BRNZ and NDGO were talking with each other, with Nebula and Gwen under the makeshift shade spot. They were enjoying not being in the sun but their dreams were soon crushed. Jaune walked up to the group and grabbed the three bags.
"All right guys, it's time we keep moving," he said.
"Already?' Brawnz asked.
"Yeah I want to travel mostly through the night." The group exchanged looks.
"Why?" Nebula asked. Jaune opened his arms in the "look around you" sort of way.
"You don't feel the difference?" he asked. All of them stand around waiting for something but don't feel much of a difference.
"What are you getting at?" Dew asked annoyed.
"It's cooler at night," Jaune said. "We'll be able to cover more ground without suffering heat stroke." More than half the group had skeptical looks on their faces until Jaune spoke again. "Hey if you don't want to go that's fine. I won't force you guys, but I might just continue without you."
Gwen scoffs and said "You wouldn't leave us. You won't last three seconds out here."
"I'm the one with the three bags of supplies," Jaune said. His voice went deeper. "You really want to take that chance?" Everyone looked Jaune in the eye. He had a look that said he wasn't lying. Roy was mildly impressed, Jaune took his advice.
When no one answered Jaune went back to his normal self. "All right, let's get going," He said as he clapped his hands. With that they continued on their way to the general direction of the Grimm tracks.
Thirty minutes later:
The night air cooled them a little but all of them were still sweating up a storm. Not only that, due to some wind the tracks were lost. So now they were just wandering.
"This is pointless," Nolan said. "We already lost the tracks, what's the point of continuing?"
"Hey, if you want to go back be my guest," Roy retorted. "Otherwise shut it and keep moving."
"Well I'm not going to keep following the blonde fraud," Dew said. If Jaune heard the insult he showed no signs that he did. "He's going to get us killed."
"Well not like we have much of a choice," May said. "He has all of the supplies."
"Well… we can just take them from him," Octavia. Everyone looked at her, "He wouldn't be that much of a challenge."
"Octavia are you insane?!" Nebula said. "What is wrong with you guys?"
"I'm with Neb," Brawnz agreed. "What the hell did he do to you guys personally?"
Unfortunately they wouldn't get an answer. They were all busy talking they didn't notice Jaune stopped and they ran into him. No one fell over and everyone regained their balance fairly quickly.
Gwen moves up to him and asks "What the heck? Why'd you sto…" she was interrupted by what she saw.
Ashes covered the remains of a small encampment. Tents and tools that weren't burnt down were slashed or destroyed. Bodies lay strewn around the camp. Blood, though hard to see from the distance, still stained parts of the ground.
"Oh no…" Nolan said.
"Check for survivors," Jaune said. He went down the hill and continued into the camp. Teams BRNZ and NDGO look at each other and soon follow.
As Jaune approached the encampment, the smell of fire and blood began to fill his nose. It was not a pleasant smell. As he reached the edge of the town he stopped. It wasn't a pretty sight. He could still see fear in some of the corpses eyes.
"Keep your wits about you boy," a voice echoed. "I don't think the grimm have left yet."
Jaune nodded but then looked around for the voice. When he realized that it didn't come from anywhere he figured it was just his heads playing tricks on him.
The two teams catch up to him. He takes off two of the bags and turns to them. "I need two volunteers to hold the bags," He said. May was about to open her mouth but Jaune beat her to it. "If you're going to ask why it's because I feel the grimm are still here and if I get ambushed with all three bags our supplies are done for."
"I'll take one," Brawnz said. He picks up a food bag and straps it around him.
"Anyone else?" Nebula raises her hand. "You want to carry the bag again? Could be another fight."
"What, think she can't handle it?" Octavia asked.
"I didn't…" Jaune sighs. He unstraps the other food bag and hands it to Nebula. She straps it and Jaune issues commands. "Priority one: survivors. If you find any signs of them, see if you can help them. Priority two: supplies. Priority three: Base of Operations. We may have to hole up here for a while. Find something that provides shade, cover and a vantage point. Any questions?"
