Today was the day we were going to be assigned missions. I slept quite soundly last night and I really didn't know whether to chalk it up to the adorable sight of seeing Jaune and Pyrrha together or the fact that Velvet had texted me that she was finally headed back to Beacon last night.
After breakfast, the five of us headed down to the amphitheater for our missions.
Since we were most likely going to encounter grimm no matter what mission we chose, I made a makeshift holster for Andrea's sword on my left hip. I didn't know how to use Dusk nearly as well as Andrea, but she said the sword's purpose was to kill grimm and I was determined to honor her wish. This was also the first opportunity I was able to wear the half-face mask that Jaune made for me.
JNPR and myself gathered and waited for Ozpin to give a speech.
"So what type of mission to you guys want to go on? Protection, search and destroy or shadowing policemen?" I asked beneath the mask.
Jaune shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me."
"Nora and myself would prefer to shadow the sheriff of a village close by." Ren stated.
I nodded. "What about you, Pyrrha?"
"So long as we perform our duties as huntsmen and huntresses in-training, I don't really have a preference." She replied.
"So then we're all comfortable with Ren and Nora's decision?" I asked the new couple. Jaune and Pyrrha both nodded back.
After a momentary lull in conversation, I decided to ask the question that had been in the back of my mind I knew Nora was dying to ask as well. "So Jaune, when's your first date with Pyrrha?"
The two of them blushed madly and Pyrrha looked down at the ground while Jaune struggled to maintain his composure.
"We don't know for sure yet, but I was thinking of a weekend when we're not on a mission." Jaune replied with a sheepish smile as he scratched the back of his neck.
"Pyrrha?" I asked the champion, who just nodded back in response. I smiled widely.
"Relax, guys. I'm just teasing you." I said with a laugh.
"I just can't believe that you took that long, Jauney!" Nora declared with a pout.
I laughed while Jaune and Pyrrha continued to blush and Ren just held his head in his hands and shook his head at his partner's outburst.
When our team leader and his partner regained their composure, we made idle chatter until team RWBY arrived and Ozpin finally made his speech.
We walked down the line of holographic boards until we found the one that Ren and Nora wanted. Jaune was about to enter our team name, but he paused.
"Jaune? What's up?" I asked.
"I don't know what to enter." He stated.
I looked at Pyrrha, confused. "Just enter our team name." The redhead said from behind him.
"But then if I do, then they might assume that it's only four students going on the mission, not five."
That was something that had never occurred to me. Since joining the team, the name had not changed from team JNPR.
"Well, what do we do?" I asked Jaune.
He looked around the amphitheater for a while until he apparently found what or whoever he was looking for. "Hang on a second." He said to the four of us as he walked towards Professor Ozpin.
We watched as the two conversed for a couple minutes, both of them occasionally looking in our direction, but most likely directly at me.
Jaune finally walked back with a smile on his face.
"So, what'd you ask him?" I inquired.
Jaune shrugged. "I just asked him if I needed to make any changes to entering our team name in the registry and he said I could if I wanted to." Jaune looked directly in my eyes as he continued to smile. "You realize what this means, Joe?"
I shook my head. "It means that we can officially add you in as a fifth team member on any documents that need our team name."
I smiled back as he explained it to me. "Jaune, that means a lot to me." I turned my gaze to my other teammates. "All of you have been extremely accepting of me. Including you, Nora, even if we did get off on the wrong foot."
"Not a problem." She replied with a wide smile.
I nodded back at her. "But I think that it would be better if you kept the team name as it was. It's just easier that way." I said looking back at Jaune, who nodded and put team JNPR down for shadowing the sheriff.
I sighed, satisfied. "So, what do we do in the meantime?" I asked.
"I'll go pack some stuff and get everything arranged properly. I might need your help Nora, giving how much stuff we'll probably need."
Our bubbly Grenadier nodded and followed Jaune back to the dorm.
I turned to my other two teammates. "How do you guys feel about helping me out with some training?"
Ren nodded while Pyrrha held a confused expression on her face.
