Greetings pups, I welcome you back to chapter 3 of the arcstar crusaders, I had a lot of fun writing it and can't wait to see how you all like the next chapter in this adventure. to answer a few questions, we're not doing stands here so no STAR PLATINUM no ORA just sword and Hamon, and yes we did have Salem instead of Kars in this story, you'll have to wait a bit for the more detailed explanation though
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Jaune Joestar chapter 3
Part 1: Arcstar Crusaders
Theme 1: Tomorrow's Kings - Dragonforce
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Jaune could feel his muscles ache, his sword arm wanted to collapse and he was debating having his shield arm cut completely off.
"Again!"
With a deep inhale Jaune shifted his weight, moving his body with every ounce of strength to begin a swing, with his exhalation Hamon traveled up his arms into the blade and collided with the tree causing it to spark with life energy while the blade cut into it, he got a quarter through the tree with his swing when he pulled back the blade just slipping out before the Hamon caused the tree to fully wrap around the blade. Another inhale saw his stance change near fully and with an exhale Hamon traveled through his shield as he moved forward slamming his shield into the tree with all his strength breaking the thorny vines currently growing from the tree moving to slam into the trunk. His target was easy to hit causing a violent shake to erupt from his arm at the force before he ripped his shield away from the new brambles growing.
"Good, your speed, strength, and Hamon are growing stronger, pretty soon I might be able to just give you three Huntsman Licenses," Ironwood said.
The three trainees were too busy panting to care, for the past two days they would simply travel and move, they finally made it to the rendezvous point but all that meant was more time for the three to be trained into the ground. Jaune and Ren made great leaps with Hamon while Nora spent the whole time on physical and weapons training, however, all of them made great leaps in ability and strength with Jaune being more able than Ren or Nora had ever seen before.
"Have a break, drink some water then you three can do breathing drills," Joseph said.
"Was your own training this intense Mr. Joestar?" Ren asked.
"Different, but no less intense than what we're putting you through, after this mission I want to take you three to where I was trained and do a more formal instruction of Hamon," Joseph replied.
The conversation died down as a sound filled the air, soft but slowly rising as a melody could be heard.
"Big ol bullhead liner, don't carry me too far away, oh big ol bullhead liner, cause it's here that I got to stay"
Turning their heads they could see bullhead approaching, the speakers on and playing a Steve Miller band song much to the annoyance of Ironwood
"So much for stealth." The general said, a sentiment ignored by Nora who was singing along with the incoming airship.
"Well, looks like our ride is here," Joseph said with a small chuckle.
"Crusaders let's go!" Nora said, striking a dramatic pose while earning looks of confusion from the others
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As the airship touched down on the sands of Vacuo Jaune couldn't help but be impressed at how good Hamon was at keeping his motion sickness at bay, whether the energy kept his body from experiencing nausea or the breathing exercises helped him ignore the problem until they landed he didn't know nor did he really care.
The base they landed at was rather small in his opinion but considering they were trying to be sneaky he supposed it made some sense that they would want to keep a low profile, a small group was waiting for them to land while he could see others going about business on the base. A small group stood off to one side all wearing similar white outfits, in the middle, an older woman stood wearing a black tracksuit and red scarf, her face covered with a large floppy hat and big sunglasses, the final person was by far the most beautiful woman Jaune had ever laid eyes on, white hair tied into a neat ponytail while wearing a white and blue dress uniform.
"Fear not! The Crusaders have arrived!" Nora exclaimed while jumping out of the bullhead causing some cracks to form in the landing pad, and Jaune to snap out of his observations.
In Front of them, the older woman began to chuckle. "I'm liking this one, do tell me how you ended up traveling with my family?" She said with a smile.
"Kids, I'd like you to meet Lisa Lisa, a skilled Warrior as well as the lady who trained Ceaser and myself, she's also my mother and Jaunes great grandmother," Joseph said, causing a round of gasps.
"You're, my great-grandma?" Jaune asked.
"Indeed kiddo, I do hope Joseph hasn't been too hard on you, " she said with a smile.
"It's ah nothing I can't handle," Jaune said with a small smile.
"Glad to hear, I'll need to take you and your friends to the pillar soon." She said with a smile.
"Excuse me," Ren said walking up to the teacher, "I'm Lie Ren, Jaune is my team leader at Beacon, and my mother's uncle was Caesar Zeppeli, your student I believe?" Ren asked.
"You're Caesar's family?" She asked in a whisper, a nod from Ren, Jaune, and Joseph answered her question as she wrapped the boys up in a hug.
"I can't believe it! My grandson and Ceaser's grand-nephew are both in the same place fighting side by side once more, this is the truest sign of fate I could have ever imagined for us in the battle with Dio! There's so much I can't wait to do with you boys, tell me are there any other Zeppeli's out there?" She asked, tears threatening to fall from her face.
"I'm the last survivor of my village, I have no living family," Ren said, his head bowed down.
A moment later he was engulfed in a hug from Jaune, Lisa Lisa, and Nora.
"You're always home with me Renny," Nora said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"No matter what happens you have a home in team JNPR, we're a team and a family and I couldn't imagine going through anything without you," Jaune said.
"You'll always be welcome in the Joestar house, you'll never be without us." Lisa Lisa said.
"Thank you all, it means a lot to me," He said.
Lisa and Jaune got off him but Nora kept holding onto him.