No one says anything, shocked by the new Jaune. To see him take command despite the obvious distrust was something they were not expecting. When no one says anything Jaune nods. "All right, move out, stay with someone at all times." And with that the students split into teams.
Fifteen minutes later:
All of them stayed within eye sight of each other or had a partner next to them in case of any grimm. Other than a beowolf lurking in the shadows, which Nolan and May killed, there wasn't much activity.
"Hey, can someone watch my back?" Jaune called out. He was looking inside a tent but didn't enter it. "I want to see if there's any supplies in here."
Nebula, Roy, and Dew were next to each other searching for stuff, and trying not to throw up from the corpses they were searching. However they heard Jaune's call and Nebula spoke up. "Dew, go watch Jaune's back."
"What?" The blonde said aghast. "Why me?"
"Because I said so, move."
Dew grumbled but followed her team leaders order and went to Jaune. He was still looking in the tent and had his sword out but his shield was still in sheath form. He hears Dew approach and speaks.
"Hey, Dew right?" he asked.
"Yes," She growled. Jaune noticed the hostility.
"All right, thanks for having my back."
"Whatever." Jaune sighs and enters the tent, with Dew behind him.
When they entered the tent and their eyes adjusted, they were horrified by what they saw. Desks were turned over, bodies were everywhere along with blood. One body was pinned to a table as her body was stabbed through with a broken table leg. The entire scene made both blondes want to vomit. However they swallow it and began looking around.
"Something doesn't feel right…" a voice echoed in Jaune's head. "Check every corner." Again, Jaune looked around to se if it was Dew talking to him but she avoided eye contact with him. He shakes his head and continues searching.
There were obviously no survivors, but there had to be a few dust crystals lying around. Jaune wanted to see if Dew would talk, but he didn't know what to talk about or even if she would respond. So after a while he just asked the obvious question. "Find anything yet?"
"No," She said quickly.
"Me either." However he saw a suitcase lying around a desk and reached for it. "Hang on, think I found something." He took it out and opened it to reveal a couple of pure dust crystals. He chuckles and starts putting them in the supply bag.
As he put the last one away, he heard a growl come from his right. An animalistic growl. He turns to his right and sees a large round bone mask with red eyes staring back at him.
Dew was walking up to see what he got but he quickly throws the bag at her and pushes her out of the way. "Hey!" she screamed. "What the hell―" She was cut off by a roar and the sound of large feet charging. She sees Jaune facing where the roar came from and the creature seemed to have rammed into Jaune. So much so that it rammed through the tent causing a hole to rip with Jaune yelling as he got carried away. It only took Dew a second to realize what they were fighting.
"Charger!" Dew yelled as she ran out of the tent. Everyone stopped searching and looked to where she was coming out of. "Jaune got grabbed by a charger!"
"We heard the roar," Roy said. "We thought it was another beowolf, where'd they go?"
"Follow me!" As Dew leads them to where the charger was, Jaune had his own problems.
The charger was moving so fast that he couldn't break away from its arm. He remembers what a charger was from Port's Grimm studies.
A Charger was a grimm made mostly of the bone the grimm had. It had a circular rock like body, and a giant face on the middle of it, with the typical grimm mask. It only has one arm but it was very powerful and fast. Due to these two deadly combinations the charger, hence its name, would charge into its opponents crushing them. If it didn't kill them with the initial crush it would then proceed to beat said victim, either by throwing them around or punching them.
Jaune was cut out of his thoughts when he felt his back ram into something. Luckily he used his aura to protect himself, but it still had to take a toll on it. Jaune falls to the ground but the charge picked him back up and slammed him head first against the same thing his back rammed into. Jaune opened his eyes a little and saw that he was being thrown into a machine used for collecting dust. However he was once again stripped away from his thoughts as the charger picked him up again.
