Disclaimer: I own nothing of RWBY which belongs to Rooster Teeth and the late Monty Owm.
Chapter 4: Where Jaune fails at Walking
"So Mr Arc and Miss Fall partnered up and Miss Nikos ended up partnering with Miss Rose" Ozpin looked at the group curiously.
If anything, he had suspected it would be Miss Nikos that would end up with Mr Arc. Well, these things happen and it may be for the better in the end. Miss Rose needed someone to support her and Miss Nikos filled that role quite well. And Miss Fall can easily help raise Mr Arc seeing her temperament.
"I suppose you don't have any problems with the latter partnership? The rules did state that the first person you make eye-contact with would be partners" he inquired.
Glynda glanced at the Headmaster before shaking her head, "Miss Schnee left Miss Rose behind. Even if she remained to be partnerless in the end, it can be only her fault for leaving behind a possible partner. I'm more worried about how those children will interact considering their motives."
"Yes" he took a sip, "Both Miss Fall and Miss Nikos wished for Mr Arc to be their partner with the former narrowly gaining him as one. Miss Rose was abandoned by her initial partner only to end up with Miss Nikos who seemed to have other priorities for now."
"And Mr Arc is stuck in all that. He is clearly not skilled enough for this level of training but perhaps being paired up with three much more component people will allow him motive to push ahead in his studies" she said.
Ozpin had an amused look on his face, "It's almost as if you were approving of allowing such people in Beacon."
She shot a glare at him but didn't say anything else. So far, most of the students that managed to stay alive partnered up with only a few left unpaired. He doubted that any of those who were alone would end up succeeding in the initiation in the end. In fact, you only needed to do three things to pass initiation and get into Beacon.
Get a partner, get a relic and return with said relic to the cliffs.
Any that lack a partner would fail no matter skilled and even if they carried a relic with them. Beacon was not for those who fought alone and he feared that Miss Schnee failed based on believing there were better partners than Miss Rose.
"A shame really. She could've had Miss Nikos as a partner if fate and luck was on her side" he took another sip from his coffee.
"Oh my. Miss Schnee was caught up by a Giant Nevermore."
Looking at the screen on replay, Miss Schnee was indeed caught up by a Giant Nevermore.
"I'll make a note to tell Peter that his theory that Nevermores are attracted to shiner people might have some ground."
Glynda could only sigh to that.
-o-
It took a good minute for everyone to agree to which directly they should head to collect the relics they needed, namely north. As much as Cinder was amused of how the Minstrel's Champion seemed to dislike her, it was just idiotic if they managed to fail initiation because they were too occupied taunting each other.
Not that the red-head managed to get a proper reaction out of her of course. She was too good for that.
"Is that a cave?" asked Jaune while approaching the dark tunnel that went deep into the wall and possibly underground.
"Yes, it is" she agreed.
That or it was a very deep tunnel someone decided to dig out for some reason. Knowing Remnant, it might just be both to screw with your mind. Kingdoms had risen and fallen so many times that there could be dozens of ruins lapped over each other in a single location. Often such places had multiple uses which only made it harder to categorise them.
While the entrance wasn't that large it was quite apparent that it existed considering the ancient cave writings off on the side. She doubted there was anything that may even harm her in this forest but from the looks of things, there was a Death Stalker in there…or it was shelter from one.
"Do you think that the relic might be in there?" asked Ruby.
"It has been quite a distance north. It might be the entrance to the ruins that the Headmaster talked about" said Pyrrha.
Cinder doubted that but she decided not to express her opinion on that. It was much more amusing for her to watch the children fondle around without a clue. After that, she could sweep in and clear the problem, gaining more of their trust.
Jaune took a branch off the ground before pulling out a cloth and was that oil?
"I'm going to make a torch" he said before tying the cloth and dipping it slightly into the oil. A moment later, there was a spark and a flame appeared on the branch he was holding. Waving it slightly, her partner peered into the cave but it was deep enough that darkness ran through it completely.
All of then took a minute when she decided to speak up.
"I was going to say we should vote on where to go in or not but it seems like a waste of resources if we don't at this point" she said making eyes at Jaune. He blushed and muttered something under his breath.
"I vote we go in the cave!" Ruby expressed her support of Jaune's idea while Pyrrha seemed prone to be lead around by her partner well enough.
"I agree. We should still search just in case the relic is in there" Pyrrha added her opinion.
For someone who incompetent, the blonde was surprisingly good at gathering more competent people around him that is in fact useful for her cause. A famed champion and a young prodigy, such people would be immensely important if she could recruit them…though she doubted she could be able to judging by their character.
But they would follow Jaune it seemed.
