things didn't go wrong, whether by his own volition or not, he could still salvage this trip.
Right?
[}}]
After blocking one or two fireballs, the Manticore dived straight for Jaune.
Next thing he knew, his shield was already up as the monster was stuck trying to bury its teeth in it.
"H-Hey! Shoo! Go away!" He frantically yelled as he attempted to stab the Grimm with his sword.
Seizing the opportunity, Oscar flanked them. And for a split second, Jaune could have sworn he saw the kid flashing green.
"HYAAA!" The boy screamed emphatically, bringing down his cane on the back of Manticore's neck.
Once he was free, Jaune brought down his shield only to see the beast lying on the ground, not moving a single limb.
Some of its features began to evaporate in a black cloud, signifying its death. Jaune watched in surprise, questioning how the blunt force of Ozpin's old cane could be enough to one-shot a Grimm like that.
'Something, something, kinetic energy.' He recalled the younger boy's previous explanation.
"That was a close one." Panted Oscar. "We should probably- We should… Hey, is everything okay?"
Jaune was broken out of his stupor. "Yeah! I'm fine! Awesome work! Thanks!"
"Uhm… You're welcome?" The farm boy acknowledged.
"Well then." He resumed his leader posture. "Now that's taken care of, we can focus on finding-"
Multiple crash sounds have suddenly erupted not far from them.
A pink blur could be seen practically flying towards them, exploding every tree branch it collided with. Fortunately for both boys, it went past above them and landed safely on a bush.
One familiar bomber got up and shook many leaves out of her hair. "Oh! Hey guys!"
"Nora!" Jaune came to her aid. "Are you okay?! What happened to you?!"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, geez." She scrubbed the dust off her shoulder. "Just what took you guys so long, anyway? Wait, where's Ren?"
"We thought he was with you." Claimed Oscar. "And why does it look like you got tossed around by a Beringel?"
As if on cue, a loud stomping presence alerted them. A tree had just been ripped off by the roots and thrown away revealing an actual Beringel, roaring menacingly while eyeing its newfound prey.
"…Taaake a wild guess." Nora said.
Jaune internally whimpered at the sight of the gorilla-like creature, as he was certainly not used to the fauna of Grimm present in Anima.
"Back for more, though guy?!" She readied her hammer.
In response, the Beringel leapt through the air and aimed a ground-pound at the trio.
Oscar observed as the shadow around them became darker and darker. "Should we…?"
"SCATTER!" Jaune ordered.
Each of them evaded into a different direction, seconds prior to the shockwave caused by their foe smashing against the ground.
Oscar was the first to recompose himself and retaliated by lunging his cane at the back of the monster.
That proved to be rather ineffective, as its skin was durable enough to absorb the enhanced impact. To which the Beringel responded by backhanding the farm-boy away.
"Now you've done it!" Threatened Nora upon seeing Oscar getting hurt. Raising her hammer for Nth time that evening, she began her assault at the Grimm.
As Jaune searched for an opening, he noticed how worn-out Nora actually was. Given how intense their first round might have been, he wasn't about to let his partner on her own.
Gripping his sword, the blonde sped up in an attempt to get some cheap damage at one of the beast's arms. Even if he only meant to take some of the heat away from Nora.
Much to his displeasure, his idea ended up working way too well.
Somehow still being unaccustomed to his actual strength, Jaune's light swing cut much deeper than he expected, staggering it and essentially enraging the already enraged creature.
In a sign of dominance, the Beringel began to slap its chest with its own fists, then proceeded to charge on all fours towards the poor knight.
With the sudden wave of panic taking over, Jaune's own body forced him to dodge-roll out of the Grimm's way. Never minding the fact of how he easily pulled that off, he ran in a straight line while also diverting the monster away from his friends.
"C-Can we please talk this over?!" The blonde pleaded whilst being chased, turning his head to see the bright red in its single functioning eye.
Facing back forward, he noticed his mistake as he had just cornered himself by running straight into a set of large boulders.