This time the charger swung its arm with Jaune in it and slammed him into the ground. Jaune coughed as he got slammed. A little bit of blood came up from his throat. He can't keep getting pounded like this. The charger picked up its arm and was about to hammer down on Jaune but Jaune was able to reach for his shield and block it a little bit.
However, as he blocked it, he heard a crunching noise. The charger kept applying pressure and another crunching noise was heard. Jaune could have sworn he heard the creature laughing but then he heard it grunt. It turned around and Jaune looked to see BRNZ and NDGO yelling at the charger.
"Let him go you ugly bastard!" Brawnz yelled. Nebula aimed an arrow and shot it at the charger. However it moved its arm to block the shot. It then roars and picks up Jaune again. It tosses him away from BRNZ and NDGO and into a sandstone formation. The charger then faces the two teams.
"We have to get Jaune!" Brawnz commanded.
"How?" Roy asked.
"You guys distract it," Dew said. "I'll find a way to get the idiot." Everyone nods and tries to find ways to keep it busy.
May looked around for a vantage point. She saw a machine that was decently far away. "Brawnz!" she called. Brawnz looked at his teammate and she pointed to the vantage point. He nods and turns his blades forward. He aims them a little and then presses a button on his guantlets. His right knife fires with a small rope connected to it.
May hops on the rope as Brawnz keeps it rigid. May travels quickly on the rope, while maintaining her balance. Being a sniper, May learned how to get to as many sniper points as she could. From tightrope walking, to tree climbing, even camouflage, give her enough time she'll find a spot.
She reached the top of the machine and sat down crossed leg. Brawnz saw that she was set and retracted the rope. Meanwhile everyone was still trying to find ways to distract the charger. May began pelting some weak points in between the bone armor of the creature. Nebula kept shooting arrows, Roy kept throwing his saw blades, everyone else would yell and keep it distracted.
Meanwhile Dew was circling around the charger, keeping out of its sight as much as it can. With the giant head it can see things at a pretty wide angle. She stayed behind cover, and made sure to move as quickly as she could.
She reached Jaune who was groaning in pain. "You okay idiot?" Dew asked with genuine concern.
"What's with the nickname?" Jaune groaned weakly. Dew wasn't really expecting an answer. Most people attacked by a charger were lucky to be conscious, she only asked herself to see what kinds of wounds he had. This guy could take a beating.
"Well only an idiot would take a charger attack and not dodge it. I could've helped you stop it from charging." She checked for any wounds on the body. A little bit of blood was running from the top of his head, and a couple of bruises where there. "Don't talk and don't move, I'm gonna drag you out of here."
She grabs him by the armpits, but that was a terrible mistake. He lets out a cry of pain. It was enough for the charger to hear. "What's wrong? Dew asked.
"My arm!"
She was going to ask what was wrong with it but heard the roar of the charger. She turns and sees it ready to charge them, ignoring the rest of her team and team BRNZ. She gently lets go of Jaune and points her spear at the charger. She runs towards it, charging her wind dust crystal. She then slashes at the charger, causing a huge wind. The dust gets in the grimms eye, causing it to stop in place.
This gave Dew enough time to drag Jaune behind a couple of tents. She put a hand over his mouth as he screamed in pain so it was muffled. The charger roared and charged into the sandstone formation blind hoping to hit the two students. Running into the formation caused it to shake a few stones loose.
The teams continue attacking the charger, making its focus on them again. With Jaune and Dew behind the tents, she can get to work. "Okay, let's see what's wrong with your arm," She said. She slowly tried to remove the shield. Jaune let out slight moans of pain as she did.
When she finally got it off, she saw his arm. It was broken pretty badly. Part of his bone was sticking out. Not to mention it was broken in another spot too. She was going to have to work fast.
She takes a deep breath and puts her hands together. She concentrates her semblance into her palms. She places them against Jaune's arm and she exhales. Jaune could feel instant relief in his arms. He looked at it and sees the bone slowly going back into place. Dew grabs his broken areas and snaps them back into place, but with her semblance, he didn't feel a thing.
