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?

22. Strays

Yo, NeoShadows here! And I'm sweating like a pig. Mmmmm, pig.

The family is now moving into the new house and we're hard at work. Couches be a bitch. Along with packing the last of our things and moving everything by truck, we also have to clean up the mess we left behind our apartment. And boy, did we fuck that place up. I've left several fist shaped holes in the place from rage. . .and tequila. So it's been hard finding time to write. I probably won't be able to writ again like this until we're all settled in, which won't be till Sunday. I don't even know when I'll be done with the next chapter, so I hope you're all patient.

On another note, I've been brainstorming ideas again. When I'm on break, expect some more one-shots added to Arc Works. I'll be putting up a poll on the one-shots I've posted to see which of the top two will be published during the Summer. Multiplayer won't be back until Volume 5 is out. But that's not for another month at best. At latest, two months.

Now for Reviews!

AmuseBeard: Yeah, this was a chill chapter. Not much happened, but I've planted several flags for other events in this chapter. And I know, I write too much. It can be a chore to read all of that in one sitting. I remember reading a fic that went as far as having 40K in chapters. That sonva bitch took me almost a month to finish. Which is why I cut this chapter short. And added a DLC. Hope you enjoy!

Vahn: Glad you love the fic! It always heartwarming to hear that every once in awhile. The lack of stat clutter is something I wish others would do in their Gamer fics. The Jaune-cena running gag is always a favorite of the fans it seems. And it's not 20K, it's 200K. As for Nora. . .well I have nothing to say for that. Nora is Nora, not even I can understand what she does.

RightHandOfPalpatine: Nope! The final Player does share something with her though.

ThatGuy: Normally, I don't answer Guest reviews. But you are right. He is Fucked.

Unknown823543: I am now sad. Especially since I've already sent my insanity papers. Well, they at least have some female staff. Right?

Remzal Von Enili: Then you better make time! I will have some anime girl snuggling me in bed by the end, dammit!

Rihan K. A: It's good to know I got the character growth done. It's always nerve wracking to think I may not have gotten their interactions done well. Hearing that it sounds natural make me feel relieved. Got to thank all the games I've played with social aspects. Great inspiration there. Sadly, I've never gotten the chance to play any type of Persona game. I've got to buy Persona 5, it looks awesome!

AZalmega: I hear ya. Thing is, when I write out each chapter, I have a general idea of how it goes down and let it run its course in my head, like watching an anime. If it happens, it happens. Don't worry, I got some cliffhangers in store for you in later chapters to come, you masochistic freak you. I would love to find someone to draw fanart on Multiplayer, preferably my OC's. I'd love to see Professor Antheia in picture. And thanks for the birthday shout out!

Ultimate Pervy Sage: Happy to hear you liked the chill chapter. It was actually one of my favorites. I wonder if we can make a word out of the letters of the girls? Something to think about at a later point.

Alteris: Ooooohh, stop! You're making me blush! Which is bad, I am a man and a man doesn't blush. . .it if doesn't involve nudity. It took you four days to read? Damn, your eyes must be hurting. I'm happy to have you onboard our little game of ours. I hope to only keep you entertain from here on out!

Zachary2: . . . .There's a body pillow of Yang? Must. Resist. Urge. To. Find! Thanks for the birthday shout out. I don't know about putting the forum on here. All I find is RPG's in the forum section. Gotta to look over that.

TheMischievousnessPuppyDog: The Journal will be posted on a site where you can read it freely. In the coming months though. I'm not finished with it just yet. I'll let you all know where to find it once it's done.

NaoDarkness: A DAY and a half? Boy, you got a gift on your ass. I'm happy to know my OC's are being revieved well. I worked very hard on making them relevant while not taking up the spotlight too much. I wouldn't say I'm a master at all that though. I'm still learning and improving as we speak. Though I will take what I've learned with me when I'm working on an Xover with RWBY in the future. I got two games in mind which I can't wait to work on. And I've been there; hungry, eyes hurting, and body aching from long reading sessions. I love that you wrote down some suggestions on reading material. . .especially the ones for my pleasure. Nice. Happy to have you onboard!

Alright, that's enough reviews for now. We got a story to get to. Oh! We also got a DLC! Kinda lost track when writing it, so it's 8K. Hope you enjoy it!

---

Disclaimer: You know the old drill! All rights to RWBY belong to RoosterTeeth, not yours truly. As much as I love to write, I don't think I'd be allowed to write my one series. Don't get me wrong, I've journals full of original works, but much of those where when I was a naive boy. A naive boy who wrote about harems and naughty goodness. Hmm, maybe I'd be better writing ecchi works of art? Only this time, I won't overdue it with the lolis! I'm tired of that bastard Chris Hanseen knocking down my door and making me sit down.

She was twenty years old, I fucking swear!

---

Chapter 22: Strays.

It was late into the night, the shattered moon's remains shone down onto the world of Remnant with a pale white light. Remnant's people moved about their lives and the sound of the wind gently rustled the trees of the forests and tickled the earth. All was peaceful.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCK!"

But in the dim dirty alleyways of Vale, things were not so great.

A shadowed figure slid against the walls of the alleyway, passing the massive cracked webs created by a single fist. Rubble fell from the ruined wall, bits of the small brick bouncing off the dark cloaked stranger struggling to walk on their own two feet. Their breath was labored, heavy and fighting to catch their breath. The sound of their heavy panting gave off a distinct male feeling, thick and gruff in the otherwise calm night air.

Where the mysterious man found himself a ragged black cloak, he didn't know. His memory was fuzzy, broken, constantly switching between channels of different memories that were not his own. Or were they? The man suddenly fell to his knees, clutching his head as it was bombarded by several sharp aches that stabbed into his mind callously.

Suddenly, a bit of his memory came back. He found himself mindlessly wandering a red forest, his expression blank as his feet carried him to some unknown destination. That was when he found him. A man, a skilled man, wearing a nice-looking cloak, gray slacks, several pieces of armor and dark boots, and two twin hooked angle swords. Then his memory went blank again and the next thing he knew, he was standing over a bloody corpse. Being naked at the time, he must have taken his belongings. It made sense to him.

But what was his name? The stranger felt the headaches increase in strength and nearly brought him to tears.

Hatred, so much hatred. He remembered being stuck in some unknown prison without bars or walls. Nothing but a small window had greeted him every day. And every day, he would watch as some imposter would walk around with his face, his eyes, his smile, and even worse, his name, living a life that rightfully belonged to him! It was torture, nothing short of the cruelest torture. No matter how loud he would shout at the fake, he would be ignored as if he wasn't even there. It was too much, he was ready to accept his brutal fate and vanish into nothing.

Until the stranger had found himself falling along with the fake, soaking in an unknown energy that granted him a small freedom.

The memory ended there as the cloaked stranger felt the memory slip away from his hands like water. He reached out to it desperately, sobbing in despair as it left him. Tears slid down his paling cheek, the ice cold of the night freezing his skin as his body shivered. The darkening heavens sympathized, cracking with thunder as a light drizzle fell onto the city and soaked his bloody stolen clothes.

The boy's sobbing grew ragged, his breathing becoming rapid as his teeth grit together in a snarl. Anger filled his cold and wet being, growing deeper as his trembling fist rose high into the air. Dark wisps gathered around his hand like a wild fire, growing dense with a tainted red tint to its center.

'Name's Jaune Arc, short, sweet, and rolls off the tongue! Ladies love it.'

With a roar that would terrify a wild bear from its den, the stranger slammed his fist to the ground. The energy in his fist broke the cement on the ground, splintering it in chucks and unleashed a rippling darkness from the webbed cracks crawling towards the very top of the dank alleyway.

'Congratulations! Dark Advent, Discovered!'

". . . . . How interesting."

The rain froze still along with the world, enough to stop the stranger's tears and spin his head around in confusion for the voice. Before his very eye's, a flickering blue light appeared, growing until it grew to a baseball's form. Azure flames bellowed from its form before deep red eyes of fire stared into his own, reflecting off his own ruby red eyes. A wide toothy grin nearly split the wisp of azure flame, finding gray silver hair peek out of the hood of the stranger's cloak and their eyes narrow angrily in recognition.

The Will wanted to laugh out loud, its being filled with giddiness.

This was going to be a fun play through.

"Hi there! Wanna play a game?"

---

"Jaune Arc and Yang Xiao Long, would you please prepare yourselves for combat?"

Back in his seat by his partner, Jaune nodded firmly as he stood up from his seat to walk down the aisle for the combat ring. His heart was beating rapidly, the palms of his hands sweating lightly as he took a deep breath. He ignored the stares pointed at his back, entirely focused on the fight ahead of him.

It was Friday and the school day was just about over with. All that was left was Combat Studies before the bell rang and they could enjoy their Friday afternoons. And they were on the last fight of the day.

In a blink of an eye, an entire two months had passed since the events of Forever Fall. So much and yet so little had changed in that time. Ren had now joined him in his quest to end The Game they were trapped in, he was now two weeks away from taking his qualifying entrance exam to be registered as a true Huntsman in training, and he was now level 25. In two months' time, he had gone up by 8 levels. Now that all the events had stopped and he was no longer fighting monstrous bosses left and right, he was gaining experience at a gradual rate.

Jaune was enjoying it. The normal school life he had once before. Back when his life hadn't fallen into some twisted game that never ended. The simple frustrations of exams, studying, hanging out with friends after grueling school days, and the normal school hijinks he had once been embarrassed of finding himself in. Truly, you never realized what you had until it was gone.

Stepping into the ring, the blond knight waited for Yang to walk out of the locker room while also taking the chance to swap out of his school uniform for a looser wardrobe. The knowledge of his supposed 'semblance' had already been known since the start of the second mouth during a match, so there was no need to worry about any questioning stares. In a flash of brilliant light, his uniform was replaced by a tight but flexible black long sleeved shirt fitted for working out and knee length black shorts. The shirt had a yellow crescent on its back while the shorts were designed with blue swords circling the bottom cuffs. Both his feet and his hands were wrapped in medical tape, replacing his shoes and leather gloves for the match.

'Disciple's Wear, Equipped! Matching Set Bonus: +7 Attack, +5 Speed, and Hot Shot! Decrease: -10 Defense and -10 Wisdom.'

In those two months' time, Jaune had come to discover a special bonus to Coco's Friendship. Along with studying to become a Huntress like her classmates, the fashion obsessed girl also wished to design her own set of Hunter's wear. And she offered her services to her friends for a reasonable price. The only catch to the payment of the special clothing that offered bonuses to stats and offered their own Abilities/Skills was that each one could only be unlocked based on the Friendships or Affections of those he had Bonds with. Take Disciple's Wear; a comfortable attire that allowed more flexibility in close quarters combat while sacrificing Defense and Wisdom to focus on physical attacks. Only available if his Friendship with Yang had reached Lvl 8. Luckily, he had reached the necessary level a week ago and its added Ability Hot Shot decreased damage by 5% while increasing his Attack by 15% for every Critical Hit landed. Against someone like Yang, it was going to be a boon.

After changing out of her own uniform and into her usual combat gear, Yang walked onto the ring with a fired-up grin on her face. If you had told her she would be excited to fight Jaune in a hand to hand match a few months ago, she would of asked you what kind of drink you had so she could feel as hammered as you. But after training said boy for so long she was now proud to say he was up to standards! Not on her level yet, but Jaune was certainly able to put up a good fight now. And today was the day she found out just how much he had grown since that day he had come to her for help.

"Alright, Vomit-boy!" Yang said loudly with energy, punching her fists together with a small boom. She couldn't stop her grin as he met her eyes, moving his fists up on instinct in a boxing stance he had picked up from her, "Consider this our final lesson! If you win, then I have nothing more I can teach you unless you consider copying me to the letter. You'll also graduate from Vomit-boy to simply Lover-boy."

"Can't I be a Man? Or better yet, you could call me Jaune." the blond knight grumbled.

"Nope! You'll take what you can get and you'll love it." Yang said with amusement. "But fail, and your training will be tripled and you'll forever be known as Vomit-girl."

"You will do it, won't you?" No question about it, Yang would loudly proclaim him Vomit-girl for his entire stay in Beacon.

Sighing, Jaune tensed his muscles as they waited for Professor Goodwitch's signal while mentally scanning for Yang's HP.

'Yang Xiao Long, The Young Raging Dragon.

26,000HP/26,000HP.'

Status:

Jaune Arc, Heart of the Gamer. Lvl: 25.

8,000HP/8,000HP.

205MP/205MP.

AP:56/SP:40.

EXP: 1,094,800Exp.

EXP to Next Level: 18,789/300,000.

Strength:43(48.8)

Defense:60

Speed:40(42)

Charisma:28

Intelligence:29

Wisdom: 31

Dexterity: 26

Luck:39

Seeing as he wasn't like Ren who could see more than HP, Jaune couldn't compare his stats against Yang's. But he came a long way since the first day he had trained with her. He was feeling a little confident. No holding back this time, he was going at her with all she had taught him.

Professor Goodwitch nodded her head respectfully at the two students standing by from the outer edge of the ring. It was time to see just how far Jaune had come since his first hand to hand match against Ren all those months ago. She had been meaning to test him after a week, but with the boy being roped into the Friends of Faunus ordeal, Ozpin had her postpone it. Now there was no excuses. If he was going go through with the Headmaster's exam, then he needed to win against someone as strong as Yang if he was going to have any chance.

Tapping away on her scroll, the blond witch displayed the two fighter's respective auras on the screen along with a ten-minute timer. Class was ending, so they needed to wrap things up. Even she had plans for the weekend.

"Begin!"

