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To Live and Learn

CHAPTER 14

"[Noah Arc] gathered two of every faunus species on Remnant, and then he hurled them onto a boat, and then he beat the crap out of every single one.

…And from that day forward, any time a bunch of animals are together in one place, it's called a menagerie! Unless it's a zoo. Or a farm. It doesn't matter!"

-Sergeant Barrett J. Dough's very loose retelling of the origin of Menagerie.

The bandits violently tied me up before dragging me to their camp inside the cave. I have to admit, the camp was pretty impressive and organized for a bunch of criminal scum in the middle of a red-colored forest. They even had banners of their emblem hanging around as if they were some kind of a big deal. Of course, the emblem had to depict a wolf, which seems to be the animal of choice for most gangs thanks to the wolf pack nonsense. Outlaws seem to have no originality these days.

Everyone there kept giving me looks of contempt, with one of them even having the audacity to spit on me. I got the impression that this bandit clan has a strong aversion to blonde idiots like me for some reason. One could think that these could be El Segador's ex-goons, a thought that was VERY unhelpful at the time but that would explain why they all seem to hate my mere existence as if I was lower than dirt.

Well, I did get them to kill two of their own guys because I inadvertently sent the Rapier-Wasps to them, so I suppose that would be enough to explain why they hated me so much.

They took me to a cage and pushed me inside. Before they could leave two of them entered the cage, one of them untied me while the other kept pointing his fancy-looking Atlesian pistol at me to make sure I wasn't trying anything they didn't want me to do. Judging by the fact this one wore a more unique Grimm mask, he was probably high-ranking. He was also a faunus, seeing that he had a red fox tail on his hind back.

"Yer belongins'—weapons, money, scrolls, surrender them now." He said after his buddy was untying me, he was speaking in a Hibernian accent, in fact, most of the bandits in the vicinity seem to have it. [1]

I have no choice but to comply. I gave them my stuff, they let me keep my armor as they didn't need it anyway, they sent my belongings to another room as I kept a mental note on what direction they were heading. The scroll was password-protected, so I don't have to worry about them opening it and disabling the team tracker, even if they did manage to open it, I doubt that they would have the time to learn to navigate the applications exclusive to Beacon students.

"So…" the same person who was pointing his weapon at me said after leaving the cage and locking it. "You've got a bit o' nerve comin' 'ere, humie. Are ya alone or are ye with someone else?" His use of the word 'humie' made it obvious that he really was a faunus, a very unpleasant faunus with breath just as dirty as his mouth. I was even suspecting that this clan might only consist of faunus.

Normally, I'll tell the truth out of fear, but being the seasoned liar I am, I knew it would be better for me not to tell them the truth. It's only a matter of time until my team finds me, who just happens to be more than capable enough to handle a bunch of bandits especially since Ren and Nora have experience fighting them (at least if Nora's tall tales are to be believed) and Pyrrha had fought worse. I just needed to make them keep their guard down so that this would be over before I even knew it, so I had this clever idea of pretending to be even more of a pathetic unlucky idiot that I already am.

"N-No, no, no, no, no. Whatever idea you had, you got it wrong. I'm just a lone traveler. Look, I'm really, really sorry for running into you guys while being chased by Rapier Wasps. I didn't know you were there and I didn't mean it, believe me!" My whimpering was convincing enough, probably because I was already shaking with anxiety to begin with.

"So ya had nothin' to do with the Huntsmen brats we found wanderin' 'round?" he interrogated.

"Wait, there are Huntsmen here?" I continued to play dumb. He paused for a moment before looking at me closer. I was worried that he'd recognize me from something. Thankfully, that wasn't the case.

"Well, ya don't look like a Huntsman." The bandit remarked after he examined my clothes, which were just ordinary clothes underneath some armor that you can buy at your nearest blacksmith, making me pass as a civilian who just happened to be armed for the worse. "Sorry to break to ya, humie, but ah'm afraid that yer stuck 'ere with us. Shouldn't have wandered 'round the woods alone." He said before leaving with a petty laugh.

