"-And thus we switch gears from the larger picture of the great war into the specifics, first, let's talk about Vacuo!" Teal excitedly talked, pushing up her glasses as she was willing to go off on another two hour long lecture about history as Jaune wondered if which would break first, the table or his face.
This was Jaune's life for the past few days ever since he explained to mom why he looked like he fought a beowolf barehanded after his first day on his new internship, mom had the brilliant idea to have his sisters help him in his schoolwork -which is to say, getting Rouge and Teal to help while everyone else acted as commentator- as a way to hit two birds with one stone, get him to call home everyday and to get video evidence of him actually studying. After showering of course.
Which led to Teal reciting to Jaune the entirety of the great war in excruciating detail, at least that's what Jaune thought. Teal said she was giving him the cliff notes with a gleam of excitement on her glasses, it would have been easier to believe that if she didn't go off every other minute to spout random facts about whatever she was talking about.
No, Jaune didn't need to know about how Malik the sunderer had a harem and how the last king of Vale seemingly had an affair due to rumours about how he kept talking about a woman named salami in his sleep.
Jaune desperately wanted to switch the subject so at least he could get other work done, he grabbed a book on his cluttered desk by random and shoved it into his scroll's camera.
"Why don't we do this instead?!" Desperation apparent in his voice.
"Grimm study? Well I'm not as knowledgeable at grimm biology as I am at history but ok~" Pride and confidence dripped from her voice, that was the thing with Teal, she LIKED studying.
Verde never understood, she said as much too, screaming in the background, yelling about how Teal wasn't human.
"First things first, the only knowledge I have are the words of the villages' elders and the 'know your enemy: grimm edition' book from the library but..." She started, pushing her glasses up as a shine hid her eyes.
"Grimm are the greatest predator of humanity, they care not for anything other than the destruction of human settlements, ignoring other animals outright. In fact they don't even eat sometimes! Leaving the rotting cadavers of ruined villagers within their own homes for the rats to finish..." Her voice a low tone.
"They're characterized by their onyx black bodies with red highlights, and as the older they get the more of their famous bone armor spreads throughout their body. But what's dangerous isn't what one grimm can do, it's the fact that there is never just 'one' grimm at any time, a huntsman can hold of dozens to hundreds of grimm at a time, yet as a candle to the darkness even the most skilled of huntsmen can get swallowed by the tide of grimm. Or so the book says." Jeez, Jaune thought. Teal should become a horror narrator.
"Hey Teal, ever thought about becoming a horror show narrator!?" Apparently he wasn't the only one as Saphron yelled from the back.
"Shut up!" Teal shouted back, waiting until the giggles and laughter quieted down. "There also used to be rumours about how grimm actually came from the shadows themselves but was cracked down by the government for misinformation."
"A rumour like that would increase anxiety and fear ten fold, increasing grimm attacks..." Even Jaune knew about how grimm were attracted towards negative emotion, but still, just the thought of something being able to just SPAWN out of the shadows was... freaky.
"Exactly!" His sister pushed her glasses up.
Jaune started writing down notes, abridging the previous paragraphs into 'Grimm scary' among other things.
"And since we're at the topic of grimm, let's discuss about grimm species!" She excitedly presented the borrowed grimm encyclopedia towards the camere, half the screen was the smushed image of a blob of a grimm and the other was filled her face.
"Sure." There wasn't any reason not to, he was planning on being a huntsman anyway and now that dad can't stop him from studying about huntsmen stuff, Jaune can basically go wild on what he can learn.
And this continued on for a few more days, Teal and Rouge swapping depending on the subject, Teal helping him with with history and science while Rouge came in during language and... home economics...
Qrow said most huntsmen suck at money and that he was a poster boy of that aspect, he said that last part with far too much pride while downing his flask.
Oh and math with Rouge, but math was easy! -Relatively- It was just all about pattern recognition and repetition, numbers always stayed the same, it just took time.
In the end math just turned into talk time with Rouge whenever Jaune wasn't stuck on something.
Like the day after his Grimm studies with Teal.
"So you've made any new friends?" Rouge asked.
