Time for a new chapter.
Individual System
The underground lab was enormous.
While Atlas Academy was all pristine surfaces and composed silence, the lab beneath it was noisy and busy. Everything was in constant movement. There was someone working in every corner. Much like in the school above, there was not a speck of dust to be seen which was impressive considering how full the lab was. Large machines took up most of the floor space. Jaune could barely identify some as computers. Others utterly mystified him.
Most curious of all, however, was the number of droids in the room.
Jaune counted only about twelve people working in the lab. The rest of the work was done by droids.
Most of them were carrying stuff around, but he did see a few working on the computers. They were not like the droid he fought during the entrance exam. These ones were finer and considerably less armored. They looked more advanced than the housekeeping droids he had seen in commercials once or twice, definitely not made for combat.
At least, Jaune was pretty they weren't made for combat. Who really knew? With mecha-shift technology being what it was, it wouldn't surprise Jaune if they could transform into twenty-feet tall armored monstrosities.
Technology was weird like that.
"Just what is this place?"
The question left Jaune's mouth before he even realized he wanted to ask it. On some level, Jaune knew precisely what this place was. The high-tech equipment. The low number of actual people and the high number of droids to take care of all the menial tasks. This was a secret lab. The type one usually saw in cartoons or comic books.
Why had Ironwood taken him here? No, that was another question he already knew the answer to. It was the reason Jaune had come here, after all. He had come here for a position with the Research and Development Division of Atlas Academy. However…
This was way bigger than anything Jaune had anticipated.
When he had first read the letter from Altas Academy, Jaune had imagined his job would be something like getting beat up by droids, maybe work as a test dummy for new equipment. What else could someone like him be good for? Even then, Jaune realized there was no way Atlas didn't have people more qualified than him for those things.
However, it wasn't like he had been in any position to turn down the offer. This might very well be his only shot at becoming a Huntsman. He had to take it, yet now he was starting to get the feeling he was way out of his depth.
Just what was the IXA Project?
Ironwood looked like he was about to answer when a new voice cut in.
"What is the meaning of this!?"
The shout caused both Jaune and Ironwood to look ahead. The person who had just spoken was a short man with a thick beard and a balding head. He had bushy eyebrows, and his hair was pure white. His lab coat looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a while.
"Why have you brought a child to my lab?" The old man asked as he made his way to them.
"Dr. Polendina, it is good to see you as well," Ironwood said, meeting the scientist's glare with an even stare. "This child, as you put it, is Jaune Arc. He is to be IXA's Rider."
Rider?
"Mr. Arc," Ironwood went on, ignoring Dr. Polendina's disbelieving stare, "Meet Doctor Gelato Polendina. He is the lead scientist of the project you will be working on."
Jaune would have tried to shake the man's hand, but the scientist did not look all that happy to see him.
"This child? IXA's Rider? Impossible! How old even is he? Twelve?" Jaune bristled at the insult, but Polendina wasn't done. "No! More importantly, why wasn't I informed of this? You should have consulted with me before selecting a Rider."
Ironwood raised an eyebrow. "I did try to reach you. I left several messages in your scroll and forwarded Jaune Arc's files to your computer. You should have known about this over a week ago."
"Oh." Dr. Polendina suddenly looked awkward. "Well, you could have let me know about it when we talked last Monday."
"That would have been impossible because we did not talk last Monday. We last talked weeks ago. You've been locked in your lab for over two weeks and refused to come out. A personal best for you, I must say."
Polendina looked at himself and took a whiff of his clothes. It was only then that Jaune noticed the slight stench around the man. "Two weeks? Really?"
"Really."
"Then what did I eat?" The scientist asked, flabbergasted.
"Lethal amounts of coffee, I assume."
"Huh." Polendina tapped his chin. "Yeah, that sounds about right. I should probably try to get some sleep today."
"That would be for the best," Ironwood agreed, doing a remarkable job at keeping a straight face. "I would hate to lose my best scientist due to lack of sleep."
"I'll schedule it later," Polendina said. He waved a hand dismissively as if putting the issue behind him before his gaze moved to Jaune. "Now, about the child."
"I am fifteen," Jaune said, knowing it probably wasn't that much better than twelve for a man as old as Polendina, but it was the principle of the thing!
"He is the perfect candidate to be IXA's Rider," Ironwood said. "All the tests show this."
