Bruh Sana's graduation straight tore me up :( still beautiful tho
Ironmouse's anniversary stream and outfit tho, top stuff
Also, I saw Elvis and Nope. Both good movies, for sure. Elvis is a great piece of entertainment as well as a story of rises and falls. Nope is pretty tense and takes some unique approaches.
"This is fun!" Jaune said.
Yang punched him square in the face.
"That… seriously doesn't hurt?"
"My aura soaks it up. Mostly." Jaune shrugged. "Really, it just reminds me of my old training sessions."
"Your teacher would just punch you in the face a bunch?" Ruby asked.
"Pretty much." Actually that happened just a few weeks back. Man, those days back in Atlas before the ship ride feel like forever ago already.
"Yeesh," Yang blew on her punching hand, stretched it and cracked a few knuckles. "And I thought some of the teaches at Signal could be hardasses." She wrenched her neck from one side then the other, popping the joints like bubble wrap. The sound made Jaune wince.
Ruby too. She sat on a bench beside their outdoor sparring space (which is what their father liked to call a roughly circular patch of dirt down at the edge of the forest). She grimaced and said, "I don't know how you can do that. It sounds painful."
Yang arched her back, and even Jaune with his unnaturally accurate understanding of human anatomy was surprised that there were that many bones she could crack. "It's because," she said, "I'm cool. And you're not."
Ruby stuck out her tongue.
Yang ignored her sister, instead turning back to her opponent. "Come on," she said. "Hya!" She jumped back into a dramatic fighting pose, fists raised. "You're a huntsman, right? Wanna get into Beacon? Then show me what you're really made of!" She winked. "Punching you in the face is fun, but only in a fair fight. Otherwise, it's a little weird."
Jaune smiled. He twisted his back, flexed his hands and wrenched his neck. For each movement, he produced from miniscule speakers hidden on his body the sounds of cracking bones. More even than Yang, more than most humans would be capable of. It sounded like someone was smashing a water bottle in their hand.
Ruby gagged. Even Yang looked a little turned off.
"I am combat ready!" Jaune cheered, brandishing his fists.
Sure, he thought, I was made to be a spy robot and not a battle robot, but Yang is still just a human so—
He ducked out of the way just in time to avoid Yang's fist propelling toward his skull at meteoric speeds.
Alright, maybe saying yes to this spar wasn't the greatest idea I've had.
Jaune jumped out the way of another set of knuckles, landing to the side and rolling onto his shoulder. He flipped up off the ground again to dodge the double-handed ground pound Yang smashed down.
"Nice moves fishboy!" Yang said, using her fresh nickname for her ocean-diving acquiantance.
"Thank you!" Jaune said, absolutely beaming. "Your positive reinforcement is much more than I've received in the past!"
"Man, the more you talk the less I want to fight you—"
Before Yang got the chance to renege on their duel, Jaune lashed out; he spun and swung a kick at her knee.
Yang yelped as her leg buckled, thrashing her balance. Jaune tackled her off her feet and onto ground—
Which proved to be a mistake, because he quickly learned she was stronger than him. And she knew how to use it.
Usually, if you can get someone on the ground and stay on top of them, you're in good shape.
As it were, Yang smashed a flurry of six-inch punches into his ribs as he pressed her down, smashing at his aura with a jackhammer.
"Hah!" Yang bucked her hips to the side, breaking out of his hold. She spared him not time to recover, instead dragging him up by his collar as she jumped to her feet.
Jaune did not like the smile on her face.
He liked it a lot less when she threw him up in the air, grabbed him by his belt and collar and brought him straight down as she kneeled, slamming his back on her knee.
"Gah!" Even if he couldn't technically feel pain, he felt that; and even if he couldn't get injured in the same way as a real human, something in his sapient soul still instantly panicked for fear of his spine being snapped in half like a stepped-on twig.
"Yang!" Ruby shouted, "don't kill him!"
Yang flipped him over onto the ground, and her cackle was close to unsettling.
"Oh come on," she said, "he's got aura!" She flippantly waved her hand and showily flicked back a strand of her impressive hair. "I'm sure he can take it, right?"
"Yeah," Jaune doggedly got to his feet. "Yeah, I'm…" He required a few self-affirming nods. "... I'm combat ready." Significantly less enthusiasm in his voice.
Yang grinned. "How about we up the anty here a little, huh?" She formed her hands into the shape of a heart. "I win, you have to tell me about that little crush you've been hiding, hm?" She giggled. "Once I hear about some good tea, I can't let it go."
"Well"– Jaune rubbed the back of his neck –"I'm not really sure I can agree to those terms."
"Oh? Why not?"
Because I don't know any more about her than you do.
"Because"– he gulped down a nervous stammer – "because…"
"Come on Yang!" Ruby called out. "Don't embarrass him!"
"Yeah!" Jaune raised a fist defiantly. "What she said!"
The precocious older sister chuckled. "Alright, alright—but a good fight always has real stakes, right? Let's say… the winner has to cook dinner for the loser."
"Um, shouldn't it be the other way around?" Ruby asked.
"What she said." Yang nodded.
"I…" Jaune rubbed his chin. "I don't think I know how to cook, but I guess I could try?"
