And I'm back! But man did you guys like the story; I was taken aback by the amount of favourites and follows I got. I was honestly surprised by the amount of people who enjoyed it. So, thank you all for liking my story I guess. So, uh, in response to the people nice enough to leave a review:

lukefang: About the future guesses, you'll see eventually if you were right or wrong. Also yes, Jaune's weapon is Crocea Mors, there just wasn't any area for him to use it or take it out because his time with Ruby was interrupted.

Guest: Thanks for the praise! About the suggestions, I already have ideas for a few of the females, but I'm not adding every single female to Jaune's romantic situation. I will say that there will be several moments with at least four of the characters you named.

Nutshop: Your review pleases me! :P

Ranger Station Charlie: Glad I could make you laugh and, as you can see, this is something I will continue.

chronotimeguard: Awesome, guess I'll keep writing like this then!

Keybladeknight39: You'll see whether your feeling is correct or not later in the story.

A Friend (Guest): Okay, 3 things. 1. I'm sorry that you have no Ruby near you.
2. I can't speak for other authors, but I plan the beginning then how it will end, otherwise I'll never manage to finish it. Then I make it up as I go until I reach that end.
3. I'm flattered you think I'm a good author but really, I'm not. If you want to read the work of a good author (At least RWBY authors) read Weiss Reacts by ElfCollaborator or Auburn by Super Saiyan Cyndaquil. There are plenty of other stories you can look over, just not mine at the moment, as I am a novice writer.

Guest: I guess by 'full harem' you either mean an actual 'multiple girls share Jaune' situation. I'm not going to be doing this as it's unrealistic and doesn't suit this story, I may do it in a future story but not this one. As for the second request: no, this is non-negotiable. Jaune has very little fighting experience prior and will, at first, be bad at fighting. He will, however, be an incredible strategist because of a particular ability that has already been foreshadowed.

The95will: Thank you! You have no idea how happy I am that someone gave me constructive criticism. This is my first story I've ever written (outside of required writing such as previous school assignments). I'm glad that someone told me what I did well and what I could work on. Thank you kind sir for your feedback, I will try my best to keep it in mind as I write this chapter.

Well that's all of them, unless I somehow managed to miss one. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or anything mentioned or referenced in the chapter.


Chapter 2- Teammates

Jaune groaned as he flew through the air at a rapid pace. He felt his stomach churn as his face turned a similar shade to the green forest below him. He watched as the heavens and earth spun around him at a surreal velocity. "I'm seriously getting motion sick from this?" he cried in disbelief as he soared over the trees, nearly losing his breakfast in the process.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Jaune slowly steadied himself in mid-air and managed to get up after a few minutes of hard work. The motion sick knight stared in silent confusion as an unknown object hurtled towards him at an alarming rate. Looking closely at the object he realised that it was, in fact, the ground. Sighing in reluctant acceptance, Jaune braced for the impact. "This is going to hurt like a bi-"

The ground in the surrounding area shook intensely for a moment, garnering differing reaction from those around to hear it. Ozpin took another sip from his mug. A pleased smirk was placed squarely on his face as he watched the blond knight finish his flight. "That'll teach him to fall asleep during one of my speeches," he chuckled.
Taking yet another glorious sip from his mug Ozpin walked back to the building. Behind the headmaster, Glynda sighed and shook her head amused. Looking out as the students finished their few minutes of flight, the witch followed Ozpin. The man hasn't changed one bit.

The hunters and huntresses-to-be around the area cringed at the sound of Jaune's unfortunate emergency landing. "Oh, I hope he's okay," muttered Pyrrha worriedly. She had watched the entire display from afar, but had encountered an Ursa before she could assist him. Frowning at the remains of her attacker the Spartan girl set off from the clearing she had landed in to find her future hus- the blond knight. Nodding to herself, she set out to find Jaune before something bad happened to him. Avoiding the occasional tree in her way Pyrrha eventually happened upon a clearing. "Oh dear." She gasped.