Turning his back against the sudden wall, he hastily assumed a defensive stance, facing his foe head on.
Unfortunately for him, the Beringel wasn't about to waste its momentum. With another roar, the creature was just about to tackle the boy into mush.
Suddenly, a hail of green pellets burst on his foe. The large Grimm became somewhat halted, allowing Ren to dive in and perform a dropkick with both legs on its face, knocking it down.
Jaune dropped his stance in relief as soon as his teammate landed in front of him. "Oh, thanks heavens you're here, Ren. You have no idea how close that was."
Contrary to him, the man in green could only respond in small, paused huffs. It sounded like he was really tired. Almost as if he had spent the last few minutes just running around in circles while searching for them, which was quite plausible.
However, that small interaction had considerably costed them.
Without a signal, the Beringel swiftly stuck its arm out for Ren. Failing to dodge in time, the creature grabbed him by the ankle before flailing his whole body against the ground.
"NO!" Jaune yelled, rushing to intervene.
Sensing for danger, the Grimm sought to reposition itself while holding Ren by his left leg. After gaining some distance, he threw the man away deep into the dense greenery.
Nora and Oscar caught up to them just in time to witness the scene.
"I'll- I'll go check up on him!" Announced Oscar. "You two can finish it off from here, right?"
Magnhild was practically shaking at that point.
"…You can bet on it." She gritted her teeth.
With their youngest member running off to succor Ren, both Nora and Jaune reunited while the Beringel seemed to give them an unreasonably long time to prepare.
"Say, fearless leader." She spoke. "How about we do the usual?"
He glanced at her. "The usual…?"
"Yeah, silly. The usual. You keep him distracted while I wait from above… And then I dive-bomb that thing into oblivion!"
Jaune gulped at her sudden change of tone, but went with it.
"R-Right. The usual. Let's do it."
"Okay then!" Nodded Nora. "I'll wait for the signal."
"Got it." Jaune nodded back before Nora super-jumped her way into the branches above.
Then he blinked in realization. "W-Wait! What signal?! Nora?!"
The sound of an eighty-pound gorilla rumbling towards his way revealed the Beringel standing right in front of him, making a loud huff through its nostrils.
"Oh dear…"
[{{]
"Should we really be wandering this close to the mountains?" Asked Jaune. "Isn't a little dangerous here?"
"Well, genius. Where else should we look for bigger Grimm?" Chastised Cardin. "One more should do it. I'm doing us a favor by bringing us here."
"I mean… I'm cool with it." Shrugged Sun. "Sort of."
Rolling his eyes over that asinine idea, Jaune couldn't help but to worry about their missing colleagues. Last thing he wanted was to have Ren and Mercury at each one's throats.
Just as he was about respond, a sudden tremor came from far behind. Seeing how he was the only one who felt that, he tried to talk some sense into the others.
"Hey, I honestly think we should leave while we still can." Said Jaune. "There's a better chance that we find a Boar or two on the way back. What do you say?"
Instead of taking his offer, Cardin seemed to have run out of patience.
"Alright. What is it with you now?" He questioned. "Why you're acting so reluctant all of the sudden? I know you're one of the lowest ranking fighters at our grade, but geesh."
"…Didn't he, like, kicked your ass yesterday?" Sun pointed out.
The ground began to rumble. Not that Cardin and Sun have noticed.
"Eh… Guys?" Jaune tried to alert them.
Cardin ignored him. "Yeah. I didn't ask you, monkey boy."
"I told you to stop calling me monkey. I have a name, you know." Sun crossed his arms. "And to think people were exaggerating about you."
More rumbles.
"Guys?" He tried again.
"Oh, please. You know I didn't mean it like that. Some of my friends are Faunus, you know."
"Sure! Just throw that pearl while you're at it, why don't ya?"
Even more rumbles.
"Guys!"
""What?!""
A Deathstalker suddenly burst from within the forest, cutting off all of the bushes it came across. With Jaune being the closest at the time, the large scorpion-like Grimm immediately set his sights on him.
