XIII in the Emerald Forest (II)
Professor Ozpin watches the students on his Scroll at the Beacon Cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest. He was then accompanied by Glynda Goodwitch who walks up behind him, holding her own tablet.
"Our last pair has been formed sir." She taps the screen to show the polar opposite friends. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy... I can't possibly imagine those two getting along."
Glynda scrolls through the next pair. "Jaune seems to have found himself a very capable partner." Ozpin became curious, wanting to know who had paired up with his boy. "Pyrrha Nikos, she and Jaune will get along fine."
Ozpin grins "She might even be Jaune's first girlfriend."
Glynda frowns, not liking the idea of her godchild getting a girlfriend. "Not if I have anything to say about it."
Pyrrha and Jaune had been walking through the woods looking for the relics. But after walking for quite some time they end up in front of a cave.
"Could this be where the relics are?" Pyrrha asked, somewhat apprehensive about going in the cave.
Jaune places his hand on a crude drawing next to the entrance, consisting of multiple people fighting a large scorpion. "I don't think so. Take a look at this drawing."
Pyrrha complies, her vivid green eyes now looking at the drawing.
"They've been here for quite some time." She deduced.
Jaune looks at the cave entrance with a stern glare. The young assassin was prepared for combat. Not only that but he wanted it, to know that another one of those monsters he has vowed to kill is no more.
His partner doesn't notice however, due to the fact that Jaune's back was turned towards her. "We should move on." She said not wanting to have anything to do with the cave.
As the red head starts walking away Jaune places his hand on her shoulder, stopping her from leaving. She turns towards him. "What is it Jaune?"
"I'm going in."
Pyrrha looks at her partner with confusion evident in her features. "But why? It would be safer if we moved on to the relics."
Jaune smiles, compassion radiating off him.
"True, but what if someone in the future stumbles upon this cave? They might just end up losing their life." His black fingerless gloved hands enclose into a fist, the mere thought of someone dying evoking anger. "If that were to happen then the blame would be centered on us. So if we act now then we might just end up saving a life."
The red head's vivid green eyes look at Jaune with pride and joy, the reason being how proud she felt to be partners with this charismatic man. "That's quite noble of you Jaune."
Jaune smiles, appreciating her kind words but swiftly turns them down. "I'm only doing what I think is right."
Pyrrha simply returns the smile that Jaune graced her. "Let's go."
However, having a different plan in mind, Jaune brings his hand out motioning her to stop. "Pyrrha, I want you to stay outside."
The red haired Spartan's smile from earlier vanishes. A look of concern and obvious disapproval for his plan evident.
"But we should go together! It might be too dangerous for you to go alone!"
"If there is something in here then I'll draw it out. Once outside I want you to act as support." Once he gave his partner her instructions he makes his way to the entrance of the cave. However, he's unexpectedly pulled back. The cause of this being Pyrrha, concern still plaguing her features.
"Jaune, please don't go alone. We're partners now, that means you and I have to keep each other safe."
As touching as her words were, Jaune was simply confused. Why was she so concerned for him? It's a huntsman's duty to exterminate the Grimm at all costs despite the potential losses.
He along with his peers in the program had been taught this lesson. That's how they operated, using the most effective tactics to ensure absolute success. Getting hurt or killed in the process was only a mild concern in their eyes.
Jaune looks at Pyrrha with confusion still evident upon his features. "Why are you so concerned about me?"
The girl in question was taken aback. "Why wouldn't I be concerned?"
"Pyrrha, it is our duty to destroy these monsters in order to protect the innocent. My well being should only be a secondary concern."
The sudden change of personalities that Jaune presented was somewhat disturbing to her. Moments ago the boy in front of her was kind and compassionate. But now he was different, his kindness and his sense of compassion completely gone. He showed no concern for his own life and was more interested in killing one potential Grimm then preserving his own life.
Not knowing what to say anymore, Pyrrha hangs her head low, her vision solely on the ground.
Taking her silence as a sign of complying with him, Jaune walks away from the amazoness themed huntress. However, as he's walking he couldn't help but turn back, seeing that the beautiful red head was still looking down on the ground, a frown etched upon her face.
Jaune's eyes widen somewhat, his cold persona vanished at the sight of his partner's current state. He too looks down at the hard ground. But unlike Pyrrha, he only looks at the ground for a moment before his gaze returns to the red head.
As Pyrrha's gaze is on the ground, she suddenly feels a fingerless gloved hand on her shoulder, returning her to reality.
She looks straight, seeing Jaune with an apologetic smile.
"I thought you went in the cave?" She asked, confused but happy that he was still outside with her.
"I was. But seeing you sad over me drove me to come back." His smile remains as he said his words.
"Why though?"
"It's like you said. We're partners you and I. Which means keeping each other safe should be our top priority. And having you worry over me would only distract you." He removes his hand from her. "A distraction that might get you hurt."
As truthful as his words were there was another reason for his sudden change of heart. He was fully aware that his training was far different from Pyrrha's and the other students. He along with the other twelve members understood the necessity of sacrificing a life for the good of others. But others their age did not yet understand this. So knowing this, he decided to do things the "normal teen way".
The confusion that Pyrrha once had vanishes, appreciating her partner's words and change of heart.
As Jaune turns and walks away. "So we'll do it your way."
He and Pyrrha walk into the cave with Jaune holding a short, burning torch to light their way. "Stay close."
"What do you suppose could be in here?" Pyrrha asked, somewhat anxious for their possible encounter.
Jaune looks back at his concerned friend, giving her a reassuring smile.
"Nothing that we can't handle." As they were walking Pyrrha accidently bumps into Jaune causing him to drop the torch in a puddle of water. "Well this can't end well."
