Multiplayer

by NeoShadows

Life is a game. In an attempt to save a friend during the Breach, Jaune Arc died. Brought back to life with powers of a Gamer, he must now attempt to beat the game called life. He's not alone though. Every win or lose ends in a Reset, so how will he beat a game that never ends?

5. Lax Events

Sup, fellow fanfic readers and writers? It's that time of the week again! A new chapter of Multiplayer is up for your reading pleasure!

To begin, this chapter is where I begin to fill the hole where Jaundice would have taken place, filling in the hole with an original arc of my own. Expect new events, created by the 'The Game' from its Remix. New challenges await at the hands of a new player in Vale, foes with a misunderstood purpose in the eyes. Can you do good by doing bad? Can a problem be solved simply by removing one thing? You will question the word 'Friends' in this new arc to come.

Drama aside, I'm a little nervous for next week. Monster Hunter Generations comes out on Friday I believe. And that game has sucked in more then four hundred hours of my life alone in both Ultimate 3 and 4. I'm going to have to resist the urge to play it for too long to keep my writing streak up. Pray for my pathetic soul!

Oh! And RWBY Volume 4 has been announced for Oct. 22nd. Totally called the time skip! . . .Who still says totally? I feel lame right now. I can't wait for that either.

Now lets get onto the Reviews.

JustJustin3099: The ship to this story is odd. Think of it like a dating sim. You get the girls affections high enough and you can eventually decide which girl to date and fall in love with. Most people create multiple save files to see all the ends. That's how I'm going to play it. At the very end of the story, I'll write Epilogues with each ending with the girls he's attained Endearment with. Not all the girls of RWBY mind you, just select number of them. Maybe even add a few once the story is over with by popular demand. I don't want to make the shipping the main point of the story. That's what one-shots are for and Romance fics. Hope that answers your question, as confusing as it seems to me.

Remsal Von Enili: Keep guessing! I won't deny nor confirm your guess. But their fun to read. And sure, why not? OC's if done right are fun. If it's good enough, I might just fit it in. Might have a space for it.

Dragoon109: Jaune's soul is powerful in the fact The Game has allowed it to stay in the game without being reset for now. Ren believes that his soul is too weak to handle the stress and hardship of the game, that's why he believes he has a weak soul that can be crushed easily if pressured. And I would be spoiling if I said anything about Pyrrha. Keep reading and you might be able to figure it out yourself. I love guesses.

Zachary2: That's a loaded question. I might do it, maybe. Don't judge me! And mystery is always a good thing.

Otherguy14:I always felt that I was good at writing fighting scenes. Good to know you like it. Trust me, I got few good ones planned for the future. And the scar is a mystery. One that may or may not bite him back in eventually. Souls are a tricky thing you know. And I couldn't help but come up with the idea while playing Kingdom Hearts and its Remixes. They gave me the perfect opportunity to chance things in a way that makes some sense. You'll feel more sorry for him in this chapter. Especially the DLC bit. I can only pray that I can keep this schedule up. Had a bad habit of uploading in months at a time.

TheBurningWorld: I try. It can be nerve wracking at times, but little comments like this reassure me. So thanks!

TalonbnLaAhad: Thank you, but I don't eat sweets. I'm not a sweet man, I'm a bitter man. Get it? I'll shut up now. And just had to put Ivy in there. The story called for her! And I've been meaning to read Dice. Just got to find some time to read more of the chapters I found. Salem and Cinder will still be up to their old tricks, whatever the hell they are at the moment. But who knows? This is a new timeline, the future is unsure. I don't have an OC as a Player, that wouldn't make much sense to me seeing as they pop up in between remixes. Love Neo, got plans for that little minx, don't you worry about that. Love your advice, my fellow danger seeker! Live wild and dangerously, and prosper my friend!

Animefan29: Knew a missed a few errors. Sorry about that.I'll be sure to work out those mistakes when I have the time. Glad you like the OC's though, it warms my heart to know that their well received.

Wandai: Your guesses are my favorite. Again, can't confirm or deny anything, so sorry about that. But you make some close guesses. I wouldn't be surprised if you discover the answer. You bastard.

Hey: Probably shouldn't answer this review seeing as it's basically a Guest review, but this one is actually a good one. In the show their health is displayed as aura by their scrolls, so there really isn't much of a difference. Yet. It'll change as The Game continues.

Blackfirekingkoncor: Good guess. Can't say anything though. God, I feel like I'm repeating myself. Ozpin's Semblance is a mystery in itself. I wonder what it is. Qrow will have his role, just you wait.

NAJP Jackson: Yeah, Ren is a dick. With good reason. It's actually fun writing him like that, something no one else has really done in any fic I've read. And it's good to know my idea of The Gamer is original. Makes me warm and fuzzy. Jaune was brought in 'abruptly' you could say. So he really has the most energy to beat the game. Except for one Player. Only two left that are a mystery. Keep guessing, I would love to hear thoughts on why you made such guesses. I will say that Cinder isn't one of them.

Soulfulbard: Tell me about it. It took kissing the guy before marching off to her death for Jaune to realize Pyrrha's feelings for him. Glad to know you like the OC's enough to give them a chance. I won't let you down!

Brirelan: . . .Really?(Begins smacking forehead into the wall besides his bed, cursing loudly as the dog watches.) I-I'll be sure to fix that mistake with the other chapters. I should really over that wiki more often. This is exactly what happened with Pyrrha's name.

I believe that's all the reviews I can answer for the moment. Now, onto the show!

---

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to RWBY. They belong to RoosterTeeth. Another chapter uploaded, another late night of sleep ahead of me. I swear there are too many distractions in my life that wish to pull me away from writing. I miss the days when I sat in my room, alone, reading books till I fall asleep. And my guilty pleasures as a growing teen, Lemons. Man! Was I dirty bastard back then. Too much hentai bait in the world to live as a saint. How do they do it?

---

Chapter 5: Lax Events.

"And that class, is how you take down an Alpha Beowolf with only a slipper, some tanning oil, a dirty moist towel, and a rubber glove! All while protecting and hiding your family jewels from a class of first graders!" The deep voice of Professor Port bellowed with great enthusiasm. He smiled to himself, basking in his own glory. Surely the students were in awe of his own tale as he was .

"I can't unsee the imagery!"

"Hand me the bleach! My brain needs some purging, dammit!"

"The hell did your pants go!?"

"Take it off, take it off!"

"So much oil! I can see your muscles glisten in my head and I can't make it stop!"

"Meh, could of left out the part with the parrot."

"And suddenly I'm gay now."

The portly hunter nodded to himself. Yup, they were in awe. He would be too if he was his students. They can't even pick their jaws up due to their bodies locking up at the sheer images of manliness playing through their little heads.

Jaune felt his stomach churn as he dropped his chin onto the desk. Despite what you might think of Professor Port, you had to hand it to the guy, he had a knack for story telling. A shiver ran down his back, the imagery of a naked Peter Port with glistening muscles fighting off a Grimm, surrounded by little kids, caused a bile of breakfast to crawl up his throat. He swallowed it back down in disgust, shivering again as the image refused to leave.

The first school week was coming to a close. And despite how things had started off, Jaune was pleased with how things were going so far. While his memory wasn't that great, he could still recall some of the early lessons from his first run in Beacon before his death. Classes like Combat Class didn't need any thought due to the class focusing on fighting and polishing your skills. But the ones like Grimm Studies and History were a god send to remember. He was actually paying attention this time around. Maybe he would actually pass his classes without needing any help from his team.

At the thought of his team, and by proxy team RWBY, the blonde resisted the urge to sigh as he felt the worried gaze directed at his direction. He didn't need the Gamer's powers to tell that those silver eyes belonged to Ruby. The red hooded girl must be checking up on him again.

What day was it? Monday they had all arrived to Beacon, Tuesday they completed their Initiation, Wednesday was the first day of school, and yesterday had been Thursday. So it had only been a day since he was rushed back to the nurses office after passing out from his old wound.

That was something that was still bugging him. When Jaune had died and come back to life, not to mention traveling back in time to the day Pyrrha unlocked his aura, he had though his mind had transferred to his body in the past. Did he even die in the first place? No, he definitely did. He now had a feeling how death felt like, and he wasn't hoping to experience it again. Thinking back, how was it that he never noticed the scar till the other day? He did fall asleep in his armor and hoodie after initiation, and he was running late on the first day, must of not noticed it when he was changing. Hell, he fell asleep reading the guide to his powers in his uniform. He was also too nervous at the idea of fighting Cardin in the locker rooms to notice too. He was really slacking in the sight department.

Still it was actually pretty haunting to find the ugly patch of skin running from the tip of his left shoulder to his right hip bone. And it wasn't simply a tear across his chest, it ran around his body to his back, revealing that the wound tore right through his body and internal organs. It was an honest wonder how he was alive.

---

(Flash Back.)

"How the fuck are you alive!?"

"Yang! It's rude to shout like that." Ruby reprimanded her sister with a light glare. If she was honest with herself, she would of done the same thing without the cursing. Dad taught her there was no need for such language!

The two teams of RWBY and JNPR stood around the medical bed belonging to Jaune Arc. He laid back on his pillow with an Iv bag needled into his arm. His shirt was left off as the nurse examined the hideous scar that ran into his body. He wasn't happy with his friends sticking around while the nurse looked him over. The looks of worry and disbelief weren't flattering.

