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Jaune Arc: Bearer of the Curse
"Hey Ren.". I stated monotone, staring down my fellow blonde whom stood in the temple ruins, chatting quite loudly with another girl, her partner I assumed as we approached. She hadn't noticed us yet , so I counted my blessings.
"Yes Jaune?", he queried sarcastically, a grin gracing his face, the largest I've seen on him all two days I've known him.
"In the event that I…you know…die and well, stay dead. Could you make sure my family gets my sword and shield back?", I requested, half joking, half serious.
"Of course Jaune. I'll even write them a missive saying how you died valiantly against the onslaught of a hormonal teenage girl, and of your other great trials and tribulations. Those should all fit on a sticky note, right?". Ren laughed pretty hard at his own joke, which caught the attention of the two ladies as we reached the ancient temple. Much to my own personal dismay.
"Hello~", blondie waved at us and I took a second and immediately raised my shield to cover my head before responding with, "Hi, please don't bash my skull in?".
Ren punched my shoulder which caused me to fumble with my shield and catch it, barely before it hit the ground. I glared icy daggers at him, as he spoke up to the two ladies, "Greetings.". He spoke with confidence and strode forward, offering his hand. They each shook it, and he finished his introduction. "My name is Lie Ren, a pleasure to meet you both, Misses…?", he stated.
Blondie piped up first, she seemed the boisterous type with her long blonde hair, beautiful lilac eyes, and other… ahem ….assets, "The name's Yang Xiao Long.". She forked a thumb at her partner, who was centered around a theme of black and white, amber cat-like eyes, and a bow atop her lovely raven black hair, "And that's my partner, Blake Belladonna.". She looked to her partner who seemed to be focused on something aside from the conversation, a quick glance behind Ren confirmed what Blake was staring at, and we turned as well, my expression became serious once more.
Beowolves, about 20 of them, one Alpha, approaching fast but that wasn't the issue. In front of them, Weiss and Nora were making a mad dash toward the temple.
Ren yelled first, "NORA!", and was about to rush in but I put my arm up to stop him.
Without turning to face either of them, I made my orders clear, "Ren, Yang, Blake form a defensive line in front of the temple, when Weiss and Nora make it here, guard them so they can get a reprieve. Understood?".
Yang responded, "OK but, what about you?", she asked. She got her answer, in the form of me making a mad sprint towards the two.
I ran hard, clearing the distance between myself and the two huntresses in training in mere seconds, they looked at me for a split second and stopped before I shouted "Keep moving!", as I met the alpha's claw swipe with my shield. I stood my ground as the lupine beasts began surrounding me. There was no fear, there was no hesitation, only the souls in front of me, and my wish to claim them.
I slashed behind myself hard, spinning with my shield extended as well. The sword sliced a brave foes head off before he pounced on me and my shield connected with two more sets of claws before they reached my mostly exposed form. 'One down, nineteen to go', I brought my blade back close to my chest, keeping my shield covering my left, and performed a lunge at one of the foes I had blocked, and was satisfied as my blade plunged straight through its chest. 'Make that two!", I rolled out of the way of the Alpha's pounce and blocked it's mad flail. 'Big fellas next', I went in for the strike, a vertical at his shoulder but was tackled by a younger beast as the Alpha hopped to the side.
'Fuck!', was all I could think before I heard them. Footsteps, and gunshots. Lots of gunshots. I was busy trying to keep the young wolf from feasting on my neck meat, before the bullet storm started pelting them, killing a few including Clingy here on top me, and backing the rest of the Grimm off me.
Taking that moment I hopped to my feet, raising my shield, and crouching lower to the ground. I glanced back to see Blake and Ren rushing to back me up. A small smile played on my face before I turned my attention forward, standing once more, Yang was in front of me, beating back the pack with what I could only describe as shotgun gauntlets.
They were not the only ones though, just past the pack I could barely make out two red figures that were unloading rifle shots into the pack with deadly precision. I threw myself and my shield in front of the Alpha that came up behind Yang, however that threw me off balance, and I took three claw swipes before a fourth batted me away pretty hard, since there was a sickening crunch coming from my right arm where he struck. I rolled to me feet, and saw my dangling shattered sword arm, bone fragments jutting out, yet still grasping my blade.
Gritting my teeth as I saw he was the only target left, I steeled myself, 'This is going to fucking hurrrttttt!', I screamed internally, and flailed my broken arm landing a slash across the Alpha's chest. I then shield bashed off its feet, the proceeded to straddle its chest and beat it down with my shield arm. "STAY! DOWN! YOU! MOTHER! FUCKER!". That last yell was met with the beasts skull caving in. Panting I looked up, to see Yang's sister in my face, cheeks puffed like she was angry, then out it came as she pointed her finger at me accusingly, " LANGUAGE!".