Ruby, in the meantime, was searching desperately for someone she knew. "Yaaaang!" She called, "Jaauune!" Crescent Rose was unfolded and ready for action in her hands. The large, deadly scythe contrasted her otherwise adorable look of worry as she continued on her quest. The young reaper groaned as she sped passed several clearings and many large trees, there was still no sign of either of the two blonds.

Getting frustrated Ruby decided to vent her anger. "Screw this tree in particular!" she growled, slicing a large chunk of a single tree. Feeling her frustrations slowly leave upon swinging her baby Ruby sighed, "Where could they be?" Before she could continue she heard a loud impact. The girl turned to the source of the noise and watched as the trees shook wildly, disturbed by the sonic boom. Ruby cheered, it was most likely Jaune landing. Either that or something was stupid enough to damage Yang's hair. Either way, the girl was set. She just needed to head in the general direction of the sound and would either find her ticked off sister or her unconscious friend. However, before the girl could begin her search she ran headfirst into the snow princess herself.


Jaune frowned as he stood up and dusted himself off, seemingly unfazed by the whole ordeal. Looking around he realised he had created a large Jaune-shaped crater in the forest and made note to apologize to Ozpin some time.

Y'know, if he made it out of there alive.

Blinking rapidly for a second Jaune realised something else, "Well. This is a thing." Several Beowolves who had most likely been attracted by the noise of his emergency landing currently surrounded the blond boy.

As he slowly unsheathed his sword Crocea Mors and expanded his sheath into a shield he hoped that something other than Grimm had been attracted by the sound of his impact, preferably someone like Ruby or Pyrrha who were prodigies in their own right. They could take on these many Beowolves alone, that much he was sure of. Or maybe Yang might've heard the crash. Then again, he probably wouldn't survive being partners with her.

He didn't have anything against the buxom boxer, but she seemed to not have the ability to hold herself back. It was either nice Yang, the flirty, happy girl who was nice to hang with, or angry Yang, the girl who popped up whenever something happened to Ruby.

Sighing to himself, Jaune turned to face his enemies.
Steadying a pathetic stance and raising his sword before him rather than his shield Jaune felt every muscle in his body twitch. "Goood Beowolves~" he cooed. "Niiice Beowolves~ who's a good being of pure evil and destruction? You are, yes you are!" Jaune may have seemed calm on the outside. However, on the inside Jaune was crying and mentally writing his will. I leave all my belongings to my family… That's it really.

Three of the Grimm pounced at once, whether it was because of his patronising of them or because it was in their nature to attack didn't matter. They were decapitated almost instantly by several well-timed sword strikes.

"Hey Pyrrha, guess you're my partner," grinned Jaune.

The red headed girl returned his smile with her own, "I suppose so," she replied. Getting into a steadier stance the champion shield bashed a Beowolf with Akoúo̱ and cut it in half whilst it was recovering from the blow. She quickly converted Miló to its rifle form and sent six well-placed shots to kill two more Grimm behind the two. Jaune watched in awe as Pyrrha ducked under a swipe from the last enemy and converted Miló to its sword form once more and decapitated the Beowolf.

"Wow." Jaune commented, the spectacle had left him breathless. "That was amazing!" he applauded.

"Thanks, but it wasn't really that amazing." Pyrrha smiled bashfully. Jaune disregarded that and pat her on the back.
"Stop being so modest, it was awesome!" Meanwhile Jaune laughed maniacally in his head. Cereal box, you haven't failed me yet! He now owed his life to the cereal box who had sent a champion to save him. Once he got out of this thrice-damned forest he'd buy as many boxes of that cereal he could get his hands on.

The two rested for a bit and, after gathering their bearings, left the crash site to find what they had come for.


Blake looked on in annoyance at her partner. She gave her a strained grin, "So… how is the book, partner?" she asked, her voice barely containing the venom leaking from her mouth. Yang grinned next to her. The brawler's eyes were glued to the book. Not taking her eyes off the book she answered, narrowly avoiding a tree in the process.

"It's great! Especially this part where Lily…" She cut off snickering, obviously finding a part she enjoyed. Blake however glared at her blond partner, her right eye twitching uncontrollably. Her hands clenched audibly as she slowly counted to ten.