Yang shook her head, her mouth open trying to form words at what she was seeing.

"I'm sorry, Rubes, but how the hell do you survive having your body nearly torn in half! My god, how old is that thing!?"

"I'd say about seven to eight years, if I'm correct." the nurse answered tersely, scowling as she tried to determine how deep the scar tissue ran. It would have been easier if their weren't any students yelling in her ear. Times like this she wished Glynda didn't monitor her office so she could smoke in peace.

"It's not that bad." Jaune tried to reassure them, smiling nervously at the bewildered stares pointed at him.

Okay, he was lying. It was bad. No wonder he had been clutching at his chest lately. Was it weird that the wound still felt fresh? A wince escaped his lips at the memory of the tearing teeth.

Weiss scoffed, "Right. And we're to believe that you simply passed out from what? Lack of a healthy diet?"

"Chicken nuggets and mash potatoes in gravy are a perfectly fine diet! At least I'm drinking fruit."

"Everybody loves Grape soda is not considered fruit." Ren palmed his face. "I'm pretty sure there isn't an ounce of fresh grape in that beverage."

"There isn't. I should know, they once came to me with the proposition of starring in one of their ad campaigns." Pyrrha agreed from her spot next to Jaune. Along with his bad gaming habits, she was also going to have to work with on his diet as well. Though it looked like it wasn't hurting his physic. A light dust of red painted her cheeks as he eyes roamed over his muscles. But the sight of warped skin ended that as she flinched. How was he alive?

"Never mind all that. You still haven't explained how you attained such a scar." Weiss pressed on, her own morbid curiosity getting the best of her. Her own scar throbbed as she looked over her own.

Jaune bit the inside of his cheek as he looked away, his fingers digging into his hospital bed sheets. That wasn't a pleasant story to talk about. Ren did say that explaining his powers and what had happened to him would result in a Bad End. Especially with the fact he had earned it from protecting said heiress.

"T-That's not something I really like talking about." he stuttered, grinding his teeth suddenly as he felt the female nurse prod his old wound. Or was it still new? Nothing made sense anymore.

"And you don't have to." Ruby nodded firmly, glaring at anyone who said other wise. Though with her face, her glare had come off as some huffy pout. She looked adorable.

"She's right. Jaune doesn't have to talk about it if he doesn't want to." Blake nodded by Yang's side. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't also curious to the blonde's old wound and how he was still breathing. From the looks of it whatever inflicted it must of torn right through his major organs as well. Death by blood loss aside, the black haired bookworm couldn't fathom how he survived. "We are all entitled to our own secrets. If he doesn't feel comfortable talking about it, then we shouldn't pry. The memory alone must be haunting for him." she said softly.

Yang raised her hands up in surrender, grinning in apology.

"Sorry 'bout that. I just didn't take Vomit Boy as the guy for scars. It makes you look really tough though. Me likey, rawr!" the buxom blonde growled playfully, scratching the air like a cat.

"Yeah! This only proves that we have the greatest leader in all of Beacon!" Nora cheered loudly. The nurse tried shushing her, only to fail as the orange haired teen bounced around her leaders bed with a grin. "After all, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger! So Jaune should be tougher then the strongest of Goliath's! With him leading our team, nothing will stand in our way towards world conquest!"

"Did she just say 'world conquest'?" Blake whispered to Yang, watching as Nora's laugh evolved into a full blown evil roar.

"All hail your queen, peasants! She demands pancakes, and if you fail to comply, she will smite thee with her mighty steed, Jaune-cena!" she hopped onto Jaune's shoulders, kicking his side as she continued to laugh maniacally.

"Nora, get off him right now!" both Ren and Pyrrha shouted in alarm, the nurse by Jaune's bedside throwing her arms up in defeat before going to work on the boy's paperwork. It was better then dealing with the craziness gravitating the blonde.

"Other then the lite burns, bruises, and low aura, you're free to go if you want, Mr. Arc." the nurse smiled tiredly, "It is strange that your medical records don't mention anything pertaining to such a grievous wound, but you seem to be in healthy shape otherwise. As old as it seems, the damaged tissue is still tender, so do be careful when in combat. If you have anymore issues with it, come back. Can't be digging you an early grave just yet." she chuckled.

"Will do, uh-" Jaune felt embarrassed, the woman's name escaping him. Second time here and he hadn't bothered to ask her name the first time.

"The names Artemis Spriggan, or just Nurse Sprig if you want." she winked. She wore a classic nurses uniform and bubble gum pink hair tied in an elegant bun and ponytail. "I have a feeling I'll be seeing a lot of you kids around here, am I right?" she said dryly with a deadpanned stare.

"Not me." Yang grinned widely, punching her fist into her palm with a laugh, "I'll be the one sending people back her, Nursey."

"I immediately don't like you."

Jaune grumbled to himself. He just wanted to get out of the nurses office. He was all fine now. If only Nora would stop kicking him.

"Your time is up, my time is now~! You can't see me, my time is now!~"

And what the hell kind of song was she singing? What was he, some kind of wrestler?

---

Since his little trip back from the hospital, Jaune has been catching his friends concerned stares whenever he wasn't looking. Mostly from Ruby and Pyrrha. He could kinda understand. If he knew someone who had suffered as he did, he'd be looking out for them too. Hated to say it, but since Jaune had discovered the scar he had been suffering from phantom pains every once in a while.

They must of caught on to his pain. It was annoying when it flared up in class, but other then that he was perfectly fine. He didn't need to be watched over. Sneaking worried glances didn't help. His scroll could read their emotions and statuses. It was pretty impossible to hide what they were doing. Looking at the menu for RWBY's Bonds, he was surprised to see the chibi forms of all four girls hiding behind a wall, peeking their heads over another. Mini Yang was even wearing sunglasses and a mustache, trying to play incognito.

"Got to say, this is one of the things I love about my powers." he whispered to himself, smiling lightly as he watched the animation.

"He's playing on his scroll again." Ruby mumbled to her partner, receiving a roll of blue eyes as a response. "Didn't Pyrrha say we should be watching out for him? She said she was trying to break him out of his video game habit too."

Yang yawned into her hand, lying back against her desk as she twirled a lock of her hair around her finger, "Leave the poor guy alone, Rubes. Playing too much games never killed anyone, that I know of. I know Pyrrha's worried about him but spying on him isn't going to do anything. He might think you're a stalker." she smiled lazily. Her sister puffed her cheeks with an embarrassed blush.

"As his best friend, and fellow team leader, it's my job to watch out for him!" she huffed cutely, nodding her head.

"I thought Weiss was your best friend?"

"Weiss is Weiss. She's in a category of her own."

"Hey!"

"At least I'm trying to make this relationship work, Weiss!"

"Ignoring what I'm hearing, you should still try giving him some space. I know his scar was something none of us were expecting, but we shouldn't fuss about it too much. If he has a problem he'll tell us, or his team. You do know he has one of those, right?" Yang asked flatly with lidded eyes.

"I'm sure he gets enough questions from his partner as well." Blake added, rubbing her eyes to rid themselves of the images she was seeing. Why did Professor have to have such a vivid vocabulary?

"I know that." Ruby hadn't forgotten that Jaune had his own team to look out for him. He was a leader after all. It's just that seeing that kind of horrid mark left on a guy as nice as Jaune had concerned her. It looked like it still hurt if his poor attempts to hide his grimaces were anything to go by. The young red headed girl just didn't want him passing out like that again. Or worse. It was deep looking scar. It should of killed him.

Ruby shook her head to rid the awful thought, "It's just that he doesn't seem to be over it. Haven't you noticed that pained look in his eye whenever its brought up? I don't like seeing him like that." she looked down sadly.

"Then don't treat him like a child." Weiss scoffed, "He's a future hunter. I'm sure he can look out for himself."

"That's pretty cold coming from his 'Snow Angel'." Yang widely grinned.

"Don't be a pest!" the heiress scowled with a mortified blush.

The sound of the bell ringing brought the girls out of their talks, the holographic clock on their desks beeping loudly. "Well class, it seems that's all the time we have for the day!" the portly hunter bellowed, signaling his students to rise up from their seats. "Remember to look over today's work on Beowolves, their will be a test on it next week! And expect to be called forward to prove yourselves as hunters once again! And enjoy the weekend!"

At least class was over with. Jaune sighed in relief, stretching his arms with a lax grin. Four o'clock couldn't of come sooner! Now he could relax in his dorm room and. . .huh? Now that he thought about it, what could he do? With school over for the weekend he was free to do what he wanted. Jaune could train his new powers, the school did allow for trips to the Emerald Forest and Forever Fall to gain some experience slaying Grimm, so there was that. And it looked like simply hanging out with his friends increased his Bonds with them. Not to mention he could take the time to look over his Gamer guide. There were still things in it that were locked to him. He was curious to find out what Soul Link was.

"Mr. Arc, Ms, Rose!" Professor Port called out to the two leaders before they could step out of his class, stopping them in their tracks. They looked back to their professor with confusion written on their faces, "If you two would kindly stay for a few moments. I have a favor to ask of you two."

"What's up, Professor?" Ruby asked as she skipped over to his desk with Jaune walking by her.

"Well for one, I wish to say I was very impressed with both of your performances in Glynda's class. That was some mighty fine combat skills!" he chuckled in amusement.

"You saw that? How?" Jaune asked.

"Why Glynda was ecstatic to show off her students skills to the staff! It's not like I had peeked into her class like a ninja and watched the matches when I should have been teaching. Perish the thought!"