The others snickered, I stared in disbelief, until I felt a burning throb in my right arm. Looking I was greeted by a twisted and useless limb. 'Oh yeah, I slashed using a broken….arm…', were all I could think before the others surrounded me with worry on their faces. "Tis just a Flesh!.. wound.", I said with a very pained wince as the other red head who was with Yang's sister came to inspect my sword arm. She was very beautiful, athletic build, luscious crimson hair in a ponytail, and lovely emerald eyes. Her armor and weapons reminded me of a Spartan.
"How were you able to swing your blade with this mess of an arm!?", she exclaimed very loudly, causing the others to look at it with curiosity, then gasps of horror.
"I just…did?", I finally spotted something on her hip. Something oddly familiar, yet shouldn't have been. "Umm, hey miss. That flask on your hip…", I started slowly and she remembered the orange, ornate glass flask at her hip.
"Oh yes! I found this while in the woods next to small crater in the woods. Is it yours?", she picked it up and offered it to me as I nodded slowly.
Taking it graciously, I popped the top and quickly gulped at its contents with my good arm. The effects were immediate, in the form of my wounds healing, and my arm reconstructing itself. I stretched it out with some audible but welcome pops, and stood back to my feet, clipping my flask to hip. I turned to Ren, "So, did we get the relic?".
This caused the others to look on in confusion, before Ren spoke up, "Yeah, they were chess pieces. Black Knight sound good?", the smirk never leaving his face.
With a heavy sigh at the implications of that choice, I started chuckling, "Sure, why not?". When the others realized I was fine they went to grab their own relics, all but Spartan girl, Yang, and Blake. I turned to the Spartan, sheathing Crocea Mors back into the shield I set back to sheathe form, clipping them to my left side opposite of my flask. I offered her my hand which she took with glee, "The name's Jaune Arc. Short. Sweet. Rolls off the tongue , ladies love it and you? I'd rather not call you miss Spartan forever.".
She beamed happily at that, "I'm Pyrrha Nikos, it's a pleasure Jaune. My partner is the young girl arguing with Miss Schnee at the ruins. Her name is Ruby.".
"Huh, Ruby Xiao Long?". That caused Pyrrha to look confused, and Yang grabbed my shoulder.
Yang looked kind of serious, " J, her name's Ruby Rose. Alright? Just drop it, K?", she then got a huge grin before punching my arm lightly.
'Ok, touchy subject…avoid at all costs.'. We regrouped and began the hike back to Beacon.
Weiss, looked angry…. Scratch that, she looked absolutely livid. Why you may ask, well, their names are Ruby Rose and Nora Valkyrie. They were so close to their objective but the duo would NOT be silent. However it was not all bad, Pyrrha was in this large group, Ren was quiet, Blake and Yang kept their talk to themselves. All this was great, but one problem.
Everyone kept looking at me strange like I had sprouted a second head. We finally approached a bridge that connected to the cliffs from the forest.
Ruby and Nora cheered loudly and raced ahead. Pyrrha, Yang, and Ren looked on smiling. Weiss and Blake, sighed heavily in relief.
I stopped.
Ren saw this, "Jaune?", he inquired.
When I looked forward, I felt something. Something BIG. Trusting my instincts, I drew just Crocea Mors. Scanning the area, then I felt it, and so did everyone else I guess. A rumbling, and heavy thumps. Ruby and Nora skidded to a halt as what appeared to be a little reptilian Grimm's head peered at us from over the ledge.
"RUBY! NORA! GET BACK!", almost as soon as I roared that, the beast leaped into the sky using its huge four warped wings to hover before slamming down on the ground in front of them, and it roared very loudly, scattering its, what I hoped was, saliva over us.
Ruby, grabbed Nora and they were next to us in an instant, before she screamed absolutely terrified, "What is that thing?!". The beast stood a good 40 feet tall, and 25 feet wide. It 'looked' like a dragon, if its torso was a giant mouth, with what could be only described as teeth protruding from it's 'chest'. It was on four muscly black scaled legs, it had huge clawed arms, though much smaller than that of the legs. On its back were four tattered wings that may have been for flight at one time, but now could only help it float.
"Gaping Dragon.", I said, which got all eyes on me as I drew my shield. Weiss was about to ask for clarification, before I answered, "Gaping Dragon, or more commonly known in this age as a Devourer. A very large grimm, said to be able to eat entire armies of huntsman. Powerful body, surprisingly fast, and capable of spraying acids." , I finished as I started moving forward. I looked cold, but determined. 'Well let's see what you're made of beastie!', I thought as I approached it.
The others got ready for the fight of our live.
A/N: And done. Well that took longer than I meant it to. I felt rushed slightly because of my amazing friend SKULLMAN159, what with hisPunishedstory, and his shoutout. Ah yeah, speaking of which, if you like this little syory of mine. You will love his work. That would bePunished, a story where Jaune essentially becomes the Punisher.
That aside, next chapter will be the fight we've all been waiting for!...What? Just me? Ok... Anyway, next chapter will also put a close on initiation. With any amount of luck I should have it up within a few days.
Also...ahhh thats some good Estus.
Well guys, that about wraps this up. Let me know what ya think in reviews and PMs. Nexus signing out