"Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

A wooden dummy was cracked and shattered into smithereens.

"WHY WON'T IT WORK!?"

The young fourteen year old boy was quite furious that he still could not activate his aura.

"Calm down, son." His father's voice was calm and demanding, but the teenage boy was still angry.

A particular glow of purple started to shine around Jared unknowingly as he stomped his foot on the ground. "But it's not fair! It's been four years! How come my Semblance isn't working!?"

"Son …" His father didn't yell, but his voice was stern enough to snap his son back down to control.

"… It's not fair…" The teenager whispered sadly as he titled his head down.

The dad felt a little bad it was easy to see Jared was just frustrated that he couldn't activate his semblance ever since it was opened. If it wasn't for all the other physical and mental training he did, he wouldn't have been able to even be considered by pre hunter schools such as Signal.

It was then the boy lifted his head in surprise as if he had just thought of something he never realized. "Wait! Of course! Why didn't I think of this before? Now I can finally activate my stupid semblance!"

His father had no idea what he was talking about until the boy took out his Armaments of Raijin, then the father's blue eyes widened in alarm.

Quickly, he placed the thunder Dust into the chamber, but he didn't seem to notice black electricity spark around the moment he placed it in before the light started shining.

His father tried to speak out. "Wait, Ja—!"

But his son couldn't hear what his father said before he blacked out.

[Several days earlier…]

Jaune gasped for breath as he ended today's morning 'jog' with the red eyed boy. However, today the two of them were standing at the edge of the emerald Forest again.

"So… what are we doing today?" Jaune asked as he stood back up.

Resh smiled as he saw his team leader finally get better at handling his stamina, he was picking up his pace quite nicely. He leaned on a tree and showed how his solidified aura around his palms was pressing into the tree. "Alright, since you're warmed up, I'm about to add an extra layer to how Aura Solidifying works and show what else you could do with it."

Resh motioned to his left hand on the tree, making the blonde boy wonder what he was going to do.

Suddenly, a piece of the tree on the opposite side of Resh's hand exploded.

It exploded outward and a moderately sized chunk of wood whacked into another tree behind it, now there was a huge gaping chunk left over in the tree Resh was touching and a cracked and smashed crater in the second tree.

Resh turned to Jaune after demonstrating the technique from the future. "Now what you just saw—" He stopped for a second and blinked. "Sir, close your mouth, you'll catch a fly."

Jaune realized that he jaw was dropped before shaking his head and pointing to the chunk then the tree. "What was that!?"

"A tree." Resh deadpanned.

"I meant what you did! Was that your semblance!?"

The black haired boy fought the urge to sigh and instead said, "Sir… I was about to explain it to you."

The Arc boy calmed down. "Uhh. Oops sorry."

"Now, as I was saying. This is the next step after Aura Solidifying, Aura Piercing. It is really tricky to pull off since it requires extensive control over one's aura pool. As the name implies it pierces things." Jared motioned to the piece of tree bark that was blasted into the other tree trunk.

"Wait, can this pierce through armor? Can you actually pierce through thick hides of Grimm with this!?" Jaune said as he dreamed of using abilities like this on those annoying Deathstalkers. The ability to bypass armor would be amazing!

"Well, technically it can. But in actuality it's very hard to pull off. Let me explain why: as I said it requires manipulating one's aura. The tricky part of this all is that your aura should not leave your body. If you remember the law of conservation energy—you bloody don't know that do you?" He asked as he noticed the sudden lost look on the blonde's face.

"Uh…"

"It's the same as law of conservation of matter!" Resh stared at Jaune with amazement with the fact that Jaune just looked even more lost. "At least tell me you know that law?!"

"S-Shut up!"

"…"

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Resh continued on with the topic. "… Like the Law of Conservation of both Matter and Energy, Aura cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be transformed. Most of the time Aura transforms into our semblances and we expend it the more we use it." Resh showed another example as he used Aura Solidifying on his fist. "For us who haven't quite got that yet, we have Aura Solidifying. But the thing about our Aura is that it all varies from person to person, like our DNA. With these in mind, I'm trying to tell you that Aura Piercing requires aura to leave your body—the place that houses your own unique aura—and move and control it through other objects."

