Okay, just- just breathe. This is like any other mission, only instead of keeping yourself steady to be ready for the shot, you're keeping yourself steady to not look like an idiot in front of everyone! Like Nebula and- and- and-
May squeezed her eyes shut, trying to drive out the bad thoughts. She was on stage, listening to the Headmaster of Beacon Academy drone on about the highest ideals of a Huntsman, ideals she was supposed to be living up to. But all she could think about was Nebula and what she might say about how nervous she obviously was, even though she had to be representing BRNZ, Shade- ohhhhhh, she was representing all of Vacuo!
And the rest of her team wasn't having any problems…
Right next to her was a green-haired girl in a purple hoodie, two strips of eye black beneath her eyes, looking extremely conspicuous in her knee and elbow pads, but acting as calm and collected, almost bored, as she sprawled across her chair. Headmaster Ozpin had introduced her earlier, but May had been so distracted, she'd missed the name. Still, she was representing Haven Academy, so she surely was some sort of master martial artist beneath the aloof skater look. And next to her was the representative from Atlas, her red hair tied up in big, poofy pigtails as her eyes darted about cheerfully, a big, excited smile on her face. Another fakeout, May was sure of it—beneath that poppy exterior was an elite Atlesian soldier, disciplined to the core.
But the last of them, the representative of Beacon, their hosting academy, and thus, team leader for this, wasn't hiding anything. Jaune Arc. Looking every bit the regal Valean Knight even with his messy blonde hair. He had a stoic, almost disconnected look to him, the exact opposite of what May was right now. To him, this sort of profound honor and duty surely came as just another part of his life. He was Pyrrha Nikos's partner, the odds-on favorite to win the Vytal Tournament, and, if the rumors online were true, also her boyfriend. Which meant he was a really big deal, and May was really struggling with how much time she was going to be spending with him over the Festival.
It'd be one thing if he was just handsome. He already had a girlfriend, and she was perfect, so May wouldn't have any difficulty backing off. But he was just so… so cool and collected, looking like he belonged on this stage, his eyes looking at Headmaster Ozpin with a critical gleam as he spoke about the courage and valor they were to embody. May felt like she was only here as a mistake when compared to the rest of the team, but especially when compared to him! Headmaster Theodore had insisted that she'd been chosen to represent Shade on the Vytal International Team because she exemplified the quiet, decisive competence of a Shade student, lurking in the shadows and waiting to strike, but she had no idea how to bring that talent to the photo ops they'd mostly be doing, not like Jaune Arc could!
A glance at the crowd didn't make things much better. Roy shot her a quick wave when she looked at him, to which she wasn't sure if she was supposed to wave back or just… look stoic and appropriate. And then there was Nebula, her arms folded across her chest, rolling her eyes at the speech while Gwen leaned over to no doubt say something mean about May. Especially because Nebula laughed, and May could imagine all sorts of things she'd just been told. So she looked elsewhere. The Atlesians looked as cold and imposing as always, their posture straight and their eyes focused. The Mistralians looked so cool and diverse, each of them hailing from a different city-state with its own style of dress and combat.
And she was not looking at the Valeans, even though they were the biggest group there, because she couldn't even glance at them without seeing the red hair that signified that the most perfect and amazing girl to ever live was right there, no doubt beaming with pride that her boyfriend was on stage. May was almost afraid that if she made eye contact with the Invincible Girl, she'd immediately realize that May had been thinking about how handsome her boyfriend was, and then she'd make her pay for it worse than anything Nebula could imagine.
Oh, this was going to be a really, really rough Festival, wasn't it?
"And for the duration of the Vytal Tournament, I christen them Team ACKZ, acting on behalf of the whole world of Remnant!"
The Headmaster's voice jolted May out of her thoughts for a moment as he finished his speech and everyone applauded. There were cheers, people chanting the name of their schools and she heard Brawnz's voice boom from out of the crowd with a "THAT'S OUR GIRL!" Brawnz didn't often show support, so it meant the world to May to hear it, giving her some confidence as she rose from her seat alongside her peers.