Tests? Jaune blinked. They had run tests on him? As far as he could remember, they had only tested him at… Hyades Academy… which worked closely with Atlas Academy. They had most likely forwarded his results to Atlas right away, provided General Ironwood couldn't just access them directly.
What exactly made him a good fit for this, though?
"He has an Aura rank of S and-"
"Say no more," Polendina cut in. "You should have just led with that."
The scientist was no longer glaring at Jaune, but that didn't mean his gaze had become in any way comforting. The scientist's eyes were now analytical in a way that made the hair on the back of Jaune's neck stand up.
"Well, come on, lad. Might as well show you what you're going to be working with," the small man said, grabbing hold of Jaune's wrist.
Jaune shot a pleading look at Ironwood as the odd man started dragging him away.
"Do not be alarmed," Ironwood said, moving to follow them. "In spite of how he looks, thinks, and acts, Dr. Polendina means you no harm. He is merely eccentric."
"I am right here, Ironwood. Listening."
"I am aware," the general said dryly before addressing Jaune once more. "In any case, I know you still have questions, and I will do my best to answer all of them within a few minutes. Just be patient for now. That is all I ask."
Still confused but a little more at ease and undeniably curious, Jaune allowed himself to be dragged deeper and deeper into the lab.
xXx
Jaune gaped.
Polendina and Ironwood had led him all the way to a very large, very solid door. It took a retina scan, three different card keys, and a voice command to open it. Behind the door was a relatively small room. By Jaune's estimates, it was only slightly larger than Ironwood's office.
In the center of the room was a tall glass cylinder that reached all the way to the roof.
Inside of it was IXA.
It was well over six feet tall. The main body was black but had white, armored plates attached to its legs, chest, and arms, forming greaves, a breastplate, and gauntlets. Its head was round and colored in blue and white. A black visor framed by gold took over most of its face, somehow managing to look like a crown
In some ways, it was reminiscent of a knight of olden days, the type he used to read about as a kid.
"Is that… a suit of armor?"
Jaune leaned forward. He wanted to put his hand against the glass, but he just knew the scientist would stop him from doing so.
"A suit of armor? Hardly!" Polendina scoffed. "What you see before you is IXA! It is as far beyond a suit of armor as the SDC is to a mere street peddler! IXA is the pinnacle of Atlas technology! Speed. Strength. Endurance. All its Rider's capabilities are increased by an order of magnitude! IXA can turn a mere pup into the fiercest of wolves!"
Dr. Polendina's voice grew louder and more passionate as he spoke, his fist clenched in front of him. Towards the end, he was not even talking to Jaune anymore. He only had eyes for IXA.
"And most important of all! IXA does not rely on Dust!"
"What?"
Jaune's shocked question was enough to draw Polendina's attention away from the suit. The scientist allowed himself a smug smile. "It is as you just heard. IXA works using a one-of-a-kind Aura Reactor. It is powered solely by its Rider's Aura."
That… that was… Jaune looked at the already impressive suit with a whole new level of respect.
Now, Jaune wasn't the most book smart person in the world, but he knew the same basic facts of life as everyone else. There were four kingdoms, Grimm were a threat to the entire world, and all technology relied on Dust.
No exceptions.
It wasn't as if humanity hadn't experimented with other types of energy throughout history. Dust just happened to beat all other competition by a mile. It was a plentiful resource that could be applied in dozens of different ways. Fire. Wind. Energy. Gravity. The list of Dust types went on.
If this suit worked using nothing but the wearer's Aura, the ramifications were…
Well, Jaune didn't really know what the ramifications were, but he was pretty sure they were big.
"To minimize the loss of lives, Atlas deploys more combat droids than all other Kingdoms combined," Ironwood spoke up, moving to stand beside Jaune. "If it were possible, I would remove humans from the battlefield entirely, but the value of the human element cannot be denied. To that end, our Specialist Unit recruits skilled Huntsmen into the army, allowing their abilities to be put to better use. However, against an enemy that controls over ninety percent of the planet, that is not enough."
Jaune shuffled awkwardly. Ironwood was not saying anything Jaune hadn't already been aware of, yet hearing it all laid out like that left an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach.