At the ring of the digital bell, Yang charged straight into Jaune's guard with a flurry of jabs. She wasn't wasting anytime on the attack. And neither was Jaune. Having already gotten use to the straight forward attack in training, Jaune fell in step with the jabs, weaving back against the quick jabs. Seeing a kick aimed for his gut, he spun on his foot out of the way. Elbow flying up, he aimed to drive into Yang's face only for the fiery blonde to catch it with her own fist. Tossing the blow aside, she was forced to block a couple of high kicks to her chest with her forearm. Jaune spun on his foot again, blurring to everyone's sight as an orange glow lite up his left bandaged foot.

"High Twister!" Carried up by the momentum of the spin, Jaune broke out of the maneuver to swing a chopping side kick to Yang's guard. An almost visible gale of whipping wind could be seen wrapped around his left leg. Yang jumped out of the way, not wanting to see how she'd fare against the new attack. The very space she had occupied let out a boom from the missed blow, blowing a strong breeze past her. She dashed in as the breeze calmed down, her fist coated with aura as Jaune stumbled.

"First blood!" she yelled victoriously. The grimace on his face was enough to tell that he wasn't going to dodge. With a roar, Yang drove her fist straight into Jaune's face, the force sending him flying back in the air.

Jaune quickly flipped in the air and skidded on the arena floor. Even with his aura up, Yang could draw some blood in the form of the small trickle of red running down his bruising nose. He didn't need to see her stats to know she had some insane Strength! No time to muse said girl's strength, he thought as he watched her jump high in the air with a raised glowing fist.

'That doesn't look safe.'

Winking down at her little trainee, Yang dove back to the arena to smash her fist like a comet at Jaune. Knowing he wouldn't want to see how much damage he would take from something that scary, Jaune ran out of the way with a quick command of Gale Speed. It wasn't enough though. An explosive ripple of energy blew up as Yang shattered the ground with her knuckle, smacking Jaune back with its aftermath effect. He grit his teeth feeling his HP drop by 400.

Dusting off the bits of rubble around her, Yang turned back to find Jaune catching his breath. She frowned, upset to see him already winded, "Come on, Vomit-boy! Don't tell me that's all you got? I'm only just getting warmed up over here!" she smirked smugly as she cracked her knuckles.

Jaune shook his head with a wry grin, "Don't count on me slowing down. I'm just getting warmed up too!" he shouted with equal energy, running off the spot with a raised fist.

Such a straight forward attack. Yang rolled her eyes as she prepared to counter the charging punch. Stuff like that never wor-

"Silent Phase!"

Yang grew on edge as the image of Jaune seemed to fade away just before he was within reach. She spun her head in alarm, watching for any signs of her fellow blond before a lashing high kick tossed her off her feet and sent her rolling on the ground. From thin air, Jaune appeared airborne, having just knocked the foxy girl with one kick. He had to thank Blake for that little Ability.

Recovering back on her feet from the sneak attack, Yang dashed back for her fellow blond. She quickly jumped into the air, dodging a sweep kick before dropping an ax kick on top of his head. The blow nearly knocked him out as he grit his teeth to stop a yell of pain from escaping. He endured the damage, throwing up his forearm as she spun to lash out with a leg swing to his side. An audible smack resonated from flesh smacking against flesh. Twisting his arm around her leg, Jaune roughly pulled the startled fiery brawler to ram his elbow into her face. Adding aura to the appendage helped to stun Yang as she stumbled back with a grimace. Her vision was swimming. She shook her head as she found three blue eyed blond's run towards her in a zig-zag pattern to further confusion. That was just plain cheating.

Despite the disorienting elbow bash to the face, Yang met Jaune's right hook with her own right hook. The air was blown back against their faces from the meeting fists with a boom echoing off the ring's walls. The two blondes stared into each other's eyes. Blue met lavender, mirroring each other's fire before they found themselves smirking at the other. Their fists trembled against their driving knuckles, refusing to back down the power struggle.

"You done feeling me up, Vomit-boy? It's not nice to tease a lady." Yang winked with a saucy grin.

Jaune held his smirk even as he felt the blonde bombshell add more pressure to push back his fist, "I was always taught to start off with some foreplay. Guess I should throw that all away and get to the real fun!"

With his fist still knuckle to knuckle with Yang's, Jaune used the momentary connection to swipe her fist to the side. He then aimed a jab for her face but found his attack missing as Yang ducked to the side. With the position of her low duck, the brawler rained a flurry of punches into his abs. Jaune cursed as his aura struggled to withstand the barrage. Raising his clenched together fists high in the air, Jaune dropped a Power Strike onto Yang's back. With the heavy strike dropping her onto her stomach with a grunt, Jaune then raised his leg high and swung the heel of his foot to hammer her head.

Yang quickly rolled out of the way of the heel drop and sprung off the arena floor back on her feet. Still within range of Jaune, she then aimed a low kick for the back of his right leg, then the side of his right rib, and finished the short combo with a high kick to the right side of his face. The attacks were too quick to dodge and nearly knocked Jaune off his feet before he found the same combo aimed at the left side of his body. Remembering his lesson of the technique, Jaune swiftly blocked each strike and grabbed onto the kick aimed for his head. He grinned in victory and retaliated with a kick to her own face. But Yang didn't budge an inch, taking the blow while gritting her teeth. Knowing that they couldn't do much with the position they were in now, they both let go and resumed trading blows. Having fought against the other for many weeks now, they fell into a dance of bobbing and weaving each other's jabs, hooks, and upper cuts. They countered each blow, slowly chipping off the others aura as sweat beads rolled down their faces and soaked their clothing.

In the spectator seats above the arena, both teams RWBY and JNPR were watching in awe.

"Jaune really has improved under Yang's tutelage." Weiss couldn't help but admit as she watched said blond knight land a well-timed upper cut for Yang's chin. Said brawler shook it off with a fired-up grin and stumbled Jaune back with a haymaker to his temple, "I still remember when he was just throwing punches around the place with no real tact."

Blake nodded her head, wincing as her partner and Jaune both punched each other's faces, "Goes to show that Yang's more than just a fighter. Jaune's developed well in hand to hand combat under her instructions and teaching. I'm sure she could even teach her own combat class one day if she put her mind to the thought."

"That would mean more work and paying attention in class though. Something Yang is not well known for." Weiss remarked flatly.

Back in the ring, Jaune found himself skidding back on his bandaged feet from an aura coated foot planting itself in his sternum. His breath grew haggard, flinching in pain as the skin of his chest began to bruise. If it wasn't for his Dexterity stat growing high from his multiple near deaths he had faced in his first month, he wasn't sure he would be able to continue with the fight with his body aching. Calling on Power Strike to engulf both his fists in its brilliance, Jaune dashed back to the grinning busty blonde with a right cross attack. Again, the two wound up trading blows, landing whatever blows they could as the clock ticked above them to neither's attention.

Ducking under a straight punch to her nose, Yang spun around Jaune's body to come behind him. Her left arm locked his head in a headlock and her right arm pulled back his left arm, threatening to dislocate his shoulder. "You give up, Vomit-girl?" Yang teased, giving his arm a little uncomfortable tug. She could even hear his bones crack.

Sucking in a ragged breath, Jaune grin widely back at the girl, defiant despite the pain, "You taught me better then to give up so easily!" he shouted before bashing the back of his head into her chin. He broke the skin of her chin, spilling a small amount of blood that her aura quickly went on to heal. Free from the grapple, Jaune leapt up in the air and landed a Hunter's Ax onto Yang's skull, further dazing her as she stumbled back. He then spun on his foot, gathering momentum to whip a gale around his leg.

"High Twister!" Finally landing the low accuracy ability, Jaune froze Yang still as the leg smacking her ribs caught her in an invisible lashing wind twisting around her body. Her purple eyes flashed red, the damage she was suffering boosting her strength to high levels. Right fist blazing with aura, Yang broke out of the whipping gale and jumped high in the air to ram her fist into Jaune's panicked face.

The downside to High Twister other than its low accuracy was that it left the user open for attacks for a few seconds. He could do nothing but try and withstand the heavy blow.

"TIME!"

Even as the digital bell rang and Professor Goodwitch called in an end to the match, nothing could stop Yang's fist from making contact. Jaune did show immense will and endurance as he took the thundering punch that sounded off an explosive boom and pressurized ring of air. Refusing to be sent flying out of the ring, he stood his ground and found his feet skidding back to the very edge of the ring, his entire body tensing to embrace the insane force rocking his body. His body trembled, his breathing labored as he looked down to the light skid marks trailing after his torn bandaged feet. His vision was swimming as he fought to stay conscience.

Pyrrha felt worry overtake her from her seat, "Jaune!"

Even Yang felt it crept into her being. In all their training together, she had yet to hit Jaune with the full force of her counter semblance. Not many could get back up from that and she had already been dealing plenty of damage in the fight.

But Jaune wasn't just anybody. Slowly he rose his hand up and gave them a thumb's up in OK. He just needed a moment to settle the ringing in his head and the splitting pain in his temple. Sighing as he gathered his strength, Jaune stood straight back up to turn his eyes to the hologram screen above their heads.

Jaune Arc: 50% Aura/Yang Xiao Long: 50% Aura.

A tie? Really? Did that count as win? There was no way in hell he was going to live with being called Vomit-girl from now on.

With the match now over, Professor Goodwitch walked into the ring. She gave a quick scan of the arena. It was damaged as always when Yang stepped in for a fight. Flicking her riding crop at the arena, her telekinesis repaired the mess while she turned her attention to her blond students.

"That was a rather impressive fight you two. You've truly shown that even without your weapons on hand, a Hunter is just as deadly barehanded." She praised the two as they walked over to stand in front of her. She was more impressed though with Jaune's progress, "Mr. Arc, in three months' time you've polished your hand to hand to fine form. No longer do you flail about with wild swings, but instead plan out your attacks and have even learned to counter someone as proficient as Ms. Xiao Long." Hearing that, Jaune couldn't help but grin proudly even as Yang nearly sent him falling with a heavy pat to his back. Turning her green eyes to said equally grinning blonde, Professor Goodwitch continued her assessment, "And Ms. Xiao Long, you've learned to think more carefully in your attacks. While you are very skilled in hand to hand, you shouldn't let it go to your head believing you will always come out on top. There are opponents that can and will take advantage of your hot headedness, so do continue to improve upon your fighting approach."

"Got it, Teach! Next time our little Vomit-boy won't be so lucky to escape because of time running out!" Yang grinned, "I'll mop the floor with him before he can blink!"

Professor Goodwitch nodded simply, tallying the results into her personal scroll. That was as much as she could say for the moment. Class was over with and it was time to let her students go about the rest of their day.

"I would love to say more, but class is now over. Just remember to continue working on your hand to hand, Mr. Arc. You've improved drastically. I hope to continue to see only improvement from here on out. You've already won several matches since your first month here after all. Don't fall back onto old habits." with a courteous nod to the two blond students, the blonde witch dismissed the rest of the students and went on to patching up the last of the damage to the arena.

Watching their teacher walk off, Jaune could only sigh as he felt Yang's familiar weight fall over his shoulders in a one arm hug. A tie, of all things it had to be a tie. Scowling in annoyance he swapped out of his Disciple's clothing and back into his school uniform with a mental command.

"So, what will a tie get me?" he asked the busty brawler. Yang quirked her brow, tapping her cheek in thought. Shrugging, she led him back to the upper level of the class back to their teams awaiting them.

"You're still a boy, sadly. But that's only because the timer had to ruin our fun before we could find out if you could last another ten minutes. Better luck next time, Vomit-boy!" she winked, giving her so called disciple a noogie to his mop of golden yellow hair, "I will say this though, I don't see any need for me to teach you anything else. From here on out, you got to develop your own style of hand to hand. I've taught you the basics and a few of my own techniques. Now you have to work on the rest and fight how you would like. Can't have two Yang's walking around campus after all."

She was right. Jaune grimaced under her brushing knuckles against his scalp. He could never thank Yang enough for all that she had done these past few months. He was pretty sure that if he had her training combined with Pyrrha's then he would have done a whole lot better in his first life. But ego and pride had stopped him from asking for anymore help back then. Sad that he had only learned that lesson after dying.

"Does that mean no more afternoon training?" Jaune asked with a slight hint of disappointment. The training was grueling and she beat the living crap out of him regularly during his first few weeks, but he had come to enjoy their regular lessons. He had learned so much from Yang and their bond had only grown in strength. Other than training, they would hang out and even go out to Vale to play some games at the arcade while grabbing a bite.

"Pretty much. You got to work on your own style and discover it yourself. I can't hold your hand forever, you know?" she smirked. Seeing the look in Jaune's eyes, Yang added more speed to her noogie as with a grin, "But that doesn't mean you can get rid of me so easily either! Whenever you need someone to spar with or test out your new techniques, I'm only a few steps away from your dorm!"

The noogie stopped as Yang freed Jaune from her hold. Rubbing his burning scalp gingerly, he found himself staring in surprise at Yang's soft lavender eyes staring back at him with fondness.

"We're best friends, idiot. Don't go thinking that just because our training is over that we're done being friends. You can't break a bond like that so easily."

'Yang Xiao Long's Friendship has Risen! A new Perk has been Unlocked! Enraged Scales, Unlocked!'

Patting her favorite blond's back firmly, Yang decided it would be best if she walked back to the locker rooms. She didn't want to walk around in her sweaty combat attire after a good fight. Reaching their teams, she let them know that she would be right back after a change of clothes. And maybe a quick shower.

---

"What's the plan for the afternoon then?"

After waiting for Yang to change out of her combat clothes, the two teams found themselves wandering the halls of Beacon together with no real aim. Classes were done with and the weekend was ahead of them. With so much free time they were at a bit of a loss as what to do. No need to study seeing as none of their classes were preparing them for any tests, just simple reviews of what they knew. The semester was ending soon.

Even Ruby was stumped as she looked up to the ceiling with a face scrunched up in thought, hoping to come up with something to do. She was running dry on ideas as of late.

