Jaune Age: 13
Location: Vale Primeval's Valley
"So, what's the second step in your training?" Jaune asks while stretching.
"We have sharpened your fighting instincts. Now we sharpen your elemental instincts," Mystake responds.
"How?" Jaune asks, tilting his head.
"Simple Jaune, what am I holding in my hand?" Mystake asks, an unlit torch in her hand.
"A torch," Jaune asks, confused.
"Exactly now when I do this, can you feel it," Mystake responds, a small purple flame appearing in her hand, lighting the torch.
"Yes, actually, how?" Jaune asks, staring at the torch.
"Simple Elemental Sensing," Mystake says.
"That's a thing!" Jaune yells.
"Yup,"
"How much did the former alliances not include more in the books!?" Jaune yells into the sky.
"Lots of things, actually," Mystake says, her free hand stroking her chin.
*Sigh!* "Just explain the thing," Jaune says dejectedly.
"Good, you've stopped questioning things now. Elemental Sensing is an ability that allows an Elemental Master to sense the Elemental Radiation that exists naturally in the world," Mystake explains.
"Cool, but then how come I ever did this before?" Jaune asks.
"You didn't think you could, so you never did," Mystake responds.
"What?"
"It's like out of sight, out of mind. Since you never knew about this ability, it never activated," Mystake explains.
"Ohh, that makes sense," Jaune says.
"Now that you understand that, we can begin," Mystake says.
"Alright, but this doesn't seem like something I need to train," Jaune says.
"Well, did you sense the torch back at the base?" Mystake asks, a cheeky smile on her face.
"Huh," Jaune says, looking back at the base and seeing the torch and beginning to sense it but only faintly.
"Exactly," Mystake says as Jaune turns to her.
"I guess this means I do need to train, right?" Jaune asks, scratching the back of his head.
"Oh ho ho definitely," Mystake responds with a smile that worries Jaune.
"What do you have in mi-" Jaune got cut off as a giant pillar of flame erupted underneath him.
"That is what I had in mind," Mystake says as Jaune condenses down the fire pillar in his hands and then dispels it.
"You could have just said so," Jaune says, exasperated.
"Meh, it wouldn't have as much effect," Mystake says, shrugging.
"Sometimes I think you like torturing me," Jaune says, his clothes smoking.
"Meh, who knows? I mean, I don't have a soul, so probably," Mystake responded, shrugging, "now that you know the basic gist of the training you're going to be doing for the next couple of weeks, we can begin," she told Jaune.
"And by training, you mean you'll have random pillars of fire appear, and I have to sense them before I get hit. Did I miss anything?" Jaune asked.
"Hmm, Nope," Mystake responds with a mischievous smile.
*Sigh* "Great," Jaune says before jumping to the side as a fire pillar erupts from where he is standing.
"Oh, look at that. You learn fast," Mystake says, "I suggest you start running," she warns in a singsong voice.
"First master, damn it," Jaune mutters before he starts running, jumping, sliding, and everything in between to avoid Mystake.
"They always think they can hide," Mystake says, chasing after the running Arc memories of her time training a different Arc comes to mind.
They played a game of cat and mouse for several hours until Jaune understood how to detect them without needing to look. No, when he jumped to the side to dodge one earlier, it doesn't count. He just guessed correctly.
"I have never been more thankful to be fireproof," Jaune said, collapsing into his sleeping bag.
"Yeah, be glad we trained that first," Mystake says, chuckling.
"Did you not train other masters to be fireproof before hitting them with fire pillars?" Jaune asks with a raised eyebrow.
"Um, the moon looks nice today," Mystake says.
"Mystake were in a cave," Jaune deadpans.
"Sleep," Mystake tells Jaune, her eyes glowing purple.
"Wha-" Jaune collapses into a deep sleep.
"How was I supposed to know humans had to train to be fireproof," Mystake grumbles.
Jaune Age: 17
Location: Beacon Academy
"So there I was surrounded by thirty Ursa Major."
"It was five, and they were regular Ursa."
"I summoned a thunderstorm,"
"the storm was there already,"
"I lifted Magnhild into the air and absorbed the storm into it,"
"you only got stuck by one lightning bolt,"
"and struck the ground, killing them instantly,"
"that part did happen. She's had this dream for about a week now," Ren told the rest as he corrected Nora while she recounted her dream.
