God you guys are awesome with your reviews and all and once more, Rest in Peace Stan Lee, we shall remember you forevermore.
So getting down to business, we continue on with volume 1 where I shall show you the obvious signs of a diverging story line. I remembered a review that stuck with me that in essence helps define my intentions of writing. I think I said this before but I'll say it again. While I follow the guidelines, I will not verbatim do this story as did the original content.
I'm making it my own with certain revelations occurring sooner than later. Volume 6 is continuously providing newer and more crazier revelations and reveals then you could shake a stick at. Will have a great time in revisions and adding to the story and incorporating those plot points in my story.
Also Spider-verse was spectacular and an absolute joy of a film and especially a Spider-man film. Straight up. From the Stan Lee cameo and closing quote to the uniquely animated the spider heroes, start to finish a fantastic film for all comic book fans to enjoy.
And RWBY Volume 6 episode 9….woof that one hit me hard. AURGH MY HEART ACHES
Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day
Avenging Remnant Chapter 22: Why you are here
"OOF!"
Jaune Arc, leader of team JNPR, was knocked cleanly onto his back with his legs suspended in the air momentarily until they fell down to the ground a second later.
"Jaune." Pyrrha yelled out, running over to him .
"Ah, ah, ah." A silver blur zoomed at her and dragged her away from Jaune. "Keep your focus on your current enemy."
"Pietro." A female voice chided him. "I think it's over by this point."
"Huh?" Pietro Maximoff screeched to a halt, a dazed and frazzled Pyrrha beside him stumbling slightly before collapsing down to the ground.
"Ambers right, Pietro" Wanda reminded from her seat atop a tall chair facing the arena. "The rules for the two on two was just the incapacitation of one partner."
"Oh…" Pietro blinked, looking sheepishly at Pyrrha than Jaune. "Right, forgot about that." He then turned over to Steve, who stood not far away. "My bad, Cap."
"It's fine. Pietro" Steve waved down.
"Are you alright, Jaune?" Amber had asked, approaching to help him up.
"I will be… eventually." Jaune groaned out, head still hanging back as Amber hoisted him up.
"Didn't mean to run in a circle like that…. several times." Pietro apologized to Pyrrha, getting her back to her feet and keeping her steady.
"There's a lot to work with here." Steve said, entering the elevated platform. "The two of you aren't fully in sync, but you do have your moments of working together. To be honest with the two of you, I'm impressed with how well you both worked together in such a short amount of time."
Pyrrha, who was now recovered, nodded at Steve while Jaune was still leaning on his knees in order to recover his breath.
"But the both of you need some serious refinement." Steve pointed out right away.
"Communication is the key to a cohesive unit be it vocal or silent. Jaune, as team leader, you are set to a standard as the one with the first and last word. What you say, your team follows. Pyrrha, while you do show signs of leadership, there's also the fact that you need to focus up more on working with Jaune and the rest of your team more openly. I've seen you working at it and there are improvements. But I am also aware that you've developed a particular solo style. If you need help with curbing it when it comes to teamwork, that's what we're here for."
Pyrrha nodded firmly, looking to Jaune and giving him a reassuring smile.
Jaune on the other hand could only offer up a strained one, with disappointment towards himself evident in his eyes.
"This goes for all of you." Clint now spoke up to the entire class that were seated around platform. "You're gonna be learning how to truly master teamwork along with a litany of other skills so be prepared. It's only been several weeks and the semester is just getting started."
"That's all for today class." Steve said. "Dismissed."
The students filed out of the classroom, both team RWBY and JNPR sticking together Peter being with them as well.
They were chatting together save for one who had his head hung low in slight shame. His partner took notice of course.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha called out to him.
Jaune let out a dejected sigh. "Sorry Pyrrha, I let you down today. We lost because of me."
"What are you talking about?" Nora said loudly, popping up beside her leader. "You lasted way longer than some of the others did."
"That's only cause I had Pyrrha backing me up." Jaune pointed out.
"Well don't sell yourself to short, vomit boy." Yang said, slapping his back with encouragement which made him fall over.
"Yang." Peter gave her a deadpan stare, making her shrug sheepishly.
He fired his web shooters at Jaune's back that had been greatly scaled down and pulled him back up to his feet.
"Don't worry, Jaune." Peter said, placing a hand on the blonde's shoulder. "I'm not going to lie when I say that all of us, and I mean all of us are nowhere near their level."
"Hey! That's not true." Yang gave him an accusing look. "You gave Professor Barton a good workout."
"And Ruby even managed to nick Professor Wilson." Blake said, eyeing her team leader
"Ok so some of us are better than others." Weiss said grumpily. "Professor Rogers' shield is ridiculous though."
"Indeed." Ren said sagely "I had no it was capable of cutting through your glyphs like that."
"What is it made out of?" Ruby wondered aloud
"Vibranium." Peter answered right away and immediately cringed as the two teams gave him curious looks.
"Vibranium?" Ruby repeated curiously.
"What's that supposed to be?" Weiss asked in a quizzical tone.
Realizing what he just said, Peter tried to get out of the situation he was now in. 'Well that's just great. You just dug yourself a little hole.' Was the thought crossing the web-slinger's mind.
"Well? We're waiting."
Peter couldn't help but stutter for a few seconds, attempting to form a coherent thought on the matter when from behind…
"Mister Arc." It was Steve Rogers, coming up from behind the group.
'Saved by the bell!' Peter internally cheered. 'Thank you, Captain America!'
"Professor Rogers?" Jaune spoke up in confusion at seeing the good Captain walk up to him.
"Kids." Steve nodded to the blonde's friends. "I need to borrow Jaune for a while, if that's alright with you"
The students looked at each other, unsure as to why Cap needed Jaune, but most couldn't really see a reason to deny him. Pyrrha however looked on in slight concern at Jaune telling them he'll catch up as he walked off with Professor Rogers.
"Pyrrha." Feeling Nora's hand on her shoulder broke her out of her thoughts.