At Ruby's side, Jaune found her thoughtful expression adorable as she pouted in frustration. It was her own fault she couldn't think of anything new when she was always making plans for their Best Day Ever every other weekend. She was bound to run short on new activities. But unfortunately, he wouldn't be joining in this time. He had some personal business to take care of today.

"Whatever it is, I'm going to have to pass. I need to stop by the CCT. My mom's been wanting to talk to me to see how I've been doing." he smiled apologetically as he found Ruby's big silver eyes look up at him with faux tears of betrayal, "I've just been so busy lately that I haven't had the chance to talk to her other than some scroll calls."

"That, and your nervous." Pyrrha said knowingly. Jaune winced lightly, scratching his head in shame as he looked away, "You've had plenty of time to go out to Vale, you shouldn't use your school work as an excuse. I don't understand why. Your mother can't be upset with you, could she?"

"Kind of? My parents weren't exactly thrilled when I was accepted into Beacon Academy. They would have been happier if I had decided to become a simple farmer or something. When I left for Vale, things were kind of tense between us. Mom still says she would be happy if I decided to come home anytime."

"What about your father? Surely he must have understood since he's a Huntsman." Pyrrha frowned.

At that, Jaune scowled with confusion, "My dad wasn't happy either, but he understood that I was free to choose my own path. But lately, I haven't heard from him. I've asked my mom how he's doing, but she always says he's doing fine and stops talking after that. I don't know if he's on a mission or if he simply doesn't want to talk with me. We did get into a fight the night before I left." he said with regret.

While Jaune's father understood his desire to be a hero, the older Arc had also known his son well. Too well. Jaune wasn't trained to fight, he could barely make a fist. When he had found out his only son had been accepted into Sanus's most privileged Hunter's Academy, Beacon, he had been more than skeptical. And after some digging, Alexander had discovered just how his son had been accepted when Jaune had no skill or talent in combat. That very night, he had confronted Jaune about his fake transcripts. Their talk wasn't pleasant. Alexander didn't want to see his son off to his imminent death nor did he want him to walk a path that promised death. Jaune wanted to prove to his family he wasn't a weakling and that he could carry on the warrior bloodline in their veins. Father and son had fought, shouting at the other and refusing to back down. In the end, Alexander had grudgingly allowed his son to prove his worth, knowing that even if he tied his son down he would only bide his time and escape to follow his dream.

And that was it. The next morning had been tense and Alexander had nodded stiffly to his son as he left for Vale. Praying that the blade of their ancestors would guide his boy and protect him on the warrior's path he had chosen.

"I haven't spoken to him since. I'm hoping to get the chance to talk to him face to face at the CCT. I don't want us to continue not talking to each other like this." he sighed.

"Well I believe that it's a good idea to take the afternoon to resolve your problems with your father. You never want things to remain so sour, especially as a Huntsman." Pyrrha said with a somber tone to her voice, "Our jobs send us off on missions that may lead to our demise on a regular basis. You don't want to say things you can never take back."

"Guess I never really thought about it like that. Funny how I forget that what I'm training for is a lot more dangerous then it seems." Especially with how his life was going lately.

"How do you forget that training to fight Grimm is a dangerous concept?" Weiss asked dryly as Jaune shrugged in response.

"Eh, killing Grimm is easier then fighting a man who can hide in his shadows and pop out from your own with a heated clever."

"How you can say that with a straight face I'll never know."

"And I hope you never do."

Tuning out the conversation with a bored expression on her face, Nora found her eyes wandering the halls for something to catch her attention. The drama with her leader wasn't much to worry about, the knight always found a way to resolve his problems. She was sure that by the time he came back to their dorms he would have resolved the matter. Which meant she had to find something to do until her leader came back. Even she was running out of ideas of what to do after last week's game of paintball. What made the game interesting was swapping out their loaned weapons for their own and using paint ammo. It was a colorful mayhem of her favorite color. Pink, pink everywhere.

Her wandering eyes suddenly paused, catching an odd sight that made her frown. Ren stopped alongside his partner, confused as her default joyful expression vanished. Following her line of sight, he found himself staring as the rest of their friends did the same.

By his classroom door, Peter Port was staring at a piece of dirty, red torn, rags. His shoulder trembled lightly as he took a deep ragged breath. A somber air hung around him as he looked straight at the four familiar hunters that handed him the tattered remains.

Jaune recognized the team, the short brunette girl in the leather armor was hard to mistake.

"Hera? What's going on?" he asked as he walked over to team HRTH.

Hera turned her head back with surprise, finding the familiar mop of yellow hair and blue eyes towering over her small frame. She sighed in frustration as she rested her hands on her waist.

"We've just come back from our mission. As you all must know, seeing as you all were at ground zero, Forever Fall's Grimm population has sky rocketed with numerous Grimm popping out of the woodwork. With such a spike in negativity over the forest land, several teams of Hunters have been sent out to quell the monsters before they can step foot past the border of Forever Fall. That's been going on for two months now. All second year and above teams have been sent out to help eliminate the Grimm alongside any professional Hunters." she explained stoically.

"As of two days ago, the Grimm have begun to settle down. All that's left are a few large groups of Beowolves and Ursa prowling the ground. We were actually finishing up a pack when an SOS signal had lit up our scrolls."

Helio ground his teeth, his knuckles cracking as he found it hard to look back at the first years. Seeing the normally arrogant red headed rocker look away with a shameful expression took Jaune back. His blue eyes fell onto the filthy rag in Professor Port's shaking hands. A gut-wrenching sensation ran through him. His nose picked up on a familiar scent.

Blood.

Rue scratched his forest green hair with an awkward smile as the eight younger students' eyes fell on them. Way to put them on the spot.

"A Huntsman's aura had fallen into the red and we rushed over to the signal's location. But," Rue frowned as he crossed his arms and shook his head silently. "It was already too late. Devouring his body was a pack of Beowolves and a Deviant leading the feeding frenzy."

"BeoNoble, a Deviant Beowolf that has survived countless fights with sword wielding Huntsman and learned the way of the dual blade."

Surprise fell on the gathered students as Professor Port finally spoke. He controlled his breathing as he picked at the rags. His portly fingers froze deathly still, finding cool metal meet his skin. A small metal pin, bent and clawed was plucked out of the remains. It was designed with the head of a Boarbatusk silhouette and the ax blades of his favored weapon. The sight of it broke his heart.

"Listening to your report, I can identify the Grimm that you all fought. It is a ferocious beast that wields twin bone like growths as swords and has evolved its armor plating in the style of a samurai. It seems even young Noir was no match for the beast." he chuckled mournfully.

"So, you did know the Huntsman that had fallen. Didn't you?" Hera asked solemnly.

Professor Port nodded, his eyes never leaving the decorative pin in his hand.

"Noir Fell was once a student of mine. He had graduated from our fine academy just around three years ago and he was one my brightest students. Out of all of them, he had enjoyed my tales of youth the most. He had even promised to one day stop by Vale again after his travels to trade stories. I was even the one to gift this pin." gesturing to the ruined metal disk, the portly huntsman found himself only growing sadder as the memory of the simple little gift came back to him.

'With this pin, know that your strapping Professor will always be by your side in the thick of battle! Carry it with you always and you will never lose the will to strive forward and fight!'

'Thank you so much, Professor Port! I'll treasure this. Always.'

'My dear Noir, you no longer have to address me as your professor! We are now fellow Huntsman, protectors of the world and its light. You stand as my equal on this glorious day to your bright future. So, drop the formalities and-'

His breath hitched as a small tear escaped his eye.

'Call me Peter!'

Ruby felt her heart ache as the usually boisterous professor held the pin to his chest. It wasn't right for someone who was usually nothing but smiles and laughs.

"Professor. . ."

Coughing roughly into his fist, the gray-haired professor cleaned off the tear with his hand as he gathered his thoughts. Now was not the time to break down so. He was supposed to be a role model for the young warriors before him. He had to show them that even in loss they had to be strong.

"Thank you, Ms. Kleos. For returning my precious student back to me. Knowing that he had died a warrior is enough to ease my old withered soul. I know that he must appreciate the kindness in bringing a part of him back to the starting point of his adventure. Now, he can find peace." He said softly. His hand parted, gesturing the pin to his students as he smiled fondly at the glinting metal.

"We may not have had the chance to meet again, but I'll be sure to tell your story to future generations. So you can forever live on to guide future warriors, just as your favorite professor will."

Nodding kindly to his students, Professor Port shut the door behind him and stepped past them to continue his way to pass on the report of the mission to Ozpin. He ignored their looks of concern and focused on the task at hand.

A true Huntsman walked forward. And never looked back.

"Poor Professor Port." Yang said sadly, watching the somber man walk away, "It has to be rough to find out one of your favorite students died without having to see them again."

"The weak die, and the strong live. That is the simple law of nature."

Leaning back to the side of the classroom, Tsuki's attention was buried in a yellow book with impassive red eyes. Even as she found the rest of them frowning or glaring at her, she gave them little care as she flipped the page.

"Care to say that again, Big Tits?" Yang growled.

"Yang, calm down." Blake warned as she eased her partner back, "Now's not the time to be picking a fight."

Knowing that a person like Yang wouldn't let down her glare, Tsuki reluctantly shut her book to meet Yang's now red eyes. The sight of the same blood red eyes as her made the dark raven smirk.

"My people believe in strength. The strong live, the weak die. It's unfortunate that one of Professor Port's beloved students had perished, but it only goes to show that he had not the strength to survive."

"Well that's a bunch of fucked up bullshit if you ask me. I can't believe you would even say something like that." Yang's glare intensified, her right hand forming a fist she was more than ready to throw a punch.

Shrugging, Tsuki walked past the angry blonde, glancing back at her with narrowed eyes.

"That is the rule of my people. You of all people would do well learning it." she whispered coldly before walking away to her dorm.

Something about Tsuki's words had pinched a nerve in Yang. With a loud growl, she was ready to charge after the girl with her raging fist, only to find her shaking arm held back. She turned her eyes to the unlucky person and found Helio's stern yellow eyes scowling.

"Don't. Tsuki's hard to understand, trust me, but you shouldn't let it twist your panties in a bunch. The damn chick just has a twisted view on the world." he said stiffly as Yang tore her arm back. He scoffed as he shoved his hands in the pockets of his school uniform, "It doesn't make her a bad person, but it doesn't exactly paint her out as little miss sunshine either. It just makes her out as complicated."

"More like a bitch to me." Yang grumbled.

Rue chuckled as he patted his partner's back, "I've learned that girls are just complicated to begin with. Despite Tsuki's cold personality, the girl's not so bad when you get to know her. . .. Kind of."

"I find that hard to believe." Weiss said dryly.

Hera apologized, "Sorry about my partner. I'll be sure to give her a talking to once I get back. No more RWE for the next two days for her."

"I'm afraid to ask why?"

"She loves to watch Jaune-cena fight in shorts."

Jaune felt his eye twitch in annoyance. His blue eyes fell onto Nora as she grinned at the mention of her little creation, "Look at what you've done. You know I have random girls come up to me in Vale asking for my autograph since we began those weekly fights and uploading them on the net. Tell me again why I don't get any of the profit from the merchandise."

"You should have read your contract, Jaune-Jaune. Now I own your pretty jean ass."

". . .Please tell me you're not being literal." Jaune said in disbelief, turning to Ren for help, "She can't do that, right?"

Ren shrugged, "You should have read the fine print like I did."

"It was fucking fifty pages long! It was nothing but wall after wall of complicated text!"

"You have only yourself to blame for not putting in the effort. This is Nora we're talking about, you should never agree to anything without fully understanding the contract."

"I refuse to believe you actually read the contract to the letter."

Turning away from the two Huntsmen, Hera sighed as she rubbed her arm anxiously, "Today's been a stressful day. I'm sure Tsuki's simply grumpy and trying to deal with it in her own way. Give her a day and she'll calm down. Knowing her, she's probably in her pajama's reading her copy of 'How to Make a Man Fall for You in Twenty Easy Steps' in bed."

Jaune spun his head back to Hera with question, "I dare ask, Why?"

"You know why."

Pyrrha made a note to search for said book when she had the time. She was having trouble getting her feelings across to her partner.

With an irritated leer at the blond knight, Helio brushed past him so he could leave the scene.

"Since Tsuki's gone back, we might as well take the responsibility of finding Professor Port again. We're not done with our report. There's still some things we weren't able to tell him regarding the body." he said with a frustrated grimace. Just remembering the scene churned his stomach.

"What else could you have to tell him?" Jaune asked even as he found the musician's fed up yellow eyes glare back at him. The knight was already use to Helio's behavior around him and pushed on, "Don't you think it would be better to leave him alone after dropping that kind of news on him?"

Helio grunted, shaking his head as he spoke bitterly, "You don't get it, do you? Even if the information is sensitive to the one we report to, we must relay it back at all costs. Even if it only brings them down. Especially with what we found."

"What more could you have found?"

Rue sighed as his partner's frown only deepened and refuse to speak any further, "The body of Noir was being ravaged by Grimm, but once we had killed them off after some struggle, we found something disturbing about his corpse. It was without any clothing other than that single rag of the man's cloak. Even more strange, his weapon was nowhere to be seen along with an odd gaping wound piercing his chest cleanly through. Something a Grimm is not skillful enough to produce."

"Something like that is not normal. We're afraid the Huntsman's death was caused by an outside force other than the Grimm." Hera explained, walking past the students to continue with their objective. She looked back apologetically at the eight for souring their mood.

"We're sorry about the news. You shouldn't let it ruin your afternoon. Go out and enjoy the day for us, alright?" she smiled politely as her team began to head on without her, "One of us has to."

"Don't worry, we will. You should too, otherwise your cute face is going to wrinkle like some old ladies." Jaune smiled as he patted the shorter girl's head. The action earned him an annoyed pout along with a raised fist in threat. It didn't matter if she was older than him, the blond goof wouldn't stop treating her like a child.