The boy quickly unfolded his shield as the creature attempted to run him over. With his companions having already dispersed from its path, Jaune was pushed for a few meters before jumping backwards from its jaws.
"Now we're talking!" Cardin exclaimed from the sidelines while brandishing his mace. "Keep 'em busy, Arc!"
He didn't need to hear that twice. Voluntarily accepting his role as their surrogate tank, Jaune stood his ground, doing his best to block and avoid the Grimm's large pincers.
From the corner of his eyes, he could see that Sun began to enact on their previous strategy. Summoning a couple of bright copies of himself and sending them to hold off the Deathstalker by its limbs.
With its tail still left free, the Grimm lunged its glowing stinger towards the shielded blonde. By anticipating the rather telegraphed attack, Jaune was able to dodge it with ease. The stinger missed by small margin, empaling the ground and blowing some dirt on his jeans.
"Anytime now!" Jaune announced.
Grinning at the opportunity, Cardin went for the Deathstalker's blind spot and swung his mace against it. Notwithstanding the damage, the beast was sent slightly to the side, screeching violently at them.
"The armor on this thing is a real piece of work!" He complained. "How much longer can you two hold it off?!"
His answer came in the form of the Deathstalker freeing itself from Sun's clones, causing them to disappear.
"We have to come up with something else!" Suggested the Faunus. "Let's relocate!"
Jaune nodded in agreement and turned away from the monster.
But then, in an unlucky turn of events, the stinger had abruptly un-buried itself from the ground and caught the hem of the back of Jaune's hoodie. His face went completely deadpan to what was about to happen.
"Oh, for the love of-!" That was just about what he could say before getting catapulted far away by the Deathstalker's tail.
Both Huntsman in training were gob-smacked after what they just witnessed.
"Damn…" Uttered Cardin. "Please, tell me someone got that on camera!"
Meanwhile at the Headmaster's office, one very chill wizard sat comfortably beside his exorbitant amount of ignored paperwork, enjoying some hot cocoa while watching a live feed surveilling the Emerald Forest on his scroll.
His relaxing broadcast was interrupted by a hooded figure with blond hair flailing across the air in the distance.
"Ah… This surely brings me back to this year's initiation." Ozpin sipped at that. "Which reminds me, I should take the time to properly calibrate those launch pads for the next one."
A thud sound granted him some amusement.
"…On second thought, I shall dwell on this decision over the next decade or so."
It was moments like these where Jaune wished he hadn't gotten out of bed.
'Then again, going to bed was what got me into this.' He contemplated as he laid on the grass field after sustaining that fall with the help of his Aura.
If there was one thing that was still consistent across both times, is that he was still a clumsy mess.
"Do you need help?" The hand of his friend was extended to him.
"…More than you could ever imagine." He accepted Ren's help and got up. "You're not gonna believe what just happened. There was a Deathstalker-"
"I know." He cut his leader short. "You may thank mercury for that."
Jaune scoffed. "Wha-?! Mercury did this?!"
"I am stumped as you are." He answered. "I saw him guiding the Deathstalker out of some cave in the mountains. It also seemed to barely acknowledge him as a threat. I even considered taking a picture, but I was too busy masking myself at the time so neither of them could find me."
"That-" Made total and logical sense. "That's insane!"
"If it makes you feel any better, I chose to not confront him about it… At least for now."
Jaune sighed in relief. "Good call, man. Let's get to the others."
The two rapidly made their way towards the never-ending sound of trees crashing.
At a moment's notice, they soon found themselves on top of a small cliff, giving them plenty of view of the fight in the clearing below.
They quickly lied down just in time to see Cardin getting smacked across the field right into a tree.
""Ouch."" The two of them winced.
The Deathstalker soon began to advance at the bruised student, only to be stopped by Sun, who landed in between them and began to summon over half-dozen copies of himself.
"Let's see how you handle this!" With a single motion, he sent all of his clones to gang up on the Grimm.
