Knight of Fish here again with another chapter I kinda felt like this chapter was more trying to transition to Jaune starting his mission though I did want to add some more drama as well so here you go also shout out to the two people who edited this story Martunamajor, and The Fish Guru.
Hope you guys enjoy and the next chapter will be out in two weeks time hopefully. Also I probably should have put this before I posted the chapter but I redid the ending of chapter 4 to better fit with Yang's character.
"Sorry my mind was elsewhere and I hadn't realized anyone was there," Jaune lied trying to calm Yang down before she threw any more punches at him.
"I guess I can understand that sorry for getting so upset with you and punching you out of nowhere," Yang told Jaune offering him a hand up.
Jaune looked at the hand and hesitated a bit as a sense of deja vu hit him, didn't this also happen between and him and Yang's partner Blake earlier today as well? Then again what did it really matter right now? He thought to himself as he grasped the hand and Yang hauled him up to his feet using her incredible strength to do so.
"Let's just say we are both sorry for acting the way we did, though I must say for being a beautiful woman you sure hit like a truck," Jaune told Yang as he let go of her hand and cracked his neck.
"If that was supposed to be a compliment I dare say you might deserve another good hit by the truck again," Yang replied warningly as Jaune saw a glint of something pass through Yang's features.
"Ah! Wait I am sorry that came out all wrong!" Jaune said trying to get himself out of getting punched again. I mean honestly one punch from Yang is enough for a lifetime Jaune stated to himself.
Then without warning Yang laughed and slapped Jaune hard across the back causing him to trip forward a few steps, "don't worry I am just messing with you!"
"Man I honestly thought I was gonna be dead there for a second," Jaune said. A smile playing upon his face. This lighthearted feeling being around one of his old friends made him feel like he had before he had screwed it all up with his cowardice. That one thought drew Jaune back to the reality of things and the reality of who it was standing in front him and all kinds of emotions came upon him again.
"Don't worry if I beat up all the men who gave me horrible compliments there would be a pile of bodies large enough to fill this whole room," Yang told him a smile upon her face now.
Jaune was only half listening as he internally berated himself for the lack of discipline he had just let slip out by showing one of his old friends a ounce of emotion from him. You did not come back here to become their friend's again you came back to fight and protect your home from the Grimm!
"Hey are you ignoring me again!?" Yang asked waving a hand in front of his face pushing Jaune from out of his thoughts.
"I am sorry it has just been a long day and it seems I am pretty tired though it was nice meeting you uh…" Jaune told her as he brought the most apologetic smile to his face that he could.
"The name is Yang! Number one kick ass beauty at the school of Beacon!" Yang self proclaimed to him as she posed.
"Well, mine's William White. It's was nice to meet you," Jaune said as he faked a small laugh and a smile at Yang's antics wanting to avoid the suspicion that anything was wrong in front Yang.
"The pleasure is all mine and let me say I wouldn't mind doing a training match against you someday, I think it would make for a match to end all matches," she told him.
'Well if you only knew who I really was you wouldn't need a training ring to fight me' Jaune thought to himself depressedly instead he kept his fake smile upon his face and replied with. "Yeah that would be fun maybe after I get settled in we could have a training match."
"Well, just make sure you're prepared to go all out against me when we do have our match. I'm not the type of person who likes to hold back even if it is just a training match," Yang said.
"Yes I'll remember that. If that is all, I have to be going now to get the chance shower before it gets too late," Jaune told Yang as he began to walk away from her only to have her follow behind him.
"We seem to be in luck today then! I was heading to the female showers which are in the same direction as the male showers so we can talk more along the way!"
What the hell was with today? Jaune thought to himself a hint of annoyance once again showing up in his gut. No now is not the time to get annoyed I have to think of a way to get rid of her though. "I honestly don't have much to say though the training tired me out too much."
"That is fine," Yang told him and then for a few hopeful seconds there was nothing but silence between them before Yang spoke up again. "So I know you have probably gotten asked this alot before already but why did you transfer here from such a prestigious school as Greenlight Academy so late?"
Man what the hell was her fascination with me Jaune thought to himself bitterly. Then again he should probably respond to her lest she get annoyed with him and punch him again. "I don't honestly know, the headmaster of Greenlight Academy just called me to his office at the beginning of last week and told me the headmaster of Beacon Academy had personally asked for me to come to Beacon. I didn't question a direct order from them and headed here." It was a half truth within a lie, considering it was it true that Ozpin had personally asked for him to come back but it was a lie because Jaune did know the exact reason that Ozpin had asked for him to come back.
