my apologies to everyone one who read that wrong chapter. I was in a hurry and mistakes were made but thanks for catching that for me.
Jaune stood silently a few feet away from the other students while they argued and yelled at one another. Lost in thought he didn't realize anyone approached him until there was a pressure against his leg. Ruby sat on the ground next to his leg with her hood up and head down like she was asleep.
The sudden shift of his leg allowed ruby to adjust herself so jaune could take a seat behind her. They sat back to back and ruby leaned her head back before letting out a groan. "Bored" he ask? The small girl nodded "why aren't you trying to do anything about that" she pointed at the bundle of colors all arguing with each other?
Jaune shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly "your faith in my leadership skills is flattering and I would but with them all yelling like that I doubt I'd get a word in. What about you? Not gonna rally the troops to begin the legend of the rose"? The little joke brought a smile to her face before she pulled her legs close to her chest and wrapped her arms around them "you know how I am with crowds".
He did but if her dream of being a hero like in the story books was truly as important as she claimed it to be she wouldn't let it stop her. Realizing that nothing was going to happen if he just sat there, jaune pushed himself back onto his feet before holding out his hand to ruby. "Come on it's time to get out of here".
Ruby pulled her hood down and flashed him a small smile "it's about time" she said as she took hold of jaunes hand. Once ruby was on her feet they made their way to the group of students still yelling at one another.
"We need to stop fighting each other and focus on the job at hand" Blake tried to reason.
"Shut the hell up! I don't take orders from some dumb animal" cardin returned angrily.
A loud bang silence the group of students and drew their attention to the one who fired their weapon. Jaune lowered his hand gun before tapping ruby's shoulder "you can unplug your ears now". Ruby nodded and remove her fingers from her ears "looks like your plan worked" She said.
Jaune nodded in agreement "alright guys-" he addressed the on looking students "-we're already in a bind so let's calm down and speak like the adults we aim to be". Cardin pushed himself forward ahead of the group to face jaune "who died and made you king around here? If you'd all just listen to me we'd-" cardin stopped midway as a bullet from jaunes gun crack into his leg, dropping the boy to the ground.
"Anyone else want to keep acting like a child? Trust me I'd advise against the idea" jaunes eyes scanned the group for anyone stupid enough to test him but none seemed ready to try their luck. Jaune put his hand gun back into it's holster before addressing them again "alright people I know you've been through a lot today and I'm sure you just want to rest and get something to eat but before we do we have to get out of this forest.
Jaune pointed at the cat faunus in the center of the crowd "Blake you were trying to say something a little while ago, what did you want to say"? The cat faunus took the opportunity jaune created for her to let her idea be known "we'll split up" short and simple. Blake's ear twitched when jaunes hand smacked against his forehead "more context Blake" he groan.
"I'd expect nothing less from a dumb animal" cardin said when he finally got to his feet. Blake threw a glare his way but it went ignored when the jock jabbed his finger into jaunes chest "next time you aim that gun at me I'll break your wrist". Jaune smiled without a care in the world when cardin fell to the floor unconscious with Nora leaning against her hammer behind him.
"Poor guy was really cranky, must have been tired" she drawled before rolling her eyes. Nora casted a glare towards Cardin's team "anyone else feeling cranky" she asked while tightening her grip on magnhild. The three boys shook their heads quickly which brought a smile to the gingers face.
Blake shook her head in disappointment "you guy didn't have to resort to violence for his racism. Actions like that are the reason why the people like the white fang feel justified in hurting humans". Nora exchanged a look with jaune before swinging her hammer over her shoulder "oh I didn't put him to sleep for his racism"? Blake didn't believe her "then why knock him out"?
Nora thought about it for a good minute "well he's kinda...what's the word I'm looking for-"
"Rude"
"A prick"
"A fool"
"a dick "
"-all the above" she said accepting ruby, yang, Ren's and jaunes words since she couldn't think of one of her own. Blake didn't know what to say so instead she changed the subject "look is he still alive at least"? The group's eyes turned to the downed boy "eh he'll be ok" jaune answered after seeing that cardin was still breathing.
"Alright putting aside our personal problems, grudges ect we need you to finish explaining your plan or come up with a new one" jaune said to Blake. The cat faunus opened her mouth to speak but froze with wide eye's "looks like we're gonna have to skip the plan" pyrrha called from behind Blake. The reason for scrapping or making any new plans were skipped was answered when a large shadow blocked out the sun and the tree line was blown away by the giant death stalker.
Jaune let out a tired sigh and then a groan when he reached next to him only to grasp nothing but air. The sound of yangs terrified voice calling out to her cousin only confirmed his already mounting worry. Spinning towards the direction ruby ran off to, he was ready to rush in and help when a white figure flew past him and created a wall of ice to protect ruby from the death stalkers stinger.
Relief filled jaunes being until it was cut off by the cries of the giant nevermore flying towards them. Ruby and Weiss returned to the group quickly "what do we do" ruby asked when she had time to catch her breath. Yang, ruby and Blake looked to him for some idea on how to get through their present crisis.
Jaune's mind raced through ideas but with so many people looking for answers and he being just one person he need to share the responsibility with people who could handle it. Taking a deep breath to calm himself down he began to give jobs to the other students.
"Pyrrha, you with the Mohawk I'm assigning you temporary leadership of your groups until we're out of this mess".
Russel eye's widened in shock "I can't, Cardins better for that kinda stuff then I am". Jaune held his hand up to silence the boy "even if that's true he can't exactly help us when he's like that now can he" he said motioning to the unconscious boy. "Look there isn't time to debate this, all I need you to do is take him and your team and get out of this forest without getting killed understand"?
