I'm immediately starting this chapter after finishing the last. I hope to keep the chapters fairly short, but that never ends up lasting very long.

Please keep an open mind when reading this story, or any of my other stories. I do take liberties that either alter or outright ignore the canon of the series that I'm writing for. Generally I try not to do it for no reason at all, but sometimes I do so just to fit the tone and plot of the story I'm attempting to tell.

Edit: 12/17/2021: Thank you all for your interest in the story. I myself understand the beginning of this story is fairly slow and particularly boring for the most part. I'm going to do my best to get the ball rolling within the next two chapters. If not for the plot, then at least for character interactions and humor.

Edit: 12/18/2021: So in regards to the guest reviewer, thank you for your concern, however, you're mistaken on several accounts. This story is not a cross-over nor will I add it to the cross-over section. While Kage of Remnant is a true cross-over since it actually utilizes the characters and setting of Naruto, this story does not use any canon lore or places from Dragon Ball. While some techniques may share names, that doesn't constitute enough to consider such a cross-over.

Since the lore of Jaune's abilities will be fully explained to fit with the world of RWBY, the extent of the Dragon Ball property will be limited to references. References do not count as cross-overs. If that were the case, such things like Gintoki from Gintama using the Kamehameha or the characters from The Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi going Super Saiyan would count as cross-overs. That is not the case.

Even more, Yang's own semblance is partially based on the Super Saiyan form, yet it is merely a reference, not a cross-over.

I could go into more detail and explain more on how certain things don't constitute a cross-over, but I simply don't have the time. I hope this explanation was understandable enough to quell anyone's worries.

Chapter 2: Can't Escape From Crossing Fate

The 16 year old Arc sat within a meditative position. Deep within a forest on Ars Magus, the blonde haired teen took steady and even breaths as the cacophony of nature around him bled into an amorous hum. The sounds had faded for him some time ago as he focused solely on his own inner energies. One would think the boy dead where he sat if it weren't for the evenly timed rising and falling of his chest, however minuscule it was.

He could feel his aura as well as his ki within him. Both circulating in harmony, yet opposed and forever separated. Even after all those years, he still didn't truly understand the secondary energy within himself. Yet, every now and then, by instinct alone, he would develop new ways to use the energy. He had even learned a long time ago that he could use the energy without his semblance. It made him question if the energy was truly attached to his semblance at all.

However, there was another part of his power that he was truly terrified of. Coming onto the topic, the fear made his heart skip a beat and he could no longer meditate peacefully. With a shudder, Jaune opened his eyes and took in the small cave he sat in.

It was just a big indentation in the ground, most likely a bear or Ursa's small den. A waterfall could be heard nearby. Jaune sighed as he stood and moved a few feet to the exit of the cave, covering his eyes as the harsh sunlight beat down on him.

'I wonder if they're okay…' Jaune thought solemnly as the brief images of his sisters flashed into his mind. However, Amethyst calling him a monster came soon after and he pushed the thought away. 'She was just young and scared…' He tried to reason. Yet, he couldn't help but think the same of himself sometimes.

Instead of dwelling on the bad parts of his past, Jaune instead thought of his surrogate brother. He truly hadn't seen or heard from Qrow since he had left all those years ago. The man had once let him know that he did top secret missions for Ozpin, though he didn't go into detail about it. Plus, the man told him often that he preferred to be alone. When they were close enough, he admitted to Jaune that it was because of his bad luck semblance. He even went as far as to say that maybe his semblance was why Jaune's life had gone to hell that night.

Jaune reminded the man that what happened was no accident. That no luck was involved. He had told Qrow about the figure he saw floating above their burning house. Jaune knew whatever the being was had been the one to truly start the blaze at the Arc Manor.

Once again finding his mood drifting into depressive territory, Jaune simply pushed all the thoughts from his mind. He was on his way to Ragna Village to pick up supplies and food for the other two villages since Ragna received supplies from Sanus semi-annually.

However, his step was interrupted as the entirety of the Ars Magus Island shook violently. It was far too sudden and far too short to be an earthquake. At the same time, Jaune heard a massive explosion from the direction of Ragna Village. His eyes widened as a massive chill shot through his body. His body shook as a feeling of absolute dread settled into him.