I gulped at the statement while being appalled by his continuous use of the word 'humie'. I know there are certain types of people who like to argue that faunus can't be racist to humans because they're oppressed minorities, but calling me with that slur was kinda uncalled for, even though it's just a puerile nickname for us hairless apes. And I thought being called a nerd was bad, I would have preferred a more original insult, I would have given him credit if he did.

I sat down waiting for help to come while telling myself that I really should learn how to think straight while trying to flee from danger. I keep getting into these situations because of stupidity and carelessness and I should learn how to break that habit before it finally becomes lethal.

Examining the camp, I looked for possible escape routes, as well as making some sort of plan B in case no one comes. I saw the bandit who was guarding my cage had a key on the back of his belt. While tempting, it was best for me if I waited for the right time; my hands weren't soft enough to steal them without getting caught. I looked at all the other bandits and studied their equipment, most of them were using projectile-based firearms of some kind, and others were seen carrying energy weapons, judging by their high-tech modules and their sleek, monochrome Atlesian design. It made me wonder how they were able to get their hands on those; I'm sure they cost a fortune in the black market.

When I tried to eavesdrop on the bandits, I was only able to overhear something about a kidnapping or something, not exactly sure if that was referring to me. I went closer to the cell, trying to continue listening to the conversation to which the guard just angrily whipped his weapon at the iron bars. "Don't get any bright ideas."

I flinched back and continued to sit in my cell for almost half an hour, thinking of what to do and praying for the best while telling myself not to freak out.

Eventually, I heard sounds of bandits running to the exit followed by an explosion coming from the outside, then heard a familiar yell from a certain Valkyrie. "Where did you put our dear leader?! Tell us before I break all of your legs, one by one!"

The bandit guarding the cage was startled and raised his gun and was about to walk away. Before I could let any of that happen. I quickly looked around to see if the coast was clear, I saw that everyone had left the area to deal with the intruders. So I took this opportunity to grab the guard's mouth through the cage and bashed his head at the bars until he was out cold.

I grabbed the key from his belt and used it to unlock and open the cage door. Stepping out, I took his submachine gun to give myself a temporary weapon before I looted his body for lien, ammo, dust, and any valuables for good measure. [2]

After a minute of quietly walking toward the direction where they took my belongings while aiming with an SMG, I went to one of the more notable doors that caught my eye. The room was an office with several lockers, file cabinets, and chests, as well as a flag with the bandit clan's emblem hanging on the wall and a single fan on the corner of the ceiling. I looked at every locker and chest to find my stuff until I eventually found them.

I continued to scavenge for supplies when I heard a voice call while I was looting one of the chests. "Oi!"

I quickly turned around and saw the high-ranking bandit from before. He was trying to reach for his pistol. I threw the submachine gun at him, knocking him over as I grabbed my sword by its scabbard, storming towards him and then swinging the pommel to his head, rendering him unconscious. I put my sword back in my belt and searched his body and took all of his money and ammunition.

The best thing that I took from him was his pistol; it wasn't just a pistol—it was a laser pistol. While it doesn't look like much, laser weaponry was feared for a good reason. They're much more accurate and powerful than projectile weapons as they can deplete aura within a few shots while projectile weapons require an entire clip or two to accomplish that, depending on the ammo or gun type. They also lack recoil and hold more ammo than projectile weapons, meaning I don't have to worry much about reloading every now and then, I just need to make sure it doesn't overheat after firing it too many times. I also have to be careful with its power cells—I've been hearing reports on how the overcharging of lasers causes them to explode; those are one of the few downsides of laser weapons. But despite its few flaws, overall, these types of weapons are effective enough that they are often degraded as 'guns for cowards' but only because they are afraid of people wise enough to use them, and besides, that only made the weapon more suitable for me. Makes me wonder why Huntsmen don't use more guns like this. [3]

I left the room with my sword unsheathed in my right hand, and the laser pistol in the other. [4] I have always done my best to emulate Dad's sword-and-gun fighting style so much that it was almost as refined as my skills with a sword-and-shield. I had always needed a sidearm as it was the only thing that felt missing from my equipment and I was finally able to get my hands on one.

