Author's Note: Well, this has certainly gotten a bigger response than I was expecting. I guess it shouldn't surprise me that a Jaune-centric story would garner more attention than an OC one. Regardless, I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far.
One thing to note before we proceed. This story is not my priority at the moment. For now I'm just writing to occupy myself with something that's not one of my other stories...which is actually how a lot of my other stories came about if we're honest. Knowing that, don't expect massive chapters like in The Golden Retriever or Gamer's Soul. I'll write for this story and when I come to a good stopping point I'll edit and post. Simple stuff.
Anyway, onto what you're actually here for.
Disclaimer and Warning still apply from the first chapter.
Chapter 2: The Gambler
Sitting in a make-shift slingshot made from a pair of sturdy trees, an over-sized rubber band, and magic, Ruby Rose couldn't help but think that this might not be the best of ideas. Perhaps if she'd come up with the plan it might have been different, but as it was even Ruby could see that this was a little nuts.
In essence, Jaune's little scheme was simple. Nora and Pyrrha would capture the Nevermore's attention and force it to go after them. Then, when it was totally invested in an attack vector, Weiss would release her gravity 'Glyph' and launch Ruby straight into the Nevermore, whereupon Crescent Rose would do what she was built to and relieve the Grimm of its head.
Above and behind them, further into the forest, Ruby heard the dull whump of a grenade being launched followed by the sharp report of a rifle signified the beginning of the assault. An explosion of pink smoke detonated upon the Nevemore's left flank, and it let out a thunderous quork of rage as it banked toward the spot they'd staked out for the two girls.
Standing next to Weiss, Jaune looked a bit like he had when she'd first seen him on the airship moments before barfing all over Yang's boots, which was to say that his complexion was somewhat green and his expression more than a little nauseous. But there was the tiniest ember of something burning in his blue eyes that made Ruby grin. Uncle Qrow always used to say that 'fear' had two meanings: forget everything and run, or face everything and rise; it seemed Jaune had found the latter.
"Okay," he said as the Nevermore drew near. "Ruby, this is your rodeo. You give the signal."
"Roger, roger," she saluted, training her gaze on the fast-approaching Grimm. With all the practice with her Semblance and the countless hours spent on the firing range, Ruby liked to think she was pretty good at judging both distance and speed. Qrow had always sworn by a trick he'd learned while playing one of those ancient (well, comparatively) arcade games: "Aim where it's going, not where it is". When the Nevermore was almost on top of them and its crimson eyes focused on Pyrrha and Nora behind them, Ruby shouted, "NOW!"
She felt the tension of Blake's ribbon release and a split second later she was airborne, moving nearly as fast as her Semblance allowed her to while the creature's neck rushed toward her. Crescent Rose unfurled her petals and she reared back, ready to cut this birdie's head off.
Except just as Ruby began the swing to decapitate the Nevermore, its massive sail-like wings swept downward so it could achieve the lift required to stay in the sky. The turbulent winds caused by their passing buffeted Ruby and sent her spinning back to the ground, dizzy and disoriented.
Distantly, as the world twisted around her like a kaleidoscope, Ruby heard several voices screaming and one whooping excitedly. Without warning, something yanked on Crescent Rose hard, and it was all she could do the keep a tight grip on her precious weapon's haft even as a rumbling caw struck her ears like a hammer-blow. When she regained her bearings, she realized that her scythe's blade had caught on the Nevermore's left wing, right at the shoulder joint. Ruby tried desperately to unhook Crescent Rose, but it was stuck fast, and the constant jostling of the wind as it swept past her wasn't helping things at all.
If the Nevermore was aware of its passenger, it did a good job of not letting on. It squawked its mighty battle cry again as it descended upon the spot in the trees where Pyrrha and Nora had taken their potshots. She could just make out a flash of red and orange as the two girls dove for cover before the Nevermore's talons shredded about five yards of forest canopy simply by virtue of its gargantuan size.