He sneaked into class? How!? Peter Port wasn't what you called a stealthy example of espionage.

"Anyhow, it was your marvelous display in combat class that has proven to me that you two are the perfect hunters to take care of a little old mission for me." Port smiled.

"Mission?!" Ruby was ecstatic. It was only the third day of school and already she was being sent off on a mission to fight Grimm? This was what she was trained for! She loved Beacon, but she wanted excitement! To go out on the field and slay the creatures of darkness with her lovely scythe and bask in everyone's awe of her skills. And here she thought the Professor was just going to talk to them about fighting the Grimm. "You bet we're the perfect hunters for the job! You don't have to worry about a thing, Professor Port! We'll take care of whatever nasty Grimm is causing you trouble!"

"And I know you would, Miss Rose. But that is not the mission that I am asking of you." the portly teacher shook his head amusingly, watching as the young redhead deflated, "Missions such as Grimm extermination aren't normally taken by first years so early. You would have to go through another month of school before you're team is allowed to undertake such missions. After all, it's only been three days since you've entered Beacon."

"Aww, I wanted to fight monsters." Ruby pouted, kicking the ground.

"If you don't want us to fight Grimm, then what kind of mission are you asking us to do?" Jaune asked with a raised brow. Definitely didn't remember this happening before. Was this the Remix?

Professor grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, "The thing is, I've yet to retrieve the Grimm Anatomy books and a few other important textbooks from the store. Without them I won't be able to properly start classes next week. I would have gone off for them, but I was too occupied hunting Grimm for classes. I was actually hoping for you both to go out to Vale and bring them back and pay them off in my stead."

"Why can't you do it?"

"I'd love to, a good friend of mine run's the place, but I must go off tomorrow and hunt for Edgar. And I must have the text books by Saturday so that I may assign a copy to each of my students."

"Who's Edgar?" Ruby had to ask, immediately regretting it. An ominous chuckled left the boisterous professor as a dark shadow fell over his smiling face. It brought a chill down both leader's backs.

"Why, Edgar is the one in the hole."

Almost forgot about Professor's odd hobby of capturing Grimm down and locking them in cages. Still didn't understand why he called them Edgar. Jaune could of gone living happily without finding that out.

"But their trapped in cages." Ruby blinked.

"Never mind that! Will you two accept the mission, or not?" Professor Port asked, handing the list of text books from his desk to his student's.

Looking over the list, Jaune was happy to remember the titles he had once studied. While he couldn't recall every detail and lesson he had completed to heart, he knew enough not to struggle again as he once did before. When he stopped to think about it, he was properly trained to enter Beacon. Not as well as Ruby and everyone else but enough to just make it in without lying.

"If you only needed us to pick up some books for you, then why did you say our display in Combat class proved that we were the ones capable of taking this mission?" Jaune frowned in confusion. Was he just buttering them up?

"I was simply trying to butter you both up!" he proudly exclaimed.

At least he was honest. That was something.

"If it's any consolation, I do believe that you both have what it takes to be hunters. Though you yourself lost Mr. Arc, you displayed amazing vigor and skill against someone who outclassed you in both strength and dexterity. And Ms. Rose was a wonder to watch, speed blitzing her own opponent in a beautiful shower of roses!" he smiled proudly. "And don't worry, you both will be rewarded for your completion of the mission. I'll even pay the fair for the air ship to Vale as well. Think of it as a team outing, it'll give you both time to get along with your teams."

Ruby's pout was still intact, but even she agreed with the idea of spending time with her team. A team bonding exercise sounded nice. They could also hang out with Jaune's team too. She really wanted to talk to Pyrrha about her weapons. The thing could switch flawlessly between three weapons! Made her body tingle in ways only weapons could.

Not to mention she could pick up some new ammo for Crescent Rose. She was running a little low on the supply she brought with her from home. Kill three birds with one stone.

"I don't see why not?" Jaune shrugged, passing the list along to Ruby. He was still trying to figure out what to do with his powers anyway, maybe doing random missions would help to move things along until he figured out what exactly he was suppose to do. "We could all go out tomorrow morning. Besides, I could use some Lien. I didn't really take much with me when I entered Beacon." Games always rewarded the player with currency when they completed missions. Now he wouldn't be strapped for Lien as before. It was weird that he didn't earn any Lien when he defeated the Deathstalker.

"I'm game too! Anything's better then being stuck in our dorms and studying." Even if she was taking being a leader seriously, she still didn't like sitting still and reading about killing Grimm when she could simply go out and do it.

"Splendid! I truly do thank you both for taking care of this for me. I'll be sure to remember this if you two ever need anything of me." he chuckled happily. Now he wouldn't have to suffer Glynda's wrath. Dodged a riding crop there. "Stop by my class before you head off to Vale in the morning. I'll hand you both the payment for the books and the fair to and back. Even add a little for some food if you get hungry as well."

"That's much appreciated, Professor. Thank you." Jaune nodded with a smile.

This would also give him the opportunity to level up his Bonds with his friends. Who were all girls. Was it bad that he couldn't even count the number of male friends he had on one hand compared to the ones who were girls? Not to mention the fact that he and Ren weren't exactly on good terms. Things were strained at best. So that left him with no male friends at all. Some part of him should of considered himself lucky to be surrounded by such beautiful, pretty, cute, and hot girls, but they could all mop the floor with him if he tried anything. It was hard enough trying to woo Weiss as it is, setting his eye's on any other girl would leave him no where.

Maybe. Then again he did unlock Pyrrha's Affection long ago without knowing it. So there was a possibility that she may of liked him in this world. What were the chances of that though?

In his own dorm, a certain pink eyed Player resisted the sudden urge to strangle his team leader when he saw him again.

'Congratulations! You've Unlocked 'Quests and Special Events' Option on your Home screen! Mission: Book Run, accepted! Would you like to know more?'

"We better head back to our teams." Jaune announced, his eyes glued to his scroll. A little blue box popped up on his screen, revealing details to his new Quest.

'Book Run:

Professor Port needs The Gamer to retrieve his classes textbooks! The Quest begins tomorrow morning along with team RWBY!

Reward: 100 Lien! Unlocks Professor Port's Friendship! +500EXP!

Failure Penalty: Professor Port's trust in you will decrease. Good luck with that!'

The Game was an asshole. If it somehow had a conscious then it was a jerk. A hundred Lien sounded good though. He could buy some more comics while he was at it.

Waving the Professor good-bye, the two leaders left to meet up with their teams. They had quite a day ahead of them tomorrow.

---

"You've accepted a Quest, didn't you?"

Ren's flat stare was aimed at him once he set foot into their dorm room. This was probably the first time his friend had enacted a Pause around them. He just wished it wasn't to nag him. He knew that look by now. Jaune released a tired sigh. Wasn't going to be looking forward to this. Taking a look around the room, he could see Nora reading a book with her pink headphones on and Pyrrha adjusting Milo's functions.

"Yup! Tomorrow we leave for Vale to pick up the text books for every student in Professor Port's class. And team RWBY's coming with. Is there a problem with that?" he frowned. Ren turned his head away with a scoff.

"What did I tell you about wasting your time with NPC's? If you really want to 'beat' this Game you're better off practicing your skills and abilities in the training room against drones. Especially Professor Port's missions, they don't give out enough EXP till the second semester begins." First year students weren't allowed to go out on Grimm slaying missions till they proved they were capable of hunting on their own and even then they stuck close to Vale. That left them with Quests that required gathering materials and completing simple tasks. They didn't get good till they finished the first semester, so their was no point in taking the boring missions anymore. That's what Ren had done after getting the hang of his powers.

"I thought you weren't talking to me about The Game?" Jaune wasn't sure what he could talk to Ren about. Seemed everything he said to his fellow Gamer ticked him off. It was just like talking to his Snow Angel.

"When you drag me into The Game I can't help but warn you about these things." As much as he didn't want to say it, and against his own petty feelings, Jaune was still his friend. His best male friend. Which was sad when he thought about. Couldn't even count how many male's were his friends on one hand. He really needed to expand his circle more. "Seeing as we're a team now, and you've gained the powers of The Gamer too, taking Quests involving me alerts me to them too. And I can't exactly refuse them, you're my leader. I'll be dragged along regardless." Ren sighed. As much as he didn't want to talk about The Game, it was looking like it was leaving him very little choice in the matter. Even simple Quests could take a turn for the worse. And as much as he hated playing along with The Game, he hated dying even more.

"Jaune, despite my own grievances against you, I still consider you my friend. You just can't possibly understand the nightmare I've lived, it's comparable to never being allowed to sleep, to find peace. When you had revealed to me your secret, that you were now living in this hell along with me, I had no choice but to kill you. You would have lived a much happier life as an NPC."

"But I'm not an NPC." Jaune shook his head, an annoyed scowl on his face, "And just because we're living life as some game doesn't make the lives around us any less important. Their Important Characters to me. And they should be to you too. Besides, I had a feeling that you had a good reason for what you did." he grinned. He still wasn't happy about dying at the hands of his friend, but Ren had thought it would save him from experiencing what he had. He was still watching out for him, in a dark twisted way.

"I'm part of this game now, and nothing you can do can change it. We might as well work together to beat it as a team."

There was something Ren could do to change it. His eyes glowed deeply for a moment before going back to their natural pink hue. But now wasn't the time for it. If he had to, he would do what he had to. For now though he would nudge Jaune along with his powers. The last life had been a bummer with his death, didn't want to do that again.

