Hello and welcome back! We are slowly climbing the ranks in RWBY Fanfiction so highfives all around! For a first fanfic this is doing even better than I could ever imagine, so hopefully I don't become a one hit wonder and fail when I get around to writing another…

In other news, Happy New Year! First chapter for 2016 so I guess I need to make it count. Hopefully you've all had a good start to the new year and continue to have a great year. Here's to 2016!

Reviews!

LaughingLefou: His luck isn't going to get any better. At all. RIP Jaune. Then again, it's all up to the way you see it. Something bad to one might be something good to another.
P.S. I like your stories.

StygianSloth: Thank you, and Happy New Year!

NinjaFang1331: Thanks!

Dutoc: Oh well, it's Jaune's incompetence that makes him such a popular character.

thehidden6lade: Merry –holiday season- to you too.

Amvmaster: Well, in this chapter he realises something if that makes you feel any better.

garoorar: Man… you're probably going to enjoy the later chapters. Maybe. Also yes, Neo is cute.

dracohalo117: Hopefully this chapter meets expectations.

SMxABULM: Thank you, Happy New Year!

Zyxis Ouroboros ReArchtypist: Um, good?

duskrider: Thanks!

Lt. Darkhound: Yes. Yes he is.

DarkElucidator: I don't blame you, there was a really obscure one and a well hidden one.

CrazyTrollR49: Thank you. Yes, I will try to give those teams a little more screen time and Qrow and Winter will be in the story, whether it's earlier or later is yet to be seen. Merry –holiday season- to you too.

CC-2224 Commander Cody: Glad to see you enjoy my sense of humour and my story, hope it continues to make you laugh.

Arbl A-17: Well here it is, hope you like it.

meep fanmeepster (Guest): Well, hopefully it was worth the wait. About the omake idea; I don't think I'm going to do something like that unfortunately. After all, them finding out is the end game of this story. Except for Sun of course, he'll be the comedy relief.

Disclaimer: It's 2016 and I still don't own RWBY or any franchises I allude to within any chapters. No matter how much I'd like to.


Chapter 19- Just Another Day at Beacon Academy

3 hours. It had taken three hours for Nora and Ren to arrive back at the dorm room and find a way to untangle him from his web of bed sheets. Thankfully Ren was not the type to pry and did not question what had happened, something he had learnt from having to deal with Nora on a daily basis. Anyway, in those three hours Jaune realised a few things. One; bed sheets were a surprisingly formidable opponent, and two, Sun was trying to get in with Blake.

It was hard to believe but what could he say? Three hours is a long time to think. And in that time, his thoughts travelled from one thing to the next. What caused Pyrrha to fall unconscious earlier? Why did those people at the docks seem so familiar? What should he write about next? What do Blake and Yang like best about his books? Does Blake have a tail along with her ears? Why was Sun so keen about Blake coming with them? Then it kind of just snowballed from there.

He laughed to himself, fully intent on ignoring Professor Port's boasti- lecture. How could he have been so oblivious? He chuckled silently and swivelled his head around his palm to the silent beauty, Sun had a long road ahead of him if he wanted to court the black haired bookworm. She was introverted, independent, wary, silent, cynical, sharp-tongued and a little obsessive over the things she liked from time to time. Though the blond knight could definitely see what his childhood friend saw in the girl, and it wasn't just because "-she's more beautiful than the most fragile flora in the palest moonlight." He blinked upon realising that he had earned the looks of the students around him, namely Yang, Weiss, Nora and Ren. "Dust, did I say that out loud?… again?" Yang snickered,

"Wow Vomit Boy. Never knew you were such a poet, no wonder you get top marks in literature." Teased the blond from Team RWBY. "You're really head over heels for Princess here aren't 'ya?" Weiss blushed, muttering about blond dolts under her breath.

Jaune laughed nervously, "Y-yeah, I was talking about Snow Angel, definitely." His normally stoic teammate raised an eyebrow at the 'conviction' in his voice, but otherwise said nothing about the blatant lie. "So… speaking of literature, we have that next right?" Nora groaned in an un-Nora like fashion.

"Ugh, don't remind me. That class is almost as boring as that strategy and tactics class all the leaders have to take." Complained the Valkyrie, losing some of her upbeat nature. The young writer sighed sadly, way to belittle the two classes I'm actually good at Nora...

A sudden realisation knocked him out of his state immediately, "Wait, how do you know how boring the leader classes are?" The sloth lover grinned at him, choosing not to answer. "... You were the one that stole the Professor's pancakes that one class weren't you?" Nora giggled as she leaned onto Ren's back.

"Well, they were just asking for it by having an entire lecture be about staying vigilant in the field! They were so engrossed in the speech they didn't even notice me taking a few from them." She stated childishly. Ren sighed, rubbing the girl's head affectionately eliciting a faint blush from her.

"Nora. No pancakes for two days." Jaune shuffled gently towards Yang upon hearing the punishment, letting Ren deal with the storm that was sure to ensue. The young woman smirked at the subtle action, bringing her arm around him to pull him closer to her much to his dismay.

The novice knight blushed heavily upon coming into contact with the side of her... assets. "W-what's up Yang?" He spewed out between nervous stutters. The blond boxer just shot him a friendly wink,

"You obviously weren't paying attention in class so I thought I'd lend you my notes." Jaune blinked, Yang actually took notes? In Professor Port's class? "Just know that these don't come free Vomit Boy." Oh dear dust, what does she want now? Though if she really was listening to Port's speech then the notes would come in handy. The portly and not so humble professor was the type of teacher that would hint at the important things to note for upcoming essays or tests. Unfortunately these important notes were hidden within his ramblings better than eggs on Easter. It was hard to listen for five minutes before getting bored.

