Best possible version of yourself, chapter 7
AN: Welcome everyone to the new chapter, thanks again for the reviews, and as usual they'll be handled at the end of the chapter. Since only one person expressed their opinion, I won't write much more in the ways of Omakes for now though I will look at the possibility of including parts of the one I did write into the main story. I probably won't fully make it a part of the main story as it was though, but I am tempted to add at least part of it in, the explanation for which I'll probably put in at the end of the next chapter once I've fully decided what to do with it.
Also, remember what I said about this probably ending up being a short story in chapter 1? Yeah just outright forget that, this is pretty interesting to write and also far easier to write without a beta-reader than my other stories so I'll continue writing this at least for the coming while.
Disclaimer: I don't own this property and do not make any profit off of it, and never will. That is for the actual owners of the property to do, which again, I am not a part of.
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Vale, hotel of Oscars uncle
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After polishing up the list they made earlier on the planning of the PMC, Jaune left the room to start figuring out how to actually legally create a Private Military Corporation in Vale while Oscar looked around to find what shops would have large enough quantities of Great War surplus equipment for sale. Thinking this will take a long time and going through all kinds of paperwork he sits down and prepares himself mentally before fishing out his scroll and he starts searching.
Only to find out after a quick scroll search that its actually far easier than he expected, they only need to show up to the headquarters of the Valean National Militia with at least two combat capable armed members, with at least one being a citizen of the nation of Vale and the ability to prove an available starting budget of 20.000 lien. Okay they also need to swear an oath to defend the city of Vale if it comes under attack while they're inside the city walls, but that's a major part of why they're even trying to start this thing up in the first place.
With a combination of slight SDC support through a small loan and his own money that should be easily solved, especially since I can repay them by assisting in fighting back against the assaults on both the SDC dust transportation systems and the actual direct SDC shops. Grabbing some paper, a pen and communicating with Spirit for advice they quickly draw up a plan of action for getting the 8.000 lien loan they'd need from the SDC to start up the PMC itself.
As he returns to the room Oscar and Wizard look up fairly surprised before Wizard speaks up after Jaune closes the door ''So you found the info we need quite a bit faster than I thought you would, is it that easy to create one or is it the opposite and we'll need to impress Ozpin or Ironwood first before we can do anything?''
Jaune shakes his head as Spirit appears besides him as Jaune starts ''The first one, we literally only need the two of us to show up armed with a basic knowledge of how to use those weapons while also proving we can scrape together a starting capital of 20.000 lien before we swear an oath to assist with the cities defence if it comes under attack. By this point I'm honestly surprised that there aren't thousands of smaller PMC's lead by failed huntsman students running around Vale's territory with just how lax these registration laws are.''
As he hands over the basic plan of action he'd written down to Oscar, Wizard answers him ''Oh there are a decent amount of PMC's, however a lot of the smaller ones die out or just stop existing when their original founders either retire or die in the field, with any combat capable and willing member still alive then being scooped up by either the Atlesian foreign Legion or the Valean National Militia.''
Spirit continues upon this ''Both are always looking for new recruits everywhere they can find them. Sometimes even full PMC's are recruited as Auxiliary units at once, especially in the Atlesian Foreign Legion to fill manpower gaps in less important regions that still need a garrison. Its part of why a lot of their more local forces have chronic leadership issues, they are often forced to keep officers from the PMC that are not at all suited to actual commands inside a professional military, since for instance they were used to just deciding on doing things on their own instead of having to answer to a higher ranking officer, not being able to just create their own punishments for troops and instead having to follow guidelines, and a variety of other issues related to no longer being their own bosses.''
As they discuss this Oscar has read through the short list and mentally relayed the information to Wizard ''Seems to be a good idea, should we get ourselves some professional suits or go in our combat gear?'' All three of the others are visibly thinking this over, thinking on the various arguments for and against.
Spirit speaks up ''I believe it would be best if one of you goes in while wearing combat gear while the other is wearing a formal suit, to make it look as if we're combining one's innate business talents with the others raw brawn.'' He looks between Jaune and Oscar for a moment ''I'd think Jaune is best suited as the brawn, with Oscar being the brains'' Both of the young men looked at him in askance and he rolled his eyes.
''Look I know neither of you is a brutish idiot nor a feeble genius however Jaune with armour on with a military looking uniform under it and a greatcoat over it looks far more like a threat with his current build than you,'' at this he points at Oscar ''and most businessmen hold to this foolish, sometimes subconcious, stereotype that somebody that can fight and fight well is immediately a thoughtless brute, just because otherwise he'd not need to be good at fighting in their minds, he'd be doing something else that's less dangerous.''
The two young men each look at the other before shrugging, showing neither would really have much of any issue with the idea. ''So we'll go out shopping for both more formal military surplus gear and a formal suit for Oscar. Shouldn't be too much of a problem, though we might want to ask somebody who knows more about fashion then us to come assist us…'' At this Spirit and Wizard both look at the other before shaking their heads.
''I would suggest either Weiss or Yang but we don't know either well enough right now to actually ask them for assistance, we'll have to rely upon the store clerks instead… this might go very well or it might be a pain in the ass, lets hope we have a helpful one instead of one just trying to smear you the most expensive suit they've got lying around in your size.''
As the three start readying to head out Oscar picks up the list of stores that showed online to have Military Surplus in them and shows it to Jaune ''This one actually has what the website said was 'most stylish military uniforms around' so probably at least some of them will be functional military formalwear. There should be a regular formalwear shop near it.''
Jaune smiles at him in thanks ''Thanks, good work on finding one so quickly.'' As he steps back into his own room to grab his greatcoat before they greet the receptionist while leaving the building.
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A semi-busy shopping street in Vale's harbour district
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As the two make small talk while walking towards the shop both think on potential plans improve their chances of getting the SDC to sponsor them during the starting period of their PMC to be. As they arrive in the street the shop belongs to however those thoughts grind to a halt as they see what can only be the shop they're looking for.
''Oscar, did the shop happen to include a mention online of this… advertising campaign they are doing outside?'' as Oscar shakes a negative, Jaune fully turns back to take in the sight in front of the fairly large shop, where several older Atlesian combat model robots are engaging in a skirmish while wearing full Great War gear and armed with replica weaponry, all the way up to the bayonet attached to the ends of their rifles, the only difference being that the weapons seemed to be loaded only with blanks or paint since the robots didn't sport bullet holes despite the sound effects of rifle fire echoing occasionally from the fight whenever one side would pull a trigger. Both sides made up out of two robots, each dressed in the gear of one of the kingdoms involved in the war.
At this point Wizard temporarily gets control of Oscar to drag both of the younger men out of their surprised state ''Well at the very least, we know for sure that this is the right shop, lets head inside.'' As they proceed to do so, they pull the attention of the shop's owner immediately upon him noticing Jaune already has a greatcoat from the great war draped over his shoulders.
''Welcome to my humble store my young friends, so I see at least one of you is already convinced about the quality of great war era equipment, and with the armour and weapons I take it the both of you are potential huntsman students, yeah?'' As both young men nod, they take a good look at the man walking towards them. He's a somewhat older man, probably in his late sixties maybe early seventies, but in spite of it he's still a tall, broad shouldered and fit looking man. ''So what exactly are you two looking for today?''
