And here we are again, hope you like it!

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Chapter 26

"So how long until we're at the village?" Ruby asked, leaning over the shoulder of her uncle as he piloted the Bullhead Team RASY occupied. She would have been in the passenger seat if Jaune hadn't already taken it, apparently Whitback wanted to learn how to fly or something. "What was it called again? Entail?"

"Retel, and we shouldn't be long." Qrow corrected while adjusting the controls for the millionth time, turbulence had been strangely common for such a relatively short trip. "You should probably buckle up, I doubt this ride is gonna smooth over any time soon."

"It'll be fine." She was a strong girl, she drank her milk every morning! No way some bumps would deter her from speaking with her favorite uncle. "So how are you gonna train us? Can you give me a hint?" Ruby learned how to wield her Crescent rose from her uncle Qrow but it had been years since they last sparred, plus the circumstances had been a bit less… Serious.

"Sorry kiddo I won't be training you long, just until Ozpin can set you up with a proper teacher." Qrow didn't look pleased to say it but Ruby still gave him a pout "Why can't you teach us? You've taught at signal so you can't say you don't know how." She frowned, hoping to guilt him into maybe sticking around longer.

"I would if I could," He offered an apologetic half-smile "But I got work, bad guys to catch, damsel to save, you know. Hero stuff." He was always working lately, in the months before Beacon Ruby had seen her uncle far less than usual. Sure he always had a habit of disappearing randomly for "work" but she couldn't remember it being quite so often.

"We can do "hero stuff" too!" Just as the last word left her mouth a gust of wind shook the Bullhead, knocking her into the wall with a loud clunk, her skull making contact with the steel interior. "ouch…" She mumbled while rubbing at her head, her aura had absorbed the brunt of the hit but it still didn't feel great.

"That must have felt great." Qrow said with a snicker "Thinking about buckling up now?" Ruby only groaned in response as she turned to join her team in the passenger area, walking into an animated discussion between the pair.

"I'm telling you, explosive dust without a doubt beats out any competition in a straight up fight." Yang stated matter-of-factly, Ruby immediately recognizing the smirk her older sister got whenever she knew she was pushing someone's buttons. "You can't expect some ice to win."

"Well of course ice dust may be a poor match, but dust often times can have other effects you might not expect." Weiss looked like she was trying to stay calm but Ruby could see the way her eyes narrowed, the same way they did whenever she felt she needed to prove something. "For instance; Gravity dust can be used in weapon production in order to make weapons lighter and faster."

"And what…? You think an explosion cares how fast you're sword moves?" Of course all three girls knew there was more to it than that but the fact that it bothered Weiss so much seemed to delight Yang. Even Ruby had to admit the somewhat flustered look growing on the Heiress made it hard not to giggle.

"Well of course not! But you can't just blow everything up all the time!" Weiss' voice rose a few notches, she had to see what Yang was doing but still she stubbornly refused to give in. "What if there's a hostage? What then hmm?"

Yang said something about using explosions to knock people out, drawing further dramatics from Weiss while Ruby buckled herself into place. She would have stopped her older sister's teasing but honestly the flustered frustrated look on Weiss was so much better than the previous day's troubled thinking.

Ruby had no idea what could be going through Weiss' head after finding out what her father had done, but it was good to see her with so much energy now. The little Rose knew first hand how good a distraction Yang could be, it was a little saddening to know just how she got so good.

\-/

Jaune was the last to leave the bullhead, closely following Qrow as he made his wait into the midday sun. The others were already outside stretching after the four hour flight while inspecting the small town of Retel from their position on the landing pad in the center of the settlement.

Well isn't that a bit odd. Whitback commented idly while Jaune looked around, a strange sense of deja-vu coming over him as he gazed over the tightly packed buildings. The town had everything it would need to survive on its own, including a hospital, school, grocery store, bar, Inn and even a train station for transporting any supplies it couldn't produce on it's own.

It almost looks like Ansel. Jaune could swear he heard that name before but why couldn't he remember? And why did it make his ears ring to try? "Where…?" He asked while roughly scratching at his head trying to remember. It was the town you were born in… Whitback said with worry in it's voice.

Of course; it was his home before the accident. How could he have forgotten? He was about to respond when a flicker of movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention. Looking down the street, Jaune saw a young girl rushing towards the train station with bright blonde hair streaming behind her.

The girl, who couldn't have been older than five, turned around suddenly and made direct eye contact with Jaune before shining a smile that could have put even Ruby to shame. "Hey look, big brother's here!" Despite the distance Jaune heard the words as if they were spoken right next to him, sending a jolt of lighting straight threw his heart.

"You gotta hurry; it's supposed to be here already!" The girl motioned to be followed before rushing towards the station, a feeling of dread filling Jaune as she reached for the doors.

"Jaune!?" Ruby yelled suddenly, causing Jaune to flinch and look down at his team leader. When had she moved closer? "You alright Jaune…? You've been staring off into the distance for awhile now." Had he? he looked up and saw the same concerned expression on the rest of his team and even Qrow was looking at him with a slight frown.