This was good. Jaune was going to be pudding in her hands sooner or later and with him in her hands, she would at some small level also have control over the other two girls that trusts him. And with the team under her control, even if they didn't know it, her plans would go through much more smoothly.
Looking at the three people, people she could make into a full team, Cinder faked a sigh and said, "I suppose I have no choice."
She looked at the torch burning in her partner's hand before pulling out a bit of red dust, "But I would insist that we have more than one light source. Flames are quite easily put out and I don't believe our chances to survive against Grimm in complete darkness."
The dust sparked and a flame that she knew would sustain itself for a few minutes or even an hour if she extended it enough with the amount of dust she used.
"Do you two have any tools that would serve as light sources?" she turned to the two partners who shook their heads.
"In that case, Jaune can lead while I'll bring up the back. I'm not exactly a close-range fighter" she lied.
"I can go in front of you and Pyrrha can go next to Jaune then" said Ruby. "Crescent Rose can serve as a good sniping tool but in that cave…not exactly good as a melee weapon."
Turning to Pyrrha, she supplied her own words, "I can really be at any placement. With a shield I can lead and my weapon can alternatively turn into a rifle form for support."
She smiled looking at Ruby's weapon, "But I have a feeling that my weapon doesn't have the highest fire-power out of everyone here."
The shortest Huntress giggle before an annoyed Jaune said, "Are we going in or what?"
"Of course" she made sure to brush Jaune's shoulder before moving in formation being the furthest away from her partner. Still, in her position and how she knew Ozpin set up his surveillance, she had a prime chance to eliminate anyone with her as she pleased.
And that satisfied her even if she wasn't going to kill any of them. Even the Headmaster wasn't that stupid to not notice if one person came out when four went in and who to suspect for that.
However, she was going to enjoy gauging their reaction to a possible Death Stalker attack. It appeared that none of them took notice to the ancient draws and what that could mean to the cave.
A few minutes on…
"I'm not sure this is it" said Pyrrha eventually. Cinder certainly agreed but she wanted to see the extent of her partner's stubbornness. Not to mention this was a good chance to measure how much she needed to push to get him to do something.
And because she was certain that she was going to clear initiation either way.
Jaune sighed and stopped, "Pyrrha. I made the torch. Can you at least humour me for at least five more feet?"
"Well five more feet and you would be tripping into a puddle" Ruby pointed out.
The only male let out a shriek before jumping back. Oddly enough, his scream had the highest pitch among all of them. She guessed the irony that some stories she had read in the pass had some basis in reality after all.
"Oh wow. I would've tripped in a puddle…Ruby I wouldn't have tripped into a puddle right?" he turned to her.
Nervously gripping her skirt, Cinder could tell that Ruby was going to tell a lie, "Of course not! The puddle isn't that deep and pretty apparent if you're looking closely enough to the ground."
Seemingly fine with that answer, Jaune took a step around the puddle in the cave-
"AH!"
-And immediately tripped into a second puddle with the torch cleanly falling into water.
"Lights out" she whispered amused. For dramatic effect, she turned off her dust powered flame. While she had abundant amount of dust thanks to her plans, wasting some now felt like a waste even when it wasn't.
That or she wanted to know how they would react. She was a bitch. Yes, she was.
"Cinder?!" Pyrrha's panicked voice rang out.
"What happened to the light?" asked Jaune, confusion in his tone.
Taking out another piece of red dust, she lit it up showing the dim bodies of everyone else while alighting her the most, "The dust ran out and I needed to take another one out" she explained.
"Oh" Jaune got up but slipped and tripped over again. "Ow."
"Jaune…can you not go tripping over and into puddles? I was scared when all the lights went out" Ruby shot Cinder a dirty look. Reading into it, it was more of mock glare than anything else.
"Sorry, sorry. Didn't expect there to be a second puddle right after the first" he replied.
The girl in the cloak shouted back, "But you were the one with the torch! The now very wet torch…"
Cinder looked at the pair with interest. It seemed that those two were surprisingly close despite how little time they had to familiarise with each other. However, one certain champion was strangely enough excluded from the conversation.
"Pyrrha?" she turned over to see the red-head frowning looking to the side of the wall.
"Do you feel that?" she asked rubbing the wall with her fingers.
Jaune decided to answer with, "Soul-crushing regret?"
She had a feeling that he wasn't exactly thinking when he answered that. Although it seemed that Pyrrha wasn't paying that much attention to Jaune at the moment. Good. The girl at least knew when to reign in any possessiveness she started developing.
"No…it's warm."
