Edit: Just changed a few things at the end of the chapter.
Authors note:
Whoa! The response for the previous chapter was phenomenal, about 1000 views, 20+ favourites and nearly 50 follows! Consider my mind blown.
This either shows that I'm doing something great, or it's just that this genre is that famous. ;-)
I also had no idea people from so many countries would read this. Damn! Now I'm nervous. Hahaha….
Though I was a bit sad to see so few comments. Please Review! That is the only way, right now, that I know to improve myself.
I'll be honest and inform you that there will not be much reacting in this chapter. I just wanted the characters to settle down for a bit and explain a bit of what I've planned for this story.
Also, I wanted to actually try and write out the characters' responses to the happenings on screen. Please comment on your thoughts about my attempt. I didn't want to ruin my actual ideas after all…..
I'll post my responses to the reviews, if any, at the end of chapter notes.
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. For the rest of the disclaimer, refer to Ch. 1.
—
A dark cliched mysterious place;
"Aw!aw!aw!aw!-"
"Nooooooo-! Someone is rubbing their butt on my hair! My hair!"
"My baby!"
"….."
"….."
"Nora! Common Renny, you shout something too!"
Ren just shook his head even though the action was futile as there was no way Nora could see him in this absolute darkness. He just had to maintain his zen, inner peace…..
As the two teams were untangling themselves from their sudden and 'mysterious' fall, the lights in whatever place they were suddenly came up.
Blake was the first to notice her surroundings, well Weiss would usually be the first, but she was currently busy being at the bottom of the pile and getting a face full of the Valley of The Sunny DragonTM.
Anyways Blake followed by Ren were the first to notice the change in surroundings.
And they had to say, what a place it was.
They were in a fancy balcony, arches, statues with fountains, decorated fancy flower gardens, the whole nine yards and fifty more. But the most stunning thing about the location was the large, meaning HUGE opening in the balcony with gold gilded rails and in the back drop was a huge, lush Orestes with thick warm threes and an enormous waterfall in the distance. It was absolutely beautiful, the sheer beauty of the place was impossible to put into words.
By this point all the others were also appreciating the same.
Except Pyrrha, she was looking for someone quite worriedly at that.
"You children are Hunters-in-training, you should maintain a better situational awareness. You at least be more aware of various other people present with you in this unknown room. I expected more from you Weiss." Spoke a voice calmly.
Both the teams immediately turned around to see that the speaker had moved forward from the group of people behind. She was a moderately tall shapely woman in a blue-white military uniform and a long rapier at her side.
She was-
"Winter! How did you get here?! What is going on here?!" Panicked, Weiss finally had enough oxygen in her body to screech that out.
An irritated growl interrupted whatever response Winter was going to give.
"Would both of you ice-princesses can it? I'm not drunk enough to deal with two of you right now!" The not-drunk-enough Qrow Brawen spat out.
"Why you-!"
"Calm down Winter, they are just students, you should excuse them for not behaving like trained soldiers. And Qrow, you are a veteran huntsman, behave like one."
"Zip it Irondick,I'm not one of yo tin-men to throw around!" "Now, gentlemen, There is no need to quarrel amongst ourselves. We are putting quite a show to the others I'm afraid." Intervened Ozpin with a gentle tone getting the others to cool down. He turned around to show various other people still just recovering from their sudden….displacement shall we say.
Ironwood let out a breath and turned to Winter.
"You are dismissed for now Specialist Schnee, Wait!-" He raised a palm, stopping winter from speaking further.
"-This is more for the students' safety than anything. Stay with them to make sure they are always safe. We do not know what is happening right now. I'll discuss what to do next with Ozpin. Besides, I know that you have wanted to meet your sister for quite some time now. Go on."
Winter nodded with a salute, at Ironwood's returning nod, she turned and went back to the two teams.
The general then went back to Ozpin, Glynda and Qrow to discuss the current circumstance.
Though the situation was far from lethal, it was not guaranteed to stay so. Additionally, whoever ever sent them here might not have anyone's best interest in mind too. Better to stay vigilant right now.
With that final thought, he finally joined the inner circle.
—
With RWBY, JNPR and Winter;
Winter approached the group and made a beeline to Weiss, where she held her sisters hands tenderly and spoke while looking into her eyes.
"I'm sorry for being so strict with you sister. I was simply worried and I had to maintain professionalism in post."
"That's ok Winter, I was just a bit surprised back then, all is alright." Weiss spoke in a shy tone.
