"Grimm!" The call cut through the air with remarkable clarity, the cries of panic from those who were outside the walls reaching Jaune's ears even as he looked up furiously to the heavens in askance.

He didn't voice his frustrations, but the chance of a Grimm attack occurring just as he was delivering items at the wrong end of the village? When Jaune had prayed for a chance to become a Hero, he didn't mean the next day and when he was without his sword.

"Jaune, help me!" The cry from ahead of him made Jaune lower the hand cart he was pulling with a small thud.

With a mental apology to his father, Jaune was already activating his personal skill Stoke the Forge to his hands, morphing and shaping two of the Hoes that were meant for clients into rudimentary spears. If there was one thing Jaune never planned on doing, that was running towards a fight empty handed, especially given the weakness of the defence in front of him.

Fiona Anders was the daughter of Kurt Anders, the longest serving Soldier class based in Ansel, and blood had won through enough that her Primary Class had been that of a Fighter when she was born. Two years older than him at 17, the sight of the 5 foot 6 thinly built woman doing her best to shut one of the two large gates reminded him that Fighter didn't mean high Strength.

Despite her father's best efforts and countless hours of using Jaune and the other village boys as training du-partners, Fiona's Primary Class had 'awakened' into that of a Slinger. Which given the use of bows and crossbows these days, meant life was never going to be easy for the young girl, not that anyone would dare bring up her bad luck in public.

People were still coming in from outside, but even as he rushed to the left hand gate, Jaune heard the first otherworldly howl, which was followed by several others in quick succession. And they were close, given how one of the screams from outside suddenly changed to a cry of terror and pain.

Reaching the door, Jaune didn't even try to slow himself down, turning his shoulder into the charge and unleashing his Strength and body weight into the impact. It hurt like hell as he slammed into and then off of the suddenly closed gate, and he would have a hell of a bruise tomorrow to show for it, but it was effective.

"Thanks Jaune, tried to get some of the others to help but they're all too busy panicking. Damn Kratz and his drinking!" Rising back to his feet, as two of the villages Gatherer class rushed through the half gap, Jaune gestured upwards.

"Kill him later, go see what's going on. Let me know when to close the gate." Given her low Strength and Constitution, Fiona wouldn't be much use at the gate level if the Grimm did get in too close before they closed the gate.

Not that Jaune was looking forward to the idea himself, given he was dressed in a casual shirt and work trousers and armed with the equivalent of two javelins. Grabbing the arm of Mr Vautz, the Cultivator who served as the village Herbalist's assistant, as he rushed past him with his wife, Jaune did his best to sound authoritative.

"Mr Vautz, bring me anything metal you can find!" For a moment, Jaune thought he would be ignored, the older man looking up at him with a frightened cry, but then he seemed to gain control of himself as his wife grabbed his arm supportively.

"O-of course lad, there shouldn't be many more of us…" The middle aged couple moved away as another person made it to the gate, though grizzled form of Mr Farhen stopped at the gate itself rather than coming through it, hunting bow drawn and arrow notched.

"It's a full fucking incursion, Niles' is already… Jaune?" The bearded man took his eyes away from something he could see outside to throw a confused look in his direction, even as the bell above the gate began ringing.

"Where the fuck are… It's meant to be bloody Kratz isn't it?" With a furious look on his face, Mr Farhen drew his bow up and his eyes glowed for a moment before releasing the arrow, obviously using one of his Hunter skills.

There was a sudden whining noise, far too close for comfort as Mr Fahren ducked through the gate, using his free hand to assist Jaune as he pushed the gate closed. Just as the gate closed though, something slammed into it, nearly forcing Jaune from his feet.

"Hold it lad, hold it!" Even as his muscles strained and his feet dug into the ground, Jaune was just about able to hold back the snarky response building in the back of his throat.

'What the hell does he think I am going to do? Let the damn thing in?' Thankfully the Hunter was in motion, grabbing the first of the large wooden beams that would be used to lock the gate, unfortunately he was clearly struggling to lift it by himself.

And whilst whatever Grimm was currently trying to get through the gate wasn't stronger than him, there would be others here in moments.

"Fahren, get back!" The man looked confused for a moment, before he seemed to realise what Jaune was planning and drew his bow once more.

Stepping to the side as the Grimm drew back from the gate once more, Jaune readied his two spears and prayed this wasn't about to go to hell in a handbasket. A moment later and the gate jarred open, the Grimm forcing its way through clearly caught off guard by the movement as it fell forwards onto the ground.

It was a Gaunt, a four legged Grimm that looked somewhat like a dog, if you ignored the spiked spine and poison dripping from it's jaw. Anders had warned him and the other younglings in the village of the different types of Grimm that were common to the area, and Jaune was glad this one was off its feet as he stabbed forward and downwards.

It was like stabbing into an oak tree, and Jaune suspected if not for his high Strength and constant working at the forge the spears would have bounced off the Gaunt's thick leathery skin. But the spears stuck, and once through the thing's skin the weapons impaled the thing, the Gaunt releasing a single pained growl before it collapsed bonelessly to the floor.