"Huh?"
"Come on. We're gonna be late for our next class, silly."
"Ah… right."
Seeing as he was in the small spotlight, Jaune waved off his friends. "Don't worry, guy's. I'll be fine." 'I think.'
"You have nothing to worry about, kids." Steve promised "I just need to speak with Jaune for a moment."
"Come on, guys, we're gonna be late for class." Ruby said, leading the group towards their next destination.
Watching his friends leave him behind, Jaune felt Steve place his hand on his shoulder.
"Walk with me Jaune" Steve said kindly, gesturing the boy to follow after him.
Hesitant at first, Jaune acquiesced and the two broke into a slow pace down the hallway in the opposite direction of Jaune's next class.
"Uh, Professor Rogers" Jaune timidly said, breaking the silence between the two "I don't mean to sound rude but…won't professor Lang…"
"Scott won't mind me borrowing you for a period or two" Steve assured the Huntsman-in-training "Don't worry, I already gave him the heads up"
"I don't think anyone can say no to you Cap" Jaune bluntly making himself slap a hand over his face at the rather idiotic statement from his point of view.
Steve chortled at Jaune's comment "I think Glynda can prove you wrong on that regard."
This merely got the young Arc's interest, just a little, before wanting to get back to the matter at hand. "Um… Professor Rogers?" Jaune saw that they were returning to the Avengers classroom
"Not to sound rude or anything but… what exactly do you wanna talk about with me?"
"It's not a talk necessarily." Steve said, opening the classroom door and gesturing for him to enter.
Inside, Jaune saw the class was completely empty with only the raised platform which was used for their lessons. Standing in the center, was a wooden training dummy and a metal training dummy.
"Uh… What's this supposed to be about?"
"I noticed that you were lacking in certain… areas." Steve clarified. "I wanna help fix that."
Jaune grimaced in disappointment directed towards himself. "How though?"
Steve walked over to the side of the platform and picked up his shield that was resting on the side. Looking back over to Jaune, he waved him over to join him on the platform.
Wordlessly, Steve tossed his own shield over at the blond who fumbled around with it for a moment before holding it steady. It was lighter than he thought, feeling a near perfect balance from the disk like shield.
Once again, Jaune was really confused as to what was happening now. Yet his inner fanboy was squealing in joy, holding the iconic shield/weapon in his grasp.
'I think I know how Ruby felt like with weapons now.' Was the student's thoughts.
Oh Jaune, you merely scratched the surface.
"How does it feel?" Steve asked expectantly, smirking at Jaune's barely restrained awe in holding his prized possession.
Realizing he had been holding it for a long period of reverent silent, Jaune blushed in embarrassment.
"...Heavy, I think." Jaune said unsure, though it being heavy was the farthest thing from the truth.
"Really? Never really noticed." Steve said with a light tone
With his free hand, the young Arc quickly waved him off. "It's not that, Professor, it's more like… well… how do I put this?"
"Is it the balance?"
"Maybe…" Jaune murmured, taking a moment to observe the shield.
"Alright then. Now take out your shield." Steve instructed, once taking his back.
Curious as to why, Jaune acquiesced to Steve's command and removed his sword and popped his shield out into its full form.
"I recommend you put your sword somewhere else since we'll be focusing on the sheath… that turns out to be a shield." Steve said before scratching his head a little. "Whoever designed that must've tried to simplify things or something."
"Ruby did say nothing beats the classics"
Captain America chuckled. "Hands down." He then composed himself. "Now then." Steve positioned himself in front of the training dummies and motioned Jaune to stand beside him.
"What we are going to be working on is your shield tactics in more ways than one."
"Excuse me?"
"I'll explain." Jaune nodded as Steve lectured. "When using your shield, tell me, how exactly do you envision yourself doing it."
Jaune opened his mouth only to close it, feeling his face heat up with slight embarrassment.
"I thjafsejngs" He muttered incoherently.
"Sorry, what was that?"
"I uh… Think about how you do it." Jaune admitted sheepishly, chuckling nervously.
Steve stared at what was now a confirmed fanboy before him until he couldn't hold back the laugh that had come up from his gut, patting Jaune's shoulder appreciatively.
"I gotta say Jaune, I'm very much flattered." After several moments to calm himself down, the war veteran coughed into his hand to recompose himself. "Okay. With that out of the way, I suggest you… don't really follow my example."
"...What? But I got it from you." Jaune argued. "It would kinda feel, well, disrespectful not to think about how you do it."
"Believe me, I get it and I do appreciate the sentiment, Jaune. But you need to realize that my shield is… very unique." He said, not wanting to bring up the capabilities of Vibranium. "Much of my style revolves around this old friend of mine." The soldier patted its surface a little. "And the material used to make this was all that could be found. So I highly doubt another could be made with the same traits."
Jaune was about to bring up what Peter had said but he had caught on to Peter's expression and reaction afterwards when blurting out the word Vibranium. It was clear to him that he wasn't meant to say that, so he decided it best not to dwell on that aspect of the shield.
Yet he couldn't help but ask. "Who made it for you?"
Steve's eyes held a look of old memories from what feels like a different lifetime ago. Shaking his head, he gazed at the shield that had been a near constant in his life for years now with the many battles he had gone through using the old thing.
"An old friend. Long gone now and I don't know if he would forgive me on certain events." Steve said, silently referring to him keeping his old childhood friend Bucky from being turned in. Said man was responsible for the death of the man who made his iconic shield.
"Professor?" Jaune asked, noticing Caps slightly downtrodden expression
"Sorry Jaune" Cap said earnestly "Let's get back to it."
He raised up his shield and then struck the metal dummy hard, knocking it off its stand.
Jaune gaped, letting out a "whoa" of amazement at the seamless display by Captain America.
"Now when you're doing a strike like that, you gotta take into account several key aspects one of which is the recoil. And I gotta tell ya this now, your arm will get sore on the first go arounds before you start getting used to it." Steve explained.