At this point Jaune steps forward ''I'm interested in buying a Dress Uniform of the Valean military during the Great War, I'm assisting in starting up a PMC and kind of need a uniform I can wear to business meetings for said PMC in addition to having something nice looking on recruitment outings.''
The man looks him over, asks for his sizes, and afterwards walks to the back, before coming back with two uniforms ''These are two of the styles of dress uniform used during the Great War, the first is the pre-war dress uniform, the second is a late war design when resources were scarcer and a lot needed to be produced quickly.'' The first is a uniform with reddish pants and a dark blue jacket with half a dozen gold small sashes on its chest section, golden buttons throughout the jacket and shoulder insignia's made of gold weave, visibly a full on dress uniform.
The second is more a lighter blue variant, with blue pants and a slightly darker blue jacket with a sturdier belt on it visibly meant to hold a sword sheath, with silver buttons on the jacket but otherwise no decorations other than the golden frilled shoulder rank insignia's, that also keep two cross chest belts in place. Looking somewhat less like a dress uniform and more a fancier officers version of the combat uniform the robot representing Vale was equipped with outside.
Spirit speaks up in his mind 'While both are possibilities, the second is more useful in my opinion, it represents the combat ready officers more. If I remember correctly from Beacon this uniform was meant to be usable both as an actual dress uniform and an emergency combat uniform in case the backline troops that would be wearing it would come under a surprise assault of sorts or needed to react to emergencies.'
Jaune himself agrees for the most part, though he does have a few small questions ''I'm more for the full blue one to be honest, however I've got a few questions about it, just to figure out some of the details about it.'' The man smiles and nods his acceptance ''So I saw a similar uniform online at one point however I'm still unsure of what those cross-chest belts are meant for, they always seemed a bit of an useless detail but with the scarcity of resources you mentioned I suppose that isn't actually the case?''
The man shakes his head ''Good question, no those aren't some aesthetic detail, instead they're meant to be the things you grab onto to drag a wounded soldier out of immediate danger without chancing grabbing into his flesh and adding to the wounds like you might if you grab into the shoulder directly, especially in active combat where you might not realize how strong you're gripping it and if you are a huntsman like you while grabbing the shoulder of somebody without aura or a broken aura from damage…'' Yeah, Jaune can picture just how much worse that might make the situation.
''Is it possible to get an adjustment to the belt so it can carry the sheath of my sword instead of the Valean standard of the time?'' A smiling nod again, at which point Jaune thinks of something ''Possibly also a pistol or revolver sheath to attach to the other side of the belt so I can carry a side-arm? My sword is one of the few mecha-shifts without a gun function.''
''Neither will be a problem, I can have it done in five minutes, will just have to look through holster and belt boxes for a bit. First you should probably try the suit on to see if it's a good size and if I need to change anything to make it look good on your figure.'' As they walk over to the changing room the two see all the other kinds of uniforms throughout the room, before Jaune nudges Oscar and nods with a smile, with Oscar returning the gesture. They've found at least one good place to equip their PMC.
As Jaune gets handed the uniform and a pair of black combat boots finishing off the uniform. After he changes into it he brings his armour over it before pulling on the greatcoat, before walking out (for the full image idea I'll try to add in the image at the end of the chapter of the uniform without greatcoat or armour, not sure if it'll load. If not, look for French WW1 dress uniform, it's the late war dragoon combat version with pistol holster and sword sheathe.) to see not only Oscar and the older man but also a young women looking at him, with both Oscar and the shopkeep looking at him with a smile and a friendly nod.
He turns himself around to watch in the mirror and he does honestly look at least like he means business, very alike to the picture he has of his great-great grandfather in his uniform shortly after the war. The only real difference that the man was slightly taller, wore a combat helmet and had both an officers revolver and Crocoa Mors strapped onto the belt, and at the very least the last difference will be changed soon.
The older man claps his hands ''Okay, now can you hand me the belt so I can modify it? In the meanwhile my granddaughter would like to speak with you, I think she heard the bit about a PMC.'' At this the young woman can be heard grumbling while the older man laughs and slaps her on the shoulder s he steps forward to grab Jaune's belt as he gets it handed over, before the two young men turn towards the young woman as the older man walks away.
At this point Jaune looks the young woman over for a moment, quickly realizing that she is quite a bit shorter than him, being only as tall as Ruby despite looking several years older than him, with brown hair and blue eyes and overall built like a less muscular version of Nora as far as he can see. ''As my grandfather said, I wanted to talk to you about your talk of a PMC, how far along the process are you?''
Jaune replies pretty quickly ''We're currently getting ourselves the formal clothing in the form of a uniform for me and a three piece suit for my friend here'' at this he points towards Oscar ''So that we can get a loan from the SDC to cover the last part of the 20000 lien we'd need to set up an official PMC. Why, you interested?''
At this she nods ''Yeah, I'm a graduate of Shade academy, however pretty much immediately after the academy I was kicked off of my team because they considered me a 'weakling' simply because my semblance and combat style are focused more on supporting my teammates and long ranged combat rather than charging in headfirst, leading them to believe we lost in the first round of the Vytal festival because of me.'' At this the now Spirit controlled Jaune doesn't look too surprised.
''Okay, good to know that bit, though it's probably a good idea to introduce ourselves to each other now instead of continuing. So I am Jaune d'Arc, I'm a prospective Beacon student, what is your name?''
''Auburn Rochefort.'' As the woman replies she turns to look at Oscar ''And what's your name cutie?''
Oscar blushes slightly at the comment before starting ''My name is Oscar and though you've explained why you don't have a team currently, that doesn't explain why you are interested in joining a not yet existing PMC of two strangers that just walked into your grandfathers shop.''
At this the it's the young woman's turn to blush instead ''Well… you see… I might possibly have been rejected by over a dozen established PMC's already because all of them assume I'm either a criminal or simply bought my Shade graduation papers on the black market instead of actually having gone there. In addition to the fact that as mentioned before my semblance is heavily support focused and I'm long range support, while the entire thing most PMC's look for in graduates of the various academies is frontline fighters that can keep their regular soldiers safe by drawing away fire, people that can hold the line against Grimm in a face to face fight. For the things I'm good at they can just as well hand a rifle to a new recruit and give him or her some marksman training, before within a few months they're more than good enough without all the potential issues they feel they would get from me.''
At this point Jaune picks it up again ''And as such you are looking for a new or even not yet truly started one so that you can join them early on and prove yourself important to the fellow members so they become attached to you long before they can become as established as the PMC's you've already been to. Am I right?'' Her face shows he hits the nail in the head, with her nodding confirming it.
He nods and gives her a friendly smile ''We'll need to discuss it for a moment.'' As he pulls Oscar to the side he asks ''What do you think? She would probably make for a decent combat instructor for any prospecting members we want to recruit if what she is says is true, and if nothing else she'll be a fire-arms trained combatant with unlocked aura.''
Oscar seems to weigh the decision for a moment ''I do believe she wouldn't be too bad of an addition, especially since neither of us is really the best at long range. So any assistance on that front would be useful in the near future.'' He's nodding to himself, probably talking with Wizard ''Your points about her training any new troops we get in fire-arms are also decent. I think its best if we agree to have her in, if we make it clear that we still have to get a large enough starting capital to actually form the PMC.''