"She's just trying to pass off dinner duty tonight," Ruby pouted. "She and dad take turns cooking."
"And not you?"
"I tried that once, but they both said they would rather eat Zwei's food."
"That's a little rude."
"And not an overstatement," Yang said; for a moment, her playful bravado slid from her face, and like an overcast cloud throwing shadow down onto the world, so was her expression covered with a look of terrible remembrance, an awful recollection of something so horrid it defies description and—in fact—the universe itself requests that no sane being attempt to go too far into the details. Even I, the author, must abide by this mandate.
"Hey, it was my first time trying to cook!"
"Twerp, it shouldn't take a master chef to know that chopped up hot dogs, slices of white bread and ketchup won't make a good lasagna!"
Ruby scowled and puffed out her cheeks; it was more adorable than threatening, by several orders of magnitude.
Yang strode by the bench, picked up a water bottle and downed half of it. She swept away some sweat from her forehead and tossed the bottle to Jaune.
"Thank you!" he said. Even if this is entirely unnecessary for my functioning, the gesture is appreciated nonetheless.
"Ready to go?"
Jaune gave Ruby the water bottle with a ginger, underhanded throw. "Sure," he said. "Think I—"
"Think fast!" Yang shouted as she sprinted for him again.
Jaune swooped under the calamitous haymaker, then barely spun out the way as she pressed in, mixing up jabs and hooks in a dizzying and unforgiving array. He ducked or blocked each hit, feeling her knuckles batter his aura.
This whole time, however, something was operating in the back of his mind. Certainly, in this battle he occupied the losing side. Anyone could tell that she would get the better of him, that her victory was just a few good shots away from confirmed.
But he had something she did not know about. A program carefully designed through machine learning and good 'ol fashioned training montages. By forming an algorithm capable of recognizing different fighting styles—and, given enough time, traits unique to an individual—he was armed with the ability to surmise the optimal counter-style to any opponent.
Preferably, he would extensively study an enemy's performance, both before and during a battle. Then, wait until the right moment.
"You got it Jaune!"
Yang's eyes flashed red for a moment. "You're really gonna bet against your own sis?"
Ruby stuck her tongue out.
Yang growled with that good-natured but still malicious anger reserved between siblings. She diverted her attention to Ruby for just a moment, just long enough to stick her tongue out—
Before a roundhouse kick to the side of the head sent her spinning through the air like some kind of acrobat pulling off an impossible routine of flips. Much unlike an acrobat, however, she crashed into the dirt.
She got up to her knees, looking around in a daze of both confusion and perhaps mild concussion.
"What the…?" Yang turned around—
Just in time to see Jaune's ax-kick cutting down on her.
She rolled back, adrenaline and training beating back her surprise with a stick and forcing her to be alert again. She pressed off her hands and sprung up to her feet, fists bared.
Jaune shifted his weight from foot to foot, now clearly in a different stance from before, one designed with mobility in mind—with his hands close to his chest.
Yang smiled.
There was no announcement this time, she merely threw herself forward in a headstrong charge, wielding enough force to put a battering ram to shame.
Jaune sidestepped and kicked her up in the ribs. She lashed out and swung at his leg, hitting his calf and sending him spinning away like a wobbly top; the world whirled around him as he staggered and tried not to fall on his ass. He had all the grace of a toddler taking his first steps, and it took the last ounce of his coordination to dodge Yang's follow-up jab.
Her fist whiffed by his face, blowing his hair back.
He hopped past her side, spun and kicked her again—straight in the liver.
"Get the liver!" he cheered. Uncle Tyrian will be so proud!
Yang growled and stumbled, nursing her side and gritting her teeth. Only her supernatural vitality and innate grit kept her from outright collapsing after such a nasty hit. "You wanna play like that?"
She shook her head like a bull that had just barely missed goring the matador. Then she summoned a hurricane of punches—only for Jaune to stay just out of reach. He counted her strikes, trusting that on her fifth jab in a specific rotation—
She was open.
He dipped low and swept for her legs.
Yang hopped up and avoided the trip, only for Jaune to spring up and kick her firmly in the gut. Then the momentum was his.
She barely managed to block his swirl of spinning kicks, putting her on the backfoot.
"Rah!" She clasped her hands together and swung her arms like a single club as he tried for a jumping kick to her chest. Her muscles flexed, her eyes glowed red and the aura around her tinged with scarlet; violent energy that wanted to do violent things.
She smashed her arms into his legs, and the sheer force of it sent Jaune haphazardly spiraling in the air like a poorly thrown frisbee.
Alright, he thought as he powerlessly watched the ground spin and come closer, she's stronger than I thought.
Jaune groaned as he belly-flopped into the dirt.
Come on, I managed to take on a giant Grimm!
He nimbly flipped up onto his feet just as Yang stomped into the ground where he had been, imprinting her boot half a foot-deep into the dirt.
Yeah, but now I don't have a lighthouse to stab her with.
Yang geared up for another roundhouse, her face etched with a smile that was equal parts mad and exhilarated.
Jaune decided in that moment that, although genuinely quite nice, she should be considered at least a little bit scary.
She sprinted and lunged, a golden lion swooping onto her prey.
Jaune rolled back onto his shoulders—bending his neck into a questionably possible angle to do so—planted his hands firm on the ground and kicked straight upwards and into Yang's jaw.