"I'm sorry Jaune. I didn't mean to bump into you." Pyrrha apologizes, feeling foolish for the accident.
Jaune chuckles "It's okay. I'm sure we'll be fine."
Pyrrha starts to feel warm suddenly. "Do you feel that?"
"Yeah, it's gotten warmer in here." Jaune said now serious. "Let's continue on."
After walking a few more feet they find a floating gold light. Pyrrha looks at the golden object curiously. "What could that be?"
Unlike Pyrrha, her blonde partner was well aware of what that gold light is and what it belongs to. "Pyrrha… it's time we leave."
Suddenly the gold light lunges at the Spartan.
The gold light pierces the ground, the booming sound of earth being crushed echoing in the cave.
Pyrrha was currently in Jaune's arms, being carried bridal style. He rushes out of the cave, something big following after him.
Jaune makes it out of the cave seconds later, Pyrrha still in his arms. "I should have known what it was judging from the drawings we saw earlier." Jaune allows Pyrrha to stand on her own. "Sorry about that but it attacked and I reacted."
Pyrrha cheeks were a light pink from the contact with the boy. But she regains her composure knowing that they would soon be in a battle.
"There's no need to apologize. But what was it that attacked us?"
Something crashes through the hole of the cave.
It was a large scorpion type Grimm. It has a black exoskeleton underneath several white, bonelike plates upon its back with red detailing. One of the more prominent attributes is the glowing golden stinger on its tail. It also has a pair of large pincers. A large amount of grass, moss and scars were on the beast as well.
It releases a booming roar that would bring fear to any normal student. Luckily Jaune and Pyrrha were anything but normal.
Jaune grins "Does that answer your question?"
Pyrrha looks at Jaune obviously taken aback by his calmness. "Jaune why are you so calm?! This is a B-Class Grimm!"
Jaune takes his girls out of their holsters, Ebony in his left and Ivory in his right and sets his sights on the large scorpion like Grimm. "Don't worry if we work together it should be easy enough. Besides, B-class Grimm may have power and at times speed. But they lack the intelligence and regeneration abilities of the higher tier Grimm."
Pyrrha nods despite her current doubts.
The Deathstalker attacks the two prodigies. Jaune and Pyrrha dash away to the side, Jaune to the right and Pyrrha to the left.
"Pyrrha, distract it!"
"On it" Pyrrha jumps up on a tree branch and transforms Milo from its javelin form to a rifle resembling a M1 Garand. She opens fire at the Deathstalker. Her dust rounds doing no significant damage to the Grimm's dense bone plating.
However, the scorpion type B-class Grimm was distracted by the red head's attacks giving Jaune the opportunity to fire his twin pistols.
Ebony and Ivory each fire off two rounds of high power aura infused rounds resembling white unstable flares at the large creature, the impact of each round causes a massive explosion of white nova. The four explosions cause only smoke to be visible.
The golden stinger bursts from the smoke and lunges at Jaune. He jumps away in time and does a back flip before landing.
The Deathstalker charges at the blond assassin. Jaune aims his pistols and fires off more explosive aura rounds, each round making impact causing the same aura filled explosions from last time to damage the large Grimm.
The Deathstalker uses its pincer in an attempt to knock him back. But Jaune jumps in between the claw and retreats even further.
After his successful retreat he starts forming a strategy.
"I'm not getting anywhere with this." Jaune said calmly. "Perhaps changing the form of aura I channel into Ebony and Ivory will suffice." He takes aim once again, the scrollwork engravings on his pistols glow a faint white light. He fires off countless rounds filled with his aura.
However, instead of erupting in a white explosion, the rounds pierce through the white bone plates, cracks forming as a result.
Instead of simply firing rounds of aura that are unstable in nature, he changes the form of his ammunition to become ultra sharp, giving it the ability to pierce through dense armor.
Blind rage fills the Death Stalker as it swings its pincer only for Jaune to avoid the attack by jumping back.
Despite how well Jaune was doing on his own, Pyrrha rushes to his side, no longer wanting her partner to fight alone. "Jaune?"
"Don't worry I'm fine."
The large menacing creature in front of them roars, the booming sound piercing their ears. As it throws its tangent Jaune takes this opportunity to holster his twin pistols while taking a step forward, his back towards Pyrrha.
The air around the young hunter in training shifts, gusts of wind blow gently around him, Pyrrha's hair gracefully flowing alongside the gentle wind.
Jaune's eyes are outlined with white light and his body suddenly combusts white aura, the force of his aura causes the once gentle wind around him to blow fiercely. The colossal amount of aura that Jaune evokes forms a white pillar of intense aura allowing anyone who was in the forest or nearby it to see it clearly.
Ozpin and Glynda see the white pillar of light and know instantly who it belongs to.
Ozpin takes a sip of his coffee "It looks like Jaune is getting serious. He must have encountered a B-class Grimm."
Glynda looks through her scroll and gets a visual of the fight. "You are correct, it seems Jaune and Miss Nikos has encountered a Deathstalker, which was in the cave they entered earlier."
She also takes note of the appearance of the Death Stalker. "Also, judging by the size, multiple scarring on its bone plates and the amount of moss and grass on the creature, it's safe to assume that it's been there for quite some time."
Ozpin yet again takes a sip from his coffee. "Initiation usually has one B-class Grimm to test the students. But with the addition of the Death Stalker things have gotten much more interesting."
"What happened to tradition?" Glynda asked sarcastically, bringing up the conversation they had before.
Ozpin mentally growls but remains stoic. "Since Jaune is here I thought it would be appropriate if we swayed from tradition… but just this once."