"Are you going to be giving it back any time soon?"

"Nope~" The introvert sighed; this was going to be a really long walk.

Several minutes had passed with no word from either of the two beauties and it somehow felt… wrong, to Blake. "Yang?"

"Yes Blake? ~" The introvert's eye twitched once more.

"Can I have my book back please?"

Yang gave her a challenging grin, "You mean your art?" Blake felt a sense of accomplishment in finally managing to separate the blond's eyes from the book. She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever. I'd just like to have it back now." Yang pouted before wordlessly handing over the book of smu- art to Blake. Blake took one look at the book and sighed, "I'm not even going to ask why some corners are folded."

Yang's eyes twinkled as she responded. "It's for research!" She exclaimed passionately. A single standing strand of her hair waggled happily as she proclaimed it proudly to the world.


Weiss had no clue what had happened. One moment she was striding through the forest, enjoying the scenery whilst searching for Pyrrha. Next she found herself suspended what could be thousands of feet above the ground by a Nevermore. To make things even more confusing, said Nevermore was currently being straddled by one Ruby Rose.
"What the dust are you doing?" Exclaimed Weiss from the Nevermore's talon.

Ruby rolled her eyes as if the answer was obvious. "I'm riding a Nevermore Weiss, what does it look like? Geez, for a princess you aren't that smart are you?" Weiss clenched her fists, the heiress had a sudden urge to test whether or not a fall from this height would kill her.

She blinked in confusion. All of a sudden she felt weightless as if she were-

"KYAAAA~" squealed Weiss uncharacteristically as she fell into the forest below.

"Weiss no!" cried Ruby as she watched her new partner fall. "I have to save her!" Striking a pose, the young rose swan dived off the Nevermore with Crescent Rose in tow. The large bird Grimm screeched in disapproval, watching the two plummet.


"Jaune I don't think this is the place." Mumbled Pyrrha uncertainly. The two had managed to find themselves in a pitch-black cave. Jaune gave her a look.
"Pyrrha, I just made this torch. Can't you just humour me for a few minutes?"

True to his words, a handmade torch was in his sword hand. Giggling to herself Pyrrha decided to let the blond knight have his fun. Jaune grinned; he was finally being of use to someone. The two walked through the cave in search of what they were supposed to find.
Pyrrha blushed heavily while she stared at the knight; the happy look on Jaune's face was bright enough to light the whole cave and then some. The fact that the blond didn't know who she was felt refreshing. She had to admit, this was one of the reasons why she had wanted to become partners with him. It was selfish, but as someone who had to deal with thousands of fans whenever she left home, she was allowed to be a little selfish sometimes. Right?

On the other hand, Jaune was uncomfortable with the silence. Is she mad that she was partnered with me instead of Weiss? He thought to himself. Making another mental note to ask her about that later he focused on finding the relic. As long as they had the light of the torch they would be fine.

Jaune hit himself in the face. Now that he's said that something's bound to go wrong, it's the law of- "Jaune stop!" whispered Pyrrha hurriedly. The boy turned to her to check what was wrong. Unfortunately because of this he stopped too late and stumbled over a rock, dropping the torch in a puddle that was conveniently the right size.

Jaune sighed, well he saw that one coming. Turning to where he last heard Pyrrha Jaune laughed nervously. "Now what?" he asked her. Pyrrha looked to the source of his voice,
"Just slowly step away from that spot," she whispered.

Jaune nodded and walked backwards, "Why are you whispering?" he queried.

"Because there's a really large sleeping Deathstalker in front of you." The novice stiffened mid-step, making an effort to not move any muscles whatsoever. He could even feel his heart stop. Ok maybe that's exaggerating a bit. "Jaune, be careful. You never know what might happen in the dark."

Nodding despite the fact that Pyrrha wouldn't be able to tell, Jaune turned around and walked to where he assumed the exit to the cave was. They had only been walking for a minute, so the two of them couldn't have been that deep in the cave.

"Pyrrha you there?" He whispered. Straining his ears to hear something he heard a rustling to his left as something placed itself into his hand. He blushed, was that Pyrrha? Why was she holding his hand? "P-Pyrrha what are you-?"