Two bandits came in and spotted me. I hastily shot them both, almost instantly disabling them. After seeing their bodies collapse, I noticed that neither of them bled blood, instead, they were showing cauterized wounds on where I shot them. My eyes widened in shock; I was dazed for a second, lowering my weapon whilst I came to a realization:

This gun was awesome.

I am so keeping this, I thought. I guess my stupidity to get myself into crap like this was finally paying off for once, and I kinda had Team CRDL to thank for it. I still had a bone to pick with them though.

I continued to find my way out of the bandit cave, subduing, and looting every bandit I came across. Eventually one of them managed to ambush me off-guard, knocking me to the ground. He was about to thrust his rifle's bayonet into me when he was suddenly shot by a few bullets on his side and was knocked out by a kick, the person responsible was then revealed to be Ren. "Jaune! There you are!"

"Ren! Why am I glad to see you!" I stood up grabbing his arm as he helped me up.

"Thank the Omnissiah we've found you. Our scroll's machine spirit has guided us well." He said. Not exactly the thing I was hoping to hear when we finally regrouped but it was nice to hear from him again nonetheless. "What were you doing here?"

"Not important." I said, emptying the last bandit's pockets "Let's just focus on getting out of this mess."

He nodded and followed my lead. I gave him all of the .45 ACP ammo I picked up for guns. Some of them have the bonus of being HP and AP rounds that make his dual machine pistols more powerful and look less like peashooters mainly used for distraction. [5] He kinda looked puzzled when I handed them to him but chose not to question it. And of course, he had to pray to his Machine God to bless the new ammo he acquired. Whatever works for him, I suppose.

We soon found Nora and Pyrrha fighting off a horde of bandits that surrounded them. The fight was in our team's favor as I hoped, with bandits dropping like flies. The bandits made it even worse for them when one of them thought it would be a good idea to electrify Nora with a shock rod, and knowing exactly how Nora's semblance worked, this went as well as you'd expect.

Nora screamed as her body started sparking with power. Pyrrha, knowing what would happen, jumped out of the way. The bandits remained bewildered until they were all knocked out by a shockwave caused by a single drop of Nora's hammer.

Nora went out of her way to finish off every single one of them as neat as you please; they were never given a chance to retreat or retaliate. We both watched with a mixture of astonishment and horror. "Ren. Remind me to never make her angry." I said, leaning my head toward him.

"Agh! Who's next?!" She said after putting the last bandit to sleep. Her semblance then wore off and she was back to her normal state, and that was when she finally noticed me. "Jaune!"

She bolted to give me a hug, it was tight, especially with the armor I'm wearing, but I have gotten used to it. "You're okay! I mean, of course, you are. You're the fearless Jaune Arc! Nothing could ever get to you!"

Yeah, tell that to these guys when they captured me because I was too busy not being stung by wasps to think clearly.

Nora suddenly groaned and held her stomach. "Ugh. Sorry, still hungover from the saps." That was something I have been expecting from the moment I saw her drink them.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha approached me. "Thank goodness you're okay. What were you thinking?! Miss Goodwitch told us not to wander off. Now you're here surrounded by… bandits! Do you have any idea how worried we were?!"

I held a slightly ashamed expression, not knowing what to say apart from apologizing over it. "Yeah, sorry about that. I think I got too hasty back there."

She sighed. "I guess all that matters is that you're fine. But don't ever do that again! You have a lot to answer to Professor Goodwitch!"

As much as I was idiotic enough to wander off because I was being chased by killer flies, I didn't believe I was the right person to blame for all of this. I never even wanted to be in there. "Hey, I don't think we'd be in here if Cardin didn't send those rapier wasps at me!" That, and if I thought all of this through.