"Eh? Uh..." Oh boy. "I mean, it's pretty hard to socialize when I'm focusing on catching up."
It was the truth.
"You're in a school full of kids that all want the same thing as you, back in Ansel you never really did make friends no matter what mom said to you, always so busy with trying to stop bullies, help with the town wall and your quote on quote research using X-ray and Vav." She teased the boy across the screen. "Now's the best chance to make some, especially with people on the same boat as you."
"I'm not a student of Signal though..."
"That shouldn't stop Jaune Arc, the next in line to bare the burden of the Arc lineage! Unless... you're chicken?"
"You sound like Verde." He shot back, his sister giggled back.
"But really though, try getting some time off to make some friends, some connections, the teachers would understand." Rouge insisted.
Jaune would agree, but a mixture of nerves, both from being from near the frontier and just social awkwardness, as well as the difference in what he was doing compared to what the actual students of Signal were doing.
Jaune really didn't want to accidentally blab about his belt.
"Fine... I'll try." Jaune couldn't say no to his sisters whenever they get all sincere like that.
"Thanks!" Rouge smiled, Jaune felt like he did the right thing. "Oh and you got most of them wrong, question three is fine though."
"Wait what?! Aaaah!" Jaune took back his words, math sucked. "Can you give me a hint?"
"Sorry brother but no cheating." A smug smile crossed her face. "You already know the formula, you can do this."
His eraser was working over time.
The night continued on, Jaune wrote his answers as Rouge continued to create background noise through small talk. About how Violet was getting picked on and Verde traumatizing a few pricks who deserved it, about how Saphron was going on and on about how she met this girl online and how mom's brain short circuited due to suddenly finding out she was gay. Even if mom was on the more traditional side, both mom and dad didn't really care as long as she was a good person so that was neat, the teasing started when the twins suggested that she wasn't real which was obviously the best part.
Seeing Saphron of all people getting teased was a great surprise.
All this everyday talk really helped calm his nerves.
He really needed this, especially with the evaluation on friday, tomorrow. Especially when he was still stuck on trying to get to actually push aura through his weapons...
Friday came as it did any other day, yet Jaune was nervously grabbing his bag tighter than usual, the weight of his family heirloom granting him comfort. Praying to his ancestors to give him strength, Gods, what if he failed! What if he sucked so bad he had to leave, what would they do to the belt!?
Maybe they would erase his memory... it WAS a super secret thing, maybe they would erase HIM!
Ok he was watching too much of that conspiracy horror show called dusk and dust, but it was a good show, this was Teal's fault for recommending it to Jaune.
He dropped his head low and made his way to the training room, the hallways of Signal had little to no people as classes were on going, whatever kids there were was either skipping class or were on bathroom break. Either-or made it so they didn't question him, made it an easy trip for the socially anxietable boy to reach his destination.
After reaching it he found Mr.Branwen, or Qrow as he preferred, sitting atop a bench near the arena, a very scary and very big sword on his side, realizing he was here the man casually waved him to get closer.
Jaune felt like fainting but held on, running up to the teacher bag in hand.
"Hey there brat." He stood up, towering over Jaune. "Ya ready?" The boy nodded. "Then I'll be waiting for you right over there, so give it all you've got."
He walked over to the dreaded arena, the oversized blade stuck in the ground besides him.
All I've got? Alright then.
Taking out a white breast plate from the bag, attaching it to his chest along with two pauldrons, two heavy duty gloves followed suit as he spied Crocea Mors from within.
Grabbing the blue hued hilt of the blade, he pulled it out of his bag, the pearl white sheath shining.
He stepped onto the arena, and with a click he attached it to his arm, a swoosh sounded out as he deployed the weapon, it's compact sheath fanning out into a shield, twin crescent moons, the symbol of the Arc family drawn upon it.
And finally a hiss as sharpend metal left it's blanket of steel. Crocea Mors, his family's heirloom weapon, dad even said it was one of the first mechashift weapons in the world, used by the knight Julius Arc during the great war.
And now it was in his hands. It was a bit big but he would grow into it.
"Pfft, is that you're weapon?" Qrow laughed.
