Jaune felt trickles of water down his forehead, a sure sign of relief. Thank Monty it was just a dream.
"Bad dream?"
Jaune looked up to see Ren, loading his gunblades, with a worried look on his face.
"I understand that you're still stressed from earlier. If it helps, I recommend that you sleep for a little longer."
"No, I won't have the others waiting. Speaking of which…" said Jaune, surveying the room
"Oh, the others?"says Ren, immediately noticing. "They should be on their way towards the ship."
"When did they leave?"Jaune asked.
"Just a few minutes ago"Ren said, getting up from his bed. "We should hurry there.
Jaune hesitantly drifted from the warm sheets of his bed and followed Ren out.
"Oh, Jaune!" waved Pyrrha. "Glad to see that you're okay."
Glad to see that you are too.
"You've been having these fits, namely about me." Pyrrha recalled. "I was getting worried, even more so than yesterday."
So Ren isn't the only one who noticed. I wonder if Nora-
"You were saying things like 'Pyrrha! No! Don't leave me!' It was adorable! Nora giggled.
Guess that answers my question.
"Although that was a bit exaggerated on Nora's part," Pyrrha said, "You were muttering something of that sort."
"Hey, where are the others?" Jaune inquired, changing the subject.
"Huh? Oh, team RWBY?" responded Nora. "They went on ahead of us. Said that they'll meet us by the airships."
"Well, that's where we'll be going." insisted Jaune.
"Right on it." said members NPR, almost in unison as they paced ahead.
"Hey, Jaune!" called Ruby, waving.
"Hey," said Jaune, high fiving Ruby. "Sorry to keep you waiting."
"We weren't waiting for long," assured Ruby. "We only got here like, 10 minutes ago."
"Good afternoon, courageous hunters of Beacon." came a familiar voice.
"Ah, professor Ozpin!" said Ruby. "What brings you here?"
"No need for the formalities, young Ruby. I came only to pay my word of caution." Explained Ozpin. "Although it is important to accomplish the mission, I can never reiterate enough how much more important that your safety is. As brave hunters and huntresses of beacon, it is your duty to not only come back successful but to come back with no single casualty.
"Above all else," Ozpin hesitated. "Be safe. It won't do losing our finest hunters, now would it?
Seconds after Ozpin said this, an airship drove by stopping at the docks.
"The airship here is at your departure. I shall await your hopefully triumphant return."
Jaune was starting to get uneasy. It was apparent to his red-headed partner, who was right next to him as he sighed.
"I know you're still nervous about this, Jaune." said Pyrrha, placing her hand on Jaune's shoulder, rubbing it gently. "But you won't have anything to worry about. As long as you're with me, you'll be alright."
"Am I just that to you?" muttered Jaune under his breath.
"Huh?" said a confused Pyrrha, momentarily taking her hand off.
"Just a damsel in distress? Waiting to be rescued?"
"No, I don't-
"I know that naturally, you are superior to me but can't you understand that I'm capable of doing this on my own?"Jaune's voice was slowly settling down.
"No."
"What?" jumped Jaune, looking up to see Weiss giving him a familiar icy glare.
"No, you can't do this by yourself. None of us can, which is why we're teams."
"You know that I didn't mean-
"Of course, Jaune." Came Pyrrha. "But in some cases Weiss is right. You are very strong as you are now, and you have more potential than most of the hunters at Beacon, but the only way we can succeed is if we work as a team."
"No one here's against you, Jaune." Ruby added. "We all want you to succeed. It all comes down to how we are going to do it."
"Jaune, you have the potential to become one of the most strong-willed leaders in this academy." said Pyrrha, returning to rubbing her leader's shoulder. "Your only downfall is that you are too sensitive. We are only trying to help and you take it as us insulting you. That you are much less than what you really are. And when I said that I'll protect you, it has nothing to do with skill level. I just want to make sure you are safe. I'll be there getting your back, and you'll get mine."
"You're right, I'm sorry." apologized Jaune. "You're all great friends, guys. Especially you two, Ruby and Pyrrha. I couldn't ask for better friends."
And Pyrrha, I couldn't ask for a better partner.
The airship finally came to a stop, over some sort of woods.
Oh no, this seems too familiar. Jaune recalled the events of the dream. Ok, just be fine, be calm, no one's going to-
"Jaune."
"Gaaah! What's wrong?"
"We're here."
"So apparently we're supposed to find Grimm just loitering around here?" asked Jaune, walking by Pyrrha's side.
"Yes and no. Ozpin has confirmed that this is their location, but he also told us that they would be advancing towards the academy. They should be far ahead of us now." Answered Pyrrha.
"Wait. How are we supposed to find them? Like, how do we know it isn't some other grimm?"Jaune inquired further.
"Ozpin did specify their type." Weiss replied. "We would know when we find them. These particular types usually attack in packs so it is unusual to be in a formation of such different species."
"Yeah, it's almost like this was meticulously planned by a certain someone." Added Yang.
"Well, whatever the case, our objective is clear. Find the grimm, destroy them and come back safely." Concluded Ruby.
*BOOOM
Hey guys. Sorry it has been, like, a YEAR since the last entry. I promise to make it up to you, so Chapter 4 will be next week! At least that's what I'm hoping for. If you're a newcomer, (which is unlikely, because this is chapter 3 of a series,) I hope that you're enjoying the series so far and it's only going to get better from here.