Glynda sighs, knowing that she wouldn't get anywhere by continuing their conversation. "I suppose I can agree with you." She looks at the white pillar of aura, a smile gracing her features. "I suppose Jaune can dispatch the Grimm without too many problems."
Ozpin smiles "Oh how right you are."
Ruby and Weiss had been arguing about their situation. They were lost not knowing the directions to take to get to the relics. However, their arguing stops when the lay eyes on a pillar of light. The intensity of the aura can be felt from where they are.
"That aura… it's incredible!" The Schnee heiress says, being the first to comment on the vast amounts of aura being generated.
"I actually have to agree with you on that." Ruby says, agreeing with the heiress for the first time since they've partnered up.
Weiss frowns "Who could hold this much aura?"
"It could be one of the professors." Ruby inferred.
"Weren't you paying attention? Professor Ozpin said that they would evaluate us! Nothing more so it's one of our classmates!" Weiss states, sounding a bit aggravated.
"Why are you so mad?" Ruby questioned, getting aggravated with her moody partner.
This causes the ice queen to scoff. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
Ruby stares at her partner blankly, not believing her words of denial "Ah huh."
Weiss starts walking off, with Ruby following after her until she notices something in the sky. She grins, a brilliant plan (to her that is) forming in her mind. "Weiss… I have an idea."
Yang and Blake are currently at the Abandon Temple where the remaining relics are located. As they prepare to depart they notice a pillar of white aura. Blake's expression changes from her usual bored expression to one that expresses awe.
"Incredible"
Yang put her hand on her hip. "I'll say. I bet it's Jaune."
Blake looks at her partner, wondering who Jaune was. "Who's that?"
Yang grins. "The guy who was flying with those wings of aura, whom I might add is really hot."
The bow wearing girl rolls her eyes. "Uh huh..."
Yang laughs. "Trust me, Blake. The moment you see him you'll know what I mean."
"I'm sure I will." The bow wearer said sarcastically.
Currently Ren and Nora are walking through the forest heading for the Abandon Temple. However, they stop to look at a unique spectacle. The childhood friends begin staring at a pillar of white aura.
The usually stoic Ren couldn't help but be in awe at the display. Even Nora stopped her antics to gaze at the display of power.
"That aura is incredible." Ren said breaking the silence.
Nora looks at her childhood friend and smiles returning to her usual Nora self. "Do you think it's Jaune?"
Ren still looking at the white light answers his childhood friend "I'm not sure Nora, but if it is… then he's in a league of his own."
Nora suddenly notices a new play thing. She turns to her childhood friend, her hands behind her back with her lips forming a wide and playful smile. "Ren, I have an idea!"
Ren sighs, though he didn't want to know what she had in mind, he asks his crazy friend about her unknown suggestion. "And what would your idea be?"
Nora skips ahead while giggling. "You'll see!"
Ren sighs a second time, knowing that whatever she had planned would exhaust him. He has one final thought before following the hellish route laid before him.
'Oh where are you my love? My loving. Sweet. Beautiful. Comfy. Bed.'
Pyrrha was astonished by the display of power that Jaune was revealing. The amount of aura that he was releasing was something that she had never felt from a single person their age. "Incredible."
The Death Stalker begins to back off from its once prey.
Jaune looks back at Pyrrha with a gentle smile. "Hang tight. I'll finish this in an instant." He turns back to the Death Stalker and starts advancing towards the creature in a slow pace, the pillar he created with his aura condensed to match his movement.
As he's advancing he places his right hand on the hilt of his sheathed blade. He takes his sword out, the ivory blade shining light of the same color, gold runic symbols appear along the length of blade.
"Tell me are you like that Beowolf I butchered? Are you feeling terrified?" Jaune was currently asking the question to the Death Stalker. The aura being channeled through his blade starts taking the appearance of dancing flames.
"Let's put it the test." Jaune raises his sword in the air; the white aura around his blade begins to grow wilder. The flame like white aura becomes brighter and bigger constantly.
"Let this herald your end." Jaune prepares to thrust his blade downward.
…
'First comes destruction…'
His blade stops midway and his aura vanishes in an instant, the cries from his mother and father within in his mind. The screams of agony that he is cursed to hear every time he sleeps. The pools of blood from his cherished parents soak the ground, right next to a young boy with blond hair and sapphire eyes.
Jaune's knees hit the ground and he begins holding his head in pain with his free hand, his blue eyes shut from the world.
"Why am I seeing all of this?!"
The Death Stalker's visible fear is no more, and it takes the opportunity to attack the nightmare plagued assassin. Its charge was fast and vicious, the ground beneath them shaking as it advances.
Pyrrha looks at her partner with a worried expression. Without a moment's delay she rushes to her partner's side placing her hands on his shoulders and begins shaking him, brining him back to reality.
"Jaune we need to move!"
Jaune opens his eyes, shining sapphire meeting vivid emerald. Noticing the Death Stalker's violent charge he quickly wraps his arm around Pyrrha's waist and jumps out of the way. While in the air he swings his sword vertically. At the instant of the slash, the sword absorbs and condenses Jaune's aura before releasing it at the tip of the blade, magnifying the slash attack, which flies forward taking the shape of a crescent moon. The slash of aura hits the Death Stalker causing a massive explosion to burst into life.
The scorpion type Grimm screeches. Anger and pain were the only coherent thoughts it could process. It starts tearing the forestry apart.
Jaune was breathing heavily, a bead of sweat rolling down, the affect of the nightmare still taking its toll.
"Jaune are you alright?" The female Spartan asks with genuine concern.