Jaune nods in return and they walk back to the anxious young woman ''So we've decided that as long as the creation of the PMC goes smoothly, we'll hire you pretty much immediately, do realize that we're not going to be using bullheads early on but instead intend to work as dragoon troops in the area around Vale for now.'' He pauses for a second before continuing ''Also please tell your grandfather that if we succeed we're interested in buying Valean Great War uniforms as the standard uniform of our group.'' The young woman happily nods at this while smiling at the both of them.
As they are discussing the details and exchanging contact information the grandfather walks back from the storage with a slightly changed belt. Jaune clips Crocoa Mors onto it before they go to the checkout and Jaune buys the suit. However as he starts to leave, a hand lands on his shoulder, turning around and looking up at the older man he can see a revolver in his hands ''A Great War service revolver, still in decent condition. As long as you do hire my granddaughter, the guns yours.'' Jaune nods his thanks, before the man hands him a small ammunition pouch ''24 rounds of ammo, its not all that much but its enough to test the thing out and see if it is to your taste. Good luck on the meeting for the funds to start up the PMC.''
As they leave the shop they can hear the granddaughter rage against her grandfather for babying and teasing her, while the old man laughs. They're walking down the street for a bit before Oscar sees a store selling formal clothing, including both suits and dresses, with several mannequins the size of teenagers in front of the windows with various forms of formal attire. He brings it to Jaune's attention and the two head inside, where a fairly young red haired woman looks at the two of them before pulling up her nose.
''And what might the two gentlemen be doing here? Unlike what you might be expecting this is not a barbaric arms dealership nor whatever store sold you those rags, we're a shop for properly chique attire, not some thrift store.'' As the woman quickly gets on their nerves a throat can be heard very loudly clearing itself behind the young woman as a blond woman walks up in view from behind her.
''Isabelle, do I have to explain to you once more that we are a shop in the harbour district of Vale, the preferred shopping district for Vale's militia and huntsmen? Meaning that if you try to chase out all the armed combatants who risk their lives for ours on a regular basis we will quickly end up with barely any clientele?'' The younger woman stumbles a step back ''Ah so you did not forget, you just brought up your foolish hatred for anyone that has ever had to actually get their hands dirty for a living again. Just for that you're on cleaning duty, go clean the toilets.'' The young woman runs off with an angry look on her face.
The older woman looks at the young men apologetically ''My apologies for my nieces behaviour, my sister has always been far too soft with her and as such her friends at her fancy little school influenced her thought process far too much, the ungrateful little shits…'' at this point she starts mumbling something that is probably supposed to go unheard but both young men hear it ''when I get my hands on whomever decided it was a good idea to make those kids think hard work means somebody is worthless I'll wring their little chicken necks…''
The woman shakes her head ''Anyways, what can I do for you two? Suits for a wedding? Special ties more suited to a funeral? Something for a school ball?''
Oscar shakes his head, taking the lead here ''It's not too big of a deal, thanks for telling her off, we're actually looking for a formal suit for me, we're heading to an interview with some people from the SDC about a few things and with my age anything to be taken more seriously will help.''
The woman nods and smiles, leading the two off as they go through several things, eventually ending up with a fairly simple, but very nice looking navy blue suit with a white undershirt with a black tie around the young mans neck. As he moves into the changing room the woman turns towards Jaune ''My apologies again for my niece, I expected her to have learnt her lesson when her father got so desperate he forced her to work in retail as a shop assistant.''
He brushes it off ''Its not much of a problem, I'm already happy with your assistance on figuring out what suits Oscar well, I'm not the best with civilian fashion.'' The woman wisely doesn't reply, knowing there is no good answer to that statement. At this point Oscar walks out of the changing room, with both Jaune and the woman smiling, Jaune adding a thumbs up and a ''Looks good on you.''
Oscar takes a look in the mirror and agrees, though at this point Jaune moves closer to him as Spirit takes control ''If you want we can get something more inline with your old outfit once we have a larger budget as a combat outfit, do you want that or would you rather take something else now that Ozpin isn't with you anymore.''
Oscar thinks for a moment before answering ''I would like to actually get something very much alike what Wizard wore as a combat outfit, it would be very useful in both projecting an image outwards and if nothing else would also make it easier to convince Ozpin if needed.'' At this point Jaune looks at him with a smile but also a look of 'I know that's not the full reason, spit it out' causing Oscar to look away and blush slightly ''Both Ruby and Nora also told me it looked very good on me and that was the first time Wizard heard it from somebody anywhere near my age that also actually cared about me… I wouldn't mind that again. Especially not since the last we saw of Nora she was…''
At this point Jaune takes over and gives Oscar a hug as Spirit feels a wave of sadness course through him, with the slight feedback Jaune has to put in some effort to keep from crying himself while he hugs the younger man to his chest ''They did all they could Oscar, and we can turn the world into a better place for both them and the people they came to love. With their help we can make a brighter future for all of them, and I believe you'll hear such comments quite often once you use that all natural charm of yours and become their friend again.''
While this scene is happening the woman who had started walking over to try to figure out what was happening instead remained at a respectful distance until the two had stopped after about a minute where Jaune ruffled Oscars hair before sending him back to the changing booth. She then silently walks up to Jaune and they wait till Oscar is back with the clothes, which they then quickly pay for in addition to buying some new black shoes for the younger man.
After they leave they head back to their hotel room as Jaune has to call the SDC in relative privacy to ask if there is any point where they could fit in an appointment. To be honest while they'd like to get it done the same day still or tomorrow, they still have some time to finish work on all this, though sooner would be better than later.
As they arrive back at the hotel, Jaune looks up the number of the local SDC branch before calling over and explaining the bare bones of the situation to the receptionist that answers the phone, causing her to put him through with one of her superiors. ''Good to hear from you mister Arc, this is Alexander Dumott speaking, I had gotten the message from Merkel that you'd probably contact us, while we have some free time now that would only allow for a very short meeting, I'd like to propose waiting till Saturday, sometime around 2 in the afternoon?''
Two days from now, fine enough ''Sure, I'm fine with Saturday afternoon, and 2 o'clock sounds fine, I'm bringing somebody else along if its fine to discuss a business proposal. Though might I know who I'm speaking with?''
''No problem, we can easily accommodate another individual, and my name is Jan Jansen. I will see you there on Saturday along with your companion.'' As the call ends Jaune quickly notes the time and date down in his scrolls calendar just in case, before going and explaining the situation to Oscar.
Since there is a decent amount of time spare for the day they go to the arena again to spar before they'll go and have some lunch. As they arrive and once again rent a private sparring room where this time they first spend about half an hour practicing moves their elder versions explain to them, before starting a relatively relaxed spar for another ten minutes as a warmup.
Afterwards for both of them their elder versions start more directly advising and assisting with combat reflexes and an actual fight is on. Oscar opens with a barrage of bullets to Jaune's head which is blocked by the shield while Oscar keeps firing as he moves forward, keeping his aim up at Jaune's upper body, before doing a quick kick at the mans lower legs while slashing towards the shield with his gun transforming back into a machete as he moves in, only for the machete to be thrown to the side by a shield bash while Jaune holds firm against the hit to the leg before delivering a far more devastating slashing hit with his sword to Oscars back, throwing him a few meters away in the process.