"Holy shit! Ice queen being shy! Now I've seen it all!*snort* What next, she has a kiddie crush on the ice empress?" The bombastic brawler almost burst a gut laughing at the surprisingly sweet scene.
"I would have taken offence to that a decade ago, young one. I just don't care what happens now. That said, Winter, Weiss, do you know what is happening or at least where we are? I was just having my priced vintage red wine and I'm suddenly here. Without my wine too…."
They turned to see an older woman with a mature beauty and surprise, surprise, gasp! White hair! Yes it was Willow Schnee.
Both Winter and Weiss turned their faces to Willow with an involuntary displeased expression and Winter spoke,
"No mother, the general has asked me to stay with the students to make sure they are safe. That all I can say right now."
"Humph, that's so? Well I see that I'm not welcome here. I'll go sit by that chair." The mother of three pointed at a chair a little ways away.. If you saw hard enough, you could almost see the sadness in her eyes at the relationship between her daughters and herself. Ruby watched sadly as she moved to the chair and just collapsed listlessly.
"Weiss, why did you do that to your mother? She looked so lonely too…" asked the little red reaper. She couldn't ever imagine rebuffing her mother the same way. It almost brought tears to her moonlike eyes.
Seeing her leader's expression and the sadness in her mother's eyes made her feel very bad. But she couldn't do anything about it right now, all she could do right now was pacify her leader.
"Look Ruby, it's not that we hate our mother, it's just that she has been an absent drunkard of a parent all our childhood. Growing up with our father was never easy, to se her ignore our plight was just as vexing. Don't worry though, I-I-I'm learning to be considerate towards others and I want to fix my family too. You can speak to her afterwards too. Just Understand for now. Please."
As she spoke the Schnee heiress slowly wrapped her hands around her leader. She usually wasn't a person that initiated physical contact. But the current situation, the need to support her partner and the need for support herself were over-weighing her usual sense of decorum.
Behind her, Winter shook her head with a sigh, silently agreeing with her younger sister.
As the other members of Rwby were mulling over this, various exclamations were heard.
"Kitten!" Came in a black blur that hugged Blake in a death grip.
For a woman that had stayed in him for such a long time, Kali Belladonna was every bit as attractive as Blake was. If anything, she was more so with her perky personality and a mature air around her.
Right now though, she was just proud to see her precious little kitten. It had been so long without her holding her dear child. Ghira silently lumbered along behind her and lifted both of them a couple of feet into the air.
"M-m-mom and Dad! What are you doing here!" Blake asked, even her eyes were tearing up. Her past regrets coming up all at once. The accusations, the fight tat she knew broke their hearts, her staunch belief in a would-be tyrannical psychopath and her leaving them all those years ago. She really shouldn't have went along with Ada-
"Shhh, it's okay my kitty, I know that you're getting lost in your regrets. It's ok, all I want is to be together you right now. Isn't that right Ghira?" Kali asked in a gentle tone all the while soothing her daughter calmly. Her watery smile told everyone that even she was being overwhelmed by her own emotions.
The mountain of a man that was her father gently patted her head and nodded. Words were not needed right now. He just wanted to be with his baby girl right now.
Yang just looked on from the side along with Ruby. While she was happy that Blakey was openly showing emotions and reuniting with her family, she couldn't help but be a bit jealous. While she had her father, and her uncle occasionally, nothing could replace the loving mother that Summer was. Her own mother was a deadbeat who abandoned her family for some odd reason.
Just as she thought that, muscular tanned hands wrapped around Ruby and her shoulders. Even without looking, she knew that this was her fathers' hand. She turned around to see him giving both her and Ruby a sad understanding smile.
She returned that smile along with her dear sister. While her family was not perfect she wouldn't trade them for anyone else.
Maybe she could make a new addition to it though….
Aaaaaaand her father was now giving her that suspicious yet somehow overprotective look. Crap! She needed a diversion fast!
As if Oum himself was listening to her, P-money and her team-mates came running towards them.
But any other thoughts fled her mind as she saw the panicked looks on their faces. They had broken off from them earlier saying that they had yet to find their leader. Them panicking right now means…
"Ruby! Ruby! Have you seen Jaune anywhere?! We searched all around the hall and we still couldn't find him! Do any of you know where he is?"
Pyrrha was completely panicking, ignoring the worried looks the Fire-Power duo were shooting at her, her hair was dis-arrayed and her eyes were frantic. She looked as if she was on the verge of hyperventilating.
She was nothing like the calm, gentle and fiery goddess of victory that all of them knew and liked. Even Winter was concerned about her state.
Just got on to show how important Jaune was to her.