Jaune calms his breathing before he replies to the redhead. "I'm fine." He sees the Death Stalker still destroying the trees around them, all while screeching in anger its frustration for its injury is the reason. Jaune gets up from his crouched position. "I'll finish it off now."
Pyrrha voices her concern to her partner. "Jaune you could have been killed! We should retreat for now!"
"You don't have to worry about me."
"Jaune, of course I need to worry about you. We're partners now. So please, we need to go." Pyrrha places her firm but gentle hand on the young man's shoulder, her concern for his safety foreign to him.
Jaune was thinking over the whole situation, the time he spent thinking over what to do felt like hours, each imaginative hour growing to his frustration.
Despite wanting to remain here and eradicate the Death Stalker he reluctantly agrees to retreat. The reason for his decision being made was his desire to ensure that his partner is well.
"Alright, we'll leave." Jaune sheathes his sword before picking Pyrrha up bridal style. "I'd rather not make you worry."
Pyrrha's cheeks glow a light pink "What are you doing!?"
Jaune eases her troubles with a gentle smile. "Trust me." White wings of aura burst from his shoulders and he takes to the sky, a few white feathers gently fall to the ground.
For reasons unknown to the Mistral Champion, her heart beats accelerate, her chest tightens all while feeling the sensation of butterflies in her stomach. To compliment the feelings she has inward, her cheeks become the same shade of red as her hair.
Which Jaune notices for once and addressed the matter. "Pyrrha what's wrong. You're not sick are you?"
Pyrrha shakes her head no denying that anything was wrong, while still feeling the sensations from his hold on her. "I'm fine, I just didn't expect that."
Jaune smiles at his beautiful partner. "Sorry, I'll warn you next time."
Yang and Blake are at the Abandoned Temple, relic in hand. As they prepare to leave they notice the blond assassin with angel wings flying towards them.
Yang grins "Looks like Jaune made it."
Blake looks at the figure getting closer and closer until he lands. "So that's Jaune."
Jaune lets Pyrrha walk on her own and the partners walk towards the other pair. Jaune waves at them. "Hey Yang, how are you and your partner doing?"
"I was great until an Ursa Major ruined my hair!" Yang's usual pretty lilac eyes turn crimson and her hair starts glowing, flames forming due to rage.
Blake sighs. "My name is Blake Belladonna." The girl clad in black looks over at her teammate. "And it was only a few strands."
Yang looks at her partner in retort "You don't understand! My hair is my life!" Yang starts brushing her hair in a protective manner.
The other two females deadpan at Yang's obsession of her hair
While the lone male smiles, somehow understanding her obsession. "Well your hair is beautiful. So I guess it's only natural for you to want to protect it." In the blonde's inner most thoughts he was mentally coaching himself for how well he did. 'In order for me to make friends with people of the opposite sex I have to compliment them. Such as saying how beautiful they are and to compliment them when it's appropriate.' Jaune has a proud smile. 'Thanks for the tip… Uncle Ozpin.'
Meanwhile at the cliff.
Ozpin looks at his scroll with a knowing grin while Glynda was becoming frustrated.
"That's my boy."
Yang stops brushing her hair, somewhat stunned by the kind words that the fellow blond said. However, she regains her composure soon after. "See Blake, Jaune gets it.
"Anyways." Pyrrha said trying to go on to more pressing matters. "We should leave soon."
Jaune nods in agreement. "Pyrrha, I'll grab a relic." As he walks to the temple to grab a relic, someone taps on his shoulder. He turns to see Blake looking up at the sky with a surprised expression. He follows where her gaze is, which causes him to sigh in the process.
In the air was the cute little red riding hood cross player weapon fanatic they all know and love, Ruby Rose. She was currently screaming.
"HEADS UUUUUUUUUUUP!"
"I'll get her." Jaune said in a bored manner, as he channels his aura to create his angelic wings which burst from his shoulder blades. He flies at a great speed to catch the girl in time before she could fall. He catches her, carrying her bridal style. "You have some explaining to do." Jaune said ready to scold the girl.
The girl who had a lot of explaining to do laughs nervously. She has a blush evident on her face which Jaune deduced as her being nervous for his said scolding. He lands gently on the ground allowing her to stand on her own. "You okay?"
Ruby nods "Yeah, but that was incredible. So that's what you meant back at the cliff."
Blake looks at Yang, curiosity in her eyes. "Did your sister just fall from the sky?
Yang laughs "You saw her, didn't you. But hey, it couldn't have been all bad."
Blake looks at her partner with a perplexed gaze, not understanding how falling from the sky wasn't "all bad".
"How's that?"
Yang places her hand on her hip, while looking at her prey with hair similar to her own. "Isn't it obvious? She was caught by a hot stud. That stud being my prey."
Jaune looks at Yang obviously confused by her words. And why he was referred to as a "stud"? But more importantly why was he called "prey".
"Pardon?"
Ruby waves her hand in front of her. "It's nothing for you to be concerned about?"
Before Jaune can ask why he shouldn't worry about being prey to the scary blonde, everyone in the group hears something crashing into trees. They look over at the source and see something truly amazing.
Riding on the back of a livid Ursa was the hyperactive, happy go lucky, pink wearing crazy psycho path… Nora Valkyrie.
Jaune looks at the display with interest. "It's official. Nothing else after this will surprise me." He said, not doubting his own words. "And did she just say yee-ha?"
"AWWWWW it's broken!" Nora pouted. A mere second passes and Nora was now on top of the Ursa, examining her handy work.
Ren shows up panting from all the running he was forced to do. "Nora! Please… don't ever do that again." He looks up again and notices by the pink dotted outline of where his partner should be that Nora has run off again, and looks around frantically.
