I did promise from chapter 1 that I would be making this one as soon as that one got published. Well, you got that promise. Here's chapter 2.
RWBY is property to both Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth
Hamon and Any mentioned character within Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is property to both Hirohiko Araki and David Productions
Emerald Forest, two-thirty in the morning. Clips of the videos Jaune received from Oobleck's email replayed in his mind over and over again. With one steady, quantitative breath, Jaune's Sunlight Energy (Hamon, it was quite a waste to throw away a name you made just yesterday) glimmered in the dark, night sky, the golden-yellow contrasting boldly against the atmosphere's dreary black colour. The energy felt refreshing, a boost of stockpiled power seeping into every corner of every fibre of his muscles. It helped that Hamon was naturally a bright technique, saving his Scroll a fortune in terms of battery power. The Ripple gleamed fearlessly, being able to draw attention to a close-by avian Grimm, who so happened to be passing by.
The humongous bird refused to attack, funnily enough, hesitantly soaring above Jaune while squawking its spiteful message. He could infer that the Nevermore was put off by his Sunlight Energy, how it boasted proudly of its positive attributes. Jaune couldn't blame it; if he were in its talons, seeing a bright lump of good emotions while actively searching for a human (or faunus, who knows) experiencing despair and sadness surely was thorn at its side. Better luck next time, he mused internally.
"Right, so the Ripple is a breathing technique." Jaune recited out loud. "From both my personal experiences and those videos, it allows the wielder an exponential boost of strength and power. Through breathing, a user of the fighting style allows the person to generate energy which can be applied offensively in combat." Crocea Mors bathed in the yellow light, something it had grown attached to since it first came into contact with such a substance.
"It can smash through wood and from the video Doctor Oobleck sent me, it can at least smash through concrete." There was a boulder that, perfectly enough for Jaune, seemed to have found itself within his eye-shot. Experimentation will occur, and it will occur as long as there was something about his Ripple that he didn't know or have any mastery of. Just imagine how powerful Arc could possibly be when he became as strong as Joseph in terms of Hamon efficiency! Sunlight Energy hypothetically was built to ward off the vile creatures of Grimm, and his compelling case studies told him so. Jaune should have apologised to that boulder in advance. What a shame.
Each crunch of the mildewed, powdered grass brought Jaune closer to carving his crooked mark on such a hapless, big rock. Crocea Mors illuminated the way for him. Crocea Mors was within striking range. Crocea Mors struck down at the rock with zero mercy. The blade, while sharp and harmful to the uncaring touch, didn't do much to the rock itself, only going as far as digging into the isolated sediment by a quarter or so. Maybe it was because he couldn't wield the blade properly, but the blade on its own couldn't break the rock for its own life. What the rock discarded as ambiguous and unimportant information was the Sendo that begun circulating within the mineral compound. The Sunlight Energy declared its signature catchphrase, the profound oscillation working its mystifying wonder. It travelled to the rock's dense core like a swarm of termites rapidly before sending the rocks in every direction of a small radius in tremendous chunks. Jaune, unaware of what he had done, found himself caught in the crossfire, the largest hunk of the stone smashing into his chest at the speed of a fired bullet. The rock latched onto his torso, sending him soaring high above the trees before plummeting to the ground and landing on top of a nearby tree branch. Jaune reorganised himself after that.
The Ripple had left his skin and in its place was his Aura. Said Aura did its job, patching up the bruising and cuts from his short bout with the solid stone. He wasn't too high off the ground so Jaune - out of his 'right' mind - decided to chuck himself onto the ground, barely sticking the landing and causing him to grimace at the kinetic energy shooting up his heel to his hips. Jaune expressed his discomfort with a few mild curses.
"Agh! That really fucking hurt!" Jaune berated his small yet insolent choice of decisions, reminding himself to not be so careless again. Who knew falling off a fifteen-foot tall tree without Aura would do damage? Certainly the super humans of Remnant knew. Right? Jaune tended to his two ailed legs, his Aura pool sending its minions to fix any present sores.
"Hmm, Hamon seems to have some sort of repellent properties to the Grimm; why is that?" Jaune knew he was correct - the smaller Beowulf he had fought yesterday, the Nevermore that brushed above his head just short of ten minutes ago, they were all displeased at him when the yellow Sendo radiated out of his skin and acted like a second jacket. Channeling Sunlight Energy was like channeling positivity and although he would be repeating himself numerous times by now, Hamon may be focused around the swift and efficient confrontation to humanity's dark plague. So many things to evaluate, so many things to ponder on, such minimal time to do so. It pounded his head in like a massive, scrutinising headache. Jaune's Aura replicated the arcane afterglow that came with a day's twilight, a beautiful scene worth painting by many. What wasn't pretty and served as nothing short of obtrusive and an eyesore was that same airborne Nevermore hailing the clouds above him with its black feather quills.
As the black quills showered down at Jaune, his Aura had fully manifested all over his body, shielding him from any malicious intentions. The Nevermore swooped downwards in a dipping arc, its beak reared and hoisted to resemble that of a spear's head. The avian beast's speed accelerated, barely missing its mark by a few metres before rising back up to meet the clouds in the dark air. Alleviation temporarily washed over Jaune. That was cut short by another episode of feathers ravaging through the skies and the trees. This time he had the active thought process of trying to dodge them, two or four of them only doing as much as skimming the border of his white light. Jaune was surprisingly fast when the time called for him to be. If only he could be fast whenever he wanted to.
A steadfast inhale of the air close to his nose was more than enough for Jaune's Sunlight Energy to fully replace his bleached, white Aura with a bisque-yellow colour. History had a tendency to repeat itself - the Nevermore was slow and skeptical at attacking the yellow knight upon seeing the very bane to its existence, the same mindset the smaller wolf Grimm had just yesterday. They were already engaged in combat, and the Nevermore knew that the creatures of Grimm were supposed to be monsters that killed with ruthless intimacy. The avian bird swung that same upside-down arc for the second time, its wings spread out far wide. Kill or be killed.