Resh stopped for a second. "Basically you move aura through other objects and control it while it's out of your body from there. Semblances are easier since that's how Aura manifests physically outside our body. But this technique makes aura leave your body without really transforming into a power. And that's one of the tricky things about this. When Aura leaves your body it usually manifests via healing or semblance, but in order for Aura Piercing to work, you need to be on contact with another object and stay in contact until it ends."

"So… you mean that for it to work, I have to keep in contact with it throughout the process?" Jaune repeated unsurely.

Resh nodded simply, he was glad he was able to word that better. "From start to finish. And in a fight, it's near impossible. But I have been working on it since I freaking have trouble with my own semblance. There is a way to work around that so to speak."

Resh jumped back, turning hopping on one foot and twisting it to turn his entire body towards a much larger tree. He seemed to line himself a bit, trying to move in front of the tree so that there were several trees behind it. He readied himself for a second, breathing deeply before pulling his left fist back. Jaune saw a light purple outline around Resh's fist as it was pulled back before he punched it.

The moment the tree got hit, Resh's purple outline faded and a laser like light shot out from the other side of the tree and smashed into the one directly behind it. The second tree fell over with much force into another tree and another, starting a domino effect while the first tree looked relatively unscathed despite the fist sized crack coming off the back.

"OK, I probably placed that wrong, but just so you know, it's not always this effective." Resh stated plainly as he and Jaune watched all the trees finally stop falling into one another.

"Did you fire a laser!?" Jaune pointed at Resh amazingly.

"No that was Aura, and unless your semblance is the ability to shoot lasers, it will always be condensed aura… you know what? I take that back. Yeah it can be called a laser, but to a very lesser extent." Resh explained before stopping a second and reconsidering it then continued on.

Jaune actually looked pretty pumped up. "Oh you gotta teach me how to do that! I can't wait to be shooting lasers out of my fist! Why did no one ever tell me about this!?"

"Well maybe because if done wrong, it will cause your arm to explode." Resh added in simply.

"… Say what?" Jaune managed to spit out.

"Yeah that's kind of the thing. The science behind Aura is not fully understood, but as I keep highlighting: aura turns into semblance when it leaves the body or is expended. It's automatic like how scientists say our blood only turns red when it leaves out body. Since aura is very vague and hard to study, by forcing your aura raw out your body, you're essentially breaking whatever rules that allow you to safely use Aura. One time, I tried it without proper channeling, and I ended up having my all my muscles in my right arm exploded on the inside!" Resh laughed heartily, causing Jaune to drop his mouth again in shock. "Oh Monty it hurt a lot and I mean I was writing in pain for weeks without sleep…" He sighed and smiled as he remembered the unbearable pain. "Took me two months for my aura to piece itself back together and heal my arm. But the plus side was I got to see the insides of my own arm! It hurt to poke it every now and then but I was just curious. Ah, good times… good times…."

Still, he was glad to be out of school for those two months. One thought something like that would traumatize a young child, but Resh had always been strange to begin with. His parents were slightly worried about his mental state and did have him see a psychologist soon after… but that's a story for another day.

The sheer fact that Resh just said that with a completely straight face, froze Jaune in his place. He was starting to see why Aura almost always manifested as Semblances now. And the idea of him doing this wrong just once will end him up with one less limb… didn't make him feel better. He needed his arm for arm things!

Resh just blinked as he saw his dad frozen in horror and just clapped his hands together.

"Welp," He started, catching his father's attention. "Let's get you started shall we?"

[Present Time.]

Ozpin looked contemplative after hearing the story of Team JNPR. He looked deep in thought at what to say next.

Glynda did not have that problem. "How careless could you have been?! You should have reported this to the authorities not follow some strange assailant all by yourself! You Mr. Arc! What compelled you to tell your team to split up and leave your teammate in danger!?"

"Wait, Ms. Goodwitch, that was my fault. I suggested that we'd split up in the first place." Resh stepped forward, trying to take the heat away from his dad.

"And you are sure of this?" He asked Team JNPR in front of him.

Jaune nodded. "Uhh, Yes sir. Ren was attacked by an assassin but was able to fight him off."