The hunter in training shot her a look, "What do you want in exchange then?" The girl grinned and tapped her chin in faux thought, adding a small hmm to accompany it. Jaune winced when her face brightened considerably, this was not going to end well.

"Two things." She stated simply, holding up the same amount of fingers for effect. "I want your help on the upcoming Literature essay." He nodded at the request as it seemed doable. "And two-" the writer yelped silently as she pulled him towards her face by his tie, a hair's width of space between the two. This has been happening a lot to me recently, and I don't know if that is a good or a bad thing. Commented the knight mentally. "I want you, Jaune Arc, to go on a date with me." She finished with a smirk.

"... I, uh, pardon?" Was his oh-so-smart reply. "I don't think that's a good trade at all." Dealing with Yang for an entire day would be... a bit too much for him to handle.

The hot headed girl pouted, "Are you saying you don't wanna go out with me Lady Killer?" She not-so-gently nudged him with her elbow, "C'mon, you went out with Blake." The blond shook his head vehemently in denial, hoping the girl wasn't offended by what was essentially a rejection.

He laughed nervously, "No I mean, it's too good of a deal on my side. Uh, help in studies and a date with such a beautiful woman is a bit too much... right?" Please don't murder me, please don't murder me, please don-

Yang smirked, "Alright, then we'll just say you owe me one Vomit Boy." Jaune sighed in relief once the bell went, signifying the end of the current lesson. "See you next period, and I'm lookin' forward to that date." She sent another wink and a wave his way as she exited the room, "Also, you didn't deny going out with Blake." She added from the doorway before taking her leave.

After a moment of silence a dull thud echoed around the nearly empty classroom. The blond groaned in pain, having swung his head at the table in dismay with all the force he could muster. An entire day of having to deal with that. It was going to be exhausting to say the least. Fun, exciting and happy, but exhausting. "Good job." Congratulated the stack of broken pieces of furniture to his left. "You got a date with what most males consider to be one of the hottest girls in our year."

Jaune stared blankly at the large mess of wooden furniture stuck together with pink glitter glue. "... Ren is that you? What happened-" He paused mid-sentence, "-Nora?"

The pile nodded despite the glitter glue, "Nora."

Jaune sighed, he really needed to find a way to get his hyperactive teammate under control somehow before she destroys the school... more than she already had this year. "By the way, do you know what text we're 'analysing' next for Literature?" The pile of furniture said nothing in return for a few seconds. A single broken table in the top left shifted down slightly to allow a novella to boomerang through into the blond writer's grasp. The knight blinked. Then rubbed his eyes. Then blinked again. A single thought flew around his head as he held a copy of one of his books in his hands, I am going to ace this.


Jaune's eye twitched in annoyance as he made his way to Goodwitch's combat class, feeling more than a little ireful. "Now I know teachers were making up crap when they talked about the 'literary techniques' in the books. When I wrote 'the curtains were blue', I wasn't indirectly implying that the main character was feeling sad and isolated from the outside. I was directly stating that the curtains were blue!" He grumbled to himself, losing a little respect for the class. The displeased muttering continued until the upset knight finally made it to the room.

"Students, today we will be having two separate practical lessons. Leaders, you will be having mock tournament style battles to familiarise yourself with the rules and create strategies needed for your team to secure victory." Explained Goodwitch, glaring at the few students who had dared to arrive late to her class. "As for everyone else, you will be placed into groups to practice fighting with people whom you've likely never fought with before." The group of students cheered, exchanging high fives and greetings as they were separated into their sparring partners and teams.

Ruby grinned and hefted Crescent Rose onto her shoulder, sending a look to her fellow leader across the arena. Looked like they would be getting their spar earlier than they thought. "Go easy on me." She teased. Jaune mentally rolled his eyes, I should be saying that to you. "Let's go Vomit Boy!" Strategically speaking, Ruby was one of the worst types of opponents he could go against. She not only had a mid and long range, but also had the speed to break through his defence and recover from blocks before he could capitalise on it. Not only that, but he can't use his semblance on something he can't touch and enhanced senses won't exactly work. If he could disarm her though, it would be his win.

Knowing Ruby's personality the knight moved into a steady position, ready to block her semblance infused first strike. The two stood still as they listened to the timer tick slowly, the light ready to go green at any moment. The reaper smirked while she got ready to run in for the first hit, she knew it was predictable of her but that didn't mean he had any way of capitalising on it.

The second the green light shone the red haired girl hastily went on the offensive to gain the upper hand. The first attack was easily blocked by the young writer as he had been ready for it, but everything from then on though was anyone's guess. The sheer speed and momentum of the first strike had been enough to knock him back slightly while Ruby sped on past him, using the momentum to fuel a swing at his exposed back. The knight cried out as it scored a clean hit, he had definitely been right about her speed being too much for him to keep up with. He hurriedly pivoted on the spot to face the Rose as she leapt backwards to get a little space. Jaune frowned as she went for another dash attack, he stealthily activated his semblance. He really needed to get a handle on her speed soon or he wouldn't last another minute. Although time appeared to slow by a smidgen with the combined efforts of adrenaline and his semblance, it meant nothing since he couldn't react fast enough.