This time, Jaune was prepared and had declared his move in their little game. "Hamon Overdrive!" Crocea Mors practically burned with the Sunlight Energy's fiery passion. Crocea Mors smashed the avian Grimm hard into the floor, clouds of fine rock and water spurting out from the mud floor. Jaune's Hamon melted the Grimm's bone plating and fused it with its face like liquid, hot plastic. The black Grimm screeched in pain, sending a flock of neighbouring magpies to scatter elsewhere. The Nevermore was still alive and because Jaune, for the first time ever, was competent when it mattered, he had the gall to feel annoyed at such a sight.
Jaune's left hand released the lower half of Crocea Mors' grip. The four fingers tucked themselves securely under their thumb. From there, he flushed a concentrated portion of the Ripple into his left arm, cocking it behind his head. The sloppy punch made contact, pushing the Grimm's head into its neck; the Nevermore exploded in a show of onyx-black particles, dying instantly. The rush of adrenaline left his veins and with it came the overwhelming pain in that very arm. His bones had cracked, his joints had torn and his knuckles bruised a fresh shade of purple. The pain was disabling - so much so that it forced Jaune on one knee.
Blood poured freely out of every open cut and crevice, squirting out like the juice of an infected puss. It even made that forsaken noise, understandably grossing Jaune out. Are you saying that Hamon has a healing factor? Weiss' words hummed loudly in his hollow mind. Test number two was on its way. A student like Pyrrha, somebody who eclipsed what it meant to be the best of the best, had acknowledged Jaune's massive Aura pool; that should've meant using Aura, which was so plentiful in his instance, to fix the damages. No. Not at this golden opportunity for discoveries to be made.
The Sunlight Energy he had summoned to his left hand had appeared not encompassing his skin, but the blood that was yet to leak out of his gashes. To put it simply, the Sendo crackled from inside his hand, not outside. The pineapple-yellow energy stitched his sores closed and wiped off the swelling from his knuckles. Jaune's experiment held promising results, evidently proving to be a potent alternative whenever his Aura was out of bounds. An instinctive act for preservation and survival paved the way to another beneficial finding.
"Wow. Just- Just, wow." Jaune stared at the back of his left hand with the fascination of a two-year-old. "You're so cool." He had his voice barely above a whisper. Causing the yellow Arc to fasten his grip on Crocea Mors was the distant echo of an animalistic howl was low, yet loud. The howl was powerful, yet controlled. The howl was also very close to Jaune's right ear. Anybody in their right mind could sense the imminent danger in his situation.
A small pack of Beowulves, three to five of them including the Alpha Beowulf, snarled ferally. They were all bigger than the one he had fought yesterday night and that was to say that their leader was bigger than them. Their leader towered over them, made them feel small, made Jaune feel small, but for the first time in his life he wasn't scared out of his silly little head.
Jaune charged the Beowulf that stuck out furthest to the left, sending some Hamon to Crocea Mors and pulling his shield out from its sheath form. The targetted Grimm easily read the situation and gave it its own sprint. The Beowulf naturally was faster, but it was precisely what Jaune preyed on. From all the way from the side of his back he launched the blade at the Beowulf's claw, which just so happened to have aligned with its windpipe. The sword, like a key through a lock, took little notice of the bared paw, going through both it and the throat behind. It was a risky gamble made possible by his Ripple, something that he would be grateful for. Just like that, the horrible wolf vanished.
The head of another Beowulf collided with his vulnerable right side. Jaune wasn't ever thrown in a situation where he had to fight against multiple contenders simultaneously and this so happened to be proof of that. Jaune was sent tumbling down the footing of a small hill which meant being susceptible to even more attacks. This was taken advantage of by the primal beast, jumping while its victim rolled down in a bid to maximise pressure. Before Jaune even could fully recover from his little trip, gaping jaws set to gobble him whole. He raised his shield up while disoriented but the way he did so introduced him to pain at unimaginable heights; he raised his shield up horizontally so that the underside of his lower arm was completely exposed. The Beowulf's jagged teeth burrowed thoroughly to his bone. His next scream was ugly.
"Aarghh!" Blood trickled like raindrops into the Grimm's mouth, exciting it with euphoric bloodlust. White light engulfed the monster's mouth as Jaune's Aura pushed the pointed teeth out of his arm. In a fit of rage, Jaune's newly-freed hand clasped and locked onto a fang, ripping it out with a hearty heave. The butt of Jaune's shield crashed on top of the Beowulf's snout, pinning it to the ground: from there, he stabbed the animal in its right eye, making it howl in off-the-charts pain. White light filtered to yellow as the Hamon turned the right eye and many parts of its skull to mush, erupting into black ash. Grimm number two was dealt with.
It was at this point did the two remaining Beowulves decide to scram, leaving Jaune and the Alpha Beowulf in a western showdown. The wind whistled quietly and the vegetation rustled with anticipation as blue eyes met red. Yellow versus Black. The winner is chosen either by incapacitation or brutal murder. The Alpha Beowulf lunged at formidable speeds, easily hacking through their distance. Jaune planted Crocea Mors into the ground, layering his shield in front of it and positioning his footing to the best of his abilities. His defence was another shallow dam that couldn't challenge the Alpha Beowulf's destructive tsunami. Jaune was knocked over with ease and crashed against an unlucky shrub.
Deep breath. Jaune put those words into practice, activating his Hamon energy. The splinters that attempted to tarnish his clothes and gear lived to the extent of their lives within micro-seconds, shrivelling away to dust like the anemone flowers were supposed to from such a long time ago. His skin, like before, healed in the blink of an eye - his attire stayed tattered and damaged, unfortunately. He observed the Grimm observing himself, taking into account the Alpha's terrifying intellect when it came to the heat of battle. The Alpha Beowulf was the apex representative amongst its brothers and sisters, so it was perfectly within reason to be both smarter and braver. It was also within reason for it to be much more ignorant and egotistical.