Jaune knows that as long as he can hold his ground, he can outlast the younger man, and it shows in their exchanges as Oscar tries to a quick victory again with several quick slashes only for only for four of the five to be blocked or parried before the fifth hits, but allows Jaune to bash his shield into Oscars chest as he got a bit too close to Jaune's left side for that hit.
A moment later Oscar gets his revenge though as he manages to trick Jaune into heavily overextending on an overhand slash, allowing for several hits to his arm and side as Oscar circles around him, before he manages to get in a final hit to one of Jaune's legs as he ducks down under a circling strike. As he does though, his luck comes to an end as Jaune manages to trap the machete between his shield and his leg before quickly kicking the younger man in the chest, sending the younger man tumbling a few meters before coming to a stop against the arena's edge.
A similar pattern continues for the next while, with Oscar trying to strike with a number of fast hits which keep getting blocked while he dodges several attacks before Jaune makes a mistake that he capitalizes on, allowing him multiple lighter hits in only for Jaune to then get a singular, usually far more powerful return hit in against the younger man. After a few more minutes of more cautious fighting, Oscar is exhausted and calls for an end to it. Afterwards Jaune gives the younger man a slap on his shoulder and smiles at him ''You're improving by the minute, good job. You're becoming fast enough it's hard to follow sometimes.''
He gets a smile in return along with an answer ''Same to you, you also seem to be hitting quite a bit harder now than a while ago. Refining your focus and efficiency on the strengthening techniques of aura?'' Jaune nods in return, thankful that it was noticed and also working.
As they towel off their upper bodies and head out they go for lunch at a nearby café, while discussing what they might want to focus on during the meeting at the SDC offices while enjoying their croissants with melted cheese and bacon. ''So mostly just focus on the PR perspective, while profit from this for them would be nice, the direct profits from it would be nothing compared to their overall regular profits, but any positive PR is something the SDC is always in desperate need of. Though their CEO might not always understand that fact…''
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Two days later
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First thing in the morning, the two young men go for a short five kilometre run to get rid of some stress before the meeting that afternoon. As they run they also take in the city around them, trying to learn the layout of the general area around the hotel since a lot of the earlier incidents will be happening in this area, which was also the place where the White Fang was the most active in robbing dust stores.
After two and a half kilometres, they turn around and start heading back through a slightly different direction, most of the run having gone by without incident, besides some whistling from a few college students of the campus they passed during the run. However as they are almost back Jaune sees a bakery ''Let's get some baguettes, if we get the support from the SDC we can celebrate with cheese fondue and cheese fondue just doesn't work without baguettes.''
Oscar turns his head slightly with an interested look ''Wizard and I haven't actually ever eaten fondue, so I'll trust you on that one.'' At this point he starts smiling ''I have heard it before and seen it in movies though and it always seems very fun and nice, so I'm looking forward to it.''
Jaune gives Oscar a grin as they walk into the bakery ''While its probably not as glamorous as shown in movies, its still a fun experience you should get at least once in your life.'' After they buy their bread they go back to their hotel and start preparing for their meeting this afternoon.
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In front of the Valean SDC headquarters
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The two young men give each-other a last check over as they go through the list of things they need, before Jaune opens up ''It seems like we've got everything, lets go make a first step into preventing the desperate times to come.'' Oscar nods, as Jaune opens the door letting them both in.
As they walk up to the two secretaries behind a counter, before one of the two looks up and smiles at the both of them ''Jaune d'Arc and one companion?'' Jaune nodded in return, causing her to smile and stand up ''Follow me then, you're expected at the conference room 1.03B.''
As they follow her along they head towards an elevator down the hallway before they head up to the next floor. Upon arriving there they walk down a few doors before arriving at a room with a guard stationed near it who looks them over and exchanges a nod with the young woman before allowing them in.
As the door closes behind them, a young white haired man can be seen sitting on the end of the table further into the room with two young men standing behind him at the wall. The young man looks at them with a detached sort of interest ''Good day to the both of you, my name is Whitley Schnee, while I know of you Jaune d'Arc, I haven't heard your companion mentioned.''
''I am Oscar Pines, an equal partner to my friend Jaune d'Arc in the business proposition we're bringing to you.'' The young Schnee nodded before shaking both their hands, after which he moves back to his chair and sits down while gesturing for them to sit down in the chairs opposite of him.
As they all sit down Whitley starts ''Okay so I'm interested, from the fact that you not only are taking somebody else with you and Beacon hasn't started yet I can assume this isn't as simple as just exchanging information for you to be only a call away from us whenever we're in need of additional security for cases where we have too few leads to call in the police, so please do explain.''
Jaune nods and stands up ''So here's the thing, me and Oscar realized that we could do not only that but also build up a long term stable force to assist us on more dangerous missions in addition to getting long term financial stability if we start up a PMC, however we miss 40% of the funds to actually be able to legally start one.'' Whitley nods, gesturing for him to continue ''So since we're going to be assisting you with security, we thought, why not make that a more permanent cooperation by getting a small loan from the SDC to fill the missing funds in exchange for working security for the SDC in the aforementioned situations for a lower price than our competitors would until we have done enough jobs to clear out that debt.''
At this point the young Schnee can be seen thinking for a bit before he replies ''That is indeed an interesting proposal… however let me give a counter-offer.'' At this Jaune and Oscar turn towards eachother before they shrug, giving Whitley the signal to continue ''Instead of the SDC as an organisation giving out a small loan, I'd instead rather give you a larger amount of funds but use this to buy myself into this PMC as a stockholder in addition to getting my personal guards admitted as members.''
This proposal comes as a shock to both of the young men on the opposing side of the table but a quick nod from Oscar gives Jaune the sign to bite ''That is certainly an interesting counter-offer, however for us to accept such a thing instead we would wish to know first how much you are offering and how many of the stocks you would want in exchange for that.''
Whitley gives a cold smile in return ''I would be interested in buying 30% stock in exchange for 20.000 lien, since the company itself is only an idea by this point and thus this is more than enough to buy in my share.'' Jaune shakes his head at this with a smile on his face.
''But my new friend, here's the problem with that idea..'' he lets a dramatic pause hang for a second as the young Schnee pays full attention ''Myself and Oscar here are both highly capable combatants, with you even having proof of that from my rescue of one of the SDC's logging outposts, in addition to the probably recorded fights we've had with some of the criminal elements here in Vale, in addition to already having a Shade Academy graduate ready to join up the moment the company is actually founded, which combined with a supplier for gear in the form of said huntsman graduates grandfather makes us a long term investment for anyone, meaning we'd get a better deal than you're offering from several others. I propose instead for 30.000 lien for 15% of the shares.''
''Still though, I'd also be giving you access to two immediately available members in the form of my guards, who both have Atlesian citizenship, allowing for far easier future operations in Atlas, notwithstanding the far easier dust supply a Schnee as a partner in the company would bring. 25.000 lien for 25% of the shares.''
The Arc shakes his head ''Yes but here is another thing to think about, we are going to be a Valean PMC fighting to defend the surrounding villages and Vale itself from the Grimm. This would if nothing else better your personal public image, being seen as a defender of the poor people of Vale against the murderous Grimm, and we both know that you will take this opportunity with both hands on that front. My final offer, 20% of the shares for 25.000 lien, in addition to us accepting your proposed members and training them up a bit.'' At this point Arc puts out his hand.