"Touch me like that again, and I'm screaming bad touch."

Jaune backed away with a nervous chuckle. With a body like her's, it was a serious threat. He was called a lot of things, he didn't need lolicon added to the list.

Hera huffed, not as happy with the reaction as she thought she would be. She wasn't a little girl, she was a growing woman! He shouldn't act so familiar with her like they were friends. She barely knew the guy.

"Just ignore what happened. It doesn't have anything to do with you anyway." Done talking with the first years, Hera continued on her way, her back turned to the concerned expression on Jaune's face.

It seemed she still didn't consider him a friend. It was Ann all over again.

"We should go back to our dorms. There isn't much need to stay around here any longer." Ren suggested, hoping to ease the solemn air.

Eyes still locked onto the short herculean girl's small back, Jaune nodded. Another problem for another day, he supposed. He had his own personal matters to wrap up.

---

Status:

Jaune Arc, Heart of the Gamer. Lvl: 25.

8,000HP/8,000HP.

205MP/205MP.

AP:56/SP:40.

EXP: 1,094,800Exp.

EXP to Next Level: 18,789/300,000.

Strength:43(48.8)

Defense:60

Speed:40(42)

Charisma:28

Intelligence:29

Wisdom: 31

Dexterity: 26

Luck:39

Scrolling through his Status as he walked past the many students strolling the campus, Jaune was rather impressed with the amount of progress he had been making with his stats. It wasn't long ago that he was struggling to make it through every fight. Now he was at a level where he no longer dropped a sweat against the other students and could actually win a fight. Although he still had a hard time fighting people like Ruby and Yang, just barely making even during combat classes against the high leveled Huntresses. But today had proved that he wasn't far from standing on even ground with them.

Several new Abilities and Skills had been unlocked too, along with three new Perks. Add in some new gear, Spells, and combat items, and it was looking like he was finally getting the hang of his new life. Not having to deal with any big events or plots to disturb the peace was also nice.

But now he had to deal with a bigger issue that didn't revolve around game mechanics and bad guys trying to slaughter him. Stopping right in front of the base of Ozpin's tower, Jaune's eyes trailed the height of the cloud touching building, gulping as the palms of his hands began to sweat. The soothing emerald lights did little to still his beating heart.

Joanna Arc, the one woman in his life whose simple smile could send shivers of fear shooting down his back. The Arc mother was the one who had spoken out about his acceptance to Beacon the most even as he had boarded the ship to Vale. Whenever she called him every week to know how he was doing, she would keep things short and simple. She would always express how much he was missed back at home and said they wouldn't hold it against him if one day he wanted to leave Beacon and return home if he thought he wasn't up to the work. It wasn't that she didn't believe in him, it was just that she didn't want to believe that he had what it took to be a Huntsman. Her precious little blond ball of sunshine fighting monsters of darkness and death incarnate day by day wasn't something any mother liked to think about.

Jaune couldn't hold it against his mother for worrying about him. Or urging him to come home. It just cemented just how much she loved him. But he was a man, more of a man than he had once been months ago. To give up and go home would be insult to everything he had accomplished and survived. Plus, he was sure that The Game would only create some event to drag him back into playing.

Looking toward the very top of the tower one more time, Jaune calmed his nerves and rid himself of his anxiety and stepped past the wooden double doors. As scared as he was of what he would say to him by video call, it was outweighed by the thought of seeing her face once again. He had died without ever having the chance to say anything back, with the tension of their last time together still in the air. He owed it to the mother he had lost in his first life to make things up in the present. Along with the mess with his father.

Within the lower base of the tower, Jaune found the sleek obelisk black interior of the ground floor. Lime luminescent green lights decorated the place, students could be seen exiting and entering the tower, and what looked like a core like cylinder was centered in the middle of the building reaching high to the top. It was a simple few steps to the closest free elevator and pressing his scroll to the terminal to reach the communications level above. It made him wonder what other things the tower held other than communications.

Upon reaching his destination, the doors to the elevator slid back with a ding to allow him to walk to the front counter. Several terminals were gathered around the floor, each one displaying a screen for video calls and other functions. Sensing his presence, a hologram program of a nicely dressed raven-haired woman popped up to greet him at the desk. She smiled politely with a wave.

"Hello. Welcome to the Beacon Cross Continental Transmit Center. How may I help you?"

"Just here to make a call home." Jaune said politely as the program nodded.

"We have an open terminal that we can patch you through. Just connect your scroll to its reader and we'll patch your call through. Just head on over to Terminal 4."

"Thank you." Taking a small breath to steel his nerves, Jaune headed straight for the open terminal space situated in the middle of the floor along with several others. Taking a seat in the office like booth, the blond knight laid down his scroll on the digital reader by the side of the hologram keyboard and screen. The symbols for the four major kingdoms appeared on the screen with an empty bar circling each symbol as it began to steadily fill up as his call patched through.

A set of gentle green eyes and a worried face quickly greeted Jaune back. The owner's face was heart shaped and their light purple hair was tied in a long knot falling over their shoulder. From the position of their camera, Jaune could make out the woman was wearing a blue blouse with white frills.

Joanna Arc smiled in relief at the sight of her only son. It had been so long since she saw her little boy face to face. Like centuries had passed her by in such a short time. Seeing him again lifted her worry, seeming to affect her visibly as the color to her hair began to change to a mellow yellow.

"Jaune, it's so good to see you again!" Joanna said happily, her face beaming like the sun.

"Mom. . ." Jaune breathed, the very sight of her smile striking something within as he found the slightest of tears gathering in his eyes. He smiled back, fighting back the sob from escaping his mouth.

The calls over scroll paled in comparison to actually seeing her face and smile again. It was enough to make him want to cry. But he brushed away the wetness as his mother began to frown.

"What's wrong, Jaune? You shouldn't be afraid to tell Mama what's bothering you. Even if we're separated by sea, your Mama will do whatever she can to help her little baby boy!"

"Mom, I'm not a baby. You don't need to worry about me." Jaune found himself chuckling as Joanna pouted, her hair changing color to pink in mild annoyance. His mother had always had this special gift he had never understood until he had come to Beacon. Certain individuals could attain cosmetic altering abilities akin to Semblances even without their aura's unlocking. It was an odd phenomenon that scientists were still researching.

"You could be forty year's old with a family of your own and an overbearing wife behind your back every second of the day, and you'll still be my baby boy. Even being a Huntsman won't save you from my shower of affection and kisses."

Back then, Jaune would have groaned and dragged his hand over his face in embarrassment. His mother was always so affectionate and loving, sometimes it was too much. Now though, hearing it all again after everything he'd gone through caused a fond smile to form on his face.

"Yeah, I think I've stopped fighting that. I'm just going to have to accept it, huh?"

Joanna stared at her son strangely. Did he just accept being called her baby boy? Like that? That didn't sound like her special little sunshine. Had Beacon really changed him that much? Shaking her head at the thoughts for now, her hair returned to its default blonde as she beamed.

"I'm just overjoyed to finally speak to you face to face like this. Scroll calls just aren't the same, you know?" she pouted again as she crossed her arms, "It would be so much easier if you visited home. I'm sure Ozzy can allow you a bullhead to take you here. Just give me a good five minutes alone with a gallon of decaf coffee and I'll have him handing over even his position of Headmaster over!" she chirped, clapping her hands together as a look of horror fell on Jaune's face, "Wouldn't that be fun, sweetie? Having your lovable Mama as your Headmaster instead of the dirty old man who I'm certain is simply one cup of coffee away from a heart attack? I can even help you find a girlfriend!"

No. Dear god above, NO. Surely even Ozpin could stand against a being like his own mother. Right?

Above said tower, reclining in his favorite seat as he topped off another mug of steaming caffeine goodness, Ozpin felt a dreaded shiver of fear enter his soul.

With a shaken smile, Jaune laughed off the matter, "I can always visit during semester break, Mom. There's no need to do anything rash here. Besides, training to be a Huntsman is a lot of work. I can't just leave for a little visit."

Joanna huffed still, grumbling under her breath about old men and addictions, "I suppose you should focus on your studies. I've just been wracked with worry since our last talk a month ago." she said softly as her hair fell into a sad shade of blue, ". . .Our little village just found out about The Friends of Faunus. And the tragedy that fell over the night."

Jaune grimaced as he found his mother's eyes narrow and her hair grow a reddish tint.

"You were there, weren't you?" she said dangerously, only growing more upset and furious as her little boy nodded.

Growing up far from the kingdoms, news traveled slow to home. Jaune was thankful for that, it gave him plenty of time to think about how he could explain the mess to his mother. Too bad he hadn't really come up with anything that a mother could shrug off.

"It's a long story." Jaune sighed, feeling the exhaustion of that day come over him again, "A few of my friends had been caught up in some trouble with the FoF and the next thing I know-"

"You're stopping a group of limb amputators from burning down the city?" Joanna said flatly, feeling the need to reach across the screen and smack her son upside the head. "The paper the neighbors had bought from the traveling merchant had already said plenty of what you and your friends did. Jaune, I can't tell you how upset and worried I was to find out my little boy fighting butchers when he had recently stopped asking me to check under his bed for monsters."

"Mom. . .that was three years ago."

"Yet I still did it when you were sleeping."

That explained the feeling of an overbearing presence late at night. "I had it taken care of! I mean, we all made it out alive."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better? That you made it out alive? Alright." she nodded simply, her green eyes zoning in on the poorly healed patch of skin hidden poorly behind his yellow hair, "Tell me, what's that scar on your head for? It looks an awfully a lot like a bullet wound."

Shit, she knew. How? No one else knew about it. Only his friends, his teachers, and-

Jaune groaned as he made a mental note to set Nora loose on a certain Headmaster, "Ozpin told you?" he asked as his mother nodded.

"Around the same time the news came in, Ozzy had messaged me for access to your past medical records. Something concerning with a headshot to the head that he believes might be messing with your memories?" It was taking everything in her power to not find the nearest piece of transportation and fly over to Vale to grab her son and return him back into her arms. And also to find Ozpin to deliver some motherly fury on his ass.

Again, Ozpin shivered as his head spun around his office for the source of the nagging fear.

"What the hell were you thinking? Not only do I found out that you survived a headshot, but you were in the ER for several hours in a near death condition with a shattered humerus bone! Do you know how I felt?!" Joanna shouted hoarsely, her voice choking on emotion. Her heart had stopped that day as she listened to the Headmaster's retelling of the events that lead to her son's hospitalization. She didn't even have the courage to say anything to her daughters about what had happened. The sheer horror and grief that had overtaken her had nearly made her faint on the spot. If she had known about it the very day it had happened, she was sure she would have done whatever was necessary to take him away from it all.

What Jaune was seeing was a stab to his heart. His face fell as tears fell from his mother's eyes. Was this how she had looked when she had found out about his death originally? No, it would have been worse than this. What he was seeing couldn't compare to the devastation she had suffered before.

"This is why I didn't want you to become a Huntsman like your father. You two always talked about the grandeur of a warrior's life, but never stopped to consider the risks that follow closely! And because of that stupid life style, your father is still-"

Joanna couldn't say another word as she bit her bottom lip with a sob. It was all too much. Her shoulders shook as she tightly shut her eyes and tried to suppress the grief. She needed to be strong for her little knight.

Whatever Joanna was going to say struck Jaune as anxiety entered his system. He found it hard to breath as he noticed the background behind his mother. White walls and what he could make out were medical equipment could be seen along with the faint sound of a beeping monitor. One that sounded all too familiar to him.

"M-Mom? Where are you? And where's dad? I wanted to speak to him too." Jaune said with panic in his voice. His questions only seemed to hurt his mother more. She looked to be on the verge of breaking down.

"Ozpin was right, there is something wrong with you. My poor little baby." She sobbed with a hiccup, the color to her hair reflecting the grief. Speaking was becoming more difficult the longer she stared at her son's confused yet fearful expression, "Don't you remember? The mission your father undertook at the request of not only Ozpin but General Ironwood all those years ago?"

Nothing came to Jaune at the mention of said mission. And it only horrified him more.

The blank, sweating expression on Jaune's face clarified Joanna's fears. What she said next drained the color to his skin and froze his heart still.

"Jaune, your father's been in and out of a coma for the last eight years. He was awake two days ago for almost twenty minutes before he fell back into a deep sleep. In that small amount of time we had, he wanted to say something to you." her smiled strained as she moved the camera of the terminal over to a hospital bed and its occupant.

Jaune could literally hear his heart stopping as he felt the breath in his lungs sucked right out of him. He didn't even realize his left arm had gone numb. All he knew was that it had become impossible to breathe, as if the very notion had been lost to him. He found himself clutching onto his heart, its rhythm out of whack as sweat ran down his face at what greeted him.

Laying back in a quilt of mismatched patterns knitted together lovingly, with multiple machines hooked up to his body and get well flowers and gifts surrounding him, was Alexander Arc. His once chiseled features had withered away to leave him with sunken cheeks, sickly pale skin, and horrid scars trailing up from his chest to neck. His golden locks of shaggy hair had been clipped, cut down to very short hair. The towering man who had appeared as a picture-perfect model of a hero now looked like a frail man on death's doors.

"Your father wanted to say hello, and that he misses you every day that you're gone."

A deathly silence fell over Jaune as the very world froze. He didn't know when, but he had subconsciously paused The Game, his eyes locked onto the image of his once strong father stuck in a hospital bed with machines keeping him alive. Cold tears streamed down his face as his body went into shock.

'What. . .what's going on? Why is dad sleeping? He's supposed to be on his feet, telling me off for nearly getting myself killed and threatening to drag me back for being so stupid. He shouldn't. . .he shouldn't have all those things hooked up to him. Why isn't he opening his eyes?'