"Jaune, that isn't me!" Pyrrha screeched from his right. Jaune blinked, his right? Wasn't she holding his left hand? Slowly turning his head he realises that a Deathstalker claw was lodged firmly between his fingers and palm. Suppressing a yelp, he slowly brought the claw to the ground. It wasn't just one Deathstalker, it was a whole nest of Deathstalkers. Stepping away from the group of sleeping Deathstalkers Jaune had to suppress another girly squeal as he bumped into something behind him. "Don't worry Jaune it's me."

Jaune glared at her. "Don't scare me like that Pyrrha!" he snapped. The blond knight winced as his voice carried through the cavern, bright red eyes opened up as the voice flew over them. "For the record, I am extremely sorry." He spoke calmly.

Pyrrha smiled kindly at him as the red light of the Grimm's eyes illuminated the cave. "Don't worry Jaune, everyone makes mistakes. We should probably start running now."

Jaune nodded, grateful that he had such a nice partner. "Sounds like a plan." And with their plan set, the two ran.


"Well we managed to lose all the Deathstalkers but one." Commented the knight as they approached the exit. The light at the end of the tunnel was approaching rapidly. Unfortunately so was the enemy.

Pyrrha looked at him in disbelief, however upon glancing back she saw that he was in fact correct. There was now only one Deathstalker still following them. This one was larger than the rest and had tell-tale signs of age on it; harder looking armour, plants growing on it and the armour had battle scars.
"How did we manage to lose them? The cave didn't have any forks or turns."

Jaune shrugged, he didn't know how Grimm worked so there was no way he would be able to answer her question. Pyrrha warned him to be careful; a missing enemy was a dangerous enemy.

As they exited the cave they entered an empty clearing. "Alright, we need to take this one down before the other Grimm appear." Jaune gulped. This would be his first fight with a Grimm where he would actually be fighting. Once the two reached the edge of the tree line they pivoted on the spot and got ready to face the veteran Deathstalker. Pyrrha got out Miló and Akoúo whilst Jaune unsheathed Crocea Mors and expanded the sheath, the two taking their stances. "Uh, Jaune?"
"Yes Pyrrha?"

"Put your shield in front of you and stay a little lower to the ground." Jaune blushed in embarrassment, hopefully she didn't realise he had next to no clue of how to fight. The knight managed to correct his stance just in time to see the Deathstalker swing a claw at him. Barely stopping a girly scream from escaping his throat Jaune ducked. He watched as Pyrrha expertly flipped over the claw and land a few slashes onto it, then spinning to block the second claw with Akoúo̱. The champion then managed to score a few cuts to the face in rapid succession before jumping backwards to avoid the claws once more. He sighed, there was no way he'd ever be as good as Pyrrha. Standing up Jaune got ready for the next swipe.

The knight laughed as he managed to block a weak swipe and duck under a second; maybe he wasn't so hopeless after all? Smiling he then thought up a plan, "Pyrrha, I have an idea!" He shouted excitedly to her. The girl nodded to him, too busy to properly respond, "one of us needs to parry the blows to create an opening for the other to attack!"

"Ok, I'll parry and you attack." She responded. As the Deathstalker went for another swipe with it's claw she blocked the attack with Akoúo̱ and knocked away the other claw before parrying the stinger. "Switch!"

Nodding Jaune went for a horizontal slash to the scorpion Grimm's face. Unfortunately his lack of experience made the swing fall short; and because he overextended his arm he lost his balance. "Pyrrha look out!" he shouted as he fell onto her. She gasped as he inadvertently knocked her out of the way of the stinger, barely missing getting hit himself.

"Jaune are you okay?" she asked worriedly.
"Just, fine" he responded between gasps for air. The fall had knocked the wind out of his lungs. Realising that Jaune had basically risked his life to save her she blushed.
"Th-thanks for, um, knocking me out of the way." She stammered. What's happening? She thought to herself why am I suddenly so nervous?