The young Schnee gives a nod at this and takes the offered hand ''A decent enough point, and that is a large enough portion of the stock to give me a decent profit. Do realize though, that this means that I'm officially joining as a member of the PMC, even if I will not be joining in combat missions for the most part.'' Jaune shakes his hand and smiles at him before Oscar shakes the other young mans hand instead, and with the main negotiating done and the deal struck, minor details and minutia are the talk of the day afterwards.
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Vale's National Militia Headquarters
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The two young men sit opposite of a clerk ''Okay, so to check everything one last time, you want the company to be by the name of 'Arc and Pines Rifles', with sellable shares so you can reward investors?'' At the affirmative replies, she hands over the papers ''Then everything is in order, here is the paper proof of ownership, we will also send you another copy through e-mail and keep a version on our own databanks. The login codes for the app to look at your personal accounts and find the jobs that are available for completion.''
As they walk out of the building they find Whitley, his two guards and Auburn are on the opposite side of the street, drinking coffee at a table of a somewhat chique café. As they approach they exchange the information with Whitley that he needs while doing the paperwork in the app to get all four of them registered in the PMC. Once all this is done, Whitley speaks up ''After looking through this I've found out that to be officially registered as a member of the PMC one needs to actually have partaken in at least one combat mission a year, without it we won't get the benefits being a PMC member gives you even if you are technically a member of one.''
''No problem, I've got a list of possible missions here, a few on convoy escorting, one in acting as the heavy support troops to law enforcement in fighting organised crime, a few to act as re-enforcements for Vale's reclamation effort of several smaller outposts, with a chance of being hired on permanently as some of the outposts militia if you perform well and lastly some simple extermination missions, mostly small groups of between 10 and 50 Grimm roaming a bit too close for comfort to the roads leading to Vale with the exception of one request to join in as infantry support for a huntsman team heading out to take on a small horde of a few hundred Grimm.''
As Whitley looks at Jaune, prompting him to hand over the scroll, said blonde can't help but notice that the young man is acting quite a bit less cold to him than what he had heard from Weiss about his behaviour. Probably a sibling thing, he did not always have the most unbiased picture of his sisters either. After a few moments of looking through the list, Whitley selects one and shows it to them ''I believe this is a good option to test our capabilities as a group.'' As the others read the mission description Jaune nods his acceptance, not having any real issue with it, the others giving similar signs of agreement.
At this point Auburn claps in her hands ''Good, very good. Now that we've decided that though, I feel that we need to make sure everyone is actually decently armed and has a somewhat consistent uniform for the PMC.'' Everyone makes agree-able noises, though Whitley seems to be the most enthusiastic ''And I know just the place to get that equipment at, follow me!'' At this she starts walking away, completely ignoring the fact that they haven't paid yet. Jaune shakes his head before gesturing for them to follow her as he heads inside to pay the bill.
Once they are all back at the Rochefort shop, they first have both of the Atlesian bodyguards, who they find out are cousins named Thomas and Hermann Paulus, finding two nearly identical infantry uniforms in addition to two of Mantels Karabiner M35 bolt-action rifles, what with the good long ranged effectiveness of the weapon in addition to using a munition type easily available in all of Remnants larger cities, of course with bayonets included.
They'd been using versions of these in Atlas at shooting ranges for long enough to know how to use them without much trouble, though not to the same degree trained soldiers would. In addition to this they also bought a few modern replica Valean grenades, though at this one the others look a bit surprised ''What? These are far cheaper than the modern ones we can buy elsewhere and simple enough to produce that in the long run we can make them ourselves once this PMC actually gets off the ground.''
At this point its Whitley's turn and he eagerly goes for some of the fancier original dress uniforms of Mantle, only to quickly find that there are none in his size, it taking a while before they find a replica mixed combat dress uniform similar to Jaune's that is only slightly too large on him, causing the elder shop keep to smile at the young man ''I'll change it a bit so it fits now, however regardless in a few months it will fit you very well.'' This brightens him up somewhat, buying a revolver as his ranged weapon while claiming to already have his other weapon of choice in a storage vault at the local SDC headquarters.
As Oscar walks up however he selects something very different from the others and comes forward with clothes that look very familiar to Jaune and what looks like a metallic walking stick with a handle… ''Ah, I see you've found a modern version of the Warrior Kings personal combat outfit and his personal weapon, while the original is now the armament of Beacons current headmaster, this one is of more recent make. No mecha-shift forms I'm afraid though.'' Jaune now realizes why it looks so familiar, its essentially a more combat ready and slightly more armoured version of the outfit Oscar wore in the vision where he saw Wizard and Spirit fight Cinder.
Oscar shakes his head though ''No need for mecha-shift, I know far better how to use this without,'' while saying this he takes some experimental swings before continuing ''Also has a very good balance, nice. As I said I know well enough how to use it without, and just in case I need a one I already own a mecha-shift weapon.''
As Oscar experiences the strange feeling of wearing something that is at the same time completely new, but also extremely familiar, Jaune coughs to get everyone's attention, Oscar noting Spirit is in control ''So after we pay Oscar and I will go out to get some provisions in the form of food, drink, medical supplies and most important of all horses to transport us. We'll be there in an hour, everyone agreed on that?'' Everyone gives consenting nods in reply, causing him to move over to the counter and pay the old man a significant amount of their budget before they start heading out to do what they all need to before they leave the city.
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About ten kilometres beyond one of Vale's mountain pass guard outposts
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Five men and a woman can be seen riding on horseback through a forest, with only three of them seeming to have no issue with it, while the other three, of a somewhat paler complexion, are less enthused by their current activity. At this point the one looking least comfortable with the riding speaks up
''Okay so let me get this straight, we're travelling for over three hours in total with six people to take out a pack of roughly twenty Beowolves…'' The white haired young man grunts and nods in affirmation ''Why don't they just send a bullhead with some troops over to deal with things like these within a few minutes instead.''
The tall blond man riding besides him sighs ''Because Whitley, they are both in an area where bullheads can't get to easily due to it being too heavily forested, and unlike Atlas Vale doesn't have enough bullheads to risk losing one on investigating every rumour of small groups of Grimm like that.'' He then looks at the younger man with a raised eyebrow ''Also you are the one who decided this mission was the best option without looking for more information about exactly where it would be taking place, besides the general area of Vale, before taking it on.''
The sole woman accompanying them looks up from the map she is reading on her scroll ''We should be getting close to their location, might be best to keep our voices down from now on.'' As they all fall silent and start focusing more on their senses they only have to go forward a few more minutes before their horses are walking up and almost reaching the top of a hill as Jaune hears something and holds up his hand signalling everyone to dismount. Like agreed upon before they left, Thomas stays to guard the horses as the rest dismount and move the last forty or so meters cautiously up the hill before they crest the top, looking over and expecting to see a small gathering of Beowolves….
Only for the faces of both Whitley and his guard to lose all colour as they look on in fear and horror while the other three's faces turn grim. ''So whomever filed that report on the number of Grimm probably not only halved the number he should have written down but also forgot to add a zero, which is less than useful.''
As Jaune makes this comment the Schnee guard turns towards him before whispering with a terrified look in his eyes ''Why are you so calm about this? There are hundreds of Grimm here with more probably spread throughout the forest around us?!''
