A/N: Hey! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and a non-punch-everyone-in-the-face Black Friday. I sure did. Got a sweet sweet new mouse and I'm ready to change out my motherboard and CPU. Mmmm, I can just feel my computer appreciating me XD Hope y'all enjoy, potNpaN's back on regular scheduled programming!

Me: I will admit freely that I'm not confident enough to write a dragon balls Jaune. That just seems nuts. Besides, would y'all want three chapters of just a character charging their powers? XD

Waking up was always hard for Jaune, especially when he was under the toasty covers of his bed. So when the sunlight hit his eyelids, the only thing he really did was squeeze his eyes shut a little tighter, hoping that the sun would go away. He shifted a little bit under the warmth that covered half his body, leaning into it for more warmth. He would have stayed in that position longer, but was interrupted by a small snicker. With a great amount of effort, Jaune cracked an eyelid open, letting the sun blind him temporarily for a little, while he got adjusted to the sudden light.

As his sight filtered back in, Jaune noticed two things: He was not in his bed, and he was not under his bed sheets.

"What is with all the noise?" Yang mumbled, shifting herself up a little bit, pulling her leg up and making Jaune shiver at the movement. Her hands tightened around Jaune's shirt as she slowly raised her head, blinking blearily as she tried to figure out where she was. It didn't take much longer for her to realize that she was pretty much on top of Jaune, and that they had an audience surrounding them.

The two of their faces grew red as a few members of their teams started laughing at them, making them scramble to get off of each other. Yang accidentally kneed Jaune in the stomach while that happened, making him groan in pain and roll over, hoping that he wasn't going to get attacked again. Yang winced and knelt down, making sure that he was alright.

"Well, as cute as that display was, I think we've been resting for long enough." Professor Goodwitch interrupted the scene, striding in professionally. "It's time to pack up and get ready to move out. We don't want to let the Grimm catch up to us." With the grim reminder of what happened yesterday, the small crowd dispersed, quickly disassembling and packing everything back, and after Yang made sure that Jaune was fine, the two of them set out to help.

It was late morning when they finished, as they all slept in a little, although no one could really blame them for doing so. With a goal set in mind, the group set off, trudging their way towards the city of Neige.

For a group on the run, there wasn't much that actually happened. After Jaune explained to them the route that they were going to take, they traveled quickly, encountered strangely little resistance. Sure, there were a few Grimm in the way, but the amount was something that any one of them could have torn through with ease. Jaune would have even said that before Vedrahgol he could have taken down the amount of Grimm that liked to step in front of them.

They only stopped when the sun was starting to set, content at the distance that they had gone at the moment. Having not eaten for the whole day, the team was ravenous, and quickly set out to make a fire, confident that any Grimm that approached could be detected soon enough to fight or pack up and leave.

Ruby and Pyrrha were sent out to hunt for food while the rest of them made do with snacking on some rations for the moment, mouth watering at the thought of some real food. Jaune was sent up to the tree tops, using his shout to detect Grimm and other things, keeping an eye out and making sure they wouldn't be caught unawares. The rest of the group went to building tents and scavenging nuts and berries, Blake even deciding to go and catch some fish at a nearby stream.

You know, I could probably help out with the hunting with this shout. It's pretty handy. Jaune commented idly after casting said shout. Vedrahgol scoffed, but nodded in agreement.

Please. If that girl with the long-range weapon had this, she could be sitting here and you could direct her.

Jaune paused, realizing that was actually a pretty good idea, noting it down for later. For now though, Ruby and Pyrrha were already returning, having caught a good haul for the thirteen of them.

Professor Goodwitch took this opportunity to use her semblance, making a makeshift spit roast without having to hold anything up, and everyone, finished with their duties, gathered around for a rare chance of some peace and quiet.

A few of them chattered about, Nora and Ruby being the main talkers, bringing the life out of everyone else. Some stayed a little quieter, like Ren, who patiently smiled and nodded along with Nora's antics, or Blake, who was concentrating on getting her fish to an even sear.

Yang had gone to talk with her own team, boisterous, but not exaggeratingly loud. Jaune on the other hand, sat a little to the side, staring into space, enjoying the atmosphere without really joining into it.

A crunch of grass caused him to turn, looking at Cardin. He stood there a little awkwardly, before gesturing at the ground, asking silently if he could sit. Jaune nodded, turning his body so that he could face the mace wielder. As the orange-haired boy settled down, Jaune looked at him questioningly, wondering what would make Cardin of all people want to sit next to him.