Jaune, however, was confused. Turning around he realised his blunder had just saved Pyrrha's life as the stinger was lodged into her previous position. He was prevented from telling her it was an accident by a shout coming from above. His eyes shone briefly as he gasped. The blond held out his arms as if on instinct, managing to catch Weiss just in time as she fell out of the sky into his hands.

Grinning goofily he looked at her, "did it hurt when you-" before he could finish his line the two were knocked a few meters away by the Deathstalker.

"Jaune! Weiss!" cried Pyrrha.

Jaune frowned; there went another wasted opportunity. Why wouldn't people just let him pretend to be a main character for once? His eyes flashing once more; he sighed. "Hopefully this will go better." Holding his hands out again (After making sure the Deathstalker was nowhere near him) Ruby fell into his arms with a cute gasp.
"Heya Vomit Boy!" she cheered, "thanks for the save!" Jaune smiled back,
"No problem. But you're not really safe right know." As if to prove his point, both Pyrrha and Weiss were tossed in front of them, courtesy of the aged Deathstalker.

"Hey guys!" Waved Yang as she nonchalantly waltzed into the fray. Blake was behind her skipping happily as she hugged her book. Before anyone could comment an Ursa crashed through into the clearing, a girl riding on it's back.

She frowned as it stopped moving. "Aww, it's broken." She pouted.

"Nora, you need to be more careful." Spoke a voice next to Jaune calmly. The group jumped in astonishment, when had he gotten there?

"Pancake123, I told you. My code name is Supreme Sloth Overlord, The Great and Powerful Ruler of all Sloth Kind and Devourer of Pancakes!" She scolded him. The boy smiled.

"Of course, I'm sorry for my foolishness." The girl sighed,
"Geez Pancake123, how are we supposed to be able to stay together if you can't remember out code names! Well, not together-together. But together!"

The rest of the group was speechless, just who was this girl? After a few moments of silence the boy spoke up, outstretching his hand to the group. "My name's Ren, and this here is my partner Nora." The mentioned girl giggled as she moved her arm slowly up and down.
"Mroawr" she moaned. Jaune blinked, was she trying to imitate an animal? He thought to himself.

Shaking his head he grasped Ren's hand firmly and shook. "Nice to meet you Ren and Supreme Sloth Overlord, The Great and Powerful Ruler of all Sloth Kind and Devourer of Pancakes. The name's Jaune, Jaune Arc." He grinned,
"Over there is my partner Pyrrha." He ignored a growl from Weiss, "then it's Ruby, Weiss, Yang and Blake." He pointed to each of the girls as he called out their name respectively. Ren and Nora smiled at the group.

"Nice to meet you Jaune-Jaune Arc and partner!" cheered Nora. She turned to the girls next. "Nice to meet you too Red riding hood, Ice Queen, Fanservice and… Blake!" The heiress glared at the exuberant girl.

"Why does Blake not have a nickname?" she snapped.

Nora shrugged, "it's hard to think up a name for her." Jaune chuckled,
"I think the names suit them all." Ren nodded in agreement.

"Now that we've exchanged pleasantries, the gangs all here. Now we can all die together!" cheered Yang sarcastically. Blake's bow twitched.
"Everyone move!" She warned to the group hurriedly. Everyone but Jaune leaped from his or her spot, leaving him alone to be launched into the forest by the forgotten Deathstalker's claw.

"Jaune/Vomit Boy!" cried Pyrrha, Ruby and Yang simultaneously. The three girls attempted to rush over to where the poor boy had been launched, only to be forced to jump back as a Nevermore swooped them.

The girls readied their weapons as they waited for the bird Grimm to swoop once more. The girls' eyes widened when instead of swooping the Grimm launched it's feathers at them. "Run!" shouted Ruby, choosing to ignore the fact that Ruby pointed out the obvious Yang and Pyrrha rolled out of the way. The Nevermore cawed and swooped while the girls recovered; unfortunately for the Grimm they were ready for this. Yang grabbed her sister and launched her at the flying Grimm at a rapid speed.

"Now Ruby!" she shouted. The airborne rose nodded and performed a spin manoeuvre to gain momentum before striking the black bird dead on.

