Jaune's Accidents

Chapter 2: Can You Spear Me

Jaune Arc was truly the most unfortunate person in Remnant. He didn't have the looks, he didn't have the money, and he didn't have the strength that so many other people possessed. The one thing that he was hoping for was a new start. Away from his old playground friends that outgrew him, away from the bullying and the constant accusations of lying.

Instead, he ended up being bullied here too. The blonde girl, Yang, had tried to approach him again, but he simply brushed her off. Instead, Jaune decided, he'd try to make friends with people who didn't mock him.

That was easier said than done. Everywhere he went there were the people from the airship that said the same thing as Yang did, making fun of the fact that he almost died up there.

Walking aimlessly, knowing that Beacon of all places should be secured against Grimm attacks, Jaune found himself near a fountain. Lying down on the bench and trying to prepare himself for the inevitable horrible experience at school, Jaune sighed, staring at the clouds.

"Alright," he told himself. "You're not here to be a hero, Jaune Arc. You're here to become the strongest you can be, and you'll work hard, even if you fail."

There was nothing left for him after all. His parents didn't trust him, and he didn't want to go back to prep school.

"Doesn't that stuff work better if you look at your reflection?" someone asked. Jaune yelped, creating a large distance between himself and the sudden noise. The distance was large enough that he was two benches further, staring at a short girl with black hair.

"A-ahah, I think so yes," he said, shoulders slumping. "Also here to mock me?"

"What?" she asked, blinking. "I would never- I'm here to apologize for my sister!"

"Sister?" he asked."

"Blonde hair, about this tall?" she tried, lifting her hand above her head.

"Oh," he said. That girl. "It's… alright. I'm just-"

"It's alright, you don't need to explain," she said, walking towards him. "I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose."

"Jaune Arc," he introduced himself.

###

Ruby joined her sister eventually, and the next morning, Jaune was once again alone.

The initiation ceremony would be soon, and Jaune was still getting used to feeling safe. Walking through the masses of people towards the interior of his future dorm room, Jaune noticed a moment too late that he was about to crash against a girl. Tensing, Jaune tried to stop and instead had knocked the girl over as she walked over him, dropping the two large bags she was carrying.

Rather than let them fall on her, he quickly ducked and lifted them up over one arm and offered her his hand.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I went," he said. She had red hair and a bronze-golden armor, and just like with Yang, his face grew red. She took his hand, and he helped her up.

"It's alright," she said. "I wasn't either."

He smiled at her, though it might have looked a bit strained on his blushing face. She smiled back.

"I'm Jaune Arc," he introduced himself.

"Pyrrha Nikos," she said. "Why are you walking into the dorms?"

"I was just walking around, why?"

"The initiation is about to happen, a teacher asked me to bring these bags with me-"

"What?!" he asked, heat in his voice. "Where to?"

"The… cliff behind the school?" she said, confused. "Are you lost?"

"Not at all!" he said. "Come, we have to hurry."

"It's not that soon-" she tried to say, but he was already running. She could barely keep up with him, running behind him towards the place of the initiation. Despite the heavy bags that made her a bit slower too.

It was kind of impressive.

###

Jaune wasn't really sure what was going on. He thought the initiation was simply going to be some kind of ceremony, and suddenly Ozpin was talking about exams.

"We're going to launch you towards the forest," Ozpin explained.

"What?" he asked. Ozpin ignored his question.

"The first person you meet eyes with will be your partner. Go fetch one of the pieces we left in the forest and you succeeded."

"What about landing?" Jaune asked.

"Of course, I hope you all have your landing strategies ready. Good luck."

"WAIT!"

They didn't wait. Jaune was flying through the air, feeling the wind rush around him. The other people in his year were too, and all of them looked ready to land, somehow holding themselves in all kinds of stances.

In the distance, he could see something approach while he was panicking in the air.

A… weapon?

A spear.

Someone threw a spear towards him. It was going to pierce him, and he was going to die.

Jaune refused to die, however. Instead of letting it hit him, he twisted his body out of the way and grabbed the spear. Using its momentum and spinning around, he threw it back into the original direction, adding to its speed.

Still worried about his fall, Jaune didn't see the spear penetrate through a number of trees before it hit the tree right next to Pyrrha's head.

Jaune meanwhile was looking at a bunch of spikes below him. Knowing he would die if he just landed on them like that, he grabbed onto his shield and held it below him, copying his maneuver from the airship and crashed into the spikes.

For some reason, a loud squeal erupted and the fall became slower. He only felt a small sting in his legs when he stopped.

Walking the stinging pain off, Jaune didn't see the Ursa Major behind him flake away.

What if he was going to end up with a partner who'd just mock him, like that blonde girl? He couldn't imagine what it'd be like to be on a team with people like that. He'd like a nice person, instead, like Ruby.

And what if he didn't find a partner at all? Or couldn't get the pieces? What then? Return home?

There was no way he could do this on his own. He was going to fail. And he could blame nobody but himself.

The loud rustling of leaves made Jaune sigh.

"Not again."

He thought he was safe. Turning his head slightly, he found himself face to face with a dozen Ursa and Beowolves. Doing what any brave hunter would do in that situation, Jaune turned around again and ran.