Gulping a bit, Jaune glanced down at his own which was obviously distinctly shaped in comparison to Caps. The young Arc also wasn't a super soldier like Cap, so he would have to adjust in his own way as he builds the technique.
Granted he did have an exceptionally large reserve of aura, judging from what Pyrrha once told him but he wasn't sure it would help in the soreness department depending on how often he may use this shield jab.
"You're also dealing with the angle of which you strike with." Steve said now moving over to the wooden dummy. In rapid succession, Steve bashed his shield into the dummy at its abdomen in a diagonal fashion, straight shot at the neck and an uppercut to the chin. "Along with how much force you apply with the strike." Steve finished off the dummy with a vertical Shield smash that virtually splintered the entire dummy, making Jaune's eyes widen to the size of saucers.
"Oh man, Cap." Jaune was jittery with excitement. "I don't know if I could do something like that!"
"You will in time." Steve assured, standing up straight and flicking off wooden pieces that got onto him. "It comes with practice. Starting now."
"Wait, what?"
"You're not gonna be hitting anything just yet if that's what you're wondering or were worried about." Steve stated. "I need to first get you practicing your form so your body can get accustomed to it. Build muscle memory to the point where you don't even need to think on doing it."
Jaune gave a brief nod of understanding before getting into a rough fighting stance with just his shield equipped.
Steve approached Jaune and adjusted his arm, corrected his stance more to fit in line with his body type and made sure Jaune gripped his shield properly and that it remained tightly in his hand.
Stepping back, Steve crossed his arms "Alright, now give me one."
Jaune thrust his shield, feeling an immediate burn in his arm when he snapped back to his original stance.
"Again."
Jaune jabbed once more.
"Again, lower your arm a bit this time."
Jaune did as instructed, wobbling a bit this time. A bead of sweat trailed down his brow
"Alright. Now keep doing the same move over and over until I say stop."
Jaune grit his teeth and began the same attacking motion for the next few minutes. After the first few, he began to feel his entire body to burn from the movement and sweat was starting to glisten off his forehead.
"Good. Now switch to your other arm." Steve said, making Jaune nearly double take.
"Huh? Other arm?"
"You gotta get the hang of it on both arms, believe me, I learned that the hard way." Steve explained "This will give you a head start for the future."
Jaune now held his shield within his left arm, feeling a slight bit of discomfort as this was not his dominant hand. Sure he used this side for holding his shield but it was mainly for defensive reasons. His right side was the offense and left, the defense.
Shaking his head, Jaune tried his best to recreate the right hand stand to the left and repeated the prior motion.
Steve stepped in momentarily to help with adjustments before moving back again.
Jaune jabbed forward, finding this to be far more difficult than last time as his body instinctively moved against him. Forcing it into a new movement was truly going to be difficult to overcome.
Off to the sidelines, Steve silently watched Jaune keep up with the simple routine. Mentally noting on what he'll be working with in the foreseeable future. After some time seeing Jaune starting to exhaust himself, he stepped in and told him to stop.
The young Arc felt relieved after hearing the command. Hunching down while using his family's shield as a means of support.
"Don't think we're done just yet, Mr. Arc. We're just warming up."
Jaune could only hang his entire body, feeling a looming sense of dread overtake him.
'I think Glynda is starting to rub off on me.' Steve pondered before another person came to mind. 'Either her or Colonel Phillips from beyond the grave.'
"Alright Jaune." Steve held out a water bottle to him. "Next we'll be working on angling your shield."
Jaune graciously accepted the bottle and jugged the contents down in a matter of seconds. He knew this was going to be a long training session.
The Cafeteria
It was now lunchtime in Beacon with the entire school population being there.
Teams RWBY and JNPR, minus the latter team leader along with Peter sat together eating their food.
"Wonder what's taking Vomit Boy so long." Yang muttered out as she ate some mashed potatoes.
"Professor Rogers did seem pretty serious in talking to him." Ren said, sipping his tea.
"Are you sure?" Pyrrha asked somewhat nervously "You don't think he's in trouble?"
"I don't think so." Peter assured "It must be for something else. He did miss out on Miss Goodwitch's class though."
"Who knows." Nora simply said before munching down a few burgers at once. "Gut tells me it's nothing we should really worry about." Her stomach then started to rumble. "No wait. It's telling me I need to go elsewhere." The hammer wielding huntress-in-training quickly stood up from her seat. "Back in a jiff." She suddenly sped off with a little dust cloud from her original position.
Looking off to the side, Yang looked to see if the coast was clear before reaching forward to snag one of Nora's big helping of burgers.
Peter did the same, using his web shooters and the two winked at one another. Until the back of Peter's head rang like a bell.
The moment the pair were about to grasp one, Nora suddenly reappeared in order to smack their hands away. "NO TOUCHY MY FOOD!" And just like that, she ran off.
"How in the…"
"Nora always knows" Ren said plainly, taking a burger for himself. Yang and Peter looked around and saw that Nora had not done anything to prevent Ren from taking it.
He felt their gazes on him so he shrugged. "Best friend privileges"
Deadpanning at the silent Huntsmen, Peter looked around for other food to steal when the site of tired and out of breath Jaune entered his field of vision.
"Hey guys." Jaune said exhaustedly, sitting beside his partner and leaning down to rest his head on the table.
"Geez Jaune, did Professor Rogers talk to you or make you run the marathon?" Yang jokingly asked, finding his disheveled state a bit amusing to see.
"Not… the first." Said JNPR's leader, voice muffled by his face lying down upon the table. "But the second might as well be. If what he did counts as one." Turning his head, his eyes spotted the large assortment of burgers. His arms were too tired to properly lift, causing him to awkwardly move his head closer to the plate. "Must… eat… sustenance!"
"...I don't know if Nora's gonna whack ya if you tried to steal her food."
"I don't care!" Came the groaned response as he inched himself closer to one of the delicious patties.