The world was cold. Everything was numb. Was he having a heart attack? His heart was out of whack, its beating irregular and slowing down in a painful pace. It felt like blazing needles were prickling his heart. In his shock, Jaune only understood one thing clearly. Whatever had happened to his father, it was The Game's fault. Anger easily overpowered Jaune's sorrow as his fists balled and his eyes narrowed furiously.

Everything wrong with his life had been because of The Will and The Game. Two entities that were one and separate, each messing with what he cherished most. Turning his best friend against him, wiping the memories of all his friends and loved ones, leaving him with a scar of his death at some mad man's hands, creating an organization that wished to humanize Faunus, and everything in-between. And now it had left his father in a deep sleep and robbed him of the memory of the event.

All the seething anger was blinding Jaune's vision. He was glad that he had paused the world. He didn't need anyone seeing him in such a state. If it wasn't for the rules of the pause, he was sure he would have found Crocea Mors slicing the terminal monitor to sparking halves. But all that anger began to slip away as his eyes were still locked onto the image of his sleeping father. His face grew somber, the tears in his eyes dripping as they came to a stop. A small thud echoed in the still world, Jaune's forehead falling against the screen. Blue, weary eyes dully stared at the very man who had inspired him on the path he now walked.

'Is this. . .my fault?' What other explanation could there be? His father had been perfectly healthy when Jaune had seen him last time. Alexander Arc had been fit as a fiddle, ready to take on an Alpha Beowolf barehanded for the sheer fun of it. In this new timeline however, his father had suffered a devastating almost fatal incident, leaving him as motionless as a vegetable.

Jaune couldn't take the sight anymore. He couldn't stand the tears that trailed his mother's eyes, or the sadness in her voice. Biting his lower lip, the blond knight released the pause as he slid his chair back.

Turning the camera back to her, Joanna brushed away the tears from her face to continue her talk with her son. If his memory truly was damaged, then she needed to help him remember whatever he lost. And encourage him to come home. Ozpin be damned, her son couldn't continue this path. He was obviously unwell. Whatever it took, she was going to have her baby boy back home in her arms.

The sound of a chair hitting the floor took Joanna back as the next second she knew, Jaune had vanished from sight. Startled gasps and shouts could be heard from his end. Joanna's eyes fell, her heart breaking even more as the call ended.

What had happened to her little knight?

---

A tired sigh escaped Ren's lips, his gaze unfocused as he and Nora along with Pyrrha were caught up in one of team RWBY's drama's. One that was played out to death if you asked him. But The Game insisted on the Event in order to bring Weiss and Blake closer.

"How can you defend a group of genocidal animals!?"

"Stop calling them animals! That's a racial slur that you have no right to use!"

"Oh? Then how about I stop calling the sky blue? Because if we're just denying the facts, we might as well throw everything else out the window that makes reasonable sense!"

"You just don't understand! You talk about them as if they're pure evil when no such thing exists!"

In the hours that Jaune had left the two teams to take care of family business, Ren and his team had found themselves tagging along with RWBY to Vale to check out the visiting students from Vacuo. Having done this Event hundreds of times before, Ren knew that the bright and cheery mood wouldn't last long once the Event Flag known as Sun Wukong passed them by. And after meeting the living wonder that was Penny, things soon devolved into arguing back and forth between the white and black themed girls.

'Black and White Event is now available! Tension between the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company and the once White Fang cat Faunus is at an all-time high! Ways of life clash, leaving a team broken in the wake. It is up to you to try and mend the broken bond, if you chose to accept it. Special Gifts and Items will be rewarded upon completion. Do you accept? Yes/No?'

Ren swiped the notification in his HUD away after hitting No. This was Jaune's problem, not his. While the lazy ninja was now part of The Game again, it didn't mean he was going to go gung ho and accept every mission or event that popped up in his face. He wasn't even that close to the two girls. He also knew that this fight, while big, would fix itself by the end of the next few days for the better. The Black and White Event was only useful in gaining some experience on the side for the heroes and reaping some decent rewards. Things he wasn't lacking at the moment. Besides, Ren was sure Jaune would be able to resolve everything better than he could. Out of the two of them, the blond was the people person.

Besides said raven haired Gamer, Pyrrha stood uneasily along with the others watching by. She honestly had no clue what to do in a situation like this. The topic of the White Fang was sensitive to Blake it seemed. And while she herself had her own opinions about them, she wouldn't go so far as to call them animals like Weiss. Choosing sides between the two would only do more harm than good.

"Should we do something?" Pyrrha whispered to Yang who stood by her with a complicated set of lavender eyes.

"I don't think that would be a good idea. Maybe we should just let them vent."

"That can't be healthy. They look like they're ready to jump at the others' throats." Something had to be done. Even Nora was quiet, looking as uncomfortable as the rest. That had to say something before things went out of hand.

Weiss shook her head in disbelief as Blake glared at her. Had the ninja girl lost her mind? "I don't understand what the big deal is. The White Fang are a group of savage, blood thirsty, depraved, animals that could care less if an innocent human being was killed right in front of their eyes! So why would you defend a group of filthy animals like they were innocent!?" She shouted incredulously.

"I told you to stop calling them animals!" Blake hissed, "And have you ever stopped to wonder why the White Fang hates humanity so much? It's because of people like you that only see them as snarling mongrels that only snap and bark! Maybe they're simply misunderstood!"

"Misunderstood?" Weiss rolled her eyes with a scoff, only raising Blake's anger further, "I don't know how you can misinterpret their message of genocide as anything other than pure evil. And what do you mean, people like me?" she glared dangerously.

"I'm talking about racists, people who only see the Faunus as potential threats! What else would you call them?"

Now Weiss knew that Blake had lost it. To think her own friend had the gall to call her out as a racist of all things. It stung. Weiss had to take a step back under the almost seething glare directed at her. Did Blake not even see the hurt in her eyes?

Taking a breath to calm herself, Weiss met Blake's glare with one of her own, "Clearly you've no idea what you're talking about. Let me guess, because I'm a Schnee that automatically makes me out as a slave driver who sees the Faunus as exploitable fodder instead of living beings? And you have the nerve to see me as discriminatory?" she said coldly, "Have you ever seen me look at Velvet with such disdain before? Or any of the Faunus that walk around campus? Have you?"

No, Blake had not. The anger clouding her judgment wavered as she was at loss of words. She blinked as she found her body trembling with such anger she almost found it difficult to breath. It was as if something else was in control of her. But still, it didn't change the way Weiss saw her people, she would still call them out as animals out of habit.

"Then you would stop referring to them as animals, or filthy Faunus. If you had any respect for them at all, then you wouldn't see them any differently!"

"Well, I'm sorry if said habit is due to living under a roof where your father is always cursing them out as animals to the point you find yourself picking up the habit! And you still haven't explained why it upsets you so much. Or have you forgotten?"

Weiss began to count off her fingers the several incidents that the terrorist group had been responsible for, "They've been responsible for several robberies, vandalism, verbal threats, attacks on civilian shops, and that's only the lighter crimes. Do you remember how exactly they announced their threat of genocide all those years ago?"

Blake found it hard to meet her friends gaze at the reminder. Of the horrible massacre she had unknowingly been involved in so many years ago.

From the sides, Nora frowned in confusion, "How did the White Fang announce their agenda? I never even knew that they were once peaceful." Having lived on the road most of her life with Ren, Nora wasn't up to date with some of the matters they were talking about. She had always thought the White Fang was bad from the beginning.

"Oh, I'll tell you how, Nora." Without turning away from Blake, Weiss began to explain the events that lead to the Faunus attacks, "The White Fang were peaceful, once upon a time. But they had thought that instead of doing things peacefully and working with humans, that more violent methods would do them better. So, one day they disguised themselves as workers to an event that would bring together the two species in a festival. With the others, none the wiser, they planted several hidden bombs all around the square of the town and laid in wait for the residents to gather around. And with the press of a simple button, you know what they did?" she glowered, her fists shaking as Blake's face feel in shame, "They killed not only humans, but Faunus as well in an incident that would be known as The Canterbury Bombings. It was nothing short but a slaughter that lead those animals to a path of killing every human on this planet."

"What do you know?!" Blake suddenly shouted, the memories of that day surfacing painfully as she lost her composure in the moment, "You talk about it as if you were a victim!"

"Because I am a victim!" Weiss shouted back with equal anger. Composing herself once again, the white heiress found her eyes facing the window to stare off at the night sky. Just like she had found herself doing many times in her youth.

"Do you know why I hate the White Fang so much? Why I find myself calling Faunus animals against my better judgement? Why even when I'm talking to someone as sweet and kind as Velvet, I still can't stop myself from thinking of her as another filthy Faunus? It's because my family has been at war with the Faunus since even before my birth."

From the day Weiss had been born, she had known nothing but hate and anger pointed at the Faunus. From her father, staff, even at times her own sister and brother, she had known nothing else but distrust to the animal folk. Growing up in such a household created bad habits. She hadn't even realized how wrong her way of thinking had been until her butler Klein had helped her see just how wrong she had been.

"A target has been painted on the back of my grandfather's company for as long as I can remember. And that target is literally on the back of my combat dress. Do you know what it's like growing up in a home where family friends, kind board members, and even sweet staff just randomly disappear the next day? Only to find out from your frustrated father who can hardly look at you from stress that they were assassinated just because they worked for us or were friends with us? If you don't, then let me tell you that it doesn't lead to the most pleasant of childhoods." Weiss said bitterly. She spun back around, glaring at the black themed girl as she marched to stand in front of her.

"And I'm not the only victim of the White Fang either. Tell me, have you ever wondered just how exactly Jaune got that deathly scar on his chest?"

At that, Pyrrha frowned as she found herself walking over to the two girls even as Ren tried to hold her down by her shoulder.

"Wait, what are you trying to say?" Pyrrha asked in worry. Nora joined her as well, curious at the mention of her lovable leader's old wound.

Blake was too in shock to say anything more as Weiss continued, "Months back, Jaune had shared with me how he received his scar. When he was just a child, he had been taken under the wing of a Faunus. That Faunus had become his mentor, teaching him the way of the sword and trained him to become a warrior. Jaune had been his disciple, his student. But that Faunus also turned out to be none other than the leader of the White Fang branch in Sanus. When Jaune had found out about the horrible things that the White Fang had been doing with his own eyes he went to confront his mentor about it. He trusted that man implicitly. He told me how he genuinely thought he could convince this Adam to stop all the senseless killings. Do you know what that filthy Faunus did? To someone as kind hearted and pure as Jaune?! His own mentor cut him down and left him to die alone!" she spat in disgust.

In all the tension and drama, Ren quirked a brow in interest, 'Huh. So, that's the explanation he came up with for his scar. Adam's not going to be happy. I'm actually surprised they believed him.' What a way to get back at the horned Player.

Pyrrha gasped in horror at the news. That was how her partner had gotten such a wound? From someone he had trusted? She couldn't even imagine such a scenario with any of the people who had trained her. How horrible...

"That's why I don't completely trust the Faunus. But it's because of those depraved animals in the White Fang that I can't. That's why I despise the White Fang and all those who gather around their cause. It's because they're a bunch of liars,"

Blake clenched her fists, shutting her eyes as she recalled all the promises she had been promised in the White Fang. The promise of change and peace with humans.

"Thieves."

She remembered running away from home and being on her own on her way to Sanus. And the times she had been left with no choice but to steal food when she was turned away for the simple ears on her head outside of her homeland.

"Backstabbers."

She remembered the humans who wore plastered smiles, hiding their true faces and the sneers aimed at her back. How they would say they simply wanted to cooperate only to turn around and laugh at their naivety before making them work for less than they deserved.

"And Murderers!"

The blood, the burning flesh, the cackling fires devouring corpses, and the firm back of the one who had said it was all for a just world. The only truth in Weiss's words. A truth Blake refused to confront. Something inside her snapped, removing the last of Blake's restraint as she yelled.

"WELL MAYBE WE WERE TIRED OF BEING PUSHED AROUND BY YOU HUMANS!"

The bellowing shout took Weiss and the others back. The white heiress found her back smacking against the bunk bed behind her without her noticing, her body filled with fear. And shock. She couldn't find any words to say as her mind began processing what her teammate had just said.

"Blake?" Ruby said softly, her silver eyes confused as the raven-haired girl stepped back with horror in her yellow eyes.

Said girl couldn't believe what she had just said. What had gotten into her? Tears gathered in her eyes as she made out something she had never wished to see in Weiss icy blue eyes. Fear. It was too much, all eyes were now on her, judging her and filled with questions. Questions she did not want to answer.

So, she did what she did best. The only thing she was good at.

She ran.

---

Night had fallen without Jaune noticing. His legs had been running for so long, he had lost track of time as his thoughts were in a panicked frenzy. He had been desperately trying to find the missing memories, the ones detailing the incident that left his father in a comatose state but found nothing. It was a like a white canvas whenever he tried to reach out to the recollection. Every time he tried to pin an emotion to the event, he found himself feeling numb. No emotion could be connected to a memory that wasn't even there.

The cool breeze of the night hit his sweating face, the strength in his legs giving out after hours of endless running. Leaning his head back, Jaune drank in the cool night air in gulps. He was tired, tired of it all. Things had been going so great, he had finally begun to live a somewhat normal life after the jagged start to this game. Even if there was bound to be difficult times ahead, the time he had been enjoying had been enough to ease his worries. But this? Jaune grit his teeth, the image of his bedridden father refusing to leave his thoughts as a guttural shout left his lips. Crocea Mors fell into his hand, slamming down into the pavement in response to his anger and splitting the ground in cracks.

This turned his whole world upside down. All this time he had been carefree, ignoring his father's condition and never even once calling home to make sure he was alright. It was always his mother who had made the calls and he had always acted like everything was fine and dandy. When in actuality his family was suffering, suffering with the fact their father was in a deep sleep he would always fall back into when he awoke for a few minutes. What the hell had he been thinking when he left them to become a hero? What kind of son and brother did that make him for being selfish enough to leave them to suffer like that?

