Not Even Aura Can Heal All Wounds
By Wildstraydog
Beta: Super Saiyan Cyndaquil
Chapter Twelve: Excursion in the Wilds
So after this chapter expect The heat to be posted up in the same week or weekend, these would have been up the week after my last two chapter spree but I fell ill, which sucked because I'm about to go on vacation in one week for RTX. You guys might notice the cover art which was done by an amazing fan, it's the cover of the book that inspired Jaune.
Synopsis: After a major battle the night before with a Beringel in the village, Weiss briefly trains Jaune in the morning before they leave to survey the surrounding area for reports of increased Grimm activity.
Jaune never liked the sensation of cold water streaming down his body more than he ever did now. The brief training that Weiss pushed him through in the morning tensed his arm muscles to the point of exhaustion. By early noon Professor Goodwitch interrupted the session and ordered them to relax before they all ventured into the wilds. He almost forgot that just the night before Weiss and the others battled a Beringel in the drenching rain. Everything happened so fast he barely had time to register what to do in the next few hours.
By now everyone was gathering the necessary supplies for their reconnaissance in the nearby forest area. There were a few locations that Professor Goodwitch and Peach wanted to be surveyed. Since the appearance of the Beringel, both professors wanted all of them to remain in a group rather than separate and cover more ground. There was supposed to be increased Grimm activity around the region, but so far there hadn't been sightings of lesser known classes by the town. It was strange, that a Beringel would appear by itself without any other Grimm following close behind from the panicked emotions of the towns people.
He twisted the shower knob off and exited the wooden structure, grabbing a brown towel nearby. Blake was courtesy enough to allow him a few minutes in the shower before her, aware of his brutal training at the hands of Weiss that morning. Jaune dried himself and threw on his clothes and armor while sparing a glance at his weapon on the other side of the room. The black case stared back at him with its intimidating decoration, a reminder of its weight and potential abilities. He walked over and undid the latches, using both hands to lift the rapier out of its cushioning and smiled.
Brutalis Scutum, a marvel of a weapon. There was a chance he would be using it today – the blade somewhat frightened him, but everyone was supporting him. Granted he could only do so much with the brief exercises and spar Weiss and him were allotted. That was all he really wanted, to be able to fight alongside his friends and not be seen as some useless paper weight that could only help when the battle was over. Jaune gripped the handle of the rapier and thrust the point forward, the chopping of air blowing past his right ear. He couldn't help but be excited.
"Nice form." Blake commented from the door. Jaune flinched at the sudden observation and almost lost grip of his shiny new weapon, blushing in embarrassment.
"H-how long were you watching?"
She released a giggle and motioned with a nod. "Just long enough for you to daydream. Everyone is waiting downstairs when you're ready." He latched the rapier onto his belt and lifted up the shield with a grunt, placing it firmly onto his back.
"How's the weight?" Jaune rotated his shoulders and shifted his body weight until he was comfortable.
"Strange, but I'm fine," He noticed Blake's bow twitch slightly and smiled. "Did you guys have to wait long on me?" He checked his scroll and saw that it was close to noon, cursing his lack of attention.
"No, but we should hurry, we only have until nightfall." Jaune nodded and followed Blake downstairs, finding the inn just as noisy as it was last night. Being so close to lunch the bar was already filled with hungry patrons.
Professor Goodwitch's familiar posture and blonde hair were easy to pick out in the crowd, but what made him laugh was the look on her face. Natsuhiko was leaning against the wall and talking to the professor, a cocky smile on his face while the girls watched in amusement.
"Please remove yourself from my presence..."
"Look if you have someone already, I'm more man than you'll ever need professor." Natsuhiko attempted with a poor excuse of a pickup line.
"Sorry I'm late guys." Natsuhiko's attention was broken and Professor Goodwitch stepped forward to look over the placement of his weapon.
"I see you're ready... are you sure about this Jaune?" She whispered. Jaune smiled and looked past to see all of team RWBY looking on in anticipation. There was no backing out now, he came too far.
"Yeah I'm ready, I'll be fine." Professor Goodwitch let out a sigh and nodded, leading them outside despite the protests from Natsuhiko.
In contrast to the dark gray clouds and pouring down rain, the sun beamed down with a fury into his eyes when he stepped outside. The air was muggy and humid, and parts of the dirt still damp from last night when his shoes pressed down. He looked over at the collapsed tower and observed the mountain of rubble that was being cleared away by men with wheel barrels. Jaune admired the tenacity of the village to move on so quickly as if nothing happened the night before.