"Whbf-" A strange sound of confusion, anger and embarrassment left his mouth.
"Look at that antique, that blade looks older than Signal. Where did you even get that?" He pointed towards the blade.
Jaune tried to stay calm. "It's a family for." Not without venom however, not for a lack of trying.
"What? Nothing more than some hand me down trash huh?"
He wasn't wrong but. "Don't call Crocea Mors that!"
Jaune knew he shouldn't talk like this, especially to a trained huntsman, but how could he stay quietly when his own ancestry was being insulted.
"Why do you even have that? Is this some sorta tradition to lend you some old junk before actually making your own stuff? I'm sure you're dad has way more stuff besides it, I mean geeze, just grab a gun or something I dunno?" Wait, a gun as in a mechashift one or like, just a gun? That sounds kinda weird for a Valean school teacher to say.
But that wasn't the point right now, interesting quarry it was, Jaune needed to correct some things.
"I wanted to use it! And besides, we don't actually have any other weapons beside training swords, and dad's personal stuff but y'know..." Sorta trailed off on the end there, but it was true!
"So you don't have anything good in your place, seriously, I'd think it was some brat's first try at a weapon if it didn't look like it was rotting." Jaune felt his face heat up, his grip tighten and anger flow through his body.
"Go to the nearest used weapons store in Vail, most huntsmen throw away perfectly good weaponry away to try out some wierd experimental shit only to just remake their old weapon." He shook his head.
Jaune started to get impatient, was he here for an evaluation or to get his family heirloom get picked on?! Jaune screamed in his mind, and said as much, although heavily censored by a mix of common sense and anxiety.
"Hmmm..." Qrow looked up Jaune from head to toe, an eyebrow raised. "Sure thing kid, if that old thing can help you sure."
"Great! So... do we like bow or somethi-" Jaune was cut off as he heard metal leave concrete and the distinct whistle of a blade, Jaune saw Qrow dash straight at him with his blade at a downwards angle.
He hid behind his shield pushing aura throughout his body, especially his arms and legs, just in time as the huntsman crashed his greatsword into Crocea Mors. A large clang sounded throughout the training room.
Jaune's legs were shaking, the shocwave created from the clash was proof enough of the huntsman's power. But Jaune stood tall, albeit shaking hard, with all his strenght he pushed back with a roar.
"Raaagh!" Yet as he pushed he suddenly found no resistance and stumbled, he felt a kick to the back and fell, rolling to break his fall as he brought his shield in front of him again. Jaune lowered his shield a little to see his opponent, only for his eyes to widen in panick, Qrow suddenly disappeared, turning around expecting an attack from behind only for fear to turn into confusion as Qrow was still gone.
Flap
Huh?
Looking upwards towards the sound of fluttering cloth, his mouth agape at the sight of the grown man dropping towards Jaune, blade pointed downwards.
Rolling sideways, the crash sent shockwaves through his skin, Bang! Bang! Buckshot bounced off his aura as Crocea Mors was raised to block, dust munition blocked by steel as the dark haired man's sword shifted into a shotgun before reverting to it's blade mode with a loud clunk.
Qrow dashed towards the blonde, blade held high. Jaune stood, parrying the blade, blocking the stab that came next, angled his shield to let another blow slide down.
"Your trying to fight me with a museum piece without even coating it in aura?" Cling, he casually flicked Jaune's sword away and stabbed him in the chest, aura flaring to make sure he didn't turn into an Arc shishkabob.
"I'm working on it!" Jaune cried back, desperately trying to fine a crack in the middle aged man's defense.
"Really?" Qrow looked at Jaune accusingly, his stance laxing before he casually commited to a rapid fire flurry of blows.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Qrow struck the child multiple times, a stab to an underhand strike to a over head finisher. Jaune barely blocked them all until his feet were swept by a low kick, his already buckling feet were an easy target, he was blown away a few meters by the huntsman knocking him away with his sword like a baseball bat.
Stabbing Crocea Mors' blade into the ground to anchor himself, skidding to a stop. Yet he couldn't catch a break as a black and red blur sped towards him, in a quick flurry he forced on the defensive once more, Qrow's quick, elegant but brutal movements left Jaune's amateur fighting style in the dust.
