Best possible version of yourself

by dutchsoldier

Jaune Arc, while looking for a book to help him get stronger to have a better chance at a huntsman academy, finds a book promising to make him 'the best version of himself', but will it actually do that or is young Jaune in for a surprise? Warning for those that hate it, involves some time travel

11. Chapter 11

Best possible version of yourself chapter 11

AN: Welcome back everyone to the next chapter of this story, I hope you all enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to RWBY, that is the jurisdiction of Rooster Teeth, so this is a non profit project only made for the enjoyment of myself and readers.

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Beacon, landing pad

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As Ruby, Jaune, Nora and Ren walk towards the school Ruby and Nora talk about the various abilities on each others weapons and how they made them while Jaune and Ren walk next to one another ''So just to make sure you'll be ready for when I tell Nora, Oscar also came back with us.'' At this Ren looks at him for a second before sending a small smile.

''Oscar? You mean cute boy Oz?'' Jaune chuckles at that one and nods, causing Ren to give a slightly larger smile ''Yes it is going to be somewhat hard to keep Nora from going overboard, but after everything that happened and the both of us learned, it will help both of the Nora's a lot.''

''By the way, did you tell her about your feelings with the nudge from your future self yet?'' Ren nods, causing Jaune to smile and slap him on the shoulder ''Nicely done. I can tell you guys later what actually pulled us here.'' At this point Ren stares at Jaune who looks a bit sheepish ''Lets just say that I might have pulled a bit of an Ozpin while looking through the family library, I'll explain later.''

'A bit of an Ozpin huh, funny way of putting 'Tried to perform a spell that pretty much spelled out too good to be true while using my blood that could have caused a demon to take over my body or just drained my body dry of all magic to power it and would have killed me'. We are all very lucky with what the spell actually did.' As spirit chastises Jaune, Nora drags Ruby closer to the two of them. ''So I think you already know Jaune?''

As Nora poses the question Jaune smiles at Ruby and waves while greeting her again before he turns to Nora ''Yes we have met previously and it is a pleasure to have you here with us at Beacon this year Ruby, always good to see another friendly face.'' Ruby gives him a shy smile in return before Nora intervenes, turning Ruby towards Ren instead.

''Then here we have Lie Ren, preferred to be called Ren. He's my best friend in the world and we are together-together. Say hi Ren.'' Ren gives a smile and a wave at Ruby who returns the gesture with another shy smile and a small wave before Nora continues ''Good, good now that you know both of them you can ask them about their weapons like you clearly wanted to!''

Both of the young men chuckle at this before they look at each other and Ren nods to Jaune as a sign of 'you go first', so he pulls out his sword and begins the explanation ''Unlike most I am a fairly simple man as far as weapons go and am using an Heirloom from my great-grandfather, used in the Great War as one of the first wave of mecha-shifting weapons and in use by our family for the better part of seventy years. Its pair is the sheath which can shift into a shield.'' He sheaths the sword again before drawing his revolver ''And this is my nameless Atlesian service revolver, not much to say about this one. It's a standard six shooter that I got at a Great War equipment store a while back as a gift after doing the owner a favour.'' Ruby's eyes twinkle at the idea of how much history the young man is equipped with before Ren starts and she is drawn to him instead.

In the back of all three of the not yet JNPR members heads they feel their backseat driving chuckling/laughing at the sight of an innocent Ruby fully absorbed in the discussion about their weapons, though the moment is broken as they arrive at the door to the great hall and hear Yang shouting ''Hey Rubes, saved you a spot. And knight boy, don't go taking the hearts of any maidens yet a bit too early in the year.'' For once Spirit lets Jaune handle this one, which is done by him blushing and stuttering, causing Nora to laugh and grab his shoulder.

''I'll give you my training regime Jaune-Jaune, you'll be sweeping damsels in distress of their feet in no time.'' Spirit is suddenly for once actually remorseful and wishing Jaune the best, causing him to look at Ren for support who takes several steps away as Nora starts explaining just how much fun they're going to have training him up. In the shadows behind them a figure is staring at them, having shifted to Jaune for a moment but now balefully staring at Ruby's back again.

A few moments later a semblance is softly activated and a woman with peach coloured hair walks out of the shadow before heading up one of the stairs getting a joyful greeting from Oobleck as he races past her ''Good day Peach, I hope the throat heals nicely!'' with her nodding with a smile in return. Once arriving at a door in the staff dorms she opens it, stepping in and securing the door behind her, with both the physical lock locked and the key card required activated again before she opens her mouth in a sigh, however no sound comes out.

She then turns and walks towards a large closet and unlocks it before opening it, wherein an unconscious woman with the same appearance can be seen who has several needles injected in her arm as she is kept unconscious. After checking the IV bag and realizing that there is enough leftover to keep the woman under for several hours more she closes the door again and relocks it.