The rush of experience told him it wasn't faking, something he had heard some Grimm did to try and catch people off guard, and with a grunt he hefted the body inside and threw it and the spears down further inside. The body would slowly disappear over the next hour or so, though if Ansel held the Gatherers would probably try and get the body outside before it fully disappeared.

Contrary to the beliefs of the City Dwellers, Grimm weren't just monsters of death and destruction. Where Grimm died, more often than not, Nature thrived and flourished around the death of Grimm. There were tales of entire villages being overrun by the unnatural growth that followed a large scale Grimm attack, the remaining populations evacuated rather than try and compete with both the Grimm and the encroaching woodlands and swamps.

But he could worry about having trees growing inside the wall later, as he rushed to the wooden beam as Fahren moved to close the gate once more. At almost 3 metres in length, the beam weighed almost as much as Jaune did, so lifting it was a significant challenge but something he could manage… just.

Staggering slightly under the weight, Jaune didn't waste time hefting the beam to his shoulder, instead he turned as quickly as he could to the gate.

Six steps, each the longest in his life as there was a crash from gates, Fahren struggling to keep them closed. With a cry of exertion, Jaune slammed himself and the beam into the gate, Fahren taking a step back as he dropped the beam into position.

"Horde!" Just in time to from the sounds of it, the shout from Fiona above making it clear just how much trouble they were in.

"The other beam! Hurry!" Fahren helped him with this one, the two of them putting it in the upper slot and locking both beams in place. It wouldn't stop the Grimm forever though, even now they were starting to claw and slam against it in increasing numbers.

"Jaune, I'm going up top!" It made sense, not that Fahren gave him time to discuss things, the Hunter moving to the ladder set into the Gatehouse structure.

That left Jaune to hold the gate until reinforcements got here, which would be at least a few minutes unless he got very lucky. And whilst he could just sit there and hope, Jaune planned on being at least somewhat more active. On each gate there were a series of hatches, barely large enough for a sword or spear to fit through.

Whilst these wouldn't be helpful against other humans, as they could stab back, but against most Grimm? Opening the one about waist height, Jaune was presented with a wall of black flesh and fur, different Grimm creatures slamming into each other and the gate in their quest to kill.

Reaching back for one of the spears still embedded in the Gaunt's side, Jaune wrenched it free. Readying himself, Jaune dropped into the basic wide stance for the spear, a wide stance with slightly bent knees. He focussed on short, sharp stabs through the hatch, it wasn't as if he could miss with the mass of Grimm presented to him.

He got to about twenty stabs, when the elation of gaining a level made him lose focus for a fraction of a second. It was a rush that he hadn't felt in more than a year, since he had awakened from Craftsman to Blacksmith. He strayed in withdrawing the spear for a fraction of a second too long, and something grabbed the spear and dragged it forward, almost yanking him from his feet.

Letting go of the spear, before it and his arm could be torn through the hatch and bodily removed, Jaune took a moment to settle himself. He could feel the changes form his level coursing through his body, but there was something more this time, like there was something in the back of his mind that was just… out of reach.

"Jaune, by the Gods…" Mr Vautz, bless him, had actually listened to him rather than just evacuating, the man bringing up Jaune's hand cart with his wife, whilst several other members of the village were approaching with various improvised weapons.

What he was blaspheming about however, was the large bear like paw that had just slammed through the upper part of the left gate.

Given the paw was easily the size of Jaune's chest, and each of the claws that came from it were the same size as steak knives, that wasn't a good sign. Grabbing the remaining spear he had made, Jaune stabbed up somewhat desperately, needing to kill this thing quickly before it could do any more damage to the gate.

"Fuck!" The wooden shaft of the spear splintered and shattered, as the spear head pierced the paw, black blood spilling out as something behind the gate roared hard enough to shake the ground.

He was going to need something stronger, something tougher to kill this thing. And given the gate was already starting to buckle, he wouldn't have long to come up with something…

A/N: This one has been with me for some time, and will be taking elements from Coeur Al'aran's Forged Destiny, though I hope that it will be different enough that people don't think it is just a poorer version.

It starts a year before Forged Destiny, and as you have seen, Jaune's first Grimm kill happens a lot earlier in this fic. In a world where multiple villages 'go dark' each year (As shown by the First Quests Coeur depicts), Grimm must be more prolific and attack more regularly than I thought his fic seemed to imply. So, this time Ansel is the village that gets attacked by Grimm, and Jaune is going to be on the front line.

First thing's first, caste system and class progression are going to be two of the biggest differences I am planning. Everyone isn't going to be 'born' as a class like 'Shopkeeper' or 'Paladin', instead they are born into one of several core classes:

Fighter, Craftsman, Gatherer, Leader. (Others might come later as I think of them).

Then, once they reach a certain stage of development (class requirements that are different for each class and for each person) they 'awaken' into their main class. There are 'Hybrid' classes that cross between the two for the purposes of the 'caste system', such as the Hunter class that can either come from Gatherer, Craftsman or Fighter (with specialities that are related to the base class they evolved from.

Other changes should be made apparent in future chapters, though I hope you enjoyed this first little foray into the world of RWBY crossover with Gamer elements.

Thank you to all those who support me through various channels, if you want to support me further search my author handle on google and check the results for one beginning with P. :)

Please Review and let me know what you think.