"Winchester…" she hissed, almost looking away. "Will he ever learn?"

"After this, he probably will," I remarked, believing that this was the last straw that I didn't have any plan to be lenient, given how they've almost killed with their last stunt.

"I think they're down 'ere!" An incoming voice said. Seeing that we've dispatched so many bandits in this cave, we correctly guessed that this was the last batch. I figured that I needed to fully repay these bandits for holding me hostage and as gratitude for the fine pistol and loot I got before leaving the camp. Besides, I could use a little more lien.

"So, wanna make the world a better place?" I asked my team with a smug smirk.

They all hesitated but agreed anyway. If we knocked out most of a bandit camp, we might as well take care of the rest. Take it as a service to the community. Since there was an impressive number of bandits in this camp, we probably reduced the crime rates in the Forever Falls area by a significant margin.

Six armed bandits came out. "A'ight, ye tailless monkeys! Ya better say yer pr—" they then saw all of their unconscious buddies and four barely scathed Huntsmen glaring at them, it didn't take long for them to begin shuddering. "Uhh. Beautiful weather, ain't it?"

These were a bunch of bandits only armed with regular weaponry and they were facing a rather talented team in one of the finest academies in Remnant with significant amounts of combat experience in spite of not being fully-fledged Huntsmen. I'll keep it short and clean while you do the math. And that's not even mentioning that Pyrrha used her semblance to pull all of their weapons away from them. Let's just say it did not take much effort at all.

=o=

1. The majority of the members in the Valish cell are of Hibernian descent, likely due to the long history of Hibernian faunus being marginalized by the predominantly-Albionic human population in the Valish Region.

2. Aside from his feats, consummate leadership, and fighting ability, Jaune was known by his friends and allies for looting every unconscious/deceased hostile body he comes across, as well as scavenging the area for any valuables and having them sold if they lack any use. Thankfully, he reserves this only for criminals and corrupt officials, otherwise, he would do his best to restrain himself. He admits that video games inspired him to do this.

3. Huntsmen who utilize laser-based weaponry are rare during that era due to the weapons being relatively new. They were more challenging to reverse engineer, making them very impractical to be modified into unique weapons, and Huntsmen usually preferred magnetic dust blasters when it came to energy weapons.

4. Despite being right-handed, Jaune almost exclusively wields small arms with only his left hand, even if his dominant hand is vacant. This is because he was trained to use such weapons while wielding a sword, making him ambidextrous to an extent.

5. Ren uses regular .45 ACP FMJ (Full Metal Jacket) rounds for his StormFlower, likely due to being cheap, common, and is the few types of ammo that weren't prohibited from being sold to non-licensed Huntsmen. While they have decent stopping power, FMJ rounds are considered less effective than HP, AP, and AUP rounds (Hollow-Point, Armor-Piercing, and Aura-Piercing) due to them not being designed to expand on impact with a soft target, let alone aura.

After we were done 'cleaning' up the cave, we finally walked out of it, feeling a little tired from the combat we had to go through. I anonymously informed the Valish authorities about the camp, providing them with some pictures as proof. I'm not exactly worried about the bandits waking up because I have deprived them of most of their supplies and it won't take long for The Valish to arrive. I had no intention of staying around for a little longer nor was I willing to meet with the authorities and discuss this matter so we proceeded to make our way back to the class.

It was a fun yet unpleasant experience that didn't need to occur at all. I was mostly alive thanks to Pyrrha and Nora dealing with most of the bandits. At least the loot made it all worthwhile, especially the laser pistol, I'm going to be using it a lot. Thankfully the entire thing happened in only about half an hour at most so the entire thing didn't take too long and everything ended before this incident could have been prolonged and it could have been a much larger problem for everyone involved.

"Glad that's over," I said, taking a deep breath.

"That was fun. But how are we going to tell Miss Goodwitch and others about this?" Nora asked, thinking like a sensible person for once.

