Seven Years

by Medium Cris

As a child Jaune was saved by the leader of the Faunus Rebellion. He raised him as his own, but passed away when Jaune was only ten. Ever since Jaune has been alone. He grew up fast and hard, but when Ozpin decides he wants him in Beacon, he doesn't give him a choice. Now he'll have to fight enemies old and new while still trying to uphold his ideals.

5. Taking Flight

Disclaimer:

I still don't own RWBY. It's probably a good thing. I'd get so mired in the minutiae of the setting I'd never get anything done.

Ante Story Notes:

Right. This section will be my response to responses bit from now on.

Thank you my reviewers. They helped me slog through this hot mess of a chapter. Also over a hundred favorites now, which is pretty cool. Thanks guys/gals/others/eldritch abominations. A special thanks to Garm88 and Hysterical Clerical Hijinks for telling me when I screw up. I really appreciate it.

The responses from last chapter were really good; seems like I didn't screw things up too badly. I was worried I'd come off as Weiss bashing. Hopefully I can keep it up.

One more thing? I am incredibly unhappy with this chapter. I've rewrote the damn thing five times now, and I'm still deeply disatisfied with it. And most annoyingly I can't even tell why I'm spazzing out over it. Agh. Shoot me a review or a PM and let me know how I can do better.

Edited: 10/11

This is now chapter five, the no longer complete garbage edition. I'm still not entirely happy with it, but at least it isn't a total eyesore now.

Story:

{Jaune Ebner}

Clink. Clink. Clink. My every step produced one of the small clinking noises as my metal shod foot struck the ground. It used to be a minor annoyance, but years of doing dangerous work has made it comforting. It took me a long while to get used to my armor, but now outside of it I felt vulnerable, weak. The noise simply meant I had the security of half an inch of metal that any would be assailant would have to get through to harm me. The soft noise my footfalls made was the only noise drifting through the quickly warming Autumn air between Pyrrha and I as we walked towards initiation.

The silence was a warm relaxing thing, like a cup of mulled wine in winter, despite our last conversation having been a little heavy for pretest banter in my book. Probably because she had clearly demonstrated that she was looking out for me, and was willing and capable of protecting my back. I don't have a lot of experience working with others, but in the same book that said precombat conversations should be light also had an entry decreeing those as ideal qualities in a partner. Someone is watching out for me again. It was strange. And it was wonderful.

And even more importantly, we're friends. I didn't want her to think she was in this alone, so I made a mental note to reciprocate on that front as soon as possible. Unless, maybe helping out with that Mohawk jackass counted? Either way, our test would almost certainly include team combat, so I'd soon get a chance to show her I had her back too.

I was loathe to break the quiet, but since we were headed for combat we needed to iron out a few details.

"Ah, Pyr? What distance do you prefer to engage at?"

"I can engage at any distance, though I do prefer melee to mid range. How about you Jaune?"

"I enjoy getting up close and personal, but I'm much better at mid to long range."

Pyrrha looked surprised. "I had thought you would be best in melee."

"Yeah, Somber Swordsman right?" I asked, emphasizing the word swordsman. "I would've gone with Acerbic Archer personally. I'm much better with a bow, and I have a few rapid fire attacks with my semblance which work best at mid range."

I scratched the back of my head before letting out a sigh. "The rumor mill gets a lot of things wrong actually. I haven't done over five hundred missions. I'm still quite a ways from hitting four hundred."

Pyrrha gave me a sympathetic smile. "I know what you mean. They call me the Invincible Girl, and I'm anything but." She let out a rueful chuckle. "I learned that lesson very thoroughly. Whenever my head started getting too big, one of my family members would spar with me. Briefly."

I felt a familiar little pang of longing in my chest at the word family, which I promptly ignored. I refuse to begrudge others having nice things just because I don't have them. "Your family's pretty hardcore I take it?"

Her shoulders tensed enough that I noticed it in my peripheral vision. When she spoke her voice came out in the overly casual tone of someone trying not to show that something bothered them. "My father is Mistral's Magister Militum, and my uncle was Mistral's Champion."

Was? I'm forced refer to my family with that same damn was. I knew that was so well it caused me an actual, literal pain to form in my chest to hear it pass my friend's lips. And I noticed that she hadn't mentioned her mom, another unhappy little conversational piece which I was intimately familiar with.

Real pain is an ugly thing, one which we all come to know in greater or lesser amounts through out life. I thought I hated to see somebody hurting, but it turned out that was nothing compared to knowing my friend was hurting. I wonder if that makes me overprotective, or if that's normal?

I wanted to help her somehow, to take away the pain I saw. But realistically the only thing I could do for her, right now at least, was shifting the topic. Maybe I should ask after her dad? The Magister Militum was the head of Mistral's armed forces, so there had to be at least a few stories there, but they might not be happy either: though it had been decades since war had last rocked remnant people still frequently died in the constant skirmishing against the Grimm. I needed something else...

Oh, right. I was trying to figure out how we were going to fight together before I got distracted. "Well, Pyr, you know what my semblance is, what's yours?"

Her tension faded almost immediately. That worked a lot better than I thought it was going to, not that I'm complaining. She quirked an eyebrow. "You just come right out and ask a girl that?"