"WHO DARES EAT MY- Oh Jaune you're back!" Nora said cheerfully, noticing his horrid appearance and clear desperation in getting a burger. "Oh, sure! Help yourself."
"Mfhank vou." Jaune muttered out before he slowly nibbled on the nearest burger, not caring if his face got partially dirtied in the process from the grease, ketchup, mustard, etc.
The others couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Jaune eating in that matter.
Pyrrha giggled, moving to wipe some of the food off his face with a napkin.
"Thanks Pyrrha." He said appreciatively, returning to eating the burger making his face dirty once more.
"Okay, seriously Jaune. What happened?" Yang voiced the question on everybody else's mind.
Swallowing a bit of food that practically felt like true gourmet at this point, Jaune briefly thought on what to respond with. Wanting to hide the truth from the others, thinking it was too embarrassing to discuss, he lied… partially.
"Nothing really. Professor Rogers randomly chose me for some physical activities and errands… Something that I'm probably gonna hate for a while."
"Do you think you'll need help?" Peter asked
Jaune mulled about with that question in his mind. "Eventually…. I think…. I hope."
It was then that Ruby had picked up on a slight change in Jaune's attire.
"Jaune, where's your sword and shield?" Ruby asked.
Eyeing down his side and trying to get a feel of himself, Jaune groaned to himself realizing where they were.
"Ah dang it. I left them behind in Professor Rogers' classroom." Jaune bemoaned.
"I could go and get them for you after lunch, Jaune." Pyrrha offered.
"...If you would. And thanks."
She smiled and returned to her meal when…
"What do you think you're doing, Mr. Winchester." A strong and very angry voice cut through all the noise and chatter of the cafeteria.
Everyone turned to see that it was none other than Professor Steve Rogers towering over a very frightened Team CRDL.
"Don't try lying to me, Mr. Winchester, I saw that you and your team were clearly pulling on Ms. Scarlatina's ears in an aggressive manner" Steve said, getting right up in the face of Cardin who was rigid with fright and remorse at being caught.
"Care to explain yourself?" Steve asked with a serious gaze that made the young bully hang his head in defeat. "We'll be taking this to my office. And detention for a week for you and your entire team."
Now normally, one or many would give off very affronted and enraged expressions and commentary after receiving such a punishment. But this was Captain Rogers who was speaking to them.
The freaking leader of the Avengers. You can't exactly say no or complain about this type of punishment to a guy like him.
Seeing that they were reprimanded and not about to do anything else, Steve looked down to the seated Faunas. Coincidentally, one of the first students he had met here.
"You okay, Ms. Scarlatina?" The rabbit-Faunus merely rubbed her sore ears while giving the Avenger a small nod. "Good. Now if either of them are picking on you again, come and find me. Alright?"
Velvet nodded once more giving Steve an appreciative smile before standing up to walk away and meet back with the rest of her team at their dorm room.
Turning back, Steve glared at Team CRDL once again. "Wait here."
Steve then abruptly turned and walked over to teams RWBY and JNPR who had been watching in complete silence the entire time.
"Jaune?" Steve said, looking down at the still exhausted teen "Try not to forget these next time."
He held out his hand and showed that it was his weapon Crocea Mors in his hands.
"Uh… thanks, Professor."
"I'm sorry you all had to see that." Steve said to them all.
"You don't need to do that, Professor." Blake spoke up, giving him a look of admiration.
"If you'll excuse me." Steve said politely, walking back to the busted bullies who were awaiting there soon to be punishment.
"Let's go." Cap said coldly and like a group of kicked puppies, team CRDL followed after him.
"I'd pay good money to see what they'll be dealt with." Yang stated before taking a bite out of a pear.
"I hope he breaks their legs!" Said the energetic Nora, glaring heatedly at the backs of Cardin and his cronies.
"I'm not so sure he's allowed such a thing, Nora." Ren said light heartedly
"I wouldn't mind seeing that." Blake remarked casually, picking up her book to read
"Captain Rogers is so awesome." Ruby declared, stars in her eyes "I wanna be an awesome hero, just like him."
"Daw, my sweet little sister everyone." Yang gushed, pulling her sister in for a tight hug.
"Yaaang! Stoooop!" The huntress in red croaked out.
"I will once you stop being adorable!"
"Judging by her interaction," Weiss started out, "it will be quite a long time."
"Agreed." Said everyone else unanimously.
The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch time and the time to return back to class. Everyone got up to leave all save for poor Jaune who remained stationary.
"Uh guys…." Jaune called out to them weakly "I can't really feel my legs right about now… or my arms… or legs… or anything really. Little help?"
Some of his fellow teammates and friends looked at each other as they wondered who could help carry him. Pyrrha and Peter both moved to help him up but sadly, Nora beat them to it.
"I've got you, fearless leader." Nora boisterously announced and unceremoniously tossed him over her shoulder in a fireman carry, causing some discomfort in the process.
"Oh dear Oum." Jaune squeaked out, feeling the soreness surge through his very being.
"Uh, Nora? I don't think that's comf…" Pyrrha tried to dissuade Nora in carrying Jaune in that manner but the hyperactive hammer swinger merrily marched on.
"TO CLASS!" She declared, exiting the cafeteria with a pleading Jaune reaching out to them for help.
"Better catch up and keep Nora from unintentionally killing Jaune." Peter jokingly said.
"Agreed" Ren and Pyrrha said in unison.
Professor Ooblecks class
The entire gang arrived in their next class in time to see the unmistakable blur of one Professor/Doctor Oobleck zipping about his white board and pinning up various papers and red string to display to his students.
He stopped momentarily in mid set up to take a large swig of his coffee, resuming a second later at an even faster rate. Oobleck finished his set up in a few seconds after.
'And here I thought Pietro was fast.' Peter thought with astonishment.
"Welcomeeveryonepleasetakeyourseatsowemaybeginwherewelastleftoff." Professor Oobleck spoke in his typical rapid fashion with many having to guess and pick up on any words that they could make out in his lightning fast speech pattern.