"What's wrong?" Qrow taunted in between swings "Weren't you going to show me how cool you're old piece of scrap is or was that just me hearing things?!" He locked their blades to each other, staring Jaune face to face, his crimson eyes making the child sweat.
Crocea Mors' blade was pushed down and in a quick movement Jaune got hit by a knee to the solar plexus, his aura working over time to protect him. He saw the large sword that resembled a butcher's blade more so than a weapon for heroes swing towards him in a horizontal arc, rolling sideways just too late, as the blade scraped across his back, Jaune's aura flaring as the sound of metal scraping concrete reverberated throughout the room as his aura was being grated by the sword.
Only to roll again as the reaper's blade came down again in a stab.
Rolled again as an overhead came down.
Jaune rolled again, and again and again. Each roll barely dodging a blow that left a small crater where he once sat.
Jaune saw Qrow raise his hand once more and rolled, only for his face to meek another dust slug to the face knocking him down onto his back.
"You ain't gonna make it as a huntsman if you ain't fightin' back kid." He saw Qrow lean on his sword, not a scratch on him, looking as if he wasn't even locking swords with someone just a few seconds ago. And here Jaune was, flat on his ass eating dirt.
Jaune threw Crocea Mors' shield against Qrow, the man easily catching the offending projectile like a frisbee as Jaune dashed forward.
"Raaaagh!" Jaune ran, his aura enhanced legs allowing him to run as fast as a grown man, jumping to the air as he came close unleashing a downwards strike.
Only to be dodged by a simple step sideways by the professional.
"Wha-" Jaune was cut off midway as Qrow's knee hit him in the jaw.
"Aaaah!" Jaune recovered quickly, swinging wildly with all his strength.
"Sei! Raagh! Grah!" Jaune swung over and over, grunting, yet all of them missed their marks as Qrow sidestepped and dodged all of them with ease.
Jaune overswung, and in that moment his shield was thrown back at him as he was once more swept down with a low kick.
Yet as Jaune was on his way to stand he found himself being picked up by his hoodie, his feet dangling in the air, looking forward he saw Qrow stare at him.
Jaune thrusted Crocea Mors' shield into the teacher's face, only for his left arm stop halfway being blocked by a sword.
"Alright kid, is that really all you got?" Qrow shot a look of slight confusion towards the tiny blonde.
"No!" Jaune swung his leg only for the hand that grabbed his leg to swerve around and grab said leg, Jaune fell and was held onto by a rough hand on his jeans, everything was upside down.
"Alright kid, I ain't giving you any more hints, is this REALLY all you've got." Qrow sent an annoyed gaze, poking Jaune's waist with his sword.
Where his belt was...
Belt... Jaune's eyes widened. Jaune also felt stupid.
Jaune was suddenly thrown, the speed of it made it so Jaune didn't have enough time to break his fall earlier.
But that didn't matter.
Jaune sheathed Crocea Mors and slid his hand inside his hoodie, Qrow raised his eyebrow at the sight. Pulling out his the Blay buckle and ace of spades card, slamming it on his belt, Qrow smirked.
With a quick shuit! The belt formed as Jaune slid the ace card into the glass faced slot.
Beep! Beep! Beep! The belt alarmed, Jaune closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he hasn't transformed in nearly a week and he still remembers what happend last time.
Lightning flowed throughout his body, he writhed in pain burning him from the inside...
He couldn't give up, he would not give up, Jaune Arc will become a huntsman. His right arm diagonally to the left, left hand on his waist.
"Turn up!" He pulled the lever, it's glass chamber flipping into a red face plate with a golden spade in the middle.
"Turn up." The belt announced, a familar sheet of light, a beetle emblazed upon it. And no sooner did it embrace Jaune, folding itself against his body forming itself into dull silver plate armor upon a dark blue body suit.
His silver horned mask formed last, large crimson eyes shone across the room before dulling down.
"There we go!" Qrow gave applause to the bug knight. "Man that suit looks sick! Would've looked cooler if you were taller but we can fix that with time."