"I didn't think you'd want combat training giving how well you've performed in Goodwitch's class." She stated.
I took a deep breath before talking again. "It's not actually combat training that I want. I want help with my semblance and you guys seem like the best ones to ask about it."
"Why?" Ren asked with crossed arms.
"From what I understand, my semblance only activates when I'm extremely angry or in a dire situation and I need your help to control those emotions and Pyrrha's help with how to call on it when I need it."
I went on to explain what happened when Ozpin saw me training in the gym and I showed them both the video footage that the headmaster sent me of myself growing in height as a hit the punching bag.
They both looked at me curiously as Ren handed me back my scroll. "And you say that you didn't feel yourself grow stronger?" He asked.
"No, I just saw the punching bag get smaller as I got more and more angry." I replied.
The stoic nodded at me while Pyrrha continued to look at me.
"I'm sorry Joe, but I don't think that I can be of any help in this situation." She said regretfully.
I nodded back. "It's alright, Pyrrha. Ren, any advice?"
"I think that it's all a matter of conditioning your senses. You said that it only happened when you got angry, correct?" I nodded. "Then with practice, if you do it enough times, you should be able to grow without anger, when you are completely calm."
I smiled widely at Ren. "Thanks. I think that we should start it when we're done our mission though, we have enough worries as it is."
"That would most likely be for the best." Pyrrha interjected.
After wandering around for a short while to see what some of the exchange students chose for their missions, Jaune and Nora met the three of us in front of the amphitheater.
Jaune told us that everything was all set up and all we needed to do was to pack up our own clothes and anything else we might've needed for the mission and we'd be good to go when he recognized Ruby talking with Doctor Oobleck near an airship.
"They can't be going on mission already, can they?" I asked doubtful.
"Let's go ask and find out." said. Ren.
As we approached the four girls from behind, they all suddenly slumped over when Ruby said that they were going to quote: "Save the world with Doctor Oobleck."
From what? I guess they can only save the world from Oobleck, not with him. I thought with a suppressed smile.
"Save the world?!" Nora cried out. "You're going on world-saving missions with out us?! I'm hurt, sad, maybe a little hungry?" Her stomach grumbled "That last one's not your fault though, Ren." She glared at her partner.
I face-palmed. "Nora, we just had breakfast like, two hours ago." I pointed out.
"Sounds exciting, where you going?" Jaune asked Ruby, ignoring Nora and myself.
"Just outside the kingdom." The little reaper replied.
"Hey, so are we!" Nora said cheerily.
"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village." Pyrrha explained.
I crossed my arms. "I wanted to go on a more aggressive mission, but I guess that following a sheriff around all day can't be all bad."
Sun and Neptune suddenly appeared from nowhere and jumped in between our teams.
"Then you can party with us tonight!" Neptune declared. "We're shadowing crime specialists. All inner-city detective stuff. We get junior badges."
Jaune immediately went into complete fan-boy mode over at Neptune's news.
"We usually go to the city with you guys, which means stuff always exploding and junk." Sun added.
Why is Jaune so… wait, what? Exploding? I thought as my cousin's statement shook me out of my stupor.
"What does that mean, Sun?" I asked him.
He chuckled nervously. "Well, I could ask you what's with the mask. You planning a robbery or something?"
I sighed. "It's my way of remembering two of my friends." I replied. He nodded back in understanding, dropping the subject.
"Four minutes, ladies!" I heard Oobleck yell from team RWBY's airship.
Ruby looked even more dejected than when she heard Blake wasn't going to the dance. "Well, wish us luck." Ruby said.
"Yeah, and Weiss!" Neptune called to the heiress as her team turned away to leave. "Be careful." I heard Neptune say with an unusual tone of worry.
Just as we left to let team RWBY begin their mission, I heard Yang call my name before she boarded the airship.
"Hey Joe!" She yelled. I turned around. "Velvet's back!"
I couldn't see the expression on her face definitively, but I was ninety-five percent sure that she had the biggest smirk.
I quickly turned back around, sprinted past my teammates and made for team CFVY's dorm.