The Alpha Beowulf introduced round two of its assault with another charge, the intent behind the attack being to steamroll and flatten the yellow Arc into a nice human pizza. It came up with this bright idea as the contemporary method of trying slashes, swings and bites held zero results. It had seen how the human had such a fast, hard-working factor of regeneration, so one devastating attack would work. No, never had the Alpha Beowulf miscalculated any harder than that. While charging, the Grimm tilted its head so that it was slightly lower than it was before. It wanted to use the spikes at the back of its plating to riddle Jaune's head with gaping cavities. All fights had to come to an end, especially a fight such as this one.
Jaune had the same approach to the far-too-familiar situation he had found himself in when it came to charging Grimm. Usually his Sendo would let him counterattack with his own mad dash, but this was an Alpha Beowulf he was dealing with. They were much more durable, much more powerful than their inferior brothers and sisters. The look they had alone told him that they could tank a few hits from his inexperienced, novice-level Sunlight Energy. That was already ringing bells of alarm as the stuff seemed to be build exactly for eating the Grimm for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Alpha Beowulves meant more barriers to work around, and in the pressure of the moment he had to work smart, not hard. Maybe a bit of both, but definitely more towards the former.
"Work smart, not hard. Work smart, not hard... I got it!" Trying to meet brute force with brute force meant getting himself obliterated by the Alpha Beowulf; Jaune could be considered the ramen noodle in conparison to the Grimm's monstrous build. Instead of having two repellent forces duke it out head to head, how about trying to manipulate the beast's movement in his favour? Crocea Mors beamed with sheer power as it felt another surge of the Ripple travel down its iron body. Jaune stabbed the floor with the Arc family sword, unaware of the roots wrapping and layering themselves like several pairs of laces. The blade had been anchored to the ground at an efficiency several times more desirable than necessary.
Was it odd that Jaune had a habit of using his shield to go for the offensive? Either way, he had slotted the rim of it under the Alpha Beowulf's chin with a mighty uppercut. From there, he planned on throwing the Grimm's course off completely by pushing its chin, which hopefully also dragged the rest of its body along as collateral, into the trunk of a tree. That was exactly what happened; the Alpha grimaced at the bruise it had to sustain by the pesky human, aware of the fact that it was completely open to a thousand attacks. It was also aware of how it had zero time to counter them. They both knew that, and the fight ended after Jaune - while crazy, ended up becoming a bravely successful move - latched onto the Alpha Beowulf's back and punched it with another episode of that dreadful Hamon. Three-zero to Jaune, who had won his third consecutive battle.
As if it were some glorious scene from an award-winning film, the rays of daylight threatened to pierce the mystical quiet ot the night. Birds had started their morning routine of chirping and the foxes went to enjoy their slumber. Jaune had skipped an entire night's-worth of sleep Grimm-hunting instead of, er, sleeping. It showed too: bags of faint grey began sagging under his lively blue eyes, contradicting his Hamon's energy to his body's natural responses. It was a weekday too. Maybe a detention wouldn't sound so bad, especially now. To be frank, he could just micro-manage the energy output he used with his Ripple, controlling it enough not to be seen by the naked eye but also allowing him enough mental and physical prowess to push through the day. Off he ambled back to Beacon Academy at nearly five in the morning.
Unbeknownst to him, though it will be known soon, was Doctor Oobleck eavesdropping throughout Jaune's entire affair. His Scroll held vertically across his two palms, he had captured Jaune's entire bout with the pack of Beowulves and how he had managed to come out such a dire situation with zero scathing. Sure, a professional hunstman or huntress could do the same thing with even more efficiency, but that was considering they were veterans at the industry. Jaune was a seventeen-year-old boy who was a first year at Beacon Academy. Jaune Arc was at the bottom of most of his classes, and it was the same Jaune Arc who had revealed to Doctor Oobleck that the art of Hamon wasn't a lost cause forever drowned away by mecha-shift weapons and the latest strand of Dust varieties. The boy was a historical revelation in human form in the Doctor's eyes.
Right now was the perfect cue to throw himself into the boy's school life.
"Mr. Arc." Oobleck's voice, as expected, caused Jaune to flinch and freeze on the spot. His shoulders stiffened and his fingers twitched madly. It was like a robber getting caught in the act by the authorities, the ideal policing situation for many in the line of work. "Jaune, I- I have so many things to ask you." His student turned around, and with it was his shocked-beyond-belief face and shocked-beyond belief body language. Jaune let out a nervous, guilty laugh.
"Professor Oobleck! Heh... Heheh... I'll just have that detention you're gonna slam me with. I'm sorry for sneaking out of the site's campus after lights out." Jaune bowed his head down in depression, his self-esteem dipping tremendously. It wouldn't help his team and it wouldn't help anybody. At all. Jaune had went out on his own benefit, not anybody else's, and he was expecting to pay the price.
"Jaune, listen to me. A detention is the last thing I'd want to give you. A detention wouldn't help with your cranky, tired mind. That little show you had with those Beowulves, was that what you wanted to talk to me about?" Oobleck comforted Jaune and reassured him of zero negative side effects. "Do you need help?"
"Professor, I don't think this is a big surprise to anybody, but I'm one of Beacon's worst-performing students to ever attend. Every lesson I've been under-performing and I've grown sick of it! Even Cardin Winchester, even the guy who gets his backside humiliated by everybody else in our year, finds it a cakewalk to beat me. Doctor, I'm- I feel like I don't belong here. At all." Jaune's rant concluded, his pent-up emotions finally spilling out like the steam within a pressure cooker. It felt relieving, finally being able to express himself and his doubts without thinking of being laughed at. "Doctor, I need my team to know that I'm not dead weight to them. I want to be here; I have to be here!"