He gestured to Jaune to come closer. "Come on now kiddo... round 2, let's go."
"Alright then..." Jaune stretched his fingers and neck, power pulsating like lightning through his veins just like last time. Jaune didn't understand what was different from last time so that he didn't get electrecuted, but that didn't matter right now.
Now it was time to fight.
Jaune took Crocea Mors' into his hands once more, exploding into a leaping strike, a large clang ringed as steel met steel.
"Faster now, but still as simple as a monkey, you gotta use that noggin to get a hit in." Qrow smirked.
"Hah!" Jaune let out a side kick, Qrow let one out in return, both feet clashing causing a shockwave throughout the room.
"Rrrgh!" Jaune swung sideways, stabbed and commited to an overhead, far faster than before. Each hit was blocked, but each strike sounded as if they were gunshots.
Locking blades once, red eyes met red eyes as sparks flew from their blades. "I have to admit, that pile of old steel is pretty gods damned tough but I don't think it can take your new found gorilla strength if you don't dab it with your aura."
"Hmph!" Jaune saw his ancestor's blade, it's ancient steel had small nicks and scratches. Jaune felt his aura crackle and spark from his body towards his armor, he pushed. He pushed his aura into Crocea Mors' sword and shield, and through sheer brute force a blanket of white light crackling with electricity, it's shine blinking in and out.
"Hmmm..." Qrow pushed him back, immediately making distance from the boy, Qrow struck back, a barrage of swings far, far faster than before.
Each swing was like a guillotine coming down on Jaune, each a wide swing made to chop limbs off by the dozen, a huntsman's technique. Jaune tried to protect himself, keyword tried, he tried to parry yet found himself being fooled by expertly crafted feints, he blocked but each hit felt like he was blocking a car crashing into his face. But his sword didn't waver.
But Qrow noted, that it's aura was blinking in and out.
Jaune's blade shot out like a flash, his armor allowing him to ignore most of the blows, a piercing stab flew only to be parried, a counter attack that flew twice as fast, an overhead swing crashing into his mask.
The silver claded child charged forward into a shoulder tackle, "Raaaagh!" Jaune screamed as he directed himself towards Qrow, he could have dodged but instead took it head on.
Holding his sword sideways, he blocked the charging opponent, buckling for a second until securing himself. Kneeing the knight before throwing Jaune down in an arm drag throw.
As Jaune stood up he saw Qrow casually walking around, his cleaver of a sword on his shoulder taking a sip of his flask.
"Really?!" Jaune charged the well dressed man, swinging wildly as he drew close, yet Qrow casually sidestepping each strike, his hands weren't even moving.
"Yaaa-!" Jaune screamed before he was kicked in his stomach stopping him mid swing, how? Jaune could tank so many of his previous hits, what made this one different?
"Hup!" Qrow attacked.
That was all Jaune could squeeze out as Qrow slashed and shot Jaune in a brutal barrage of sword swings and gunplay, the armored blonde couldn't keep up.
He tried to push back, but tripped on something, stumbling, allowing the teacher to topple him down with just a tap to his forehead.
"Woah..." He couldn't win against that.
"You ok there kiddo?" Qrow squated in front of Jaune as he raised his head up to meet him. Jaune thanked the gods the man in front of him was wearing pants, as he prayed to them to make him forget what was underneath them.
"Yeah..."
Jaune sighed inside his mind, letting his face to fall to the floor. Guess this was it huh? Failed spectacularly once again... a failure of an Arc, just like what dad said, he was just not made for this.
"Ya did great kid, maybe you can make that sword an' board stuff work, just make sure to get a gun for the moment till you can get something permanent." Huh?
"Wait what...?" Jaune looked up in surprise.
"What? The whole trash thing? Well I still ment it but only because a huntsman and their weapon are one in the same, sometimes literally." A crooked smile wrought his face.
"So having some hand me down be the only thing you've got it's gonna get you killed." He poked Jaune in his forehead again. "Seen a lot of idiots get killed for using stuff that's 'good enough' for them."