He knew this feeling.

Another explosion shook the island and as Jaune ran with all his might towards Ragna Village, he could hear the screams. Soon enough, he saw the smoke as several more explosions happened in tandem. However, after the explosions, he could hear no more screams…

His breath caught in his throat as fear settled into him. He heard a sonic boom and something flew over his head far faster than anything he had ever witnessed before. The back draft that followed the object almost tore him off his feet but he was able to brace himself. The sickening feeling inside him only grew as he regained his senses and dashed for Ragna Village.

The blonde didn't even need to truly reach his destination. As he crested the final hill that would give him an overlooking view of the village, his mind went blank.

Smoke bellowed high into the sky, the only sounds being the crackling of the flames as it covered almost every inch of the smoldering village. It was exactly like the Arc Manor but on a much bigger scale.

Jaune dropped to his knees, doing his best to feel for any presence at all. However, the look of the village let him know there were absolutely no survivors. There were massive craters all throughout the place, with the few buildings that weren't completely destroyed being crumbled and on fire.

Another jolt to the island once more brought Jaune from his dread, just to plunge him into it again. The sound of an extremely distant explosion let him know whatever had flown over head was the culprit to Ragna's destruction.

With one more solemn glance at the smoldering village behind him, Jaune used all the energy he could, sans activating his semblance, to dash back towards Noel Village. As he ran, the explosions and rocking of the island let him know the entity hadn't gone to Noel. However, that made him grit his teeth and hold back tears as he knew Jin Village was probably suffering the same fate as Ragna Village.

Unfortunately for Jaune as well, the villages themselves were not close. For a normal civilian, it would take about 12 hours to travel by carriage between the villages. For Jaune, it usually only took 5 hours casually. Going at the speed he was, he expected to make it to Noel Village in 2 hours. However, an hour into his journey and the explosions and quakes had stopped.

The fear within his chest manifested into desperation. The sound of a sonic boom was heard again and within moments, the explosions started up again. Tears entered his eyes at the thought that he wouldn't make it. At the images of the friends and family he had gained on Ars Magus being completely and utterly snuffed out once again.

His instincts took over once more and Jaune found himself kicking off the ground with force that shook his immediate area. The ground shattered beneath him as he launched forward, almost as if gliding. The hour that it would've taken to get back to Noel Village was cut in half.

But it was too late.

Jaune skid to a halt only a mere 50 meters from Noel Villages gates. Or what remained of them.

There were only a few screams. The howls of pain as people burned alive within the smoldering village.

However, a familiar shriek of pain made Jaune burst from his mind. He dashed into the village, running over the debris and through fire. His eyes watered as he knew the outcome already. The orphanage he had come to see as a second home was already no more. However, floating above the wreckage was his worst nightmare.

The being he had glimpsed as a child...he could see it clearly now.

It was a grimm...or so he thought.

The creature was humanoid, seeming to stand at 8 or 9 feet tall. The creatures body was pitch black but it had hair that resembled long spikes going down its back. Several of the spikes in its hair were the telltale white bone features of all grimm. The creatures legs were bent backwards though, reminiscent of a xenomorph alien Jaune had seen in a movie. It's excessively long tail was also like the alien creature, being just as long, or maybe longer, than the creatures body.

The monster had small white bone spikes on its elbows and Jaune could see its red eyes glowing with a sinister shine. However, it didn't seem to have a nose or mouth at all. (The creature looks like a mix of Marvel's Black Heart on its top half and a Xenomorph on its bottom half for clarity)

The worst part of the situation, however, was the monster holding the lifeless corpse of Celica. It held the woman up by her throat with its tail while one hand was pierced through her chest. Her lifeless eyes were enough to know that she had died fairly quickly and there was nothing Jaune could have done about it. But to make matters worst, and to ensure its kill, the monster pulled her body down, while the woman's head remained in its tail.

Jaune watched in absolute horror as the woman he had come to see as a mother was beheaded right before him, her blood cascading in a mess of gore over the orphanage she had once ran.

The pounding of his heart became the only sound he could hear. The scream that tore from his chest was mute.

The rage that made the blood in his veins boil as his 'semblance' activated was quickly snuffed out however. The moment that his ki had sky rocketed, it was all silenced.