As everyone was trying to calm her down and calming their own doubts about the situation, a deep voice called out to them.
"Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear you people talking about a Jaune. Are you talking of Jaune arc? He's my son and I couldn't help but notice that you all look like you were hunters-in-training his age. I just had to ask as it has been since long since he has spoken to us, not since running away t-Ooof!" The rambling man was silenced by a tall woman, almost as tall as the man himself.
Talking of the man, he was a behemoth rivaling the likes of Ghira and- unknowing to them- Hazel. He sported a mane of bright blonde hair and wore a leather hunters attire with some metal armour spread around his body. His clean shaven face and sharp blue eyes were handsome despite looking middle aged.
The woman that had elbowed him was complimentary to him in every way, tall with graceful legs, full hips and rear, a toned stomach, alluring large bust and neck and a stunning face with blue eyes. Her long blonde hair was tied into a braid that reached down to her rear and was thick with healthy hair. She wore a casual white sweater that hugged her body and a pair of casual jeans that left little to imagination, all in all, they looked like a dream couple that could win a lot of couples competitions.
Yang was almost jealous of that luscious hair and body. She wished she could grow up to be just as beautiful.
They were Reinhardt Arc and Elena Arc. Parents of Jaune arc….and his seven sisters. Quite an accomplishment.
The woman started speaking as her husband calmed down and started rubbing the back of his head in a suspiciously similar fashion….
"Sorry for his rambling dears. We were just worried if our boy was fine, he hasn't called us since he ran off to attend beacon and the only way for us to know he was well was contacting daughter Saphron or looking up news when you children appear."
She said with a sad expression while cupping her face, just like a normal house wife.
Well, it would be normal if not for the big five and half foot war hammer on her back and the visible pain her husband was experiencing from her jab.
Yang had to move this woman up her list of bad-ass people…..
Wait a minute..
Just hold on a minute…
She looked to Ruby and the rest of her teammates to confirm if what she heard was true. If it was true…..
"Damn! You're lover boys' parents?! Wow!"
And suddenly she was subjected to parents-disappointed-stare from the three parents present that said young lady-you-done-goofed and that she should start apologising post haste.
"Young lady, I don't know whom you are talking about. I will have you know that I raised a respectable young man that wouldn't play with a girl's heart."
The lady's frown reminded her of the times she woke up Summer with her mid-night pranks.
No matter how courageous she was she couldn't go against that tone and expression combo.
Taiyang just nodded, impressed, he knew how hard it was to cull his sunny dragon. This woman must be a formidable parent to be able to do that with just a look and a few lines. He would have tried his shot with her, but her husband looked like a good man and a fine bro. Bros before hoes right?
The two men nodded towards each other in respect to the codes of brotherhood. They then nodded to Ghira too, in recognition of his broness .
The three fathers almost shed a tear at the amount of broness in the air was so awesome!
Ren just looked on in fascination. He now understood how Jaune could be such a bro.
The resident females just rolled their eyes at the childish machismo.
As if the woman kind can understand the unspoken bro rules.
Pfft.
While all this was occurring, Pyrrha looked like she had just ignored reality in favour of internal panicking.
She suddenly snapped out of her daze and launched towards some destiny unknown. She was too worried about her lo-partner to care about anything else right now, all the worst could-be-possible scenarios playing through her mind.
So strong was her worry that the balcony started shaking with the intensity of her aura usage, which in turn triggered and covered all the visible metal and te metal in the rocks around them in a blackish hue and started vibrating them vigorously..
The others present in the hall were panicking and attempting gain good footing on the shaking ground. Some like Willow even fell down on the ground, unable to stand upright.
Just as Ozpin was getting ready to use his semblance to gain time and hopefully calm Pyrrha, she just magically (*wink*wink*) calmed down and the shaking stopped.
""Please calm down dear visitors, all will be clear in due time. I apologise for the delay in my intervention, but I had hoped that you would calm down seeing familiar faces.""
A powerful voice called out to them from an entrance to the balcony that nobody had noticed.
As they turned to the powerful voice, the figure that possess such voice turned out to be…surprisingly normal.
He, for rit was most certainly a he, was average by all means, for a civilian that is. The experienced analysed that his body structure looked more like that of a civilian that regularly exercised. Nothing more.
He was a dark skinned person with a white hoodie with the words GAP on them and a pair of jeans. Pretty normal all in all.
Even the aura surrounding him was that of a guy visiting a cafe to read his fanfiction in peace and quiet.
Umhmm, too specific, sorry!