Jaune watched in relief from up there. "Okay, Sun totally got this one down. No reason for us to intervene, right?"
Unaware of his own reserves, Sun's Aura chose the worst moment to give in. His body flashed yellow before fizzling out, erasing all of his clones in the process.
"…Okay, I'll be the first one to admit this isn't looking good." He offered.
"You think?!" Cardin yelled.
With the shirtless student carefully backing up to the armored one, Ren pronounced himself.
"It seems we are done watching. Any ideas on how we should approach?"
Jaune desperately went through many options in his mind. They were on a pretty tight spot. Even if him and Ren were to jump in, they still ran the risk of one of them getting badly injured. Maria sure would not be happy with this.
Then he thought of a much safer alternative. However, it was one that further risked exposing himself.
"Hey. Can you mask their emotions just like you did with yourself before?"
Confused at his request, Ren turned to him.
"I am not entirely sure what you are suggesting I do here. I am still struggling to consistently maintain my Semblance on multiple people beyond just me. Let alone from this distance."
Jaune tsked, being forced to go through with his plan.
"Look, just… Trust me on this one, alright?" He assured, putting a hand on his teammate's shoulder.
Ren did not know what to make of his idea, but went with it anyway. Just as he began to focus on his Semblance, Jaune activated his as well.
The hand on his shoulder was plain more than just an act of assurance, and Ren instantly caught on that, noticing the increasingly surge of Aura on him.
With his reach suddenly enhanced, he was able to trail his Semblance down the small cliff, across clearing an into the two cornered students.
While focusing, Ren was surprised at his new given capabilities. Not only his Aura seemed higher, but his Semblance had also grown stronger just from being in touch with Jaune's. For as formidable as that was, he focused on doing what he was asked to, and extended his masking properties to Sun and Cardin.
The Deathstalker stopped in its tracks, unable to see the monochromatic duo right in front of it. Just as the two students noticed the strange grey aura covering their figures, the monster had given up on them and crawled away from the scene.
By the time the masking effect had worn off, Cardin cupped his mouth. "Y-Yeah! You better run!" Which awarded him with a slap on the back of his head from Sun.
Back at the cliff, the two boys from JNPR stood up after letting go of their Semblances.
"I take you are not explaining what occurred just now." Ren assumed.
"I'm afraid so…" Jaune confessed, sheepishly averting his eyes.
His partner shrugged. "Very well."
"Hey there, guys!" Both turned their attention to the last missing member of their party.
Mercury came walking, pretending to stretch as if he had gone on a jog.
"So… Did I miss anything?"
[}}]
Another piece of random vegetation got smashed into bits.
After being left alone with a Beringel, Jaune spent the next 'He wish he knew how long' minutes trying his best to fend off the furious Grimm. His best tactics so far being 'Running' and 'Screaming'. Not necessarily in that order.
"Nora! You can come down now!" He shouted, and to no avail. She either was too busy preparing, or she was dead-set on waiting for that aforementioned signal he did not know.
He found himself huffing. Tired of dodging so much, Jaune recalled another tool at his disposal.
Folding his shield and sheathing his sword inside of it, he pressed that same button from earlier. Crocea Mors grew sharper and longer edges, turning into a two-handed sword.
For whatever reason, the Beringel took that as a challenge and charged straight for him. Jaune for his turn refused to move. He waited for as long as he could until they were inches apart from each other.
He closed his eyes and thrusted away. After almost getting deaf from the creature's scream alone, he opened his eyes to see the results.
Jaune had unconsciously dodged its arms in time and had also managed to bury his sword deep in its chest.
As frozen as he felt after accomplishing such risky feat, he felt even more afflicted when the Beringel began to furiously roar in pain at his face.
"OH, C'MON!" He screamed. "NORA! PLEASE! WHAT'S THE SIGNAL?!"
While afraid he was going to have his head bitten off, Jaune spotted some rustling leaves from far above. Swallowing dry, he detached his sword from the monster and ditched the spot on the last second.