"IXA is meant to change everything. With it, a regular soldier will be able to fight on par with a Huntsman, and a Huntsman would be further elevated. Once we can mass-produce IXA, we will be able to take back land from the Grimm at a much faster rate than anything seen in recorded history." Ironwood turned to Jaune, his hands folded behind him. "That is why you are here, Mr. Arc. You will be the one to test IXA."
"Me?" Jaune asked. He unconsciously brought a hand to his chest. "Why? I mean, I can't possibly be your first choice for something like this. You have seen my tests scores! I... we're in a Huntsman Academy! You must have dozens of students who are better than me in every way!"
Jaune realized he was sabotaging himself, but he couldn't stop himself from pointing out the obvious. No matter how he looked at it, there were bound to be hundreds of better candidates within walking distance.
Why had he been chosen?
"Well, you aren't wrong," Polendina said, scratching his beard. He looked amused. "However, most people don't have an Aura rank of S."
Jaune frowned. There was that term again.
"What does that even mean?"
It was Ironwood who answered his question. "He is referring to the Atlas Classification System. We measure a person's Aura and assign a letter ranking to it. Most people are ranked C or D. It is not much, but it is enough for them to defend themselves against minor Grimm should they seek to learn the ways of combat. Usually, C is the minimum rank required to become a Huntsman, though exceptions do exist. Meanwhile, E Rank, the lowest rank, indicates a particularly weak Aura. People like that tend to suffer from permanent health issues."
And A and B were for people who had more Aura than what was normal. Jaune could guess that much. In a way, the whole thing reminded him of a video game.
"And S?"
"S stands for Superior," Polendina said, snorting. "It's a bit on the nose, but that's Atlas for you. It's meant to signify a person's Aura exceeds the boundaries of what is considered A-Rank. It's fairly rare. The good general over here is part of that special group."
Jaune looked at Ironwood in surprise at that. The general nodded, confirming the scientist's words.
"As are you," Polendina finished. "Which is why you were selected for this."
Him? Jaune looked at himself. He could still feel the Aura flowing through his body. It felt amazing but was it really that much compared to what other people had?
"IXA is still in its testing stages," Ironwood explained. "Many of its components have not yet been finalized. That includes its Aura Reactor. At present, it demands too much Aura for regular people to use it. However, the size of your Aura makes you a suitable Rider for IXA."
"Wouldn't it be better if someone with training used it, though?" Jaune asked Ironwood. "I can't be the only person with a big Aura around."
Case in point, Ironwood also had a big aura.
To Jaune's surprise, Ironwood shook his head. "I could be the one to test the suit, but then we'd learn nothing. There are a few Specialists and students I could call upon for this task, but they are already highly skilled fighters. We wouldn't be able to judge IXA's abilities if people like them used it. Meanwhile, if someone with no training like you were to use IXA, we'd be able to know exactly what it can do."
Jaune blinked. "So, if someone too awesome wears the suit, you won't know how awesome the suit is?"
"That's an overly simplified but not incorrect way of putting it," Polendina said with a shrug.
In other words, Jaune sucked just enough to be qualified for this. Since he had no skills to call his own, anything good he did while wearing the suit would be entirely the suit's fault.
That… kind of hurt his pride, to be honest.
The feeling lasted for about a second, and Jaune mentally slapped himself for it. So what if he sucked? Who cared? It was because he sucked that he was getting this opportunity. He wasn't going to waste it by feeling sorry for himself! He was going to make the best of this.
He was going to get into Atlas Academy and become a great Huntsman!
"I understand." Jaune nodded. He took a deep breath and looked at IXA "So, do I put it on now or…?"
"Ha, I wish!" Polendina said, barking out a laugh. "No. Unfortunately, it's not time yet. There are still a few kinks that need to be worked on. I also need to put the finishing touches on IXA's weapon programs. It will take a few weeks before testing can begin, I am afraid."
"In the meantime," Ironwood said, "You will be given an apartment near Atlas Academy."
Jaune's eyebrows rose all the way to his hairline. He was going to be living in the Upper City just like that? He had heard real state here was by far the most expensive in all the four Kingdoms.
Talk about job benefits.
"For the duration of the project, you will be given a stipend to cover your basics living expenses. Additionally, you will be expected to show up here bright and early for training."
Jaune blinked, hope blossoming in his chest.
"Training?"
Ironwood smiled. "I did not go through the trouble of unlocking your Aura only for you to remain ignorant on how to use it. You will be going through basic training, Mr. Arc."