Ruby briefly considered dropping into the trees while she was still at a relatively low altitude, but crushed that thought. She'd vowed upon Crescent Rose's birthing table (actually the work table in her dad's garage) that she would never abandon her child no matter how dire the straits.
And so, she gnashed her teeth and prepared her arms for an extended hang-out session.
As she watched her baby sister get dragged across the sky by an overgrown bird, Yang Xiao Long wrestled with the urge to grab Vomit Boy by the hood and pummel him to within an inch of his life. The only reason she hadn't done so already was the generally panicked, but surprisingly shrewd expression on the boy's face as he followed the Nevermore's flight path. It was a look she'd seen on Qrow's face when he was coming up with a dangerously brilliant plan, although without the generous helping of anxiety Jaune's held.
Pyrrha and Nora came crashing through the underbrush, looking disheveled after their close run-in with the enemy.
To Jaune's credit, he didn't even hesitate. The moment they arrived, he turned to them with the fire of resolve in his eyes (helped by the fuel of sheer desperation, but that was beside the point). "I need your help to get me up there."
His partner was taken aback, but the ginger girl gave a full Atlesian salute with her massive war hammer slung across her shoulder. "Aye, sir! Just show me where you need me!"
"Pyrrha, you launch me up a little bit with your shield," he rattled off quickly, gaze moving back to the Nevermore and Ruby. "Nora, grab its attention again, and then when I get my own shield under me, hit me upward as high as you can."
Nora's grin became maniacal. "Can your shield hold against Magnhild's awesome might?" she asked.
Jaune eyed the weapon warily. "Let's hope to god it does," he muttered. "We're doing this out in the open, so as soon as I go up you get back into the trees."
He instructed Pyrrha on where to stand, then gave Nora the signal to fire. Nodding, the girl let loose with her pink explodey things and struck the Nevermore square in the face. Furious, it screeched again and dove upon them.
As Jaune prepared to tangle with the bird, Yang caught his arm. "Keep my sister safe," she said, as serious as she could. He simply gave her a guileless smile and nodded.
"That's the plan," he quipped lightly, then turned and raced toward Pyrrha. He leapt up, and the moment both feet were planted against Pyrrha's circular shield she heaved, sending him at least six feet up in the sky. He drew his blade and placed his sheath beneath him before it expanded into a kite shield at the pinnacle of his leap, then as he fell Nora raced forward, Magnhild shifting back into a hammer. With a battle cry and a swing that could make even a leather-lunged drill sergeant envious, Magnhild's blunt head struck Jaune's shield and detonated.
With a far less manly holler than he'd probably intended, Jaune was sent streaking upward into the sky, his sheath once more simply a scabbard as he was sent rocketing toward the jet-black menace. It was actually pretty awesome, Yang thought partly in admiration and partly in jealousy. The guy might seem like a bit of a dweeb, but he sure knew how to—
"Oh, no!" Pyrrha gasped in horror as the Nevermore plucked Jaune right out of the sky and swallowed him whole.
There were a few moments of utter silence as they all digested the scene before them (Yang winced even as she appreciated her own wit).
Before any of them could even begin to mourn the goofball they hardly knew, the Nevermore suddenly jerked in mid-air, letting out a strangled wheeze that sounded like the bellow of a broken foghorn before it began flailing around, losing height as it seemingly fought some invisible opponent. In its frantic thrashing, Crescent Rose was freed and Ruby coasted back down safely to the ground on a few quick cushions of high-impact sniper rifle recoil. Eventually, the Nevermore's struggles grew less frantic, and with an almost lethargic groan crashed into the ground, whereupon it began to slowly dissolve into whatever it was that Grimm were made of.
"Uh...what just happened?" Yang asked the group in general, but no one really had an answer.
They all rushed toward the disintegrating Grimm, but halted and leveled their weapons at it when the beak began to shift. Slowly, ever-so slowly, it opened, revealing a blood-soaked (at least that's what Yang guessed it was, it being black and all) Jaune looking exhausted but triumphant.