Then the image around her shatters as if made from glass and instead of the roughly 170 cm (5f'6i) woman in her early thirties that had previously been there it is now a barely 147 cm woman in her early twenties with pink and brown hair with eyes that once she opens them again are shown to be heterochromia in the form of a brown left and pale pink right eye. She takes out a scroll and calls another number, causing Cinder to appear on screen.

''Neo, so have you confirmed that the girl is actually a Beacon student now?'' Neo nods before Cinder continues ''Good, have you made sure Peach didn't see your actual appearance?'' Now Neo looks almost affronted at Cinder who rolls her eyes ''Yes, yes you're a professional I know. I just wanted to make sure you didn't screw up since your boss lost to a fifteen year old girl just like our source indicated would happen. Anyways the additional Grimm have been placed?''

Neo nods once more, a smirk now showing on her face thinking about the potential fate of the new students, especially the girl that would have had a hand in Romans death in the future. Cinder smiles ''Well done, Salem will be very happy and any future potential threat removed is a good thing. You can leave tomorrow morning after breakfast, do keep Peach alive though we need them to start suspecting that 'Crown' movement as we implicated them.'' After this Cinder stops the call at which point Neo rests up a bit to prepare for acting as if Peach again during dinner that evening.

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Back in the main hall, just as Neo was leaving

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Back in the great hall Yang is smiling down at Ruby while they stand waiting on the headmaster to start ''How's your first day going, little sister?'' Ruby turns to her with a frown on her face, previous happiness from her conversation with the trio lost as she now is reminded of just what caused her to meet them.

''You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?'' As Ruby frowns at her Yang raises her eyebrows at the visibly not happy with her Ruby.

Her reply of ''Yikes, meltdown already?'' is not taken too well as Ruby's visible irritation increases.

Ruby waves her hand in a sign of frustration as she starts talking ''No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school! And there was some fire,'' As she talks she brings her hand to her chin, clearly thinking of all the things involved in the event ''and I think some ice…?''

Yang smiles broadly at her still annoyed younger sister ''Are you being sarcastic?''

Ruby scoffs as out of her view Weiss can be seen walking up behind her until she is almost right next to her ''I wish! I tripped over some crabby girl's luggage, and then she yelled at me, and then I sneezed, and then I exploded, and then she yelled at me again, and I felt really, really bad, and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!'' By the end her voice has taken on a slightly sad and hysterical quality.

This is not helped by a sudden 'you!' from besides her, causing her to squeal and jump into Yang's arms all the while exclaiming ''Oh god its happening again!'' with an annoyed white haired girl staring her down from the side while Yang realizes her sister was actually telling the truth as the girl begins.

''You were lucky we weren't blown off the side of the cliff!'' Yangs deadpan 'Oh my god, you really exploded' is mostly ignored.

''It was an accident'' As Ruby says this towards Yang and climbs down out of her arms she turns towards Weiss and repeats ''It was an accident!'' at which point the Schnee shoves a pamphlet titled 'Dust for dummies and other Inadequate individuals' into her face. Ruby looks at it for a moment before asking ''What's this?''

Weiss starts listing off the basic automated reply to damage claims against the SDC ''The Schnee dust company is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee dust company product'' at some point along Weiss's explanation her voice takes on the qualities of the required small script read out loud during a marketing campaign ''although not mandatory the Schnee family highly encourages their customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy to follow guide to this application and practice in the field.''

After Weiss's tirade Ruby is staring at her uncomprehendingly for a moment before an 'Uhm' comes out of her mouth that her conversation partner doesn't think too highly of as she starts up again ''You really want to start making things up to me?'' Ruby's hesitant 'Absolutely' is her answer getting her a reply of ''Read this and don't ever speak to me again.''

At this point Yang has enough of letting her sister get run rings around on her own and tries to interfere to help her ''Look, uh, it sounds like you two just got off on the wrong foot.'' She looks straight at pretty much entirely snow themed girl 'Why don't you start over and try to be friends, okay?''

Upon which Ruby is glad to not be left to drown by her sister for once today and jumps in ''Yeah great idea sis,'' before reaching out with her hand to Weiss ''Hello Weiss, I'm Ruby. Wanna hang out? We could go shopping for school supplies.''

Weis sarcastically replies ''Yeah and we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, blond and scraggly over there!'' as she says this though she actually takes a second look at the man she's pointing at and makes a mental note to speak to him again in a moment, since that is likely the man her brother has become close to recently. Jaune gives a confused 'Hm?' in reaction to it before Spirit who has already seen what this misunderstanding can bring quickly explains what is happening, disappointing the young man slightly.

Ruby however seems to have missed the sarcasm and looks at the other girl with hope in her eyes while exclaiming ''Wow, really?!'' The dead silence she is reduced to under Weiss's returning glare and the very loud and clear 'NO' quickly makes her realize the previous sentences where sarcasm.

At this point however the headmaster starts his speech, causing the students to turn towards the stage instead and listen to the man ''I'll keep this brief. You have travelled here today in search of knowledge to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose direction, you assume knowledge will free you of this but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step.''