Ruby and Yang clap at the storytelling. Weiss just eats her food, not paying attention. Blake also didn't pay attention; instead, she read a book.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha calls out to the distracted leader.
"Huh, oh yes," Jaune responds.
"Fearless leader, what did you think of my story!?" Nora asks with stars in her eyes.
"Hmm, it was entertaining but also nostalgic," Jaune tells her.
"Nostalgic, how?" Blake asks, curious, the rest looking at Jaune for an answer.
"It reminded me of a story I read in a book a long time ago," Jaune tells them.
"What book?" Blake asks, her eyebrow raised.
"The Book of Masters," Jaune answers with a smile.
"What's it about," Ruby asks, interested.
Jaune puts a hand on his chin, "it's about six people who come together to protect everything precious to them while also going on adventures," Jaune answers with a warm smile on his face.
"Can I borrow it?" Ruby asks.
"Sorry, I left it with my master. I can lend you a different one, though," Jaune responds.
"Sure," Ruby responds.
"If you're done, I suggest we head to class because lunch is almost over," Weiss said.
*sigh* "She's we should head to Professor Peachs' class now," Jaune says, getting up and cleaning his area. The rest of the team, RBY, and NPR clean up and head towards Dust Studies.
"The only reason you like Dust Studies is that you're the best in the class," Jaune told Weiss.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Weiss says with a smile on her face walking ahead.
Jaune rolls his eyes. The rest of the group catches up to him and asks where Weiss went, and Jaune tells them she went ahead.
"Now, class, today we will be reviewing the history of Dust usage," Professor Peach announces, pointing to the blackboard as it has notes of the earliest usage of Dust.
"The earliest known usage of Dust was when the first Hunters discovered it and were able to activate it with their Aura. Later types of Dust were discovered and were mixed to help push back the creatures of Grimm," Professor Peach explains.
"Now then, who can tell me of the first distributors of Dust during the Kingdom Establishing Era?" the Professor asks the students. Weiss raised her hand, "Yes, miss Schnee?"
"The first distributors of Dust were The Royal Blacksmiths Dust Company. They and their founder Brook Stone used their unknown excavation method to acquire large amounts of Dust," Weiss answers with a smile before it becomes a scowl. "Before they gave it out at no cost, giving out billions of Lien in Dust before disappearing," she finishes, annoyed.
"They helped ensure the survival of the human and Faunus race, helping maintain the first villages that would later become the four Kingdoms. Unlike a certain company, they didn't leave them to die because they wanted some Lien," Jaune explains.
"Correct both of you. The Royal Blacksmiths were the first Dust company and helped ensure the survival of the first permanent human settlements. Such settlements became the first iterations of the modern Kingdoms," Professor Peach exclaims, nodding her head.
"Didn't think you knew too much about Dust Arc," Weiss glared at Jaune.
"I had a long time to study it, Schnee," Jaune responded, rolling his eyes.
"Now, mister Arc and miss Schnee explained. The first distributors of Dust used their unknown method to help ensure the survival of both humans and Faunus," The Professor explains as she points to a blackboard section that summarizes the different ways Dust has been used.
"Here we see Dust's usage through history from using it in its raw state to cartridges. The Hunters of this generation use," Professor Peach explains. Turning to the class, "What is a method that Dust has used in the past?" she asks the class.
Jaune raised his hand before Weiss could, "Yes, mister Arc,"
"Dust Weaving is a method of imbuing Dust in certain forms of clothing. It was primarily used during the great war as a defensive technique in certain kingdoms because of the lack of metal," Jaune explains, smiling as he makes parts of his clothing glow before they ignite in a fire.
"Correct, mister Arc, now please turn that off before it causes any accidents," The Professor says. Jaune extinguishes his hand and lowers it.
"When did you weave Dust into your uniform?" Weiss asks the Arc with a raised eyebrow.
"Who says I did," Jaune responds.
"Now then, class, please turn to page twelve of your textbook so that we may begin our review on the many types of Dust, both the natural and unnatural," The Professor tells the class as instructed with Jaune's book appearing in his hands.
"How did you-"
"Ninja," Jaune whispered, cutting Weiss off.