And why couldn't he remember any of it!?

Tears rolled down his face, from either frustration or something more he wasn't sure. All of this was too much to handle. His strength had completely left him at by now and he wandered over to a nearby bench. He looked up to notice the statue in front of the courtyard. Funny, he was right back to where he started, only a short run to the CCT. The visage of true heroes filled his vision as he looked at them with solemn eyes. Not that long ago he wanted to be just like them. To be the embodiment of what it meant to be a Hunter, of a true hero. Looking at his ideal now however only filled him with disgust and despair. Not at them however, only for himself. How could he ever hope to be a Hunter? Someone as selfish and worthless as him had no right to even try and call himself a hero.

Shoulders slacking, the blond knight tried to gather his jumbled thoughts and the train wreck that were his emotions. What he wouldn't do to be The Mind like Ren. His Title gave him a special ability to always remain calm under pressure. Not like the emotional heart.

What the hell did he do to deserve this?

"J-Jaune?"

Snapping his head up, Jaune found a familiar pair of yellow eyes staring back at him in alarm. And tears.

"B-Blake? What are you doing here?" His voice was cracked and broken, much like how he felt himself at the moment.

Apprehension met Jaune's question. Blake looked away, gripping her left arm. Well, of all the people she knew, he was the one she had grown to trust the most besides her team and they weren't really an option now.

"I... messed up. I said some things I didn't really mean-well I don't think I did, but-I... I don't know anymore!" she shouted in frustration, her eyes shaking as she gripped the sides of her head.

The sight of Blake in such a state struck him deep inside and he forced his own whirling emotions down. They were still there and threatened to spill over but he quashed them as best he could. There was something more important to deal with than his own self-loathing. He turned his full attention to the despaired girl as he tried to ease her, despite himself needing the same. "Calm down, Blake. I'm sure whatever you said wasn't that bad." He tried to smile for her, he could only imagine how fragile it must have looked.

"But it was! I was fighting with Weiss and accidentally let slip that I was part of the White Fang! Even worse, when I said it she looked at me with fear! She feared me, her own teammate!" Blake cried. Her fingers brushed her bow, the one thing hiding who she really was. With a mad scowl, she ripped it off, freeing her fluffy cat ears to breathe.

"So, I ran. Because that's all I'm good at."

Jaune's eyes widened as realization struck him. That was right, today was the day Blake and Weiss got into the big fight that revealed her time in the White Fang. He was supposed to help in making sure it didn't repeat again. He had completely forgotten about it, his own despair completely overwhelming everything else that had been going on.

"I don't think that's all you're good at. And it's about time you took off that bow, I thought you would look better without it."

Hearing the new voice close by, Jaune jumped out of his seat in panic. He couldn't have anyone knowing about Blake's secret. Not like this. Searching for the voice, the blond knight was surprised to find another blond with short spiky hair grinning back at them, his deep blue eyes and yellow furred monkey tail bringing back memories of long ago.

Sun Wukong waved his hand at Blake, happy to have found her.

"Sup? Funny seeing you around here. Who's the blond?"

---

DLC #8: After-school Insanity.

"Wait, we have clubs?"

Pyrrha nodded as team JNPR walked the halls of the vast school for today's team activity. "Yes, even a combat school like Beacon has after-school clubs available to its students if they so chose. And, since we've been attending school for two months now, we first years are now allowed to scout for a club to join. Doesn't that sound exciting?" she couldn't help but grin happily. She'd never done this kind of thing back at her school in Mistral. Mostly due to her busy schedule hogging all her free time to train and prepare for tournaments.

Jaune shrugged as he threw his arms behind his head, "I guess so. Back home, we did something similar. Seeing as I have seven sisters, they would take turns hanging out with me and each one was different in their own way. I was basically in seven clubs."

"What was it like?"

"It was fun most of the time, when I wasn't being dressed as a girl."

"You use to cross-dress?" Nora snickered, imagining the blonde in a frilly dress and heels. Got to say, he didn't look half bad for a dude.

"Say what you will, but I looked damn good as a flower girl. . . .I shouldn't be proud of that." he said dejectedly.

"Don't feel bad. I know Ren makes a pretty cute girl when you've forced him into a nice dress."

Ren looked away from Jaune and Pyrrha's curious gaze, blushing in shame, "You try living with her on the road. There were things I had to do that she forced me into that I'm not proud of."

"Like posing as some damsel in distress! Show a little leg skin, and we were able to distract the merchants long enough for me to stealthily pick them of food and Lien!"

Jaune laid his hand on Ren's shoulder in support, "It's alright. I know your pain, brother." he sniffed.

Ren growled at the contact, but relented as he hugged his leader, "Shut up, and stop touching me!" he cried into his shoulder.

"Anyways," Pyrrha uttered slowly as she tried to peel her eyes away from the odd scene of two teen boy's crying in each others arms in support, "I thought we can all see what they have to offer. Other then fighting, I don't have much other skills anywhere else. It could be fun learning something new, I always wanted a hobby."

"Well, they have a lot of clubs here." Nora said as she looked over the emerald green pamphlet they had been handed by Professor Goodwitch, "They have Music Club, Cooking Club, LARP Club, Sewing Club, Martial Arts Club, Weapons Club, Hunting Club, plus a couple more. Talk about diverse."

The hell was LARP?

"My, we do have quite a number of options available for us. I'm sure if we take our time, and consider what suits us, we can all come to-"

"Let's split up!" Nora grinned, shoving a copy of the pamphlet to her team. "Divide and conquer, I say. After we've checked each one out, we can regroup and see what clubs we've joined, if any."

"But I was hoping we could all join one club together." Pyrrha whined.

"Pyrrha, hanging out together is nice and all, but we all have to have some room to breath. I mean, just look at Jaune and Ren." she gestured to the two crying huntsman earning weird looks from those passing by, "Clearly always being around woman has had some. . .side effects. Just yesterday I caught Jaune braiding Ren's hair while they gossiped. I think they need some time away from us and team RWBY so they can be bros."

The redheaded champion pouted, but relented. When Nora was right, she was right.

---

Splitting up, Jaune had wandered over to the first club that had caught his interest, Music Club. He didn't mean to brag, but he was actually talented on the guitar. It was something he had picked up one day when his mother had taken him out on one of their family vacations. Maybe he could become a traveling musician if all else failed?

With a quick knock on the door, Jaune was greeted into the class by one of the students. It was a large class, set up like every other classroom with the exception of all the instruments and music posters hung around. The center of the class was set up for them to play their instruments just like a concert stage. It was all pretty neat. From the sounds of it, the class was already in the middle of a set as they played a melodious tune.

"For a second, I was actually worried that I would walk into something weird." Jaune chuckled as he walked down the middle aisle for the head of the club. Spotting a well dressed brunette girl playing conductor, he waited for them to finish so he could ask about joining the club.

But life was never that simple for one Jaune Arc. The angelic music was broken by the strums of an electric guitar, straining Jaune's ears as a rainbow of spotlights beamed down on the center stage. Heavy rock drowned out the once light music as the center of the concert stage split open. And from their a familiar redhead slowly rose up from a pedestal with fog rising from the stage.

Jaune felt his eye twitch, watching as Helios threw his head back in his school uniform as he went off in a guitar solo. There it was. The catch.

Seeming to share his thoughts, the brunette girl sighed in exasperation, opening her eyes to reveal a fed up blue shade. Her conductors wand finished up the last of their piece as Helios did the same. She blinked, finding a blond haired student standing in front of her.

"Oh? I'm sorry I didn't see you there. Welcome!" she smiled brightly as the lights dimmed on the concert room, "Name's Vylla Strome, second head of the Music Club in Beacon. What can I help you with?" Said girl had short chestnut locks with a small ponytail on the side of her hear and wore a black coat tail and slacks with a frilly white blouse.

"I was thinking about joining your club." Jaune said, not so sure of the idea anymore.

Vylla nodded her head before turning her head back to Helios as he walked down the stage, "No problem. LYRE! GET YOUR DUMB ASS DOWN HERE!" she screeched.

"CALM YOUR TITS, BITCH! I'M COMING!"

Jaune clutched his ears in pain. Man, could they shout. They sounded like harpies. There went the nice image he had of the girl.

Arriving down to front, Helios intermediately grimaced at the sight of Jaune, "Freshy? What are you doing in my club?"

"What do you mean your club?" Vylla muttered in annoyance.

"I was thinking of joining. I do play guitar, so I wanted to check it out." Jaune shrugged.

Helios smirked, "Do you now? Gotta say, it's not so easy to learn to play guitar. Now anything else?"

"I know some trumpet, violin, the classics really. My little sister is kinda a prodigy and we use to play together."

"But are you any good?" the redhead rocker leered, standing over the knight with a challenging grin, "As the first head of the Music Club, it's up to me to see if anyone interested has what it takes to join my merry little band. And I know talent when I see it."

Vylla groaned, smacking her face as she recognized the look in Helios face, "Please, don't. Can't he just try out one of our regular set pieces instead more of your bull."

"I'm sorry, but which one of us dethroned the old club leader in a piano duel? And you call yourself a third year."

"I'm about a third way through my temper of kicking your ass."

Jaune stepped away as Helios rubbed his hands together mischievously.

"Actually, I think I forgot my guitar back at my dorm, so it looks like I can't try out." he laughed nervously, gulping when the redhead rocker grabbed the collar of his uniform. Jaune did not like that look in his eyes.

"Boy, we about to have a wind instrument duel. You better hope you survive my musical beating. I'm a musical, lyrical, miracle."

"That sounds so lame."

A hard slap to Jaune's was Helios answer.

---

An hour later, and a bruised face Jaune was trudging his feet through the halls for another club to join. Because Music Club was a little too intense for him. The so called wind instrument duel had gone. . .poorly. Not to say Jaune didn't know how to play, but compared to someone like Helios who had a natural talent for music, the knight didn't stand a chance. He wasn't adept in playing a trombone and for every mess up, he would suffer shot from a bean bag turret on the opposite side of the stage.

'Just because we're being trained to fight monsters, doesn't mean we have to make everything so extreme.' At least he had found out something about the duel. Things like playing instruments drops him into a mini game of playing notes. It was pretty fun, if it wasn't for the bean bag bullet to the face. 'I might need to see Ms. Sprig about theses bruises. They really sting.' Jaune whimpered as he gently touched his face.

Their had to be a more comfy club in Beacon that didn't involve bodily harm.

Scanning from the club signs posted outside of the classrooms, Jaune's curiosity was peaked at spotting a very decorative painted sign. 'Art's Club?' Walking over to it, he found it was drawn with vibrant colors and a chibi face of a pink curled haired girl with a winky face, 'Alright, I can't see any way they can mess art club up. Unless they use the blood of their enemies as paint.'

A quick prayer to a god that wasn't The Will, Jaune went opened the wooden door to the classroom. Inside he found every wall was painted white and the floor was tarped with large mats of painting paper for the many rainbow stains everywhere. The walls were also decorated with artistic pictures splattered by paint with little care and the only furniture he could see where the many paint displays circled around a round pedestal. The students were too focused on their individual works of art to notice him stepping in.

Jaune sighed happily at the nice atmosphere in the room. Nothing like Music Club. At least he hoped not. Now he just needed to find the one in charge to see if he could join.

"Jaune?"

The familiar voice caught Jaune's attention and turned his eyes to find Weiss sitting at one of the displays near the door. He smiled and waved at the heiress as he walked over.

"Hey, Weiss! I didn't know you painted. I thought you would be more interested in music."

Weiss scoffed at the blond knight as she dipped her brush in red, "While I do enjoy singing, I found the club lacking in real practice. Not to mention it's left in charge of two brutish upperclassmen that spend most of the time yelling at each other over the music. Besides, art takes a firm hand and a calculative eye. It's perfection at its most natural form."

"Did Helios hit you with beanbags when you messed up too?" Jaune deadpanned, noticing the faint blue and green tint on the side of her face.

"That man's worse then my instructor. I was off by the slightest key!" What a dent to her pride.

Making a mental note to find some way to make the rocker pay for dare hurting his precious Snow Angel, Jaune took a peek at her painting. It was a beautiful snowy tundra of ice inhabited by what looked like Grimm. Only the usual black hides on the Beowolves had been painted an almost glowing white with shades of light blue markings. Where they Mutants?

"So, what are doing here? Are you interested in joining this club by any chance?" Weiss asked curiously, her eyes never leaving the paper as she lightly brushed the red of the monsters eyes.

Jaune nodded, "Pretty much. This club seems really nice and I don't see any way that I could get hurt here. Or have someone hurt me."

Weiss smirked, "I wouldn't say that. Annoy me enough and you'll fine that my next work will have a new type of red that isn't paint belonging to you."

"Ouch. Why must we play these harmful games of emotions? Can't you just love me?"

"Don't get too familiar with me. Just because we're friends and we've hung out a couple of times, does not mean I'll just fall head over heels for your crappy shtick." Weiss huffed with the smallest tint of pink on her cheek. Seeing the goofy grin on Jaune's face only made her turn away in frustration. Damn idiot, did he not know he was a hazard to her cold personality?

"If you want to join, then all you have to do is talk with the club president. I'm sure she's around here somewhe-"

"WE GOT A PROBLEM, WHITE!"

Charging out of the door at the back of the room, a light dark skinned woman wearing a white apron over their school uniform ran out with a look of panic. The woman had lavender wavy hair reaching to her lower back and what Jaune could only describe as the gentlest pair of pink eyes he had ever seen. Her figure behind the color stained apron resembled an hourglass, her hips wide and her chest putting Weiss to shame. Just looking at her gave Jaune the impersonation of a mother.

Weiss frowned as the lavender haired woman stopped at her display with worry, "Lavender, what's going on?" she asked as the woman looked back at her with teary eyes, biting her lips to stop from sobbing.