"Then we will report this matter to the Police about this," Ozpin stated. "You are to remain within the school grounds until this matter is solved by the professionals."

The five teenagers all looked at each other and shared different glances between them.

Ozpin drank from his coffee. "You are dismissed."

As Team JNPR left, Ozpin chuckled but it was only for the amusement of the situation rather than the actual situation he was currently in.

"Sir?" Glynda started. "Is something wrong?"

Ozpin stared contemplatively at the door the team of teenagers currently left. "First Qrow says that the Queen is on the move. Next, I am informed of an enigmatic warning by a just as enigmatic fellow that claims to be my ally, following that, Ironwood called me recently to inform me that an old abandoned project had been somehow stolen when it was supposed to be quietly dispatched in Schnee Robotics, and now, some of my students may have stumbled on to some kind of deeper political plot." A fake smile crossed his features as he looked to his friend. "Oh dear, quite the pot luck we have on our hands…"

"Do you think they are all connected?" Glynda asked.

"Maybe, but I don't think it's the way we think it is. Perhaps now is the time for more than one force to be on the move… but how their plans will affect each other's…"

"Speaking off, what will we do about the upcoming class trip?" Glynda opened up the conversation.

Ozpin opened up a large digital screen in front of them. "First off, we will be splitting up the first years into smaller groups, say three teams were two teachers will be watching over them around the western edges of the Forever Falls. If the information is still correct, the A-Class Grimm will pass by quickly on the opposite side of the forest."

"Are you sure about sending the children at all? What exactly does collecting sap from a forest have to do with teach them how to be hunters?" Ms. Goodwitch asked adamantly.

"I never understood that tradition either Glynda. But still, rescheduling or cancelling this fieldtrip will cut some of our expenses down dramatically. There is also the possibility that maybe there maybe something our students may happen upon that Hunters might not detect…"

"What makes you say that?"

Ozpin looked at her with the same tone and look he had for almost everything. "Glynda, have you ever heard of a century year old government experiment known as Project Pantheon?"

[Several days later…]

'Red. Sooo much Red. And here I thought Ruby wore too much red...' Jaune thought to himself as he walked down the rather peaceful and beautiful looking Forever Fall. He looked over his shoulder and mentally panicked as he saw how off Resh looked as he slowed his pace from everyone else.

Or he would have panicked, if he wasn't so busy carrying a container full of empty glass jars for some reason that Professor Oobleck (Doctor) wouldn't explain.

'Should I really have told him that? It's really bothering him, right? Man I think I should have kept that to myself, what if he exposes me!? Wait, Resh would never do that… would he—Wait! Don't trip don't trip!' He struggled as he made a misstep.

"So Professor, why is this place called Forever Fall in the first place?"

Glynda looked over her shoulder to see if the voice truly matched the person asking the honest question.

Mostly because she was surprised to hear such a question from Nora Valkyrie of all people.

Dr. Oobleck didn't seem to mind the question, actually he was the only one who didn't mind in the group of three teams and two professors.

"Aah yes, Ms. Valkyrie, a fascinating story that is. You see, the forest has been named as such due to the simple fact that these forests are in a perpetual state of Autumn which explains why the tree leaves surrounding us are all red."

"But then what about the grass? Why is that red? And why is the forest in a state of perpetual Autumn?" Ruby pointed out as every student looked to the ground beneath them.

Curious, Resh touched a tree he was passing nearby. The moment he made contact with it, his mind flashed black and he saw what looked to be a vague image of a giant owl.

The thought came in fast as if it was some kind of vision from somewhere, foreign but at the same time familiar. He thought about it a bit and wondered if it was his semblance that did that kind of thing to him. It had to be somehow related to all the time related problems he had, especially coming into the past and that small jump during the exam. Yet there were things like his memories being divided into six separate lifetimes and this vision right here that made him question as if there was something more to his Semblance than just time travel. Hemera did briefly mention that semblances evolve over time, but in Resh's case his semblance is related to some kind of temporal manipulation. If he was already re living and interacting with events from the past, so how exactly would that affect his semblance?

Resh shook his head quickly as his fast thoughts went on and tried to listen on as Professor Oobleck continued answered.

