DO THE EVOLUTION
Despite his partner's attempts to comfort and hopefully alleviate his overwhelming urge to forcefully eject his breakfast onto the metal floor of the bullhead and likely hitting the unfortunate soul across from him, one Blake Belladonna, Jaune found that both the burning sensation in his guts and the imaginary jackhammer pressing up against his brain would not let up anytime soon. Doctor Oobleck's ranting was definitely not helping, but he had learned to tune that out a while ago during the first few weeks of his time at Beacon. It wasn't like he found the history lessons boring-Jaune needed all the help he could get, but when Oobleck got really into his lesson, the historian became nearly impossible to follow.
Much to Jaune's own frustration whenever he had to go back and reread the textbook to take notes on material he should have been able to follow the first go-around.
"So my colleague stumbled across these ruins thanks to his mentee's decision to ignore his warnings and delve into the cavern as he claimed that he saw something interestingandasamemberofthehistoricalpreservationcommitteeIpersonallybelieve…" Jaune tuned his teacher back out as his rant gradually sped up.
See?
Jaune looked over to his closest companion as she continued her much appreciated massage of his upper and lower back. It was forceful and clumsy and not very effective, but it was enough for him really. The thought helped. The knowledge that he had managed to make someone so amazing and infinitely more talented than him actually care about a loser like him was reassuring as it was frustrating.
If he was being honest, he was envious of Pyrrha, of all of his friends really. How many of them actually had their parental or family figures support their dreams? How many of them took that for granted?
Jaune sighed as he bitterly tightened his grip on his sheath.
He knew he wasn't supposed to have thoughts like that. They were all wonderful people with more value than him in terms of what was important at Beacon, and he was just… some 'lucky' moron.
Someone like him wasn't supposed to achieve their dreams, and Jaune just wanted to be a normal huntsman now. Apparently, even that was too much.
"So how much longer do we have until we get there?" Nora asked impatiently as she gazed out at the sea of green trees from the window seat, having woken up from her aforementioned nap. Ren sat comfortably next to her, his head leaning back as he silently slept against the wall with his arms crossed atop his chest.
Pyrrha checked her scroll as she quickly plotted the course to their location. Some buried cave system that had been named "Altamira." Pyrrha wasn't good with these kinds of things, but to her, the name was obviously meant to signify something reigning over all, so whoever decided to grant the title to an underground historical site was likely just messing around or something. "Only about 15 minutes now, Nora. I'll tell you when we get there."
Nora shrugged, seemingly contented by her answer, before the short ginger began restlessly tapping her partner's face with what seemed to be tremendous speed but not with enough force to actually wake Ren up from his slumber.
On the opposite side of team JNPR, Ruby Rose leaned on the window closest to her and her team.
"Oh! Weiss! Weiss! I spy something that looks… green." Ruby pulled her partner closer till her face was up against the glass.
Weiss inwardly groaned.
"Let me guess, the trees?" She rolled her eyes as Ruby's face shifted into a grin that resembled her sister's a bit too much for Weiss' liking.
"Nope!" Ruby punctuated the 'p' with a pop of her mouth. "Guess again!"
"I spy something annoying," answered Weiss as she balefully stared into the back of Ruby's head.
Ruby let out a scandalous gasp.
"But I wasn't done with my turn yet! No fair!" The reaper extended her index finger at Weiss as if she was scolding the Schnee. "But since you've been such a good sport, I'll let you have this. It was the grass!"
Letting Weiss deal with her baby sis, Yang peered over her partner's shoulder curiously as she attempted to secretly read along with Blake-against her own better judgement. If Blake was reading these books in public, then they couldn't be all bad, right?
'And the knight caressed his one and only after brutally slaughtering his enemies, placing their deformed faces on pikes as he plowed his best friend and fellow male knight's tender, tight…'
Yang decided to stop reading.
Who the fuck writes this shit?!
Bending over to read the spine of Blake's novel, Yang checked the author's name. One Chuckle Ting supposedly, some Mistralian writer judging by the name.
Well, there was weirder shit out there now that she thought about it. Mistralian hentai was pretty infamous for its depravity, not that Yang judged. She tried to be a free spirit, more or less.
Her lilac eyes drifted to her innocent younger sister.
...That was a lie. Yang judged. Yang judged a lot.
Apparently, it was the nice and quiet ones who were freaks in that area. She should have known.
"We're here!" Pyrrha announced gleefully as the group collectively felt the bullhead slowly land on the ground and open its side doors.