She then moves onto the rest of Jaune's body. She places her hands around his head to and the cut was patching itself up, and Jaune's grogginess was slowly going away. She then placed it on his chest, and made it easier for him to breathe again. She then placed her hands around his legs and his numbness quickly went away from them.
He leans up a little bit and groans a little. This surprise Dew a lot. He looks at her and asks "What?"
"Nothing it's just…" She started. "I didn't expect you to be able to move already."
"Why's that?" They hear the charger roar and are cut off from their conversation.
"I'll explain later, come on!" She helps Jaune up and though he was still weak and needed support to move around. She lifted Jaune up and she put an arm around him and he did the same to her. they move from cover to cover, keeping out of the sight of the charger.
Eventually they reached the rest of the group. Roy was the first to notice them. He goes over to them and helps Dew support Jaune. "By the gods man," Roy said. "You heal quickly."
"Dew reacted the same way," Jaune chuckled.
"Shut it idiot," Dew said with a slight blush. They leaned him against a pole of a tent and Roy stayed to protect him while Dew joined the battle. Jaune looked around the battle field. Other than the machine he was thrown into, the sandstone formation, and a couple of tents, there wasn't much going on.
Jaune heard the sniper shot of May and turned to his left. He looks up another machine and sees her sitting there targeting the charger. "Roy…" he called out.
"What is it?" Roy asked.
"How did she get up there?" Jaune pointed to May.
"She ran on Brawnz grapple." Jaune's eyes widen in surprise.
"Brawnz has a grapple?" Roy nods his head. Jaune looks at his surroundings again and then gets an idea. "Roy, I need you to get Nebula and Brawnz, along with two grenades from the supply bags."
"Why?"
"You'll see."
With the fight with the charger, it was still a bit of a draw. The charger was on the defensive but it could go on the offensive at any moment. The two teams kept their distance as the ranged students tried to kill it but they knew they had to do something. A couple of times they tried to advance the charger but they often got swatted away.
This time, Octavia and Nolan decided to try their luck again and fight at close range. Octavia slashed some fire into the chargers face, causing it to cover its face for protection. It uncovered its face only to reveal Nolan jumping on it. Nolan turns his electricity on his baton on and stabs the chargers eye.
It lets out a roar of pain and grabs Nolan. It squeezes him causing Nolan to yell. He heard Octavia let out a war cry and saw her with its good eye. It tosses Nolan at Octavia causing the two of them to collide and get sent flying back.
"Be careful you guys!" Nebula yelled out. Unbeknownst to them or the charger, Gwen was sneaking around the left side of it. It was preoccupied with the rest of them to notice her and she took her chance. She threw three knives at it. That caused it to groan in pain and she charged. She climbed the sandstone formation, using her knives as climbing axes, and when she was high enough she jumped down and was going to stab the charger.
However it noticed her when she threw the knives and saw her climb. It picked her out of midair and then slammed her into the ground. It kept applying pressure to her causing her to scream in agony. However, May shot it right in the eye where Nolan stabbed it, causing it to let go of her.
Branwz then shot his grapple knife toward her. She grabbed it and he reeled her back over to them. Brawnz helps her up and they all face the charger again.
"We can't keep doing hits and runs!" Gwen said. "It'll wear us down eventually."
"We don't have to!" Roy said running up to them. "Nebula, Brawnz, I need you to come with me."
"Why?" The two team leaders said.
"Jaune's got an idea." The two off them look at each other and nod their heads. They then go to Gwen, who still had the supplies bag on her. "Gwen, can you get me two grenades?"
"On it," She said. she made sure the Charger was busy fighting someone else, who happened to be Nolan at the moment, and took out two grenades. She hands them to Roy and she slides the bag away from the battle so it doesn't drop anything. The two leaders follow Roy back to Jaune, who was surprisingly already back to work.