"Many have speculations as to why it is so. Amazingly, one must note a rather peculiar science fact that a Botanist noted. Despite the fact the Forever Falls has lived over a few centuries, he has found out that the trees are found in a state of suspended animation."

"Suspended Animation? You mean like these trees are all frozen?" Sky asked.

"Not exactly, strangely…" Oobleck turned ahead to Glynda. "Actually, it may be better to show you something of interest. Ms. Goodwitch, would you do me a small favor and cut of one of the branches from the trees?"

His coworker nodded and pointed towards a small, thin branch protruding out of a tree nearby with her corp. The small branch stopped, but something surprising happened next. When the tree branch fell, it instantly disappeared and was seen back on top of the tree as if it was never taken out.

"What was that?" Yang asked as she pointed to the odd event.

"The forest corrected itself. The trees here are preserved in the sense that they always seem to be here no matter what, you can break them down or take them away, but it will always return to the state it was before another event. Some scientists believe someone with a very powerful and unknown semblance long ago casted the power on this forest to preserve the state it was in. Yet as you can see the forest itself almost has a different time than the rest of the world. Always the same falling red leaves no matter what happens elsewhere in the world. An eternal state of preservation. Imagine all of the stories one tree could tell us if it could…"

The word time echoed a bit in Resh's mind...

"Wow! You mean to tell me that this entire forest was done by one hunter?!" Ruby cooed at the image of an all powerful and cool hunter in her mind doing something like this.

"But why would someone do that to the forest? And what exactly was the semblance to do this?" Jaune asked as he moved his head to the side of the container since the box itself was originally covering his face.

"And what makes you so sure it was a hunter?" Sky asked out, making everyone look at him. "What? I've heard of powerful semblances before, but something like this seems a little weird."

"This coming from the guy that believes there are mutated Man-lizards who live beneath us." Cardin noted dully.

"Lizard-Men! Lizard-Men!" Sky emphasized greatly. "Man lizards are humans or technically faunus with more Lizard Biology than normal Faunus. Lizard Men are sentient Humanoid Lizards that are preparing to abuse the Faunus V.S. Human stigma in order to usurp us the second most prevalent species on Remnant!"

Cardin did not continue that conversation.

"… Sounds Legit." Resh said out loud after a few seconds of awkward silence making Sky give a glare at him. "But you do have a point. Who knows what happened but the trees and the people in the past?"

"Ooooh!" Jaune said as he had a certain energetic feel and pumped up attitude. "This is making me excited! So what are we here for Professor? Uncovering ancient ruins? Finding preserved and hidden artifacts?!"

Ms. Goodwitch just gave Jaune a deadpan look. "You will be collecting tree sap."

"Say wha?" Jaune, and understandably everyone else, looked underwhelmed.

Glynda looked to Oobleck before glancing back at the students and taking out an empty Jar. "Your assignment for this field trip is to fill up one of these jars from the sap of these tries." Then she pointed to the container that Jaune was continently carrying.

"Wait, wait. What does collecting sap have to do with being a hunter?" Jaune asked.

"Well for one it helps one practicing foraging and resource managing in long term missions without or limited resources." Resh answered automatically as he looked to his hand and put up one finger.

"Then there's also the practice of or intro into taking account how you can turn your environment to your advantage, so this could also evolve from getting sap to learning how to make makeshift traps for Grimm or rudimentary gear if you ever find yourself needing." Ren added in as he thought about it.

Pyrrha then spoke out. "There's also the experience in actually doing the practice in that will allow you not to make potential mistakes and more beneficial experiments later on if needed."

"And tree sap's delicious!"

No one else in Team JNPR was surprised that Nora said that.

"OK, OK, I get it." Jaune leered at Resh who only shrugged in response.

"With that in mind," Ms Goodwitch fixed her glasses. "You are all to fill a jar for each member of your individual teams for your assignment. Do not stray too far and keep in contact with your team. You are dismissed."

As the three teams went off, Resh had another brief vision but this time of some figure screaming. He shook his head and looked to Jaune who seemed nervous when their sights locked and walked behind Pyrrha.

Resh sighed and thought back to that night that just so recently passed.

[The night before…]

"Y-Your sister?" Resh repeated in shock after hearing the words almost a full minute ago. His mind processing so many ideas but none organized enough to come out of his mouth.