Jaune was at a tipping point, the edge of his wit and Oobleck didn't want the two of them to get off on bad terms. "Jaune, remember what I said yesterday about those anemone flowers? I said that I haven't given up on anybody, that it would be hypocritical of me to do so, and I am a man of my word at least. If you need any consolidation, you should speak up and speak loud. Now what did you really want to talk about, just the two of us!"
Jaune exhaled and inhaled. His Sunlight Energy complimented the growing beams of daylight. "Well, it's about everything. That lesson, those files, this." He smirked proudly for the first time since leaving his family, having impressed somebody with something to do with him havig potential, something many people didn't see in him ever. "It all started when I tried calming myself down with some breathing exercises..."
-o-0-o-
As it turns out, a complete novice attempting to control the Ripple to such a scrutinising degree was a recipe for disaster. Who could blame the boy, he had nobody to learn from and all he had were two recordings which basically explained nothing. Controlling the light intensity was already a problem on its own but when it came to silencing the resonant noises, that was what drove him insane. As of that point Oobleck was the only person to ever hold knowledge of his possession over the Sendo and even he commented on how awfully-executed his attempts were at trying to discreetly release energy via Hamon. The Doctor even offered him some of his coffee and that stuff was literally caffeine incarnate! His blood would literally turn dark brown just like a certain alcoholic's had turned yellow with whiskey and tequilla.
Noises that spoke of a half-awake adolescent running on the fumes of fumes left Jaune's mouth. The sclera of his eyes burned with red capillaries and the sacks under his eyes drooped with agony. Not even the doses of Hamon he would shoot himself with could mask such a pitiful look, though it did try. The first period was Professor Port's lesson, which specialised on the education of Grimm and its variations. The information flew over his head like a soft breeze which didn't help as it also bribed him to collapse on the spot. Jaune would yawn every two minutes - not much at the start, but for a lesson that lasted for an hour and thirty minutes, it was as if he was doing it in an act of mockery.
Luckily enough, seventy-five percent of his bag was filled with hydroflasks that held warm coffee. Said coffee used the same blend Doctor Oobleck would use when teaching. He got it after overlooking a note from the teacher's Scroll and was lucky enough to realise there were only three ingredients: warm water, a teaspoon of sugar and a crap-ton of coffee beans. Simple yet effective. The coffee tasted bitter and scourged his tongue, forever leaving its mark on his taste buds but the energy was more than welcoming. Jaune had taken it upon himself to hide his entire stash of liquid energy from the likes of Nora Valkyrie, who would probably level the building if she ever found it in her hands. With great responsibility comes great power. Wait, wasn't it the other way around?
Remembering conversations required too much effort, too much concentration for his body and mind. He would get the general jist of what they would say, but it would be too obscure to recount and words muffled and merged and layered over each other to make an obnoxious tune. For instance, Professor Port was going over the different variations of the Ursa Grimm. Jaune wouldn't be able to retell his information word for word, though. The same concept applies with Pyrrha, too. Jaune understood her words to be that of concern and worry but once again would he not be able to go over her words in perfect symmetry. Jaune mentally chuckled, finding it amusing that Pyrrha only held concern over him. It was like as if she couldn't feel anything else but worry over his silly little head. She was right, to be fair; what could Jaune possiby do to let her benefit from? Nothing. Exactly, or so he thought in his flawed method of thinking.
"Now, are any of you able to identify this Grimm?" While Port queried his students, the board by his side blinked to healthy life. On the whiteboard was an image of the Grimm Jaune had come to blows with yesterday. The coffee decided to kick into overdrive at that point, just to note.
Jaune's hand shot to the air quicker than Weiss' could. Impressive. "That's an Alpha Beowulf, Sir."
"Correct, Mr. Arc. On the board right now is a picture of an Alpha Beowulf. They're notorious for leading packs of lesser Beowulves that vary from small to alarmingly massive and can even merge with other packs to increase their threat. Strength in numbers, I'd say." Professor Port praised Jaune's answer. The whiteboard flicked to another slide, displaying another Grimm Jaune shared experience with. "Is anybody able to identify this Grimm, then?"
"That's a Nevermore, Sir." Jaune's mouth had the slight edge over Weiss', his words reaching Port's ears nano-seconds quicker than hers. He also was given a spiteful glare by her icy eyes, one that spoke of curses and for him to be struck several times over by lightning. Uh oh, maybe Jaune should back off now.
"Correct again, Jaune! Wonderful, you seem to have been performing confidently in our lessons lately. You see, students, course work is equally as important as field work. Please keep that in mind just as how Jaune has today." Port's words made Jaune redder than a chilli pepper. As for the other students, it was treated the same way as many others words were before - they had fallen on semi-deaf ears, unfortunately. The bell's chimes had echoed within the entire school complex and signalled for the students to move to the other classes. The next class was Miss Goodwitch's combat lesson. May Jaune's prayers be answered with considerable luck and the favour of the ones in the stars.
Jaune had made his way to Miss Goodwitch's class. His tiredness and lack of response had gone and dwindled away due to both the impending fear of being selected to fight and because he had just consumed his second flask of warm coffee just prior. He was practically biting his nails, not wanting to expose to the rest of his peers of his Hamon to any more people besides his history teacher. It was flawed, his plans of concealing his potential was, but he sort of liked it that way. Maybe because he wanted everyone to gaze at his almighty ability at the sweetest time to come; he would finally get that respect he desired so much for, he would become the man to all his friends and homies. His mind went on a tangent and that was cut off by the snap of Goodwitch's fingers and her call for the first two sparring partners.
"Mr. Bronzewing, Mr. Arc, please head to the arena floor." The Brother Gods may have smitten him with cursed fortune after all. What was it with his relationship with team CRDL anyways? It was as if their fate were two intersecting paths, two laces tied and knotted together, destined and determined to be inescapable - at least in Jaune's mind it was, to them it was another easy win to grab off the cash pot. Dove gave Jaune another one of his many squint sneers, smiling wickedly as he did so. The blonde Arc's throat never felt so blocked until just then, his mind flashing back to how Dove was able to never miss a mark with Hallshott and even go toe to toe with Pyrrha in a fair sword fight. The only real reason Dove lost was because of Cardin's selfishness and thirst for glory, literally getting flung out of the picture by his leader.