I smiled, self satisfied and lazy. "Afterwards I'll ask how old you are and how much you weigh."

She let out a quiet laugh before bumping into my hip with hers as I was mid stride, forcing me to take a pair of somewhat awkward steps to regain my balance. I chalked up another point for Jaune on my mental score board. "My semblance is polarity. I would appreciate it if you refrained from telling others though Jaune; I prefer to keep it as a surprise."

I nodded, back to business. "Of course. How strong is it?" My father's weapon, which I buried with him, is made from a single massive earth dust crystal that had manipulated magnetism. It had been an utterly terrifying ranged weapon; it's recoil alone would literally tear my arm off, aura or no, if I tried to fire it. The shot it's self could kill most things just passing somewhere near them. If her semblance was of comparable power I could just forge some flechettes and we could massacre Grimm en masse with a whirling hurricane of steel.

"I can move someone your size with a little effort. My own clothing is made from cloth of metal and hardened leather, so I can move myself with it as well. I often use it to manipulate weaponry to attack with extra power and accuracy." Not nearly as strong as my old man's rail gun then. Well, that's to be expected really. My father was ridiculously powerful.

"We have extra maneuverability then. Any other capabilities?"

She nodded. "The stones on my circlet are two air dust crystals. They heighten my awareness in a manner somewhat similar to fish or birds." So they are dust crystals.

"Fish? Birds?" I asked, blinking.

"They register disturbances in the air around themselves, giving me complete spatial awareness of everything with in a dozen or so meters of myself while I run my aura through them. I got the idea from watching a school of fish swim by me when I was sailing."

Damn, really? A lot of my moves rely on sleight of hand, blocking or overwhelming senses, and feints. Fighting her would be hell. I have to get my grubby little paws on some dust. And, you know, figure out how to use the stuff.

I let out a low impressed whistle. "Beautiful and functional. I approve. Did you make it yourself?" She nodded, looking pleased. I shook my head in admiration; no wonder she was a four time champion. I looked to the sky with a little twinge of envy. Is this the difference a formal education makes? "And here I thought I was pretty good having spatial awareness of the things I forged."

She blushed profusely. "Um. The... sweatshirt you gave me?"

What? Oh. Oh. I blushed a bit too, ashamed. "No, gods no." She thought I was groping her with my semblance. Do I really look like some kind of sexual predator?

Pyrrha looked a little hurt at that. I all but tripped over myself frantically trying to correct the misunderstanding, my words coming out in a jumble. "It's, uh, not that you're not beautiful or anything, because you are, it's that I'm not a molester. Because that would be wrong. My semblance doesn't work like that, not that I would try it even if it did, because, not a molester like I said. Um. I...I'll... just shut up now." Open mouth, insert foot, proceed to choke to death on foot. Truly, I am masterful orator. My face felt so hot I was surprised that it hadn't caught fire.

"If you weren't using it to... feel me, then how does it work?" Pyrrha asked me, looking both relieved and amused.

I shrugged, calming back down. "I'm not sure. I can just tell where the things I make are and what state they're in, at least when it's close enough or when I concentrate on it. It's how I can use so many weapons; I never have to worry about differences in my weapons' size throwing me off."

Pyrrha tapped her chin with a slender index finger. "I was wondering about that."

We rounded the last bend in the road and saw the launching platforms as well as Ozpin and another teacher I'd seen before but didn't know, and many of our peers including all those I'd met yesterday.

The unknown blonde teacher was talking to the assembly. "... You'll each be given teammates. Today." Ruby groaned at that.

Ozpin picked up as she stopped to take a breath. "These teammates for the next for the rest of your time at Beacon, so it will be in your interest to partner with some with whom you can work well." Is that so Captain Obvious?

"That being said," Ozpin continued, "the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." I felt my blood pressure spike as Ozpin finished that sentence. Of all the inane bullshit. We get our teammates randomly? I'm pretty sure some of my peers grumbled about it, but I couldn't hear them over my grinding teeth.

He wasn't finished, but I pretty much phased him out at that point anyway, too busy trying to figure out how to get a team full of people I wanted to waste time listening to the infuriating old windbag. Blah, blah, blah, you're on your own, abandoned temple, grab and protect a relic, I'm a jackass, blah blah blah. After a subjective eternity he finished.

Ha. While Ozpin was babbling I managed to think of a way forward. I'm not sure about teams, but I can at least be sure of who my partner is. "Hey, Pyr, you still want to be partners right?"

"That would be ideal, yes." She said, determination radiating off her like heat from a fire.

I nodded. "I can handle our landing, if you can defend us until we land."

She looked at me curiously. "I don't think we're allowed to launch together."

"He didn't say we couldn't." I said.

Her bright green eyes glittered with a sudden gleeful mischief. "No. No, he did not, did he?"

"Alright then. Stand in front of me, and I'll bind us together."