The harsh clang of metal hitting metal reverberated throughout the room as Crescent Rose bounced off of the collapsible shield. The girl used the bounce momentum to swing around for another diagonal cut. The students in the stands watched as the girl was definitely on the winning end, repeatedly swinging the oversized gardening tool at the knight, not even bothering to use the gun function at such a close range. Jaune swore mentally as he felt the wind rush past his head, barely avoiding a debilitating blow from the reaper's weapon. Ruby had the upper hand with a mid ranged weapon and she was milking it for all it was worth with her consecutive attacks.

Once more the Rose went for a dash attack to break his guard and create an opening. He was so glad he had a shield. He grimaced when she went for another scythe spin combo. She would have a lot of dairy for her cookies with all the milking she was doing currently. Jaune blinked in sudden realisation, cookies? The momentary lapse of vision was enough for the girl to press her advantage and knock the shield out of his hand. The audience gulped for the blond student, it didn't look good for him.

The young knight smirked, "Did you eat those cookies I baked for you earlier Rubes?" he asked suddenly. The black haired girl gave him a confused glance but nodded nonetheless, how could she say no to cookies? His smirk evolved into a cocky grin, "Perfect." He leapt back and closed his eyes, focussing his aura into his semblance and upping his hearing and sense of smell. If he couldn't react fast enough to his eyes, maybe his nose would do better. Here's to hoping at least.

Ruby faltered at his grin, he had even closed his eyes! What is he planning? She skillfully spun Crescent Rose around her into an idle position, a frown plastered on her face. He was obviously baiting her into attacking through melee. Her small hands clenched harder around the scythe, she had no choice but to attack from a range. Though it was probably for the best considering he didn't have his shield on him. The knight grinned upon hearing the distinct sound of her anchoring the scythe to the ground. "Here we go." He muttered under his breath.

The blond had seen it when he was delving through her personality on the first night he had met her, the weaknesses of her and Crescent Rose. "Number one, to fire the rifle without recoil the blade must be planted firmly within the ground." He quickly ran in the direction that smelled of cookies, rolling to the right and left when he heard the sound of a gunshot. "Number two, once it has been anchored the rifle cannot be aimed horizontally." The blond winced upon receiving a bullet to the left wrist. She was using less powerful bullets so as to not hurt him as much, but they still did a number on his aura and would obviously have more frequent hits the closer he got to her due to there being less time to react. The problem was, he had to keep to a fairly linear path or Ruby would either adjust her strategy by going for close combat or realise that he knew her weakness.

Ruby on the other hand was beginning to suspect something. In the back of her mind niggling doubt was slowly growing, did he know about her precious weapon's weakness? It was obvious, but still something no one would notice unless given proper thought. Since she decided to incorporate the force behind the recoil into her fighting style, she would be unable to fire in one spot unless she anchored Crescent Rose. That then meant she also had a limited horizontal deviation with it solely relying on where the bullets list off to during flight. She frowned as the blond slowly got closer, stubbornly refusing to believe Jaune of all people had figured out the weakness of her baby.

"Number three, due to needing to be embedded deeply within the ground to prevent recoil the blade cannot be easily uprooted." He was glad that Ruby was the stubborn little hooded girl she was or his plan would never had worked. By the time he had gotten close enough it was too late for her to take her beloved weapon out of the ground. Instead she fired one last bullet. The younger writer took the bullet head on before leaping over the grounded weapon and tackling the younger girl.

The buzzer sounded, signifying the end of the round and allowing for cheers to flow from the stand. Even the other students who were sparring in teams had stopped to watch the two and were applauding at the effort. The reaper pouted, "I can't believe I lost Vomit Boy." Jaune sighed and shook his head, pointing to the monitor.

"Winner Ruby Rose as her opponent's aura has reached the red." The leader of Team RWBY blinked and turned to the large monitor to see that Jaune's aura was indeed in the red, with hers only down by a fraction due to the constant use of her semblance and the tackle at the end. The girl frowned, if he was a Grimm it wouldn't stop just because he was weak, she wouldn't have won.

Jaune laughed, he couldn't believe he had actually pulled off that manoeuvre. He smirked and held out a hand to his first friend, "Nice fight." Ruby smiled slightly, accepting the hand of her fellow leader.

"If this had been a serious match you would've won." She stated, giggling as he pulled her to her feet. The blond shook his head negative,

"Had this been a serious match you would've used higher calibre bullets, not underestimated me, and wouldn't have just focussed on whittling my aura down with consecutive attacks. It's your win fair and square." Jaune grinned once the girl sighed in reluctant acceptance. He still had a long ways to go, but he was slowly making his way to their level. Sure he had to resort to using his semblance and info he gained by using his semblance beforehand, but that was like complaining about Ruby using her semblance in her attacks or Blake using her semblance to escape attacks.

Upon arriving back at the stands Jaune was unsurprised to see that Nora and Pyrrha had already finished their team matches. Nora smiled widely at the blond, "Fearless leader Jaune Jaune Arc! That was an amazing battle!" She cheered happily. Pyrrha nodded with a warm smile,

"Indeed, you have certainly improved since the start of the year." Commended the champion proudly. Her partner grinned at the praise, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "If you keep up that progress you might someday be able to beat me."

The novice knight immediately deadpanned, "Alright you don't have to lie to my face." The red haired girl sighed, if only he'd get over that negativity streak. "Where's Ren?" Nora quickly pointed in the direction of her partner and childhood friend. Currently the stoic male was still fighting, having been paired up with Dove Bronzewing of CRDL. The two were facing a pair of students that Jaune didn't know, but he was sure he had seen the male one in the cafeteria once or twice before.