Everyone managed to hear seats, so that's all that was needed really.
Ooblecks lesson took off like a rocket, rattling off dates and names pertaining to the Faunas war of the past and speaking "much slower" in comparison to how he started off the class.
Jaune in the meantime kept trying to stay awake in order to pay attention to the lecture. But he didn't know what was getting to him first: the boredom or his body's soreness.
After several seconds of contemplation, he deemed it to be the soreness as it was really starting to get to him.
The rest of his friends were listening to Ooblecks lecture with varying degrees of success.
Ruby, Yang and Nora had given up halfway whilst Peter, Weiss, Blake, Ren and Pyrrha managed to listen attentively.
"...This is prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War!" Oobleck stated, zooming up to the front of the class with both the map displayed and the papers on his desk fluttering about. "Humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie." He suddenly appeared right by the displayed map as he aimed a laser pointer to the designated area.
His little action seemingly caught Blake's attention with her eyes intently following the red dot before shaking her head in order to control herself.
Turning off his laser pointer, the professor took a mighty swig of his coffee once more before seemingly reappearing right back in front of his desk. "NOW! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this very day!"
Before Oobleck could continue on with his lesson, the door to his class opened and in walked team CRDL with Cap at the rear.
"Ah~ I've been wondering where you four were at." Oobleck muttered before sipping his coffee once more… that seemed to be endless.
"Sorry about this Bart." Steve said "Didn't mean to barge into your lesson like this. Just needed to have some serious words with these four."
"No apologies necessary Steven, my friend." Oobleck waved off. "It is of course within your right. I'll have these four caught up to speed after class."
"I'll leave you to it then, Doctor." Steve said, nodding his head to the wildly green haired teacher who gave him a thumbs up.
Coughing into his hand, the caffeinated professor resumed his lecture. "Now then! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"
Several students in the classroom held up their hands in response with Velvet being one of them. And secretly, Blake wanted to raise her hand as well but forced herself not to in order to keep up appearances.
"Dreadful, simply dreadful!" Oobleck shook his head in clear disappointment to their hands.
"Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!"
From his seat, Peter eyed the professor as he rushed off to the side of the room and quickly poured himself another full mug of coffee. 'How is he handling all that caffeine? He should be going into shock or something with so much running through him.'
"I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to the White Fang." Oobleck pointed out "Now, which one of you young scallions can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the war? Yes?"
Weiss held up her hand, causing the professor to call out to her. "The battle at Fort Castle!"
"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"
Jaune who had been drifting off into sleep felt a piece of an eraser strike his head. Rubbing the back of his head inadvertently caught Ooblecks eye.
"Ah~ Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class today! This is excellent! EXCELLENT! Now tell me, what is the answer?"
Feeling himself in a tight spot, Jaune mustered all of the brain power he could muster at the present time. "Uhhh… The answer… Advantage… of the Faunus." He could practically feel every bit of attention hitting him all at once.
Pyrrha manages to catch Jaune's eyes and mouthed him the answer.
Unclear of what she was saying, Jaune continued to stammer and delay the answer when Peter held up a piece of paper with what he needed to say.
"Night vision?" Jaune was clearly uncertain but Peter seemed to be so he trusted him.
"CORRECT!" Oobleck bellowed out, causing the young Arc to jump in his seat on the sudden outburst. Cardin only snorted angrily, glaring at Jaune with spiteful eyes. "Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark." Taking yet another sip of his coffee, he spoke out a question. "Now who can tell me what also lead to the downfall of our good General?"
"General Lagune heavily underestimated the enemies and was inexperienced in fighting the Faunas. He made the mistake of attacking them at night." Blake answered, drawing some attention towards her. "His massive army was outmatched and he was later captured. Probably if he paid attention to the facts, he wouldn't have to deal with such a failure."
Blake did not hide her pointed look that she directed at in Cardin's direction. The leader of team CRDL did not take too kindly at the underhanded jab.
"You trying to say something, girly?" The mace-wielding hunter-in-training questioned as he stood up from his seat.
"I advise you to take your seat, Mr. Winchester." Said the caffeinated professor. "If not, then you'll no doubt be staying much later in class than what I'd previously had planned. And considering you and your entire team came in late, you will stay afterwards for additional assignments for today."
Said team could only grit their teeth in anger at not just one, but two teachers getting on their case today.
"Now, moving on!" Oobleck declared, zipping around the classroom once more.
Soon after, the class came to an end with the students departing save for the troublemakers that stood to the side.
"Mr. Arc. A moment of your time." Oobleck called out to Jaune who was being helped out of the room this time thankfully by Pyrrha and Peter.
The two friends supporting him were clearly hesitant but a pointed look from Oobleck forced them to let go.
'What now?' Jaune groaned out as he mentally cried. 'I just wanna get back to my dorm and sleep!' Coming up to the bespectacled professor, he spoke up. "Can I help you, Professor?"
"It's Doctor Mr. Arc. I know you've been struggling in my class since the first day of this school year." Oobleck addressed, causing Jaune to wince. "Now, I don't know if it's a lack of interest, stubborn nature or something else." He took another look at the young student and gave a brief nod. "Though exhaustion seems to be the case, especially today. But to the point, this behavior stops NOW!"
Jaune jumped a bit at the elevation in Ooblecks voice.
"I understand the difficulties in getting into this academy. You've worked hard to gain entrance into this school, even with Mr. Rogers' recommendation helping you get in, but it doesn't excuse you to not pick up the slack and lollygag through your entire admittance here. We only accept the best of the best, so I expect you to act like it."
"Yes Professor Oobleck" Jaune murmured.
"Doctor." Oobleck corrected instinctively "I am aware that your partners Ren and Pyrrha are both doing exceptionally well in this class. You are a team leader but that doesn't mean you go about this alone. Look to your friends to assist you."
"Right, Doctor."