"Our model for the day whimped out on us! Now we got no one for our lesson of the day!" Lavender cried, waving her hands around like a child who didn't get what they wanted.

"That is a problem." Weiss nodded before adding quickly when the older woman began to openly cry, "But we can simply move onto another lesson plan! I'm sure the others won't mind!"

"But I wanted to do the lesson!" she whined childishly.

Weiss rubbed her head tiredly. To think the president of the club who was in their third year could act so childish. It was hard to believe she was a huntress.

"Model?" Jaune asked with a tilt of his head. "What, you need someone to pose in the middle of the class so you can paint them?" he scratched his head in thought.

Blinking past the tears in surprise, Lavender found her eyes drawn to the blond haired boy beside Weiss. Her curiosity overpowered her whining as she leaned her face to get a good look at the stranger.

"Yes, actually. My lesson plan for the day was going to be on the anatomy of a huntsman. I wanted them to pose heroically for the class to show off their build, but unfortunately my model chickened out at the last second." Lavender pouted, puffing her cheeks in annoyance, "Guess he was too shy for the job. Not everyone can stay still for several hours in front of wandering eyes."

That did sound nerve wracking. Jaune could understand the nervousness it would invoke. He himself was feeling nervous, finding the older student poking his chest with scrutiny. And was her free hand rubbing his thigh?

"I'm sorry, but I never got your name."

At that, Jaune smiled apologetically as he introduced himself, "Sorry about that. Names Jaune Arc! Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it!" he grinned with a wink. What could he say? Old habits died hard. And if it wasn't broken, don't fix it.

Weiss rolled her eyes at the knight, "Really? Can't you greet yourself normally?"

"I think I'll just call you, Yellow." Lavender said brightly, snatching her wandering hands back. She looked at Jaune shyly, swinging her hips behind her with a pleading look. The sight made him blush.

"Actually, I was wondering if you could do me a favor, Yellow."

"Uuuuuhhh, depends?" he gulped as the dark skinned beauty touched her lip with her finger to bring out her puffy lips. Was it getting hot in here?

"Well, you look like a well built huntsman. Even better than my last model if I was honest. So, I was hoping that you could take their place instead? Please~?" she pleaded, leaning closer. Her pink eyes softly gazed into his own as she trailed her finger in circles on his chest, "I'll let you join my club. And I'll owe you a favor."

The way Lavender said made it uncomfortable to be standing. Flustered, Jaune nodded his head mutely. The purple haired artist jumped in joy, dancing in place as Weiss looked at him skeptically.

"Are you sure you can handle modeling? You'll be still for a long period of time." she said warily.

"How hard can it be?"

Now that was taken care, Lavender quickly grabbed onto Jaune's wrist, ready to get him ready. She did stop for a second with doubt.

"You won't run out on us, will you?" she asked with tearing eyes. It was like a knife to Jaune's heart.

Giving her a winning smile, Jaune eased her worries, "Don't worry, you have my word that I won't leave you like the other guy. And an Arc never goes back on his word!"

It was just posing. What could go wrong?

---

"I hate my stinking mouth."

Jaune's brow twitched madly as he stood in front of two dozen students circled around him brushes ready to paint his heroic pose. He even had his sword and shield out for added effect. With his sword raised high in the air majestically, and his hair blowing gently from a fan Lavender had set up behind him, he looked the part. Except for one thing.

He was naked, naked as the day he was born.

At the front of the first row of the class, Lavender giggled at the shade of red on the once confident boy, "I did say we were working on anatomy of a huntsman. We can't get a good picture of the anatomy if you're in your clothes. How else could we paint your dick?" she said innocently.

'How can you say something like that with such a face?!' Jaune groaned, his blush increased as he found hundreds of eyes drinking in the sight of him in the buff. He even caught a few wolf whistles.

"Look at the sword!"

"What a scar! It makes him look so rugged."

"I see a muscle I'd like to run my hands over."

"Wait till I tell my friends that I've seen the one and only Jaune-cena naked. They'll be so jealous!"

"If only we had some tanning oil! Imagine how his muscles would glisten in the light!"

"Hey, big boy! How you doin?"

Green colored Jaune's cheeks as he held back his lunch. That last comment was not a girl.

Back in her own display, Weiss openly gaped at what she was seeing. No matter how hard she tried to look away, her icy blue eyes would always sway back to the glistening muscles in the middle of the room. It was taking all of her will power not to stray below his waist. Beside her, one of the students leaned over in a whisper.

"Do you have any aureola pink? I'm all out."

Weiss growled, ready to shout at them before she caught the sound of a few of the girls in the classroom gasping loudly and whistle. She couldn't stop herself from spinning her head back to see what they were going on about before freezing deathly still.

Jaune snarled at Lavender as said girl was openly licking her lips at him, her gentle pink orbs never losing their innocence. The sight made his soldier stand at attention, further embarrassing him as the older girl undid the button to her shirt to reveal her dark skinned cleavage. She was doing it on purpose!

'Uuuuuuhhhhhhh,' Weiss's brain stopped functioning as her eyes devoured every detail of what she was now seeing. Her hands were on autopilot, etching the arousing sight without her notice.

"What a big boy~! Call me, hon!"

"SOMEONE GET THAT GUY OUT OF HERE!"

---

An hour of shame and embarrassment later, and Jaune was once again strolling the halls for a new club. Art was out of the question. Whatever innocence he may have retained before today was beaten to death by spiked clubs. Even when he tried to think of unsexy thoughts to calm his erection, Lavender would just give him these alluring expressions and poses to keep him hard. She said it was a good lesson for the class to draw an erection at full mast, when would they ever get the chance at it again? What made it worse had been his pleads to Weiss to help him out of the mess, only to go unheard in her blank daze. He was pretty sure he had broken her. Hopefully she didn't paint any of what she had seen.

Back in the art room, Lavender was busy struggling to hold Weiss back from burning her and the many pictures of a naked Jaune in many art styles with her rapier drawn in a fiery shroud. The white heiress looked to be foaming from the mouth in rage.

With another sigh escaping his lips, Jaune slid the shameful event into the back burner of his mind. He could always find a nice quite corner to sit in and cry later. There still was the matter of his after school activities. In his search, his eyes spotted a familiar sigh post by one of the classrooms. He couldn't help but grin fondly as he walked over.

"LARP?" Looking over the post, he made out the usual fantasy tropes decorated onto it. Wizards, dragons, magic, knights, goblins, the usual suspects. They had LARP in Beacon? Well that was a little odd to see. Who knew that they would have such a nerdy and dorky club in an academy training warriors. How would that even work? Reading over the description, he found that the class wasn't being held in the room today. They were actually having a match in the fields behind Beacon right now. Anyone who was interested in watching or joining the club could come over at any time.

Opening up his map on his HUD, Jaune decided it would be worth checking it out. Back home, he would play LARP with the little friends he had. It may have been nerdy game and made them out as losers and idiots, but he always had fun playing in a make believe world they had created. With that in mind, the knight went on his way to the fields, hopeful to find an after school activity he could enjoy that didn't hurt him or humiliate him.

Third time's the charm, right?

---

"Lightning bolt!"

"Fire, Fire, Fire!"

"I cast, Invisibility!"

"You rolled a 3, Zue. Now I can see you, so face my Gale Blade!"

"NOOOOOOOOOO!"

Jaune nodded his head in satisfaction, his ears picking up the familiar shouts of magic and numbers as he made it to the fields. The back end of Beacon had a large sprawling field several miles long for sports activities. In all the combat classes and Grimm hunting, Jaune had almost forgotten that while Beacon was a school for training warriors to save the world, it was still a school. He could see several all other students doing their own things, but he was more focused on the LARP field.

The club took up decent field size. White chalk lines separated their zone from the rest and obstacle courses had been set up all over the field made up of actual rock. From the looks of it, they were already in their own game, casting spells, fighting enemies, and opening chests all while rolling dice. There was just one difference to the regular LARP he had played with his friends.

They were actually using weapons. And Dust as spells.

Watching an assassin class player get sent flying back into a stone wall in the field by a large ball of fire, Jaune could kinda see why. They were still training as hunters and their bodies were protected by aura. Using their training and tools, they could make their games even more interesting and complex. It would also simulate real combat. Who knew you could make such a nerdy game practical?

Someone in the game noticed his presence as Jaune walked over curiously. The man had jet black shaggy bed hair reaching his shoulders, green eyes, and pale skin. Seeing Jaune, the man walked over with a polite smile. He was dressed in dark blue trench coat, purple baggy pants, leather sandals, and wore rectangle shaped glasses.

"Hello, stranger! Taking a look at our weekly game of Wyverns and Knights, are you?" he said brightly.

Jaune nodded, "Pretty much. I never knew you could use huntsman training to play LARP though. It's like bringing our fantasies to life." he smiled fondly.

"A fellow Larper, are you? It's always nice to meet one who hadn't started playing the hunter's version like most here." the older student grinned before introducing himself, "Name's En Aku, president and founder of Beacon's LARP Club. Nice to meet you!"

"Name's Jaune Arc, and it's nice to meet you too." Jaune grinned back, shaking En's hand. So far, so good. The guy in charge of the club wasn't manipulative or strict, the dark haired club president actually appeared normal.

"So, Jaune, are you interested in joining our game? We have enough room for another player join in if you're interested." En smiled, fixing his glasses as a stray gust of wind from a player's spell ruffled their clothing.

Looking out at the field and the excited smiles and grins on the other students faces as they played in their own made up fantasy, Jaune nodded back with an excited grin. He was a little rusty in LARP, but he had the jist of it down. All he needed was some dice and a class, and he'd be set.

"I'd be more than happy to play! It's been years since I got to play with others like this. I just need you to give me a quick run down and what I need to play though." he said sheepishly.

En nodded in understanding, musing as his green eyes looked Jaune over. It was then that Jaune was taken back, catching the raven haired student's eyes dull and grow an odd cross hair like circle bar. The sight of it made the knight go on edge and step back, his arm flying for the handle of Crocea Mors summoned to his waist. He knew that look anywhere.

Seeing the action, En waved his arms around frantically, smiling in apology as Jaune began to slide the blade to his sword out, "Wait! I'm not trying to hurt you or anything like that. It's just my semblance activating is all." he chuckled nervously, the bar in his eyes filling up with an audible ding.

Semblance? "What kind of semblance is that?" Jaune frowned, sending Crocea Mors back to his inventory. For a second he thought he found another Player. That would have been trouble seeing as the only Player he was on good terms with was Ren.

"I like to call it Observation. By looking at my target, I'm able to see things normal people can't. I'm able to see their aura, weak points, what kind of weapons they carry even if their hidden, and even determine their strength. It's nothing flashy like others, but it does well when my leader has me running our missions as a tactician. Kinda useless against Grimm though." En said weakly as he scratched the back of his head.

Calming down, Jaune was glad to know he wasn't facing another Player. Too many of them have tried to kill him since joining The Game. He didn't need a fifth after his head.

"It doesn't sound useless. I bet your semblance has saved your lives plenty of times. And if you can see the weak points in Grimm, I wouldn't call it useless." Jaune reassured him as the student smiled gratefully. He did frown though, "Why were you using your semblance on me anyways?"

En blinked before gasping in understanding, "Oh, well I was just seeing what kind of class of warrior to assign you before you started the game. After a quick observation of your skill level, I would say you're better suited for a Rune Knight class. You posses a decent amount of strength and your aura is rather large, more so than most. I would actually worry about fighting someone like you in an actual fight." he said nervously. Reaching into the many pockets of his trench coat, En gestured for Jaune to open his palm before handing him a few sets of brightly designed cards.

"Those will be your Ability Cards and a few Item cards. You're going to start off as a Level 5 Rune Knight based on the observation. I just need you to download the dice rolling app on your scroll before we begin. I'll even explain to you some of the rules to the game to get you going."

Taking out his scroll, Jaune couldn't help but feel excited. Looked like he finally found a club that wasn't going to end so badly.

---

A quick talk with En and downloading the app to game, and Jaune was already out on the field on his own adventure. The LARP field stretched out to the Emerald Forest, just enough to where no Grimm activity could be stumbled upon. Seeing as Jaune was new in the game, En decided to follow after him and help him get back into the flow of things.

Already a twenty minutes into the game, and the party of two had already fought various enemies on their path.

En nodded encouragingly at Jaune as they faced three 'goblins'. Said monster were really old training robots painted and decorated to look like the fantasy creatures.

"All you need to do is roll a seven on your first turn and we'll be rid of these foul creatures!"

They had already dealt some damage to the goblins and now they simply needed a wide range attack to finish them. And as a Rune Knight, Jaune had a wide range Ability that could seal the deal. He just needed to make the right roll.

Taking a deep breath, Jaune shook his scroll around, the action rolling the programmed dice on his screen to simulate a roll. Tumbling around the screen like a super ball, the red dice came to stop and landed on seven. Both huntsman cheered.

Staring off with the goblins waiting their turn, Jaune smirked as he played his Ability, swiping the card against the reader of his scroll, "Alright, let's see how they like a taste of my Ignis Grenade!" Using up a Fire Dust crystal, Jaune used the magical stone in place of fire magic to launch a ball of licking flames at the three mock monsters. Using the same system that connected to the app, the robots were destroyed by the fireball, their systems reading the damage they were dealt as they perished.

Jaune pumped his fist in victory, his scroll loading the EXP and rewards earned from slaying the goblins. Why couldn't his own curse be like LARP? It was actually entertaining and not life threatening.

"I can't believer Ozpin let us use the old training droids as enemies. It makes LARPing even more fun!"

En shared the same thoughts as he looked over his own rewards on his scroll, "When I first entered Beacon, I talked to him about creating a real life LARP while practicing our combat abilities. He actually loved the idea and helped to set up the foundations of the club alongside me. Even gave me the Lien I needed to create the program on our scrolls." he said happily.

That was cool of the Headmaster. Jaune always got this dungeon master feel off of him.