"S-sorry, just thought I saw someone…" He struggled to hide just how shaken he was, he didn't need to look back to know the little girl had disappeared. It's just a memory Jaune, try to focus on what's happening now. Whitback encouraged as much as it knew how to.

"Really I'm fine." Jaune insisted when no one looked convinced, every one of them already had far too much to worry about because of him. He didn't need to add his mental health to the mix. "So what are we doing out here? Wouldn't the middle of nowhere be better for training?" He pushed off the attention, hoping the others would let go his strange behavior.

Qrow looked at him for a few seconds, as if silently judging something before shrugging "Ya I suppose so, but even if I'm training you I still have work to do. Figured I could train you while finishing a job, You know; two birds one stone type deal." He explained, thankfully dropping the previous subject.

"Does that mean we'll be helping you with your work?" It would make sense to include them if he just needed to get rid of some Grimm or something. Real world experience was supposed to be the best teacher of all right?

"Not exactly, depends what I see while we're here." Qrow said with another shrug before turning and making his way off the landing pad. "First we need to make sure we have a place to spend the night." and with that the group was led to the only Inn in town.

Less than an hour later they were inside a modest room with three beds and a couch pointed towards an averaged size Tv. "Welcome to your new home, make yourselves comfy." Qrow sounded about as enthusiastic as could be expected while he kicked off his boots and flopped down on the couch, closing his eyes and getting comfortable.

All four members of team RASY looked at the older huntsman with confusion "Aren't we supposed to start our training today?" Weiss spoke up, looking very confused as to why their teacher was getting ready for a nap.

"Huh…?" The huntsman cracked open an eye, taking a moment to process what was just said."Oh ya, I guess so." He scratched at his chin thoughtfully before continuing. "From what Glynda tell's me none of you, excluding Jaune, would last even thirty minutes in an intense fight."

"Not because you're bad or anything." He added when an offended look crossed over the huntresses in training "You just don't have the stamina, so why don't you start on that." He closed his eyes and readjusted himself. "Run around, do some pushups or something." He mumbled before seemingly falling asleep the next instant.

"Guess I'll just tag along…?" Jaune wasn't sure if Qrow had any plans for him but from the looks of the unconscious man he doubted they would be finding out anytime soon. It didn't worry Jaune none, two years of training with the older man taught him that the man knew exactly what he was doing even when it didn't look like it. Usually.

"Is he always like this?" Weiss said while motioning to their snoring instructor, looking to the Huntsman's nieces for answers. The sister's just looked at each other and shrugged " Ya pretty much." They answered in unison, drawing a groan from the heiress while she muttered something about them being doomed.

"Don't worry, he's a lot better at teaching than you'd think." Jaune could remember feeling similarly when he had first trained with Qrow, but the man had him trained up to Beacon standards within two years. Whitback had made many things much easier of course but also had provided it's own set of challenges completely unique to Jaune and yet Qrow still delivered results.

"I think I saw a clearing when we were flying into town, might be a good place to train without bothering anyone of the townspeople." He suggested while walking to the door, assuming no one had any other ideas. There was a collective shrug before the others followed him outside, the group drawing a few curious stares as they made their way out of town but not much more.

"You know Jaune, I've been meaning to ask you about your weapon of choice." Ruby looked over to Jaune, her eyes glancing down to the sword at his belt and shield in his hand. "You could create anything you want right? So why keep it so simple?"

Jaune followed her gaze "I guess I've never really thought about it, I first chose them because it just made sense in my head. I would need a sword to attack and shield to defend." It wasn't like he needed to use them often before coming to Beacon, and by the time he got to Beacon he already had a bit of experience with the sword and board combo. He saw no good reason to change it, not when it continued to do what he needed. We've changed it when we needed to, but a sword and shield fit most of our needs well enough. Whitback agreed with Jaune.

"But you'll be stuck if someone gets you from a distance in public" Ruby pointed out. "You won't be able to make a weapon in case someone sees and you're sword doesn't mechashift into a gun like most do." The thought gave Jaune pause, even if he could find a way to close the distance there was no telling how much collateral damage could happen in the time it took to do that.

...Perhaps we should incorporate some kind of ranged weaponry into our regular disguise. Whitback almost sounded disappointed, like it was upset it didn't think of the idea first. Even if it's more of a waste to launch a projectile, it could be invaluable in emergency situations.

Jaune couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, Whitback could get jealous over the weirdest things. "Whitback agrees with you, we'll see what we can come up with while you're training." Maybe a bow an arrow would be good? Then again a bow is a bit bulky to carry around if he meant to rarely use it. At least he would have time to think about it.

Maybe we shoul- "I don't know about you but I had to try a few different mods for my Ember Celica" Yang deployed her gauntlets, unknowingly interrupting Whitback. "Some Grimm hunting might help you decide what kind of range you want." She offered, hopefully not just to get rid of him.