Pyrrha smirked as she aimed Miló in its rifle form. The Spartan girl fired two rounds at the falling bird, each hitting their mark and paralysing the wings for a moment. This moment was enough for Pyrrha and Yang to be able to dash close enough to execute a few heavy combination attacks before leaping out of the way for Ruby. The girl landed the finishing blow to the Nevermore from the sky by using gravity to increase the force behind Crescent Rose, nailing the bird in the head and effectively cracking it's skull.

The girls wiped the sweat and dirt off their faces and high-fived. "We did it!" Cheered Ruby. The three congratulated and complimented each other as they rested; smiling the entire time.
"Wait, what about Jaune?" noted Pyrrha. The three paled as they realised that they had forgotten about the blond knight. After tripping over themselves for a few minutes the girls crashed through the bush in Jaune's general direction.

"Jaune if you die I'm going to kill you!" cried Ruby as she quickly got up. Patting off the dirt from her battle skirt she continued her search for the boy. He was her first friend here at Beacon; there was no way she'd let a friend die on her. Besides, he still hasn't shown her his weapon. He wasn't allowed to die before she could see it. Nodding to each other, Yang and Pyrrha split up to find the knight.

After minutes of searching Ruby heard a girly scream from behind a bush. "Jaune is that you?" she slowly approached the source of the noise.
"Kyaaa!"


Meanwhile Nora, Ren and Blake were pelting the Deathstalker with their respective weapons. "Just how tough is its armour?" Growled Blake as she action rolled under another swipe. Gambol Shroud wasn't making a single dent in the scorpion Grimm's armour. Weiss frowned; she couldn't find any openings for her to strike at a weak point with Myrtenaster. They were distracted from their fight when they heard a scream come from the forest.

"That was Red riding hood!" Gasped Nora. Weiss glared in the direction of the scream,

"I swear, if someone or something hurt my Ruby." Ren and Blake would've commented if it weren't for the fact that their friend was in trouble. The four dashed off in hopes that the hooded girl was okay, leaving an incredibly ticked off and confused Deathstalker.

"Ruby are you okay?" All four shouted out worriedly as they ran into the clearing they heard the scream from. Upon stopping the four were treated to a very odd scene. Any description wouldn't do the scene justice, so this was the best they could come up with.

Jaune was laying face down, seemingly unconscious with a rather large bump on his head, in the middle of a smoking crater.

Ruby was off to the left of the clearing, holding her mouth with an embarrassed expression. Her face matched the colour of her name.

Yang was sporting the biggest tick mark imaginable and cracking her knuckles in the direction of the middle of the crater. One of her gauntlets was still smoking.

Pyrrha was also blushing a shade lighter than Ruby. Miló in its spear form impaled a tree directly behind Jaune. Lastly, stuck between the tree and the spear was Jaune's pants.

"I… I don't even want to know what transpired here." Sighed Weiss. The other three nodded slowly, still trying to process the image. Even Nora was silent and confused.

Jaune suddenly got up, seemingly unfazed by the fact he was unconscious in a crater seconds ago. "To sum it up, I was hung by the hood on a tree about to get mauled by a Beowolf when I made a manly squeal, then Pyrrha stumbled upon the scene and, in an attempt save me, threw her spear at the Grimm. Unfortunately, my manly squeal alerted Ruby whose call for me then alerted the Beowolf. The Grimm then ran away believing it was surrounded, causing Pyrrha's spear to narrowly miss Jaune Jr. and send my pants flying into that tree." He paused to take a breath of air. Blake, Ren and Nora nodded along intrigued by his tale. Why does his way of storytelling sound familiar? Wondered Blake. The knight continued. "After that I fell from the tree, my hood finally ripping. And like any man I crumpled to the floor still in shock from nearly losing something dear to me-"

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha cried. She was immediately shushed by Nora who then gestured for Jaune to continue.

"I apparently landed in a very compromising position as Ruby walked in and screamed as she blushed a shade of red similar to her name. This then caused Yang to rush in, take one look at the situation and uppercut-jab-combo me into unconsciousness. Also, this didn't use to be a clearing."