""Please hold for a few more seconds, have a few more visitors to let in. I will warn you though, you will not be able to take any hostile actions as long as you are in this dimension, except while training in specified grounds. As you have noticed, your weapons are absent from your person. The arriving guests may cause you to feel uncomfortable, but please understand that this whole event is for the betterment of Remanant. Thank you for your patience.""
Through all of this, the Arc matriarch was completely concentrating on the now calm red-haired champion.
For her Jaune to inspire such an intense reaction just by going missing. She was worried that the young man was turning out just be like her goofball of a husband.
But then again, grandbabies.
Nuff' said.
As the being had promised, new visitors did arrive, surprising a few and enraging quite a few others.
First was a tall, partly pale woman with all the right assets to mark her as an attractive woman, if you could ignore the pitch black tar coloured veins running all around her body, the baleful red irised eyes with a black sclera and worst of all, that damn HIDEOUS hair style. Salem somehow looked offended that people thought of her like that.
Well, she would if she wasn't in the process of getting up from her face down-ass up type ungrateful fall.
Ozpin could at least take grace in the fact that he got to see his multiple life-time enemy in such a position. The rest, unaware of who she really was, were just laughing.
The rest of the new arrivals were a girl with ashen black hair, smouldering amber eyes and a daring red dress. Yes, it was Cinder bitc-pardon, Cinder fall.
And the other two were her lackeys, Emerald and Mercury.
Cinder was mortified at seeing her secret mistress in such an undignified position. She did NOT want to be the one to Salem was going to take her anger on for this traversity.
Ozpin was sad to see that Salem had already claimed such young souls in her nefarious conquest. More souls lost in the crossfire.
Ruby was curious to see her friends coming in with the scary lady, does that mean the are somehow related? She wanted to move forward and ask, but her drunkle just put a hand on her shoulders and shook his head. Silently saying that all would be explained soon.
Ruby was unsure, but she just nodded her head hesitantly.
The mysterious being looked on as Salem got up and arranged herself with furious eyes. Her HIDEOUS hair-style was somehow gone in the whole ordeal, leaving her hair falling free.
He nodded his head, much better. What? If there could be furries, why couldn't there be veines? Discrimination! He thinks.
Still, it was best to get the show going, it was delayed as is.
""I must thank the rest of you for remaining calm. Let me foist introduce myself. I am AniDI, the host of this multiverse theatre. I will be tending to you and doing my duty as a host throughout you stay here. Please take your seats and then you can ask your questions.""
Most of the audience nodded and sat in the comfortable looking large chairs. Though the late arrivals remained rooted, Cinder finally had enough. She was about to attack the being when her precious 'hard-earned' maiden refused her call.
As Cinder was panicking, Salem was nodding her head as if confirming something to herself. This was someone with a lot of power and had absolute control of the situation here. Still, there was something odd about the way this being carried itself, it was acting almost too humble and almost subservient. Almost as if he was a host to someplace owned by some…one…el..se…..
She looked at her underlines and spoke.
"Don't try anything stupid for now Cinder, that being has absolute control here. The fact that we don't have our powers and the others haven't attacked us means he must want something else from us. Just follow along for now."
Cinder and her lackeys just nodded in confirmation.
—
Seeing that everyone was seated and had gotten their preferred refreshments, he continued.
""Now, please ask your questions.""
Before anyone could even open their mouths, Salem had already spoken.
"Who are you and why have you brought us here?"
As reluctant as everyone was to agree with the Grimm looking lady, thay had to concede that those were the questions that were on everyone's minds.
""Hmmm, let's see. First, I did not bring you here. As I've said, I'm merely a host here. It is not my role to decide who comes or goes from here. I'm merely responsible for receiving you and seeing that my provided mission is done. As to who I am, my name is AniDi and I'm the host of this place as stated earlier.""
"So, what is this place and who actually brought us here?" Qrow was half irritated with the whole thing and half intrigued to see what the Grimm queen would reveal now that she was before them.
""This is one of many multiversal theatres, areas of compilation and viewing the happenings of various realities. Think of it as an archive, with all the universes being represented as movies. As for who brought you here, that would be a powerful entity merely known as the Reader. He wishes that you view these realities and move away from certain devastation of all of Remanant ."
Everyone just sat in shocked silence. Shocked.
Ozpin and Salem were the most shocked. Did the brother gods come back and wipe out all life on Remanant. If not, then what could cause such a thing.
"I-If, if you don't mind, can you please elaborate?"" Asked a clearly shaken General.
""Salem wins your shadow war.""
The inner circle all collapse at the news. While the Salem faction were all satisfied for the moment.
