The Mandatory Training Arc, Part 4!

A/N: Welcome, ladies and lads, to the latest chapter of Weiss Reacts! So, last chapter, our favourite crazy kids Jaune and Pyrrha somehow got lost, Weiss and Yang went spying on our other favourite crazy kids Rook and Winter, and everyone else is somewhere doing something or other. Woo. Well, this ought to be interesting! Let's get on with it then, shall we?

DISCLAIMER: RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth, otherwise we would have a fairy godmother-esque character in RWBY (Dust knows they need one in canon).

All mentioned franchises and characters belong to their respective owners.

"Alright." Jaune sighed, breathing deeply. "Breathe, Jaune. Just breathe. You didn't just get you and your partner lost. You can do this."

"Jaune, it's not that bad." Pyrrha reassured him. "We're not that far away from the camp. We were only walking for five minutes."

"Yeah, but still! Dammit." The knight sighed, looking down. "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For getting us lost."
The spearmaiden chuckled. "I thought I was the one who was supposed to apologise a lot? And don't worry about it, alright? We're okay."

"…..I just…..dammit." Jaune looked guiltily up at his partner. "Sorry. I should've kept a closer eye on where we were."
"It's okay, like I said. We all make mistakes." Pyrrha responded, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Like I said, don't worry about it.

Now, if you still want to atone, we should keep looking for a way back to camp." The spearmaiden looked around for any signs that could tell them where they were- a post or marker left behind by Demeter or other Hunters, a trail of smoke, a Grimm, anything.

"R-right." Jaune nodded hurriedly. "Dammit…..where did Nora and the others go?"
"That, too, somewhat bugs me." The spearmaiden admitted. "Why would they just disappear? I don't think it could be a Grimm…and there aren't any Hunters- or anyone- except us on this mountain…."

"…..you don't think it's some kind of antic, do you?" The knight inquired. Pyrrha frowned at that.

"Now, simply because it's Nora, Ren and….Blake….." The spearmaiden faltered as her eyes widened, realising who, exactly, they had been partnered up with. "…..oh."
"…yeaaaah." Jaune sighed. "That's why. Pyrrha, is there, by any chance, a camera on you? Anywhere? Actually, I'd better check mine right now, too." Immediately, he detached Crocea Mors from its place on his side as a scabbard and unfolded it, checking for one of the infamous button cameras used by the Order to spy on them.

"Uhh…..I'll check quickly." She quickly patted down her armor and leggings, looking behind her shield and spear. "Seriously, what do they expect us to do in the woods?"
"Err." The knight turned red.

He'd snuck a look at Blake's Ninjas of Love novels and so knew exactly what kinds of things a pair of hormonal teenagers in love could do while alone in the forest. Of course, at the time, he was rather busy trying to sort out his feelings and hadn't thought of the possibility that he might, in fact, end up alone in the forest with any girl, let alone Pyrrha.

"….y-yeah." Jaune chuckled. "W-who do they think we are, a bunch of perverts?"

"Jaune, are you sunburnt? You're looking quite red."
"I-I'm totally fine, Pyrrha! Yes, completely fine!" The knight forced a laugh. "Haha….hah…j-just keep looking for the cameras."

"Alright….if you insist….." The spearmaiden studied him suspiciously, before shaking her head and continuing to look for the button camera, in the off chance that there was one, patting down her gloves.

Of course, Pyrrha did not in fact check the one place they snuck a camera on.

…

"Hehehehehehe….." Nora giggled as they had a nice view of the pair from next to Pyrrha's cheek, a small camera hanging off one of her earrings. "This is going to be awesome."

"I am not entirely sure abandoning Mister Arc and Miss Nikos in the forest is going to be productive. I estimate a zero-point-zero-zero-zero-one chance of it achieving anything of worth." Norn pointed out in her usual deadpan voice and expression. Nora scoffed.

"Oh, come off it, Norn! You have to enjoy this, right? And besides, we're not abandoning them! We know exactly where they are!"
"I do not get what the factor to enjoy is. And such emotions are beyond me."