The boy nodded before getting his team to carry cardin away from the temple. Jaune turned to pyrrha "pyr I need you and your team to hold off that nevermore until their team is gone". "What about you" pyrrha asked. Jaune looked to his own team "we'll deal with the death stalker until their clear so we could escape when you do".
Now that everyone had a job jaune could focus on the three other people in his group which made it easier since their wasn't so many people to give orders to. Pyrrha watched jaune lead his team towards the death stalker before shaking her head "Alright team you heard the man-" she said to ruby, Blake and Ren "-let's go distract a bird.
Ruby and pyrrha shifted their weapons into gun forms for long range attacks while Ren and Blake made themselves obvious targets for the avian Grimm. The nevermore would throw it's feathers like spears at Blake and Ren but with their agility and maneuverability they would dodge between and over the feathers. On the other hand ruby and pyrrha would aim for the nevermores head with their weapons to continually disrupted the bird so it couldn't aim properly.
Jaunes team continuously poured on the ice dust when firing at the death stalker to keep it immobile. The hard shell covering the death stalker was too thick to be penetrated by normal means so the ice would help hold the beast until they could deal with it. Jaune turned to yang "I'm thinking we need to call on that old move we came up with back on patch".
It took yang a few seconds to recall what exactly he was talking about "burning comet, really"? Jaune shrugged his shoulders "it's better than nothing plus if we put this thing down we can help the others". Weiss exchanged concerned looks with Nora while trying to figure out what they we talking about. Yang bit her bottom lip for a split second before looking back at her partner "I'll agree but your owe me dinner and I'm not talking about fast food".
Jaune rolled his eyes "do you want me to give you a foot massage while I'm at it? We're trying to kill Grimm and pass this stupid exam or did you forget". Yang stared him down "I'm not hearing you agree with me and yes a foot massage would be nice" she said before emptying the last of her ice dust on the death stalkers body. A growl escaped from jaune "fine you'll get your dinner".
Weiss couldn't believe this idiocy "we are fighting for our lives and you two are discussing dinner plans?! We have more important things to think about because that ice won't hold for long". Jaune nodded at weiss's words "don't worry we got a plan to deal with this thing but for now I need you and Nora to join pyrrha's team and send ruby here".
"And why should I follow your orders? There are more qualified individuals to be the leader instead of a criminal like-". Weiss was cut off by jaune "complain about it when we got the time, just do what I told you now"! There was anger in his voice and Weiss wasn't going to stand for being talked to like that but before she could argue Nora took hold of her arm and began dragging her away.
Jaune knew the minute weiss and he were put on the same team there were going to be problems. Self entitled rich people always believed themselves better than other and always wanted to be in the center of attention and if they couldn't they would sabotage others till they got their way. He wasn't sure weiss would do that but he learned enough from having cinder on his team when he was younger to realize that being a leader was more of a headache then he wanted to deal with.
Jaune and yang moved several feet away before jaune shifted his combat knife to it's long sword form "I'm gonna say this ahead of time that I take no pleasure in doing this". Yang raised a brow "we both no that's a lie" she said holding her arms out to leave her body open for what was going to happen. Jaune went to work slashing at Yangs aura until it fell into the red before restoring it with his semblance.
There were reasons yang didn't like to use this technique, for one having jaune attack her was a pain in more ways then one. The second reason was the feeling she got when jaunes semblance and her's were used together. Yangs semblance allowed her to get stronger depending on how much damage she took which meant a slow increase over time but with jaunes semblance it was like adding gasoline to a camp fire.
The cracking of the ice surrounding the death stalker drew their attention "come on ruby" jaune whispered. "I'm here" ruby said as she slid to a stop next to the two of them. The death stalker shattered it's ice prison and let out a high pitch and angry screech that forced the three of them to cover their ears.
Jaune turned to ruby "burning comet" the name alone caused ruby to smile "can I be the one to damage yang" she asked enthusiastically. Yang glared at her tiny cousin before jaune explained that he already took care of that part. The death stalker struck with it tail hoping to impale one of them but ruby used her semblance to scoop up jaune and yang to move them away.
When they came to a stop jaune took hold of yangs hand while ruby placed her arms around jaunes sides like she was trying to hold him up. Jaune activated his semblance to boost the aura and semblances of the two girls before they took off once again. Ruby's speed was enhanced to a higher level cause when they took off a sonic boom could be heard throughout the forest.
The death stalker had no chance to defend or move when ruby let go of jaune and he threw yang forward while enhancing her semblance. The burning comet was a accurate description of the look yang gave off when she flew at the Grimm. The hard shell of the Grimm's face was not only broken but pierced all the way through to the other end where yang exited the creature.
Yang did not land gracefully, she crashed into the ground and knocked up several pounds of rock and gravel before bouncing upward into a few trees. When she finally did come to a stop her aura was just a sliver above the red and she was covered in red ooze from the death stalker. Jaune and ruby rushed to her side to see if she was all right "if you ever decide to use that technique again I'll make you pay for the rest of your miserable life" she groaned from her spot on the floor.
Jaune chuckled softly "Alright just let me...hmm" the ooze that covered Yangs body made him hesitant to heal her so yang took the option out of his hands by grabbing his arm and pulling him close. "Ugh this is so gross" jaune complained as he healed Yangs aura. After a few minutes of healing, Yangs aura was restored "Alright guys let's go help the-" the sound of something large impacting the ground caught their attention.
Jaune was genuinely shocked to see pyrrha standing on top of the nevermores head with her spear impaled into it's eye. She clicked the mechashift latch to change her spear into it rifle form before firing of several shots deep into it's brain causing the nevermore to scream once before dying. Jaune let out one deep breath to calm down before looking to the others "looks like now we just have to get out of here" he said happily.
Finally done with this chapter.