After the headmaster steps away from the microphone and walks off the stage, Goodwitch takes her place in front of it instead to make some more general announcements ''You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow your initiation begins, be ready. You are dismissed.'' After this Yang turns towards Ruby and sees Weiss now heading towards Jaune, shrugging it off before she continues chatting with Ruby.

Jaune meanwhile is just standing chatting with Nora and Ren, though it would be more accurate to describe it as 'Nora explaining a very intense workout plan to an increasingly pale Jaune and consoling Ren' than anything else, at which point Weiss taps him on the shoulder causing him to turn his attention away from Nora towards Weiss ''Yes? My name is Jaune d'Arc, nice to meet you.''

Weiss looks stumped for a moment before she shakes her head ''I'm Weiss Schnee, but you probably already knew that.'' Jaune however while now having heard a bit about her from Spirit also takes some time to think on where he recognizes that name from since he has heard it before today… ah now he remembers.

''You're Whitley's older sister aren't you?'' she nods and he smiles at her ''Yeah he talked a bit about you, nice for the two of you to reconnect lately. Always good to have family that cares for you and especially a sibling that believes in you. I hope to get to know you better in the future as a student here.''

She looks at him stumped ''That's the only thing you know me from?'' He nods ''I don't believe you, but whatever. Good that you mentioned Whitley since I did want to talk about him for a bit.'' At this she tries to make herself appear taller and more intimidating ''If you ever try to take advantage of him in any way shape or form I'll skin you alive and hang you above my hearth as a rug. Got it?!''

Jaune is surprised for a moment before smiling at her, which Weiss doesn't take too well as he starts up ''Ah the classic defending your sibling, I've had to do it to several of my sisters closer friends as well at varying points. As a fellow older sibling I approve.'' At this point he claps her on the shoulder before turning as he hears Nora calling him showing that she and Ren where entering the cafeteria, causing him to say his goodbyes ''Bye Weiss, hope to see you later!''

Before jogging off leaving behind a confused and irritated Weiss. ''How dare he just ignore me! I am Weiss Schnee damnit, I am the heiress of one of the most powerful corporations on the planet, how dare he!'' At this point she hears chuckling, causing her to turn and see Yang chuckling at her while Ruby is laughing behind her hand sending her anger rising even more ''Silent you two!'' before essentially stomping off towards the cafeteria while Yang starts full on laughing.

Later on Jaune, Nora and Ren are sitting together on their sleeping bags in a corner with a relatively large amount of space between the three of them and the nearest other student is several meters away. The three of them are whispering though not talking about anything that would actually sound overly suspicious to people that do hear them, since they know several of the students are Faunus and could even with that distance still overhear them.

As such they instead talk about all kinds of things, they might have heard a lot of it from their older selves but it is somewhat different to hearing the full explanation and story in person ''So wait you actually have seven sisters?'' Jaune nods at Nora's question and she looks somewhat wistfully ''I would have loved a big family even if only to know what it feels like…''

At her sad look Jaune and Ren exchange a look and nod before Ren hugs her to himself, while Jaune lays an arm over her shoulder ''Well Nora I'd love to have another sister and I think Oscar wouldn't mind an older sister either, so if you want you'll have a family.'' As she looks up at him he smiles down at her and she pulls a watery smile before taking one arm away from around Ren and bringing him closer. The two of them can hear a soft 'Thank you' coming from her.

A few minutes later the hug ends and instead they continue talking about other subjects, talking about anything and everything from favourite meals, incidentally Jaune and Ren had a similar one, medium steak, though with different vegetables accompanying it as their preference while Nora's is chocolate pancakes with a lot of syrup. Half an hour later the three go to rest for the important next day with smiles on their faces, all three very happy with how the day has gone and hopeful for what the following day might bring them.

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Next day

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As Ren wakes up he opens his eyes to see a head of orange hair straight above his face, a smile appears on his face as he brings his head up slightly and kisses her lips, at which point Nora stumbles back a bit leaving Ren space to leave his bedroll and stand up to gather his things while Jaune chuckles near them ''The great Nora Valkyrie being silenced by such a simple interaction, the wonders never leave the world.''

After a second Nora can also laugh with it while she looks over her boyfriend and newly found great friend, both so different yet in spite of that the blond man was held in very high regard already, though always second place to Ren. Once they've changed to their regular clothes she drags them to get through their morning routine before they could get to breakfast, with her popping up near Ren to excitedly mention possibilities on how to team up, with Jaune chuckling from the side at the two of them all the while.

As they sit in the cafeteria after finishing their other morning rituals, the younger Jaune is staring at Nora going through several stacks of pancakes in no time while both Ren's and Spirit fondly chuckle at her behaviour. Once she is finished and smiles at the two young men her chin and mouth have syrup everywhere, causing Ren to pick up a napkin and clean up her face, sending the hyperactive orange haired girl into a moment of silence again as a small blush and happy smile appear on her face. After a few moments while Nora's face is clean Ren is still staring at her so Jaune claps them on the shoulder ''We need to get to the locker rooms for our equipment, you two can get a room together after you're on a team rather than failing initiation due to showing up late.''