I stood behind her on the same platform, which was right next to Ruby, and bound us together tightly with straps made from my aura in a manner reminiscent of a double parachute harness. Her back was pressed firmly against my cuirass, making balancing a somewhat awkward affair. Pyrrha's long red hair tickled my nose all the while and I was forced to inhale her aroma. She smelled really good actually; something sweet and unfamiliar. I smiled at the thought. Whatever it was it suited her well; sweet and unfamiliar was an excellent parallel for Pyrrha herself.

That Green Mohawk punk was grinding his teeth audibly as he glared at me. It took me a moment, but I connected the dots. I whispered into Pyrrha's ear, "I bet twenty lien that Mohawk the Creeper over there thinks I can actually feel you through half an inch of armor."

She went perfectly still for a moment, giving me a chance to observe the flush creeping up the back of her neck. I could only imagine how red her face was, but my imagination is pretty good. I nearly giggled, but managed to keep it from escaping my lips through sheer force of will. "...Did you think I was just cuddling you?"

"Q-quiet you."

I let my laugh out then, and it felt good.

Ruby glanced over at us, forlorn, as students kept shuffling on to platforms. "You already decided who your partner's going to be?"

I glanced back at her from the corner of my eye. What was with her eyes? They were huge and made me feel like I'd just kicked her into a gutter full of mud and started laughing at her or something. There wasn't much I could do about it though, at least not without breaking my word with Pyrrha. A man's word is his worth, and by breaking it I would be made less. Besides, my instincts told me that Pyrrha's look would at least that pitiful if I abandoned her for Ruby at this juncture, though none of that made me feel any better about it. I wonder what it says about me, when I'm more comfortable with fighting monsters to the death than I am talking to people?

"I...I'm sorry Ruby." I began a little awkwardly, rubbing the back of my head with my armored hand. "Pyrrha called dibs, and saved me from a wicked white witch. We can still be on a team though, and even if we're not, it's not like we can't hang out just because we're on different teams or anything."

Ruby brightened up a little once I finished, though it was still a far cry from the cheerful girl I'd met yesterday. I wasn't sure what else I could do about it though. "Yeah, that's true." She said.

Yang, who had been standing next to Ruby spoke up next. "Wait, white witch? You had a run in with the... Weiss Sheet?" I silently thanked her for dragging us out of the verbal quagmire I'd created. While she proceeded to don a pair of aviator sunglasses with one hand while pointing out Weiss with her other, who was standing further down the line. She stood as far from as as she possibly could, and refused to so much as glance in our direction. I honestly hadn't meant to offend her, but well. I have talents, but speaking isn't one of them. Maybe if I got in some more practice I'd stop flailing around when I try to talk with people.

Hey. It could happen.

"Weiss Sheet?" Pyrrha asked. I looked over at Weiss as she spoke and it clicked after a few seconds of befuddlement. I noted that her 'assets' were a great deal smaller than Yang's, or Pyrrha's, or even Ruby's. I let out a not quite suppressed chortle of laughter. Yang's jokes are so terrible. Yang flashed me a sunny grin as while Pyrrha and Ruby looked on, seemingly lost.

Yang explained it for their benefit. "Weiss Sheet, because she's cold and flat as an iced over runway."

Pyrrha just shook her head at Yang's antics, almost making me sneeze as the apex of her ponytail continued tickling my nose, while Ruby face palmed. "Yang! She already hates me. How is this going to make it any better?"

Yang shrugged. "Meh. She's pretty much a lost cause anyway."

"She's not so bad." I said smirking. "She just needs to take a chill pill."

Yang smirked at me "Maybe we won't have to Weiss her out after all."

Ruby let out a whine. "Yang!"

Pyrrha just shook her head again, but I could hear the smile in her voice. "I think your sense of humor is contagious Yang."

Yang replied, "I know. It's great."

"Did you figure out how they're making teams?" Ruby asked.

I shrugged, the movement almost ruining the precarious balance Pyrrha and I had found. "Not yet. But hey, just decide what you want to happen and take the best steps toward it you can right? Maybe it-" has something to do with the relics? I never got to finish that sentence. I'd just gotten through the word 'it' when, without warning, Pyrrha and I were launched. Before anybody else. Despite being about a third of the way down the line up from the right hand side. So it made no sense what so ever. Seriously, Ozpin is such a dick.

Pyrrha let out a startled scream. I did too, but if anybody calls me out on it I'll deny it with my dying breath. I shut my trap, and started coming up with a solution.

We hadn't been expecting the launch and were tumbling tail over teakettle in a more or less uncontrolled fashion. So much so that I was having trouble telling which way was down, and was mildly regretting having a large breakfast before I promptly crushed the blasphemous thought. Luckily I could tell which way we were tumbling at least, so I started using slide.

This time instead of pressing down with all my aura, I used what aura I had in my upper torso to push in the opposite direction compared to my lower body. It was a bit of a strain on my core, but I didn't work out for show. I did it so I could do maneuvers like this. Well, that and hit things really, really hard.

I managed to stop us from spinning with that stunt at least. We were still a good ways from the tree tops too, so my original plan could still work. My aura billowed out from my back and connected to the harness I'd made for myself and Pyrrha. It took less than a second for it to solidify, and we were abruptly no longer falling. I felt a my lips part in a grin of fierce triumph. Screw you Ozpin.