Jaune smiled as wide as he could.
"Yes, sir!"
He was totally going to rock!
xXx
"Damn it!"
Jaune Arc was totally getting rocked.
Blue John watched the camera feed with a bored look on his face. Jaune was training in a special room located way below Atlas Academy, and by training, Blue meant the fifteen-year-old was being pelted on all sides by paintballs.
"He reeaally needs to learn how to dodge."
Blue glanced at his partner who was sitting beside him. Unlike him, Red was watching the proceedings with a smile on his face.
He was also eating pretzels.
"Think we should have gotten him started with laps?"
Blue shook his head. "No, it is better this way."
The two had been tasked by General Ironwood to oversee Jaune's training. They didn't have much time until IXA's first test, so trying to teach him fighting skills or improving his body would be pointless. What was most important right now was for Jaune to get a handle on his Aura.
That was why he was currently dodging paintballs being fired at him from just about every corner of the training room.
The paintballs came at such a rapid pace and from so many angles that it was impossible to dodge them all. To succeed in this exercise, it was necessary to use Aura, both to boost one's physical abilities and to shield oneself from harm.
If the trainee made the mistake of keeping his Aura up all the time, he'd quickly run out of it. Thus, the exercise forced trainees to learn how to properly ration their Aura. It taught them to be aware of how much Aura they had at any given moment and helped them get used to quickly activating it.
At least, that was how things were supposed to work. Blue's frown deepened the longer he stared at the screen.
"Something's wrong."
"Well yeah, he can't dodge. Told you we should have made him run laps first. Do some basic body conditioning before throwing him in there."
"I'm not talking about that. Look." Blue pointed at the screen. "He's getting hit repeatedly and not even flinching."
Red raised an eyebrow.
"So, what? They're just paintballs."
"Just paintballs are enough to cause pain depending on where and how they hit, especially if you're not wearing protective clothing."
Which Jaune wasn't. They had given him protective goggles and earwear, but beyond that, Jaune was wearing regular clothes. One paintball wasn't enough to seriously hurt anyone under most circumstances. However, as the hits kept coming, the damage would keep adding up. The pain was supposed to motivate the trainees to learn faster.
"He's not flinching at all," Blue repeated. "No matter how many times he gets hit, he is showing no signs of pain."
There was frustration. Lots of frustration, but not a hint of pain. Not even a flinch. There was no sign the paintballs were hurting him at all. He just took them and kept going.
Red crossed his arms. "I'm still not following you."
"If they aren't hurting him, it is because he has his Aura up when they hit him."
"So, what? Isn't that what he's supposed to be doing? Use Aura to protect himself?" Red shrugged. "Again, not seeing the problem here."
"The point is there is no way he has the control necessary to raise his Aura every single time he is about to get hit. If he has his Aura up every time the paintballs hit him, it must be because his Aura is always up."
"Wait, wait, wait," Red said, holding up his hand and finally putting his pretzels away. "Are you saying he's had his Aura up all this time? It's been hours!"
One little paintball did absolutely nothing to a person's Aura. Neither did two or three. But a hundred? Two hundred? The damage started adding up. Many people went into this exercise full of cockiness and learned an embarrassing lesson on why it was a bad idea to tank every single hit.
If Jaune had been taking all those hits with his Aura for well over two hours then…
"Only one way to find out." With the push of a button, the turrets stopped firing at Jaune. The by-now-thoroughly-purple teen blinked in confusion.
"Jaune," Blue said, speaking into a microphone. "I need you to clear up something for us. Have you been keeping your Aura up all this time?"
"Eh, yes?" Jaune scratched the back of his head as he looked at the camera. "I mean, I know you said to only activate it when I think I need it, but it's kind of hard to keep it down. Is that a problem?"
Blue quickly switched off the microphone. He and Red stared at each other.
"Is he serious?" Red hissed.
He probably was which was ridiculous. People trained to activate their Aura. People trained to be able to maintain a stable forcefield that would protect them from harm.
It wasn't something that just happened because they had a hard time deactivating their Aura!
Blue pinched the bridge of his nose. "How long can you keep your Aura activated?"
"In a non-combat situation? Thirteen hours on a good day, but barely thirteen minutes when I first started training. Put me in heavy combat, and we're back to minutes instead of hours."