"Blake, you made a bad robot." The berserker remarked. "Come on."
Blake frowned. "This isn't going to work. Ren couldn't do it, Yang couldn't do it, what makes you think you can?"
"Have some faith in her." Ren warned her. "She may yet do what the rest of us have yet to.

Make those two actually kiss."

"I do not understand the importance of that." Norn stated robotically. "It hardly seems productive to me."

"Are you kidding?!" Nora scoffed. "Like….a kiss from those two that doesn't end in Pyrrha shoving him in a locker and going off to die? That's, like, the Holy Grail of antics!"
"She means that in our meetings with the greater Order, getting those two to kiss was one of our main operative goals." Ren explained calmly. "With a great reward promised to the first branch to achieve that by any means possible. Preferably without…other, more pressing circumstances forcing the kiss."

"….the Order has operatives across the whole of the multiverse and the capability to send resources anywhere they desire. I do not understand why you would waste it on two people kissing." Norn replied.

"We've been waiting for three years for them to just get a room!" Nora whined. "This is the perfect opportunity! We'll get them alone, the tension gets them, and they'll kiss! And we'll get a front row seat!"

"In our defence, our other goals are to combat Absolute Despair and to start an operation in the kingdoms of Valla, Hoshido and Nohr." The gunslinger continued. Norn seemed sceptical still.

"….my estimation remains."

"Come on…that's right, Pyrrha." Nora grinned. "You never even suspected the earrings, did you? Hehehehehe….don't you appreciate my genius, Renny~?"
"I'll admit, it was a pain to sneak that camera onto her earring." Ren sighed. "Still, it was worth it. Or it will be worth it, if those two actually kiss."

Blake frowned. "You know, I still think this won't work. I'll keep an eye out for any Grimm, just in case we can find the nest ourselves, alright?"

"Sure, sure, I'll save a picture for you when my scheme inevitably succeeds!" Nora offered, squeeing as she watched Pyrrha's search end.

Meanwhile…..

"A'ight. I'm gon' teach ya how t'build a basic pitfall trap." Rook explained to Winter. "They're real simple, but damn if they're not useful."

"Oh?" The lady looked interested as she walked alongside him. "How?"
"Well, ya can put spikes in 'em, to deal with Grimm, ya can put some nettin' in it to catch food, or ya can use 'em as…..what'cha call 'em, deterrents…..I mean, dependin' on the size of the hole, it'll trap anythin' from rabbits to Deathstalkers." Rook explained, sounding more confident when he pulled away from having to deal with the dreadful subject of women and now being able to talk about something he knew much, much more about. "It's a hell of a lot easier than buildin' one of 'em fancy tech-filled cages you folks have 'round here, and it'll work for anythin' given a little fix-up. Only problem is that ya can't move 'em."

"You seem quite experienced in this area, Mister Rook." Winter remarked, giggling. "I'm glad to know I am in good hands!"

"Aw s-shucks." The cowboy rubbed the back of his head, his cheeks reddening. "I'm j-jus' doin' what m-my ma taught me how t'do. I ain't no e-expert, but I d-do my best.

Yer a real nice l-lady, by the w-way. Did anyone ever tell ya t-that, M-Miss Winter?"

"More often than I wish to count." The lady replied, before frowning. "But I do not think any of them are really interested in my personality at all. I have many suitors, you see."
"I can see why." Rook nodded. "Yer rich, yer kind, yer like a lady from one of 'em fairy tales. Didn' they have lots o'suitors?"

'Thank Dust I didn' say pretty-wait, why did I ev'n think that?'
"Now that you mention it…." Winter giggled. "I suppose I am a princess out of a fairy tale, if you put it like that. Will you be my knight in shining armor, then?"

"G-gah!?" Rook looked at her, shocked. The lady smiled, putting a hand to her mouth to hide her giggling.

"I jest, I jest."

"O-oh. A-anyway!" The cowboy clapped, trying to retain his composure. "…we'd better start with some nettin' and camouflage. Ain't nothing gon' walk into an open hole, 'less they're stupid, but that's why I'm gon' teach you how to hide a hole."
"In that case, then I agree to be taught." Winter responded, smiling. "Where shall we start?"