He gets his reply from the only woman among them, who is taking a closer look at them through the scope of her rifle ''Because these are the Grimm and the only thing panicking does is draw them in. Also your guess of about 400 is probably not far off, I'm seeing ten Alpha Beowolves.'' And since there is usually only one of those for every 35 or so other Beowolves, that number doesn't seem to farfetched.
It seems though as if the Grimm have started realising that something is watching them as a portion of the Grimm closest to them start moving in their direction ''Everyone back to the horses, if we manage to get back to the pass we should be able to hold them off with both the garrison and the defences on our side.''
Everyone sees the wisdom in this and rushes back to the horses before mounting and riding, with Jaune forming a mobile rearguard, putting several shots into the first few Grimm to crest the hill with his carbine, setting a cycle of him emptying his rifle into them, reloading and urging his horse to move a bit faster to stay caught up with the others, after which he will turn in the saddle again to open fire on the approaching horde. However after a few minutes of this repeating he shoulders the rifle and gets his horse to move faster as he draws his sword instead, having heard growling from a far different direction than the Grimm following behind them.
Moments later a Beowolf jumps out of the treeline to their right ahead of the group before charging at Whitley, who while still ahead of Jaune is lagging a bit behind the others, causing his horse to buck and throw him off as it is rammed before the horse flees the scene. From his position thrown on the ground, feeling his left leg barely able to move, the revolver knocked out of his hand and his only other weapon stuck due to his position, Whitley can do nothing but watch in horror as the Grimm raises its paw to slash down at him, only for a flash of steel to separate it from the rest of its body before a well timed pull on the reins causes Jaune's horse to buck just ahead of the Grimm, allowing him to behead the beast in a backwards slash.
As it starts disintegrating, the young knight jumps off his horse, lifts Whitley up and mounts up with the young man set in front of him before they quickly start riding again. All the while, in spite of the pain, Whitley's heart is beating at a crazy speed.
As the others notice they've fallen behind a decent distance, they slow down slightly and start offering supporting fire, while Spirit releases control back to Jaune after he'd given it up for a moment to allow Whitley to be saved. Jaune looks at Whitley, sees the pain he's in, and comes to a conclusion ''I'm awakening your Aura, hold on as tight as you can.'' As he says this he quickly sheathes his sword and pulls Whitley closer to him before he pulls up his aura and starts chanting, feeling himself grabbed by an otherworldly sense as something that's neither fully him nor spirit supplies the words ''To defend the weak, to fight for those you love, awaken warrior, for you will be the shield that protects them and the sword than vanquishes their enemies. May you rise to greatness through the light of your soul.''
As Whitley's aura awakens Jaune feels a drain on his own, though it doesn't seem to be all that large, probably means Whitley has a comparatively small aura reserve, which is good for him for this battle since it means he can continue fighting more easily, but doesn't bode well in the long run if the younger man wants to join them on combat missions in the future.
By the time he's thought this though, the two of them have caught up with the others who also started moving faster again, outpacing their enemy slightly, however they are never far behind. As Jaune draws his revolver to shoot at them he realizes that without a ranged weapon and with aura still being busy healing his leg and arm, Whitley will be defenceless once he has to move to fight the Grimm, causing him to hand over the revolver to the younger man before he looks at Oscar who shouts to him ''I've sent a short message about a Grimm horde of more than 400 heading towards this gate, they should be readying the defences and sending for re-enforcements from Vale if those are available.''
''Good work Oscar'' he then turns towards Auburn ''How long till we get back there? Whitley might need medical attention and if we get waylaid by more of those ambushes we'd be in trouble.'' She quickly takes a look at her scroll and shouts
''At our current pace, about ten more minutes, we should be able to see it soon.'' And indeed as she says so they can see the mountains getting closer, before after cresting a slight hill a few minutes later they can also see the gate and small wall taking up the passage way between the two of them, and once the Grimm start passing the hill they can see flashes of mortar fire before hearing those shells impact behind them in the Grimm horde shortly afterwards, though with a group this size the small amount of ordinance available to the passes won't be enough to cause significant casualties, it does slow the centre of the horde down slightly as the Grimm behind them crash into the wounded and disintegrating bodies of their comrades, meaning the most advance group of Grimm is fairly small.
All the while they keep firing behind them when opportunity allows, taking a few Grimm down here and there before they get close to the gate starting to open as they rush in Jaune jumps off his horse and hands Whitley over to the nearby medic before rushing back to the gate to help close it again, before a large log is placed to keep it closed. Above them he can see and hear the men firing their guns, with machine gun and mortar support, as they rush up to join the defence on the wall.
As they join in the commander of the outpost, an orange haired man of similar size to himself wearing metallic upper body armour, quickly heads to him, all the while shouting orders to the mortar troops down below on aiming directions before he looks at Jaune ''How large is this group roughly?''
''There were 10 alpha beowolves we could see with accompanying numbers, with some additional re-enforcements from the forests around us.'' The commander nods, his face turning relieved that it isn't a larger group, though Jaune realizes after getting a good look at his face that it looks fairly familiar, not like he knew the man himself well, but one of his relatives most certainly. Though he still looks worried ''If those things get to those gates, they're doomed to fall quickly, you have the look of a huntsman, please do join me down there if we need to fight them.'' He replies with a nod, easily accepting the request, before they both hear a roar and turn back to the wall, where a trio of beowolves managed to get on top through using the disintegrating bodies of their comrades as step-ups.
Jaune quickly drops his gun and draws Crocoa Mors instead, quickly bashing the one on the left the head with the still forming shield while chopping off the front-right paw of the central one, while the third gets beheaded by the commanders war-axe before he moves in and rams the central one back over the wall while Jaune beheads the remaining Beowolf. At this point another, louder roar can be heard as through the centre of the group five Alpha Beowolves charge ahead and are closing in on the gate, and while significant fire is directed towards them, three of them make it very close with while the defenders are now throwing grenades over the top to thin out the herd.
The commander looks at Jaune who nods before the two of them jump down right in front of the gate while the other soldiers switch focus fully to taking out the weaker regular beowolves, even as the two both behead one while jumping down. Moments later one of the alpha Beowolves split off to attack Jaune while the remaining two rush the commander, both groups supported by several regular beowolves as well. The alpha tries to claw out Jaune's eyes only for the slash to be met with his shield, while he counters with a swift slash at the outstretched limb, only to have to dodge to the side while doing so, only leaving a light gash instead creating a deep wound as a second beowolf tries to shoulder bash him.
A good thing about that is that the weaker beowolf managed to ram into a slight spike in the wall, specifically meant to stop Grimm from doing such a thing, allowing Jaune to chop off one of its back legs before having to switch attention to the Grimm in front of him as it tries to ram him into its ally to crush him between them, forcing Jaune to ram his shield against its face instead to slow it down before pushing back and stabbing it in the stomach, though it gets a good hit in with its left claw in return before he manages to force it back with a heavy aura enhanced push of the shield before he dodges to the side, allowing the alpha's next slash to hit the Grimm behind him instead as it tried to bit him in the shoulder, resulting in a heavy gash along the exposed neck of the beast, allowing Jaune to stab it into the side before kicking it into the wall again, finishing it off.
