Outsider Chronicles: A New Arc
Dieing and ending up in another world is one thing. That world being one infested with monsters is quite another. This is gonna be fun...
Hello and welcome back. Nothing to say here, so lets dive right in. Enjoy!
Chapter 2
A few days after my bout with Blake, I was walking through Vale towards the Bullhead station to catch my ride to Beacon. As I did, I passed a certain Dust shop with a large hole that was being gone over by the police while the owner, an old man, stood in the background wringing his hands. I know its horrible, but I couldn't help but snort as the sight reminded me of the fact that I'd be meeting the girl responsible for said hole very soon.
The station was only a block or two away from the store and I made sure to arrive in plenty of time so I could grab a seat. I did just that, putting my rucksack between my feet and pulling out a book, a bottle of water and a packet of travel sickness tablets. What? Just because my Souls different to Jaune, doesn't mean my body is, travel sickness included. In fact, I think it might just be worse considering I had it last time through as well. True, I was more of a seasickness person, but I wasn't about to risk it.
As it turned out, I was right not to risk it as, three minutes into the flight, I was reduced to a groaning wreck in my seat. The tablets took the edge off somewhat, but only enough to keep me from puking up my breakfast. Fortunately, my suffering was interrupted by a news broadcast that someone had decided to turn on. Unfortunately, it was right next to my ear and the volume was cranked up so it could be heard over the engines, so I basically exchanged feeling like death warmed over to being completely deaf in one ear. I growled in annoyance as I worked a finger into my ear in an attempt to clear out the ringing as my Aura went to work fixing the damage. The report was the one about Torchwicks robberies and the rally that the White Fang had disrupted, before it was cut off so Goodwitch could do her welcome speech.
"This is really not my day," I grumbled, right before my travel sickness slammed back into me with more force than ever, forcing me to stumbled over to the nearest bin and puke my guts up.
"I HATE AIR TRAVEL!" I growled as I drained my water bottle, crushed it and tossed it over my shoulder into a bin.
The Bullhead had finally arrived, allowing me to stagger off and back onto solid ground, pointedly ignoring all the snickering going on behind me. Fortunately, now I was out of that infernal contraption (and I cannot believe I just said that), I quickly regained my equilibrium and my stomach finally stopped its rebellion. With that done, I straightened up from where I was leaning against a tree and turned to head into school. As I did, I caught the tail end of the argument between Ruby, Blake and Weiss and watched as the former flopped down onto her back.
"Eh, might as well follow the script," I muttered as I walked over.
Ruby opened her eyes as I walked up to her.
"Hey, need a hand?" I asked, offering said limb and a smile, "I'm Jaune."
"Ruby," said Ruby, accepting my hand and letting me pull her to her feet, "Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"
I rolled my eyes as we started walking towards the school.
"Travel sickness, the one issue no amount of Aura or training can fix," I said, "I got some tablets, but they only do so much. They also seem to be losing their effects…"
Ruby giggled.
"By the way, I caught the end of that argument," I said, "What was it all about?"
Ruby looked sheepish.
"Um, I kinda knocked over some girls luggage and she started yelling at me," she said, "Then some stuff happened and I sneezed and exploded then that nice girl came to help and told the crabby girl off and…"
"Yeahhh, I noticed that explosion," I said, cutting of Ruby's babbling, "To be fair, she was more at fault than you, waving that Dust Vile around so much."
"I know, right?" said Ruby, looking relieved.
We slipped into silence for a few seconds as we walked.
"Sooo, I got this thing," said Ruby, pulling out Crescent Rose and slamming it into the ground.
She also almost cut off my toes, but I didn't do more than flinch.
"Ohh, now thats cool," I said, "A mechashift scythe/sniper rifle. I bet this thing could do some serious damage to Grimm."
I looked up and nearly took a step back when I saw that Ruby was staring at me with massive, shining eyes.
"Y-you know what it is!" she said.
"Um, well, yeah, my sisters Durandal operates in a similar way," I said, "Its a Zweihander rather than a scythe, but the principles are the same."
