It's a perfectly serene day in one of the Evergreen forests of Mistral, the air is filled with the songs of birds whilst both predator and prey lounge in shade, and not a single Grimm prowled or stalked the day. There was nary a cloud in the sky and the weather was perfect, not to hot nor cold, it truly was a serene day. Or it would be were it not for the sounds of sparring emanating from a nearby clearing. In said clearing was a man and a boy, who looks to be around seven, circling each other in a makeshift ring, made from haphazardly cut wooden logs strewn in an octagon shape.
The man is unusually tall with a broad bear-like build, he is bald with a long wild salt and pepper beard, with three ghastly scars over his right eye. He wears a red fur collared vest over brown pants tucked into black leather combat boots. The man hefts the torn-off branch he was using as a weapon onto his shoulder and looks to the sweat-soaked panting boy through amused burnt-orange eyes. He speaks with a thick Atlasian accent.
"Are you sure you can continue, Little Pup? Most your age would've given up three hours ago, as the rest of your fellow recruits have, Da?"
The boy wears a pair of black pants tucked into black boots that resemble the boots worn by the Samurai of old, and a pair of wrist wraps. His shirtless visage shows off the multitude of scars, old and new, and freshly gained brushes. He sweeps his short blonde hair back and glares defiantly at the man with sanguine eyes whilst pointing at the man with his own branch.
"Not a chance in hell, Mishka"
Before either man or child could trade blows, a red portal opens between them. Out of the portal steps a woman wearing a black and red yukata style top with a black pleated skirt that has black shorts underneath, with series of beaded necklaces. She also wears a red obi sash around her waist alongside a red tasset that carries her weapon's sheath. Attached to it is a long black object that is either fur or feathers, with a red and white bandana material like hanging from behind her. Her forearms bear red armored gauntlets that protrude outwards and black fingerless gloves. She wore black mid-thigh high boots, that had armor plating with red splatter patterns and black heels. She had long black hair and bright red eyes. At the sight of the woman the boys eyes change to a shade of blue. Behind her where two girls, one around the boys age and the other a little older.
The older girl was a gangly thing with dark brown side shaved hair and light blue eyes with a tan complexion. She wore a dark brown sleeveless hoodie with tan pants tucked into a pair of dark brown boots.
The younger girl was petite and lady-like with long black hair with pink tips and eyes with a fair complexion. She wore a white frilled blouse with puffed sleeves and a pink vest and skirt with black Mary Janes and white thigh high socks.
The two sparring partners stop and address the woman.
"Boss."
"Mom!"
The woman glares at the boy. "What have I told you boy."
The boy gulps and looks down. "To call you Boss or Raven." He looks back up. "Sorry Mo-Raven."
Raven sighs. "Don't be sorry, be better." She gestures to the two girls. "Mishka, Jaune, this is Vernal and Aruna, they are the newest members of the Tribe. They will be training with Mishka, speaking of training how has Jaune been fairing in my absence."
Mishka snorts. "He's only one still standing after only five hours, rest left after two."
Raven grimaces. "Then you'll just have to train them harder." She turns to the two girls. "And I expect the same results from you two as Jaune, am I understood?"
"Y-yes Ma'am!" Aruna stuttered.
"Whatever." Vernal scuffed, earning her a swift strike to the gut from Ravens sheath.
As Vernal falls to the ground, making a sound like she was trying to hack up her lungs, and turned to the rest of the group. "Mishka, the brats under your care now, make sure to go extra hard on her. Jaune, Aruna, come with me, the two of you will be training under myself from now on."
As the three went off to camp, Jaune and Aruna chatted shyly whilst Raven gave them a side glance.