I'm screwed, thought Jaune in his head.
Each synchronised step they took to their side of the arena spoke of the tale of Jaune Arc, the boy who had his crap handed to him in a silver platter on dish served steaming hot. Pyrrha physically grimaced at her leader's poor luck, remembering and praising Dove's competent level of both sword and marksmanship. Out of all four of team CRDL, he was the only one who could challenge her fairly. Sure, her Semblance was broken in the good way, but that meant she had to try to fight him. Anybody who could make Pyrrha try in a fight was well worth their salt in their books.
"Come on, Fearless Leader! Kick his butt! Kick it hard!" Nora cheered loudly within the large crowd. This was followed up by a small nod of encouragement by Ren, which was his version of support. That was precisely as expected from the both of them, what did you expect?
"Kick his ass, Vomit-Boy!" Yang sided evidently for Jaune's own.
"Language, you imbecile!" Weiss retorted at Yang's comment, criticising her choice of words. "Unless you'd like a detention."
"You got this, Jaune! Bring it home for us!" Fifteen-year-old Ruby Rose squealed alongside her team. Blake, being the only person in the room more exhausted than Jaune, had distanced herself from the army of praises. It was better to keep away from scenarios that could lead to the expense of the little wisps of energy you had, or so the faunus thought.
"Start!"
Glynda's declaration for the match to begin opened with Dove charging savagely at Jaune, Hallshott extended outwards with the intent to make him the first ever blonde kebab. Jaune retaliated with the defensive hold of his shield, which was able to nullify Dove's assault. He shot himself a modest round of the Ripple into his veins, his senses relishing in in new burst of refreshing energy. It went unnoticed to all but Dove, who had captured a snippet of the Sunlight Energy's noise. Him, being a veteran to the battlefield, had dismissed such a noise as just another Semblance at work. From his inference he had deduced for it to be one that worked over time, a much more secluded ability that thrived in the background of a fight and to be fair, Dove was correct to a certain degree. Hamon, while a very active form of power, was being used by Jaune in a secluded manner, only giving himself a burst of power and a better sense of reactivity.
Escaping from the deadlock, Jaune shoved Hallshott back at Dove. It pushed him back by only one step, balancing himself entirely with his left foot. Dove was quite the acrobatic figure and to prove this, he had used the momentum from the push and had thrown it back at Jaune, smacking him at the legs with an expertly-performed sweeping kick. This caused Jaune to stumble and fall, face-planting first at the marble floor. Blood splattered all over the grey ground, an ungodly sight for the weak. His white Aura went to work, patching up the many busted blood vessels in his nose. From there, Jaune was holstered into the air by his opponent with ease, Dove finding it rather uncomplicated to hold him up in the air with just one arm. Speaking of Jaune, he had grabbed the very limb that suspended him in the air and in an act of rebellion, discharged a robust shot of Sendo into it, sending Dove flying back to his side of the arena.
Proving his athleticism once again, Dove simply used the weight that propelled him backwards and had rolled backwards twice, nailing the landing and standing up on his two feet immediately after brushing some rubble off his metal plating. "Ooh, looks like Arc can throw a hit. What was that, though? That was quite the nasty blow I had to take; I didn't want to waste my Aura on somebody like you anyways."
Jaune found the insult quite abhorring. "Tch, gee, thanks for the kind words Dove." He went on the offensive, seeking to bash Bronzewing's teeth into his skull. It was a grim thought to be fair, but it was one that undermined the hellish abuse he had received from him and his leader's team. Crocea Mors confided bravely behind Jaune's back, preparing for a hurtful swing once Dove got into its vindictive zone. Oh, how it wanted the boy to taste the wrath of its ancestral steel. The swing made good contact with Hallshott, the two stuck at a standstill, their two owners glaring massive daggers at each other. Dove faked another sweeping kick, suspending his leg mid-action while Jaune scrambled to bite his shield into the ground. As Jaune did so, he resumed the move once the blonde's petite head was exposed, slamming the heel of his boot squarely into Jaune's face. That sent him flying.
"Ahahahah! Y'know, I've been dying to try that move on somebody for a while now! Seriously, you looked so stupid when you attempted to plant your shield into the ground!" Dove chuckled maliciously at Jaune's slip-up, finding humour in tormenting the boy. Jaune seriously had to fight the urge of spitting his worst curses at him - it would only have brought him more unnecessary bad luck if he did. A mild swear would do for now.
"You know, you and your stupid team really piss me off." Jaune stated angrily.
"I know. I love them for that." Dove smiled mockingly at his opponent. Dove also pointed Hallshott and Jaune's torso and fired two shots, both ricocheting off a well-timed cover of his shield. "Lucky bastard. You've never performed this well, even if I'm toying with you right now."
"As you said, I guess I really am just another lucky bastard."
"Shut up!" Hallshott turned fully into its revolver derivation. He fanned an entire eight bullets of the gun in less than two seconds, all of them making their marks despite the fast-firing technique known for being inaccurate and suitable only for close-range gun fights. Jaune took the full brunt of the attack, staggering back as his Aura shielded the metal rounds. Dove reloaded Hallshott's entire chamber with speedy expertise, this time shooting two shots more. The third shot was aimed directly at Jaune's forehead, dazing him as it landed perfectly. Dove's weapon returned back to its sword configuration, sprinting way faster than his enemy ever had anticipated.
"Aw, screw this! I don't care, I'm really gonna send you flying!" Jaune moaned and complained half-stunned by that third slug, charging while his arms drooped and his capillaries within his eyes bled a dark shade of red.
