Omake chapter I came up with after icemaxprime suggested it. I also read 'Semblance Mishaps' and 'In Want of a Touch' for 'Jaune supercharges people's Semblances' humor. Highly recommend both.
I asked a question about a future omake in the bottom authors notes. Please read if interested.
Semblance Test: Ruby Rose
It was Ozpin's idea to start testing his Semblance with the rest of team RWBY. Semblances were connected to magic and since his own - tentatively dubbed Aura Amp - boosted Semblances they figured it wouldn't hurt to test it out. Best case scenario they could amp up their magics to even more absurd heights. Worst case they'd 'just' boost their Semblances, which was still useful by itself.
Ruby was the first to volunteer, reasoning that she was the first one he'd done it to so of she had experience. For some reason her face flushed when she said that he'd awoken his Semblance for her. Technically it was true so he didn't fight her on it.
"Ready, Ruby?"
"Ready!"
The two of them stood at the edge of Beacon overlooking the cliffs. For the sake of safety they agreed to do the tests one by one. Safe for everyone else, at least, not so much for him, but he was getting used to that, "Alright..." He stepped closer and held out his hands. Sharing Aura required physical contact, which was going to be hard to do in the middle of a fight.
He meant to touch her shoulders. Instead she took his hands in her own and held them softly. He smiled comfortingly at her nervous grin, feeling her smaller palms against his own. Ruby was a friendly girl when she got past her social anxiety and he was glad she considered him close enough to do something like this without even thinking.
Jaune closed his eyes and concentrated. It felt...weird. Not painful considering he was giving up a part of his soul to someone else, but not pleasant either. The sentiment wasn't shared by Ruby given the way she bit her lip and breathed out through her nose. She told him once that she felt warm, like being in a blanket on a cold night. Comforting was the word she used, though he doubted anyone would notice in the middle of a fight.
When he opened his eyes again he saw her entire body being infused with white Aura. The color shifted to red once it made contact with her, his Aura turning into her own, "Woah..." Ruby said softly.
"Does it feel different than before?" he asked.
"Kinda. Since we're not worried about Grimm munching on us the adrenaline isn't really pumping. It feels like a massage, kinda."
"Glad one of us is feeling good." He stepped back, disentangling his fingers from hers, and checked his scroll. Not much Aura lost for him and of course she was already full so no change for her, "Alright, so we gotta test your Semblance and your magic. You know what to do, right?"
"Yup," she said, popping the p, "Fly over to Vale and see if it's any faster than before." She looked up at him with wide, pouty eyes, "You sure you don't wanna come with me? I promise I'll be careful!"
"I already said no, Rubes." He rolled his eyes playfully, "It's just a quick test anyway. You head over there and then you head back. Just make sure to set your scroll's timer up."
"Fine." She grumbled and walked closer to the edge, "3, 2, 1..."
The sonic boom that came afterwards was a surprise even to him. The loud sound hurt his ears and Jaune was flung away from the sudden force, landing on his back with a dull thud. A pile of rose petals covered most of his body, practically burying him underneath the blood red flowers. He shrugged them off and stood up shakily, just barely taking note of the crater where Ruby once stood.
Almost an entire minute passed before he got a call on his scroll, "Ruby? That was fast." It usually took them about five to ten minutes to head over to Vale.
"Yeah..."
"What's wrong? Didn't make it to Vale?"
"No, uh, actually...I kinda went past it." There was a pause, "I'm in Patch right now. Dad says hi, by the way."
"Hi, Jaune." Taiyang's voice rang from the background.
"Uh...alright, I guess that's a success."
Semblance Test: Yang Xiao Long
"All ready for you, Grimm Slayer."
Yang's test took place in Patch. While the island was far smaller than Vale there were still patches (heh) of empty land just filled with Grimm. Signal used them the same way Beacon used the Emerald Forest. Nothing serious on most days. Just some Beowolves and Creeps, maybe an Ursa Minor if you got unlucky. He was more in danger from Yang than anything else, though he didn't tell her that. Team RWBY was trying really hard to not make him feel that way.