Nora, who is now in the Temple, stares at a golden rook relic. "Oooohh..." She grabs the gold rook, an animation of stars and her hammer symbol playing in the pink background as she dances and sings with the chess piece. "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"
"NORA!" Ren shouted.
She stops dancing with the rook on her head, she then salutes, dropping the relic into her hand. "Coming, Ren!" She skips off to her favorite person in the whole world.
Blake was about to question what had just occurred but stops when someone places their hand on her shoulder.
She turns to see Jaune with a knowing look. "I wouldn't question it if I were you." Suddenly more trees were being torn apart. The Death Stalker from before emerges. "And now suddenly things just got worse."
Suddenly Yang's aura bursts out in flames, the fiery aura resonating around her. "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! CAN EVERYBODY JUST CHILL OUT FOR LIKE TWO SECONDS BEFORE SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS AGAIN!"
One
Two
Ding
Ruby taps on Yang's shoulder motioning her to look up. "Yang." She points up at the sky. Up above, Weiss is revealed to be hanging on a talon the size of her entire body that belongs to a gigantic Nevermore. "Jaune, I need your help again."
Jaune sighs "Of course you do."
Everyone can hear Weiss's words being cried out from above. "How could you leave me?!"
"I said jump!" Ruby said, that being her only defense.
"She's gonna fall." Blake said.
"She'll be fine." Ruby said, clearly not believing her own words.
"She's falling" Ren noted.
"I'll get her… wow déjà vu… though this time it's a different girl… you know what I mean?" Everyone looks at Jaune, deadpanning at his casual demeanor.
Jaune sighs once again, and looks up at the falling heiress again. "I'll just go and save her." Jaune's wings of aura appear; he flies in the air and catches her bridal style. A smile appears upon Jaune's face. "Just dropping in?"
Weiss blushes, her pale skin finally having color for a change. "Let me down you, rapscallion!"
Jaune chuckles, not needing any gratitude from the heiress he saved. "As you wish." Jaune lands on the ground and lays Weiss down gently. "You okay?"
Weiss looks the other way "I'm fine." She walks over to Ruby and starts scolding her about how foolish her plan was, saying "how dare you jump off and leave me alone!"
"Great, the gangs all here, now we can die together." Yang shouts sarcastically.
Ruby grins looking at the Death Stalker with excitement, knowing that this was her chance to prove herself. "Not if I can help it." She sounds a battle cry and rushes towards the Grimm.
Yang holds her hand out and became worried. "Ruby wait!"
Ruby, still screaming, fires Crescent Rose and charges at the oncoming Death Stalker. When the two meet, the Grimm swipes Ruby away and she is knocked back.
While getting up slowly. "D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" Ruby turns back to the monster and shoots it in the skull, running away from it and sheathing her scythe as the Death Stalker now goes after her.
"Ruby!" Yang shouted in worry.
Yang rushes over to her sister.
Jaune was about to follow after her if not for the Nevermore that was circling back to them, more specifically to Ruby. "Damn it!" He aims Ebony and Ivory at the large crow. He begins unloading his countless shots of aura projectiles onto the Nevermore. The rounds fired were explosive aura rounds. Each round that explodes on impact doing little to no damage.
Ruby rushes towards Yang, but the Nevermore caws above them, flapping its wings and releasing lines of sharpened feathers with points that catch on Ruby's cape and prevent Yang from reaching her.
"Ruby get out of there!" Yang shouted as Ruby was trying to pull her cloak out.
"I'm trying!" Ruby said, tugging her cloak. She was beginning to panic due to the fact that the Death Stalker was inching closer and closer at her.
Jaune grabs the handle of Dark Repulser to unsheathe his holy blade, but stops when he sees a white blur. His eyes slightly widen due to the identity of the blur.
The Death Stalker approaches, raising its golden stinger above a scared Ruby and heading down on the helpless girl.
Yang reaches out in vain. "Ruby!" The same white blur from before passes her.
The stinger from the Death Stalker strikes down. Ruby closes her silver eyes, not wanting to look at the creature. However, instead of the sound of her own bones being crushed, she hears the creation of ice.
"You are so childish."
Ruby opens her eyes to the sight of the stinger encased in ice and lowers her arms from their futile position over her head as she stares at her savior. "Weiss…?"
Weiss continues "…and dimwitted and hyperactive and don't get me started on your fighting style." Weiss pulls out Myrtenaster, her rapier. Weiss pauses for a moment, but continues. "And I suppose, I can be a bit… difficult. But if we're going to do this then… then we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, then I'll be… nicer."
"I'm not trying to show off." Ruby responded weakly but looks at Weiss with determination. "I want you to know that I can do this."
"… You're fine." Weiss walks past Ruby.
The young girl clad in red breathes a sigh of relief, then closes her eyes and clasps her hands as she gratefully whispers. "Normal knees..." She gets up and stares at the Death Stalker as it struggles to escape with its tail trapped in the ice. "Whoa!"
Jaune walks to Weiss, with a smile of gratitude formed. "Thank you, Weiss."
Weiss rolls her eyes "Why are you grateful?"
"I'm grateful because you saved a dear friend of mine" Jaune places his hand on Weiss's shoulder. "And I'm also grateful that you're safe."
Weiss blushes but hides her face so Jaune wouldn't see her. "What are you saying!? It's not like I did it for you!" Weiss walks past him.
Jaune's smile shifts into one of praise. "By the way that was impressive what you did. You used a glyph to propel yourself in front of Ruby to block the Death Stalker's attack with a dust enabled ice. Your speed and technique is impressive."