Jaune activated his Hamon, but only enough to encompass the insides of his free left hand. He ordered his Aura to stand down, obediently doing just that. Seeing him so pissed, so intoxicated with unbridled rage and seething fatigue somehow unnerved Dove. Maybe it was because he truly saw somebody that reached that point where they had nothing to lose, maybe he had an ace up his sleeve that he was confident in relying on, but his small falter of hesitation virtually doomed his body. They both struck each other at the same time, Dove at Jaune's windpipe.
And Jaune at Dove's solar plexus.
Blood flew everywhere, and the Aura bars both dropped down to the red. Dove still won, his Aura at around twenty-six percent while Jaune's fared somewhere around seven. Both collapsed onto each other, unconscious. Their eyes both rolled far back into their heads. They were out, and they both were out cold. To Ruby and Pyrrha, everything was but a blur, a ringing noise deafening as every second staggered to prove itself true. Faint calls of Professor Goodwitch contacting Beacon's medical ward couldn't reach their heads, finding the battered and bloodied battleground decorated by two comatose students absolutely appalling. Ruby's response was mainly because of her extreme sensitivity to even the tiniest drop of blood (while she did hold immeasurable concern for Jaune) and Pyrrha's had occurred because she had hated what her crush looked like then and there. To the two, the image described a familiar curse everybody had said at least one.
To them, the image reminded them of bloody hell.
-o-0-o-
Jaune had awoken, surrounded by the smell of medicine cabinets and lay indifferent to the feeling of fresh, white sheets. In the other corner of the room he had found himself in was Dove Bronzewing, equally out of commission as he himself was. The young man had awoken before him, Jaune presumed. Not a word was exchanged between the two as they succumbed to the awkward silence, the monotonous chirps and noises the monitors attached to them ruining such an atmosphere. He stared at him, then stared at the ceiling which was also just as white as the floor and the bed he rested on. In a way, the colour scheme had reminded him of his Aura as well. Dove still had that same eerie, squint expression om his face - his eyes were closed shut or appeared very close to doing so, at least for Jaune's point of view.
"I take it you've both awoken," said a new, unfamiliar voice. "Your injuries aren't too severe: we'll be able to run a few diagnostics and you'll be free to go."
"How long have I been out cold?" Jaune asked. His question was duly responded to.
"Just over three hours. You know, for blacking out because of a fight, you've made a rather quick recovery. Most people take a day or so before they finally get a grip and wake up."
"Is this Beacon's infirmary?" Dove added himself onto the conversation. He got his answer after the new woman nodded her head and confirmed his thoughts.
"Well, I've come here on my routine check-up. I've done so every half-hour approximately. I'll check on equipment and I'll leave you young boys be." She did just that, fiddling and updating the equipment, refilling bags of IV fluid and making sure heart-rate monitors weren't faulty. It only took two minutes before she was off, waving the two a swift goodbye.
"So, ya wanna talk about that sucker punch to the centre of my body or what?" Dove was genuinely curious as to what Jaune did to knock him out in one blow. From what he could recall, that was only the second hit he had to tank and it knocked the lights out of him. "That thing you did that sent me flying to my side of the arena, what was that?"
"I... I- I got nothing. I- I swear, it's just-" He had nothing. Jaune had nothing to excuse himself from revealing the Ripple to Dove. "Genuinely. It could just be my Semblance doing weird things."
"I don't think you're painting the whole story; you did it twice, the first time so that you could escape me and the second time knocked me out. Unless you conjured out two ridiculous ass-pulls at the two best times possible, 'I don't know' isn't a feasible answer." Dove sat straighter, his back no longer slouching into his bed. "Tell me. The. Truth."
Jaune was a bad liar. His lips quivered and his confident facade dwindled to nothing. "It's my Semblance. It's my Semblance. I don't want to explain it to anybody as it works best when it's a secret. Please, don't pry any further." Okay, Jaune was bad at lying, but he was good at telling half the truth.
"Fine. Keep it at that. I can sympathise with that, anyways. I've kept a few good secrets from even Cardin and my team, anyways." Dove didn't have a Semblance. It would be insincere of him to poke into his business. He was a bully but he did have manners.
"Why," Jaune said.
"What do you mean?"
"Why do you pick on people like me? Why do you pick on people like Velvet, why people like us?" Things were about to get interesting.
"Y'know, I'll be very honest with you; I don't know. I don't know why I do it, anyways. Maybe for shits and giggles, maybe because I truly hate you guys, but I'd like to be clear: I don't have a Semblance." Jaune's irises contracted in shock upon hearing that fact. "I bully people like you because you don't take the life of a huntsman seriously. All my life I've been handicapped because I don't have something that many people in this industry would take for granted, and there's people like you. There's people like you, who can't do squat if it meant saving your ass and they're able to get into an academy such as Beacon!? It's so unfair, it- it's..."
Jaune felt guilty after hearing Dove's voice. All this time, he would pick on people like him because he felt they were unworthy of attending a school such as this. To him, Dove saw Jaune as an insult, a piss-take at what it meant to train diligently and properly to get to where he was and he was right to believe that. Jaune, the foolish boy with a suicidal dream, had found a professional forger through Junior and had usurped his way into glorious prestige. To Dove, it was as if his life's labours had been spat at repeatedly. To Dove, he felt as if he was just there.
"I get why you pick on me now, I really do. Even I sometimes question if I should even be here, if I should just call it quits and pursue another career other than this, but you have to hear me out: I am improving. I'm trying my best to get up to your standards, to stand at that very same podium you and all of my friends stand at right now. You have to know that I chose to come here because I want to make a difference. I want people to know that I'm able to help, that I'll always have their backs even if it means humiliation. Even if I'm severely under-performing, I'm trying."