My aura had formed into a great v-shaped glider connected directly to the harness' straps on the back of my armor. My arms stretched out on both sides of my body to let me steer by shifting my weight. I loved this, the feeling of the wind running across my face and through my hair. Admittedly it would have been even better if Pyrrha's pony tail didn't keep slapping me across the face, but still, there was a freedom up here, riding the wind, that I felt nowhere else. I didn't spend as much time gliding as I'd like, but there was little I loved better. It's why I had originally looked forward to my flight to Vale.

Pyrrha let out an amazed laugh. "Jaune, we're flying!"

I laughed with her. "All according to plan. You keep an eye out for Grimm, I'll look for a safe place to land."

{Glynda Goodwitch}

I watched our applicants launch through the air, in particular Mr. Ebner and Ms. Nikos, who glided away together.

"You disapprove." The headmaster said before taking another sip of coffee.

"It sets a bad precedent. Why did you allow it?" I didn't bother asking why he launched them when he did. I already knew the answer: it amused him to do so.

Ozpin nodded. "You know the partnering process isn't really random. That partnership was one of the potential ones I had selected. We'll have to change the rules for next year of course." That was true. We controlled the launch, therefore we controlled the landing points as well, and could all but guarantee that the partnerships that formed would be serviceable. It was important to at least create a pretense of chance lest somebody's parents decided to complain about their partner's race, or wealth, or some other such nonsense.

I looked at him sharply. "You're manipulating our students again."

"We have quite the batch of prodigies this year. Many of them are damaged in some way. Miss Nikos and Mister Ebner are two such cases. Have you read their psych profiles? Though they may well end up becoming mutually dependent on one another, they will not take advantage of each other either. Not all of our new students would refrain from doing so. My hope is being around someone who will care for and assist them will help them both heal. Can you really call it manipulation if it's for their own good?"

I sighed. "Yes I can. Is there no other way?"

The headmaster gazed at me soberly. "There are, but they are all a great deal worse than what I'm doing now. Mr. Ebner would have it worst of all. Once it gets out who his late father was, there is no telling what will happen."

"Then why have you been feeding those," My voice twisted the word into a mockery far before it left my mouth. "'facts' to the tabloids? The young man has been featured in a dozen magazines and news reports in the last two months."

Ozpin's tone went past sober into something bleak and bitter. "It's more difficult to make a celebrity simply disappear."

I searched his eyes for deceit and found none. It was hard to tell with him some times. He's an excellent teacher and huntsman, but he's always enjoyed his games far too much for my taste. It was even more aggravating when he used people as the pieces. "Who was his father then?"

A crinkling at his eyes was his only sign of amusement, but it was there. "Surly you can tell from his last name?"

"Ebner is one of the most common Atlesian family names in the world." I said blandly.

"But how many Ebners are from Menagerie?"

I rubbed the bridge of my nose, careful not knock off my glasses. "Many people emigrated during the formation of Menagerie."

My superior looked at me with a subtle expression of reproach I'd likely have missed if we hadn't known each other for more than twenty years. But we have, so I knew I was ruining this for him. It quite nearly made my headache worth it. "His father was Dietrich Ebner."

Things started clicking into place. "The Black Thorn?"

"The same."

"So that's why you went to such lengths to recruit him. How did you know?" Dietrich Ebner, the Black Thorn. The most powerful warrior in living memory, who knew more of aura than anyone and used it to preform terrible and amazing feats that should have been impossible. The general of Menagerie's forces during the Faunus Rebellion, who many considered to be a monster, while to others he had been a hero simply doing what was necessary to protect his people. Perhaps it was both, but whatever the truth was he had killed many people. And there would still be those who held a grudge against him, and some would be quite willing, even eager, to take their rage out on his son, who would be weak and defenseless in comparison to such a powerful hunter.

"It was a mere suspicion before we fought. I've fought the Black Thorn before and was lucky enough to survive, so I recognized his style of combat in how Jaune fought, though it was very, very rough. That much could have been a coincidence, but more importantly, I also saw him use some of his foster father's aura techniques. He actually managed to land a hit on me using one, you know. He voluntarily tore his own arm out of his socket doing it too. The young man truly does need help."

The final pieces clicked into place. "You want to disseminate his knowledge of aura. That's why you're manipulating him."

"Partly. Considering the alternatives that Remnant's militaries would take, is this so bad? I truly am trying to ensure all of my students have the brightest future possible, including Jaune."

I imagined what the generals' reactions would be. Even James... "It is bad." I began severely, before my voice softened. "...But it's also the best we can do, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is." Ozpin replied matter of factly, raising his mug once more.

I turned my eyes back to the camera feeds in time to watch Jaune and Pyrrha land amid an abnormally large pack of beowolves. They'd evidently detached from that odd glider a short ways up and came up fighting, back to back. Pyrrha spun into combat, her blade slashing down low level Grimm with impunity before spinning away to the next. It was no wonder how she had become a four time champion. Quick and graceful, no beowolf came close to touching her as she slew them, save from behind. Those who attempted to flank her met with Jaune.