Lie Ren's unconscious body tumbled backwards before Jaune caught him instinctively by the hem of his green collar. His stomach calming down, Jaune pulled his friend back to safety while Nora happily vaulted over the two young men.
"First!"
With Ren soon coming to, Jaune bent his head backwards as his friends all exited bullhead no. B-52. As if worn down by time, the sickly yellow stone of the Altamira cavern entrance unnerved Jaune. The claw marks on the sides of the walls certainly did not help him settle the growing tension in his chest as he stared into the dark abyss that awaited him.
And he certainly was not fond of the two faintly glowing orange orbs that stared back.
Jaune took a step onto the forest floor and rubbed his eyes.
Must've been his imagination. Initiation must have really messed with him now that he thought about it if he was seeing things. That deathstalker definitely caused Jaune to be a bit more apprehensive to any caves.
"Children! Could you perhaps help me unpack my equipment-"
Jaune felt something grab his shoulder, and his breathing hitched. Already on edge, Jaune did the most reasonable thing he could.
And clocked whatever or whoever grabbed him in the nose instinctively with as much force as possible, winding his shoulder back before delivering a sickening squelch as Jaune felt blood splatter across his right leather glove.
"Agh!"
"Jaune!" Pyrrha screamed at him as she ran over to his side.
"Nice punch." Yang admitted as she felt an amused smirk grow on her face.
"Good job!" congratulated Nora, "I can't wait to see fearless leader execute that in combat practice next time!"
Jaune froze as he registered the dark-skinned student caressing his broken nose with both his hands.
"Oh dang, I'm sorry!" Jaune sheepishly apologized, accidentally imitating his partner as he scratched the back of his neck. "Are you okay?"
"Go pluck yurself," replied Kane as he attempted to stop the bleeding. "Wut kind of dickhed punches sumone for jus sayin hello?"
His voice nasally from the blow, Kane decided he was not a fan of Jaune Arc.
"Ah! There you are, Mr. Kane." Oobleck jumped out of the bullhead with as much of his equipment as he could. "Is Professor Thorogood nearby? I haven't seen him in a long time."
Kane's face darkened as he pressed one finger up against his nostril and blew out a bloody glob.
"He's dead."
The site seemed to go silent.
"Oh…" Oobleck replied somberly. "That's… That's a rather heavy loss for me. He was a close college friend of mine. How did he die?"
"If you want to know so badly, why don't you go down there and find out?" Kane said bitterly. "I'm done here."
Despite his abrasive demeanor, Jaune saw something a bit too similar to himself in that torn expression on his face.
He looked like he had been crying.
"This the place?" Asked Yang as she jumped down into the cavern depths of Altamira.
"I… I believe so." Oobleck stated curiously. "But, this place was supposed to not have been touched for the past few hundred years."
"If that's the case, Doctor Oobleck, then what is this doing here?" Weiss pointed to the modern vault in suspicion. "What about these horseshoe prints or these bullet holes?"
"I don't think I have an answer for that, Ms. Schnee." Doctor Oobleck signaled for them to stay behind him. "But I'm going to examine that vault. Don't come unless I say so."
Something smelled like rotten meat, much to Blake's displeasure.
Doctor Oobleck grabbed the vault door and opened without much effort.
Nothing.
The vault was empty.
Oobleck ordered for the group to turn around.
"During the 19th century, a famous English biologist theorized that all life evolved from a single common ancestor and diversified thanks to the law of natural selection."
A robotic voice echoed throughout the cavern from the empty vault as a disgusting odor spread. It had sounded as though someone had compressed their voice through a radio.
The group's eyes widened as a ghastly figure emerged from the metal door's crevices, as if it had phased through it.
"For humans to evolve, however, the case is a bit different-at least on a personal level."
Despite the mysterious entity's monologue, the boney, misshapen jawline hadn't opened once; its elongated yellowish teeth remained firmly attached in place. The two orange glowing orbs beneath the blackened shield lens pulsated with power, lightening the square room up faintly.
"In order for one to grow, they must possess an 'overwhelming' ambition. Whether or not it is a selfish or selfless ambition is unimportant. They just need to be able to do whatever it takes to move forward towards their goal."
Its arms were made out of what looked like millions of multicolored wires twisted together with two metal bands surrounding them per arm. One at its elbows and one at its wrist that connected to a navy hand.
The mysterious being raised its arms above its head and crossed one over the other, bending its elbows inwards as the floating gray wires beneath the striped torso trailed backwards.