"JERONIMOOOOO!" A human air-strike came straight down on top of the Beringel. What Jaune saw next was a heart themed explosion. Once the smoke was gone, it revealed a triumphant Nora posing on top of the defeated beast in the middle of a crater. That same beast began to dissolve afterwards.
"Wow! You sure took your time there!" Announced Nora. "And to think you were going to leave me hanging. Literally!"
With the rush of the battle long gone, Jaune connected the dots.
"…Nora …Please tell me the signal wasn't 'Signal'."
"What? No, that would be dumb."
"Oh, good. So-"
"The signal was 'What's the signal?!'." She responded, earning a weird look from him. "What's with the face?! I thought you knew it. We even came up with it together."
Whether Jaune intended to dispute that or not, it had to wait. Oscar had showed up, waving at them while carrying Ren by his shoulder.
"Little help here? He's not really talking to me right now… Or doing anything for that matter."
"Ren!" Nora ran over to them and so did Jaune. Oscar lied their downed teammate on the ground and knelt close to him.
"Okay, everyone please stay calm." Their leader tried to contain the situation. "He's gonna be fine. We just need to contact those soldiers from earlier and say we have an injured Huntsman on our team. I'm sure they're prepared for this."
Nora and Oscar looked back and forth between him and Ren.
"We could do that. Or you could… You know." The orange-headed girl motioned at her unconscious partner.
Jaune blinked. "What do you mean?"
"You could just boost him up like you always do." She answered. "It'll ease his recovery."
"…I could do what now?" He inclined his head to the side.
"I better leave this to you two. I'll just call the Atlesian soldiers and say we're ready for dispatch." Oscar stood up, picked up his scroll and went around the clearing to search for some signal.
Jaune looked back at Nora, who was kneeling beside Ren and kept insistently gesturing for the blonde to do something.
"Right! I'll do the thing you just asked me to." He blindly agreed and knelt in beside his dormant friend across from Nora.
To say Jaune felt lost was a mild understatement. For all he knew, 'Boosting' could be a codename for 'Giving someone Mouth-to-Mouth'. And he wasn't ready to test that out just yet.
Seconds were passing by. At that point, he was expecting Nora to lose her patience. To get all angry and start accusing him of pulling another practical joke on them.
Her expression did end up changing. However, to a much calmer, caring one rather than just glaring sternly at him.
"It's okay. Just relax." She assured him. "You've done this before, remember?"
"I…" Jaune could only exhale in shame. A very close friend of his got hurt on their first day of work, and he had no idea how to help. Yet another daunting reminder of why he should not be there in the first place.
"…Don't worry." Spoke Nora again. "I'll help you out. Is that okay with you?"
Reluctantly looking up to her, he nodded in response.
"Good." She reached out to both his hands. "Just stick out your arms and keep your hands steady. Just like that."
"…Now what?" Jaune helplessly asked, keeping his hands above Ren's chest.
"Now just let it flow." She vaguely offered. "Again, you've done this before. I believe in you."
It was entirely up to him now. Using Nora's advice as a starting point, he tapped into his own subconscious in the hopes of recovering any experiences related to that. Jaune wasn't really willing to risk another vision-induced headache, but there was little he could do at the moment.
His eyes had closed on their own, alleviating the process. He had done this before. Practiced even. The pieces weren't fitting in his younger mind, but his older body seemed to already know the answer. And by extension… His soul too?
"See? You're doing it. What did I tell you?" Nora said.
Peeking through one of his eyelids, he was instantly taken back by what he saw. Both his arms were glowing. He could feel his own Aura emanating from his hands.
"You're doing great right now." She complimented him. "Now try and focus that energy on our sleeping buddy here."
For as little as he understood what was going on, Jaune did what he was told to. Goldish-white met pink. He could feel his own reserves being transferred to Ren through a flux of their Auras.
"Sorry by the way… You know, about the whole 'signal stunt'." She quoted. "I wasn't really one-hundred percent sure at the time, so I sorta… Made it up on the spot?"