"Well, firs', we have to dig the hole." Rook explained, pulling out a small spade from his belt. "Let's make it a small hole, right? Then we can dig it back in so we don' fall into it later."

"Oooh!" Winter squeed. "C-Can I dig first? We can take turns!"

Rook chuckled, shaking his head. "Y-yeah. We can."

"Yay!"

…..

Weiss clenched her fist. "This is ridiculous. I know he's planning something perverted! He has to be!"

"What, because a guy and a girl want to do something together in the woods? Alone?" Yang rolled her eyes. "Come on, Weiss. Rook's even less likely to do something perverted than Pyrrha."

"You're the one who said that she'd, to put it in your words, 'jump Jaune's bones and have him on the balcony three times'." The heiress remarked. "I'm not exactly convinced."

"If she knew Jaune was okay with it!" Yang pointed out. "Sheesh. Pyrrha has standards, you know."

"I forgot she wasn't you. Excuse me."

"Anyway!" The brawler cut her off. "Rook's not a pervert."
"He must be!"
"How?"
"O-Only a pervert would d-do something like this!"
"Like what, teach someone how to make a net out of vines and leaves? That's sooooo perverted.

Face it, Weiss, you just can't stand someone dating your sister." Yang grinned mischievously.

"I could hardly care less if someone wants to date my sister! Don't be absurd!"

"Then why are you getting mad~" The brawler inquired. "Oh? Don't tell me you're jealous of Winter then? Is Ruby not enough for you?"
"…..don't even go there."

"Oh, so it's your sister then, definitely." Yang grinned. "Come on, admit it. Admit it! It's cute, seeing you get so overprotective~"
"I am not overprotective! D-don't apply your s-stupid fantasies to me, Y-Yang!" The heiress snapped. "Just shut up! I want to make sure he isn't doing something stupid!"

'Definitely overprotective.' Yang giggled. 'This is perfect.'

"Stupid pervert….." Weiss grumbled under her breath, watching for Rook to slip up. "…..why don't you ever get worried? About Ruby?"
"Haven't we gone through this before?" The brawler remarked. "And anyway, Ruby's a big girl now, she can handle herself without me. Besides, Winter's old enough to handle herself without watching her, right?"

"Hmph."

Meanwhile….

"Alright…..I think we've walked enough." Jaune declared, sighing. "We've been out here for thirty minutes and we've still gotten nowhere near the camp."

"Do you have signal on your scroll? I can't seem to get any." Pyrrha commented, tapping hastily on her scroll's screen. "If I did, I'd ask Qrow if he could come and guide us back to the proper path…."

The knight shook his head. "No, no luck on my end, either. And man it's hot today.

I don't think wearing this was a good idea…" Jaune commented, looking down morosely at his jacket. "…..I always wondered why you wore that."

"What, this?" The spearmaiden looked down at her own armor.

"Well, I mean….is Mistral particularly hot? I always thought you'd need better armor than…..that…." Jaune shook his head, looking away for a moment.

For all that he loved her as a person, it was pretty hard for him to deny that his partner had a very attractive body. Now that they were on the topic of her armor, it was a lot harder to ignore it, too.

"Well….it's not especially hot. And my armor serves its purpose, more or less." Pyrrha countered. "It's light, keeps you cool in the heat, it doesn't get sticky and uncomfortable with sweat and it helps cushion blows and impacts. For stronger weapons, that's what we have Aura for."
Jaune frowned. "Yeah, but…..well…what if you don't have Aura?"

Pyrrha tapped her shield to answer that query.

"…..fair enough." The knight shrugged. "I dunno. The heat's getting to my head." He took off his jacket for the moment, revealing his rather toned arms and physique.

His training with Pyrrha had paid off in quite a lot of ways, it seemed.

Pyrrha found her eyes being drawn to his body for a few seconds- the briefest of moments- before shaking her head, trying to dispel the thoughts and the dusting of red on her cheeks.

'N-no. Don't give in. You'll play right into the Order's hands….' The spearmaiden told herself.

"Well…..now that you mention it….." She started, trying to change the subject and regain composure. "…..the armor that Professor Cassandra brought….m-maybe I should try it out. S-she said it was well-balanced for me, right?"