"That's what I'm worried about," I stopped for a moment and turned to everyone. "We'll just have to forget about all of this. Everything that happened here was a mistake. We've been through enough, we don't need to give ourselves more trouble by telling them that we had to crack a few skulls just to get here." That, and I didn't want to make my reputation worse by letting everyone know that I fought a bandit camp like it was nothing.

"I see where you're coming from, but I don't know about this. I mean—lying to the teachers?" Pyrrha remarked. It seems that a respected valedictorian like her wasn't used to saying white lies as I was but there's a first time for everything. It's what she has to do when she's partnered up with someone like me.

"But they need to know how bad Cardin put you through! You can't let him get away after all of this!" Nora replied vehemently. I get that my team wants to defend my honor, which I could appreciate but they needed to consider the bigger picture.

"Look guys, just bear with me for a moment. Cardin and his band of idiots are going to get punished either way. They decided to pull that stupid crap while they were still in detention. He isn't getting away scot-free. I just want us to move past this without any more drama. Is that clear?" I explained, hoping they get the message this time.

They took a minute to contemplate, not being sure about trying to cover the blood on their hands but being able to understand the reason why admitting it would be disastrous in a situation that's already bad enough on its own. "I guess you're right." Pyrrha conceded. "But I'm not going to be happy about this."

"If you say so. Our fearless leader is always right!" Nora chirped almost as if she wasn't fervent with her objections a minute before.

And it looks like I don't have to worry about Ren. I could see that he was willing to agree or just couldn't care less as long as everyone got out alive and safe and it was apparent that he would have nothing to say when we reunite with the class. Fine by me, as long as what little he had to say wouldn't be a hindrance.

"Good," I said, very well pleased that we were able to come up with an agreement without having to resort to a lengthy debate and waste more time over this matter. "We'll just have to tell them that we have to fight a few Grimm along the way."

We resumed our trek to return to our class. On our way, I couldn't help but notice that Ren kept glancing back. There was something from the bandit camp that kept bothering him. "Is there anything wrong, Ren?" I asked.

"I don't know… are you sure those were bandits?" He mused.

That raised my brow. It made me wonder what made him think that. "Of course, what else do you think they are?"

"I can't help but feel that they could be something worse. They seemed too organized and well-equipped to be bandits," he explained.

Pyrrha seemed to have concurred with that assessment. "You're not the only one. Their emblem looked oddly familiar—I think I heard about them before."

I was rather skeptical that we just ended up defeating a group more severe and sinister than a bunch of illiterate thugs in the middle of a funny-looking forest. I thought that was giving us too much credit. "Guys, don't be silly. Even if they're worse than bandits. What's the difference? Criminals are criminals. Whatever they were, they're not our problem anymore."

"But still…" Pyrrha sighed and shook her head. "Let's just get back to the others."

It took a small while but we were able to reach where we left with the class waiting for us and a few students even having their weapons out, looking out for potential threats.

"There you are!" Miss Goodwitch exclaimed with a mix of agitation and relief as she stepped out. "Where have you been? We've all been worried for you."

"Just wandered off a bit. I had to fight my way out," I answered, telling the truth without going to the specifics. I have barely been caught lying before, making it so that she doesn't suspect me too much of being dishonest. "But I'm okay. Nothing to worry about."

"That's right. Nothing bad ever happened! Ever!" Nora said with disappropriate amounts of cheerfulness and denial. Real smooth, Nora, I thought.

Thankfully Miss Goodwitch seemed to have dismissed that as nothing more than inconsequential nonsense that typically comes out of her mouth and was otherwise, taking my word for it. "That's good to hear," she adjusted her glasses, feeling relieved. "I would like to apologize for what happened to you. Had I been more strict with Team CRDL and kept a closer eye on them, we could have potentially avoided this. Rest assured that I am punishing them accordingly. They won't be going anywhere until they collect ten saps each and twenty-five for Cardin and that's not even mentioning their extended detention. If they keep this up, I'll see to it that they'll be temporarily suspended."