"Y-yeah. She's been missing for ten years. We pretty much thought she was dead, but Jamie, the second oldest—and yes, I've been told that all our names start with J, our mom thought it would be cute," He said as he saw the curious look on Resh's face before continuing. "Anyway, Jamie said she might have received a clue that maybe our sister was still alive. But… let's just say our dad has been pretty broken ever since Jill disappeared…."

Resh didn't recall any of this back in the future or in any of his futures, but he recognized that his father didn't want to talk more about the topic. "It's fine, you don't need to tell me everything. … Is this related to that argument you told me that you had with your father back at Father's Day?"

"You actually remember that?" Resh simply returned a look at him, prodding him to get back on topic. "Well yeah…"

"Wait a second. If Aun—your sister, Jamie, found a clue why isn't she pursuing it? Why are you in Beacon? "

"… It's a long story."

Resh inhaled. "OK, OK, I get it. Enough life changing secrets for now. We still have tomorrow morning to train after all." "

"… Thanks."

"No problem sir. Let's go back, we still have one problem surrounding Rook Winchester…"

[Present time…]

After recalling those events, Resh felt a strong, muscular arm sling around him and grab him by the neck before pulling him towards something hot and warm.

"Hey Skater, what's up?"

"The Sky, Yang." Resh thought the fact his Ma was hot was really scaring him. Thankfully, looking up at said blue object among the countless red was helping his eyes not stray from where they would usually gravitate from being this close proximity to the Team RWBY brawler. "Is there a particular reason why you're putting me in a choke hold?"

"Just wondering something. What's with you and Jaune? He's been kind of avoiding you since this morning."

"… We had a heart to heart." Resh said simply, but the way he said it made it sound like he didn't want to say more.

"Ooh! Spill the beans! I thought you two were already close."

"There are no beans to spill. Do you honestly think a guy like Jaune has an interesting life?" Resh managed to lie while keeping in mind everything else going on in the background surrounding his father.

"And what about you huh?" Yang grinned before letting him go, slightly feeling down he didn't show any reaction to being so close to her. "What dark mysteries surround the sarcastic mouth of Team JNPRR?"

"JNPRR?"

"Oh you know why there's an awkwardly leftover R there. Come on, I heard from Rubes you got an older brother. Is he hot?"

A smirk curled up Resh's lips now. "A better question is what is he not?"

"What is he not?" Yang repeated.

"I'll leave it to your imagination." Resh swiftly answered as he placed his hands in his pockets.

"Hey! Why don't you ever give me a straight answer?!"

Resh thought about that for a second. "Oh that's because in reality, if you knew everything about me, you would be sorely disappointed in me on how lame everything really is. So I make myself seem interesting by refusing to tell you anything about myself and answer choice questions vaguely, so that I would seem mysterious and thus make my character seem elaborate and deep when in reality I'm not."

To Yang's credit, she didn't know how to react to an answer like that. It sounded really, really weird but it also sounded surprisingly honest, yet the way he said it made it sound like he was lying.

"What?"

"Oh hey, look it's Team CRDL. Catch ya on the flipside Other Blonde Friend." Tehn the boy made his way, leaving a very confused Yang in place.

Blake walked up carrying two jars towards Yang as Resh left.

"I do not get that guy." Yang voiced out loud as she still looked confusingly at Resh's back.

"Maybe he hides his secrets amongst the guise of confusion …" Blake worded out enigmatically.

Yang looked to Blake with a brow raised. "Is that a quote from one of your Porn books?"

Yang grunted when the empty jar was shoved into her stomach with more force than necessary.

Resh waved hello to Team CRDL then walked up to Cardin.

"Hey guys."

"Oh hey, Kolc, you feeling any better?" Dove asked.

"Yeah, I'm better thanks."

Dove shiftily looked around the area, as if something interesting was going to happen soon in this perpetual forest before turning his gaze awkwardly back at Resh's direction. "So… did you actually bring your weapon this time?"

"Very subtle Dove." Russel rolled his eyes.

Cardin walked casually closer up to them with a jar of half filled sap in his hands. "In his defense, I kind of want to see it too. There are a lot of rumors about it."