Weiss grumbled something that sounded close to 'of course.'
Time Skip: about an hour and a half. ( I'm lazy. If you want more info on Dust, just read the wiki)
All you need to know about Dust in this story that won't spoil any future lore is that it gets activated by Elemental Radiation. Jaune doesn't use Dust. He could but doesn't because it would require intense concentration to have Elemental Radiation not emanate from his body in the area where he would carry Dust. Back to the story.
"Yang looks excited," Jaune comments at his fellow blonde's current attitude.
"Of course, since it's been a week since the start of the semester, Professor Goodwitch is going to have the first true match between students, and she wants to see or be in a good fight," Ruby explains, walking next to her first friend.
"Oh, that makes sense," Jaune says, nodding his head.
"Arc, how did you weave Dust into your uniform?" Weiss demands, looking Jaune in the eyes.
"Oh yeah, I kinda want to know, too," Ruby says, looking at Jaune.
"Yes, I too wish to know," Pyrrha adds.
"Yeah, tell us, fearless leader!" Nora says, jumping at Jaune, who dodges.
"Alright, I'll tell you," Jaune lifts his sleeve and activates his elemental power. His eyes glow, and his hand glows before it spreads to his lower arm. "My 'Semblance' causes the part of my body that I use it on to glow. This glow can be bright enough to go through my clothing or dark enough not to be noticed," Jaune explains, lowering his sleeve.
'Most of that isn't true, but Mystake told me not to reveal my elemental powers to anyone,' Jaune thought.
"Woah, that's so cool!" Ruby exclaims.
"Yeah! Fearless leader can be Team JNPR's flashlight!" Nora announces, grinning madly.
Jaune smiles at Nora, "yup, I can also be your heat pack," Jaune says.
*GASP* "Really!" Nora yells, hugging Jaune.
Jaune uses his elemental power to increase his outer heat while maintaining his internal body.
"So warm," Nora says, her eyes closing as she gets sleepy.
"Come on, we don't want to be late," Jaune says, lifting Nora onto her back in a piggyback and rushing towards Professor Goodwitch's classroom.
"Hey, wait for us!" Ruby yells, rushing after her fellow leader.
The two teams get to Goodwitchs class with time to spare and find Jaune sitting next to a sleeping Nora, waving at them.
"Man, she's in a deep sleep. How did you do it?" Yang asks, staring at the sleeping valkyrie.
"The outside of the uniforms is comfy enough for her to sleep on," Jaune explains with a shrug.
"Make sense," Yang replied, shrugging her shoulders.
"How are you going to wake her up?" Ruby asks.
"Like this," Jaune said before whispering something into Nora's ear.
"Rally! Renny!?" Nora shot up from her seat and grabbed the magenta-eyed student.
"U-um," He said, looking towards Jaune, who was nodding his head, "yes?" Ren replied, unsure.
"Yay," Nora said before sitting next to Jaune, humming.
"Out of curiosity, what did you tell her?" Pyrrha asked.
"I told her that when school is done, Ren will get her some pancakes," Jaune said, grinning as Ren glared at him.
"Make sure not to abuse the pancake button, Jaune," Ren said, still glaring.
"Don't worry, I'll help make them," Jaune replied, waving off Ren's concern.
"Can you cook?" Ren asked, no longer glaring.
"My master taught me how to cook since she needed help from time to time," Jaune said.
"Help with what?" Ruby asked.
"She runs a traveling cafe on the side," Jaune tells them.
"And she still had time to train you?" Yang asks, shocked.
"She's old. She doesn't care about money," Jaune tells them. "You might want to sit down. Professor Goodwitch is her," he tells them as they instantly take their seats.
"Hello, students. As I'm sure you are all aware, today will be the day of the first match," Professor Goodwitch announced to the class as they cheered.
Glynda quickly silenced with a patent. 'Goodwitch Glare' "Thank you now. Since this is the first match, I will allow some leniency as to what can be performed," the students were about to cheer but were prematurely silenced with another glare from Glynda.
"Be warned; however, if I say the fight is over, then the fight is over, understood," She warned the students, who nodded in fear.
"Good, now, then the two students who will be selected will be shown on the screen. Keep in mind the students are randomized, so do try and not be disappointed," She finished getting them to stare at the screen.