That confession made the blonde cease his efforts. Astonished as he already was, Jaune looked at her.
"Oh! And before you ask, yes. That's your Semblance. Just to clear that out to ya."
So yeah. This chapter has gotten much later than it has any right to be. Brief disclaimer: I'm dropping any semblance of consistent update frequency in favor of 'me not getting burned out from this'. Hopefully that's a good trade.
And as an apology, here's yet another unoriginal skit.
[OMAKE] "Pyrrha's Will"
"Thank you all for coming." Welcomed the redhead lady. "Please, take a seat."
A letter had arrived earlier that day at the Cotta-Arc Household. The contents of that letter were destined to the remaining teams of Beacon, being RWBY and JNPR specifically.
They were addressed to come at noon to a local law-firm in Argus. With the promise of getting some closure related to their fallen friend, the seven Huntsmen in training entered a small office and sat around on a large table as instructed by the green-eyed woman in charge.
"So…" Began Ruby. "Is this about Pyrrha?"
"Correct." Responded the mysterious lady. "And since I am the one responsible for her legal affairs, I have decided to gather you all here today. Oh, hello again Mr. Arc."
"Hey… I remember you." Jaune (the younger one) recalled, getting a few flashes from their encounter. "You're that woman I talked to that night at Pyrrha's memorial."
"That's right." She nodded. "Thanks to you, I got word that both your teams were staying by in Argus, so I decided to hold this little meeting regarding your fallen colleague, Miss Nikos."
She reached under the table and brought up a set of clipped documents.
"What I'm holding right now is the Last Will & Testament of one, Pyrrha Nikos. It was sent to me just before the beginning of the Vytal Festival."
Everyone around the table took their time to let those events sink in.
Everyone but Jaune, that is. "Wait, she actually wrote a Will? Wasn't she, like… Still seventeen at the time?"
"…You haven't written one?" Ren inquired.
Jaune turned to face Ren only to find out no one was siding with him.
"Seriously? You guys want me to believe all of you have already written Wills of your own?"
"I mean… Yeah?" Said Yang. "We pretty much have 'Death at our Doorstep' written all over our job description."
Weiss sighed. "My father made me write my first one at the age of five, back when I was still his heiress."
"We even convinced Oscar to write one of his own back at Haven." Nora said.
Jaune stared blankly at them. "…Okay, first of all, do you realize how incredibly morbid that sounds? And secondly… I should probably get down to write my own now that I think about it. Huh."
"Now then." Said the redhead lady. "Shall I start reading?"
"Wait, hold on." Yang waved her hand. "What was your relation with Pyrrha again?"
"Oh. We share the same Voice Actress."
"…Wha-?"
"I'll start reading now." She cleared her throat.
"Hello once again, my dear friends." The woman perfectly mimicked the voice and tone of their old friend. "As we are preparing ourselves for the upcoming battles our teams will be facing at the Tournament of Vytal this week, I have decided to update my Will, as I am sure nothing majorly terrible will happen. Like say, the entire Academy falling apart after some suspicious students in cahoots with a terrorist organization were able to stage a fake student getting executed, causing mass panic and leading to a massive Grimm outbreak."
"Is anyone going to comment on how specific that sounded?" Questioned Blake. "No one? Just me? Okay."
"As I have a lot going on in my mind right now, I shall address you each at the time. Starting with one of the very first people I met at Beacon, Weiss Schnee."
The former-heiress perked up at her name.
"From the very moment we met, you saw me as nothing more than a way to climb up to the top of our grade by exploiting my reputation as a four-time champion."
Everyone shifted their focus to the girl in question.
She sulked with guilt. "Okay, I will admit. I may not have been really that great with first impressions at the time…"
"And because of that, Weiss, I hereby bequeath to you…"
The woman turned a page.
"…A boot to the head."
"…I am sorry, wha- OW!" Weiss' forehead got hit by a raggedy old boot (One that's usually found at the bottom of a pond, for some reason) from no particular direction. "What was that?!"