"I guess you are. I remember that fight you had against Cardin last week being one-sided in his favour. Sure, he is better than you, or at least was better, but even he acknowledged me as team CRDL's strongest member. Never has he ever taken me down in two hits, let alone send me to wake up three hours later. You did, Jaune. You did both at the same match we had. You're improving, and never would I imagine saying this to someone like you." Dove chuckled lightly at the spectacle he had found himself with. He, Dove Bronzewing, laughing with Jaune Arc and not at him? Preposterous! Absolutely outrageous! "Y'know, you aren't such a bad guy to hang around after all."
"Hey, I always try to be nice. Anybody who opens up to me always gets the nice Arc treatment. I have to say, I'm quite the suave guy, am I not?" Jaune threw a couple of 'cool' hand gestures that ended up making Dove cringe and die inside.
"Nah, I wouldn't give you that privilege just yet. I wouldn't butter you up too much, unless you'd like to have Remnant's biggest ego," Dove went along with the little gag. Yes, that's right, Dove Bronzewing, member of the infamous team CRDL, sharing jokes with their public enemy number one. What a time to be alive.
"Hey! My ego isn't that large!"
"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night."
"Hey!" Jaune put on the expression of faux-sadness on. "It isn't that bad, is it?"
"Hah, you should've seen yourself! One of these days I swear I'll record you getting dumped by Weiss, I will show you it and I will drop your ego."
The nurse that has left the room just over twenty minutes ago re-entered the room. In her hand - and on her arm - was a clipboard and a few generic notes on health and safety. "Well, you boys are free to go. We've went through the schematics and no concerning factors so far have come up. I guess you two really went and outdid yourselves in that arena, huh." The woman motioned the door wider, signalling for the two boys to leave. "We'll remove the tubes in your arms and you'll be off to who knows where." Two other persons, presumably working under her, had efficiently removed the needles within their arms with unwavering confidence. After that, they had moved to another ward which sought for the attention of more staff.
"Hey Dove, I get why you'd laugh and sneer at me, but why Velvet? From what I know, she's very much worth her weight. Team CVFY is, like, the best team Beacon's second year has to offer. Is it really because she's a faunus? Is it really because of that..."
"Cardin is my team leader and everybody knows that. I laughed at her because I'm a snob and I found it funny that Cardin pulled her by the ears. It wasn't my intentions for the attack to be racially abusive - that's on him. Cardin seems to have a bias heavily against the faunus people. I don't care at all if you have a shared trait with an animal."
"Hmm... If so, can Cardin at least tone it down a bit, leave her and give her some peace of mind? Unlike me, she's able to pull her weight where it matters, so I think she's very undeserving of the treatment she gets from him."
"That's a huge request, especially when we're on the topic of Cardin Winchester. The guy's a bit of an arrogant dickhead, I'll have to admit. Nothing he doesn't like really gets past him, and trust me when I say bullying is like second nature to him."
"I know, and that's why I want something to happen. Yes, Cardin can be a bit of a prick at times but from what I know, he also takes the job of a huntsman seriously. He has to realise that in the field of work, he'll not only be having people, but saving the faunus too. He'll not only be fighting people and Grimm, but also the faunus."
"I guess so. I don't know how it's gonna be done, though. Talking isn't really a developed part of his arsenal after all."
"Also, why do you always have your eyes closed? It it part of some cryptic message? Oh, ooh! Maybe you saw something bad and had to gouge your eyes out!" Jaune theorised like a baby child with a vivid imagination.
"No, you stupid idiot! Gouging my eyes out is the last thing I wanna do. I do it 'cause it looks cool, leave me alone."
"I've heard doing that only damages your vision, Dove. Aren't you just putting yourself under a self-inflicted disadvantage?"
"Everything looks the same whether it's eyes open or at a very strained squint. If it makes me look cool with zero repercussions, I'd probably do it."
"That's what you believe! Maybe your standards for a good vision has deteriorated tremendously!" Jaune took five large steps away from Dove. "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Four. Hey, that's my unlucky number!" Dove finally stepped out of the infirmary, standing in one of Beacon's many corridors. " Alright, I'll go talk to Cardin about it but you owe me big time. Big. Time. "
"Wait, you actually are gonna talk to him about it? I thought you'd forget about it and that we'd be back at square one,"
"Sure, you'd definitely like it, but I'd benefit from it big time too. I need a good leader, one who has his head in the game and one that can bring me, Russel and Sky up with him. Cardin is my friend, but a good leader he is not. You saw how I was swatted away by his stupid mallet when we fought Pyrrha." Dove rubber the temple of his head, reminiscing poorly of the macabre burn that still lingered with that strike.
"It's a mace. And yeah, you could've given Pyrrha a run for her money with that sword fight you had. Seriously, nobody else in our year that uses a sword had ever put that much pressure on her; even Weiss couldn't!"
Dove chuckled, ever so slightly embarrassed by the praise he had received. Being compared to Mistral's four-time regional tournament champion felt amazing, especially when it came to something as difficult as swordsmanship. "Alright, Arc. I'll see you later. I need a shower and so do you." Dove held out his hand in an inviting manner, an obvious sign of a new, flourishing friendship together.
"Alright, see you then, Bronzewing!" Jaune took the hand. The moment their hands had made contact, a burst of yellow Hamon had stung both of their fingers. This left Dove confused and this left Jaune utterly flabbergasted. "Wait, Dove, where were you hit again? What were you told by the nurse before I woke up?"
"The first strike was through my arm. The second was through my solar plecus- solar plekus- solar plexus. Why?"
Oobleck's voice ran rampant in his brain. Case studies show that being punched in the solar plexus by a Hamon master can turn the recipient into one as well.
"I gotta go. See ya tomorrow!" Jaune walked away to the closest lift of stairs with rapid haste, more speculations coming to mind.