The other blonde grinned as he drew closer, "Oh, I've been waiting for this." Yang clapped her hands together and laughed like a cartoon supervillain, "Rubes wouldn't shut up about how much more awesome her Semblance got. Can't wait to see what happens."
"Should I be worried about how excited you are about this? Are you planning to take over Vale once you get powered up?" He joked.
Her laugh turned to a full-on cackle, "You've figured out my masterstroke, Jaune. Join me and together we can stop meatloaf Wednesdays forever!"
"Gotta admit, that's super tempting." He laughed back. Despite her reputation, hanging out with Yang never felt weird or awkward. He chalked that up to being one of Ruby's besties. Once you got her little sister's approval you had a friend for life.
He placed both hands on her shoulders and did the same thing he always. Yang hummed under her breath and grinned once a full minute of transfer passed, "Ooh, tingly." She brought a hand through her hair and shook her heada. Her hair was burning. Not the same inferno it usually was, but the fact that it was lit up even without her eyes being red or her taking a hit was noteworthy by itself.
"So what do we do now?" Jaune asked.
"Now we go find some Grimm."
It didn't take them long to find some. A horde of Beowolves, perfect for a field trip with a teacher for a group of Signal students. At Yang's suggestion he kept far back and just watched her go at it. He winced slightly when a pair of them clawed her stomach. It was intentional - they couldn't test her Semblance without her taking some hits - but that didn't mean he liked seeing her attacked.
Her eyes shifted to a blazing red and the flaming lights of her Maiden power came soon after. The temperature turned blazing hot and Jaune suddenly decided he wasn't nearly far enough. He turned and ran just in time for the explosion of heat behind him to reach a crescendo. Once again he found himself flung through the air from the sheer power of the attack and he landed face-first on the grass.
The sight that greeted him when he looked up was an all too familiar one. The Beowolves were gone...as were the trees, grass, and just about everything without 50 feet of Yang. She stood there at the center of the blast, eyes still red and panting heavily.
Jaune stood up and walked towards her slowly. Her crimson eyes flickered to him and her posture slackened even as her eyes remained red, "...How do you feel?"
"Like a million lien." She stretched both arms above her head, "Man, that felt great. You ever get that feeling like when you really need to pop off and then you finally do it?"
"I think you did more than just pop off." Everything was burnt. There was no lingering fire, just a fifty foot wasteland of soot and ash.
"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" She grinned at her handiwork and didn't at all look crazy when she did it, "So...is this a bad time to tell you I'm still feeling pent up?"
"Kinda, considering you killed every single Grimm around."
"You could help."
"How?" He snorted, "You want us to fight? Cause I'm pretty sure you'd still kick my butt."
"Well...we could do that, but there's another option."
"Like what?"
A pause.
"I'm horny, Jaune."
Another pause.
"Oh." The mood was so awkward that a tumbleweed came out of nowhere just to pass by between them, ""So, like...right here?"
Third pause in a row.
"Why not?" She shrugged, "Wouldn't be anything serious. Just some fun between friends."
A battle of wills took place in his mind. On one hand Yang was a good friend, a kickass fighter, hot as hell, and he'd be lying if he said he didn't even consider the idea on lonely nights. She wasn't looking for anything serious either so he didn't have to worry about that.
On the other hand she was so juiced up on both their Semblances that she could probably break his spine if she hugged too hard right now. He could already hear his pelvis crying for mercy just by the way she was looking at it.
...
Semblance Test: Blake Belladonna
"Why are you limping?"
"I don't wanna talk about it."
Blake looked him up and down and her upper ears twitched. Then she smirked, because Blake Belladona did not smile. It was always a smirk or a dry little laugh so everyone knew she was too good to fall prey to humor like other mortals.
"Uh-huh..." There was that dry laugh, "Does that have anything to do with why Ruby was in a pouty mood yesterday?"