Peers… it was hard to think of some of the best the Academies had to offer as her peers. They all seemed so… cool and confident and like they belonged up here while May was doing everything to keep from blushing as she shook the Headmaster's hand. Roy had told her that Headmaster Theodore wouldn't have given her the position if he didn't think she could excel at it, and Brawnz had pointed out that it was pretty much all ceremonial stuff, so there wasn't going to be anything too dangerous, just boring, but right now, all those voices seemed like they were back in Vacuo, and a lifetime in the past.
But then she realized that Jaune was in front of her, literally in shining armor, glinting with the flash of cameras, as he reached a hand out to her.
"I'm looking forward to working with you," he said, his grip firm, but not crushing, just about perfect as he took her hand in his.
"Y-you too!" she squeaked back.
And then he turned around, being led to what was no doubt going to be the first of many photo sessions. But May lagged behind the group for a moment, trying her absolute best, before the eyes of all the Huntsmen of all the Academies, not to simply swoon right there.
This… this might actually kill her, if she couldn't get ahold of herself!
Popping another bubble, Reese smacked on her gum before leaning back on the comfy couch, her arms splayed all across the backrest as she took up as much space as possible. Looking around the room, she figured that she was among pretty chill company—well, not chill like she was chill, but chill in the sense that she could probably get along with them. That Vacuan girl looked like she was about to blush herself to death and the rollerskates girl—not Reese's preferred kind of wheels, but she respected the art—seemed a little cheerleader, a little too peppy, but not like a jerk or nothing.
"Alright team," ah, and here was their last member—Jaune Arc, partner of the Pyrrha Nikos, Sanctum's former Queen, and acting cool as a cucumber. Wholly unaware that Reese's partner taped a picture of his face to a punching bag when she really needed to vent. Oh, man, she had gotten so red when Reese told her he was gonna be leading this team!
But anyways, he kept going, entering the room with some kind of paper and telling them, "Well, as, um, as the Headmaster introduced me, I'm Jaune. Uh, Jaune Arc. And I'm… going to be leading Team ACKZ for the, um, Festival, so… I guess we can start by introducing our-"
"NEON KATT!" the rollerblader cut in, leaping up and pulling off a nice pirouette on her blades before flashing twin peace signs. "I'm here from Atlas, I'm a Sagittarius, and I am soooo excited to be part of the team!"
Reese chuckled. Certainly not what she expected from Atlas's Rectal Stick Insertion Academy. And a little bit of pep could be fun to have around, so long as she didn't throw off the vibe too much, but in laughing, Reese realized that all eyes were on her to go next. She flashed a casual wave and popped her gum one last time. "Like your Headmaster said, I'm Reese Chloris, from Haven," she said before shrugging, "I'm just down for whatever you've got going on."
Which left the last of them, the Vacuan girl who was clearly bundled up in a jacket and beanie to deal with the unfamiliar experience of a climate that wasn't an arid desert. She wasn't what Reese really expected from Shade, what with the Academy being the only law in the wastelands of Vacuo, but appearances could be deceiving. Hopefully, they were deceiving, cause this girl was less "ready to crack skulls" and more shaking like a leaf as she stammered out, "U-uh, May Z-Zedong. Of Shade, um, n-nice to meet you."
Reese glanced to Neon. Seemed she was a little apprehensive about their fourth as well, but, hey, maybe it was one of those "quiet one turns out to be a serial killer," which was kind of what Reese expected from "Vacuo's exemplar." From what Nadir told her, people who went to Shade were off, since they had to be good enough to get into a non Vacuan Academy, and yet, wanted to continue on living in a lawless wasteland. But Reese also didn't fact-check a lot of things Nadir told her, and sometimes that blew up in her face.
Though what she had on Arc, though, that was definitely accurate because Arslan was obsessed with the guy. Not as obsessed as she was with Pyrrha, who'd beaten her ass basically every year in a row for a quarter of her life, but since he was the guy maybe-dating Arslan's crush-rival, she did not like him. In a way she insisted wasn't jealousy, but nobody really believed. And also, he was, like, Mr. Vale—literally the male heir to one of their noble houses and had the family sword strapped to his side. Seriously, didn't turn into a gun or nothing, it was a genuine heirloom cause Valeans were the kind who'd rather use a two hundred year old sword because "tradition."
