Atlas.
Or what is left of it after everyone was gone.
As promised, Jaune was searching for Dr Polendina and Maria Calavera.
Although Jaune was thinking about whether it was better for them to be away from the fight, then again, that is not his choice to make.
Maria Calavera has been fighting with team RWBY for a while now. If what the others said is true, then she has been with them ever since Mistral… Argus is part of Mistral.
As for Dr Polendina, he doesn't seem to want to fight the good fight. He wanted Penny to have nothing to do with the fight with Salem.
Penny told Jaune how her father tried to stop her, but she continued fighting.
Now, Jaune doesn't see Dr Polendina as a coward, as he understood that the man was worried about his daughter. No man would ever want to see their children fight in a war. Maybe Jacques would if it benefitted him. But! Other than that, there is none.
Jaune has been flying around for a while. It would have been easier if Penny was biologically Dr Polendina's daughter, but alas, even if Penny is now human, she doesn't share his DNA.
Then again, maybe Jaune should have tried his spell anyway, since Penny and Dr Polendina once used to share a soul. After all, Penny was born from Dr Polendina, using his soul as a base.
Jaune shook his head and flew as high as he could to have a better visual.
What'd you know? He spotted the fallen Amity Communication Tower. It was in a terrible shape.
Jaune flew down to it and hope he didn't spot mangled bodies. That sounded morbid. But Jaune couldn't help it, since the scene was quite a critical situation.
Thank Oum! There were no bodies anywhere.
The problem? There was nobody nearby.
Jaune sighed. He then used a spell to detect life nearby. It was unfortunate that this spell was only a short-range spell. It could not detect life more than a mile away.
With how the extreme weather was in the area the Amity Communications Tower crash landed, Jaune didn't think that Dr Polendina and Maria Calavera would make it far. Thus, his decision to use the short-range spell.
As luck would have it, Jaune was right.
Dr Polendina and Maria Calavera took shelter nearby.
With how resourceful Dr Polendina is, he could use parts of the Amity Communications Tower to create a temporary shelter with central heating.
It impressed Jaune. He then knocked on the shelter.
To say that it surprised Dr Polendina and Maria Calavera would be an understatement. They were in the middle of nowhere. No one came by their location, except for Grimm.
"Oh, it's you," said Maria Calavera. She looked at Jaune, the person who had knocked on their shelter. She was glad that she and Dr Polendina were found. "So? What happened to Atlas?"
"Well, they evacuated safely to Vacuo, but they are all now in Vale," said Jaune. He looked at Maria and she seemed to have noticed. "You know, don't you?".
"Well, not that hard to notice," said Maria. She then pointed at his hair. "For one, you don't have that silly banana for a hair. Then, you have a distinct air around you. You seemed more confident and surer of yourself, not arrogantly, but someone that knows that he can achieve what he set out to do".
Dr Polendina then got to the door. When he saw Jaune, he only had one question in mind.
"Penny! What happened to my daughter, Penny?!" shouted Dr Polendina. He was desperate to know what happened to his daughter after she held up the Amity Tower to broadcast Ruby's message. "Please! Please tell me my baby girl is alive!".
Maria was about to calm him down, as he might attract Grimm. But she noticed no Grimm was lurking.
"She's fine. Penny's with the others and she was the one that asked me to find you," said Jaune. He then opened a portal to Vale where Penny was currently living, as she was helping the evacuee settle into their new environment. "Come on, she's been waiting for you. However, I must warn you, Penny differs from her usual. But! Not in a bad way".
Dr Polendina didn't know what Jaune meant. He only wanted to see if his daughter was safe. That was all that mattered.
Once they were in Vale, Jaune used his magic to direct Dr Polendina to where Penny is. It was a golden line that showed Dr Polendina the way.
"Well, since Dr Polendina is going to his daughter. Who are you?" asked Maria. She wanted to know who Jaune was and why he looked like the Jaune that she knew. "I don't ever remember the young man that looked like you create portals since his semblance is Aura Amplification".
