(Jaune's POV)

Yeah, Cardin is beating me senseless for what I did. Am I regretting it? Maybe a little. But I put my friends before myself, so I'm not going to complain. My body's doing that for me. "You know that wasn't very smart Jauney-Boy." Cardin mocks me. "I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny, tiny pieces." The pain from this is really killing me here. But… "I don't care what you do to me. But you're not messing with my team. Or my friends." For them, I'm willing to take any of the brunt Cardin has for me. "What, you think talk like that makes you tough? You think you're a big strong man now?" I weakly give out a smile as my only response. Cardin goes to punch my face in, only for a flash of white.

Wait… Flash of white? Since when… I look up and see Cardin is clutching his hand in pain for some reason, and he's let go of me, leaving me to fall to the ground. I look at my hands as they glow white. I'm confused as to what had happened. Then I feel someone's foot go down on me as I get pushed down into the ground. I look up and see Cardin, Russel, and Dove glaring down at me, so I can only assume Sky is the one forcing me down. "Let's see how much of a man you really are." Cardin taunts me. However, their smug looks instantly go away with two loud snarls from behind them. We all look and see the source, two Ursa Majors. I feel Sky's foot get off of me, so I assume that he's backing away from the imminent threat. "Those are some big Ursa!" Russel exclaims. And Cardin's teammates bolt out of there.

One of the Ursa sniffs the area, then concentrates it on Cardin. Did the sap attract them here? Good thing I didn't put any air holes in the Rapier Wasp box, or things would've gotten worse really quick. I'm surprised Cardin didn't notice that the box wasn't vibrating at all. He did say to bring him Rapier Wasps, he never said they had to be alive. The two Ursa seem to be focused on Cardin's sap covered armor, and they make quick work of disarming him. As much as I would love to see karma, that's not what a hero would do.

(Roderick's POV)

We heard the roaring from where we were. If I were to guess, I'd say that the sap from the trees attracted something unwanted to CRDL. How fortunate that the direction of them was the same way we were going. Mainly because we saw Russel, Sky, and Dove running, so we can assume the beast, or beasts, are the opposite direction. "Ursa! Ursa!" Russel calls out. Yang grabs Russel as he runs away from the, now confirmed, Ursa. "What? Where?" She asks. "Back there! They've got Cardin!" I see Pyrrha drop her jar of sap, oddly not breaking it. "Jaune!" Pyrrha exclaims. "Yang! You and Blake, go get Professor Goodwitch!" Ruby calls out. "You four, go with them." Pyrrha orders. As for me and Chihiro, we ran straight ahead to the Ursa, so we didn't see who Pyrrha was calling out, nor whatever she said after. I can only assume it was Ren, Nora, Leichter, and Stella. Regardless, we had to stop those Ursa.

When we get to a clearing, sure enough, we see two Ursa Major chasing Cardin, who's armor is covered in sap. He stumbles over, allowing the two to get closer to Cardin and close the gap. As much as we hate them, it's out job as Huntsmen and Huntresses to protect those who need it. And now, unfortunately, Cardin needs it. I rush forward and attempt to intercept the Grimm. It, sort of worked. As in, I could only get one of them. I try to get leverage against the Ursa Major, but it's force is too great for me to gain anything, resulting in a deadlock. I see Chihiro rush toward my aid, only to get toppled by Cardin, who stumbled again. The Ursa closes in on the two of them. "NO!" I shout, but I know if I let up for a single moment, the Ursa I'm dealing with will get ME. I can only hope help arrives soon.

(Chihiro's POV)

I feel Cardin's body on top of mine as the Ursa Major looms over us its claws ready to pierce through us both. Wait, isn't this sort of the same situation in which I rescues Stella? I notice Jaune get between us before the Ursa could strike us. Jaune holds back the Ursa with his shield for a bit, almost resulting in a deadlock like Roderick's situation. Jaune, however, had a free hand and used his sword to fend the Ursa off further. I think now would be a good time to secure safety. "Cardin, could you please get off me?" I ask him. Cardin says nothing and rolls over a little, setting me free from his weight.

I look up after dusting myself off and see Jaune evade two of the Ursa's swings. However, on his second dodge, he jumps into the air. This left him vulnerable to a blow from the Ursa. Jaune takes the hit, rolls over, and quickly gets up on his feet. He then rushes forward to fight the Grimm some more. "Jaune! Focus on defense!" I suggest. Jaune rushes forward to slash the Grimm, but notices the Ursa Major wind up to strike him again. He quickly pulls his shield up and it manages to block the hit, but the force still pushed Jaune back. His feet slides against the ground, ruining the landscape as Jaune regains his traction. Jaune rushes forward one more time and engages the Grimm again. In the corner of my eye, I see Pyrrha raise her hand to him. I feel a force not unlike my own. I then see Jaune's shield move to the perfect position for Jaune to counter attack. He stands firm, and slices the Grimm's head off, killing it instantly.

I run toward Pyrrha, who was with Ruby and Weiss. "How did you…?" Weiss begins to ask. "Well, like Ruby has her speed, Chihiro has her gravity, and you have your glyphs. My semblance is polarity." Pyrrha explains. Polarity, the ability to- "Ah, you can control poles." Ruby says. "Uh, no!" Weiss snaps. "Actually, she's not wrong." I meekly say. "Magnetism, another way of explaining Pyrrha's semblance, utilizes the north and south poles of an object's magnetic force. The stronger the pole, the greater force required to magnetize it." I elaborate. "Yeah. Magnetism. Got it." Ruby corrects herself. Weiss seems to smile. "I could certainly use some help here!" Roderick shouts. Seems like no progress was made with the Ursa he had in deadlock. I look over at Jaune, who had just picked up Cardin. "Don't ever mess with my team, OR my friends, ever again. Got it?" He says to the bully. Cardin only nods in response. "Uh, guys, I think someone else could use your help." I say. The two turn to see Roderick and the remaining Ursa struggle against each other's force. "I got it." Jaune says.