He was the juggernaut to her dervish, dealing out crushing blows with a large sword. His technique was sloppy, and though he made most of it up with a frankly ridiculous amount of raw physical speed and power for someone his age wearing such heavy armor, the occasional claw still found it's way past his guard to rake pointlessly against his armor. As I watched one beowulf leaped over the corpse of one of it's fallen brethren which still had Jaune's blade lodged in it's chest to attack him. For a moment I thought he was going to be overwhelmed, or else would be forced to let the second wolf attack his partner's back. But then I caught a clear glimpse of his face through the camera, calm and remote. He responded with a gesture that would have been pointlessly arrogant had he been any less physically powerful: a back hand. His steel clad extremity glowed with white aura as it swept out with far more speed than he showed so far, slapping the beowolf to the ground with a newly deformed skull.

"It may not be perfect, but he can find a place here." I murmured to myself.

{Jaune Ebner}

In the end, I couldn't find a safe place to land. Grimm had been in every clearing I'd seen; I guess all the activity from the students had kicked the metaphorical ant hill. It had been green foliage and black and white Grimm as far as the eye could see.

I looked down at the nearest clearing. It was full of dozens of beowolves; large bipedal canine Grimm, black with red eyes as all Grimm were. They worked in packs but were extremely weak, at least in comparison to a hunter; they stacked up very well against civilians with predictably tragic results. "It looks like we're coming in hot Pyrrha! Trust your back to me, and I'll keep them off it!" I shouted over the rushing wind.

"And I will keep them off yours!" She yelled back.

Once we landed I quickly forged myself one of my favorite weapons, a bastard sword, and got down to business.

There shouldn't have been this many Grimm here. These woods had been my stomping grounds for the past couple weeks and I'd seen no signs of any packs this big. The largest I'd seen had been less than half the size of this one, and that had been at night when Grimm are most active. I honestly had no idea how I'd missed this pack. They should have been drawn to me when I was down here hunting, and yet they hadn't been; you can tell because they're still alive. The numbers the Grimm were showing today seemed to have come out of no where.

I hacked down the minor Grimm effortlessly, wielding my blade with both hands, sending it looping through deceptively swift arcs that would have seemed sluggish to onlookers. I split the beowolves like firewood, easily dividing their bodies with my powerful swings. The occasional claw raked along my armor as I slew them, but I don't wear my armor as a fashion statement. I honestly doubted that a beowolf could have gotten through at all, even if I'd held still and let it hit me until it died from exhaustion. Not that I would ever do something that stupid.

I lunged forward with the power of one leg, catching all of weight on my second, to extend my body in a fencing thrust. My blade transfixed the last of the beowolf menacing me, only to find out that there had been another, using it's companion as cover to advance on me unseen. It leapt over it's comrade and dived at the only unarmored portion of my body: my head.

Options flashed through my head while the Grimm hurtled at it. My blade was lodged into the chest of that last beowolf and I was into too poor of a position to check it's advance with another. So realistically my first option was to stand and take a beating.

My aura levels are large enough that my dad called them 'freakishly massive' (tact wasn't his strong point either) and they've only grown since he's passed away. So I could take a hit. Even the most vulnerable parts of my body, like my unarmored head, could easily take a few hits from a beowolf without taking any damage. On the other hand I might get unlucky and catch a claw with my eyes, losing them or getting my brain punctured if the beast hit them with the power of it's lunge behind it. So, despite being told how hard my head is on so many occasions, that didn't seem like an attractive option.

Next, I could turn to the side and let it bypass me entirely. I was quick enough to do it, and normally I would have... Except for the fact that it might hit Pyrrha. Her completely awesome dust trick might let her avoid it, but it also might not, so yeah, no way in hell was that going to happen. The only was anything was getting a shot at my friend's back was over my corpse.

So I went with option three. My aura flared for a tiny moment as I started boosting. Muscles in my arm and back tore in a familiar crescendo of pain, and despite my poor positioning for it, I back handed the beast. Raw power let me bull my way through successfully, leaving the beowolf sprawling on the ground with an imprint of my gauntlet an inch deep in it's skull.

My body started knitting back together while I turned away from the stacks of rapidly decaying Grimm bodies to see how Pyrhha was doing. She was facing down a rush of six beowolves. She danced among them, her xiphos flitting around her to slash major blood vessels as opposed to simply hacking through them entirely as I had. It took her a few seconds to leave them on the ground in bloody heaps. I quickly realized two things watching her.

First physically speaking I was superior to Pyrrha. By a pretty good margin too. I could tell the amount of power she put into her swings from the effects they had on the Grimm she struck, and that I was quite a bit stronger than she was. I also had a significant few inches on her in reach even before we started calculating in our respective weapons. And while she was faster on her feet than I was, it was largely due to the fact that I was in much more cumbersome armor. If we'd been equipped similarly I probably would have had the edge there too, though it was hard to tell. At the very least we'd have been equally matched on that last count.

Second, despite the difference in our physical abilities, if I fought Pyrrha head to head I'd lose. Badly. Where I was strong, she was strong and precise. Where I was fast, she was fast and efficient. I felt pride shoot through that someone like her, kind and strong and loyal had chosen to be my partner. But my pride in her was mixed with shame for myself. Her form was magnificent, and, frankly, it so badly outclassed me it was humiliating.