The strange lady seemed unfazed by the occurrence. "But since then, I had the chance to know you better during these past few months. You showed yourself to be compassionate and understanding of others. And I am really glad to call you, a dear friend."
"Aww…" Weiss expression softened. "I miss you too, Pyrrha."
"However, for stealing Jaune away from me, you get another boot to the head."
Another flying boot came and hit her on the side of her head, almost undoing her ponytail. "OW! Who threw that?! Nora, was it you?!"
"N-None of us threw that." Stated Ruby. Everyone kept looking around trying to figure out where those boots came from.
"Next one on my list is Yang Xiao Long."
"Oh, sweet!" Yang got on the edge of her seat. "What did she write about me?"
"Since the beginning of the year, you were in great part responsible for the huge amount of detention hours both our teams had to endure. Thanks to you, I have in my permanent record a bunch of occurrences listed as Food-fights, Pillow-fights, Fort-fights, Dorm-fights, Prank-fights, Street-fights, Drunk-fights, Fight-fights and even one account for participating in Arson."
Yang chuckled. "Heh. That sure was a crazy weekend, right guys? Guys?"
"Still, you were always so upbeat and free-spirited and your shenanigans are easily one of the most memorable times I had at Beacon. And so, to repay you for all the fun I had so far, I shall leave you my vast… Boot to the head."
She was hit by a soggy boot on the back of her head. "OH, C'MON! AGH, IT'S STUCK TO MY HAIR NOW! P-MONEY, HOW COULD YOU?!"
"Is it me, or is Pyrrha sounding a bit more vindictive than we were accustomed to?" Ren asked away.
"Is no one actually concerned about the flying boots here?!" Weiss exclaimed.
"Next, I would like to talk about Blake Belladonna."
"I'm already done with this." Blake stood up from her chair.
"Despite not knowing you all that well, despite you having worked as a terrorist in the past, despite never sharing a single line of dialogue with me in Canon…"
"Nope. I am not falling for this." The Faunus was already by the door.
"I still think you will make a formidable Huntress in the future and I highly admire your bravery regarding the Faunus cause. Which is why I'm leaving you my entire collection of signed copies of the Howling at the Moon™ series..."
Her hand had reached the doorhandle. "…Really?"
"AndABootToTheHead."
She was hit right in the head, leading to the object bouncing on the floor. Without giving away her expression, she simply rubbed where the boot had struck and went back to her seat.
"That collection better be authentic." Blake mumbled.
"Up next is Ruby Rose-"
"Please, no boot to the head!" She pleaded. "I've done nothing to wrong her!"
"We will see about that. May I please continue?" Another clear of the throat. "-Who has showed time and time again exceptional leadership skills, a kind heart and unrelenting support not just to your team but ours as well..."
"Wow..." Ruby earned a slight blush. "I-I don't even know what to say-"
"…Especially when it came to showing support to an all-known blonde of ours."
"…Huh?"
"For as much as I appreciate you helping Jaune stay in his path, I am as of now still coming to terms with you hanging out a lot with him. And, if anything so happens to develop in my absence, I have no choice but condemn you as well…"
"Oh, no! Pyrrha, please! Don't!" She covered her face.
"With a basket containing a whole assortment of home-made cookies!"
A basket filled with baked goods slid across the table in front of Ruby from seemingly nowhere.
"Oh? Ah! OMIGOSH! Thank you, Pyrrha!" She grabbed the basket and almost immediately began to shove cookies in her mouth until she found something.
"Uhm? What is this? A note? It says: 'As well as a boot to the-' UGH!" Ruby was shot off her seat. "I'M OKAY!"
Jaune, who had been quiet this whole time, poked Ren on the shoulder.
"Hey, were they talking about me just now?" He whispered. "What was that all about?"
Ren stared at him. "…You cannot be serious."