Pyrrha rushed forward immediately and helped him lift the beak so he could stumble out. "Jaune are you alright?" she asked worriedly.
He chuckled weakly. "And I thought airships were bad," he joked, then gave a full-body heave before turning back to the Nevermore and vomiting obsidian ichor onto the bird's broken and dissolving form. "Ugh..."
Ruby was suddenly there and swinging off Jaune's neck. "That was AWESOME, Jaune! How did you do that?"
Looking uncomfortable, Jaune shrugged. "Well, it tried to swallow me and I sort of took offense to that. Apparently it's kind of hard to stay airborne when your lungs are full of blood or whatever these things have."
"Amazing," whispered Nora, eyes shining with admiration, which surprised Yang. In Yang's brief time knowing the girl she seemed to have only two volumes: loud and rock-concert.
Jaune flushed. "I wouldn't call getting halfway eaten amazing," he denied, but a tiny pleased smile was breaking through his embarrassment.
"Hey, you took down a Giant Nevermore all by your lonesome, saved my little sis...again, and you're still alive to tell the tale!" Yang pointed out, giving him an affectionate punch to the shoulder that rocked him on his feet. "Let us give credit where it's due, Crow Food."
The poor boy's face twisted sullenly. "I almost prefer Vomit Boy," he groused, but Yang could tell he didn't take too much offense to his new nickname. "So...I suppose we head back to Beacon now? For some reason I could really go for some fried chicken."
Jaune felt like he could sleep for days, but he probably shouldn't nod off in the middle of the ceremony. Honestly, the entire day had been so surreal he must have pinched himself at least three dozen times to check that he wasn't dreaming. Not only had he rescued three ludicrously beautiful girls (one of them twice!), not only had he gotten his own awesome built-in deflector shield (and evidently there was a lot of it, he thought smugly), not only had he vanquished a bonafide creature of darkness, but it seemed like his luck was finally turning around.
Sure, he'd been flung halfway across the Emerald Forest by a Deathstalker, and okay his first plan to beat the Nevermore had almost gotten his new friend hurt, but he was still alive after a Beacon Academy Initiation. He'd read up a little on the Hunter school before he'd decided to attend, and one of the things that had stuck with him was that Initiation nearly always had a few fatalities every year. Jaune was just happy he hadn't become one of them.
Well, there was also the fact that he'd almost been eaten alive by a Grimm. That had been so heart-poundingly terrifying that his brain had almost literally seized up on him. The only thing that had saved his life was the fact that his fingers had accidentally hit his sheath's deployment button and the opening shield had gotten stuck in the Nevermore's throat, ripping the vulnerable lining of its esophagus and straight through to the trachea. He was fairly certain that he'd swallowed some of the disgustingly salty liquid that passed for Grimm blood, but the fact that he was still alive and kicking had quickly washed that less than savory moment from his mind.
All in all, everything was coming up Jaune today.
"...shall be known as Team JNPR, under the leadership of Jaune Arc," the headmaster finished, gesturing to his team.
Wait...his team?
Jaune suddenly felt ill again.
After-Action Report: Well, Jaune's first plan didn't work thanks to an unlucky bit of timing while the second was more 'I need to get up there by any means necessary' and less any tactical response to a change in the situation. And he almost got swallowed for it. So yeah. Luck be a lady, and Jaune isn't exactly the smoothest dude around. Our poor blonde friend is in for an exceedingly weird time at Beacon.
Special thanks to justjustin3099 for pointing out a mistake in the first chapter in which I called Nora's projectiles rockets rather than the proper nomenclature of grenade. A subtle shout-out to that moment of oversight on my part was included in Yang's segment (where she calls Nora's grenades 'explodey things' . It's been fixed, but let this note stand as a testament to my failures as an editor.
A less special (but no less heartfelt) thanks to all who have reviewed, favorited, and followed this humble writer's story. I appreciate you all. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!