"I said I don't want to talk about it." He glared weakly. He slept with her older sister, of course she was gonna get mad at him. Was there a guy-girl version of the bro code? Cause he was pretty sure he just broke it...though for some reason she seemed just as mad at Yang. His pelvis was just as mad at him once the post nut clarity hit, "Look, can we get this over with?"
"Fine, fine." She rolled her eyes and cricked her neck. Her test was outside of Vale, on a small bit of road far away from any villages or even Grimm. They didn't need to get into a fight for this. She could use her Semblance any time she wanted to and all she needed to change the weather was to be in a bad mood.
A minute of transfer like always. Blake looked down at the purple Aura coating her body and nodded, "Alright, let's try this out."
A dozen shadow clones popped up from all around them. Jaune was so used to the craziness that he didn't even jump at it. Huh, a dozen catgirls. He was sure this was someone's dream. And Cardin's nightmare.
"Huh, that's new." Blake the original looked around, "They're sticking around and they're solid even without a dust infusion." She poked the closest Blake to her, which poked her right back, "They're moving without my say so too."
"So does that mean they can fight?"
"We'd have to test it at back Beacon, but I'm pretty sure." She looked up at the sky. Again the one closest to her mimicked the action then shot at a bird flying overhead with its own Gambol Shroud, causing it to fall to the ground. Poor birdie, "Weapons are functional, too. Huh. Might be able to use this to get some extra Lien..."
"Could we not talk about cash fraud right now." One of the Blakes was sniffing him. Okay, he wasn't gonna say anything about that, "Uh...how long are they gonna last?"
"Dunno. Guess we'll have to wait."
The answer to that was five minutes. If anyone passed by while they were waiting they would've seen thirteen identical catgirls wandering around and doing their own thing before they all suddenly vanished with a small poof.
All except one.
"Uh..." Jaune looked between the original Blake and the one standing next to her reading a book, "Why's this one not going away?"
"No clue."
"Wanna get rid of me that badly?" This time he actually did jump, and so did Blake. Blake 2 didn't look up from her book and just turned the page.
"Holy Brothers, you can talk?!" Jaune shouted.
"Guess so." Blake 2 shrugged. Oh great, she even acted like the original, "Before you ask, yes, I have all her memories, and no I don't know why I'm not leaving, but I'm not complaining. Nothing worse than having to stop reading a book halfway."
"Tell me about it," Blake 1 said, disturbingly calm that she apparently created sapient life.
"How the...who the...how is this possible?"
""You're asking me?"" They both shrugged. Oh Gods, he could hear Tuskon weeping from here. The poor guy still wasn't done paying off the last damage Blake did. Damage which Blake claimed was a freak accident and had nothing at all to do with the fact that someone bought the last copy of The Man with Four Souls right in front of her.
"Okay, how the hell are you so calm about this?!"
"This is hardly the weirdest thing that's happened to us," Blake 1 said.
"I'm not gonna complain about being born," Blake 2 added.
He was about to protest when another flock of birds passed by overhead and, seemingly in revenge for their fallen comrade, shat on both their heads. There was a pregnant pause and then both their eyes lit up with purple fire as the clouds turned dark.
"Wait, you can both use Maiden magic?! How?! It's only supposed to work on four people!"
"We're technically the same person." Blake 1 said, "...Huh, weird, power doesn't feel any weaker. Thought it'd be split?"
"Its magic, it doesn't have to make sense," Blake 2 replied.
He went back to Beacon with both Blakes in tow. Mr. and Mrs. Belladonna were way too calm about having an identical clone of their daughter and adopted her on the spot. Blake 2 - tentatively named Bell - went back with them to Menagerie and said she didn't want to get involved with all the 'Maiden nonsense'.
Ozpin had an aneurysm when he realized that Blake just cloned magic, but that wasn't his problem.
Semblance Test: Weiss Schnee
"Let's get this over with."