"Now… History is important, hence why I teach it. I feel everyone needs to know and learn from it. And if you can't learn from it… you're destined to repeat and fail from the most tragic times." Oobleck then waved his hand in order to 'shoo' him away. "Now run along. You've got another class to get to."
'...Oh yeah, forgot.' Jaune mentally face-palmed. 'One more and then… sweet, sweet sleep.'
He dragged himself out of the classroom to the pleasant site of Pyrrha and Peter actually waiting for him.
"Ah thanks for waiting for me guys." Jaune said appreciatively
"You look like you're about to collapse dude." Peter quipped.
"I feel li-OOF!" Jaune was suddenly shoved down to the ground by none other than Cardin Winchester.
"Oops." Cardin said in false-guilt "Didn't see ya there teachers pet."
"HEY!" Peter said in anger. "What was that for?"
"Shut it, nerd" Cardin sneered at Peter, eyeing Pyrrha a moment later with the same contempt. "You losers need to understand the pecking order around here."
"Ah, pecking order you say?" From out of nowhere, Oobleck suddenly appeared in order to grasp Cardin's shoulder. "And where do you think you're going?"
"Uhh…"
"I haven't given the go ahead to leave. After all, your fellow teammates still need to catch up with what time you lot missed today."
Cursing his bad luck, Cardin gave one last solid glare at all three of them before returning back into the classroom.
"On your way now students." Oobleck waved off. "Not my first set of rule breakers I've had to deal with."
Helping Jaune back to his feet, Peter and Pyrrha helped in getting Jaune to the next class hoping the day won't end with any further drama.
That night
Professor Ports class had been uneventful with the brilliantly mustached man once again rambling on about his past exploits of his time as a young Huntsmen.
Jaune had long awaited to get into bed but found himself being unable to sleep at all. He tossed and turned in his bed, but there was no way for him to actually relax.
Letting out an exasperated grunt of annoyance, Jaune flung off his blanket, ignoring the protest of his body and threw on some casual clothes. He left his dorm all the while unaware of his actions getting the attention of a now awake Pyrrha.
Confused by his sudden departure and clearly frustrated actions, Pyrrha slipped on some slippers and jogged after him.
She followed after her team leader out to the rooftop of their dormitory, overlooking the glowing green orbs in the central tower of Beacon.
Pyrrha found Jaune sitting on the edge of the roof with his head hung low. He was muttering to himself, though she couldn't make out as to what he was saying.
"Oh man, how am I ever gonna catch up to anybody like this?" Jaune quietly berated himself.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha called out to him, making him cry out in shock and jump in the air.
Widening her eyes in shock, Pyrrha jumped forward and grabbed Jaune by the back of his shirt and pulled him back to the roof.
"Ow." Jaune moaned, opening his eyes to see… "Pyrrha? What are you doing here?"
"Sorry about the scare, Jaune." Pyrrha sheepishly said. "And I feel like I should be asking you that question? You didn't exactly leave the room quietly you know."
"Oh, did I wake you?" Jaune apologetically asked. "I didn't mean to."
"It's alright Jaune." Pyrrha said understandingly, sitting down beside him "You sounded like you have a lot on your mind."
Jaune rubbed the back of his head. "More than you realize."
"Wanna talk about it?" Pyrrha asked
"Talk about what exactly?" Jaune felt a bit nervous in expressing his worries to his friend. He didn't really feel like dumping his problems onto her.
"Well…" Pyrrha rubbed her arm. "I know that you've been struggling in class both with combat and our lessons."
"That obvious, huh?"
"Sorry. And I don't know what else is bothering you but since you're my partner, team leader and my friend, I wanna help you Jaune." Pyrrha said earnestly. "In any way that I can."
"Huh?" Jaune said, surprised by Pyrrha's forwardness in her offer.
"We can train up here if you want." Pyrrha gestured to the rooftop "Or in the Avengers classroom. Professor Barton did say that was always open to everyone at any time."
"I don't need help, Pyrrha." Jaune cut her off, cringing at the way he did so as it seemed to make Pyrrha flinch. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that."
"It's ok, Jaune." Pyrrha said, though she was still a bit shaken from the way he interrupted her. "I know it can be hard being at this school. But think about it, you made it here! You actually proved that you are capable in being a Huntsmen like the rest of us. You just need a little-"
"I didn't get in the way you think I did." Jaune said in an aloof fashion.
"What?" Pyrrha was thoroughly confused by Jaune's behavior now "What do you mean? Peter and I heard that you got in from a recommendation by Professor Rogers. Is that what you mean?"
Clenching his fists tightly, Jaune shook his head and closed his eyes in self-loathing.
"Not the positive way, if that's what you're thinking."
This served to only further throw off Pyrrha. She had never seen Jaune act like this at all. Normally he gave off a goofy and confident demeanor with some insecurities naturally but what was it that caused him to actually look like it pained to speak aloud as to what troubled him.
"The truth is Pyrrha…" Jaune looked her directly in the eye "I lied to get in Pyrrha. I got my hands on some transcripts and originally intended on faking my way into Beacon."
Pyrrha could only stare in complete disbelief, trying to properly process as to what Jaune had just told her.
"Jaune... What?" Pyrrha stammered. "W-what do you mean by originally?"
Jaune sighed, hating himself right now but forcing himself to talk. Pyrrha deserved the truth after all, she was his partner.
"I was found out by Captain Rogers." Jaune clarified. "He came to me with my fake transcripts in the middle of the park I was at with my baby sister."
Pyrrha sat in silence as she listened to Jaune's short tale.
"He came up to me and just asked me why… why I was willing to lie to get in to Beacon academy." Jaune recounted, remembering that day vividly. "He didn't even seem angry or upset. He just wanted to know why I sent in fake transcripts to Beacon. Headmaster Ozpin apparently knew but Cap wanted to know himself."
"And?" Pyrrha leaned forward in anticipation "What'd you tell him?"