The question wasn't answered quickly by any means, what with Cardin staring at the fire as well, then picking some grass, all while scowling and looking as if he wanted to punch something. Jaune wanted to speak, but was unsure if that would do anything but drive the boy sitting next to him away.

"You didn't look all that bad out there when you were fighting that dragon." Cardin finally said, not looking at Jaune. The blonde raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"You saw that?" Jaune asked. Cardin sneered, rolling his eyes.

"Please. Who didn't see that? Even though we were fighting ourselves, it's hard not to notice…" Cardin tried to find words to describe the fight, hands gesturing vaguely. "All of that." He finished, giving up. "It was intense, even from far away." Jaune nodded.

"Thanks."

The two of them fell into silence again, and Jaune decided that wondering what Cardin wanted to do was going to be a waste of time, focusing his attention on Yang instead. The girl had found a way to bear hug two people, gathering Blake and Ruby into her arms, the cat faunus almost hissing at her as she almost lost grip of her fish. Jaune couldn't help but smile at that, something Cardin noticed.

"So, you and blondie's together now, huh?"

Jaune nodded, his smile growing a little wider. Cardin turned to look at Yang too, nodding with Jaune.

"She's not a bad catch. A little violent," Jaune chuckled a little at Cardin's description. "but not a bad chick to have."

This was getting a little weird to Jaune at this point. Given, Jaune doubted that Cardin only interacted by bullying and mocking others, but that was the Cardin that Jaune knew, and him displaying any other emotions, and nice as they might be, was a little disconcerting.

"Why'd you come over here Cardin?" Jaune said, curious. Cardin turned to look at the boy, finally looking him in the eyes. Without knowing much about Cardin, Jaune could only say that there was a calmness in his eyes, something Jaune had a hard time attributing to the boy.

"I just wanted to say… you're not so bad, Jaune." Cardin managed. Jaune raised an eyebrow, a little confused. Funny, he was pretty sure that was something he was supposed to say to Cardin, not the other way around. "I… picked on you before because you… well, you seemed weak." Cardin admitted, something Jaune could agree to. "And that was wrong of me. We're all here to help people out and… just standing up and going to the academy when you know you aren't as strong as everyone else… that takes guts." There was a lot that Cardin wasn't saying, and Jaune had a feeling that no matter how much he pried, he would never get Cardin to say it. But it was enough for Jaune, who was always quick to forgive.

"Thank Cardin. You're not so bad yourself."

The boy smiled weakly, hesitating a brief moment before coughing into his hands, standing up abruptly, startling Jaune. "Well, glad we've got that out of the way." Cardin said carelessly, as if making up for his tentative way of speaking just a minute ago. "I'm going to go make sure my teammates don't get beat up by the girls." Jaune looked over to see Weiss brandishing her rapier, pointing it at the chastised boys of team CDNL.

Cardin stepped in smoothly, grabbing his teammates by the necks and dragging them along, finding a spot to lecture them at. Everyone else blinked in surprise, watching open-mouthed as Cardin looked a little more like a responsible adult for once. Even Professor Goodwitch seemed a little floored at the sight, accidentally lowering the venison a little too low on the fire, causing it to crackle a little.

Yang looked at him with a confused stare, asking silently what he had done to Cardin. Jaune just shook his head, just as lost as she was about this. He was about to stand up to join the group when another set of footsteps seemed to crunch right up in his ears, making him turn.

A large blade fell, ready to cleave Jaune in half.

"So… this is where you last heard of the Elder Scroll?"

The voice sent shivers down Cinder's spine, who nodded, not wanting to speak. The man in the mask took a step forward, looking calmly at the scene before him.

Mountains stretched further than the eye could see, cragged rocks and caves littered throughout the place. So much… energy flowed through the mountains that no amount of detection magic would work.

The perfect place to hide an extremely powerful artifact, like the Elder Scroll.

His hands shook imperceptibly, his heartbeat pumping. Finally, a gateway to his power, to his way home. And when he went home, he would bring back these… creatures of darkness, and rule over Nirn. And when he's finished with that world, he'll come back, a thousand times stronger, and rule over this world, the world with one shattered moon and warriors that could defeat a hundred men.

On the outside he was calm, but on the inside, his body was on fire, his very being becoming passionate. A ruler of not one, but two worlds. How would that feel like?

"Good." Imaar said, an amused tone rumbling through the air. "Very good."