"Go Renny!" Cheered the hammer meister as she waved to him. Jaune paled as he heard the sound of a familiar pair of footsteps from behind him.

"Students, if you are finished with your spars you are free to begin another fight, stay here and observe other matches or leave to catch up with other work." Stated Goodwitch as she approached the students watching the matches. A few began to leave to do as she said, but most stayed to enjoy the fights. The blond teacher turned her eyes to her favourite student. "I do believe you still have that written work about safety around dust you need to hand me Mr Arc after the little... mishap with Miss Schnee." The boy smiled politely and nodded,

"Y-Yep! I'm doing it, in fact I'm nearly done!" He laughed nervously, who was he kidding? He hadn't even started thanks to all the events that had happened recently. Glynda gave him a look, pushing her glasses further up.

"Is that so? Then you wouldn't be against handing it over to me by the end of today." Jaune gulped, today? "Unless, you were lying about the amount of progress you have made?" He paled further, shaking his head vehemently. "Perfect, I will see you at my office then." The buzzer sounded to inform the deputy of the end of another match between leaders. "Winner Sun Wukong through ring out!" She exclaimed loudly while walking back to the arena.

The young author released a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. The woman scared him more than a Deathstalker. "You haven't done anything have you." It was more of a statement than a question from the red haired champion. The blond hunter in training sighed, nodding sadly. Pyrrha's cheeks tinted a light shade of pink, here it goes. She mentally psyched herself up, "If you want, I could maybe help you with-"

"Jaune, let's go." Before the two knew what had happened he was halfway to the door, being dragged by the hood of his jacket by an unknown student. He yelped loudly when the two walked down a flight of stairs. In his case though it wasn't walk, more so painful backwards tobogganing. Without the toboggan but still just as much screaming. It didn't even take five minutes to get to the library from the arena, which was a new record for the knight. "Alright, the library's closed but I got Amethyst to let us in so we could get this over and done with." He still couldn't see his abductor due to them being behind him but if he had to go by voice it would more than likely be

"Blake what are you doing? That hurt!" He complained, rubbing his sore back, legs and neck. It wasn't everyday you get dragged down stairs while being choked so forgive him for not being used to the pain. The girl rolled her eyes, not that he could see.

She gave him a pointed look as she spun him around on the swivel chair. "Get over it you baby, you've been through worse." The questioning look he gave her was turned to one of embarrassment with her answer, "You got your ass kicked by a girl practically half your size."

The blond growled indignantly at the black haired introvert. "Hey, she was up to my shoulders and you know it!"

"She was wearing heels." She pointed out with a smirk. Jaune stayed silent, knowing fighting a losing battle would be pointless. Especially against Blake. The girl swapped her crossed legs around and leaned back, taking out a book of what he assumed to be one of his. He sent a look which he was sure she ignored but otherwise didn't comment on her relaxed posture. "If you really want me to make up for kidnapping you from your partner I'll help you out with that written work Goodwitch wanted. Now, any questions about the Faunus before I start lecturing you?" He closed his eyes in thought, trying to bring to mind anything that could help him with his next story. She suppressed a smirk when he crossed his arms to go deeper into thought.

"Just a few." He replied. "So, do Faunus have another plural for them? Because saying the Faunus sounds a little derogatory and just saying Faunus doesn't cut it sometimes." Blake blinked silently, it was an unusually perceptive remark he had made and something she herself hadn't put much thought into. Before she could give him her answer however, he was already onto the next question. "And is the 'fur' on your ears actually fur or is it just really, really, really soft hair? Like, seriously it felt great when I touched it. Speaking of ears, do you have extra sensitive hearing because you have two pairs of ears? Do Faunus have more than one appendage from their animal counterpart? Like, does Velvet have a puffy tail? Are all Faunus' ears as soft as yours?" The bookworm had to double take at the Nora-like string of words and questions flowing from the writer's mouth. This was going to take a while.


If one asked Glynda to describe her thoughts on Jaune Arc she would roll her eyes and simply say "At least he arrives on time." She had nothing against the poor boy. He was clumsy and had just as much of a penchant for trouble as Nora and Team RWBY, but he was also polite, deceptively wise and hard working... At least on the subjects he cared for. On top of all the 'positive' things about the knight was his punctuality. Unbeknownst to the witch this habit had been born out of his need to consistently meet deadlines, but that wasn't important. Because of this one could argue that on the rare chance the blond boy was late with something, there was obviously a problem that was normally caused by the student's one other major flaw. His terrible luck. Even she, who didn't normally believe of the sorts, could accept the idea of his less than favourable luck.

She sighed and continued grading the recent tests. What had brought this train of thought to mind was the fact that the unlucky knight was late with his written piece. The only reason she hadn't decided to find the boy and drag him by the ear to detention was the Nora-like maniacal laughter, explosions and screams coming from the opposite side of the school for the past hour. Knowing the tardy student had no-doubt gotten caught up in the antics of the destructive force that was Nora Valkyrie, she decided to let him off for the time being.

The piercing sound of a female student in danger echoed throughout her office, disturbing her train of thought. "Definitely Jaune." She stated amusedly. Maybe she'd wait an extra hour before she stepped in... to see how it plays out of course. Definitely not as retribution for lying to her earlier. Glynda Goodwitch was definitely not the type of woman to make hundreds suffer for the karmic comeuppance of one student. She contentedly took a sip from the coffee of a certain doctor who had spilled some on her previously, and was no doubt rampaging on the opposite side of the school to the Valkyrie if the screams of terror and sound of desperate running were any clue.