/0/
A now fourteen year old Jaune, dressed in a white wrap around style shirt with a black jinbaori, pants, fingerless gloves, and samurai style boots with red Mistralian style armored sleeves, hand guard, greaves, and sash, is launched across an octagonal shaped sparring ring that is surrounded by his fellow bandits. He rolls to a middle guard just in time to deflect a strike aimed for his jugular. He uses the momentum from his deflect to transition into a thrust, which his opponent barely dodges, having their right cheek grazed by Jaunes bokken. His opponent backs up cradling their cheek, before glaring at Jaune and rushing at him with an overhead strike. Jaune side-steps and disarms his opponent before bringing his bokken to their throat.
"Enough!" Raven calls. "Jaune wins this round." Raven turns to Jaunes opponent. "And Vernal, I'm disappointed."
Vernal, now dressed in a sleeveless white popped collar shirt and faded maroon jeans with a dark brown leather motorcycle vest, chaps, boots, and fingerless gauntlets, glares at Jaune still cradling her cheek.
Raven turns back to Jaune. "As always your swordsmanship is impeccable, Jaune. Now, unto unarmed combat."
Jaune and Vernal store their bokken away and return to opposite side of the sparring ring. Both wait for Ravens signal, Jaune quite and composed and Vernal loud and rabid. Jaune bends his knees slightly with his right foot forward, his left arm is poised at his side at a ninety degree angle whilst his right is extended at a ninety degree angle in front of him with his hand open and facing the upwards. Vernal is in a wide stance, like that of an old Tv western gunslinger, that she uses with her weapons.
"Begin!"
At Ravens call Vernal charges Jaune with a wicked left hook. Jaune blocks with his right arm then retaliates with a left cross, discombobulating Vernal. Vernal tries to protect herself with wild haymakers, but fails to notice Jaune come up and knock her off her feet. Jaune let's Vernal scamper to her feet, for the simple reason that he knew it would piss her off, and baits her to make the next move. Vernal takes the bait and launches into a superman punch, which Jaune simple side-steps.
Vernal launches up and throws a medium kick, which Jaune blocks with his right shin then pistons the same leg into the side of her other knee. As Vernal falls to her knees, Jaune throws a spinning roundhouse aimed for her head. Heel meets nose with a sickening crunch as Vernal flies onto her back. Jaune waits for Vernal to clamber to her feet once more, which enrages Vernal. A raging Vernal charges Jaune with a haymaker, only for Jaune to use her momentum to throw her over his shoulder. Vernal flips up only to be kicked back onto her back and pinned there by Jaunes knee.
"Enough! This round is Jaunes!" Raven turns to Vernal. "Are you going to preform better in the final round or just waist my time?"
Vernal fixes her broken and bleeding nose before answering. "I'll win the next round!"
Raven chuckles. "That seems unlikely given your prior performance. But very well, gather your weapons."
Vernal grins feraly as she activates her gauntlets, causing two double barreled sawed-off shotguns and deerhorn knives to extend out of them, whilst Jaune picked up his katana. Both combatants take their positions in the ring, with Vernal taking the same stance as the prior round, as Jaune takes a quick-draw stance. Both wait tensely for Ravens call.
"Begin!"
In a reversal of the previous rounds Jaune charges Vernal, catching her off-guard. Vernal brings her gauntlets in front off her in an X guard, which is broken by Jaunes upward slash. Jaune pushes his advantage by smacking Vernal with his swords sheath, rebreaking her nose and causing her head to whip to the right violently. Vernal tries to create some space by shooting out some of her lightning Dust at Jaune, which he side-steps and smacks her with his resheathed sword, concussing her. Whilst Vernal tries to regain her equilibrium, Jaune takes another quick-draw stance before shooting towards Vernal whilst drawing his blade. In almost the blink of an eye Vernal is struck by a barrage of slashes before Jaune holds his sheath vertically before sheathing his sword as Vernal falls to her knees with her Aura shatters behind him.
"Match set, the winner is Jaune! Now someone get Vernal to the medical tent!"
The crowd roars as Ravens announcement is made, with one dragging the comatose Vernal to the medical tent. Raven nods to Jaune in approval as she walks to her tent, and Aruna comes rushing towards him at mach three.
