Chapter 2 - Boring Beginnings
A trail of smoke slowly rose up towards the sky, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air, catching his attention.
Immediately, Jaune turned back down, and quickly yanked the skewers of fish from the fire, before cursing as he inspected his meal, and assessed the damages.
Damn it...
Four hours of work down the drain, just because he'd started thinking about his situation, and taken his eyes off of his cooking.
Then again, he doubted anyone would have really blamed him.
It had been approximately two and a half days (give or take a few hours; he was only keeping track of time by looking at the sun) since he'd woken up in this forest, and he hadn't really had a moment to properly relax until just then.
The first few hours of his arrival had been spent cautiously studying his immediately surroundings, making sure there weren't any Grimm that were about to kill him, before he'd come to a surprising conclusion.
For some reason, as far as he could tell, the massive stretch of land he'd woken up on hadn't had any Grimm on it.
Not that he was complaining, of course, but seeing as how Grimm infested well-over three quarters of the planet, and most of the Kingdom of Vale...
Regardless, with his immediately safety secured, he'd turned his attention to his next pressing concerns - shelter, water, and food.
Fortunately, between his camping experience, Beacon's training and field trips, and Lie Ren's lessons, he'd managed to secure the first two before the first day had ended.
Unfortunately, however, food had been a bit of an issue.
Despite his passable survival skills (he'd gotten a C+ from Glynda Goodwitch), he hadn't been able to identify any of the plants around him, to say nothing of finding anything he knew was definitely edible.
Sure, he'd been taught a few tricks for testing if something was poisonous, but just because it wouldn't kill him (did Aura protect him from food poisoning? He honestly didn't know...) didn't mean he could actually digest it.
He'd finally lucked out earlier that day, though, and come across a sizeable lake near his makeshift shelter.
Better yet, he'd spotted both fish swimming idly within it, and tracks in the dirt near the edge of the water.
Source of food - found, though not secured.
Immediately, he'd worked to rectify that, breaking off a few nearby branches and sharpening them with the edge of his shield, before setting a few simple traps (he made sure to carve a simplified danger symbol next to it, of course; while he hadn't run into anybody yet, he knew his friends would have . It would have been just embarrassing if he ended up accidentally injuring any would-be rescuers...) and trying his luck spearfishing.
He'd never caught anything when he'd been on those family camping trips all those years ago, but as it turned out Aura-enhanced strength, speed, and reflexes, as well as a few semesters at Beacon, more than made up for it.
...
Jaune let loose a forlorn sigh, and shook his head.
No matter how good his intentions had been, no matter how much he'd gained since he'd come to Beacon...
It didn't change what he'd done to his family.
... well, at least they didn't know he'd gone to Beacon (since, if they had, they'd have probably already shown up to drag him back).
He didn't even want to begin to imagine their faces if they found out he was involved in the White Fang attack on Amity Colosseum...
Sighing again, Jaune turned to his piece of charred fish and took a tentative bite, before pulling a face.
Well... at least it was edible...
... to use the term loosely...
...
As he forced the filleted fish down his throat, he quietly swore to begin experimenting with the local flora, in hopes of finding something to improve the taste of his meals.
After all, it wasn't like he had much else to do, honestly.
...
Okay, that technically wasn't accurate.
Even if he wasn't going to be busy just surviving, he'd still be keeping up with his daily drills and training, as well as looking for a way out of there.
But hey, at least this way he had a hobby... something to keep him sane and grounded...
... to keep him from worrying about his friends, about Beacon, while he was stuck here...
Jaune shook his head for a third time and tossed his empty skewer onto the fire.
Logically, he knew he was the weakest student in the history of Beacon, to say nothing of his friends and teammates...
But at the same time...
As the leader of Team JNPR, and as a friend of Team RWBY (mostly Ruby), he still couldn't help but worry about them, especially whenever he remembered the absolute chaos that had been the attack at the floating arena...
No, no use dwelling on it now.
He had to stay focused.
They could take care of themselves.
Grabbing his sheath and a sharpened stick, Jaune decided to clear his head by jogging back down to the lake, both to check on his traps and to get some simple training in.
-TWO MILES AWAY, ROUGHLY THE SAME TIME-
Mordred quietly swallowed a gulp, as she looked between her broken sword and the beast from the lake, and for the first time in her short life wondered if maybe, just maybe, she'd bitten off more than she could chew.
And it had all been going so well, too...
She'd made it to Snowdonia in record time, and after a few pointed questions and showing off of the sword she'd been given when she'd joined the Round Table, she'd been pointed in the direction of Llyn Cwmffynnon, a small lake within a quiet forest.
Even when she'd managed to make it to the lake, and successfully called forth the furred crocodilian demon from the depths of the lake King Arthur had dragged it to, she'd still been confident.
After all, King Arthur had subdued the beast before he'd even become a King, and the Perfect King of Knights had acknowledged her swordsmanship!