Weiss looked midly offended that he was in such a tired mood, but at this point he didn't care. Right now he just wanted to collapse on his bed, especially since this wasn't the first time today he shared Aura. Ruby had jumped on his bed screaming about how she had an idea and that it'd be a big surprise for Yang and her dad. He didn't bother arguing and just fed her half his Aura. Whatever she was doing he'd deal with it later.
Weiss offered him a hand which he took. Her test took place in the Beacon Ampitheatre, which he personally thought was a bad idea, but again he didn't have it in him to argue, "Oh my. Now I understand what Yang meant she said she 'had the power'." She flexed her fingers then unsheathed Myrtenaster, "Now let's see how this works."
Jaune had to admit, he was impressed with how controlled Weiss was. Whenever she wasn't in a bad mood she was the most restrained with her powers. Seeing her use her glyphs to channel magic against the training bots was weirdly elegant. She'd found out earlier that she could use them in place of dust and she'd been really eager to test out her limits.
With his Semblance boosting her, the bots may as wall have been practice dummies. Even the smallest icicle was enough to shatter them and the powers of the glyphs themselves were amplified, allowing her to dance around the arena and block the few shots they did manage to get off.
The 'match' ended in a resounding victory. Weiss flipped her ponytail and smiled, both graceful and smug, "And that's that." She laughed, "It's a shame that I still haven't figured out how to summon just yet, but Winter assures me that it'll come soon enough." Hopefully not too soon. After what happened with Blake he half expected anything she summoned to be alive.
Still, there was no incident today and she didn't end up halfway across the world like Ruby. Maybe things could work out.
That thought died as soon as they got back to their room.
Blake wasn't there, which meant she was probably looking around for a new book, but there were still three people there. Ruby, Yang and a woman who looked like the spitting image of Ruby Rose with an added decade of time. Her black-red hair fell to her neck and the cloak she wore was a pure white rather than dark red, but apart from that they looked like sisters, silver eyes and all.
"Oh, is this them?" The woman asked, a pleasant smile on her face.
"Yup!" Ruby stood up and excitedly dragged both him and Weiss closer, "Weiss, Jaune, I want you to meet Yang and I's mom."
"...Wait, what?" Jaune blinked.
"Indeed. What?" Weiss repeated.
"Come on, its super mom! I told you guys about her!" Yang said.
"Yang, please." Their mom laughed softly.
"Wait, what? I thought...I thought your mom ran off to join a bandit group?"
"Not that one, and I prefer the term egg donor to mom." Yang scowled, "This is our actual mom. Summer Rose."
"Wait, that makes no sense. You said she was..." Weiss drifted off and looked Ruby in the eyes, "Ruby, what did you do?"
The younger girl beamed proudly, "I got an idea after watching that superhero movie last night. Remember when the hero turned back time by spinning Remnant the opposite way?" Jaune nodded, barely remembering the scene in question, "Well I figured maybe that if I went fast enough I could go back in time! So I did," she said way too casually, "I went back to mom's final mission and saved her from Salem, then I took her back here. Neat, huh?"
"...Let me get this straight, Ruby. You went back in time and changed the past because you ran fast enough?"
"Yup. With some help from your Semblance, of course." She hugged him, "Thanks, Jaune!"
"...And why didn't you just take your mom back to her home in the past instead of dragging her here?"
"Oh...yeah, I could've done that." The tumbleweed from before passed by behind them, "...Should I take her back?"
"No, Ruby, please don't mess with the space time continuum again." Jaune rubbed his temple with both hands. Ozpin's head was gonna explode once he heard about this.
"It's a bit sad that I never got to see my little girls grow up, but I'm so happy to make up for lost time." Summer clapped her hands together, "To think that both of you would be Huntresses and Maidens. Who would've thought?"
"Yeah, who would've..." Jaune replied numbly.
"Oh, and I can't wait to see Taiyang again! He's gonna be so surprised."
He was surprised, and then he was something else. A couple of months later they announced a new little sibling on the way, which Ruby and Yang were super excited about. They made him the godfather, which was nice.
Semblance Test: Team RWBY
The Grimmlands were burning.