I didn't have to like it, but that was the truth and I would accept it. It wouldn't do to force her to carry me through our partnership, so I'd just have to put in more time training and catch up. There had to be some way to work on my technique in this school. I mentally started rearranging my daily schedule as Pyrrha turned towards me after finishing off the last of her opponents.

Her eyes widened once she did so. "Jaune, duck!"

I dropped to a single knee without hesitation, hearing heavy foot falls approaching me from behind. I'd been too careless.

Face intent, Pyrrha spun her sword to her shoulder, and while in transit it shifted into a rifle. She fired five times. The first shot cracked through the air and the bestial scream of a Grimm (an ursa major if I had to guess from the sound alone) followed. It's roar faded into a gurgle after the third shot, and after the fifth I merely heard the meaty thud of a heavy body hitting the ground. She lowered her weapon after that, so the crisis was presumably averted.

I stood back up and glanced over my shoulder. I was greeted by the sight of a decaying ursa major. So I was right on the type. Ursa major are massive bulks, covered in plates of white bone with red markings running over them. Just like the bears that the monsters parodied, their paws were as good for crushing their prey as they were for slashing them. This particular specimen had a single over large hole punched through the bone plate on it's neck. Wow. She's a damn good shot.

"Thanks Pyr. I should have just kept my eyes on my own sector, but I thought you could use some help." I ran my hand through my hair, abashed. "Seems it was the other way around huh?"

She smiled at me. "I can not blame you for having the same thought I did."

"A good thing you did too." As I was looking towards her I saw the pair of common ursa, much like the one that Pyrrha had just slain, but smaller and with far less armored bone plates, emerge from the forest line behind her. They bulldozed their way past the brush to come straight for us. Where the hell are all these Grimm coming from? "Pyrrha, duck!"

She dropped to a knee much as I had earlier while I flicked my hand in one of the familiar gestures I used when I forged and shot projectiles: my upper arm coming straight from my shoulder with my forearm forming a ninety degree angle with it and my fingers extended toward the sky. I brought my hand down in a downward slashing gesture. Technically it was just theatrics, the gesture was unnecessary, but it helped me focus when making so many weapons at a time. And now it sent a half a dozen throwing spikes, often called bo shuriken back in menagerie, each one around four inches long and half an inch thick, zipping at each ursa.

Before I'd came to beacon I would've used spears probably, but I found something out from a sci-fi novel I'd picked up from the library: small objects moving fast punch holes through big objects moving slowly. Some testing at Beacon's firing range let me find out that whenever I shot the things I'd forged they went out with the same amount of force behind them. Too large and the projectiles would simply take more aura to make, move more slowly, and have a shorter range. Too small and they would just punch long narrow holes in what I'd hit, possibly doing too little damage to put it down. It had taken a little experimentation to find out what size gave me the most bang for my buck, but I'd found it. And it proved it's worth now.

The spikes shot into the ursa and tore their way deep into them, leaving six gaping holes in both of their torsos. I probably didn't need six for each ursa, but I'd rather not leave anything to chance. I peered at their dissolving corpses with satisfaction. It had been only a couple of weeks since I'd arrived at Beacon, I hadn't taken a single class yet, but I'd still managed to tighten my game a little bit.

My partner more or less repeated the same thing I did: she glanced over her shoulder at the Grimm I'd killed, before looking back at me. I offered her a small smile, pleased I'd managed to repay her so quickly.

"I'm sorry! I should have been paying more attention." She told me.

"Relax." I said. "I told you I had your back didn't I? That offer doesn't have an expiration date Pyr. Besides, I did the exact same thing earlier."

She flushed a little, and returned my smile. "Thank you Jaune, it's nice to know someone is watching out for me."

The same unfamiliar warmth from yesterday settled into my chest at her words. Gratitude was nice, but it was better still to be relied on, trusted. "It's nothing." I said.

Pyrrha continued while I forced myself to refocus on the here and now. Lost concentration had already nearly burnt us both today, and we didn't need anymore mishaps. "My words have no expiration date either, Jaune. I will watch over you as you do me."

She'd proved that already. "It's promise then, partner. Let's get moving before anymore Grimm pop up. Follow me, I know this place pretty well."

"Lead on."

I turned and grabbed my sword off of the ground as the beowolf had already finished decomposing and we started our way towards the ruins.

As we started on our way another Grimm, a boarbatusk, burst out of the brush proceeded only by the sound of it's trotters gouging the earth. Borbatusks are ugly low slung porcine creatures, with large tusks made from white Grimm bone. The same bone covered their faces, backs, and flanks, though it was thinner on their sides.

It rushed at me as we entered the tree line, trying to gore me with it's tusks. I was somewhat startled by the attack I hadn't seen coming, but this was hardly my first surprise attack, and my reflexes served me well. I sprang to the side, out of the reach of it's tusks and swung my sword low, attacking one of the monster's weaknesses: it's hind trotter.

The placement of my strike wasn't perfect, but it was good enough. Instead of of hitting it right where the beast's foot joined it's leg, my blow went high striking it's leg proper. That being said, with all the weight of it's charge and all the strength of my left arm, core, and shoulders behind my blade it didn't matter. It's hind leg on it's right side went spinning through the air, spraying blood the whole way.