Suddenly, the till-now-serene turned to the Salem faction with an uncharacteristic glare.
""What do you have to be so proud about? You, Emerald and Mercury die a dog's death at the hands of these students right here. You, Cinder! You die immolated in your own flames as your mistress steals all of the fall maidens' powers. Salem, your fate is the worst of all, you are magically chained to your castle top, without even the momentary respite of death, with your precious Grimm picking on your insides for as long as the planet lasts. Suffering every painful second of that!""
AniDi huffed and cooled down from his tirade as those involved just played and the rest turned green with more and more questions piling up. He just raised his hands, stopping any questions.
""Please let me continue. The sole purpose of my existence is to guide the visitors that come here to prevent certain devastations of their home realities. I do this by showing varied realities that help the planets' protectors be more informed and capable."
Those present were intrigued at such an opportunity, while those in the Salem faction were furious. Mercury specially took an objection to this. Growing up with a shitty life, hearing about your brutal death from a multiversal being and then knowing that the chance to win would be handed to them with popcorn and Cola? That was the final f*cking straw!
"How that heck is that fair for us?! These stupid kids have been having happy kiddie lives while I've been given a shitty father that stole my semblance and sawed off my legs and to make me better at killing! What do you have to say to that?!"Roared Mercury in frustration while the rest of the more innocent audiences watched with horrified faces.
The being looked at the cyborg assassin with a pitying face.
""While I certainly sympathise with your circumstances Mr. Black, I nor many can forgive the path you have adopted afterwards. Also, you seemed to have misunderstood what I was saying, this place helps those that have the potential to be their own realities' protectors. That could be anyone. All those with such potential will be taking all they learn from here. And all those that have the potential for their realities' destruction will simply leave here with all their memories of these events completely erased. The potential to be a protector is in everyone here. You simply have to seize it to win."
As everyone was pondering on what was said here, NPR, RWBY and the Arc family had the same question in the back of their minds.
And Nora just had to voice it.
"So Ani-Ani, where is our fearless leader?"
"Yes, you have been incredibly evasive about this. Can you please answer now?"Agreed Ren with questions of his own.
Pyrrha and the just nodded with worried faces.
The being smiled kindly at Nora, happy to have her favour.
""Thank you for the nick-name Ms. Nora. I know that only those you consider friends have that privilege."Everybody that knew the hyperactive bomber nodded with fond smiles.
""As for , lets just say the Readers have a vested interest in seeing underdog characters, yes there are more than one of these entities. Mr. Jaune is in a separate dimension that is conductive of his growth-"" Once again stopping others from interrupting him, he continued.
""-please let me finish. While the dimension itself is conductive for someone's growth, all Mr. Jaune will initially encounter upon entering will be a white, blank, room. Yes, devoid of even the most basic necessities to survive. He only know that to return, he must get stronger in every way he can. The dimension will help a person depending upon their imagination and knowledge. One without the other will simply lead to nothing one the person's part."
Those that cared for the blonde knight were worried for his well being. Seeing their distress, AniDi beckoned for their attention.
""I understand your distress about the whole ordeal. Anything of this situation must not be pleasant. I assure you though, I've watched countless realities involving Mr. Jaune and he is one of the most determined individuals that I've ever seen.
-Your questions about the happenings of your reality and the secrets thereof will come to light during our future viewings. As for your worries with Mr. Jaune's well being, let me show you how he is doing right now. This will let you calm down and help you get familiar with the process of viewing these verses""
Just then, Glynda Goodwitch, the ever responsible professor that she was, just had to ask.
"Wait! What is happening back in our reality? A lot of us here are vital for the running of various essential institutes. Us missing will not be ignored and could cause quite a bit of chaos." She looked at Qrow and quietly amended herself.``Well, most of us will be missed."
Qrow just huffed at her dismissively.
The others just reddened in embarrassment for not thinking of it. It was such a basic thing that it should've been the first question to ask.
The average looking host just coloured a bright red at that and spoke sheepishly.
""Ahhh! I know I was forgetting something important. Please pardon me, I'm quite new to my state of being and my duties. It was all I could do to not mess up even further, as for you query, this dimensions is on a completely different temporal axis, in that, the timelines of both dimensions do not affect each other.""
He was about to explain better at their blank expressions when it was Nora that piped up.
"That means we'll be back to exactly where we were, right? That's great! Thanks for explaining Ani-Ani!" The orangette cheered with a cheeky smile.
Everybody else was just stunned that it was NORA that got all that.