"I'm not going to help you along with the story." Ren said in defeat, hanging his head in defeat. "That's something for you to deal with. But I will explain the basics of The Gamer to you. Can't have our leader dying a failure again." he smirked.

Come on! He just got his charisma back! Why'd Ren have to bring it down? "I'll have you know I was fighting that White Fang member on even ground! I could have won if I wasn't-"

"Protecting Weiss?" Ren scoffed with a laugh. He shook his head in humor before continuing, "How do you think you were able to stand a small chance against a literal tank wielding chainsaw? Weiss used the last of her energy to cast a glyph on you, Haste if I remember right. It granted a huge buff to your stats, raising them to a level that gave you the element of surprise. You would have died by the first two swing other wise." he said bluntly. He was exaggerating a little, with Jaune's larger then normal aura pool he would have survived a good minute. If he was lucky.

The news that his last stand hadn't been achieved by his own power, but by the helping hand of someone else, should of dropped his mood again. Except for the fact that it was his Snow Angel's touch that had granted such power in the first place. It made Jaune smile softly as he looked at his raised hand. He could still remember the incredible surge of power running over his body. And here he had thought Weiss didn't care about him.

And it was because of her that he had succeeded in protecting her. He didn't care if it may have been to save her own skin, she still trusted him to save her. His Snow Angel believed in him. Her soft lips ghosted over his own in memory of his final moments. Weiss lived, she was able to continue her career as a huntress and train alongside her team, who she thought of as family. His life was more then worth it.

The hand in front of his face tightened into a fist, "I was weak. If I had been a properly trained hunter in the first place, then there might not have been any need for me to die back there. But I can't change the past! I have to focus on what lies ahead of me now. Even if I don't know what that may be, or that it will only be reset back to what I found it." He threw his fist to the side, glaring stubbornly back at his jaded friend. "I'll keep trying till I find some small headway! This time I won't be the damned damsel in distress, I'll be the hero my family's been known for!"

This wasn't some game. All the lives he had cherished weren't useless in his eyes. Even the occasional acquaintance had their worth. They weren't NPC's, they were living beings! And he was going to make sure that they all had their happy endings. Jaune was going to win this crazy new reality he's been dropped into, and he was going to convince his fellow Player that there was still hope to be found.

Ren wasn't alone anymore. Whoever the other two Player were they didn't seem to be on friendly terms with the green garbed raven. He said he had worked separately with the other two before, but Ren hadn't mentioned who they were. Probably didn't trust them or something. Jaune was here though, and he could trust him. He was his friend after all. His best friend.

"Just trust me." he smiled softly, gesturing his hand for Ren to take. "You did it countless times before when I was an NPC. This shouldn't be any different."

A light frown stared back Jaune. The level of naivety the blonde held was stupefying. Did he truly think he was the only one to have tried everything to beat The Game? That he believed he was the only one who could try? His leader was an idiot, no matter how many lives he had lived he would never change. The guy had a hell of a hero complex on him. Looking back the smiling face reaching their hand towards him, Ren couldn't fight the stubborn smile escaping his lips. The image in front of him never changed. It was kinda nice to see with every reset. Even if he had cut it down during his darker play throughs.

Nothing would change. The Game will break him, it was only a matter of worlds before he lost that smile. Then he would see what Jaune was really made of. It always revealed a Players true colors once they lost hope in beating its cruel destiny.

All except one. A raging blade, colored in blood soaked red, cut through his thoughts.

Their Path was clear. And they fought against the reality stacked against them. Their will never wavered, no matter how many times their progress had been regressed. Till Jaune had showed up, only one player in their little group even tried winning The Game. And they would make Oum accept their vision, not the vision that was hidden away from them. Even if they had to kill Oum to achieve their dream.

If Jaune had any chance of winning The Game, then he would have to beat them. And that was a losing battle.

He could toss Jaune a bone, Ren supposed. If he was going to be dragged along, then he would at least make sure that the knight's first play through wasn't short. The lazy hunter just got accustomed to his bed again. Dealing with the drama of his leader's death was always a pain in the ass. He was more then ready to shoot himself in the head if he had to deal with that hassle twice in a row.

"I told you before, I'm done wasting my time with beating this game. Nothing you do will change that, so don't waste your own breath, hero." Ren spat mockingly. "I'll help you out with your powers, but don't expect anything else out of it. Even if you're my friend, I still hate you."

"Not for long!" Jaune nodded firmly, fist pumping his reaching hand. He grinned widely, "We'll be best friends just like we were before. I'll change the way you see me, just watch! I'll be the best leader you, Nora, and Pyrrha have ever had. Then you'll have no reason to hate me!"

At that proclamation, Ren fought the need to smack his own face. Leave it to Jaune to think the reason he hated him was because he thought of him as a lousy leader. Oh well, it wasn't like he was going to spell it out for him. His jealousy was his own problem. Guess it was the only thing that reminded him he was still human.

"Right, you do that." Ren sighed tiredly. He wasn't going to deal with that headache anytime soon. "Let's just focus on some of the basics of The Game."

"Right." Jaune nodded, glad that he finally had someone to help him out with it. "First thing's first though, what happens to our bodies when we go through a reset?"

"What do you mean?" Ren asked in confusion. Wasn't expecting that as his first question.

Jaune quickly pointed at his chest, or more specifically, the spot where his scar ran, "I mean is it normal to carry over wounds when you die or Start Over? Because I didn't know that I would be stuck with this thing."

That was odd, "Honestly, I'm as stumped as you are." Ren rubbed his forehead at the oddity. That had never happened before, "When a Player's body is sent back to their save point, a special event in their lives if you will, all damage, cosmetic included, fades away. It doesn't matter how deep or fatal the wound was, it would be reset to nothing. I've never seen something like this before. But," he shook his head nonchalantly, not really worried about the scar. It didn't seem that important anyways, "It doesn't change anything. Far as I know, when we reset our souls overwrite the us of the save point. It's as simple as that."

"Guess it really is nothing." Jaune gripped his school shirt over his chest, the scar lightly flaring. It just seemed out of place. Hopefully it really didn't mean nothing. "Other then that, I don't have much questions right now. The guide already explained how The Game works. I can figure everything out myself if I have to." he shrugged.

Ren blinked. That was it? Wasn't he nagging him to tell him all that he knew about The Gamer? He was pretty sure he was going to be stuck in the Pause for hours.

"That's it? You don't want to know anything else?" he asked slowly.

"Course there's more. But I think we've talked about this stuff long enough." he answered sheepishly, turning his attention to the rest of his team. It didn't feel right leaving them like that. And it was kinda creepy.

"Then I'll just go over a few things." Might as well go over a few simple things. That way he wouldn't have Jaune run back to him about them. "First, The Game doesn't like NPC's discovering that reality is a game. If it finds out you let them know about it, it will create a global disaster, wiping out the entire Remnant. That, or it will convince everyone that your insane, locking you away in some asylum till you die of whatever reason it can weave. It also likes striking Players dead with lightning. It has a weird fetish for that kind of crap."

"The Game really is an asshole." Jaune breathed in awed horror.

"Hmph, if only you knew." Ren whispered quietly to himself. "Second, each Player has their own Quirk that separates them from one another. We each have a title that go along with it. Each Quirk gives The Player a special Gamer aspect that affects their powers and abilites."

"Really, what's yours?"

Ren chuckled. As if he was telling, "That's a secret. This is a game after all, we are expected to fight another."

"I thought you were done trying?"

"I am. Doesn't mean I'll tell you my life's story. I am lazy."

"Yeah." Jaune grinned, his eye's moving over to the frozen music bopping valkrie, "That's what Nora's for."

"Moving on." he glared. "Third is that eventually we'll be facing the other two Players in The Game. I don't feel like sharing who they are, but you will only have to worry about one. And that Player is a monster. If you ever face them, don't bother running away. You'll be dead before the thought hits you."

Jaune shivered at the dead serious stare Ren was giving him. "Noted."

"And lastly, there are certain events and personalities we can't change." Ren's knuckles dug into his arms, the haunting sight of cinders dancing in his vision, "No matter how hard we try, some things are destined to happen. Some people can't be shown the light, there simply rotten to their core. And some people can't change who they fall in love with." his flat stare was aimed at his leader, feeling a twitch develop in his own eye at the clueless face. That one was beyond frustrating.

"I'm guessing I'm better off not knowing what those events might be?" Jaune winced. Ren was giving him that look again. He really hoped that is wasn't going to be a thing.

"I'm definitely not going to tell you those events." Ren was a hundred percent sure that Jaune would freak out and do everything in his power to stop The Fall. Which would wind up pointless. The Game always fixed everything so that it would happen. It would be a sad sight to watch Jaune try and stop it. It was kindness really.

"And that's it. That's a simple run through of the basics of you need to know right now. The rest you can find out by playing through it. It's much simpler to understand that way."

"I can live with that for now." Jaune smiled, rubbing the back of his head as he watched Ren raise his hand to end the Pause. "Thanks, I really mean it. I'll show you that there's still hope yet." he said in determination.

Ren sighed as he snapped his fingers, "What I say about making promises you have no chance of keeping?" he said quietly to himself with a sad smile.