"Moving on to my own team, I would like to address Lie Ren now." The lady turned yet another page. "For the longest time, probably since the initiation, I never knew exactly what to make of you. That, and your dancing routines proved to be rather exhausting to me. More so than Nora's training regime, if I'm being honest."
"Hm." He hummed.
"Aside from that, you are still one of the most trustworthy people I had the pleasure to acquaint myself. I sure hope I will get to know you better as time goes on."
While everyone winced, Ren kept himself unconvinced by the sudden spike of positivity.
"As such, I shall leave to you my favorite vintage tea set, for whenever you need to relax or meditate."
"Hey. Good for you, man." Jaune spoke.
Ren raised a hand. "Wait for it…"
"But as I write this, I predict that you have yet to return a special someone's feelings. And as much as it pains me to do this to my own teammate… I will also leave to you a boot to the head."
Ren was just about to dodge the leathery projectile, but Nora had beat him up to it and grabbed the boot in mid-air.
"Huh. Thank you, Nora. I should have known you would-" Then Nora knocked him on the head with it. "Augh! What was that for?"
She turned away from him and crossed her arms. "Hmph! It's what Pyrrha would've wanted."
"Before I continue, I just would like to thank Nora Valkyrie again for giving me a few pointers on how I should write this, in exchange for advancing her chosen share of my Will by getting her bar of Klondike unstuck from the hallway's vending machine."
Pretty much everyone on the table who fell victim to the boot glared at her.
"…Why are y'all looking at me like that?" Nora said as she munched on a Klondike bar. A different one.
"And last, but not least, there's Jaune Arc. Who I deeply…" She stopped reading for a few seconds. "Sorry to interrupt, but do you mind if I skip some of this? She basically wrote a three-page essay detailing how 'splendid' your 'posterior' is. And I'm not sure if most of this is age appropriate, so…"
Confused and blushing ever so slightly, Jaune awkwardly nodded.
"Right." She fast-forwarded to the last page. "…With that out of the way, I would like to state that you will not be getting a boot to the head, but instead something much more valuable."
"Oh!"
"In the form of an important task."
"Oh…"
"In case something tragic ever happens to bestow upon me, I will need you to take whatever remains of Miló and Akoúo̱ and bring them back to my family in Mistral. I never mentioned to any of you, but just like your sword and shield, my weapon is also a 'somewhat-sacred' heirloom in my family, passed down and upgraded for generations on end. Oh, but I'm certain you will have taken good care of them by the time you are reading this. Until we meet again, my sweet knight."
Everyone silently turned to the helpless blonde gulping in his chair.
"Err…" He stared down at Crocea Mors. "Little bit too late for that…?"
"Eh. It happens." The redhead lady just shrugged. "Well, children. It seems we are done with our business."
Ruby managed to climb up back to her seat. "Is- Is it over?"
"Positively. Those were the only belongings she had left to her assigned friends. Any and all financial properties have already been distributed between family and charities alike."
"So that's it?!" Yang stood up, baffled. "This is all we get? Some books, cookies, teapots and enough boots to drive a clobber to bankruptcy? One of them still tangled to my hair, mind you."
The woman looked at the backside of one of the pages. "Actually, no. Miss Nikos left one more item to you. All of you."
Weiss crossed her arms. "Should we really take our chances with this?"
Yang huffed. "Oh, to hell with- What is it?"
Half of the room covered their heads.
"A life-time supply of cereal." The woman announced.
"…Cereal?" Blake asked.
"Cereal?" Ruby tilted her head.
"Okay!" Jaune stood up. "Look, as 'fun' as this has been, I think most of us know where this is going, so we're just gonna leave. Alright?"
Everyone seemed to be onboard with that idea. Except for Nora, of course.
"What's the flavor?"
"Nora, don't!" Ren shouted.
The lady smirked. "Boot to the head."
The entire cubic volume of the room was instantly filled with easily over a thousand of those boots.
The door was forced open, where Jaune slid-off of a mountain of crummy old leather.
"I really hate the future..."
Insert long drawn-out laugh track here.
[/O]