Life was good for the blond deputy right now.

Suddenly the speaker crackled to life all too soon, "Glynda, if you could sort out the two disasters occurring currently on the opposite sides of Beacon I would be very grateful." The witch rolled her eyes, he wouldn't make her miss out on the comeuppance of the guilty and nothing he could say would change her mind. "Unless of course, you want more paperwork to deal with. Maybe the size of this bill for destruction will only be half of the day Nora released her sloths on the school." The woman paled at the thought. That day had wrought several hundreds of assets destroyed and lawsuits filed, and that was just what Nora had done.

"You win this time Ozpin." She muttered to herself. One day Ozpin would get his comeuppance, and it would be glorious. Until then however, she will listen and obey the headmaster. Let it be known that Glynda Goodwitch was not one to let a person who had wronged her go without any consequences.


Jaune felt a shiver roll down his spine, and it wasn't just because Nora had locked him in the freezer with Yang, Blake and Sun whilst yelling 'Death penalty to the blonds!' When Blake asked why she was included the sloth lover responded by saying she was an accomplice because she had a thing for the three of them. This left an awkward wait for rescue.

The blond knight blushed from behind the blond boxer while she and the blond monkey grinned at the black haired introvert. "Who knew Blake had a thing for blonds. You should've told me before we were given the death sentence hun, would've made for one hell of a goodbye party~" teased her partner with a wink, causing the girl to blush and shuffle away. Sun sent a confused glance in the direction of the door, did stuff like this always occur around Beacon?

He grinned along with his fellow blond, "So Blake, what are you going to be working on when we get to the training facility?" She shrugged in response. She hadn't given much thought to the training trip, not after the whole fiasco at the docks. She still couldn't grasp the idea of the White Fang working with Roman Torchwick, a human, and that blue haired guy and his brunette lackey, also humans. Adam would never resort to working with humans, she knew that much, so what was going on? She needed to get to the bottom of it and fast.

"How long are we going to be at the facility for?" Questioned the mentally preoccupied Faunus. Sun shrugged,

"I was thinking about a week or so, it really just depends. There will be quite a bit of students so a handful of teachers are apparently coming to ensure nothing happens according to what your headmaster told me." Jaune frowned, why did Ozpin choose to confide this information to someone who wasn't from Beacon instead of the students who are? Although he was fairly curious as to what the cryptic headmaster was planning, a more evident problem was at hand. They wouldn't be able to even start the trip if they were locked in the freezer. Under normal circumstances Yang would be able to break it down with her inhuman strength, but this wasn't normal circumstances. Not only was it cold, Yang didn't have Ember Celica on her and recently the freezer door had been enhanced to prevent people -namely Nora- from stealing food.

And thus the three blonds and their associate/'love interest according to Nora' were trapped in the frozen prison that was the school freezer. At least until someone lets them out or Nora releases them of their death sentence in a show of mercy. He placed his bets on the former.

In the meantime Blake had to slowly inch away from the two blonds hammering her with questions about her sexual preferences. Thankfully the third one seemed to be visibly sane. She had no clue what was currently running through that brain of his, but at least it wasn't likely to be whether or not she liked to use her ribbon to dominate. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Sun and Yang were too focussed around arguing about Blake preferring to be in control or dominated to notice the subject of their argument making her way to the more 'innocent' blond in the room. She knew he read books with smut trickled in, that was why they hung out in the library with Yang from time to time, but he still couldn't be as bad as the buxom boxer or her male equivalent. Luckily she didn't know that Jaune had been the one to write those books or she would give up on blonds not being perverts. That or jump him on the spot, it really depended.

"So... you never told me who that Faunus was." Started the black haired introvert casually. Conversations were not exactly her strong point. Jaune nodded absentmindedly, more focussed on his thoughts than the current events. After a couple seconds of listening to Yang and Sun argue about dust knows what, it finally ticked.

"Wait, what Faunus?" He responded. The bookworm gave him a look, late reactions?

She let a small smile encompass her face. "When I asked for a reason to teach you about the Faunus you told me that there was a Faunus girl you were interested in." The reaction from the blond knight caused her small smile to escalate into an amused smirk, she was sure if he had been drinking something he would have done a spit take. "Does that mean you've given up on your 'Snow Angel'?" Given the noticeable finch the young boy had just answered with, she may have taken the teasing a little too far.

He sighed tiredly, "I don't know." He answered simply. Quite a lot had been on his mind after the whole Alice incident and he wasn't entirely sure what he felt currently for the white haired heiress. It was confusing to think about her. Whenever he saw her he thought of the innocent smiling face of Alice, but whenever he saw Alice he thought about the cold yet caring face of Weiss. Who knew two people being in one body would be so confusing? Though it kind of reminded him about a book...

"So who is the lucky girl?" Continued the cat Faunus in an attempt to cheer up her book buddy. Note to self, Weiss seems to currently be a rough subject for him. As of late the blond hunter in training had been acting different, with the issue seemingly circling around that one trip to Vale the knight and the heiress had several days ago. It was fairly worrying, but none of her business. It may seem rather self-centered for her to say, but it was comforting knowing that there was someone other than her who preferred to keep their problems to themselves. Case and point what he was doing right now.

Jaune looked away nervously, suddenly interested in the argument between his fellow blonds. How was he supposed to respond? He couldn't tell her that it had been a joke or she'd murder him, and he couldn't tell her the real reason or Yang might overhear and, well, he might not make it out of the freezer alive. Speaking of which, there was no sign of rescue from their icy punishment but at least the heated debate between Sun and Yang about... Blake's sexual preferences?... was keeping them warm.