"And just to make sure you get the message." She said, grabbing his shirt and bringing the two of them together for a kiss causing some of the soldiers nearby to chuckle at the display.
"As touching as this is, I'd also like to introduce the ace ops, Clover, Tortuga, Vine, Elm, and Harriet." Ironwood began, the members each raising their hands as the roll call got to them. "These are my most trusted and elite soldiers all brought into one team, Ace ops meet Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Nora Valkire, and Joseph Joestar, I expect you to give them all the utmost respect during our time together."
As Ironwood's speech came to a close he turned to face the white-haired woman Jaune noticed earlier, still standing at attention. "And of course, I can't forget Winter here, she's recently graduated from atlas academy with top marks, has been personally trained by me, and is one of the most talented people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. All of us are here for the single purpose, to destroy Dio once and for all." Ironwood said.
"We can't get much intel from the city sir, all drones we send are destroyed and their fortifications are growing by the day, I'd imagine soon they'll be prepared to repel most attempts to breach," Winter said.
"I see, thank you, Winter, I want us all ready to breach the city by the weekend, get prepared however you need and keep your skills sharp, we'll need all of us to breach," ironwood took a pause in his speech turning to face everyone. "We will meet tomorrow to establish a plan of attack and once more before the mission to ensure our preparations are complete, this mission will be important and the fate of remnant is on the line, I trust everyone here absolutely with this cause."
"Yeah! Welcome aboard to the arc-star Crusaders new people! We're gonna be super cool and break Dio's legs!" Nora said, earning confused glances from everyone not used to her antics.
"Arc-star crusaders?" Winter asked.
"Yea, fearless leader Jauney is a Joestar and an arc so I combined them together into arc star! And since we're on a mission to kill some century-old evil Grimm thing we're totally crusaders, so we're the arc star crusaders!" Nora explained.
"It's best to just go along with her," Ren advised.
"Anyways, Crusaders, get some rest because tomorrow we prepare to battle the enemy," Ironwood said.
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After putting their things down Jaune stepped out of his quarters to practice forms with his weapon, his breathing in synch with each move of his muscles.
"Hello Mr. Arc, it's a pleasure to meet you," Winter said, approaching him, causing Jaune to stumble. "Am I interrupting something?"
"No, just trying to practice some more before our mission," Jaune said with a small chuckle, he turned to face her and sheathed his weapons.
"Don't let me stop you, bettering one's self is always an excellent use of your time." She replied.
"Don't worry about it, I'm not that good anyways I'll probably just sacrifice myself to buy you guys some time to do something more important," Jaune said while sitting down. Winter took note that his breathing was still stable but his body was drenched in sweat.
"Then why are you here?" She asked, Jaune jumped a little at the question, looking at her as if she was speaking a new language. "If you believe yourself to be an inexperienced hindrance that will only be useful by giving his life for us to have more time to finish the fight, why even come?"
"Because Dio is evil, and needs to be stopped. I'm not going to sit back and let any evil terrorize the world and just not do anything about it, I'd rather not die of course but If it'll save the world then I might as well give it my all even if I might die. It's what it means to be a hero, and I might not be a hero now but I hope one day I can be a great one, or at least any hero." Jaune said.
"I see, I must admit you're quite noble. Few people would go on a quest like this, fewer still who thought they would die on it. But I can understand, you want to be a hero to help the world. I joined the military because I saw something that could help me get away from my family, once I joined though General Ironwood saw something in me I didn't even see in myself; now helping the world stay safe is all that matters to me. I can see why the General has such an interest in you." She said with a smile.
"I doubt he's all that interested in what I can do, I'm barely skilled enough to qualify for a beginner school while he's running a military and a huntsmen academy," Jaune replied
"And yet, you're brave and selfless enough to be here, and one of four people who have the ability to defeat our enemy," Winter said, she walked over to Jaune and sat down next to him. "You may not believe it but you are quite brave and with time you can become a great hero."
Winter stood up and offered her hand to Jaune, he looked at her for a moment and took it.
"Thank you, Winter," Jaune said standing next to her, they looked at each other for a moment before she swung her elbow into his chest, Jaune managed to lean his body out of the way in time to avoid being hit and block the follow-up punch she aimed for his gut.
"Good reaction time and your foundation could use some work but it's a good start," Winter said with a smile, with a glance the two hopped away from each other and drew their weaponry.
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Some professions were given the luxury of complaining that experience and skill should give them the right to not deal with menial tasks or know more when asked to do them, Atlas soldiers did not have that luxury however, after all being a soldier had many different jobs it entailed, many things needed to be done in the army after all from cooking to repairs, to driving, and much more. With this in mind, the gate guards stood at their position knowing that despite the task it was no less important than any other job in Atlas, after all, it's why the general handpicked them for this assignment.
Time passed by for the guards, they knew a shift change was coming but observing the sands of Vacuo for threats was more important than counting down the time.
Their assessment proved to be true as a large man approached from the direction of Cairo, as per orders they aimed their guns at the individual.
"Don't shoot, I'm here to help," he said raising his arms above his head.
"Stay where you are, state your name and business, keep your hands where we can see them, and no funny business!" one of the soldiers said.
"Of course Sir, My name is Hazel Rainart, I have come to ask for help."
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Such a fun write, now to figure out what story get's its chapter next. I hope you liked it pups and can't wait to see what you have to say in the comments, now if you'll excuse me I need to debate changing ren's shirt to red...