Pyrrha quickly kicked it over and thrust her- short spear? I guess that her weapon has three forms instead of the usual two: xiphos, rifle, and javelin.- into another of the boarbatusk's weaknesses: it's unarmored belly.

"...Good work, let's keep moving." I said. Pyrrha nodded and we continued on our way.

It wasn't long before we had to fight more Grimm.

We managed to kill them all as well, but... where the hell had all these Grimm come from? There was literally no possible way I had missed this many Grimm. They had to have come here in the last few days when I'd been resting up for the test, but that shouldn't have been possible either, not in so short a time span. And they shouldn't have managed to sneak such numbers by whatever watchers Vale would have so close to one of it's one of it's major cities.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. My instincts, which had been honed sharper than any razor's edge through years and years of nigh constant danger, whispered two words to me: something's wrong.

{Glynda Goodwitch}

"Something's wrong." I said watching our hopeful students battle against colossal numbers of Grimm. "There shouldn't be so many Grimm. Or even a tenth so many."

"No, there shouldn't be." Ozpin agreed.

"This had better not be one of your games. I'm calling in our staff and every hunting resource we have. Our students can't possibly withstand those numbers."

"It's not something I'd planned. You know I wouldn't endanger our students so recklessly. I'll coordinate our staff, and start calling in Vale's resources. Emphasizing the incursion's danger to the city should make them mobilize very quickly indeed. You head down and start rescue operations. I'll stay in touch. Good hunting." Whatever else I say about Ozpin, he possessed one of the greatest tactical minds in Vale, and he wasn't a bad man. Just a pain in my neck.

"Understood. Good hunting." He nodded, and started speaking into his scroll as he launched me off the cliff. I lifted my weapon and readied myself for combat.

{Jaune Ebner}

We'd waded though the forest cutting down Grimm after Grimm. Finally we managed to break out of the woods, sighting the gray stone of the ruins across a wide swift flowing river, and mercifully free of Grimm, but yet another massive pack of beowolves were hot on our tails.

My voice came out smooth and strong as we pounded our way over the grass and flowers towards the river. "Let's put the river at our backs. I'll lay down some fire, you focus on the ones who get too close and make sure nothing sneaks up on us through the river." In the forest ranged combat hadn't been an option with all the trees in the way, but in this clearing it would be.

"Agreed." I'd found out that though Pyrrha was more skilled than me in melee, the gap between our ranged accuracy was very small. And then there was the fact that my semblance's ability to lay down ranged attacks out stripped her rifle's ability by orders of magnitude. And if I'd been using a bow I doubt you would have been able to tell the difference between our skill levels at all.

Once we got with in ten or so feet of the river I turned around, my armored feet throwing up little sprays of earth as I skidded to a halt. Cleaning my armor after all this was going to suck.

I stood still, and stuck my sword into the ground before me, resting my both hands upon it's pommel like I might have a cane. I began focusing on my semblance. The world narrowed down to metal spikes and the trajectories they would need to take to kill the dozens of Grimm rushing my partner and I.

My semblance took a more effort than simply pulling a trigger, but it had quite a few advantages over guns. Firearms had to put up with things like recoil and could only aim at one place at a time. I didn't have those limitations. I put all of my concentration into creating and firing as many spikes as possible, so I couldn't defend myself or even move, but with someone as reliable as Pyrrha as my partner I didn't have to worry about that. The Grimm ran across the forty yards of open terrain between us and the forest, and I met them with a withering storm of metal.

None of them made it.

The projectiles punched holes through the charging Grimm, and frequently through whatever happened to behind them whether that was a tree or another beowolf. It took a handful of seconds to slaughter the lot, leaving nothing but smoking corpses and a patch of extremely chewed up woodland.

I might have looked out across the plain of quickly dissolving offal with something akin to satisfaction if I hadn't been too busy popping open one of the compartments on my bandoleer and quickly downing a vial of Lys' Tears. As always it slid down my throat leaving behind an incredibly bitter aftertaste.

By the gods, I hadn't been expecting anywhere near this level of resistance, and was now very glad that I'd brought the vials with me, though I had thought I wouldn't need any when I packed them. I glanced at Pyrrha as I reclaimed my sword, who was in much the same shape physically as I was, which was to say exhausted from running around fighting for the last few hours, though she hadn't used nearly as much aura as I had. She was also sweating heavily which surprised me; controlling my body's temperature with my aura was as automatic as breathing. Though I guess I should have expected it since she was so cold last night. She must have focused on practical skills instead of whatever she could drill without getting killed like I had.

Pyrrha spoke after a moment. "Are you alright Jaune?"

"Yeah." I said. "You?"

"I am well."

"I'm glad. Now lets get this over with."

"Initiation's charm is starting to wear a little thin." She replied wearily.

I looked at the river. Twenty-ish feet. No problem. "I guess I should go first then."

Pyrrha looked at me curiously. "What do you mean?"

I nodded at the river. She looked at me curiously. "How are you going to cross in that armor?"