The names of every student in the class flashed on the screen. Every student watched it with anticipation, fear, excitement, and hope. Then the names started to slow down. "Yang Xiao-Long versus Jaune Arc," The caped Professor announces.
"Mister Arc, if you jump into the arena, you will get detention," Glynda warns with a glare strong enough to kill an Oni.
"I-i w-would never," Jaune nervously says, walking down and entering the arena. "NINJA-GO!" he yells using his Spinjitzu, changing into his DX suit and Crocea Mors strapped onto his back.
"You know you're going to have to wait while I get prepared, right," Yang tells Jaune, who is just posing dramatically in the arena.
"I did not think far ahead," Jaune responds, taking off his hood. "So don't keep me waiting," he tells her in a singsong voice.
"Oh, I won't. I've been looking forward to this," Yang replies, heading to the locker room. Yang emerges from the locker room in the same outfit from the initiation as she walks onto the stage across from Jaune.
"Are both combatants ready?" Professor Godwitch asks Jaune, and Yang nods their heads yes simultaneously. "Then let the match begin!"
Yang quickly rushes at Jaune before he can unsheath Crocea Mors and goes for a left hook. Jaune reacts in time, dodging underneath her arm, and forms a fireball in his hand, slamming it into Yang's stomach and sending her back.
Pulling down his hood Jaune unsheaths Crocea Mors, igniting its blade, and rushes at Yang. Yang recovers and blocks Jaune's swing, not noticing the fireball forming in his left hand as he rams it into her head, sending her stumbling back.
"NINJA-GO!" Jaune uses his Spinjitzu to approach Yang, whose eyes turn red as she shoots at the tornado, but the bullets only get absorbed into it and launch back at Yang. Yang dodges most of the bullets but is still hit by a few. Her Aura bars her from any damage.
Before she can do anything else, a single strand of golden hair flutters in front of her. Yang's eyes widen before her face turns into a fierce glare. "YOU! BASTARD!" Yang yells as she activates her Semblance. Her hair points upward, and it glows with flames.
Jaune exits his Spinjitzu and back flips. "Alright, let's get fired up!" Jaune says sheathing Crocea Mors. His fists were engulfed in flames, fire emitted from his eyes, and flames emanated from the top of his hood.
The two charge at each other. Yang goes for a punch with her right-hand Jaune swings with his left hand. As the two fists collide, an explosion erupts, launching the two back. Jaune lands on his feet and holds his palms out at Yang, launching multiple fireballs.
Yang sees the fireballs coming to her, dodges them effortlessly, and charges at Jaune. Swinging at him, Jaune dodges and attempts to land a punch, but Yang counters and lands a heavy punch to his stomach.
Before Jaune can fly back, Yang launches multiple hits at incredible speeds, causing parts of Jaune's suit to be ripped up.
Jaune is sent back but recovers quickly and launches another volley of fireballs at Yang. Yang dodges them again and swings. Jaune catches the fist, and with his free hand, he uses a fireball to launch her back.
"Alright, let's finish this!" Jaune yells, panting.
"Couldn't agree more, blondie!" Yang replies, panting her hair back to normal.
Jaune holds out his hand. "What going to shoot me with fireballs again? I'm just going to dodge them again," Yang says in a cocky tone.
"Hmph, you think I was aiming for you," Jaune replies with a cheeky smile.
"What are you talking about?" Yang trails off, seeing the earlier fireballs floating in the air. "Oh, oh, oh shit," she turns to Jaune.
"Hellzone Grenade!" Jaune yells with a smile as the fireballs launch at Yang.
'It even has a cool name!' Yang thought wide-eyed at the attack.
All the fireballs converge on Yang, causing multiple explosions on impact as Jaune holds his hands together in a circular form and charges a final concentrated fire blast at Yang.
Yang is still standing when the smoke blows away and activates her Semblance again. "Alright, my turn," Yang charges at Jaune again, ready to deliver a finishing blow.
Jaune lifts his hands to his mouth, takes a deep breath, and uses the fire in his hands to send a wave of fire at Yang.
"That is quite enough!" Goodwitch yells, using her Semblance to freeze Jaune and Yang in place, canceling out Jaunes last fireblast.
"Who won?" Yang asks.
"That is the important question," Jaune reasons.