He was cutting up parts of the tent he was leaning on. He had two large square cloths and two smaller rectangular cloths. "Jaune what are you doing?" Brawnz asked.
Jaune looked up and saw everything and everyone he asked for. "Give me the two grenades and I'll explain along the way," Jaune said.
Roy handed him the grenades and Jaune started to tie the grenades inside the big square cloth. "Nebula," he said as he tied. "What I need you to do is… when I'm done tying these grenades…" He tied the smaller rectangular one so that the bigger cloth wouldn't slip. He then moves onto the next grenade. "You need to pin them in two spots: One on charger, another on the sandstone formation."
"You mean I have to shoot them before they explode in my face?!" She asked concerned.
"No. You just have to pin them there. May will shoot them." He finished with both grenades and hands them to Nebula, who takes them. May's sniper shot sounded and Jaune continues discussing his plan. "Brawnz, she won't listen to me, but she will listen to you. You need to let her know about the grenades. If she's a good shot she'll find where Nebula pinned them."
"Is that all?" Brawnz asked.
"No. You're going to shoot your knife grapples into the sandstone formation, when it's been weakened by the explosion, you're going to pull it down on the charger. IF that doesn't kill it, the explosion on the grimm will cause a break in its armor, that's where all of you attack until it is dead."
All of them look at each other, it was a crazy plan, but it just might work. "You got it, Jaune." Brawnz said.
"We'll do it," Nebula said. With that all of them go back to the charger with a plan in mind.
Brawnz calls up to May as he reaches her sniping point. "MAY!" The sniper takes another shot and then looks down. "Neb's going to pin a couple of grenades to the sandstone and the charger! When you see them and everyone's out of range, take the shot!"
"You got it!" May called out. She continued sniping and Brawnz went to the others.
Nebula got into position and stabbed an arrow through the first cloth. She made sure it was on her arrow securely and then aimed at the sandstone. She fired and it placed right in the middle of it. She smile sand puts on the other grenade. Now for the hard part.
The arm kept blocking a good shot for her to pin on the grimms head. "Girls, get me a clear shot on the head!" Nebula called out.
"On it!" Gwen and Octavia called out. Dew nodded and the girls began running toward the charger. It roared at them as they charged. Dew blew a huge dust of wind this time at it, causing it to move backward. Gwen equips a knife in both of her hands and Octavia got her sword ready.
"I'll go high," Gwen said. Octavia nodded and they sprang into action. Gwen jumps high in the air, but this time instead of trying to stab downward, she threw her knives onto the things back. it roars and lifts its arm up and Octavia slashes fire to the inside of the arm. This causes it to recoil back, giving a nice open shot for Nebula.
She pulls the trigger and the grenade lands right in between the grimm's eyes. May saw both grenades and fires at the one on the grimm first. Gwen and Octavia got out of the way as the grenade on the grimm exploded. May then aims at the one on the sandstone and fires. That grenade explodes and even did a little more damage to the charger. It roars in pain and then Brawnz does his part.
He aims his knives at the upper part of the cliff and shoots the grapples. When they latch on, he tightens and locks the grapple. He begins backing up as he pulls down the rest of the sandstone. It lands on top of the charger and it lets out a cry.
When the dust settles everyone looks at the charger, now buried under rubble. However part of its head was still out along with its arm, but it was immobilized. Everyone sans Jaune slowly approach it and it makes a wide swing, but hits no one. It growls and struggles but can't get up. The explosion that the grenade caused however made a small crack in the bone and made its way into the black flesh. It was wide enough that everyone could see it.
Nolan and Octavia climb on the rubble to get away from the chargers arm. They slowly approach the flesh hole and look at each other and nod. Nolan charges his rod with electricity, and Octavia surrounds her knife with fire. They both stab the flesh hole and the charger lets out a cry of pain, and eventually, lets out a death rattle.