With the Pause no longer in effect, the world around them was brought back to life. Pyrrha paused in her calibration of Milo in its rifle form to move her eyes to the sound of their door opening. She smiled happily at the sight of her partner. She was beginning to worry about him. Whatever Professor Port had been talking to him about shouldn't of taken too long.

"Hello, Jaune." Pyrrha brightly greeted, setting down her weapon to talk to her leader, "Is everything fine? I thought Ruby had said you were on your way back. You weren't held up by 'that' were you?" she asked in worry.

The blonde waved it away. Jaune was fine. As long as he didn't think about it the scar would stop burning. "I'm fine, don't worry about it, Pyrrha. I was just taking a little walk around campus." he assured her only to get a deadpanned stare in return.

"Really? Now that I think about it, Ruby did say you were playing games on your scroll in class again. You sure you didn't go off to play some in peace?" she asked him skeptically. She already made it clear how she wanted him to cut back on the stuff and study. Hopefully he wasn't addicted to playing video games as she suspected.

"No, I wasn't. Really Pyrrha, you got to let it go. There's nothing wrong with a little video games here and there."

"Until he ends up a Neet that is." Nora grinned, shutting of her music and putting her book down to look back at her leader. "He is kinda scrawny and bad with the ladies. I wouldn't be surprised if he winds up marrying a body pillow in the future."

"Hey! Have some faith in your leader, Nora! I'll have you know I'm an excellent ladies man!"

"Neet, body pillow?" Pyrrha blinked her eyes in confusion, turning to the only sane person in their team. Her green eyes looked to Ren quizzically as she frowned, "What do they mean, Ren?"

Ren was ready to go back to his plan in slitting Jaune's throat as he was forced to explain the words to Pyrrha Nikos of all people. He loved talking to her, but explaining such things would only worry her to her partners state of mind. And explaining the weird reality that there were actually grown men out in Remnant that went as far as living a fantasy that they were married to a pillow the size of their body with the picture of their favorite character on it, wasn't a comfortable conversation.

Especially with the fact they manufactured body pillows with her image on them.

---

The next morning had brought Ren his own groans as he quickly found himself being dragged half awake through the streets of Vale by his partner in the company of his own team and team RWBY.

After a quick breakfast with the two teams and a stop by Professor Port's class for the Lien paying for the text books and small expenses, the sleepy green themed hunter was forced to spend a Saturday that he had wished to reserve for sleep to the Quest Jaune had accepted on their behalf. Well they did put it to vote. It was no surprise that he had lost three to one. He couldn't back out of it anyway, it was like Nora had been originally designed as a being of limitless energy to force him through Events in The Game. That and he couldn't quit if he tried, The Game had a mean streak when you tried to break out of an accepted Quest. The failing results were never pretty.

'I blame my lack of sleep on Jaune. As I do with every other problem that won't leave me alone' Ren would of subtly glared at the back of his leader' s head, if he wasn't being literally dragged on his slumped feet by the back of his tailcoat. Why couldn't Nora take it as a 'I don't want to go'?

"What's wrong with Ren?" Yang asked Pyrrha as they all followed their leaders to their destination. Poor guy looked dead on his feet.

"He's fine. Ren simply isn't a morning person is all." Pyrrha giggled as she remembered the state she found Ren in. "He looked like a cute cozy bed burrito under those sheets."

"I prefer a caterpillar in a cocoon, thank you very much!" he shot back, cursing himself as he tried to will down the light red on his cheeks. Hopefully no one noticed.

"Luckily we had Nora to fix that." Jaune grinned, "If she hadn't jumped on top of him, we would have never made it to breakfast on time."

Karma existed in the form of the bubbly hammer girl. That's how Jaune had seen it. Was it bad to take some small form of pleasure in watching his friend being woken up in a perfectly executed cannonball from another bed? No, not it was not.

Right now they were on their way to the address to the bookstore written on Professor's list, Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun. It was a pretty nice place. He bought comics from the Faunas owner every month with the Lien left over from his parents. It was sad what happened to the poor guy. The news had said that he was gun down in his own store, shot right in the head. Apparently some crooks had attempted to rob him and the robbery ended in a dark note.

It was an event that never sat well with him. Tukson was a nice guy. He treated everyone who shopped in his store the same. What happened to him wasn't right. He still remembered how upsetting it was to land in Vale and head over to his store, only to stop dead in his tracks at the scene of yellow police tape cutting him off the door. He wasn't ashamed for the tears that rolled down his face as one of the officers explained to him what happened to the book owner. The ride back to Beacon had been somber, the memory of the man grumbling at his choice of reading material playing over his head as he gripped the fabric over his knees. He hadn't felt like talking to his team about it when he got back, pinned his mood on his motion sickness.

Maybe he could change it. If he stayed back in the store on the date of his murder, then he could have a chance in saving Tukson's life. It was an idea he was going to have to keep to himself. No telling what Ren might say if he shared it with him.

"So what are we going to do once we're done with Professor Port's chore?" Ruby asked with a hum as she skipped alongside her fellow leader. Even if it was an easy mission, the teacher was paying for it and even left them with a little scratch to treat themselves with. She shuffled through the colored laminated cards, counting up too 150L to spend on what they wanted out of 1,850 Lien.

Weiss rolled her eyes as she watched the red hooded girl play with the currency. What was it about bright colors that made kids starry eyed? She swiped the Lien away from her leader's hand, huffing as she sorted the cards in an organized form, "That can be decided by a vote later on. For now, I will hold onto the Lien. Why the Professor left it to you to hold onto I'll never know."

"I am the leader." Ruby pouted, crossing her arms.

"And you still have a long road ahead of you till you become a respectable one at that. I'm sure even Jaune acts more of a leader then you."

"Really, Snow Angel?" Jaune gushed, leaning towards Weiss with a happy smile with his hands clasps in front of his face, "Do you truly believe in me!?"

"I take it back." Weiss deadpanned, pushing the blonde's face away from her own. The guy was like a dog that wouldn't stop following you. She wouldn't be surprised if he was secretly part dog faunas. "You make a better leader then this sap."

"Why do you deny our love, my Snow Angel?!"

"There is no love between us, you dolt!" At this point the heiress was growling as she fought against his sudden embrace.

"At this point I wonder why he even tries." Blake wondered aloud as she watched the spectacle. She winced, watching as Jaune was delivered a back hand to the face and fell back with a shout. How the hell could a guy take such punishment with a smile on his face?

"I think it's endearing." Pyrrha smiled tightly. Why couldn't he just take no for an answer? There had to be a limit to this.

+100EXP! Despite the sore cheek, Jaune grinned happily to himself as he got back up. That little action had earned himself some experience in Weiss's Friendship. Well worth the blow!

Fixing her combat skirt from the short tussle, Weiss fought back the annoying flush on her cheeks. The idiot had no respect for personal space! She did not like to be touched. Even if some demented part of her thought it was nice to be hugged. Just another thing to work on perfecting.

Yang laughed, bumping her shoulder against the irate girl, "Chill out, Ice Queen. I think his flirting is kinda cute. You got to respect the balls he got for courting the Schnee heiress."

"Still don't know who they are!"

"And that's also why you're considered a lovable idiot."

"And proud of it!"

A sigh escaped Weiss at the reminder. She still didn't understand how someone who had hopes to become a hunter had no clue to who the SDC were. Did he even use Dust? Going back to his fight with Cardin, she saw no signs of Dust in any of his attacks. The weapon transformation he had displayed also seemed to not utilize any either. That was quite rare to find a hunter who didn't fight with Dust.

That meant he wasn't flirting with her because of her last name. It was actually. . .kinda nice. If he wasn't such a dork about it. Who taught him how to flirt? That was bad advice on them.

A pamphlet slapped into Jaune's face, blinding him to the world as he panicked. "My face! My boy pretty face!"

"You could pull off a girl's look." Ruby mused as she watched him tear of the familiar paper. All he needed was long hair and he could be mistaken as a girl. He did have the pipes for it.

His panicking aside, Jaune looked over the pamphlet in confusion. Where the hell did it come from? "Dust for Dummies, and Other Inadequate Individuals?" he blinked, "Somehow I feel as if I've been insulted."

"And you should be." Weiss said with a small smirk and a nod, "If you truly wish to be friends, and I do mean friends." she glared at the pouting knight, "Then study over that. I can't be associated with a neanderthal that doesn't even know how to properly handle Dust. We may have hope for you yet."

"That reminds me!" Ruby suddenly gasped out of nowhere as a thought hit her. She turned her big silver eyes to Jaune, bouncing on her feet as she remembered his fight with Cardin. "How did you your sword mech shift into that cool looking short blade yesterday!? If you didn't use Dust to fuel it's transformation, then what did you do? Was it your semblance!?" she asked excitedly.

Jaune shrugged his shoulders, pocketing the pamphlet. "I guess you could say that. But that would be telling, and a man's got to have his secrets after all." he replied smoothly.

"Aww, come on, Jaune! I can keep a secret! I promise!" Ruby puffed her cheeks as she glared at him, "I showed you mine, it's only fair that you show me yours! I promise not to tell, swearsy! We can even find some privacy so you can show me your thing!"

"What did Ruby show you?" Yang gasped dramatically, leaning towards the blonde with a flirty pout and quivering lip, "Don't tell me you were planning on leaving me out of this? You're breaking my heart, Vomit Boy."

No, seriously, how did Jaune get all this attention? Ren felt a vein throb as he watched the knight sputter and blush as he fell under the eyes of the buxom girl. Blind idiot. A look to his side revealed the red headed spartan sighing at her partner. How did you not notice that? Oum truly must have created Jaune with a head thicker then the mantle of Remnant.