Jaune opened his mouth to answer when…
"Ms. Nikos."
Both Jaune and Pyrrha leapt up in fright and turned to the entrance to see Steve standing there expectantly, looking over at the Mistral Champion.
Dread flooded Pyrrha something Cap picked up on and moved to calm her.
"It's alright, Ms. Nikos." Steve promised. "There's something really important I need to speak about with Jaune. He's not in any trouble if that's what you're wondering."
The redhead student was feeling rather unsure at the current moment. With the little truth being revealed about her team leader to Captain America's sudden arrival seemed a little too coincidental.
"How did you know we were up here?" Pyrrha asked.
Steve held up a cup of coffee. "Just spending some time with Glynda before heading back to my own room. I saw the both of you wandering about after hours."
"So you followed us?" Pyrrha said, a bit affronted by this action.
"Pyrrha" Jaune said with anxiousness
"No, it's fine. She has the right to question why I'm up here Jaune." Steve said "It is after class after all."
"What do you want, professor?" Pyrrha asked, more politely this time.
"I need to speak with Jaune on a very serious matter right now." Steve informed her "He's not in any trouble, nor am I gonna suspend or expel him or anything like that. I just need to speak with him personally."
Pyrrha was really conflicted here as she looked between both Jaune and Steve before facing the ground to hide her expression. She couldn't explain why, but she was terrified right now as to what may happen to Jaune and if she were honest with herself she'd rather be right beside him then leaving him with Captain Rogers.
"Pyrrha" Jaune softly placed a hand on her shoulder, jolting her out of her thought process "It's gonna be ok. Captain Rogers just wants to talk, he said it himself. I'm not in trouble. Go on to bed Pyrrha, I don't want you staying up for my sake."
Very much against the idea, Pyrrha nonetheless left them be after giving Jaune a momentary pleading look.
She left the two but decided against going back to her dorm. Instead, Pyrrha opted to hide around the corner within earshot.
Peeking out around the corner, Pyrrha watched as Jaune was helped up to his feet by Captain Rogers and he gestured Jaune to stand beside him next to the edge.
"So…" Steve began "You decided to tell Pyrrha huh?"
"I didn't really get the chance to tell her the full story, Professor" Jaune admitted
"You can call me Steve outside of class Jaune" Steve said kindly "I'm not that big of a stickler on formalities. I leave that to Glynda"
"…Er"
"How about Cap then? Everyone seems to stick with that one"
"Right…Cap"
"Getting back to our previous topic" Steve said "Why did you tell her? Why did you tell Pyrrha out of everyone you could have told"
Jaune was momentarily at a loss of words. He didn't exactly know how to answer Cap so he spoke from what he felt was right.
"I had to." Jaune said, more firmly "If anyone deserved to know the truth, it's my partner and friend. She's stuck with me for the next four years…if I'm even gonna be here for that long after tonight."
"You're not going anywhere Jaune" Steve promised, patting the boys shoulder
"How can you say that?" Jaune asked fearfully "I mean… isn't it obvious? I don't belong here. Not with people like Pyrrha, Nora, Peter, Ruby or Yang. Everyone but me got in cause they were special. I'm just…delusional"
Leaning on the railing on the edge of the roof, Jaune hung his head in shame and acceptance of his situation feeling his eyes tear up.
Steve silently regarded the young kid while in the background, sorrow crept up in Pyrrha's heart at the site of Jaune like this.
"Can I tell you a story Jaune?" Steve asked casually, looking out onto Beacon Academy.
"Huh?"
"A story" Steve repeated "It's about a kid like you who wanted to become a 'hero'. You remind me of him actually."
Now curious, Jaune leaned in with interest as Steve recounted his story.
"See, a while ago there were these two places that were in conflict with each other" Steve said with a vague undertone "During this time period, many young men and women on both sides volunteered into service. One side had a ruthless and narrow minded ideology that threatened stability and peace. The other, while not the best wished to uphold the virtues of freedom of expression and choice."
"This sounds a lot like the great war." Jaune pointed out.
"It was similar to it but also very different." Steve said "The side that fought against tyranny had an open recruitment drive for any and all able bodied men who can enter into their armies service and fight on the front lines. This is where that old stupid and reckless kid comes in."
Steve had a reminiscent gaze in his eyes, shaking his head in amusement.
"This guy used to be bullied every single day of his life" Steve remarked with a laugh. "Guess he was to stubborn and too stupid to run away from one. He remembered every ass kicking he ever got. From every alleyway to every parking lot. He just kept getting them. And problem was from most people is that he never knew went to stand down to the bullies."
"Why?" Jaune abruptly asked, finding himself further drawn in to the story
"Cause he learned at young age that when you allow the bullies to walk all over you, then they'll never stop picking on you." Steve said wistfully "They'll keep coming back cause they know you're a guy who'll take the punches without ever swinging back"
Steve laughed boisterously then "It did help however that he had a much bigger friend in his corner."
Jaune chuckled along with him, though a spike of guilt did go through him, thinking back to Pyrrha.
Shaking his head, Jaune returned his attention to the story. "So what happened to the guy?"
"Right" Steve trailed his hand over his chin in thought "After the conflict broke out, his best friend was soon enlisted and was gonna be shipped off in a bit. Not wanting to stay behind, he went and signed up with him. Sadly… the guy had to many health problems to count. From his asthma alone, they couldn't allow him in."
"So what'd he do?"
Steve shot Jaune a knowing grin. "He forged a couple of transcripts and tried to fake his way to get in."
Jaune's mouth dropped in disbelief, now fully enraptured within the story.
"And then…?" He eagerly asked
"They rejected him." Steve plainly responded, making the young Huntsmen-in-training deflate dramatically.
"But that didn't stop him from trying again."
"Really?"
"Yup, but it wasn't easy" Steve said with a mirthful chuckle "Every forged document he applied got rejected and not because it was forged. The instructors just took one look at the kid and said 'I'm doing you a favor' and sent him back home."