The two break eye contact and leave with Jaune to the locker room, where Jaune waves them goodbye to instead go to his own locker in front of which two young women are talking, Weiss and one redheaded woman he recognizes from something but can't place his finger on that Spirit essentially crashes into silence upon seeing. Left without a backseat driver Jaune just goes up to the two of them after realizing they are in front of his locker, while Weiss seems to be going something of a tirade before he interrupts ''Hello there you two, can I…''

Weiss turns towards him, angry upon recognizing his voice ''What do you want you arrogant plebian, can't you see we are trying to form a team here with the two most capable students in Beacon?!'' Jaune looks at her for a moment, looks over to Phyrra who gives a wave and a smile, then switches back to Weiss.

''No offense intended but… isn't that a bit much assuming the two of you are the best and most capable students here when we haven't even gone through initiation yet let alone seen how everyone performs against each other in combat class?'' Weiss looks at him somewhat stupefied as he turns to the redhead and holds out his hand ''Nice to meet you by the way, I'm Jaune d'Arc, and you are?''

Now Weiss looks at him in stupefied disbelief while Phyrra looks surprised, but pleased before she schools her expression ''My name is Phyrra Nikos, nice to meet you as well.'' However at this point Weiss snaps out of her stupor and pokes Jaune in the chest with a frosty stare before she begins her tirade.

''You mean to tell me you don't know Phyrra Nikos?'' He shakes his head, causing her eye to twitch ''She graduated top of her class at Sanctum!'' Jaune turns to Phyrra and gives a short 'congratulations', which she gives a thank you for before Weiss grabs his shoulder forcing him to turn to her again, her eye twitching more heavily by now ''Four time champion of the Mistral Regional Tournament, a new record!'' Jaune once again gives a short 'congratulations' to Phyrra while Weiss is even worse off, now waving her arms angrily to try and intimidate the larger man ''She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!''

Jaune turns back to Phyrra looks her up and down and gasps ''I thought I recognised you from somewhere, that's probably it. Again congratulations, with how much those things sell it probably helped both in getting more sponsors and more fans overall.'' At this Phyrra sighs sadly while muttering 'That it did…'. Before shaking her head and speaking up louder.

''It was pretty cool to be on there for children and teenagers to see, sadly enough the cereal isn't very good for you.'' Jaune nods along, knowing that in spite of his love for it the stuff wasn't a good replacement for an actual morning meal with just how much sugar there is in it. At this point Weiss is looking at Jaune with some rage and a perplexed look on her face.

''So, after hearing all this, do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be on your team?!'' Jaune looks at her for a moment, realizing that no, he probably wasn't. However…

''I guess not, no. But that wasn't what I was asking for at all.'' Weiss is now staring at him even more ''I just wanted to ask you two to step aside so I can get to my locker to grab my gear.'' Phyrra steps back immediately while saying 'I'm sorry' and after a few moments Weiss regains enough of her senses to back away as well, allowing him to grab his gear before Weiss turns to Phyrra hoping to get some form of horrified reaction upon somebody not recognizing her for her deeds or at the very least the girl agreeing to join with her.

She smiles at the shorter woman ''My apologies Weiss, but as I said before I'm still planning on letting the chips fall where they may.'' However after Weiss turns away from her and walks away with a grumble Phyrra smiles at Jaune. ''I'll see you later Jaune and don't mind her words on not being a good potential team leader, I think you'll do fine.'' Before walking away while having a pep in her step. Jaune shrugs before putting on his armour and clasping his sword to his belt while Spirit has come out of his stumped silence inside Jaune's head all the while chuckling and unknown to his younger self congratulating him on 'Scoring bonus points with the champion.'

The younger Jaune meanwhile is making sure the straps on his armour are secure before grabbing the backpack he had prepared after hearing spirit talk about how initiation would go, making sure it sat well on his shoulders before checking where the cords where. Then he hears a bell ring and an announcement from the deputy headmistress that group three of the students needs to report to the launch pads, causing him to realize he might be late if he doesn't leave soon, setting into a run towards the launch pads.

A few minutes later the students are gathered and arranged on the launch pads, standing in a row as Ozpin and Glynda look around the scene, making sure all students are there before Glynda looks at Ozpin and gives him a nod. At this he starts up ''For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest.''

At this point Glynda picks up where he leaves off ''I'm sure you have heard rumours about the assignment of ''teams'','' as she says the word she looks around at the students ''Well allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates… today.'' At this those students that hadn't known beforehand are now staring at her expectantly, hoping to get an answer to their burning question of 'how?', while Ruby mutters a 'What? Ohhh…'

At this point Ozpin takes over again ''These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well.'' Ruby groans slightly, since she has already stopped that possibility with two of the other candidates ''That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years.''