Before anyone could make a comment Yang punched the poor boy back into the crater. "How did you get back up, I thought you were unconscious?" she growled. Blake sighed at Yang and gave her a smirk,

"Yang, you've done it wrong. You're supposed to add a touch of impossibility with your punch line." She then brought out a paper fan from… somewhere, and proceeded to smack Jaune upside the head.

Nora giggled, "That looks fun!" she exclaimed as she skipped up to Jaune's beat up body and proceeded to hammer him with Magnhild.

"Why me?" groaned Jaune as he slowly crawled out of the crater, beaten and still pants less.

Weiss frowned as she looked at the edge of the clearing. "I think we may have a problem." The group turned to see that the veteran Deathstalker had caught up, and brought some friends. "Who was airheaded enough to disturb a Deathstalker nest?" she growled, it was Grimm 101 to never disturb any Grimm because they just might have buddies.

Jaune laughed, "Y-yeah, who w-was dumb enough to do that?" he stammered. Pyrrha laughed nervously with him, running quickly to grab her spear.
"It definitely wasn't me." She smiled. "Does anyone have a plan?"

"RUN!" squealed Ruby. Needless to say, the group ran.


Ren paled as a Deathstalker stinger missed his head by a millimetre. He could feel the air get displaced next to him. "Got any ideas?" he asked. Behind the group the Deathstalkers were scuttling over each other to land a hit. Jaune focused and frowned as his eyes glowed once more, this time for a couple of seconds rather than a fraction of one.

"I have one, but it'll be risky." He stated grimly.

"What is it?" asked Weiss.

Yang looked at the two in shock, "We really are going to die if Weiss is asking Vomit Boy of all people for a plan," she commented. Jaune gave her a glare, along with Ruby secretly.

"I take offence to that!"

Yang glared back, "you were supposed to!" Weiss groaned.

"I know you two have been fighting recently, over completely pointless reasons mind you, but right now we have to set that aside or we will die!"

Yang pouted, "I know I'm a pervert, and proud, but that doesn't mean I want my cute little sister to be. And thanks to pantsless-McGee over here, she's been robbed of her innocence."

"It wasn't my fault!" cried Jaune.

"Seriously you two, stop." Growled Weiss. "What is this plan of yours Jaune?"

"Yeah, we're running out of forest," commented Blake from behind Ruby. The group hadn't even made it to their original destination yet, which was the goal of the whole expedition in the first place.

"Well first of all we need to get our bearings. Nora, can you use your hammer to launch off Pyrrha's shield in order to get above the trees?"

"Of course I can Jaune-Jaune Arc!" the Valkyrie saluted.

"Great, will you be able to handle it Pyrrha?"

The red headed girl smirked,

"I wasn't the Mistral Region Tournament champion four years in a row for no reason,"

"Okay, on my signal do it. One, two, three, NOW!" He yelled just as they came across a large clearing. Nora giggled as she ran up to Pyrrha who got her shield ready, and with a loud bang the ever-happy girl was sent skywards.

"There's ruins over that way," she shouted as she sailed on Magnhild through the air. She pointed slightly to the right of the group.
"Okay, before we change course I want both Ruby and Blake to take out the trees on either of our sides in order to block our path behind us as they fall." Jaune commanded. "Then Ren, Yang I want you two to provide cover fire for them." With their orders given the four moved to complete their tasks. As they approached the end of the clearing Ruby and Blake used their weapons to cut down the trees while Ren and Yang fired pot shots at the Grimm.

Once they passed the perimeter of the clearing the reaper and book girl both continued to cut down trees as Nora took out the remaining chunks of tree so that they would fall. "Timber!" Cheered Nora and Ruby childishly as a couple dozen trees fell, stopping the advancing Deathstalkers and crushing a few unlucky ones.
Jaune nodded, "Now Weiss can you use your glyphs to increase our speed to ensure our getaway?"

The heiress sighed,

"No unfortunately, I'm still exhausted from fighting the larger Deathstalker earlier, and all this running is not helping."