"There was nothing he could do?"
"He kept on tying though." Steve said "Never gave up. And thing is, he could have easily had gotten in trouble for forgery but he didn't care. Cause in his mind, men were laying down their lives. He had no right to do any less than them."
He gave Jaune a knowing smirk. "Kinda like what you told me when you forged your own way in."
Jaune blushed at the praise and jab, giving him a jolly smile.
"And that's when someone, just like I did with you, noticed his efforts." Steve said softly "He gave him a chance, one chance only to try and prove himself that he can get the job done. Only problem was that he was a scrawny kid that weighed about less than a hundred pounds."
"Wait, what? So what happened to him then?"
"See, he was hand picked by the head of an experimental project known as Rebirth. Basically, a super-soldier program enacted to counter the rising threat of the tyrannical enemy. But what the head of the project needed to remind the recruit was not to be a great soldier. No. The reason why he was chosen was because he wanted to give him these capabilities and stay true to himself and his values. Be a good man. And that's essentially, an abridged extremely shortened story of how I came to be the man I am today. Yeah I glossed over a few details, but I'll tell you about it for another time."
"Wow" Jaune murmured, grinning widely at the tail end of Caps story.
He was silent for the next few moments…
Until he truly began to register as to what the story that Steve told him about was in full. Slowly, the gears in his head clicked into place and he whirled round to face Cap who was gazing down at him with an expectant look.
"Professor Rogers…" Jaune said shakily "T-that story? It was about you?"
"Yes." Steve nodded, placing his hand on Jaune's shoulder "You reminded me of myself when I was a lot more reckless and to be honest stupider than I already am."
Jaune was at a loss for words, actually feeling the corner of his eyes tear up.
"Jaune" Cap looked him firmly in the eyes "I know what it's like to have that sense of overwhelming guilt, not living up to other people's expectations and failing more often than not. But the reason I got so far is not just belief in myself but the belief and faith I got from other. Doctor Erskine put his faith in me and I've tried my damnedest to live up to it. And that's what I see in you. Your potential to be greater than me. And I'm gonna help bring it out of you."
Sniffling, Jaune hung his head allowing the tears to flow freely now. No one, in his entire life had ever said anything like that to him.
"You, with your team and Team RWBY and Peter." Steve listed off "You all are the future of Remnant and I gotta say it's looking to be a bright future. Just remember to always lean on each other for support when you need it. Don't make the mistakes that my team had made in the past."
Nodding, Jaune could barely contain himself so he hugged Steve tightly.
Steve simply patted the student on the back, smiling down at the young fledgling hero. He honestly felt like a weight has been lifted off of his shoulders. That was a story he had actually never really told anyone. The popular public version has always been told but never the personal version. Never the way he himself experienced it.
Sensing that they were being watched, Steve had a pretty good hunch as to whom it was and looked over to Pyrrha who had remained where she was.
Holding a hand up to her mouth, the red-headed champion was also crying silently but let out a small 'eep' at being caught by Cap.
She was about to leave but Steve gestured his head down at Jaune who had now pulled away and silently conveyed her to come on out.
Looking between Cap and Jaune, Pyrrha didn't hesitate in running out from her hiding spot.
"Jaune" Pyrrha called out to him.
"Pyrrha?" Was all Jaune managed out until he was tackled down to the ground with an embrace from Pyrrha.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune exclaimed, face heating up at the contact whilst feeling her cheek nuzzle against his own.
"I'll always have your back Jaune." Pyrrha declared determinedly "Cause I believe in you. Just like Professor Rogers does."
Jaune's eyes widened, slightly pulling away to look at her directly.
"You heard everything?" Jaune asked fearfully
Pyrrha nodded ashamedly. "I did and I don't care. Cap has faith in you and so do I. And I'm going to help you cause you already did for me."
"Huh?" Jaune honestly felt a headache coming on from everything that transpired tonight "What does that mean?"
Pyrrha only smile happily now. "Just keep being you, Jaune. That's all I need from you."
"I thought you'd want a better partner." Jaune said
"But I prefer a good friend." Pyrrha said hugging him again "You being a competent fighter is really just a bonus."
Jaune felt his lip quiver, curving up into a smile as he now hugged Pyrrha back.
"Thanks Pyrrha." Jaune said sincerely "Thanks for being here."
He then glanced up to Steve who had a smirk on his face.
"And thanks Cap." Jaune said softly "For giving me a chance."
"Don't thank me just yet, Jaune." Steve said cheekily "Now that you know, I'm gonna really begin to push you like I did today."
"Wait." Pyrrha now pulled away from Jaune who gulped at today's training regime "That was you?!"
"Yes it was Ms. Nikos" Steve now held a teasing smile "And that goes the same for you and your friends. From here on out, the gloves are gonna begin to come off."
Now Pyrrha felt a sense of looming dread as she recalled the state of which Jaune was in after Captain Rogers had pulled him aside for. Sure she had experienced rough training but Steve's personal training…she actually for once couldn't begin to fathom what he can do.
"But for now, it's best you to head back to bed." Steve advised, holding out his hands to assist them both up "You've still got a busy school week ahead of you"
"Right." Jaune and Pyrrha said at the same time.
"We won't let you down Cap." Jaune said now with a greater deal of confidence "I promise."
Pyrrha smiled at Jaune and gave Cap a nod.
"That's what I like to hear" Steve said, satisfied as to how the night turned out.
Far above in Beacon tower, one Headmaster Ozpin stood out upon the balcony and watched down below.
Humming thoughtfully, Oz sipped his coffee.
"Looks like there may be hope yet" Oz said softly to himself.
Phew, originally I had held off on doing this chapter due to RWBY volume 6 coming to an end but after Noble Justice Chapter 36 being done so quickly thanks again in small part to Jebest who also greatly contributed to this chapter I was able to get more done than before.
So yeah, here's another one comrades and the first official deviation from the RWBY canon cause a-dur, of course this was gonna happen.
Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day