"O-oh, yeah!" Jaune nodded hurriedly. "Yeah. I-I wonder what that was about? She said she knew your measurements and stuff."
"That's weird, actually." Pyrrha remarked. "How could she have known those? I've...never actually told the school those. Only my mother, Yang and I know them."

"…Yang?" The knight raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"She's the one who bought that dress I wore at the Yuletide Dance. Remember?"
"…ahhhhh." Jaune nodded slowly. "That makes sense."

The spearmaiden frowned. "…..I wonder how she got those, then?"
"Maybe she's in the Antic Order? Yang's with the Order, and they'd probably have used them to put you in weird cosplay clothes." Jaune suggested. "It'd explain how they have your measurements."
"No," Pyrrha shook her head. "…..why would she give me less-revealing armor if she was in the Order?"

"…that makes sense." Jaune nodded in agreement. "Well….anyway. I suppose we can ask her when we get back, right?"
"Yeah. Let's do that. It's not really important, but it does confuse me a little…." Pyrrha admitted, slowly drifting away into silence- and pointedly not staring at Jaune's body- before holding up her finger.

"Wait. Jaune, do you hear that?"

"….wait." The knight squinted, focusing on something before nodding. "…yeah. It's...something's buzzing. It's not our scrolls, right?"
"No, it can't be. It's….constant." The spearmaiden stood up, looking just past the trees at something out of their sight.

Jaune stood up with her, following her to the source of the noise before-

"Oh. Oh no."

Both of them stared in muted shock.

There were dozens upon dozens of Rapier Wasp nests, hanging off trees and clamped onto tree trunks.

And the wasps in them had just noticed them.

….

"Uh oh." Nora remarked, her grin disappearing.

Pyrrha's expression couldn't be seen from the camera's point of view, but judging from the amount of wasps, and the fact that said wasps were now surging towards them, it couldn't have been a happy one.

"Ren, we're going to get them. Now."
"Already tracking them." The gunslinger was already on his scroll, looking for the tracking program to track the chip he'd placed in Pyrrha's button camera, trying to locate her.

"A'ight, Miss Winter, you tie it like this. You know how to tie knots, right?" Rook inquired as he held a pair of vines in his hands, tying them together to form a net with small gaps. Winter nodded slowly.

"Well, I know how to tie the basic knots. This wasn't my specialisation as a Huntress, I'm afraid."
"Specialization? What's that?" Rook raised an eyebrow. "I thought you only had one kind o'Hunter. Mister Qrow never said nothin' about that."

"Well, there are different kinds of Hunters. Having the same kind of Hunter in battle is a crippling thing when dealing with hordes of Grimm." Winter explained. "There are Healers, who are capable of healing people's wounds in battle with their Aura. I am what they would call a 'pure Hunter', as I specialise in attacking Grimm and destroying them. There are Scouts, those experienced in survival in the wilderness, who scout out Grimm nests and do reconnaissance missions, like Mister Branwen- they are the ones who would learn about making traps like these- and there are Sentinels, those who act as bodyguards and guardians and draw fire away from their compatriots or hold the line.

It's a lot harder to specialise as a Healer or a Sentinel, but they are in high demand regardless. As you might imagine, they're quite useful."

"I see. And yer sayin' I'd be one of 'em Scouts." Rook remarked.

"No. They don't let you choose until later this year, I believe. We're nearing that time when people must start specialising as a certain type of Hunter, as far as I can remember."

"I see." The cowboy nodded slowly as he tied off one last knot. "Now, see, here's a false top." He held up a small net, with leaves and branches tied on top. Rook laid it on the ground to demonstrate, and Winter squinted. "Where's it gone?"
"See, that's the beauty of it. It's damn hard t'see." The cowboy explained. "It's real hard to tell this from real ground, 'n that's why pitfall traps are so easy t'fall into."

"Oh!" The lady clapped happily. "That's pretty impressive!"
"Pretty good, what you can do with a bit o'plants and leaves." Rook chuckled. "Now, your turn."

He tossed her a pair of vines. "Try t' follow my knots, alright?"