"It's alright, Professor. We all know who to blame here." I said, glaring at Cardin and his team, just at a corner collecting sap with several jars as Yang leaned at one of the nearby trees, watching them while eating an apple. If I told her about the bandit camp, they'd surely be suspended, but it was too much of a double-edged sword and this kind of punishment was already good enough for me. Besides, I had another plan to keep them in line. "May I have a few words with them?"

"Sure. By all means," she nodded.

"Thank you," I said before walking toward them, leaving my team behind to take a little rest after our recent activities. They earned it that much.

"Look who's back," Yang remarked as soon as she saw me approaching the four. "Sorry that they had to put you in such a mess but at least you look alright. I always hated those darn wasps."

I gave out a playful little smirk, trying to suppress my full exasperation at the moment. "Oh, you have no idea."

"Heh. Well, whatever it was, Professor Peach won't be having a red sap shortage anytime soon," she said, taking a small bite of her apple.

"Yeah, I can see that," I said. "Mind if I take over?"

"Alright then," she swallowed her piece before walking out. "Watching these morons was already boring me out of my mind anyway.

I took a few more steps as I gazed at the team struggling to get some sap in their jars. They noticed me and turned back their heads. Nothing threatens them more than me when I'm not pretending to be a nice blond goof so I temporarily dropped that persona at the moment. "Hello, you cardinal birdbrains. I hope your funny little prank on me was worth it," I scornfully greeted with a slight combination of smugness and restrained indignation.

The four could barely stare at me back and Sky was just grimacing in fear and shame as he tried to look away. "Mighty strong words for someone who ran away from some bugs," Dove said defensively, though I could notice his normally-squinted eyes widened a little.

"Bugs that were capable of killing anyone." I pointed out, dropping my grin as I narrowed my eyes, letting my expressing authoritative side for once. "Just what the hell were idiots you thinking? Do you realize that you could have gotten someone seriously hurt? Were you that too fixated on getting back on me that you weren't able to see that this was a dumb idea even if you weren't suspended?!"

They were speechless, only being able to exchange glances back at me. Not that it stopped Cardin from trying to downplay the situation. "Hey, at least everyone's okay. Right?" He nervously grinned, his voice faintly shaking.

Not entirely true. Some people are in comas, crippled, or even dead because of his recklessness. Good thing they weren't from our class though. And I still did not appreciate having to fight my way out of a bandit cave. "Yeah, sure. But we weren't okay with you causing a scene that attracted a damn Ursa. Just imagine what would happen if it went worse. You should have known when to stop. Be thankful they are not suspending you yet."

The team was once again silent. They didn't have any rebuttal this time so they simply went back to collecting sap, looking ashamed and regretful of themselves, though Russel kept sporting an angry scowl.

I assumed that they were able to get the message and that I don't need to hammer it further. So I decided that I got what I came for and walked away. After taking a few steps, I sensed something coming from behind for a very brief moment. Almost out of reflex, I grabbed my gun, quickly turning back and fired at it.

The next thing I heard was the sound of glass breaking as I saw a glimpse of a jar shattering while my laser fire landed on a tree branch above Russel, leaving a smoking hole on it. A blinked for a moment, processing what just happened in the past second, staring at Russel looking frightened as he ducked in front of that tree before realizing that he tried to throw another sap at me as if he wasn't afraid of further repercussions that would come to him and his team.

Seeing as the team, or just Russel, haven't taken a hint yet. I decided to teach them one last lesson which would hopefully be enough for them to finally get them out of my hair. And just like before, I wasn't holding back.

I marched toward Russel. Before he could do anything, I grabbed him by the collar and pushed him toward the tree branch that I indirectly shot. "Don't you think you've done enough? If you really want to get suspended that badly you could have just asked." Glaring at him up close straight into his eyes, his head couldn't look more shavable. Without his bravado, it just made him look stupid.