Her teeth clipped together with a cringe-inducing snap! that flipped her back over and onto the ground.
"Oh no!" Jaune's hands flew up to his face as Yang lay in the dirt. "I'm sorry!"
He glanced over at Ruby when she made a sound; his horror grew for a fraction of a second as what he thought were gasps of shock confirmed that he had gone too far.
Instead, he saw Ruby stifling a laugh.
"Oh… oh you…" Yang climbed up and stood tall. She patted off dust from her pants.
Jaune gulped when she looked at him again; she looked nothing short of alive, and her smile was energetic and wide. "This, this is a good time!"
The red tinge around her eyes, however, made him think that maybe her definition of a "good time" did not exactly line up with most people's.
"I like you," she said, pointing at him appreciatively. "Nobody at Signal gives me this sort of trouble." She cracked her knuckles, each popping loudly—like slotting new shells into a shotgun. "Tell you what, how about we kick this up a notch?"
"Well—"
"Imma go and get my gauntlets," Yang said, rubbing her hands together and lightly massaging the grooves between her fingers. "Then we can get some real practice in!"
Ruby raised her hand. "Um, I don't think he actually has a weapon though, right?"
Yang blinked. "You don't have a weapon?"
"Nope! I came out the sea with the clothes I was wearing."
"I… how?"
"How what?"
"I mean, just… how?"
"I mean, I did it."
"Guess so…" Yang shook her head. "Eh, it's fine. I'll root around and get one of those old swords or something dad has. He's out getting groceries anyway, so what he doesn't know won't hurt him."
"One of the classics?" Ruby looked aghast. "You can't! Those are from the Great War! If they're scratched, we'll get in trouble!"
"Pffft," Yang waved her hand as she sauntered past her sister. "It'll be fine; I just need it for a bit so I can smash fishboy into the dust in a fair fight."
"Right," Jaune said. "That… sounds fun."
Yang gave him a disconcerting wink and jogged off to their house.
As she left, he bit at the inside of his cheek. He came with several programmed protocols on how to express anxiety or nervousness. This was his favorite.
"Sorry about her," Ruby said as she kicked up from her spot on the bench. Her laugh made her sound more amused than apologetic. "She's a little crazy."
"You know, I might have to agree."
Ruby giggled again, and Jaune found himself quite liking the sound. She very much fit a 'little sister' vibe. And he had never had a little sister, so this was pretty nice!
"Her semblance is getting stronger the more she gets hit. So you either have to hit her really hard all at once, or tire her out. That, and getting mad. She gets stronger when she's mad. I mean, most people do but," she shrugged, "my nutzo sister takes it to another level."
"Ah she's nice," Jaune said. "I mean, you guys are all really nice. Could've just left me back in the water with the fishes."
"No, we couldn't do that!" Ruby fidgeted with her hood. "I mean, definitely not after we all smacked you a bunch."
"With the benefit of hindsight, I don't really blame you." He chuckled half-heartedly. "And thanks, I wasn't totally sure that she wasn't, well, actually mad at me."
"Oh she's actually mad," Ruby said.
Jaune's smile fell.
"Oh! Oh no!" Ruby flew into damage control. "I mean, yeah she's mad, but she's not mad mad—you know?"
"Um, no?"
"Uhhh… oh darn, how do I put it? She, well, she sorta just feels how she feels and really shows it. Get that?"
"Sort of?"
"Oof." Ruby poked the side of her head, trying to stir up some thoughts in there. "What I mean is that she's not just bad mad. Like, she can be happy and mad; sad and mad; scared and mad; excited and mad; mad and mad."
"That's a lot of kinds of mad."
"Right?" Ruby whistled. (Her whistle was only about halfway effective, such that it sounded more akin to just, well, blowing air.) "I dunno how she does it. I mean, not just being mad. She's just so… open? So outgoing! That's it, outgoing. She can meet somebody for the first time and just right away start talking to them like they've been friends for years. It's crazy! How do you do that?"
"Wow, that's a good question." Jaune rested his chin on his fist like a certain statue and furrowed his brow. He searched through his databanks for any guide on instant friendship, but it seemed no such thing existed.
"It seems no such thing exists…"
"Exactly!" She mimicked him and placed her hand on her chin, then added a hum. "Hmmmmmm…"
"Hmmmmmm…"
"Hmmmmmm…"
"Hmmmmmm…"
The two doofuses stood there side by side: humming, thinking and coming up with absolutely nothing.
"Nope, I've come up with absolutely nothing," Jaune said.
"Really? Me too!"
"I just sorta feel like a doofus."
"Same!"
Jaune turned to her excitedly, "whoah, it's like we're in sync!"
"Yeah!" Ruby clapped her hands. "Great minds think alike!"
"Is this how the saying works?"
"Why not?"
"Why not, indeed." Jaune nodded. "I've always felt out of my depth, like I'm just a little bit, I don't know, like there's something I'm just not getting."
My databanks are big, but all the rules and regulations for socializing are even bigger.
"Right?" Ruby excitedly slammed a fist into an open palm. "That's exactly it! That's what it's like! Just a little out of sync."