And then her sword had simply slid off the creatures thick hide upon her first swing, unable to find purchase, before the creature had countered by swinging its massive and girthy tail at her, shattering her blade as she'd made to block the blow.
To her credit, Mordred didn't simply stare at the blade with dumb shock; her "mother" had trained her too well for that.
But even as her body moved instinctively, jumping back to create some distance, her mind was filled with mortification.
That sword... the symbol of her station... the blade the Perfect King had given her to signify her swordsmanship...
An odd wet sound filled the air, and her conscious mind turned back to her foe to find it warbling with sadistic laughter at her.
That... that...
The fucking bastard was mocking her!
Gritting her teeth under her helmet, she clenched her fist tightly around the hilt of her broken sword even as she snapped out of it, and swore she'd make the monster pay for the perceived slight.
As the Addanc lunged forward, she roared defiantly, and deftly ducked under a swipe of its claws before throwing a punch at the tree-like appendage.
A smirk worked its way up her face as her actions elicited a hiss of pain from it.
She could hurt it!
And that meant she could (probably) kill it!
As she dodged another swipe of its claws, however, its thick tail suddenly came at her from the side, smashing her left arm and knocking her into a nearby tree.
Picking herself up and easily dodging the follow-up attack before it took her head off, she quickly spared a glance at her left arm, and fought down a wince as she saw the twisted and mangled metal.
If this had been a test from Mother, she'd have probably been beaten half to death and starved for a week (at least) for the sheer sloppiness she'd just displayed.
Suppressing a shudder at the thought, she quickly ripped off the metal biting into her swollen arm, and ignored the pain in favor of glaring back at the Addanc, and taking up her stance once more.
And then a voice suddenly cut in, interrupting the tense stand-off between her and the water demon.
"Hello, is somebody- holy crap, what the-"
Immediately she turned towards the source of the voice, and found a tall blonde man in a ragged breastplate burst out of the forest behind the Addanc.
Mordred couldn't help but curse mentally as soon as she saw the new arrival.
Sure, she may have held a mixture of envy and disdain for the common folk, but as a Knight it was her duty to protect them (they were subjects of the King, after all).
And yet, she'd already been having a hard-enough time fighting off the Addanc! How was she supposed to beat it if she also had to babysit a beat-up... was that a wooden stick in his hand?!
... oh, Lord, this was not going to end well, was it?
While Mordred had been cursing her luck and trying to desperately think of a way to turn things around, however, the Addanc narrowed its eyes at the newcomer. Even though its new prey seemed weak, there was something about it that seemed... different.
Off, somehow.
Deciding that the unknown newcomer was a bigger potential threat than the disarmed knight before it, it roared and galloped towards it, its tail helping to counter-balance its weight.
"Look out!" Mordred shouted in concern, even as she began sprinting towards the surprised man, who let out a yelp of shock.
Unfortunately, the monster had a head start over her, and she swore mentally even as she saw the man in ragged armor take a step back, and clumsily get into an amateur guard position with his sheath and his stick as the demon bore down on him...
And then the sheath suddenly transformed into a sturdy shield on the man's arm before her very eyes, and the man braced his legs as the Addanc's head slammed down upon him.
Suddenly, a blinding white light erupted from the pair, followed by a loud booming sound.
Mordred slowly blinked the spots out of her vision and turned back to the Addanc and the newcomer, before her squinted eyes widened under her helmet.
The ground under the point of impact had been cracked.
The trees in the immediate vicinity had been flattened.
And yet, where there should have been little more than a crushed and mangled corpse...
The ragged man still stood, glowing brightly, resolutely withstanding the weight of the Addanc.
Jaune Arc, for his part, felt his heart going a mile a minute as he peeked past his shield and stared at the beaver-crocodile Grimm that had suddenly tried to (and still was trying to) crush him.
How on Remnant had he missed something like this?
What even was this Grimm? He hadn't heard about anything like it!
Even as his mind raced, however, his muscle memory kicked in.
There was a threat that was being blocked by his shield.
Automatically, he ducked forward, and swung his weapon upwards in a wide arc at the creature's exposed neck, channeling all the Aura he could into it.
The creature roared in pain, as Jaune realized his mistake.
Instead of having the family sword in his hand, he simply had a sharpened wooden stick.
Idiot!
He should have stabbed instead of slashed!
Jaune immediately jumped back as a tree trunk-like-appendage came down on the spot where he'd been, before an armored figure suddenly leapt in from the side, and delivered a punch with a satisfyingly brutal-sounding "crunch".
He didn't have time to thank his apparent ally, as even the cursory glance he spared the armored figure showed just how dire their situation was.
Indeed, the both of them were basically unarmed, and he didn't want to see whether their Aura levels would outlast this massive Grimm.
Instead, as his eyes caught sight of one of the traps he'd set up at the lake just a few hours earlier, his mind began to race.
"Psst, hey!" Jaune hissed at the armored Huntsman next to him, even as they raised two arms in a simple brawler's stance.