Activating her ability to sense heat in more detail, Cinder did feel that a certain part of the cave was warmer than normal. There were a number of things that could cause that but the number one on her list considering the cave was the Death Stalker stringer.
She still didn't tell them.
But she couldn't have anyway as Jaune moved forward without giving her a chance to explain and found…a glowing stringer and connected to it…a rather ancient Death Stalker.
Moving before she could think, Cinder pulled out several more pieces of fire dust and lit them up, shaping them into fire lances before firing half a dozen off at the Grimm that was just reacting to her partner.
However her attack, low-powered it was compared to her usual attack, bounced off the shell of the Death Stalker.
"An ancient grimm indeed" she muttered, slightly impressed.
It was then that the Grimm moved to attack its first target…being Jaune who was the closest to it.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
Pyrrha pulled Jaune's back narrowly allow her rather useless partner to survive while Ruby opened fire using her weapon which was also ineffective against it. After a few shots, she seemed to realise this as well before calling out, "We have to run!"
"Pyrrha! Grab Jaune and get out of here" she commanded, "I'll try to stall it until we're in the clear."
Several more fire lances appeared as she waved her hand and the two Hunters ran pass her just in time for her to launch them all not at the Grimm but rather the wall and ceiling around it. If she couldn't kill it, else risk a total cave-in then she could cause a minor one centralised on the enemy.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Let us get out of here" Cinder grabbed onto the hood of Ruby and started pulling her along with haste.
Not a second after, several rocks separated from the ceiling and fell where they were just at. Clicking her tongue on how close she was on being too overconfident in her abilities to get through this easily, she ran with Ruby while watching ahead as Pyrrha carried Jaune on her shoulder into the light.
They made it out of the cave.
"What…was that?" Jaune all but shouted as he was let down by the red-head.
"A Death Stalker" she simply answered.
Ruby decided to describe it better for his sake. Gestures were included. "You know. Giant scorpion-thing that you just saw. Giant pincher and the glowing stringer that you almost reached for-"
"Yes" he stressed that word, "I noticed. I mean what the hell is a Grimm like that doing in that cave?! Those flame things and even your bullets bounced off its shell!"
"Well-" Ruby looked uncomfortable. She was rubbing her weapon as if to encourage it for its recent failure to slay an enemy.
Cinder took over the explanation at that moment, "Grimm often gets stronger the older they get. They start growing more armour and are generally get larger as well. The armour the Death Stalker had was quite dull and easily deflected our attacks meaning it is quite old."
Thinking it over she added with a head nudge, "It might have been in there for centuries if the wall paintings are correct. I believe the paintings were a warning to keep out rather than a place for safety. A mistake we made I believe."
"And why didn't you tell us this?" Pyrrha turned on her.
Cinder backed off with hand raised looking innocent, "Like I said, it might have been a place of safety. That and Jaune had already made a torch and you along with Ruby voted to go in. I was under the impression you all wanted to go in to seek the Death Stalker."
"Ah."
"Whoops."
"…Sorry for ignoring your opinion" Jaune bowed his head.
"Don't worry about it" she smiled. "We're all fine-"
The entrance and wall surrounding the cave exploded. The Death Stalker roared out in anger before snipping its pinchers out threateningly.
Jaune managed to draw out his shield this time as she drew out some dust to project into a bow and some arrows at hand. It was a very useful skill to have, to use her semblance to turn common dust into something more than even some of the most skilled dust specialists.
"Should we fight or run?" she asked Jaune.
Surprisingly and impressively enough he answered her clearly, "We fight. We can use the trees for cover."
Ruby started firing while Pyrrha changed her weapon into what seemed like a rifle form before doing the same. She nor Jaune started to act yet. She wanted to see what he would do.
…And it was better for her cover if the achievements of the team can be accounted for by someone else. The less limelight she got, the better in this case.
"Your orders?"
"Pyrrha and I will take the vanguard. You and Ruby will cover us and try to get a finish blow. Dust is really powerful right?" he ran forward without letting her answer. A chuckle slipped through her lips.
He was a really amusing person.
The red-head switched her weapon's form again and started to support her partner. Despite his bravo, it was clear that he was not the most skilled person and there were mistakes everywhere in his stance, how he moved and even how he attacked and defended. If not for Ruby distracting the Death Stalker and Pyrrha making sure to cover him close by, he likely would've have died already.
"Still, I can't be standing here doing nothing" a smirk appeared naturally as she drew her bow and stringed up three arrows at once. Fire dust combined with the arrows as she let them loose.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The attacks hit the armour of the Grimm but like the other attacks, managed to bounce off with ease. However she noticed that there were dents in the armour.