-o-0-o-
Academy dining hall, half past eight. The students, as they always did, took their share of the canteen's servings. They then situated and settled down onto different tables and benches, gossiping and sharing their stories of varying interest. Jaune was one of the last to get his tray of helpings, being one of the few kids all the way at the back of the line. It allowed him to capture a portrait of the hustle and bustle the school had to offer. It was the closest Jaune could get to normal, knowing the life of a huntsman. Among the crowds of chattering pupils was Dove. Instead of sitting with the rest of his team, he say in sombre silence, quietly eating at his sandwich. He looked contemplative, reflecting possibly on a past event in his time on Remnant as a planet.
He also glanced at his main friend group, consisting of RWBY and NPR, chatting away as if he never existed. Who could blame them? He wasn't special at all, so he wasn't worth noting anyways. Again, more flawed and problematic thinking. Jaune, time and time again, had proven himself to be quite the pessimist. He collected his share of food, a hamburger and a large handful of fries, and decided to sit next to Dove instead of his team.
"Hey, what happened to team CRDL? Why are you out here alone and acting like a depressed attention seeker?"
"Me and Cardin, we had that talk last night after lights out. He didn't like any of what he had heard, especially after hearing my thoughts on Velvet's bullying."
"Wait, you actually talked it through? I thought you'd just forget-"
"Arc, what is it with your bias over me and promises? Yes, I am a prick and I'd openly admit it every day, but I'm a prick with quality standards. Besides, Cardin wasn't being a very good leader - he only brought me down, and I had to speak up about it because I want to do well."
"Right, sorry. It's just-"
"Leave it, Jaune. Anyways, we had that talk and that talk ended up becoming a full-blown duel. I won, but furiously so. Carson's words for into my head and it threw me off. I tried relaxing myself, I took a deep breath and-"
"A yellow static light invaded your senses." Dove stated at Jaune slack-jawed at what he heard from him. What was the blonde going to do, predict his next lines?
"Yeah, how do you know?"
"Dove, look at my hand." Jaune dipped his hand under the table and into private secrecy. As he did so, Dove's eyes widened with unexplainable shock as the yellow Arc's hand cackled and gleamed with Hamon.
"Holy shit, Jaune. Don't tell me that that's the same thing as what I somehow summoned last night!"
"If my hypothesis is proven to be true, then you have every right to believe that this is what destroyed Cardin yesterday." It was odd seeing Dove not having his eyes closed, but it was funny how they had the same eye colour. Blue-eyed gang rise up!
"Take a deep breath. It's usually how you summon it to my knowledge." Dove did just that, and immediately did a warm sensation bathe his skin with a thin layer of yellow. To the many people around, it could have been mistaken for his Aura. To the two with greater knowledge, they begged to differ.
"Jaune, what is this?" Panic clearly made itself present within Dove's words; not in the dreary, negative way but in a way of anticipation and the thirst for knowledge.
"I call it Sunlight Energy but it's a shame that that isn't the proper name. It's got, like, three names. The Ripple, Sendo,"
"Hamon. As in Professor Oobleck's class?" Dove asked.
"Doctor Oobleck. Be careful of what title you use with his name - I've heard people going missing after uttering the wrong one. But yes, It's Hamon."
"How am I gonna explain this to Russel and Sky?! Cardin still hasn't woken up yet and they're both scared of me shitless. What am I gonna do..."
"I haven't told anybody about this. Only Doctor Oobleck and you know of this. It may not look it but I'm as blind as you are when it comes to this stuff. It's how I was able to send you flying twice in a row with only two hits. This stuff is very strong and can easily get out of hand when not controlled properly, but when it is, it's a force to be reckoned with. Especially against the Grimm, this stuff acts like as if it was meant to suppress them."
"You haven't told your team? They should be the first people you would tell aside from the teachers in my mind!" Jaune winced at the ugly truth. He felt wimpy at the fact that he didn't want to tell them, that he wanted to prove himself to them when he really should have at the start of the semester.
"This Hamon thing... I want to master it. I want to fill that gap, that void in my weaponry that I haven't been able to patch up at all. I finally have something that can rival a Semblance, hell, it's probably even better! I need to know this thing inside out, to work it's gimmick like the back of my hand." Dove placed his hand across his chest. "I, Dove Bronzewing, have a dream! And that dream is to conquer the technique of the Ripple!"
Jaune found Dove's flat-out, steeled resolve to be nothing short of admirable. He finally had found his purpose and that purpose was to better himself and to be accepted into the role of a huntsman.
"Hey, what're those two doing? They've been awfully close to each other ever since yesterday's fight," said Pyrrha. It was odd and true. "Shouldn't they be at each other's skin?"
"Look, Pyrrha's obsessing over her groom to-be again!" Yang teased her friend. "But yeah, it's kinda odd how they look like they're getting along. Maybe they're doing it though one relatable theme they can both empathise with?"
"Who are you at what have you done to Yang Xiao Long!" Ruby shook her big sister at the jacket, her head bobbing back and forth while chuckling. "She is never this smart! I want old Yang back, ya hear me!? She's way cooler 'cause she's way funnier!" Her ramble went on, Yang merely unfazed all throughout. Pyrrha simply kept a sharp eye at her two peers.
"Well, it looks like I'm not alone after all." Jaune said to both himself and the future to come.
And there it is! A 10000-word essay for chapter 2. I've had a blast writing this one up, ideas popping up left and right, basically paving the way for the plot of future chapters.
So far, the reviews have been praise and I'm grateful for that! There will be a good critic out there at one point to note my flaws, but that would be a good critic and good critics make their points clearly without blurring the lines between criticism and hate. When I do, I'll definitely keep their words in mind.
As for my comment on the reviews... I did promise explaining it and so I will. If you're unaware (which you probably aren't), then you should know that school sucks.
You should also be aware of the fact that I can't always have access to a computer or a tablet or a phone, etcetera. This means that my upload schedule could become inconsistent and not follow the trend of my 'one update per week' idea. I blame parents even if they do love me and know it's for my own good.
I'll be brainstorming ideas and takes for chapter 3 so until then, this ramble comes to an end.
Goodbye!