"Um, so what have you got?" asked Ruby.
I smiled and drew Caliburn.
"This is a real special piece," I said, "The blade can be enchanted with various types of Dust in the cylinders and it can fire bolts of elemental Dust when I pull the trigger. I still have no idea how Thorin did it, even after spending the last seven years maintaining the thing."
"Wait, you didn't make it?" asked Ruby.
"I didn't go to a prep school," I said, "My sisters and all Huntresses, so they taught me. Caliburn was a gift on my tenth birthday."
"Really?" asked Ruby, looking awed, "Your related to Hunteresses?"
"You ever heard of the Arc family?" I asked.
Ruby nodded her head rapidly.
"Uhuh, They're all really strong Hunters, but the oldest sister is really famous!" she said, "Shes supposed to be one of the strongest ever to come out of Beacon!"
I nodded.
"Yep, shes also a real slave driver," I said.
I stopped as I realized that Ruby had stopped moving again. I turned around and really did take a step back when I saw the look on her face.
"Um, Ruby…?"
"YOUR RELATED TO JOAN ARC?!" she squealed suddenly, making me jump out of my skin.
"Yeah, shes my eldest sister," I said.
"Ohmygoshpleasesayyou'llintroduceme!"
It took me a moment to translate Rubys squeal into actual Human speech, but when I had, I smiled.
"Sure, I dare say she'll be around for the Vytal festival," I said, "I'll introduce you to her then."
"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!" squealed Ruby, grabbing me in a hug so tight that I'm pretty sure the canon Jaune would have been snapped in half.
Once I had managed to calm Ruby down enough that she wouldn't vibrate through the floor, we headed off to the Hall where we were supposed to meet for the opening ceremony.
"Hey Ruby, over here!" called Yang from the crowd, "I saved you a spot!"
"Oh, come and meet my sister," said Ruby, grabbing my arm and dragging me over to where Yang was waiting.
"Hey Ruby, glad to see you're OK," said Yang, eyeing me cureously, "I see you made a new friend."
Ruby blinked and looked mildly surprised by that.
"Um, yeah, I guess I did," she said.
I raised an eyebrow.
"Is it really that surprising?" I asked.
"Don't mind here, shes not very good at making friends," said Yang, eyeing me up and down with a gleam of appreciation in her eye, "I'm Yang Xiao Long handsome."
I blinked. Well, that was a tad unexpected.
"Jaune Arc, nice to meet you," I said.
"You see Ruby, I told you you could make friends if you just put your mind to it," said Yang.
"Yeah, but only after you ditched me and I exploded!" snapped Ruby.
"Yeesh, meltdown already, huh?" asked Yang.
"No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school!" protested Ruby, "And there was some fire and I think some ice and…"
"Are you being sarcastic?" asked Yang, now looking totally confused as I stood back on my heels to watch the show.
It was even funnier in person.
"I wish! I tripped over some crabby girls luggage and she started yelling at me and then I sneezed and then I exploded and then she yelled at me again and I felt really bad and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!"
While this was going on, I was having real trouble keeping from laughing as I watched Weiss slowly approaching Ruby from behind. Apparently the white themed girl hadn't noticed her future leader yet, but that quickly changed as she noticed Ruby's red hood.
"YOU!" she shouted, making Ruby jump into Yangs arms.
"Oh no its happening again!" she howled.
"You were lucky we werent blown off the side of the cliff!" snapped Weiss.
"Oh my god, you really exploded," said Yang.
It was at that point that I lost all self control and burst out laughing, drawing the attention of the R,W and Y of RWBY. Yang looked like she was trying to keep from laughing as well, Ruby looked a little betrayed and Weiss...Weiss was trying to burn a hole in my skull.
"And just what is so funny?" she demanded.
"S-sorry, I just can't help it!" I said, "This argument sounds like something out of a cartoon!"
I burst out laughing again, this time with Yang joining me.
"Yang!" wined Ruby.
"S-sorry Rubes, but hes right," said Yang.