"What? I'm overactive, not dumb-dumb okay? Besides, there was something just like that in one of Jaune-Jaune's comics." She explained proudly.
This pure soul felt no embarrassment in stating the naked truth. Nothing like a certain host who had turned around and was coughing to cover up his embarrassed face.
Reorienting himself, hespoke as he started waving his hands at the opening at the end of the balcony, almost as if he was unfur…l..ing…som..e….th…ing….
They were so shocked at hat happened next that they almost ignored his next words.
""OHhh, also, if anyone wants anything to eat or sip, just wish for it and it will appear safely before you. I can assure you of their authentic taste."
Everyone was still shocked though, because where there was once an opening in the building that showed the beautiful nature outside, it was now covered by a beautiful shimmering veil of pretty stars that kept shifting magnificently, and the lights somehow dimmed, in an open place. Magic!*snort*
""Get strapped in folks, the fun part is about to start now!""
He shouted with an almost childish voice full of excitement.
Everyone scrambled urgently to think of what they wanted to eat and settled in to watch what was to come. Even to those not particularly interested, this was most probably a once in a lifetime event.
-The screen stopped its beautiful shimmering to settle into an almost empty white expanse with a few random objects strewn here and there. Zoomin on the objects, we see that they are gym equipment and a few gym clothes. Panning to the left, the outside of a small room is visible, it couldn't be more than five feet by five feet in area. Too small to be a room of any kind.-
""Wow! He is far farther than what I imagined, given the circumstances. Mr. Jaune is quite the resourceful young man indeed." Safe to say Ozpin was impressed.
-The screen abruptly panned down to show numerous packets, packets that contained a certain Arc's favourite food. Incredibly unhealthy food too.-
The air in the room stilled and chilled simultaneously.
"Really? How irresponsible of my partner. The first chance he escapes from me and he starts eating those things?" Pyrrha started muttering many other things almost murderously.
"The nerve of that boy! I told him those things were not healthy for him! Come here young man and face your punishment like a man!" Roared the resident mother of eight.
The arc patriarch was cowering in the corner of the seat, as far away as possible from his dangerous wife, sending condolence to his screwed son.
Those Dino chicken fries were really delicious, but he wouldn't dare admit that to his wife though. Besides, they really were unhealthy and his son was addicted to them.
-The sounds of flushing and washing were heard as the door to the small room opened, showing that it was a restroom. Out stepped Jaune arc in all his baby blue Pumpkin Pete tee and shorts of similar colour. What? So sew him, he was in a strange situation and he needed comfort after panicking for an hour straight-cue a snippet of him running around like a headless chicken while swinging his sword randomly. Thank gods no one was there to see it, both the outfit and the panicking.-
"Yeah you can thank AniDi all you want later Lover boy!" Snorts of laughter abound everywhere.
-He also had to thank whatever/whoever had brought him here that had given him his favourite food and these clothes almost as a freebie. So, he had indulged in his favourite foods a bit. Okay, quite-a-lot in fact. It's not like Pyrrha-or worse- his mother was here to stop him.
Suddenly, a strange chill seemed to spread through his spine. Almost as if that one time Pyrrha had caught him sneaking into the cafeteria kitchen to sneak some late night Dino chicken nuggets. Didn't his partner and mother understand that these nuggets were the right of men? His father had taught him, so it had to be right!-
'Ok, never mind, I'm screwed too. Damn you son, you can't just rat out your pops like that! That's so against the bro code!' The Arc patriarch abandoned all logic in face of cold fury from both his wife and Jaune's red-headed teammate.
-"But then again I took the old man's advice on dating and look at where it got me with Weiss…so maybe his advice was not all that great." He muttered to himself as he just stood there, contemplating on that for a second.-
"Wait! I had to go through all those cringy experiences because of you?!" Weiss exclaimed in shock and disbelief while the others who had seen the blond knights' attempts to woo the young heiress were also looking at the Arc father oddly, even the Beacon staff. Cinder and co. just snickered looking on. The tales of the blond knight trying to woo his pale maiden were almost a legend in Beacon by this point. For his failures that is.
Even Salem was curious. Just how bad must this mans teachings be to get such interesting reactions.
"What?! Stop looking at me like that! They worked for me okay?! And Jaune! Stop spouting all this stuff in front of everyone dammit! You've dug a big enough hole for me as is!" Bellowed the man in deep embarrassment and no small amount of dread from what his wife would do to him.