"Now listen here you skinny puke-haired punk. I may look like a dumb blond idiot who likes to wear a funny rabbit hoodie but I am still an Arc, one that was able to kick your ass before and I can happily do it again." I spoke very coldly, never raising my voice but still showing my evident anger. "If you know anything about my family's name, you'll know they are renowned for a good reason. They have powerful connections that helped them destroy entire armies, and they can make sure you could never step foot on a Huntsman Academy ever again by just lifting a finger. You wouldn't want to mess with them, and you wouldn't want to mess with me. Don't forget that I am here because I got a Bandit Lord killed, and one of the first things I did in this academy was put a Nevermore down. Compared to them, You. Are. Nothing."

I tend to avoid threats like this whenever possible, but when I did I made sure it was something that they won't be able to forget. Even if I was bluffing, my family still wasn't above using every ruthless tactic in the book to get what they want. After all, my Dad was a Commissar and my Mom worked for the Watchers. Though they do this very sparingly especially now since they are both retired to a more modest life. At least that's what they told me.

"But since I'm a nice guy. I'm giving you another chance to lay off, grow up, quit harassing me, stop preying on students who you think are weaker than you, and get a better haircut. You're a Huntsman for crying out loud. Now act like it, and I encourage your teammates to do the same. Mark my words and make sure it gets in that thick skull of yours."

He remains shaken as I finally let him go. "Now get out of my sight," I said with a smile while keeping a frigid tone as I tapped both of his shoulders. He quickly ran away to his team and tried to hide behind his teammates while they looked terrified as well, probably thinking of doing the same thing as Russel. That'll be enough to officially get them off my back. I got to admit, I sounded like Dad when he is at his coldest. It was kind of a scary thought, I guess that's what being a Commissar does.

They tried to resume collecting sap, only to find out that all of the jars they filled were empty. "Hey! What the hell?!" Cardin yelled while Dove grabbed his hair

"Oops, sorry!" Nora said from a distance from them before making a large burp, her mouth was noticeably covered in sap and she was rubbing her stomach, looking hung-over from it.

To make matters worse for Team CRDL, Miss Goodwitch reprimanded them yet again. "Have you all learned nothing? Ten more jars to fill for all of you!" She said, levitating boxes of empty jars beside them. "I hope this is enough to discourage you from further delinquency. How shameless!"

The four could only groan as she walked away. "Thanks a lot, Russel!" Dove yelled before they went back to collecting sap again while everyone was done and was simply enjoying the forest. I no longer had to worry about submitting my own sap. The punishment Team CRDL was going to make up for it.

As I was about to holster my gun, Ruby suddenly dashed toward my side with a huge grin on her face. "Hey! You got a gun! That's new, where'd you get it?"

Of course, I didn't want to mention the situation in the bandit cave, so I answered her in typical Jaune Arc fashion. "Got it from a foxy fellow. He sure has a good taste in guns."

That was thankfully enough to satisfy her, though not that it did stop her from having her eyes glued to it. I can't blame her, it's a genuinely good gun. I had to wonder why it took a whole month for me to get one. Regardless, I'll be using this baby a lot.

The only thing left for me to do was to sell my loot to a pawn shop and buy some energy cells for it on my next visit to Vale.

Editorial Note:

After Team JNPR's encounter with the White Fang outpost on Forever Falls, an anonymous member of the Valish terrorist cell recorded the aftermath of the incident. These documents were eventually recovered after the Atlesian military seized the White Fang's assets following their downfall. Through some bartering, I managed to get a hold of some of these documents for the sake of the archive.

The White Fang Reports: Forever Fall Aftermath.

The philosophy of the legendary Adam Taurus states that the lives of many faunus are worth more than a single human. Hence why the recent attack on the Forever Fall outpost was a huge blow for us, despite being a relatively minor asset located in a crimson-coloured wilderness that only a few visit. While the revolution calls for the necessary sacrifice of faunus blood, the attack was not something we anticipated.