Jaune strikes the Ursa from the back. The Ursa immediately takes notice of this and turns to Jaune. Roderick, seeing his chance, slashes the Ursa's back with his axe. The Ursa Major looks back and forth between the two Huntsmen in training, being forced to split its own attention. It chooses to rush towards Roderick who forces it into deadlock once again. Jaune takes the chance to go for the Ursa again, but it uses one of its legs to hold Jaune back. I see that it's balance is slightly toppling. Perhaps if something were to disrupt that balance… I fire a portal at the Ursa's sole foot on the ground. I tilt the exit portal in a way so the Ursa's foot became unbalanced, away from anyone else nearby. This proved to be enough to topple the Grimm, and Jaune took the opportunity to thrust his sword into the Grimm's head, killing it. Jaune and Roderick give me a thumbs up for the assist. I blush a little and smile at their praise. "Well. Best not keep everyone else waiting. Let's make our return." Roderick says, coming toward us.

As we make our way back, us girls find ourselves a fair distance away from the boys. "So are we going to tell them what happened?" Ruby asks. "We could." Pyrrha says. "Or, perhaps, we could just keep it our little secret." Pyrrha finishes. I look over at Jaune, who seemed very proud of himself. "Yeah. It's for the better." I say. I then blurt out; "Pyrrha, please teach me how to be stronger!" I quickly cover my hands. Pyrrha then looks back at me and smiles. "Sure Chihiro. I can help you with close quarters combat. With the way you handle most situations, I know that'd be a weak point." Pyrrha says. I can feel my eyes widen and my hopes rise. Just you wait everyone. I won't be just support anymore. I will be able to protect those I want to. Just like…

(Roderick's POV)

I turn back towards the others who fell behind. I see Chihiro with resolve in her eyes… and a blush on her face. I guess this is one of those off times Chihiro doesn't realize the perverted things she has in her mind and letting it all flow in her head. Thankfully, not saying it out loud. That would be another disaster in of itself. One about just as hard as Jaune's issue, which can be safely said has been put to rest. I'm exhausted though. I'm sure our friends with Oobleck are too after his long-winded and fast-paced speeches. Perhaps we should discuss this tomorrow.

(Leichter's POV)

After the resolution of whatever happened in Forever Fall, everyone went to bed. Well, mostly everyone. For me, I was once again sitting on the balcony, viewing the night sky I admired with all my heart. I then look at the rooftop of the dorms and see Jaune and Pyrrha together, assumedly in reconciliation. No Cardin in sight either. That was good. Seems things are finally getting back to where they should be. But what do I know? I never saw what happened. Oh well. What can you do?

Author's Notes;

A bit of a shorter chapter than I anticipated, but I couldn't find a good cut-off point other that Leichter over-viewing Jaune and Pyrrha's reconciliation. Somewhere between the Jaundice Arc and the Black and White Arc was a considerable time-skip, so I may or may not have to do something to fill in that gap.

Speaking of gap, I noticed that I finished this chapter sooner that I thought I would. Mostly because, again, it wound up being shorter that I expected it to be. Because of this, I have a surprise for you! Another chapter of Data Mine will come out 12/14, in addition to the one I promised at 12/25. How's that for a bonus! The next chapter here will be between 12/26 and 12/28, so be ready. I think I figured out a solid schedule for my various fanfics.

Anyway, onto the more important stuff. Jaune seems to have steeled his resolve, if only a little. But it was enough for him to stand up for himself rather than letting everyone trample over him. He even dealt two finishing blows on two Ursa Major. The second Ursa Major was not a part of canon, but this fic does deviate from it a little. Things are constantly changing. For better and for worse…

(No POV)

"So, Mikhail. What brings you here?" Roman Torchwick asks. "I don't know. Taurus just sent me here to check on you. So here I am. And now, I have to help you out for who knows why." Mikhail bluntly says. "Look, we have a huge dust heist planned in a few weeks, so just tell your boss that I'm perfectly fine." Roman retorts. "Oh, you misunderstand. Taurus ain't my boss. That's Sienna's job. I take orders directly from her and her alone. She sent me here to check on Taurus, who sent me here to check on you. Ain't that funny?" Mikhail laughs. It's eerie. "Whatever." Torchwick says and walks off. Mikhail then rambles to himself. "Make sure Taurus is in line she said. It'll be simple she said. NOW I'm freakin' Taurus's errand boy! The amount of stuff I do for you, Sienna." Mikhail's Scroll then buzzes. He picks it up. "Yeah? What do you want?" "How would you like to be a part of a faction that brings about revolution?" Mikhail's left eyebrow raises. "What do you mean?" "I will send you the invitation. Arrive on the date, time, and place specified. Show up if you are interested." "Hey, wait a-" The phone call drops then and there. Mikhail looks at his Scroll and sees the rendezvous information. He quickly puts it away before anyone can see. "Tch. Hopefully, things won't go so south in where I have to accept." Mikhail says. He then walks off into the night. The significance of this phone call, however, will be measured in due time.

I do not own RWBY or any of its characters. I only own Team RSCL and Mikhail. Until next time, I'll stay Enigmatic.

-UltimateEnigmatic