The creature landed on the ground a mere 10 feet from Jaune and the overwhelming energy he felt from the monster seized his entire being. The rage he felt was immediately replaced with fear. The creatures red yes held his for what felt like an eternity. No matter what he had felt before, all that ran through Jaune's entire being was that he was going to die.

'Not...yet…' A gruff, almost beast like voice echoed into Jaune's head. Yet he didn't comprehend it. The pressure from the being before him was still weighing down on his entire existence. He could only watch as the creature slowly floated off the ground before disappearing like a rocket, another sonic boom signaling its high speed departure.

Jaune fainted not a second later…

'Magic, Aura, Ki. Essences of man and beast. Some more so than others.' A voice spoke into the darkness.

'Though two seem to have been lost to time, they are never truly gone. It is only a matter of need. Magic was not needed until recently. Ki, even more so. Yet, the history of man seems skewed. For those to believe in magic yet forget that ki exists.'

'Must we remind them of the strongest of all energy sources? The source of creation is magic, the source of life is aura. What does that make ki? The source of ambition...or absolute destruction.'

Jaune woke with a start. As soon as he did, the words of his dream faded from his mind, a distant haze that he could no longer recollect.

The rushing wind drew his attention and his heart sank as he realized where he was. Noel Village was gone. The debris left over wasn't even smoldering any longer. He wondered how long he had been unconscious for. He cursed himself for never getting a scroll like Qrow had once suggested. A mistake that would need to be rectified.

As he stood to his feet, the pain within his heart amplified. The smell of decay was already settling in which meant he had been out for more than few days. Not even sparing a glance at any others, Jaune moved to Celica's desecrated body. With no more tears left to cry, Jaune simply went about finding all the bodies he could and burying them. He fashioned make shift grave markers from the wreckage and debris that hadn't turned to ash.

Afterward, he would journey to Jin Village, then Ragna Village and do the same. The few grimm that got in his way were executed with no remorse or hesitation. Instead, Jaune used their presence as fuel for his ambitions. He would find the creature responsible for this. For taking his family from him twice.

But the thought of the creature gave Jaune pause. Instead of anger, fear slipped in. The creature was far more powerful than anything he had seen. Yet it let him live...why?

"No point dwelling on what I can't figure out…" He whispered into the wind as he solemnly trudged towards the docks that sat outside of Ragna Village. His energy was spent and his dead eyes simply held the ground before him as he walked. "If anyone survived...maybe words got out already. If not...I need to let Qrow or Ozpin know what happened here…"

He knew his priorities. As much as he wanted to go after the monster that had once again uprooted his life, he didn't know the first thing about it. And it was clearly far stronger than him. Why did it attack his home in the first place? And why a second time? There were too many questions that made no sense. Was the thing a grimm? He had never heard of a grimm that could cause that type of destruction in such a short amount of time. Plus, it could fly and had an intelligence that screamed at something far darker than even the grimm. It had spoken to him...hadn't it?

Jaune paused in his thoughts as he took in the sight of the docks. They were in shambles as well. Out in the ocean he could see a few boats that were either abandoned or simply hadn't made it in to dock. However, the sight also gave him hope that maybe a few people truly had made it out of Ars Magus alive.

The teen himself found a sail boat with a small motor. It looked like it only had half a tank of gas but it should be enough to get him close to the main land. He knew he was headed west and hopefully he would hit Sanus before running out of gas. That is, if the motor even worked.

Grabbing the essentials he needed for the trip out of the boat house that was partially destroyed, Jaune caught sight of a digital calendar that thankfully still worked. His gut twisted as he noticed it was six days after the attack. He had been unconscious for almost a full week…

'How…' He wondered for a moment. Was it his fatigue from using his semblance? Was it the creatures pressure? Or was it a combination of both? Either way, it worried Jaune to no end. He truly needed to find a way to rid himself of the fatigue of using his semblance. At least, a way that didn't make him a monster…

The blonde boy sighed and finished grabbing what he needed. A few fishing poles and luckily some live bait were available. If he didn't make it to Sanus before the end of the week, he'd at least be able to have a supply of food.