Its chest was adorned in scattered black-and-white lines of asymmetrical sizes, giving it the strange appearance similar to that of the bar codes one would see on a product while they went shopping.
"That is what makes a person 'worthy' to take the next step in evolution and progress."
BA-BAM!
"DO THE EVOLUTION."
A pair of thin navy hands wrapped around Doctor Oobleck's head as he opened his mouth.
"What do you think, Doctor Oobleck?"
The chill down his spine told Oobleck that this wasn't like anything he had ever encountered before, and for the first time in twenty years…
Doctor Oobleck felt truly terrified.
"Children, run away! Now!" Jumping back, the doctor reached for his weapon, only to collide with the vault door, overshooting his target by well over several meters.
'What the? I could have sworn I-'
The robotic being's hand grabbed the right side of Oobleck's head before tossing him into the stone wall.
Oobleck flew unnaturally fast before his head collided with the stone, cracking it and shattering his aura almost instantly while also knocking the man out in a single instant.
"I see…"
DO THE EVOLUTION raised its fist to slowly crush the unconscious historian's skull like a watermelon, pressing against his head as it leaned over.
"You aren't worthy either."
As it descended, a scythe intercepted the blow, protecting the teacher from the attack on his life.
"Not now!" yelled Ruby as she attempted to press the being back away from her teacher.
"What the heck is that thing?" Ren asked as teams RWBY and JNPR got into their respective combat stances.
"I'm not quite sure, but that's definitely no Grimm." Yang added as she cracked her knuckles. "We'll have to deal with it either way."
The blade phased through the ghostlike monster, which gently touched Ruby's arm midswing as Weiss followed up her attack with a lunge of her own.
The motion behind the swing intensified to ludicrous levels as Ruby's arm popped out of its socket, causing her to toss Crescent Rose with the force of a truck into her unfortunate partner.
"Umph!"
Weiss found herself gasping for air as the handle of the giant scythe struck her windpipe and pinned her body to the wall, delivering a good blow to her aura before it cracked and vanished. Her world grew disoriented as she coughed violently.
DO THE EVOLUTION grabbed Ruby Rose by the neck, but for some reason, Jaune noted-despite its attempts to clearly strangle her-it couldn't even cause the skin on her neck to move.
How could something be able to shatter the aura of an adult huntsman in a single move, but not be able to choke out a little girl?
"Ruby, get back!" Yang rushed at the enemy with her fist clenched only to be dragged back by Blake grabbing her wrist.
"Yang! We don't know enough about the enemy to rush in like that!" Blake pointed at the menacing ghost. "Jaune, do you have any ideas?"
Jaune readied his shield closer to his chest like Pyrrha had taught him. "Well, I'm not certain about anything regarding this thing, but it seems to lack any real long ranged options, meaning it's strongest at close quarters combat." His eyes drifted to Pyrrha's determined expression. "Ren, Blake, start laying down suppressing fire! Nora, go help Weiss!"
Before it could be shot, the being spun around-still holding Ruby by her neck-and hurled the fifteen year old at Ren and Blake.
BAM!
It sounded like someone had set off an explosive.
As their bodies collided, Ruby's aura-which was already lower than average thanks to her age-broke into a million pieces when her head slammed into Ren's stomach and pressed up against his ribs, straining his own lower-than-average aura. Blake found herself in a similar situation as Ruby's foot smashed into her face, breaking her nose.
With Blake and Ren both being that 'long ranged/stealth fighters' of their teams, it was understandable that their aura supply would be scarce as their styles focused on precise movements. Pyrrha bit her lip. This was bad.
"I can hear you talking, boy." The being's head twisted around in place as it floated in Ruby's direction. "Let me show you what it means to be worthy."
"It talked?!" Pyrrha exclaimed in disbelief.
"Pyrrha! Do you think you could use your semblance on my armor?" Jaune asked with a curious expression as he cut his eyes at her.
"Yes, but why?"
"Whatever it is, it's actually not that strong; otherwise, it would have killed Ruby back when it got ahold of her neck." The blond continued. "Which leads me to believe that it's doing something akin to messing with the force of our movement instead."
Pyrrha's eyebrow raised. "Are you sure?"
Jaune was a talented strategist, not the best, but talented nonetheless. However, Pyrrha couldn't help but be skeptical of his plan. This… thing-whatever it was-seemed completely out of this world.
"No, but it's the only idea I've got."
Pyrrha wanted to protest more, but… she couldn't see any alternative herself.