"Jaune! I knew you could do it!"
Aruna is dressed in similar attire to Jaune, only with a skirt and in white and pink, with a white sheathed katana to Jaunes black.
Jaune smiles down to Aruna. "Of course I did, I'm awesome!"
Aruna rolls her eyes. "Yes, yes, whatever you say. Now come on, you promised to train with me after you wiped the floor with Vernal."
"Yes I did, now come on, you know I love seeing your Semblance in action! I still can't believe there's a Semblance that makes someone control the elements like that!"
"Y-yeah… Semblance." Aruna mumbled as she dragged Jaune off into the woods.
In the distance two worried sanguine eyes follow them into the distance.
/0/
A now seventeen year old Jaune, now sporting some stubble along with shoulder length hair tied into a high ponytail, at Arunas thinly veiled threat, with throwing knives holstered on his belt, sits on his cot in his tent maintaining his katana. As he's nearing the end of his maintenance Aruna burst into his tent with a megawatt smile.
"Today's the day! The big one's here!"
Jaune couldn't help but smile at Aruna. "That it is. Now let me complete my maintenance so we can go."
"Okay!" Aruna plops down onto Jaunes bed instead of leave.
Jaune, knowing that she wouldn't leave even if he asked, payed her no mind and finished his maintenance and they both put on their Grimm masks, Jaune's being a Beowolf and Aruna's being a Kitsune. Afterwards they meet up with Raven and Vernal and planned their biggest raid yet. Their target was the coastal town of Tsungun, a thriving importing and trading center for Mistral that was on the edge of a small peninsula that was protected by a large cliff face with a valley being it's only means of entrance that wasn't by sea. The village entrance was protected by a thick concrete wall with a three inch metal gate, that was about twenty feet tall. In the end it was decided, by Jaunes suggestion, that a detachment of twenty Tribesmen would attack the gate and distract the guards, whilst the rest of the Tribe would scale down the cliffs and trap the guardsmen in a pincer attack.
The Tribe set up a pseudo FOB about a mile from the valley leading into Tsungun. Raven divided the Tribe into the three parts needed for the plan to work and sent Jaune and Aruna out as scouts to find the best path for the Tribe to take. Jaune would take the North while Aruna took the South, the two nod and dart off to their respective directions.
About halfway into his scouting, Jaunes well honed instincts warned him to dodge, and it's a good thing he did, as a hail of bullets lodge into the ground where he was just a few moments ago. Jaune takes a defensive stance as a group of ten men dressed in military styled camouflaged hooded cloaks step out from the surrounding trees. For several seconds the atmosphere is tense and oppressive, until it's broken up by slow clapping as another cloaked man emerges from the trees.
The clapping mans hood is down showing his handsome face with red military style cropped hair and clean shaven face, that is marred by a wicked and jagged X scar across his forehead and hazel eyes. Mr. X's attire is that of old military gear, cargo pants bloused into leather combat boots with a military field blouse, all in Olive Drab. Mr. X smiles at Jaune, showcasing his golden tooth, and speaks with a southern drawl.
"Impressive reflexes, now be a good sport and put you sword and knifes down and take off that silly mask."
"No."
Mr. X nods his head towards two of the men, making them present their rifles before advancing on Jaune, when the one on his left touches his mask, Jaune slices through the mans rifle before doing the same to the others, before either of them can draw their sidearms, Jaune has advanced and relieved them of their heads. Jaune swishes their blood off his blade before draw sheathing it.
Mr. X whistles. "Defiant, aren't we? You won't beg will you?" He shakes his head. "No, you're not afraid of death, you're like me."
"The only thing we have in common are that we are both killers. But unlike you and your men, I'll live to see the sun rise."
Mr. X chuckles. "And, how do you think that's going to happen?"
"With my hands around your neck."
Mr. X stops smiling. "Horseshit, what ya' going to do, huh? We've swept this place, you've got nothing, nothing but your fucking knives and your fancy karate gimmicks, we've got guns!"