"Exactly!" Jaune said, "which is a big problem, because making friends is sort of my mission."
Ruby's eyes widened. "Really?" She smiled. "Because me too! I love making friends! I don't really have a lot at Signal; everybody already has their own groups and stuff and I'm just left out. But once I get to Beacon—"
"You're gonna make a bunch of friends?"
"Heck yeah!"
"Same!" It's part of a spy's job, after all. "I need to make lots of friends and secure useful human assets at Beacon."
"What?"
"What?"
"What did you say?"
"What did I say?"
"About securing what?"
"Friends?"
"Yeah but after that?"
"But after what?"
A bead of sweat would have formed on Jaune's forehead, if only he could actually sweat naturally and not as a sophisticated illusion to make him seem hot or tired.
"Eh, nevermind." Ruby waved her hand and drove off the little hang-up. "You and me, we're just a couple of friend-makers."
"Yeah!" He tilted his head. "Are we friends?"
"Are we?"
"I would like to be!"
"Awesome!" Ruby held up her hand. "High five!"
"High five!" Jaune slapped his palm against her own, and he laughed alongside her as she whimsically giggled again.
He decided that having friends was very nice.
"Man, I feel like you get me," Ruby said.
"I feel the same," Jaune said. "You know, we should—"
A loud crack came out of the forest nearby. Then some rustling.
"Hm?" Ruby turned to the noise. "Yang, are you trying to—"
A horrible, deep-bellied roar. A huge ursa exploded through bushes and branches with the force and calamitous power of a rolling boulder in one of those old adventure movies. It gnashed its stocky jaws and charged.
In Jaune's internal Grimm profiles sat folders and files on all the different ways that Grimm could hunt, hide and generally be a pain in the ass. He was reminded now by an automated alert that an ursa could be surprisingly stealthy in a forest, and it was hardly unheard of to be snuck up on by one.
Thanks hindsight, useful as ever.
"I got this!" Jaune shouted and shoved Ruby, sending her off her feet and away with a yelp.
The ursa glared with the pure, wild hatred that only Grimm possess. It focused all that fury on Jaune.
"Ack!" Ruby grunted and tried to get to her feet.
The ursa's glare swung over to the smaller of the two prey, whiched seemed to be having trouble. It smashed a paw into the ground, cracking the dry earth and redirecting its charge for the weaker of its two targets.
Jaune seized up.
Man, I didn't think that through.
"No you don't" he yelled as he counter-charged. Under normal circumstances, dashing unarmed at an ursa—even with aura—is a highly unadvised decision. All the battle-planning algorithms in Jaune's mind said as much.
But hey, I've fought bigger right?
The ursa roared and swung a paw as large as Jaune's head with claws almost as long as his face was wide. He barely threw his hands up in time to reach around the claws and take the force from the flat pad of its paw, which still shocked his arms almost out of their hinges and sent him hurtling back.
Man, I could really use a lighthouse right about now.
He peeled himself up off the dirt.
The lumbering giant wiped a slimy black tongue over its jagged teeth; it crouched low, preparing for another charge.
"J-Jaune!" Ruby shouted. She looked down to her empty hands, then back up to the monstrosity before her with the stone hide and steel muscles. "What do I do! I don't have—"
The ursa roared and charged for Jaune again.
"Run for Yang!" he shouted. "Get her back here with some weapons!"
Ruby stepped towards the house and bit her lip. "But you'll be alone!"
Jaune dove out the way as the stampeding monster passed him. The Grimm drove its claws into the ground and slowed itself, plodding back around to growl at his prey.
"I mean it!" Jaune said. He gave her a thumbs up and a halfhearted smile. "I'm combat ready!"
The ursa roared.
Ruby bit her lip. Her silver eyes slid back and forth between the ursa, Jaune and the house. She stepped towards her house. She screwed her eyes shut. "I'msosorryI'll bebacksoon!" Then she kicked off, instantly becoming a scarlet blur; she dashed away like a red streak of paint that a vehement artist stretched across the landscape with one swift stroke. She left rose petals in her wake.
"Whoah," Jaune said, "impressive—"
His opponent squashed any idle thoughts of admiration as it charged again. Jaune bit down on the inside of his cheek, computing future outcomes and focusing on the ones that didn't end in him getting ripped to shreds like a car in a chop shop.
Alright, the most optimal plan is to… not die?
He glanced at the house, which the red blur that was Ruby had almost reached already. These two were huntresses, right?
He dodged a swipe from the ursa.
Well, they're huntresses in training: does that count?
The ursa jumped its great weight into the air, then came down with a crushing belly-slam that could flatten him like a bug under a boot. It missed Jaune as he rolled out the way, but it still sent a tremor through the earth that made Jaune's teeth chatter.
Man, I really hope it counts.
Jaune spun and leaned into a full sprint. He was faster, faster than most other people on the planet.
The ursa, however, was also faster than most other people on the planet.
It pursued, hot on his heels, rumbling up harsh growls from its throat and chomping its big maw in eerie snaps, anticipating what it would do to Jaune's head.
The beast lunged forward, reaching out one tree-trunk of an arm as far as it would go.
Jaune pumped the pistons in his legs; the thing's claws tore through the back of his shirt, gouged through his aura and missed his skin by the width of a fine thread.