Ruby develops a shocked expression that mirrors her world falling apart after cracking like glass as she shouts ''WHAAATTT!'' while Nora turns to Ren and smirks at him, in response to which he nods, agreeing that yes the situation he had doubted to happen before their future selves joined that Nora had predicted is the actual initiation ritual.

Ozpin looks around the varying states of shock among some of his students while others look less surprised than he expected, which he shrugs off knowing it is likely that some parents or teachers told their children/ favourite students about it to give them a chance to prepare. ''After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path…'' as he lets the silence hang for a moment he looks each of the students in the eye before starting up again ''or you will die.''

With the students full attention still on him he continues ''You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not interfere. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. Are there any questions?''

Jaune raises his hand, somewhat concerned about the 'destroy everything in your path statement', considering that could mean you were actually supposed to fight other students as well, but he is ignored as Ozpin states ''Good, now take your positions.'' As everyone strikes a pose Jaune keeps standing with his hand raised, causing Ozpin to glare slightly at the young man who then sighs and lowers his hand while taking a slightly crouched position himself.

One by one the students get launched, until they eventually get to Jaune who is preparing himself for the worst with his motion sickness as he takes a small pill before getting launched himself. As he is flung to the air he screams for a moment before shaking his head and concentrating as Spirit gives him the signal, which he answers by ripping on the cord near his right arm, throwing open the backpack and releasing a parachute. While not large enough to fully stop the fall it does slow him down however as he holds onto the ropes and tries to guide his fall he sees a spear calmly floating next to him, covered in a black glow.

He looks at it confused for a moment before taking Spirits advice of grabbing onto it upon which it moves in a different direction, taking him with it and as he slowly approaches the ground he waits for a few more moments before releasing the spear while he's just above the tree tops near a clearing in the forest, upon which he draws his sword and cuts the lines to the parachute, sending him tumbling down to the ground where he lands in a roll, before activating the shield form as well.

As he does so he sees Phyrra exiting the treeline on the other side of the clearing from him, smiling as she sees him ''So Jaune, do you still have some space left on your team?'' He chuckles for a moment, with her joining in after a second before he smiles at her.

''There's always space on my team for such a helpful redhead.'' He looks at the parachute stuck in the tree before looking down at her again ''I had planned to leave it there but with your ability to move your spear, could you cut it loose so we can grab it here?'' She smiles before throwing her shield and with a bit of assistance from her semblance, cuts the branch the parachute landed on, sending it crashing down to the ground.

''Good enough Jaune?'' he smiles at her again, as Spirit explains Phyrra's semblance in the back of his head, nodding at her before walking over and gathering the parachute to put it back into the backpack. A minute or so later he is done and looks over to her again.

''With that done, we should probably head towards that temple Ozpin mentioned.'' He takes out a compass however as Phyrra walks closer he sees it pointing at Phyrra only to chance direction slightly as she walks closer, while it keeps aiming at her. He looks up at her with an eyebrow raised, confusing her before she looks down and realizes her semblance is active on it. Inside Jaune Spirit sees this as the perfect opportunity and takes control for a moment.

''If you wanted my attention you didn't need to turn this into a Pirates of Menagerie compass Phyrra, you could have just asked.'' Phyrra is more confused for a moment before blushing and saying 'Sorry' while releasing her semblances unintentional manipulation as Spirit hands control back over to Jaune who also blushes immediately while cursing his backseat driver once more. ''I apologise Phyrra, I didn't know what came over me.''

She waves it off however, as while she was still a bit flush this straightforward interaction made her only more like the fact she had carried out this impromptu plan ''Not a problem Jaune, after all I did just cause a compass to follow me around, the best way to stop that is probably shocking me out of the unintentional control.'' He smiles at her again, which is returned by her as she continues ''Also that was far from the worst jokes I've heard people use about my semblance, don't worry.''

As they start following the compass to the actual north he gives her a slight smirk ''And if you don't mind telling, what was the worst joke you've heard somebody make about your semblance?'' easy conversation develops as the two walk North, and while externally calmly talking externally, internally Phyrra is jumping from the joy of making her first new actual friend ever since her fame became a widespread thing.

A while away from the two Ruby experiences a less friendly welcome to the ground as she rushes forward with her semblance ''Yang, Nora, Ren and Jaune would all be fine, now where can I find any of them?'' However as she looks around while running she doesn't notice a white haired figure stepping out from behind a tree and rams into her, sending both of them stumbling down to the ground. As their eyes make contact they each look at the other with a horrified expression for a moment before two screams of ''NOOOOO!'' can be heard throughout the forest.

Ren looks up from the disintegrating Grimm before him at the screams, causing his face to be at the same height as Nora's when her face appears in front of him and she boops him on the nose. He smiles and kisses her forehead in return, causing her to quickly go down to the ground before smiling at him and grabbing his arm as she notices an Ursa. ''Come on, we've got to break older Me's records for Grimm ridden into battle!'' Ren smiles and lets himself be dragged forward, shaking his head lightly but more than willing to go along with it.