"You're not too tired are you Jaune?" Weiss asked, looking him over with a concerned gaze. Behind her Yang grew a mischievous smile.
"I heard the ice queen worked you pretty hard, got you all hot and sweaty." Yang teased with a chuckle. Weiss huffed at the accusation and walked away, leaving Ruby's sister to laugh at her quick blush.
"Jaune, you plan on using your weapon finally?!" Ruby inquired with excitement, kneeling down to look at the rapier with brightened silver eyes.
"Sort of, I mean yeah I want to use it, but not facing any Grimm would be ideal." He scratched the back of his neck and looked around for Professor Peach, finally noticing that she wasn't with the group.
"If you're looking for Professor Peach, she went ahead of us." Yang pointed toward the back side of the village where the gate stood. The village was fairly large, but the towering gates were easy to spot.
"We'll be joining her in just a moment, but first I want to lay down some ground rules before we traverse the wilderness." Professor Goodwitch said, raising her voice in an authoritative manner while adjusting her glasses.
"Here we go," Yang whispered to Blake with a grin.
"Because of the encounter last night with the Beringel, Professor Peach and I have decided that we should all remain in a group – however everyone will also remain in pairs during our trek." Jaune instinctively looked at Blake when the professor mentioned pairs.
"Remember children, this is a simple reconnaissance mission, there's no need to be rash and battle every Grimm we see. We are simply going to verify reports of increased activity near the border. Is that clear?" She looked at each student but focused her attention on team RWBY. Everyone nodded in understanding and followed the professor.
The rest of the village was generally what Jaune expected, houses laid out in rows with minimal decorations while open shops lined the cobblestone path. The noise of hammers and buzz saws were accompanied by the chatter of men and women passing by, their smiling faces a welcome sight. He noticed the occasional stares and laughter that some of the children and younger girls erupted in when they passed, leaving him to wonder if all Huntsman and Huntresses were treated with so much respect outside the walls. Usually he heard mixed stories.
Closer toward the back gate, he recognized the similar watch towers that remained intact in comparison to the wreckage at the entrance. By now he imagined they were almost for show if a large Grimm could snap them like toothpicks. Though he was confident the Professor wouldn't allow a repeated incident occur, not when it resulted in so many injuries. The villagers at top went rigid at their appearance and shouted for the gate to open, the creaking of metal drowning out the earlier noises.
"The gate closes at around nine, so make it back before then." One of the villagers shouted from above. That gave them about eight hours to look around.
As the gate slammed behind them, Jaune formed a knot in his stomach, the sound almost foreboding of what to expect in the wilds. He clenched his fists and followed the backs of his teammates, stepping over the pile of logs that were left outside by the gate. The amount of pine needles on the forest ground surprised him, and he found himself kicking it up to ease his tension. They followed a gravel path that the villagers created over the years to make a road, the professor wanting to find Peach before wasting too many hours.
The fauna of Vale was unique and varied, the sweet nectar of flowers assaulting his senses as they pushed through. He loved the bright leaves that fell from the trees in twisting motions that reminded him of the Forever Fall. It was the only beautiful memory that he could remember from that place, the rest filled with nightmares of Tawny's corpse and the Arachnids that poisoned Blake. There was so much to study and observe, especially for medicinal purposes.
"I'm sure you recognize a lot Jaune." Professor Goodwitch said from the front.
"Um, yes, we had to memorize particular ingredients that grew in the wild in case of emergencies." Yang snatched a flower from a branch and inhaled the yellow petals, her expression becoming relaxed.
"Well the flowers certainly smell nice." Yang said.
Jaune winced at the flower Yang picked up. "Uh, you probably shouldn't have sniffed that Yang, it's going to numb your senses for a minute." The blonde let out a squeak as she covered her nose, her tiny nostrils flaring and causing everyone to laugh at her clumsiness.
"Please refrain from doing anything irrational children," Professor Goodwitch said with a tired sigh, "This is still the wilderness." Yang continued to rub her nose while Blake let off a rare smile that Jaune found comforting.
The Path began to trail off further down the road, the gravel becoming less visible by the dirt and leaves that littered the trail. Professor Goodwitch said that Peach wasn't too far off – she was investigating one of the areas that the village scouts reported being teeming with Grimm at one point. He found it strange that so many Grimm could maneuver through Vale's borders without updated sightings. Anything large like a Beringel or Nevermore would be impossible not to see without attracting some raised eyebrows.
Maybe Professor Peach knew something? If she was married to Doctor Oobleck, she probably had a lot of experience when it came to field work and how Grimm interacted with their surroundings. He still couldn't figure out how those two got together, much less how she understood the man in his caffeine-induced state.