*sigh* "Teenagers," Professor Goodwitch mutters, shaking her head before pointing to the screen with her riding crop. "Winner Jaune Arc!" she announces.
Everyone looks at the screen and sees that Jaune won with twenty-eight percent 'Aura' left while Yang only had thirteen percent Aura left.
"Well, damn good fight, blondie," Yang compliments with a smile.
"Yeah, you too," Jaune returns the compliment, "though I wish you didn't ruin my outfit," he complains.
"Huh," Yang looks at Jaune's outfit and notices that parts were ripped or burned off. "Oh, um, my bad," she replies.
"It's fine. I have other outfits," Jaune replies, getting up and dusting himself up.
"If you two are done, I would like to give you the analysis of the fight," Glynda says, glaring at the two.
"Yes, ma'am," Jaune and Yang say, standing up straight in fear.
"Good now to begin with you, mister Arc," Glynda looks at Jaune. Jaune stands up straighter.
"Your fighting style is unique and hard to counter if you can overpower your opponent early on in the fight. However, you were reckless, and instead of finishing. Your opponent off you decided to toy with them," Glynda finishes with a glare that causes Jaune to break out in a cold sweat.
"Next time, ensure you finish your opponent before they can finish you off. Is that understood?" She asks with a soul-piercing glare.
"Yes, ma'am," Jaune responds, nodding his head.
"As for you, Miss Xiao-long," Glynda turns to Yang, who starts sweating.
"You exhibit a similar issue that Mister Arc showed at the beginning of the fight. You quickly overpowered him, but instead of finishing him, you toyed with him, which cost you the victory. You were also reckless in allowing yourself to be hit by some of Mister Arc's more avoidable attacks. You also need to work on your spatial awareness, as your confidence and single-mindedness caused you to ignore the fireballs left in the air. Do you understand?" Glynda finished her glare strong enough to kill a nevermore in a second.
"Yes, ma'am," Yang says, nodding.
"Good, both of you, go to the locker room and clean yourselves up," the caped Professor commanded. The two students nod and rush to the locker room.
A little while later.
Jaune and Yang came out of the locker room and were met by their team. Nora tackled Jaune in a bear hug.
"Fearless leader, that was awesome!" Nora said, squeezing him.
"T-thanks, Nora, but I k-kinda need oxygen to b-breath," Jaune said, struggling to breathe.
"Oh, sorry," Nora says, putting down her team leader.
"Jaune, that was awesome. You were like bang, then you were like swoosh, and then you went boom!" Ruby exclaims, stars in her eyes.
"That's oddly accurate," Jaune said, nodding his head.
"Still, that final technique was impressive though the name could use some work," Blake added.
"What's wrong with Hellzone Grenade?" Jaune asked, insulted.
"It is completely childish," Wiess made her opinion known.
"No, it isn't. It's cool, right Nora?" Jaune turns to the pink valkyrie.
"Absolutely! Fearless leader!" Nora responded with a double thumbs up.
"Yeah, it was awesome!" Ruby yelled.
"I was the one hit by it, but even I can agree the attack was awesome," Yang said, her hands behind her back.
"My point in case," Weiss said, crossing her arms.
"You're just jealous that my 'Semblance' is better than yours," Jaune replied.
"It is not! The Schnee family Semblance is far superior to your simple fire Semblance!" Weiss replied, irritated.
"Sure it is," Jaune replied, rolling his eyes in evident sarcasm.
"Oh, um, Jaune, you held your hand together close to the end of the fight. Was that to prepare a different attack?" Pyrrha asked in an attempt to defuse the situation.
"Hmph, oh yeah, I was preparing my special attack," Jaune said, taking a dramatic pose.
"Oh, what's it called?" Nora asked, bouncing on her feet.
"Light Grenade!" Jaune replied, changing his pose.
Yang, Ruby, and Nora were awed at the attack name. Ren and Pyrrha kept quiet but felt the name was a bit silly. Blake and Weiss both deadpanned at the ridiculousness that was Jaune Arc.
"Man, I want to see what it looks like," Yang says.
"How many special attacks do you have, Fearless leader?" Nora asked, shaking Jaune.
"I-i ha-have a-a l-lot o-of sp-special at-attacks," Jaune responded.