All the way back at the cliff face Glynda Goodwitch is staring at her tablet while Ozpin looks thoughtful as he speaks up ''That is the first time in two decades that anyone that does know how initiation happens thinks ahead enough to just grab a parachute. Might need to start switching it up now, since while that is good practice from him it kind of ruins the point of the launching them off these pads.''

Glynda turns to him ''I don't believe a word of that young mans transcripts, but it does show a sign of good planning ahead. I still do not understand why you wish to keep how initiation happens somewhat under wraps to see them react to a surprise, this could be a great opportunity to see how those that plan ahead would deal with this kind of situation in the field.'' A moment later she shakes her head, unwilling to start up the discussion they've been having ever since Ozpin added in this style of initiation ''Anyways, most of the pairs have formed, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie are the latest one. I was feeling for that boy with how different their personalities are, but now I feel for their future teammates instead with them having to live with two people already in a relationship while sharing a dorm.''

Switching back to the students we can see another pair form as Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long kill Ursa together before walking towards the temple while Weiss and Ruby are having trouble killing a small group of Grimm due to getting into each others way. As Weiss complains and Ruby is annoyed in return she then sees a way out of their current situation as her eyes shine slightly before dimming down again.

A few minutes later Jaune and Phyrra can hear a stampede of claws and paws behind them, causing them to share a look for a moment before rushing forward in the hopes of find a better place to fight in. Moments later they break the treeline and Jaune sees the recognisable forms of Blake and Yang there as he waves at the latter while running out who smiles and greets in return ''Hey knight boy, found any maidens to rescue yet?''

As the two of them rush towards the temple he can hear yelling from above and he looks up, drops his sword and shield and rushes forward, managing to just catch Ruby into his arms, though it knocks him back a step ''I think I just did,'' a loud war cry can be heard from the forest, coming closer ''And sadly enough I've also found beasts to fight.''

At this point however he can also hear a welcome voice shouting ''Beastie, go!'' as a large ursa breaks through the edge of the forest, only to plow itself into the ground and lie there motionlessly shortly afterwards as the two riders jump off. Upon seeing her disintegrating steed Nora sighs sadly ''Ahhhh, its broken. Hubertus the second, you were a great steed but just like your namesake you weren't to live long.'' Ren wisely keeps silent on the fact that there wasn't a Hubertus the first since she didn't name their ride during the last initiation Hubertus.

Yang and Blake are both looking between these two scenes both fairly surprised ''Did your sister just drop in from the sky.'' A ''Yes.'' Is her answer from an equally stunned Yang. ''And did they just ride in on the back of a Grimm.'' Her answer is again confirmative ''Yes, yes they did.''

At this point Nora stops her mourning of her mount and starts skipping forward with a smile on her face while Weiss can be heard screaming from above ''Why did you leave me?!'' Everyone turns their eyes upwards, seeing Weiss still on the back of a giant Nevermore. At this Jaune looks down at the young woman still in his arms with a raised eyebrow and she turns away slightly while Ren and Blake approach slightly, while Yang gets a calculative look.

''She's going to fall.'' As Ruby is set down she shakes her head.

''I told you to jump!'' Then the Nevermore starts shaking in an attempt to get the annoyance on its back to let go.

''She's going to fall.'' Blake opines.

''She's not, she'll be fine.'' Ruby offers.

''She's already falling.'' As Ren mentions this the white dot can be seen tumbling down towards the Earth, with Jaune running to catch her, knowing he'll likely not reach in time only to see another blonde arrive beforehand and catch the White haired girl.

Said Weiss, expecting to feel pain and a broken aura instead feels flesh and muscle under her body and she looks up into lilac eyes, feeling her cheeks heat up slightly ''Hello there Princess, apologies you didn't get the knight, I promise I'm a better option.'' The girl flushes before Yang turns towards Jaune who is still approaching them ''Couldn't let you be the only one saving damsels in distress knight boy.''

As she finishes however Jaune's eyes widen before he rushes forward while shouting ''Duck!'' causing her to instinctively do so as he slides in next to the two of them, kneeling on one knee besides her and grabbing an arm around her to push them close to him while using his shield to cover the three of them best as he can as a hail of impacts resonate from the shield, Grimm spear feathers crashing against metal. Once it is over and he stands up, Weiss forcefully pushes herself out of Yang's arms as several Grimm crash through the treeline, lead by an elder deathstalker, joined quickly on both sides by a duo of slightly smaller deathstalkers.

Smaller meaning that instead of being the size of a house, they're the size of a larger than average living room. Jaune takes in the scene for a moment before deciding ''Okay I'll distract the one on the left, Nora and Phyrra please deal with the one on the right, everyone else keep the larger ones busy until the smaller ones are dead. Go!'' For a moment Weiss looks ready to argue but then she realizes that with both Phyrra and somebody else on a smaller target, they're going to probably kill it fast enough to assist the others. Blake meanwhile can hear the stomping in the far distance, knowing more Grimm will arrive soon but knows no way of informing the others without revealing her Faunus heritage, leading her to ignore it for now.