"For an old woman, you are quite sharp," said Jaune. He found Maria Calavera interesting. He then got into a thinking pose. "Hmm… Maybe I should find the Maria Calavera in my version of Remnant".
"Your version of Remnant?" asked Maria. First, she hears about the first wave of humanity being wiped out. Then she learns about Salem. Then the Relics. There are the Gods as well, but they are unimportant since they were not on the planet. Now! She hears about another version of her world. "Huh… You know, the more I stick with you young ones, the more I hear of crazy things".
Maria then went to an area with many people. There she got something to eat. Since crashing, she has had no food.
Jaune looked at Maria and she was eating… I mean eating. She was like a mini-Nora with pancakes.
"You see something new every day," said Jaune. He then continued to look at Maria. "Need to look for the Maria in my world. I wonder, would Maria in our world be able to win an eating competition with Nora? I mean, I would give Nora a bunch of pancakes and Maria a bunch of different food, but who would win? That is something to do".
With finding Dr Polendina and Maria Calavera done, Jaune can now concentrate on the game plan.
Jaune headed to Vacuo, where everyone was preparing to take on Salem.
Jaune told them about the plan.
Meanwhile, Jaune also felt the shock of Dr Polendina the moment he saw Penny.
Jaune shrugged it off, since there are far more important things to do.
Salem, after what Jaune did to her, she would come for him with full force.
After the debriefing of the game plan, Jaune asked a few people to stay. They are the people that are going to receive the Pills of Gluttony.
It shocked the people that remained in the meeting place to hear the ability of the black pill in their hands, san Ruby, Yang, Summer, Tai and Qrow, as they already heard about it.
"This…" said Ozma. It shocked him to know that a pill such as it existed. "If something like this were to land in her hands, things will become more complicated. She could amass more power".
"That's true, but it would also mean there would be lesser Grimm around," said Jaune. He then thought about it for a moment. "Then again, the Grimm is nothing compared to Salem. She could probably kill all the Grimm and gain all their strength, speed, agility, endurance and magic, then one shot you every single time".
"That's a horrible thing to think of," said Ozma. Fighting Salem as she was now, is frightening enough for him, but to add the power of all the Grimm? That's just nightmarish. "Thankfully, even these pills have a time limit to their usage".
Jaune never mentioned to them that the pills could have been used on people to gain their Aura and whatnot. It was for the best.
"One more thing," said Jaune. Everyone in the room looked at him. "Since Grimm are made from Magical Energy given form, there is a high chance that you would all gain magic".
"What?!" shouted almost everyone in the room.
"Yeah… well, isn't that a good thing?" asked Jaune. What was the problem? "Didn't the first wave of humanity have magic in the first place? What's the problem with a few of the new generation having magic? It's not like it would act the same way as the Maiden's magic. If Ozma here doesn't go crazy and give away his magic again, there is nothing to worry about".
"Plus, don't you guys want to know the difference between magic and semblance?" asked Jaune.
"That's true," said Weiss-II. She was curious. "I wonder what it would do for my summons".
"Oh! I bet they become less blue and translucent like the one from other Weiss' mom!" said Nora. She then had a thought. "Can you imagine what it could do for me? If I can generate lightning, I can absorb it and power up as much as I want!".
Ren's eyes twitched. Nora has become more mellow over the years after the fall of Beacon, but her semblance still causes hyperactivity. With lightning as her magic, there is no telling what could happen. He didn't know it, but he gulped.
Ren then shivered.
"Ren? Is there something wrong?" asked Jaune-II. He saw the weirdness of his teammate. He has never seen Ren shiver. "I've never seen you like this before".
"I'm fine, Jaune," said Ren. It was forced. But Jaune had to drop it, as he knew his friend didn't want to talk about it. "Let's just continue".
And continue they did.
Jaune explained everything they needed to know before they went to their assigned areas.
Glynda was adamant that she wanted to be in the front line and not Vale.
Jaune thought about it and nodded. Vale would have Scáthach, Sylvia, and the Iron Destroyer. They'll be safe without Glynda.