"D-don't mind us Ladies, you just keep on chatting," I said as I struggled to get my hysterics under control.
Fortunately, Ozpin chose that moment to step up on stage and give his speech, after which we were shepherded out to the Great Hall, after dropping off our gear in our lockers of course. I quickly changed into my sleepware in the gents, a pair of black pajama bottoms and a white vest, and headed back into the Hall where I headed over to where I'd claimed a spot in the corner and pulled out a book. I didn't start reading though, instead using it as a cover for watching my future classmates. I could already see several important people, such as Ren and Nora preparing for bed (Ren doing so calmly and quietly while Nora bobbled and bounced around with excess energy), Pyrrha sat quietly in another corner meditating and Cardin and his goons messing around and acting like pricks towards the Faunus in the room.
"Assholes," I muttered.
"I agree."
I nearly jumped a foot in the air at the unexpected voice. I had somehow missed the fact that Blake had sat down next to me at some point and was doing much the same as me, although her glare was fixed firmly on Cardin. She really was a Ninja!
"Hello Blake," I said, "Was it really necessary to scare the living daylights out of me?"
"Sorry."
She didn't sound it and I swear she had a slight quirk to her lips.
"So, other than the fact he's clearly a dick, any particular reason why you're trying to kill him with your eyes?" I asked, indicating to Cardin who was pulling on a Faunus tail.
Said Faunus chose that moment to slug the bully and stalk off, growling in a distinctly feline manner.
"I just don't like people who pick on others," said Blake, looking away.
"Hmm, I bet you don't," I said, "Well, I dare say we'll have our chance to take him down a peg or two."
I glanced up again and spotted Yang and Ruby approaching.
"HELLO!" said Yang as she dragged Ruby over, "I believe you two know each other?"
"Hey Yang, Ruby," I said as I shut my book.
"Oh, hey Jaune," said Yang, looking surprised, "Um, do you two know each other?"
Blake and I glanced at each other.
"Sort of," I said, "This is Blake Belladona, we fought in our entrance exam. Neither of us attended a Prep school, so we had to take an alternative test to get in. Part of it was a sparring match that allowed the faculty to get an idea of what we could do."
"So, how did you both get in?" asked Ruby after the sisters had introduced themselves.
"Simple, it wasn't about who won or lost," I said, "It was more to see if we had what it took in the first place. Its entirely possible for someone to lose their match and still get in while the winner does not."
"How would that work?" asked Yang.
I shrugged.
"Hell if I know, thats just what it said on the information package we got."
What followed was Yang and Ruby's attempts to befriend Blake which went about as well as you'd expect.
"What are you reading Jaune?" asked Ruby.
"Its a book of old legends," I said, "I've always loved this sort of thing and can't help but wonder whether some of them are true…"
I glanced down at the book which was open on an illustration of four women.
"At least one of them is," I thought grimly.
I tuned out the little 'life isn't a fairy story' speech, although I did note that Yang and Ruby somehow managed to make the cartoonish dust cloud and cat noises that they had made in the series, despite this being real life. I quickly decided against looking into that for fear of losing my mind. Not that I'd be able to as Blake had just blown out the candles. Now that it was pitch black, I carefully put my book down, wrapped myself in my sleeping bag and went to sleep. There was a lot to do tomorrow and I'd need all of my strength.
And there we go, thats the end. So, Jaune has met the entirety of Team RWBY, made friends with Ruby and thrown up on the ship. Nice.
Incidentally, I really do feel for Jaune. As someone who suffers from seasickness myself, I can safely say that it is the most horrible feeling one can have, even if I have only had it twice. As for why Jaune still has it, I know its meant to show he's not exactly the strongest, but its not like you can just train yourself out of travel sickness.
Joan is pretty famous. I just did that because, why the hell not?
I had just finished watching the Hobbit as I was writing this, which is why the smith who made Caliburn is called Thorin. He has no connection to Erebor, nor is he a dwarf.
And with that, I'm done. Next time, the Test in the Forest. Until then, please leave a review!