Their antics were suddenly cut off as a loud shout caught their attention. Coming to a stop, they looked around in confusion for the origin of the noise. Which showed itself as a man wearing a dark gray hoodie, face hidden from view from the hood raised, skidded around a corner ahead of them into their sight. The shadows of the hood hid the stanger's expression, but they seemed to be out of breath as their chest heaved. Sirens filled the air a second later, alerting the stranger to the police catching up. The stranger gripped the black polished suitcase closer to their chest, cursing loudly before making a run for it again.

The stranger grunted roughly as they pushed through the group of teens in his way like a charging bull, not caring for the shouts as a small red head fell. If they didn't lose the cops now, then they were good as dead.

"Teres Mors: Coil!"

The strangers eyes flew open widely as they found something wrap itself around their left arm. Whatever it was it felt like a whip, tightening itself to the point he noticed barbs dig into their skin. And with tremendous strength, the wielder pulled back the whip, sending them flying back to the teens. Burning red eyes angrily glared at them as they flew into their line of sight.

"Say Goodnight!"

A hard fist slammed into the stranger's face, breaking their nose as their body slumped against the floor. They didn't even have time to form a thought, the blow breaking the on/off switch in their head to pieces. Their hood fell back, revealing the man's horribly bent nose and a tooth hanging loosely from his mouth.

"You okay, Ruby?" Blake asked as she helped the dark red headed girl up.

Ruby rubbed her back with a shy smile, sucking in a breath once she saw her sister's handy work, "Yeah, I'm fine. Bigger question is, is that guy alright? I think I see some blood on his face."

"Well he deserves it!" Yang spat, kicking the downed man in shins for added effort, "He's lucky I didn't unload one of Ember Celica's shells into this face!"

"Hmm, nice craftsmanship." Nora nodded to herself, kneeling close to the man's face. She poked his broken nose with her pinky, whistling at the angle. "I give it an 8 out of 10. I was hoping for a few more broken teeth. That's the money maker."

"Nora." Ren rubbed his head in frustration, "Please stop poking the guy. You have no idea where he's been."

"Well he's in Snoozeville now."

"Why was he running anyway?" Jaune frowned.

Weiss stared at him in disbelief, "Do you not hear the sirens getting closer? No doubt we just caught a criminal from escaping." she deduced.

"Does that mean we get a reward!?" Nora squealed excitedly. If they did, she wanted a pony! She'd name it Butternut and he'd be her third in command in her conquest to conquer Remnant.

"We're not getting a pony." Both Jaune and Ren said in unison. They turned to each other, glaring at another. Why did they both have he same line of thought when dealing with Nora? It was getting annoying.

"I call mutiny over my vessel!"

"I thought she was a queen, not sea captain. Why does no one ask these questions?" Blake questioned. When did she take over a ship?

It wasn't long till the wailing sirens made their way to the group. Three police cruiser braked in the streets aside to the students, shutting off their red and blue lights. The door to one of the cars opened, revealing a man in a white shirt, black slacks, and black suspenders walking out. The man wore dark sunglasses and had a beard and mustache meeting together along with a short dark brunette hair cut. A badge was pinned to the front of his shirt, signifying his position as an officer along with a holstered gun on the side of his waist.

"Sweet Oum! Thought we'd never catch this crook!" The officer sighed in relief as he stepped towards the teens around the laid out thief. Turning his eyes downward, he whistled at the beating his face had taken. "Damn, that is going to hurt in the morning. I'm guessing one of you kids did this?" he quirked a brow in question as he turned his eyes to them.

"He's lucky to still be breathing." Yang growled, not caring about the officer in front of her as she kicked the man's face, knocking out the loose tooth.

Nora snatched it out of the air before it could touch the ground, "Oooh, the middle most incisor! That's a keeper. The fairies will pay handsomely for its return." she grinned.

The officer eyed the odd girl, shaking his head in the end. Kids just kept getting weirder, "I don't want to even want to know what her deal is, but I will thank you for catching this guy for us." he smiled thankfully, rearing back his head to call over another office securing the area. "I'm officer Church by the way. And you just made my job a little easier."

"We still got to deal with the paper work, though." Another officer sighed as he stopped by his partner. He was dressed the same as Officer Church, only he had dark morning hair and a slack tie.

"And this is Officer Hayman, my partner in crime."

"You guy's, and gals, did a great service in stopping this crook." Officer Hayman nodded, kneeling down to flip the knocked out man over. He reached for the handcuffs hanging to his waist before cuffing the man's wrists together behind his back. "He may not look it, but he's a slippery bastard. Been on the run for the last half hour."

"What did he do?" Jaune asked the officers as they raised the man up.

"Tch, this slime ball assaulted a store clerk, left them in a sorry state." Officer Church frowned, his eyes catching the suitcase laid across from where the man laid. The case was creaked from the fall, leaking a dark red liquid onto the street. His face scrunched up in disgust, gingerly picking it up without dropping its contents.

"Hey, Joey. Get me a status on the clerk for me real quick. I got a bad feeling about this."

Officer Hayman nodded tersely, calling into his radio holstered to his right suspender.

"You kids can go move along now." Church said solemnly, waving them off as he turned away to watch the crook shoved into the back of the cruiser. He sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I'll be sure to let Ozpin know how much of a help you kids were. I'm sure to send him a reward sometime."

"We didn't really do much, officer." Jaune smiled lightly. All they did was catch some petty criminal. It wasn't like the guy was a White Fang member.

'You have no idea, son.' Church thought sadly. He shook the thoughts away with a small grin, pushing the group of teens away from the crime scene.

"Nah, old Ozzy is an old friend of mine. He worked along with the force back in the day to solve some cases. Least the station can do is give you guys and gals something nice for your trouble."

"We do have to finish Professor Port's chore." Ruby said slowly as they began to walk away from the scene.

"Yeah! Then we can go to a pancake house or something when we're done!" Nora grinned happily, running off in a skip.

"Pancake house? It's close to one in the afternoon." Weiss frowned.

"No use fighting it." Jaune sighed, following after the girl with his team. "If it's pancakes, then it's going to happen. Just accept it."

Weiss grumbled to herself as her team followed. "But I like waffles better."

Jaune winced, "It would be better to keep that to yourself. Nora will call you a heathen and declare war upon your kingdom."

"I don't have a kingdom."

"She will rally her troops and sing a war song. Do not question what that girl is capable of."

"Every sentence that leaves his mouth slowly dawns on me that we're the most normal compared to them." Blake said with a flat stare. Her partner laughed, slinging her arm across her shoulders and brought her in closely.

"Bah, normal's overrated! Now let's get this party going with a Yang!"

"I wonder if I can join their team?" Any team was better then dealing with Yang's awful puns.

Watching the students from Beacon disappear from sight, Burn's allowed himself to curse out in the open.

"Nice kids." Hayman scratched his head, scowling as his radio came to life. He listened to the report over his speaker, face twisting in restrained anger over the news. "It was a good idea sending them away. They don't need to know about this." he spat.

"Tell me about it." Church sighed tiredly, snapping the suitcase in his hands open once they knew the coast was clear.

Inside the case a pair of velvet fuzzed antlers laid in a puddle of blood. They looked as if they were torn right out of the victims head with a crude sawing instrument. A token with a deformed ox skull insignia engraved into the dark material was also found along with the true bones.

"The guys back at the store say the faunas is pretty banged up, poor girl isn't talking. Their moving her to the hospital to treat her wounds, hopefully they can stitch her antlers back to her head."

"Nah, this isn't something you can fix." Burns said in remorse. Faunas appendages weren't as simple to sew once they've been cut off. Not to mention the deer faunas had them sawed off in a horrible fashion. One of them still had part of her hair and skin on it for Monty's sake! Sadly, the crook seemed to have had time to heavily burn the endings with some fire. There was no hope in saving them now.

"Call the station, looks like The Friends of Faunas are creeping out of their shadows."

---

"So the kid didn't make it?"

"Pretty much, boss." A short curled blue haired girl nodded, popping the green bubblegum in her mouth as she talked. She wore a dark purple and magenta stripped hoodie, resting her hands in the pocket of the cozy hood. She also wore tight jean shorts and green sneakers, a pair of headphones hung around her neck. Music played in the room, drowning out the crackling flames of the fireplace beside her. A part of her hair hung over her right eye, showing off only one.

Her emerald eye's looked bored with talk, wishing she could leave to listen to her tunes. It wasn't everyday she got the day off.

"The guy managed to hit the target and was on his way to the meeting spot, but had be apprehended by the Vale Police. Idiot should of attacked at night, not in the middle of the damn day."

The room she stood in glowed with warmth of the fire, illuminating the many stuffed animal heads hung across the walls in plates. The furniture decorating the place was even made of the skin of dead animals, something that always creeped her out a bit. If her boss didn't pay so well, she would of left long ago.

Sitting in front of the fireplace, a man with shaggy dirty blonde hair sighed. His dark brown eye's scowled into the flames, flicking another playing card in his hands into the calm pyre. A crocodile skinned western hat rested on the red wood table next to him with a small belt adorned with bullets tied around it. He didn't bother to change out of his lion furred sleeping robes, he had a feeling the new guy would fail. Why bother getting dressed for a no show? He scratched the blonde fuzz under this chin, shrugging.