"Do I know her?" Silence from the knight. "Is she a student at Beacon?" More silence. "Is it Velvet?" He blushed, Velvet? What gave her that idea? Sure she was cute and the accent was pretty soothing, but he'd rather not deal with the wrath of Coco. Especially if the stuff she told him about her handbag was true. "Who is it Jaune?"

Why was she being so pushy? It's not like knowing would change anything. "I'd rather not say around those two." He admitted, actively keeping his voice low. "Dust knows I'd never hear the end of it." The introverted girl stayed silent for a few moments to size him up but ultimately accepted his reason.

She sighed in reluctant defeat. He had better not be pulling her tail and lying to her, after all it wasn't every day she saw a human gain a romantic interest in a Faunus. To her it was all the more symbolic that he would possibly choose a Faunus girl over a Schnee. Don't get her wrong, she has nothing against Weiss. But the things she had learnt from her days in the White Fang were a little hard to get rid of so easily. The ninja cat still couldn't get over her habit of walking around silently. Either way, it was thanks to all of her... friends, that she had gained over the course of her time at Beacon that she was starting to gain hope once more about a time of peace between humans and Faunus. Unfortunately the introduction of Roman Torchwick and his lackeys brought that hope back to square one.

It was bugging her that she had no answers regarding not only the identity of the two followers of the admittedly well dressed criminal, but that she couldn't think of a single reason as to why Adam would accept the help of a human. It just seemed illogical to her. You never put 'Adam' and 'human' in the same sentence unless there is a 'kills the' between them. That was just common sense, an obvious rule of the universe, like gravity. So for Adam, the human hating man that he is, to work with a human, something BIG must have happened. The question was, what?

Her thoughts about her ex-partner in literal crime and the Orange haired criminal were derailed when the freezer door burst open with a loud metallic clang, freeing the four students from their gelid death sentence. The four felt a gust of warm air envelop them as the cold escaped from the freezer. "Are you students okay?" Queried the deputy as she entered the food storage, waving away the frozen mist with her riding crop. "Oh, it's just you four." Jaune deadpanned, what's with that uncaring attitude?

Yang pouted, "Aww, I was just about to huddle up with Blake for warmth too." She complained, sending a mischievous wink the bookworm's way. The black haired introvert blushed but made an effort to not be outwardly effected by her teasing. "Or maybe Lady Killer could've kept me warm. What do you think?" Jaune blushed, trying to copy the ninja Faunus but ultimately failing at concealing his emotions. Noticing the weakness in her prey, the predator quickly pounced for her daily meal of teasing. "C'mere Vomit Boy, I'll keep you warm~"

"Yang we've been saved already!" Cried the helpless knight. He called out for help from his childhood friend only to find an outline of dust where the monkey Faunus used to be. Seeing his only hope left was an inch away from laughing her ass off he silently mouthed 'help me!'

Unfortunately his last hope responded with, 'better you than me'.

Glynda sighed, "Just... get out of the freezer already. I need to address your sloth loving friend and her current war with Bartholomew." Her eye twitched when she realised that none of the three made a move to listen to her order. In fact the blond boxer had started- "Miss Xiao Long, stop sexually assaulting your classmate!" Growled the teacher as she pulled her away from the lucky/unlucky boy, earning a whine from the girl.

Jaune shuddered as the blond woman took the young student away. "I can never get married now." He muttered silently to himself. Blake watched the scene with a confused stare and utterly defeated sigh. Isn't it normally the other way around? "This is your fault!" He cried, pointing directly at the silent beauty. Her fault? Yang was the one who did it, sure she watched it happen but- "You need to take responsibility." He declared with finality.

One would think the level-headed, introverted, silent beauty that was Blake Belladonna would be above being a closet pervert with a dirty mind. Unfortunately that was not the case as the black themed ninja Faunus was suddenly blown back by a cliche nosebleed, much to the blond knight's confusion. Jaune, being the dense, optimistic, trusting, glass-half-full kind of guy he is, instead of thinking bad of the girl, chose to carry her unconscious form out of the freezer. After all, Blake wasn't dirty minded like her partner, she only read his books for the plot.

He took in a deep breath, revelling in the silence. It had been a long day, and it was still only 4 in the afternoon. Thankfully, all that was left was packing for the trip to the facility and then maybe spending an hour or two training. He hadn't remembered to ask what the name of it was. It would've been much easier than continuously saying 'the training facility' and 'training trip'.

He stared blankly at the admittedly cute sleeping form of the black haired girl the organiser of the trip had his eyes on. "She's going to hate me for this." He thought to himself, grinning mischievously as he brought out his trusty pen pointer. He couldn't resist, just like with Weiss it was going to be funny- no hilarious.


Blake was unamused, huffing with an uncharacteristic pout as she took a seat on the airship with her luggage. Someone had drawn cat whiskers on her in her sleep and while she wasn't mad at the anonymous blond person, she was still mildly perturbed at the unknown knight. In fact, she hadn't noticed it until Yang pointed it out by keeling over in laughter.

Jaune groaned as he walked on-board, knowing that the next half-hour was going to be very bad for his stomach. Luckily for him Blake hadn't realised who drew on her and hadn't just punched him in the gut. He also definitely wasn't doubled over in pain as he entered the flying death trap.

Nora grinned as she saw the interaction between the cat Faunus and the writer. "Ooh, are we playing that Hit Jaune game again?" She asked excitedly, this time deciding to use a paper fan instead. The blond knight pulled a stupefied face as the girl hit him over the head before collapsing in the direction of the blow. Ren watched as his leader fell face-first into the seats on the side of the airship.