Resh shrugged his shoulders. "I guess there's no harm," He reached for his inside coat pockets. "Here. This is the buckle and that's the Dust I use to activate it."

"Wow… I thought it would be cooler…" Dove looked a little despondent looking at the two simple looking items.

Resh looked at the objects. "Really?" he glanced over to the objects in his hand. "Huh, now that you mention it, they do look simple. But the weapon activate when you place them together, you can try it if you want."

"Dibs on first try!" Cardin called out quickly.

"W-What?!" Dove repeated in shock.

"Sorry dude, I can't argue with the rule of dibs." The purple clad boy said as he walked up to Cardin and gave him the two.

A smirk appeared on Cardin's features as he was handed the two items. "So I just put these on and I'll have an insane boost to my aura?"

Resh raised his hand again to list out some small tips about the weapon. "Well it does more than that. It can raise your physical strength, endurance, speed, your mental comprehension abilities, potentially one's semblance…" Resh paused for a second from telling all the increased benefits.

He recalled something to when he first started talking to the other about his weapon.

He felt as if he was forgetting an important fact, but he figured he would remember the more he explained his weapon.

The red eyed boy wondered why he just didn't seem to recall what he had forgotten. It was fairly important, he was sure.

What Resh didn't know was that while he was talking, RDL was having a rather uneasy look as they saw Cardin with the weapon. Cardin still wanted to get back at Resh for the humiliation he received from the first day, even though by now, after bonding more with teams RWBY and JNPR, they were really cool people. But Cardin… he had some family issues on pride, they knew that. But they could only feel anxious as Cardin got ready to place the orb into the socket.

Cardin finally assumed he was finished and placed the orb into the buckle. For one second, he wondered why small sparks of black electricity cackled around the orb.

It was then the boy from the future remembered what exactly was he had forgotten.

[Within the history of the Future…]

He opened his eyes slowly, feeling his brain sending him messages of how his entire body was aching all over and how his aura reserves were almost all depleted. As more of his senses came back, he found himself on the ground.

His eyes finally focused on what looked to be a broken and devastated room, broken equipment, broken pillars, hole, etc., some debris were on his face that he weakly brushed aside.

He heard a panting voice nearby and the young boy noticed his father, looking disheveled and sweating hard. His sword and shield were drawn as if he was fighting something, the marks all over his shield looked as if something was wailing hard on it.

"Sir?" The young boy asked hesitantly then he saw something on the ground that his dad was looking down on, his buckle and Crystal Dust.

"OK, next time son…" The father gasped. "We'll try to work on controlling your teenage emotions—oh joy. Because when this thing amplifies everything, it amplifies everything."

[Current Time]

How could he forget that!? Was it from the temporal jump or something!?

How could he forget that it also amplifies emotions!?

But a better question was why was Cardin so angry in the first place!?

"Kolc! I will grind your skull into dust and stuff young tongue with maggots!"Cardin wailed with angered hysteria before ramming the boy into a tree.

{Author Notes}

Hey guys.

So another chapter has been posted. Soon this arc will end, and then a new arc might come right after it. I've been tinkering around it, and I am looking forward to it.

Now something about the emotional state thing. Now it has come to my attention that if the armor does amplify the emotional state, some people may ask why it didn't truly seem to activate during the times Ruby and Ren used it.

Ren... well he's very... restrained.

As for Ruby, I don't see her as a person to feel fear even in the face of death. If anything maybe her sense of pride, heroic-ness, or courage would get amplified.

Now Jared/Resh is a little interesting. Yes he is more in control of his emotions due to the fact he has the most experience and aura management besides maybe Ren. But I'd like to think that the emotional state somehow still applies to him. For example, when he first uses the armor he's more annoyed and probably feeling cocky which translated to his first time in the story.

...

This was totally all part of the master-wait for it-plan. Your probable and flaw pointing logic will be duly noted and will make me want to huddle into a dark corner and listen to Blink 182.

Meh, anywho, schools back! Whooo. *Waves tiny flag.*

So maybe there might actually be more updates since I found out that I write more when I'm stressed. The heck...

Anywho thanks for taking your time to read this story, have a nice day.