"Sad to hear, I guess. He wasn't really FoF material anyways. We don't need street punks joining our little social cause anyway. The guy was a mindless racist, I like to believe we're doing those poor animals a favor." he smiled widely.

"Eh, I don't care. I just follow your orders and rake in the dough." she shrugged. Lien was Lien. Didn't matter where it came from. In this world, that's all that mattered.

"Now, now, Annabeth." the man chuckled, sorting through the deck of cards, "You mustn't be so blunt. A gentlewoman must act with a sense of class. I know you're more then some punk like the rest of them."

"Fuck class."

"And I wonder why I found you in the street." he drawled, shaking his head before getting up from his chair. He stretched his arms above his head, letting loose a sigh before smacking his lips. Should get a drink before heading off to bed. Had a lot planned for the coming week. Didn't want to wake up grouchy with a cottonmouth.

"Put out the fire, won't you, my little orphan Ann?" he coed mockingly. The blue girl's favorite finger saluted him, leaving a pout on his face. "We got to rise early in the morning if we want to get any work done."

"Whatever you say, boss man."

"Please," he grinned, turning back to his so called right hand, the orange glow of the fire illuminating the three scarred lines across his face. He threw back a card back to the girl. Snatching it from the air, she looked down to the picture of a Bishop painted over the Joker card.

"Call me Holt, Hun."

---

Now for your viewing pleasure, I introduce to you all our first piece of DLC! These extra stories are just for fun, but some of them might connect to the main story. Hope you enjoy our first one~

---

DLC 1: Little Red (Not so Innocent) Riding Hood.

Sitting in Headmaster Ozpin's office atop his clockwork tower was not what Jaune had been expecting for his Wednesday afternoon plans. He was actually hoping to spend it actually playing some games on his scroll instead of reading over the help guide. But his plans were derailed by one Nora Valkyrie. And her dream of Pancake wrestling.

'And here comes Nora with a syrupy piledriver! Ooh, that's going to sting in the morning. Her opponent doesn't seem to be taking the blow well.'

'MY SPLEEN!'

'BOW BEFORE THE GREAT PANCAKE DIVA! SUBMIT, JAUNE-CENA! OR FACE MY BUTTERY WRATH!'

'PYRRHA! Please call off the match! I can't tap out with her bending my arm back!'

'Sorry, Jaune-cena! I'm only the announcer. You'll have to talk to Referee Ren.'

'DENIED!'

'FUCK YOU!'

'And this little piggy went, 'Please end the agony! Just put a bullet in my head and end it!' all the way home~!'

'Nora, Nora! What are you doing with my le-SWEET MERCY! IT DOESN'T BEND THAT WAY!'

'TAKE IT OFF! I DIDN'T CANCEL FIELD STUDIES FOR NOTHING!'

A feminine scream echoed in Ozpin's office as Glynda played the video of the wrestling match on her scroll for both her and Ozpin to observe. Jaune sat in front of the desk, his face hidden behind his palms in embarrassment. At least it was quickly gaining views. That was a good thing, kinda.

No. It really wasn't. Now the whole world of Remnant could replay his girly screams for all eternity.

"Where did you even find those leotards?" Ozpin couldn't help but ask as he sipped his coffee. It was a miracle he hadn't spit it out with what he was seeing. The Headmaster was pretty sure they didn't have in storage.

"Nora knows a guy."

"And the syrup and large kiddie pool?"

"She knows a guy."

"And the calling card girl?"

"Yang was feeling like showing off."

Glynda couldn't fight off any longer as her hand lost its battle against her face. She face palmed, slowly dragging it down her face. A loud cheer broke off the crowd of students gathered in the lunchroom, with some of them even throwing Lien into the syrup ring to the victor.

'And we have a winner! Her majesty, Pancake Dive Nora!'

'Thank you, thank you! Now, if you don't mind, I got a long day of licking myself off to do!'

'My leg, my arms, my spleen, my exposed pride!'

A twitch found itself on Glynda's face noticing a certain orange haired teacher sneak into the ring, pay a few Lien to the referee, and then slowly drag the moaning blonde knight away while everyone was cheering. That woman was starting to grate on her nerves.

"Do I want to know what Ms. Antheia did to you once she left with your vulnerable body?"

"I don't know what she did. All I remember is waking up in a trashed classroom with her leaving with a satisfied expression on her face as she buttoned up her blouse. Pretty sure I saw her high five someone while she lite up a smoke." At that he paused, looking at the two adults in slight horror, "Am I still a virgin?" he whimpered.

"I'm done here." Glynda nodded her head firmly as she shut her scroll. They didn't pay her enough to deal with this kinda crap. "Ozpin, I leave his punishment to you. I need to take nice, long stroll to clear my head."

The Headmaster waved the blonde witch away, chuckling as the door to his office shut behind her.

"Well, Mr. Arc. It seems you have knack for drawing in the wrong kind of attention." he mused with a slight grin.

Jaune's shoulders dropped in defeat, "Why couldn't I be a chick magnet?"

"Ms. Antheia seems to like you."

"You still haven't answered my question on that."

"Normally, I would punish you for such misuse of pancakes. But banning Ms. Valkyrie for the semester form stepping foot in he cafeteria seems to be enough. Along with handing over all the Lien your show earned, your team will be left off with a slap on the wrist." Ozpin explained, choosing to ignore Jaune's question. Technically it wasn't against the rules, but for now he was just going to leave the matter behind. He didn't have a ruler long enough to touch that.

Guess that was a fair deal. At worst Jaune thought he would be suspended from classes for a week along with his team. And it was all Nora's fault anyways. Why should he suffer for her crazy ideas?

"Now that I have you in my office, I do have something I've been meaning to give to you." Reaching for his desk's drawer, the Headmaster pulled out an old, weathered book. Dusting off for a second, he handed the old book to the blonde haired knight. Jaune ran his hands over the cover in wonder as Ozpin continued to drink from his steaming mug, "This is an old book full of fairy tales from the past. It use to bring me much enjoyment during my early days as a hunter in training. I've been meaning to give it away though, I have far too much to do to give it any worth. You seem as if you might enjoy it. It would do me a great honor if you were to take it. A good book is never meant to collect dust."

"I guess I could take it off your hands." Jaune smiled. It was the least he could do for letting him off for all the mess he and his team caused. He could use a good read that wasn't full of pictures anyways.

"Good to hear. Better you then me." he whispered to himself.

"Eh? You say something, Headmaster?"

Ozpin shook his head hurriedly, "No, nothing. We're done here, Mr. Arc. Just make sure to keep Ms. Valkyrie away from the cafeteria. No further punishment will be necassairly as long your team keeps their noses clean."

"I can honestly make no promises."

"Fairy enough." Ozpin shrugged. The Valkyrie girl was harder to control then a live Grimm in a cage. "Just enjoy the rest of the day." While he could. Didn't envy the boy. At least he was safe now.

Nodding his head back at the Headmaster, Jaune bid him farewell before leaving his office for his dorm room. The blonde knight had already gone over what he could find from his game manual, might as well read it before bed tonight.

Ozpin sighed in relief once the door closed behind the boy. At long last he was free of those nighmarish stories. While a few of them were good, and the last tale a favorite of his, the others were not as kind.

'Better him than me.'

(Page Break.)

Pyrrha released a sigh of content as she dried her hair on her bed. While she hadn't participated in the wrestling match Nora's more explosive moves had splashed bits of pancakes and syrup onto her from the spectators box. She still had no idea how the bubbly girl had set the arena up so fast in a span of a few minutes, but she didn't want to question it. Some things were better left unknown. She just wished Nora hadn't dragged her into the shower along with her for what she called 'skinship'. The girl had no sense of privacy or personal space. The girl's hands could still be felt squeezing her assets.

At least she got to see Jaune in a leotard. It was worth it, she supposed.

Hearing a moan of displeasure from across the room, Pyrrha held back a giggle watching her partner stretch his arms around. Nora had gone a bit overboard with her match. He was lucky to have his arms healed from being dislocated. Made her wonder who had fixed him off. She lost sight of him while announcing Nora's win. Ms. Spriggan had handed him back to team JNPR in a daze, snorting in laughter with a blush. She frowned noticing her leader reach for his scroll again.

"Jaune, I thought you promised to cut back on the video games? It's unhealthy to play games before bed. The lights make it harder to fall asleep once you put them down." she chided, shaking her finger at the blue eyed boy.

"I'm just checking for messages, Pyrrha. You don't have to worry about it. I'm reading a book before bed tonight." he smiled reassuringly. "Does that sound good to you, Mom?"

"Yes. But please don't call me Mom. It's not flattering." she blushed as dirty thoughts entered her mind.

'Mama Pyrrha, how to I impress a girl?'

'Simple, my sweet Jaune. All you have to do is be yourself! . . .And take off your shirt. Just like that! Now, let's skip the mushy crap and begin working on third base!'

Dammit Blake! She should of never borrowed one of her books.

"Right, right. Might as well get started on this book. Ozpin gave it to me after handing out the punishment." Cleaning the bit of dust off the old leather book, Jaune cracked it open, his eye's squinting in irritation as a bright light burst from the pages.

'The hell-'

'Congratulations! You've received Lost Fairy Tales! Enjoy the ride!'

---

The familiar sensation of waking up in forest with no clue to how you got there was not lost to Jaune as he groaned on the forest floor. Once was enough! This shit better not become a regular thing. Otherwise he was going to have to invest in an iron spine.