Jaune grinned, "Want me to carry you?"
She scoffed, "In your dreams"

"How about you Ruby?"

The girl pouted, "I can take care of myself, I don't need people to help me. I drink milk."


After a few more minutes of running, the group finally made it to the ruins Nora had spotted. "Well, that was a thing," Muttered Jaune; panting wildly. He really needed to get used to the whole running thing, this was the second time he's been winded in just as many days. Pyrrha smiled at him.
"That was some great leadership and on the fly thinking Jaune." She complimented. The others nodded in agreement.

"It was awesome how you were giving orders left, right and centre." Giggled Ruby.

"It was indeed great leadership," nodded Ren.

Yang smiled, noticeably mellower than she was before. "You did good Vomit Boy, nearly made up for what happened back at the clearing. To be honest, you taking charge like that kinda turned-"

Weiss glared at her and Blake coughed. "A little too much information Yang, I liked you better when you hated his guts." Stated the white haired girl awkwardly; keeping the last part to herself. The aforementioned girl turned to Jaune, a frown set on her face. "What really intrigued me was that Jaune knew what my semblance was, yet I'm sure he has never seen it before."

The group looked in worry when Jaune suddenly flew into an abrupt coughing fit. The loud, harsh coughs forced the boy to stumble into the ruins. By complete accident of course, he definitely wasn't trying to avoid the implied question.

"Are these what we're looking for?" He asked innocently when he stood up fit as a fiddle in the middle of the ruins. The rest of the group got up from their resting spots and followed the knight into the destroyed building. Upon reaching the inside of the ancient structure the group were treated to a peculiar sight.

Before them laid several chess pieces on individual pedestals.

Nora's eyes sparkled with a childish gleam as she happened upon a piece. "Ooh!" She cooed. The girl giggled and picked up a golden rook, repeatedly singing: "I'm the queen of the castle~ I'm the queen of the castle~", putting the rook on her head as she danced happily.

The rest of the group watched in mixed amusement as the girl bounced around. "Ahem, Nora?" Coughed the silent male of the group.

"Yes Ren?"

"Are you done?"

The girl grinned and nodded. "Yes Ren."

The hunters and huntresses in training shared a laugh at the strange girl's antics.

After the moment passed Weiss spoke up. "I suppose we each take our own piece then." The rest of the group of eight shrugged and took their own piece, one to each pair. Jaune and Pyrrha grabbed another rook, Ruby and Weiss chose a golden horse while Yang and Blake picked up a similar piece.

The two red headed girls of the group stared at Jaune in confusion. "Jaune, how are you wearing pants again?" Asked Ruby curiously. The rest turned to see that Jaune was indeed wearing pants again despite the fact he had left them in a clearing, torn and lying next to a tree.

The boy laughed, "Well, I had spare."

Blake gave him a perplexed look, "And how did you manage to get changed so quickly?"

He laughed again, "Trust me, when you live with eight women you kind of learn how to get changed quickly in order to avoid accidents. It becomes second-nature after a while."

Ren shrugged, "Makes sense."

"So… Now what?" Asked Jaune awkwardly. It was strange. Normally by now something would be trying to kill him. Blake's bow twitched slightly.

"We need to go," she growled, "now!" The eight teens watched in horror as multiple Deathstalkers flooded out of the trees around them.
Jaune resisted the urge to hit himself. The one time he finally caught a break he jinxes it. It was really hard to be him sometimes.


And that is that. This was actually supposed to be one chapter that included the fight scene, but I added a bit too much during the draft-to-hard copy stage and it got split into two separate chapters.

Unfortunately for you guys, the next chapter may take longer to come out. I wont always be available to update every week, because surprisingly enough I have a life outside of fanfiction, but I will try to update as soon as I can. I will try my hardest to at least get one out once every two weeks, never more.

Well now that that's out of the way, I'd just like to once again thank you amazing readers for reading my story, and I hope you continue to read and enjoy it! Please favourite, follow and leave a review about what you liked, disliked and what I should work on!

Anyone who can guess all the references to things gets a blueberry frozen yoghurt to calm to your nearest Weiss.