Jaune charges the leftmost deathstalker and immediately bashes away a strike of its right claw with his shield while parrying its left claw with his sword, before bringing his shield up to block the stab of its stinger. While successful, his follow up attempt to hit the stinger with his sword is not as it retreats and he's forced to ward off another claw strike. This causes the Grimm to be a bit more careful causing them to essentially exchange probing attacks for a bit, the Grimm making careful strikes with its claws while Jaune blocks them with his shield or parries with his sword, all the while looking for an opening to strike at one of its weak points.

On the other side of the battlefield, Phyrra is fighting the Grimm upfront for a moment, exchanging strikes with it for a moment however after only the second claw strike Nora has managed to flank it. The smirking redhead hoops as she slams her hammer down on one of its back legs, breaking straight through it before she jumps on top of the Grimm to dodge its attempt at a return strike before using the momentum of the jump to slam her hammer down onto its head as she lands on its back, being forced to roll to the side to dodge its pincer afterwards as it instead stabs into the now weakened area in its head armour, piercing through and getting stuck in.

Seeing her chance, Phyrra throws her shield, using her semblance to strengthen it enough to scythe through a weak point in the stinger, leaving half a meter of it stuck inside the deathstalkers body while the rest of the tail flies backwards, spewing the black sludge serving as Grimm blood all the while. As Phyrra chops into one of its claws and parries the other, leaving it even more wounded the scene is very different with Ruby and Weiss that are trying to distract the Giant Nevermore.

While yes, they did manage to distract it, now they are hiding behind an ice construct of Weiss while Ruby keeps pressure on it by firing her rifle over the edge before dodging back down as it shoots some more feathers their way. Ruby looks around and sees that the beast keeps floating near a large tree with few branches. She remembers something from the earlier fight with the beowolves and turns towards Weiss ''Your semblance, it can speed people up right?''

The other girl nods as she keeps strengthening the small ice wall the two of them are hiding behind to keep it from breaking at the constant assault ''Overgeneralization however it can achieve that effect yes.'' Ruby gains a gleam in her eyes.

''Then I have a plan, the moment somebody else can distract that thing without having to focus on fighting the other Grimm, create a line of those speed circles towards that large tree its near, that should boost me enough.'' She stands up and shoots a few more rounds at the flyer, managing to hit it in the head and drawing its attention back at her and away from Yang who it was about to perform a flyover at, sending it screeching again.

Yang, Blake and Ren meanwhile are fighting the largest deathstalker and while they aren't suffering damage the issue is that they can't damage it either, leading them to just stall it with Ren rushing around all the while delivering fire from the sides and hacking at its legs while Blake jumps and swings around while delivering fire from overhead. Yang meanwhile charges in and slams several shotgun blasts and punches into its claws, forcing its attention away from them before jumping back as it focuses on her while the other two attack. Just as Yang thinks she has found an opening however and rushes in again, the Grimm reveals it was a false one as it slams her into the shoulder with its stinger and while Aura prevents it from landing, it does take a good chunk of her reserves to do so and throws her back in the process.

A war cry can be heard again, though this time not from the Grimm but instead Nora as she runs at Phyrra, jumps onto her shield and uses it as a boost as Phyrra pushes up to gain momentum in the air before slamming her hammer home on the severed stringer, sending it down through the Grimm itself causing it to stumble back weakened. Phyrra grabs onto the opportunity to exploit the already damaged armour on its left claw by ramming her sword through it.

As the Grimm collapses she stabs into its opened maw while Nora rams her hammer down on one of its remaining legs on the left side, causing it to fully collapse as its lone leg left on that side can no longer carry it before it, unintentionally sending its head crashing down onto Phyrra's blade as it now stabs up through the already weakened area as the Grimm gives a gurgled final cry before it starts disintegrating. Phyrra takes a look around as Nora charges to assist the group dealing with the giant deathstalker before sending her shield flying towards the Grimm being fought by Jaune and biting into one of its legs before ripping it off as she rips it out again with her semblance.

The destabilized Grimm stumbles for a moment, allowing Jaune the opening he needs to chop heavily into its left claw, sending a scything wave of aura down through his sword and cutting it off. As it drops to the ground the enraged deathstalker stabs forward with its pincer, screeching all the while, however unlike previous times Jaune instead steps slightly to the side and wrenches his left arm around the tail before stabbing his sword into it, with the Grimms reaction of ripping it taking him with it for a moment before he wrenches out his sword and instead stabs downwards as it drops him onto the Grimms head, stabbing his sword into the armour before he slams his shield down onto the pommel, driving it further through, wrenching it out again and rolling to the side as the Grimm stabs at him again with its pincer only to scatter off its own armoured skin, though damaging the already wounded stinger more in the process as Jaune sends more aura into his sword before slashing into it, sending another slashing wave outwards as it finishes off the job started by the metal bisects the stinger.