"Well now that you are here I hope we can be friends," Yang told him and he looked at her as she walked besides him to see a genuine smile on her face. That made this whole situation hit him hard in the gut.
"I...hope...we…" Jaune started to reply without even thinking about it but caught himself before he said those words he knew he would regret saying. Considering he had already promised himself when he had made the decision to come back to Beacon that he would not make friends with any of his old friends when he came here.
"You are a weird one William I have to admit that but I don't dislike that!" Yang said, taking his hesitation as a sign of him being shy. Just then the saving grace finally came to Jaune's view in the sight of the door showing the female's shower room.
"Well this is my stop," Yang told him as she walked past him and stopped at the door and gave him a wink and said this as she opened the door, "would you look at that! I got the shower to myself today!"
She turned to face Jaune smiling mischievously, "though maybe it doesn't have to be by myself if a hunk like you would care to join me."
There was a second before the words were processed, but focused as he gave a small smirk and turned away. "No thanks, maybe next time," Jaune said as he walked away, throwing a hand in the air.
Yang never gave a response, and he heard the door close. A wave of exhaustion washed over him at that moment. How could she still have so much energy around strangers she had just met? I guess some things never change.
Jaune knew he should be happy that Yang was now gone. and he hoped to whatever higher power was in control of things that he would not run into her again as long as he was at Beacon. In all honesty he hoped that he wouldn't have to speak to any of his old friends anymore while he was at Beacon he didn't know how much longer he could keep his memories in check.
Jaune then finally got to the door that housed behind it both the dressing, and shower room for males. As he grasped the door handle he felt a presence behind him a presence he had not hoped to feel. It was the presence of the only other male who used to be on his team who Jaune had considered to be one of his best friends Ren.
"I saw you enter the training hall and knew I could catch you here alone," the voice of Ren said front behind him.
"Who are you and why did you want to catch me here alone?" Jaune asked playing dumb considering he had a few ideas on what Ren might want and none of them ended well for him.
"I just had to check on a hunch of mine and doing it around the other's wouldn't have been such a good idea," Ren responded in a tone that gave away none of his emotions to Jaune.
"A hunch? What does that have to do with me at all?" Jaune asked the sense of fatigue that had been present in his system was now gone swapped out now for a feeling of uneasiness.
Ren did not respond to his question right away instead he just stared at Jaune his expression taking on a dark demeanor as Jaune felt the gaze studying him. At last after what felt like forever Ren answered, "we both know what my hunch is don't we Jaune?"
That sense of uneasiness also flew away then as Jaune's heart rate went way up at hearing Ren utter that name in his direction. But how does he…? No he must just be guessing I can still play this down Jaune thought to himself as he tried his hardest to stay in control of everything.
"Who is that?" Jaune asked trying his best to sound as curious as possible so that his lie would not be detected at all.
Ren's eyes flared, an expression that Jaune had never really seen. In an instant before Jaune knew what was happening Ren had shoved him against the door. With a trembling hand he kept Jaune pushed up against the wall, and with his other hand which was also trembling he made a fist and aimed it at Jaune's face.
"You know full damn well who that is considering it was who you used to be!" Ren yelled at him his fist still up in the air not moving in a inch towards Jaune's face.
"You must be mistaken considering I have always been William White, and will continue to be for the remainder of my days," Jaune replied in a cold voice as he slapped away Ren's hand.
Right as Jaune slapped away, Ren held him against the door with his other hand. Jaune had known it was coming and could have probably avoided it had he wanted to but he took the punch full on as he stumbled backwards into the door his aura flaring to life as it took most of the brunt of Ren's punch.
Ren stood there both his hands now at his side as he stood there his whole body trembling with anger as he looked at Jaune now. "You are a damn coward Jaune, hiding behind false names. Why the hell did you even come back after you ran away!?"
Jaune pushed himself upright all the while his eyes never leaving Ren. What was strange was how devoid of emotion he was at this moment. Was it due to his training or had his emotions finally run out? He did not have any answers to that question. "Like I said I have no clue who the hell you are talking about."
"So you are gonna continue to hide then," Ren stated more than asked in a cold voice.
"Hide from what exactly?" Jaune asked.
"Fine but I know who you are Jaune even if you want to hide it from me," Ren said as he started forward towards the door and Jaune.
Jaune did not even respond to that as he moved out of the way of the door and Ren exited the room. As the door closed behind him the fatigue hit worse than ever before.