"So, what's next? The mission on our scrolls said to investigate a disturbance in the forest. Looks like the goblins weren't the objective." Jaune asked.

En frowned in thought, scrolling through his own mission. Random quests were given out by the Fantasy Engine he had created, creating scripted battles and adventures he had stayed up nights writing. This one was a rather simple one for beginners. Find the Goblin Leader and take him out before he reached the border of the Emerald Forest to the other players. They should have walked into the boss by now.

"I guess we should continue searching the forest. We're bound to find the disturbance somewhere."

Pocketing his scroll, Jaune turned back to the forest path in search of his elusive objective. He was really enjoying himself. It was looking like he had just found the club he wanted to join.

"AWAY WITH YE, NAVE!"

Jaune's face paled at the familiar shout and the sound of an explosive nearby. No, for the love of all that was holy, it couldn't be who he thought it was!

A burning, mangle portly green painted goblin robot soon followed the commotion, sent flying past the trees to crash into the bark of the large tree by the two players. Flames and sparks were released from its corpse as it let out a goblin shriek before shutting down and exploding in an inferno. Jaune recognized the damage all too well.

Walking past the trees with with her hammer laid over her shoulders, Nora grinned widely as her green eyes read over the rewards and experience gained from beating the boss on her scroll. From the looks of it, she made an all time record for defeating the Goblin Leader.

"Sweet! I've just leveled up and gained All Mighty Blow! This game is a lot cooler than I gave it credit for." she said with a pleased hum. Turning her eyes up, she blinked as she found a familiar blond by the defeated enemy boss. "Jaune-Jaune? What are you doing here?" she asked curiously before her eyes fell on the cards in his hand. She suddenly squealed before jumping in joy.

"You're playing LARP too? That means we can fight each other!" She'd been looking for a good excuse to fight her leader.

Jaune gulped nervously, backing away from the wide grin on the valkrie's face. Yeah, no. There was no way he was going PvP with Nora. He looked to En for help, hoping the older student could help him in his escape.

"MY GODDESS!"

Jaune grew slacked jawed, finding En falling to his knee's in reverence to Nora of all people. What the hell was he seeing? With literal stars in his green eyes, En sighed dreamily at the orange haired hammer girl, the very sight of her making his heart beat like crazy.

"What are you doing here? I would have thought you were challenging other fools to trial by combat at the PvP grounds?" he asked, his eyes growing hearts as she smiled lovingly.

In Jaune's normal sight, she looked bored as she picked her nose. Times like this he wished he had Weiss teaching her proper manners and how to act like a lady. He went back to the lovestruck En, wanting answers.

"Why are you going head over heels for Nora?"

En gasped dramaticlly as he stood back up to stare Jaune dead in the eyes, "It's because out of all the new players that have joined, she is the first to best several high level players at once! My observation had picked up on her incredible strength and assigned it to her accordingly, so it was no surprise that she had done so well. But the way she took charge of the game and got into character so well is what really robbed me of my heart!" he gushed, his heart eyed stare falling back on Nora as she poked the flaming wreckage that was her enemy, "Never have I seen such a beauty in my life! She truly is the Queen of the Castle! The very picture of grace and tranquility! She's beauty incarnate!"

Jaune stared flatly at Nora, the bubbly orange head batting the flaming head of the robot away with a raspberry. None of what he said was right. Nora was hot and pretty, but her insanity terrified him at times.

Growing bored, Nora spun her head back to Jaune, smirking as she lifted her hammer/grenade launcher at him in challenge.

"Seeing as I'm done with my quest, I've decided to finally challenge you to a fight! So, please do well to entertain thy queen in combat, foolish Rune Knight! Or I will have your head on a pike!" she laughed maniacally.

"I don't have to fight her, do I?" Jaune asked nervously, sweating as she reared back her silver gray hammer. En nodded enthusiastically.

"She has declared PvP! Your scroll is now locked onto her own. There's no running from our beloved queen!"

"What part of that is beloved!" Jaune shouted in annoyance, pointing his trembling finger to a madly grinning Nora as she cackled evilly.

"I'll take the first turn!" Not giving Jaune anymore say, Nora shuffled through her cards, growing giddy as she found just what she was looking. It was a sparking bolt striking an old weathered hammer, one of the very first abilities she had unlocked, "I play, Thor's Strike! If I roll three 5's in a row, then not only do I attack you, but I also land a Critical Hit! I only have one question for you, foolish Rune Knight!" Nora whispered huskily.

"Are you feeling lucky?"

Jaune whimpered, hating the rules based on old RPG's. They moved in turns and he couldn't dodge.

"En, mind backing me up?"

"GO, MY BEAUTIFUL WAR GODDESS! SMITE THY NAVE WITH THE BOLT OF LOVE AND PEACE!"

". . .I hate you."

Nora grinned in victory, the last roll reading five. That was three in a row! What were the odds of that happening? With leering eyes, she swung back her weapon, activating her semblance to coat it with pink lightning.

"PICK A GOD AND PRAY!"

Jaune cursed the gods above, his girlish scream echoing through out the forest as Nora's elemental enhanced hammer swing sent him flying just like the Deathstalker in initiation had done. He looked like a twinkling star crossing the heavens.

Guess LARP Club was out of the question.

---

"I think I'm done trying to find a normal club."

Head falling back into the soft pillow provided by Nurse Spriggan in the nurse's office, Jaune sighed in defeat as he laid in the nurses bed. After falling back to earth like a literal star, some student had come across his smoking body and carried him back to the nurses office. Now he was just relaxing after the pink haired woman had treated his wounds and left him heal with his aura.

LARP had been so promising. But the game allowed Nora to go crazy and the club president was more than content with letting her do what she wanted from the looks of it. It was better that he didn't involve himself in such an after school activity. It was dangerous to his health.

'I wonder if Pyrrha and Ren are doing any better? Because it looks like I won't be doing anything after school with them.' Hopefully they had done better in their search then him.

Opening the door to her office, Nurse Sprig raised her brow at finding a depressing aura over the normally dorky knight. It was like a dark storm was raining down onto his head.

"What's got you down in the dumps now, Jaune?" she sighed, walking over to her most frequent patient. She took a seat by his bed, crossing her arms as she looked at him questioningly.

It was a weird habit they had fallen into since the FoF event months ago. She would play counselor and listen to his troubles whenever he wound up in her care again. Which happened every so often with his training and bad luck. Seemed there was some deity out there who just loved to watch him suffer.

Jaune scratched his head, staring up at the white ceiling with a frown, "I don't know? I guess I'm just bummed out that I can't even find a normal club to join. It's like I fail at even something as simple as that." he grumbled.

Nurse Sprig rolled her eyes, poking Jaune's temple flatly with a pen on hand, "Who cares if you can't find a normal club. You don't have to join one. There are better things to do with your time." she said tiredly, not all that interested in his problems.

"Yeah, but I'm sure the rest of my teammates fond a club to join. I'd join them, but the point of all this was to find our own clubs. I don't want to cramp their style."

"Then you can just hang out in your own dorm and play video games or something." she shrugged, not really seeing what the big deal was, "I swear, you make this out to be much more of a problem than it should be." she smirked.

The pink haired nurse was right. It wasn't something to get upset about. Still, Jaune thought as he slumped further into the bed. It would have been nice to find an after school activity to relax and unwind in. Maybe even make some new friends too. His Quirk and growth did largely depend on making friends.

Seeing the blond knight still depressed, Nurse Sprig tapped her lips in thought. Well, there was one way to lift his spirits up. And it benefited the both of them. Well, mostly her.

Patting the blond's head reassuringly, Nurse Sprig smiled at him, "There is one club that I think you can join with no problem. It's rather simple and there are no strings attached." she assured him.

Jaune was skeptical, but listened. As rude and unmotivated Nurse Spriggan could be, she had his best interest in mind. She of all people knew what was best for him. Sitting back up, he faced his pseudo counselor with interest.

Third time was a bust. Surely the fourth wouldn't fail him.

---

With the number of the room in hand, Jaune soon made it to the club room Nurse Sprig had given him. The club was actually held in Professor Port's class. Made sense seeing what it was about.

"Hunting Club, huh?" Jaune mumbled, looking at the simple bold lettered board hung in front of the door.

Nurse Sprig had said Hunting Club was rather simple. It was a club where students learned not to hunt Grimm, but how to hunt animals. Along with that, they also learned how to survive in the wild and learn skills in the field. It was just like Professor Antheia's class but more campy and he wasn't being seduced by an older fox eyed woman. They even took regular trips out into the forest for campfires to roast treats and tell ghost stories if he remembered what the pink haired nurse had said. Safe to say, he had some hopes for Hunting Club.

Taking a deep breath, Jaune gathered his courage and opened the door. He had to stop thinking about what could go wrong and just go for it. It was an outdoors after school activity. The worst that could happen to him was catching on fire.

"For today's prey, we will be hunting the ever elusive, strong and dorky, Jaune Arc. Also known as my future baby's daddy. Maybe babies."

Silence. The very moment Jaune stepped into the door and shut it behind him, all eyes inside the classroom fell on him. His blank face met none other then Tsuki Yumi, the raven ponytail huntress's own red eyes locking with his own at the end of her sentence. On the white board, a very detailed, naked drawing of his earlier pose in art club could be seen as Tsuki pointed her wooden pointer towards his marker etched dick. A little tag was taped to her left breasts, reading 'President'.

Jaune blinked once. Twice. Nodded his head simply and even turned his head to the left of the class when he found a familiar pair of magenta eyes staring at him in disbelief from their seats.

"Hey, Ren. I, uh, didn't know you would be interested in Hunting Club too." Jaune said emotionlessly. Ren nodded back, not really sure what to say after what the club president had said.

"Yeah," he said slowly before pointing to the raccoon hat on his head that many of the students also wore, "They give you a pretty nice hat upon joining."

"Cool, that's, uh, pretty cool." Jaune sighed, his emotionless eyes turning back to find Tsuki grinning sharply at him from the teacher's desk. Her leering red eyes were full of mischief.

"And that, my fellow hunters, is how we lead our prey to our den after paying a certain nurse a couple hundred Lien to send him our way."

A vein pulsed visibly on Jaune's forehead, his face remaining blank as a certain pink haired traitor came to mind. He had half a mind to send Nora her way. But for now, he spun back for the door, not saying a word before dashing out of the club in a mad haste.

Ren sighed, shaking his head as Tsuki began to strut for the door, eyes gleaming with a scary tint.

"Do we really have to hunt him down?"

Tsuki looked back at the eastern boy, raising her brow questioningly.

"Depends. Do you want to give back your raccoon hat?"

". . . . . .I'll start setting up the traps at his regular grazing spots."

"That's what I thought."

---

Humming happily, Pyrrha knitted the last thread in whatever she was knitting. Content with her work, she stood up from her desk and walked over to the club president to see how she had done.

Hera carefully inspected the red scarf in her hand from said spartan girl, "Not bad, Nikos. Compared to your first few attempts, this one actually came out pretty decent. I still see some threads crossing visibly in the stitching here and there, but you're getting there." she said politely.

Pyrrha smiled happily, "Thank you, Hera! I appreciate your honesty. I won' let this failure stop me from messing up the next one!" she said brightly with vigor.

"The point is not to mess up, you nut." What was wrong with the so called four time winning Mistral champion? It was like she enjoyed messing up.

Taking back the slightly messed up scarf back to her work station, the red headed spartan went back to sewing her next article of clothing. The very first club she had found was Home Economics, a simple club activity that taught everyday chores and household skills. It wasn't combat related and some would say there was no use for such a boring club, but Pyrrha disagreed. As someone who had been taught combat from an early age, she had no idea how to do some of the more simple things in life. Such as what she was doing now. Even if she was messing up in knitting and sewing, it was still fun.

A loud feminine scream caught the attention of the few students within the classroom. For some reason, the girlish cries for help were awfully familiar to Pyrrha as she turned for the doorless entrance. Her jaw then dropped, finding a blond streak pass the door followed closely by several students wearing furry raccoon hats with old time muskets and rifles armed.

"YOU WON'T TAKE MY FINE ASS ALIVE!"

"EITHER IT'S HIS ASS, OR YOUR ASS!"

Pyrrha stared dumbly at the passing Hunting Club, her mind stumped and baffled at what she had just seen. Three questions arose as she processed what her eyes had made out.

1. Was that Jaune? 2. Why was Ren leading the charge? And 3. If that was Jaune, why was he naked?

---

Mistakes and forgotten memories. A dark presence has caught a Will of its own and old wounds have opened up. What makes you, You? Is it your face, your smile, or your name? Strays lost and confused in the night, only for a bright eyed, bushy tailed monkey to stumble onto them. What new events will surface when next we meet?

Beware the man who speaks with class and smells of smoke. Lest he reminds you of the sins crawling up your back.

Alright, so Chapter 22 was actually broken off where we are now. My Beta, A Fan1204 had suggested I cut back on the word count, so I thought it would be a good idea to stop there. I have the rest that I'm working on with his help. He actually helped a lot in reworking some of the scenes. And because of that, we probably won't be done for another three chapters. I was planning on finishing up this Volume with the last two chapters, but I've added another one to get the most out of it and not rush it.

Again, I won't be able to write as freely as before until we've finished unpacking. At least that gives me plenty of time to polish up what I got. I'm going to see what I can get done right now. Tomorrows going to be busy. Also, Multiplayer's got its own TvTropes page! It's filling up slowly, so if check it out if you want. If you know of any tropes missing, contact Saint Danielle. He's also the author of Arcane, an interesting fic I have high hopes for.

Oh, and on the Multiplayer Journal. I'm still looking out for a place for it. I'm also looking out for any fanart for it, so if you got any drawing talent, go crazy. I'd really love to see teh OC's drawn out too.

Read and Review! It's common courtesy.

NeoShadows fading in and out.