This would really be a great time for Yang to—
He heard a cascade of little explosions in the distance.
Jaune and the ursa alike stopped and looked for the source; they saw a yellow light streaking towards them.
Jaune and the ursa looked at each other. The Grimm tilted its head.
"I dunno," Jaune said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'm still pretty new here."
They turned back to the golden light.
"Looks like it's getting closer, though." Jaune chewed lightly on the inside of his cheek. "Think it's coming for us?"
The gold light sped across the fields, hurtling straight for them.
Jaune and the ursa looked at each other again. "Think we should run?"
Before the Grimm got the chance to reply (insofar as it possibly could), a flash of red shone from the gold; a familiar glow.
"Oh," Jaune said, "man I'm glad I'm not you right now."
"Grr?" Jaune had never thought he would hear a questioning growl from a Grimm.
"Rah!" Yang propelled forward like a rocket powered by raw will and anger. And dust bullets, of course.
She stretched both fists ahead of her and plowed gauntlets-first into the ursa's bulky flank—
Blasting a hole straight through it.
"Whoah!" Jaune stepped back as the ursa gushed out black bile, smoke and torn up pieces of bone and hide. Grimm anatomy was something of a mystery, but Yang had gone on a thorough and sudden exploration of that unknown.
She tumbled across the ground, bits of black goo clinging onto her outfit and getting stuck in her hair like tar.
The ursa behind her slumped over, gone.
"Oh wow," Jaune said. "That was pretty crazy."
When Yang finally came to a stop, she looked up at the beast she had destroyed cannonball style. "Yeah… I've never killed a Grimm before."
"Really?" Jaune asked. "Cus you did this one in pretty easily."
"Yeah… I just sorta, ran at it." She pushed herself up to her feet. "Or, flew, I guess?" She looked down at herself, and her eyes widened. "Oh gods, I'm covered in it!" She tried brushing off the goo and tufts of fur, only to yelp when it started sizzling and smoking with little crackles and pops.
"I'm melting!" she said. "Or I'm burning!" She flailed her arms around.
"Don't worry," Jaune tried to assure her, awkwardly standing just beside her but not sure what to do. "Grimm guts just sort of disappear…" He looked at the ursa's body, which was already quickly crumbling and sizzling away in unimportant wisps of smoke.
"Oh gods, and it's in my hair! It's in my hair!"
"Here, let me—"
"Don't touch my hair!"
"But I can just—"
"NOT the hair!"
"If you let me—"
Neither of them had heard something creeping up on them through the woods, surprisingly stealthy in its own environment.
They certainly heard—and their bickering certainly ceased—when yet another ursa trampled out from the forest with a roar that shook the earth.
"This guy's bigger!" Jaune said as their new foe towered above them each, big enough to fill a living room and certainly larger than the body that was fizzling out of existence behind them.
Yang flicked a long strand of goo-covered hair out of her face. She reached behind her and pulled off something strapped to her back, then tossed it to Jaune. "Sorry, but this was all I could find."
The ursa roared and charged them.
Yang planted her feet and raised her fists.
Jaune looked at the sword in his hands.
He drew the blade from its sheath. The sword fit well in his hand, a long and sturdy weapon with keen edges and a good balance to it. His pupils faintly glowed green as he activated x-ray sensors; his scan revealed that it was, in fact, just a sword. A well-made sword of high-quality steel, but no other mechashift property to it. Certainly simple—at least compared to Yang's shotgun gauntlets—but it was sharp and pointy and that was really all he needed to have right now.
Another lighthouse would have been helpful, though.
The ursa charged them head on, and Yang let loose a volley from her gauntlets. Each dust round pounded into the ursa's shoulders and head, sending it into a greater rage while busting open cracks in its skull and blasting off chunks of its hide. It did not stop.
Jaune threw the sheath away and sprinted in an arc around the ursa, trusting that its attention was caught by the lady with the explosives. Yang saw his strategy and shot a dust round into the ground before her, sending herself back and baiting the ursa into the trap.
Jaune pivoted and charged the Grimm as it passed him. He leapt and sent his sword point-first into the monster's flank, throwing all his weight behind his weapon.
The monster howled and bucked as Jaune jammed the sword almost all the way up to the hilt into its side, stabbing through its thick hide and shredding the otherworldly sinew and muscle within.
The ursa furiously spun to snap its giant jaws at him. Jaune kicked against the thing's hide at the same time, holding onto his sword's hilt with both hands. "Rah!" He flexed the metal joints in his arms and the aura that supported them as hard as he could to hold on.
Jaune's sword raggedly left a huge, uneven gash in the ursa's flank as he ripped it out.
He landed on his feet and didn't touch the ground for a second before jumping away—the enraged monster swiped at him with one of its dinner plate-sized paws with kitchen knife claws.
Despite having such a giant wound, however, the ursa roared and chased after him, forcing Jaune to turn on his heels and run.
Yang loaded more shells into her gauntlets and fired; each round tore a piece out of the creature, but it was a tank. An absolute unit, one might say. Its great mass was such that even their toughest hits did little more than slow it down. They would need a lot of time to compound a great many hits on it.