Jaune knew today had to have been one of the worst days since his departure from Beacon to Greenlight. What was he going to do about Ren? How high where the chances of Ren telling all of Jaune's old friends about who he suspected Wiliam White to be?
"Maybe I should just go to Ozpin and tell him to send me back to Greenlight so I can finish my studies there and go be a Huntsman in some other part of the world away from Vail," Jaune murmured to himself as he got undress and went into the shower room.
As he pulled the nozzle, the warm water cascaded down his body a firm determination started building up inside him. No he would stay and graduate from Beacon, he would never fall back into cowardice who had left his only partner to save his own skin. He would never be the person who instead of facing his team and friends after that had run away from them for fear of their disappointment. No, now he was William White the man who had trained for two years at one of the hardest academies to not be that coward again.
With those thought in his mind he turned off the water, dried himself, equipped his gear and checked his scroll for the time. It was close to the time he was supposed to be on the Bullhead.
Finally my first mission under Ozpin is about to start Jaune thought as he made his way to his room. Luckily for him dusk had started to settle in so he did not run into any of his old companions again.
He left the building and looked up into the sky to see that clouds were beginning to form and block out the setting sun. The temperature was dropping, so there was going to be another snow storm soon. Turbulence Jaune grimaced at that considering no matter how strong willed he was about not being a coward again his motion sickness would make him look weak in front of Huntsmen Ozpin had sent to watch over him on this mission.
Oh well, Jaune thought. This is what my training was also for, I should be able to handle a little bit of a bump on the way due to bad weather. He made his way to the landing platform to see a Bullhead getting prepared to leave. Jaune could barely contain his excitement as he neared the Bullhead he was finally going to be able to do what he felt most comfortable doing: being a Huntsman and hunting down those who do harm the innocent.
When he finally got into the Bullhead he saw four people sitting on one side of the Bullhead, he took a seat opposite of all of them and looked at each of them. The one on the outermost left side of the group of four he recognized as the guy who had been with him and Ozpin though he honestly couldn't remember the guy's name for the life of him.
Next to him was another guy who had white hair, a red bandana fastened around his head, red eyes, and a bored expression on a face that hinted at the guy being somewhat close to Jaune's age.
Then came a woman with azure blue hair in pigtails, which clashed with the mature featured face, she also had ice blue eyes that unnerved Jaune.
Last was another woman with forest green hair which looked like an unkempt forest of it's own, green eyes which were covered by hugely framed glasses, and freckles.
All in all Jaune could not see as to how any one of these four besides the guy who meant with him and Ozpin were highly trained Huntsman then again he knew to never judge a book by its cover.
"Before this mission gets started, let me tell you one thing Wiliam White, or Jaune, or whatever you go by. If you do get into any serious danger we will not risk ourselves to save you. The lives of my teammates come first to me before yours does," the man on the furthest left told him.
"Yes sir uh," Jaune replied and faltered not remembering the guys name.
The main sighed shaking his head, "the name is Vincent, the guy next to me is Lance, and the women next to him is Carli, and next to her is Olivia. Remember our names well because we are the people who are gonna give Ozpin the final say on whether you can hand any further missions on your own or not."
All three of Vincent's teammates did their own thing to greet Jaune. Carli curtly nodded in his direction, Olivia on the other hand waved at him with huge enough waves to make herself fall a bit as she bumped into the metal wall. Lance on the other hand did nothing but stare him up and down and then smirked.
"Are you honestly sure you are ready for this kid?" Lance asked in a bemused voice.
"Yes sir I am," Jaune respond.
"Well we will see about that," Lance said the smirk still there.
"Stop it Lance it isn't our mission to antagonise him, we are here to make a unbiased opinion on if he can do the tasks that are required of a huntsman," Carli scalded Lance.
"Aww man you are no fun Carli," Lance said his smirk turning into a pout as he put his hands behind his head, sighed, and closed his eyes not saying another word.
Were these people really what a group of trained huntsman acted like, Jaune wondered to himself. He did not know how to put this but each one of them seems kinda strange. Then again who was he to judge?
"Well folks it is time for lift off so buckle yourself in and enjoy the ride," the pilot told them.
Finally no more Beacon, no more having to worry about running into his old friends anymore. Things were finally starting to go back into the neck of the woods where Jaune felt more at home. With those thoughts Jaune closed his eyes and went into a meditative state so that he would be able to survive the whole trip without getting motion sickness.