The body starts to dissipate and the two students hop off. Once they hear the thud of the rubble shifting, they all let out sighs of relief. Roy lets out a whoop and falls to his back. Everyone was just in a general good mood. They defeated a charger with little injuries.
As everyone was celebrating, Dew holstered her spear and walked over to where Jaune was sitting. He had a big goofy grin on his face. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes and muttered to himself. "Holy crap… we did it."
"So that was your plan?' Dew asked with her hands on her hips. Jaune looks at her, still with the big goofy grin on his face. At first glance it could seem arrogant, but from the close up he was just happy that everything went fine.
"Yeah but, you guys definitely pulled it off. You would've done fine without me." Dew couldn't help but smile. Not only was his grin infectious, he was also humble. They would've been trying to beat that thing with strength alone, but he saw opportunities and seized them.
"All right, well let's get you patched up as best we can and see if we're spending the night here." Jaune nodded his head.
A few hours later:
While Jaune did heal quickly, Dew, along with Brawnz thought it would be a good idea for him to rest for the night. So after clearing all grimm, and scrounging every tent, they were able to get a decent amount of food and supplies.
As everyone besides Jaune sat by a small fire they made, Jaune was just relaxing and watching them from afar. He didn't want to ruin their good time by being there. However, much to his surprise, he saw Dew walk over, with a plate of food.
"Here," She said as she handed him the plate. He gratefully took it. All it was was some canned meat with some rice they found, but it was better than nothing. Jaune began eating and Dew sat down next to him. She lets Jaune eat for a minute and then speaks. "Hey, I wanted to say I'm sorry."
"For what?" Jaune asked.
"For being a bit of a… well a bitch to you." She hears Jaune let out a chuckle.
"Not like you didn't have the right to be. I lied my way to Beacon, and then stayed there."
"But you proved yourself to them… and now you proved yourself to me." She smiled lightly and he smiled back. However she then punches him in the arm causing him to groan in pain. "Don't think I'm not going to call you an idiot, because you still are one."
"So you're naturally this bitchy?"
"Shut up!" She hits him on the arm again.
"Ow!" he rubs his arm. "Great I think you broke it again."
"Yeah cry me a river," Dew said. "Besides you'll heal quickly. Speaking of, how did you heal so quickly?"
"Do you want to know the truth?" Jaune asked. Dew nodded. "I have no flipping idea. But why were you so shocked by that anyway?"
"Oh well that's a helpful answer. You truly are an idiot." Jaune just shrugged. "And the reason I was shocked was because while my semblance speeds up the healing process, you were practically running on fumes. Yet, despite that you were still able to heal quickly.
"What can I say? I've always been a fast healer."
"Well, whatever. What's important is everyone's alive." Dew stands up and stretches. "Don't get us killed idiot."
"Of course not." Jaune smiled and Dew rolled her eyes and walked back to the fire. At that moment Jaune knew he could survive here. It wouldn't be easy, but then again, when was easy ever apart of Jaune Arc's life?
To be continued.
A/N Hey everyone, I hope all of you are enjoying the story so far. Now I have been getting a lot of reviews that say I'm writing teams RWBY and JNPR (Minus Jaune) OOC. I have done some thinking and I will admit, that is true. I have wrote RWBY off as assholes without giving a good reason why they are behaving like that. But in a way, I kind of wanted this. I wanted people to see how RWBY reacted to Jaune and be like "Okay, what caused them to act like this." However, I ended up shooting myself in the foot. It seemed to drive people away since as the one guest reviewer said: "Another "RWBY and JNPR go OOC and act like assholes toward Jaune""
The reason I wanted RWBY to act like that was because I was not done with them yet. I plan on having RWBY and NPR sometime later in this story, and to have the fully fleshed story of how Jaune got kicked out, instead of just little bits and pieces of flashbacks.
I also want to thank everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed this story. It shows me that despite some of my flaws, you all are still excited/curious enough to keep checking in on it.
I hope you guys enjoyed and see you all in the next chapter.