Pyrrha placed a hand on Jaune's armor as DO THE EVOLUTION grabbed the arm of Ruby Rose and pulled.
"You're right. I'm actually not that strong myself, but…" DO THE EVOLUTION trailed off. "With enough effort, I get the results I want."
Ruby let out a blood-curdling scream as the muscles on her arm forcibly lengthened.
CRACK!
Ruby felt faint as she reached an arm towards her older sister.
"Yang… help…"
Something in Yang Xiao-Long snapped.
"You MOTHERFUCKER!" Her eyes glowing red and hair flaring, Yang rushed at the enemy.
"Yang, wait!" Jaune attempted to reason. "We-"
"I don't care Jaune!"
As Yang darted forwards, her buckshot managed to graze its arm and drew a miniscule amount of blood, but enough for them to take notice of.
DO THE EVOLUTION dropped Ruby before changing targets to the incapacitated Lie Ren.
"Oh no you don't!" Nora screamed as she twisted Magnhild overhead, intending to crush its head into small chunks to decorate the stone floor with.
"Nora! Stop!" Pyrrha yelled.
"Sorry Pyrrha, but there are no brakes on this train!" Nora bent her knees as the hammer barreled into the floor and created a cloud of debris as it seemingly collided with DO THE EVOLUTION's head.
"She-she got it!" Pyrrha sighed in relief. This fight was getting too out of hand for her own comfort.
And she basically thrived on the battlefield. This wasn't a fight.
This was a deathmatch.
Something Pyrrha had no experience with.
She retracted her semblance from Jaune's armor as the cloud of dust cleared.
Only for her heart to start picking up its pace.
In front of both her and Jaune, Yang Xiao-Long had accidentally delivered a thunderous blow to Nora Valkyrie's head and had shattered both her arm and her aura on the redhead's face.
As for Nora, her knees were bent out of place and jagged. Magnhild was planted into the ground, but hadn't hit the enemy.
DO THE EVOLUTION floated ominously above, admiring its handiwork.
"I thought someone among you might be worthy, but it appears I was mistaken." It spoke in a genuinely somber tone. As if it was grieving the loss of a close friend. "None of you have that dark hunger needed to advance mankind."
Jaune's breathing increased in pace as he saw it pull out several small bullets from behind its back.
"I poached this off that cloaked girl a while back." DO THE EVOLUTION pointed an ominous finger at the young man. "You, the one was able to deduce my ability, your name is Johnny, right?"
It stuck its arms out to the side and held the sniper rifle rounds in between its fingers.
"What will you and that redheaded girl do to save the lives of your friends, I wonder?" Bringing one round to its face, it took careful aim at Lie Ren's head with one finger.
And fired.
KA-BOOM!
Jaune and Pyrrha whipped out their shields as they jumped to intercept the round.
"I'm curious to see how long you can keep this up."
KA-BOOM! KA-BOOM! KA-BOOM! KA-BOOM! KA-BOOM! KA-BOOM! K…
Jaune felt his hearing leave him at around the 6th shot. He felt his shield arm grow more and more numb.
Pyrrha wasn't handling much better, obviously, judging from the sweat from her forehead.
"Let's see how you are able to adapt to change…"
DO THE EVOLUTION changed its trajectory towards the vault door, ricocheting his bullets off of the steel and into the back of Jaune Arc's head.
Jaune-too distracted to register what was going on-felt his head snap forwards as his own alleged 'massive supply of aura' shattered.
"As for you, you're smart. You waited out the enemy till you knew what was going on and were willing to listen to others." DO THE EVOLUTION flew forwards as he addressed Pyrrha. "But you have one blatant weakness."
The being took its final bullet from its hands and adjusted its aim.
Pyrrha's heart stopped.
"Him."
DO THE EVOLUTION fired at the disoriented Jaune Arc's head.
"JAUNE!"
His eyesight grew clear.
Pyrrha Nikos-the Invincible Girl who never submitted to anyone and yet still cared for someone as useless as him... had thrown herself in harm's way to defend him.
Her aura was depleted.
"Another unworthy individual."
DO THE EVOLUTION grabbed Pyrrha by the head and began to pull, causing her to release an agonized gasp.
No.
Jaune swung Crocea Mors wildly, only for the ghost to gently touch Jaune as he attacked and let go of the champion.
The family heirloom shattered into tiny fragments against the steel door of the vault before Jaune's left arm bent backwards.
Pyrrha felt the need to vomit.
Jaune stared at his broken sword.
It was always like this.