Now in a one on one with the alpha, they exchange several quick blows, with the Grimm mainly aiming to claw his face while he tries to chop of the claws its using in doing so, before the Grimm has enough of this and locks his shield in place by slamming its paw against it and instead of trying to retreat going in for a headbutt as Jaune delivers a heavy slice to its arm, the headbutt not doing much actual damage due to aura but it does push Jaune back a bit with his back now pretty much at the wall while a trio of other beowolves jump in to try and kill him only for two of them to be shot down from above while he ducks under the jump of the last while stabbing upwards essentially shearing through a good chunk of the Grimms body before it lands weakened on the other side as Jaune has to parry a slash from the Alpha with his sword before slamming a heavily aura enhanced shield bash into its head, forcing its head to the side and allowing Jaune a stab into one of its eyes before pulling his sword out again while breaking a good chunk of the facial bone armour.
The Grimm tries to move back but Jaune now moves into the offensive, slapping a desperate slash of its paw into its chest with his shield before chopping forward, his sword biting heavily into its arm before bashing its face in with his shield, further damaging its skull armour all the while pushing shards of it deeper into its head. While doing this he stabs forward into its neck and instead of retreating his sword again he pushes heavily down, going through a the frontal half of its neck, before ramming his shield into it a final time, sending the head flying into another Grimm behind it, sending the beast to the ground and making it an easy target for the soldiers on the wall.
A pained grunt can be heard some metres away from him though and as Jaune turns he can see that while the commander managed to deal with one of the Alpha's and probably more than a few regular beowolves from the three disintegrating corpses nearby, the last Alpha and two regulars managed to corner him and he is without a shield, meaning that even if he defeats the ones currently surrounding him he'll have lost enough aura to be an easy target for the other Grimm still trying to move in.
Jaune rushes in, slashing straight through the closest regular beowolf before bashing his shield into the alpha meaning it only strikes a glancing blow on the mans arm instead of raking across his chest. As the man beheads the other beowolf Jaune gives a skittering slash on its skull armour, forcing it back slightly and allowing the commander to hack into its left hindleg, unbalancing it and allowing Jaune to deliver a slash across the less armoured parts of its chest, wounding it further while the commander handles another Grimm that tried to take the place of the latest disintegrating one, punching it in the face hard enough to slam it into the wall before beheading it with a slice of his axe.
The Alpha tries to brings its paw forward to slash the blond man still fighting it, only for it to be parried by said mans sword while he bashes his shield into its face again, sending the now unbalanced and severely wounded Grimm stumbling back, allowing Jaune to stab it in the upper chest and ripping his sword out through the left side while the other man rams his axe through the beasts remaining upper body paw, chopping it off and creating another wound on its side in the process. The now collapsing Grimm is the kicked harshly back into the mountain by both Jaune and the man at the same time, where it finally gives the ghost and dies.
Though the immediate threat to the wall is now done for dozens of Grimm are still approaching them while Oscar has jumped down on the other side of the wall to save a man that had fallen off after a grim had grabbed onto his rifle and dragged him down, where he is expertly slapping away the paws of several Grimm surrounding him while delivering quick hits where he can with his new weaponized cane. Jaune exchanges a glance with the commander before he moves to assist Oscar while the commander moves into a defensive position in front of the gate.
As Jaune beheads one of the Grimm near Oscar, giving him more breathing room and allowing him to slap one of the other Grimm into the path of a slash of a third, killing the already wounded beast the battle is winding down though, with the Grimm that die no longer being replaced by re-enforcements. Jaune and Oscar easily finish off the five remaining, mostly already wounded, Beowolves on their side while the defenders on top of the wall finish off the last few outliers with accurate rifle fire.
While highly intense, the fight was also fairly brief, having lasted at most a total of ten minutes. Though something feels off to Jaune and Oscar and as they look at the uneasy face of the commander while the troops on the wall are cheering they know he feels it as well: while this attack force did contain most of the regular beowolves sighted by the group, it had only half of the alpha's… just where did the remaining group go?
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Half an hour later
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After the battle is over Jaune is surprised to learn that Whitley had against order of the medic moved to assist in the fighting the moment he started hearing the engagement outside, in spite of the fact that the medic had only just put his arm back in place correctly. During the battle he assisted both with his pistol on the wall and later helping in bringing up more ammunition for the machine gun after one of the original carriers had been knocked down and out by one of the few Grimm to get over the wall.
All in all, the men of the garrison are somewhat shocked to learn that yes, this young man that risked his life beside them and that had been injured already in the running skirmish to get back to the wall was actually the 'soft' pretty boy of the Schnee family, as he is known compared to his more combative sisters. A picture is taken of the new PMC where Whitley is even smiling while at the centre of their group, with both Oscar and Jaune having an arm around his shoulder.
Unknown to them, more than one picture is taken of this, as several of the soldiers send these to various news agencies or post them on social media with a variety of messages attached, though the one that becomes one of the more popular is ''If this is the future of the Schnee family, we're a lot better off than we'd hoped for.''
Still at the outpost though the commander asks Jaune to talk with him in private, where they move to his quarters ''Thank you for the assistance and the warning, if that group had hit us without some form of fore-warning and without your groups guns and swords to help us fight them off, we'd have probably lost a number of people, good people, likely including myself. Especially if they'd gathered larger numbers in next few days before attacking.'' He looks Jaune in the eyes with a smile ''I can now go back home to my wife and children again next week when they shift us back out for the new group and see their smiles again instead of being shipped back in a casket. If you ever need anything, the name's Maurice Winchester, and we Winchesters always repay our debts. Especially with my brother the councillor, he'll likely be willing to give a lot.''
Jaune nods and accepts the outstretched hand ''It wasn't a problem Maurice, the name is Jaune d'Arc. Happy to be able to help. I might call in that favour though one day, though it hopefully won't be any time soon.'' The smile disappears from his face after a moment though ''You did notice the missing Alpha's as well though?'' the other man nods, his own smile also souring.
''I'll be strengthening our patrols for the next few days and requesting for Vale to give more heavy equipment for this position or send some huntsman patrols, if those beasts are still in the area travel in the area will be a very dangerous effort for some time, and this is the main road for several farming towns supplying a decent amount of Vale's wheat and a number of logging camps. Not all that much compared to the overall city size of course, but enough that if they don't arrive the prices of bread and fire-wood will be higher than expected in the next few months, which with the already more expensive dust would not be a good sign for the poorest of its citizens.''
Jaune nods as in his mind Spirit and him deliberate over the chance that this a part of Salem's plans to keep Vale weaker after the strike at the Vytal tournament, making them more easily able to ignore the place and lowering the chance of them being able to send meaningful assistance to the other kingdoms.
Moments later the two men head back outside, though the slight victory celebration that was being held is cut short as the commander announces that five alpha beowolves and a number of regular beowolves that had been spotted before the attack didn't participate in it, causing the nightguard to be enlarged and patrols merged together for the safety of the men within them. Shortly afterwards the PMC says their goodbyes as they mount their horses, with Whitley not having one still and as such blushing slightly as he asks Jaune stutteringly to join him on his horse again.
And though the now in control young Jaune thinks little of it Spirit is chuckling in the back of his head remarking 'Well if nothing else you're quite a bit better at attracting the interest of Schnee's than me already, good on you.' Then refusing to elaborate when Jaune asks for an explanation while Whitley takes the time to feel himself be held by the man behind him, not so secretly to most onlookers enjoying the feeling, if only for the factor of being hugged, something that had happened only rarely throughout his life. Though a less innocent part of his mind reflects its also quite a bit easier to feel the muscle on the arm around him without the worry of battle and pain of his injuries hanging overhead, causing the blush to intensify slightly, which turns even worse as he then also remembers the warmth caused by Jaune awakening his aura.