"No, what you have is bullets, and the hope that when your guns are empty I'm no longer standing, because if I am, you all will be dead before you've reloaded."
Mr. X scoffs. "That's impossible." He aims and cocks his revolver, causing his men to do the same. "Kill him."
A hail of bullets pelt Jaune, causing him to take a few steps back and bend forwards to prevent himself from falling, after their guns click empty Jaune stands up straight and looks Mr. X in the eyes with his now sanguine eyes.
"My turn."
Before the men can react Jaune throws two of his knives into the two men closest to Mr. X. This stirs the men out of their stupor, but Jaune is already on the move, he slices one mans arms off with an upward slice before he uses the momentum to cut open his throat and throw a knife into another mans throat. Jaune dashes forward bisecting a man before beheading another, two more knives are thrown and two more men fall dead. Jaune rushes once more and deprives a man of his head and shoulders and slits the throat of another man. He turns in time to see the last of Mr. X's men has reloaded, but before he can fire off a shot Jaune throws his last knife into the mans head.
Mr. X has reloaded his revolver and fires off his six shots into Jaune's chest as he slowly approaches, whilst screaming.
"Die!"
Bang!
"Die!"
Bang!
"Die! Die!"
Bang! Bang!
"Why won't you die!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
"W-why, why won't you die?"
Mr. X's revolver clicks empty as he backs up to a tree. Jaune swipes the gun out of his hand and drops his sword before lifting up Mr. X by his throat.
"Because behind this mask and flesh is an idea, and ideas are bulletproof. Now why are you here? It's not to protect the Village, they couldn't possible know what we have planned, so why are you here?"
"T-to kill a g-girl!" Mr. X chocked out.
"Do you realize how little that narrows it down? Which girl!"
"B-black hair with pink tips and eyes, w-wearing a Kitsune m-mask! P-please, I've told you all I know!"
"Then you no longer serve a purpose."
"N-no wai-Crunch!"
Mr. X's body slides down the tree with his head unnaturally bent to his right. Jaune retrieves his sword and knives before running towards the south, towards Aruna.
/0/
Aruna made it to her designated cliff unmolested, but her instincts were yelling at her that something was wrong, a sudden snapping of a twig proved her feeling. She whipped around to face a man cackling like a demented hyena, who was surrounded by ten men dressed in the same military garb as those that attacked Jaune. The cackling man approached.
He was tall and cadaverous with golden eyes filled with fanatical zealotry, a jokers demented grin, and a brown ponytail braided to resemble a scorpion's tail. He wears a white sleeveless shirt with leather belts strapped to it, along with white pants. His shirt is left open, exposing his bare chest. His arms are covered with cream colored bandages and leather vambraces. He also wears leather boots covering his entire shin with knee guards and a knee length trench coat with the sleeves rolled to above his elbows. On each earlobe is a silver, ring-shaped earring, and near the top of his left ear is another matching earring.
"Ha ha! What a joyous day! I've finally found you! The Goddess will most certainly be pleased!" The man cried in religious fervor.
Aruna chuckles. "So you finally found me, it only took you ten years, and I'm no longer a defenseless little girl!"
Aruna draws her sword as she activates her Maiden abilities, causing a gust of wind as sharp as steel to rush towards her attackers. The cackling man dodges, losing his trench coat in the process, but his men weren't so fortunate. The man activates his gauntlets, causing twin barrels and crescent shape blades to extend from them, and rushes Aruna.
"Oh what glorious fun!"
The man strikes with the wild abandon of a beast, Aruna blocks each strike and counter-attacks when she has an opening. But those opportunities are rare as the mans feral strikes provide little in the way of reprisal. Aruna desperately calls down some lighting to smote the zealot, only succeeding in creating some temporary space. But she uses said space to unleash her full abilities, knowing it very well might kill her, and unleashes a raging storm.