Weiss looks back at Jaune, now serious no longer showing signs of embarrassment from before. "And your aura reserves are anything but normal." She turns towards him now. "That pillar of aura from before was you, right?"
"Indeed it was. And I thank you for your praise." He has his gaze centered on Ruby. "I need to check up on Ruby so prepare to leave." Jaune said while walking off towards Ruby and Yang. The latter currently pulling the other into an embrace.
Weiss looks at Jaune, her thoughts about how strong the boy she was staring at in her mind. 'With aura reserves that high he's easily B-class material... maybe even A-class. But how can he be this strong…?'
As Jaune approaches the sisters Yang lets go of Ruby. "Thank you for helping my sister." Yang said in gratitude.
Jaune shakes his head no "There's no reason to thank me. I didn't do anything helpful." Jaune glanced over at Weiss as he said what he had. "You should be thanking her."
Though she agreed with Jaune, she couldn't help but thank the fellow blond. "But you still tried to help her." She looks down on the ground. "Unlike me, who couldn't do anything for my sister. She was in danger and I couldn't do anything."
Jaune has a sad smile, knowing that Yang was deeply hurt. "If you're worried about being a terrible sister then don't. I can tell that you deeply love your sister and that she loves you. That alone makes you a great sister."
Ruby tugs on Yang's shirt. "He's right Yang. You are a great sister."
Yang has a wide smile and wraps her arms around the two. "Thanks you guys!" She looks at Jaune and whispers to him. "You really know how to charm a girl." She lets go them getting prepared to leave the temple.
Jaune stood there perplexed 'Charm a girl? What does she mean?'
Jaune removes the thought. There were more pressing matters to attend to. "Alright everyone, it's time we leave. Any pair that doesn't have a relic, grab one now! We can't waste anymore time!"
"I agree, there's no need to dilly-dallying, our objective is right in front of us." Weiss said in agreement.
Ruby joined in "They're right, our objective is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."
Jaune smiles. "Run and live…" Jaune walks over to Ruby, standing by her side while placing his hand on her shoulder. "…that's an idea I think we can all get behind on."
Jaune walks over to the relics and takes the gold rook. Ruby follows and takes the gold knight. They look at each other and smile at one another.
"Time we left." Ren said, his automatic pistols, StormFlower ready for combat.
The group is heading out of the forest and into another abandoned series of structures as the Nevermore follows them from the air. They spread out when it passes above, concealing themselves behind some of the stone blocks with their allies as the large crow type Grimm perches on a high column and caws.
Yang glares at the Nevermore. "Well that's great."
Behind them trees were knocked aside the Death Stalker bursting into the scene. It charges towards them while screeching.
"Everyone run!" Jaune ordered. The group emerges from their hiding spots and causing the Nevermore to rise up into the air.
"Nora, distract it!" Ren ordered as they were rushing out of cover.
Nora obliges, running out from her block and jumping through the feather projectiles before reaching behind her and launching several heart-topped shells from her grenade launcher, bursting into pink electricity when they hit the Nevermore, and causing it to retreat. She is unaware of the Death Stalker rushing up behind her until Blake and Ren perform a cross-slash with their Gambol Shroud and StormFlower against its shell. Weiss lands next to Nora so she can create a jumping platform beneath them and leap to safety while Blake and Ren are now being chased.
As Jaune and the others were running on the stone bridge Jaune halts his retreat. He aims Ebony and Ivory, the scrollwork engravings shining a brilliant white light. The twin pistols start firing white shots that have a low rate of fire at the Death Stalker that pierces the bone plating of the monster.
"Go, I'll cover you!" Pyrrha stops running and gets out her hunting rifle Miló, firing red shots allowing Jaune to fall back. After he runs pass her Ren jumps next to her, his green blasts joining Pyrrha's scarlet blasts for a second until the creature reaches them and tries to swipe, prompting the group to run again.
The eight race over the ancient stone bridge, not noticing the Nevermore closing in on them until it uses its giant wings to shatter the path right in the middle, forcing Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora, and Jaune closer to the central collection of columns and Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha on the other side with the Death Stalker.
Jaune runs to the edge of the break in the bridge, his features filled with worry. "We need to get over there! They need help!"
Nora rushes next to Jaune, with a look of determination. "Let's do this!"
Jaune looks down at the misty abyss. "Nora, can you make that jump?"
Nora smiles diabolically at him, laughing as she knocks him back, turns her weapon to its full-length hammer form, and jumps to the edge of the bridge.
He notices what Nora was about to do. "Nora wait, I can get there…" Too late, she slams the hammer into the bridge and throws Jaune to the other side. As he's sent flying her quickly turns his body around and lands in a crouched position.
Nora places one foot on the hammer and fires it off the collapsing section of bridge, launching her to slam her weapon in the center of the Death Stalker's skull. She fires it just as the stinger comes down to get her, and blasts back again to avoid its reach, accidentally knocking into Blake and making her fall from the edge.
As the bow wearing girl falls, she sees the Nevermore above her and launches her whip so the gun's blade sinks into the edge of the bridge, circling around and leaping onto the aerial Grimm's back. She dashes all over its body, slashing the entire time, before jumping off and landing on the ruined platform at the top of the columns next to Ruby, then going over to Yang and Weiss.
As Jaune gets up he notices the instability of the bridge, deducing that it will collapse in moments.
"We gotta move!" They rush towards the Death Stalker. As Jaune was running he unsheathes Dark Repulser.