He then drops his shield, gathers aura in his arms and with both arms drives his sword down through the weakened carapace, before ripping it out and stabbing down once more nearby, before turning the sword and stabbing one last time, ripping through the armour and skin remaining between the three previously created holes before using this to gouge into the Grimms weaker inner body. The heavily weakened Grimm sends what remains attached of its stinger slamming into his back, throwing him off it and forcing him to parry its claw, however the claw hits far weaker than before and his two handed return slash slaps it out of the way before another stab goes straight through it as he kicks it in the face with a heavily enhanced boot.

As his opponent stumbles back, Ruby shouts ''Phyrra!'' she looks at her for a moment before seeing her point towards the flyer, causing Phyrra to nod and change her sword into its spear form before sending it rocketing upwards into the beasts wing, assisted by her semblance it goes straight through before heading forward, turning around and going through again, turning away not only its attention but heavily weakening it as well as Weiss creates the line of boosters, with Ruby using her semblance to blur forward, across them and up the tree before ending up above the Grimm. There she fires behind her while activating her semblance again to give her momentum crashing downwards while fully chopping off its wing.

As she clears the scene with another use of her semblance the bird crashes down, where Nora sees it after jumping back from breaking one of the deathstalkers legs, causing her to step away for a moment, change her hammer and send a volley of Grenades crashing down into the crippled Grimm, ripping off its other wing as Ruby charges forward, dodges a last desperate bite and chops into its neck before beheading it with another boost shot as on the other side of the field Jaune finishes off his deathstalker by jamming one of its chopped off claws into its maw to force it open before stabbing through the roof of it from the inside before with a circling motion cutting through the side of its maw and opening a large gash, which combined with all the previous wounds sends the tortured Grimm into non-existence.

The last Grimm still in the field now faces an eightfold attack, Weiss immobilizing it with ice structures erupting around its legs and under it, Phyrra jumping on its back and slicing through the stinger as Blake and Ren use its opened maw from its pained screech as target practice, ripping holes into its internal structure as Jaune chops of its immobilized legs on one size while Ruby does the same on the other side before Nora jumps onto it, slamming her hammer down twice harshly in the same area while Yang rips off one of its claws with brute force.

Phyrra and Nora have to dodge to the side as it slams the remains of its stinger down, causing it to slap itself heavily on the back instead as Phyrra chops down again, slicing off another chunk of the stinger while Nora slams her hammer down again to break the now even more damaged area before she forces a grenade down into it and jumps off shouting ''Fire in the hole!''

This causes everyone to rush off while Nora fires off another grenade, the explosion itself doing some damage but more importantly setting off the other grenade forced into the beasts inners, ripping apart a load of its flesh and causing the damaged beast to disintegrate. However by now the entire group can hear the other Grimm further into the forest and they move back to the temple, with both Jaune and Nora grabbing a tower while Ruby grabs a knight, all the while preparing to defend themselves once more, all aware they used up a decent amount of aura in the previous fight.

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AN: hello everyone and I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. My apologies for the cliff hanger, however I've reached the point where this chapter ended a while ago, the fight scene going forward is taking a while in addition to the fact I wanted this chapter to be 10k words or less, and the scene is probably going to be a bit longer than the remaining word count till 10k. Anyways onto answering the reviews

ConsumedPolecat: I did enjoy this one as well. You handled the aftermath well. You showed Jaune's panic at the possibility of casualties very well. I have no idea how it would feel to know someone from a past life and meet them, but the way you've handled it makes it feel… realistic. Well done!

Answer: That is very good to read and thank you for the compliment. And yeah, the experience with meeting someone you know from a past life is not one many people would have experience with.

Qriiz: Because Nowadays fairy tale is referring to those silly Disney movies, I think people called the original life lesson filled horror stories as Grimm stories. I know someone have said "Fairy tale for the bleeding heart." to a story where the writer wrote "Love and understanding will solve the world's problems."

Okay, this time traveling people are starting to get superfluous. And...
A bunch of teenagers raising a private army, while going to school? Seriously?

Answer: Partially yes though for the most part I wasn't referring to Disney movies alone, since especially a lot of the older Disney movies were based more on plays than actual fairy tales. And love and understanding can solve all the worlds problems… they just need to be backed up by guns, guts and a willingness to fight, kill and die if need be.

The time travelling is part of the main plot point of the story, I think I mentioned or if nothing else at the very least very heavily implied that Jaune wasn't going to be the only one with some time travel involved in his character. Also… they recently got the information that Vale can fall within the year and will be stormed by Grimm and that the Grimm are lead by a fairly intelligent immortal witch queen…

It would in my opinion be less believable if they didn't try to either A: join Vale's militia and reform it into something more combat ready from the inside, however for that you need to rise up the ranks which will take years, or B: form their own small army to throw into the balance and hope its enough to swing it to the side of the city of Vale surviving with less damage than before.

AN: That was it for today, hope to see you all again in the future