'Good to know that this Grimm isn't ancient enough to make my attack seem like nothing' she thought before using some dust to summon several more arrows before firing at one of the pincher that was heading towards Jaune's side.
While Ruby's attacks were distractions at best and Pyrrha was more often too occupied with keeping her partner alive, Jaune was doing surprising amount of damage. Was it due to his Aura, sword or him targeting a weak point?
Looking at it closer, it looked like he was targeting mostly the area in between joints and its eyes. A clever tactic but one that was difficult at best for someone without much skill like him. It was good to know he had at least have a good head on his body.
Shame if it would be chopped off.
….No she was not threatening to chop it off.
Cinder summoned another pair of three arrows before moving to aim at the joints like what Jaune was doing. After the first hit, Ruby took key and started firing at it as well. It was then that the Death Stalker knocked the two vanguards back with a wipe and started trying to impale them with its stringer.
"I believe removing the stringer is crucial for our partners' survival" she looked at the younger girl who had a look of determination.
"Cover me" was all she said before she disappeared in a blur.
'Fast' she noted before her body reacted and started firing at the Grimm's eyes to cover Ruby's charge. The next moment, the weapon the younger girl was holding turned into a mechanic scythe and she slung herself to the Death Stalker before the blade slit through the part connected to the stringer with ease.
Ruby landed on the wall with her legs.
The Death Stalker screamed in pain.
Cinder took this chance to flick open a vial of yellow lightning dust and started channelling her Aura through it, turning the dust into thunder and lightning.
"Take cover!" she called out as everyone saw what she was doing and leaped away.
BOOOOOOM!
The next moment was a flash…and a cater where the dead Grimm lied dissolving appeared next to the entrance of the cave.
Knowing that such use of dust was extremely exhausting for the common person (she was not a common person and therefore wasn't tired), she faked being out of breathe slightly. She couldn't make sure for being too tired for too long but appearing out of breathe was better than being perfectly fine after that level of attack.
The power of the Fall Maiden helped and she didn't want Ozpin to even suspect she had the power in her. She could tell that the other half of the power was in Beacon and she would get it eventually.
"Well…that's a thing" Ruby commented seeing the dead Grimm.
Being clearly out of breath, Jaune huffed in a couple breaths before saying, "I didn't know dust was that powerful. I mean, everyone used it at home and yet…"
"That" Cinder decided to point out, "Was the effect of some high-quality dust under the direct use of a practised dust user. The stuff everyone can get commercially are at best the low-quality batch which can barely be used in battle."
"And well" she waved her hand, "You can see why the Kingdoms want this resources a lot and why the Kingdoms managed to survive till now. Dust runs the world and those who can use Dust have an enormous power to use against Grimm."
No one said a word against the power of dust. Instead the conversation moved to praising Jaune on his tactics and initiative on targeting the weak points of the Death Stalker before anyone else.
"You were really good Jaune!" said Ruby, being the first to encourage the blonde.
"Really?"
"Well-pretty good at least. You were running around while we made sure you didn't die after all" she added. Cinder could tell that her partner's ego took a hit. Not that ego would matter a lot considering his future position under her.
But even Cinder had to praise him a bit.
"You did well Jaune. Targeting the weak-points is basic and valid strategy against any foe" Cinder nodded. She was unused to fighting Grimm as often as other Hunters so she had made little note of their weak-points other than where best to burn them.
She was truly unused to dealing with people who needed to use such tactics on her side. Emerald had her illusions and Mercury was scummy enough to chain-target weak points on his own via brute force.
"I-I did?" he looked confused. Her eyes widened only slightly knowing that Jaune actually didn't in fact think. This was either some natural talent or he was just that lucky.
Pyrrha nodded to his words and added her own praise, "I was impressed. I didn't think that you would be already able to use Aura to block an attack like that even if it was a bit overpowered."
She recalled when that happened and remembered that was a point when Jaune looked like he was going to but hit but didn't when he blocked with his shield. Did he use Aura then? Or was this false praise?
"Well you know what they say about those with large Aura" she waggled her eyebrows at Pyrrha.
She blushed immediately understanding what she meant. Ruby looked confused but what was most interesting was that Jaune paled to her comment.
Interesting…
-o-
It was very soon that the gang managed to find a clearing and some ruins that had to be the best that the Headmaster said. There, she could already see four people there including Yang. She rushed in there without a second thought, glad that her sister was fine.
"Ruby!" she called out reaching for a hug.
"Yang!" she shouted doing the same.
"NO-RA~!"
She slammed into something pink…and ginger…and something soft.
"H-Huh?" she spattered out seeing where she had landed her face into. Looking up, she saw the amused eyes of someone that was grinned at her. Immediately blushing, Ruby used her semblance to get out of the grip of this strange girl before hiding behind Yang.