The Death Stalker aims a claw at Pyrrha, but she deflects it with her bronze shield and slashes it with her blade. The scorpion recoils and swipes at her with its other claw, but Jaune is there to deflect it with his sword, knocking it back so Pyrrha can leap over and attack its face, thus exposing the creature's face. Ren charges through the opening, shooting at the Grimm as it tries to stab him with its stinger. Ren slightly evades and leaps onto the Grimm's stinger, proceeding to use StormFlower to shoot the joint between the stinger and the tail.
Nora then steps forward, shoots at the large creature with her grenade launcher, but the Death Stalker crosses its armored pincers in front of itself, making the grenades ineffective while knocking both Jaune and Pyrrha back. As it opens up its pincers again, Pyrrha immediately uses the opening to throw her spear straight into one of the scorpion's eyes, which subsequently causes the Death Stalker to fling Ren off its tail as it thrashes around, sending him flying into the side of a stone block hard and falls to the ground, not getting back up.
"Ren!" Nora shouted in dismay.
Despite the loss of Ren, Jaune stays level headed and notices that the Death Stalker's stinger his hanging loosely.
"Pyrrha!" Said girl follows his gaze.
"Done!" She replied, as she throws her shield like a boomerang at the stinger, severing it and causing it to fall and embed itself into creature's own head. The shield bounces off a pillar and flies back toward Pyrrha before attaching itself to her arm.
"Nora, nail it!" He ordered.
"Heads up!" She jumps on Akoúo, Pyrrha leaps as Nora aims her blast down to give herself a maximum lift, and she smiles the entire way up before twirling down. As she begins to fall, Nora sends herself shooting downwards with the help of her weapon, and nails the stinger further into the creature. The force of the blow causes the bridge to tip toward the Death Stalker, launching the rest of the party into the air toward stable ground as Nora "shoots" herself off the Death Stalker's head, causing it to fall into the abyss below along with the remnants of the bridge.
Jaune lands in a crouched position before standing back up, Nora lands on her bottom, Pyrrha manages a crouched pose, and Ren simply walks over to them, panting and groaning until he collapses.
But as Ren was about to fall, Jaune rushes over and catches him, placing the exhausted martial artist's arm around his neck. "You okay?"
Though the boy in question was ready to take a long nap he finds the strength to answer the kind blond. "Yeah, thanks for the help."
Jaune (while assisting Ren) and the others look on as the four girls fight the Nevermore. It was incredible, each one showing remarkable combat prowess.
"Shouldn't you help them Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, worried about her fellow classmates.
Yang begins firing multiple shots at the Nevermore, gaining its attention. When it gets close enough and opens its mouth, Yang leaps and lands in its open mouth. Holding its beak open with one hand, she unleashes a barrage of shots into the creature's mouth. Once the Grimm starts to lose its balance, she leaps off as the bird continues forward and crashes into the Cliffside.
Jaune smiles "I think they've got it handled."
Despite Yang's attempts, the Nevermore recovers quickly, and Yang smiles as she spots Ruby and Blake on the broken columns with Weiss rushing to the battle. Yang passes her while the Nevermore starts to fly back up, but Weiss hops over to the ruin it's lifting off of and freezes the tip of its feathery tail to the ground, leaving it stuck in the same spot despite its flapping. Weiss back-flips into a snowflake-circle jump and lands on the other side, running to the group.
Blake fires the pistol portion of Gambol Shroud over to Yang, and the two tighten it between the columns so Ruby can jump on the center with Crescent Rose and bend it back into Weiss' black glyph, right next to the caster.
"Of course you would come up with this idea." Weiss said ready to catapult Ruby into the air.
"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked, completely serious about the question.
Weiss grins "Hmm! Can I!" Weiss said confidently.
A second passes
"Can't?"
"OF COURSE I CAN!"
Ruby looks forward and pumps Crescent Rose as Weiss turns the circle from black to red and releases Ruby at such a speed that the ground behind her launch cracks, rose petals flying from her ascent. With each new shot, she gets closer and closer to the trapped Grimm until her scythe catches the Nevermore's neck in its blade and causes them both to fall to the cliff wall.
Weiss raises her sword and creates a series of white glyphs that run up the length of the cliff, allowing Ruby to maintain footing on the vertical surface and dashes through by firing the entire way up.
Yang, Blake, and an exhausted Weiss watch her climb up with the bird in her grasp until, both warrior and monster crying out, Ruby reaches the top of the cliff, circles up, fires one last shot, and rends the Nevermore's head from its shoulders in a shower of petals.
She lands beside the severed head as the body of the giant Nevermore falls lifeless to the ruins and crevice below while the girls and, farther away, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren watch in amazement.
Yang smiles "Well… that was a thing."
Jaune smiles, "Excellently done, Ruby."
They all nod in agreement.
Jaune looks back at his team. "Come on, let's go meet up with the others."
The eight students meet up at the center of the summit. The platform they were on only had the one exit, which was a stone bridge with rows of stone columns. Yang was hugging Ruby in congratulations. Blake was watching the two sisters, proud of the fact that they defeated the Nevermore. Weiss though exhausted was smiling at their success.
Jaune and his team greeted them. "That was impressive. The four of you make a great team."
Pyrrha lightly punches his shoulder, causing him to be knocked back, but he maintained his balance. Pyrrha laughs "We make a great team too you know."
Ren nods in agreement.
Nora… well she definitely agreed. "You bet we do, Jaune was like "Pyrrha!"
Nora pretends to throw a spear.
"And then he said, "Nora, nail it." And I did nail it! It was so much fun!" As Nora was talking she was striking other various poses.
"Nora…" Ren said getting the said girl's attention.
"Yes Ren!"
"I think they get it."
Nora salutes "Okay then."
They all laugh, enjoying how bubbly the girl in pink was.