Once he was ready, Jaune gave the island of Ars Magus one last longing look. Fate had once again crossed his path and he was on the losing side. Once more everything he loved was taken from him. Yet, he didn't fall into despair as he did before. Qrow was still out there. Someone...just one more person was still out there that he cared about. But he began to wonder whom truly had the bad luck semblance.

Some time later…

It had been three days and he had yet to reach Sanus. The boat was just about out of gas and he ended up using the sail more often than not. It made the trip slow going but it was still doable. However, the few fish he was able to catch were doing nothing for his energy. If he were to be attacked by some type of aquatic grimm and needed to use his semblance, he would surely die afterwards from fatigue. Once more he cursed himself for not having a scroll, or even searching the corpses of Ars Magus for one. Hindsight was 20/20.

Luck, however, seemed to finally smile on the boy.

Just on the horizon, Jaune could see it. The makings of a massive continent. As it drew closer, Jaune couldn't help but smile. It had been a long time since he had been away from Ars Magus. And even though it was under dire circumstances, Jaune could only look forward to experiencing the world outside of the island. He was still planning on attending Beacon as well. There were a few months before the semester would start, but he knew he would need to see Ozpin about the grimm that he had encountered as soon as possible.

While being lost in his thoughts, Jaune pulled up to the sheer rock face that was the continent of Sanus. He looked up at the mountain of a wall that stood far over 300 meters high. With a huff, the boy kneeled down before kicking off of the boat so hard, the boat split in half. Jaune launched himself up at least 100 feet before grabbing on to the wall. He saw the boat below him sink almost instantly and chuckled

'Qrow would've found that cool…' He thought before scaling the wall with ease. It only took another minute to scale the remaining two hundred meters and the boy rolled to his back once he got to the top. 'Yep, definitely need food.'

He wasn't allowed to catch his breath for long as a few growls were heard. Leaning his head up, Jaune caught sight of three Beowulf emerging from the thick forest that lay before him. He groaned and let his head hit the ground again.

"Give me a freaking break…" He called tiredly before lazily sitting up and folding his legs. "Can't you guys just give me a few seconds? I spent three days on a boat by myself and I'm starting to think I've gone a little crazy…"

The grimm simply bounded towards Jaune, ignoring his words completely. The Arc shook his head with another exasperated sigh. As the three creatures reached him, Jaune moved to a knee, drew a short sword in one hand and a sawed-off shotgun in the other.

He cleaved the closes Beowulf with the short sword from throat to stomach as it leaped at him and Jaune rolled under it with the slash. Coming out of the slash, Jaune was still on his knees and turned 180 degrees. He held the shotgun under his arm pointing behind him and blew the second Beowulf's head clean off before continuing his spin and beheading the final Beowulf with a rising slash. He landed on his feet with his back to the defeated enemies.

As they began to turn to dust, he noticed the shotguns trigger was finally pulled back permanently and unusable. The sword as well broke off at the hilt.

'Well crap...guess that's another priority…' The teen was upset that his own personal weapon that Qrow had got from was unfortunately destroyed when Noel Village was. He had found the old weapons when burying some people and they had helped him out for as long as they could. 'Thanks for all your work.' Jaune mentally prayed for the weapons before burying them as he had their previous owners.

With the deed done, Jaune looked forward into the forest. He was on Sanus. If his calculations were right, he shouldn't be too far from Vale.

"Only one way to find out." With a renewed sense of urgency, Jaune made his way into the forest of Sanus…

Oblivious to the red eyes that watched his every move...

Not gonna lie, not exactly where I wanted to end this chapter either but I can't really prioritize things that are gonna happen right now.

From the verbal RP, Jaune wouldn't have been too beat up over the loss of Ars Magus for too long. I don't want it to feel like he doesn't care, but he also knows he has to keep going. He is still going to grieve but to him, that grimm creature could show up at any time. That's why I had so much time pass between the destruction of Ars Magus and Jaune actually getting to Sanus. It's not a lot of time, and I didn't show Jaune truly grieving yet, but it's enough time for Jaune to at least have the thought of mind to let people know what happened.

Thankfully, next chapter we get to see some familiar faces. I don't know how long the rest of the chapters will be now either, since all of what happened in the past two chapters was supposed to be an exposition dump. Either way, hope you enjoyed it!

Til Next Time Loves!