"What?!" The impatient voice that came out was gruff and distorted, and Jaune couldn't tell if it was male or female.
Then again, it wasn't like that mattered in that situation.
"Follow me!" Jaune shouted, as he jerked his head towards the marked tree.
"O-oi! Are you planning on running away?!" Mordred's hissed back in disbelief, keeping an eye on the Addanc as it thrashed around in pain. "No Knight of the Round Table would ever back down from such a danger to the realm!"
Jaune could honestly say he had no idea what any of those things they'd mentioned were, but he knew better than to argue. Instead, he quickly explained: "Trust me! I have a plan!"
Mordred could safely say she didn't trust the man next to her.
Sure, it was pretty amazing that he'd taken a hit from the Addanc without so much as a scratch, and the fact that he'd then smacked it with a stick (that somehow hadn't broken) was definitely amusing, but Mother had raised her to be paranoid (often by example).
Also, she didn't even know who the guy was, while she was a Knight of the Round Table, one of King Arthur's finest!
But the fact was, her sword was broken, and she had an innocent to protect (and he had helped her...), and a demon to slay.
As the Addanc shook off the pain and turned a hateful glare at them, she made a decision.
Ignoring every instinct in her body, she turned to the young man next to her, and nodded slightly.
Jaune let loose a sigh of relief, before sprinting towards the marked tree, with the armored Huntsman and the beaver-crocodile Grimm right behind him.
Seconds ticked by, with the monster slowly gaining ground on the huntsman and the homunculus, before he finally reached the spot he'd remembered.
"Alright, stop here." Jaune whispered, coming to an abrupt stop as he pretended to pant heavily.
"Hey... are you alright?" Mordred hissed back at him, as she halted next to him, eyeing the Addanc warily as she prepared to drag him off of the road. "What about your plan?"
"This is part of the plan." Jaune answered quietly, looking urgently at the monster as it burst forward, seeing that its quarry was exhausted.
There would be no more playing around; it did not know how the weird human had withstood its weight, but next time it would simply crush it between its powerful jaws!
And then the ground suddenly gave way under one of its legs.
The sharpened stick at the bottom of the trapping pit Jaune had dug to catch deer shattered into splinters against its weight, as the Addanc realized what had just happened.
But in that brief moment, it had been distracted by the sudden fall.
And Jaune didn't miss his chance.
Even as its head fell down, Jaune lunged forward, and thrust his spear at its neck.
Between gravity, his Aura-enhanced strength, and his Aura reinforcing his makeshift spear, he managed to successfully stab the beast, driving the tip of the wood into its neck even as he shouted: "NOW!"
Mordred eagerly charged forward, driving the jagged edges of her broken sword into the wound, bypassing its thick hide.
Jaune had just enough time to register that the Grimm was bleeding (since when did Grimm bleed?) before the armored Huntsman roared in furious triumph, and began hacking away at the wound with all the strength her adrenaline-fueled inhuman form could muster.
Which was a lot.
Jaune could only stare dumbly in confusion as fluids and more... solid bits, began to rain down all around him, occasionally smacking him in the face.
Had... had the creature they'd fought not been a Grimm?
It was definitely dead by now (or so he hoped), but it wasn't dissolving away, and he was pretty sure that was blood...
Mordred delivered a final blow, before jumping off of the Addanc with a satisfied sigh, and taking a moment to admire her handiwork.
Then, it set in.
She'd done it.
She'd slain the Addanc.
Pride and elation swelled within her heart.
God, she could only imagine the looks on their faces when she announced her triumph!
And look at the size of the demon!
Even Gawain and Lancelot would have had a hard time with this thing!
And of course, as any true Knight was, she would be magnanimous in her triumph.
Cheerfully turning to the man next to her, she carelessly slugged him on the shoulder even as she expressed her gratitude: "Good plan-"
Unfortunately for her, between the smell of blood and gore and rotting flesh and stagnant water that had emerged from the Addanc's corpse, and vibrations caused by the impact of Mordred's superhuman strength, Jaune's stomach couldn't take it anymore, and he violently threw up on her shiny armored boots.
Author's Notes: Apologies for both how long it took, as well as the diminished length and quality of this chapter. Truthfully, I originally wanted this chapter to be part of the first, but I felt it would have been a less awkward time skip transition if I split the two.
As for the crappy action scene... honestly, it was mainly to show their relatives strengths (i.e. Mordred's strength, swordsmanship and aggression, and Jaune's BS Aura and ability to think of his feet and tank a few blows), while giving them a reason to interact with one another.
Either way, the two blondes have finally met, and we can finally say goodbye to the awkward set up, in favor of the part of the story that I am absolutely going to suffer at - character interactions, and especially dialogue.
God help me...
On a side note, the Addanc was described as a crocodile-like, beaver-like, or platypus-like demon. Here I'm just blending it all together into one Monster of the Chapter.