"Professor Goodwitch, I found something you should look at." Weiss called from ahead of the group.
Jaune huddled past Yang and Professor Goodwitch to look at what Ruby and Weiss' gaze was fixated on. When he approached his eyes widened a bit, glancing down at the hundreds of indentions that were left in the mud. Tracks lined the wooden open for hundreds of yards, the foliage that populated the area now flattened into the dirt. Messy piles of snapped branches littered the ground, and he could make out a splintered trunk that was ripped from its roots. It was mounting evidence that a stampede had recently gone through, the sight brining a chill to his spine as he imagined all the Grimm congregating.
"This is..." Jaune whispered in awe.
"Don't sit there and gawk," Professor Peach called out, surprising the group. "We got plenty of samples here to collect if you all help out." Peach sauntered over the tracks, careful not to stomp over the scene.
"Collect samples... like we did at the beginning of the semester?" Yang trailed off with her lips slightly parted, a horrific look appearing on her face.
"No complaining children." Professor Goodwitch added. Everyone except him let out a groan, and as he continued to look down at the ground and examine the tracks, Jaune realized something much larger than his personal woes was at stake.
A sigh of boredom escaped from Blake as she pushed the tip of the plastic container into the dirt, scooping up a few pebbles from the tracks. Professor Peach insisted that they collect anything that would give them a clue about the Grimm's unusual movements. Her mind was too preoccupied on Jaune's progress with the local heiress – In the morning she watched for a couple of minutes as she instructed him on how to handle a rapier. She was impressed with how quickly he adapted, surprised that he was unable to pick up swordsmanship from his father. Then again that was another issue entirely... he was still quiet when it came to his family.
Blake glanced over at the blonde and observed him. He balanced a few containers on a white tray that Professor Peach gave him while the rest of her team was still dirtying their hands. She was curious on what a few samples could actually tell the professor – you could only predict a Grimm's movement so much. Older Grimm usually avoided human settlements and large kingdoms unless they were traveling in large groups. She never really thought about what the Grimm thought, always passing them off as mindless beasts that fed on negative emotions. Perhaps that was somewhat ignorant of her – even if they were controlled by the sole emotion of killing humans, that didn't mean they were completely void of thought.
"How much longer do we have to do this?" Yang complained, directing the comment in her direction. She rolled her eyes but agreed that going at it for two hours seemed a little unnecessary. Her ears twitched at the sound of rustling a few yards away, and caught several birds flying away in the distance. She reached for Gambol Shroud and concentrated her gaze to the north. The noise went silent, but an odd smell that was similar to kerosene assaulted her nose, the pungent odor traveling into her nostrils. Jaune surprised her by placing a hand on her shoulder, a furrowed stare visible in his blue eyes. Kerosene wasn't unusual for a village, especially when used for lamps or torches, but what would a villager be doing out so far into the wilds? Hunting maybe... but that was done in groups.
"What is it?"
"I smell Kerosene nearby..." She ruffled her nose, the stench more bothersome then she thought.
"I can actually smell it too, it's pretty strong." Jaune noted, looking toward the brush for signs of people. Yang threw the rest of the containers aside near Professor Peach and cracked her knuckles.
"Finally some action," Yang said.
"I don't remember Mayor Natsuhiko mentioning that villagers were out here... children stay on your guard, it could be bandits." Out in the wilds bandits were quite common – pathetic groups of raiders that preyed on the less secured villages and towns that were away from Vale's cities.
"You all go ahead," Professor Peach said in an excited ramble. She gathered up the containers into her bag and looked back at Professor Goodwitch. "I need to secure these samples, I'll join you in a bit." Blake noticed Jaune's inquisitive expression, his eyes following her as she disappeared back the way they came. He never admitted it, but she imagined that Jaune admired the eccentric professor.
Jaune undid his rapier and shield and got into position behind her, steadying both feet so they were placed firmly into the dirt. She could tell he was anxious by the sweat trailing down his neck – the last thing they needed was for their medic to be taken out instantly. "Yang and I will go scout up ahead, if that's okay Professor Goodwitch."
"I'm afraid it's not," She curtly responded. "We'll all investigate together, no matter how time consuming the ordeal is." Yang let out grumble and kicked aside a rock on the ground in frustration.
"I'll lead the way then." Blake said.
Professor Goodwitch let out a sigh and nodded. "Very well, but we'll be close behind." Her partner's lilac eyes brightened up and she cocked Ember Celica.