"O-oh, t-thanks but. I meant, I passed the evaluation? Or something?" Jaune hesitantly asked.
Jaune saw Qrow's look of confusion turn into laughter.
"You don't fail evaluations kid, or was that just psychology?" Qrow held his chin in thought. "Anyway, this one doesn't fail you, you were honest about your ability and that's all ya needed to do."
Oh... Oh!
Jaune smiled under his mask, he was staying!
"Anyway, need to be going for a bit, need to wright this all up for research."
"Wait- oh damn it! Should've recorded this on my scroll!" Jaune didn't think of it at the time, his mind focused on the evaluation and wether or not that was ok. His dance teacher tought him that being able to review his own moves at his own pace would speeden up the learning process, he didn't know if it would carry over to fighting but there wasn't any problem with trying.
"If you want the footage I'll get Maple to send it for ya' kid."
"Oh that's great! Thanks." Jaune stood happily, this went a lot better than he thought.
"Oh by the way, can you like, help clean up? Combat class is up in like... thirty minutes?" Hah?
"The drones are going to repair the floor so just throw out the debris everywhere out the back." Said debris was mostly made by the teacher Jaune left unsaid.
"Do I really?"
"Yup." He popped the p. "You're an intern, that means you have to do boring intern jobs."
"Do I not get a say in this?"
"Nope." he popped the p.
"Ugh, fine." He was used to cleaning, seven sisters meant a lot of mess and he even helped the wall back home. At least the rider system would help him pick all these rocks up.
"Oh, and make sure you do it without wearing the suit, the room's locks are about to open up so..." And Qrow was already out of the room the moment the doors clicked open.
'Of course.' Jaune sighed, pulling the lever dematerializes the armor.
Jaune saw the security bots repairing what they could, he decided to help just to get things done faster, didn't help that all the moving he did earlier probably gave him a sprain.
Ozpin sat upon his desk, reading reports on his desk, his mug on his lips.
His eyes perked up to his scroll as it buzzed, a call, one from Qrow.
Considering what day it was, this was important, however.
These towers of paperwork had to be over by the day, putting Qrow on the line while setting it in speaker mode, continuing on his journey to slay the monster known as 'workload'.
"Yes Qrow, how is Jaune?"
"Hey Oz, still shit at fighting but that's expected, gotta slap it in his head that you need to learn how to coat his weapons in aura properly." The audio was slightly crunchy, of course it would when the wind was this strong.
"I see, yet it is odd to call me for something you could write in on your daily report. What's the problem?" He denied a bribe to have their child access to Beacon throwing the paper in the trash.
"Here's the thing Oz, I don't know if it's just me but... don't you think he gets weirdly aggressive when he suits up?" True.
"Like, maybe it's just the suit giving him confidence or something, I dunno. I'm not the most tech savvy guy"
It was peculiar seeing the child go on the offensive when compared to the footage sent to him, perhaps it truly was nothing more than a confidence boost but what if...
There wasn't anything similar when Ironwood wore the Garren suit. "Perhaps it was due to age, Ironwood was hardened by time, Jaune has only yet to mature, its strength must be intoxicating. Aura, for all its power, is natural, calming yet it needs to be honed." Ozpin stamped his name into a paper, taking another sip from his mug.
"But the rider system is an entirely different beast, but this why we brought Jaune along in the first place, to understand what the system's faults are and what we can do to fix them." Ozpin shaked his head at the council requests on his desk.
"True. I'll be sending in the rest of the report later, seems like you're drowning in paper already." When wasn't he nowadays?
"Thank you Qrow." He sincerely thanked the man, Ozpin heard the call close. Taking another sip of lukewarm cocoa ready to take on the rest of the paperwork.
The headmaster worried about the project, he always did. But he could wait it out, he always did, seeing the progress of the rider system over the years was truly something. It never felt right bringing in children into things, yet there really was no way to progress without doing this, sooner or later. But this was for the sake of everyone.
For the sake of Remnant.
Sorry for the slightly late release, hope you all enjoyed it and stay warm everyone!
Oh and Black sun is a thing now and damn! The suits are great, the story is fine too.
See you all next time, logging out!