Always disappointing his family. Always failing. Always being the screw-up.
Jaune took a look at his fallen, beaten, and battered teammates as they struggled to recollect themselves.
"Damn it! Why is it always like this!" His breath hitched. "I… I don't want to be a loser anymore! I don't want to be miserable anymore!"
Angry tears poured down the side of his face as unpleasant memories were brought to the surface.
"Why do you even try, Jaune-Jaune? Dad's never going to train you." Saphron scolded condescendingly. "You know how he is, once he gets his mind set on something, he doesn't change it. Give up, Jojo."
"Jojo, you put Crocea Mors down RIGHT NOW! You aren't going to be a huntsman damn it, and that's final!" His father yelled as he-
"Stop trying, Jojo! You'll never amount to anything in this field!" His mother-
"Oh God… why did you take him and not-"
It all blended together as Jaune felt his life flash before his eyes. His lips curled back into a fierce snarl, and his eyes-at least to Pyrrha-possessed a black flame that billowed from the center of his pupils.
She shuddered.
"... I'm so fucking sick of feeling like I'm fucking worthless! No, more than that! I don't want to feel like I'm worse than worthless anymore! God damn it!" Jaune pounded his fist against the stone ground.
DO THE EVOLUTION's mouth twisted into a smile.
"There is only one man who is worthy in all worlds." DO THE EVOLUTION stood up. "Don't feel bad that you aren't even on the same level as him, Johnny. Not even my user is."
"God damn it, my name's not fucking Johnny!" Jaune roared angrily as he uselessly threw a punch that he knew wasn't going to stop it.
He just didn't care anymore.
The punch collided with the stand's arms as it blocked the blow. "What-"
Jaune blinked as he gathered his wits.
Did that thing always have a chain around its hands?
He didn't know what possessed him to keep moving. Maybe it was the training Pyrrha drilled into him? Maybe it was just him acting out of desperation?
The true reason eluded him.
But he wasn't going to waste this chance.
"Your ability is speeding up any motion you touch, right?" He jumped on DO THE EVOLUTION's bar-code like chest. His legs wrapped around the sides of its stomach.
"I'll just keep you in place with this CHAIN! And…" Jaune leaned over on top of the unknown entity's torso as he reached out with his broken arm and clasped the bright, transparent CHAIN with as much force as he could muster.
"Then I'll use it to speed up the motion of my fists pounding your head into the ground!" Jaune snarled.
Jaune's fist collided with the being's face, shattering the glass-like lens that covered its glowing orange eyes as Jaune tightened the grip on the CHAIN that bound its arms over its head with his left broken arm. Already under the being's effect, his punch shot off like a speeding bullet.
"NO!"
"ORYA!"
DWONG!
It sounded like something akin to an anti-tank rifle firing.
"GAH!" Jaune screamed in pain reflexively.
Adrenaline pumping through his veins, Jaune felt the bones in his hand strain but refused to relent and clenched his teeth. The sensation of the radius and ulna bones piercing through the flesh in his left forearm didn't help either.
"Grrrrrah! Stop it!"
The grip on the white CHAIN strained as he delivered another blow.
"ORYA!"
DWONG!
This time, when Jaune felt the fingers in his right hand threaten to break, he didn't stop-even as he felt pinky and middle fingers snap backwards.
Jaune exhaled through his teeth and wound up his shoulder again, as cracks began to appear on the sentient creature's metallic colored face. Its skull-like lower jaw hung loosely from its unnaturally long teeth.
"ORYA! ORYA! ORYA! ORYA! ORYA! ORYA! ORYA! ORYA! ORYA! ORYA! ORYA! ORYA!"
DWONG! DWONG! DWONG! DWONG! DWONG! DWONG! DWONG! DWONG! DWONG! DWONG! DWONG! CRUNCH!
The final punch exploded a hole through DO THE EVOLUTION's face, Jaune's shattered hand entering from where its eyes used to be and exiting through the back of its head. Crimson dripped from the tip of Jaune's blond bangs as they covered his eyes.
As Jaune pulled his fist back, he failed to notice the white-ish yellow markings on his hands as the being began fading into dust.
Finally registering what he had done, Jaune looked down at his now-scarlet gloves, still holding the CHAIN in his left hand.
The black edges on his vision waned and grew.
He did this. To another sentient being no less.
The broken blond knight collapsed as his eyes shut. Though the pain he felt was definitely hitting him hard right now, the mental and physical exhaustion overtook his mind.
The last image he saw was the appalled faces of his closest friends.