"Nora?"

"Yes Ren?" Answered the pancake lover.

"What was in that fan?" The girl rubbed her chin in thought. Slowly twirling the apparently dangerous weapon innocently behind her back. The other students on the air vehicle slowly began inching their way to the other side of the airship, making sure to avoid the girl.

"Um, some leeks, pancake crumbs, strips of metal and I think some of Weiss' paralysing dust got onto it." The black haired man sighed into his palm. No wonder Jaune got knocked out after one hit. I mean, other than because of Nora's monstrous strength.

Weiss frowned, since when did Nora get into her dust collection? Yang grinned at the hammer girl as she took a seat of her own, sending a thumbs up her way. Weiss rolled her eyes at her teammate, taking a seat on the other side of the ride to avoid being irritated the entire flight. It was never meant to be though once the busty boxer realised what the heiress was doing. Getting up out of her seat she sat right next to the white haired girl, smirking at her. "You won't escape from me Weiss-cream."

Blake grew a small tick mark, annoyed with her current predicament. To her right was a blond monkey Faunus that wouldn't stop asking about her personal interests while to her left was an unconscious blond knight that wouldn't let go of her leg, having taken a liking to sleeping on her thigh much to her embarrassment. Pyrrha glared at the black haired introvert from the other side of the aircraft. Why couldn't it have been my lap he fell unconscious on? She whined mentally. It was unbecoming of the four-time champion but she didn't care, all she wanted was to confirm her feelings for the blond.

What had started as an innocent interest slowly evolved into a feeling that she couldn't describe, and it was not only scaring her but also affecting her thoughts. The red haired Mistrali needed to figure out her feelings for her partner and quick, before something happened because of it.

Glynda watched the large group of students with an interested look. Save for Ruby who was quietly scarfing down cookies in the corner and Jaune who was unconscious, the entire ship was filled with students who were either animatedly talking or in deep thought. She had heard about the blond knight's notorious motion sickness problem and was rather glad that he wasn't releasing the contents of his stomach for the entire half hour. It would've made for a rather unpleasant journey to say the least.

Being the one to draw the short straw she was forced against her will to accompany the students to their destination to prevent possible disasters and would have to stay at the facility until further instructions from Ozpin. Needless to say, they had literally drawn straws to decide on the unfortunate soul.

Blake put on a forced smile and turned to her fellow Faunus, "So Sun." She started, her voice strained slightly. She was this close to lashing out at him and tying her ribbon around his mouth. "What is the name of this facility we're headed? You seem to have failed to mention it." The boy grinned at her,

"Did I? Well, the place is called Pharos." He answered. "It's a subsidiary to Beacon apparently and was made in memory of the failed attempt at creating a school outside of the walls known as Lambent."

The bookworm frowned, where have I heard that name before? She mused to herself. "If it is what you say it is, how have I, a student of Beacon, never heard of it?" She asked skeptically. Sun shrugged.

"'Cause you're introverted?" Blake stayed silent. Fair enough. "So, do you like bananas? 'Cause I'm perfectly fine with it if you don't." The black haired ninja sighed, why wasn't Goodwitch doing anything about the blond currently on her lap. There had to be some rule against it or something and she just wanted to read, but couldn't do it if there was a boy taking up her leg space and a monkey Faunus that would not stop talking. She groaned, this was going to be a long journey.


"Sweet Mother of Dust that's a big Ursa!" Yelped Jaune as he rolled out of the way, the large Grimm's arm missing him by a hair. Thinking quickly, he threw yellow and green leaves up into the air to obscure the bear Grimm's vision. Using the cover, he managed to regroup with Sun who had been knocking into a tree. "This is the last one." He commented as he moved into a defensive stance. The blond Faunus nodded, shaking his head clear.

"So you go right, I'll go left?" The knight nodded with a grin at the game plan,

"Read my mind." Bumping fists the two blonds rushed in. "Right!" He cried as he swung at the Ursa, stunning it slightly as the blade knocked it backwards.

"Left!" Sun ran in for his turn, a loud crack resounding once the staff nailed the Grimm squarely in the stomach.

With a yell of 'down' the young author kneeled and swung horizontally, slicing his opponents knees. Sun, taking advantage of the bear's weakness leaped onto the knight's shield for some height and brought his weapon down on its head, effectively killing it as he pulled the trigger. The two sighed in relief, "Now that that's done we can-" Jaune paled upon hearing the unmistakable growl of an Ursa Major. Unfortunately the sound of fighting had brought it right to their position. "Oh this is not going to be good."

The open shirted Faunus shook his head, "Nope, I've got an idea." The young knight blinked,

"You're not thinking of that are you?" His only answer came in the form of a large grin, that he too adopted after some thought. "Alright lets do this then. I'll start." Sun rolled his eyes,

"You're supposed to start last." He joked, receiving a snicker and annoyed glare in response. The stowaway did a faithful impression of a Cheshire cat as he watched his childhood friend begin their combo. With a cry of 'up' he blocked a downwards swipe from the Ursa Major successfully with his shield and used the moment he gained from that to do a spinning upwards slice, disorienting the Grimm as Crocea Mors connected with its chin and yelling up once more. The blond student couldn't help but laugh, they were actually doing this.