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Patch, Rose-Xiao Long household the next morning
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In her bedroom a young black haired girl can be seen tossing and turning while muttering ''no, no, no'', if one where able to look into her head they would see a violent scene, a burning city of Vale while on top of a broken beacon tower, a young girl pulls herself up just in time to see a young redhead get killed by a black haired woman in a red dress, who's eyes are seemingly emitting flames. The dream then switches to seeing a number of beowolves assault a small village as a slightly older looking version of young Ruby charges them with her scythe in hand before calling her friends up to assist, which they are already on their way to doing.
Afterwards it switches to another scene, showing a horde of Grimm breaking through a hole in a cities defences as Ruby, together with three others, of whom she only recognizes her sister Yang, are fighting back against them before re-enforcements arrive in the form of four more teenagers, including the redhead she saw die in that first part of the dream and her sisters new friend Jaune, that quickly help ease the situation.
At this point though all of the shocking images have roused ruby as she sits up in her bed, thinking over the strange dreams she can somehow remember with more clarity than usual. ''Again with the strange dreams, the day after meeting him I had one where I saw an older looking Oscar, now I'm seeing Jaune, Yang and a several others I have this strange feeling I should somehow know….''
Then though she hears her dad yell from downstairs ''Ruby if you don't come down dressed right this minute, we'll leave for Vale without you, and you know you wanted to go to that one shop that sold your favourite weapons magazine..'' So she just shrugs off the strangeness before quickly dressing and rushing downstairs, where her plate with bread and eggs in addition to a glass of milk are waiting for her along with her dad who smiles down at her while ruffling her hair ''Eat up kiddo, we'll be having a long day ahead.'' As Ruby sits down though, he has no idea just how true his words are and just how much will change for them on that day.
Roughly fourteen hours later Jaune receives a scroll call from Yang, causing him to pick up ''Hi Yang, what's up.'' She starts talking excitedly before Jaune asks ''Calm down a bit Yang, I am really interested in what has got you so excited, but if you talk so fast I can't understand what you're saying.'' This calms her down a bit and though usually she would be if only slightly flustered at ruining her good image in front of a new friend, today she doesn't care much.
''You won't believe it Jaune, Ruby is coming to Beacon with us, my own little sister! Apparently she managed to beat up a load of criminals so well that it impressed the headmaster enough to let her in two years early, how cool is that!'' he can hear her laugh in joy on the other side of the line ''My own little sister coming with me to Beacon, it's the best news I could possibly get.'' In the background Ruby can be heard letting out an embarrassed 'Yanggggg…' though as usual, Yang ignores that kind of sound.
Jaune chuckles on his side of the scroll ''Congratulations Yang, Ruby, can you hand the scroll to her for a moment, I wish to congratulate her as well if it's no problem.'' With a sure it gets pushed into Ruby's hands as Jaune smiles and congratulates her before asking for a description of the fight, which the usually shy Ruby gladly gives, before after a few minutes Jaune hands the scroll over to Oscar to allow him to congratulate her as well, with the two of them talking for a while longer before the girls father can be heard in the background asking for them to put the scroll down, causing them to say their goodbyes. After the call is over Oscar and Jaune exchange a look, knowing that Cinder and her stooges shall now start pushing more and more to push Vale in the direction they wish for to orchestrate the fall of Vale and allowing her to get the remaining powers of the Fall Maiden.
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And that was it for this chapter, my apologies that it took quite a bit longer than the other ones, the next chapters will probably be a bit shorter but they will also take a while to make (though probably not as long as this one) since schools have started back up, meaning I have far more work to do again. I hope all of you enjoyed it, and as usual please review and tell me what you thought of both this chapter and the story in general. Now onto answering the reviews:
Aelmellin: A nice and clever set up for character growth. I enjoyed the fact that it was Yang herself that just called out to them to help Ruby. Had a small wonder of why she would trust unknowns around her little sister but then I remembered she would be there, and was confident enough that she would have no doubts she could handle them if they proved trouble. She did just wreck a gang bar after all. And good job on the suspicions she had. Jaune was lucky to be able to explain it off well enough.
The second great idea, the PMC they are starting and getting Terra to help set up a cure to the hack and making the proof of it? I can see it working even if issues pop up. Good luck to the characters for that. Oh, and please let thar omake be a true but don't elsewhere omake and not a not real but what if type omake! it would explain your idea of how the others came in though we would have to explain how not all of them came back despite the proximity if RWBY had jumped down in time. Well maybe they didn't and that's the answer? looking forward to finding out!
Reply: Hello again Aelmellin, and thank you for writing another review. And yeah Yang was confident enough that she could take them out if something happened, since up until the end of their year in Beacon she breathed confidence, often straying into overconfidence. And yeah while the PMC has been shown and the seeds of its long term development have been sown, I haven't really touched upon the possibility of preventing the hack in this chapter, but well Atlas isn't in town yet and the white Fang aren't openly attacking shops in Vale yet either so they can't progress much on that front till later.
As for the Omake, like said at the top I'll probably implement parts of it into the main story as you'll be able to read later on in the story, but it will likely not be added in in full, simply because having two of Atlas's most powerful and influential individuals be immediately in the know on everything, down to the most minute details on how every backdoor was used, would make it a bit too easy in addition to making the early villains quite a lot less threatening.
Resium: There some mistake in this for example this "two garbed in the pristine white suits preferred by the Atlesian upper classes, while the last man is wearing combat fatigues though these seem far cleaner than they where last time you saw him.
''Good to see you here kid'' As Johan starts speaking he moves out of his chair and gives Jaune a short slap on the shoulder, while without the helm you can see that he has pure white hair on his head. ''Again, can't thank you enough for the assistance back there.'' As the man talks you can hear one of the others clear his throat before he gestures for the both of you to sit down." When the narrator is talking about jaune its using YOU as if the narrator is talking about me the reader not jaune
Reply: Yeah I'm going to be honest that was probably me letting the original writing through where I should have changed it, thank you for notifying me. I write a lot of things originally in first person as it is both a bit easier and because it gives you more of a feel on how such things actually would go and why something might or might not work (especially in fight scenes). Thanks for reviewing.
ReadYesyes: Best example of Jaunes Semblance boosting other semblances is him helping Ren hide a train of people, which is something Ren by himself could not do. Buffing Weiss to hold down Penny is another example
Reply: Hello there, thank you for supplying me with examples. I did know of the first one, didn't know of the second one though, probably happened in the last season at some point? I honestly haven't watched much of it. Thank you again for the examples though, and thanks for the review
Drdean: oscar is a meh character. we all know that ozma will eat oscars ego soon
Reply: While yes in canon that might be the case with the soul and ego eating, in this story it won't, especially not in the near future. Though also in canon I feel that is actually one of the more interesting parts of Oscars character, the fact that this is a young boy who might die soon from something he can do nothing against, but in spite of that is willing to put in the effort to help people. Thank you for the review.
And that was the end of it again, see you all next time everyone, have a nice day.