/0/
From their FOB Raven sees the sudden storm and knows it is Aruna being attacked. She quickly dons her mask and cuts a portal to Aruna, ordering Vernal to say there. When she steps from the portal Raven sees a heavily injured Aruna in a clinch with the… thing known as Tyrian Callows, and before she can stop herself, a desperate cry wretches itself from her throat.
"No!"
Raven's cry caused Aruna to divert her attention away from her opponent for but a moment, but that is all that is needed. Tyrian uses Arunas momentary lapse in judgment to strike with his hidden tail, aiming right for her jugular. Aruna dodges enough that Tyrians tail misses her jugular, but it instead removes the top right portion of her mask, and the eye behind it, and injects her with his venom. Tyrian removes the arm holding her sword before leaping away from Ravens reprisal attack, chuckling in his manic way.
"It seems I've failed to capture the Spring Maiden. Oh well, at least I've removed her from th board for the time being."
Tyrian makes his escape as Raven rushes to Aruna's side. It's a grim sight, most of her body is covered in cuts, burns, and bullet holes. Her once pristine white clothes were forever stained red, a mixture of blood lose and Tyrians venom deprived her of the strength to even lift her hand. Raven removes her mask to show her fear stricken and tear soaked face. It was with a heavy heart that Raven drew Omen and plunged it through her heart, just as she reached up her remaining hand towards her.
It was this sight that greeted Jaune when he arrived too late to save his only friend. He stumbles numbly forward and collapses to his knees next to Aruna, he sits there for what feels like an eternity until he notices the discarded trench coat. He wraps Arunas sword in the coat and straps it to his back with a spare belt, before staring at Arunas ruined face. He sits until a hand upon his shoulder breaks him free of his stupor, he violently lashes out at the offending hand, narrowly missing Ravens neck in the process. Raven backpedals in shock but Jaune fallows up with feral strikes.
"You killed her!"
"Wait! It's not what it looks like!" Raven begs. "It was for her own good!"
"Liar!"
Jaune launches into a flurry of ferocious strikes, forcing Raven to fight back least she be cut down. The resulting fight is like something out of an old Samurai epic, with sparks flying from the blocks and parries. Raven manages to slice Jaunes mask in half with a horizontal slash, revealing his now sanguine eyes, before using the momentum to transition into a disarming strike. Raven slices across his chest before kicking him down to the edge of the cliff. Jaune glares up at Raven and roars.
"Damn you, Raven Branwen, damn you to hell!"
Jaune releases his grip on the cliff and plummets to the murky depths below, glaring into Ravens eyes the whole way down, until everything goes black.
An unknown amount of time later, Jaune finds himself patched up and bedridden in an unrecognizable room. A cursory glance tells him he's on a boat of some kind, but his musings are interrupted by the lone door opening. Jaune glances up to see who entered his new found room.
It was an older willowy woman who entered his room. She had almost pitch colored ebon skin that was offset by her bright silver hair and crystal blue eyes. She was dressed in heavy nautical clothing, consisting of heavy woolen navy slacks tucked into thick black knee high boots with a cream turtle neck three-fourths sweater with her navy peacoat draped over her shoulders. She smiles seeing that Jaune is awake.
"Ah, it's good yer awake, didn't know is I was about to walk in on a wake." The woman chuckled. "I'm Captain Ahab, now is you don't mind me asking, what happened to ya' boy?"
"Fought the Bandit Queen of Mistral."
Ahab cringes. "Then it's lucky yer alive, nasty folk in that there Tribe."
"Yeah." Jaune agrees. "Where this tub heading anyway?"
Ahab glares at the injured boy. "I'll ignore that insult on account of the fact ye' lost a lot of blood, and to answer ye' question, we've heading for Vale."
"Vale, huh." Jaune mused. "Seems as good a place as any for a new life."
I hope you all enjoyed this rewrite of the first chapter, I wasn't quite happy with the first attempt, so I changed it. And tried to make it longer as practically half the reviews I got said it was to short, so I hope it's of a more respectable length for you reading pleasure.