"Nora, please stop shaking Jaune," Ren told Nora with a deadpan.
"Okay, Renny," Nora replied, letting Jaune go.
"Thanks, Ren," Jaune said.
"Hm," Ren nodded.
"Can you tell us what they are?" Ruby asked.
"Nope," Jaune responds with a cheeky smile.
"Aww, why not?" Nora follows up dejectedly.
"A ninja never reveals their secrets," Jaune tells them.
"As fun as this has been, do I need to remind you that we have other classes to get to," Weiss cuts in.
"Oh, right! Team JNPR onwards!" Jaune yells, rushing towards his leadership classes.
"Right! Team RWBY, let's go!" Ruby rushes next to Jaune.
Neither team leader noticed their team wasn't following.
"They do know we don't have the leadership class with them, right," Blake said, deadpanning at the team leaders.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Yang asks Weiss.
"Obviously," Weiss said, rolling her eyes.
*Sigh* "We'll see them later," Ren told a downtrodden Nora.
*Sniff* "B-but he never told his special attacks," Nora tears up into Ren's arm.
"He'll tell us later, don't worry," Ren continued to comfort.
"I want pancakes," Nora said.
"Later," Ren tells her.
"Well, we've got a free period. What should we do?" Yang asks the others.
"I'm off to study," Weiss said, leaving.
"I'm going to train against some bots," Pyrrha said. Ren and Nora joined her.
"Well, looks like it's you and me, partner… Blake, where did you go?" Yang asks, looking around. She notices something on the floor, a note.
"Yang, if you're reading this, Blake went to the library," Jaune wrote the note.
"How did he-" She flipped the note to its back and deadpanned at the single word. 'Ninja' "Of course," Yang mutters, heading to the library.
The rest of the day went by fast, and before they knew it, the friend group was saying goodnight to each other.
Jaune was thinking back on everything that had happened this week. Jaune pulls out a photo of him and his family when he was young. "Hey, guys, I um, I just wanted to say I made it," Jaune says, staring at the photo.
"I know it's been a while, and I'm sorry for that more than you can ever know," Jaune says, his expression becoming somber. "Oh, I um, I didn't tell you about my team," Jaune exclaims.
"There's Ren, Nora, and… Pyrrha," Jaune says, still not comfortable with the champion, but he puts up with her for the team's sake.
"Ren is well, the brother I never had, not that that's your fault. I know that mom couldn't have any more kids after Azure," Jaune said, remembering what his father told him whenever he asked for a younger brother.
"I'm rambling, but anyways Ren is quiet and respectful, oh and he enjoys tea," Jaune says, getting back on topic. "We get along great, and we also have nice chats in our daily tea parties," he explained further, waiting before speaking again like he was talking to his family.
"Then there's Nora. She's like an eighth sister," Jaune said with a smile. "She is hyper, bubbly, optimistic, and loud, not in a bad way in a sibling who wants attention," Jaune explains.
"And honestly, her antics are just adorable. It reminds me of just hanging out with you guys, and well, I just want her to be happy," Jaune says, smiling, remembering the time Nora made a leaning tower of pancakes.
"And then there's Pyrrha… I don't exactly know how I feel about her. She's friendly, polite, patient, and the best partner I could have ever asked for," Jaune said, his face having an unreadable expression.
"She reminds me of Magenta and not in the way Nora is like a sister to me. She is incredibly skilled, but it reminds me of what happened on the day of my greatest failure," Jaune said somberly.
"But I can't let it show I am the team leader. I can't let my biases from my past affect how I treat them now, but it is still hard to just not break down from the memories of what happened and how it should have been me that was injured that day, not them," Jaune vents to the photo.
*sigh*. "I needed to get that off my chest still. It's only been a week. Let's just hope I can make it through the year," Jaune says, putting the photo away. "It's getting pretty late. I should probably head back now to not worry them," he says, heading towards his dorm.
Authors Note:
Holly, hell, did this chapter take a while. The main reason was that I had things in my personal life going on, and I wasn't satisfied with part of it (the Yang vs. Jaune fight), but I'm still learning, and hopefully, the fight scenes will improve in the future.
Beyond that, I didn't include a segment with the antagonist in this chapter because I wanted it to end with Jaune's reflection on the past week and how he feels about it.