"Nope!" Jaune dove to the side and landed on his shoulder, driving his momentum into a roll; he did that just in time, as the damn ursa lunged forward and snapped its gigantic jaws together. The sound of its fangs clashing was like a femur snapping in half.
"We mess up once"– Jaune yelped and dodged another set of claws –"then I think we're goners!"
"Hate to agree!" Yang shouted back. She blasted herself into the air and rocketed into the monster's flank, fists first.
She crashed into its side, and while she sent shocks along its hide and knocked it over, the strike was hardly as devastating as what she'd done last time.
The ursa emanated raw fury. It forced itself back to its feet and bellowed at its little prey. Even with aura, a good hit from those claws or those jaws could do them in.
The ursa stretched its neck up in the air and roared into the sky.
A light turned on in Jaune's head. Literally, as one of his receptors flashed with an idea. "Yang!" he shouted. "I'm gonna need you to uppercut him right in the jaw when I say so!"
"What?" She looked at him as he got to his feet and brandished his sword. "What'll that do?"
"You'll know!" He sprinted around the monster, opposite to Yang. "Try to keep its attention and keep it still for a sec!"
"How the heck do I do that?"
"I dunno!"
The ursa roared and chose a target; Jaune scowled when it was him.
Any normal creature should have been dead or dying by now. Black goo oozed out of its hide from all the holes and cuts; but it was a Grimm, and Grimm are less animals and more destructive forces.
"Run this way!" Yang shouted as she dashed to the side.
Jaune did so, running parallel to Yang as the giant ursa bounded after him. Yang shot off another blast from her gauntlets to get ahead and land straight in his path.
Jaune pumped his fist. "I love teamwork!"
He ducked and rolled again to the side, giving Yang an opportunity to shoot dust rounds from both gauntlets straight into its face.
The Grimm shut its eyes and snorted as the explosion battered its faceplate. It came to a stop and wiped a paw against its snout. It was dazed for merely a second, however, until it opened its bloody eyes again.
"Stupid bear!" Yang stuck out her tongue.
The ursa lifted its head up and roared into the air—
—failing to see Jaune leap up from the side, sword held high, and chop down with all the strength he could muster. He aimed for the exposed, thick hide of its neck just behind its skeletal mask. The soul-management ai jammed into his semiconductors recognized the dire need for as much power as could be summoned; thus, it channeled aura behind his strike. He cut down with the strength of spirit and steel.
The sword struck true and chopped into the black, leathery hide of the monster. It drove through several inches of the thing's flesh before embedding into something like bone, cleaving deep.
The ursa roared, clearly displeased and clearly not dead.
Jaune had known that wouldn't be enough; he counted on the magic of friendship. "Now!"
Yang had moved even before he spoke. Hurtling herself into the fray with another blast from her gauntlets, she skidded across the dirt like a baseball player making it to home-plate.
Her eyes narrowed; her irises flooded with a crimson color. These stupid frickin' things had attacked her little sister and her new friend. Worst of all, she had gotten monster goo all over her, and she still wasn't sure if it steaming away was damaging her hair—you know, like a blowdryer or bleaching or something.
She skidded just beneath the ursa's maw, pounded one gauntlet into the ground and fired another shot. The backward momentum sent her spinning up—and she perfectly channeled all her anger, aura and velocity into a brutal uppercut right against the monster's chin.
Jaune saw this—he tried to throw his weight down on the sword and desperately tightened his grip on its hilt as much as he could.
Yang's explosive fist threw the ursa's head up as Jaune pulled his sword down.
The monster's head flew back from its shoulders, tumbled through the air in an ungraceful arc and thudded down into the dirt. Its huge body collapsed, giant limbs folding with no more strength at all.
Jaune and Yang stood next to each other, both with heaving chests, both with sweat running down their faces. (For him, of course, those were behaviors executed by his illusionary subroutines.)
They both stared at the beheaded monster for a bit, half-expecting it to rise in some new hideous form. Instead, smoke started wheezing out of the gashes in its hide and the goopy stump of a neck. The head itself started cracking and splintering into dust.
"Yo." Yang turned to him. "We did it."
"Yo." Jaune repeated. "I think we did."
"Heck yeah!" Yang raised her hand for a high-five, which Jaune gladly gave. Big cooky smiles split both their faces. "We're badasses!"
"Yeah!"
"We're real hunters!"
"Yeah!"
"Roar!"
"Yeah!"
Jaune tilted his head, puzzled. Something had just roared, and it wasn't Yang. Actually, the monstrous sound had come from behind him.
"I, uh, didn't mean to agree with whatever made that sound," he said.
Yang pushed him out the way and glared down yet another ursa that stalked out the woods. This one, thankfully, was much smaller than the one they had just felled, smaller even than the original one they had dispatched.
"Alrighty…" Yang checked her gauntlets and frowned. "I've already used up all my shells." She brandished her armored fists. "Guess we're gonna have to do this the ol' fashioned way."
A piercing gunshot rang out. Jaune and Yang whipped their heads around to see the source of it.
Jaune himself felt a slight sense of deja vu for this scenario; although, this time he had barely more time than the blink of an eye to marvel at the red blur streaking through the air.
Said blur flashed by them and swung over the small ursa.
Ruby stopped herself by planting her scythe in the ground, leaving a gash in the earth several yards in length as she slowed down.