"Like this." I backed up a couple feet for a running start and leaped across the swift running water, landing with a good fifteen or twenty feet of extra clearance. Slide, letting hunters look down upon petty things like gravity with scorn for the last two thousand years.

I took a quick glance over my shoulder to Pyrrha, and seeing her look at me with pride made all of the pains we'd gone through the forest worth it. It would have confused me, had I not been finding myself proud of her own accomplishments. But I quickly turned to look back ahead.

"Jaune, why do you keep looking away from me?" She asked from behind me. It seems Pyrrha didn't overshoot as much as I had, as efficient in her jump as she was in combat.

"I can't exactly watch you jump over can I? You're wearing a skirt after all." I rolled one of my shoulders, uncomfortable.

"I wear a pair of shorts underneath it Jaune, as is standard practice for huntresses who wear skirts. At least now I know you won't try anything untoward with my poor, delicate self." I could hear the amusement in her voice, and I flushed a bit before rolling my eyes.

"Please excuse me for not looking up women's skirts to find out standard protocol then." I said dryly.

"You have no need for an excuse. I find your old fashioned sense of courtesy quite charming actually."

I looked at her suspiciously for a few moments, looking for signs of mockery, but I found none in her dazzling smile. So I simply gave up. "So being an unrepentant pervert is the norm now? What's wrong with kids these days? Back in my time such behavior wouldn't have been tolerated. " I sniffed haughtily, joking with her.

She nodded, still smiling. "Not all old traditions are bad, Jaune."

I frowned. "Is the way I behave really that weird? I thought I was normal, more or less."

"I would say commendable rather than weird, but chivalry is rather uncommon in this day and age. I just wanted to thank you for the consideration."

"I... Yeah. Don't worry about it. It was nothing. Your manners are better than mine anyway, so let's grab a relic and get going." I rubbed my shoulder with my free hand, embarrassed for some reason, but not nearly enough to do the maneuver with the hand that gripped my sword. Jamming a few feet of steel in my ear would make a great distraction, but I doubt I'd be able to live that one down... Spirits, my taste for black humor and Yang's horrible, horrible puns are fusing into something even more terrible.

We marched over to what looked like a ruined temple, it's roof torn away leaving it's interior full of daises open to the sky. Each dais held a chess piece in a variety of colors: white, black, blue, red, gold and green, and each color having two of each piece save for the king, queen, and pawn which were conspicuously absent. All of the relics still rested atop their alters; we were the first ones here.

"These are probably the relics then. Do you have a preference Jaune?" She asked me.

"Whatever you like, Pyr." I told her as I kept an eye out for more Grimm. These last few minuets had been the longest stretch of time we'd had without any monsters crashing our party.

"How about... a white knight piece? " She mused aloud. "It is a pity they don't have a gray set..."

I let out an amused snort. "Seriously?"

"It seems a fine way to choose which we take with us." She said a trifle defensively.

I lifted my empty hand in a placating gesture, palm facing her. "Alright then, Princess Charming. If you like it, then it's fine by me. Let's get moving again; I'm looking forward to a cold drink when we get back."

"I'm looking forward to a hot shower myself." She replied, stowing away the knight piece and moving to join me again.

"After the day we've had, we could both probably use one."

"...You're not sweating at all Jaune."

I puffed up a little with pride. Controlling my temperature in today's heat, especially while fighting, wasn't exactly easy. Then you add in my armor and heavy clothing and I should be broiling. It was no mean feat to keep myself from sweating in all that. "Nope."

"How," she began, pouting rather cutely, before the roar of some Grimm, much larger than anything we'd run into today echoed around us. That was bad. What was even more alarming was the answering roars, just as loud. I silently drank four more vials of Lys' Tears in preparation.

Things had just gotten worse. A lot worse.

Post Story Notes:

And we finally got to the real reason Ozpin forced Jaune to join his academy. Even without getting into any of the political importance he had, Jaune's foster father was kind of a big deal. He owned many leather bound books and his home smelled of rich mahogany.

So, all those times I mentioned how buff Jaune was. Did any of you think 'hah, Cris is just making him sexier'? It's okay if you did, it's what I would have thought too. Foreshadowing is my favorite writing tool.

And Jaune's Semblance is great for mulching lesser Grimm. I wanted the minor upgrade to show that he had holes in his education, some of which are small things that could have been easily pointed out if he'd had a mentor teaching him. Some are rather larger and will not be so easily or quickly fixed. I hope it didn't come off as too cheesy.

I always saw Goodwitch as a strict responsible parent to her students who was a hard ass because she really cared for her charges. Hopefully that came across.

I don't think it'll ever come up in story why Ozpin was waiting in Jaune's home. So I'll just tell you now: it was because he couldn't get in contact with him. Faunus are rather leery of humans, so his messages got 'lost' long before they made it to Jaune. Ozpin thinks Jaune ignored them. He eventually bribed the company responsible for scroll networks in Menagerie into giving him Jaune's location, and said 'I'd like to see the little bastard ignore me now.' as he broke into his literal man-cave.

Next chapter will have some actual fight scenes against actual threats instead of new born baby mook Grimm. Right after I study up on fight scenes so it doesn't suck.