It was crazy how every other Kingdom outside of Mistral was absolutely nuts.
"Well, as you already know," Arc continued, "most of our work is just going to be getting our photos taken in front of exhibits and-" He stopped as he saw the look on Reese's face. "Uh, is- is something the matter?"
Was something- was something the matter? Uh, yeah?
"I absolutely did not know this was mostly gonna be photos," Reese complained, "Man, that sucks! I thought we were gonna do cool missions and stuff! International cooperation by shooting stuff!"
"Aren't you guys, like, still dealing with a crime wave?" Neon chimed in, twirling a lock of hair around her finger, "We should totally take them on! Go get some guys with a sh-pow SH-POW!" She punctuated her remarks with some shadowboxing, confirming that Reese was starting to like this girl.
Arc paled a little at that. "We, uh, I think we can leave that for the police, we've got a highly scripted set of-"
"You fought in the Breach, didn't you?" Reese asked, even though she knew the answer. The picture of Pyrrha standing like a war goddess as she drove her spear into an Ursa's neck had been all over the place, which drove Arslan crazy, and he was definitely in that picture. "That must've been crazy, seeing Grimm overrun the city and just holding your ground… seriously, props for being so badass."
She'd been partially angling to see how he reacted to praise, to see if he'd get a big head about it (like Neptune) or try and brag (like Neptune) or use it to try and flirt with her (extremely like Neptune), especially when May over there practically had hearts in her eyes, but instead, he just grew quiet and reserved. Which, hey, props to him, not a lot of Huntsmen had that sort of humility. Wait, was he turning a shade of green? What-
"Th-there was a mission on the list," May timidly chimed in, then seemed to wither as everyone's eyes turned to her. "I- I have really good vision," she quietly added, "a-and I noticed there was a field mission on the list as you entered the room."
"Um…" Arc scanned down the list, "Uh, yeah, there is, a Grimm pack spotted in Forever Fall that could-"
"WE'RE DOING THAT ONE!" Neon whooped, "Come on, let's go, let's go! Before they stick cameras in our face and take even more photos!"
Heh, Reese wouldn't have died if they just spent their time standing around and getting pictures taken, but now that Neon was all fired up, she had a feeling she wouldn't calm down until she got to see some action. Which was cute in a way—at some point, Reese would have to share a bowl with her and show her how to chillax. But that would be a later thing—right now, Reese felt like she was up for some action as well, especially because, since they were all talking about how amazing Arc was in fighting the Grimm, she kind of wanted to see it in motion.
This was gonna be fun!
Ivori had been all up on Neon's case about taking things seriously, showing the world the professionalism of Atlas, but, like, that kind of stuff was boring. At least Flynt was cool about things, but that hadn't stopped her from getting a lecture from Ciel about how she was representing all of them, and it was totes obvs that Ciel was just burning with jealousy that she hadn't gotten the position. Maybe because she was so boring and obsessed with being all orderly and punctual, and General Ironwood didn't want to make the other Kingdoms think that the Huntsmen of Atlas were all a bunch of nerds!
Fidgeting in the Bullhead, Neon was so impatient to get to the action! They were the best of the best, maybe not, like, the ones who were gonna win the Tournament (cause that was obviously gonna be Penny, that girl was cah-razy strong), but the exemplars of their home Academies. And that meant that they could really rip the Grimm up! May was some kind of super-sniper, Reese had a cool, skater style of fighting (Neon was always saying more girls needed to find fun ways to fight!), and Jaune was some kind of badass knight who'd actually seen a real crisis instead of just a controlled student mission. She was especially excited to see what he could do, especially as he started laying out the strategy for their mission!
"Alright, May, I want you set up here," Jaune said, pointing a finger at a spot on the map, "slightly behind where I'll be as the center. Reese and Neon, you're our fast cavalry, move onto the pack as we make our landing and try to harry and funnel the Grimm towards me-"
"Well, damn, Arc," Reese whistled, "someone's trying to show us he's brave!"