Even before she finally managed to come to a stop, the smaller ursa's head slid off its neck and plopped onto the ground.
"Phew!" Ruby wiped her sleeve against her forehead. "Got here just in time!"
"Just in time…?" Yang furrowed her brow. "Seriously?" She pointed at the fizzling corpse of their giant friend. "You couldn't have been here for that!?"
"Sorry…" Ruby sheepishly apologized. "It took me a little while to find Crescent Rose…"
"If you cleaned your room more than once a month, then maybe you could've helped with this one!"
Jaune looked around at the dissipating monster corpses around them. "A big bear, a medium bear and a small bear. Huh, this sorta reminds me of something."
He shrugged, then looked back at the two sisters who had started vehemently bickering. Not exactly wanting to get in the middle of that, he turned his attention to the sheath he had left on the ground. "Come on little buddy," he said to his sword, "let's get you back to your friend."
He ambled over and picked up the sheath. He admired the brass detailing of a crescent moon on its side, then saw a little button near its opening. He pressed it.
Immediately, the sheath shifted and unfolded into a shield—
And because of the way he was holding it, it smacked him directly in the face.
"Gosh, I still can't believe it…" Tayang ran a hand back through his hair. "I mean, there hasn't been any Grimm on Patch for years…" He sunk further back into the cushions of his chair and took a swig of his IPA. When under stress, he reverted to the comforting mannerisms that afflict many a dad.
"Seriously dad, it's fine." Yang waved her arms around over her body. "See? We're all A-okay." She finished putting the last of the dishes into the dishwasher.
She had followed through with her offer and make dinner that night: spaghetti and meatballs. It was the best thing that Jaune had yet tasted in his life. He had told her that, and she had smiled. He wasn't sure if she knew he was serious.
"'Cus we're an awesome pair of huntresses and their huntsman sidekick!" Ruby cheered.
"Hey…" Jaune weakly retorted, then patted Zwei on the head. The dog lay curled up on his lap, and he felt its stubby tail occasionally wiggle against his leg.
The family and Jaune were back in the quaint house, once again around the coffee table in the living room. Taiyang had gotten back not long after their battle with a bag of groceries and the dog—only to immediately drop his box of a dozen eggs when they had told him what happened. They all splattered on the ground, ensuring a distinct lack of omelets for the following mornings.
The trio had kept watch around the house, but no more Grimm had appeared.
"Must've just been a freak spawning," Taiyang said. "They can do that, in the dark parts of forests and ravines away from civilization. Even on a small, nice island like Patch you can still get some popping up."
"I see," Jaune said. "Deforestation is the solution."
Taiyang chuckled. "Not exactly. There have been reports of Grimm popping out the seas or even from abandoned buildings. Anywhere that feels abandoned. I'm going to have to put together a posse and head out through the woods."
"Can we come?" Ruby shifted on the couch and gave her dad a pair of big, wet puppy eyes. "Pwease?"
"No."
Yang sidled up beside her sister. "Pwetty pwease?"
"No." Taiyang shook his head. "You two really want to get in trouble that bad? At least wait until you're in Beacon."
"Ah come on!" Yang crossed her arms. "Now we're already leagues ahead of half the kids who go to Beacon without ever taking on Grimm themselves."
"But you didn't exactly do that by yourselves, did you?" Taiyang pointed out. He nodded to Jaune. "Things could've been a lot worse if our friend here hadn't been around.
"Thank you for that," he continued. "For helping my girls. You could've just run away, but instead you went toe-to-to with an ursa—unarmed" He shook his head. "Stupid, stupid as hell thing to do." He relented. "But brave."
Jaune got a warm feeling in his servos. It reminded him of the sensation he had gotten upon saving Boggindorf from an all-out Grimm invasion. "I think I like being a hero," he said quietly to himself.
"Hey," Yang picked up a hard candy from a bowl on the coffee table and flicked it at him. "We're not princesses in need of a knight, fishboy."
"Yeah," Jaune relented. "I'm sure you two could've taken them on yourselves."
"Yang," her dad scolded, "let him be happy with himself." Taiyang eyed Jaune then, finding it a little hard to believe that the bumbling, innocent kid who was currently petting a cute little dog in his lap was really a formidable huntsman-in-training.
That's when Tai picked up the sword that had been leaning against his chair. Jaune had returned it, and Taiyang had kept it close at hand.
He laid the sword down on the coffee table. "Did Yang tell you where she got this sword?"
Jaune shook his head.
Taiyang pointed to the mantelpiece. Two hooks poked out of the brick wall above the fireplace. "This sword was my grandpa's. He was a huntsman in the Great War. Hung it up there when he got home, and it's mostly stayed up there ever since.
"I thought I'd try and use it when I became a huntsman, but I'm not much of a sword guy, and it didn't quite feel right in my hands. I offered it to these girls, but they just played with it for a little bit before wanting some nice new mechashift thing."
"Oh…" Jaune chewed on his cheek. "Sorry. I didn't know it was so important."