"Same."
Blue could project a stable forcefield for a decent amount of time. If punches and kicks started flying, then that time got drastically shortened. That was normal. He and Red both had an Aura rank of C, the average.
Sometimes Blue liked to tell himself that if his Aura had been a bit bigger, he'd have managed to get into a Huntsman Academy instead of having to join the military. However, he knew those were just empty words. Plenty of C-ranks became Huntsmen. In the end, it was all about knowing how to use what you had, not how big your Aura was.
At least, that was what he had believed until now.
"I guess that's an S-Rank, for you."
Without a shred of skill or control, Jaune Arc had brute forced something that took most people weeks if not months to learn. Blue could try for the rest of his life, and he wouldn't be able to match the forcefield Jaune naturally projected over his body.
"No kidding," Red said, tapping the side of his head. "And he looks like such a shrimpy little thing too. What do we do now, though? There's no point to the exercise if he can just keep his Aura up for hours."
It was true. Jaune would get better at dodging if they kept this up, but it wouldn't do much for his control.
"We'll change things up," Blue said, pushing a button. The floor in the middle of the training room opened to reveal an Atlesian Knight 45.
"Jaune," Blue said, turning on the microphone once more. "We'll switch to combat practice for now. You'll be fighting droids for the rest of the day. Don't worry if you break them. We have more."
Way more.
AK-45 were outdated tech. The army had replaced them years ago, which had left Atlas with hundreds of droids that would never be put on the frontlines. Having no other purpose, the droids were put to use as training dummies by combat schools, Atlas Academy, and the military.
"Wait, wha—"
"Good luck," Blue said, turning off the microphone.
He and Red had seen the recording of Jaune's fight against an AK-45 during his entrance exam. Since they were to be his trainers, Ironwood had deemed it prudent for them to know what they were working with. To say Jaune's performance there had been underwhelming was putting it mildly.
However, that had been before Jaune had his Aura unlocked.
Blue watched as the droid began moving towards Jaune, who had already assumed something that looked like a fighting stance if one squinted. It was sloppy and full of holes, but that was to be expected considering his lack of training. It was definitely something to work on. He should also not be so eager to let his opponent take the first move.
Once the droid got within a few feet of Jaune, it sped up. Jaune's eyes widened in surprise. He tried to dodge to the side but slipped on some paint and fell. Jaune reflexively closed his eyes as he saw the robot about to hit him.
The droid struck.
Jaune blinked.
The droid struck two more times before Jaune's entire body surged to deliver a brutal headbutt to the droid's neck.
Spark flew as the robot was sent to the ground. The single hit had been enough to cause structural damage. Jaune laughed and looked at his body in wonder.
"This is awesome," Jaune cried out, before going on the offensive. He struck without skill, grace, or the slightest bit of finesse.
However, each of his blows might as well have been a wrecking ball.
"How long did the general say we had before the first test?" Blue asked as he started to get ready to send in another droid. He'd have to raise the combat level of the next one.
"Two weeks or so. Why?"
"Just wanted to know how much time we had to work with him. I had my doubts at first, but we might just have him ready by then."
Two weeks wouldn't be enough for Jaune to gain any degree of skill. Two weeks wouldn't even be enough to get him to the level of a first-year combat school student.
However, it was more than enough time to get the young child used to fighting.
Blue smiled as the droid's head went flying.
"Oh yeah, he'll definitely be combat ready by then."
AN:
Canon keeps Aura rather vague. Jaune supposedly has a big Aura, and Hazel's Aura regenerates super fast. Those are things that are mentioned in the show, but since we don't know enough about the average, it really doesn't mean much. Is the reason why Jaune never had to work on keeping his Aura up while Oscar seems to have trouble with it because Jaune's Aura is that big or due to the way in which Pyrrha unlocked it? Who knows?
That said, vagueness is not necessarily bad. If you try to define your power system too much, you're more likely to mess up than if you keep it just vague enough.
Still, the power level fan in me wanted to do an Aura ranking system, and this is probably the only fic in which I'm going to be able to do it because a ranking system sounds like the type of thing Atlas would do.
As an aside, I have a bit of a confession. Originally, this chapter ended with the first activation of IXA, but I cut that part out. It's a difference of only 1k words, but it does end up leading to a somewhat slower story. Still, it felt proper to end things here.
Till next time!