"Where the hell am I anyways?" Jaune winced as he slowly stood up. A forest, that was a no brainer. But it didn't look like the Emerald Forest as when he first woke up to his life turning to a game. He scratched his head, frowning in puzzlement at his surroundings. "Wait a minute, these aren't my regular hunter gloves." moving his hand back, the knight found his regular brown leather gloves replaced by black leather.

All right, that was odd. Taking a quick look at his attire, he noticed that he had gone a wardrobe change. He now wore a red buttoned up long sleeve shirt, sandy khaki jeans, and a pair of black leather work boots. A worn out red ax was looped in his belt along with a red snow cap adorning his head.

"Am I a Tree Cutter? I was pretty sure that my tree cutting days were over with." Jaune grumbled to himself as he began to walk around the forest for a way out. Hadn't chopped them down since his days back home. Not since his little sister had begged him to stop. The girl had literally chained herself to a tree he was planning to cut down.

It looked The Game had few tricks up its sleeve he hadn't saw coming. Damn Ozpin. He was starting to wonder if the gray haired man knew about the game world. It would explain so much. Something to talk to Ren about when he got out of this place.

Seeing the bright light of peeking out of few trees ahead of him, Jaune pushed past the foliage in his way before finding himself walking into an open field. The hot sun bared down on his mercilessly, causing him to shield his eyes from its rays.

"Sometimes I got to hate the sun. Maybe I should invest in sunglasses like Yang. Bet Weiss would like them." he grinned in thought before a loud feminine scream entered his ears. His head swiveled left to right for the voices owner, gritting his teeth as he took a hold of his ax. Looked like he was going to play hero!

You had to feel sorry for the poor soul.

Running off from the forests entrance, Jaune quickly spotted a wooden cottage, catching another scream of terror from inside. He gulped as he prepared himself for a fight. He could already see large gashes on the outside of the house. Hopefully Grimm didn't make into wherever he found himself.

Jaune reared his ax back, shouting a war cry as he chopped down the door to the cottage. No time for knocking! It was time for action! Charging through he broken remains he began looking around the cozy home, looking for the poor girl in need of help. It actually reminded him of his grandma's house. The tables even had doilies. Whatever was causing the trouble had already busted the owner's furniture and tore up the walls.

"Oh no! She's not going to be happy about this!"

Hearing the famaliar voice close by, Jaune made his way slowly through the cottage. His back was pressed against the wooden walls. Going to have to play this like Blake. Jaune the Ninja! And his trusty new weapon, Tree Killer! Several doors were in his sight, but the one with large beast like gashes caught his attention. That must have been where his culprit lurked along with his victim. His knuckles gripped the wooden handle of his red ax. Time to see how well he handled fighting with it.

Jaune swung the ax around his hand, giving it a slight heave before slashing at the already clawed door. It fell apart in a white line cleaving the entry way in a daigonal halves. He sucked in breath, readying himself to confront the beast inside.

"Names Jaune Arc! I'm here to kick asses and swoon woman! And I don't see any woma-"

"Hi!"

Cut off from his dramatic war cry, Jaune's ax wielding arm dropped to his side with a thud, staring blankly at the familiar red caped girl grinning nervously at him.

"Ruby!?" Jaune gawked in surprise. She even had a bloody red scythe behind her back. It wasn't a mech weapon though, just a simple reapers scythe.

'Ruby' blinked at the strange blonde man addressing her, shaking her head negatively at him as her long dark red ponytail swayed behind her, "My names not Ruby. My names Red! Little Red Riding Hood!" she grinned happily.

Giving the girl a closer look, she was right. She wasn't Ruby. The girl before him was taller, close to his height. Her outfit was more racy then the little red he knew. Her dress more racy with its shoulder baring peasant top and very short scarlet skirt. She had longer hair done up in a pretty ponytail tied in a black black ribbon and her trademark cape seemed to remain the same. Silver gray eyes looked at him with curiosity, titling their head to the side as she stared at him.

"Who are you? Are you the Wood Cutter Gram-gram was a talking about?" she huffed as she cocked her hips. The simple action did marvelous things to her well endowed chest.

"She told me to watch out for you. Said you shouldn't trust pretty boys."

The hell was going on? Wasn't she in danger or something. Taking a look around the bedroom he had barged into he was horrified to find splotches of red painting the room. A mangled furry body was hidden under a creamy blanket, soiling fluffy blanket an ugly red.

His slacked jaw made Red giggle. Gram-gram was right. He was pretty. Didn't see much boys as good looking as him back at the village. Better bag him before some other village girl sunk their teeth into him.

"So what you up to, big boy?" she breathed, twirling a lock of red hair in her hand. Hopefully her mother's flirting lesson paid off. It's how she got dad. "You look tired. How about little Red helps you out of those filthy clothes. You could use a nice hot bath." she flirted with a wink.

"What's up with the dead body?" Jaune whispered in fear, noticing the drops of red dripping of the girl's blade.

"Oh?! Well Gram-gram made the mistake of forgetting to tell me that she had gone off today. Probably went out to buy another copy of her favorite game. She's a shut in with an anime fetish." she gossiped in a hush tone.

"That has nothing to do with the dying thing in what I believe is your Gram's bed."

"Dying?" Red gasped in shame before swiftly turning to the labored breathing beast slumped under the sheets. She glared at it, shouting loudly as she raised her scythe high in the air. A loud sickening squelch echoed in the air in once the blade dug deep into the furred body.

"Oh my god." Jaune breathed silently in horror. Red spun back to him, her face painted with slick blood. The bright grin on her face only painted the image of a hot, sexy sociopath.

"Problem solved! Oh, look." she said with a sultry quirk of her lips, undoing the top of her corset as Jaune gulped in both fear and arousal. "I've seemed to gotten myself dirty too. Might as well take that bath with you. I always wanted to see how strong an axman is."

Jaune sweated as the girl strutted towards him, swinging her hips as the bladed end of her weapon scrapped against the wooden floor. This chick was nothing like Ruby! Ruby was innocent, kind, and could only hurt a Grimm in self defense. This chick was some twisted version of his sweet little Ruby! And she was dangerously sexy! This shit wasn't right!

"Don't worry. The big bad wolf won't bother us anymore. That's what stalkers get for following a fifteen year old girl to her grandmother's house in the woods."

"I thought it was a forest." Wait a minute, Jaune paused in thought as he found the girl leaning on his chest. What did she say? "You're fifteen?" he shouted in shock.

"Wouldn't you like to find out." Red moaned, biting her lips as her fingers found the buttons of his grass stained pants.

The blaring sounds of sirens shattered the mood in the air. Red and blue lights peeked through the windows of the cottage as frantic shouts could be heard outside.

Red cursed silently, pouting angrily as she hastily undid her cap.

"Damn! Gram-gram must of called the cops when her alarm set off. Should of called her to tell her everything was alright. She's not going to like what I did to the place. Especially Alphonse. She's gonna kill me for maiming the guy."

"You killed a person!?"

"Person?" Red looked at him dully before bursting in laughter. "No! That's the name of her body pillow. She hasn't been right in the head since Grampa left her. Had enough with her galge addiction." she grinned as she picked up a torn apart pillow reaching up to her head with a picture of a blonde boy with yellow eyes. What he didn't understand was why the pillow had blood running from its wounds.

"Freeze! Put your hands in the air, scumbags! We don't have the right to use force, but we will beat your asses cheery red if you don't stand down!"

"Alphonse! Please answer your sugar mama!"

'I am at lost at the situation right now' Jaune fell back against the wall beside the door he cut in half in total defeat. The Game was some sick twisted bastard. What part of this was a boon? He couldn't see the reason for it!

'Welcome to Lost Fairy Tales! This creative world is filled with many strange and unique stories that you must trudge through! By completing each story without dying, The Player will unlock special abilities, skills, and permanent stat increases! Good luck! This one won't be over till someone reaches a Happy Ending.'

Hungry hands found their way to his belt, undoing them in a lighting quick flash. Alluring silver eyes stared deep into his blue orbs, Red's lips licking in hunger.

Jaune whimpered as he found his pants dropping around his ankles. This was the third time he was wondering for his virginity. He was a shame to the male race.

"We don't have much time till they ruin our fun, Wood Cutter. Little Red's going to become a woman! And this day won't end till I got a hubby to rub into Gram-gram's face when this is over! Now ride this hood like you love it!"

A feminine shout could be heard outside the cottage, drowning the bustling police activity. Jaune didn't know what happened next, only that a bright light blinded him. He didn't know when it had happened, but all he knew was that he had gained a +7 to his Speed and very little memory to what the girl had done to him.

Was it possible to lose your virginity to a story book?

---

And that's that! The FoF, a mysterious group with ill intentions for the faunus. What can we expect is in store for our heroes! Action! Suspense! Drama! Heart Wrenching Emotions! And Friendshipping!

Not as action-y as other chapters, but I hope you enjoyed it. I laughed out loud myself a few times while writing this chapter.

As always, Chapter 6 is already done. But it won't be updated till Thursday after some edits and Chapter 7's completion. And the DLC bits will be spread out from chapter to chapter when one is finished. Hope you'll enjoy them.

Not much to say this time. I got to sleep. Now to kick out my sister. She's been here long enough taking pictures of the dog and catching pokemon on her phone.

Read and Review! It's common courtesy.

NeoShadows fading in and out.