"Not a problem, you're not the one who decided that using a family heirloom for practice was a good idea." He sent a look of parental disapproval at Yang, which made the normally boisterous girl sheepish:
"Hey, Ruby told me there was a Grimm so I just grabbed the only thing I knew was around…"
"Hm." Taiyang seemed willing enough to accept the (admittedly pretty good) excuse. "Anyway, you don't have to worry about it. If anything, I think gramps would smile if he knew that someone was finally using it seriously for the first time in decades. He seemed disappointed when I decided not to." Nostalgia painted his eyes as he looked down at the old sword. "This guy's name is Crocea Mors."
"Oh, what does it mean?"
"Yellow death," Taiyang answered. "It's a reference to the gold sigil of Vale here on the side." His eyes shifted from the sword up to Jaune. "You don't have a weapon, do you?"
"Nope."
"I don't just mean that you don't have a weapon on you right now," Taiyang asked. "I mean, do you have a weapon for yourself? A huntsman's weapons. Does your father have it with him in Vacuo or…?"
"Nope."
Quiet.
"So…" Yang began slowly, "you're a huntsman in training but you don't have a weapon? You're my age and I chose mine, like, years ago. Ruby is two years younger than us and she's had Crescent Rose for what feels like forever."
"I…" He bit down on his cheek once, twice. "Well, being a huntsman hasn't exactly been my focus for the longest time."
"Well you've certainly got the stuff for it," Taiyang said. "Not a lot of people could pull off what you did, even some of the others from Signal. And if you're really planning on trekking out to Vacuo…"
Taiyang looked at the sword again. Crocea Mors seemed to be waiting, diligent. Obviously, it was just an inanimate object on a coffee table, but there was… almost an air to it. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking from Tai. "If you want," he said, "then I think you could really put Crocea Mors to good use again."
"Whoah, really?" Jaune leaned forward suddenly, causing the dozing Zwei to arf! out of adorable surprise. "You… you would give me that?"
Taiyang chuckled. "Like I said, gramps would get a kick out of someone finally using his sword again. I know it's simple, but it's got character. It's a classic."
"A classic…" Jaune marveled.
"A classic…" Ruby marveled.
Yang slapped her sister on the back of the head. "You've always just said it was a 'piece of metal' that was nothing compared to Crescent Rose."
Ruby's cheeks flushed a shade of red similar to her hood. "Okay, maybe I'm not exactly a vintage person but…"
Jaune scratched his head. "Well…"
Does dad have a weapon for me already? Probably. But what if he doesn't? Then maybe getting a weapon before I even meet him could be impressive. I want to make a good impression on my dad… and maybe I could get it upgraded? I mean, yeah it's simple, but the wonders of modern technology are… wonderful. I should know.
"It's important for a huntsman to have a good weapon," Taiyang said "It's like a partner, someone they can really rely on. You'll need that if you're headed to Vacuo."
Jaune grabbed Zwei and set him on the carpet. The dog shook its head to wake up a little, then waddled over to Ruby, who picked him back up.
"If you're really willing to give it to me…" Jaune smiled, not sure how else he could say it. "Then yeah, I'd be honored."
"It's dangerous to go alone"– Taiyang tossed him the sword –"take this."
Jaune caught it. Somehow, when he brushed his fingers across the hilt this time, it felt… good. It sent a tingle up his steel spine.
I'm… starting to think I have more of a place in this world.
"Thank you," he said softly. "Really, thank you so much—"
The front door slammed open.
All four hopped to their feet. Yang put her hands into her gauntlets hanging at her waist. Taiyang got ready to dash for his weapons. Ruby reached for Crescent Rose, strapped to her back. And Jaune drew Crocea Mors.
"You really gotta move the spare key somewhere else!" Came a raspy voice from a raspy-looking man who stepped out of the shadows of the night outside and into the hall. "I mean, under the doormat—really?" He looked scruffy and tired, with big bags under his eyes and rough stubble slapped on his face.
"I don't like the look of this guy," Jaune said to his newfound friends. "If you go right, I can go left—"
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby squealed in delight and sped straight past Jaune. She slammed into the man and wrapped her arms around his waist for a giant hug. "Finally!"
Taiyang sighed. "Sorry Qrow, we're all just a bit on edge after a run-in with some Grimm." He nodded at Jaune when the boy looked at him. "It's okay. This guy's trouble, but not necessarily the bad kind."
"Grimm?" Qrow asked. "Man, on Patch?"
"That's what I said!"
Jaune looked back and forth between the man and his friends as he slid Crocea Mors back in its sheath. Smiles had popped up on everybody's faces.
Oh man… family reunions are nice.
"And this guy," Yang said while jerking a thumb at Jaune, "just sorta popped out the ocean. Helped us take down some nasty ursa."
"Did he now?" Qrow said. "Not too bad—"
Qrow words got slapped out the air as Ruby gasped, then let go of him and excitedly started clapping while delightedly exclaiming, "Amber! It's been so long!"
Another woman, darker skinned and bearing a confident stride, stepped through the door and politely closed it behind her. "That it has; I'm excited to be here."
She caught sight of Jaune.
"And who is this?"
Man, this chapter's a lot longer than I originally thought it would be. You know, it's very 'easy' for me to write this story. It's just casual and dumb, and it's a good time. Feels like I write more of this faster than my other stuff. It's sort of a palette cleanser compared to my more serious stuff. (Tho it still takes hours to edit lol, I like my quality assurance)