-"Oh well, no use in thinking about it now. Let's review the joys of how this place works. One, I was just dumped here out of nowhere with a constant ringing in my head instructing me to get stronger to get out. How strong are they talking about? No idea, let's shelve that thought for now. Two, this place gives stuff that I atleast have basic knowledge about and that I should be able to imagine. It doesn't work if either is missing."
He thought of all the attempts to get the cool stuff from X-ray and Van only to end in failure. While he could imagine the plasma ray canon or an intercontinental missile, he did not have a clear understanding of how either of those work.
"Obviously, it would have been too easy otherwise. And you had the gall to accuse me of getting stolen powers." Scoffed an offended Cinder. The rest of the viewers reluctantly agreed.
Though, he had theorised that in order to either make or summon something if he read up on the pertaining books. Books that he had to have knowledge about and imagine. So he had to take it step by step and read a lot of books for even everyday stuff.
He thought of the absolute pile of books that he had to learn in order to build the restroom. Building anything needed materials, so books for that, don't know or understand something? Books for that! Construction needed tools, books for that, tools needed knowledge in material sciences, books for that!
Mirrors, toilet pits, TISSUE PAPERS! .BOOKS!
"Crap! I'm just so glad it's not me or the firecracker that's down there. We'd be totally screwed!" Barked a slightly drunk Qrow with mild amusement.
"Heyy!"
So you are frustrated and you want to have fun with something, where do you get them? Why, by gaining knowledge about them of course . Why would it be any different?
He just made a few sets of weights and gym clothes with his current knowledge.
The dress from the one that he was wearing. The weights from Compressed-reinforced concrete and high-density metal rods.
Everyone was impressed. That was quite resourceful of him.
"I have to admit, even Watts probably isn't that resourceful." She admitted quite loudly prompting shocked expressions all round. What? It was not like she had much to worry about. She was eternal and the thing was the most amusement she had gotten in so long. Massacaring innocent and playing with her groupies got real old real fast. She'll just start planning again a few centuries later, besides, it was always amusing to see her underlings suffering.
Ironwood was shocked to hear that Watts had escaped to Salem when he had run-off. He still made note of it along with Winter and the rest of the inner circle.
Still, he had bigger stuff to tackle now that he could eat, drink, sleep, poop and blow some steam.
He looked at the hundreds of books stacked opposite to the restroom, a ways away.
Tackling that would most probably allow him to make something more useful, like a scroll and a hand cranked Dynamo charger to charge the scroll with….
He was just thankful that he had prior experience with PCBs, batteries and software programming firm the summers spent with his Sister-in-law Terra.
He looked into a direction, the camera panning to his bright blue eyes that displayed his strong determination. He WOULD get out of this place alive and well. His team, his friends and his family would be worried about him too…
As the screen slowly darkened back to its beautiful glittery, starry state, a last thought was transmitted.
'Damn, just wish I could read at Beacon with just as much focus…..Bah! Who cares! School is boring after all…'-
…..Everything was quiet for a second, until there was a unanimous face-palming at the last thought the young man on screen had.
But that still wasn't enough to taint the sheer awe that some felt toward the young man that had occupied the screen previously. The perseverance, the determination and the impressive drive that he showed were nothing short of astounding. The pile of books that he said were needed to just make a common day device were nightmarish enough.
It also made them more appreciative of the day to day things that they used all day. LIke pencils, pens, TOILET PAPERS and most importantly these handy devices that they took for granted.
His parents were clearly the happiest of the bunch. They also felt incredibly guilty, feeling that they were holding back their son from becoming this incredible man on the screen.
Salem felt she needed someone like that under her. Things would have been so easy. Almost too easy really.
The experienced huntsman wondered where this seemingly casual genius was lot in their day to day life.
But Ozpin knew, this genius was lost under a mountain of self-doubt, inferiority complex and a seemingly large amount of pampering. He'd have to look into why all of the boys' even started.
Glynda was the one who felt the most guilty. All the proof had been right there. She should have wondered how a kid who had no formal hunter education in both combat and academics, he had come up ranks surprisingly fast. He ven beat the average-below average students, could stand against Mr. Winchester in the ring for quite some time and had held himself fairly well in the Vytal festival. Those are accomplishments any fair huntsman should be proud of, let alone a boy who was completely removed from such a life.
It seems Mr. Arc's issues ran deeper than they seemed. Least she could do was offer him counselling. No, she had to convince him to receive counselling.
They say hind-sight is 20-20, but this was slapping her right in the face ad she ignored it.
Team PNR was ecstatic to see their leader utilising his potential. Nora was almost chocking Ren in her enthusiasm and Pyrrha had an incredibly water smile and a proud expression. It was good to see her judge,meant about him coming true right before her eyes.