To be more accurate they were burning, freezing, drowning, being struck by lightning, ravaged by tornadoes, and suffering from earthquakes. All at the same time. Grimm died en-masse and all of her disciples lay fallen at her feet. Poor Tyrian died the last, tossed by a powerful gust of wind to the churning waves below her castle. His last words were a declaration of loyalty to her.
In all her millenias of existence, Salem had never witnessed a scene quite like this. Four Maidens, four of Ozma's pawns, stood in front of her. These Huntresses, children even to someone not immortal, had penetrated into the root of her power. Fools. While they had done some damage, Ozma must not have told them of the the curse the Gods had placed on them. They didn't know victory could never be theirs.
"Foolish childr-"
The one with the Silver Eyes vaporized her to dust. In hindsight, perhaps taunting her about how she nearly killed her mother before some red blur spirited her away wasn't the best idea. Also in hindsight, maybe being within Silver Eyes blasting distance when she was the Queen of all Grimm also wasn't a good idea. Nor was it a good idea to try and threaten the blonde knight they took with them because he was the weakest link and empowered them. That made the red cloaked one particularly mad.
No matter, it wouldn't matter once she regenerated and-
She was vaporized again. Even as she was rendered to dust she could still vaguely sense what was happening. They'd brought the Relic of Creation with them and were conversing with Ambrosious. What it was they talked about she couldn't see. As soon as she started her regeneration the Silver Eyed Warrior was quick to destroy her once more. It wasn't permanent, but it was painful and inconvenient.
She was rendered to dust a half dozen times before they finally finished their conversation and Ambrosious created...a jar. A simple jar that would not have looked out of place in a village home.
One more blast of the Silver Eyes destroyed her for good measure before they began scooping her remains into the container. Salem screamed and struggled, or she would have if she had lungs and limbs to do so. In the end they scooped up all of her dust that made up her body and sealed her in the jar, trapping her in darkness.
She didn't know how much time passed as they dragged her from the Grimmlands. She felt her power over the Grimm waning the further they left and the jar's small confines meant she was crushed inside the unbreakable walls. She tried to cast magic, using every bit of power she had in her blood, but again the jar refused to bend or break. The pain from being crushed and confined was agonizing.
"You guys ready?" The Silver Eyed Warrior asked.
"Atlas is as high as it'll get." The white haired one said. 'Atlas?', Salem wondered. How long had she been trapped here?
"Are we really gonna chuck her into space?" The Silver Eyed One's sister's question caused a chill of dread to run through Salem's contorted body. Space? "Why not just dump the jar in a vault or something?"
"We can't be sure someone won't free her. Maybe some Maiden decides they want what she's offering like Cinder." The cat eared one added, "And remember, if someone uses the Relic of Creation again the last thing it made disappears. Better if she can't come back and terrorize Remnant again."
"I get it, just seems kinda cruel." The female blonde said, "But I guess she kinda deserves it. Queen of all Grimm."
"Indeed. This way even if someone uses the Relic of Creation centuries from now she won't be in any position to come back." The white haired one said, "Headmaster Ozpin made it clear that she does still need to breath, after all, that's why the container has its own atmosphere. If the container were to disappear she'd be trapped in space with no oxygen and no strength to come back. Either way it solves our issue."
The cold dread had turned white hot now. Salem did something she hadn't done since her conflict began: she begged. Begged them for mercy, begged them to not condemn her to a fate worse than death and made promises to atone for what she did even if it it took the rest of her immortal life. Whether the jar was soundproof or they simply chose to ignore her she didn't know, but in the end the result was the same.
"Alright, guys, we gotta do all this together!" The Silver Eyed Warrior cheered. Salem cried, "We all got our boosts so focus on using wind! I know the jar's unbreakable but it's gonna be a pain in the butt if we gotta track it again."
"Good luck, all of you." The blonde knight said last.