The beasts followed after him. Jaune reached a cliff, a wide one, he knew he couldn't jump a distance like that. The Grimm had him cornered.

In the distance, a black haired girl and her blonde partner could see the scene. The black haired girl, Blake, wanted to help, but Yang grabbed her shoulder.

"No," she said. "Watch!"

Blake didn't exactly know what got into Yang, but by the time she got rid of the strong grip and rushed forward, Jaune already made his move. He jumped off the cliff, backwards, his shield up high as the Ursa crashed into it. Using the Ursa's attack to propel him over the cliff, Jaune watched as the rest of the Grimm jumped forward, an unorganized mess that fell into the cliff one after the other.

"What."

"He's a monster!" Yang said. "I think he's the strongest in the year! I watched him kill a Nevermore on his own!"

"What?"

"I know!"

###

Jaune was breathing heavily as he ran forward over split trees. He didn't want to know what kind of monster could do such damage, and he was not going to find out anytime soon! Eventually, he reached a clearing with a spear inside a tree, Pyrrha was next to it, trying to pull it out.

"Oh god, people!" he said. She turned around, he eyes wide. "You don't know how glad I am to see you."

"That's… nice," she said, giving him a once over. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"No, I'm not, there were those Grimm back there that almost got me, but I'm pretty quick on my feet."

"I know," she said. Getting rid of all the Grimm without being hit once? Again, he was impressive. Why hasn't she heard of someone like that in the media? The most promising hunters were always all over the news! And on cereal boxes. "Can you help me get my spear out off the tree? It's not really working out."

"Sure," he said, grasping the spear with both hands. She pulled with him, and it came out blowing wooden splinters and leaving a large hole inside the old tree.

"Thanks," she said.

"I'm not that strong, that was mostly your work," he said, grinning. "Anyway, I think we're partners now, right?"

"Right," she said, smiling. "Let's go looking for the pieces."

"Alright! Onwards!"

With someone on his side, Jaune could finally be a bit more confident.

###

"Jaune," Pyrrha said, curious about her rather fortunate new friend. "I can't feel any Aura from you, can you suppress it that well?"

"What?" he asked.

"You know, Aura? The manifestation of your- you mean to tell me you don't have your Aura unlocked?"

"My family never thought I was worthy enough."

All that Pyrrha was thinking about was what kind of monsters his family had to be if this was someone who wasn't worthy.

"Do you… want me to unlock your Aura?"

"Would you?" he asked, sparks in his eyes. "Would you really? You're not just kidding, right?"

"I'm not," Pyrrha said. "I'm serious. You can't be a hunter without Aura, that's impossible."

Though maybe not for him. He seemed weird enough.

"Stand still," she said.

###

Jaune felt incredible! For the first time forever, he felt truly strong! This Aura stuff was so wonderful, he could dance in joy!

"You'll need to train hard with it," she said. "The more you use it, the stronger you can get. You'll even have Semblance, a unique ability to you."

His shoulders slumped. Of course. And he knew how training worked out for him: not at all.

They continued their way down the forest until they finally reached another clearing. They weren't the first ones there, but at least they didn't bring a Death Stalker with them.

Wait, shit.

"Death Stalker!" Jaune shouted. The thing was rampaging around and throwing the pieces left and right. An orange haired girl was riding it, dodging its stinger without much effort while. Her black haired partner was dodging its claws while shooting at it.

"Hey!" Nora shouted, pointing at Jaune. "It's the Nevermore guy!"

Jaune felt even worse. Why did they have to call him that.

Ren dodged out of the way as it suddenly rushed forward. Nora, too, jumped away from it and Pyrrha quickly ran around it, attacking the beast from behind while Jaune raised his shield.

He held strong against the claw attack, his legs not budging.

Just for once, Jaune realized, this thing might not be that strong!

It was the first monster he actually blocked, with his feet on the ground and all that, but maybe he had a chance fighting with Pyrrha!

Raising his sword, Jaune kept his shield up.

When it attacked with its stringer, he whacked it out of the way with his shield. The beast staggered momentarily and he stabbed in between its armor. Again and again, dodge, parry, riposte, dodge, parry riposte.

He hadn't even noticed the crowd of other first years sans Ruby, Weiss, a guy named Cardin and some nameless other guy had appeared and watched the fight.

He hadn't even noticed that Pyrrha, realizing that her spear wasn't doing much damage from behind the creature, had stopped attacking and tried to move in the front, where Jaune was constantly blocking each attack.

By the time Weiss came in, Ruby on her shoulders and unable to see the scene, Jaune struck with the final blow, cutting through the wounds he inflicted on the monster, and it stopped moving, flaking away in the wind.

"What."

Weiss' words were met with shouts of awe. Only Ruby remained confused.

"What?" she asked. "What happened? Do it again! I didn't see it!"

Jaune turned to Pyrrha, giving her a thumbs up, for once confident in himself.

"Great job, uh, how did you get behind me so quick?"

Everyone came forward and mercilessly patted him on the back.

Jaune didn't think it was very impressive.

That must've been the weakest Grimm he ever fought.