Ruby calms her laughing so she could speak. "I wish all eight of us could be on a team."
Jaune walks up to the short statured girl. He places his gentle hand on her head. "Remember our promise?"
Ruby nods, smiling due to the recent memory. "You bet I do."
Nora raises her hand. "I have an idea. We can bribe the headmaster!"
Jaune pales at her suggestion. "I don't think that would work."
Nora thinks about what else she could do. Then a stroke of 'genius' hits her. "Oh, we'll break his legs!"
Jaune deadpans "That definitely won't work."
Once again Ren intervenes, his eyes void of any energy or life. "Sorry but can we go now. Because…" He yawns, shadows now under his eyes. "I have a date with the love of my life after initiation and I'd rather not miss it." Everyone save for Nora looks at Ren with a puzzled expression not knowing what he was talking about. "My bed. I'm referring to my bed."
"Ohhhhhh" The gang said in unison.
They comply with their sleep deprived friend and make their way back to Beacon.
Jaune and the others are now at the entrance where the relics are located. All of the relics were gone.
"It looks like the other students were able to get the remaining relics." Jaune deduced.
The blond clad in black suddenly feels an arm around his neck, pulling him down to the owner of the strong grasp. His head hits something incredibly soft. He looks straight at the wonderful cushion and to his surprise it was the right asset of Yang Xiao Long.
"Hey Hotstuff! Why don't we fly on ahead?!"
Though he was embarrassed beyond belief, his scarlet face being evidence enough, he responds to the source of his uneasiness.
"Well… you see I can only carry one or two of you."
Yang smirks seductively at the fellow blond. "Then maybe you and I can scout ahead." She winks at the clueless assassin, suggesting far more inappropriate activities.
Not getting what she was implying he responds with a serious answer. "Wouldn't it make more sense if I went alone then?"
"But where's the fun in that?" She smoothly responded.
"Um guys…" The only other male interjected.
The two blonds look at the sleep loving martial artist.
Next to Ren were two very annoyed red wearing girls. Ruby and Pyrrha have innocent yet terrifying smiles.
"My dear sister Yang. Maybe you should remove yourself from my friend."
"I think that would be for the best as well." Pyrrha added, her terrifying smile instilling fear to those around her.
As Yang was going to cleverly retort the entire group hear a screeching roar. It was high pitched, the high frequency of the sound waves piercing their eardrums. This causes Yang to remove her hold on Jaune in favor of covering her ears. The rest of the group follows her actions.
The screeching stops though. But from the forest, trees began falling one after another until finally, dozens of trees were blown away by an invisible force. A single tree bursts towards the group.
The first victim was going to be Blake. The tree trunk was only inches away from her. However, the trunk is sliced in half which avoids her and the others.
Jaune was standing in front of Blake, his back turned towards her with Dark Repulser in hand.
From the ruined forestry a single silhouette the size of any normal person can be made out. Jaune narrows his eyes trying to get a better look at it.
The figure walks forward, revealing not who. But what it was.
In front of the ruined forestry was a creature of Grimm in the shape of a human. The creature itself was black, but it had a white exoskeleton on different parts of its body. The face of the creature was a white skull with two long white horns that were pointed forward for impaling. Its eyes were blood red. The white boned shoulder blades were curved up to a point. The creature only had three toes. On the creature's bone plating were red markings that resemble tribal tattoos.
It roars once again the bloodlust from the creature being evoked from the creature. The roar causes fierce winds to blow at the young students.
Jaune looks at the creature, eyes widen. "That's a Death Bringer." The other students were also terrified. For the creature they were laying eyes on was among the highest tier of Grimm. "Why is it here? Why would an A-class Grimm be here?"
AUTHOR'S NOTES: VERY IMPORTANT MUST READ!
So in regards to what Jaune's outfit will be I have decided to keep his black attire. I know it was a tie but for the most of the time of the poll Jaune's new outfit was always in the lead. Also I was going to close the poll sooner but I was preoccupied with other things and because of that it gave Jaune's original outfit time to get more votes.
Also I've decided to do something awesome. But first, a story, a tale of a young… handsome man… me.
As I was making OCs for the Jaeger Program I came to the conclusion that they were all incredibly awesome… except for one of them. I won't go into detail but he wasn't fleshed out well.
Then it occurred to me. Why don't I let one of you make an OC for me!
So if you want to make an OC for this story then pm me. If I think your OC would be perfect for the Jaeger Program then I'll choose him/her. If you want your OC in the story then I need you to tell me everything that is listed below.
Name:
Appearance:
Weapon(s):
Semblance:
Back story (Must include how Gilbert met you):
Personality:
There's something else I want to share as well. There is a roleplay forum with a wide variety of anime for you to rp in. But what I really want to tell you all is the fact that there will be a RWBY roleplay. If you want to roleplay with me just go to my profile and click on the link for the forum. But before you can start roleplaying you have to agree to the terms of the forum. Just go to rules and then agree with the terms. After that go to request and ask for RWBY. Though it's apparently coming out soon they're late. The forum was supposed to be released last Wednesday but it's still not up. So by requesting a roleplay for RWBY it might get them to hurry up with releasing the forum.
One last thing about the RWBY roleplay… Jaune and Professor Ozpin are mine so if you don't want to get on my bad side then I suggest you get a different character (: have a wonderful day.
Oh and remember to give this story a favorite or a follow if and only if you deem this story worthy. If you believe this story is lacking in any aspect then please tell me. I actually appreciate harsh criticism because it informs me of my mistakes which I greatly appreciate. Don't get me wrong I love receiving praise but I appreciate criticism more.
Now with all that said I hope you all have a wonderful day/night.