Although the trek was slower with additional people, they were drawing closer to the smell. Blake brushed aside a leaf that grew up to her shoulders and grimaced when she noticed that she stepped onto a clump of moss that stuck to her low-heel boots. The origin of the scent led them out into an opening with grassy knolls that stretched across the landscape. If she looked close enough, she could make out more tracks hidden by the tall grass that danced against the breeze.
The opening seemed to stretch for a few hundred yards until it was separated by a sea of large oak trees. The scenery would be beautiful if not for the rank odor that accompanied it. In the middle of the field there was a fallen tree that was snapped in half, the splinters from the trunk pointed upward like raised swords on the battlefield. She thought it possible that lightning might have bisected the tree if not for the hundreds of Grimm tracks in the ground. While initially breathtaking to look at, something about the openness of the area made her anxious, like they were exposed.
Ruby stood close to Weiss and gripped her scythe, her silver eyes darting back and forth for any slight movements. When she and the others arrived in the middle, she located a wet trail that led off into several directions from the patch of dirt they stood on and into the grass.
Blake kneeled down and caressed her finger into the soil where it was moist, bringing it up to her nose and wrenching back at the kerosene. "This is strange."
"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.
"These lines... someone purposely dripped kerosene around the feel in erratic motions." Her amber eyes widened in fear at the realization of what she discovered.
"Professor Goodwitch!" Blake called.
Everything was thrown into chaos after that. She heard the familiar malice-filled roar of an Ursa Major in the distance that reverberated through the air. Blake caught the sight of a lone spark fall onto the trail of kerosene and jumped back, pushing Yang along with her as a sea of flames erupted across the grassy hill. The fire spread quickly and followed the trails to form a maze, essentially separating them into groups. She knew it was all intentional, but no Grimm could have set this up, and she was beginning to doubt the bandit theory. Could the White Fang somehow be involved?
"Jaune," Blake coughed as the smoke grew, "Are you there?" She narrowed her eyes and tried to make out the silhouette approaching her.
She heard the boy's cough and relaxed, seeing Jaune emerge with a gloved hand over his mouth. "I can barely see you Blake, is Yang with you?"
"Don't worry," Yang accompanied them with a similar hack, "Just trying to breathe and survive!" She could always tease even in the toughest of situations.
"Is there any way out?!"
It was almost impossible to see through the smoke, and the heat increased by the second, cinders flying through the air and the grass under them catching flame. They would all die of asphyxiation if they didn't hurry – and the source of that roar still bothered her as well.
"Yang!" Jaune called out, catching Yang's collapsing body. She was wheezing and her eyes were shut. Jaune attempted to check her pulse while he coughed.
Before she could panic even more, a mist of ice washed through the wall of flames behind them, chilling her entire form and creating an open space for them to breathe again. Blake darted her head backwards and smiled at Weiss' appearance, the heiress preparing another glyph to conquer the flames. She brought her attention back to Yang and saw Jaune performing CPR on her body. Everyone watched in fright as he pushed on Yang's chest with careful thrusts so as not to rupture bones in the process. Eventually she coughed, her chest heaving up and down on Jaune's lap.
"Yang you're ok!" Ruby cried out, her bright smile accompanied by a few stray tears. She encompassed Yang into a hug as the blonde tried to catch her breath.
"Miss Xiao Long, are you alright?" Professor Goodwitch asked, her eyes scanning the area. Blake was taken back by the woman's sharp aura, the professor obviously still on guard after the sudden attack.
A low growl interrupted their celebration of Yang's recovery, and from behind the walls of ice that Weiss created with her semblance, a horde of Beowulf's and creeps emerged. Further back with her vision, Blake spotted some Ursa lying in wait – yet the Ursa Major she heard was still nowhere to be seen. Jaune stood from where he was aiding Yang and pointed his rapier forward, taking a few steps back to where Weiss and Professor Goodwitch stood. She would have begun the assault, but... the Grimm did nothing but snarl and watch with furor.
"Grimm can be very obedient if you train them correctly." A feminine voice said.
Blake would have noted her attractiveness if not for the venom in her soft voice. A girl around their age walked forward between two Beowulf's and petted the closest one by her. She had elbow-length red hair that glistened with orange highlights. The girl's emerald eyes were bright and fascinating, accented by her perfect features and tiny plump lips.
The girl wore a strange outfit that contrasted her appearance; a white undershirt that was covered by a black leather jacket that's front pockets were chained, and a low hanging white skirt that hugged her petite form. Streaks of purple lines were etched on the fabric of the skirt, bringing an unusual clash of colors to her outfit. She took careful steps in her red boots and brushed her shoulder, a frown overtaking her model-like features.
"Thankfully I've found them something to play with."