The attack was significant, not only because the lives of our fellow revolutionaries were lost and the supplies cached there were stolen, but also because it was not carried out by a hostile military operation, but by a single lone human with unknown motives. [1] There was only a vague description of his appearance that was provided before the outpost fell: blond, male, average build, fairly young, pale-skinned, around five to six feet tall, wore the colours of white and blue during the attack. Due to how common the perpetrator's physical appearance was, we are led to believe he could be anyone fitting the description. The brave men and women of the White Fang in Vale were warned for any human who shows such attributes, as this mysterious perpetrator is a threat to our cause if he was to go as far as to cripple a part of our organization.

The event claimed the lives of seven of our members, most of whom lacked aura, thirteen were injured and eventually arrested by the Vale Defence Force (VDF) during their arrival, including the branch leader, Kieran McNamara whose weapon was also stolen; nine others have managed to escape apprehension but are now missing, hungry and defenceless at the Forever Fall forest, a forest lurking with Grimm. There was even a report that one of the survivors, a feline faunus, resorted to cannibalism on a comrade who happened to be a fish faunus, [2] prior to being found and arrested. Few of the other survivors have turned themselves to the authorities in a desperate attempt to be fed and sheltered despite their impoverished conditions.

Fortunately, the outpost was able to transmit a few valuable intel shortly before the attack. The scouts have spotted a group of Huntsman students on the premises; there were two notable individuals found within the group that the outpost planned to kidnap. The first is the SDC heiress—Weiss Schnee, a high-value target worthy of ransom. The second caught the personal interest of Adam Taurus—Blake Belladonna, a deserter and former agent of our cause, who was still wearing that disgusting bow that hid her feline features. [3] A repugnant display that indicates shame within your faunus heritage.

Sadly, because the attack occurred minutes later after this information was acquired, they were not able to carry out the attempted operation of kidnapping the persons of interest. Nevertheless, our operators manage to pinpoint the girls' location to Beacon Academy, an institution for Huntsman-trainees they evidently attend to. However, Adam Taurus instructed us to postpone any plans to kidnap the Schnee heiress and Miss Belladonna until said otherwise. For now, he wants us to prioritise the main operation. Despite our losses, the fight against the fascist humans will press forward. The Revolution Will Not Be Humanized!

Though, we are not to forget the person who was responsible for essentially destroying and robbing one of our outposts, killing and injuring some of our comrades, and ruining our attempts to kidnap some valuable assets. There was some debate on who the perpetrator was. Some say that he was nothing more than a fellow Huntsman student accompanying the persons of interest, some speculate that he could be the same person who killed a known bandit lord in a small settlement as the person's descriptions match, others even went as far as to believe that he was death incarnate, the boogeyman of the White Fang. Regardless, this person is a threat to our goals and if we were to succeed, he needs to be dispatched as soon as possible.

Seriously, who the fuck is this gobshite?

=o=

1. The White Fang either forgot to include the contributions of Jaune's teammates or was not able to. It's likely because Jaune was the only hostile they were able to designate during the incident.

2. Predator faunus have rare tendencies to become cannibalistic towards prey faunus. As a result, one of the most prominent examples of infighting within the faunus is between predator and prey species.

3. Strangely, it is indeed confirmed that Blake was still wearing her bow before even attending Beacon, despite having no reason to, and the practice is frowned upon by faunus society, especially without the intent of infiltrating humans.

[Note from the old version

Whelp that was my take on the infamous bully arc of Volume 1. So, what do you guys think? Please leave a review to share your thoughts, whether positive or negative.

Jaune's looting tendency was inspired by RPG protagonists, as well the Mass Effect fanfic 'Accidental Hero of the Galaxy', a fic that I mentioned in the first chapter as an example of Ciaphas Cain-inspired works. I just thought that typical video game kleptomania would fit this Jaune's pragmatic and somewhat roguish personality]