Yang laughed, "Didn't think you would cower now little sis."
"I was s-surprised okay!" she stuttered pulling her hood down on her face. Oh god, what if they thought she was weird or a freak or something.
Then off to the distance she thought she heard Jaune.
"Ruby! Why did you run off like that?"
Actually it was Jaune and she had just run off from them the moment she saw her sister. Oh…Cinder was giving her the look and Pyrrha didn't look that impressed though it changed to a smile a moment later.
She didn't want to disappoint her partner just like she didn't want to disappoint Yang or even Jaune at this point.
"Sorry. I saw Yang so I just…" she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. Looking over, she saw that Blake was here as well!
"Hey Blake!" she waved.
Blinking as if in surprise the black-haired girl replied, "Hello Ruby."
Huh. Did she do something bad? She would've thought people would've been more excited to see each other again especially in a death-driven forest filled with Grimm.
"Hi!" the previous girl appeared again shocking Ruby. She seemed…very excitable. A bit too excited like when she was on a sugar rush.
"I'm Nora" Nora continued to say before pulling a guy by the arm, "And this is Ren!"
"Hello" he said bowing. Ruby replied to him before looking around. Jaune and Cinder seemed to be returning from the ruins and handed Pyrrha something. She immediately moved to where her partner was.
"What did you get?"
Pyrrha showed her a golden queen chess piece smiling slightly, "A relic I believe. From what Cinder believes, those with matching pairs get sorted into a team. She and Jaune also took the golden queen piece."
Oh…she was hoping that she could be in the same team as Yang but-
"Did you perhaps want to be on the same team as your sister?"
Ruby struggled for an answer, "Well-I…I mean. I'm actually fine being without Yang you know. But I kind of want to be with my sister as well?"
It was at that moment Yang slugged her arm around her shoulder, "What is this about choosing which team you're going to?"
"The pieces symbolises who we get teamed up with. Cinder and Jaune has a golden queen piece like this one" explained Pyrrha. "I was asking Ruby if she wanted to partner up with you instead of them."
Yang frowned. That was rare.
"Actually I think it would be good if Ruby didn't follow me around all the time. I mean, I care for Ruby but sometimes I think she needs to spread her wings. I told her when we got to Beacon that she needed friend and the next moment I saw her again, Jaune was her friend" she said causing Ruby to meekly blush.
"And during out flights I was worried about her so I decided to partner up with her to protect her but I'm pretty sure you're strong enough for the task."
"Of course, she is my partner" Pyrrha stared at Yang. "I would protect her…and we would protect Jaune as well."
"What was that?" Yang looked confused.
"Well, Jaune is really nice but he's a bit…weak. And Cinder seems to have her hands full if she needs to protect Jaune as a dust user. So…me and Pyrrha decided to help protect Jaune as well" explained Ruby.
Her sister took a moment to stare at him and then stare at Jaune and back at them. Then she laughed.
"Ha…hahahahaaaHAHAHAAA" she held her stomach as the last laugh was reduced to giggles. Yang then patted her head with a wispy look.
"Not even three days into Beacon and you're already protecting people. Do me proud sis and make sure blondy over there doesn't die. It not often that I let people who cut my glorious hair live" she grinned.
"Yaaaaannng" Ruby whined. She always tried to embarrass-
"aaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
Everyone looked around for the source of the scream. Eventually it was Yang who spotted where it came from.
"Is that…a giant Nevermore?" Yang asked.
Ruby peered upwards to get a closer look and saw the white figure of a certain girl that should've been her partner but wasn't.
"Is that Weiss?" she shouted in surprise. Whelp. It looked like they had a rescue mission to do now. Weiss was mean but not mean enough to abandon to Grimm.
A/N:Bit later than usually in my posting. Had stuff to do.
Let's talk about Cinder or rather her semblance. By all accounts it has something to do with fire/glass in some way considering I cannot see making weapons out of nowhere being a skill that any dust user than replicate. I could play it off as Cinder being extremely skilled in using 'fire' to create weapons like that or her semblance being one to create weapons like that.
Either way, she is going to let people make presumptions because what better to hide the true nature of her semblance than give them a reason to believe its something else?
Anyway there isn't much else to talk about aside from how BS strong Cinder is as a Dust user. Remember how she managed to match Glynda in that area? Yeah I don't see any ordinary Grimm being able to survive that much power. Plus Cinder has a stash (or several) of high-quality dust that she had 'liberated' from many places.
Also, I planned on finishing writing this series by the weekend...ends up reediting chapters over and over again while neglecting the last two chapters...