Charging in the Faunus rolled under a frenzied swing from the Grimm and with a ecstatic yell of 'down' he used Ruyi Bang to sweep its legs out from under it and stood over it. "Down." He said once more, firing three shots from Jingu Bang into the bear Grimm's chest. However, it only served to anger it further as it hurriedly got up. Leaping off of the rising Grimm the blond swore, "This thing is tougher than it looks."

"Left!" Called Jaune while he shield bashed it, causing it to stagger backwards. "Switch." With an exclamation of 'Right!' Sun hit the Grimm just under the arm. "Left!" Yelled the knight, once more cutting deep into the Ursa Major with a swing of Crocea Mors.

"Right!" With a final swing and trigger pull of his staff, Sun managed to blow a hole in the armoured Grimm. The two collapsed in exhaustion after their successful victory. "Um, so how are we supposed to do B and A?" The novice knight shrugged, peacefully watching the corpse dissolve. "Ice Queen is a freaking slave driver." Complained the Faunus between heavy breaths.

Jaune grinned along with his friend, laughing victoriously. "Yeah, Snow Angel really needs to cool down." As if in retaliation a horde of Beowolves ran in from the outskirts of the clearing. "Weiss it was just a joke! We've already taken out like, twenty of these!" Whined the hunter in training, "Give us a break, it has been an hour already."

"Simulation Terminated"

The two blonds sighed in relief as the background began to dissolve into nothings around them, leaving only flat grey hexagonal tiles in their place. The heiress huffed from behind a control panel, "It's not my fault." She stated, pointing to a certain brunette to her right. "Blame her."

"Sorry hotshot, but it was pretty funny." Jaune groaned, sending in a pack of Grimm on two exhausted huntsmen in training - even if it was a simulation - was not funny. He couldn't help but swallow audibly when the fashionista lower her shades, giving her a deadly edge as she spoke. "In all seriousness though, Grimm won't wait for you and your friend to rest up." Sending a wink his way the girl span around, "Now come on, we're all having dinner before we get to sleep. Everyone's got a long day of training ahead of them tomorrow." The closet writer blushed as the girl walked off with a sway of her hips. Sure he knew that he should look away, but his body apparently didn't.

Once she left the room the two boys got up off of the previously grassy ground and followed Weiss to the dinner room. The large group of students had arrived in Pharos without a hitch save for a minor accident on landing and Glynda lead them to the rooms. Unlike Beacon, the rooms were not unisex and thus the teams were split up with Jaune and Ren rooming with Sun and a missing Neptune while Pyrrha and Nora stayed with Velvet and Coco. When asked where Neptune was the leader of SSSN just shrugged, saying that he would be there the following day. Something everyone learned that day was once Jaune woke up after an airship ride, the nausea would hit him all at once. Considering he was using Blake as a pillow at the time it didn't exactly end well for her. At all. So with their luggage safely in their rooms and an angry cat girl threatening to tear him apart his only choice was simulation training.

Upon arriving at the dinner rooms the two blonds marvelled at the spread of food. From fish to fries, from chicken to cheese pizzas, there was practically every kind of food. Everything except for pancakes if the wailing of one Nora Valkyrie was an clue. Ignoring the cries of lost faith in humanity Jaune took a seat in-between Ruby and Velvet, the seat where it was least likely for something to happen to him. Idle chatter bounced around the room as the teams ate their food, conversations ranging from training schedules to schoolwork to one guy complaining that they censored a fight scene on the on-flight movie. "So how was the simulation room?" Queried Ruby as she nibbled on a cookie, already having eaten before the knight had arrived. Though with all of the cookies in her mouth the question came out more like: "Do Hauw Waph Ba Siemu Ladio Doum?"

Somehow able to understand cookie speak, the knight replied. "It was pretty cool. It's going to be great training here. All of the facilities are top notch and there's still a lot of things we can do in our downtime, they even have a hot spring!" Ruby nodded along, she knew all of that already but decided to humour her first friend. Velvet giggled lightly as the two began chatting animatedly with Jaune somehow understanding the rose's cookie speak.

"So what are your plans for tomorrow?" The blond boy shrugged, he hadn't really thought of the order he would train his skills in. In all honesty he was just going to wing it. The black and red haired girl smirked, "If that's the case, come with me. I've got something really interesting to show you."

The rest of the day passed by quickly. Unlike Beacon, Pharos didn't have a curfew but that didn't stop the group of students from heading to bed fairly early. They had an entire day of training ahead of them so everyone wanted to be rested. That and breakfast the next day was pancakes so no one wanted to miss out just because a certain hammer mistress ate them all.

Jaune sighed as he stared at the ceiling, his thoughts slowing down as sleep began to envelop him. He needed to check if Blake was still irritated the next day and make sure he woke up early so he wouldn't miss out on breakfast. A loud yawn forced the boy to slowly close his eyes as his mind raced in anticipation for the next day. Tomorrow, he would get stronger.


As our knight sinks into his dreams a promise to grow stronger is made. This strength and resolution will be tested however, as he will be faced with obstacles on the road to getting stronger, like Yang and Coco's teasing. Next chapter we have the cliche training arc, look forward to it!

*Sighs* Just another wonderful day at Beacon academy, classes, training, studies, Nora destroying school property and Jaune facing bad luck. You know, the usual. Classes took up a lot more of the day than I initially thought it would, so some training scenes were saved for next chapter. I did manage to get a little in though while also showing the bond between the blond childhood friends. Either way, please leave a review about what you liked and/or disliked and if you enjoyed reading please Follow and Favourite! See you all next chapter!

Those who spot a specific reference get their very own, Nora approved, one-hit-knockout fan!