Winter giggled excitedly, like a schoolgirl half her age. "…this is thrilling! I feel like I'm in one of those adventure movies!"

She worked carefully on the knots for a few minutes, clearly doing her best. After a few minutes, she looked up at Rook, frowning.

"….could you…..guide me?" The lady inquired. Rook raised an eyebrow.

"Guide ya?"

"Yes. I think I need to be shown again." Winter conceded. "Please? If you could just…..guide my hands?"

Winter's tone of voice was utterly sincere, and what Rook already knew about her is that she would hardly be the type to use such a thing to manipulate someone. However, he'd read enough stories to know that this type of thing was the thing only usually done by a boyfriend to a girlfriend. Or the reverse.

He blushed. "…y-yeah. I….I'd be…h-happy to."

Winter held up her hands, as Rook's trembling, thin hands gripped on Winter's plumper, warm hands. The lady's cheeks were dusted with a small layer of red as he made contact.

"…..a-ah. Your hands are….c-cold." Winter noted, looking up at him tenderly. Rook looked away, embarrassed.

"R-really sorry, M-Miss Winter…..s-should we get on with it?"

….

"This is adorable." Yang giggled, taping the whole thing on her scroll as Rook's hands guided Winter's into making the right knots at the right intervals. "When those two get married, I am totally showing this at their wedding."
Weiss snapped a branch in her hands, glaring at the display. "Pervert…..how dare he touch my sister so intimately…."
"Oooooh, holding hands! So intimate."
"You know what I mean!"

"You might want to calm down a little." Yang suggested, suppressing a loud laugh. "That poor branch can't be feeling too good."

"Shut up."

"How many of those nests were there?!" Jaune yelled as he ran behind Pyrrha, the Rapier Wasps flying behind them. Both of them had their shields out, crouching underneath them to avoid being stung.

Pyrrha shook her head. "I didn't get a chance to count them! We have to get away from them quickly!"

The buzzing of the swarm followed them down, like something out of a nightmare. Jaune looked around desperately for something, anything, to get them out of the way.

"Pyrrha! Do you see anything? Water, a slope, a clearing?" The knight yelled over the buzzing.

The spearmaiden's own eyes were flitting from side to side." Nothing! Do you see Nora or anyone coming for us?"
"Nobody!" Jaune yelled back. 'Come on…..find something…..'

As if to answer his prayers, his eyes caught on something.

A slope coming up on his right. It was littered with branches, rocks and what-have-you.

He didn't have time to think. He didn't need it.

'Here goes nothing!'

Grabbing Pyrrha by the shoulders, he threw her onto the slope and threw himself over her body to protect her from being stung.

"Ah!" The spearmaiden squealed as both of them rolled down the slope, the Rapier Wasps flying past without noticing them. Jaune held on to her, clutching her tightly and grunting as they rolled over rocks and branches.

Eventually, they coasted to a stop at the bottom of the slope, with Pyrrha on top of Jaune. Their breaths were heavy, but relieved, as the buzzing of wasps faded away into the distance.

"…..g-good thinking, Jaune." The spearmaiden congratulated him. "T-thanks."

"…d-don't mention it." The knight shook his head. "I…..I just did what I could."

They stared at each other for what seemed an eternity. Their cheeks reddened and their pulses quickened, as they were slowly made aware of the close, physical proximity they were currently in. Their scents, mixed in with sweat and dirt, filled each other's nostrils, and their eyes stared into each other's, two mirrors of green and blue.

"….u-um." Jaune spoke up, breaking the silence. Pyrrha blinked, as if snapped out of a trance. "W-we should…."
"Y-yeah." She immediately pulled herself off of him, dusting herself off and shaking her head. She immediately offered Jaune a hand which he gratefully took.

The knight immediately looked over her arms and shoulders for any signs of scrapes or scratches. "You okay? You're not hurt, right?"
"Aura, remember?"

"Oh. R-right." Jaune sighed, looking away embarrassedly. "…..sorry. I was worried."

"…..y-you know." The spearmaiden spoke up suddenly, with a plaintive tone. "….I…uh." She started playing with her fingers nervously.

"….y-yes?" Jaune stared at her with anticipation.