But Jaune just… paused for a moment, seeming to turn a little pale at the thought, like he miscalculated… nah, it was probably nothing!
"He'll hold the Grimm in place so we can get'em while they're stuck!" she cheered, "and we've got May backing us up!"
May also seemed a little pale at the moment, but as she shouldered her rifle, Neon saw a little bit of confidence that she hadn't seen on her face before. Yeah, this was smart. They were Huntsmen, not celebrities, and that meant they had to get out on the hunt! The light turned green, the Bullhead doors opened, and Neon shot out, determined to not get shown up by the skater chick!
She did a backflip out the doors, twirling through the air while Reese made a long, graceful swoop on the way down. It looked like Jaune and May were rappelling—which sort of made sense, since he was a sword-and-board knight type while she was a sniper—but Neon was mostly focused on her and Reese's little competition. Roller skates versus skateboards, the age-old battle was gonna get played out on the Grimm!
Tucking in her legs, she readied herself to hit the ground going fast. Nunchucks ready, she was prepped to go, and she could see the Grimm she needed to take out to clear a landing zone.
"Never miss a beat!"
And bang, she hit the ground, rocketing forward on her wheels, Semblance firing up, tail and pigtails streaming in the wind, as she smacked the Beowolf good! Zipping away from the pack, she felt a claw miss her by just an inch, the rest of the Beowolves leaping to-
The yip of a Beowolf going flying as Reese's board slammed into the lead told Neon she could whip around and catch another across the jaw. "Let's get going!" she whooped, "Gotta follow Jaune's plan!"
"Hell yeah!" Reese cheered as the Grimm roared and snapped behind them!
Leading the Grimm on a merry chase, Neon saw the glint of Jaune's shield in the light, telling her he was probably in place. Wow, he thought he could hold this many charging Grimm back while the rest of them picked them off? No wonder he was the one representing Vale—she could even see that his shield was trembling, he was that pumped to take all these Grimm on! What a badass! She couldn't-
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
Woo! Seemed that May Zedong also had the goods! Looking over her shoulder as she and Reese broke off left-and-right, Neon got to see three now-headless Beowolves tumble to the ground. She caught another with a nunchuck across the skull as Reese did a cool rolling dive while firing two pistols in midair, probably in slow motion somehow—Neon was really starting to like her—and Jaune came in with his shield up to bash another down in the face!
With the group peeled apart by the four of them, it really was no difficulty at all. Mopping up the stragglers was barely anything, though Neon felt a little bad that Jaune, being the heavily-armored knight, wasn't really able to get kills the way the rest of them did. But hey, it was his strategy that got them where they were. Victorious!
"Wow!" Neon fist pumped, "We really are the best team in Remnant!"
A few days earlier, in Headmaster Ozpin's office, Jaune Arc was coming to a very opposite conclusion.
"Wait a minute," he slowly said, the gears slowly grinding in his mind, "You… why would you pick me for this? I'm… I'm not anywhere near Beacon's best student. In- in any capacity!"
The Headmaster glanced at Ms. Goodwitch, some silent communication passing between them both before turning back to Jaune. Clearing his throat, he replied, "You have been chosen to… ah! Because you reflect some of Vale's highest ideals! Striving to overcome, making great strides to improve yourself, you're really a natural choice for-"
"No," he shook his head, "If you were looking for someone to best represent Vale… it's not just that you could get a better student than me, but… I mean, if it had to be Valean, why not Ruby? Not just for her classwork and grades, but she saved the day in the Breach. I… I really can't accept an honor like this when she obviously deserves it more than me."
Jaune knew that turning down an honor like this, being asked to lead the International Team for the Vytal Festival was the sort of thing that might raise an inquiry into his apparent humility, the kind that would turn up his fraudulent transcripts. But Pyrrha had been teaching Jaune more than just swordsmanship. She was teaching him humility, and what real courage was, and the Jaune Pyrrha saw within him wasn't a man who'd just take an honor as though he was entitled to it.