Jaune shook the thought, she was smiling and looked as carefree as usual so what reason did he have to doubt her? "Sounds good, I'll meet you all back at the Inn later tonight then." Even if she did want to get rid of him for a bit, was that really a bad thing? In the end they all decided to stay with him when offered a chance out, that's what mattered right?

I'd be willing to bet- "Jaune wait!" Weiss interrupted before Jaune could get too far away, causing Whitback to sigh much more dramatically than Jaune could remember it doing before. "You might have to go further out, a town like this regularly culls the Grimm that get too close." she warned and Jaune waved his understanding before continuing on his way.

Suppose I'll just stay quiet then…

\-/

It was well past sunset when Qrow finally woke up, about as long as he expected to be asleep for. Looking around the room he could see his temporary student's all sleeping soundly in bed, clearly worn out if they're day clothes still being on meant anything. 'Good', he thought with a smile 'they actually listened to my advice.'. Except Jaune of course, the armored boy was sitting cross legged on the floor, looking out the only window in the room.

"Good morning." Jaune spoke as softly as his voice would allow, though Qrow doubted the girls would wake up even if he spoke regularly. They looked completely wiped out, making him wonder just how hard they chose to push themselves. Maybe they would catch up to their Hybrid teammate faster than he thought.

"Mornin." He mumbled a bit roughly to the kid, his throat felt like the solstice in the middle of the Vacuan desert. Finding his flask was almost as easy as downing it in a couple of swigs, the luke-warm liquid easing the mild headache he got when sobriety hit him.

"I take it you weren't training your stamina like the others," Qrow commented while stretching his neck and arms before sheathing his Harbinger on the small of his back. "What were you up to all day?" He had somewhat forgotten about Jaune when giving the training instructions but, short of sparring, there wasn't much training Jaune could do. Experience was all he really needed now.

"Ruby suggested I try out a weapon I could use from a distance, so I've been out hunting Grimm with a bow." Qrow thought that made sense, a bow's power was directly proportional to the users strength and accuracy as well as what the bow and string were made out of. A part of him wondered what kind of damage Whitback could cause with a fully drawn warbow of it's own making?

"Bit bulky for how little I plan on using it though." Sounded like Jaune still preferred melee combat, maybe that was a good thing though as leaving pieces of himself everywhere probably wasn't a great idea. "Why not try throwing knives?" Qrow suggested offhandedly.

Jaune seemed to pause at the suggestion, mulling it over before nodding to himself "Yea, that could work. Won't waste as much material either, thanks Qrow." Jaune raised his hand while speaking, black veins spreading throughout the gauntlet a moment before a sleek throwing dagger formed in his hand.

"Just make sure to pick up after yourself." Qrow state while heading to the door "I should be back before the others wake up." If he remembered right the bar here only closed at three, which should give him plenty of time to get some info about the rumors Oz had been hearing.

"Where are you going?" Jaune stopped him before he could open the door, "Can I come with?" He asked while already getting to his feet, obviously looking for an excuse to escape the room.

"Not tonight, I'm just looking into some rumors but I'll need to be… discreet." Qrow tried not to be mean but the fact was Jaune did not look like someone you could let your relax around. Nothing personal but he needed information and he knew only one to get it without breaking someone's jaw. Well that happened sometimes anyways but at least one option gave him something good to drink.

"That being said, you really don't have to stay here all night." Jaune had proven he could handle a bit more after what happened with Lucy, there was no reason he had to be cooped up if he didn't want. Well that and maybe Qrow felt a little unsure about keeping Jaune locked up after how long he was already trapped in a room.

"Really?" there was disbelief in his voice, "There's a lot more people here than at Beacon, are you sure it's alright?" Was he really so worried? Though thinking about it Qrow could hardly blame him, so far half his encounters with densely populated areas have ended in disaster. "I just said it was didn't I, think of it as a thank you for handling Lucy on your own."

"Thanks Qrow, I'll meet you back here tomorrow morning."

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and now we separate from beacon, took me awhile to decide this is what i wanted to do and I admit I'm a little worried about going so off the canon story but I suppose I've been doing that far the get go so why hold back now! Plus i had trouble seeing Oz or even Glynda sitting by and doing nothing while there was a threat to their students, so I thought separating RASY from the school would be smart to keep the other students safe and of course RASY would still need to be trained so we're here! also a bit of pain for Jaune, hope I explained that well but i hope someone'll let me know if not!(also let me know if anything seems rushed or bad, I was editing this at 3-5 am so hopefully nothing bad) I wish you all a good Morning and Evening!

Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh, So glad you agreed! Makes me think I'm explaining Whitback well! Also very good to hear the characters are coming along too, hope you'll keep me up to date on their progression or if i suddenly do something very out of character! And no worries about the no review thing! you've already been such a great help, i hope you enjoy your holidays! have a good trip!

1Apple1, Well Jaune is pretty monstrous! (Lol couldn't help myself) Thank you so much for the review! Hope you continue to read!