"….y-you said that there weren't any cameras on us then, right?" Pyrrha inquired for clarification. Jaune nodded in the affirmative. "Yeah, why?"
"W-well….I mean…..uh….i-if there's…..n-nobody watching….."

She slowly drew nearer to Jaune, her cheeks reddening with every step. Jaune's eyes widened.

"W-wha-"

"I've….I-I've always wanted to do t-this….t-to give my first kiss t-to you. A-and…..i-it seems only fair that….I-I give you a little reward for….saving both of us." The spearmaiden explained, smiling through her embarrassment. "I-If it's…..okay with you."

"….y-yeah. It's okay." The knight reassured her, breathing in deeply as he smiled to signal his consent. "I…..I think it makes sense. To be honest, I…..I-I wanted to do this, too.

I love you, Pyrrha. You know that, right?"

Pyrrha was now barely a hair's breadth away from him. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around the knight, closing her eyes as her face drew near his.

"I know. A-and...I…love you too." She whispered gently.

He could smell the faint scent of maple in her perfume, the sweat and dirt from the chase and the faint hint of smoke from earlier in the morning. He closed his own eyes, slowly pulling in,

Their lips were coming closer, slowly. Their hearts pounded in their chests with anticipation-

And then Jaune's foot moved ever so slightly. And then-

"Wah!" The knight suddenly fell backwards from Pyrrha's grasp, falling into a pit behind him. As he was wrenched from her arms, the spearmaiden hung there for a second with arms extended and eyes still closed, waiting for the kiss, before she realised he was no longer there.

"W-what!? Jaune!" Pyrrha squealed, before looking in front of her to see Jaune in a pit, rubbing his backside.

"Ow….." He groaned, looking up. "What the…..a-a pitfall trap?! Who even-"

"M-Mister Rook!" Winter's excited voice squealed from the bushes as her head bobbed through. "I-I think we caught something!"
"A Grimm? A'ight, we'd better follow its tracks! Maybe we can find their nest!" Rook remarked, before both cowboy and lady emerged.

Instead of a Beowolf or something, they saw Pyrrha standing next to the pit with Jaune's arms visibly trying to scrabble out of the hole. Their excitement immediately disintegrated.

"…..oh." Winter looked ashamed. "S-Sorry!"
"Well, slap me 'round the head and call me a Beowolf's uncle." Rook uttered in disbelief. "How did that happen?"
"I don't…..he….whaaaaa?" Pyrrha looked utterly confused and slightly disappointed.

Nora, Ren, Norn and Blake burst through the bushes themselves. "Where are the wasps?!"

"Wasps? What wasps?" Weiss inquired as she and Yang emerged from behind Rook and Winter.

"Rapier Wasps! They were chasing them a moment ago!" Ren explained. "Also…..Nora, why do you look annoyed?"
"They were about to kiss, dammit! They were going to kiss! Ugh!" Nora threw her hands up in the air. "I give up! How do you even-GAH!"

She threw herself to the ground, pouting. "This is ridiculous!"

"Since you're all here, I assume you found something." Qrow announced as he, Roman, Ruby and Velvet appeared from the other end. "We found the Grimm nests. Or, rather, Ruby found them."
The reaper grinned at the others. "They're higher up on the mountain. You won't believe how I found it!"
"I fell into the damn thing." Roman grumbled, clutching his bowler hat in his hands and dusting it off irritably. "You won't believe how hard it is to get mud stains out of this!"

"We'll head back to camp for now." Qrow ordered. "We'll rest for a bit, and then we're going straight into training."

"Training?" Yang grinned. "Well, I know exactly what to do now."

She whipped out her scroll, but Qrow glared at her. "….don't you even think of playing that song."

"…awwwww…" The brawler pouted, disappointed. "How boring!"

END

A/N: Welp, next chapter brings the beginning of training and the beginning of plot once more! And HAH! You aren't getting your Jaune/Pyrrha kiss YET! Well, you had it already in canon, but….well, you know.

Excuse me while I punch a wall.

So, I hope you enjoyed that, leave your ideas, suggestions, criticisms, comments, reviews and thoughts, and I hope you have a GREAT day! Until next time!