Salem continued to plead even the jar was shot up with so much force that she was flattened to the bottom. The powerful push lasted for just a few seconds before everything suddenly became weightless and all sound disappeared. Even through the unending darkness she understood that they spoke truth. She was trapped now, not even in Remnant but through the space the Brother Gods had abandoned them from.
She didn't know how much time she spent floating in the empty void. In the darkness, time had lost all meaning and now more than ever she cursed at the Brother Gods for the punishment they had inflicted on her. Death would never come for her and she would remain trapped for all eternity.
Eventually, Salem realized, she would stop thinking, if only to spare what little sanity she had left. Right now she still continued to struggle, screaming and vowing revenge against a world that would never hear her.
Back down on Remnant, Jaune looked up at the night sky and whistled. He didn't see the jar anymore, but a quick question to Jinn from Weiss confirmed that the jar had in fact made it to space and that no one could get to it. It was pretty cruel, but she was trying to destroy the world, so hey.
"So...what are we gonna do now?" he asked the rest of team RWBY-J.
"Dunno." Yang shrugged, "Just cause Salem's gone doesn't mean the Grimm are so I guess we go back to what we've always been doing?"
"Sounds good to me!" Ruby cheered, "But oh man, we just saved the world! Headmaster Ozpin and General Ironwood are gonna freak out!"
"That's assuming the General doesn't have further plans for us." Weiss frowned, "Just because Salem is gone doesn't change the fact that we're all still Maidens. A man like him would be foolish to let that slip from his grasp."
"We'll deal with it when it comes. Together." Blake actually smiled.
"Sounds good to me." Jaune yawned, "Come on, let's go back home."
Bonus Semblance Test: Mercury Black
Jaune looked at Mercury.
Mercury looked at Jaune.
"So..." Jaune started.
"Choose your next words very carefully, Arc."
"...Wanna go out to a club with Port and Qrow?"
"Sure."
And team RWBY saved the world :P Got pretty dark there for the end of Salem's segment, but hey they ain't gonna feel bad for stopping the queen of all evil. Oh and Ruby got her mom back, cause her first segment ended with no craziness happening and of course that couldn't stand. At least Weiss was actually reasonable...until the next time when she asks Ruby to take Big Nicholas to the present to depose Jacques or something.
Question:
1. So what do you guys think of the 'alternate team of Maidens' omake idea? If you're interested in it then please write down the person/people you want to show up on said teams and your reasons why those ones in particular. I'll come up with segments based on those and my own ideas.
Since I won't be making a poll for this, I'll just count which four people wanted to see the most and make a group based on that. So yes, any alternate team will have four randomized members depending on which ones people wanna see the most. Any combination will do and it can be any female character.
The team makeup will affect the segments and dynamics. Put Jaune on a team with Pyrrha, Coco, Velvet and Penny and they would be relatively peaceful aside from some shenagians. He'll probably end up dating Pyrrha if he doesn't pine for Weiss. Put him on a team with Neopolitan, Cinder, Bleiss Schnee, and Nora and he's probably gonna try to jump off Beacon the second day in. Not that Neo or Bleiss would let him. Death is too much of a mercy for him.
Review Answers:
Calcetin Sock - Bromance lives on. Anyway, Winter is definitely torn between Weiss and Ironwood so that's a goldmine for drama.
Mr. What If - Like I said in the previous chapter, it's not a one and done. Some factions will even come to blows with each other rather than just the good guys.
SpudyPotato - Being Jaune is suffering.
icemaxprime - Favorite is Professor Arc or Beacon Civil War. Not sure which was my first one, sorry. Hope you enjoyed the omake.
SentinalSlice - As Weiss says, they're making guesses based on incomplete knowledge. Jaune thinks they have infinite magic because he doesn't know all of how it works and no one else on team RWBY does. They don't even know how inheritance works, they just theorize among themselves.
Greer123 - I'm trying to avoid Jaune's family cause I don't like writing too many OC's.
ReadYesyes - Jaune's right to be scared, though it kinda crimps on romance. Anyway, give your thoughts on the omake and which four of the alternate Maidens you wanna see.