The Schnee family remakes were just too entranced to notice anything else really. With the environment that they grew up in, it was no wonder that they were mostly Sapio-sexual. And they had just witnessed one of the greatest showing of intellect and ingenuity. It was almost arousing to watch.
Winter and WIllow suddenly started and looked at Weiss incredulously.
'Why hasn't she snatched him already? And she ignored his attempts to court her? Hasn't she learnt anything from mother/me? Their thoughts echoed their expression.
Unknown to them, Weiss was having similar thoughts, why was it that the blond knight start showing all hues desirable qualities only after stopping his attempts to pursue her? It as so unfair!
Blakes' thoughts were similar to Weiss', just applicable to her own situation. Even she hadn't picked upon on the diamond under the bunny onesie.
Her parents noticed this, Kali was happy that Blake wasn't not into Edgy emo's anymore. He was quite good looking to boot.
Ghira just wanted to wring his neck. No matter his newly christened bro.
Yang and Ruby just wished he would help with their studies next time. They knew he would fold the instant they asked him, they each had their own weapons after all.
And we all know what weapons they were. AND NO RUBY! Not your baby! I'm talking about your puppy eyes! EYES!
Taaiyang was watching suspiciously as his daughters wer making googly eyes at the screen. If that boy so much as touched his precious sweet buns, he would wring the brats neck. No matter his newly christened bro.
When AniDI felt that all included had sufficient time to adjust to what they had just seen, he just looked at Mercury and asked,
""So, Mr. Black, how do you like to spend your time in that dimension now? I assure you though, that you would start from zero, just as Mr. Jaune ?""
He egged on with an amused smile.
Mercury just shook his head vigorously and sat his ass down on the chair so hard he almost fused with the damn thing. He could not imagine surviving there, much less attempt to create scrolls.
""Well folks, I hope you have recognised a bit of potential in him that so many others have. With that, I will provide you with accommodations to stay this- and every- night of your stay. They all have whatever you need as long as you keep them PG-rated. And I do mean everything. I'm sure you'll find them you all of your liking. Please follow me.""
The host walks to the door with everyone else following along, some chatting in respective groups and others staying silent in thoughts.
What they failed to perceive was an identical copy that peeled off from the original just as he had started moving.
With his work for today almost done, he turned to a remote corner of the theatre and lifted a barrier that prevented the other viewers from noticing the hidden people.
He walked up to them and asked-
""Are we in agreement with the previous terms? You won't tell or even imply-consciously or unconsciously- to anyone that I goofed-up in introducing the two of you and I give you these extra exquisite royal room that no one else gets? Deal?""
The hidden people, who were Coco and Velvet really, nodded and just followed another copy towards their room. With Velvet chatting excitedly about the blonde knight and Coco listening patiently. It was a stark reversal of their usual roles really.
""Man, who woulve thought being a host would have been so hard? Being so polite was such a pain too…""Thought AniDi with a tired sigh.
The remaining copy then turned to the still shimmering screen and started speaking with a smile.
""So, how w-
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A/N: -as your experience this chapter?
I went with this for another reason too, just that with most reaction fics, the characters encounter Jaune's that are many times better than their own version. I always questioned, wouldn't this just raise unbelievable amount of expectations on him? And when he fails to answer to those, wouldn't even his staunchest supporters feel disillusioned?
I always felt that this would crush a person. Now, every awesome Jaune they watch, they will remember that their version might potentially be working towards this Jaune. And the hardships he has to go through to get there.
Also, I'm planning on having interludes between chapters as palate cleansers of sorts. Nothing too frequent I promise. They just watch more of this Struggling Jaune, or something from our reality or even some random shenanigans that the cast usually gets up to.
Sorry that this is not the dedicated reaction chapter that I said I would provide. Still, I hope you enjoyed yourselves.
I felt that the quality of my writing has increased this chapter.
Also, does anyone care for the pseudo fourth wall breaking snippets that I have? Should I just not do them in the future?
Please review!
Thanks for stopping by and reading my work.
Signing off,
Anidi""
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Response to reviews;
For logged in users, I already posted my response in PMs.
LuckyPicki3: Thanks !
Wolfgrey: Thank you for your kind words.
Kitsuna G: Thank you for your review, I'm happy that i could get my intention with the earlier chapter across. I haven't watched JOJO( Don't stone me to death please.). I'll try to see to it if I run out of other ideas.
Andrez Fernandez: Sorry, but never owned a Nintendo device. Ill try to give it a go by reading the game lore if I run out of other ideas.