"Well, she's…" Ozpin glanced back to Ms. Goodwitch, who swiftly cut in, "Ms. Rose is only 15, so she'd be too young to hold the-"
"You let her lead missions at 15!" Jaune cried out, "If she's old enough to lead RWBY, surely she's old enough-"
"Well, it's a paperwork matter," Ozpin ventured, "A… regulatory- you know, there are so many rules that come with organizing a… one of those…"
"Then why not Yang?" Jaune asked, "Yang's one of the best fighters we have and she's a lot more mature than what you might give her credit for. And- and why not Pyrrha or Ren or Blake? They might not be Valeans, but you can't deny they're Beacon students, and they're way better suited for this than I am."
Both professors were quiet for a moment, looking to the other to be the one who answered him, until the Headmaster evidently took it upon himself.
"Mr. Arc," he said, a wide grin suddenly coming to his face, "in your passionate defense of why you shouldn't be chosen, you've really just proven why you're the perfect man for the job! You see, it's humility that matters in a Huntsman, and you've clearly shown that you have that virtue we want to show to the rest of Remnant!"
Jaune just stared at the Headmaster, his eyes narrowing. Yeah, they were lying to him. A lot of lying to him, and they weren't going to give up the truth unless he figured it out himself.
"You can't put Yang on the team… or Pyrrha or Ruby," he slowly worked out, "Because… because you're worried about how this might impact their Tournament performances. That it would take up their time, could get them hurt, or that the other schools' candidates would use the opportunity to get information on their fighting style or get into their heads."
Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch's nervous silence gave Jaune all the answers he needed.
"And it's not like this is anything but an honorary role, so the fact that I'm the worst fighter at Beacon doesn't make a difference… and all the other Headmasters are probably making the same deduction as well. So… we're all chosen… because our Headmasters deduced we're the lowest risk of having an impact on the actual Tournament."
"Well…" Ozpin said, trying to find a way to sugarcoat it, "You were also chosen because you're not likely to cause an international incident. It- it's happened more often than you might think! But…" his face slumped, "Alright, yes, you were chosen mostly because of the things you listed, but it's still an important title!"
"And quite the honor," Ms. Goodwitch added, "And it also… if you keep your discovery to yourself, Mr. Arc, I'm willing to offer extra credit in my combat class."
A bribe? From Ms. Goodwitch? The Headmaster seemed just as shocked to hear it, but Jaune wasn't about to get stunned away from pushing his advantage. He leaned forward, knowing he was the one holding the cards and giving both administrators a severe look.
"Extra credit and I want Team JNPR to get three city visit passes for the Festival," he demanded, before quickly adding, "And not daytime passes, evening. Or I walk."
Ozpin tried to interject. "Mr. Arc-"
"Because I know your only other options are either people who have good odds for the Vytal or would be disasters in representing Vale to the world. So three passes or you can ask… Russell how he feels about being on the International Team. And how you feel about having his face represent Beacon Academy to the other schools."
That seemed to get through to them. Ms. Goodwitch gave the Headmaster another long look, the both of them communicating that they weren't going to get a better offer here, and so, she turned back to Jaune and nodded. "I'll write up the passes," she gruffly agreed, "but this doesn't erase any of Ms. Nikos's obligations for her sponsors, nor should it be taken as a reason to slack off in your studies."
Jaune nodded along. Really, he'd asked for the passes because he knew that Pyrrha had sponsor obligations—all day nightmares that were typically scheduled right when visit passes were open. Being able to surprise her with a Friday night pass, a chance to go have fun and go dancing togeth-
As a team! Certainly as a team, not a date!
Jaune's eyes almost went wide at what he'd nearly, mistakenly thought. And even though he'd just finished negotiations with Ozpin and , he wasn't going to risk blowing it right at the finish line. But he could be calm. He could breathe. This was, after all, a bunch of easy, symbolic missions and photo ops, literally nothing that could be that important.
It wasn't like this could kill him, right?
Thanks to Renarde for feedback on this chapter!
Saw some fanart of these four characters together and thought there could be a good story in how they could end up on a team together. It's a fun pairing of a bunch of goofballs, and it's a nice change of pace to make Jaune the one guy who sees through all of it.